First time I ever played this game, I picked Colonial Marine, not out of any particular pride but because I was interested in the human perspective on the game. I got herded by xenomorphs into a ventilation duct, firing desperately as the last one ran in a helix along the interior of the duct, avoiding my shots. Finally I got a killing blow, but it was already on top of me, and its acid blood dissolved me. Died like a Colonial Marine. I decided the game was good. The hardest but most rewarding alternate vision mode to get used to is the xenomorph's wider vision. They get considerably more peripheral vision than the human or yaujta, but it's at the cost of potentially getting nauseated as you control a character who runs along walls and ceilings like they're floors, seeing something like 125% the usual field of view compressed into your monitor's space, making tight helices and dropping from ceiling to floor or leaping across wide distances. Honestly it's a really unique way to play. Kinda reminds me of Descent. All three play differently, all three are cool. Colonial Marines play like a horror victim and honestly I'm here for that in particular.
This game prepared me for what police riots are, and what they're like. I knew they were a thing, but until 2020 I'd never seen them on the scale they occurred in the US, not in person, not so close to home. They were a thing that happened elsewhere. I played this game and was like, "Oh. Huh. So that's a thing." and then it happened here and I was like "Oh so that's what it's like IRL." The game wears a lot of its influences on its sleeve, which is cool. While the music doesn't sound derivative, you can hear familiar vibes in it, including Kōji Makaino, composer of the Bubblegum Crisis score and soundtrack. Indeed, multiple characters in VA-11 Hall-A bear character names with clear references, including the lead, Jill Stingray, and the character Sei P. Asagiri, whose name is suspiciously similar to Priss S. Asagiri. But Sei is not Priss, and Jill is not Sylia, and Dorothy is not Dorothy (Big O); the Red Comet is doing suplexes but not dropping colonies. Those are simply names. Y'know how it's a little awkward and frustrating that autistic characterization is so often only robots/constructs, but also it's really cool because beep boop robot? Y'ever think, what we need is exactly as many autistic robots but also some autistic humans? VA-11 Hall-A has got it covered. Y'know how it sucks sometimes that autistic rep is either characters who have totally got it together, found their niche, and it'd be nice to have better representation for us total disasters whose lives suck? VA-11 Hall-A has that covered too. It's time to mix drinks and change lives.
The game's a little generous about damage to your vehicle, since an actual 5 on 1 fight between cars would be... fair, technically, but not fun. So you get used to hunting down other cars and smacking into them with thee front of your car. It's easy to get stuck in places, so don't be afraid to abort the race now and then when things look bad, but it can turn around fast if you waste an opponent, so don't be afraid to hang in there, too. Simply, the game is more or less what it appears to be, a somewhat edgy murderspree of smashing cars and running over hundreds of pedestrians.
Were this a professional review, I probably wouldn't give five stars. I consider these reviews subjective, however, not objective, and can only describe my own experiences here. A review based on how I feel folks generally would respond to the game would probably have a number of stars based on a clearly defined scale elsewhere on the site. The only reason I say "your mileage may vary" is because my experience of this game has, apparently, been vastly more pleasant than that of others. So far, I am the only person I know who is unambiguously and simply very, very fond of Sunless Sea. I would compare the game to FTL or ZAngband, but neither of these has any safety nets for failure that I've encountered, which makes a considerable difference in enjoyment. Pros: I've been playing it nonstop for a week plus, and it's proven stable. I haven't encountered any errors to my knowledge. The lore seems internally consistent. It is possible to make progress, and there is a joy to seeing substantial differences as one captain gives way to the next. For me, at least. It could all come crashing down, but the game does reward early conservative playstyles, despite a general sense of time pressure. Cons: I've actually lost some sleep playing this game into long hours. There's some skinner box mechanics which can be addictive. It's slow going, and it can all crash down on you if a combination of bad luck and poor planning result in vast losses.
You may have heard it's supposed to be X-Com. If so, it fails in this regard. Ignore that. It's like a child of the X-Com series, expressing only some genes from that parent but mixed with a great deal else. First off, the game's atmosphere is lovely. From beginning to end it has a brooding, even haunting feel, with admittedly perhaps a few too many greys (ha!), browns and flat colors. (The sequels address this nicely, but each color scheme is also thematically appropriate to its game, so they differ in tone and atmosphere.) Second off, the gameplay differs from the X-Com series in most measures, and is fun in its own manner. Imperfections. This game could use some modding, and in fact mods do help. Pacing, equipment acquisition and difficulty spike and change based on sometimes very odd triggers, sometimes making your second playthrough very different (and, in my experience, oddly much more difficult.) The game can be cruel by design, occasionally. Odd tactics are encouraged, some missions discouraged by the difficulty of attempting them and high chance of expensive manpower losses. Rockets. In general, you'll rack them up and find them almost hilariously useless. High damage, certainly, but they're slower than molasses in January. Anyway, if you enjoy games where you pause a lot, the map's clear but its occupants are obscured, attention to detail is important and the atmosphere is brilliantly executed, you'll like UFO: Aftermath. You'll probably enjoy replaying it, as well.
