I loved the first game and this one is a nice addition to it. In many ways it managed excellently to "bring more of the same". There is no need to play the first game but it comes handy to understand the game mechanics. The story is nothing super original but feels nice and entertaining. The game again has some "detective" parts but is mostly a shooter (I'd say like 70% shooter, 30% detective). The voice acting is nice, the humor works as sarcastic as it was in the first game (and in the TV movies) which makes the game entertaining. It is shorter though and the advertised 8 hours are correct. The game has some small issues that will be fixed soon I guess (e.g. the ragdolls are odd sometimes, some visual issues etc.) but there is nothing game breaking or crashing. The narration is shorter than in the first game and you are basically just thrown into the story. The first game gave more narration and detective story and also a bigger world (though you were revisiting many places). That made it more movie like whereas this is more like a shooter with some cut scenes. The side missions are not highly entertaining (most are of the "bring this" or "look for that" type) but then again this is not a real RPG game. It has some skills and upgrades (like the first game) but this is more a "nice to have". So don't expect an open world roleplaying game. So overall this game is really nice, delivering more of what I loved in the first game. After all there is a reason I've bought it immediately. It is giving a great athmosphere the (mostly same) great soundtrack and some neat backstory. The humor and the 80s feeling works well again. It is amazing for fans of the first one but if you haven't played neither of them I'd suggest you go with Rogue City first for its better storytelling.
After the great success of DOS I was hoping for a similar game. However, even though it improved in many aspects (e.g. visuals) the overall gameplay feels bad to me. As a PC player I feel things are done with a preference on console players leading to a UX that feels cluttered and overcomplicated. Starting with no clear indication on what does what (in battle, the messy inventory...) it also feels overly complicated organising and managing things. A simple task like organizing your inventory feels so annoying. Especially with that much loot one would assume to get a simple overview on which item is better - but it doesn't. Especially over multiple characters. So you are constantly shifting items back and forth trying to figure out the best combination. Also picking characters feels broken sometimes. I intuitively would click on a character in order to select them. But it interacts. Okay, that is fine, one has to get used simply. But even for the avatars on the left side this is broken at times since it lets you change the order (dragging instead). So you sometimes click on a character just without any effect. If you don't pay attention, you still move around with the previous character leading to catastrophic effects. Same goes for crouching/hiding when only the selected character is doing this... So eventually, many of these small UI issues start becoming annoying sadly since I feel the game could be really great. But fighting agains UI and annoying game mechanics instead of evil monsters, renders the game less fun than it could be. They still seem to improving it so perhaps this gets better one day - even though I doubt it since it would mean, they separate console and PC gaming. - Asked for a refund sadly.
Note: I have played it on Steam but wanted to leave a review here for this little gem. This game is sometimes compared as a combination of "Metal Gear Solid" and "Hot Shots". It is true. Sure this game is not the most beautiful one, but it redeems a lot with the fun gameplay and even better dialogues executed with brilliant voice acting. This game is played through in about 8-9 hours and I enjoyed every single second of it. The boss fights can be tricky so if you only want to enjoy the completely ironical persiflage of 80's military movies (from said Hot Shots to Full Metal Jacket) you should play it on easy mode. Take your time, let guards talk while you explore the levels. This game really shines on this. If you can live with pixel art and want some entertaining hours, this game will be for you. I would even say it is better than Unepic, which was fun already but not so much of a parody as this one. Give it a try!
Wow, what a great game. So beautiful and ugly at the same time, it gives the vibes of the movies I loved so much in my youth. The story is great with a depth know from classics like The Witcher games. They kept the irony and zynism of the movies giving some great society critics mixed up with never boring punch lines. The game itself plays like a detective story mixed with pretty hardcore shooter mechanics. Add some Max Payne slow-motion and Bulletstorm stunts and you get a promising 15 hour game. I really enjoyed it.
The game has a lot of potential. As a mixture of classic point-and-click adventures with some Disco Elysium and "Sir Brante" spices on top this game would have everything you need. Sadly it diverges in too many directions. From a personal family-driven story over a political-company crime part up to a religious fanatical cult that chases a "X Files" like aliens plot ... this story offers a lot of material but sadly falls short at solving the plot. The game should have focused on one aspect of the story and that would have been great. But it gives only half what's needed for each sub-plot and misses the overall goal. This together with a switching perspective of the (sadly a bit blunt) protagonist and her mother (bascially told in flashbacks) breaks the narrative since you spoil pretty early what has happened thus focussing more on the outcome of the story. But as I said, it leaves with more questions than answers (deliberately). If you can accept an open ending with some subjective fills to the plot (which stays a mystery even in the end) this game is fun but if you want a deep satisfying story this game is sadly not what you might be looking for (and I suggest both mentioned "Disco Elysium" or "The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante" over this one here). So yea, it is fun, I also like the pixel art, but the game tries to add too many things. Some work out (like some neat mini games) where others are too simple to make fun but somewhat essential (like a fighting mechanic which is just clicking at the right moment). The decisions of my character are not always plausable, too and I wonder what had happened to me that I start destroying company property in an act of terrorism just because they didn't like my dead mother.
The game itself has a lot of potential. Long tech trees, continuous improvements, research, business logic... However it comes with a huge issue in it's gameplay. Since you need to improve your products with time (e.g. your first audio player comes with mono speakers but a later one offers stereo sound) you always need to rearrange your factory. But that process comes with so many chores that it becomes annoying quickly - even though in theory this is really great. Not only does that lead to a lot of unused products loitering around in your storage (e.g. the mentioned mono speakers or other low quality items) and you manually need to arrange them etc. But also the whole production flow becomes annoying quickly since you need to manage things that shouldn't be in need of managing. Imagine you need a new product but the factory is getting small (they are always too small) so you move the production of the new item (e.g. the stereo speaker) to another production hall. Now you need to organise the flow of items between the old and the new hall since some electronic components are still used in other processes. But that "splitting" of resources is really ugly made. It is complicated, requires too many clicks and also is badly visualized. So you usually end up messing things up here. Same for easy stuff like selling products. Again you create transport paths that work (badly) but then you need to prepare that item for selling. But the whole process becomes so annoyingly complex that it is just not fun. Especially when you have a hand full of old unused items you want to sell "manually". You put them in the shelves, create a new item for the selling, wait until it got sold, then delete that selling unit again (because there won't come more of them). For a game that focusses on producion and selling of items this is simply not acceptable. This is sad since the general gameplay of designing products and producing them is really fun!
This game was great when I was young and the Anniversary Edition made me relive this feeling. Sure, don't expect AAA graphics these days but if you are into classics, this one was a milestone. The controls are sometimes a bit unlucky and the game wants to be played slow even though controlling the protagonist - with all the fluid movement mechanics - wants to be played quickly (see it as a first draft of Tomb Raider, Assassins Creed etc. platformers). Also the difficulty is hard at times - even on easy. But don't worry too much. The Anniversary Edition helps in this case. The Rewind functionality lets you rewind some seconds so you can improve without restarting the level. I had 3,5 hours playtime with that (and using some rewind moments) so I guess it was surely worth the money. Give it a try if you want to experience a true classic. Leave it if you get annoyed by ancient graphics - even though that rotoscoping was awesome at this time (Same guy who made Prince of Persia etc.). Good platformer with some nice mechanics, challenging difficulty and a nice story for it's time!
Well, the game itself is good. The athmosphere is really nice, graphics are great and the mood of the game is really gloomy. However, be aware that this game has A) a horrible mission tracker where you are guided to places you can't reach for now or have no idea what to do there. B) a lot of back tracking. You eventually visit every place on that space station around 10 times. 20 if you (like me) have fun on doing the side quests. However, some things are just a chore so I guess my suggestion would be to stick with the main mission mostly, unselect missions you don't want / can't do for now since they are distracting and enjoy the game's survival mode. Don't but it if you want a new shooter. Ammo and Health Packs are always limited. The game also gives some tiny choices. I guess it feels a bit like the old Half Life. So it would be too much to say it is a role playing game but at least the story and dialogues make the game a bit more interesting (even though the ending falls a bit short). About the DLC, well... I must admit I played it for maybe 20 minutes and left it. It feels like it doesn't belong to the game at all. Maybe I missed it but I was hoping for the story to continue but as far as I can see it doesn't look like. I would advise you to read some reviews about it before you buy the complete edition. About the base game, I bought it as an offer and played 20+ hours on a 90% (almost completionist) game. Consider it 12-15 if you focus on the more interesting main story than the "find every person on the station"-chores.
Well, the game itself is good. The athmosphere is really nice, graphics are great and the mood of the game is really gloomy. However, be aware that this game has A) a horrible mission tracker where you are guided to places you can't reach for now or have no idea what to do there. B) a lot of back tracking. You eventually visit every place on that space station around 10 times. 20 if you (like me) have fun on doing the side quests. However, some things are just a chore so I guess my suggestion would be to stick with the main mission mostly, unselect missions you don't want / can't do for now since they are distracting and enjoy the game's survival mode. Don't but it if you want a new shooter. Ammo and Health Packs are always limited. The game also gives some tiny choices. I guess it feels a bit like the old Half Life. So it would be too much to say it is a role playing game but at least the story and dialogues make the game a bit more interesting (even though the ending falls a bit short). About the DLC, well... I must admit I played it for maybe 20 minutes and left it. It feels like it doesn't belong to the game at all. Maybe I missed it but I was hoping for the story to continue but as far as I can see it doesn't look like. I would advise you to read some reviews about it before you buy the complete edition. About the base game, I bought it as an offer and played 20+ hours on a 90% (almost completionist) game. Consider it 12-15 if you focus on the more interesting main story than the "find every person on the station"-chores.
