All the money and time went to filing Reeves for forced linear story line in a supposed open world. That story is unskippable and utterly terrible; as if netflix wrote it & cancelled it. The character writing is shallow and half-baked and just crammed down your throat in completely unavoidable ways. Oh, and you can't interact with *ANYONE* other than these awfully scripted NPCs; the rest are cardboard cut-outs, walking around. Even merchants have like a single "tag-line" with no fucking followup or story or anything; you don't even exit the conversation...you just like...kinda walk away like an uninterested douche...(you will be uninterested anyway). Oh and the items to buy...well...pretty but useless; you never see you character except in some uncanny-valley-homunculus mirror reflection, doing it's best Dexter impression. All of the food has the exact same buff, which is completely useless, so don't even bother. All alcohol debuffs exactly the same, so again...don't bother. Where are the drugs? Wading through rooms of diced-up hookers: OK. 😁 Drugs: BAD. 😡 Seriously: WTF. Crafting involves zero immersion: You just go to a menu at any time and just magically poop out weapons and armor. Combat: Stealth is so unbelievably useless, and combat so horrendously unbalanced, you are just going to get decent armor and decent slicey-dicey weapon and just run around cutting off heads for the fastest approach just to grind through yet anther identical mission...because they are all exactly the same...every last one. Driving: You won't. It's just that bad. Your choices don't matter, starting choice doesn't matter; you are mashed through the exact same story experience / grind, no matter what. Buildings are just cardboard facade. There's nothing to do in this "open-world", no buildings to go in, no people to talk to...it's video game purgatory. Just don't waste your money, like ever.
It's really pretty. Fire weather effects pretty good. It's a walking, exploring game with an ok trail-based map. The story is, 'meh'; back and forth between your char and the driver. An awkward summer camp kinda relationship with unecessary 'deep personal backstories(TM)'. Replay once maybe tiwce, with long delays between.
