Admittingly I wasn't vibing with Condemned: Criminal Origins during the first couple of hours, because I kept subconsciously making comparisons to the other Monolith Productions game I played earlier this year, F.E.A.R.. That said, once I got over my initial misgivings and let the game speak for itself, I started to really appreciate a lot more of the game's strengths. In a way, they're both brilliantly done to where you know it's Monolith behind the wheel; yet at the same time, it's interesting how the two games are almost antitheses in other regards.

Let's start with the similarities. Both games are incredible at creating these dismal and unsettling atmospheres thanks to how the game constantly manages to keep you on guard. It throws every trick in the book to show that something's up through swinging lights, film grain, fog, quick bursts of enemy movement in the corner of your vision, looming shadows, creaky doors, and so on so forth, painting terror in the environment without any cheap jumpscares. In particular, Condemned's often monotone and washed out condensed hallways and rooms are littered with few sources of light and plenty of signs of urban decay, giving credence to the backstory of the forsaken parts of the city that have since become shelter to those left behind by society, now vindictive and hungry to exact revenge upon anything that moves. The most impressive thing is that not one of these tactics are overused, and in fact the shifting environment when backtracking in certain locations due to altered lighting or displaced barriers further emphasizes the raw danger. The sound design is incredible too, as thanks to the rather intentionally poor lighting throughout the game, I often had to rely on echoing objects crashing to the floor or footsteps behind me to prep myself for incoming combat. To top it all off, Condemned slowly introduces more and more supernatural elements, starting subtly with the central mystery but unveiling more and more as you delve deeper into the rabbit hole, with certain paranormal elements unfolding before your eyes as a honestly pretty effective attempt to instill Thomas as an unreliable narrator and observer; as much as Thomas would love to rely on his lab evidence to pick out the perpetrator, he finds out that he was chosen for a reason, and this internal struggle slowly tears him apart from the inside until you as Thomas begin to question your own judgement. I think this is best represented by the sudden black and white flashbacks interspersed between the investigative elements and combat, putting you in a 3rd person perspective viewing the killer's past actions and leaving Thomas visibly panting as he struggles to make sense of why he's the one burdened with these starkly terrifying visions.

I'll admit it took me a bit to get used to the combat. F.E.A.R.'s combat is flashy and sporadic, just the way that I'd imagine chaotic firefights to be. However, Condemned focuses far less on firefights, and more on improvisational close quarters combat in tightly cramped and dimly lit rooms and corridors with melee weapons. In a way, it's actually more terrifying than F.E.A.R.; F.E.A.R. constantly gives you moments where you feel like a monster, as you can get the jump on enemies and tear them apart with bullet spray in slow-mo while your foes go "He's too fast!". Condemned, on the other hand, is raw and visceral street brawling with whatever weapons you've got on hand; you're constantly in the face of enemies just barely dodging and blocking their attacks while chipping away at them with kicks and swings of your own, and fighting multiple enemies in a horde is extremely difficult, so you're almost always constantly losing ground to even try and survive. If you try and play this like a traditional fighting game and simply wait for them to approach and block, that often doesn't work either, because the AI is a bit smarter than that; they'll often feint or mix up attacks and timing to catch you off guard. As a result, enemies in Condemned feel very real and alive; there's no cheeky quips or over the top weaponry to be found, just snarling and grunting twisted beings doing whatever they can to tear you down so they can survive another day.

I think in this sense, Condemned is great at shocking the player by constantly ripping away any semblance of safety and control. Scattered through the environments are a variety of clues that have to be analyzed and sent to Rosa to further unravel the mystery. But you're not immune to danger while doing so; you often have to be ready for enemy attacks and intrusions while using your tools so you can quickly switch back to weapons to defend yourself, and even if you try and take it upon yourself to clear out enemies before beginning detective work, you can never be too sure that an enemy hasn't already caught on and could be lurking around the corner if you stray too far from the path. Furthermore, the game introduces two elements as a sort of "balance" to help you out with more difficult parts of combat. You can occasionally pick up firearms from exploring or from defeating some enemies to more quickly dispatch foes, and you're also given a taser that can temporarily stun a single enemy and recharges over time. These absolutely have their limitations though; firearms have a limited amount of ammo and cannot be reloaded, turning into what is more or less an inferior blunt object with limited durability once emptied, and tasers can only stun one enemy at a time and may not even provide enough of a gap to effectively finish off the foe. So in a way, combat is this never-ending frenzy of scrambling to find new weapons and keeping a close eye on the taser's energy gauge, further accentuated by the need to pick up certain weapons that can clear overworld obstacles such as a fire axe to break down wooden doors, or a shovel to destroy powered locks. As a final wrinkle to all of this, the last chapter of the game takes away both your flashlight and taser for a truly terrifying conclusion; you must now suddenly adapt to making your way through the dark with your only main source of light a burning 4x4, and any weapons picked up to fend off enemies will rob you of your torch and must be sufficient enough to get past foes without your tried and true stun.

Now this game is not without its faults, many of which become more and more flagrant as the game progresses. There is a lot of classic 2000s jank to be found, as quite a few enemies walked through walls and windows to attack me or suddenly had very strange yardstick disjointed hitboxes, and there's the occasional break-dancing corpse falling through the floors or clipping into barriers that can break the otherwise solid and haunting immersion. There were also a few instances where enemies weren't affected by my bullets immediately after being stunned by the taser despite being shot point-blank by a shotgun, which led to some moments of frustration of my ammo being wasted and taking excess damage when the enemy retaliated. I will also admit that I have some gripes regarding the movement, particularly in how Thomas moves significantly more slowly on any incline or any set of stairs (and holding down sprint does nothing); while I get this is most likely an intentional artistic choice to make combat more deliberate and force players to take more time to soak in the surroundings, I think limiting the movement speed to this degree on every single set of stairs is a bit much and extremely noticeable in slowing the pace of the game down. And finally, I do think that the block active frames window is a bit too small, and lengthening the block window would help combat from feeling like I always had to go on the offensive to proc reactions from enemies. It's fortunately not as much of an issue against standard enemies, where you can often bait and punish, but it does become quite a challenge against the final boss, which provides far less room for error.

I think Condemned nails the grittier crime thriller tone of a harrowing supernatural murder mystery while feeling constantly oppressive in nature thanks to the prevalent sense of danger lurking around every corner and looming premonitions that there's something far bigger at stake and you're just a small piece of the puzzle with no control or grasp on anything. I think it's a tougher sell compared to its flashier and just as batshit crazy cousin F.E.A.R., but if you're willing to put in the time and the toil, it's one genuinely terrifying experience that you'll never forget.