this is an extremely frustrating game. it shines on so many levels, from direction, to performances, to story, to sidequests. but it's bogged down by playing it. that's not to say the gameplay isn't fun, it is! but it's filled with repetitive puzzles that backseat you, it's littered with walking and climbing sections that you are technically playing, so you can't skip them. imagine how annoying that will be on a replay. it's hard to deny how fantastic the opening couple hours are though.

this game has a lot of wonderful accessibility options, but I feel like the difficulty settings are not tuned very well. maybe Give Me No Mercy is the sweet spot. but I can understand feeling let down playing on Balance or God of War for entirely different reasons.

I really wanted to like this. Sci-fi horror is my jam, and I really dig the art style. Unfortunately, the gameplay is pretty meh, and the combat just isn't fun or engaging. Yes, it's supposed to be emulating games like the PS1 Resident Evil games, but it just doesn't feel as fun to play as those did. My real sticking point is the story, though. I don't think it's asking much that by the time I'm two hours into a game that HLTB says is eight hours long, I should have some idea of what's happening. Unfortunately, I didn't. The whole thing felt like random spooky events rather than a plot. It's an intriguing game, I just couldn't be motivated to care about the mystery.