This review contains spoilers
A touching story that felt ultimately held back by some monotonous gameplay and off pacing.
I appreciate the message this game is going for; if we, as humans, continue down our destructive path then all life will suffer as a result. But at the same time... it's a message I've heard a hundred times before and this story didn't necessarily add anything new. It had touching moments and I felt for the cubs when they got Bambi'd at the end, but it was also laid out rather oddly. You had to follow along the hunter and the daughters story through a series of projections you got when you smelled an item associated with them, but it felt like there was so many of these that after a while they blended together and it kind of lost me. And then at the end the daughter died and we're supposed to feel pity for the hunter? Ehh. There was some pretty cool worldbuilding, though. I saw a sign that said "oxygen is a right" behind homeless people sitting around a fire in an oil drum, and that said a lot about the world with so few words. Subtle imagery like that goes a long way.
The gameplay feels a little polarizing to me, but was mostly boring and tedious. I thought the level design was unique in the way that it was technically a side scroller, but had branching paths. That's kinda cool. Though at the same time, it felt hard to navigate. I found myself relying too much on the mini map just to see which direction I was walking. But the main issue I have with the gameplay is that about 30% of my play time was just trying to get back to my lair because night time was coming. The days felt way too short. It helped when we got access to more lairs, but still the problem persisted through the entire game.
Oh, and two quick comments about playing it on the PS5:
1) Too many load screens
2) They did some cool stuff with the controller! They had variable vibrations whenever it rained and had terrain noises coming from the controller, hearing the brush when you walk through a bush, etc.
Overall though, even though it didn't leave a huge impact one me, I am glad that games like this exist and devs are out here making them. It is important for the industry and for gamers. I played this game for free with PS+ and I don't think it would've been worth $20 just because of how short it was.
I appreciate the message this game is going for; if we, as humans, continue down our destructive path then all life will suffer as a result. But at the same time... it's a message I've heard a hundred times before and this story didn't necessarily add anything new. It had touching moments and I felt for the cubs when they got Bambi'd at the end, but it was also laid out rather oddly. You had to follow along the hunter and the daughters story through a series of projections you got when you smelled an item associated with them, but it felt like there was so many of these that after a while they blended together and it kind of lost me. And then at the end the daughter died and we're supposed to feel pity for the hunter? Ehh. There was some pretty cool worldbuilding, though. I saw a sign that said "oxygen is a right" behind homeless people sitting around a fire in an oil drum, and that said a lot about the world with so few words. Subtle imagery like that goes a long way.
The gameplay feels a little polarizing to me, but was mostly boring and tedious. I thought the level design was unique in the way that it was technically a side scroller, but had branching paths. That's kinda cool. Though at the same time, it felt hard to navigate. I found myself relying too much on the mini map just to see which direction I was walking. But the main issue I have with the gameplay is that about 30% of my play time was just trying to get back to my lair because night time was coming. The days felt way too short. It helped when we got access to more lairs, but still the problem persisted through the entire game.
Oh, and two quick comments about playing it on the PS5:
1) Too many load screens
2) They did some cool stuff with the controller! They had variable vibrations whenever it rained and had terrain noises coming from the controller, hearing the brush when you walk through a bush, etc.
Overall though, even though it didn't leave a huge impact one me, I am glad that games like this exist and devs are out here making them. It is important for the industry and for gamers. I played this game for free with PS+ and I don't think it would've been worth $20 just because of how short it was.