szymon
2021
The way the characters dress, the way they talk, the pop culture references, the music, and even the plot itself - it all yells “made in the 1990s”. And that’s not necessarily bad, on the contrary - there’s quite a lot to enjoy about “The Big Con”’s writing and graphical style, even if I was born a little too late to remember well what that period was really like and to develop a proper sense of nostalgia. The issue I have with “The Big Con” is primarily its gameplay, which is very simple and doesn’t evolve much throughout the 4h-5h it takes to complete the story. Its repetitiveness, along with a plethora of technical issues (broken questlines, issues with object collision, elements of UI covering each other hindering the pickpocketing minigame) bring down the experience as a whole. Also, I felt like sometimes the writing was a little too on the nose, although obviously that’s extremely subjective.
Imagine “Little Nightmares”...Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
Okay, I’m being a bit mean to the devs of “Bramble”, but the source of inspiration for this fixed camera, narrative driven, 2.5D horror puzzle-platformer starring an adolescent protagonist is obvious. It’s not bad per se, but I don’t feel like the game does enough to differentiate itself other than putting on a different coat, this time swaying into the direction of Germanic fairy tales and taking full advantage of how gruesome they were.
The controls aren’t as tight as I’d like them to be and the fact that there are some perspective issues making it hard to calculate where Ulle is going to jump doesn’t help either. There are very few puzzles that will make you actually stop and think about what you need to do next, with the ‘alchemy’ sections the most obvious example of “we kinda needed a puzzle here, but couldn’t come up with one”. There are a few tense moments, mostly towards the end of the game, where you need to use your environment to escape a horde of enemies and in general they’re well directed, but it doesn’t change the fact that for long bouts of the story you’re just walking forward with not much to do other than appreciate the art design.
The visual side is definitely the highlight here. The haunted forest is beautifully realized, with lots of detail and a colorful palette that brings this place to life. It’s an even greater shame, then, that there is so little opportunity for exploration. This is an on-rails experience and an unforgiving one at that. The character models are subpar and animations rather stiff. I did enjoy the boss fights, though - most of them are the definite highlights in the visual department.
Okay, I’m being a bit mean to the devs of “Bramble”, but the source of inspiration for this fixed camera, narrative driven, 2.5D horror puzzle-platformer starring an adolescent protagonist is obvious. It’s not bad per se, but I don’t feel like the game does enough to differentiate itself other than putting on a different coat, this time swaying into the direction of Germanic fairy tales and taking full advantage of how gruesome they were.
The controls aren’t as tight as I’d like them to be and the fact that there are some perspective issues making it hard to calculate where Ulle is going to jump doesn’t help either. There are very few puzzles that will make you actually stop and think about what you need to do next, with the ‘alchemy’ sections the most obvious example of “we kinda needed a puzzle here, but couldn’t come up with one”. There are a few tense moments, mostly towards the end of the game, where you need to use your environment to escape a horde of enemies and in general they’re well directed, but it doesn’t change the fact that for long bouts of the story you’re just walking forward with not much to do other than appreciate the art design.
The visual side is definitely the highlight here. The haunted forest is beautifully realized, with lots of detail and a colorful palette that brings this place to life. It’s an even greater shame, then, that there is so little opportunity for exploration. This is an on-rails experience and an unforgiving one at that. The character models are subpar and animations rather stiff. I did enjoy the boss fights, though - most of them are the definite highlights in the visual department.
I really enjoyed the first game. While far from perfect, it still managed to tell an interesting story with a fleshed out protagonist and used the medium of video games (the pattern puzzles, the binaural audio, the combat) to elevate said story. At the same time, I was surprised upon learning of the devs’ plan to continue Senua’s ‘saga’ in a sequel. I thought the journey she took in that first game was a full experience and didn’t require any further development. Whether it was a creative or a business decision to turn Hellblade into a franchise, I guess we’ll never truly know (although I have my thoughts).
To get the obvious out of the way - yes, the game looks absolutely spectacular. The character models and animations, especially facial, are on par with the best in the industry (thinking mostly of Naughty Dog’s work). This is supported by stellar acting, with a much bigger cast this time. The island vistas are stunning and I’m grateful that the art department decided to include colors other than brown and gray. Many times I found myself looking around and truly admiring Ninja Theory’s work in the graphical department. The devs are well aware of all this and they’re eager to show it off, and good for them. However, I still lament the decision to limit the game to 30fps for a ‘cinematic experience’. I don’t think I’m the only player to suspect that the devs simply didn’t manage to make the game run at a stable 60fps and opted for this excuse instead. Honestly, after the first 30 minutes or so it stopped bothering me too much and I forgot that I was only looking at 30 frames instead of the preferred 60. What I couldn’t let go of, however, is the frustration at the black bars visible on top and bottom of the screen throughout the whole game. Look, we’ve been there before - just look at the backlash to the same decision in ‘The Evil Within’ - and I still think it only hinders players from immersing themselves in the game. I’m certain there will be an appropriate mod available on PC, but as an Xbox player I was unfortunately forced to play with a significant portion of the screen covered in black.
Gameplay wise, the original Hellblade was never exceptional. As I mentioned earlier, it served the narrative well, but the simple and repetitive combat and overreliance on very similar environmental puzzles dragged the game down in my opinion. Well, for whatever reason, the gameplay in the sequel feels even more dumbed down. The puzzles where you look for patterns around you are largely gone, although they’re to some extent replaced by an entirely optional mechanic where you search for faces hidden in boulders - an addition I was happy with, as it is very much in line with the narrative aspect and also it kept me looking around the levels throughout the whole game without being too frustrating. The main puzzle segments utilize a very simple idea of interacting with an orb that switches between two versions of the level, e.g. you want to cross a river - you interact with the orb, a bridge appears, but then you need to interact with it again to get rid of the next obstacle, but then the bridge disappears. It’s very simple and unfortunately the devs didn’t make much out of it. Other than one singular instance when I had to actually think about the layout of the level to solve the puzzle, the rest were extremely simple exercises in going between points of interest and ‘focusing’ on the orb. I feel like there could’ve been so much more done to have the players flex their mental muscles, but it feels like the devs weren’t even trying to come up with anything more complex or interesting. Plus, the voices again give out hints way too quickly - please stop forcing puzzle hints on players in AAA games, thank you.
The combat feels at the same time more spectacular and clunkier. The fighting segments are well-directed and the number of unique animations employed during those is staggering. It’s even a greater shame, then, that the combat system has not evolved even by a bit - it’s still very simplistic, only this time I somehow struggled to get the timing right on the parry. I felt like there was no rule to when it worked and when it didn’t, so after a couple of hours I mostly stuck to the roll instead. In the first game, Senua often had to manage multiple enemies at once with the voices inside her head helping her out to make it out alive. These were some of the best moments in the original game, at least combat-wise. Here you always fight one on one, which deducts this crowd management aspect, unfortunately. At least the combat sections are less frequent in the sequel.
Additionally, there is quite a lot of downtime between the puzzles and the combat. There are long sections of simply pressing the left stick up and pressing L1 to have Senua walk a little bit faster, as nothing is going on around you. Sure, you can appreciate the graphics, but there’s not much else, including almost non-existent environmental storytelling. This reflects a bigger issue with pacing that the game indubitably has. Lastly, there are hardly any standout moments like in the first game, where you had to run between sources of light to escape a ‘dragon’ or fleeing from a fire ghost in a wooden maze. It all feels very flat and bland.
But the biggest gripe I’ve got with the game is the narrative. After all, that was the main draw of the first game and the story was so well-told that many players were eagerly looking forward to reuniting with Senua. I’m sad to say that this is probably the weakest point of the sequel.
[SPOILERS]
The first couple of hours are basically a regurgitation of the first game. Senua is on a literal guilt trip and the devs revel in her misery, pushing the game dangerously close to torture porn. The voices are still there to sometimes induce anxiety in Senua and sometimes to take her side, her father’s shadow is still harassing her, she’s still overcome with guilt over Dillion’s death. What was the whole first game for, then? It really feels like at the beginning of the sequel Senua is in the very same place that she was in the early hours of the original story. As if she didn’t learn anything. It’s a major letdown and, honestly, a baffling narrative decision.
I think it was the right call to have Senua interact with other characters. I’m not sure whether the game would’ve been able to tell anything new if it had only kept to Senua and her voices (which add a lot less this time around and honestly feel like a gimmick - they were there in the first game and that’s what people recognize the IP with, so gotta keep them, I guess!). The small cast of characters is interesting enough, however apart from the slaver we hardly see any development from them. I would’ve loved to have been given more opportunities to interact with these NPCs, to learn more about the stories, to even go on some quests together. But as they are now, they are mostly exposition machines that entertain the player while walking slowly and having nothing better to do. The abovementioned slaver’s story is akin to Senua’s in many ways, with his father issues and the impact of religion on this island community - more could’ve been done, having that character paired with Senua. The protagonist is also at one point close to finding something of a kindred spirit, and it’s only natural for her to search for someone like that - I wish this is where the game started and progressed from there, instead of basically ending right after Senua receives the chance to meet someone she could perhaps confide in.
I also don’t think it’s a bad idea to have Senua become a kind of ghost (or giant) whisperer, where through her ordeal she learned to help tortured souls and lay them to rest. That could’ve easily been the whole game with plenty of potential to include moving, ambitious stories on par with what was expected from Ninja Theory after the release of the first Hellblade. But this idea is squandered on opting for spectacle rather than narrative coherence. There’s so much talk about learning the names of the people turned into giants, but instead of delving deeper into their tragedies the game would rather focus on a flashy scene where a bunch of characters are throwing flaming spears at the giant’s head.
I was also disappointed with the ending. The game pulls the same trick that it did in the first one, i.e. all of the supernatural elements turn out to be figments of Senua’s imagination, or rather the result of her schizophrenia. Why are the other characters shown fighting with the giants, then? Is it also all in Senua’s mind? Did she make up the NPCs, or are they also sick? Is the leader of the tribe even real? Does her decision in the end have any significance? I’d love to learn about all that, but perhaps I’ll have to wait for some video essays or something, because I don’t think I can take playing the game again.
To get the obvious out of the way - yes, the game looks absolutely spectacular. The character models and animations, especially facial, are on par with the best in the industry (thinking mostly of Naughty Dog’s work). This is supported by stellar acting, with a much bigger cast this time. The island vistas are stunning and I’m grateful that the art department decided to include colors other than brown and gray. Many times I found myself looking around and truly admiring Ninja Theory’s work in the graphical department. The devs are well aware of all this and they’re eager to show it off, and good for them. However, I still lament the decision to limit the game to 30fps for a ‘cinematic experience’. I don’t think I’m the only player to suspect that the devs simply didn’t manage to make the game run at a stable 60fps and opted for this excuse instead. Honestly, after the first 30 minutes or so it stopped bothering me too much and I forgot that I was only looking at 30 frames instead of the preferred 60. What I couldn’t let go of, however, is the frustration at the black bars visible on top and bottom of the screen throughout the whole game. Look, we’ve been there before - just look at the backlash to the same decision in ‘The Evil Within’ - and I still think it only hinders players from immersing themselves in the game. I’m certain there will be an appropriate mod available on PC, but as an Xbox player I was unfortunately forced to play with a significant portion of the screen covered in black.
Gameplay wise, the original Hellblade was never exceptional. As I mentioned earlier, it served the narrative well, but the simple and repetitive combat and overreliance on very similar environmental puzzles dragged the game down in my opinion. Well, for whatever reason, the gameplay in the sequel feels even more dumbed down. The puzzles where you look for patterns around you are largely gone, although they’re to some extent replaced by an entirely optional mechanic where you search for faces hidden in boulders - an addition I was happy with, as it is very much in line with the narrative aspect and also it kept me looking around the levels throughout the whole game without being too frustrating. The main puzzle segments utilize a very simple idea of interacting with an orb that switches between two versions of the level, e.g. you want to cross a river - you interact with the orb, a bridge appears, but then you need to interact with it again to get rid of the next obstacle, but then the bridge disappears. It’s very simple and unfortunately the devs didn’t make much out of it. Other than one singular instance when I had to actually think about the layout of the level to solve the puzzle, the rest were extremely simple exercises in going between points of interest and ‘focusing’ on the orb. I feel like there could’ve been so much more done to have the players flex their mental muscles, but it feels like the devs weren’t even trying to come up with anything more complex or interesting. Plus, the voices again give out hints way too quickly - please stop forcing puzzle hints on players in AAA games, thank you.
The combat feels at the same time more spectacular and clunkier. The fighting segments are well-directed and the number of unique animations employed during those is staggering. It’s even a greater shame, then, that the combat system has not evolved even by a bit - it’s still very simplistic, only this time I somehow struggled to get the timing right on the parry. I felt like there was no rule to when it worked and when it didn’t, so after a couple of hours I mostly stuck to the roll instead. In the first game, Senua often had to manage multiple enemies at once with the voices inside her head helping her out to make it out alive. These were some of the best moments in the original game, at least combat-wise. Here you always fight one on one, which deducts this crowd management aspect, unfortunately. At least the combat sections are less frequent in the sequel.
Additionally, there is quite a lot of downtime between the puzzles and the combat. There are long sections of simply pressing the left stick up and pressing L1 to have Senua walk a little bit faster, as nothing is going on around you. Sure, you can appreciate the graphics, but there’s not much else, including almost non-existent environmental storytelling. This reflects a bigger issue with pacing that the game indubitably has. Lastly, there are hardly any standout moments like in the first game, where you had to run between sources of light to escape a ‘dragon’ or fleeing from a fire ghost in a wooden maze. It all feels very flat and bland.
But the biggest gripe I’ve got with the game is the narrative. After all, that was the main draw of the first game and the story was so well-told that many players were eagerly looking forward to reuniting with Senua. I’m sad to say that this is probably the weakest point of the sequel.
[SPOILERS]
The first couple of hours are basically a regurgitation of the first game. Senua is on a literal guilt trip and the devs revel in her misery, pushing the game dangerously close to torture porn. The voices are still there to sometimes induce anxiety in Senua and sometimes to take her side, her father’s shadow is still harassing her, she’s still overcome with guilt over Dillion’s death. What was the whole first game for, then? It really feels like at the beginning of the sequel Senua is in the very same place that she was in the early hours of the original story. As if she didn’t learn anything. It’s a major letdown and, honestly, a baffling narrative decision.
I think it was the right call to have Senua interact with other characters. I’m not sure whether the game would’ve been able to tell anything new if it had only kept to Senua and her voices (which add a lot less this time around and honestly feel like a gimmick - they were there in the first game and that’s what people recognize the IP with, so gotta keep them, I guess!). The small cast of characters is interesting enough, however apart from the slaver we hardly see any development from them. I would’ve loved to have been given more opportunities to interact with these NPCs, to learn more about the stories, to even go on some quests together. But as they are now, they are mostly exposition machines that entertain the player while walking slowly and having nothing better to do. The abovementioned slaver’s story is akin to Senua’s in many ways, with his father issues and the impact of religion on this island community - more could’ve been done, having that character paired with Senua. The protagonist is also at one point close to finding something of a kindred spirit, and it’s only natural for her to search for someone like that - I wish this is where the game started and progressed from there, instead of basically ending right after Senua receives the chance to meet someone she could perhaps confide in.
I also don’t think it’s a bad idea to have Senua become a kind of ghost (or giant) whisperer, where through her ordeal she learned to help tortured souls and lay them to rest. That could’ve easily been the whole game with plenty of potential to include moving, ambitious stories on par with what was expected from Ninja Theory after the release of the first Hellblade. But this idea is squandered on opting for spectacle rather than narrative coherence. There’s so much talk about learning the names of the people turned into giants, but instead of delving deeper into their tragedies the game would rather focus on a flashy scene where a bunch of characters are throwing flaming spears at the giant’s head.
I was also disappointed with the ending. The game pulls the same trick that it did in the first one, i.e. all of the supernatural elements turn out to be figments of Senua’s imagination, or rather the result of her schizophrenia. Why are the other characters shown fighting with the giants, then? Is it also all in Senua’s mind? Did she make up the NPCs, or are they also sick? Is the leader of the tribe even real? Does her decision in the end have any significance? I’d love to learn about all that, but perhaps I’ll have to wait for some video essays or something, because I don’t think I can take playing the game again.
On my third playthrough I promised myself I’d stifle my internal need to play as a silent assassin and go crazy, creating a good amount of chaos and utilizing all of the available powers. How did it go? I ghosted almost all of the main missions and got rid of each target non-lethally. I apologize, it’s stronger than me.
There have been so many wonderful critiques and video essays about this game (I especially recommend the ones from Kaldini on YT), so I’m not going to even try to outdo them and instead keep this short. The game has many flaws, some more obvious than others, such as:
the simplicity of the morality/chaos system;
enemy AI can be disappointing, even on higher difficulties;
many charms and powers are not very useful unless you’re going for an aggressive playthrough, which the game pretty much openly discourages through its endings;
lots of coin to collect, not many things to spend it on;
fuck river krusts, seriously.
awkward ending with a bunch of static images;
very limited number of character models.
Sure, many of these are serious drawbacks that I’d love to see eliminated from the game. But even with those, “Dishonored” is to me a perfect blend of freedom awarded to the player in each level, amazing lore and great visual style. There are so many ways to eliminate each target and like any good stealth game (can’t treat it as a purely action game, sorry), it makes you feel smart about finding your own path and getting rid of the targets the way you want to do it. I’ve finished the game three times at this point and I’m still reading about many possibilities I have missed. The world of “Dishonored” is very well thought out with the Outsider being a particularly fascinating character, and the visual style has aged really well.
DLCs included in the definitive edition that focus on Daud in many aspects are even better than the base game, with the wonderful level design and multitude of varied objectives. Daud is also a pretty interesting character brought to life expertly by Michael Madsen.
There have been so many wonderful critiques and video essays about this game (I especially recommend the ones from Kaldini on YT), so I’m not going to even try to outdo them and instead keep this short. The game has many flaws, some more obvious than others, such as:
the simplicity of the morality/chaos system;
enemy AI can be disappointing, even on higher difficulties;
many charms and powers are not very useful unless you’re going for an aggressive playthrough, which the game pretty much openly discourages through its endings;
lots of coin to collect, not many things to spend it on;
fuck river krusts, seriously.
awkward ending with a bunch of static images;
very limited number of character models.
Sure, many of these are serious drawbacks that I’d love to see eliminated from the game. But even with those, “Dishonored” is to me a perfect blend of freedom awarded to the player in each level, amazing lore and great visual style. There are so many ways to eliminate each target and like any good stealth game (can’t treat it as a purely action game, sorry), it makes you feel smart about finding your own path and getting rid of the targets the way you want to do it. I’ve finished the game three times at this point and I’m still reading about many possibilities I have missed. The world of “Dishonored” is very well thought out with the Outsider being a particularly fascinating character, and the visual style has aged really well.
DLCs included in the definitive edition that focus on Daud in many aspects are even better than the base game, with the wonderful level design and multitude of varied objectives. Daud is also a pretty interesting character brought to life expertly by Michael Madsen.
2019
“Hypnospace Outlaw” reminded me somewhat of “Her Story” in its principle. You carry out what is basically detective work, starting with minimal information and gradually learning more to push forward your investigation, often using tags or keywords. There are more tools available in “Hypnospace Outlaw”, and they work very well within the central theme of the game, which is the early days of the Internet. If you’re a millennial or older then there’s a good chance you will be hit by a wave of nostalgia looking at the pages, essentially personal blogs, available through HypnOS. The devs clearly put a lot of work into recreating the feel of the late 90’s Internet, where it was still kind of a Wild West, moments before the corporations and start-ups alike realized the monetary potential within the world wide web. The collection of teenage wannabe hackers, middle aged nerds with tragic pasts, forgotten rock stars attempting to relive their glory days, teenage bullies, awkward online relationships, religious zealots - Hypnospace feels like it could’ve been a real place and simply browsing through the pages gives immense joy, plus there are plenty of options for customizing your OS. And the original songs are just the icing on the cake.
The actual gameplay loop is satisfying, as - not unlike aforementioned “Her Story” - it will make you feel smart by breaking each case. One complaint I have is that towards the end of the story some of the steps required to progress are a little too obscure and spoil the fun a bit. Otherwise, for the nostalgia hit alone I’d definitely recommend the game to anyone who even vaguely remembers those days.
The actual gameplay loop is satisfying, as - not unlike aforementioned “Her Story” - it will make you feel smart by breaking each case. One complaint I have is that towards the end of the story some of the steps required to progress are a little too obscure and spoil the fun a bit. Otherwise, for the nostalgia hit alone I’d definitely recommend the game to anyone who even vaguely remembers those days.
2017
I absolutely adore the idea behind “Kona” - an open world detective game where you explore at your own pace and gather tidbits of information scattered all over the map to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of inhabitants of a rural, snow-covered town in French Canada. It’s basically a walking sim with plenty of space to walk around (thankfully there are two vehicles at your disposal, as the distances between points of interest can be significant).
In the beginning the game deftly builds the atmosphere (not gonna lie, I’m a sucker for winter levels) and provides enough information to the player to engage him in the mystery. The freedom to drive around the whole map in search of next clues feels really invigorating - most detective games push you into small areas and make you interact with every relevant pixel before letting you through to the next, similarly built area. In “Kona” most notes/areas are skippable and it only depends on your investment in the game how much you’re going to uncover. That is, before the ridiculous ending spells everything out for you. And the final “battle” is utterly atrocious and laughable, it boggles my mind why the devs decided to go there.
There are many odd gameplay choices found in “Kona”. You’re required to pay attention to a bunch of stats like health or mental state like you’re playing some sort of a survival game, which is a nuisance and doesn’t help immerse yourself in the world (I guess that was the idea?). You have some weapons, including firearms, at your disposal, although combat sections are almost non-existent and the actual shooting is done poorly. Your inventory capacity is limited, which again begs the question - why were the devs trying to turn this narrative driven detective game into a survival game? Also, the inventory UI isn’t very user-friendly and is a chore to navigate. Unlike many walking sims, you actually encounter an NPC here, although you’re not really able to interact with them. Like, you can’t even ask him what the hell is happening in this town. Why have him there in the first place, then?
All of these issues were annoying to say the least, but the element that ruined the experience for me was the narrator. Throughout the whole story you will be hearing this monotone voice-over explaining every little detail of what you are witnessing. This is such a baffling decision - the whole point of a game like this, i.e. one where you explore and find notes/items and learn through environmental storytelling, is the opportunity to recreate the story on your own, finding joy in peeling away the layers of the mystery bit by bit. The developers decided to take that away from the players and have some bored old guy explain everything to you in the plainest of terms.
In the beginning the game deftly builds the atmosphere (not gonna lie, I’m a sucker for winter levels) and provides enough information to the player to engage him in the mystery. The freedom to drive around the whole map in search of next clues feels really invigorating - most detective games push you into small areas and make you interact with every relevant pixel before letting you through to the next, similarly built area. In “Kona” most notes/areas are skippable and it only depends on your investment in the game how much you’re going to uncover. That is, before the ridiculous ending spells everything out for you. And the final “battle” is utterly atrocious and laughable, it boggles my mind why the devs decided to go there.
There are many odd gameplay choices found in “Kona”. You’re required to pay attention to a bunch of stats like health or mental state like you’re playing some sort of a survival game, which is a nuisance and doesn’t help immerse yourself in the world (I guess that was the idea?). You have some weapons, including firearms, at your disposal, although combat sections are almost non-existent and the actual shooting is done poorly. Your inventory capacity is limited, which again begs the question - why were the devs trying to turn this narrative driven detective game into a survival game? Also, the inventory UI isn’t very user-friendly and is a chore to navigate. Unlike many walking sims, you actually encounter an NPC here, although you’re not really able to interact with them. Like, you can’t even ask him what the hell is happening in this town. Why have him there in the first place, then?
All of these issues were annoying to say the least, but the element that ruined the experience for me was the narrator. Throughout the whole story you will be hearing this monotone voice-over explaining every little detail of what you are witnessing. This is such a baffling decision - the whole point of a game like this, i.e. one where you explore and find notes/items and learn through environmental storytelling, is the opportunity to recreate the story on your own, finding joy in peeling away the layers of the mystery bit by bit. The developers decided to take that away from the players and have some bored old guy explain everything to you in the plainest of terms.
2022
Type of experience that I appreciated more than I actually enjoyed. “Norco” is a visual novel with walls of text to get through and very little interactability, most instances of which are pretty underwhelming anyway, with the most irritating example being the combat which the game could’ve very well done without.
The environments and the writing do an excellent job of bringing to life this God-forgotten (?) town in Louisiana, with its unique sci-fi flavor and really dark humor. But as the story goes along, the game shifts its focus to plotlines/themes that I found to be some of the least interesting ones presented in the game and with each passing hour (out of roughly 7 it took me to finish the game) I kept losing interest and watching, sometimes in disbelief, the direction the writers decided to take. I can totally imagine an alternate “Norco” set in the same universe, utilizing many of the same levels, including many of the same plot points and NPCs (many of them are really fun to talk to) and overall themes (finding faith, impact of automatization on job opportunities, environmental externalities, the growing chasm between the haves and the have nots) but utilized in a more efficient way that doesn’t lose its focus in a major way.
The environments and the writing do an excellent job of bringing to life this God-forgotten (?) town in Louisiana, with its unique sci-fi flavor and really dark humor. But as the story goes along, the game shifts its focus to plotlines/themes that I found to be some of the least interesting ones presented in the game and with each passing hour (out of roughly 7 it took me to finish the game) I kept losing interest and watching, sometimes in disbelief, the direction the writers decided to take. I can totally imagine an alternate “Norco” set in the same universe, utilizing many of the same levels, including many of the same plot points and NPCs (many of them are really fun to talk to) and overall themes (finding faith, impact of automatization on job opportunities, environmental externalities, the growing chasm between the haves and the have nots) but utilized in a more efficient way that doesn’t lose its focus in a major way.
2024
My biggest gripe with the game is its artstyle - the combination of hand-drawn character models with environments and interactable objects that might as well be taken straight from the Unity Asset Store felt off and I wish the developers had come up with a better way to combine the early 2000’s nostalgia evoking cartoons and the plain, ubiquitous 3D assets. Other than that, I was left quite satisfied with ‘Open Roads’ - for most of its 3 hour ‘runtime’ I felt almost as if I was watching a Sundance indie movie. The mystery at the center of the plot isn’t particularly high stakes, but it doesn’t need to be - it provides a good excuse for a mother-daughter road trip where they can bond and learn more about each other. The dialogue is mostly well-written and the two voice actresses work really well together.
I spent about 15 hours with the game, and looking at walkthroughs I’m guessing I made it about halfway through the main questline with a bunch of extra exploration sprinkled here and there.
I remember enjoying the first entry quite a bit, with its competent blend of light soulslike elements and Tomb Raider-like traversal through open environments that rewarded exploration. I don’t know what happened, perhaps my taste has shifted significantly, because playing ‘Survivor’ felt like a waste of time. This is the kind of game where you can point to almost each mechanic and tell which game it took it from. Same goes for the story - it’s the most cliched, uninspired Star Wars fluff you'd come to expect from the Disney era SW. The NPCs are usually nicely animated, they exchange quirky dialogue clearly inspired by the Marvel movies, the environments are vast with plenty of opportunity to explore (although the reward could be something more substantial than a new grip for the lightsaber or a new haircut for Cal). The combat usually works just fine and there is some variation in how you can utilize your weapons, which this time include a laser pistol. But it all just feels so bland, generic and safe that a couple of hours in I couldn’t bring myself to give a damn about any characters fighting, once again, against the evil Empire. I was forcing myself through the main story because I try not to abandon games, but this time the game simply wore me out.
One other thing I need to mention is the game’s technical state. I was playing on Series X and in performance mode the actual performance was far from perfect. Apart from losing frames regularly the backgrounds would often flicker, as if some objects would take too long to load when I was moving the camera around. There were some odd hitboxes here and there, at some points I wasn’t able to use the right stick to switch lock on between targets which I found particularly infuriating. Every time I’d wake the game with Quick Resume I’d have to wait a good 10-15 seconds for it to stop stuttering, and one hard crash made me lose quite a bit of progress. There are also tons of awkward animations, where Cal gets blocked on various objects.
I remember enjoying the first entry quite a bit, with its competent blend of light soulslike elements and Tomb Raider-like traversal through open environments that rewarded exploration. I don’t know what happened, perhaps my taste has shifted significantly, because playing ‘Survivor’ felt like a waste of time. This is the kind of game where you can point to almost each mechanic and tell which game it took it from. Same goes for the story - it’s the most cliched, uninspired Star Wars fluff you'd come to expect from the Disney era SW. The NPCs are usually nicely animated, they exchange quirky dialogue clearly inspired by the Marvel movies, the environments are vast with plenty of opportunity to explore (although the reward could be something more substantial than a new grip for the lightsaber or a new haircut for Cal). The combat usually works just fine and there is some variation in how you can utilize your weapons, which this time include a laser pistol. But it all just feels so bland, generic and safe that a couple of hours in I couldn’t bring myself to give a damn about any characters fighting, once again, against the evil Empire. I was forcing myself through the main story because I try not to abandon games, but this time the game simply wore me out.
One other thing I need to mention is the game’s technical state. I was playing on Series X and in performance mode the actual performance was far from perfect. Apart from losing frames regularly the backgrounds would often flicker, as if some objects would take too long to load when I was moving the camera around. There were some odd hitboxes here and there, at some points I wasn’t able to use the right stick to switch lock on between targets which I found particularly infuriating. Every time I’d wake the game with Quick Resume I’d have to wait a good 10-15 seconds for it to stop stuttering, and one hard crash made me lose quite a bit of progress. There are also tons of awkward animations, where Cal gets blocked on various objects.
2023
Cute little game about rediscovering your past that includes beautiful artstyle resembling watercolor paintings, decent writing and an interesting mystery with a satisfying conclusion. I wish the controls were a little less awkward, though.
2023
I’m sad to report that outside of the graphics there is absolutely nothing interesting about “Ravenlok”. And for some it may be enough - the levels, the enemies, the NPCs are all well designed, very colorful and clearly drawing inspiration from the craziness of “Alice in Wonderland”. It’s very pleasant to look at and the environments are varied.
Those beautiful environments are populated by forgettable NPCs that spout out the most unimaginative lines about saving the kingdom and a bad witch, the plot throwing you from one level to another just because you need to reach the next macguffin, and a protagonist that lacks any characterization or opportunity to make any meaningful choices (you can level up your character and the menu resembles that of an RPG, but this is not at all a representative of the genre).
The combat - unlike in Cococucumber’s previous game, “Echo Generation” - is real-time, and feels very undercooked. There is one type of attack you can do with your sword plus 4 special attacks that you gain access to throughout the game. You can also dash and use your shield, however I don’t recall using the latter outside of the early training section. The simplicity of the combat systems makes fighting your enemies feel like a chore from early on, especially since the game seems to take great joy in throwing dozens of them at you regularly. It’s also fair to say the enemies aren’t too varied - you basically use the same tactic for all of the encounters, i.e. use your ‘specials’, dash around while waiting for them to be available again, repeat. There are a good number of boss fights that provide some desired change, but they’re usually too easy and the baddies go down on the first go without too much of a hassle. And yes, even on the highest difficulty the game is way too easy.
There are also some odd design choices regarding the combat system, e.g. there is a stamina bar that only gets depleted when you use the shield. When you attack, use your special attacks or dash around the stamina doesn’t seem to be affected at all, which takes away the necessity for strategizing your movements - think of the most obvious point of comparison, i.e. the soulslikes, where it’s an extremely important part of the game. It’s a shame, because otherwise it would’ve added some flavor and challenge to the combat which is rather plain and boring as it is. You also can’t lock on enemies, which is a nitpick, but I always like having this option in games with melee combat.
The game contains a handful of puzzles, most of them quite easy, which is a shame since had the developers put more emphasis on them at the cost of the combat sections, the game would’ve had a much better flow and the mediocrity of the combat could’ve stood out less. There are also some pretty poor stealth sections that try to break the monotony, but since there is no way to figure out the enemy’s visibility cone they prove more annoying rather than a meaningful way to expand the gameplay.
The quest design is lackluster as well. You’ll be mostly asked to slay X enemies, collect Y items or something of the like. The exploration is also rather limited, with the only real collectible being small rabbit figurines in front of which you need to dance. It’s neat, but I’d love more opportunities to explore these beautiful levels.
At the very end of the story you end up sitting at a table with the NPCs that you aided on your journey, and looking at them I started asking myself - who are these characters? The game fails to build any sense of investment in this world. With vapid writing and boring, unchallenging gameplay, you should only give this a shot if you really, really love voxel art.
Those beautiful environments are populated by forgettable NPCs that spout out the most unimaginative lines about saving the kingdom and a bad witch, the plot throwing you from one level to another just because you need to reach the next macguffin, and a protagonist that lacks any characterization or opportunity to make any meaningful choices (you can level up your character and the menu resembles that of an RPG, but this is not at all a representative of the genre).
The combat - unlike in Cococucumber’s previous game, “Echo Generation” - is real-time, and feels very undercooked. There is one type of attack you can do with your sword plus 4 special attacks that you gain access to throughout the game. You can also dash and use your shield, however I don’t recall using the latter outside of the early training section. The simplicity of the combat systems makes fighting your enemies feel like a chore from early on, especially since the game seems to take great joy in throwing dozens of them at you regularly. It’s also fair to say the enemies aren’t too varied - you basically use the same tactic for all of the encounters, i.e. use your ‘specials’, dash around while waiting for them to be available again, repeat. There are a good number of boss fights that provide some desired change, but they’re usually too easy and the baddies go down on the first go without too much of a hassle. And yes, even on the highest difficulty the game is way too easy.
There are also some odd design choices regarding the combat system, e.g. there is a stamina bar that only gets depleted when you use the shield. When you attack, use your special attacks or dash around the stamina doesn’t seem to be affected at all, which takes away the necessity for strategizing your movements - think of the most obvious point of comparison, i.e. the soulslikes, where it’s an extremely important part of the game. It’s a shame, because otherwise it would’ve added some flavor and challenge to the combat which is rather plain and boring as it is. You also can’t lock on enemies, which is a nitpick, but I always like having this option in games with melee combat.
The game contains a handful of puzzles, most of them quite easy, which is a shame since had the developers put more emphasis on them at the cost of the combat sections, the game would’ve had a much better flow and the mediocrity of the combat could’ve stood out less. There are also some pretty poor stealth sections that try to break the monotony, but since there is no way to figure out the enemy’s visibility cone they prove more annoying rather than a meaningful way to expand the gameplay.
The quest design is lackluster as well. You’ll be mostly asked to slay X enemies, collect Y items or something of the like. The exploration is also rather limited, with the only real collectible being small rabbit figurines in front of which you need to dance. It’s neat, but I’d love more opportunities to explore these beautiful levels.
At the very end of the story you end up sitting at a table with the NPCs that you aided on your journey, and looking at them I started asking myself - who are these characters? The game fails to build any sense of investment in this world. With vapid writing and boring, unchallenging gameplay, you should only give this a shot if you really, really love voxel art.
2016
TL;DR: This doesn’t feel like a Remedy game.
The experience is difficult from the very beginning - the initial 30 minutes or so are surprisingly sloppy. We’re dividing our attention between Jack dumping exposition regarding his brother and Paul, future Jack dumping exposition during his deposition, at the same time slowly walking around and gathering notes and memos to read more exposition, then following Paul and listening to him providing to us, you guessed it, more exposition. There’s even an actual PowerPoint presentation. This does not encourage players to jump into this world, quite the opposite. And the worst part is - all that exposition is in service of an extremely bland, uninteresting story.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t enjoy time traveling as a narrative concept. I think it’s inherently broken and writers often abuse various implications from characters being able to travel between different periods in time. And yeah, I couldn’t get into this story either, but I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s only due to my dislike of this particular genre. I couldn’t care less about the time travel machines, the implications of ‘ripples’, etc. mostly because the characters were not at all interesting. The game attempts to build this rivalry between Paul and Jack and does so sloppily. Whenever these two would face off I felt nothing, including the shockingly anticlimactic conclusion. Hatch rides on Reddick’s charisma and nothing else, Beth is kind of a wet blanket, and some other supporting characters like Liam, Charlie or Fiona (present almost exclusively in the show) mostly fall flat as well. The game wants you to believe that total annihilation is what’s at stake - that if Jack doesn’t succeed then ‘the end of times’ will take place. But this is such a vague and abstract concept that I couldn’t bring myself to give a shit about what happens to this world, also due to my not sympathizing with even a single character in the story.
Also, the game takes itself too seriously which makes the whole experience funnier, listening to cheesy lines about chronon fields, the end of time and whatnot uttered with straight faces. I’m pretty sure it would’ve worked better if the writers tried to lean into the cheesiness of the material they were working on.
Gameplay wise, it feels like squandered potential. Jack’s superpowers can be fun to use and even though they’re not overly original it feels good to slow down time, sprint between enemies and take them out one by one or to throw ‘time grenades’. However, in addition to those powers Jack is required to shoot his enemies down and I’m sad to report that the gunplay is simply unsatisfying. Most guns feel like peashooters with no punch, and some annoy with ridiculous recoil. I really wish Remedy had removed the ability to use firearms altogether and just focused on developing the time powers to make them the only available way to fight. Also, enemy design is just lazy.
The game doesn’t play great, but looks even worse. To be clear, I don’t mean the quality of the animations or character models - these all hold up well, although I’ll never believe that Aidan Gillen is below 30, even with that ridiculous glow up he’s given in the opening chapter. But ‘Quantum Break’ probably includes the most boring art direction I’ve seen in a AAA game. Every location is extremely bland, just a generic city with generic buildings and generic interiors. That includes even some areas where the creators could’ve potentially employed some more unusual concepts, like the time machine and all the relevant macguffins like weapons, armours, labs, etc. Instead, every little visual detail looks like something that’s been included in a dozen other games and shows with a similar minimalist, ‘clean’ aesthetic. Maybe it was done purposefully in order to be consistent with the show which looks equally bland, but I wish they’d showed some more creativity in that department regardless.
Another disappointing element was the level design. I struggle to recall any memorable set pieces or combat arenas or any of the like (there are some ‘platforming’ sections, but I’ll do the devs a favor and refrain from elaborating on those). Everything seemed very straightforward, with a couple of very simple puzzles thrown in to break up the monotony of the main gameplay loop. These aren’t too difficult also because the game uses its own version of ‘witcher vision’ (I just double checked and yes, it’s called ‘Time Vision’, Jesus Christ). So you don’t even need to think too much about what to do next, you just click a button and receive a solution instantly. I doubt I’m the only one who hates this mechanic as it makes the games just too easy and level designers too lazy (why bother directing the player through environmental clues? Just click a button to highlight all important parts, or spray the only available route among the rubble with yellow paint - there are many offenders in this area, this game naturally being one of them).
The time mechanic could’ve been used in a million ways to create some clever puzzles or obstacle courses for Jack to solve between shooting down Monarch guards. The only ones we’re given boil down to “hold Y to reverse time for a bit” and voila. It’s also infuriating how limiting the game is, e.g. only allowing you to climb specific objects that the devs wanted you to climb and whenever you want to get up an object of the same or even lower height, Jack just bumps off them. This is really detrimental to any attempt at building immersion.
One thing that I liked from the narrative standpoint was allowing you to make decisions as Paul. These then influence which of two episodes of the show you will see. It’s a neat idea and gives you some feeling of power over the story, but if I’m not mistaken it only changes things in the show - the game stays the same regardless of your choices, which is a bit disappointing.
A large part of the game’s marketing campaign was that Quantum Break was an experience combining a video game with an ‘equally important’ TV show. And yes, there are four short (around 22-24mins) episodes that delve more into the events behind the scenes and focusing mostly on characters not given significant time in (or absent at all from) the game. First of all - it’s very clear that the video game was the primary focus of the creators and the show is filling in gaps that otherwise would’ve been either included as cutscenes or as memos/e-mails/notes (boy, do Remedy love those). And I think it would’ve been fine, because the show’s production value is one of the lowest I’ve seen. It’s mostly actors walking around large, empty, cheap-looking sets and exchanging exposition. It’s a shame, because they clearly spent some money to get people like Aidan Gillen or Lance Reddick, but even their charisma can’t save this vapid, sometimes straight up dumb script. The inclusion of the poorly made TV show makes the whole experience feel cheaper and cheesier than if the information from the show was given to the player using in-game methods.
The game clearly wanted to be a blockbuster - a high budget story with high stakes and some recognizable faces playing the main characters. But the whole experience is so bland and uninteresting it’s almost hard to believe that it was Remedy who was behind it. This doesn’t feel like a product of a developer with almost two decades of experience in groundbreaking storytelling. It feels like a copout, a safe, focus group-driven product delivered to a major publisher who was in his TV era (yes, Xbox, we remember) and needed a showcase for the ideas behind his newest toy.
I also encountered some problems in the technical department, like how is this game locked at 30fps in such a low resolution on Series X? Many cutscenes included some odd stutters. Also, the episodes aren’t available to stream anymore which is disappointing - I had to watch them in pisspoor quality on Youtube. There was one cutscene that anytime I wanted to skip it would just crash the game. One little detail I also need to mention - this one time when Jack was talking on the phone I zoomed in to see whether I could see the phone screen. I could and I only saw the menu - why are you pretending to be on the phone, Jack?!
So yeah, it’s a skip.
The experience is difficult from the very beginning - the initial 30 minutes or so are surprisingly sloppy. We’re dividing our attention between Jack dumping exposition regarding his brother and Paul, future Jack dumping exposition during his deposition, at the same time slowly walking around and gathering notes and memos to read more exposition, then following Paul and listening to him providing to us, you guessed it, more exposition. There’s even an actual PowerPoint presentation. This does not encourage players to jump into this world, quite the opposite. And the worst part is - all that exposition is in service of an extremely bland, uninteresting story.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t enjoy time traveling as a narrative concept. I think it’s inherently broken and writers often abuse various implications from characters being able to travel between different periods in time. And yeah, I couldn’t get into this story either, but I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s only due to my dislike of this particular genre. I couldn’t care less about the time travel machines, the implications of ‘ripples’, etc. mostly because the characters were not at all interesting. The game attempts to build this rivalry between Paul and Jack and does so sloppily. Whenever these two would face off I felt nothing, including the shockingly anticlimactic conclusion. Hatch rides on Reddick’s charisma and nothing else, Beth is kind of a wet blanket, and some other supporting characters like Liam, Charlie or Fiona (present almost exclusively in the show) mostly fall flat as well. The game wants you to believe that total annihilation is what’s at stake - that if Jack doesn’t succeed then ‘the end of times’ will take place. But this is such a vague and abstract concept that I couldn’t bring myself to give a shit about what happens to this world, also due to my not sympathizing with even a single character in the story.
Also, the game takes itself too seriously which makes the whole experience funnier, listening to cheesy lines about chronon fields, the end of time and whatnot uttered with straight faces. I’m pretty sure it would’ve worked better if the writers tried to lean into the cheesiness of the material they were working on.
Gameplay wise, it feels like squandered potential. Jack’s superpowers can be fun to use and even though they’re not overly original it feels good to slow down time, sprint between enemies and take them out one by one or to throw ‘time grenades’. However, in addition to those powers Jack is required to shoot his enemies down and I’m sad to report that the gunplay is simply unsatisfying. Most guns feel like peashooters with no punch, and some annoy with ridiculous recoil. I really wish Remedy had removed the ability to use firearms altogether and just focused on developing the time powers to make them the only available way to fight. Also, enemy design is just lazy.
The game doesn’t play great, but looks even worse. To be clear, I don’t mean the quality of the animations or character models - these all hold up well, although I’ll never believe that Aidan Gillen is below 30, even with that ridiculous glow up he’s given in the opening chapter. But ‘Quantum Break’ probably includes the most boring art direction I’ve seen in a AAA game. Every location is extremely bland, just a generic city with generic buildings and generic interiors. That includes even some areas where the creators could’ve potentially employed some more unusual concepts, like the time machine and all the relevant macguffins like weapons, armours, labs, etc. Instead, every little visual detail looks like something that’s been included in a dozen other games and shows with a similar minimalist, ‘clean’ aesthetic. Maybe it was done purposefully in order to be consistent with the show which looks equally bland, but I wish they’d showed some more creativity in that department regardless.
Another disappointing element was the level design. I struggle to recall any memorable set pieces or combat arenas or any of the like (there are some ‘platforming’ sections, but I’ll do the devs a favor and refrain from elaborating on those). Everything seemed very straightforward, with a couple of very simple puzzles thrown in to break up the monotony of the main gameplay loop. These aren’t too difficult also because the game uses its own version of ‘witcher vision’ (I just double checked and yes, it’s called ‘Time Vision’, Jesus Christ). So you don’t even need to think too much about what to do next, you just click a button and receive a solution instantly. I doubt I’m the only one who hates this mechanic as it makes the games just too easy and level designers too lazy (why bother directing the player through environmental clues? Just click a button to highlight all important parts, or spray the only available route among the rubble with yellow paint - there are many offenders in this area, this game naturally being one of them).
The time mechanic could’ve been used in a million ways to create some clever puzzles or obstacle courses for Jack to solve between shooting down Monarch guards. The only ones we’re given boil down to “hold Y to reverse time for a bit” and voila. It’s also infuriating how limiting the game is, e.g. only allowing you to climb specific objects that the devs wanted you to climb and whenever you want to get up an object of the same or even lower height, Jack just bumps off them. This is really detrimental to any attempt at building immersion.
One thing that I liked from the narrative standpoint was allowing you to make decisions as Paul. These then influence which of two episodes of the show you will see. It’s a neat idea and gives you some feeling of power over the story, but if I’m not mistaken it only changes things in the show - the game stays the same regardless of your choices, which is a bit disappointing.
A large part of the game’s marketing campaign was that Quantum Break was an experience combining a video game with an ‘equally important’ TV show. And yes, there are four short (around 22-24mins) episodes that delve more into the events behind the scenes and focusing mostly on characters not given significant time in (or absent at all from) the game. First of all - it’s very clear that the video game was the primary focus of the creators and the show is filling in gaps that otherwise would’ve been either included as cutscenes or as memos/e-mails/notes (boy, do Remedy love those). And I think it would’ve been fine, because the show’s production value is one of the lowest I’ve seen. It’s mostly actors walking around large, empty, cheap-looking sets and exchanging exposition. It’s a shame, because they clearly spent some money to get people like Aidan Gillen or Lance Reddick, but even their charisma can’t save this vapid, sometimes straight up dumb script. The inclusion of the poorly made TV show makes the whole experience feel cheaper and cheesier than if the information from the show was given to the player using in-game methods.
The game clearly wanted to be a blockbuster - a high budget story with high stakes and some recognizable faces playing the main characters. But the whole experience is so bland and uninteresting it’s almost hard to believe that it was Remedy who was behind it. This doesn’t feel like a product of a developer with almost two decades of experience in groundbreaking storytelling. It feels like a copout, a safe, focus group-driven product delivered to a major publisher who was in his TV era (yes, Xbox, we remember) and needed a showcase for the ideas behind his newest toy.
I also encountered some problems in the technical department, like how is this game locked at 30fps in such a low resolution on Series X? Many cutscenes included some odd stutters. Also, the episodes aren’t available to stream anymore which is disappointing - I had to watch them in pisspoor quality on Youtube. There was one cutscene that anytime I wanted to skip it would just crash the game. One little detail I also need to mention - this one time when Jack was talking on the phone I zoomed in to see whether I could see the phone screen. I could and I only saw the menu - why are you pretending to be on the phone, Jack?!
So yeah, it’s a skip.
2023
A precious little visual novel with a pleasant art style and a fun cooking minigame that shows the struggles of migrants and emphasizes the value of nurturing your roots.
Ahead of the upcoming release of the sequel, I decided to return to ‘Hellblade’ to refresh my memory and to be able to notice (and hopefully appreciate) all the changes included in ‘Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2’.
The second playthrough didn’t change my general view of the game - it’s a must-play for anyone seeking a rich narrative experience with a couple of issues that hold the game back from being a true masterpiece.
The good stuff first - the game is built around a really interesting story that is told with maturity and boldness rarely seen in other games. Senua’s desperate, exhausting journey towards redemption and her gradual unlocking and analysis of past events to remove the shackles imposed by her upbringing is truly fascinating to watch. Dip all that in a healthy dose of Norse mythology, some top notch acting (Melina Juergens is a star) and you’ll end up with a truly special narrative experience. The game delves heavily into the topics of mental health and psychosis in particular, with one of its most advertised features being ‘voices in your head’ (first time in forever I played a console game with a headset, simply because it’s one of the few games where it enhances the experience significantly, even if sometimes those voices offer input on puzzle solutions too quickly). This helps tremendously in immersing yourself in the story and in sympathizing with Senua. The topic of ignorance of complex mental issues paired with religious zealotry is also an important part of the game. By the end of the story I felt truly proud of Senua, even if the final song was too cheesy and on the nose for my taste.
In a lot of ways the gameplay serves the narrative, with one of the most obvious examples being Senua searching for runes hidden in the environment. I think it’s a neat idea, however I did feel like the game relied too heavily on it - that also includes the mechanic of “look through gate to open path”, which appeared too many times for my liking.
The game breaks up the pace in a number of ways, e.g. when Senua needs to stealthily move amongst monsters made of pulsating flesh, running between sources of light to evade a ‘dragon’ or sprinting through a burning house. These are truly standout moments in the game.
A whole other thing is combat. I have a problem with it simply because I realize it was not intended to be “fun” - quite the opposite, actually. If these encounters symbolize Senua struggling to go on, her debilitating illness trying to stop her from continuing her quest, then fighting off the physical manifestations of it should be frustrating and difficult. However, I felt like the combat sections gave up on their narrative significance quite quickly and became simply a thing for the player to do (there are a few moments where it makes sense to have Senua fight off hordes of enemies, to be fair). Perhaps the developers were afraid that without them the game would be too akin to walking simulators and written off by many players disliking that particular genre. I, for one, wouldn’t mind being challenged in other ways (e.g. through more complex puzzles) to emphasize Senua’s struggles. The combat itself is pretty run of the mill, with camera being often detrimental when fighting several enemies at once. Same with switching targets - I don’t think the combat system was well designed to accommodate more than 1-2 opponents at once. Also - please, include an option to sprint next time, in some larger areas it took forever to get between points of interest.
The second playthrough didn’t change my general view of the game - it’s a must-play for anyone seeking a rich narrative experience with a couple of issues that hold the game back from being a true masterpiece.
The good stuff first - the game is built around a really interesting story that is told with maturity and boldness rarely seen in other games. Senua’s desperate, exhausting journey towards redemption and her gradual unlocking and analysis of past events to remove the shackles imposed by her upbringing is truly fascinating to watch. Dip all that in a healthy dose of Norse mythology, some top notch acting (Melina Juergens is a star) and you’ll end up with a truly special narrative experience. The game delves heavily into the topics of mental health and psychosis in particular, with one of its most advertised features being ‘voices in your head’ (first time in forever I played a console game with a headset, simply because it’s one of the few games where it enhances the experience significantly, even if sometimes those voices offer input on puzzle solutions too quickly). This helps tremendously in immersing yourself in the story and in sympathizing with Senua. The topic of ignorance of complex mental issues paired with religious zealotry is also an important part of the game. By the end of the story I felt truly proud of Senua, even if the final song was too cheesy and on the nose for my taste.
In a lot of ways the gameplay serves the narrative, with one of the most obvious examples being Senua searching for runes hidden in the environment. I think it’s a neat idea, however I did feel like the game relied too heavily on it - that also includes the mechanic of “look through gate to open path”, which appeared too many times for my liking.
The game breaks up the pace in a number of ways, e.g. when Senua needs to stealthily move amongst monsters made of pulsating flesh, running between sources of light to evade a ‘dragon’ or sprinting through a burning house. These are truly standout moments in the game.
A whole other thing is combat. I have a problem with it simply because I realize it was not intended to be “fun” - quite the opposite, actually. If these encounters symbolize Senua struggling to go on, her debilitating illness trying to stop her from continuing her quest, then fighting off the physical manifestations of it should be frustrating and difficult. However, I felt like the combat sections gave up on their narrative significance quite quickly and became simply a thing for the player to do (there are a few moments where it makes sense to have Senua fight off hordes of enemies, to be fair). Perhaps the developers were afraid that without them the game would be too akin to walking simulators and written off by many players disliking that particular genre. I, for one, wouldn’t mind being challenged in other ways (e.g. through more complex puzzles) to emphasize Senua’s struggles. The combat itself is pretty run of the mill, with camera being often detrimental when fighting several enemies at once. Same with switching targets - I don’t think the combat system was well designed to accommodate more than 1-2 opponents at once. Also - please, include an option to sprint next time, in some larger areas it took forever to get between points of interest.
I realize that the second entry in the franchise has received a sort of reappraisal amongst Amnesia fans in recent years, but I’m afraid I can’t agree with their praise of the game. I still feel like it is a mere shadow of what its predecessor was able to achieve.
My main issue is that during my playthrough it felt like I was sprinting through the game. Unlike the original entry in the franchise, there are hardly any puzzles (going to two different corners in a level and rotating valves does not count as a puzzle) that will make you stop and think on your next move. The levels are streamlined, which kills the necessity to roam around a maze-like environment, collecting necessary items to make it to the next part and at the same time watching out for enemies that can be lurking in any corner. There are dozens upon dozens of closed doors which make you feel like you’re being led by the devs rather than figuring out the right way on your own.
There is a lot less interactivity compared to ‘The Dark Descent’, where you were able to pick up most items. Here it feels more like you’re in a museum, and only allowed to touch objects absolutely necessary to make your way further. Even many drawers are permanently shut - why?
I appreciate the game taking its time to build tension and only introducing enemies after an hour or so, but when they do appear, they mostly show up in tight spaces where you’re forced to run around them before realizing they take forever to spot you and deal any real damage (which isn’t really an issue anyway, since your character regenerates health automatically). This kills any feeling of tension when traversing through levels, as enemies become a nuisance that can be ignored surprisingly often.
The part I liked best was its story, and I genuinely was curious to see what happens next to Mandus. I was quite satisfied with the ending, and witnessing the bedlam unfold on the streets of London was definitely a memorable sight. There are plenty of diary entries written by the protagonist that should allow players to sympathize with him more, although I feel like the writers had a greater opportunity to turn the events of the game into more of a social commentary (there are some nuggets hidden in some of the notes pointing to this), but in the end opted for a more standard horror story fitting the genre.
My main issue is that during my playthrough it felt like I was sprinting through the game. Unlike the original entry in the franchise, there are hardly any puzzles (going to two different corners in a level and rotating valves does not count as a puzzle) that will make you stop and think on your next move. The levels are streamlined, which kills the necessity to roam around a maze-like environment, collecting necessary items to make it to the next part and at the same time watching out for enemies that can be lurking in any corner. There are dozens upon dozens of closed doors which make you feel like you’re being led by the devs rather than figuring out the right way on your own.
There is a lot less interactivity compared to ‘The Dark Descent’, where you were able to pick up most items. Here it feels more like you’re in a museum, and only allowed to touch objects absolutely necessary to make your way further. Even many drawers are permanently shut - why?
I appreciate the game taking its time to build tension and only introducing enemies after an hour or so, but when they do appear, they mostly show up in tight spaces where you’re forced to run around them before realizing they take forever to spot you and deal any real damage (which isn’t really an issue anyway, since your character regenerates health automatically). This kills any feeling of tension when traversing through levels, as enemies become a nuisance that can be ignored surprisingly often.
The part I liked best was its story, and I genuinely was curious to see what happens next to Mandus. I was quite satisfied with the ending, and witnessing the bedlam unfold on the streets of London was definitely a memorable sight. There are plenty of diary entries written by the protagonist that should allow players to sympathize with him more, although I feel like the writers had a greater opportunity to turn the events of the game into more of a social commentary (there are some nuggets hidden in some of the notes pointing to this), but in the end opted for a more standard horror story fitting the genre.