This review contains spoilers
Man I kinda wish I hadn't read any of the other reviews first cause I feel like I'm gonna just say the same things now. I got the game for free from Epic, thought it sounded kinda neat so I downloaded it, months later I actually booted it up to play. The premise is kinda fun, alternate steampunk society gets introduced to advanced electric AI, it goes evil and wrecks shit. You, your lover, and the AI are from "our" world, and then you use The Machine to go to this steampunk-ish world. And there's this whole thing where your lover spent decades there first and become (an elected) king. Uhhhh, where was I going with this? ....Right uhh, I guess the premise is cool, but lots of it feels pretty thin. Like, man I'm trying not to compare it to other games so hmmmm.... The intro sequence was cool, with climbing the big rumbling machine and stuff. Then you get into exploring this alternate world, exploring the dark sections was super creepy and fun, even if the enemies pose no real threat. I think I just realized a thing it really needed, the idea of this hivemind AI enemy thing, it has no character. It is just "evil robots oooo" Give it a personality, a real story. A lot of the stuff here feels surface level, cool ideas but no depth. They need to plunge into the pool and make it all full.
Sound design was cool, like I said, very creepy exploring all these dark areas hearing the robots stomping around or rushing you out of nowhere. The flashlight battery mechanic was annoying since no battery just meant a slightly worse light
They could've used more puzzles, and more interesting puzzles, but what they had wasn't bad.
Combat wasn't all the interesting, but it was kinda fun to snipe the robos when you first get the rifle. And again, spooky dark areas where robots rush you! Very tense, maybe they should lean into the horror more. Or maybe I'm just a scaredy-cat. Probably the latter but still!
Man maybe I shouldn't write reviews when I'm tired I barely know what I'm saying.... Game was fine, lore/story has room to be super cool but it's not there yet. Gunplay exists. Spooky darkness. Very short, felt like a long demo. Prolly won't play the sequel unless I get it for free too. Part of me hates being negative here cause I know it's hard being an indie dev and to even get anyone to play your games. I really wish the devs the best of luck, there's potential here but it still feels far off
Sound design was cool, like I said, very creepy exploring all these dark areas hearing the robots stomping around or rushing you out of nowhere. The flashlight battery mechanic was annoying since no battery just meant a slightly worse light
They could've used more puzzles, and more interesting puzzles, but what they had wasn't bad.
Combat wasn't all the interesting, but it was kinda fun to snipe the robos when you first get the rifle. And again, spooky dark areas where robots rush you! Very tense, maybe they should lean into the horror more. Or maybe I'm just a scaredy-cat. Probably the latter but still!
Man maybe I shouldn't write reviews when I'm tired I barely know what I'm saying.... Game was fine, lore/story has room to be super cool but it's not there yet. Gunplay exists. Spooky darkness. Very short, felt like a long demo. Prolly won't play the sequel unless I get it for free too. Part of me hates being negative here cause I know it's hard being an indie dev and to even get anyone to play your games. I really wish the devs the best of luck, there's potential here but it still feels far off