Croped and refined, there is a lot to love about Ghostrunner. The combat makes you live on a razor's edge. Everything including you dies in one hit. Can be a tad frustrating towards the end, but you have a lot of tools so a solution is always available. When it works, and it works a lot, it is very satisfying. The platforming is great. Weaker then Mirror's Edge, but Mirror's Edge was so good that I'll take it. Bosses are give or take and get weaker as it goes on. The story is pretty whatever, but it keeps your mind entertained while playing. I would rather have it instead of it being missing. The voice acting is good and it adds structure despite being on the generic side. The soundtrack elevates the game a lot. Complex and both energizing and relaxing. Perfect for what the game is.
Beautiful, wonderful, engrossing. I love Squid Giant because they keep the 'Journey-like' genre alive. Each game they made is beatifully realized and scored and will quickly immerse you into their world. They always fail to have a meaningful or compelling story which is their only real fault. Don't mind people whinging about Abzu being short. It's all about quality instead of quantity and it is worth replaying. Just enjoy the ride and remember that art is now just what you pay for, but also what you give.
And no this is not nostalgia. The first time I played System Shock was 2021. Heck, the first time I played an Immersive Sim was 2016. To me, this remake reads as "We at NightDive, love System Shock, but we stopped playing Immersive Sims since then". This game lacks both the crucial element that made the original memorable and basic quality of life I expect in any game. First, positive: - I love the new intro. Though it is a little drown out - I like being able to throw a grenade without killing myself in the process - Terri Brosius kicks ass Now, things I don't like: - Canned animation. I hate them with of passion and I really don't understand why there were implemented. Last time I checked, Thief 4 was panned for the overused of them. Not only that, but Arkane cracked the code one and a half decade ago. Canned animation are not immersive, there are obtrusive. The click and drag of the orginal were clucky sure, but the thing is you have control while you do that. You might get shot to death while fiddling around in both game, but you can stop dragging an item. You can't stop a canned animation. Canned animation should have been nuked. Even the short one. - Music. System Shock 1 and 2 made space horror dancable. There is no excuse for what they did here. And yeah, Prey wasn't dancable, but they didn't remade System Shock 2. And the music had much more personnality then this. - Item pick. In Fallout: New Vegas, if I kill an armed opponent, I take their gun by either picking up from the ground or looting the corpse. The fact this doesn't work the same way here drive me insane. - The new currency/crafting system adds nothing and should have been abandonned. Last time I played System Shock, I didn't wish to vaporize every single item for scraps. It just bloat what should be a simple game. System Shock 2 did that as well, but it was unecessary even there. - The idle animation for the laser rapier is dumb. It looks like my character might cut his finger at any time.
I say that because what I remember from playing it a few years ago is: great gameplay, stupid story. And, while the story is still stupid, I really didn't remember how great everything else is! A few time while in dungeon, I just caught myself having so much fun! The blend of suspenful music and the smooth gameplay work just so well. Very strong level design too. So yeah, Eidos Montreal's talent is made abuntly clear in this title and while they don't get Deux Ex in terme of story and theme, they really make up for what they get gameplay wise and the new stuff they injected in this title. If you are a fan Deux Ex, well, you might jut like Human Revolution, it's awesome!
Why can't I select the obvious male dwarf portraits when I want to play as a male dwarf? Thankfully there is an easy exploit you can do to by pass that. Nice portraits though.
While I think it is the weaker Supergiant Games game out there (hold back but its meandering development) it has way too much style for me to ever forget. I get enthralled by every curscene and most of the song where Red sings. Though I will admit that Transistor go for 2 out of me 3 soft spot. A love story and the protagonist is a mucisian of some sort. (The third one is a spiritual undertone. See Pyre for a good exemple of that).
Tighly made and very impressive considering it was release way back at 2011 when indie was on the rise. A must play even today.
