Very interesting ideas and exciting story with an underwhelming ending and somewhat underbaked gameplay. Time powers are fun to use however the gunplay itself feels horrible: only able to shoot while aiming, low FOV, atrocious accuracy on machine guns and annoying auto-cover. I realise that the accuracy is probably like that because it encourages the use of time stop in order stack up bullets and make the enemy go boom, however I personally find it more of an annoyance. Besides, Advanced SMG exists which renders every other machine gun useless since it's the most accurate. That being said, the combat is a fun and dynamic spectacle with pretty satisfying sound design.... that's when you actually get to play. There's usually a pause between combat encounters in form of (very) light puzzle-solving, platforming and exploration. Some levels barely have any shooting and is mostly dialogue and exploration. I don't mind this necessarily as I do enjoy immersing myself in videogame worlds, however being interrupted by unskippable cutscenes and being restricted into slow movement is annoying to put it midly. It doesn't help that there is so many collectible notes in each level, you don't have to read them, of course, but not all of it is flavor text, a lot of it has important info about the game's events and characters. With gameplay in general, I wish there was more of it, but I also wish it was more refined and varied as it does get quite repetitive towards the end (a running theme with Remedy games, huh). Also want to mention that there are some asinine checkpoint placements with one in particular being broken (if you know you know).
Few words about the story. I quite like the ideas and themes. Closed-loop time traveling is confusing yet so fascinating to think about. The idea of Shifters and general horror of the Fracture and the End of Time is so interesting and I like the way it's visualised. I also like the character drama with Act 4 being the highlight of the story for me (incidentally it's the Act with least amount of combat). Unfortunately, most of the drama and characters either feel severely unexplored or underdeveloped. For example, I would like to see more of Jack's relationship with Will and especially with Paul as their conflict feels rather weak. Jack himself is a rather unremarkable character, even though reading notes about him makes an impression that he's supposed to be a sort of delinquient. A shy, quiet and naive type, perhaps, I just wish there was more to him. Doesn't help that the actor's performance is somewhat lackluster (or maybe that's just the way his character is idk). I actually enjoyed Liam's story in live action show and there was something interesting going on with Charlie - a slimey and almost unlikeable douchebag who in the end develops somewhat, though admittedly it's pretty cheesy. Also wish there was more to Martin Hatch as I still don't understand his motives.
Overall, even though I have many grievances and peeves with gameplay, for some reason I can't dislike this game. I appreciate the detail and effort put into it.