In other words, "holy @$%, a first-person perspective game I can play without literal nausea." This game had been on my list for a while, but I didn't pick it up until it was on sale because I fall into that category of people for whom first person games cause actual headaches and nausea. Understandably, I hesitated to drop $60 on it therefore. I didn't know about the settings toggle to turn the camera bounce off. Or the ability to increase your own peripheral vision. (Are these things standard in the sort of first-person games OW is frequently compared to in the comments? I haven't seen mention of them in frustrated Google searches before.) In any case, instead of having to close down after about 45 minutes due to feeling unwell, I can now enjoy the game for hours, just as I would my usual isometrics or third-person perspective titles. I only have about 20 hours in the game, having reached Monarch for the first time, and so far I'm enjoying it. A lot of NPCs seem written to stereotype, but I'm having fun with it nonetheless--there are so many punchable people in this game. I'm mostly running with a high-dialogue skill and high-stealth build, and playing (fumbling) sniper, and I appreciate the number of "talk your way out of it" options implemented in the dialogues. In terms of gripes, I do find the consumables overly granular in mechanics, for all they're a bit fun in a worldbuilding and environmental storytelling sort of way. Based on other reviews, I haven't yet gotten to the part where it "gets bad", but it gets a full 5 stars from me for having the sort of accessibility options that let me play it at all. If I'd known about that beforehand, I would have paid full price.
Because this is a demo, this score is higher than it would be if I had purchased the full game--I am very glad they offered a demo! The base game style has platform, adventure, and RPG elements, and leads you in multiple directions with your main quest (acquire a MacGuffin to help you hide from the people out to get you) and a handful of optional side things to do. I appreciated that, if you have the skill, you can play in more stealthy or more shoot-out ways--I definitely leaned into the 'sneak up behind the guard and do a quiet takedown' more than the 'guns blazing'. The hacking, however, fell apart for me. I don't think it fully qualifies for the "Bullet Hell" genre, but there was definitely what felt like "omnidirectional Space Invaders" going on, which is generally not my personal style. I spent more time trying to hack things than I did on the rest of the demo combined because I kept getting ejected due to too much damage sustained. Other reviews mention getting upgrades, but that's not really available in the demo, and since I had such trouble with the basic, unaugmented gameplay, I'm not in a hurry to spend money to see if it gets better later in the game. Since the rest of it was good, I may one day purchase the full game, but I would definitely have to replay the demo several times first in order to get comfortable enough with the earliest levels that the hacking is less frustration-inducing. I will end on a caveat that, if this sort of fast-paced gameplay sounds like something you like, you'll likely be able to discount that parts I did not enjoy--what I saw of the story and the rest of the gameplay was still pretty awesome.
To paraphrase my favorite movie review of all time, for the 1999 "The Mummy", I can't speak for (many) individual parts of the game, except that I had an absolute joy playing it. I came to this game from larger isometric experiences like Pillars of Eternity and Baldur's Gate, so after my first evening of play, about 4-ish hours in, I did have to sit back and adjust my expectations. Comparatively, it's linear and sparse, with not much side content (only 2 or 3 larger optional missions that have their own maps) and not many interactables onscreen--you can tell, they're all highlighted. Skill selection for characters is wide but shallow (I played a Mage, for context). I finished everything in about 12 hours, plus some load screen dithering when RL conversations happened. I still had an enormous amount of fun. I think they got the atmosphere perfect, and I do really like the art style. It being short comes out a net neutral, or even minor positive, as it means I have something that's easily repeatable when I want to try different things, or I want an isometric game for a bit but don't want to worry about the plots I left off on. The NPCs that aren't merely henchmen are memorable in a tropey, noir-ish way, and the combat was tactically interesting even though I played on Easy--I still died more than once on some of the tougher fights. I like the Etiquette system, though I think it's not evenly implemented here, as I saw far more Corporate and Security options than Academic or Socialite. I got this on sale; I don't know if I would've paid the full $15, but since it was on sale I did pick up the other 2 games in the series before I'd finished it. I will definitely play this again.
