Comparisons have been made to Subnautica and this seems to be a fair statement when looking at the first 3 to 5 hours of the game. You start with nothing on you and a limited means to explore due to a small oxygen tank. This is the peak of interesting gameplay mechanics as I enjoyed planning my trips and what to take with me on the journey back and setting up strategically placed oxygen stations to help me reach further areas. Once you reach act 2 though the tedious nature of these actions starts to wear you down. Distances you need to travel become further away and although your oxygen supply and means of travel should be improving as well it doesn't save the game from its durability system which seems designed to waste as much of your time as possible. At a time I would hold about 5 tools, 5 large oxygen tanks to refill with on the fly, 4 bottles of water and 2 packs of food. This alone made my already small inventory even smaller when heading out to collect new items. What makes the game feel even more tedious is navigating these long distances only to have to backtrack because this 1 particular tool you needed only had 1 durability left on it when you needed 2, or you discover a new blueprint, make it all the way back to your crafting station and then have to scour everywhere you can to find a single item. A common loop to find yourself in is needing a tool for a job but you can't craft it because you need a tool to retrieve a different item which you can't get because you haven't collected the resources to create the tool needed to get THAT item. Without some form of wishlist feature, keeping track of items is a nightmare. In terms of story its semi interesting, but a bit convoluted (likely on purpose) and sarcastic. The humour does work sometimes but the A.I companion needed to be turned down by about 75%. Otherwise the sights you see are very pretty to look at and the game ran without a hitch. Not fully committing to its promising start only hurt the game.
I finished the game in 5 and a half hours. You could easily knock it over in a much shorter time but those short hours are still worth playing. Controlling the monster feels great, you get a decent variety of skills that have their own advantages and use, the pixel art style looks nice and killing humans comes with a flurry of blood and some painful screams. Level design is somewhat samey but thats due to the setting of the story. On the topic of story there isn't a whole lot here but you get some slight nods to what is going on and what lead to these events. Only downsides for me was the backtracking I had to do due to the lack of a map and some objects/people required to advance being a little hidden in the background. Can't wait for a potential sequel or even an expansion with more abilities. Well worth a playthrough.
