I'll start by saying that this is as much a game as Gone Home is. You decide what that means. I would focus on the story. This is not a happy tale, it's dark, and painful, and raw, yet, it manages to do so in a manner that can be appreciated, and enjoyed, in it's own way, which is the hallmark of a well told tale. Unlike some titles, this game earns it's dark story through a carefully curated journey through the physical location, and our protagonist's mind. The horror is, as advertised, perfectly grounded in reality, and yet, I feel like it all could easily be left to interpretation, and easily become the starting point of a very different, more fantastical, story. It puts me, in that regard, in mind of supernatural horror classics such as Hellblade, or Alan Wake. In a different world, Renée's evocative darkness could have very easily become something else, and I can't shake the feeling that our poor protagonist simply drew the absolutely shortest straw in the multiverse of psychic heroes. That said, there is no action here. This is strictly a walking simulator, through a real world location, combined with the effective telling of a story that may be too morbid for some, but is well executed regardless, and well worth experiencing, if one can stomach it. The one flaw I would point out is the English translation (the only one I tried), which could have definitely benefitted from a little more TLC. Some translation choices had me scratching my head sometimes. Fortunately, I can sort of understand Italian, and that helped, but such instances are rare enough anyway. In conclusion, I'd say this is definitely worth the asking price, which is not something I anticipated I'd be saying by the end of this review. Imagine that :P
I'll start by saying that this game is incredibly short. This is something you can play and finishing comfortably on a lunch break without rushing. Taking inspiration both from cyberpunk and anime titles, I feel like the story deserved a longer, more complex treatment, but ultimately it does manage to evoke both effectively, if briefly. The game itself, though, can be confusing. The player is presented with a multiple choice tree of information bits that can be accessed non chronologically. Add to that an English translation that could have used a substantial cleaning effort, and those two factors combined had me struggling to even make sense of what I was supposed to be doing at first. That said, I did find the true ending on my first try, so how hard can it be? :P Ultimately, the story achieved (IMO) what a visual novel is supposed to achieve, which is to not leave the reader/player indifferent to it (or drowning in nihilistic zawa-zawa because, because we so edgy, bro), so, well done!
The 1 star is for the new alternative ending, specifically. Sadly I am only allowed one review, and of limited length. So 1 star will affect the whole game, sadly, but you are the architects of this situation, GOG. This DLC played for the most part like a fine gourmet meal. Served with a side dish of corpoduck. This is part of a larger trend, not only in entertainment but big business lately, where the customer is no longer always right. In fact, the customer is always wrong, because large corporations know better. What does this have to do with this DLC? Everything. Avoiding spoilers as much as I can, I can safely say that this ending absolutely deconstructs the point of the game itself, as an escapist fantasy. Worse, it does so in such a sanguine, forced manner that even Johnny Silverhand feels the need to point out that this isn't how he imagined things would go, and he has every right to, because that ending is character assassinating, gaping plot hole. A gaping plot hole festering with the arrogance of a writer who, come what may, was dead set on a specific ending, even if it came at the expense of all logic, even if they hadn't earned it through their narrative merits. An ending forced upon us. to serve whatever needs there were, the needs of whomever, except for the needs of the people who are actually paying for their games. I'm pretty sure that if someone made a poll, the ask for that ending would be close to non-existent. And you know what CDPR (and entertainment industry at large)? If I want to feel ordinary, I don't need to upgrade my computer and buy your expensive game. Think about that. I don't need YOU to feel like I already do. Might as well save myself some money... That means I won't be standing in line to pre-order your next game. What you made me feel is utterly disrespected as a customer, and at least by the standards of the old world, that should be cause a for concern. It probably isn't though is it? Not to you. You know better.
I tried very hard to like this game, and in the end, I couldn't. It's extremely pretty, visually. However, and mind that this is a personal opinion, it fails to deliver on a crucial aspect. Fun. This game simply wasn't fun for me. On the contrary. This game wants to scare you, desperately, but instead of resorting to a well rounded narrative to set it up, it relies instead on gimmicky game mechanics to attempt this feat. That is my main issue with this game, it never stops being a gimmick. It never lets you forget that you're playing a game, it never quite allows you to suspend your disbelief long enough for you to be sucked into the story. Now, in a game that is supposed to give you a few good scares, this is counter-productive. The story itself, is competent enough, but nothing to write home about. It feels tacked on and ultimately serves as just another excuse to take the player to the next, game, level. It actually feels like there are two different games here. One is the story driven one, that had to be there just to serve as base for the main game, and then the main event, a game of Less-Fun-Alien-Pac-Man. Perhaps the importance of these two elements should have been reversed, or better balanced at least. I kept thinking that if I could indeed get pulled in by the story and the ambient noises and all the visual goodness, this game would actually deliver in a big way. It would be genuinely frightening, and memorable. That would explain all the 5 star reviews, and I get it. If this game is for you, you will enjoy it a lot. Sadly, it's not for me. I wasn't scared, I was annoyed. Annoyed by the artificiality of the main game's mechanics, annoyed by the randomness of the alien and its unrealistic, player focused aggression. Ultimately annoyed by the game's inability to scare me, I guess. It's hard to be scared when you are constantly reminded that "this is only a gimmick", and to me, this is this game's greatest failure. It's simply not fun.
I've waited a long time for this game to make it to GOG after having played the original a few years back. The story picks up right where the last game ended, and we're thrust back into the same island, which has been faithfully recreated and expanded upon. The inventory management system is basically the same. The big difference is that now we control both Mina and Jep separately, even though they share the same inventory. At first I didn't like that this was the case, it seemed unrealistic, and it is, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise. The fact is that this new game tries to re-invent a wheel that was working just fine a few times. The result is a lot of busy work, such as switching from Jep to Mina to Jep to Mina (forcing you to watch a very short cutscene every time) , making every single piece of pottery you require, or playing mini-games that can be very hit and miss. So, not having to trade inventory items between the two protagonists was greatly appreciated. This is compounded by a fatal flaw that I'm not sure is the game's fault. It may be a technical issue that gets resolved in a coming patch, I hope so, at least, , but at the time that I played this game, and am writing this review, the game feels laggy. The mouse moves slowly and choppily, the camera rotation moves slowly and choppily, and to be honest, that takes a LOT of the fun out of the game. I have oscillated between giving this a flat out one star, because I hated that choppy feel so much, to giving it a five star, because in the end the story did grip me and deliver a satisfying conclusion that stuck with me. A three star would be the fair rating for me to give it at this time, as the technical issues are balanced out by a game that mostly works from the puzzle and the story perspectives. Not always, but mostly. I ended up with a 4 star review rating, because in the end, I did enjoy the journey, frustrations and all.
Your first contact with this game is a rather nice intro, with beautiful graphics, engaging music, and what seemed to be an intriguing story. I can honestly say that I was in, from what I saw. Sadly, as soon as the introductory cutscene ended, I was confronted with what felt like a ransom note. I was being INSTRUCTED to pick between having my privacy fully ravaged, or partially ravaged. Apparently, this publisher think that they have the right to spy on you. It's not even up to debate that this is what they believe, that is precisely the language that they use. It is AGGRESSIVE and it is AUTHORITATIVE. We have the right. No you don't. I didn't even pick one of the options. Faced with this level of insult, I ctrl-alt-del 'd out of that screen and immediately uninstalled the game and deleted all files. I only wish that I could still get my money back. My bad, should have read the reviews before I bought. Some do try to warn people against this situation. What a shame. Horizon Zero Dawn? More like zero stars.
