This is an NES game. It's pretty crazy, but this could have reasonably been released on that hardware albeit at a much lower resolution and running on the NES's bagel toaster CPU. And, yes, with that comes the difficulty that makes you want to blame someone in the room for falling into spikes. It's all there. I for one thank the devs for trying to make an "actual" NES game and all that entails. This is more Batman on the NES than Ninja Gaiden to me, and I know Batman ripped that game off just very, very well. I prefer Batman. This game has that intense difficulty curve. The bosses will require multiple failures to memorize their tricks so don't be disheartened. There are infinite continues from dock stations as far as I can tell, but you get 5 or 6 hit points as you might have back then. I also don't mind admitting I'm a "boomer" to most of you at 37. So being like Nintendo is nice to me. But your milage may vary.
Others have compared this to Skyrim, but the creative director on this game was also the creative director on Oblivion. I'm one of the few ES fans who prefers Oblivion to Skyrim, I think, so I'm very happy with the world and the music. As others have said, the missions resemble an MMO, and yes, this game was slightly scaled back from one in development. But I'm still enjoying doing the missions myself and find the travel between them almost relaxing. The tone is very light even though there are some vague Demon's Souls comparisons. Only insofar as you're in knight's armor and entering battles with giant creatures roaming around that can one or two-hit you if you let them so there is lot's of rolling and dodging. I find the combat very satisfying. The RPG mechanics are also pleasingly straight forward. Like, it just works with no bells and whistles. Everything like selling junk and crafting is as simple as it needs to be which I enjoy but others may want more depth. I don't need Fallen Earth levels of crafting items so I'm good. This game is underrated in my opinion. I took a chance on it as an Oblivion fan and I was pleasantly surprised. I haven't had any bugs, which is a statment not a brag or anything. I'm just enjoying a smooth experience so far that way. 1440p 60fps with everything turned up, obviously, As an older gamer, I don't mind that its simply a polish job of an older game I missed. Maybe someday they'll do a sequel in another engine.
There are a lot of reviews here joking this is the "real Doom 3." I would argue that's accurate stylistically from someone who has been there since shareware Doom in '93. This does feel more like a proper extention of that franchise and those themes. The technical polish here is also what I most appreciate. There is a smoothness and flow to the combat I don't find in the modern Doom reboots like Eternal. Some recent review claimed the game has "too much splatter from enemies" but I find the comical gibs a throwback to the ones bouncing aorund in Quake and really appreciate that goofy touch. The tone isn't bleak or over-the-top, it feels like Quake 2 that way. You can apply filters to make it appear even more like Quake 2 around its launch state. The dev or devs also stay very much on top of updates. I see one downloaded constantly. Garbage scows like CDPR could take a lesson from devs like this in keeping customers happy. This and Crystal Caverns, another gem this year, see updates nearly weekly. Thank you for that attention, it shows. The game feels smoother and less hitchy every time. As of this writing, the game is still Early Access but does not appear so. Wonderful strafe-shooter throwback with gorgeous graphics, thank you.
The two things that are killing this game for me are; 1) The unskippable dialogue. This is so pretentious. Just let us skip every line if we want to. I find most of the characters to be despicable human trash and I don't want to hear most of whatever garbage self-rationalization they have to ramble at me. And 2) You can tell the devs only think you should be able to shoot people that don't look and sound like them. It's disgusting how your gun simply doesn't work in places like Lizzie's because the devs are such awful hypocrits. They think that kind of mayhem only belongs outside. There is absolutely no freedom of choise here. The devs just shove you down their own cynical path I would never have taken myself. I hate body mods and all that Mark-of-the-Beast barcoding nonsense. These people pretty much make me sick. And there's no escape from them. Every character is some mentally ill sociopath I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire. But I bet the dev photos during the credits will be chock full of facial tattoos and chicks with the sides of their heads shaved and other signs of internal brokeness. They clearly revel in this completely evil aesthetic. They're glamorizing treating your body like a car and give you no dialogue option that even shows moral qualms about it. I want dialogue options in every tree to the effect of "fuck this and all of you despicable, mutant human trash." Or "fuck this insane asylum for The Borg." Give me an option to reject the city and everyone in it and what they stand for. Some of us think this future would be worse than a nightmare.
This game is disgusting and I think I actually hate the devs for inflicting it on me. The scum artificially inflate the difficulty at the end to stretch the game length and its agonizing. I completed the game solely to get my money's worth and wish I had never bought it. Again, Human Revolution is probably my third favorite game of all time. This feels like they used those exact assets and engine and slapped them onto a legitimately terrible plot and added Borderlands-level spongey enemies to stretch a short, depressing, awful story. They also turned Jenson into a dainty noodle that gets blown down by a breeze even on Casual or Tell Me A Story. What a joke that difficulty turned out to be when the AI frustrated me so much I wanted to scream and throw my controller like in the old NES days. This game depressed me. It brought me down. It legit made me feel just bad. There are obvious parralells to a real agenda right now and everyone single person involved is human trash. Fuck this game.
I've been using this game as a PC benchmark since release. I consider it the most convincing, beautiful open world devs have ever made. I can't recommend the 2019 Starter Pack with the Autumn Aurora shaders enough. It remasters the game in a way I would have paid for. It makes remasters like Crysis look embarrassing. The scene for this game is so talented and loving. Please try this game if you're into Metro or filmic, truly cinematic shooters. It's the most immersive I can think of. The sequels are awesome too. I think that most of the devs are actually working on Metro right now, but I consider that franchise a downgrade. That world never really calls me back to it. The first neighborhood you step into in this game always feels real to me and I can't wait to get back to it. Hopefully we get another one someday.
Thanks so much, devs! I rarely say that, but thank you for polishing the Switch version so much. I originally bought this clear and it was clearly limited only by the Switch hardware. The devs kept polishing that version every way they could to juice the hardware but there's just only so much you can do. The only tweak I had to make to this version was forcing V-Sync on in nVidia control panel. Otherwise performance is butter smooth. I think the graphics are beautiful and engrossing, even though they're almost 1:1 updates of the original maps. The original designs and worldbuilding was just that awesome and transporting the first time around. Great job, team! Hopefully this tweaked remaster gets people to discover this awesome franchise. And I know times are tough, but if you guys could also remake the sequel; Zwei, this way that would be amazing!
I literally pre-ordered the game the night before, like hours before launch, to get this skin pack. I had no idea it would go up for $10 for normies the next day. Come on, guys. The remaster is actaully really good. Like, I'm amazed at what you've done with Unreal 4. But don't make give Jim Sterling fodder like this. That Mad Max Thunder Dome carnival barking gamedian. Call this "The Furon Supporters Pack." "Because you like us and want to support a very niche property, and, oh you get these funny skins." I get finder's fees for all of this, of course.
I think this might be the most overrated game I've ever played. I'm not trying to be edgy. I actually started to hate it by the end but pressed on simply so I wouldn't feel the developers stole my money. This game is extremely linear. The dialogue trees are all basically the same choice. The morality or karma system is also clealy the developers ushering you through their worldview with little choice. I very often wanted to tell characters I find human garbage to go away. I simply hated them as people and didn't want to help them. Everyone in the game, the women especially, treat Geralt terribly for his sacrifice. Every single woman in the game, including the one you're supposed to care for the most, lies to him and betrays him. When he complains he's been betrayed, they tell him to "stop pouting" or "quit joking." It got so tiresome by the end. It simply wasn't worth saving the world for these disgusting, childish, selfish liars and I would have rather meditated while the world burned. After getting through the plot of this, I won't be supporting Cuberpunk. My God. I felt totally demoralized and empty at the end of this game. I felt like it was all for nothing. They couldn't make me like to care about a single awful character and the "sorcoresses" who used him and berate him aren't worth saving. They made good use of the RDR graphics engine. Combat and travel are extremely "snaggy" where I felt like everything in the environment is covered in glue. The world they created is beautiful, though. I just wish there was one decent person living in it.
