This is almost really good.
I was a bit worried about the story of this game taking place in between the first and second films since the gap between those two was easily the biggest stumble in the series' footing, but this game sticks to horror more than goofy, over the top action and it mostly works. I mean, it is absolutely ridiculous to believe that Jigsaw and Dr. Gordon alone set up this ENTIRE asylum with well over 50+ people in it, but since the atmosphere is so foreboding and the story itself takes place in the very horror-soaked beginnings of the series I can sorta look passed that. The story offers two endings that do not retcon or shake up the series at its core, and the way you save and interact with certain people add to their characters in Saw II.
Conceptually, this game absolutely shines. I find it pretty easy to separate myself from the happenings on screen of the film but adding a layer to actually PLAYING Jigsaw's game is a great premise in and of itself. Your character has a key sewn inside of them that the others trapped in this building want, so these people mercilessly attack you in order to gain their freedom in the same way you are. There's a constant reminder of urging the player to find a new perspective that is played with interestingly in many visual puzzles, and this theme is carried throughout each story-ending choice this game offers. The game does a good job making you care about your actions through attempting to reconcile trauma inflicted on innocent others through the destructive pursuit of Jigsaw with many audio logs, TV cutscenes, and generally frantic tone. Jigsaw is constantly watching you, so the way this game offers "tips" is through the sarcastic, know-it-all tone of the man himself (ex. "be careful to watch your footing, detective!" as the game hides a million shotgun traps around corners you need to be careful not to set off).
Mechanically is where this game falls apart though. I very much like the idea of a Saw game being mainly puzzles, but I don't very much like solving the same recycled puzzle 25+ times each in order to achieve my goal. I liked some of the final zones where you save people related to you with unique traps, but nothing was really thematic or entirely fresh the entire playthrough. Luckily these puzzles required a bit of thinking even after you've solved them so many times, but seeing the same circuit board and pipe puzzle over and over got a bit frustrating. I like the idea of using multiple different weapons and light sources to traverse my way through the crumbling asylum, but the starting lighter is by far the best light source in the game and absolutely nothing beats stun-locking enemies to death with the standard fist attacks, I even beat the final Pig boss in one grab cycle just like this. I don't mind the brevity of this game at all either, even if it would've felt much more impactful with an array of many puzzles instead of scaling about 3 unique ones over and over.
Overall, as a Saw fan, I do like this game and think it offers something unique to the series by simply existing and trying something novel. As a budding fan of third-person survival horror games, I can easily recognize how much it drops the ball with many underdeveloped, glitchy mechanics and a severe lack of variety when it comes to its gameplay. Even still, I had a fun time shuffling my way through several dozen traps and saving others through puzzle solving skills, always having a looming sense of danger around every corner due to some effective atmosphere that captured the spirit of the film's editing perfectly.
The lore papers didn't make much sense to me though. Jigsaw a victim of not only Reaganite politics that defunded healthcare but also of MKULTRA? This is super awesome and has late-stage Saw film energy but for essentially a Saw 1.5, what????
I was a bit worried about the story of this game taking place in between the first and second films since the gap between those two was easily the biggest stumble in the series' footing, but this game sticks to horror more than goofy, over the top action and it mostly works. I mean, it is absolutely ridiculous to believe that Jigsaw and Dr. Gordon alone set up this ENTIRE asylum with well over 50+ people in it, but since the atmosphere is so foreboding and the story itself takes place in the very horror-soaked beginnings of the series I can sorta look passed that. The story offers two endings that do not retcon or shake up the series at its core, and the way you save and interact with certain people add to their characters in Saw II.
Conceptually, this game absolutely shines. I find it pretty easy to separate myself from the happenings on screen of the film but adding a layer to actually PLAYING Jigsaw's game is a great premise in and of itself. Your character has a key sewn inside of them that the others trapped in this building want, so these people mercilessly attack you in order to gain their freedom in the same way you are. There's a constant reminder of urging the player to find a new perspective that is played with interestingly in many visual puzzles, and this theme is carried throughout each story-ending choice this game offers. The game does a good job making you care about your actions through attempting to reconcile trauma inflicted on innocent others through the destructive pursuit of Jigsaw with many audio logs, TV cutscenes, and generally frantic tone. Jigsaw is constantly watching you, so the way this game offers "tips" is through the sarcastic, know-it-all tone of the man himself (ex. "be careful to watch your footing, detective!" as the game hides a million shotgun traps around corners you need to be careful not to set off).
Mechanically is where this game falls apart though. I very much like the idea of a Saw game being mainly puzzles, but I don't very much like solving the same recycled puzzle 25+ times each in order to achieve my goal. I liked some of the final zones where you save people related to you with unique traps, but nothing was really thematic or entirely fresh the entire playthrough. Luckily these puzzles required a bit of thinking even after you've solved them so many times, but seeing the same circuit board and pipe puzzle over and over got a bit frustrating. I like the idea of using multiple different weapons and light sources to traverse my way through the crumbling asylum, but the starting lighter is by far the best light source in the game and absolutely nothing beats stun-locking enemies to death with the standard fist attacks, I even beat the final Pig boss in one grab cycle just like this. I don't mind the brevity of this game at all either, even if it would've felt much more impactful with an array of many puzzles instead of scaling about 3 unique ones over and over.
Overall, as a Saw fan, I do like this game and think it offers something unique to the series by simply existing and trying something novel. As a budding fan of third-person survival horror games, I can easily recognize how much it drops the ball with many underdeveloped, glitchy mechanics and a severe lack of variety when it comes to its gameplay. Even still, I had a fun time shuffling my way through several dozen traps and saving others through puzzle solving skills, always having a looming sense of danger around every corner due to some effective atmosphere that captured the spirit of the film's editing perfectly.
The lore papers didn't make much sense to me though. Jigsaw a victim of not only Reaganite politics that defunded healthcare but also of MKULTRA? This is super awesome and has late-stage Saw film energy but for essentially a Saw 1.5, what????