Hob

I was very surprised by this game. There is a lot more than meets the eye here. 1. The gameplay itself was fantastic. As you progress through an entire world of puzzles and things snap into place, new paths open up, you find shortcuts, it feels amazingly organic. None of it was forced. One area flowed naturally to the next area. The map was a bit confusing at first to be honest. There is no key to what the symbols are, but just like the organic feeling of the world, you learn what each thing is, what each screen means. There is no voice and no text in this game. It is a visual experience when looking at everything. 2. The map starts small but becomes big. At the end, once you unlock everything, it feels small again, but only because you can freely run across it having defeated the denizens of the world. The world is also almost entirely unrecognizable at the end of the game as compared to the first. Not only do the pieces of the world come through and snap into place, but the landscape and where you can traverse is completely different. Bottomless pits become places you can go, dry areas have flowing water, and there is lots to run around and collect when everything is said and done. 3. The only downside is, unless you feel like collecting everything, there is no reason to go back. There are actually multiple endings but you only need to continue where you left off to see the other. It's almost bittersweet. The time with this game was really amazing, but like a good book I am a bit saddened it ended. 4. Other things to point out. This is first and foremost a puzzle and exploration game. The combat isn't bad at all, but that is clearly not the point of the game. The combat is challenging and fun. And as you unlock new abilities you will find you can now defeat some enemies that were seemingly invulnerable before. Final thoughts: Like a really good book, it's an amazing experience that you are left only wanting more of when it ends.

Hob is a very interesting game, but its major flaws sometimes hides its qualities : -At the beginning, the game crashed during a cutscene and I thought that my installation was broken, but when I relaunched it, it worked fine. -When the camera is very close to you and you go toward it, it will start having trouble following you. -They decided to put fixed cameras angles at many spots of the game, even if sometimes you will barely see you character in the distance. -If you like to see a character vibrate like crazy or go trougth walls, then try messing just a little bit with the walls and you'll probably end up stuck in a wall or falling in the void. Also, when you make a good jump, the hitbox might be like : "you're gonna make it, . . . nah just kidding, you fall !". -Some ennemies will attack you from the dead angles of the camera and you cant notice them before they hit you (if they are not busy T-posing and unable to interact with you). -You barely got any moves for combat, same for the ennemies. All of this quite bother me, especially when they were able to create such a beautiful game: -All of the little details in the animation of the environnement is great and make the game feel lively. -The puzzles are good and need you to think, but they dont feel like some testings rooms as they make sense. -The platforming parts are integrated to the puzzle, giving you a good challenge. -The ennemies can hit you real hard, but can hit each others so you can use it as a strategy. The weaknesses hit hard, but the game attempt to take action-RPG, puzzle and platforming together is sucessful and innovative. The story might not be very clear but you still understand it and you don't have tons of texts to go trought (because there's no text or dialogue).

After having finished the game I can just say what a wonderful adventure. The game had a rough start with some crashes but it was quickly handled by Runic games. The world you run around in is amazing looking. Solving puzzles to unlock more of the world that is hidden. The fighting in the game is fun and I like how some enemies are also a bit puzzeling in the beginning until you learn how to deal with them of course. There is so much I want to type but I don't want to spoil it for you when you discover the small wonderful things in the world. Many things are "hidden" so explore everywhere! There are a lot of puzzles in the game so get your thinking hat on and especially time your jumps correct. There is a lot of things to collect in the game if you are one of those who likes unlocking everything. Some bugs exists in the game with at times getting stuck in the environment but if you don't get free kills you. Happened very few times so nothing that impacted the enjoyment of playing the game. I used a controller when I played the game as I tried mouse/keyboard and it didn't feel good. I do for sure recommend the game.

I had never heard of this game before and I was pleasantly surprised. Spectacular art direction and fluid gameplay makes this an overall delight to play. Story has a nostalgic simplicity to it and is more about adventure and discovery than about boss fights. Level design is beautiful but a bit repetetive and thus gets a bit disorienting in some areas. Upgrading your sword, cloak and abilities is a nice touch. 10/10, would recommend and would love to get more games like this.

I love this game. The art style is great. The game play is fun. It feels like a Legend of Zelda kind of game, which I think we need more of. The only reason I'm not giving this a 5/5 is the one element of this game that fails completely. The camera. Lack of camera controls is real drag on this game. Ir's really the onyl bad point, and it doesn't kill the game, but it's the flaw that stands out the most on an otherwise perfect game.