Art direction is off the chain. Stylish as hell with a point of view. Gamifies language learning in a way I've never seen before. The gameplay system for decoding the languages is stunningly simple, elegant, and flexible. It rewards observation and inferences, and it genuinely tickled the part of my brain that I used taking language courses in school.
Only a couple of minor gripes. I echo those who feel the stealth seems shoehorned in. Easily the weakest element of the game. It's not what I'm here for. That said, at least it breaks up what would otherwise be gameplay largely made up of jogging up and down the environment. My only other complaint is that the difficulty scaling seems off. I found the third language the most challenging by far to piece together, while the last was disappointingly easy; translating almost all of it relies on linking cognates from the previous languages in a contrived way. This is a mechanic used sparingly throughout the rest of the game. It makes the final stretch somewhat less satisfying than it otherwise could be.
All in all, though, an exceptional title. Absolutely worthy of the praise it received in 2023.
Only a couple of minor gripes. I echo those who feel the stealth seems shoehorned in. Easily the weakest element of the game. It's not what I'm here for. That said, at least it breaks up what would otherwise be gameplay largely made up of jogging up and down the environment. My only other complaint is that the difficulty scaling seems off. I found the third language the most challenging by far to piece together, while the last was disappointingly easy; translating almost all of it relies on linking cognates from the previous languages in a contrived way. This is a mechanic used sparingly throughout the rest of the game. It makes the final stretch somewhat less satisfying than it otherwise could be.
All in all, though, an exceptional title. Absolutely worthy of the praise it received in 2023.