If you like clockwork level design, shoot this game directly into your veins.
On the surface, it involves a lot of backtracking to try and figure out the core objective of the game -- but the levels are so intricately laid out, dense with stuff to do, and genuinely interesting to scope out at different times of day that you won't mind going back and forth. Almost every time I ran through a loop, I was finding something new; an objective, a secret, a weapon, a fun bit of dialog, an alternate means to do an objective I thought I already knew how to do.
The only place this really stumbled for me was the third act, where fetch quests to kick the final event into gear felt like a bridge too far. For two thirds of this game, I relished every run; combing the map for trinkets. For the final third though, I was sort of ready to end it and got frustrated with the repetition. It feels like the new textbook example of how the line between good and bad pacing is razor sharp. It really felt like one specific mission was just over the line for me, and took the wind out of my sails. Other criticisms are relatively minor; boneheaded AI and some stuttery performance are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. The audio visual package is very strong, and while the story isn't top tier, it's a fun, pulpy time loop romp.
On the surface, it involves a lot of backtracking to try and figure out the core objective of the game -- but the levels are so intricately laid out, dense with stuff to do, and genuinely interesting to scope out at different times of day that you won't mind going back and forth. Almost every time I ran through a loop, I was finding something new; an objective, a secret, a weapon, a fun bit of dialog, an alternate means to do an objective I thought I already knew how to do.
The only place this really stumbled for me was the third act, where fetch quests to kick the final event into gear felt like a bridge too far. For two thirds of this game, I relished every run; combing the map for trinkets. For the final third though, I was sort of ready to end it and got frustrated with the repetition. It feels like the new textbook example of how the line between good and bad pacing is razor sharp. It really felt like one specific mission was just over the line for me, and took the wind out of my sails. Other criticisms are relatively minor; boneheaded AI and some stuttery performance are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. The audio visual package is very strong, and while the story isn't top tier, it's a fun, pulpy time loop romp.