I liked this game the most when I was engaged in the gameplay loop of delivering packages, strengthening connections, and building structures. When you're left in peace, the game can be very enjoyable and relaxing. The cool designs of the creatures and tech elements, and the gloomy landscapes certainly helped to cast a sort of spell.
The bad?
My main issues were with the story, its pacing, the information overload and the dreadful controls.
Self-indulgent sci-fi/philosophical story and incoherent world-building. Cringy dialogue and one insufferable sociopath antagonist (Higgs) who seems to be only motivated by watching the world burn. Laughable "boss fights" almost devoid of any impactful game mechanics or strategy, and simply consist of a rinse-repeat clunky 3rd person shooting. Overly complicated controls, overblown with tiny unnecessary mechanics (half of the things you can do in the game feel like they're just easter eggs).
Apart from the main outdoor locations, most places look sterile and copy-pasted. Even the best designs in the game are recycled throughout the story to the point of becoming trivial. That includes many short cut-scenes, which Kojima forces us to rewatch over and over again as if he worries that we didn't have a good look the first or second time around, destroying any mystical effect they might have had.
Oh, and the expositional dialogue... I don't remember the last time I felt so patronized by a video game repeatedly explaining its objectives, rules and mechanics to you over and over again, and constantly interrupting what you were doing because of it. And at the same time, it keeps playing cryptic games to keep you intrigued about the most important elements of the main story, throwing in a bunch of twists and turns (many of which you could see coming dozens of hours before).
The gist of the story and philosophy of the game is actually interesting but made so obvious by the countless repetition of names and visual clues, and especially by the characters constantly trying to explain it to you so exhaustively, that it becomes dull and tired and leaves nothing for interpretation.
Kojima basically has the same expositional problem as Christopher Nolan in his movies (but arguably even worse).
By the way, for a game so much about walking or driving, it's incredibly frustrating how many times the player can get stuck in broken animations and suffer from the bad physics.
One more thing. As someone who develops user interfaces for a living, I gotta say this game had some of the worst UI/UX I have ever experienced (complete with marquee text!).
Anyway, there's much more I could say about this game, and I tried to love it (there were moments where I did), but after more than 60 hours, I don't know if I hated it more than I loved it.
I understand how many people might find this game cinematic and "deep", considering how superficial AAA video games usually are, but I honestly would have liked this game more if it wasn't constantly trying so hard.
The bad?
My main issues were with the story, its pacing, the information overload and the dreadful controls.
Self-indulgent sci-fi/philosophical story and incoherent world-building. Cringy dialogue and one insufferable sociopath antagonist (Higgs) who seems to be only motivated by watching the world burn. Laughable "boss fights" almost devoid of any impactful game mechanics or strategy, and simply consist of a rinse-repeat clunky 3rd person shooting. Overly complicated controls, overblown with tiny unnecessary mechanics (half of the things you can do in the game feel like they're just easter eggs).
Apart from the main outdoor locations, most places look sterile and copy-pasted. Even the best designs in the game are recycled throughout the story to the point of becoming trivial. That includes many short cut-scenes, which Kojima forces us to rewatch over and over again as if he worries that we didn't have a good look the first or second time around, destroying any mystical effect they might have had.
Oh, and the expositional dialogue... I don't remember the last time I felt so patronized by a video game repeatedly explaining its objectives, rules and mechanics to you over and over again, and constantly interrupting what you were doing because of it. And at the same time, it keeps playing cryptic games to keep you intrigued about the most important elements of the main story, throwing in a bunch of twists and turns (many of which you could see coming dozens of hours before).
The gist of the story and philosophy of the game is actually interesting but made so obvious by the countless repetition of names and visual clues, and especially by the characters constantly trying to explain it to you so exhaustively, that it becomes dull and tired and leaves nothing for interpretation.
Kojima basically has the same expositional problem as Christopher Nolan in his movies (but arguably even worse).
By the way, for a game so much about walking or driving, it's incredibly frustrating how many times the player can get stuck in broken animations and suffer from the bad physics.
One more thing. As someone who develops user interfaces for a living, I gotta say this game had some of the worst UI/UX I have ever experienced (complete with marquee text!).
Anyway, there's much more I could say about this game, and I tried to love it (there were moments where I did), but after more than 60 hours, I don't know if I hated it more than I loved it.
I understand how many people might find this game cinematic and "deep", considering how superficial AAA video games usually are, but I honestly would have liked this game more if it wasn't constantly trying so hard.