I originally hated this game, despite loving grindy roguelikes. Several years later I tried it again with zero expectations and just fell in love with it, hard. It is as punishing as it is beautiful, but what I failed to recognize the first time around was that the procedural generation is staggeringly diverse. And as I feel I am literally getting worse at the game with more hours sunken into this beasty, I'm just loving the exploration elements so much, I cannot help but keep coming back. I could be wrong, but I would recommend treating this like something akin to Animal Well, in that you should try not to read any tips or spoilers UNLESS you're finding the grind just too much to handle. The self-discovery elements are what makes this game sing. Also wanna note that the sound design is fricking beyond this world. Listening to the environment eat itself after throwing spells and noxious liquids into the mix is a joy!
For a merge of Bethesda and Arcane, this is their weakest efforts in history. Putting asides the numerous amounts of bugs and clunky UI, there's nothing here that's gone beyond Half Life 1 in the AI department. And the story is beyond generic, pretending to give the player some agency at the end, but not really. There was the opportunity to do something interesting and sandbox-y with the alien tech, but it's as generic as it gets. Vanilla characters and even the soundtrack is very forgettable. Recycling junk and creating inventory was the only fun component of the game.
Sound design, aesthetics and the puzzles are truly beautiful. It only loses a star on my account because I felt the disabled-wheelchair enemies felt cliched on the psychological horror theme. But wow, what a stunning experience from start to finish.
What can I say.. the music soundtrack is phenomenal, and the core gameplay of open world hacking, dealing with goons and some of the best side missions I've ever played in any game. That being said the story and narrative is total dogshit. Cheap, convoluted, cliched dialogue. No spoiler, but the supposed multiple endings have no really seeding, no weight or sense of consequence. And as an RPG it really falls short, because there is SO much dialogue and cutaways. I admire the ambition and fully recommend the game if you ignore the core storyline and just enjoy being inside the ambience of night city and picking up gigs and missions.
Massive disappointment. The storyline is contrived, predictable, and fundamentally you are given story branches to choose from, but really it is a pseudo-choice where the outcome pretty much plays out the same either way. There is so much cinematic dialogue that eclipses the gameplay, and it just falls short on every level apart from the gorgeous music OST.
For that Slay The Spire itch, it does remarkably well. The aesthetics really help the grind and replay value tremendously. It also runs on a low spec PC which is great. I completed Slay, Monster Train and Vault of the Void recently, and this stands up very well with the greats.
Immersive music, perfect gameplay mechanics. Highest replay value of almost any game I've ever played.
Just so haunting with its themes, and the homecrafted aesthetics is why I've played multiple run-throughs of this game. Creativity at its best.
As beautiful as brutal, but the world's ambience keeps you coming back for more. AND THERE'S now an add-on DLC for multiplayer!!
Just astounding. Like a vampiric sequel to Gunpoint
