The story and atmosphere of this are so intriguing and full of the potential, but LORD is the gameplay just pure bootycheeks. It sucks because I love the IDEA of how it's structured. A story about writing being intertwined with actual text and video that supports the story of the game you're playing? That's so clever! That kinda combination of mediums is why I love a game like NieR Automata. It's too bad that the gameplay is pure tedium, and not the intentional kind of tedium that's thematic or engaging.

Like so many games of the 7th generation, the imprecise controls and overly drawn-out chapters only serve to prop up a rudimentary "cinematic" feel; one that might've been impressive in 2010, but is antiquated and ameuterish by today's standards. I look forward to seeing how Alan Wake 2 fixed and refined this very promising formula, but if you want to catch up for it, I highly recommend just watching a cutscene compilation. I don't think the interesting parts of the story are nearly enough to outweigh how frustrating the core experience is.