I agree with this as well. You can stop walking at any point and you’d probably be left with something that resembles a Gregory Crewdson photo in any area of the initial hub zone.
2 Likes
This should get the Most Improved trophy. the first one I thought was just okay. I just think dilapidation and meat are kind of old hat for me. outside of that it had some real nice looking areas occasionally though, as seen in the den of screenshots thread. but I loved everything about the beginning so far in this one. hardboiled excop has to jack into the matrix made up of his own personal max payne nightmare levels. I got interested in going back to this series cause of the gun handling in the trailer but then when your just wandering around some weird psychic serial killers art gallery inspecting documents and stuff it was so good I was almost dreading finally getting a gun and it turning into a zombie shooter. but even then it’s still interesting so far, finding basement bunkers in houses with terminals that wire you into some matrix armory place, restoring your health with pots of coffee in safehouses, which take time to brew. I really like it so far.
3 Likes
I love gun tetris
2 Likes
I had no problem with it, but that was a pretty lengthy setup until you actually encounter enemies and the gameplay loop.
I wanted to replay the first again before this, or at least the Kidman DLC. Couldn’t resist though, I really needed this kind of game atm. Went in on Nightmare per the description…
There’s a certain tone when sequels have a “more specialized company task force” in play (apparent RE2 remembrance), that works fine. But affects the more isolated, solitary feel I like in survival horror games. I’m sure it’ll be creative and engaging, I’m just eager for the fear.
nice to play a sad murder dad who actually tries to get better mentally. wish I could go in my mind space and shoot a version of me stuck in the past in the head.
5 Likes
you’re making this sound better then just about anyone else who’s impressions I’ve read and I like bethesda so much as a publisher right now I’m really tempted to give it a shot
spoilers:
It’s a Last of Us type game with crafting and collectible shit and zombies so I guess it depends on how sick of that kind of thing you might be but it’s got a lot of neat things in it I think, plus I’m predisposed to like suicidal detective murder men.
other than the opening, just wandering through the art gallery, my favorite part is towards the end where a guy summons up your past traumas and your back in evil within 1, the same part where your running down the hallway from the chainsaw guy, but this time you stop just short of the elevator and decide no, this is not how it’s going to be, and turn around and take the guys chainsaw and saw through him, then go on like a quick marathon fight against the bosses of the first game, and demonstrate how the past has no hold over you anymore by making short work of them, or at least I did cause I had the bullet time skill unlocked which is basically a cheat to win mode.
one thing I didn’t care for is there’s this cool female led revolution to overthrow mobeius/capitalism, and then almost all of them die so you, the man, can do your thing. helping you get to your daughter is the big part of the plan they’re enacting, but still. though it was kind of cool when the first time you run into that guy who summons your past trauma you’re unpreparded and he causes you to accidentally shoot your solider gal ally, then when you finally come back from your head trip you realize she’s dead and are all ready to regress back to the guilt but the psychologist lady ally is all, “oh that, no that bullet wound was superficial she shrugged that shit off, it was the 800 zombos she fought off to get you to safety that did her in.”
1 Like
honestly I am not only sick of murderdads and zombies, I’m also sick of stealth action games and have never liked horror games that much until recent tech could reliably deliver more surreal imagery, but this is just coming off really compelling itt
also I love that they went for that hardcore cartharsis, even if it’s lost on anyone who didn’t play the first game, it’s always worth it imo
but yeah if it’d been a female lead I’d have already bought it
dare I venture that this game could’ve stood to absorb hellblade as much as shadow of mordor could’ve stood to absorb horizon zero dawn
actually no that’s a really superficial analogy, I should just get it
1 Like
I don’t think enough has been made about just how well balanced/paced this game is. It was an interesting decision to allow the player to explore a large area while still sustaining the requisite amount of tension needed for a horror game. Typically, these things are meticulously crafted/curated to essentially function as theme park fun houses but this game loosened its grip and allowed the player to generate their own experiences. It’s not as if this concept is new but it is (so far) the best and only example I can think of within the horror genre.
There;s lots of little things this game gets right. Like how when Sebastian gets asked to do a side quest, theres like actual reasons within the game why you’d want to do that instead of progressing the story. Whereas in something like Far Cry 3, you’re essentially screwing around with side quests why your friends are getting tortured and abused. Then again, that might just be a commentary on millenial ennui? Anyway, yea, lots of little things this game does well.
Didn’t an American guy direct this game?
Chapter 6 and I think I’ve acquired skills that pretty much have breaked the game. The bottle break, cover stealth kill and predator just make you nigh invincible if you play your cards right
I keep deleting my post but this game is really good, huh?
I’m really surprised at how well designed the whole open world concept turned. It still manages to keep the horror game style tension while giving you complete freedom in the hubs and designing multiple ways to approach the environment. It’s really more of a horror themed stealth game. It also completely owns the name PSYCHOBREAK and goes all out with the reality warping aspect, even on small optional moments. A lot of cool art direction and unexpected environment transformations.
It’s also really smart in how it constantly builds off of Evil Within 1 for those who have played it. Parker mentions some of the incredibly cathartic moments but I also feel like it acknowledges some smaller things from that game that I was not expecting at all. Photographic slides spoiler: Sebastian and Kidman acknowledging Joseph was a surprising reward for the optional side storyline of Sebastian overcoming his trauma from EW1, even if it turns into what I assume was teaser for DLC. It made the character feel like they actually have some heart and history to them rather than just being plot vehicles for the present).. Actually, the fact that the there’s an entire side story line through the game about Sebastian and his experience in EW1 and it’s completely optional while also being one of the most memorable parts of the game is pretty ballsy but works really well within the game’s narrative. In fact the game actually has a lot of moments where the narrative and game design inform each other better than games typically do.
There’s also a monster you can’t kill who stalks you but you can only hear it through your Dualshock 4’s speaker. (I played on PC and just found out about the DS4 speaker thing after beating the game last night.)
1 Like
Chapter 11 and it has become pretty rote application of exploiting dumb AI. Wouldn’t be as bad, but the AI simply can’t cope with your skillset by that point. Plot is taking a nosedive as well. We’ll see how it ends. but yeah, the best part about the game so far has been the optional thingie regarding EW1.
Finally just beat this “area lockdown here’s a couple waves of enemies” sequence. I kept trying to do it conservatively until 4 deaths in, when making every shot count at a bottleneck shifted into seek and destroy.
Those clicking throat knife ladies…
I’m at the very end of the game now. I don’t think my overall verdict will really change this point.
Truth is, it’s somewhat disappointing. It started out strong, but as the game goes on, it simply becomes too easy even on the highest difficulty. The plot shift in the middle of the game didn’t strike my fancy either, as the Eurohorror-ish vibes were traded for something much lesser imho.
The stealth AI is incredibly, incredibly easy to exploit as well, to the point where in the end there is simply no suspense whatsoever left. So okay, if stealth is easy, why not choose combat? Well, problem is that there’s not much ammo to around to liberally do that, and there aren’t any interesting combat setpieces either outside one or two moments. And surprise and surprise, that one particular combat setpiece was a lesser version of what we had in RE4.
By chapter 4-5 or so, pretty much all gameplay possibilities are exhausted: further on, there nothing that demands mastery of gameplay systems beyond rote exploitation of crummy AI. The best moments and best parts in the game are all related to the first game, and that should be pretty telling. Obscura was great, but even then it was a less intimidating version of The Shade from the original’s DLC.
I like it, but it doesn’t come close to genre classics, and probably not even to Evil Within 1.
2 Likes
How does this game exist?
First game sold 5 million, although from what I heard, a lot of people got burnt by it.
It was a launch title iirc