Terrible SS1 spiritual successor (all movement is stripped down to tank controls, UI is ironically clunkier to use than ANY version of SS1, levels and progression are nowhere near as well executed, PONG hacking mini game is a waste of time), okay survival horror game (scavenging for items and equipment felt meaningful, number of enemy types are decent, visuals sell the setting and how dark it can get).

Wait until the dev fixes the framerate performance and does more bug fixing before buying it, framerate can hit single digits at times.

Don't love it, but I think it's worth playing if you like older FPS games (especially with the recent convenience of Aleph One being free on Steam). Atmosphere and writing were solid and I actually enjoyed navigating a decent number of the levels, some of the level gimmicks/switch hunting aside (G4 Sunbathing and Habe Quiddam can get thrown into a volcano).

Shooting was the only thing I was very so-so on. Only really enjoyed shooting two guns (even if all of them are useful) and enemy encounters tend to be samey with few surprises.

It's initially fun, but once the novelty wears off, the gameplay doesn't have enough going on for any staying power (enemy variety devolves into colored variants than anything new by Chapter 2, the melee is super basic, level design is whatever with very samey looking environments). The levels in the third chapter in particular decide to increase the enemy count and drag out the levels long enough that I just wanted it to be over sooner than later for how mundane it got.

Also I have no clue what the "001 Engine" is, but I hope to never have the displeasure of playing a game with it again. This is probably worse than any low effort "le boomer shooter" game on Unity when it comes to poor performance and taking 15+ seconds for something as basic as a "quicksave" on a M.2 SSD.

Even for the time, the gameplay feels behind compared other hack and slash games (Diablo 1 and Nox being my references) and the unique mechanics like controlling multiple party members results in some very frustrating moments (pathfinding in particular) but at least compensates by having an entertaining story made more impressive that it's the very first game using the World of Darkness license. I wouldn't say it's on the level of Bloodlines' writing, but has the leverage of including two unique time periods that explore very different vampiric societies and Christoph being very likeable and tragic as a protagonist that I wanted to see his story to the end.

Had trouble deciding between 3 starts or 3 1/2, but I'm giving it that extra half because of how Paradox has flubbed the entire franchise (VtM and WoD as a whole), I feel safe to assume no good media, much less video games have or will be coming from their involvement anytime soon. Gotta appreciate what you've got sometimes.

A more damning way to view Thief 2014 other than just a shitty Thief game is that it's an accumulation of every single bad stealth game mechanic/trend that got popular from the 7th console generation. Levels needing to be split up by segmented loading areas because of the prioritization for graphical fidelity over gameplay, "Bamham Arkham" detective vision and UI elements like waypoints being mandatory to use because the levels would be incomprehensible otherwise, audio design is woefully underutilized so it's near impossible to hear enemies walking right towards you (apparently the late 90s stealth game doesn't have this issue), the use of repetitive animations that eats up the player's time, QTEs, bad action setpieces, shitty boss fights (or in this case, the only boss fight), it's all here in it's awful glory.

At it's best, it made me feel like I'm playing a mediocre level from Thief 3. At its worst, it reminds me that The Black Parade and The Dark Mod are FREE, yet this is a retail product for over a decade now.

People will remember Eidos Montreal for making okay-ish Deus Ex sequels and lament the fact they aren't making a new one. I'll always remember these people made one of the worst stealth games in existence and will probably be indifferent when they become another Embracer victim.

Even if it lacks the grand scale of Wrath of the Righteous, I think Rogue Trader has a very good shot at standing neck to neck with it in the future once the inevitable "Enhanced Edition" comes out along with the two future DLCs.

As it is right now, it's still a "good" game with thoroughly entertaining writing with regards to the setting and characters you interact with, character building that feels streamlined compared to Pathfinder but still having plenty of depth and player expression for party composition, and generally good presentation (seriously, this has some of the best voice acting I've heard out of an isometric CRPG, period) but is also your average CRPG launch release (as in, the game feels like it begins falling apart by the seams both technically and mechanically once you get to the last portions of the game).

The only big negative I have unrelated towards the technical side would be the game balance. Unlike both Pathfinder games which even on "Normal" the game would punish the player if they don't pay attention to an enemy's weakness/don't pre-battle buff, there's a point in RT where you just begin steam rolling the majority of battles with some very over powered classes like Officer and specialized companions like Cassia and a certain sniper companion later on. I'm far from a grand strategist but even I was starting to handle fights efficiently enough that some ended within the first turn. That being said, the first big 2024 patch has already nerfed classes like Officer and companions so I assume they're going to be rebalancing a lot before the first DLC drops.

There have been a decent number of "revival" shooters coming out for over half a decade now, but I think what makes Hedon stick out to me more than any of them comes down to its level design. Beyond a gimmick/secret level, a lot of the revival shooters don't really get out of their comfort zone when it comes to non-linear but otherwise fairly straightforward level design/progression and it's understandable they don't as the games they're inspired by most were like too for the sake of pacing out action and enemy encounters.

Hedon doesn't conform to that style of level design and decides to go in a direction more reminiscent of a game like Arx Fatalis (or for that matter, any well known "im-sim") where it gives fully fleshed out fantasy levels that are detailed, unique, fully believable as places that exist in the setting, and most of all, unapologetically large in scale because the places would not work without said scale. The last part in particular is a large point of contention for some people as aside from not being the norm for this style of shooter, it's one that demands the player to pay attention and solve environmental puzzles to continue progression with minimal hand holding in between all the usual fast paced action that comes with a shooting like this.

For some people, they can't jump the barrier ("it's too maze-like", "there's barley any shooting", "what am I supposed to do???") but for me, is the exact sort of level design I wish more games in general tried as not only does it present a unique type of challenge for the player, but it really makes the attention to detail on these levels shine through and gives a level of memorability to them (such as a mansion owned by a demonic family where the player learns of their squabbling and backstabbing between one another, a recently abandoned Dwarven fortress around a frozen hellscape, a succubus' "pleasure domain" with corrupted gardens, courtyards, and some of the trippiest environments I've seen since Constantine's Mansion from Thief: Dark Project).

It is worth mentioning that Hedon is split into two episodes, the first one being similar to what you'd expect from a level by level shooter. However, the second episode, Bloodrite (which was a completely free update for anyone who already owned the game at the time which is amazing when the thing's about twice as big as the first episode) introduces fully interconnected levels between two different hub areas that loop back around to each other in a really satisfying way while only increasing the scale and complexity of the levels by rewarding backtracking greatly (in other words, it's Strife but better).

On top of that, the arsenal of weapons feel great to use, there are unique difficulty modes for replay value such as a mode that replaces the standard ranged weapons with new and unique melee ones, the ost is a cool mix of ambient/psychedelic metal with the occasional licensed Alexander Brandon electronic music, and a decent amount of the secrets contain sexy pin up posters of muscular orcs and demons.

tl;dr I can't believe a solo dev ex-smut artist has better level design sensibilities than most level designers in the industry currently.