Was going down memory lane and wound up stumbling upon this again. I hadn't played this since I was like 14 or 15, so I thought I'd pick it up for the fuck of it.
This game is very middle-of-the-road. There's nothing very spectacular about it, but that's perfectly fine. Not every game needs to be a masterpiece. That's what makes things like this more fun. I think the game knows it's just okay and it doesn't try to overstay its welcome. It's a very short single-player experience (around 5-6 hours) that tries to piggyback off of the "retrofuturism" trend of the 7th-gen console days with the likes of BioShock, Fallout and Metro. And you can definitely feel the influences of each of those games. What sets this apart though is the whole concept of the TMD. It's a little Half-Life-y in how it works, but I think it does enough to make for some interesting combat encounters. Enemy variation was fine. I don't think any of them really push you to utilize the TMD mechanics as much as you can tell the developers probably wanted you to, but they're fine nonetheless. There's a lot of ideas here that are pretty half-baked, but you can tell they actually TRIED to make something somewhat unique. I respect that. Like the Seeker, the Dethex, the whole shifting from present to past, which I'm sure inspired that one TF2 mission. The makings of a good game are there, just never fully realized. Really, the weakest aspect of this game outside of a few QoL elements (no subtitles or controller support? c'mon) lies in its narrative. You have no real stake in the story. They try to build it up around you like you're integral to everything, but it just doesn't quite hit the mark. It tries to pull a little BioShock/Fallout morality based thing near the end, but again, there are no emotional stakes. The story doesn't really lend itself enough for you to even care about the world and its inhabitants like that to point where a multiple choice desicion should be made. I've spent this entire game trying to stop the bad guy, but for some I'd reason team up with him in the end lmao? Not to mention, some of the time travelling logic doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, but that's neither here nor there. Overall, despite my gripes, I had fun with it. I tend to enjoy "mid" games, so this scratched an itch.
This game is very middle-of-the-road. There's nothing very spectacular about it, but that's perfectly fine. Not every game needs to be a masterpiece. That's what makes things like this more fun. I think the game knows it's just okay and it doesn't try to overstay its welcome. It's a very short single-player experience (around 5-6 hours) that tries to piggyback off of the "retrofuturism" trend of the 7th-gen console days with the likes of BioShock, Fallout and Metro. And you can definitely feel the influences of each of those games. What sets this apart though is the whole concept of the TMD. It's a little Half-Life-y in how it works, but I think it does enough to make for some interesting combat encounters. Enemy variation was fine. I don't think any of them really push you to utilize the TMD mechanics as much as you can tell the developers probably wanted you to, but they're fine nonetheless. There's a lot of ideas here that are pretty half-baked, but you can tell they actually TRIED to make something somewhat unique. I respect that. Like the Seeker, the Dethex, the whole shifting from present to past, which I'm sure inspired that one TF2 mission. The makings of a good game are there, just never fully realized. Really, the weakest aspect of this game outside of a few QoL elements (no subtitles or controller support? c'mon) lies in its narrative. You have no real stake in the story. They try to build it up around you like you're integral to everything, but it just doesn't quite hit the mark. It tries to pull a little BioShock/Fallout morality based thing near the end, but again, there are no emotional stakes. The story doesn't really lend itself enough for you to even care about the world and its inhabitants like that to point where a multiple choice desicion should be made. I've spent this entire game trying to stop the bad guy, but for some I'd reason team up with him in the end lmao? Not to mention, some of the time travelling logic doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, but that's neither here nor there. Overall, despite my gripes, I had fun with it. I tend to enjoy "mid" games, so this scratched an itch.