Truly a masterclass in both world-building and immersion.
The story is subtly put together through world observations and crew logs that offer a much deeper sight into this dark future, a future where humanity looks to the stars for survival.
Gameplay is both incredibly fluid while also being just cumbersome enough that the player never feels fully in control. The limb dismemberment mechanics are a novel feature for it's time of release when all other horror shooters took on the "aim for the head" trope seen in all undead media.
as mentioned previously, the worldbuilding and lore is a major selling point for this series, although the character dynamics are a let down in comparison. Hammond is very one-note and doesn't offer much in the way of having a personality, and Kendra is obnoxiously antagonistic from the opening scenes, this does later make sense. however, it does hurt certain plot reveals later on.
Visually the game still holds up very well. In certain rooms and areas where the lighting is bright, the games visual shortcomings are very apparent and hard to overlook, but for the most part the lighting and fog effects cover this up perfectly.
now for the elephant in the room, the dreaded PC port of the game. This port is unstable, prone to crashing, and often won't let the player leave the opening section due to a collision bug.
There are several mods and fixes to solve these issues, and with these installed the experience is actually better than it's console counter-part. I am able to play the game locked at 144 fps with no stuttering, screen tearing, or any physics issues.
overall I would consider this game to be a Masterpiece in science fiction horror and would recommend to all
The story is subtly put together through world observations and crew logs that offer a much deeper sight into this dark future, a future where humanity looks to the stars for survival.
Gameplay is both incredibly fluid while also being just cumbersome enough that the player never feels fully in control. The limb dismemberment mechanics are a novel feature for it's time of release when all other horror shooters took on the "aim for the head" trope seen in all undead media.
as mentioned previously, the worldbuilding and lore is a major selling point for this series, although the character dynamics are a let down in comparison. Hammond is very one-note and doesn't offer much in the way of having a personality, and Kendra is obnoxiously antagonistic from the opening scenes, this does later make sense. however, it does hurt certain plot reveals later on.
Visually the game still holds up very well. In certain rooms and areas where the lighting is bright, the games visual shortcomings are very apparent and hard to overlook, but for the most part the lighting and fog effects cover this up perfectly.
now for the elephant in the room, the dreaded PC port of the game. This port is unstable, prone to crashing, and often won't let the player leave the opening section due to a collision bug.
There are several mods and fixes to solve these issues, and with these installed the experience is actually better than it's console counter-part. I am able to play the game locked at 144 fps with no stuttering, screen tearing, or any physics issues.
overall I would consider this game to be a Masterpiece in science fiction horror and would recommend to all
CyaAqua
1 year ago