XCOM Style game made by a small korean studio. In terms of art and coding its really well done especially when considering the no doubt limited resources the studio has at its disposal. The gameplay is generally entertaining if padded and the soundtrack is good if generic.
The Main problem lies in the story and pacing of gameplay. The game is really long, which could be a selling point to some but after 16 hours it feels like nothing has actually happened or been developed, with kinda samey missions all throughout.
The story isnt awful for a first attempt by a studio and the translation isnt great, though this is understandable if they dont have enough resources for multiple localizations. So far you might have picked up on a slightly patronizing apologetic tone to this review but rest assured Im less forgiving in the main issue of the actual plot of the game.
This is a very wordy game, in a sort of pseudo VN style along the lines of persona. This again, is fine in itself (I enjoy some of those types of games) but the execution is pretty fudged. In XCOM we are fighting against fictional aliens. We learn more about their motivations but they are at the end of the day a clear enemy without any reservations in killing, abducting and subjecting its victims to nightmarish bodyhorror. This game however goes for a fictional but broadly "real world setting". Sure its a not a realistic setting and the countries are fictional and all that but we are broadly dealing with humans and human problems. This again, is fine in itself but it has to be done right as the adding greyness to the setting requires more justification or thought which frequently this game seems to be unwilling or unable to do.
The problem is that this is an almost cyberpunk serious setting but we are not really given many reasons why our actions are justified. The bad guys are criminals, yes (and some are even cultists) but other than "this fictional state has been purposefully made weak and disarmed by other countries (which oh boy lets not even think about which real world parallel was trying to be established here) its never really adressed in my time playing why there is such an apocalyptic level of crime and lawlessness. In a more competent Deus Ex type cyberpunk game this might make us suspect we are perhaps working for an ineffective or corrupt government that maybe is partly responsible but no, the good guys are just good.
This is later slightly remedied but very little humanity is given to these goons especially in the early hours, which added to the fact we are given rewards for how many of these we mow down and that the games' idea of difficulty is spawning wave after wave of these Death Wish 3 extras you get desensitized to killing them like they are horde of Zerg from Starcraft.
At the same time for being a supposedly "disarmed" nation the police is pretty bloody well equipped and trained, much more than the thugs they are up against, as well as imposing what seem to be authoritarian measures (no travelling between districts) which again made me thought there would be a "are we the baddies?" moment but no (At the very leasy not even a suggestion in the 17 hours I played
I can already picture someone responding with "What the hell were you expecting your character to organize rehabilitation programs and joining the salvation army to feed the homeless?" No! Obviously not, thats exactly the point that they would have saved themselves so much trouble if they had just made the enemies aliens or monsters or demons or whatever so as not to have to justify it all in the story of the game. Its like all those call of duty campaigns where you bomb infinitely worse equipped people with drones that blow them up without any possibility for fighting back.
Other than that, if youre looking for more of a review of a product than a critique, its 20 euro and well worth that price if you enjoy Xcom style combat, low level grindy missions, silly shonen stories and you like them being long AF cause you have no money and way too much time. Its definitely got its charm
The Main problem lies in the story and pacing of gameplay. The game is really long, which could be a selling point to some but after 16 hours it feels like nothing has actually happened or been developed, with kinda samey missions all throughout.
The story isnt awful for a first attempt by a studio and the translation isnt great, though this is understandable if they dont have enough resources for multiple localizations. So far you might have picked up on a slightly patronizing apologetic tone to this review but rest assured Im less forgiving in the main issue of the actual plot of the game.
This is a very wordy game, in a sort of pseudo VN style along the lines of persona. This again, is fine in itself (I enjoy some of those types of games) but the execution is pretty fudged. In XCOM we are fighting against fictional aliens. We learn more about their motivations but they are at the end of the day a clear enemy without any reservations in killing, abducting and subjecting its victims to nightmarish bodyhorror. This game however goes for a fictional but broadly "real world setting". Sure its a not a realistic setting and the countries are fictional and all that but we are broadly dealing with humans and human problems. This again, is fine in itself but it has to be done right as the adding greyness to the setting requires more justification or thought which frequently this game seems to be unwilling or unable to do.
The problem is that this is an almost cyberpunk serious setting but we are not really given many reasons why our actions are justified. The bad guys are criminals, yes (and some are even cultists) but other than "this fictional state has been purposefully made weak and disarmed by other countries (which oh boy lets not even think about which real world parallel was trying to be established here) its never really adressed in my time playing why there is such an apocalyptic level of crime and lawlessness. In a more competent Deus Ex type cyberpunk game this might make us suspect we are perhaps working for an ineffective or corrupt government that maybe is partly responsible but no, the good guys are just good.
This is later slightly remedied but very little humanity is given to these goons especially in the early hours, which added to the fact we are given rewards for how many of these we mow down and that the games' idea of difficulty is spawning wave after wave of these Death Wish 3 extras you get desensitized to killing them like they are horde of Zerg from Starcraft.
At the same time for being a supposedly "disarmed" nation the police is pretty bloody well equipped and trained, much more than the thugs they are up against, as well as imposing what seem to be authoritarian measures (no travelling between districts) which again made me thought there would be a "are we the baddies?" moment but no (At the very leasy not even a suggestion in the 17 hours I played
I can already picture someone responding with "What the hell were you expecting your character to organize rehabilitation programs and joining the salvation army to feed the homeless?" No! Obviously not, thats exactly the point that they would have saved themselves so much trouble if they had just made the enemies aliens or monsters or demons or whatever so as not to have to justify it all in the story of the game. Its like all those call of duty campaigns where you bomb infinitely worse equipped people with drones that blow them up without any possibility for fighting back.
Other than that, if youre looking for more of a review of a product than a critique, its 20 euro and well worth that price if you enjoy Xcom style combat, low level grindy missions, silly shonen stories and you like them being long AF cause you have no money and way too much time. Its definitely got its charm