Playtime: 15 Hours
Score: 10/10
(NOTE: Recently on October 26 2023, rose engine updated the game, specifically to impove the inventory that I originally complained about in my review. You can now switch between: Classic, which is the 6 slot inventory we previously had; expanded which gives you 8 inventory slots; or revised where you still have 6 slots, but now utility items like the flashlight have their own slot and don't take up inventory space. These are great changes and I just wanted to update my review to reflect that)
Such a mesmerising experience that I absolutely loved! I love survival horror games and I love Sci Fi films like Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner, and this game combines all of those which is right up my alley!
Gameplay wise this game plays like any classic survival horror game, taking cues from both Resident Evil and Silent Hill. You have a fairly large weapon line up, with a pistol, shotgun, revolver, flare gun (that can also use grenade shells as ammo), rifle and sub machine gun. I honestly just expected a pistol, shotgun and revolver but this game really over delivered on its weapons line up and I love it. However, you also get a list of secondary items you can equip like a stun prod (which is basically like a defensive knife), thermite flares you can use to burn enemy corpses, so they don't come back (very RE1 remake), a flashlight etc.. I like that the game gives you so many options and the tools to deal with the threats. Combat uses a twin stick shooter system, which I hate playing on controllers in general, but on keyboard and mouse its very accurate and responsive. Overall, I liked the combat and the game has enough enemy variety that you often can't guess what will be waiting for you in the next room.
Puzzle wise, this game actually has some really good puzzles. Very old school in their design, but none of them felt obscure and hard to solve. They also include a radio in this game, but unlike in Silent Hill where its used to detect enemies, in this game you use it to solve many of the puzzles by listening to certain frequencies. I thought it was a clever integration of the radio and there's even a specific enemy type that you need the radio to fight, which I thought was cool, although those enemies did get annoying after a while.
Sound design is also perfect from the monsters making very unsettling noises down to the sounds the weapons make, as they sound very punchy when you fire them which adds to the satisfaction. The music is also amazing, with some very melancholic tracks that reminded me of Silent Hill, while still doing its own thing. This all adds to the games incredible atmosphere that really makes you feel isolated on this desolate planet.
As for horror, this game doesn't try as hard to scare you with jump scares or anything like that. The atmosphere does help the game, but I never felt as scared as I did playing games like Darkwood or Lost In Vivo where even an abandoned subway station scared the hell out of me, despite not much happening. The gore is used very well in this game as the mixture of anime and a PS1 art style adds to the unsettling nature of it, but its never over done that you become desensitised to it. The cut-scenes also use a lot of unsettling imagery that I will talk about more later. Overall the game has a good atmosphere and some good scares, but it wasn't as well done as I would have liked.
The story though was just beautiful. Its done in a very minimal way, as most cut scenes last less then 30 seconds, but its the imagery they use that communicates a lot without saying much. Its got a very European art house film style to it which I liked with a lot of German language and imagery, which connected with me personally, since I studied both German language and history in high school. There's also plenty of notes scattered around for you to read that does a lot of world building about the different Replika units you encounter and the setting they live in. However, these notes are vital to read to understand characters backstories and motivations as they don't outright tell you in cut scenes. There is no voice acting aside for some audio on the radio that's in German, but honestly the story was still very effective and I don't feel like it really needed voice acting to tell it.
As for complaints, I don't have that many really. The big one is the limited inventory of only 6 slots which can be frustrating to deal with. Especially since equipping items still take up inventory space. E.g. having a gun, ammo and a secondary item like a flashlight, already takes up half your space. And it can be frustrating since some puzzles require you to find multiple items to solve it, so you have to make a lot of trips back to the safe room. 6 slots is just too low even for most survival horror games. 8 slots I think would have been the magic number and while I played this game as the devs intended me too, on repeat playthroughs I'm definitely going to install mods that expand the inventory to at least 8 slots, so that its less tedious. One thing I also noticed was that once you pick up the flashlight it almost trivialises the other secondary items as you need it to explore many dark rooms to progress. The only time I took something else out was when I needed to use thermite flares to burn certain monsters that were in certain spots for convenience. Other then that, there was also one level in particular where you have no map and a lot of the games tougher enemies are everywhere, which made navigating that area an absolute pain. When you get there, definitely use a guide is all I'll say.
In conclusion, despite my issues with the inventory, this game is a masterpiece to me and I won't soon forget it. Its one of those games that I will be thinking about its story long after I have finished it, and in terms of gameplay it gives you the ultimate survival horror experience. If your into survival horror games, you owe it to yourself to play this one!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 10/10
(NOTE: Recently on October 26 2023, rose engine updated the game, specifically to impove the inventory that I originally complained about in my review. You can now switch between: Classic, which is the 6 slot inventory we previously had; expanded which gives you 8 inventory slots; or revised where you still have 6 slots, but now utility items like the flashlight have their own slot and don't take up inventory space. These are great changes and I just wanted to update my review to reflect that)
Such a mesmerising experience that I absolutely loved! I love survival horror games and I love Sci Fi films like Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner, and this game combines all of those which is right up my alley!
Gameplay wise this game plays like any classic survival horror game, taking cues from both Resident Evil and Silent Hill. You have a fairly large weapon line up, with a pistol, shotgun, revolver, flare gun (that can also use grenade shells as ammo), rifle and sub machine gun. I honestly just expected a pistol, shotgun and revolver but this game really over delivered on its weapons line up and I love it. However, you also get a list of secondary items you can equip like a stun prod (which is basically like a defensive knife), thermite flares you can use to burn enemy corpses, so they don't come back (very RE1 remake), a flashlight etc.. I like that the game gives you so many options and the tools to deal with the threats. Combat uses a twin stick shooter system, which I hate playing on controllers in general, but on keyboard and mouse its very accurate and responsive. Overall, I liked the combat and the game has enough enemy variety that you often can't guess what will be waiting for you in the next room.
Puzzle wise, this game actually has some really good puzzles. Very old school in their design, but none of them felt obscure and hard to solve. They also include a radio in this game, but unlike in Silent Hill where its used to detect enemies, in this game you use it to solve many of the puzzles by listening to certain frequencies. I thought it was a clever integration of the radio and there's even a specific enemy type that you need the radio to fight, which I thought was cool, although those enemies did get annoying after a while.
Sound design is also perfect from the monsters making very unsettling noises down to the sounds the weapons make, as they sound very punchy when you fire them which adds to the satisfaction. The music is also amazing, with some very melancholic tracks that reminded me of Silent Hill, while still doing its own thing. This all adds to the games incredible atmosphere that really makes you feel isolated on this desolate planet.
As for horror, this game doesn't try as hard to scare you with jump scares or anything like that. The atmosphere does help the game, but I never felt as scared as I did playing games like Darkwood or Lost In Vivo where even an abandoned subway station scared the hell out of me, despite not much happening. The gore is used very well in this game as the mixture of anime and a PS1 art style adds to the unsettling nature of it, but its never over done that you become desensitised to it. The cut-scenes also use a lot of unsettling imagery that I will talk about more later. Overall the game has a good atmosphere and some good scares, but it wasn't as well done as I would have liked.
The story though was just beautiful. Its done in a very minimal way, as most cut scenes last less then 30 seconds, but its the imagery they use that communicates a lot without saying much. Its got a very European art house film style to it which I liked with a lot of German language and imagery, which connected with me personally, since I studied both German language and history in high school. There's also plenty of notes scattered around for you to read that does a lot of world building about the different Replika units you encounter and the setting they live in. However, these notes are vital to read to understand characters backstories and motivations as they don't outright tell you in cut scenes. There is no voice acting aside for some audio on the radio that's in German, but honestly the story was still very effective and I don't feel like it really needed voice acting to tell it.
As for complaints, I don't have that many really. The big one is the limited inventory of only 6 slots which can be frustrating to deal with. Especially since equipping items still take up inventory space. E.g. having a gun, ammo and a secondary item like a flashlight, already takes up half your space. And it can be frustrating since some puzzles require you to find multiple items to solve it, so you have to make a lot of trips back to the safe room. 6 slots is just too low even for most survival horror games. 8 slots I think would have been the magic number and while I played this game as the devs intended me too, on repeat playthroughs I'm definitely going to install mods that expand the inventory to at least 8 slots, so that its less tedious. One thing I also noticed was that once you pick up the flashlight it almost trivialises the other secondary items as you need it to explore many dark rooms to progress. The only time I took something else out was when I needed to use thermite flares to burn certain monsters that were in certain spots for convenience. Other then that, there was also one level in particular where you have no map and a lot of the games tougher enemies are everywhere, which made navigating that area an absolute pain. When you get there, definitely use a guide is all I'll say.
In conclusion, despite my issues with the inventory, this game is a masterpiece to me and I won't soon forget it. Its one of those games that I will be thinking about its story long after I have finished it, and in terms of gameplay it gives you the ultimate survival horror experience. If your into survival horror games, you owe it to yourself to play this one!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
9 Comments
@SkeletonGrimm67 Thank you very much! And yes its such a fantastic game! I
Do you mind fleshing out why the story is good? This is a game that came on my radar because I was told it had a terrific story that is hauntingly beautiful. I'm wondering how that is if there is no voice acting- is there dialogue at least, or is it pure imagery/symbolism you're meant to construct together for an deeper meaning? Cause if it's the latter I'm generally not a big fan.
@RedBackLoggd Hi there. In terms of me fleshing things out, I can't really do that without going into spoiler territory. Its one of those stories that you need to experience for yourself as its one that people take different interpretations from. To answer your second bit, it is a mixture of dialogue and symbolism. There are some moments where you encounter characters in cut scenes and just in various rooms you explore which do have dialogue text that you read, but the lines are very short so its not long winded feeling to read them. Most cut scenes though are very short like I said in my review, but are very symbolism heavy, but personally I like the fact that the game wants me to figure things out. You also come across notes that I would say are vital to read not only for world building but also to understand characters backstories and motivations, because they don't outright tell you in cut scenes most of the time. In short, this game is everything you pretty much descibed in your question, so I think you should just think about if thats your type of game or not. Gameplay wise, its pretty solid though if your looking for a good survival horror game, but in terms of story you have to put the work in to understand some of it. But theirs tones of lore and video essays about the game on YouTube, which definitely helped me understand some of it as well.
Thanks for the honesty mate and expanding on the storytelling of the game. I still want to experience it, but I'm going to be lowering my expectations, which is not always a bad thing.
@RedBackLoggd You're welcome! I think the game might surprise you but I know those types of storytelling methods aren't for everyone. Either way you can just wait for it to drop in price too which is what I do with most games.
Absolutely, thank you again for the great write-up!
I’d actually never heard of this but you’ve got me excited to give it a try. Great review!
@DVince89 Thank you! I hope you like it when you do give it a try! Its a great survival horror game!
SkeletonGrimm67
9 months ago