This game is amazing, on so many levels and I dearly wish I could give it 5 stard. However,the combat is really fast compared to most games and I find myself often using the wrong action between parry and dodge and pressibg the right button right after. Unfortunately, since this game doesn't interupt the parry action when i press dodge, a lot of encounters turn out much more difficult than necessary. If interrupt is added to the game, it's a 5 star for me.
This game is just as beautiful as it is confusing. The art style makes it very atmospheric which is fitting for a lovecraftian game. But this same art style hinders gameplay in so many ways... The biggest issues arise due to the fact that the games tries to be an atmospheric roguelite. It's not a good match as many gameplay choices which fit either genre rarely fit both. Among the design choices which fit the atmospheric genre but not the roguelite are: -Loose character & enemy movements which make combat and traversal a pain -Enemy design; they seem to be assembled from randomly generated parts meaning there's no real way to tell attack cues -Level design is dark and confusing, it could work well, but there's no use trying to explore and finding out the secrets as level design essentially go from left to right killing all enemies and on to the next level. As for the design choices fitting for a roguelite, but not an atmospheric game: -Pretty much no story of background of any kind, no character development to look forward to -Obliterating hundreds of enemies seem weird in a Lovecraftian universe game Finally the UI is seriously lacking: -Weapons descriptions barely state damage, but not if the item will charge or fire continuously, no mention if it's melee or ranged, no mention of whether charge will add more projectiles or charge a single powerful one... Same goes for usable items descriptions (no mention of which ones will hurt you if you're in range). -Hood resistance is so light I cannot say if it ever makes any difference. Oh, and unlockable upgrades quickly become extremely expensive. Sure you keep the blood when you die, but when a good run nets you maybe 1,000 blood and the next upgrade costs 30,000... I really wanted to like this game, but unfortunately, I uninstalled after a couple hours of just doing the same thing as the novelty of the aesthetics quickly wore off...
The game basics are amazing, but not being capable to manually save and the long time between the auto saves makes the game artificially difficult. Also, maybe it's just me, but I never get any healing potions, but always have a full grocery cart full of food. Since it's a beta, we can expect multiple tweaks and the game is far enough in development that I'm confident it'll get even better.
So far, the best Sniper Ghost Warrior game and by far. But there are 2 annoying bugs which will probably make me wait before playing more. Bug 1 - The cursor sometimes is invisible in the menu, but appears during gameplay (so you have a cursor all over the screen in a FPS )... Bug 2 - The controls locked the second time I went to customize them and I can no longer customize them. Right now, it means I cannot use health packs, grenades or throwing knives... It's very unfortunate as the game is very fluid and agreeable and these 2 are extremely basic functions which are seriously flawed.
This is one of the staples of my childhood. It may not appeal much to the younger generation (graphics didn't age that well, mechanics neither). But knowing the work required to fix compatibility with newer OSes & support of these old softwares, that alone is worth the 10$ asking price in my opinion. And that doesn't account to the countless hours I put in this game over the years. And that soundtrack... Man, that soundtrack is just plain amazing!
Well, I just completed Senua's Sacrifice for the first time. And it was a really unique experience. This game made me feel for the protagonist (Senua) in ways never thought a video game could ever make me feel about a fictional character. It's like I wanted HER to succeed more than I wanted to complete the game. Her portrayal is so perfect, so spot on, so real that you cannot help but feel sympathy and support for her cause. This game is all about immersion and it says it so from the beginning (best experienced with headphones). And My! Oh! My! Does it deliver! Seriously, headphones are a MUST for that game. Besides immersion, the graphics are really great, especially from a small(ish) studio. And the gameplay mechanics are simple, but very functional. Combat is fun. It's not arcade style fast or dark souls tactical. It's somewhere in the middle; though closer to arcade than dark souls. It would just have been nice to have at least a mini combat tutorial in the beginning (took me a couple fights to figure out that if you focus during fights, it'll slow time and that the "melee attack" button is actually a guard breaker), but besides that, everything is seamless. Puzzles usually require you to find runes "interpreted" from the surroundings. It may sound weird, but if you've seen the dev blogs, you know why. The game is linear (sorry, no open world), but in this case, i feel it was justified to achieve the level of immersion they got. Three major things happened to me playing Senua's Sacrifice. 1- It was the first time I had the feeling of longing after completing the game. The like of feeling you get after completing an excellent book. 2- It was the first time a game got to me so strongly I just sat through the credits looking at the screen and pondering on what just happened. Is it really over? Am I going to miss the little voices? Should I play again right now? Or maybe I was just sitting in awe at the incredible uniqueness of that game and the courage of the dev team to picture such a special and strong protagonist. So, to the devs, my deepest thanks go to you. This was an experience to remember.
