Recent reviews by AWeirdLizard44

This has a lot of potential. Characters look and feel unique to play, the synergies you can wind up with in some of your randomly gained abilities and mods (memories and shards) are really cool, and there feels like a lot of room for skill and luck to work in tandem. Also, love to see a multiplayer roguelike in a time when similar feeling games are trying to be competitive (and getting crowded out. Rip Seekers of Skyveil).

Probably my favorite Amnesia game to date, and a great horror game overall. Really benefited from iterating on the first two, taking some of the better parts of Dark Descent and learning from the mistakes of Machine for Pigs, and continuing to expand on some of the spook of this world Frictional has created.

Atmosphere was, as ever, excellently crafted and maintained throughout a variety of environments and for the duration of the game. The use of light as both a guide for the player and a tool for the character's sake was balanced well against dark areas and concern of monsters.
Sound design was great and contributed a lot to the spook factor, though the fear noises were a little loud and set in a little fast, and monster sounds seemed to come too loudly through walls in some places, being more confusing than scary. Otherwise excellent though.

I felt like the light/dark/sanity mechanic reached a much better place for this game overall. I felt pressed for matches and oil at most times but never actually ran out of I was willing to push Tasie's limits in the dark.

The puzzles were not overly convoluted or difficult but felt satisfying to solve, whether because they were just challenging enough (for me and my meager audience of friends) or because the results in game both visually and mechanically felt good.

The narrative and worldbuilding felt back to Dark Descent roots. Like the previous games, a lot of it was conveyed through various notes or documents discovered, with occasional conversations (both past and present) supplementing as appropriate.

I don't have the energy to make a proper good/bad list, and I could probably ramble aimless for awhile about why I enjoyed this game, but to keep it concise: I enjoyed every minute of this game. The devs did a great job creating tension and potential for terror or stress. Consider giving this one a go.

This was a cute little duo puzzle game. Remarks that it's escape room -ish are pretty spot on. Beautiful art, consumable story, great atmosphere. Very cool. Took my wife and I 86 minutes to play through.

One caveat is that the store page is misleading, and I didn't see any reviews remark on this. The co-op is both mandatory as well as not split screen or online at all in terms of the game's faculties. You DO require two copies of the game, and each runs unnetworked individually. So it's "cross platform" in that any two copies of the game suffice. Could definitely have been more clear. But my wife got it on sale, and I had no problem dropping a few extra dollars to play it. Still recommend.

Honestly, this is an interesting game, and I'd like to take a second to break it down concisely, and address some of the things I've noticed going through the comments.

First: Easily one of the best melee combat systems I've ever seen. It's fluid, dynamic, and feels good. Also, and perhaps equally importantly (for all that time you might spend dead), it's also entertaining to watch.

Second: It IS peer-to-peer connections. I don't mind this too much, but it does mean if the host drops the game has to pause and migrate, which "best" case means someone in the match might take some damage they really shouldn't as things get confusing for a few seconds, and "worst" case means the match will drop entirely.

Third: The content in the form of game modes feels a little limited. I love 1v1 and 2v2 brawls, as I feel they easily embody the spirit of the game and exercise the power of the system well. Elimination/Death Match 4v4s are alright, since they let me play with several friends at once, but the notion of "honor" may or may not exist in any given match. Part of the game will mean learning to fight more than one opponent by yourself, and whether or not an informal code of honor develops will become apparent in time. The capture point mode, Dominion, feels lacking to me. I'm not sure what it is, but it just didn't seem like an entertaining mode.

There's a myriad of other little things to mention. There's a meta game where playing matches gives you a resource and you can spend that resource to help your meta-faction (no gameplay effects from whichever faction you choose) control territory which gives some bonuses.
There's also a whole slough of little bugs that appear. Yes, this is in beta, but it's a pretty late beta since they plan to release it in a few days. I might have expected some removed content, but not this many bugs. These will be things like items you've had for awhile being marked as "new" seemingly randomly (for me, it's whenever I launch the game most often, and occasionally every few matches) and sometimes their servers don't respond to give me loot after a match (though usually they do deliver it eventually).

As far as game balance goes, it seems alright. There's no real "hard-counters" among the classes- a highly skilled player will always have a better chance at winning- but there are some very minor rock-paper-scissors style shenanigans. Heavies tend to do better against Assassins, Assassins tend to better against Vanguards, etc. That is by no means any kind of guarantee however.

TL;DR:
When it comes down to it, I do recommend the game, and it was absolutely worth playing the beta, but I would (and intend to) wait to actually purchase the game until (A) the price drops OR B) the content expands (uncertain how it would)) AND C) Some of these bugs get ironed out.

So, I know this game got some pretty bad reviews by big critics. I'm going to have to stop you there.

At first glance, this game appears to be an incredibly confusing and non-intuitive system. Sure, you've got the basic menu, click and point and click item use mechanic, you can walk and look just like normal. Crouching, but no jumping. And then you look around and realize you have no idea what you're supposed to do. Or that you do, but you can't. Perform the ritual? Ok, sure... how do I do that? What am I missing?

Well, yes, yor objectives can be pretty obscure. More importantly, it can be easy to miss crucial items you might need, depending upon the path you choose. But, if you're careful, check everything twice, and read everything at least once (journals, books, letters, etc), the answers are all there. Experiment with things, and eventually, with the knowledge you gain from the protagonist's intuitions and documents scattered about, you will find the way.

Keep in mind that in the original game there were only three endings, with one "true" ending. The extended edition has eight, giving moer variance than "leave now, leave then, or win the game." You can reach the end in the extended edition and STILL BE WRONG. It means you missed something along the way. But maybe you like that ending better. While there is a eries of events that must be performed to progress at all, the steps you take in between can matter greatly.

Will you scour the depths of hell to find Anna? Or will you leave with your sanity and your life? Or perhaps you will follow in the footsteps of the Sabot Maker? I don't know, but if you don't choose carefully, you'll find your carelessness chooses for you.

3.5/5, for obscurity but ingenuity.

This game may not seem like much at first. "Oh, you're just some girl who wants to be queen. Another visual novel. Whoop dee doo."

And then you start dying. Over, and over again. Why didn't my schooling in poison save me from those poison chocolates, you ask? Because you didn't have enough skill in handling dogs to have one trained to sniff out poisons. After 4 grueling hours of dying and trying different combinations of training, I finally "beat" the game. By which I mean I successfully kept Elodie alive until her 15th birthday so she could be crowned. Once. And my country was still being ravaged by raiders. Plus, I haven't yet found all the ways to die. Or saved my cousin from dying from that snake in my garden that isn't local to this area.

So I must keep playing.

Overall: great game for casual play every once in awhile, 4.5/5

This game was not only adorable and addicting, it was incredibly and surprisingly deep.

A wonderful game, truly, once you find a way past the heavy lag. There are some files you can edit that clear it right up. Google it. And play it.

An excellent puzzler. Short, yet challenging. Purely puzzles, engaging a unique perspective.

Definitely a sick game. Awesome conspiracy plot combined with magnificent sneak and combat mechanics makes for a delightful and challenging story.