First of all, you should know that in my book when the game is without dialogues, it is always at least +2 points to the final score. I just love the atmosphere that births when there is hardly any words have been spoken.

I wasn't expecting ANYTHING from this game, and eventually it turned out to be primarily a platformer. In a very interesting environment, of course - you will have to climb on living colossi, finding an individual approach to each one of them.

It's very interesting - like solving peculiar puzzles. And the only flaw in all this is the lack of so-called immersiveness. It's not like locations with colossi shines with a wealth of some small details and interactive objects, and you always have a BUNCH of options what you could do with this particular boss, but SOMETIMES... As a result of really hard analysis, you come up with a very plausible key to the boss, but this key, unfortunately, will not lead you to success in any way - way to beat all the colossi are strictly linear.

Summarizing, there is nothing superfluous in this game at all - only the horse, the blade, and serene fields filled to the brim with COLOSSI! Great. The atmosphere, plot and old school gamedesign - are very strong sides of this project.

My heart will probably whine for a long-long time about the fact that in 2022 Japs decided to please me with ds 4 instead of sekiro 2.

Well, let's stop the grief. Maybe, at least in this part of Dark Souls devs will come up with the idea to rework the poor weapon upgrading system, prompting to beat the whole game with the same very weapon all along? And maybe they have finally fixed nobrain set-up of spear + shield? Heh. I have never felt like such a naive simpleton.
What do we have in consequence of all this? The gameplay still doesn't make any sense, because the spear strikes right during one hundred percent physical damage blocking with my hecking hefty shield. I'm sorry that I have to explain such obvious things - I just sincerely hope that dev will also get a light bulb over his head one day.

What's else in there? Well, horseback fights are pretty cool and have a place to be, I approve. An open world? Boring, useless. Although as an attempt to stop forcing players to grind identical mobs on the long way to the boss through narrow corridors, also approvable.

The plot has nothing new or special - another proof that this is not a new IP, but only the fourth part of the ds franchise. Zero narrative and lore disclosure through the description of objects, which you still have to get through the thorns of a degenerate console interface.

I was pleased that there is some kind of a permanent ambient suddenly appeared at all locations. The theme of the scarlet wasteland was especially cool. But the music of the bosses is rather disappointing, regarding the incredible Sekiro original soundtrack. Of all the bosses I actually like only the theme of Rennala and the Fire Giant.

What could be less interesting than a predictable, chrestomathical kind fairy tale about an adventurous treasure hunter? Well, still they even make games with that concept. And, as far as I understand, very successful.

In general, this game is okay - nothing actually infuriates me. It's just not exciting enough - the gameplay cycle is so basic and predictable that sometimes I punch my forehead with a palm. The plot is about the same, but still cinematic scenes are pretty cool! And there is not enough of them (cuz even when they do not represent anything special (because of the boredom of the local plot) they still have so much money in them that they surprisingly attracts sincere attention)!
Characters interacts with each other a little bit more often than once per ten hours, and that's kinda sad.

Just imagine if Naughty Dogs with all their budget had aimed not at a basic fairy tale about treasure hunt, but at some fascinating thriller with suspense, brutal narrative and all that stuff!

Вот и вылетела малютка Карто за борт
Да и карта осталась с ней.
Положила её в рюкзак -
Заметки уперлись в боковые стенки.

Она очаровательная была мурзя,
Она на карте вертела леса.
Картой пещеры копала,
Картой реки раздвигала.

А подружечку Шайнон
Она на лодке возила верхом.
А чудного дядю Чирба
Сделала повелителем отшиба.

А в экстренный час нужды
Она спасла династию одну.
Вулкан плеснуться был готов,
Вулкан наших чуть не сжёг.

А Карто сумку расстегнула
И карту над вулканом протянула.
Наши по карте пошли,
Наши наших пронесли.

А за ними вулкан вспять
Стал вихри пламенные распускать.
Карто картой колыхнула,
Вулкан мигом попустила.

А оставшуюся лаву,
Она швырнула за переправу.
После боя Сторитендер
Карто в лобик целовал
И долго руку пожимал.

I bet it took a LOT of efforts to make the process of creating a videogame look so tasteless and repulsive. In "game dev tycoon" all you have to do is literally just shift 2 sliders and pick one out of five settings (provided by the author). Nothing else depends on the player, and nothing is required either! I can't imagine why this game is called Tycoon at ALL, when there is no need to manage any production - you just need to move the goddamn sliders. It's a sitting on your ass and moving sliders Simulator, not "game dev tycoon".

If I just haven't played enough and the game reveals itself later on, I don't care. The tutorial and intro are implemented so disgustingly that I am not going to find out what is hidden there in the late game.

An ABSolute garbage.

Although I DO think that from a narrative point of view plot about a Mary Sue adventurer in search of ancient treasures, I really liked the aesthetics, atmosphere and direction of this game. And I’m not even talking about the action scenes, which are certainly also worthy of praise - the decorations of the settlements from the inside look very cool, just like the stunning landscapes of the central temples, sanctuaries and all that other stuff from the outside.

For me, as a player who didn’t spend much time in the previous parts, gameplay made a more or less good impression. But only thanks to the hardcore mode, which limits saves - otherwise there would be no point at all in all this ostentatious blockbuster.

The combat system feels defective - although all that remained to become GOOD was for devs to think a little about resource management. If devs did thought about it, the overall picture would be quite at the level of some Evil Within 2 (although even there, tbh, it’s insignificant due to hyper-casual stealth).

I don’t see much point in debating local parkour - it’s clear that it’s scripted to death; There are places everywhere where you die from falling literally one meter, because “YOU CAN’T GO THERE, GET BACK TO THE PATH TROMPED BY US, FRIEND 🙂.” You just need to get used to it, and then, with due care, you can catch the right vibe and start getting some semblance of pleasure from the process.

I also liked the cutie Lara's new face 😘 It's the best one ever!