From a story perspective it’s like 10/10 for a game. The performances are very good and it can actually get to make you feel something. I’m a sucker for spectacle so seeing giant monsters and crazy shit happen in cutscenes did a lot for me. But the gameplay wasn’t perfect. I don’t really have a problem with how basic the combat was, but with how spongy the enemies became in the second half of the game. Almost every enemy, including the weak ones took way too long to kill to the point of just being boring. And it’s not a git good situation like dark souls I wasn’t dying a lot, their health just skyrockets out of nowhere. It kinda balances back near the very end and especially the late game when you get the really great loot. The navigation and backtracking is also really annoying. Exploring places for the first time is compelling but when you fast travel there later every place feels like a maze. By 2018 I expected more quality of life features for traversal like a more in depth map or some kind of markers for collectibles. Getting all the collectibles like Odin’s ravens is a real chore because there’s no hints at all so you just have to google where they are and do trial and error. Still really great game and a great story

I can respect the tackling of a more serious subject matter, but that’s kind of all this has going for it. I’m not big on stories in games but I was still able to appreciate the attempt to address issues affecting young people in real life, as shallow as it may be. For gameplay, it’s just a walking simulator with a few sections that are all the same where you get chased by the same monster for a minute or two. Although the game is only 2 hours long I was already getting bored by chapter 3 because there’s no variation in gameplay and the gameplay itself is very boring. There’s only 1 puzzle and it’s braindead easy which wasn’t really enough to keep me interested. I didn’t know this existed until 12 hours ago so I didn’t have any expectations which I think for me made the fact it’s kind of mid not a big deal. It was fine to play through once but there’s no replay value and it’s not something I would really recommend to most people because it’s slow, short, and depressing. Praying for SH2 remake to be good🙏🙏🙏