Holy flarking scut, what a fucking game. I waffled on the ultimate score, because let's be honest, the actual gameplay isn't great. It's like every other 3rd person shooter you've ever played. It's Control all over again, where you go into an arena and you shoot things and use your special powers to win. Sometimes you die and it feels really unfair, sometimes there's a boss and it feels half baked. It's a PS2 era 3rd person shooter.
But the clothes, holy shit, the clothes. This is a 3 star game in 5 star clothes, and I didn't want it to ever end. In fact, in the first fake out, when I thought we were heading into the climax, when it turned out we weren't and we sang the Kartahtian war song together in the Milano, I had a huge grin just plastered across my flarking face the whole time.
What makes this game five fucking stars is the writing and the dialog and the characterization. It's all just stellar. Like, in ways I didn't expect it to be, stellar. There is constant dialog and conversation going on around you all the time, and it's all interesting and fun to engage in. You're prompted to contribute to conversations often, and those decisions you make actually build to stuff. But! Here's the important part:
The decisions you make, no matter what they are, never feel like they will actually hurt your progress in the game. I never once felt the need to look up my choices to make sure I picked the right one. In the tutorial, they tell you that your choices matter, but not that much. Sometimes, a choice you made hours before will come back and eliminate a barrier that you would otherwise have to cross yourself, but that's it.
And that freedom is so wonderful. This game was just a fucking joy from start to finish, and I never got tired of it, even as I got frustrated by the little things, like how I'd die without knowing I'd been shot at a bunch, or how I failed the first quicktime event because the game never showed me how those work in the first place.
I just loved being in this game, in the art, with these characters, just existing surrounded by this endlessly innovative, clever conversation. I don't want any more, because I don't think you could pull this off again, but I am SO happy this one is here.
But the clothes, holy shit, the clothes. This is a 3 star game in 5 star clothes, and I didn't want it to ever end. In fact, in the first fake out, when I thought we were heading into the climax, when it turned out we weren't and we sang the Kartahtian war song together in the Milano, I had a huge grin just plastered across my flarking face the whole time.
What makes this game five fucking stars is the writing and the dialog and the characterization. It's all just stellar. Like, in ways I didn't expect it to be, stellar. There is constant dialog and conversation going on around you all the time, and it's all interesting and fun to engage in. You're prompted to contribute to conversations often, and those decisions you make actually build to stuff. But! Here's the important part:
The decisions you make, no matter what they are, never feel like they will actually hurt your progress in the game. I never once felt the need to look up my choices to make sure I picked the right one. In the tutorial, they tell you that your choices matter, but not that much. Sometimes, a choice you made hours before will come back and eliminate a barrier that you would otherwise have to cross yourself, but that's it.
And that freedom is so wonderful. This game was just a fucking joy from start to finish, and I never got tired of it, even as I got frustrated by the little things, like how I'd die without knowing I'd been shot at a bunch, or how I failed the first quicktime event because the game never showed me how those work in the first place.
I just loved being in this game, in the art, with these characters, just existing surrounded by this endlessly innovative, clever conversation. I don't want any more, because I don't think you could pull this off again, but I am SO happy this one is here.