Recent reviews by hikimori911

i think that i expected too much, but tldr this game is on par at best with GRIS with all same positives and negatives. more details:
- still good soundtrack by Berlinist - in some cases its better integrated in game in non distracted manner, but i couldn't remember a single tune or track after finishin game
- still good visual, but i probably would prefer more contrast GRIS style, somehow there are some places in this game where you couldn't understand if you able to stay on something or not
- still combat sucks - its very basic, limited and just not feeling right, so for players who aren't hardcore some segments could be too hard, but for more skilled players there aren't enough visual/audio feedback about enemy attacks to react in time (for non basic enemies ofc) and no feedback about hits and when you could use non basic attacks
- still there are a lot of places where you could lost and misunderstood author intention and while thinking about looking for collectibles, somehow find yourself on main road and won't able to return without restarting chapter
- still confusing story, don't get me wrong its fine, but... confusing
Update:
- i forgot to mention that there aren't much settings in game except for sound, it runs fine even on steam deck, but you can't even remap controls. game could be better if there will be hdr support, because visual part of game is one of most prominent pros of game

so... if you want something like "story"-focused game with minimalistic puzzles, good soundtrack and wouldn't mind to spend not so big money, its safe choice - buy it, but if you expect something a just little bit more, you could be dissapointed like me

So far it's one of the best jrpg i've ever played and hope to finish
- good story and character development, yes there are some anime cliches, but in general much better than i initially thought and by the way non stupid bad guys make it even more appealing
- art style is meh, but its subjective thing
- music is interesting but not as catchy as in persona or smt series
- half-fish half-men mini boss was crazy, if you know you know
- performance on steam deck is trash in some locations and conditions but it slightly better than in demo and i hope that at some point maybe it could be at least stable 30 everywhere

after another 50-60 hours and actually finishing the game:
- like side stories that could be easily missed and overall story was in general fun, while being again too generic anime about heroes with different sauce
- still think that its a very game good game, but....
- there is no option to quickly end battle, restart battle button is good, but not when you unprepared before bosses and couldn't change archetype or equipment before battle start and only one way to do that is alt+f4
- end game boss gauntlet is worst thing that could be added, even if its optional
- fishing mini game is boring and i still couldn't understand how to trigger them in end game after some plot twist
- music is still mediocre at max, some themes are interesting and new when you listen them a few times but not 20-30, in other Atlus games it wasn't a problem
- some optional high ranked bosses while having interesting mechanics feels like as much more serious challenge than whole previous game while leaving very situational rewards

Update May 2024: I was wrong, don't repeat my mistakes. This game is doomed. As of June EA is introducing anticheat that just remove feratures from games that were there since launch. I don't participate in esports modes in this game and don't give a **** about leaderboards, but this patch removes ability to play on steam deck which lately was my preffered way to play this game with friends, yeah i wasn't competitive there, but it was fun, now it isn't.

Everything that have been written below this line is true, but i don't care anymore. Don't give a chance for game that decides to make focus on much smaller audience that was playing for competitive, not for fun or for offline modes only. Please, don't repeat my mistakes. I've changed my review score to not recommended
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Despite of huge wave of critisicm for this EA WRC game, I want at first to say thank you to the team that is responsible for this game. It's definitely was launched in very rough state, but right now after a few patches it feels and plays much better than at launch and much closer to expirience that we expected to see

Pros
- tracks are long and fun, feels like much better version of DR 2.0(Dirt Rally)
- huge amount of regions on start and a few new more have been added free of charge
- option to change seasons is nice and welcome, but works not on all regions in the same way
- wow, finally we have tutorials in rally game that don't suck
- subjectively, i want to emphasize on SUBJECTIVELY, car behavior while driving is better than in DR 2.0 and massively better than in previous WRC mostly because of the option to apply tuning in non career modes that helps with mitigating some input specifics and adopt to driving style
- music in main menu is just wow
- much better multiplayer options than in DR 2.0 and wrcg/wrc9, even crossplatform private championship finally is working and setup could be done from game itself

Cons
- game feels pricey for many of my friends while comparing to DR 2.0 and previous WRC games that are packed with the same amount of content, but cheaper
- performance is still in some rare cases is not ideal, here and there you still could face some micro stutters, especially on tracks that weren't driven before
- season settings on some tracks feels like doing nothing
- rally pass is hidden in menus and don't have details how to achieve exp/rating in other activities and unlickily it's content isn't appealing to spend time on it
- a lot of cars don't have alternative liveries
- graphics feels worse than in WRCG and DR2.0, especially water and other weather effects, while overall geometry/environment complexity is much bigger and tracks are longer. DR 2.0 and WRC9 while displaying much less details in some occasions looks much more visually appealing, probably because of better color grading/palette
- menu navigation is worse than in all mentioned games, especially in car tuing section where in dirt rally you was able to switch between screens with only one button, in EA WRC you need to open each screen individually
- current AI difficulty require refinement, I was testing it with constant value of 70% and in some regions I could easily be faster for more than minute than AI, while in others i easily could be 1-2 mins behind it

Overall mentioned cons after a few patches feels not critical for me, but i still hope that some parts will be improved/addressed in future.

Не дивлячись на те, що це ранній доступ і більша частина гри це прості табличні інтерфейси і графіки - дуже швидко плине час і відрватись доволі тяжко.

Побільше б івентів, туторіал, який би хоч трохи вводив в курс того, що відбувається і було б ще краще.
10 з 10 визнаних найимлішими красних панд, які потім збігли с зоопарку і почали тероризувати місто

Кратко: всё ещё нереально красивый слёзовыжимательный платформер с офигенной музыкой, но местами перегруженным интерфейсом и управлением. Стоит поиграть любителям платформеров и метроидваний, когда починят технические проблемы.

Что хорошего:
- арт часть сделана круто, местами правда глаз цепляется за не очень хорошо вписанные в него 3Д модельки (но это я уже придираюсь)
- нереально крутой саундтрек, как и в первой части
- очень отзывчивое управление во время платформинга
- система осколков, явно подсмотренная в других метроидваниях
- запоминающиеся персонажи
- интересные вызовы и испытания - гонки, арены, загадки с закрытыми ресурсами, порталами

Что могло было быть лучше:
- эту игру я уже не могу рекомендовать друзьям слабо знакомым с платформерами, потому что уровень навыков, необходимых для прохождения даже на лёгком уровне сложности, несопоставим с первой частью, в которой платформинг не был завязан настолько сильно на тайминги и ловкость рук
- перегруженная система паркура, которая может и отлично работает если проходить игру залпом, но уже через пару дней паузы начинаешь теряться/путаться нажимать левый или правый триггер, чтоб пролететь или притянуться к разноцветным фонарикам/цветочкам/песку, что дико бесит
- крайне переусложнённая боевая система, где наличие большого количества орудий и спец приемов по идее должно добавлять реиграбельности, но доставляет больше проблем, чем решает, и часто нарушает концентрацию и ощущение потока, что особенно больно во время битв с боссами на не лёгком уровне сложности. Поэтому намного чаще есть ощущение, что не хватает кнопок и рук, а не ощущение - "вау, я могу этой способность/оружием эффективней убивать вот этих ребят"
- (надеюсь что починят патчами, но на момент написания обзора...) нередко проскальзывающие дерганные анимации - персонажа дико коробит пока он стоит в айдл анимации, особенно после катсцен
- на карте половина встреченных моков отображается, а другая половина - нет. и те и другие важны для сайд-квестов и непонятно почему бы не отображать их всех, если встретил хотя бы раз

очень красивая игра и тематика крутая, но вот геймплей слишком хардкорный и не очень фановый, многие механики плохо объясняются, в следствии чего большую часть времени новые игроки видят экран смерти =( дальше ещё больше хардкора и наступает полное отсутствие понимания как и зачем в это играть, очень обидно

Great small game with a funny jokes, pleasant soundtrack and good story. (and good prologue for next game)

Изначально был очень скептически настроен по поводу этой игры, но несмотря на тонны технических проблем, cейчас, спустя 24+ часов, хочу всё-таки поделиться своим мнением.

Положительные моменты:
- несмотря на то, что кажется поначалу, что боёвка очень примитивная, ближе к концу игры прям как в Год оф Варе смачно нарезаешь всё живое
- неплохой сюжет и хорошие некоторые кат-сцены
- музыкальное оформление, хоть и минималистичное, но приятное
- интересные и полезные длц, хоть тут авторам пазлов кто-то дал волю и они выдали уровни местами лучше чем в основной игре

То, что могло быть лучше:
- игра бюджетная, переиспользуется много всего и часто (но если честно, увидев все локации, не особо считаю это прям большим минусом, разнообразия хватает)
- игра иногда крашится
- видно, особенно по началу, как при повороте камеры прогружаются геометрия уровня и текстуры
- сворачивание игры приводило местами к фотомоду, когда вроде бы пауза спала, но худа нет, всё кроме камеры замороженное, были и другие рандомные гличи, ломающие логику
- пару раз очень сильно заблудился или не понимал куда идти, компас показывал туда, куда невозможно было пройти
- перегруженная система прокачки, особенно на русской локализации, когда почти все кристаллы для улучшения называются одинаково %)

в итоге при наличии приемлемой для Вас скидки стоит имхо взять, крайне мало хороших и продуманных, пусть и бюджетных, игр в таком жанре выходит в последнее время

Long story short: It's used to be really good game if it haven't had a second half with a hilarious amount of back tracking, silly placed teleports in music box room so it transforms all good emotions from game to routine work
!!! This review contains spoilers. Please don't read it if you want to avoid them. !!!

Pros:
- really good dialogs, jokes, memorable and funny characters
- nice work with switching between graphics (i was really surprised how well it is done, GJ guys)
- some rooms are working as really well done puzzles
- music... this music is almost the only thing that helps to not drop the second half of game
- hint system for cases when you are lost

Cons:
- magic shurikens are almost useless, i couldn't remember the place where they are needed and amount is not enough to use them in battles
- backtracking, a lot of it, i like the idea that you need to switch between 8bit and 16bit to access new areas, but teleports positiong and places where you could switch between character modes are sometimes placed in not intuitive places or distant ones and when you realises that you need to redo all backtracking once again, you become mad. Usually in my reviews I am not comparing game with others, but... in Hollow Knight there are also a lot of backtracking but game could be completed without it(has separate ending and you are not forced to do all this stuff) and this backtracking usually hides some additional useful things that just helps you if you can't beat the game with current upgrades.
- minor one, but i have UX issue with navigation using controller, when i opened an area map and instead of closing it using "B" or circle button on dualshock i was switching every time to global map

Its very sad that Steam forces you to choose between only two opposite options for recommendation, because i really want to recommend it to at least few of my friends but for me after finishing a game cons are much bigger than pros.

One of the best slashers that i've played.
Gorgeus variety and combinations, good diffuculty balance.
A little bit problematic twitch mode if noone are watching your stream =( (block progress)
Want to recommend to all metroidvania, rogue-like lovers. 10/10