didn't expect to enjoy this as much as i did - even as a fan on the previous 2 games. i know that the left-turns this takes in terms of story, setting and tone had put many people off when it came out.
one of my expectations was that it would all be in service of its aesthetic but to be honest there's so much more care gone into this than that. which isn't to say that the aesthetic isn't rad - the nauseous Tony Scott/music video style has aged really well. in the ever-raging debate about games narratives, this isn't one that WANTS to be a movie so much as it co-opts the language and look of specific movies to tell quite a game-y story.
where the other 2 games, for all their virtues, were a bit of a jumble of influences, there is a coherent, singular vision driving this. i don't think it's against the spirit of the 'noir' tone of the last two games at all - i think that contrasting Max's cynicism with the sun-soaked, drug-fuelled debauchery of Brazil is a really good way of showing how the world has changed and become even more corrupt around him.
shooting mechanics are tight (if a little difficult with a controller) - the 'soft lock' option is a good compromise for some of those genuinely tooth-grinding set pieces toward the end.
don't know what else to say, enjoyed this much more than i expected.

really neat game with a unique soundtrack and intricately thought out setting, complemented by a set of systems that reinforce the 'tabletop'-lite experience. it's essentially like playing an indie tabletop rpg but much of the heavy lifting is done behind closed doors, so you're not really bothered by the technicalities of running a campaign. it makes this quite a sleek, streamlined experience that sings when it gets really stuck into its setting.
there are a couple of quite significant drawbacks for me. firstly, (at least right now) playing on switch was marred by technical and interface issues that made navigating the game occasionally frustrating. there was at least one total screen-lock during a tutorial and other times i wasn't able to perform tasks my character technically should have been able to do but the game was a bit bonked. the interface is cool when it works, but there are at least a couple of locations that were incredibly difficult to click on using a controller, which meant having to memorise button inputs when moving between locations on the world map in order to go certain places, which took a lot of trial and error and was really frustrating, especially given just implementing a pointer would eradicate this issue completely.
another hang-up i had was with some of the writing. while the stories themselves are really great - just as compelling as the developer's last game, In Other Waters, but the prose can often go on for much longer than seems natural. i got the impression that the game was a lot more in love with its use of language, and scenes will often go on for a paragraph or two longer than they really need to and those paragraphs will typically be written quite flowery, which i felt undercut the overall experience.
none of this is to say that i didn't like playing this game, i actually thought that it was pretty good. i'm really looking forward to seeing how this system can be implemented with other stories in the future and i hope that the next game is as refined in its prose as the gameplay it's built on.