Posted on: November 16, 2024
.reina45
Verified ownerGames: 24 Reviews: 12
Relaxing, dimly-lit atmosphere
The only Saints Row thing about this game is the returning characters (of which there are two). They also made Kinzie sound really suggestive when getting hurt, despite sounding perfectly humane in the previous games - love it or hate it. Overall, this game feels like Bethesda touching the Fallout series: when playing through the main story, the gameplay feels half-baked, like it was made from a Unity game template, the self-aware cutscenes aren't really enough to justify the action part of the experience. The 5 stars is because of the game's unsung hero: world design. I have clocked about 200 hours (more than SR4!) just holding the walk button and admiring the attention to detail in the world. The denizens of hell all look the same, representing stifled diversity & self expression. Some rest on benches, others sleep on bare mattressess on the soot-filled rooftops. Poverty? We're gonna need a new definition... Out of nowhere, a bloke will express a fervor of frustration. Another will literally chased by flesh-eating insects, suffering. And sometimes, they get zapped by lighting, just because. And sometimes, you may even see someone be on the city payphone for ages, spending all of their pennies trying to connect to the outside world - with no response. And that's not even talking about the buildings yet. The slums are my favourite area, each window of the gigantic buildings representing prolonged torment of hell. Partially burnt clothes, heaps of TV recievers on rooftops existing merely as a place of rest from the exploitative society. All of this paints the most cohesive "show, don't tell" writing I've ever seen in an open world. Asset reuse doesn't necessarily mean bad. Still, I shoot the demons sometimes, just for kicks. I found the game most fun with no main missions completed - it opens up just the right amount of open-world activities without ruining the game's atmosphere. Though, I had to disable the free roam nagging through a mod...
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