There's something a tad depressing about reaching a 100% completion rate in a really good single-player game. The sense of accomplishment is great, but also bittersweet because it means you've reached the point where all that title you were enjoying so much has left to offer is a nostalgic replay in a few years down the line. Such was the case for me with Maneater, an open-(water)world RPG that had me craving more even after I unlocked that platinum trophy by tackling every objective on the map. Thankfully, this DLC was made to help satiate some of that hunger.

This could accurately be described as more of the same. There is a new location to explore, a collection of challenging bosses to overcome, and even another added evolution set with its own unique abilities. However, the only significant gameplay change outside of its more challenging combat encounters are the time trial side-missions that see you swimming through rings to beat the clock. It's nothing innovative, but the main course was already so tasty that I had a hard time turning my gills up at this second helping. The only real complaints I have are that the overall package doesn't seem to run quite as smoothly anymore and that the new story theme has led to less funny narration.

Truth Quest gave me a reason to pick up what was probably my personal favorite gaming experience of 2020 again, and for that I couldn't be happier. You can tell the devs definitely ran into some trouble with the scope of their vision, as it isn't long before you leave its new locale and return to the well-scoured seas of the base game to finish your quest of returning to the top of the aquatic food chain, but things like the increased difficulty still provided enough variety by forcing me to do things like reevaluate my shark's build. Plus, it allowed me to squeeze a few more hours out of something I loved in a manner that hearkened back the the DLC structure of the 360/PS3 era, where you'd get to travel to an area off-map and have a cool adventure centered around a creatively kooky concept.

9/10

Reviewed on Jan 21, 2022


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