Cocoon is a game I really looked forward to playing, but fell a bit short of my expectations. On one hand it is very clearly a graphically and artistically beautiful game. The environments are gorgeous and extremely varied. I particularly liked the almost H.R. Giger-esque blends of biology and technology. The worlds felt like they had an extremely long history and the technology you interact with reminded me of Arthur C. Clarke’s adage “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Early in the game you reach a point where you can enter and exit a little pocket dimension and the visual and audible transition between dimensions is extremely satisfying. You see it a lot since it’s a core gameplay mechanic so I’m glad they got it right. The sound design was very subtle, but very effective. The pitter patter of your little bug feat through rough sand, across metal platforms, and puddles behind an ominous otherworldly melodic hum made the world feel very dreamlike. The buttons, platforms and other pieces of technology through the game all sounded very advanced and alien.

The game is very deep on a conceptual level and you can tell that through the puzzles it throws at you. I was convinced a handful of times that I’d broken the game and didn’t have all the pieces I needed to progress only for that “aha!” moment to strike and humble me. The game is extremely fair and thoughtful of your time. You are given the puzzle pieces you need in front of you and the rest of the environment is locked off to prevent backtracking too far and becoming overwhelmed by a large explorable space. One of the most amazing parts is it gives you these puzzle pieces and new gameplay elements without any text or dialogue through the entirety of the game. The visual language of the world is so strong and easy to read and it was never a question of what I could interact with, but more what order I needed to interact with it in order to progress.

There are no traditional enemies throughout the environment, nor is there any type of ‘fail state’. You can’t fall off platforms to your death or be killed by the environment in any way. This is where one of my primary complaints comes from. I never felt a sense of urgency or pressure from the game to do anything. I knew I was safe at all times which seems counterintuitive to finding yourself in such an alien world. There are a handful of boss battles which have “death states”, but even then there’s little consequence to “dying.” I use quotations because even in these scenarios you aren’t killed in battle, the boss generally boots you out of the arena to right outside the entrance where you can just try again. Though the boss battles were each extremely unique and all introduced interesting gameplay mechanics. I liken them to 2D Zelda bosses in difficulty and gameplay.

Where I think the game falters primarily is the emotional impact it has. For me, I felt basically nothing while playing it. I enjoyed the puzzles and boss battles as a game, but seeing as this game has absolutely zero dialogue, story set up, or indication of what your end goal actually is, I just could not get emotionally invested. There is obviously some deep history and lore in this world, but you don’t interact with any living creature that tells tales of what used to be or remembers “a time before.” There are no stakes in saving anyone or anything because you are the only living thing that isn’t a god like creature. There is only you, the lowly worker and the bosses, particularly the final boss, who are clearly higher beings than you. I don’t make this comparison just because both games feature bug-like creatures, but there are a lot of similarities to Hollow Knight. You are mysteriously thrust into a decaying foreign world with a clear long lost history. In Hollow Knight you come across small pockets of society, or lone survivors who remember the kingdom before it fell which really feeds you empathetic drive to fix that world.

All in all, I think the art, sound and gameplay are top notch, possibly among my favorite indie games. However, I wish there was more meat on the bone lore wise to dig into and to get me more emotionally involved in the what or why I was navigating this world. I spent maybe 5-6 hours and managed to unlock all achievements using the level select to pick up missed collectables after completing the story. If you have access to this game on Xbox Gamepass, it's a no brainer. Though replayability is probably pretty limited since the pathway is so linear and puzzles only have one solution.

Played as part of the God of War Collection on PS3

ALERT - if interested, please play this game through any [LEGAL] method but the HD Collection as this port contains 1-2 game breaking bugs that occur after obtaining Pandora’s Box wherein the MacGuffin either goes missing or wherein the cutscene of Kratos bringing it out of the dungeon doesn’t load and consequently freezes up the game. I experienced the latter and, as a result, was unable to complete God of War (and I have no intention of buying and replaying it in its entirety at a later date). As a result of this annoyance, I have knocked down .5 star from the final tally.

Despite playing the vast majority of the game, my inability to finish it does mean you should not take this as a serious review, but more-so a set of observations


Long before the 2018 reboot(+), God of War was best known as a pioneer in the hack-and-slash genre: a hyperviolent excursion built around fluid combat, epic visuals, and a loosely mythological story.

As such, when I booted it up, I went in expecting another poorly-aged release from the PS2’s dark-and-edgy era best left forgotten by contemporary audiences. And yet, to my delight, the opposite nearly happened; God of War won’t win any awards for its storytelling, however solid frays and a surprising amount of gameplay variety make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

As stated earlier, God of War was instrumental in the mainstreaming of slash ‘em ups, and it should thus come as no surprise that its melee fighting, to this day, remains the strongest facet. Kratos only has access to two weapons (the famed Chains of Chaos for long-range hits and, later, the Blade of Artemis for close-quarters dicing), yet both are excellent, equipped with unique animations in addition to their own set of hard/light combos. However, where God of War truly excels is in its enemy gravitation, or the movement between thugs. What I mean is, we’ve all played games where it was a bit of a chore to swap between multiple foes, and a lot of that has to do with the game having trouble recognizing player input vs camera direction. Well, whatever spell Santa Monica worked has done wonders as you’ll never run into that issue here whilst slaughtering monster-upon-monster.

Unfortunately, I can’t say everything is great, starting with the airborne wrangles. Maybe I was just doing something wrong, but I found most attempts to transition from ground-to-aerial combat to be especially cumbersome as Kratos would often not move in-sync with any bodies sent up for dispatching. Next, God of War throws in quick-time events for a number of finishers that not only distract from what is occurring on-screen, but can be unnecessarily vexing by way of short margins for error, either time or input-based (regular creature QTEs may be ignored, but the same leeway is not available for bosses). Third, the integration of spellcasting is sloppy: the powers themselves are pretty sweet, however, they don’t lend themselves organically to whatever dance you’re engaged in, forcing you to awkwardly discharge any in the midst of a combo. Finally, I was not a fan of the stun lock that occurs whenever a bigger enemy knocks you over- I get this was done to discourage, you know, getting hit, but I felt the damage inflicted should’ve been enough of a deterrent.

Like I mentioned before, God of War surprised me with its implementation of other genre fare, namely platforming and puzzle elements. If you’re going into this game wanting a pure action romp you’ll be sorely disappointed as at least one third of the final product involves Kratos having to deftly maneuver his way through a mini-course and/or resolve some long-dormant enigma. The quality of them definitely varies: some can be excellent, others exercises in tedium -- one of the worst parts of the game, for example, occurs in the very beginning wherein you’re tasked with kicking a fragile box across a deck whilst being swarmed with arrows; yet one of the best has you rebuild a wall using specially-carved columns.

Regardless, I ended up enjoying each version to one extent or another due to them breaking-up the combat monotony that flooded every other part of the story. Seriously, as much fun as it is spilling senseless blood, God of War can get really tiring courtesy of the sheer amount of enemies thrown your way, and while a fair chunk of these sparrings are optional(++), it doesn’t stop their cretins from being potential hindrances on your path to victory -- you’ll frequently run into foes on stairways, in front of ladders, scrummaging on climbable walls, etc….and it becomes annoying having to cheese around them just to avoid a pointless fight.

There is a bit of an RPG system here in terms of gathering experience orbs to funnel into your numerous offensive schemes, though, all cards on the table, I found swords to be the only rewarding investment as your mana meter runs out too quickly to make sorcery worth relying on (+++).

Regardless of my qualms, God of War was a thoroughly-addicting affair: for the first time in a while, I found myself wanting to do multiple sessions in a single day, and I recommend playing it solely for those gameplay quirks as the story itself is not very good. On the surface you’ve got a typical Greek tragedy involving a mortal’s manipulation at the hands of the Twelve Olympians, yet even this premise is botched through an easily-avoidable mistake: making Kratos an @sshole. I don’t know who on the development team thought this was a good idea, but it boggles my mind that it ended up being accepted as standard operating procedure. The idea of an anti-heroic or even outright evil protagonist isn’t inherently wrong, but it requires charisma and affability, two things far removed from the Ghost of Sparta. Kratos is definitely a victim of the gods, but not once did I feel sympathy for him on account of his vile backstory and present-day immoral actions. Throughout your quest you’ll either kill innocents and/or let them die, and without a proper justification for such transgressions (or at least a sense of remorse), Kratos is left inherently unlikable; an ugly vessel for the player to indulge in hapless violence.

By ugly, I’m of course speaking in metaphorical terms as, visually, God of War is a stunning title. Although I only played an HD port, such a remaster demonstrates the vast power gap that existed between the PS2 and PS3 eras via its sharpened polygons, looming vistas, limited loading screens, and fully-realized models. Gone are those awkward triangles/blocks you’d often see on sixth generation appendages/material respectively, rendering the innumerable sites you visit, from Athens to the Underworld, gorgeous hollows. In particular, I was especially impressed by the sharp shadow mapping for weaponry, as well as the incorporation of reflective surfaces on marble floors: two aspects that were reportedly hard to program back-in-the-day.

Cutscenes are hit-or-miss in quality; similar to Darksiders, any pre-rendered cinematics remain pristine; however, the original in-game ones do look overly grainy owing to the inability of the devs to boost them (meaning the standard gameplay honestly appears better). Besides that, though, it’s hard to find faults in God of War considering the hardware the OG version was built-on. You can tell Sony put a ton of money into this exclusive on the basis of the sheer amount of mileage Santa Monica stretched from its Kinetica Engine: the suffocating winds of a desert, lumberings of the titan Kronos, spawning of multiple enemies/large devices on a single screen (with little lag!)- all remain points of awe for what is ultimately a 2005 release.

If I had to harp on one negative, it’d be the minimal amount of finishers. Enemies are beautifully designed, yet generally only have 1-2 methods of pre-scripted execution, the second only opening itself up mid-flight (a tactic that, per the aforestated complaints, is hard to achieve), meaning you’re going to be seeing the same scene per a monster type again and again and again. More particular effects from strikes would’ve also been welcome as you primarily get the same generic blood splatter whenever an enemy (or Kratos for that matter) is gored.

Speaking of the leading chump, he’s brought to life by Terrence C. Carson, a man who does a mixed job (and who would go on to be screwed by Santa Monica during their reboot++++). When Kratos is vocalizing softer speech or subtle anger, Carson excels; when he’s being a loud pr!ck, Carson can’t help sounding like a stereotypical angry black man over vengeful hellenist.

The rest of the voice acting is surprisingly good; a game like God of War could’ve easily fallen prey to hackneyed portrayals of thespian actors, but Santa Monica evidently wanted to go the serious route here and they largely succeeded courtesy of some solid castings for all the bit parts. Tragically, where they dropped the ball is with Ares, and it’ll come as a great shock when you learn the person behind the titular antagonist: the great Steve Blum. I don’t know what Blum was going for here, but his choice of accent/inflections is half-growly/half-stereotypical angry white man, making the God of Courage sound like a garbled Wolverine. It brings me no pleasure to state this given my love of Blum, but let’s just say you’ll be glad he only speaks in the final part of the game.

Luckily, the music has no such pitfalls, with the seven(!) credited composers filtering Greek-styled melodies (lutes, lyres, drums) through an adrenaline junkie motif endemic to action titles of this nature. It’s not an OST you’ll be listening to post-game, but it does befit Kratos’s adventure as a whole.

SFX is hard to discern in a title like God of War due to its indulgence in loud dins that mask the micro sonority. For instance, a lot of the spells and puzzle-based machinery are vividly aural, as beseems their deific origins; however, I honestly couldn’t tell you whether there were any audible differences programmed into your weapons on enemy impact.

For what it’s worth, nothing was distracting and I had a good time, which is a great way to summarize God of War as a whole. This is a really fun game that’s aged uncommonly well, both visually and playably. It’s a shame I experienced that game-breaking bug as I would’ve loved to have completed Kratos’s peregrination towards revenge (and experienced the infamous Spiked Columns!).

Don’t mistake me- there are times when you will get frustrated and want to bite your controller to bits! But with an astute checkpoint system and sense of progression, they weren’t enough to bring down the product as a whole (particularly on easy mode!).


NOTES

-Speaking of easy mode, there is no way to change the difficulty. When you die enough times, a prompt appears allowing you to switch to said easy mode; however, you cannot change back. A bizarre decision, as was the one where upgrade orbs are slowly siphoned into their respective port instead of all-at-once (like most normal video games).

-No subtitles

-Whoever decided to map opening doors to mashing the right back bumper on the DualShock 3 deserves a swift kick in the groin. For the uninitiated, the DualShock 3 had notoriously awful bumpers, which made one puzzle, in particular, infuriating (you’ll know it when you see it).

-The absence of armor for Kratos is pretty disappointing, especially given his Spartan background and the consistent emphasis on him being a mere mortal (though even that wouldn’t have mattered considering Greek Gods could be hurt by manmade weapons, at least in the Iliad). While the physics for the loin cloth are on-point, I do feel his model is an example of hypocritical male objectification that wouldn’t have been tolerated had it been a female MC instead.

+To clarify, it was a soft reboot, meaning the events of the previous games are canon.

++Yes, I know killing anyone yields the aforementioned upgrade points but, unless you’re playing on the higher difficulties (which I do not recommend), you really don’t have to go out of your way to farm them.

+++Yes, I know you can upgrade it through collecting feathers. However, not only will most gamers not find them all, but the majority of spells still drain a significant chunk of mana, leaving a few outright unusable even with a decently-filled bar.

++++Kratos was recast with Christopher Judge, which was fine given the mocap cinematography Santa Monica wanted to go with. However, to not grant Carson a cameo, let alone inform him he was being recast, is completely disrespectful.

Note - this review is largely based off recollections from years back over a fresh playthrough, and while some footage was rewatched on YouTube, ultimately take the rating with a grain of salt


Her Story is a game I’ve been wanting to talk about for a while, largely cause of two big reasons. One, it was the first Steam game I ever completed, meaning it intrinsically holds a special place in my heart; and two, to this day, it remains one of the most unique experiences I’ve ever had in gaming: a pristine example of how to combine past and present models into an invigorating forte.

See, much like Papers, Please, Her Story is built around a basic gameplay loop that slowly engrosses you the longer you stay with it. You star as an unnamed tabula rasa tasked with uncovering the reason why some random lady murdered her husband, your method for doing so being a sultry of chopped-up interviews assembled on a terminal called the Logic Database. The Logic Database operates very simply- type in keywords to spawn a set of videos that extensively used or featured said keyword. The catch? The clips are out-of-order, meaning you’re going to have to personally parse, arrange, and deduce each one’s placement in order to solve the mystery.

Her Story was built by Sam Barlow, who reportedly developed it out of frustration towards standard detective games like LA Noire and Ace Attorney. Barlow’s criticisms were that, in those titles, players were often relegated to going through the motions over conducting actual sleuthwork, an analysis I am pretty sympathetic to given the replicatory blueprint seen in such ventures as the Arkham series or Assassin’s Creed: you know, those missions where you just walk around an enclosed area trying to find that one conveniently-highlighted clue for the main character to pin together.

In Her Story, there’s no such monologuing - your protagonist is completely silent, leaving it up to you to determine what transpired + the motivations behind said transpirations. And for the majority of players (including myself), that’ll entail putting pen-to-paper in order to actively write out your thoughts, theories, and observations. By the end of my journey I recalled having around two pages worth of notes, and though that quantity is bound to vary depending on each person, it does exemplify the kind of investigatory framework Her Story is going for.

Don’t worry, it’s not all manual labor as the Logic Database does provide some tools to aid you in your sleuthing: personalized tags can be added to videos for later recovery, specific quotes can be outright searched, and, best of all, individual reels can be arranged at the bottom to construct a proxy-timeline. These additions may seem small, but when you’re sifting through hours-upon-hours of content, they go a long way towards making the experience palatable: like you’re actually assembling one of those spiderweb billboards oft seen on crime TV.

Outside of the Windows 2000-esque interface, there isn’t much to say about the graphics. Occasionally a sodium bulb will flicker in the back, revealing the feminine visage of your MC, but otherwise this is a title heavily reliant on its full-motion videos. And on that note, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Her Story would never have worked were it not for Viva Seifert’s performance as the interviewee. Going by Hannah Smith, this is a woman who’s clearly been through some trauma, yet has opted to funnel said trauma into a persona of lies: rarely can you tell if she’s stating the complete truth; however, at the same time, you can’t help but believe many aspects of her tale. Throughout the ordeal, she’ll make you laugh, piss you off, and even shed some waterworks, all while compelling you with an increasingly-deep story about human tragedy. It’s a wonderfully-complex performance, on par with the best of guest stars from police procedurals, and the fact that Seifert didn’t come from an extensive acting background speaks highly of her talent.

There’s no other extensive audio: music is relegated to a single track played on repeat when you’re not watching footage, while SFX is your standard Dotcom Bubble dins. Perhaps hearing the police officer’s questions might’ve made for a worthwhile change, but as a whole, I can’t deny the minimalist set-up does a sufficient job immersing you in Hannah’s world, an aspect you’ll want to embrace should you wish to partake in Her Story’s journey.

And yes, regardless of your thoughts on the FMV genre, I firmly endorse playing this game. You’ll no doubt hear some j#ckasses online claim it’s not a “true” video game, but for the majority of you out there who are more open-minded, I promise you’ll find the experience invigorating.

The mid-budget character action game is having a strong few years! Sifu is a very strong contender in the space of 'Sekiro-parrylikes', thanks to a really striking aesthetic and a genuinely quite novel take on progression. It takes some effort to understand, and isn't explained all that well, but it breaks down like this:

- Each time you die, your death amount goes up by one, and your age increases by your death amount. Once you are 70 or older, any death forces you to restart the current level.
- When you beat a level, your age is saved, and you start the next level at that age. Because of this, you can get to later levels and be old enough that you only have a couple of chances to die, making the level much more difficult.
- To make later levels easier, you can go back to any previous level, and beat it without dying as much. If you do that, the subsequent level will be easier to beat, and if you beat that one at a younger age, the one after that will be easier too, etc.
- Basically, the better you get at earlier levels, the more comfortable later levels become.

There's other things that intersect with this system in slightly more complex ways, but in essence, it's always valuable - sometimes to the point of necessity - to increase your mastery of a level, as it gives you more room to master later levels. The shortcuts and gentle branching paths of the levels make this process relatively painless, but it's the satisfying way that a clean run helps you push the entire game forward that's the real draw. Mastery has a purpose, outside of inherent appeal, or making an arbitrary score number bigger, or some cosmetic reward.

It's a theme that's very much aligned with the aesthetic, though I wouldn't say it necessarily builds up to much. The story is brief and interstitial, with the impact mostly coming from killer visuals and presentation. While they can sometimes draw a little too strongly from obvious influences (they get their Oldboy corridor fight in halfway through the first level) the character design and animation really stand out, and the way enemies collide with walls and surfaces when you take them down never stops being impressive. It would be nice if there was more to chew on in a narrative sense, outside the well-trodden ground of whether or not revenge is worth it.

Perhaps my experience with the game is undermined by the fact that I am, despite some experimentation, clearly missing some key element required to obtain a 'true ending'; without that, it doesn't manage much more than to translate some clear, maybe-too-obvious influences into a very pretty, well-paced experience of martial mastery.

So my beloved friend theadhdagenda_ loves this game and really wanted me to play it. I was already planning on playing it when it eventually got a physical release and what do you know, it got one last year. While I did enjoy it overall, it does have issues that detracted from my experience .

The main issue I had with the game, and I know it's been said countless times before, but the story was just not good. I think it has potential with its concept of heaven and the whole heist thing. It had its moments here and there but in between those few instances of good it has so really awful dialogue. People weren't kidding when they said it was bad though I was expecting it to be more constant than it was. Still tho, it really is pretty bad. Like I said, the story had it's moments but even outside of the bad dialogue, I don't think the story was done well. Not just because it felt undercooked but the theme of forgiveness and it being applied to Neon Green, did not feel right at all. I don't think they were trying to be malicious and were more trying to say you shouldn't let your abuser live rent free in your head and to just cut them off completely, but to have it be forgiveness instead...does leave a bad taste in my mouth. Especially since the book of death ending, which is supposed to be the bad ending, is more satisfying than the good one lol. That's just my take though, even besides the poor story the dialogue is bad enough where you'd want to just skip it all anyways. But alas, the story is a big part of the game time so I must judge it accordingly.

I know I started this review off negatively but that's the biggest negative really because the actual game part is really fun! It's a card based shooter where your main goal is to go as fast as possible. This works very well since, for the most part, levels are really bite-sized. With it being a speed game, it also incentivizes speed-running. There's medals at you get at the end of each level, with Ace being the main one you wanna go for in the end. There's also the dev times that are pretty hard to beat but I did end up doing it once in my whole playthrough. Otherwise, I just aced every other level. Besides the speed aspect, the cards aren't just for shooting as they have a secondary use when you discard them. This is another big reason the game is so fun as you have to figure out what to discard or not in each level. First you figure out what to do in the stage and then you speed through it, rince and repeat. Sadly because there's so many levels, and I went for not only the aces but also the presents, I did get somewhat burnt out by the end. Not enough to dislike the game or anything but I definitely wasn't clamoring to do those rushes when I beat the game (which are just all the levels one after the other with one life).

Speaking of the presents, outside of the gameplay and story there's also this social-link like mechanic where you give a character a gift and you get dialogue and other stuff from them. I didn't really care about the dialogue really, besides Mikey he was cool, but they are somewhat worth it for the little side quest levels you get every so often. These don't have time medals and are slower paced than the usual levels. They could be hit or miss but were mostly fun.

The music is by Machine Girl and while I wouldn't personally listen to it outside the game, it was really solid and fit the levels. The visuals of the levels are also really nice. Mostly in the earlier stages, they have this dream-like liminal space kinda feel which I really like. Some of the later levels not as much sadly but the music still fit those ones. I'm not in love with some of the character designs for the Neons but the presentation as a whole was solid too.

All in all, while I definitely didn't love it as much as some people do due to the story ofc and getting burnt out near the end, it was a fun time overall! Definitely better than the other Ben Desposito game I played, Donut County. I recommend you pick this game up when it's cheap because it is still a lot of fun, just maybe skip the cutscenes even if they are a large part of it's runtime. Idk tho, maybe you'll get more out of them than I did lol.

For my reviews of Control’s two DLC, see https://backloggd.com/u/RedBackLoggd/review/1311823/ and https://backloggd.com/u/RedBackLoggd/review/1311826/

Control may be the closest we’ll ever get to a Superman game, and I promise I’m not kidding. Set in an SCP-esque universe, you control Jesse Faden, a young lady gifted with powers akin to the Man of Steel. She’s looking for her brother Dylan who, years ago, was forcibly taken by the mysterious Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) to a facility called the Oldest House; and now that she’s arrived there, it’s ready to enact its plans for her. What are they and what secrets does Jesse discover? That’s for you to find out should you play the game, a recommendation I gladly give though with some major reservations, the largest being the story.

See, I made the comparison to SCP for a couple of reasons: one, Remedy themselves outright stated it was an influence; and two, this is a game similarly-reliant on optional material. For those unaware, the SCP Foundation’s mythology is built upon thousands upon thousands of articles detailing paranormal instances across the globe, and while Control doesn’t have anywhere near as much lore, you genuinely will not understand the scope of Jesse’s brave new world unless you read/watch/listen to the numerous pieces of media about you. Explanations about locations, enemies, backstories, the FBC’s hierarchy; why Jesse was chosen as the new Director, how she got her powers, the uniqueness of her gun, etc….Sure, playing the base game will net you a thin enough web of understanding, but unless you’re engaging in those extended convos with your colleagues or tracking down extra database entries, you’re going to be missing out on a significant portion of the narrative, and I just don’t know if this was a good storytelling method. People play video games for the sake of, you know, playing video games, not to read/listen to a book/audiobook, and though Control has great gameplay (more on that later), it’s ultimately a story-driven game. To handicap that aspect for players who didn’t feel like digesting every article they found is a sign of either shortsighted direction or accidentally-obtuse design.

Regardless, speaking as someone who DID engage with 90% of the supplements they spotted, I can tell you their quality is hit-or-miss. The SCP-type articles, for example, are superbly written, featuring the kind of handcrafted mysteries which genuinely expand upon Control’s mythos in an organic manner. The Hotline calls to Jesse’s predecessor, the late Director Trench, on the other hand, are absolutely lazy, chock-full of rehashed B-roll and monologues that drag on for up to two minutes on end (and whose only intent seems to have been to give James McCaffrey (RIP) a SAG-protected paycheck).

Mixed are these live action clips starring Matthew Porretta with the most punchable face in a Remedy game since Max Payne’s original visage. They do their job as far as divulging vital info, but the whole Bill Nye-parody wore out its welcome very quickly.

There are several other sources you’ll come across in your journey, from interview tapes to office notes to even puppet shows with atrocious voice-acting, and while Remedy certainly deserves credit for diversifying their output ala Between the Lions, they all still come down to the core problem of being exposition dumps for the sake of exposition dumps. If Half-Life was an example of a title being too reliant on environmental storytelling, Control is the opposite, and that’s just going to rub some people the wrong way.

That aside, even having ingested the majority of the backbone, I can’t say Control has a particularly strong tale, largely because of two big problems: one, Jesse’s character occupies an inconsistent niche; and two, the game, as a whole, feels very anticlimactic.

Regarding the former, Jesse enters the FBC in a weird capacity -- she knows something is off courtesy of events from her past, yet simultaneously doesn’t know the extent of this hidden society, placing her in a strange position wherein she’s both aware and unaware of such goings-ons. This was clearly done to differentiate her from the fish-out-of-water archetype Alan Wake occupied in his respective game, but the problem is the developers didn’t know how to frame her attitudes against that of the player. What I mean is, when you’re controlling a veteran, their reactions expand upon the world; when you’re controlling a newbie, their reactions mimic your own. With Jesse, though, Remedy opted for this bizarre in-between wherein she’ll internally note how things are beyond the realm of normality, yet maintain this attitude of complicity. It’s admittedly hard to describe, and you’re better off experiencing the game yourself to understand what I’m saying, but the end result is it turns her into a slightly-unsettling individual. Now, some of you may be thinking well Red, what about the numerous science fantasy worlds out there whose heroes likewise don’t express any surprise at their surroundings? The difference is those titles deliver most of their mythology to you in spades, an aspect that, as stated before, Control relegates to digitized stationary.

This polymorphization of heavy optional lore and semi-oblivious protagonist culminates in a world that just doesn’t feel lived-in. The Oldest House and its shifting corridors may be a technical enigma, but not once did I ever feel immersed in its shaky abode, and a good chunk of that is owed to Jesse’s complacency as a person -- after all, if the main character doesn’t care for all the Men in Black-style reveals, why should I? Because of this, Jesse’s arc of embracing her role as Director of the FBC comes across as very half-baked, her lack of explicit consideration for the directorship’s pros-and-cons being the perfect example why her arc is underwhelming. If that weren’t enough, the primary plot of fixing the Oldest House and rescuing Jesse’s brother is incredibly mundane: there’s no real build-up to the climax, the final set-piece is lame, and the truth behind events-past is gleaned very easily (ruining any surprises beforehand).

It brings me no joy to criticize these things because Control is a game that clearly had so much love and effort put into its world; however, the reality is all that love was for naught as the worldbuilding is just not executed in a natural-enough manner. Combined with the bathetic main story, and the end result leaves a lot to be desired.

Still, I assume the lion’s share of buyers out there will be seeking out Control for its gameplay, a facet I can’t quite talk about yet without first addressing the graphics. You see, Control is a unique enterprise, its fidelity resting on a destructible environmental schema fans of The Force Unleashed may find nostalgia from. Remedy’s artisans have done a phenomenal job crafting a system wherein the majority of obstacles & objects within are rendered collapsable, either from adjacent shooting or Jesse’s psychic energy, and while the transitory animations weren’t quite at the smoothness level they needed to be, it’s a feat I never thought we’d see in an open world game given the dedication and sheer engineering required for such a craft.

Yet it’s been done here, and not only has it been done here, it’s been done very well here: glass walls, plywood paneling, computer terminals, clock faces, water coolers, paper piles, stone columns, TP rolls, chair fibers; the crack of the ground as you land with G-Force; the shattering of frames as you bolt through an enclosed window -- all exhibit the kind of response you’d expect from such objects getting hit with a strong enough pulse (shards, splinters, sparks, fragments, floods, confetti, pebbles, scraps, plastic strips). Minus the paper piles looking like polygons out of FEAR (and miraculously evaporating in thin air), it’s an incredible accomplishment, and one that makes Control stand above its generational compatriots.

The rest of the game holds up just as well, with Remedy programming those small details I’ve come to love in AAA/indie gaming alike -- I’m talking reflections off of glossy saran wrap, film projectors continuing to play their picture across surfaces even as you telekinetically manipulate their orientation, light reflections within eyeballs during convos, etc…etc….

In terms of the character modeling, things are a little bit more mixed. To clarify, everyone looks great, but I couldn’t help feeling some detail was deliberately shedded whenever the camera exited close-ups as, in the midst of said close-ups, you could literally make out skin pores and eyebrow strands on Jesse and co.’s faces. When the camera pulls back, however, such tissue is rendered much more translucent, a strange occurrence considering Photo Mode reveals no detail to have been technically lost.

However, my bigger issues lay with some macro aesthetic principles Remedy evidently followed. For starters, Control can get excessively dim at times, predominantly in the cavernous areas, to the point where I had to manually upscale the brightness to find the correct paths (which is saying something considering Alan Wake had no such issues despite taking place almost entirely at night). Secondly, as much as I liked the consistency of the Oldest House (every wing, no matter how radically-varied, visually resembles its architectural-brethren), there was a severe lack of personalization in the minute details. A lot of the office spaces, for example, are mimicked floor-after-floor, exhibiting the same plaques, memos, and paraphernalia. No, this doesn’t apply to the dedicated NPC chambers (like the Director’s quarters), and yes I get that this could’ve been a commentary on the monotony of corporate culture; but still, to not even throw in a bobblehead or family photo out there felt like a missed opportunity.

But these are slim pickings in the long run, and the reality is the majority of players won’t focus on them amidst the urbicidal carnage of the gameplay…which brings me to the gameplay. See, Control is a third-person shooter with psychokinetic elements, meaning Jesse isn’t just trading fire, but utilizing her various abilities to dispatch scores of enemies sent her way; and as you can probably surmise from everything I said before, it’s no secret which part of the combat led to the Superman comparisons. I won’t list all of Jesse’s abilities to preserve some of the surprises for you guys, but know that, as long as you’re keeping yourself upgraded, it’s pretty rare to enter a scenario wherein you don’t feel as powerful as the Big Blue Boyscout.

That’s not to say the gunslinging is mediocre- far from it, what you’ve got is a frenzied shoot ‘em up bolstered by slick auto-aim and an armament reminiscent of the Lawgiver from Dredd (for the uninitiated, it’s capable of swapping into multiple models contingent on your personal preference). Tearing a boulder out of the ground and following up its collision with a hailstorm of bullets never gets old, and I was impressed by the realistic damage calculation done by the Northlight Engine (i.e., the mass of the flung item + the wind-up time + any impeding barriers = output).

To counterbalance Jesse’s onslaught, you’ll often be against tens of wraiths at a time, sets of them divided into special classes ripe with their own unique offensive/defensive schemes you’ll need to adapt to in the midst of battles. It’s a genuinely fun time, namely due to the smooth integration of the abilities synchronizing well with Remedy’s attempts at discouraging cover shooting (unless you’re actively trying to cheese the game, you’ll find most cover crumbles and a surge of explosive munitions thrown your way). No matter the diminishments in difficulty, I always had a blast getting into random skirmishes throughout the Oldest House.

There are only four major drawbacks to the whole enterprise: first, the omnipresent qualm of respawning enemies, which concurrently hamper exploration whilst giving players easy caches for farming exp; second, boss fights, the preponderance of which were less specialized encounters and more bulletsponge rehashings of existing enemy archetypes; thirdly, the game relies on respawn points, some of which can get very frustrating courtesy of them not being near where your objective/death resides/occurs. And fourthly, the fact that new abilities are tied to completing side missions over learning them during the main campaign.

In terms of whether that side content is good, your mileage will definitely vary -- a few standout, involving Jesse investigating malicious items the FBC was studying under lock-up, but a large number embody repetitive extermination tasks (some of the aforementioned Altered Items also not living up to their potential as far as in-depth scenarios).

You’ve probably heard about Control indulging in the Metroidvania genre, and on that front it doesn’t do anything particularly exciting. If anything, the game is more reminiscent of Alien: Isolation or Arkham Asylum wherein returning to prior areas with new skills is less about digging up new secrets and more about progressing forward in the story. Yes, there are discretionary rooms you can access later, but the thing is they often only contain generic upgrade components over specialized goodies, handicapping their enticement as far as being worth pursuing. And it’s kind of a shame because Jesse’s various skills, placed in conjunction with these bland quarters, could’ve been directed towards some unique environmental puzzle-solving under the Metroidvania format, yet the most you’ll get are shoving giant batteries into slots ala Dead Space-style.

SFX, on the other hand, is pretty solid, rarely doing anything exceptional but always underpinning your actions in a veritable manner (one zoom-whoosh din, in particular, became a classic melody for me whenever I battered enemies with telekinetic projectiles!). Unfortunately, it’s slightly counterbalanced by a major defect in the sound editing, that defect entailing the foleying for metallic simulacra. I’m not sure what kind of material they use in Finland, but I’m not lying when I tell you guys every single steel-based accessory and trinket in Control literally sounded like glass bottles falling off a shelf. Again, perhaps the manufacturing is just different in Finland, but with my American background, hearing alloyed rods or drawers clatter like stemware from a high-class bar was a bit immersive-breaking.

Voice acting is more uniform than past Remedy games, with Courtney Hope doing a phenomenal job as our Leading Lady. I’m not sure if Control’s tight shots were filmed under a mocap lens or conceived via algorithms influenced by the actor’s performance, but I like to believe it was the former given the numerous tics Jesse does that perfectly encapsulate what someone ailing from anxiety/trauma/OCD would exhibit: the shifting eye contact, twitching jawline, and forced confidence pitches underscoring a terrifically-accurate visage. If Hope’s fellow castmates had stumbled in their parts, her stagecraft would’ve been more than enough to carry the game.

Luckily, that didn’t need to happen. For all my complaints about his mug, Poretta does a better job here with the multifaceted Casper Darling than he ever did as Wake, depicting that shift from idealistic bliss to hopeless turmoil pretty well.

Martti Suosalo won the inaugural Supporting Performer BAFTA for his role as Ahti the Janitor, and you’ll be scratching your head as to why after beating the game. It’s not that he’s bad, but more-so that he’s barely in it, his limited screen time (even with all the side content) failing to leave a lasting impression.

Antonia Bernath, Ronan Summers, Helen Marshall, Charlotte Randall, and Derek Hagen round out the remaining major players of the story, and though minimally-present, all successfully convey their characters’ personalities in a likable-enough manner.

You may have noticed Dylan’s marionettist, Sean Durrie, absent from the above accolades, and that was for a reason: he’s the only bad one. Whatever direction Durrie was given by Remedy was misguided as he ends up going for this annoyingly manchildish voice, presumably in an attempt to convey Dylan’s concurrent turmoil/dual mindset, that just comes off as fingernails on a chalkboard. Unlike the others, his short airtime quickly emerges as a blessing.

The score, sadly, is the biggest lowpoint of Control, its essence a case of misguided intentions. The talent was certainly not lacking - Martin Stig Andersen did a solid job with Limbo & Inside, and of course Petri Alanko crafted the cinematically-tuned OST for Alan Wake. But the issue here is the two overindulged in bleary synths as a way of conveying the Oldest House’s eerie atmosphere, causing the OST to sound like one of those B-movie scores from the early-2010s that overused distortion effects in lieu of authentic ambience. The result is an ugly-sounding assemblage of motifs that are simply more obnoxious than pleasant to listen to (the quieter tracks somehow being the worst of the bunch). Two bonus songs are thrown onto the soundtrack, one inspired by Finnish heavy metal, the other foreign tangos, and if you’re a fan of either genre you’ll probably enjoy them, though they admittedly didn’t do anything for me.

Despite ending on a bad note (no pun intended), I meant what I said in the introduction: Control is a good game. It’s without-a-doubt the most fun I’ve had with a Remedy release, its base constructed out of d@mn good craftsmanship that mostly overcomes its aforestated flaws. After years of playing games that soft-blocked movement with conveniently placed desks or walls, I can’t tell you guys just how thrilling it is to be able to burst through an aperture or table to get to the other side.

Small things like that go a long way, and you’ll definitely enjoy your time with Control.


NOTES
-The biggest hurdle to 100% completion are these challenge areas called Jukebox Expeditions in which you’re tasked with traveling over a wide expanse and completing an assortment of random errands within a set time limit. It’s perfectly doable; however the extraneous enemy numbers placed in conjunction with the time limit prevent it from being as engaging as I’m sure Remedy intended.

-One thing that bothered me a lot was how Jesse only jumps with one leg. Could they really not have programmed a leap in both appendages?

-Another thing that really bothered me were the hapless redactions and references to other reports within the collectible documents. The blackouts often made no sense (listing a state, yet hiding the city; telling one symptom, but not another; providing one useless detail whilst excluding another), and I couldn’t fathom why they’d even do it if the records were meant to be disseminated to other FBC agents (worse were the ones ordered by Jesse- why TF would she not be entitled to uncensored copies of her own requests?!). The references speak for themselves considering you can’t even access whatever they’re citing. In summation, both methods came across as attempts at making the write-ups seem deeper than they actually were.

Have you guys ever seen a video game cover and immediately had a song pop in your head? Experienced a synesthesia-type effect wherein a pure image sprouted some instant cranial medley? Well when I first saw the cover for ABZÛ, such a phenomena happened, the lucky track in this case being the first few notes from Amiss Abyss’s melody. For those unaware, it’s a tune that plays during certain aquatic levels of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, a motif that more than befit ABZÛ’s premise of underwater extravaganza….or so I thought. Unfortunately, those preliminary aural vibes didn’t represent the game’s actual composition, that figure being a gorgeous door opening simulator.

I wish I was kidding, but that’s sadly the truth. ABZÛ gained fame early-on as a spiritual successor to Journey, and while I haven’t played that title yet as of the writing of this review, I’m under the impression its appeal rested on seamless exploration of a strange yet beautiful land. ABZÛ, to its credit, occupies a similar vein for about the first third of its runtime, but soon after forsakes that in favor of a repetitive gameplay loop involving your unnamed diver character (Abzû?) opening up gate after gate after gate.

If that weren’t bland enough, such monotony is “broken up” with two other repetitive beats: activating beacons and riding riptides, and while they’re all swaddled-up in a mesmerizing package, the reality is it doesn’t make for an enjoyable game. Visuals can only go so far, and even by walking sim standards, ABZÛ fails to live up to the myriad of titles that have blown up the genre beyond basic ambling: Firewatch gave us a thriller angle, Gone Home nostalgic paraphernalia, and even Layers of Fear had tragic undertones. ABZÛ, au contraire, is nothing but fish, machinery, and water wrapped around a vague tale reportedly inspired by Sumerian Mythology of which you’ll learn very little courtesy of the lack of dialogue. And yes, I get that Journey did the same schtick; however, a quick Wikipedia glance tells me Journey wasn’t interested in conveying some ancient culture’s folklore (that type of storytelling being intrinsically tied to words as much as imagery).

As such, I genuinely didn’t understand what ABZÛ was trying to say about its foreign heritage. Sure, I could glean the general story, but in terms of a deeper ancestral lineage or fable-esque moral, there wasn’t anything tangible to grasp minus basic environmentalism -- a shame considering how little Sumerian-inspired games there are out on the market.

I don’t mean to be too harsh as, graphically-speaking, ABZÛ is most-definitely a near-masterpiece. Like I said in the second paragraph, this is a strikingly-beautiful title ripe with eye candy galore for demersal enthusiasts out there. Because you’re underwater for 95% of the game, you don’t actually don’t get much in the way of liquid physics; however, where ABZÛ excels is in its assortment of marine fauna. It would’ve been very easy to do what the vast majority of games with thallasic settings implement- simply program an assortment of multicolored fish to paddle about as you traverse their habitats.

However, Giant Squid clearly had other plans in mind. You see, every single specimen you encounter in ABZÛ’s world is specially-chiseled: the way they look, the way they move, the way they turn. I went in expecting recycled animations ad nauseam and instead found myself staring in awe at the way different species twiddled their tails or swam upwards, and when we’re talking about HUNDREDS of wavy critters (including extinct ones!), that is a phenomenal achievement. I have to believe someone on Giant Squid’s team was an aspiring biologist in light of the heavy taxonomy on display here, from anglerfish to blue whales to archelon to of course Jaws himself.

Besides the animals, you’ll occasionally come across sunken temples adorned with painted tiles reminiscent of illuminated manuscript covers. They’ve been assembled into paintings, presumably representative of major tales from the Sumerian people, and while I would’ve liked to have seen more of them, what you have here is vivid enough. Other GFX additions I enjoyed were the spreading of oceanic dust whenever you whooshed over it, the parting of flora as you drifted through patches, and Abzu’s eyes turning to match your camera position.

In terms of hitches, my only real complaints would be, as mentioned earlier, the lack of genuine liquid physics for Abzu’s movements when gliding/emerging/submerging (i.e., limited splashing/stroking leaving you nothing but a generic stream), as well as the design for Abzu’s face. I don’t quite know why, but there was something inherently scary about her midnight countenance and slanted eyes -- it reminded me a lot of The Prince of Egypt, which, as amazing a film as it was, had similarly-offputting geometry for its ocular organs.

Sound-wise, ABZÛ is a very confused game. Keeping my ears open throughout, I genuinely got a sense the engineers didn’t know whether they wanted their SFX to have an underwater filter on them or not, this ambivalence leading to a lot of inconsistency. For example, the various turbines and sprawling hatches resound with hydroacoustic fervor; however, the closing of entryways, flow of subaqueous streams, and hum of electronic machinery reverberate as though you were on land. Other phenomena, like withdrawing anemones, animal noises, and waterfalls, are either mute or significantly diminished in sonoric quality. Don’t get me wrong, ABZÛ’s sound design isn’t distracting by any means (all of the above resonating well despite their flaws); however, I can’t say you’ll be as immersed as you should have been.

Thankfully, the game more than makes-up for this with its OST, handled by Journeyman Austin Wintory. Wintory’s always been a Jack-of-all-Trades/Master-of-All type composer, and here he lets that dexterity truly shine via tossing-in a bunch of different beats -- you’ll hear his signature vocals, James Horner-esque orchestral overtures, and even harp-based harmonics throughout your odyssey, and what’s amazing is how well it all bends to the players’ playstyle. Reading the Wikipedia entry, I saw this was deliberately designed by Wintory due to the semi-freeroam nature of the game, and, having beaten it, I can gladly say he has absolutely nailed these cues to a tee: ABZÛ is a title that knows when to speed-up, slow-down, amplify, or downright shut-up as you float around its seascapes. It’s a grand score, my sole quandary being this uppity, pluck-based tune that sometimes played during excursions, its chords sounding out-of-place ala a Super Mario Galaxy track.

If the gameplay had been even half as good as its music ABZÛ would be an instant recommendation, yet you’ll find that isn’t the case, and what’s sad is it didn’t have to be this way: ABZÛ could’ve easily settled for being a swimming simulator within a vast ocean of spectacle; wherein the goal was to simply bathe in those Neptunian dreams we’ve witnessed in countless enterprises ala Avatar, Aquaman, or The Lost Empire. Unfortunately, not only do none of the game’s vistas stay with you, you’re also privy to some genuinely boring gameplay entailing the unlocking of mammothian gateways in order to access hidden shrines (the ultimate goal being to activate all of these shrines). Occasionally, the devs try and mix things up via tossing the diver down a roaring rapid, but, as I hinted at before, even this is mediocre in light of it essentially being on rails(+).

In addition, ABZÛ lacks basic features that would’ve gone a long way towards bestowing it extra value, including a toggle “run” function, as well as photo mode (I seriously don’t understand how that went missing during the development phase given the myriad of unique visual assets about you).

In light of all this, I ultimately was not a fan of the end product. Keep in mind, though, thousands of people out there genuinely enjoyed their time with ABZÛ, and you could very well be one of them -- just don’t forget the very real flaws that cloud this diamond’s shine.


NOTES
+You can technically move to hit these schools of flashing fish, but you’re not in any danger if you don’t touch the controls (plus I’m convinced they only put in this facet for achievements/trophies).

-There are two recurring leitmotifs in the official soundtrack I wish to highlight: first, a somber horn melody, and second, a choir-based harmony that brings to mind similar ones heard in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and The Fate of Atlantis DLC from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (I have to wonder if it’s a just thing composers have consciously-decided to incorporate into seafaring compositions).

-You’ll encounter some fish and structures with glowing eyes/facades, and I have to praise Giant Squid for their quality bioluminescent lighting.

-There are collectables you can acquire, but I don’t see anyone being motivated enough to do so considering the lack of good rewards.

This sequel is fun, but I prefer the first game because of its exploration-focused gameplay where you get to known people and take your time. You just take your time and enjoy the atmosphere in that one. Here, you're always on the move, which led me to forget the NPCs and what they wanted. Never got that fun community vibe of the first game. The gameplay loop can be pretty damn fun at least, but the last part of the game where you have to do 4 things TWICE is a pain the ass. Just felt repetitive and uninspired. It's a decent enough game though.

Back in 2017, around when the game first came out, I was a Junior in High School. I remember watching YouTube videos on all the bosses in the game while I was in my computer class and thinking it looked awesome. Only problem is, I didn't own an Xbox (and still don't). Fast forward to 2019, the game comes out on the Switch and I buy it. Now I rarely buy digital games but I figured it was a big game I've always wanted to play and that it might not get a physical for a while, so I purchased it. Me and my girlfriend at the time played it for a bit and I myself got up to Grimm Matchstick but eventually dropped it. Fast forward again to 2022, on a whim I decide I want to play it again. I restarted the game and went and beat it for the first time finally. I thought it was really awesome! Once I heard they were coming out with a physical copy, and with the DLC included..I knew I had to buy it again. And that's what I did, so I decided to replay it once again. Not only did I beat it again, I beat every boss with an A- or higher and not only that, I beat every boss on expert difficulty and got the platinum trophy!

I'm just gonna start with the absolute best aspect of the game. You all know what it is, the presentation and art style. It's the main reason this game is loved, it's immaculate. The attention to detail in replicating old rubber hose cartoons is just amazing. The game is just pure eye candy and it's wonderful. This game will always hold the test of time because of this one aspect alone...but luckily there are other great aspects about the game as well.

Accompanying the amazing artstyle is the soundtrack. Now, it may not be an OST I'd listen to a ton outside of the game but wow it's a treat. It's upbeat, it's jazzy, and it's all orchestrated. It just makes the game feel more grand and way more authentic in it's homage to the time period these cartoons came from. My personal favorite songs would have to be the the Isle Three theme, Murine Corps and Floral Fury. The Isle three theme especially is my standout favorite. Idk man it's sooo jazzy I love it.

Now were onto the real meat and potatoes, the gameplay. It's a run and gun shooter and it's pretty simple. You have your normal attacks, your special move, your maxed out special, a dodge and a parry. Pretty simple move set but it works well with how chaotic the game can be. You can choose from several different normal attacks, special moves and charms. Charms just give you an extra ability. For most of the game I just had the charge shot and crackshot, the 1st special and the smoke bomb charm. I feel like a ton of people love the charge shot and smoke bomb especially since I've seen a ton of people have those in their arsenal.

What levels do you use these moves on? Let's start with the run and gun stages. They're alright! They are not the main focus of the game, and apparently were only added because of fan outcry but they're decent overall. If the game was just composed of these, it probably wouldn't be nearly as well liked as it is cuz people seem to not really dig these stages. Which I can see, they are definitely the weakest part of the game I think. However, they aren't the main focus of the game. Those would be the bosses.

The bosses on the other hand are awesome. These were gonna be the main and only focus of the game and it makes sense. They're pretty much all well done and a lot of fun to go against. Here's where the visuals are at their peak too because one of the most fun things is to just see all the different boss animations. This is why I wanted to play this game so bad back in 2017, the bosses are a sight the behold. This is also why I'm so excited for the DLC because I've barely seen any of it as of now so I'm ecstatic to see all the new animations contained in it. Anyways back to the bosses, like I said they're awesome. Some of my favorites were Captain Brineybeard, Werner Werman and Sally Stageplay. I guess I just really like Isle three lol. There were also some very brutal bosses. Back in 2019, Bippi the Clown gave me the hardest time and he was still tough nowadays. Dr. Kahl's robot can be brutal for newcomers and he gave me a hard time. However, the hardest for me still was the devil. I dont think I died quite as many times as I did back in 2022, but it wasn't far off. However in expert mode, he was absolutely ridiculous. Expert mode in general could be really crazy, mostly the plane bosses, but the devil was on another level at least for me. Either way, I beat em all and got the platinum in the end which I still can't believe. Never doing expert mode again lol. Also never ever doing the one pacifist trophy again fuck that one.

Glad I replayed this again cuz it was still an amazing time, even if going for the platinum made me lose my sanity at points lol. Definitely one of my favorite indie games now. Can't wait to dive into The Delicious Last Course!

A perfect example of a game that knows exactly what it does - and does not - need to have. There are so many games I've played that are bloated with half-baked gestures towards mechanics, purely for the sake of satisfying convention, and I couldn't count the amount of totally extraneous jump buttons I've encountered. It's really refreshing to play something that's pared back to the strengths of its premise, and the creative behind it. Those presumably self-imposed limitations - the visuals being limited to a UI and a topographical map, the comparatively tiny text boxes, the distance between the player and their actions in the world - really help slow things down, and make room for the space to be filled with that most precious of experiences in video games: contemplation.

The story unfolds steadily, and somewhat predictably. There's a degree to which it's stifled by the monologue format, and the degree to which the player has any input of expression drops off severely later in the game. It's a style of writing that grabs my attention much more in the short bursts of description and commentary you get while exploring the ocean than in the grand gestures or academic notes. 'Stuff' 'happens', but it's nothing terribly special, and doesn't need to be. More could have been done, even with the mentioned creative limitations, but what's here is easily enough to be enjoyed.

Like with many other brief, distinct titles, I really don't have any good reason not to recommend it. There's several reasons to bounce off it, sure, but it sets out to do something unique and intriguing, and it does it well.