GRYITH
Got somewhere to be but I'll forget to write this if I don't do it right now, so to keep it brief:
This game doesn't handle the emotional beats of the story nearly as well as the first game, to the point where several character decisions are just completely unmotivated and nonsensical - however it's still engaging and never suffers any downtime, not bad by any means, but nothing quite comes close to the Martin Li and Otto Octavius storylines in the first game.
None of that matters however because Insomniac have made the best action game of the year - learning from Miles Morales that you should actually start the player off with all of your combat moves instead of having to unlock them for a hollow sense of progression that makes the first hours of the game boring, and now only having the skill trees unlock special moves that feel a lot more suited to a slow unlock. Combat is smooth, constantly throwing new things at you and always asking you to push it to the limit - and the traversal is maybe one of the best open world traversal systems ever put on a controller - with just a few changes and additions and the option to add fall damage and turn off swing-assist to make the web-swinging more physics based, I could spend an entire day JUST zipping around New York. Even beyond the traversal and combat, choosing to do an encounter stealthily has also been improved and all they did was add one mechanic - the web-lines had me giggling and kicking my feet like a schoolgirl when I realised I could put together an actual spider-web to trap my foes in; there really isn't a part of this game that hasn't been improved. They even improved the MJ sections, universally known as the worst parts of the first game, to the point where I was excited to do them.
Pushing my time here, so suffice to say that this is easily one of the best games of the year, as if there was ever any doubt that'd be the case.
This game doesn't handle the emotional beats of the story nearly as well as the first game, to the point where several character decisions are just completely unmotivated and nonsensical - however it's still engaging and never suffers any downtime, not bad by any means, but nothing quite comes close to the Martin Li and Otto Octavius storylines in the first game.
None of that matters however because Insomniac have made the best action game of the year - learning from Miles Morales that you should actually start the player off with all of your combat moves instead of having to unlock them for a hollow sense of progression that makes the first hours of the game boring, and now only having the skill trees unlock special moves that feel a lot more suited to a slow unlock. Combat is smooth, constantly throwing new things at you and always asking you to push it to the limit - and the traversal is maybe one of the best open world traversal systems ever put on a controller - with just a few changes and additions and the option to add fall damage and turn off swing-assist to make the web-swinging more physics based, I could spend an entire day JUST zipping around New York. Even beyond the traversal and combat, choosing to do an encounter stealthily has also been improved and all they did was add one mechanic - the web-lines had me giggling and kicking my feet like a schoolgirl when I realised I could put together an actual spider-web to trap my foes in; there really isn't a part of this game that hasn't been improved. They even improved the MJ sections, universally known as the worst parts of the first game, to the point where I was excited to do them.
Pushing my time here, so suffice to say that this is easily one of the best games of the year, as if there was ever any doubt that'd be the case.
2023
One that's kinda flown under the radar other than a few trailers - but a great easy-to-pick-up puzzle game I can easily recommend!
2016
Much like Alan Wake, the gameplay has a lot of good ideas, and this includes some really cool combat abilities and mechanics, but still feels a bit clunky to use, it's almost there, just needs a bit of refinement (see: Control). This game is also an insane visual spectacle, this could come out now, an entire generation later, and people would still praise it's visuals, and not just because of the graphical quality, the set pieces and VFX are outstanding and really create a sense of excitement, but never make it hard to tell what's happening in combat.
The issue comes with the story, not only are the characters extremely dull and the story snoringly straightforward - the story takes up the vast majority of the game. For a game that includes an entire 4 episode live-action TV show that plays between the acts, it's an absolutely bewildering decision to also make more of the time during the game portions walking around listening to people talk than actually engaging in the fun combat. Seriously, I think about 75% of this entire game, even when not including the TV show episodes, is just story dialogue, which is a huge shame. So it should really speak to the absolute height of achievement this game reaches as a technical spectacle that it still recieves the score I've given it. Don't get me wrong, I think including live-action segments is not only on brand for Remedy but is a really interesting idea, it just adds nothing here and creates a sense of tedium.
Anyway, might replay Control again.
The issue comes with the story, not only are the characters extremely dull and the story snoringly straightforward - the story takes up the vast majority of the game. For a game that includes an entire 4 episode live-action TV show that plays between the acts, it's an absolutely bewildering decision to also make more of the time during the game portions walking around listening to people talk than actually engaging in the fun combat. Seriously, I think about 75% of this entire game, even when not including the TV show episodes, is just story dialogue, which is a huge shame. So it should really speak to the absolute height of achievement this game reaches as a technical spectacle that it still recieves the score I've given it. Don't get me wrong, I think including live-action segments is not only on brand for Remedy but is a really interesting idea, it just adds nothing here and creates a sense of tedium.
Anyway, might replay Control again.
Raw thoughts as the credits are rolling in front of me: Breath of the Wild was one of the best games ever made, a perfect modernisation of the tone and core elements of a classic series that's known for reinventing itself almost every iteration. It kept everything that makes the franchise feel cohesive and added to it with new abilities, capabilities and carrying forward a lot of the best elements of previous games as well as new ones that make you have to really think about every move you make in a massive open world that simultaneously feels vast and isolated whilst still feeling like there's something new around every corner. It was as good as everyone said it was at the time.
Tears of the Kingdom surpasses it in almost every way.
Don't misunderstand me, it's both largely a similar experience and a very different experience, but I cannot see myself going back to breath of the wild. New abilities grant you near-unlimited powers of creation, shrines shift from mere puzzle solving to puzzles that teach you new creative ways to use these abilities. The map feels fittingly more full and lively, with the world coming back to life, it feels like time truly has passed. Dungeons don't just act like tradition Zelda dungeons in the gameplay, they also look the part; whilst I think the 'all the dungeons look the same ergo there are no dungeons' mentality a lot of BOTW critics tout is extremely poorly thought-through, the aesthetic differences between dungeons here is a step-up.
Even the final boss here feels like an improvement, in the previous game it was far too easy if you have done all the game asks you to, but here it's a real and genuine challenge, asking you to push the raw combat to it's mechanical limits, in fact it might be one of the best final bosses in series history. That goes for the combat in general, this is a much tougher game to survive and you really have to think through everything you do. Even the story feels more interesting as it's split evenly between the flashbacks that the previous game held its story in and current happenings right now.
It's insane that you can take a game that was such a moment for the industry as breath of the wild and just make it better on perhaps every level, but if any series can do it, it's Zelda.
Tears of the Kingdom surpasses it in almost every way.
Don't misunderstand me, it's both largely a similar experience and a very different experience, but I cannot see myself going back to breath of the wild. New abilities grant you near-unlimited powers of creation, shrines shift from mere puzzle solving to puzzles that teach you new creative ways to use these abilities. The map feels fittingly more full and lively, with the world coming back to life, it feels like time truly has passed. Dungeons don't just act like tradition Zelda dungeons in the gameplay, they also look the part; whilst I think the 'all the dungeons look the same ergo there are no dungeons' mentality a lot of BOTW critics tout is extremely poorly thought-through, the aesthetic differences between dungeons here is a step-up.
Even the final boss here feels like an improvement, in the previous game it was far too easy if you have done all the game asks you to, but here it's a real and genuine challenge, asking you to push the raw combat to it's mechanical limits, in fact it might be one of the best final bosses in series history. That goes for the combat in general, this is a much tougher game to survive and you really have to think through everything you do. Even the story feels more interesting as it's split evenly between the flashbacks that the previous game held its story in and current happenings right now.
It's insane that you can take a game that was such a moment for the industry as breath of the wild and just make it better on perhaps every level, but if any series can do it, it's Zelda.
Genuinely outstanding, mixing cinematic language into an experience that never compromises it's identity as a video game; with a clear world and lore but still begs to be interpreted, simple yet effective art design and surprisingly engaging gameplay - but most of all, it's absolutely dripping, no, POURING with atmosphere, every line of dialogue, every tonal change to the excellent soundtrack, every abrupt scene change will have you on the edge of your seat.
It's a good thing this is only an hour long, or I'd have been up all night, no way I'd be able to put this down and come back later.
HIGHLY recommend, I know I'll be playing it again very soon.
It's a good thing this is only an hour long, or I'd have been up all night, no way I'd be able to put this down and come back later.
HIGHLY recommend, I know I'll be playing it again very soon.
2019
Finally played this, no idea why it doesn't get more buzz - great story, outstanding music and beautiful art and animation; I'm glad there's a garden mode that lets you play with the generative musical gardens as much as you want because I honestly might just use it as background ambience in my day to day life.
I did feel like I was running around like a headless chicken a lot of the time when the game asks to find people but doesn't tell you where they are, and I realise this is to encourage you to talk to people around town but I'm too antisocial and that does not appeal to me. Also the second half of the game is in desperate need of a sprint button.
Nevertheless, the way character stories and backgrounds unfold over the course of the game, the places you go and see, and the themes of measuring personal accountability, environmentalism, community and responsibility are excellently executed.
Loved it
I did feel like I was running around like a headless chicken a lot of the time when the game asks to find people but doesn't tell you where they are, and I realise this is to encourage you to talk to people around town but I'm too antisocial and that does not appeal to me. Also the second half of the game is in desperate need of a sprint button.
Nevertheless, the way character stories and backgrounds unfold over the course of the game, the places you go and see, and the themes of measuring personal accountability, environmentalism, community and responsibility are excellently executed.
Loved it
2023
The last worker is a game that starts out really strong, it sets up interesting movement, gameplay and abilities, it sets up an interesting world and story that could make a real statement.... And then proceeds to not do anything with any of it. I spent the whole game waiting for the level where parcel fetching and scoreboarding kicked into overdrive, or where the story really got interesting, but it just never happens. On the one hand, it simulates the monotony of werehouse work well, on the other hand - it's still monotony...
2022
An outstanding game both visually and in it's phenomenal combat; the only real issue is a lack of real variety in level design and enemies but it's not even really an issue considering the game's length. I wish I found the story more engaging but each boss is so distinct that it makes up for it.
Nothing more to say really, just an outstanding game.
Nothing more to say really, just an outstanding game.
2023
This review contains spoilers
It's a shame that this removes so many iconic moments from the original game, but it's all in service of creating a very different atmosphere. Even so, with a much darker tone, this game captures the gameplay feel of resident evil 4 so well, whilst in some ways improving on it with numerous QOL improvements and new mechanics like the great knife parry system.
I found myself driven to explore every nook and cranny of every area of the game, and it gives you a good couple of decently-sized areas to explore that become fully open to go around between several major plot beats. There's never a dull moment or confusion on what needs to be done, there's always something to do and something on your mind.
This is an outstanding achievement that only just falls short of the original; if only because that game was so forward thinking it reshaped entire sections of the industry. This won't have the same impact that game had, but it is one of the best third person shooters you'll play this year, or will have played in a long time.
I found myself driven to explore every nook and cranny of every area of the game, and it gives you a good couple of decently-sized areas to explore that become fully open to go around between several major plot beats. There's never a dull moment or confusion on what needs to be done, there's always something to do and something on your mind.
This is an outstanding achievement that only just falls short of the original; if only because that game was so forward thinking it reshaped entire sections of the industry. This won't have the same impact that game had, but it is one of the best third person shooters you'll play this year, or will have played in a long time.
Wasn't into this at first, but a couple of levels in when it starts shaking things up aesthetically and adding more mechanics (shout-out to the golf minigame), I started really vibing with it.
It's basically a maze game based in a place that's trying to convince you it was made by humans.
It's really cool, really atmospheric... But also really boring and really repetitive. Looking forward to chapter 2 to see what comes next in the story and how they evolve the gameplay, as well as what new settings they come up with!
It's basically a maze game based in a place that's trying to convince you it was made by humans.
It's really cool, really atmospheric... But also really boring and really repetitive. Looking forward to chapter 2 to see what comes next in the story and how they evolve the gameplay, as well as what new settings they come up with!
2023
As a preface, I would not have ever purchased this game, I was given a copy of it in order to do parts of my job and decided to then play it in my own time out of curiosity. If you are interested in playing this game then I implore you; I don't ever condone piracy of new, readily available games, but I believe you have a moral imperative to pirate this game. Support the quality of the product without financially supporting a game that lines the pockets of a transphobe and touts the disturbing rhetoric that this game does. I am a huge supporter of trans rights, trans rights are the social issue that I care about the most and it is awful that the creator of an integral part of the childhoods of much of the consumer base in the western world aggressively and blindly spouts hate towards transgender individuals. However, I would never tell someone not to play a game (simply not to spend money on it), but as I will get into in the review proper it will become apparent that the text of this game reflects none of JKs trans ideologies, likely as they weren't present in the original books, but it does spout some equally damaging and at times horrifying messaging.
Gameplay:
Hogwarts legacy was controversial well before it's release, and whilst the team at portkey games and avalanche software did everything they could to distance themselves from the game, JK does still get royalties, but what of the game itself? is it any good to actually play?
Avalanche have almost exclusively made tie-in games, with their biggest endeavor being Disney Infinity, a game I am personally a fan of, but could not sing its praises. Most of Avalanche's library consists of games like Cars 3 the game or Bolt the game, generic and uninteresting cash grabs made by cynics who think gaming is a novelty, so surely hogwarts legacy is just another pit-stop on the Avalanche tour of mediocrity, right?
Well, somehow, they managed to pull it out of the bag. This game at no point reinvents the wheel, every gameplay system you can see having been taken from other places, but every system the game employs is really good, from the fun and engaging combat (despite some bullet sponge enemies and lack of enemy variety), to the farming sim/home builder room of requirement, which links out to a pokemon arceus style beast catching system. Every one of the systems, mechanics and minigames is really good, never great mind you, but a game chock full of really good and varied systems and activities that are all consistently really good is not something to turn your nose up at. Sure, there's a criminal lack of enemy variety and some elements (like the owl post) feel a tad superfluous, these end up being minor qualms in the face of a grand and great beast. The closest comparison I can give to the experience of playing this game is playing the witcher 3; with it's beautiful, expansive and detailed world bursting with things to do, where you just want to sit and watch all the crazy little things play out (especially in the castle) before heading out to a minigame to beat a high score or beat some bandits in a mission. This is a good game in the gameplay, in fact I am almost relieved that I am now in the post game as I no longer have to engage with the frankly concerning writing that carries this game's narrative.
Writing:
A little bit after this game was announced, and after JK had begun her descent into her concerning obsession with stranger's genitals, it was uncovered that the lead designer of the game had, at one point, run an 'anti-sjw' channel on youtube, but hey, he's not writing the game, who cares, right? Well, this should have been our first red flag; fool me once, shame on you. A few months go by once again and the game hires Greg Ellis, who has ammassed enough controversy of his own, some of it in relation to supporting Rowling, over the years. Fool me twice...
No, we should not have ignored these warning signs. It has already been pointed out that, within the text, the Goblins of the Wizarding World are extremely antisemetic, and here that is dialed up to 11.
It's all well and good that you have a super diverse cast of characters, in fact that's great, there's every kind of person here you can imagine, there's even a prominent trans woman who is never needlessly clocked and deadnamed and demands respect around her; but what's the point of all of that if the plot of your game is that the hook nosed bankers who control the economy, based on a historically known antisemetic symbol, decide to rise up against the fact they are treated as slaves and are upset that their cultural artefacts have been stolen and locked away from them for hundreds of years, and they are treated unequivocably as the villains.
There are so many opportunities presented to this game where it could turn things around, the only 'good goblins' want nothing to do with the rebellion, no one ever questions if maybe stealing another race's cultural artefacts and putting them in places enchanted so goblins can't enter could be bad, no one ever even suggests that enslaving an entire race and treating them as lesser could be bad. Moreover, the general stance of this game is that rising up against those in power is inherently a bad thing to do, as the player if you choose dialogue options that go against doing as your teachers say you are told things like 'I wouldn't have expected that from you', all but telling you that you are behaving out of character. It even employs some familliar right wing rhetoric, of course the people rising up to try and justifiably gain what is theirs just want to 'wipe out all of wizard kind', this kind of rhetoric is sadly all too familliar from the real world politics of 2023, especially following certain protests in the last few years.
More concerning, still, is the treatment of life within this game. It's a strange thing, when you are punished for using the 'unforgivable' killing curse with a mere 'I'd rather you didn't do that', and then are allowed to use the explosion spell to kill someone, or burn someone to death slowly, and no one bats an eye. Let me be clear, there is no hyperbole in play here, this isn't Spider-Man or Arkham where in-universe you're just knocking people out. Over the course of this game you murder dozens of innocent humans, and you are congratulated for it. At first I believed this to be some kind of huge oversight on behalf of the developers, but toward the end of the game I was getting a little bored of the boss battle with rockwood and decided to use the killing curse on him. He exploded into a cloud of dust, never to be seen again. Shortly after professor fig confronted me about it, I expected a harsh telling-off for my callousness and the coldness with which I dispatched a named character. Instead I was told that he was a dangerous man, and I did what I had to, I did the right thing. And this was right next to another boss that I merely incapacitated and had arrested. I was told that my erasure of this man's life, a human life, was the right thing to do. And this was in and among the slaughter of hundreds of goblins over the course of the game.
So, to review; this game, based on a children's series and likely being played largely by children and young people, presents an oppressed group rising up against subjugation and the stealing of cultural artefacts as a threat to 'our kind', and tells you that you are free to indiscriminately murder these people, as well as humans; in fact if you think it is the right thing to do you are always justified in killing human beings. What am I to do with this plot? How can one ignore the frankly disturbing rhetoric on display here?
Conclusion:
I'm going to have to stop here, I have other things to do with my day, but I do think that, despite it all, I will come back to this game. As I mentioned earlier, now that I'm in the post game I don't have to encounter the horrifying messaging of this game anymore.
The bottom line is that this is a good game, it's really fun, has so much to do, and is really visually pleasing, I would even go as far as recommending it, but please, I beg you, do not spend money on this game, not a cent. Rowling has said that every penny from this game will go to anti-trans causes and the racist rhetoric on display in the actual game is frankly disgusting. Pirate this game, steal it digitally, There are many multitudes of places where you can acquire this game without funding the people who made it. Think about what you're consuming. You can support high quality products without supporting awful people and awful ideologies.
This game should be an 8/10, but I simply can't bring myself to do it.
Gameplay:
Hogwarts legacy was controversial well before it's release, and whilst the team at portkey games and avalanche software did everything they could to distance themselves from the game, JK does still get royalties, but what of the game itself? is it any good to actually play?
Avalanche have almost exclusively made tie-in games, with their biggest endeavor being Disney Infinity, a game I am personally a fan of, but could not sing its praises. Most of Avalanche's library consists of games like Cars 3 the game or Bolt the game, generic and uninteresting cash grabs made by cynics who think gaming is a novelty, so surely hogwarts legacy is just another pit-stop on the Avalanche tour of mediocrity, right?
Well, somehow, they managed to pull it out of the bag. This game at no point reinvents the wheel, every gameplay system you can see having been taken from other places, but every system the game employs is really good, from the fun and engaging combat (despite some bullet sponge enemies and lack of enemy variety), to the farming sim/home builder room of requirement, which links out to a pokemon arceus style beast catching system. Every one of the systems, mechanics and minigames is really good, never great mind you, but a game chock full of really good and varied systems and activities that are all consistently really good is not something to turn your nose up at. Sure, there's a criminal lack of enemy variety and some elements (like the owl post) feel a tad superfluous, these end up being minor qualms in the face of a grand and great beast. The closest comparison I can give to the experience of playing this game is playing the witcher 3; with it's beautiful, expansive and detailed world bursting with things to do, where you just want to sit and watch all the crazy little things play out (especially in the castle) before heading out to a minigame to beat a high score or beat some bandits in a mission. This is a good game in the gameplay, in fact I am almost relieved that I am now in the post game as I no longer have to engage with the frankly concerning writing that carries this game's narrative.
Writing:
A little bit after this game was announced, and after JK had begun her descent into her concerning obsession with stranger's genitals, it was uncovered that the lead designer of the game had, at one point, run an 'anti-sjw' channel on youtube, but hey, he's not writing the game, who cares, right? Well, this should have been our first red flag; fool me once, shame on you. A few months go by once again and the game hires Greg Ellis, who has ammassed enough controversy of his own, some of it in relation to supporting Rowling, over the years. Fool me twice...
No, we should not have ignored these warning signs. It has already been pointed out that, within the text, the Goblins of the Wizarding World are extremely antisemetic, and here that is dialed up to 11.
It's all well and good that you have a super diverse cast of characters, in fact that's great, there's every kind of person here you can imagine, there's even a prominent trans woman who is never needlessly clocked and deadnamed and demands respect around her; but what's the point of all of that if the plot of your game is that the hook nosed bankers who control the economy, based on a historically known antisemetic symbol, decide to rise up against the fact they are treated as slaves and are upset that their cultural artefacts have been stolen and locked away from them for hundreds of years, and they are treated unequivocably as the villains.
There are so many opportunities presented to this game where it could turn things around, the only 'good goblins' want nothing to do with the rebellion, no one ever questions if maybe stealing another race's cultural artefacts and putting them in places enchanted so goblins can't enter could be bad, no one ever even suggests that enslaving an entire race and treating them as lesser could be bad. Moreover, the general stance of this game is that rising up against those in power is inherently a bad thing to do, as the player if you choose dialogue options that go against doing as your teachers say you are told things like 'I wouldn't have expected that from you', all but telling you that you are behaving out of character. It even employs some familliar right wing rhetoric, of course the people rising up to try and justifiably gain what is theirs just want to 'wipe out all of wizard kind', this kind of rhetoric is sadly all too familliar from the real world politics of 2023, especially following certain protests in the last few years.
More concerning, still, is the treatment of life within this game. It's a strange thing, when you are punished for using the 'unforgivable' killing curse with a mere 'I'd rather you didn't do that', and then are allowed to use the explosion spell to kill someone, or burn someone to death slowly, and no one bats an eye. Let me be clear, there is no hyperbole in play here, this isn't Spider-Man or Arkham where in-universe you're just knocking people out. Over the course of this game you murder dozens of innocent humans, and you are congratulated for it. At first I believed this to be some kind of huge oversight on behalf of the developers, but toward the end of the game I was getting a little bored of the boss battle with rockwood and decided to use the killing curse on him. He exploded into a cloud of dust, never to be seen again. Shortly after professor fig confronted me about it, I expected a harsh telling-off for my callousness and the coldness with which I dispatched a named character. Instead I was told that he was a dangerous man, and I did what I had to, I did the right thing. And this was right next to another boss that I merely incapacitated and had arrested. I was told that my erasure of this man's life, a human life, was the right thing to do. And this was in and among the slaughter of hundreds of goblins over the course of the game.
So, to review; this game, based on a children's series and likely being played largely by children and young people, presents an oppressed group rising up against subjugation and the stealing of cultural artefacts as a threat to 'our kind', and tells you that you are free to indiscriminately murder these people, as well as humans; in fact if you think it is the right thing to do you are always justified in killing human beings. What am I to do with this plot? How can one ignore the frankly disturbing rhetoric on display here?
Conclusion:
I'm going to have to stop here, I have other things to do with my day, but I do think that, despite it all, I will come back to this game. As I mentioned earlier, now that I'm in the post game I don't have to encounter the horrifying messaging of this game anymore.
The bottom line is that this is a good game, it's really fun, has so much to do, and is really visually pleasing, I would even go as far as recommending it, but please, I beg you, do not spend money on this game, not a cent. Rowling has said that every penny from this game will go to anti-trans causes and the racist rhetoric on display in the actual game is frankly disgusting. Pirate this game, steal it digitally, There are many multitudes of places where you can acquire this game without funding the people who made it. Think about what you're consuming. You can support high quality products without supporting awful people and awful ideologies.
This game should be an 8/10, but I simply can't bring myself to do it.
2023
Oops I did it again...
Played this all the way through again just to get the 'one gun' achievement and to see the alternate ending. Honestly, I'd be happy if this ending was canon, and you can imagine it is and it wouldn't not work...
Anyway, the fact I leapt at the opportunity to replay this immediately after beating it the first time should tell you all you need about this game, 2023 starting out strong for horror!
Played this all the way through again just to get the 'one gun' achievement and to see the alternate ending. Honestly, I'd be happy if this ending was canon, and you can imagine it is and it wouldn't not work...
Anyway, the fact I leapt at the opportunity to replay this immediately after beating it the first time should tell you all you need about this game, 2023 starting out strong for horror!
2023
An outstanding remake of a game that, if you asked me a year ago, I would have told you didn't need a remake. Dead Space isn't like Resident Evil 2 where the original was a ps1 survival horror that would push most modern players away in it's opening minutes. No, Dead Space is a game that you can puchase on Steam and largely feels pretty modern to this day; so how do you successfully remake it?
The answer is by adding... more. There's more story, a completely re-written script that overhauls character arcs and makes every character much more pertinent in the story, as well as adding voice acting to isaac, making him feel like he's actually participating in the story. There's more gameplay, the zero-g segments have been expanded and redesigned to better fit the later entries in the series, and the ishimura now allows you to go back wherever you like, whenever you like, and by giving you security passes as the game goes on it adds a metroidvania-esque element to exploration. It even has more of the great art design that the first boasted (though of course, like the gameplay, it's not on the level of the sequel).
And what does all of this 'more' result in? This is easily THE way to play Dead Space, and considering that it comes with the second game, which is my favorite game of all time, you can't lose! I just hope that this works as a good proof of relevance and EA let's them make an all-new Dead Space.
If you want to know more of my thoughts check out my review video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qqPVNoEYkg&ab_channel=PCGamer
The answer is by adding... more. There's more story, a completely re-written script that overhauls character arcs and makes every character much more pertinent in the story, as well as adding voice acting to isaac, making him feel like he's actually participating in the story. There's more gameplay, the zero-g segments have been expanded and redesigned to better fit the later entries in the series, and the ishimura now allows you to go back wherever you like, whenever you like, and by giving you security passes as the game goes on it adds a metroidvania-esque element to exploration. It even has more of the great art design that the first boasted (though of course, like the gameplay, it's not on the level of the sequel).
And what does all of this 'more' result in? This is easily THE way to play Dead Space, and considering that it comes with the second game, which is my favorite game of all time, you can't lose! I just hope that this works as a good proof of relevance and EA let's them make an all-new Dead Space.
If you want to know more of my thoughts check out my review video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qqPVNoEYkg&ab_channel=PCGamer
2019
2nd playthrough, thanks Epic for giving this away for free that one time.
This really is an outstanding game, and whilst it does suffer from a very bad case of gameplay and cutscenes that feel ripped from different mediums let alone genres, both are super engaging and entertaining. The feeling of strategising journeys and then adapting to whatever crops up as you go on every delivery never gets old and the game always keeps it fresh with new obstacles and tools to use. The story is well written and phenomenally performed even if it is Kojima at his most insular and convoluted.
The score and art design really stand out, the world returned to nature is so simple but so consistently breathtaking, and every single BT encounter is atmospheric, tense and gorgeous.
I can't wait for Death Stranding 2, I want to know why we shouldn't have connected in the first place, but for now I'm happy to keep filling out orders in this game, maybe I can 100% it now that I'm on Steam Deck.
Speaking of which, the game is surprisingly fantastic portably, taking small chunks of a journey or shorter orders on lunch breaks or commutes is a great feeling, and whilst it's a shame not to have the great sound design and music the vibrations the game provides do a lot of the same work. It does, however, dip and dive in framerate, it averages about 40-50fps but there were points during BT or MULE encounters where it dipped down to 25-30, but never down to anything any reasonable person would call unplayable.
Was worried the incongruity that permeates this game would make it grating to revising but honestly knowing that the experience would be that way may have actually improved the experience through expectation
Can't believe this game was done so dirty on release, more big budget games with different ideas that know how to deliver on those ideas please!
This really is an outstanding game, and whilst it does suffer from a very bad case of gameplay and cutscenes that feel ripped from different mediums let alone genres, both are super engaging and entertaining. The feeling of strategising journeys and then adapting to whatever crops up as you go on every delivery never gets old and the game always keeps it fresh with new obstacles and tools to use. The story is well written and phenomenally performed even if it is Kojima at his most insular and convoluted.
The score and art design really stand out, the world returned to nature is so simple but so consistently breathtaking, and every single BT encounter is atmospheric, tense and gorgeous.
I can't wait for Death Stranding 2, I want to know why we shouldn't have connected in the first place, but for now I'm happy to keep filling out orders in this game, maybe I can 100% it now that I'm on Steam Deck.
Speaking of which, the game is surprisingly fantastic portably, taking small chunks of a journey or shorter orders on lunch breaks or commutes is a great feeling, and whilst it's a shame not to have the great sound design and music the vibrations the game provides do a lot of the same work. It does, however, dip and dive in framerate, it averages about 40-50fps but there were points during BT or MULE encounters where it dipped down to 25-30, but never down to anything any reasonable person would call unplayable.
Was worried the incongruity that permeates this game would make it grating to revising but honestly knowing that the experience would be that way may have actually improved the experience through expectation
Can't believe this game was done so dirty on release, more big budget games with different ideas that know how to deliver on those ideas please!
Very good! A little rough around the edges but the gameplay is moreish and approachable and genuinely interesting without ever feeling like it's trying to gross you out, which would have just felt insulting to the titular profession. It's a little short but with multiple endings there's plenty of reason to replay. It's a little over-reliant on jumpscares at times and seems insistent on undercutting itself just as it's really getting tense with it's atmosphere, but overall a good experience! A game that feels made for streaming but works well at home too.