Clive Barker spins a great tale. This comes out solidly in the game itself (it's one from the age when games used to have a story, then built a game around that story to tell a tale, instead of saying "Ooo, look at what shiny things we can put on a screen. What's a story by the way?"). I got this originally at release, when the graphics were state of the art, and was absolutely blown away by the atmosphere; there are well crafted story points that draw you in, not so much by what they show you, as by what's intimated and you don't see. At the price listed, if you want good, horror entertainment, this is a must have. If you're not sure I'm right in my estimation, for the price of a coffee at the local coffee shop (well, less actually) you can have hours of amusement. If I'm wrong, then it'll still last longer than that coffee..
But if you like story, nuance and depth.. This is something you seriously need to try. It's a demo (I have the full version, and though it's still incomplete story wise, what there is on it I still consider great value for the money I shelled out for it as is), so you're not spending cash to look at it. You are investing perhaps an hour of your time to look into it. Bear in mind, it's a taster of the story, the first chapter. But the game design itself is phenomenal, the artwork compelling, the music is a delight. Even more astounding, it's a single dev game, which manages, in my eyes at least, to beat the AAA titles of today hands down in depth. But, don't let me sell you on it based on my opinion. Look for yourselves. Make your own mind up (and maybe use a motivation point). :)
The maximum resolution (horizontal) is about 1124. This causes the game to go full screen as a matchbox window. It will run in windowed mode, but does behave quite strangely (on Win 11 at least). It randomly crashes, and is a little bit too much hassle to even get to play comfortably to find out the attraction that others see.
When it comes to gaming (or actually, any way I spend my free time, which is my most truly valuable resource), story is what counts the most. Something to learn a little from, something to escape into, and something that has meaning. There are a slew of games out there now that promise that all the decisions matter, yet railroad you into a single, or very limited set of options; this isn't one. When you build the character, it's far from a set of numbers that all fall back to how well you'll hit something, or deciding on whether you can pick a lock or not; this game encapsulates roleplay at its finest, and brings out the struggle of fighting your own nature (the character's) to achieve what you really want to do, despite your shortcomings.. Or perhaps not being able to overcome them.. But that's ok too.. It's part of the story, and comes with the territory of being human. The polish and depth to what is there, is frankly amazing. The art is top notch. The storytelling professional and gripping. The character building is phenomenal. I've shelled out for a few "in development" games, and found myself a little disappointed as they petered out, and I didn't quite feel as though I got the value I expected. From this game.. Even as stands, with so much more of the story to go, I definitely feel as though I've already had exceptional value.. Definitely not a hack and slash.. But definitely a game that will make you think, and reflect inwardly. In an era of everything being reduced to single issue, or having a designer's politics preached, this is brave enough to step out of that mould and say "make of this time what you will.". And on the "make of it what you will", I can't recollect any game delivering on that quite as well as this one.
This is so definitely much a console game that it doesn't even try to be anything else. Graphically, it's quite pretty; there again, most current generation title are exactly that as well. So that's something to discount. Options I've seen so far are extrememly limited. Want to make the character your own? Well, you're outta luck here. Seems so far my options are limited to what I don't really want to do, so RPG.. Definitely not. And the controls. My god, the controls! You're running the game with a mouse, so when the menu pops up and forces you to do something, guess what? It's a couple of keyboard keys to drive this. You want to do something to something? Well, hold one key down, then press another one way across the keyboard (completely independently of the keys you use for the normal menu, or to move or otherwise interact). It's enough to break the suspension of disbelief, and at places, I find myself coming right out of the action, and trying to do finger yoga with the keyboard and staring at the keys with half an eye on the screen to make sure that things haven't moved there while I've been trying to find and wrangle the right keys.
I balked a little at the cheesy sounding "savages and robots" theme.. But wow, glad I was tempted by the good reviews.. From the word go, this actually does that strange setting proud. It's well written, and feels more like being inside a well told novel, with event leading naturally so well, at times, you occasionally forget you're running into a storyline. On top of this, it's graphically absolutely stunning. I'm thinking Guerilla is a studio to watch with interest. More like this, and I think I'll be maintaining a little slush fund just for their latest offerings.
As has been pointed out, the menuing is incredibly badly laid out and cumbersome. Worse, you need to rely on this a LOT. Want to avoid traps? Your best spotter needs to be at the front of the party (rather than being assumed to be scouting for traps). Now they're not your best strength character, so you come across a chest, you move your fighter to the front to open it. Done.. Time to move, click, click, click, move your observer character to the front (Minimum three key presses and a mouse click, so no, you can't do one or the other, it takes _both_). If you like micromanaging, this will be a delight. I may soldier on with it later, just to check out storyline, but it's an unnecessary struggle that gets in the way of having fun. Working out where you are is also troublesome, with lots of 'side rooms' that magically take you way out of the way, only to wrap around to where you came from.. It's a rats' nest. Map checking every room is not fun (more menu time, click, click).
I had it on Steam, as it arrived there before I could get it on GOG. It's a relaxing way to spend time, and the way it's constructed is psychologically gratifying. You're not competing to destroy your opponent, or dominate them; you're trying to do what's best for your birds, and grow them as well as you can in a connected ecosystem. There are random snippets about the birds you play for informational purposes, and the tweets and warbles are cheery and bright. Can be played solo against the game's AI (which varies from "slightly competitive, to be enjoyed with a mug of hot chocolate" to "Quite canny, to be enjoyed with mugs of coffee and a good degree of concentration and thinking". And as mentioned, can be played against other people, with a lot of time between turns to sit and think with no pressure. Don't know many people to play against? No problem. There's a Discord channel full of people who want a nice relaxed game.
Personally, I love the storyline in this. It's a little different. Quirky.. A new take on the paranormal without having to be "oooh, ghosty". There's not a lot of multiple ways round things; the story is fairly linear, but that's a bonus in this case, rather than a flaw. There's definitely a tale to be told, and it's spun rather well (it's in the same order as a gripping book that you just keep thinking "one more page before I go to sleep, just one more page..", then find the sun is coming up.. The worst part is, there doesn't seem to be much of a 'cover' mechanic, so you either completely obscure yourself from line of fire, or seem to get full blast. And some of the fights do swarm you, making survival tough. There's the expectation that you'll need to reload a few times to work out a viable strategy, and you'll need to be observant to do it (most bosses telegraph actions, and there are usually responses that can be applied if you think hard). That being said, it's still a "younger person's" experience, and those of us who're getting on a bit may have difficulty making the tight requirements for a long battle. So to help us out, the devs have added a set of "assists", which do exactly what the heading says; assist you on the way. They won't hold your hand (apart from 'invulnerability' and 'one shot kill'), but selectively let you reduce damage taken (so you can maybe afford to miss out on dodging a few hits), and regen your energy faster (so you can use your parautilitarian skills a few times more in a fight, and maybe just tip the scales in your favour enough). It's definitely in my "Gems to remember" category, and will no doubt be played again, the same way an old favourite movie is, in years to come.
