1 star for the story sequences The DLC is completely unnecessary and terrible. There is no reason for this too exist. Much of the gameplay could have been cut out without a loss. The story could easily have been added to "Assignment" for a better experience. Once again, very low stamina and depleting it results in standing still for a few seconds. If you get hurt, you can no longer sprint. Terrible RNG-dependent, trial and error gameplay. I could barely finish this and ragequit several times. -1 star for the several sequences where you are evading an instakill monster that slows you down when it looks at you while you wait for an elevator or for the power to get back on. -1 star for just repeating what "Assignment" did several times, but badly and for that section where Kidman is too clumsy to catch her pistol. -1 star for the 2 boring "burn evil painting" sequences and the boring foyer section -1 star for the terrible, often trial and error dependent part of the DLC that start when you get the shotgun and ends with the beginning of the final boss fight. That shotgun weapons is also terrible. Also, I hate how Kidman often is just the cliché "damsel in distress" archetype. Of course she wears high heels even though real detectives would never wear such things while on duty. She is completely defenseless without a weapon and loses her gun several times like a total idiot and everything can kill her easily and men order her around all the time (Ruvik, Administrator, Sebastian). Meanwhile, Sebastian is the guntoting badass. I really get some heavy sexist/chauvinistic vibes from these DLCs, and I say this as a guy. The following applies to both Kidman DLCs: Huge vents for traversing levels is not good level design. Shooting sequences feel like an afterthought. The stealth system is pretty barebones and often doesn´t work. Most stealth situations have 1 outcome, nothing else works. Boring. I didn´t really enjoy this, apart from the story....
Gameplay is pretty much "avoid enemies by throwing bottles and hiding in cover, reveal hidden things with your torch, press buttons and wait". Story is interesting enough. - 1 star for having both audio and text during logs, that is really annoying, for how the giant at the end can grab you through the gate and for repetitive riddles. - 1 star for the fact that Julie can sprint for ~5 seconds and then needs to stand still to catch her breath. WHY?
Overall I really liked playing as one of the bad guys from the main game. 1 star for weapon variety 1 star for impactful weaponry 1 star for executions and level/game design 1 star for good pacing and length -1 star for the Joseph and Sebastian bosses that simultaneously appear in the final execution chamber. They just deal too much damage, even with maxed stats, and will stunlock you with their guns.
1 star for the diverse, gory, brutal, bizarre and abstract level design and the unique world the game generates. I felt like I was in a fever dream and really enjoyed this part of the game. 1 star for the story and how it unfolds over time. In the first half I was just confused and nothing really made sense, but I liked how the game throws you bread crumbs to follow and keep you interested. - 1 star for the generic weaponry, except maybe the crossbow, and for the many useless upgrade options and for the frequent use of instakill-trial and error-boss encounters. Also, apparently the Microsoft Store version of this game got upgrades that the Gog or Steam version never got..... - 1 for lack of direction in ~10 areas, where the game gave no hint of what to do, so I went on YT. Some sections of level felt really out of place and/or half-baked. Character movement is too sluggish, like playing with a 70 y.o. gramps. Terrible reverse camera chase sequences and too many cutscenes and forced slow walks. 0 stamina means your character stands still for ~10 seconds to catch his breath, WTF? - 1 star for despawning ammo pickups after loading a save filer or dying, grab attacks are sometimes not telegraphed at all and almost all of the main characters are uninteresting clichés. On the normal difficulty the game is quite challenging but almost always fair, atleast in the beginning. As soon as you have mastered the basic gameplay loop and upgraded your stats, the game gets quite easy. One reviewer said: "You will be replaying chapters at least twice anyway, because you need the Gel for upgrades and you need to plan ahead with balancing damage and resources". I never felt the need to do that. If you have decent aim and utilize stealth or environmental kills, you will never need to that, atleast on normal mode. After 75% of the game I didn´t have any stats worth investing into and just upgraded auxiliary stats (ammo capacity or crossbow effects).
A retro shooter that has aged really well and is still an absolute blast to play. I would recommend this game!
+ Visuals + Level Design is really original + Color Pallette change when you liberate an area + Story is like something out of a trashy WW2 flick - Shooting feels and sounds really weak - Driving feels and sounds pretty bad - Climbing and movement with your character in general feels pretty weird - Cliche Main Character that I couldn´t synpathize with Overall pretty meh.
+ gorgeous graphics + fair difficulty + varied builds + varied class choice + decent story, allbeit a bit wacky at times, but in a good way + lots of gear + varied environments with lots of different enemies + does not require grind + runs stable and runs well on a potato pc --> basically darkest dungeon in space, but better executed and fairer and with a lot less grind - occasionally all enemies only attack one character - from time to time the games crashes on launch - occasionally I got a bug in the minimap after not being able to pick up loot because my inventory was full. that bug prevented the menu in the upper left from opening and my only option was to move to the nearest exit and return to the station My biggest gripes: Why is the level cap only 10??? I easily would have gotten to level 15 because if you do all quests, you have easily enough XP to reach max level quickly. Why is the team size only 3? I would have liked 4 mercs at once. I would have preferred to have a roaster like in darkest dungeon where I can swap out and play with different classes. The way it is you always play with the same 3 guys.
I never played the original, so I´m unbiased. The game ain´t that bad, but the combat is so janky that I couldn´t be bothered to keep playing. Also, why is there no infinite sprinting when not in combat? The story feels like it goes nowhere after the prologue and there is no real incentive to continue afterwards. Overall, the story isn´t that interesting and I find many things about the world and story weird and out of place. I can´t empathize with ugly aliens that talk funny.
The game is a lot of fun. Lots of fun little easter eggs and pop culture references. My only issues are: No save feature and I once deleted all my progress halfway through the game because the game doesn´t ask you if you want to overwrite your save game if you accidentally click on "NEW GAME" instead of "CONTINUE" absent-mindedly.
+ World design Visuals Voice acting Gear Exploration Side quests - Main story is generic and completely predictable if you played Deus Ex before Combat is quite janky Hacking minigame The final boss is a hacking minigame? Seriously? Have they not learned from System Shock 1?
