ThumbsMckenzie
BACKER
Man, what a let down. A great idea on paper, let's take the Yakuza/Like a Dragon universe and move it into a new time period. There are some differences here and there of course, but the general idea should be a slam dunk and unfortunately, it comes up quite short and becomes maybe the worst Yakuza/LaD game in the franchise (excluding Dead Souls).
This game just feels incredibly scaled down from LaD's normal over-the-top nature. I never found much of the heat moves that you normally see to be that impressive. Most of the items around you that are normally grabbable and usable are pretty generic as well. Luckily this game features sword and gun (and a combo of both) fighting styles to help make up some of that.
Unfortunately, these aren't all that fun to play with either. All four fighting styles feature pros and cons to them but quickly you'll realize that the hand to hand is kinda pointless. You do get a weapon you can swap to in this fight style, some of which can be interesting and fun to use but to me, it just never made up for some of the limitations this game felt like it possessed.
The enemies feature a lot of the Yakuza 3 issues of just constant blocking. All four fighting styles do have a guard break attack but some of those had range issues. It also happens so frequently too that some of these moves get so old because you are constantly having to use it to break through for damage.
The gun had moments of being OP which was satisfying and the sword/gun style had some fun crowd control uses. I just wish they went over-the-top with these styles, though I didn't unlock every heat action or move so there might be some I missed out on that are silly and over the top. If they do, I wish they would've better spread those out to make the combat more fun, I might've stuck it out more if I was getting these fun moves, would've probably made the monotony of the combat decrease as well.
The new feature in this game where some of the over-the-top attacks resided was the army/card system. Think Majima Construction type card setup but in Ishin you are able to set these cards up for use in battle. There are a few over the top attacks found here, you can have a Tiger or Bear help you for instance. You can add 3-4 cards to each fighting style all that have different powerups. Some will heal you, some are stat buffs, general attacks, etc. If they are the General in your squad, those also lead to various powerups as well, so placement can be important as well.
In order to use these attacks you'll have to attack in that fighting style in order to build up bars that, when filled, will allow you those abilities during a fight. If you aren't using those styles though, they will stay at the level they were at when you last used that fighting style. I found some of these pretty useful and fun to use but there seemed to be a lot less 'rare' or story character cards then in previous games so rarely strayed from the cards I selected fairly early into using it (this card based thing is not unlocked right away in the game).
I found crafting and upgrading your weapons a bigger grind than in previous Yakuza games and more annoying to deal with. There aren't a ton of super powerful weapons that can easily be found in this game, so you'll be tasked with focusing on crafting to help keep your attacks doing damage as you progress. The weapons are so pricey to make though. You can 'level up' your crafting abilities to help cheapen prices but I always felt like it was barely knocking them down. Since you're having to craft basically everything too, from weapons to armor, you're still spending a good amount.
You can get money in various ways, many that should be familiar to people who have played other games in the franchise. If you like some of the money making ways of other games, you'll probably be able to still go through those means in order to make money. I did grind through my normal ways of making money but because so much was going to crafting, it just felt like a bigger grind in those ways.
The farming side game is kinda neat and easy to use. You can use these items to make food as well, and those cooking games are pretty standard but a nice addition as well. Think Cooking Mama style mini games. The biggest pain with this cooking game though is you have to make every item one by one, there is no ability to cook multiple dishes at the same time. I wouldn't even mind having to do these mini games over and over and over if I could at least choose to make more than one of a dish at one time. These dishes I found were a huge lifesaver too since they provide a good amount of health recovery. The normal medicine and items you can buy in this game always felt pretty underpowered too so I was constantly going back and making dishes.
The other big problem with this game is just traversing in it. If you want to go farm and make dishes, there is only one point on the map that will take you there. You can't even use a taxi to go there directly. So if you're on the other side of the map, you'll have to either walk all the way down to that one singular location or fast travel to it, and the fast travel areas that are set in the game are spread out way too far. So even when you fast travel to the nearest point, you're still having to walk a good amount after that.
The side quests, another Yakuza staple are all a pretty big let down. Another area that feels scaled back from its normal silly and over-the-top nature. You can also make connections/relationships with various people around town, something that has been featured before. These connections though are not all that different from each other. So you'll be constantly giving people dishes or junk or vegetables to slowly build up these meters.
Overall, Like a Dragon: Ishin just feels like a missed opportunity. This setting and the LaD style should be great, but the grind, the lackluster side quests and main story, the slog of battle, and overall lackluster location just made me want to get through this game as quickly as I could. Besides all of this, it looks pretty nice, seeing some of these familiar character in newly imagined ways is neat, seeing some characters that only were featured in one Yakuza game from ages ago was a nice treat as well, it's not all doom and gloom when it comes to this game. It's just that the bar for Like a Dragon games is pretty damn high for me and Like a Dragon: Ishin just doesn't come close to hitting that bar and being as silly and satisfying as the other games in this franchise.
This game just feels incredibly scaled down from LaD's normal over-the-top nature. I never found much of the heat moves that you normally see to be that impressive. Most of the items around you that are normally grabbable and usable are pretty generic as well. Luckily this game features sword and gun (and a combo of both) fighting styles to help make up some of that.
Unfortunately, these aren't all that fun to play with either. All four fighting styles feature pros and cons to them but quickly you'll realize that the hand to hand is kinda pointless. You do get a weapon you can swap to in this fight style, some of which can be interesting and fun to use but to me, it just never made up for some of the limitations this game felt like it possessed.
The enemies feature a lot of the Yakuza 3 issues of just constant blocking. All four fighting styles do have a guard break attack but some of those had range issues. It also happens so frequently too that some of these moves get so old because you are constantly having to use it to break through for damage.
The gun had moments of being OP which was satisfying and the sword/gun style had some fun crowd control uses. I just wish they went over-the-top with these styles, though I didn't unlock every heat action or move so there might be some I missed out on that are silly and over the top. If they do, I wish they would've better spread those out to make the combat more fun, I might've stuck it out more if I was getting these fun moves, would've probably made the monotony of the combat decrease as well.
The new feature in this game where some of the over-the-top attacks resided was the army/card system. Think Majima Construction type card setup but in Ishin you are able to set these cards up for use in battle. There are a few over the top attacks found here, you can have a Tiger or Bear help you for instance. You can add 3-4 cards to each fighting style all that have different powerups. Some will heal you, some are stat buffs, general attacks, etc. If they are the General in your squad, those also lead to various powerups as well, so placement can be important as well.
In order to use these attacks you'll have to attack in that fighting style in order to build up bars that, when filled, will allow you those abilities during a fight. If you aren't using those styles though, they will stay at the level they were at when you last used that fighting style. I found some of these pretty useful and fun to use but there seemed to be a lot less 'rare' or story character cards then in previous games so rarely strayed from the cards I selected fairly early into using it (this card based thing is not unlocked right away in the game).
I found crafting and upgrading your weapons a bigger grind than in previous Yakuza games and more annoying to deal with. There aren't a ton of super powerful weapons that can easily be found in this game, so you'll be tasked with focusing on crafting to help keep your attacks doing damage as you progress. The weapons are so pricey to make though. You can 'level up' your crafting abilities to help cheapen prices but I always felt like it was barely knocking them down. Since you're having to craft basically everything too, from weapons to armor, you're still spending a good amount.
You can get money in various ways, many that should be familiar to people who have played other games in the franchise. If you like some of the money making ways of other games, you'll probably be able to still go through those means in order to make money. I did grind through my normal ways of making money but because so much was going to crafting, it just felt like a bigger grind in those ways.
The farming side game is kinda neat and easy to use. You can use these items to make food as well, and those cooking games are pretty standard but a nice addition as well. Think Cooking Mama style mini games. The biggest pain with this cooking game though is you have to make every item one by one, there is no ability to cook multiple dishes at the same time. I wouldn't even mind having to do these mini games over and over and over if I could at least choose to make more than one of a dish at one time. These dishes I found were a huge lifesaver too since they provide a good amount of health recovery. The normal medicine and items you can buy in this game always felt pretty underpowered too so I was constantly going back and making dishes.
The other big problem with this game is just traversing in it. If you want to go farm and make dishes, there is only one point on the map that will take you there. You can't even use a taxi to go there directly. So if you're on the other side of the map, you'll have to either walk all the way down to that one singular location or fast travel to it, and the fast travel areas that are set in the game are spread out way too far. So even when you fast travel to the nearest point, you're still having to walk a good amount after that.
The side quests, another Yakuza staple are all a pretty big let down. Another area that feels scaled back from its normal silly and over-the-top nature. You can also make connections/relationships with various people around town, something that has been featured before. These connections though are not all that different from each other. So you'll be constantly giving people dishes or junk or vegetables to slowly build up these meters.
Overall, Like a Dragon: Ishin just feels like a missed opportunity. This setting and the LaD style should be great, but the grind, the lackluster side quests and main story, the slog of battle, and overall lackluster location just made me want to get through this game as quickly as I could. Besides all of this, it looks pretty nice, seeing some of these familiar character in newly imagined ways is neat, seeing some characters that only were featured in one Yakuza game from ages ago was a nice treat as well, it's not all doom and gloom when it comes to this game. It's just that the bar for Like a Dragon games is pretty damn high for me and Like a Dragon: Ishin just doesn't come close to hitting that bar and being as silly and satisfying as the other games in this franchise.
If you love to play a game where you will be spending more time on Google or looking up strategy guides vs actually exploring the game you're playing, Chinatown Detective Agency is a game made for you.
A futuristic Singapore is the setting and it starts off pretty good, but quickly the game loop is uncovered and the game's charming look and interesting location go right out the window.
The game is largely puzzle solving and trying to figure out where to go next. The only problem is that the actual game only provides you with hints and clues and there's no real way to uncover some of these puzzles without being really knowledgeable on a lot of various things or to constantly be Googling quotes, flags, languages, capitals, and a few other topics.
The game doesn't provide you any way of discovering these in game. You either look them up or pay someone in the game to give you the answer. There's the option to get a hint, which also costs money, but it's a waste of time to do.
You can't really just fly/look around until you come up to the place/solution too since some clues have to be manually types out and traveling costs money. The game also features a fun rent system where, at the start of every month, you have to pay your bills. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?
If you run out of money or get trapped/arrested/fail the puzzle, you get a game over and you will restart from the beginning of the case more times than not. The game features an auto save feature that almost always only works at the beginning of the case. You can't save yourself at any time, so if you're worried about running out of money flying around and discovering the next location and want to save so you don't have to go through all the dialogue you've already read, too bad.
Flying around and seeing the various dystopian locations is neat but they are completely empty with nothing to explore besides the screen you will load up when you "land". Most areas that are not necessary to the story are empty husks. Some times new areas will open up if they are story related but I rarely visited most of the locations in the one storyline path I took.
The game provides you with three different clients to work with. At the start, you can work with all three to help get an idea for the case and the story. Eventually though, you will have to pick one to work full time which will ignore the rest of the cases. I only played through one path, so it's possible that these other areas are explored more in other pathways but it just feels like a lot of wasted space.
I played the XBox version of this game as well and there are issues with the console version of this compared to the PC version. Since you have no mouse, you aren't able to just click on the thing you want to interact with, so you'll have to rely on the game automatically hovering over the correct item/person, which this game struggles to do.
So many times I was standing right of front of something but the game instead was focusing on me interacting with something behind me or nearby. There was also a very frustrating puzzle involving getting out of a trap by solving constellations (another Google focused puzzle for me). Getting through the puzzle wasn't too bad, except for the auto focusing. Since two of the puzzles were right next to each other (one was above, the other below it), I was unable to easily click on the final part of the puzzle. After dying twice and having to get back there, I got lucky finally by just pressing A until it recognized the bottom puzzle. I almost quit then and there.
There are other bugs as well, characters just not appearing, or not being able to talk to them, or other various in game issues that just make the whole experience worse. Things where it wasn't as simple as leaving and coming back. Things where I had to literally shut the game down and start from the beginning of the case.
This game has an interesting location, mainly taking place in a futuristic Singapore and the idea could have been good but Chinatown Detective Agency falls well short of being worth your time unless the idea of Google searching your way into progress sounds like a great time
A futuristic Singapore is the setting and it starts off pretty good, but quickly the game loop is uncovered and the game's charming look and interesting location go right out the window.
The game is largely puzzle solving and trying to figure out where to go next. The only problem is that the actual game only provides you with hints and clues and there's no real way to uncover some of these puzzles without being really knowledgeable on a lot of various things or to constantly be Googling quotes, flags, languages, capitals, and a few other topics.
The game doesn't provide you any way of discovering these in game. You either look them up or pay someone in the game to give you the answer. There's the option to get a hint, which also costs money, but it's a waste of time to do.
You can't really just fly/look around until you come up to the place/solution too since some clues have to be manually types out and traveling costs money. The game also features a fun rent system where, at the start of every month, you have to pay your bills. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?
If you run out of money or get trapped/arrested/fail the puzzle, you get a game over and you will restart from the beginning of the case more times than not. The game features an auto save feature that almost always only works at the beginning of the case. You can't save yourself at any time, so if you're worried about running out of money flying around and discovering the next location and want to save so you don't have to go through all the dialogue you've already read, too bad.
Flying around and seeing the various dystopian locations is neat but they are completely empty with nothing to explore besides the screen you will load up when you "land". Most areas that are not necessary to the story are empty husks. Some times new areas will open up if they are story related but I rarely visited most of the locations in the one storyline path I took.
The game provides you with three different clients to work with. At the start, you can work with all three to help get an idea for the case and the story. Eventually though, you will have to pick one to work full time which will ignore the rest of the cases. I only played through one path, so it's possible that these other areas are explored more in other pathways but it just feels like a lot of wasted space.
I played the XBox version of this game as well and there are issues with the console version of this compared to the PC version. Since you have no mouse, you aren't able to just click on the thing you want to interact with, so you'll have to rely on the game automatically hovering over the correct item/person, which this game struggles to do.
So many times I was standing right of front of something but the game instead was focusing on me interacting with something behind me or nearby. There was also a very frustrating puzzle involving getting out of a trap by solving constellations (another Google focused puzzle for me). Getting through the puzzle wasn't too bad, except for the auto focusing. Since two of the puzzles were right next to each other (one was above, the other below it), I was unable to easily click on the final part of the puzzle. After dying twice and having to get back there, I got lucky finally by just pressing A until it recognized the bottom puzzle. I almost quit then and there.
There are other bugs as well, characters just not appearing, or not being able to talk to them, or other various in game issues that just make the whole experience worse. Things where it wasn't as simple as leaving and coming back. Things where I had to literally shut the game down and start from the beginning of the case.
This game has an interesting location, mainly taking place in a futuristic Singapore and the idea could have been good but Chinatown Detective Agency falls well short of being worth your time unless the idea of Google searching your way into progress sounds like a great time
The DLC is great and it really comes as no surprise. The new power ups are solid, Chalice is fun to play as, the new bosses are fun, and the story is silly in the best ways possible. Doesn't add a ton of newness to the game however and of course, it's DLC, so it's relatively short but if you played Cuphead and liked it, this is a must buy.
2021
A neat style with some really good music but the controls on console are atrocious and the loop isn't all that exciting to stick with it longterm
2022
A solid choice based narrative game that at times is incredibly interesting, engaging, with a great art style but other times, the game is the exact opposite.
As Dusk Falls tells the story of a family trip gone awry and the grey areas that lead up to this situation. The choose your own nature of it isn't that different but the choices you make in the game do feel like they hold weight and can wildly change the story and events that will follow.
I also like that the game is willing to explore the events before and after, especially the after. You get a really good idea as to how your choices have effected the characters when you can see them over a decade after the main portion of the game.
The flashbacks and flash forwards though aren't all great so they at times feel like padding more so than anything worthwhile.
The art style is also very hit or miss, as is the voice acting. Sometimes, these are great, other times, they are a bad distraction.
Overall, As Dusk Falls is an inconsistent but enjoyable game. If you like these kinds of games, there are a ton of choices to explore and a lot that change things up so you'll get a lot of play out of this if you want to check out every option and how it changes things.
As Dusk Falls tells the story of a family trip gone awry and the grey areas that lead up to this situation. The choose your own nature of it isn't that different but the choices you make in the game do feel like they hold weight and can wildly change the story and events that will follow.
I also like that the game is willing to explore the events before and after, especially the after. You get a really good idea as to how your choices have effected the characters when you can see them over a decade after the main portion of the game.
The flashbacks and flash forwards though aren't all great so they at times feel like padding more so than anything worthwhile.
The art style is also very hit or miss, as is the voice acting. Sometimes, these are great, other times, they are a bad distraction.
Overall, As Dusk Falls is an inconsistent but enjoyable game. If you like these kinds of games, there are a ton of choices to explore and a lot that change things up so you'll get a lot of play out of this if you want to check out every option and how it changes things.
2022
There's very little going on from a gameplay standard, but Stray does a great job of world building and makes for a place that I never really got tired of getting lost in.
The story is decent at best but it does a good job of telling it and with the wonderful soundtrack and, again, world building, by the end of this game had me pretty invested in everything. Though it was definitely a simmering effect that eventually boiled over by the end.
Definitely won't be for everyone given the very light gameplay of it all, but Stray does a lot of good vibey things to make up for that, if vibey-type games are usually your thing.
The story is decent at best but it does a good job of telling it and with the wonderful soundtrack and, again, world building, by the end of this game had me pretty invested in everything. Though it was definitely a simmering effect that eventually boiled over by the end.
Definitely won't be for everyone given the very light gameplay of it all, but Stray does a lot of good vibey things to make up for that, if vibey-type games are usually your thing.
2009
I find the combat repetitive and at times, frustrating and tedious, especially some of the end game stuff, not all of the mechanics have aged great too but Bayonetta is oozing with so much uniqueness and style that it's hard not to enjoy it at the end. You play as a witch named Bayonetta who wears her hair as a suit, like, there is no beating that, even with some of those frustrations
2022
The vibes are still in tact for the most part but Somerville is definitely a bit of a step down from what you'd expect from ex-Playdead devs. There are some crazy scenes and the scale can be impressive at times but everything top to bottom is just a little less interesting than Inside and Limbo.
Visual esthetic especially is pretty lacking here compared to some of these other games.
There are also some tough to explore, tough to control areas as well that can be a tad frustrating to deal with. If you liked the Playdead type games though, Somerville will still hit the spot for the most part, given it's short run time as well, it's still a game that can be a chill and harmless weekend playthrough.
Visual esthetic especially is pretty lacking here compared to some of these other games.
There are also some tough to explore, tough to control areas as well that can be a tad frustrating to deal with. If you liked the Playdead type games though, Somerville will still hit the spot for the most part, given it's short run time as well, it's still a game that can be a chill and harmless weekend playthrough.
2022
Another very solid entry from the Polyphony Digital team that just gets bogged down by some poor Microtransaction mechanics and some missing quality of life features. Gran Turismo 7 still sounds incredible and looks incredible and the sleek designs of many of their menus are still so nice, but with Forza existing in the same space, there are parts that are starting to feel dated from this franchise.
The sequel is pretty damn fun, just a bit of a step down from the original in terms of story. Still captures a lot of the odd and funny vibes from the first though so this sequel is definitely worth your time if you played and liked the original.
2014
Bayonetta 2 somehow takes the groundwork from the original, something that was already very solid top to bottom, and manages to improve on the formula (somehow).
The style of the first and over-the-top action was already at an 11 in the first and yet, the second one manages to find itself at a 14 or a 15 in this department.
There is a story, technically, but I have no idea what is happening in it (and at this point, I'm too afraid to ask). It doesn't matter though, that's how good this game plays.
The controls, the fighting, the action, everything under the hood really, is at a top tier level. For how fast paced this game is and how much potential there is for poor a bad camera, controls that are unresponsive, and other things that can plague games like this, it is incredible just how tight and responsive everything is. Any time I got hit by an enemy attack, it never felt like the game was at fault for not recognizing my dodge in time. It's easily some of the most responsive controls I've played in a game like this.
The only thing that might be more impressive than the controls and mechanics is how over the top the style is in this one. The first was already incredibly stylish but this one features mechs, so like, this wins in the style department.
Bayonetta is flat out great. If these types of games are your thing, you absolutely need to play this one. The story can wash over you like it did for me and it'll still be an absolute blast.
The style of the first and over-the-top action was already at an 11 in the first and yet, the second one manages to find itself at a 14 or a 15 in this department.
There is a story, technically, but I have no idea what is happening in it (and at this point, I'm too afraid to ask). It doesn't matter though, that's how good this game plays.
The controls, the fighting, the action, everything under the hood really, is at a top tier level. For how fast paced this game is and how much potential there is for poor a bad camera, controls that are unresponsive, and other things that can plague games like this, it is incredible just how tight and responsive everything is. Any time I got hit by an enemy attack, it never felt like the game was at fault for not recognizing my dodge in time. It's easily some of the most responsive controls I've played in a game like this.
The only thing that might be more impressive than the controls and mechanics is how over the top the style is in this one. The first was already incredibly stylish but this one features mechs, so like, this wins in the style department.
Bayonetta is flat out great. If these types of games are your thing, you absolutely need to play this one. The story can wash over you like it did for me and it'll still be an absolute blast.
Kentucky Route Zero is a haunting dour game that has some truly stunning moments backed with some really great music. The only problem is that the weird obtuse-ness of it's style can bleed over into the gameplay being tedious and a chore to get through.
On longer playthroughs, the walls of text and strangeness can get grating and a slog to read through. It is a truly bold and interesting game though that is still worth trying for the experience, the moments of this game that are an absolute home run are worth getting to if a David Lynch visual novel appeals to you in any sort of way.
On longer playthroughs, the walls of text and strangeness can get grating and a slog to read through. It is a truly bold and interesting game though that is still worth trying for the experience, the moments of this game that are an absolute home run are worth getting to if a David Lynch visual novel appeals to you in any sort of way.
A solid improvement to a series that has long needed a massive makeover. Not perfect and still a lot of work needs to be done but 2K22 is a solid foundational step in a series that will hopefully continue to show positive improvements.
A nice improvement from the first. Overall, the developers do a great job of improving on the core idea, making the game more fun, less tedious, and in general, making the levels and areas more interesting.
The game does still come with faults and some of those improvements feel more like half measures than full steps but I definitely enjoyed this more than the first.
Being able to move around and not locked into your decision until after attacking is such a great improvement over the first. The camera is still not the greatest in regards to determining attack angles and what not. Now that you're able to freely move around, even after taking steps, you can better line things up and not feel like you've completely wasted a turn.
There are still some weird hiccups with the game's use of cover but besides that and the game not clearly letting you see enemy resistances/weaknesses when using special abilities, the actual gameplay is top notch in this game. The general attacks all are really unique and provide nice pros and cons that are useful in certain situations.
The leveling up and abilities that you can increase all do feel bigger and more powerful as you progress which is nice. My only problem with the leveling though is it does become a chore to gain levels near the end game. This also ties into another bigger issue I had with the game.
It's wayy too long. I put in nearly 70 into this game, and that's with a lot of side quests being ignored. Would leveling up near the end been easier if I had done these side quests? I'm sure they would've helped but the game just gets tiresome after a while. The enemy variety isn't all that unique, so the planets start to get filled with elemental swap type enemies. Remember that big snow bear from the first stage? Well, here's that same bear but now he's a fire bear.
The stages themselves also get more tedious to move around in as well. The game does a good job on improving the levels and the blandness they mostly felt like in the first game. The later stages though feel a bit too busy and annoying to move around in. So these all start to compound near the end of the game in just making me want to rush towards the finish line and move on.
It's a bit of a bummer near the end given how into it I was at the start of the game but the changes are clear and present and worthwhile. If you enjoyed the first game, this is definitely worth your time.
The game does still come with faults and some of those improvements feel more like half measures than full steps but I definitely enjoyed this more than the first.
Being able to move around and not locked into your decision until after attacking is such a great improvement over the first. The camera is still not the greatest in regards to determining attack angles and what not. Now that you're able to freely move around, even after taking steps, you can better line things up and not feel like you've completely wasted a turn.
There are still some weird hiccups with the game's use of cover but besides that and the game not clearly letting you see enemy resistances/weaknesses when using special abilities, the actual gameplay is top notch in this game. The general attacks all are really unique and provide nice pros and cons that are useful in certain situations.
The leveling up and abilities that you can increase all do feel bigger and more powerful as you progress which is nice. My only problem with the leveling though is it does become a chore to gain levels near the end game. This also ties into another bigger issue I had with the game.
It's wayy too long. I put in nearly 70 into this game, and that's with a lot of side quests being ignored. Would leveling up near the end been easier if I had done these side quests? I'm sure they would've helped but the game just gets tiresome after a while. The enemy variety isn't all that unique, so the planets start to get filled with elemental swap type enemies. Remember that big snow bear from the first stage? Well, here's that same bear but now he's a fire bear.
The stages themselves also get more tedious to move around in as well. The game does a good job on improving the levels and the blandness they mostly felt like in the first game. The later stages though feel a bit too busy and annoying to move around in. So these all start to compound near the end of the game in just making me want to rush towards the finish line and move on.
It's a bit of a bummer near the end given how into it I was at the start of the game but the changes are clear and present and worthwhile. If you enjoyed the first game, this is definitely worth your time.
2015
Until Dawn weaves a pretty good story and a few solid performances into an interesting choose your own adventure style horror game.
The game gets dragged down a bit by some uneven performances, characters that feel unimportant and massively underdeveloped (even by horror trope standards), and other characters feeling practically bulletproof for what they go through and still manage to survive (and despite your own choices up to that point). Until Dawn is fun enough despite these issues though and shows flashes of a potential classic from the team in charge in the future. The formula and some of the writing is definitely there.
The game gets dragged down a bit by some uneven performances, characters that feel unimportant and massively underdeveloped (even by horror trope standards), and other characters feeling practically bulletproof for what they go through and still manage to survive (and despite your own choices up to that point). Until Dawn is fun enough despite these issues though and shows flashes of a potential classic from the team in charge in the future. The formula and some of the writing is definitely there.