probably the scariest horror game ive ever played. even though fighting back against the enemies is a huge part of the game i was still scared of one lurking around every corner, and i was especially afraid of the baker family and the insane shit they would do. the story and characters are perfectly serviceable and dont take up too much screentime which is appreciated. the environment design and puzzle solving are great and not too cumbersome. i think the marguerite fight was kind of annoying and it was not obvious what you were supposed to do there, and the last few hours of the game were relatively weak in terms of the tension and scares, but man everything up until that point is 10/10 horror.

this game is very different from the first two, being more narrative-driven and having much more open areas to explore, and what a breath of fresh air it is. has some of my absolute favorite environment designs in any video game. there are so many places to check out and things to loot which i could do for hours and hours. i played on hardcore, and while the human enemy AI wasn't any less dumb than it was in the first two games, you die in this game MUCH more quickly from gunshots which helped add a real sense of danger to most encounters. i died at least a few dozen times but never got hard stuck/frustrated, which i can really appreciate. my only real complaint has to do with the narrative structure: i like the central conflict just fine, and there's some emotional buildup surrounding it thanks to the presence of a main cast who you are with for the entire game (unlike the previous games), but the stories of the individual "arcs" are just okay and wasted their potential, especially the arcs with the slaves and the pioneers/pirates.