Decent Steam Deck game and a very original mixture of genres - 2D action platformer + zombie survival game + puzzle game + narrative game. While each element works well on its own, when combined the game does have some problems.
First of all the movement feels... off. During combat or running the main character is very swift, but whenever you need to climb something or do some more complex platforming he suddenly becomes very slow and heavy. It creates a very weird dissonance between subsequent parts of the game, and it threw me off a lot. Don't get me wrong, both the platforimng and combat are pretty good on their own, but I don't think they mix together very well. The puzzles are fine, I guess. There isn't really a lot of them and most of the segments which include them transform into platforming sections once you solve them, but in this case it feels more natural.
And then there's the world and the story. The general vibe is very similar to The Last of Us - we have to fight these monsters, but people are monsters too sometimes etc. The main character of the game is written in a pretty interesting way, but it doesn't always show. Throughout most of the game he's insufferable, but after skimming through the pages of his diary which you are scattered across the levels you can see that he's a pretty complex character. The game also delves into psychological aspects of how a zombie apocalypse could affect people's lives which while interesting is also handled in a weird way. There are like these singular moments of realisation that "hey, I just thought of something interesting we could write into the game" but it rarely goes beyond that. The game is honestly full of great ideas, but it's very clear that this was the studio's first game - even despite this version supposedly being the "director's cut".
Despite the shortcomings though, I still think this is an ok game and I had a good time with it. I think all the ideas present in the game make it worthwile, even if you'll sometimes find yourself wondering if they shouldn't have been done differently.
First of all the movement feels... off. During combat or running the main character is very swift, but whenever you need to climb something or do some more complex platforming he suddenly becomes very slow and heavy. It creates a very weird dissonance between subsequent parts of the game, and it threw me off a lot. Don't get me wrong, both the platforimng and combat are pretty good on their own, but I don't think they mix together very well. The puzzles are fine, I guess. There isn't really a lot of them and most of the segments which include them transform into platforming sections once you solve them, but in this case it feels more natural.
And then there's the world and the story. The general vibe is very similar to The Last of Us - we have to fight these monsters, but people are monsters too sometimes etc. The main character of the game is written in a pretty interesting way, but it doesn't always show. Throughout most of the game he's insufferable, but after skimming through the pages of his diary which you are scattered across the levels you can see that he's a pretty complex character. The game also delves into psychological aspects of how a zombie apocalypse could affect people's lives which while interesting is also handled in a weird way. There are like these singular moments of realisation that "hey, I just thought of something interesting we could write into the game" but it rarely goes beyond that. The game is honestly full of great ideas, but it's very clear that this was the studio's first game - even despite this version supposedly being the "director's cut".
Despite the shortcomings though, I still think this is an ok game and I had a good time with it. I think all the ideas present in the game make it worthwile, even if you'll sometimes find yourself wondering if they shouldn't have been done differently.