The inspiration this game takes from BioShock is apparent, and to the benefit of the atmosphere of Arkham asylum on the whole. The levels gradually open up in a very satisfying way as you add more gadgets to your arsenal. The main story even guides you back to previous areas once you have access to everything, giving the game a psudo-metroidvania feel. The scarecrow segments are highlights as well, shaking up the gameplay and injecting some horror into the mix. Unfortunately the boss fights feel like an afterthought, and the ending fight in particular is ridiculously simple. It's easy to see why so many games copied (and improved) this style of combat, but as the originator, Arkham Asylum remains surprisingly enjoyable to this day.

Like a freshly tagged wall, BRC absolutely drips with style. The visuals, the soundtrack, and the wealth of movement options make just commuting from point A to B an absolute blast. It took me a while to come to grips with the level design as a THPS fan. Environments felt much less dense, and I had a harder time stringing together huge combos. What I failed to realize until a couple hours in is that this game is more about traversal, and looking rad as hell while doing it. As you start to understand how to optimize combos, you realize you have to utilize the entire space to maximize points and the levels start to make more sense. The only real complaints I have lie in the combat, which is disappointingly flimsy. Especially when it's taken into account just how much of it you end up doing throughout the game. That being said, this game is more fully featured than most other indies. Add in a shockingly good story and it's hard not to recommend to THPS fans, JSRF fans, and anyone looking to do a rocket-powered backflip over a crowd of police officers.

While I could see it coming off as "safe" and understated, this game accomplishes what few can narratively. I don't often find myself invested in story-centric games to this degree. From the opening cutscene I was sucked in and the game continued to deliver memorable moments all the way until the credits. It's not that it tackles a unique subject matter, but it's that the game comes at it through the lens of Kratos and this world of gods and mythos. The obnoxious fast travel system and re-use of minibosses does hamper the experience a bit, but the combat is so meaty and fun I didn't mind.

Love the atmosphere of this game, and you can really see the environment artists flexing their skills from the first minutes of the game. To me, this takes everything that makes the original so good and runs with it. The game feels notably more difficult, though which almost ruined my experience. I saved with one hit left before death and the only place I could go triggered a boss fight. Luckily I was able to just barely eek my way through over dozens of attempts. The inventory system is a little bit of a pain but it really adds to the tension, and I think it serves the game well.

As a fan of roguelikes, and this dev team in general, I have to say this game is middling to me. The combat and moment to moment gameplay are solid, don't get me wrong, but there's a real difficulty problem. Seriously, ask people you know if they've ever completed a run, I'd say 80% of players haven't. The crux of the roguelike genre is this; if the game is hard, you'll have to replay it. If you have to replay it, it needs replay value. This game is too hard and simply requires too many attempts for how little replay value you get out of it. It's also so RNG heavy that not all your losses are even your fault. These are both things the team corrected in their subsequent game into the breach.