A post-modern nightmare of repulsive and brutal hyper-masculinity, set in a world crumbling before the player's very eyes in a mess of dead pixels and digital artefacting. The final day of planet Video-Games; a foundation of bodies, bullets and blood, finally buckling under the weight of entropy. There's no resolution here, no hope, not even a clear motive at the end, just self-immolation and the unquenchable fucking death-drive.

Ultimately, a damn sight closer to high art than most games could even dream of

The initial high of figuring out the combat is awesome, but it eventually felt kinda overlong and tedious when I started to realize how easy it is to just brute force your way through it using repetitive combos and mashing on the dodge/parry button. Boss fights, in particular, get real trivial when you realize you can hold a button and jiggle the stick to turn into fucking Neo

The vibes are generally cool at least. That is, when the complete afterthought of the story isn't getting in the way. Awfully voice acted, too. Why even include it?

Makes me want to go back and try Absolver. Maybe the key factor to really feeling like you're mastering a martial art in a game is the human element?