Seven: Enhanced Edition

beware! steam patchlevel: 1.3.2 (May 2020) 1.3.3 fixed a quest "Very Old Friends" (August 2020) Patchlevel gog is 1.3.1 from april 2019 (stand today Jule 2021 apparently gog is forgotten once again please dont buy an unsupported game!!!!

A great scenic/exploration game but horrible stealth/combat. The open world is impeccable Throughout the game, there are endless scenic areas that leave you wanting for more. This makes exploration rewarding on its own if it wasn't for the interesting progression system. The progression system is largely based on discovering items and upgrades. Combined with a unique top down style gaming and art, exploring the world is amazing. There is no stealth Unlike some reviewers, there is no stealth in the game. The game introduces hiding spots but they don't always work. You get an invisible spell that works for 3 seconds unless you've already been seen, then it doesn't work at all(even if you break LOS). Complexes you want to stealth through have dozens of guards. If you're seen, unless he's alone, you're almost surely dead. You cannot get out of combat unless you leave the zone or die. The only option you have is to kill a guard, steal his outfit and wear it as a disguise that grants you safe passage throughout the complex. No trial and error Loading times are horrendous. Bugs bugs bugs Because actions for "stealth" and exploration, backstab, choke(stun) and grab ledge are combined with other actions, attack, attack and jump respectively, you'll often die. To backstab and choke you need to be behind an unsuspecting enemy but, the protagonist will randomly choose to attack (and subsequently kill you because of a myriad of guards raining down on you) or jump, instead of grabbing a ledge, to your death. The game advises to run from combat when needed but the sprint button becomes unusuable for a second after you jump onto a ledge/walk over a rail/touch a pebble. Combined with 100% ranged accuracy from guards, extreme hearing (run across town, hide in smoke, they come straight to you), if you need to run it most likely means you're dead. Attacks 100% stun for a moment. Only against you. These features, no combat/stealth and bugs render this game broken. Wait for 2.0.

The setting is nice and I like how dark it is. I orignally bought this game because a lot of people from CDPR worked on it. However, the gameplay is sooo frustrating that I couldn't continue. Maybe other people won't find it as difficult, but I contantly get detected when stealthing around and many of the enemies are so OP that you can't slash your way through should you get detected, not to mention that other enemies show up and gang up on you. I thought the view system was pretty cool at first, but it became really frustrating since you can't always tell if you can climb up something or there is a wall there. This makes the stealth just angering. Maybe other people who play stealth games might not find it as challenging, but I gave up after about 4 hours.

I'm hesitant to write this review, because I really want to enjoy this game despite the flaws. Unfortunately, Seven: The Days Long Gone is one of those games that is a brilliant labor of love marred by practical flaws that make it difficult if not impossible to enjoy. The post apocalyptic pseudo-sci fi/fantasy that forms the foundation of the world's lore is great, as is the premise of a isometric stealth-tactical rpg. I'm a fan of all of this. Unfortunately, between the the unresponsive and intuitive controls, the minimal progression in equipment choice and growth, the frequent jumping platform falls to your death, the completely irrelevant trade/barter system, the poor system performance in congested areas, and the perplexingly long load times, I felt less and less incentive to come back to play more every time I left the game. Simply put, the game is a disappointment. It has so much charm and flair that I want to love it, but the game itself won't let me. It is a certain but unfortunate "pass".

There are tons of design flaws and some serious bugs, but I still enjoyed playing "Seven" a lot. If the end wouldn't have been so rushed and badly designed, I'd have given it 5 stars despite all the issues. But let's start with the good: "Seven" is a real unique game. Saying it's an open world action RPG doesn't really do it justice. What makes it special is its fully isometric world with unprecedented three-dimensionality. There are lots of locations extending dozens of meters from the ground to the top which are fully accessible. Also, the strict isometric view gives it a distinct look reminding of pre-rendered games from the 90s while adding the freedom to zoom and rotate. Of course this also means that you can't actually tilt the view which feels very odd and limiting at 1st. So the mouse can actually only be used to rotate the view around the character in the sense that it's used for steering. The world and story is interesting, there are lots of diverse quests, good voice acting and great world design. You can jump and climb up ledges etc., there is some original but limited skill tree with special powers (invisibility, altering time), a pretty good inventory, a solid crafting system etc. Then there are the flaws: stealth kills just don't work (but bare-handed choking does), selling stuff is impossible since merchants are broke, looting is nearly pointless, crafting material is much too heavy, collecting items is annoyingly slow, quick load takes forever, save games are a mess, the game creates autosaves every minute until they can't be cloud synced anymore, the mouse cursor disappears in dialogues, several quests are broken if executed in wrong order, some safe/rune puzzles are broken etc. Besides, while marketed as stealth game, stealth just doesn't work (ten people in a room who never leave) or isn't worth it. Just killing everyone is much easier and not sanctioned. Still, I enjoyed most of the 60h I played. Just the end was a total letdown in any way.