The Good:

Honestly it is really well made artisticily and world design is great. I like the anthro characters, the gameplay was fun and rewarding. Design, gameplay, art, animation are all good. But there is not much substance otherwise.

The Bad:
I disliked a lot of not skippable dialogues or cutscenes. The topics of death seemed like pseudo-philosophy. I honestly can't say too much due to one big issue...

The Ugly:
The game is too long for what it is. It is stretching out too thin of content. Its adding quests that mean nothing with little reward. The Bike gameplay and gunfire gets too repetitive. I think this game would've benefited more if it was purely linear. The artstlye is amazing but the gameplay is not a strong point, it was fun to play for a bit till it was just too boring to continue to 100% the game. This game is really stretching out its contents.

i dont know why doing backflips on a motorbike helps me reload but im ok with it.

*with a few caveats

Laika is an amazing game with a decently high skill floor but feels satisfying once you learn it. Reminds me of a modernized Sonic game with alot more backflips, bullets, and bird viscera. Ambiance and Environment is beautiful with the music complementing the world around it. The stories are heartfelt with some decently good story beats and environmental storytelling. Overall, while not perfect, is a great game to play.

Gameplay:
Learning how to do tricks on the Motorcycle is good and feels rewarding once you get the hang of it. It does take a while to learn, I assure you, but once you get into the groove, it feels second nature. The slow introduction of new mechanics and movement options make it feel a little more refreshing as you progress and make you feel like an unstoppable killing machine committing vehicular manslaughter on loop

However, unlocking certain abilities trivialize some aspects. The dash makes parrying and airtime management trivial at some areas. The LMG is atrociously busted especially at the ending. The Final Boss was too easy to beat even with a pistol and had no mechanics to play with and no additional phases or attacks to play around with.

Everything else though, spectacular. I had no downtime and every second of the game was enjoyable

Story and World:

Writing is great. You get to engage in probably some of the most beautiful backgrounds and environments in an indie title. The world is pretty heartfelt and instead of doing quests for reward, it's good to do just for the experience sometimes. The main quest is fine, I guess, but everything around it makes the world feel a little more alive. I have to admit, there's alot of subtlety going on in the plot so it's recommended you take your time with the world and its atmosphere.

As much as I'd love the story, the ending was tragically beautiful, but the lack of build up for the final battle left alot to be desired. I have already discussed the difficulty of the boss being weak but the build up to a finale was not there. The ending was quite sad and wonderfully executed, but I honestly believe it could have done more.


(also I'd kill for a DLC or a sequel. Honestly, leaves me begging for more.)

Very good game the music matches the vibe of the atmosphere, theme, and setting. I mainly wanted to play this game to learn more about laika from friends vs. friends but I was very surprised by how different the two games are. This surprise was good though as it showed me that brainwash gang have the skill to produce a game that is serious but also fun. The only thing I would say is I was disappointed in was how short the game was and I feel like the boss fights after the first two could be improved as they didn't have you move around as much or make you feel forced to block bullets with you bike while shooting. The first and second boss used these elements very well which is why they're my favorite but the other bosses don't do it as well. Otherwise I was still satisfied with the game nonetheless. I would defiantly recommend to other people.

Brilliant game and the story is very well written. Both dark and emotionally raw, intense and deep. I loved it.

Totally had a sob at the end of it... T_T

This review is a WIP but I just wanted to get some key ideas down as I slowly arrive to the last parts of the game.

For once, I'd like to start with the negative. Some gameplay elements -like the parry being linked to the directional change key or the reload mechanic being sometimes either clunky or frustrating in specific scenarios- dampen the overall experience and are a big source of frustration. Fetch quests, especially with how the tp mechanic functions, can be tedious (but I do appreciate that you get almost nothing for most of them, as it ties in well with the story), and bosses -while often fairly interesting can be both frustrating to fight because of their intrinsic design or because of the way the phases are structures (unlike a standard souls-like, each phases are mostly entirely identical, and require you to just redo the same thing every time you die).

However, no matter how frustrating some of it is, the game is an absolute must-play. The narrative is phenomenal, and the world building -through music, dialogues, side-quests or cut-scenes- is -while immensly sad and gloomy- truly wonderous. Being shoved in this world of desolation and death -not too much unlike ours, especially in the current worsening political and social climate- and having to cope with tragedies after tragedies is balanced with the soft moments of love and empathy shared with others throughout your journey. This game is so beautiful, and its atmosphere is unlike anything I've seen before. So sit through the bad, cause the good makes it all worth it!

One of the best story games ive ever played 10/10

I love my puppy :3

such a beautiful game

I love this game so much <333

This may well be the most fun video game I have played