2 reviews liked by alapham
It’s top tier, like almost masterpiece shit like 60% of the time, low-key falls off at the end, doesn’t get better after the house section. It’s never bad or boring but the end section especially just ain’t as good as the rest of the game. The level design falls off so hard it’s crazy and the enemy variety is quite thin, it stops being scary too cuz you learn exactly how to deal with everything pretty quickly and by the end you have so much ammo and weaponry that nothing can stop you anyways. It’s really not a hard game either, i died 4 times in my playthrough with 4 steroids used.
That being said i definitely don’t regret playing it, the atmosphere early game especially is really effective and although i didn’t find it all that challenging, the encounters with the family members were tense and engaging. The most enjoyable parts of the game for me are when ur set free in the house and just left to explore at ur own leisure. The level of detail in the game at times was reminiscent of an immersive sim, very impressive stuff. The problems just get really egregious when you leave the house and go to the ship wreckage, everything past that point is kinda mid.
That being said i definitely don’t regret playing it, the atmosphere early game especially is really effective and although i didn’t find it all that challenging, the encounters with the family members were tense and engaging. The most enjoyable parts of the game for me are when ur set free in the house and just left to explore at ur own leisure. The level of detail in the game at times was reminiscent of an immersive sim, very impressive stuff. The problems just get really egregious when you leave the house and go to the ship wreckage, everything past that point is kinda mid.
Deathloop
2021
a real gamers' game. a game for the gamers. made by gamers. maybe not gamey gamers. but definitely the sort of quote unquote "sophisticated" gamers. the gamers who played BioShock and Half-Life and have Deus Ex posters on their wall. there's nothing really wrong with these kinds of gamers, it's just all very mid, in my opinion. like the game of film geeks who think Edgar Wright invented action comedy or Guillermo del Toro invented horror.
it's a slickly crafted, lovingly shiny game that drips with a kind of contemporary sports car swag. it presents really well. all the art design is popping off the screen. it all screams "look at me!". and tonally, the game screams "love me!" too. like there's no friction here, not really. there's friction from the time loop stuff, but far less than in say a Souls game. gaining back your XP (or residuum) is not a huge time-wasting, anxiety-driving hassle. playing it with markers and hand-helpers on turns it into a very linear experience. which is not a knock for me, I love that shit. but still, it adds up. when you leave an area, you get a lil rewards screen where Colt does a little jig in the corner and it really made me wonder who exactly game was for.
some loose points:
the banter in this game is some Marvel/Deadpool esque nonsense. it's all very smarmy and self-aware but not clever or sharp or character revealing. julianna is snarky to the point of being non-existent as a character. Colt is so dumb he's almost charming. but the game has like zero intention of exploring who this man really is outside of lame comebacks and grumbled swearing. he's maybe the most interesting game dad in some time. he's far from the stoic brooding Geralt/Kratos/Joel archetype - instead he's a real genuine loser. but again the game nothing to really say about him or for him to say. he's just a surly player surrogate at the end of the day.
the game plays the way I wish Dishonored did. far smoother. less emphasis on stealth. you can basically play it like Doom in every level except the party mansion (which is less of an intricate deathtrap and more of a series of infinite AI, making it a real pain to be in). the powers are cool. all the high level guns look like Destiny weapons. it's a fun experience for about 5 or 6 hours until you kind of exhaust everything.
i wish there was more to this game than the pastiche art style and vague meta commentary on the endless bloodthirsty loop of video game violence from the point of view of underqualified gun man. every dollar and man hour clearly went into art and graphics. job well done. i wish the game had just anything to really say in the end because it seems like a waste. even if it was just a nice character story.
i feel like the previous generation of AAA gaming already turned hard away from dark and gritty stories and away from games that could really make the player feel a friction from playing them. and that the new generation kicks off with Deathloop only makes me worry we're in for even more snarky power-fantasy trips that cuddle players even more. aww well.
it's a slickly crafted, lovingly shiny game that drips with a kind of contemporary sports car swag. it presents really well. all the art design is popping off the screen. it all screams "look at me!". and tonally, the game screams "love me!" too. like there's no friction here, not really. there's friction from the time loop stuff, but far less than in say a Souls game. gaining back your XP (or residuum) is not a huge time-wasting, anxiety-driving hassle. playing it with markers and hand-helpers on turns it into a very linear experience. which is not a knock for me, I love that shit. but still, it adds up. when you leave an area, you get a lil rewards screen where Colt does a little jig in the corner and it really made me wonder who exactly game was for.
some loose points:
the banter in this game is some Marvel/Deadpool esque nonsense. it's all very smarmy and self-aware but not clever or sharp or character revealing. julianna is snarky to the point of being non-existent as a character. Colt is so dumb he's almost charming. but the game has like zero intention of exploring who this man really is outside of lame comebacks and grumbled swearing. he's maybe the most interesting game dad in some time. he's far from the stoic brooding Geralt/Kratos/Joel archetype - instead he's a real genuine loser. but again the game nothing to really say about him or for him to say. he's just a surly player surrogate at the end of the day.
the game plays the way I wish Dishonored did. far smoother. less emphasis on stealth. you can basically play it like Doom in every level except the party mansion (which is less of an intricate deathtrap and more of a series of infinite AI, making it a real pain to be in). the powers are cool. all the high level guns look like Destiny weapons. it's a fun experience for about 5 or 6 hours until you kind of exhaust everything.
i wish there was more to this game than the pastiche art style and vague meta commentary on the endless bloodthirsty loop of video game violence from the point of view of underqualified gun man. every dollar and man hour clearly went into art and graphics. job well done. i wish the game had just anything to really say in the end because it seems like a waste. even if it was just a nice character story.
i feel like the previous generation of AAA gaming already turned hard away from dark and gritty stories and away from games that could really make the player feel a friction from playing them. and that the new generation kicks off with Deathloop only makes me worry we're in for even more snarky power-fantasy trips that cuddle players even more. aww well.