Played only the singlelplayer. + Great story (as long as you read the diary entries). + Very well written. + Excellent narration. + Looks pretty good for its age (outside of the cinematics). + Ships are impressively detailed. + Unique, mostly straightforward control. - Some implementations make the life miserable though, and even the lowest difficulty it can get unreasonably difficult even when cheating by tweaking the ship and device effectiveness through the game files. - Everything takes forever (sure, that's space, but this is a simulation, so some lessening of that would be nice). - Some tutorials could be a little more detailed.
There is a reason "pulling a No Man's Sky" is a thing. I saw the hype back when it was about to release, I knew it'll be a massive disappointment (the hype always is), but the way Hello Games rose to the challenge after is astounding. Not only is it the game it was meant to be to begin with, but vastly surpased it, with continuous massive and beautiful updates remaining free.
If you are looking for another Metro game, this is not exactly it. It's still Metro story, sure, but you will feel more like playing a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game (bar some aspects. It's trully excellent chimera.
The game fits perfectly into the existing universe, with a good story—albeit from a different time than the other three games, but still connected to the larger picture. Being able to flip between two characters on the go is an interesting mechanic in solo, which works relatively well, though the controls ruin it a bit. I haven’t played co-op (not for me), but I imagine it’d be quite fun. It takes a bit from each of its predecessors in terms of combat moves, gear, sort of NG+, none of the achievements being ridiculously difficult, even the nice things like in-game maps of all the collectables that were not included in the second and third game. The universe, the history, the character personality match perfectly—they even got most (if not all) of the same voice actors for the recurring ones. There’s a good amount of settings that should allow everyone to customise into whatever they are relatively happy with. The controller buttons can be fully customised too, including the option to have key conflict—which in some rare cases can be actually good. The controls are a bit off though. Like the ability menu disappears while still holding the key after using the switching character, while you’d expect it to stay, so you have to unpress it and press again. Some GUI bugs stop showing prompts for some inexplicable reason, and at times your character becomes unable to do anything but move around, so the mission has to be restarted. The isometric perspective is handled usually well, but there are times where objects in front block the view, and the outlines are not good enough. Some annoying platforming for 100%, but doable with practice. Three bugged unmissable achievements on GOG version though.
First, let's get the ugly out of the way: - the invisible walls are something horrid - last words of voiceover often cut off abruptly - a lot of the aspects of the game lack polish, saying it’s “rough around the edges” would be an understatement - lack of NG+ - levels go up to 99, but for whatever reason, you stop getting points at 46 - warrior-based melee combat is a pain The good: I'm gonna start this section with the fact that I don't recall any game bringing tears of joy to my eyes like this one, with the results of the ending and the work that I've done to accomplish it. The characters and factions have depth and the story interweaving is really quite impressive—especially with a mod that allows you to drag all of your companions around at the same time (sure, it breaks the cinematics a bit and trivialises the combat, but the game is much more than that). The voiceover is amazing, with some real nice touches, and dialogues borrow from cinematography to change angles for short visual shots, which is known to keep the attention of the viewer. The world, the setting, the characters all engaged me to make decisions with logic and heart, not to simply mess around and see what happens. There is a big variety of what the game offers—some detective work, exploration, politics and diplomacy, fun combat (Magic or Technical class). Many complain the “mage” is underwhelming, but its nature fits extremely well into the world setting. There are some amazing scenes and atmosphere, which left my mouth agape. I mentioned mods—definitely a game that needs these to make the experience much, much better and can somehow alleviate the impact of the flaws (like unlocking almost all skills at the start and item editor to simulate NG+). A real marvel, flawed to be sure, but doing so many things so much better than a lot of the so-called AAA titles, that it should’ve received more love by the audience, because we need more games like this. Games with unique vision and heart.
I wish more games were made with this much heart. The level of detail and cleverness is astounding. There is nearly no animation and whenever there would be one, it cuts to "black"; and yet the sound effects, the characters and freeze-framed situations have more in them happening, make it more alive and leave more impact than many so-called AAA titles. The music is amazing and actually works in tandem with what's happening, which made me feel exhilarated. Each match of 3 correctly deduced fates brings so much satisfaction it feels like it shouldn't be possible. Sadly, not much of a replay value, and requires too much attention to detail to not randomly guess at some points but actually deduce the facts. Still, it's one of the very few games that are worth way, way more than you pay even at the full price.
It feels like a child of Dead Space and SOMA, except the "survival horror", violence and gore. Not that I measure game value purely on length, but the price feels way too much for how short it is, along with the next-to-none replay value, but I do see why would they feel justified slapping equivalent of 20GBP on it—it's really stunning, the feel of being alone on the moon feels so much like one would imagine and the story and narration is top notch, with an interesting look on environmental concerns, human selfishness and desire for power, and the hidden implications within the secrets uncovered by collectables. The story unfolds (aside from progress of course) through holo-recordings, audio recordings, logs, e-mails, etc. Good pacing, nicely done tension moments, not-so-nice deadly QTEs, but fortunately very few of those with good checkpoints before them. Got all collectables except one in a single playthrough, so that's a nice change from games that make your life miserable with that. It’s obvious that a lot of work was done in such a way that pedants like me will appreciate: - Control of the character feels clunky. That fits considering he is in a space suit. The real astronauts described doing stuff in spacesuits like having a beach ball between their arms. This one is much more streamlined, but still a spacesuit and for what it needs to protect from, and the year this is supposed to depict, it can be nothing but clunky. - Being blown away when opening an airlock with air in it. - The locomotion in the much weaker gravitational pull of the moon. Although that lower gravity automatically appears when there is a lack of air and disappears when there is air is a pet peeve, ‘cos it’s not the air, or lack thereof that causes the majority of the gravitational pull. The experience was really good, but maybe get it at a discount, I got it at -33% and that feels quite appropriate.
I had this game in wishlist for maybe two years, waiting on a discount because of the bad reviews and it never came. Just yesterday, I felt an urge for something superpowerred and got the game. At the time of writing, the game has 2.9 out of 5 stars. That is ridiculous! Many complain about the controls, I don't know why—they do the job and are clear (K+M at least, didn't try controller). The game is literally at a universal scale. Any dot in space you see is a solar system you can visit and so is any galaxy, which is an amazing concept, even if the solar systems are a little bit...poor. With some exceptions, like three stars orbiting a black hole; which—although you are supposedly indestructable—will still ruin your face! It's not the prettiest game and leans a lot toward yellow for some reason. For 12 quid it's quite short, but a good experience.
I saw many flogging the first game, saying this one is better... In my opinion, those are nitwits, fans of spunkgargleweewees. They have no appreciation of something that accomplishes something as finicky to be done right as horror and especially terror (yes, they are different concepts), by finely-tuning all its aspects, without purely relying on cheap jumpscares or supernatural, but rather on protagonist’s near helplessness, harsh punishment for mistakes and the terrifying nature of the disturbing unknown. TEW2 *is* good, but for very different reasons that made the prequel excellent. The previous game emanated dread and tension in nearly every minute up until the very end—not from cheap jumpscares, but from the atmosphere, unpredictability, challenge and execution of surrealism. This installment abandoned nearly everything that made the prequel so great and unique, and instead merely relies on gruesome imagery and occasional jumpscare, in an attempt to fulfill the "survival horror criteria”. The developer abandoned attempts to appeal to a gourmet audience and made it to cater to the wider audience (although understandable from the marketing standpoint, it’s a loss from creative one), dumbing it down by dragging it into the stealth/action category, from nearly every perspective. The fact that some skills—although fun—trivialise the challenge, are proof to the point. Also, quite a shame the characters have different voices… and looks (and I’m not talking about just the graphics being “upgraded”). Now, I did say it is good despite my criticism right after. What it is trying to do is not what TEW1 did, but it's good in its own merit. Especially in NG+, where—if you weren't overly wasteful in the first playthrough—you become the hunter, no longer the hunted and there is a lot of fun to be found in that. Sections of the last few chapters are also quite epic. Some considerable plot, logic and apparently math holes, but it does tie up the story quite nicely.
First and foremost I have to say, despite what the imagery may lead you to believe, the game is sci-fi—that's all I'm gonna say about the nature of the story. It excels at "show, don't tell" and you will really have to explore and pay attention to understand what's going on. It's creepy and super absorbing, an introduction into a larger story. The horror nature comes largely from the gruesomeness (which can be tuned down a little within the settings), but also doesn't rely on cheap jumpscares to create the tension—that comes from the constantly persistent dread from the fact your character is a mere human and it feels like it in every way, that every missed shot brings you closer to your demise. That nearly enemy hit can be your last... Most upgrades make a noticeable difference—we're not talking fractions of a percent, we're talking 10% to 240%+ difference. New game plus is handled quite well, so much so that collectables are missing from it, while still accessible, to not distract any further. DLCs: - The Assignment and The Consequence. Although quite different gameplay from the base game, they are vital for the background on the main story and are best played after the first run and before the second, as they overlap with the base game. They not only unravel the mystery, but also set up for the sequel. - The Keeper. Is short, but interesting. You play as a version of one of the main game's bosses, not much to the story, but different perspective and feel, while maintaining the same atmosphere and environment. But if you are an achievement hunter, needing 100% on the game, I'd be wary. Some of them are literally insane.
