This game has a lot of fun gameplay, and there is a really great immersive atmosphere to it that really gives it an overall good "feel" If you are looking for an RPG-ish game that will have a crazy amount content and a huge potential for gameplay hours- this is certainly the game for you!

Now, having said that- this game as far as quality control goes- is utter garbage. Plain and simple. Let me explain:

Stability: 3/10- As of writing this review, I have roughly 20 hours in this game as per steam. However, I have only made roughly 8 hours of progess into the game. The prevailance of bugs that will either soft lock you or crash the game are so numerous that I havent gone two hours straight without having to close the game out and restart it. This wouldnt be such a huge issue, except the game is designed around saving very infrequently. In order to save, you either have to sleep (and save) at a bed you have rented or "own", or you need to use one of your very limited "savious schnapps" items that are extremely expensive. The game focuses on you taking a methodical approach to everything, encouraging you to go slow, save infrequently and limit risk. This is a really great idea, but because of the crashes and bugs, it is just plain inexcusably poorly executed. In one session I lost 3 consecutive hours of gameplay- in which I had slept/rested multiple times as part of the story- yet no saves triggered at all. Wonderful.

Controls: 4/10- The controls have a lot of ambition! I love the directional attacking with your weapons, and it is a refreshing approach to combat that keeps things interesting and encourages you to not mindlessly button mash. At least, in theory. In execution, the controls outside of combat are fine. Nothin spectactular, very much so par for the course- it is when you get into combat when things start to fall apart. First, the directional attacking mechanism has an artificial "lag" to it. You move your mouse to the right- about half a second later the little indicator highlights that you are "considering" attacking from that direction. You them hold down the left mouse button to pull back, about a half second later- your character starts to lift their weapon in that direction. When the opportunity arises and you decide to attack- you release the mouse button to unlease hell upon your enemy! And another half second later you actually start to swing. That is about a second and a half of artificial waiting added into the attack sequence- despite the game encouraging you to think fast, and be on your feet to adjust to what the enemy is doing- it forcefully slows down your every action. On top of this- there is a "bullet time" effect almost every single time an enemy attack you, slowing down things even more. These things combined make one-on-one combat an absolute boring, uninsiring chore.
Additionally- Early on the game teaches you to "always move" during combat and to keep stepping to the side. However, the games built in "lock on" mechanism that is designed to help aind in the directional; combat is actually completely incapable with keeping up with sidestepping maneuvers in fast paced combat, on top of this- the lock actually stays forced to the target despite not even keeping up. This leads to one of three things-
1: You practically stand still in combat, making it boring and not engaging.
2: You stay locked on but can not hit your opponent- or just get stuck playing a game of ring around the rosie
3: You are CONSTANTLY toggling on/off the lock on mechanism every 10 seconds in combat.
Another oddity is that if you are on a relatively steep slope and you jump- for some reason you jump away from the slope- like if you are kicking off a wall or something.
Sometimes You have to reposition yourself a half dozen times or more before the game thinks you are in an acceptible spot to open a door or pick an object up.

Story: 6/10- Some really epic moments- with entirely way too much filler. It is hard to stay engaged with the story at times, because part of the story will be something as broad as "figure out what to do next" with little to no guidance at all.

Sound: 8/10- Pretty good sounds, nothing absolutely spectacular, but definitely solid. Sounds are clear and balanced with a decent enough variety that none of the sounds stand out in a bad way.

Graphics: 8/10- Really solid graphics, beautiful landscapes, dense brush, dark woods, rain effects, mud, lighting... This game has got it down.

Performance: 4/10- Probably partially because of the graphics, but a high-tier rig is likely to be getting 30-40 FPS on high settings at 1080p, usually with spikes during times of action down into the 20s. Just plain awful. You can tone the graphics down a lot to bring the averages up to 60fps, but you will still get bad drops into the 30s. This certainly feels like a console port with little optimizing.

Progression system: 5/10- Bland, uninspired RPG elements are par for the course. You get perks for various skills and stats as you level them, it feels fine most of the time, but nothing great. Additionally, the game throws tons of "unbeatable" fights at you at the start of the game without telling you they are supposed to be unbeatable. VERY soon after they are done throwing all these unbeatable fights at you you learn a couple extremely basic skills that you for some reason just were incapable of doing before- which makes even the strogest of opponants in the game laughably un-threatening. There isn't really progression- there is a switch that gets flipped that turns you into a combat God, and throws easy fights at you for hours until you meet up with one of those "unbeatable" people from before to try to trick you into thinking "You've come such a long way! ohhh so impressive!"

This game has a lot of fun gameplay, and there is a really great immersive atmosphere to it that really gives it an overall good "feel" If you are looking for an RPG-ish game that will have a crazy amount content and a huge potential for gameplay hours- this is certainly the game for you! Now, having said that- this game as far as quality control goes- is utter garbage. Plain and simple. Let me explain: Stability: 3/10- As of writing this review, I have roughly 20 hours in this game as per steam. However, I have only made roughly 8 hours of progess into the game. The prevailance of bugs that will either soft lock you or crash the game are so numerous that I havent gone two hours straight without having to close the game out and restart it. This wouldnt be such a huge issue, except the game is designed around saving very infrequently. In order to save, you either have to sleep (and save) at a bed you have rented or "own", or you need to use one of your very limited "savious schnapps" items that are extremely expensive. The game focuses on you taking a methodical approach to everything, encouraging you to go slow, save infrequently and limit risk. This is a really great idea, but because of the crashes and bugs, it is just plain inexcusably poorly executed. In one session I lost 3 consecutive hours of gameplay- in which I had slept/rested multiple times as part of the story- yet no saves triggered at all. Wonderful. Controls: 4/10- The controls have a lot of ambition! I love the directional attacking with your weapons, and it is a refreshing approach to combat that keeps things interesting and encourages you to not mindlessly button mash. At least, in theory. In execution, the controls outside of combat are fine. Nothin spectactular, very much so par for the course- it is when you get into combat when things start to fall apart. First, the directional attacking mechanism has an artificial "lag" to it. You move your mouse to the right- about half a second later the little indicator highlights that you are "considering" attacking from that direction. You them hold down the left mouse button to pull back, about a half second later- your character starts to lift their weapon in that direction. When the opportunity arises and you decide to attack- you release the mouse button to unlease hell upon your enemy! And another half second later you actually start to swing. That is about a second and a half of artificial waiting added into the attack sequence- despite the game encouraging you to think fast, and be on your feet to adjust to what the enemy is doing- it forcefully slows down your every action. On top of this- there is a "bullet time" effect almost every single time an enemy attack you, slowing down things even more. These things combined make one-on-one combat an absolute boring, uninsiring chore. Additionally- Early on the game teaches you to "always move" during combat and to keep stepping to the side. However, the games built in "lock on" mechanism that is designed to help aind in the directional; combat is actually completely incapable with keeping up with sidestepping maneuvers in fast paced combat, on top of this- the lock actually stays forced to the target despite not even keeping up. This leads to one of three things- 1: You practically stand still in combat, making it boring and not engaging. 2: You stay locked on but can not hit your opponent- or just get stuck playing a game of ring around the rosie 3: You are CONSTANTLY toggling on/off the lock on mechanism every 10 seconds in combat. Another oddity is that if you are on a relatively steep slope and you jump- for some reason you jump away from the slope- like if you are kicking off a wall or something. Sometimes You have to reposition yourself a half dozen times or more before the game thinks you are in an acceptible spot to open a door or pick an object up. Story: 6/10- Some really epic moments- with entirely way too much filler. It is hard to stay engaged with the story at times, because part of the story will be something as broad as "figure out what to do next" with little to no guidance at all. Sound: 8/10- Pretty good sounds, nothing absolutely spectacular, but definitely solid. Sounds are clear and balanced with a decent enough variety that none of the sounds stand out in a bad way. Graphics: 8/10- Really solid graphics, beautiful landscapes, dense brush, dark woods, rain effects, mud, lighting... This game has got it down. Performance: 4/10- Probably partially because of the graphics, but a high-tier rig is likely to be getting 30-40 FPS on high settings at 1080p, usually with spikes during times of action down into the 20s. Just plain awful. You can tone the graphics down a lot to bring the averages up to 60fps, but you will still get bad drops into the 30s. This certainly feels like a console port with little optimizing. Progression system: 5/10- Bland, uninspired RPG elements are par for the course. You get perks for various skills and stats as you level them, it feels fine most of the time, but nothing great. Additionally, the game throws tons of "unbeatable" fights at you at the start of the game without telling you they are supposed to be unbeatable. VERY soon after they are done throwing all these unbeatable fights at you you learn a couple extremely basic skills that you for some reason just were incapable of doing before- which makes even the strogest of opponants in the game laughably un-threatening. There isn't really progression- there is a switch that gets flipped that turns you into a combat God, and throws easy fights at you for hours until you meet up with one of those "unbeatable" people from before to try to trick you into thinking "You've come such a long way! ohhh so impressive!"