Ghostrunner

90% of the time you're just fighting the lack of polish, rather than the actual enemies you're supposed to be fighting. HEL boss fight is absolute trash

As an avid Dishonored and Parkour game fan I find the game's Level Design way too boring and repetitive. The Artwork is fine, most of what you would want to see from a Cyberpunk themed game is there sure, but still missing. The levels are not smooth enough and they force you to kill the enemies before you go to the other puzzle which takes too much time with not enough stimulation for my fast-paced playstyle loving brain. The parkour part of the game is not embedded with the map but most things are there just for you conveniently just jump one them. The game forces you to play in their playstyle not yours, it's not flexible enough to capture a wide amount players' interests I think when they first buy/get the game. The puzzle part is OK however, dying on a single hit makes you strategize around the weaknesses of the units, that sounds nice doesn't it? However most of them only have weaknesses around timing and that makes the levels just fill me with apathy and anger because some random guy just shoots me from the other side of the map when I was jumping around/moving around the map to find the correct time interval to slash them. On the other hand however, the kill run game mode is in my opinion fantastic and really goes well with the actual idea of a cyberpunk assassin(not a juggernaut mind you since you get oneshot) just flying through enemies and getting the job done. Some levels are designed in a way so that they test your mechanics some are still just stuck at the timing part. What I would want from a game like this has been so much different than what the game had offered to me. I would want to be tested for smooth movement, smart killing strategies not just strafing around to wait for the kill time interval. I run the game on a 3060 and still have fps issues with the lowest graphics which shouldn't actually be a thing because how the not pleases the eye at all times. Story is meh. The game overall gets a very generous 3/5 from me.

The main problem I'm having with this game is the wallrunning and jumping towards the next wallrunning platform. Sometimes character completely stops in air and falls to his death. I have tried every way to make wallrunning feel smooth but it seems that most of the time I get meaningless deaths because lack of control. Overall its a solid game with parkour, action with cyberpunk theme but it could have used some more polishing.

...If not for some baffling enemy design late-game (and some other minor issues). I was having a lot of fun with this game, despite my many...many deaths. Because in every single encounter I was able to figure out what I was doing wrong, and how to overcome the obstacles. And the generous checkpoint system mixed with quick respawning made repeated attempts very enjoyable, even though, as I said, I was getting my ass kicked A LOT. Slight Spoilers incoming for some of the late-game enemies But the expolding enemies that the game introduces in the final chapter are complete nonsense. They force you to constantly run away and you don't have too many ways of dealing with them, except your special abilities. I really don't understand why they had to include them, it's like almost every game does this for the final level, introducing enemies and obstacles that are frustrating, not challenging. I get it (if you are a developer) it's the final level, you want something climactic, but you are running out of ideas...but...I don't know...this final stretch really frustrated me and left a black mark on an otherwise great experience. Other small issues include enemy AI not always behaving consistently (this doen't occur all that often though) and the game not telling you that you will lose your progress for the entire level if you quit before finishing it. It's not the loss of progress that is the problem, but the fact that the game does not warn you about it. If you are a speedrunner, you will love this game. If you love synthwave and cyberpunk you will also love this game. And if you are an action game fan, well...you will like this game despite many of its issues..the same way I like it ^^

IMPORTANT TIP: If you're experiencing crashes when you boot the game up, exit out and run a file validation. I'm not sure what the exact problem is, but the crashes appear to be tied to the Unreal Engine. Validating the files remedied the problem for me the first time, so it should work for you as well. Disappointed with the way Cyberpunk turned out? Looking for something that'll quench your inner masochist? Ghostrunner is the game for you, my friend. As a fan of games like Hotline Miami and Katana Zero, I throwing myself into games that seek to test my focus (and patience). Make no mistake: this game will push your limits and then some. Many reviews have already pointed out that this is not meant for causal gamers, and I can't stress the validity of those statements enough. If games like Dark Souls turn you off, avoid Ghostrunner at all costs. Though I would like to give this game 5/5, the primary factor keeping me from doing so is the parkour. As heart pounding as it is, there are times where things like wall running don't seem to register 100% of the time. I hope that gets fixed in a future patch, because if it does, I'd be more than happy to modify the score.