I was excited for this game since it was first revealed with that initial teaser trailer and because the developers, Tango Gameworks, made one of my favourite games of all time; The Evil Within. This is not that. This is a game that screams troubled development and a divided creative team.
The game seems to be stuck between being a fast paced doom style fps, a gritty detective thriller and a traditional survival horror. It does these things competently but by trying to combine all these different elements it comes out a little hollow.
For example in combat there is a lot of Bullet Hell style projectiles flying at you yet you arent equipped with a dash or double jump so combat feels alot less fun and fast paced then it could have. Their are also only really 4 main upgradeable weapons and you get the fourth and final one not that far into the game making the game play loop a little more boring and uninteresting because of the lack of variety even if the visuals and animations are great. The game is completely bloodless too which makes the combat less punchy and satisfying because you're essentially just fighting semi tangible ghosts and i wish they could have somehow added some cool gore effects when using spells on ghosts. The game has a grapple move which i was initially thrilled with but it's honestly pretty limited and even if you gain the ability to grapple where you want, it's not really "anywhere" just predetermined spots and not to the kind of scale that a Arkham game would have. These undercooked elements scream of rushed deadline or late edition because i could absolutely see the traversal mechancis being loads of fun if the game had more time and focus.
On the Detective Thriller side of things a few of the side missions where you go into a building and talk to a ghost and help them move on are legitimately fun and interesting distractions. However, there are so many of these side missions that alot of them feel copy and pasted to fill out a map and i really think the game would have faired better with less but higher quality and original side missions. Investigations are okay with typical trailing style missions but the game would have benefitted with more interesting dialouge choices and ways to interact with the enviroment, maybe a Resident Evil style examine and inspect option could have helped make you feel way more like a detective prowling a crime scene.
On the Horror front, which i and many others initially believed the game to be, the game is a mixed bag. The monster design is great and wholly original in alot of ways and the inclusion of Yoki is also welcomed although i feel like their presence should have been more prominent. Despite these great designs however the game is never scary which would be okay because they are going for something else, but the game is also not really that tense because of the plentiful resources and KK's commentary.
Although i've been bashing this game so far i do actually enjoy it. The combat isn't as good as it could have been but it's still really solid. The game has alot of charm and the world is interesting to explore even if some of the samey looking city locations get a little tiresome near the end. The sound design and animations are great and it did keep me hooked throughout the entire game. Another strength of this game is just how unique it is, the last big budget game with this level of unique style was probably Death Stranding, and although that game turned out better it's still commendable that this got made.
Overall, i do not think this game is worth the money full price. It's just a little too scattershot for me to confidently say that i would recommend someone buy it right now. As soon as there is a price drop or sale then i honestly would recommend giving it ago, you might like it or hate it or somewhere in between but you definitely won't regret playing it and seeing what it's all about.
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