Completion Criteria: Credits Rolled

The game is probably one I critically like more then it is one is personally enjoyed. A world simulation is great and hard to do right. But the idea of a full and open world with realtime simulation naturally has problems that personally are pet peeves.

There are essentially 3 phases to this game:
(a) Naked Exploration. Check out what's going on see the sights. (b) Thoughtful exploration. Understand the mysteries and identify the questions to be answered. (c) Full solution aggro.

These aren't binary phases but gradually each one becomes the primary focus. I've played a lot of brain benders before so usually I would expect (c) to be where my smooth brain eats up endorphins but (b) ended up being my favorite here and I think I have understood why.The relationship between overthinking, a full world and simulation. In phase b. Answers are often provided succinctly and lead to natural progression. Specifcally I can think of Dark Bramble. One answer leads to another and another, and if you hit a dead end. It's clear. But not only that, you have areas of import to think about and you can move on. By (c) though. You have the knowledge and you have to come up with a solution. And if you are like me you think "It's provided me with a full world" the answer is to utilize it. And so you fly from place to place trying things out. You have finished exploring, all that's left are the areas you dislike to solve the final pieces of the puzzle. You wait in the sunless city for the simulation to move. You see a core which you know is related to an area of import. It's not. All the clues you have lined out don't mean anything. You run on a wild goose chase because the world has told you everything about how the core is built. And every time your hypothesis fails you. Get in your ship and repeat the same motion and wait. You come up with another plan. You check the only other thing you haven't done that you think is feasible and you analyze text and then calculate a plan of action and you wait for that gosh darn sand every time because you don't know what's wrong. Turns out the whole thing. You just check some warp pads (while waiting) and that solves everything.

And this sounds ranty because it kind of is. The game felt quite backfilled with stuff that I just didn't really like. The twins is just unfun and it feels like a majority of my time was there answering questions. But I'm not sure I would call it out because the simulated open world is what a lot of people love about this game. Because the world itself is a puzzle and I respect that because I feel the same way about La Mulana. I'm honestly just surprised how many people this resonates with. I wish I could recommend to people who love this game La Mulana but I am very aware that it would not be everyone's cup of tea due to the action and difficulty.

I am happy to have gotten to the game and played it but I may have had a better time if I didn't expect the puzzles to be mind-shattering as the expectation people put on them suggest. Maybe i'll look into the DLC later