game has a soul, is done by people who know how to make stuff, it's a lot of fun and i'm just done with hte first game in the new engine, can't wait to play the 2nd title
This is a really greate game if you like stealth action. For the most part the mechanics are very tight and fun. There is a LOT of attention to detail in this game. Story is gritty but not great. Still works well enough to keep things moving forward.
Some things that you should be aware of:
* This game tries to be a stealth game, but it funnels you towards being semi-loud. From the pumping music, the great gun play, and the tons of weapons and weapon mods that you can unlock and play with. If you play this 100% quiet you are missing out on a lot of fun imho. This game shines when the enemies are searching for you but don't know where you are, and you pick them off by ambushing them.
* The AI is good and very aggressive. They search in teams, notice turned off lights and open doors and so on. They do have tendency to bumrush across the map. Once alerted enemy never go back to a relaxed state. Great for tension, but can be frustrating.
* There are inconsistencies when trying to kill an enemy from stealth in a single shot: Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I was not able to figure out the conditions when exactly a one shot kill fails. I don't think its random. A mechanic like this needs to be communicated better to the player in a stealth game.
* The environments are graphically beautiful, but vary only marginally accross levels, so that could become stale after a while.
* The throwing knife feels OP. Its a guaranteed one-hit kill from stealth and you can retrieve it so it has infinite uses. Often it is the better alternative from using a gun that sometimes fails to kill (see above)
* Shot out lights flicker occasionally. This conflicts with the "realism" theme this game goes for in other places. I guess this is a balancing thing, but I would have liked to see a different solution to this.
Despite my criticsm above, I give 5 stars anyways. It is such a fun game despite the flaws.