If I had to describe 3rd strike in one word that would be "freedom". The game gives players a plethora of options in any situation. This is by design and has been discussed by Shinichiro Obata [1]: the game is built around "unanswerables" - the idea of creating situations with no clear answers/solutions/resolutions. This is done in order to avoid gameplay based around preset knowledge of situations, and instead emphasizes RPS mechanics more than other games in the genre. But how is this achieved in the game and what are its consequences?
The key to achieving such freedom is the heavy reliance on universal mechanics. The parry is an obvious example of this, along with mechanics such as the throw protection after blockstun/wakeup, crouch teching (also the extra damage done to crouching opponents). With the existence of those few mechanics, the player has plenty of tools at their disposal, that are universal across characters. There are no situations where the pool of answers is severely limited. Additionally, while some options cover a broader range of actions, the game always has a way to reward guessing the exact action that the other player will take. Because of this, every single decision carries risk and nothing is truly safe. Blocking is still the "safest" option, but it can be opened up by overheads into confirms and command grabs for reasonable damage. If that is not in a character's toolkit, then the simple throw loop in the corner can force out a reaction other than blocking. All of this contributes to creating an extremely unpredictable playstyle. Habits and predictable play can be punished severely, resulting in a game that promotes more attentive play and non-rigid playstyles.
Let's take a look at a practical situation in which those tools come into play. Dudley is a character with a strong 50/50 of an overhead or a low hit confirms that could lead to yet another 50/50 each time it is successful. If it is blocked correctly it leads back to neutral. In most other fighting games, without considering reversals (which still exist in 3S), this would be a situation where Dudley can use his absurd okizeme to play in a highly beneficial position. However, since this is 3S the opponent can always go for the parry instead. If successful it would give the defender a very strong combo in retaliation and more pressure afterwards as well. This turns the 50/50 into a double-edged sword. Yet while parrying is strong it still has its own counters - throws, delayed meaties, normals into cancels. In turn these have their own counters. The key takeaway is that, starting from 2 options (and potentially a throw sometimes), that would be the most efficient in most other fighting games, we get to create a variety of new options both sides have to consider and can use viably.
It is important to mention that those tools also limit the theoretical knowledge needed to play the game. While there is knowledge that could benefit a player, any situation provides enough information by itself for its resolution (answer). While frame data has its usage, it takes a backseat to elements like the pushback and ways in which an attack can be parried (low/high or both). Both of those elements can be deduced from the visuals alone. Even if it is a player's turn/a player has priority/advantage, the threat of a parry can steal that turn. This can be used both to escape pressure situations from frame traps or to even further your own pressure - the parry is a tool that can be used both defensively and offensively. Character specific tools still have their play, but rather than limiting or completely substituting your universal options, they tend to instead give you completely new options and create new situations.
All of it leads to some of the most unpredictable matches that one can find in the genre, while also being reasonably easy to play. It does require knowledge of those universal mechanics, but while more specific knowledge is helpful, it is often not required.
[1] If you want to read it for yourself I recommend the SF3 an oral history feature from polygon, the topic in question is discussed in the final bit of the interview.
The key to achieving such freedom is the heavy reliance on universal mechanics. The parry is an obvious example of this, along with mechanics such as the throw protection after blockstun/wakeup, crouch teching (also the extra damage done to crouching opponents). With the existence of those few mechanics, the player has plenty of tools at their disposal, that are universal across characters. There are no situations where the pool of answers is severely limited. Additionally, while some options cover a broader range of actions, the game always has a way to reward guessing the exact action that the other player will take. Because of this, every single decision carries risk and nothing is truly safe. Blocking is still the "safest" option, but it can be opened up by overheads into confirms and command grabs for reasonable damage. If that is not in a character's toolkit, then the simple throw loop in the corner can force out a reaction other than blocking. All of this contributes to creating an extremely unpredictable playstyle. Habits and predictable play can be punished severely, resulting in a game that promotes more attentive play and non-rigid playstyles.
Let's take a look at a practical situation in which those tools come into play. Dudley is a character with a strong 50/50 of an overhead or a low hit confirms that could lead to yet another 50/50 each time it is successful. If it is blocked correctly it leads back to neutral. In most other fighting games, without considering reversals (which still exist in 3S), this would be a situation where Dudley can use his absurd okizeme to play in a highly beneficial position. However, since this is 3S the opponent can always go for the parry instead. If successful it would give the defender a very strong combo in retaliation and more pressure afterwards as well. This turns the 50/50 into a double-edged sword. Yet while parrying is strong it still has its own counters - throws, delayed meaties, normals into cancels. In turn these have their own counters. The key takeaway is that, starting from 2 options (and potentially a throw sometimes), that would be the most efficient in most other fighting games, we get to create a variety of new options both sides have to consider and can use viably.
It is important to mention that those tools also limit the theoretical knowledge needed to play the game. While there is knowledge that could benefit a player, any situation provides enough information by itself for its resolution (answer). While frame data has its usage, it takes a backseat to elements like the pushback and ways in which an attack can be parried (low/high or both). Both of those elements can be deduced from the visuals alone. Even if it is a player's turn/a player has priority/advantage, the threat of a parry can steal that turn. This can be used both to escape pressure situations from frame traps or to even further your own pressure - the parry is a tool that can be used both defensively and offensively. Character specific tools still have their play, but rather than limiting or completely substituting your universal options, they tend to instead give you completely new options and create new situations.
All of it leads to some of the most unpredictable matches that one can find in the genre, while also being reasonably easy to play. It does require knowledge of those universal mechanics, but while more specific knowledge is helpful, it is often not required.
[1] If you want to read it for yourself I recommend the SF3 an oral history feature from polygon, the topic in question is discussed in the final bit of the interview.
2018
The best iteration of Quake movement!
2012
Miasmata is a game that focuses on exploration, without relying on other game elements, such as rewards, to push the player to explore.
The game achieves this through 3 gameplay elements: the movement, the map system and the level itself.
The movement is clunky - the player character has momentum and can slip easily. Additionally, there is a tumbling mechanic which punishes the player for careless movements. The punishment is in the form of fever(the analogue to fever in other games is damage/health). It hinders the mobility of the player, makes them lose control for a few moments, disorients them briefly, and changes their position due to the tumbling itself. This serves to make the player mindful of the terrain and their movement speed. You can't move around the world by just holding w and run.
The map system encourages the player to keep track/be aware of their position in the world. There is no minimap, and the map does not show the player's position. To obtain the position, triangulation should be used. This is done by using man-made objects on the island, which are already drawn on the map. By having direct line of sight to them the player could obtain their position and fill in the map around them.
Furthermore the player can use their position to try to determine the location of other man-made objects. Similar to the inconveniences related to the movement, the ones associated with the map also have the goal of making the player more mindful of the terrain. This is in contrast to other games where the terrain merely serves as background decoration. In Miasmata the terrain also affects the line of sight of the player, which can hinder triangulation.
The level itself is composed of open to explore a set of islands, with camps acting as save points and stations to heal yourself and refill basic resources, statues that are used for long-range triangulation, inner monuments and relic buildings acting as guides for the player to figure out their location while within the island.
Forests make it near impossible to locate yourself on the map via triangulation from within one, this is where the aforementioned monuments and relic buildings aid the player. While this is a downside of the forests, they also have a lot of drinkable water, plenty of hiding spots, if there is an encounter with a monster and also paths. It is by far, the fastest way to travel the map through them, especially with the use of a compass, but it should be mentioned that there are many interweaving paths, and the player could get lost easily, and will.
Contrary to the forests inland, the player could travel by the coastlines as well. They have the advantage of free line of sight, making triangulation easier, but at the same time it takes longer to travel the world using them, and lack hiding spots, making encounters with the monster more dangerous.
Lastly the player might climb hills and mountains to locate their position inland, using the elevation and the free line of sight to triangulate. They could also use them to locate other man-made objects around the island.
Most of the gameplay is about traveling between 2 different outposts. In there the player is mostly racing against time, as when the night falls, it is extremely difficult to navigate, and encounters with the monster are likely to end up being fatal. The survival elements itself are simple, the player could not really stockpile on resources, and instead can carry 1 of each type of medication. They serve as a basic heal for the fever, a small buff to the movement, an extra buff that helps with dealing with the monster, and an easy way to locate yourself on the map. They also have a canteen, that could only be refilled with fresh water and the player should drink regularly especially if they run a lot. It should be noted that triangulation takes a lot of ingame time, so if the player is focused on filling on the map, or relies on it too much to figure out their position, they might not reach their destination before nightfall.
After reaching a new outpost, it could be used to safely explore the area around it for herbs. They can be used to craft the aforementioned resources, as well as crafting the cure for the plague, which is the main objective in the game. The crafting itself is done in special camps.
All in all, those elements provide a way more mentally engaging approach to exploration in games. The game itself isn't really challenging, but instead would take longer to complete with unskilled play. It is a very relaxing game and to my knowledge there isn't a game currently that could do the things it does better.
The game achieves this through 3 gameplay elements: the movement, the map system and the level itself.
The movement is clunky - the player character has momentum and can slip easily. Additionally, there is a tumbling mechanic which punishes the player for careless movements. The punishment is in the form of fever(the analogue to fever in other games is damage/health). It hinders the mobility of the player, makes them lose control for a few moments, disorients them briefly, and changes their position due to the tumbling itself. This serves to make the player mindful of the terrain and their movement speed. You can't move around the world by just holding w and run.
The map system encourages the player to keep track/be aware of their position in the world. There is no minimap, and the map does not show the player's position. To obtain the position, triangulation should be used. This is done by using man-made objects on the island, which are already drawn on the map. By having direct line of sight to them the player could obtain their position and fill in the map around them.
Furthermore the player can use their position to try to determine the location of other man-made objects. Similar to the inconveniences related to the movement, the ones associated with the map also have the goal of making the player more mindful of the terrain. This is in contrast to other games where the terrain merely serves as background decoration. In Miasmata the terrain also affects the line of sight of the player, which can hinder triangulation.
The level itself is composed of open to explore a set of islands, with camps acting as save points and stations to heal yourself and refill basic resources, statues that are used for long-range triangulation, inner monuments and relic buildings acting as guides for the player to figure out their location while within the island.
Forests make it near impossible to locate yourself on the map via triangulation from within one, this is where the aforementioned monuments and relic buildings aid the player. While this is a downside of the forests, they also have a lot of drinkable water, plenty of hiding spots, if there is an encounter with a monster and also paths. It is by far, the fastest way to travel the map through them, especially with the use of a compass, but it should be mentioned that there are many interweaving paths, and the player could get lost easily, and will.
Contrary to the forests inland, the player could travel by the coastlines as well. They have the advantage of free line of sight, making triangulation easier, but at the same time it takes longer to travel the world using them, and lack hiding spots, making encounters with the monster more dangerous.
Lastly the player might climb hills and mountains to locate their position inland, using the elevation and the free line of sight to triangulate. They could also use them to locate other man-made objects around the island.
Most of the gameplay is about traveling between 2 different outposts. In there the player is mostly racing against time, as when the night falls, it is extremely difficult to navigate, and encounters with the monster are likely to end up being fatal. The survival elements itself are simple, the player could not really stockpile on resources, and instead can carry 1 of each type of medication. They serve as a basic heal for the fever, a small buff to the movement, an extra buff that helps with dealing with the monster, and an easy way to locate yourself on the map. They also have a canteen, that could only be refilled with fresh water and the player should drink regularly especially if they run a lot. It should be noted that triangulation takes a lot of ingame time, so if the player is focused on filling on the map, or relies on it too much to figure out their position, they might not reach their destination before nightfall.
After reaching a new outpost, it could be used to safely explore the area around it for herbs. They can be used to craft the aforementioned resources, as well as crafting the cure for the plague, which is the main objective in the game. The crafting itself is done in special camps.
All in all, those elements provide a way more mentally engaging approach to exploration in games. The game itself isn't really challenging, but instead would take longer to complete with unskilled play. It is a very relaxing game and to my knowledge there isn't a game currently that could do the things it does better.
2001
This review contains spoilers
This is not a review of Silent Hill 2, it is a mini-analysis and contains spoilers.
At first glance the plot of the game might be perceived by some people as shallow and underdeveloped. Specifically, the characters and setting may seem to lack depth. However, upon further scrutiny, one finds details that are inconsistent with such an interpretation. A representative example is the deeper characterisation of Angela explored towards the end of the game. This can be dismissed as an inconsequential detail, but it is consistent with the major underlying idea and motivation in the story.
The game presents the story through the lens of the main character - James. He is under psychological stress, which affects the telling of the story, and effectively makes him an unreliable narrator even if he doesn't seem realize it. This is illustrated through his inadequate reactions to the unfolding events, and his semblant disconnect from the horrors happening around him. He envisions himself as being "normal" in an insane setting, and his actions and general demeanour are meant to emphasize this fact. This contrast is not coincidental. He refuses to accept that the external insanity is in fact internal to himself. Ironically his environment flaunts his most private thoughts and anxieties.
In fact, the initial lack of satisfactory depth of the characters reflects them being peripheral to the protagonist as he is too focused on his trauma. Only in the short moments of mental clarity of the main character (in the Lakeview Hotel), is he able to see Angela with the details that make her three dimensional, and consequently the narrative develops hers character beyond a description of surface traits. This isn't to imply the game explores those characters in depth unintentionally, but rather the details of their stories are not of such importance to the game's plot, ideas and message.
Certainly, the game may have had a more detailed story and in depth characterisation, and while some of that may not have been achieved due to time and budget constraints, such emphasis on less essential aspects would have also detracted from the main ideas. More important than having a complex story in this regard is the emotional impact that the game evokes.
At first glance the plot of the game might be perceived by some people as shallow and underdeveloped. Specifically, the characters and setting may seem to lack depth. However, upon further scrutiny, one finds details that are inconsistent with such an interpretation. A representative example is the deeper characterisation of Angela explored towards the end of the game. This can be dismissed as an inconsequential detail, but it is consistent with the major underlying idea and motivation in the story.
The game presents the story through the lens of the main character - James. He is under psychological stress, which affects the telling of the story, and effectively makes him an unreliable narrator even if he doesn't seem realize it. This is illustrated through his inadequate reactions to the unfolding events, and his semblant disconnect from the horrors happening around him. He envisions himself as being "normal" in an insane setting, and his actions and general demeanour are meant to emphasize this fact. This contrast is not coincidental. He refuses to accept that the external insanity is in fact internal to himself. Ironically his environment flaunts his most private thoughts and anxieties.
In fact, the initial lack of satisfactory depth of the characters reflects them being peripheral to the protagonist as he is too focused on his trauma. Only in the short moments of mental clarity of the main character (in the Lakeview Hotel), is he able to see Angela with the details that make her three dimensional, and consequently the narrative develops hers character beyond a description of surface traits. This isn't to imply the game explores those characters in depth unintentionally, but rather the details of their stories are not of such importance to the game's plot, ideas and message.
Certainly, the game may have had a more detailed story and in depth characterisation, and while some of that may not have been achieved due to time and budget constraints, such emphasis on less essential aspects would have also detracted from the main ideas. More important than having a complex story in this regard is the emotional impact that the game evokes.
2018
Among Us is divided into 2 phases: the meeting phase (debating who to vote out) and the roaming phase (doing tasks/killing). Because of this differentiation, the roaming phase does not interfere with aspects of the meeting phase (e.g. conversations). This leads to conversations in the form of debates instead of split-second decisions. In that respect Among Us is closer to the original games in the genre like Mafia and Werewolves. Outside of meetings, conversations are not permitted, which shifts the focus to stealth and intel gathering.
Among Us doesn’t rely on a single intricate mechanic to create depth. It instead uses combinations of game elements to introduce variety. Notably, the meta and psychological aspects enrich the strategic complexity despite the underlying mechanics being simple.
Let us consider the core element of the roaming phase: routing. During this phase, the main focus is deciding where to go. If there were no impostors in the game, this would be a simple task of pathing to finish the current tasks as quickly as possible. The presence of an impostor adds an extra layer of complexity: crewmates need to also gather intel regarding where other players are located. In the first round of the game most of the decisions are based on meta-knowledge about other players: individual strategies for intel gathering, tasks players tend to go for, solitary vs group players, how they tend to play as a Crewmate/Impostor, etc. Another option is to take a risk to clear a player by sticking with them (i.e. using yourself as bait). This is a double-edged sword, however, as the Impostor can choose not to go for an easy kill, gaining the trust of the Crewmate testing him (a.k.a. “marinating”). Such risks play a central role in the game. For instance, players that have vital information would avoid dying at any cost so that they can bring it to the meetings. On the other hand, a Crewmate may also want to die:
- sticking to someone that they suspect is an Impostor to tie their hands even by risking their own life.
- to use the noclip and faster speed of being a ghost to finish their tasks faster
- to clear any suspicion over themselves (so the other Crewmates don’t mistakenly think that they’re an Impostor).
Later on, with information from meetings on who is likely to be an Impostor or a Crewmate, more elaborate routes can be devised. Players can also use meetings to gather information about other players’ tasks in order to predict their routes next round.
The emphasis in meeting phases is on deductive and conversational aspects of the game. The information we get in the roaming phase alone is usually not good enough to paint a picture of how the whole round played out. Thus we need to make assumptions based on some kind of deduction. On top of that, the meetings give us information from other parties in the game, letting us make even more accurate deductions to find the Impostors. With good game knowledge enough crewmates by sharing all information, the impostors would be found. (Except in some weird cases where everyone was just speedrunning their tasks, and not getting any information at all). However, it would be foolish for the impostors to let the crewmates do as they please, and this is where the conversational aspect of the game comes into play. In the scenario that the kills haven't been clean in the game (this means the blame for the kill can't be pinpointed to a single or a small group of people), the impostors won't have any benefit of letting the conversation go on untouched. The most direct way to disrupt the meeting conversation is through lies. With a lie, the information deduction alone would not be able to get to a correct answer, though this depends on the type of the lie. A stronger, more direct lie could change the narrative in a predictable way. It can be used to frame or clear someone. Yet such lies would be easy to trace to the liar. They can be more easily found by conflict with other known information, and thus could backfire. It requires a lot of information from the liar, to be able to pull off such a lie. Also, they have to seem trustworthy since they usually won't get backing for that false information (outside of their impostor partner). More importantly, such lies could be found out in later rounds of the game. While it could pay off this round it could cost the impostors the game in the end. More common and useful lies would be a small change of information somewhere deeper in the deduction. (Further away from clearing or pinning someone as an impostor and more about basic information). The benefit of that lie is that it is hard to trace to the liar, but at the same time, the effect is not as clear. However this could again be used - while it wouldn't frame someone for a kill or clear someone, it is effective in wasting time. It is also a safe lie since it might be considered an error rather than a lie as well. Honourable mention to lying by omission. Depending on the context it could be either of 2 types of lies above, and it could even be safer in most scenarios.
Something even more common than lying is conversation control. There is a time limit on each meeting, and players have one button per game they could use for meetings. Note that some meetings can't be extended by those buttons, as the impostors could win if there is a wrong decision in those meetings. Because of that, it is important to be efficient with information. Getting all information out of all players, and sharing deductions from everyone is easier said than done in that short amount of time. This is why the flow of the conversation is important - and also this is where the impostor has an advantage. The impostors know how their own kill happened (and potentially even the kill of their partner) so they know which information is vital. Thus if they control the flow of the conversation they can waste a lot of time on useless information and deductions out of players. This could be used in combination with a lie and to reinforce the lie, by not letting conflicting information in the conversation. Of course, all of this has its own risk, as being wasteful of conversation time is suspicious. An important thing to be noted is that the impostors' lies and disturbance of conversation have an important side effect. It isn't just the impostors that have to deal with scrutinizing their information and deductions, all information would be scrutinized no matter if it is true or false. This is also dependent on the player itself, other ingame information, as well as psychology and meta. Because of this, the players should also worry about their trustworthiness and not just figuring out the killer. You might have everything figured out, but if you can't say it in the short amount of time and convince others, you can't do anything. Even worse someone might undermine your trustworthiness and bring you down - you have to both be good at deduction and conversations to win. One anomaly from this is that there are actually now reasons for crewmates to lie. Saving time, being trustworthy and even catching lies from another player. This does have an innate risk, but it would be often a better choice than telling the truth.
An important element to the deduction is the intel gathering itself. It was mentioned early, but there is an additional aspect to the intel gathering - attention. There is a lot of information that a single player can gather in a single round, but remembering it all isn't an easy thing to do. If there are more alive players, or if the round itself is long, holding old information becomes trouble. While often this information is discarded, if there have been and early kill, without such information it would be untraceable. The intel generally consists of where we saw each player, where they were headed and what tasks they were doing. The hard part here is that you need to remember all this information relevant to the time. Memorizing this information is relevant to some major event, or just a rough estimate of the time is hard enough on its own. Yet, the player might even opt-in counting seconds to give them more precise information in time. Not only that, but it gives information about kill cooldowns, sabotage timings, precise way to estimate if anyone is faking tasks or not. Also, it could give them information about all the possible positions a player could have reached from a last seen position. This could be vital information in determining who are the plausible killers for some kill. Less decisive, but also important but more difficult, it could also be used to catch a lie. This is done by simulating the path given by some player and comparing how well it fits with the information given by other players. Needless to say, doing deductions, counting precisely, keeping information, and making decisions for the route the player would take all at the same is an extremely difficult task. This is most likely impossible to perfect, so there is always going to be a human error of some kind. Related to this, the tasks themselves, while easy to complete and master, could affect the attention of the player. This could lead to some error either in time management or in the information they are trying to keep in their mind. On a side note, tasks also play into the information gathering aspect of the game. They obscure parts of the screen, leading to less information for a player. Also, they might only see a small feature of a player, and not be able to determine who that player is.
I would like to mention a few elements important to impostors in the roaming phase, on top of the things that have been discussed so far. Impostors have much more freedom in their routing. They still have to follow some rules so that they are not caught faking tasks, or having suspicious routes. But even those rules can be bent because of the lack of perfect information in the game. It still carries some risk, but it is unlikely for them to be caught for that. In turn, they can route solely on gathering intel and unique to impostors - setting up kills and denying information. Impostors have the advantage of bigger vision range - allowing them to gain information, without others gaining information about them back. Sabotages also are a great way of denying information. Lights deny information around the players and are also a good way to set up a kill. Communication is a way to deny long-range information. While not a great way to set up a kill (it is more situational) it is a better sabotage to call in-between kills to screw with information. Vent usages could screw up the timing of some people and the impostor could get a clear for the kill.
What should also be mentioned about the game is that despite its high skill ceiling, it is an easy game to get into. The game involves a lot of risks (which introduces luck) and it also involves expectations of players to play in a certain way. Because of that, the inexperience of newer players leads to smaller expectations on them, which in turn gives them more leeway. They are more likely to be overlooked as impostors, which is a bonus both as impostors and crewmates. Even when people get a better understanding of the newer players, they would still be given more leeway on certain actions as a crewmate. This allows more intricate routes as impostors and makes them more trustworthy, which gives them more of a fight chance.
The meta aspect is one of the important things of the game, as everything ties to it. This is also why the game works much better in a group of the same people rather than random groups. Understanding how other people play and act, and also how other people perceive you, is an essential tool you can use in the game. A unique effect of this is that a lot of your actions are going to have consequences even outside of the game that you are currently in. Thus you need to accommodate your crewmate playstyle to fit your impostor playstyle. Doing the opposite is harder, as the better player you are the more other people demand of your playstyle with a crewmate. Also, you can also set up strategies in several rounds, building trust for specific situations, to use it as an impostor in another round to win. You can't keep using that same strategy constantly, which is why you have to keep planting new seeds and adapting your strategy - you reap what you sow.
The game is not without issues. While all the things discussed so far exist, their relevance depends on the used ruleset. The bright side is that the game opt-in for a lot of options to let the people change the settings. Yet even with those settings, the game is still heavily crewmate sided, especially as players improve. The default settings are even more cremate sided, but that is expected in a game with a lower skill level, where impostors would have more of a chance. As players improve, options become more and more restrictive, and eventually, even house rules have to be introduced against some "cheese" strats that can be used to make the game fair. The maps are also a good example of this, at a high enough level all maps but one are unbalanced.
Sked is heavily shifted in crewmates favour. This is due to the lacklustre vents and the 8-like layout of the map, making it hard to find bodies and deny information. Mira is shifted on the other side. It's all interconnected vents, combined with the decontamination area and the weak information tools for the crewmates lead to this shift.
Polus is the most balanced map of the current 3. Its layout allows for a lot of complexity and room for impostors to play out, while also giving the crewmate strong information tools like vitals, admin and cameras. The only downside for that map is the lack of an equivalent of the oxygen sabotage (it isn't there for lore reasons), which doesn't give impostors a good tool for dealing with groups.
In conclusion, despite its simplistic look, the interaction of the mechanics of Among Us leads to deep gameplay. The game shines in its conversation aspect and has attention intensive tasks (not the ingame tasks) to do outside of the meetings. All those things are combined with an intricate metagame.
Among Us doesn’t rely on a single intricate mechanic to create depth. It instead uses combinations of game elements to introduce variety. Notably, the meta and psychological aspects enrich the strategic complexity despite the underlying mechanics being simple.
Let us consider the core element of the roaming phase: routing. During this phase, the main focus is deciding where to go. If there were no impostors in the game, this would be a simple task of pathing to finish the current tasks as quickly as possible. The presence of an impostor adds an extra layer of complexity: crewmates need to also gather intel regarding where other players are located. In the first round of the game most of the decisions are based on meta-knowledge about other players: individual strategies for intel gathering, tasks players tend to go for, solitary vs group players, how they tend to play as a Crewmate/Impostor, etc. Another option is to take a risk to clear a player by sticking with them (i.e. using yourself as bait). This is a double-edged sword, however, as the Impostor can choose not to go for an easy kill, gaining the trust of the Crewmate testing him (a.k.a. “marinating”). Such risks play a central role in the game. For instance, players that have vital information would avoid dying at any cost so that they can bring it to the meetings. On the other hand, a Crewmate may also want to die:
- sticking to someone that they suspect is an Impostor to tie their hands even by risking their own life.
- to use the noclip and faster speed of being a ghost to finish their tasks faster
- to clear any suspicion over themselves (so the other Crewmates don’t mistakenly think that they’re an Impostor).
Later on, with information from meetings on who is likely to be an Impostor or a Crewmate, more elaborate routes can be devised. Players can also use meetings to gather information about other players’ tasks in order to predict their routes next round.
The emphasis in meeting phases is on deductive and conversational aspects of the game. The information we get in the roaming phase alone is usually not good enough to paint a picture of how the whole round played out. Thus we need to make assumptions based on some kind of deduction. On top of that, the meetings give us information from other parties in the game, letting us make even more accurate deductions to find the Impostors. With good game knowledge enough crewmates by sharing all information, the impostors would be found. (Except in some weird cases where everyone was just speedrunning their tasks, and not getting any information at all). However, it would be foolish for the impostors to let the crewmates do as they please, and this is where the conversational aspect of the game comes into play. In the scenario that the kills haven't been clean in the game (this means the blame for the kill can't be pinpointed to a single or a small group of people), the impostors won't have any benefit of letting the conversation go on untouched. The most direct way to disrupt the meeting conversation is through lies. With a lie, the information deduction alone would not be able to get to a correct answer, though this depends on the type of the lie. A stronger, more direct lie could change the narrative in a predictable way. It can be used to frame or clear someone. Yet such lies would be easy to trace to the liar. They can be more easily found by conflict with other known information, and thus could backfire. It requires a lot of information from the liar, to be able to pull off such a lie. Also, they have to seem trustworthy since they usually won't get backing for that false information (outside of their impostor partner). More importantly, such lies could be found out in later rounds of the game. While it could pay off this round it could cost the impostors the game in the end. More common and useful lies would be a small change of information somewhere deeper in the deduction. (Further away from clearing or pinning someone as an impostor and more about basic information). The benefit of that lie is that it is hard to trace to the liar, but at the same time, the effect is not as clear. However this could again be used - while it wouldn't frame someone for a kill or clear someone, it is effective in wasting time. It is also a safe lie since it might be considered an error rather than a lie as well. Honourable mention to lying by omission. Depending on the context it could be either of 2 types of lies above, and it could even be safer in most scenarios.
Something even more common than lying is conversation control. There is a time limit on each meeting, and players have one button per game they could use for meetings. Note that some meetings can't be extended by those buttons, as the impostors could win if there is a wrong decision in those meetings. Because of that, it is important to be efficient with information. Getting all information out of all players, and sharing deductions from everyone is easier said than done in that short amount of time. This is why the flow of the conversation is important - and also this is where the impostor has an advantage. The impostors know how their own kill happened (and potentially even the kill of their partner) so they know which information is vital. Thus if they control the flow of the conversation they can waste a lot of time on useless information and deductions out of players. This could be used in combination with a lie and to reinforce the lie, by not letting conflicting information in the conversation. Of course, all of this has its own risk, as being wasteful of conversation time is suspicious. An important thing to be noted is that the impostors' lies and disturbance of conversation have an important side effect. It isn't just the impostors that have to deal with scrutinizing their information and deductions, all information would be scrutinized no matter if it is true or false. This is also dependent on the player itself, other ingame information, as well as psychology and meta. Because of this, the players should also worry about their trustworthiness and not just figuring out the killer. You might have everything figured out, but if you can't say it in the short amount of time and convince others, you can't do anything. Even worse someone might undermine your trustworthiness and bring you down - you have to both be good at deduction and conversations to win. One anomaly from this is that there are actually now reasons for crewmates to lie. Saving time, being trustworthy and even catching lies from another player. This does have an innate risk, but it would be often a better choice than telling the truth.
An important element to the deduction is the intel gathering itself. It was mentioned early, but there is an additional aspect to the intel gathering - attention. There is a lot of information that a single player can gather in a single round, but remembering it all isn't an easy thing to do. If there are more alive players, or if the round itself is long, holding old information becomes trouble. While often this information is discarded, if there have been and early kill, without such information it would be untraceable. The intel generally consists of where we saw each player, where they were headed and what tasks they were doing. The hard part here is that you need to remember all this information relevant to the time. Memorizing this information is relevant to some major event, or just a rough estimate of the time is hard enough on its own. Yet, the player might even opt-in counting seconds to give them more precise information in time. Not only that, but it gives information about kill cooldowns, sabotage timings, precise way to estimate if anyone is faking tasks or not. Also, it could give them information about all the possible positions a player could have reached from a last seen position. This could be vital information in determining who are the plausible killers for some kill. Less decisive, but also important but more difficult, it could also be used to catch a lie. This is done by simulating the path given by some player and comparing how well it fits with the information given by other players. Needless to say, doing deductions, counting precisely, keeping information, and making decisions for the route the player would take all at the same is an extremely difficult task. This is most likely impossible to perfect, so there is always going to be a human error of some kind. Related to this, the tasks themselves, while easy to complete and master, could affect the attention of the player. This could lead to some error either in time management or in the information they are trying to keep in their mind. On a side note, tasks also play into the information gathering aspect of the game. They obscure parts of the screen, leading to less information for a player. Also, they might only see a small feature of a player, and not be able to determine who that player is.
I would like to mention a few elements important to impostors in the roaming phase, on top of the things that have been discussed so far. Impostors have much more freedom in their routing. They still have to follow some rules so that they are not caught faking tasks, or having suspicious routes. But even those rules can be bent because of the lack of perfect information in the game. It still carries some risk, but it is unlikely for them to be caught for that. In turn, they can route solely on gathering intel and unique to impostors - setting up kills and denying information. Impostors have the advantage of bigger vision range - allowing them to gain information, without others gaining information about them back. Sabotages also are a great way of denying information. Lights deny information around the players and are also a good way to set up a kill. Communication is a way to deny long-range information. While not a great way to set up a kill (it is more situational) it is a better sabotage to call in-between kills to screw with information. Vent usages could screw up the timing of some people and the impostor could get a clear for the kill.
What should also be mentioned about the game is that despite its high skill ceiling, it is an easy game to get into. The game involves a lot of risks (which introduces luck) and it also involves expectations of players to play in a certain way. Because of that, the inexperience of newer players leads to smaller expectations on them, which in turn gives them more leeway. They are more likely to be overlooked as impostors, which is a bonus both as impostors and crewmates. Even when people get a better understanding of the newer players, they would still be given more leeway on certain actions as a crewmate. This allows more intricate routes as impostors and makes them more trustworthy, which gives them more of a fight chance.
The meta aspect is one of the important things of the game, as everything ties to it. This is also why the game works much better in a group of the same people rather than random groups. Understanding how other people play and act, and also how other people perceive you, is an essential tool you can use in the game. A unique effect of this is that a lot of your actions are going to have consequences even outside of the game that you are currently in. Thus you need to accommodate your crewmate playstyle to fit your impostor playstyle. Doing the opposite is harder, as the better player you are the more other people demand of your playstyle with a crewmate. Also, you can also set up strategies in several rounds, building trust for specific situations, to use it as an impostor in another round to win. You can't keep using that same strategy constantly, which is why you have to keep planting new seeds and adapting your strategy - you reap what you sow.
The game is not without issues. While all the things discussed so far exist, their relevance depends on the used ruleset. The bright side is that the game opt-in for a lot of options to let the people change the settings. Yet even with those settings, the game is still heavily crewmate sided, especially as players improve. The default settings are even more cremate sided, but that is expected in a game with a lower skill level, where impostors would have more of a chance. As players improve, options become more and more restrictive, and eventually, even house rules have to be introduced against some "cheese" strats that can be used to make the game fair. The maps are also a good example of this, at a high enough level all maps but one are unbalanced.
Sked is heavily shifted in crewmates favour. This is due to the lacklustre vents and the 8-like layout of the map, making it hard to find bodies and deny information. Mira is shifted on the other side. It's all interconnected vents, combined with the decontamination area and the weak information tools for the crewmates lead to this shift.
Polus is the most balanced map of the current 3. Its layout allows for a lot of complexity and room for impostors to play out, while also giving the crewmate strong information tools like vitals, admin and cameras. The only downside for that map is the lack of an equivalent of the oxygen sabotage (it isn't there for lore reasons), which doesn't give impostors a good tool for dealing with groups.
In conclusion, despite its simplistic look, the interaction of the mechanics of Among Us leads to deep gameplay. The game shines in its conversation aspect and has attention intensive tasks (not the ingame tasks) to do outside of the meetings. All those things are combined with an intricate metagame.
2020
Doom Eternal is the best action FPS game to this date. It’s challenging, but also provides a good amount of freedom to the player for them to creatively express their skill. To clarify, an action FPS is an FPS that focuses more on mechanical skill (aiming, movement) over strategy (resource management, positioning). Contrary to the old style, which uses finite resources, Doom Eternal resources are cycle based - you regather resources in a cycle similar to arena FPS games. Because of this you are forced to use your entire arsenal at once. You need to find the best usage of each weapon in the given situation for each cycle. This is contrary to the retro style of fps, where the resources are distributed for the whole level instead in a timeframe. Similarly the damage you are allowed to take is also based on cycles. While you can keep regaining health though Glory Kills, the armour is still locked behind this cycle based gameplay.
One of the core aspects of the game is the movement and how it is used for the gameplay. Usually in those types of games the main idea of the movement is to allow the player to dodge attacks and projectiles, and while this is true, there is an even more important aspect to the movement in Eternal - the map traversal. You need to keep relocating if you want to survive in Eternal. While you could skillfully deal with a handful of enemies through dodging and being efficient with your damage, you will inevitably be overrun by a lot more than you can handle if you stay in the same place. Combine that with the enhanced movement of the enemies compared to previous titles and the intricate arenas created to emphasize your ability to traverse them, and you get a very interesting mix of platforming and FPS combat. This serves to intensify the combat even more, by making each second you stand still dangerous and also forces you to shoot while on the move, making it harder to aim. One thing that the map movement does not work with is the cycle based resource gathering. To gather resources your best targets are fodder demons that spawn in specific locations. This makes the resource gathering process itself rather uninteresting, as you just cycle through one location on the map every time. While with interesting level design and ambushes that could work better, it is still very limited to what you can do with it. This was a place where the game could have taken more from the arena FPS genre and bring respawning resources in the arena itself. This would bring more strategic decisions, since now you don’t have just 1 spot to gather ALL kinds of resources, but rather you need to go to different spots on the map to collect different resources. This would make the movement more interesting outside just of enemy management by adding a resource management aspect to it. It could also be used in plethora more interesting ways compared to the current system in the level design itself.
What is easily the biggest strength of Eternal is the enemy roster. Almost every enemy does its job extremely well. Early on the fodder enemies you fight provide decent challenge until you gather your better equipment and abilities, and later on they still have use, not as a threat, but rather for resources. You could easily dispatch them if you need, and you will easily dispatch them while fighting stronger demons due to the use of explosive weapons, however a lot of the time this won’t really be a good thing for you - you want to keep them alive. The hell knight and the dread knight are another good insensitive to put you on the move, and especially the dread knight with its area denial ability. The Arachnotron and the Mancubi are great long range enemies that most of your time will be one of your first targets, or at least their weak points will be. The Pain Elemental similar to the original game brings time to the equation of the combat as the longer they are left alive, the more dangerous they become similar to the original games. Still contrary to them, they don’t have a lasting effect even after they have died like the original, however they are also way more dangerous upfront, so even without many lost souls spawned they are still a big threat. The Carcass is easily one of the best supporting FPS enemies. They are scripted to spawn the shields in very dangerous locations and hinder any plans you currently have. They try to prevent you from shooting at the target you are currently prioritizing, and spawning a shield in your face makes it risky to use the Rocket Launcher because of its splash damage. They can also use shields to prevent you from Glory Killing enemies. Carcasses force you to be even more adaptive to the situation, especially because they’re not that easy to kill; they are often placed in spots you can’t easily get to, and they are one of the few enemies with a tracking ranged hard knockback (albeit they use it mostly in defense), which on hit briefly stuns you, and in a game about constant movement this is even more dangerous. The mobile enemies, the Whiplash and the Prowler, can be really devastating. While they don’t have that much DPS and cannot easily kill the player by themselves, they specialize in hindering your movement, which allows the other demons to sneak attacks in. The Whiplash is especially dangerous - it is harder to kill than the Prowler and you are forced to actually dodge mindfully to not get hit by its hard knockback. Their speed and aggression is also essential to this, making them an immediate threat as you can’t keep running away from them and evading them constantly. The Prowler on the other hand is much easier to kill and does not have hard knockback on its attacks, however their ability to teleport behind you and bodyblock you serves as a hard counter against camping and backpedaling. This could potentially make them extremely dangerous. An issue with them is that they also look similar to the Imps, so you might try to Chainsaw a Prowler for ammo thinking it’s an Imp, only for the unskippable Chainsaw rev animation to play because Prowlers take three pips of fuel to Chainsaw instead of one. The weakest enemies from the heavy demons roster are the Cacos, Revenants and the Pinkies. The Pinkies are rendered almost useless compared to the previous game because of your expanded vertical movement, which let you spend way more time in the air and making their ground attacks pathetic. The Cacos, while dangerous if left alone, can be easily stunned into a Glory Kill state with only 1 Sticky Bomb (ammo for which you will almost never run out for) in their weakspot. The issue with the Revenants is that they are ineffective at pressuring the player on either time or space, leaving them devoid of a niche in the enemy roster and a reason to ever prioritize them. They just feel like a heavier fodder enemy.
Last but not least are the super heavy enemies. They are the biggest threats in each encounter. The Barons of Hell are essentially super duper Hell Knights. They are extremely tanky, so even though they are an extreme threat, they are still very low on your priority list because they take significant commitment to kill but aren’t good at directly damaging you. By the time they’re introduced, you are already used to moving around the arena a lot, and their aggression would never let you stay in the same place.. The Tyrant/Cyberdemon is another tanky enemy, but instead of focusing on chasing you down, it is a slow ranged powerhouse. If you are not careful, you could very easily die to its laser attack or the artillery shots. However, he has one glaring weakness - his attacks are also slow. This allows you to very easily dodge those attacks, but there is an even more important aspect to his attacks - monster infighting. Because of his slow attacks and inaccuracy, he is extremely hazardous not only to you, but to other demons as well. This could lead to much more interesting usage of the Tyrant, than dispatching him when you can. The Doom Hunter, who is originally a boss, is one of the best enemies in the game. He has 2 phases, one is more tanky with a shield, which could influence your weapon choice, and the other phase is mobile, but easy to kill. He could also deal significant damage covering both close and long range, and his general mobility keeps him a threat all the time. He doesn’t have a main goal as most other enemies and is instead an all around enemy. Because of that he would never take all your attention to fight him and also that he can play any role allows him to synchronize with all the rest of the enemies. The Archvile takes the place of the Summoner from the previous game, but is way tankier. It also presents a bigger threat since instead of just spawning fodder it can also spawn buffed Heavy demons in large numbers and even other Super Heavy Demons. This makes them the enemies with the highest priority. There are no more Super Heavy Demons.
The Doomslayer in this game is way stronger than his 2016 counterpart. On top of having a rechargeable chainsaw and a way to gain armour from enemies, the movement abilities of the Doomslayer have gone through the roof. Even though the movement speed of Doomslayer is slightly lower than before, being able to dash more than compensate for that. You would be flying through the map like a mad man, especially with well time dashes. Not only that but this brings a new form of dodging outside of circle strafing and baiting attacks to make dealing with enemies more interesting. The grapple hook on the SSG also makes the movement incredibly fast in the game. It allows for making a super jump, by using any enemy, which is essential for the vertical movement. Though some more skilled use (and the air control rune), it could also be used to gather a lot of momentum quickly. The game also offers a lot of bounce pads and money bars, giving you even more ways to traverse the arena. On top of that the current version of the Ballista boost (formerly the Gauss boost ) allows you to preserve momentum even after a double jump, allowing for way more lateral movement. This with the vertical height you can gain, would allow you to clear any arena in 1 Ballista boost.
Another important aspect is the arsenal of the Doomslayer himself. The starting shotgun quickly loses its usefulness after the start of the game. Later on it can still be used to kill fodder enemies quickly, but as we established that isn’t really a good choice most of the time. However it can still be used to get enemies into glory kill state instead of outright killing them. The only other usage is for the sticky grenades against the Cacos and against some other weak spots. Sadly it lacks the damage to be useful for anything else in either variation (the automatic variation is completely useless after the early game). The rifle on the other hand has become a stronger weapon both for its primary fire and also for its Sniper mode. Not only is the Sniper mode good for dealing with weak points, it also deals considerable damage, so it is a good choice in combination with reload canceling for long range DPS. The Plasma rifle is another good weapon for continuous DPS, however it is overshadowed by other weapons when they are used with the reload canceling ability. It is effective at dealing with fodder, but that isn’t really something you should be thinking about. The biggest use of it is actually the microwave variation, as it allows you to crowd control all the demons with carefully calculated damage on a single enemy (if you damage the enemy just enough for it to be close to death and to not enter the glory kill state you can almost instantly blow it up with the microwave). It can also be used to quickly stun any enemy with just a momentary beam, which could open up the defense of some enemies like the Mancubi, letting you get close to quickly kill them, without them using their AoE attack. The Rockets are an essential weapon of your arsenal. They are one of the main weapons you can use to maximize your DPS thought reload canceling. The lock-on mod is also great for dealing good amounts of damage and dealing with more dangerous mobile enemies quickly. The self-detonate on the other hand is important for its ability to stun demons. The SSG is the other heavy damage dealer of your arsenal, and it is extremely sensitive to range. In midrange it is already really weak, but at point blank is the most devastating weapon in your arsenal. The Ballista is the other DPS weapon you should use. What is good about it is that you can use it at ANY range, making both a good pick for reload canceling on long range, mid range and close range. It is also strong against flying enemies, and it has the mobility option we talked about in the previous paragraph. Last but not least is the chaingun - it can quickly shred enemies, and more importantly stun chasing enemies like the knights and the Baron. The effective usage of your arsenal is obviously thought switching between weapons to cancel the reload, and also it is about managing the stun on tankier enemies you try to combo to death. This could be done through a grenade (which you can shoot while shooting a weapon), the remote detonate, the microwave tap or explosion, a glory punch (boosted punch, which recharges from glory kills), or shooting a weak point. By chaining those stuns together you can be close to an enemy to maximize your DPS without getting damaged yourself. However one important thing about those ways to stun an enemy is that they involve AoE damage (except the weak points and the microwave tap). This would lead to killing off fodder enemies, which could be a damaging decision to you in the long run.
This paragraph will be about some miscellaneous things and issues with the game. First I would like to mention that the pacing on Doom Eternal is way faster than 2016 in terms of progression. You start the game with the double jump, and you very quickly gain access to your abilities and the meat of your arsenal. The collectables are fairly easy to get, and even if you don’t hunt them, you are still likely to have full upgrades towards the end of the game. Important to this is the fast travel feature, which allows you to backtrack more quickly though a level after you complete it, to hunt down all the collectables. However this can’t be used when revisiting missions. This could be problematic both if you wanted to gather the items later on, or if you just wanted to play again a specific encounter of a level. The platforming is another weak point of the game. While the movement in the game is very strong, the game is littered with invisible walls. There are so many places you could reach through an alternative path using your movement, but often that place is specifical locked with an invisible wall, and you are forced to get through it, by the clear path set by the developer. This makes the puzzles and the platforming more Zelda-style in the sense you do not have the freedom to apply your own solution through interesting usage of the mechanics. Most of the bosses are also a big disappointment, some being just basic timing puzzles, and even the good ones lack diversity for their many phases. Another issue with the game is the HUD, important information such as the cooldowns on your Chainsaw, Flame Blech, dash and your Blood Punch are tucked away in the corners of your screen. While this is standard for many games, for a high speed game like Doom Eternal that just isn’t suitable. Having an option for a center bottom HUD, and more importantly small indicators for health/ammo, and the availability of your abilities around the crosshair, are essential for such a high speed game. The lack thereof means people are either going to underuse their abilities, or make a bad call thinking their abilities were available.
Now let’s address the elephant in the room - the Marauder. This enemy is mainly hated for 2 separate reasons. One is the lack of freedom you have for dealing with him, which feels like an antithesis of what Eternal is doing. You do have options to kill him in 1 or 2 cycles, or even use grenades and remote detonate, to not even have to deal with the parry, but compared to how you can play around other enemies it is just lackluster. On another side is the fact that you always deal with him in the same way, which becomes tedious for a while - you need full commitment for this enemy (contrary to the Doom Hunter), which leads to lack of any meaningful interaction between him and other enemies. And not only that but fighting him is not interesting enough by itself. What is even worse than the issue with killing him is that he does not really present a threat, until you decide to fight him. He does not excel at anything - his projectile attack has a tiny hitbox and is slow, so you are unlikely to get hit by it. He and his dog struggle with verticality and your movement, so he ain’t gonna catch up to you majority of the time. Most of the time you can safely ignore him, while you kill everything else and then just finish him at the end of the encounter. This is what really makes him the worst enemy of Doom Eternal, he does not contribute almost anything to the encounters, and it is just a tedious thing you need to kill eventually.
Last, but not least I need to talk about the tutorialization of the game. Many people have been left with the impression that Eternal does not give them a choice in how they want to play the game, but that is quite the contrary. However, while someone could just blame this on those players themselves, I believe the main issue is actually in the tutorialization of the game. While it is great in a sense that it gives the player a lot of information, the place it fails is the emphasis. Doom Eternal is an action FPS, which is a fairly new genre, and most people do not have any expectations of how these games are supposed to be approached. And this is where the game tutorial failed I believe, it lacked the vital information about how the game is supposed to be played and instead focused on trivia about Weak Points. Weak Points are important, but not that important, as the emphasis on them even leads some people to believe that they are the best way to kill enemies. The reality is that Weak Points are just about quickly reducing a threat - if you want to kill an enemy you shouldn’t even consider the Weak Points. On another side, elements like the refilling first pip of the chainsaw aren’t emphasized, as well as the cycle based nature of the resource management (and the HUD contributes to that as well), which then leaves many players with very low resources to work within the long run. Last, but not least the map traversal was also something that should have been pushed into the players, way too many people are used from other games to just circle-strafing in place, backpedalling and dealing with enemies one by one, including the previous Doom games. It is natural that they would try to do what they are used to, so it is another very important point that should have been emphasized.
Special Thanks to Durandal and S.G.S for helping me with this review, as well as the discussions we had around the game, and sharing of ideas.
One of the core aspects of the game is the movement and how it is used for the gameplay. Usually in those types of games the main idea of the movement is to allow the player to dodge attacks and projectiles, and while this is true, there is an even more important aspect to the movement in Eternal - the map traversal. You need to keep relocating if you want to survive in Eternal. While you could skillfully deal with a handful of enemies through dodging and being efficient with your damage, you will inevitably be overrun by a lot more than you can handle if you stay in the same place. Combine that with the enhanced movement of the enemies compared to previous titles and the intricate arenas created to emphasize your ability to traverse them, and you get a very interesting mix of platforming and FPS combat. This serves to intensify the combat even more, by making each second you stand still dangerous and also forces you to shoot while on the move, making it harder to aim. One thing that the map movement does not work with is the cycle based resource gathering. To gather resources your best targets are fodder demons that spawn in specific locations. This makes the resource gathering process itself rather uninteresting, as you just cycle through one location on the map every time. While with interesting level design and ambushes that could work better, it is still very limited to what you can do with it. This was a place where the game could have taken more from the arena FPS genre and bring respawning resources in the arena itself. This would bring more strategic decisions, since now you don’t have just 1 spot to gather ALL kinds of resources, but rather you need to go to different spots on the map to collect different resources. This would make the movement more interesting outside just of enemy management by adding a resource management aspect to it. It could also be used in plethora more interesting ways compared to the current system in the level design itself.
What is easily the biggest strength of Eternal is the enemy roster. Almost every enemy does its job extremely well. Early on the fodder enemies you fight provide decent challenge until you gather your better equipment and abilities, and later on they still have use, not as a threat, but rather for resources. You could easily dispatch them if you need, and you will easily dispatch them while fighting stronger demons due to the use of explosive weapons, however a lot of the time this won’t really be a good thing for you - you want to keep them alive. The hell knight and the dread knight are another good insensitive to put you on the move, and especially the dread knight with its area denial ability. The Arachnotron and the Mancubi are great long range enemies that most of your time will be one of your first targets, or at least their weak points will be. The Pain Elemental similar to the original game brings time to the equation of the combat as the longer they are left alive, the more dangerous they become similar to the original games. Still contrary to them, they don’t have a lasting effect even after they have died like the original, however they are also way more dangerous upfront, so even without many lost souls spawned they are still a big threat. The Carcass is easily one of the best supporting FPS enemies. They are scripted to spawn the shields in very dangerous locations and hinder any plans you currently have. They try to prevent you from shooting at the target you are currently prioritizing, and spawning a shield in your face makes it risky to use the Rocket Launcher because of its splash damage. They can also use shields to prevent you from Glory Killing enemies. Carcasses force you to be even more adaptive to the situation, especially because they’re not that easy to kill; they are often placed in spots you can’t easily get to, and they are one of the few enemies with a tracking ranged hard knockback (albeit they use it mostly in defense), which on hit briefly stuns you, and in a game about constant movement this is even more dangerous. The mobile enemies, the Whiplash and the Prowler, can be really devastating. While they don’t have that much DPS and cannot easily kill the player by themselves, they specialize in hindering your movement, which allows the other demons to sneak attacks in. The Whiplash is especially dangerous - it is harder to kill than the Prowler and you are forced to actually dodge mindfully to not get hit by its hard knockback. Their speed and aggression is also essential to this, making them an immediate threat as you can’t keep running away from them and evading them constantly. The Prowler on the other hand is much easier to kill and does not have hard knockback on its attacks, however their ability to teleport behind you and bodyblock you serves as a hard counter against camping and backpedaling. This could potentially make them extremely dangerous. An issue with them is that they also look similar to the Imps, so you might try to Chainsaw a Prowler for ammo thinking it’s an Imp, only for the unskippable Chainsaw rev animation to play because Prowlers take three pips of fuel to Chainsaw instead of one. The weakest enemies from the heavy demons roster are the Cacos, Revenants and the Pinkies. The Pinkies are rendered almost useless compared to the previous game because of your expanded vertical movement, which let you spend way more time in the air and making their ground attacks pathetic. The Cacos, while dangerous if left alone, can be easily stunned into a Glory Kill state with only 1 Sticky Bomb (ammo for which you will almost never run out for) in their weakspot. The issue with the Revenants is that they are ineffective at pressuring the player on either time or space, leaving them devoid of a niche in the enemy roster and a reason to ever prioritize them. They just feel like a heavier fodder enemy.
Last but not least are the super heavy enemies. They are the biggest threats in each encounter. The Barons of Hell are essentially super duper Hell Knights. They are extremely tanky, so even though they are an extreme threat, they are still very low on your priority list because they take significant commitment to kill but aren’t good at directly damaging you. By the time they’re introduced, you are already used to moving around the arena a lot, and their aggression would never let you stay in the same place.. The Tyrant/Cyberdemon is another tanky enemy, but instead of focusing on chasing you down, it is a slow ranged powerhouse. If you are not careful, you could very easily die to its laser attack or the artillery shots. However, he has one glaring weakness - his attacks are also slow. This allows you to very easily dodge those attacks, but there is an even more important aspect to his attacks - monster infighting. Because of his slow attacks and inaccuracy, he is extremely hazardous not only to you, but to other demons as well. This could lead to much more interesting usage of the Tyrant, than dispatching him when you can. The Doom Hunter, who is originally a boss, is one of the best enemies in the game. He has 2 phases, one is more tanky with a shield, which could influence your weapon choice, and the other phase is mobile, but easy to kill. He could also deal significant damage covering both close and long range, and his general mobility keeps him a threat all the time. He doesn’t have a main goal as most other enemies and is instead an all around enemy. Because of that he would never take all your attention to fight him and also that he can play any role allows him to synchronize with all the rest of the enemies. The Archvile takes the place of the Summoner from the previous game, but is way tankier. It also presents a bigger threat since instead of just spawning fodder it can also spawn buffed Heavy demons in large numbers and even other Super Heavy Demons. This makes them the enemies with the highest priority. There are no more Super Heavy Demons.
The Doomslayer in this game is way stronger than his 2016 counterpart. On top of having a rechargeable chainsaw and a way to gain armour from enemies, the movement abilities of the Doomslayer have gone through the roof. Even though the movement speed of Doomslayer is slightly lower than before, being able to dash more than compensate for that. You would be flying through the map like a mad man, especially with well time dashes. Not only that but this brings a new form of dodging outside of circle strafing and baiting attacks to make dealing with enemies more interesting. The grapple hook on the SSG also makes the movement incredibly fast in the game. It allows for making a super jump, by using any enemy, which is essential for the vertical movement. Though some more skilled use (and the air control rune), it could also be used to gather a lot of momentum quickly. The game also offers a lot of bounce pads and money bars, giving you even more ways to traverse the arena. On top of that the current version of the Ballista boost (formerly the Gauss boost ) allows you to preserve momentum even after a double jump, allowing for way more lateral movement. This with the vertical height you can gain, would allow you to clear any arena in 1 Ballista boost.
Another important aspect is the arsenal of the Doomslayer himself. The starting shotgun quickly loses its usefulness after the start of the game. Later on it can still be used to kill fodder enemies quickly, but as we established that isn’t really a good choice most of the time. However it can still be used to get enemies into glory kill state instead of outright killing them. The only other usage is for the sticky grenades against the Cacos and against some other weak spots. Sadly it lacks the damage to be useful for anything else in either variation (the automatic variation is completely useless after the early game). The rifle on the other hand has become a stronger weapon both for its primary fire and also for its Sniper mode. Not only is the Sniper mode good for dealing with weak points, it also deals considerable damage, so it is a good choice in combination with reload canceling for long range DPS. The Plasma rifle is another good weapon for continuous DPS, however it is overshadowed by other weapons when they are used with the reload canceling ability. It is effective at dealing with fodder, but that isn’t really something you should be thinking about. The biggest use of it is actually the microwave variation, as it allows you to crowd control all the demons with carefully calculated damage on a single enemy (if you damage the enemy just enough for it to be close to death and to not enter the glory kill state you can almost instantly blow it up with the microwave). It can also be used to quickly stun any enemy with just a momentary beam, which could open up the defense of some enemies like the Mancubi, letting you get close to quickly kill them, without them using their AoE attack. The Rockets are an essential weapon of your arsenal. They are one of the main weapons you can use to maximize your DPS thought reload canceling. The lock-on mod is also great for dealing good amounts of damage and dealing with more dangerous mobile enemies quickly. The self-detonate on the other hand is important for its ability to stun demons. The SSG is the other heavy damage dealer of your arsenal, and it is extremely sensitive to range. In midrange it is already really weak, but at point blank is the most devastating weapon in your arsenal. The Ballista is the other DPS weapon you should use. What is good about it is that you can use it at ANY range, making both a good pick for reload canceling on long range, mid range and close range. It is also strong against flying enemies, and it has the mobility option we talked about in the previous paragraph. Last but not least is the chaingun - it can quickly shred enemies, and more importantly stun chasing enemies like the knights and the Baron. The effective usage of your arsenal is obviously thought switching between weapons to cancel the reload, and also it is about managing the stun on tankier enemies you try to combo to death. This could be done through a grenade (which you can shoot while shooting a weapon), the remote detonate, the microwave tap or explosion, a glory punch (boosted punch, which recharges from glory kills), or shooting a weak point. By chaining those stuns together you can be close to an enemy to maximize your DPS without getting damaged yourself. However one important thing about those ways to stun an enemy is that they involve AoE damage (except the weak points and the microwave tap). This would lead to killing off fodder enemies, which could be a damaging decision to you in the long run.
This paragraph will be about some miscellaneous things and issues with the game. First I would like to mention that the pacing on Doom Eternal is way faster than 2016 in terms of progression. You start the game with the double jump, and you very quickly gain access to your abilities and the meat of your arsenal. The collectables are fairly easy to get, and even if you don’t hunt them, you are still likely to have full upgrades towards the end of the game. Important to this is the fast travel feature, which allows you to backtrack more quickly though a level after you complete it, to hunt down all the collectables. However this can’t be used when revisiting missions. This could be problematic both if you wanted to gather the items later on, or if you just wanted to play again a specific encounter of a level. The platforming is another weak point of the game. While the movement in the game is very strong, the game is littered with invisible walls. There are so many places you could reach through an alternative path using your movement, but often that place is specifical locked with an invisible wall, and you are forced to get through it, by the clear path set by the developer. This makes the puzzles and the platforming more Zelda-style in the sense you do not have the freedom to apply your own solution through interesting usage of the mechanics. Most of the bosses are also a big disappointment, some being just basic timing puzzles, and even the good ones lack diversity for their many phases. Another issue with the game is the HUD, important information such as the cooldowns on your Chainsaw, Flame Blech, dash and your Blood Punch are tucked away in the corners of your screen. While this is standard for many games, for a high speed game like Doom Eternal that just isn’t suitable. Having an option for a center bottom HUD, and more importantly small indicators for health/ammo, and the availability of your abilities around the crosshair, are essential for such a high speed game. The lack thereof means people are either going to underuse their abilities, or make a bad call thinking their abilities were available.
Now let’s address the elephant in the room - the Marauder. This enemy is mainly hated for 2 separate reasons. One is the lack of freedom you have for dealing with him, which feels like an antithesis of what Eternal is doing. You do have options to kill him in 1 or 2 cycles, or even use grenades and remote detonate, to not even have to deal with the parry, but compared to how you can play around other enemies it is just lackluster. On another side is the fact that you always deal with him in the same way, which becomes tedious for a while - you need full commitment for this enemy (contrary to the Doom Hunter), which leads to lack of any meaningful interaction between him and other enemies. And not only that but fighting him is not interesting enough by itself. What is even worse than the issue with killing him is that he does not really present a threat, until you decide to fight him. He does not excel at anything - his projectile attack has a tiny hitbox and is slow, so you are unlikely to get hit by it. He and his dog struggle with verticality and your movement, so he ain’t gonna catch up to you majority of the time. Most of the time you can safely ignore him, while you kill everything else and then just finish him at the end of the encounter. This is what really makes him the worst enemy of Doom Eternal, he does not contribute almost anything to the encounters, and it is just a tedious thing you need to kill eventually.
Last, but not least I need to talk about the tutorialization of the game. Many people have been left with the impression that Eternal does not give them a choice in how they want to play the game, but that is quite the contrary. However, while someone could just blame this on those players themselves, I believe the main issue is actually in the tutorialization of the game. While it is great in a sense that it gives the player a lot of information, the place it fails is the emphasis. Doom Eternal is an action FPS, which is a fairly new genre, and most people do not have any expectations of how these games are supposed to be approached. And this is where the game tutorial failed I believe, it lacked the vital information about how the game is supposed to be played and instead focused on trivia about Weak Points. Weak Points are important, but not that important, as the emphasis on them even leads some people to believe that they are the best way to kill enemies. The reality is that Weak Points are just about quickly reducing a threat - if you want to kill an enemy you shouldn’t even consider the Weak Points. On another side, elements like the refilling first pip of the chainsaw aren’t emphasized, as well as the cycle based nature of the resource management (and the HUD contributes to that as well), which then leaves many players with very low resources to work within the long run. Last, but not least the map traversal was also something that should have been pushed into the players, way too many people are used from other games to just circle-strafing in place, backpedalling and dealing with enemies one by one, including the previous Doom games. It is natural that they would try to do what they are used to, so it is another very important point that should have been emphasized.
Special Thanks to Durandal and S.G.S for helping me with this review, as well as the discussions we had around the game, and sharing of ideas.
2019
Baba is You offers an interesting take on the puzzle genre. In essence, it is a combination of Sokoban and programming. While the programming portion of manipulating the rules already gives it infinite potential to make any puzzle, the Sokuban aspect contextualizes the puzzles to make them less abstract (even then Baba is You is an extremely abstract game).
This freedom of the mechanics allows for really wild setups that can be made, giving the player many tools (tools in the sense of ideas, and not an in-game gameplay ability) at their disposal. Many levels throughout the whole game are designed around figuring out those tools.
On the other side, those tools are later reused in tandem with other ideas to create more and more complex levels. Those would be the majority of the levels in-game, even though most players would find themselves taking more time on the former set of levels.
Till the very end of the game, new rules are getting added, which adds more and more that can be learned. This isn't to say that the game just plays on a new gimmick for every level to keep the attention of the player - it thoroughly explores each and every mechanic it present to the player. The game is very long and it can feel like it has already exhausted what it can teach you by the end, even though by the very nature of the mechanics this is impossible.
While the game offers extremely interesting puzzles and mechanics, it still suffers several issues. It has somewhat inconsistent difficulty, which gets worse the deeper you get in the game (in a sense this is close to unavoidable to an extent considering how abstract the puzzles get later on). A good amount of the levels that are about learning a new trick could be very abstruse to figure out in the most later zones. Also, the last zone reuses many ideas of the first zones, however, by that point in the game, the player might have forgotten some of the less used ideas - I found myself having to replay the game twice to be able to beat the full game due to this. It would have been nice to have a refresher to those ideas somewhere so that the player should not figure them out again but in a more complex scenario.
The game is still amazing, even if the last areas are not paced as good as the rest of the game (they still offer some of the best puzzles in the game). The game is also going to get an official level editor in the future and with the nature of the mechanics, it has amazing potential for community levels.
This freedom of the mechanics allows for really wild setups that can be made, giving the player many tools (tools in the sense of ideas, and not an in-game gameplay ability) at their disposal. Many levels throughout the whole game are designed around figuring out those tools.
On the other side, those tools are later reused in tandem with other ideas to create more and more complex levels. Those would be the majority of the levels in-game, even though most players would find themselves taking more time on the former set of levels.
Till the very end of the game, new rules are getting added, which adds more and more that can be learned. This isn't to say that the game just plays on a new gimmick for every level to keep the attention of the player - it thoroughly explores each and every mechanic it present to the player. The game is very long and it can feel like it has already exhausted what it can teach you by the end, even though by the very nature of the mechanics this is impossible.
While the game offers extremely interesting puzzles and mechanics, it still suffers several issues. It has somewhat inconsistent difficulty, which gets worse the deeper you get in the game (in a sense this is close to unavoidable to an extent considering how abstract the puzzles get later on). A good amount of the levels that are about learning a new trick could be very abstruse to figure out in the most later zones. Also, the last zone reuses many ideas of the first zones, however, by that point in the game, the player might have forgotten some of the less used ideas - I found myself having to replay the game twice to be able to beat the full game due to this. It would have been nice to have a refresher to those ideas somewhere so that the player should not figure them out again but in a more complex scenario.
The game is still amazing, even if the last areas are not paced as good as the rest of the game (they still offer some of the best puzzles in the game). The game is also going to get an official level editor in the future and with the nature of the mechanics, it has amazing potential for community levels.
2011
Bastion is a combination of good art, music, atmosphere, amazing narration and a decent story. The gameplay is good enough for the length of the game, with a little bit of variety and some room for mastery, but it doesn't really have much of replay value. The game has more than enough to offer for its price, and even if you do not love it I would say it is more than worth the money for the experience it provides.
2018
MASTERPISS!
Now let's get a bit more serious - this is obviously not a video game. It is a training program and currently, it is the best training program on the market. If you are looking to improve your aim for FPS games, and you are willing to spend time for that, this is more than worth the money as it offers a lot of amazing scenarios to practice your aim (and there are some good guides for it as well). It also offers good conversions for FOV and sensitivity from most popular shooters and also nice tools to make your own scenarios or changes if you need to do so. While it isn't flawless as I already mentioned it is currently the best trainer, with nothing good enough to compete with it.
Now let's get a bit more serious - this is obviously not a video game. It is a training program and currently, it is the best training program on the market. If you are looking to improve your aim for FPS games, and you are willing to spend time for that, this is more than worth the money as it offers a lot of amazing scenarios to practice your aim (and there are some good guides for it as well). It also offers good conversions for FOV and sensitivity from most popular shooters and also nice tools to make your own scenarios or changes if you need to do so. While it isn't flawless as I already mentioned it is currently the best trainer, with nothing good enough to compete with it.