I can't believe I have been sleeping on this for two years. An amazing game that reminds you of several other pretty good titles but has them sort of strung together. From the randomly generated galaxy you explore - a little reminiscent of a smaller No Man's Sky - through the planet surface resource gathering - a little like a simpler version of Deep Rock Galactic - to the ship design and crew management and, obviously, all out combat in all of these areas. The whole thing seems mighty confusing when you watch a video of it, but if you take it at your own pace it all blends together very well indeed. The execution is very solid and while some people complain about there being bugs, all bugs I found have been rather minor (like once in a while a sound file keeps playing when it shouldn't). What makes Genesis Alpha One special, though, is not the blend of various other ideas, but the original ideas it incorporates: there is perma-death in the game, but as long as you have crew left, someone else can step up as captain, keeping you right in the fun. Also I really love the immersive controls of the various console screens keeping you in the game world, letting you look around while you use them. Thirdly I'd like to praise the game's story which may not be overly exciting but its told nicely in the shape of video logs that can be found in wreckage (a budget-minded choice I figure, but it is done well here). Overall if you enjoy sci-fi shooters and space exploration, I would recommend giving this game a good look.
Frankly, I enjoyed Paradise Lost. A valid criticism is that there isn't really a lot of 'active' gameplay to speak of. The riddles - traditionally the bread and butter of an adventure game - are quite trivial and always straightforward. The exploration of the world is rather limited as well, as most of the levels are perfectly linear, too. And still... it is not a bad game. The story is intruiging, the characters are actually interesting and the main attraction is how well done the environment is. The areas are actually quite varied while still remaining quite seamless. There is a great attention to detail to those who want to look at them, and anyone who does a second playthrough might notice that depending on what details you uncovered (or decided to just pass by) the dialogue lines will change to reflect this. In conclusion the main flaw is that Paradise Lost just came a few years after 'walking simulator' adventures were really popular; I hope that the team behind it will do further games in the future.
