I really loved the setting -- it does look like 40k. Story is good yet a bit predictable. Companions are good as well and fortunately there weren't the companions that I wanted to throw out of the airlock (unlike ones in some of Mass Effect games or Baldur's Gate 3). Tactical combat is fun as well. However there were some things I did not really liked: 1) Not all lines are voiced and it is not some sort of unknown NPC in some sidequest but actually main characters on main quest. Not a biggie but really? 2) OST is kinda hit and miss. In a last 2 chapters I turned off the game's OST and used the music from "40k: Dawn of War" and "40k Mechanicus". 3) Too many load screens: for example you travel through warp, load screen, companion approaches you and says that "we need to talk in private", load screen, small conversation with companion, load screen, sector map. Overall it is a good game with some minor issues.
The game is a throwback to Xbox 360 era of games where game were pure fun. The story of this game is quite simple: in the Wild West times there is a certain vampire that is causing a havoc. There is also organization that deals with vampires and you are part of it. Very simple, no overcomplications, "grey morals", pseudophilosophy or lecturing which is a huge achievement in today's gaming industry. The game is linear and have a well planned linear level design without so popular today "open world" stuff that wastes time. The levels are laid out in a way where you encounter enemies in a good quantities but not overwhelming you, then after you defeat them you walk to the next encounter through a very beautiful areas and engaging in some basic actions like a jumping across the bridge and during that time you are getting ready for the next encounter which follows it. Rinse and repeat. These moments are quite balanced and I did not feel like combat areas taking long or "break time" areas are getting boring -- a perfect balance. I would like to shout out to the sound designed of this game since they use quite an interesting way to notify player of a combat beginning/new stage and end of combat: stage change -- bell toll, end of engagement -- bullet ricochet sound. Leveling system is also quite streamlined: combat perks are gained through level points and weapon upgrades through money you will find throughout the game. Really nice visual design: maybe the game does not have a best graphics from a polygon count point of view, however levels are beautiful and enemies looks interesting. The combat was quite a fun and through the perks you can get to the fun skill that fit your style of the game. I would like to see a sequel or some similar game from these guys.
I really liked the story and sidemissions, however gameplay changes are really bad: 1) Spongy enemies: with 20 invested in reflexes and in body with Tier 5 weapons it still takes about 5 minutes to fight bosses. And the worst part about it that those battles are just boring: you just running around the "boss" and shooting it to see how slowly you chip off health from health bar. 2) "Somewhat Damaged" mission: if you think it wasn't bad enough that there are spongy enemies then how about unkillable enemy with which you need to do stealth mission. And stealth is very bad here combined with the constant "You cannot save here" you are basically loosing lot of time replaying these frustrating episodes. Please CDPR do not do such things again: if I wanted to play stealth horror I would've played "Alien: Isolation". 3) The primary storyline is another heist. Like we already didn't do it at the beginning with Jackie or later in the game with Panam or at the end the Arisaka tower (with whoever you are going side with). So I've seen lot of people compare it to "Blood and Wine" for "Witcher 3" and in my opinion not even remote: B&W storyline was much longer and much better, it did build on the good things of the W3 and did not introduce bad stuff. Phantom Liberty introduces lot of annoyances and it is same stuff like you did in the game.
Basically it is very similar to Serious Sam 4 game with it's positive and negative sides. However unlike the other games it does not spend some time to slowly introduce you to the hoards of enemies and fun starts almost immediately. The things I liked: * Lot of the enemies; * Different weapons; * Lot of ammo so you can use the weapons you like (unlike recent Doom where you have only few bullets for every weapon and then you have to chainsaw some enemy to get more) * Tank * Walker robot similar to papamobile from SS4. Things I wish were done better: * Conversations animated not really good (models look like soulless androids, not real people) * Russian setting: while it looks kinda russian buildings, Igor Ledov, vodka, kalinka-malinka... but I wish there was a bit more to it like maybe some monsters inspired by the Russian tales, cartoon, etc. For example maybe have a harvester level similar to the one in SS4 but with the music whole Russian internet wanted for that level, maybe some reference to the Roadside Picnic book on the level with such name, etc..
Unfortunately developer of this game treats GOG customers as somebody not worth bothering which is shown by delaying patches compared to Steam, not releasing DLCs and soundtrack here. So if after completing the game you would like to purchase soundtrack you do not have such option and you would have to buy the game on some other platform. Will they release DLCs here on GOG? Well at least one DLC that is available on Steam is not available here on GOG so this is probably your answer. The game by itself is having nice level design from both artistic point of view as well as integrating the mechanics of the game, except wall running. Wall running here is present and you can ran through parts of the levels yet it is not integrated into the combat as well as in Titanfall 2. Gameplay is quite fun and works quite well except the boss battles and side missions. Boss battles are boring since bosses are just bullet sponges without any cool AI and special abilities that you need to feed with whatever ammo you have left from the rest of the level. Fortunately there are only few of bosses. Sidemissions (contracts) are just some sort of "destroy vents" or "kill juggernauts" type of the mission that happens on the same map you already finished during the main campaign. And to make things worse is that on this side missions enemies indefinitely spawn either right behind you or right in your face. I simply ignored all of those after two or three since they are just not fun (unlike the main campaign). Story in this game is present but for the most time it is a chat between missions that is completely unnecessary and when you notice a pattern it becomes quite annoying: you arrive at the hub between missions, you chat with Jerico, chat with Jade, chat with Wildsnake Priestess. Overall the game is good, however If I had known the way developer treats GOG before purchase I would give it a pass on any platform since even on Steam such things are happening (Nier Automata).
So first I would like to point out that I was not buying too much into the hype surrounding the game and I avoided all except the Braindance tutorial demos b/c I was expecting the game being story driven and did not wanted any spoilers. Knowing the Witcher series games I was expecting the game to be somewhat similar to the Witcher. however in the setting similar to Deus Ex. What good things I've got in this game: 1. Not bad story overall (I completed the whole game in about 60 hours without too much of activities (basically was rushing through the story), currently 20+ hours in 2nd playthrough, however trying to cleanup as much as can) 2. Cool setting that make me think about "Deus Ex", "Neuromancer", "Do androids dream of electric sheep?", "Lawnmover man" movie and getting some vibe of the (spoiler?) concept behind "Altered Carbon". 3. Interesting combat concept where you can go either guns blazing or sit in the corner casting spells/quickhacks on the enemies. 4. Majority of the characters makes sense and quite memorable. 5. Overall game story feels like "Fallout: New Vegas" (before any DLCs which were throwing you into completely different environments and even were trying to give you completely different game like "Dead Money" or "Old World Blues") and the ending is definitely in line with that. 6. Witcher Vision got another upgrade which is fun. 7. Braindance missions. What I did not like about the game: 1. So far I did not come across any fun contracts like in the Witcher 3 where you come to the scene, trying to investigating it, etc. 2. V voice acting is not good whether it is male or female (at some places I was getting impression that voice actor was reading from script). Just compare to Panam, Dex, River, etc. 3. Soundtrack. 4. Combat is a bit clunky, but it's been a problem of all Witcher games. 5 "YOU CANNOT SAVE AT THIS TIME" -- so you are 20+ minutes in the combat and bit the bullet from last enemy. Welcome to another half an hour of same combat.
It is sad, but I've never played it before. I played Carmageddon 2 and loved it. Still playing it sometimes. Tried TDR2000 and hated it. Now I have a chance to play original Carmageddon and it is...GREAT!!! Also, it looks like game for the 1st time starts race in "framed" mode: just press "+" few times and enjoy.
