Satsuma wrote:
1) Iconoclasts (PS4)
2) Detroit: Become Human (PS4)
3) Far Cry 5 (Xbox)
4) Shadow Warrior (Xbox)
5) Guacamelee 2 (PS4)
6) Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PS4)
7) Far Cry Primal (PS4)
8 ) Golf Story (Switch)
9) Octopath Traveller (Switch)
10) Deltarune: Chapter 1 (PS4)
11) Ape Out (Switch)
12) Resident Evil 2 (PS4)
13) Call of Duty: BLOPS IIII (Xbox)
14) Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4)
15) The Messenger (PS4)
16) Split/Second
17) Mortal Kombat X (Xbox)
18) Below (Xbox)
It’s the Xbox exclusive that I was really looking forward to and was honestly going to buy it Day one, but ended up being, urgh, a roguelike so I didn’t get it.
What an idiot. It was amazing.
The tiny tiny graphics are so beautifully detailed and animated but the atmosphere? Mwah, it’s something else. And that something is channelling Shadow of the Colossus. It’s absolutely spot on - from the sound of rain drifting across a mountaintop, crashing waves, distinct thunder and lightning, its echoing caves, or the quiet drone of waterfalls and moments where it’s just absolutely completely silent. It reminded me of much of SoTC that I was almost immediately sold.
Of course the game is nothing like SoTC because it’s such a reet cunt. The world hates you, the mechanics hate you and if you’re not prepared you’ll just walk through an area and immediately get impaled on a spike trap and die. That’s right, Permadeath.
Each game starts with a new character arriving by boat on the island. You descend into the bowels of the island, scouring for resources, weapons and armour and then die. Then you’re right back on the beach with nothing but a sword. It’s like Dark Souls but with a single checkpoint at the beginning for the game. Your body remains with all your stuff and you can loot it but you’ve got to get to it first. And like DS if you don’t it’s gone forever.
There’s 18 levels below the island and about 5 shortcuts to certain floors which means there’s a lot of backtracking. To help you, you can kindle a single campfire and warp there once. Once you warp the campfire is gone until the next life so you better find another. The levels are sort of randomised but roughly the same layout each time - so, for instance, level 14 is always the same diamond shape, there’s always a shortcut to the far left of level 2 and always a hidden place to the right. Frankly, the roguelike stuff just keeps runs inside the mountain fresh so it’s always a bit scary and not repetitive. I didn’t mind it at all.
The aim of the game is to get 21 pieces of a lamp you’re given. The pieces are scattered throughout the levels and can only be accessed with the lamp. It’s a bit of a pain cause if you die twice, say, your second body is in one place but the lamp will be where your first body died so you’ve got two bloody things to retrieve. And then there’s survival elements because you need food and water. Let those bars empty and your health depletes. Some levels won’t even have food or water so you have to prepare for a run by farming higher levels.
Urgh, I’m rambling. So the top and bottom of it is, it’s immensely bloody difficult, it’s unforgiving, I needed a guide to get 4 of the lamp bits and some areas were just a pain in the arse and required thoughtful preparation of campfire placement and resources and all sorts.
But when you’re progressing and reach that next shortcut, it’s just fucking exhilarating. No more fucking ghouls eating me now! Yay! Oh fuck it’s an entirely dark level that needs torches and I’ve only got one left. FUCK.
It’s so extremely difficult and frustrating that I couldn’t honestly recommend it to anyone at all. Unless your tastes are completely aligned with mine I doubt anyone would any enjoyment out of it for more than 30 minutes. It just feels, for want of a better word, niche. It feels like it was made just for me. It’s a horrible, nasty little bastard but it’s mine and I love it.
10/10
Edit: It felt ace when the final achievement for completing the game popped up. Number of people who completed the game is a mere 0.16%!