Doesn't wear out its welcome with obtuse puzzles or overcomplexity. Canine is a bite-sized Amnesia; no pun!
Feels unique and inspired. ...Though little too disturbed for my taste.
Great atmosphere and storytelling, but the genre is just not for me. I do not enjoy being on the rails of someone else's logic, or lack thereof.
Story is interesting and plausible enough. Logical puzzles are not too difficult, and the hint mechanism is appreciated to streamline pacing just a bit. Layout design prevents some excessive backtracking. Very nice visual presentation and atmosphere.
The Bunker fits well into the family of Frictional releases. Simpler and more direct than some earlier titles. It features fewer puzzle elements, and seemingly less scripting. It will not hold your hand, much. Get in there and figure it out, while under the stress of fear. Pretty much classic Frictional, with reminders of Alien Isolation and Monstrum. (Immersive sim fans may find some of the physical experimentation a bit underwhelming.)
Beast Inside is essentially a sequence-heavy walking sim. It is a completely linear, story-driven experience. These on-the-rail types are not my favorite genre, personally. That said, I resigned myself to just sit back and let it happen to me. It was pretty unique, and overall enjoyable. Visual and audio teams did a great job! Everything felt very crafted and unique. Great soundtrack. Certain aspects of game design, however, did not feel thoroughly fleshed out. While the ability to open drawers/doors/cabinets adds immersion, it really is superficial and bears no real function. There's really nothing useful to find except for occasional matches or fuel (or sometimes a note for story), and usually there's no real need to utilize either one. The story is primary, and touches of immersive sim are only present to slightly augment the game's atmosphere. Puzzles are fairly simple, which keeps things moving along, but they do not seem to add much to the story. Beast Inside is similar to the Frictional Penumbra and Amnesia series, though a little more confused about what it's trying to accomplish. The story, visuals and music alone maintained my interest to the end. Would recommend! Would recommend on sale if this genre is not exactly your thing.
I think this is more-or-less what many had anticipated in Doom 3. Simple formula, fast weapon swapping, blood everywhere. Play with guts and instinct. Fans of old-school ID will likely enjoy. Fantastic aesthetics and overall gritty feel, AI could be a bit more strategic. Excited to see the final release.
While aware of the development of this project for several years, I made a point to not zealously follow the hype surrounding its pre-release period. I also did not purchase until after several updates were applied, so I did not experience the initial shock of letdown like so many others. I had zero expectations going in, because, frankly, I am old enough to have seen many rounds of marketing nonsense thrust upon consumers. I do own all three Witcher games and honestly did not enjoy playing any of them due to being locked into a set character, and being forced to play in third person; both of which are completely breaking of immersion (for me personally). I feel the ability to play in first-person and design a character's appearance made all the difference to allowing at least a chance of enjoying Cyberpunk. And enjoy it I did, for over 300 hours. The story and art direction are terrific. And both helped me ignore the fact that I am forced to play as V, and that I have little choice in dialogue options. I have heard it put on par with the lauded Deus Ex series and would somewhat agree. While it is not completely revolutionary the game gives you tools to work within its systems and the result is a lot of fun. Albeit in actuality pretty shallow and dead, the world still mostly feels very open and interesting to explore. Personally, I experienced zero crashes and no game-breaking quest bugs whatsoever. If CDPR or modders decide to flesh out more interior spaces, tweak vehicle physics, add interesting side quests and allow more interaction with npcs in less time than another seven years I'll be even happier.
