Recent reviews by oldweeb

In general a solid RPG, though Origins is much better. There are not so many good quality quests, even more repetitive fights than in the Origins. But the main issue I would say - very small world, it’s basically a single city, which you don’t leave throughout the game. Companions were better-written in the Origins as well. Still, I enjoyed it

This game does a terrible job introducing into how the game works. I liked the art style, and I really started to enjoy the game, but then my whole ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ party gets 200 stress even when I keep torch above 75. And then they can't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hit the musketer which targets every unit. Also I couldn't understand how turns work, sometimes enemy has turns in a row, and I just one.

Well, what can I say - it's GOTY for a reason.

But let's start with negatives:
From the very start - when expedition 33 reaches the beach, the game keeps tension. The aura-farming sound effect of Renoir's stick is impressive. The devs did a great job to make sure players are left with a thrill after a cut-scene. But here's my first issue with the game: there are too little of cutscenes. After a cutscenes player a left with repeatable fights.
There are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ TOO MANY FIGHTS per squared meter, and because usually they last more than a minute, it does not feel very good. I wish there was more of a storytelling than fights.
Also, for the game which puts a great focus on combat - it has very few unique bosses. Like, in the first half of the game - there are like two good quality fights - lampmaster and duelist. And instead of adding unique bosses, to atelier or challenges level - they just reuse these 2 bosses with different variations.
The next issue with the game - 'dangerous' locations. What purpose do they serve? They stay dangerous even after the end, enemies keep oneshoting. You can neither explore such areas or fight. Sorry, but I don't want to spend 30 minutes for a fight, where single mistake can end it. What could make such areas make sense - is to have no limit for damage. Like I get a pictos which allows more than 9999 damage quite in the endgame. And still, it cannot be applied to every character.
I did try to explore dangerous locations, and I got high-level loot quite early, which made fights for me even worse. The last boss that was challenging for me - the duelist. After that I got high level pictoses and fights (including bosses) became very routine, where enemies deal literally no damage, but they are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sponges - with millions of hp, which I first try anyway. I just couldn't enjoy boss fights anymore, I can forget about parrying because anyway nobody will kill me. The first time I heard about axons, I felt excited, I expected them to be impossible bosses based on the dialogues about them. But what did I get? - Underwhelming feeling like I got robber of difficult yet challenging in a good way boos fight.
Another thing, I wish could be implemented better - are relationships levels. I wish there was more to it, than just unlocking more gradient attacks.

Ok, let's get back to good things
One more thing that left me underwhelming - was shift from, what seemed to be global problem at first - saving the world, to very local problem - family grief. But devs made up for it, when they revealed 3rd act, it was unexpected and I'm glad they did it like this. I enjoyed both endings, they both leave me with bitterness, but I prefer Verso's ending.
Man, I'm just fricking in love with the characters: Esquie, Monoco are my favorites. It's interesting to listen to their dialogues, and I feel sympathy towards them.
Music and the world are beautiful. I can listen to the music forever and never stop enjoying

So, the summary:
- Do I recommend it - yes
- Is it perfect - no, there are definitely things that could be done better
- Does it deserve GOTY - yes, but for sure it can't be the most titled game ever

The game had a promising start, the story seemed interesting first, but then it followed the best Assassin's creed practices: grind and grind and grind. Apart from that, the decision to kill one of the main characters in the start is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrible: I do not know nothing about this character, how am I supposed to feel sorry for her? Visually she looks like a grandma, not visually appealing, speaking with a boring tone, I do not want to kill other people to make her alive again. In the first location, there are places which you can't reach because you do not have the 'proper' tools. But you can't even backtrack to these places (I hate backtracking) because once you finish the location, you can't get back to it.
Anthea is the worst main character I have seen in the latest time. She is boring, her guides are boring, I'm not interested to learn her story because she is speaking like a 80 year old grandma.
Apart from the storytelling, the fighting system sucks too: as the game progresses, enemies become sponges, you are doing little damage to a huge healthbar, and the game forces you to fight in a certain way: either you parry, or you do 2-4 damage to 1000 hp healthbar.
Face animations are like from 2010, they do not show any emotions. I hoped the game will be at least 4/5 when I first saw the footages, but it ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sucks, it's Assassin's Creed body with a different clothing

Honestly, it's kind of a disappointment if I compare this game to the first part. I mean, the game is great as both psychological and just a horror, but it feels like the atmosphere of the first part is lost here. The first part of the game, I could not understand what the story is about. Also it's very short, puzzles are much easier and straightforward than in the first game, fights are repetitive, some locations felt too stretched out, e.g. reaching the hiddenfolk. 4/5

It's a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ disappointment, the only thing from Silent Hill is its name. Nothing like Silent hill. It feels like souls-like Outlast with puzzles that suck. Feels clunky, buggy. Expected better from the game with Silent Hill in its name. I don't like running around with enemies when I can't do anything to them. Also I played only an hour and already can tell there are too much enemies. It's impossible to get scared when you always expect enemies to be there. Also, I played using Dualsense controller, and ♥♥♥♥ it's horrible, each button is registered twice, each time i exit a menu, the character dodges. Whose idea was to have stamina bar that can be used for 2 dodges only? Stamina regeneration is awful too.

неможливо грати, гра компілює шейдери кожний захід у гру, навіть якщо не міняти налаштування графіки (♥♥♥♥♥ повна), так ще і застрягає на половині, я не хочу їбатися з гайдами як мені очистити кеш шейдерів, буду чекати коли з гри зліплять щось нормальне.

good stuff

The game is not perfect, has many flaws, but is definitely worth to play for people who like souls-like.
Pros:
- Exploration, developers did a good job with Axiom/Umbral worlds. This mechanic is unique to this game
- Combat pacing is slower than ds3/elden ring, but it is definitely faster than ds1/ds2
- Boss replayability mechanic like in Sekiro
- Some good quality bosses
- Graphics is really good
Cons:
- Regular enemies' agro range sometimes is too big
- Making former bosses as regular enemies (I mean as idea it's not that bad, but devs definitely overdid with it)
- Low regular enemies variety
- Combat sometimes gets frustrating
- Final boss is a disappointment
- Weapons in the same class have the same moveset
- I picked inferno class as a starting one, and at the start the game does not give you that many pyromancies. So in the end I ended up using umbral/holy sorceries

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