so much of re4 comes down to the tension of its moment-to-moment play, and i bear this in mind as i consider the possibilities of the remake and the crucial matter of how the action feels if the pacing and your maneuverability is significantly increased or 'improved' — as we expect it to be.

looking back at the original game (and its various ports), especially having now played the re2 remake and a number of similar modern tps games, there's a vaguely king's field-like sluggishness to re4 and its tank controls and slower forward movement. combined with its wild action setpieces and a synesthetic style resembling an arcade game (especially apparent in the character models, their faces and the particular expressiveness of their voices, the scope and flair of the boss fights, the button-mashing qte stuff, etc), this very deliberate and yet very flexible approach to action in balance with tension is something which continues to set re4 apart from the rest. in praise of games which offer interesting friction to your mobility, rather than endlessly seek ways of reducing it. amen.

fairly sure i'm not even 1/3 through my first time through this game and i'm like 150 hours in (though i did restart once after like 20 hours lol). i have a feeling i'll have more to say later on; consider this a "first impressions" kinda thing, silly as that may seem after so much time with it.

getting some complaints out of the way, it's a pretty flawed game in terms of bugs and some extremely fucked balance (playing it on easier difficulty settings is highly recommended until you really know the game (and i still don't feel i do)) and moments of frustrating writing clashing with the roleplaying possibilities of its pnp systems (e.g. you can't always rescue someone from their fate due to a curse placed on them despite there being a spell called remove curse available and stuff like that feels... kinda bad, sometimes). that's pretty much it, i guess? i could probably complain about the overwhelming timesink crusade system introduced in the second act, but i switched that shit to automated/story mode so i could focus on the baldur's gate-style adventuring and such. the half-star i docked from my rating could probably be a bigger mark down, but, see...

what makes wrath of the righteous so compelling to me, aside from the incredibly deep character-building, is its campaign and setting: a realm torn asunder by the worldwound, a vast fracture in the planet's surface from which the abyss emerges - a place where gods and demons rally their forces in a game of chess... where they literally can't intervene too much because the conflict would simply obliterate this domain over which they struggle for power and influence. and this is where you come in: chosen by the good gods, granted the power to choose your path - even with the freedom to become a devil or a swarm-that-walks or whatever...! power fantasy to the extreme.

and this is what sets wrathfinder apart from its ilk: it features a variety of mythic paths for you to choose as you progress (angel, lich, demon, azata, trickster, legend, and several more) and a pretty large cast of possible companions - to the point that it feels more properly inspired by bg2 than most of these "new wave of oldschool crpg" games in terms of the sheer possibilities. for my first time through it, i'm going azata: chaotic good butterfly-winged friendship is magic superhero bard romancing a succubus who wants to be a good girl after being touched by the goddess of dreams and made aware of her sins. (you can either help her with this or decide to be a total fucker and corrupt her, destroying her newfound ability to love.) game's absolutely enormous and i'm likely to be playing it all year (irl circumstances willing (not to be overly cryptic, but my mental illness is catching up with me again)).

uh, anyway... yeah, game rules. also i love the very bg-styled music, all that Epic Brass Blaring Mightily.