Recent reviews by Magic_Shadow95

Please make DLC's or a sequel!

I love this game even though I didn't like the original Thief. There are some things this game does better.
Where it fails to impress is the music which is lackluster and repetitive. Other than that it's a complete experience held cohesively by the finely balanced gameplay mechanics at its core.
The story is short but brilliant just enough to keep you hooked to the very end and yearning for more.
Unlike some other stealth games I played, I can excuse the lack of a quicksave/quickload function because the game is just so well balanced, fair and reliable. I never once felt the game over was undeserved.

SImilar games I played: Thief which I didn't enjoy even though it's a masterpiece, The Dark Mod which I love.

Thumbs up for the first 3/4 of the game.
Thumbs down for the last quarter of so.

The game started being linear approximately from half onward but still kept on giving. The glacier was already pushing it but it at least had the atmosphere. The last part really plummets though...

It's still a unique, fun and atmospheric game and I think it deserves to be recommended despite the flaws.
Giving it a bad review would feel like if I ordered 3 pancakes with chocolate, but got the 4th one with bananas...
"Yuck! This is not what I ordered! I want my money back!"
What I'm saying is that for the price, the first half of the game is enough great content. So, if you're on the edge whether to buy it or not, consider buying it on sale and playing for as long as it's fun, because once it starts to plummet, it doesn't get back up, and so you can really just choose your own part to stop at with no regrets.

A game with unique combination of different elements merged together to perfectly complement each other.
And while I have some nitpicking to do, I first wanna say that I'd buy some, extra classes, missions, story DLC's, extra modes or sequels in a blink of an eye. Anything to be able to continue playing, because I think I milked it for what it's worth and am now left only to self imposed challenges unfortunately.

The things that didn't sit well with me were the design of the final boss and most of the soundtrack.
While the bosses had some pretty good music, the rest is mediocre at best.
The final boss is visually really underwhelming compared to the rest of the creatures. A shame really.

Everything else is complete blast!

NO SPOILER REVIEW

Facts:
Finished in 16h, playing with a gamepad and using tank controls.
Horror games I like (for reference) and bottomline are at the bottom of the review.

- Storytelling: Not revolutionary, but at least it's effective and well presented. If I didn't manage to get the ending I did, it would leave me very sad. I liked the characters and plot well enough.
- Audio design: I am actually a very picky person with high standards for soundtracks and I find this one to be fitting and actually worth getting for an occasional listen. Sound effects were decent, although occasionally buggy (eg. there would be no steps sound on a few surfaces). The voice acting leaves much to be desired though...
- Looks: Looks gorgeous. I'm actually struggling to compare any game to it. Details and lighting pushed to the limits. Also helped by the amazing camerawork. These guys know their camera.
- Playing experience: The combat is functional, just like in most good horror games. It's not the star of the show, by any means. That title belongs to the puzzles : ) Some of the best puzzles I've seen packed into a single game. If I have any complaints, it's that it wasn't hard enough. I've finished it with multiple excess items in my inventory. Different people might have different results though. Also, I've seen some people complain about not having enough "save items". Sure, that's their side of the story, I won't deny it. But I saved 16 times, so basically once every hour and still had 6-7 extra "save items" left at the end.

Bottomline:
I love it. Would buy a sequel. Can't believe what a fair price they charge for it.
I can totally forgive a few bugs or hiccups here and there and even the voice acting if the devs manage to get everything else THIS right. This game is not just a throwback to good horror games. It totally stands out on it's own.

Horror games I like (in no particular order):
Silent Hill 1, 2
Resident Evil 1(remaster), 2 (original and remake), 3 (remake), 7 (VR), Revalations 1, 2
Parasit Eve
Haunting Ground
Evil Within 1, 2
Dino Crisis 1, 2
Organ Quarter
Cosmodread
Soma
DreadOut
Remothered: Tormented Fathers

Got the same amount of fun out of this game as if I was filling an arcade machine with coins. The only difference is that it was cheaper for me to buy it like this.
How can I complain? xD

What you see in the first hour is what you get for the rest of the game.
It becomes painfully clear that the game is a one trick pony after you play for a while. The problem with games that heavily rely on gameplay is that once that gameplay becomes boring there is no real reason for you to stay. On the other hand, games that rely on story might get you hooked enough for you to finish them regardless of the gameplay.
And here we come to the crux of the problem...
While the premise is great on the surface, all of the dialogue feels like it was written by the same person.
"What's wrong with that?" you might ask, "Of course it was written by the same person!" you might say.
Sure. But it shouldn't FEEL that way. It should convince you that characters are living, breathing beings in a world that really exists. It should immerse you, not remind you that it's just a game and that you shouldn't care about it too much.
Oddly enough I have never berated a game for poorly written dialogue for 20 years, so I am just as surprised as you are that of all the things that could go wrong, THAT was the biggest problem.
Try the demo, if it's still there. The demo is exactly how the game will be until the end.

Just want to add some stuff here in hope the DEVS see it because I wanted to say it during the survey but didn't have a chance:

- There's a minor bug: If you bring a turret to the ?crab? boss fight and die, when you revive the turret will be invisible.
- I really don't like the fireworks effect when I win over an island. It breaks the immersion for no good reason.
- I wish I could turn down the volume of the menu and "talking" because I'd basically like to turn the music up bu the menu and such are bound to the master volume. Make it separate if possible because at this rate if I want the BGM louder I gotta have the menu and dialogue louder as well.
- Please remove the goodies from random boxes. This just forces me to check all the boxes in the game and there's a lot of them. Fewer more meaningful chests rather than a million random ones.
- A button to holster the weapon please. I feel stupid pointing it at villagers and shopkeepers.
- Fuel, medkits and bullets shouldn't be free. They should be cheap, but never free. I understand why you did it but players should be held by a hand, they should learn from their mistakes. They will respect the game for it.
- Shame on you for not putting even one question about music into the survey xD The OST is very fitting and I can't wait to hear all of it in the final game, but I find it frustrating how many developers (and players) don't understand just how important the music is to the overall experience.

Everything else is great and I'll be honest, I'll play this even if you don't fix any of it, but please do so I can put it on my list of all time favorites : )
Thank you very much for reading!

Finished it! A true love letter to the originals. Makes me wonder though, if completing these puzzles makes me feel so smart, how does making them make the developer feel?!

Pros

- Monkey are mostly great sometimes silly but that's fine
- Graphics is cute
- Music is nice

Cons

- Combat is bad
- Rare weapons that you get have no point you can totally play without them
- You can't do anything with animals that you lure into your settlement
- Labyrinths look the same
- Ending downgraded the game greatly it got on my hate list which is very rare