I'm really on the fence with giving this a negative review. I played through the entire game and, until the last hour or so, I would have given it a thumbs up. This game is a prime example of the developers making the last boss fight (and to a lesser extent the last few levels) a completely different game than the ~25 hours leading up to it.

Additionally, there are some really odd decisions they made when making this game. Like making several of your characters really unlikeable, but treating them all like heroes. And the story gets really wonky towards the end, especially with some of your characters switching sides arbitrarily. And at one point in the game there is a massive ~40-minute battle where... the developers disabled saving. God forbid you are a human who may have something come up during that 40 minutes where you'd need to stop playing. (Note: I am one of those humans who had to stop playing about 30 minutes into that... so I had to start the entire slog of a battle again)

And equally mysterious of a design decision, they made the Miasma Powers (ie. magic) such a rare resource in the game that it can't really be used. Even with the skills, equipment, and modifications to regenerate power, you'll still only be able to use a power once every 4 battles or so. Making it something that, by definition, can't be used as part of your general strategy. Indeed, powers aren't even powerful enough that they make a huge difference. You can do just fine without ever using them.

All that said, most of the core mechanics are pretty solid. The stealth aspects are well done, the skill trees give decent utility, and it is satisfying to be able to crush encounters with careful planning. There are a few problematic bugs (most notably the teleporting and starting combat when leaving ambush mode), but the save-system means that you don't lose much progress when that happens.

Overall this game is SO CLOSE to being great, but a few poor decisions put a damper on it.

I'm really on the fence with giving this a negative review. I played through the entire game and, until the last hour or so, I would have given it a thumbs up. This game is a prime example of the developers making the last boss fight (and to a lesser extent the last few levels) a completely different game than the ~25 hours leading up to it. Additionally, there are some really odd decisions they made when making this game. Like making several of your characters really unlikeable, but treating them all like heroes. And the story gets really wonky towards the end, especially with some of your characters switching sides arbitrarily. And at one point in the game there is a massive ~40-minute battle where... the developers disabled saving. God forbid you are a human who may have something come up during that 40 minutes where you'd need to stop playing. (Note: I am one of those humans who had to stop playing about 30 minutes into that... so I had to start the entire slog of a battle again) And equally mysterious of a design decision, they made the Miasma Powers (ie. magic) such a rare resource in the game that it can't really be used. Even with the skills, equipment, and modifications to regenerate power, you'll still only be able to use a power once every 4 battles or so. Making it something that, by definition, can't be used as part of your general strategy. Indeed, powers aren't even powerful enough that they make a huge difference. You can do just fine without ever using them. All that said, most of the core mechanics are pretty solid. The stealth aspects are well done, the skill trees give decent utility, and it is satisfying to be able to crush encounters with careful planning. There are a few problematic bugs (most notably the teleporting and starting combat when leaving ambush mode), but the save-system means that you don't lose much progress when that happens. Overall this game is SO CLOSE to being great, but a few poor decisions put a damper on it.