a blend of so many fantastic ideas into one incredible, memorable, and jaw dropping experience. So so much to love about this game. The combat and guns are chunky, brutal and incredibly satisfying, each with their own distinctive feel and worthwhile perks. Enemies felt navigable while still threatening. The stealth is stellar, keeping with arkanes well crafted levels that change realistically and interestingly between time periods. normally useless data logs are turned into important, detailed clues that both deepen the world-building and are useful to furthering your quest. The mysteries of blackreef cut so much deeper than it's time loop and I'm incredibly excited to learn more about this world and it's characters as I continue playing. the invasions are so incredibly fun, and while it's stressful to be invaded (I failed the final mission thrice because of an invasion) it's incredibly gratifying to overcome an opponent with real skill and interesting plays and traps. your playtime as colt informs your playtime as julianna as well traveled routes become spots to watch or lay traps. your knowledge of both attacker and defender weave into one another so seamlessly as this living world you're tasked with exploring and controlling becomes a battlefield of two equally powerful hunters scouring for each other. It's fantastic.
the aesthetic and sound design/soundtrack of this game are all incredible. everything is infused with this 70's 80's aesthetic that gives everything so much more energy and personality.guns feels powerful, like one shot could blow someones head to pieces.
the characters in this game are phenomenal, each target has mountains of personality, and colt and julianna's discourse is funny, interesting, and provides more insight into the mysteries of blackreef. every character is masterfully voice acted.
I can't find anything to dislike about this game. even after finishing, I plan to continue discovering it's mysteries, controlling it's world, and especially invading other players