Hydrophobia: Prophecy

Dark Energy Digital sets the bar incredibly high for every other developer out there as a company that not only cares and supports their games but continuously strives to improve them even after they have your money. Hydrophobia: Prophecy is not only the best iteration of the game to date, it is by far the most visually stunning and engaging game I've played on my PC since Crysis 2, and for only $12 you won't find a better game or a better bargain.

Quotation forthcoming.

There's a lot of interesting fodder here, but at this point, Dark Energy would be better off running with a clean slate instead of essentially patching and re-patching this one. If you are curious and can tolerate the low points, give it a run. But if you have already stepped into Kate's shoes on XBLA, there's no need to lace them up again.

Quotation forthcoming.

Third time's the Charm – first time it was XBLA Hydrophobia, then the game was released again as Pure and now we've got Prophecy. Enough tries we say. [July 2011]

Even after a number of overhauls and improvements, Hydrophobia stays bleak and dull. [July 2011, p.113]

Hydrophobia Prophecy suffers from more than a fear of water: It's also afflicted with acute blandness, brain dead AI, and chronic backtracking. [Sept 2011, p.73]

As Sir_Kiko said it, "Ignore the haters". That said, I can understand why some people hate this game. For starters, even though I'm fairly certain this game is classified as an adventure game, it's really a "puzzle game with guns". I know, most games that would be classified as that are c*** - but that's because they are imbalanced. Hydrophobia is NOT imbalanced at all. It has the right blend of puzzles and shooting. That said, if you dislike puzzle games, (or happen to be impatient, or bad at creative thinking) your going to hate half of Hydrophobia, and therefore you'll find no fun in the guns and hate the whole thing. So long as you are 1) at least a bit patient, 2) at least a bit creative and 3) don't mind getting the c*** scared out of you occasionally, you'll probably love this game. Sadly, this game has absolutely no replay value, since you'll already know all the solutions to the puzzles. There's still "Challenge Mode", though.

Hydrophobia was a fun, short, third person shooter. It was just a bit clunky. I made it all the way through a few times, but there are better third person shooters sold for dirt cheap a decade later.

Hydrophobia is a short but enjoyable game, with nice graphics and effects. Although the game is relatively short and the storyline is not too complex, it deserves a 7/10 IMHO. I would definitely recommend it.

I was expecting for quite some time to get around this one. I feel sorry to give this a low score because it seems there was really an effort put into making this a good product. At the very beginning of the game, it reminded me of Dreamfall, which is one of my favorite games of all times. The two games are very much different, BUT, both have adventure elements in them, but are NOT controlled with the classic point n' click interface, and both are, well, rather weak in terms of gameplay. How come I've played and enjoyed every one of my playthroughs with DF, and on this one I just waited eagerly to finish and uninstall it already? I'll start with the good, though: Hydrophobia does it nicely in the terms of setting and atmosphere. The graphics are interesting enough and the water mechanics and original engine were justly praised, and I honestly wish someone would make some more use of the HydroEngine. The soundtrack is also nice, even though it feels a little 'off' at times, it's perfectly fine, dramatic and intense and fits the game and environment. Unfortunately, I'm finding myself proceeding so fast to... The Bad: Unfortunately, not much else is done well here. I've mentioned before a weak gameplay, and it indeed felt weak for me. The game has SOME slight puzzleadventure elements, which I think the devs should have used some more because it could potentially save the game. Instead it relies on action, which is mostly consisted of awkward platforming, clunky combat, and mundane obstacles shooting. And no matter how much medals or collectibles I've earned (which are much appreciated, but still) I just felt I keep doing the same thing over and over again. And it wasn't a fun thing I was doing back there. I've also mentioned the faint resemblance I felt to DF, and that both games had weak gameplay in my opinion. Yet Dreamfall relies heavily on a STORY which saves its ass and making it easily a favorite of mine. Does a game have to rely on storytelling to be a worth title? No. But it should at least tell a good one, to pull us from the, at times, horrendous gameplay. You'd cover most of Hydrophobia's story on its first act (the game has 3), the rest just felt like poor excuses to run from point A to point B and do X. I really thought they were going somewhere deeper with all the mess they've created, but no. When I realized that I was going to complete the game despite not having so much fun with it, I prayed it'd at least have a good ending. It didn't. I did get to create water-pillars, which was cool. And then there was a random boss battle, which made it not cool at all. So, yeah, I got the impression this title is story-driven and found out that it wasn't really so true. There aren't many characters and the existing once don't seem to have much depth. And. They. Are. Dubbed. Irritatingly. I'm so sorry. I really tried to get used to it, but at some point I just stopped noticing what our hydrophobic hero and her useless sidekick were saying. The Ugly: As I said, this is all kinda sad. Even tragic in a way. The 'Prophecy' version is an improved one over the original Hydrophobia title, which got many complaints and bad reviews. I never tried it, only read about the process, and it seems the developers really tried and wanted to listen to the customers and give them what they want. They really tried to make massive improvements according to the feedback they received. There's even a "dev feedback" option where you could send them your opinion through the game! Where else have you seen such things? Still, if this is the 'revamped' version, then, and I feel to terrible saying this, it's no wonder that Dark Energy is now defunct. I actually wish they had another chance at making some other stuff and possibly get better and make good products. But Hydrophobia Prophecy simply turned from a title which grabbed my attention and anticipation, and seemed to cool and unique, to a very big 'meeeh', and later into a big annoyance which I'm glad is over. I might try and play this game again in a few years for old times' sake, but... I doubt that.

An attractive athletic girl must work her way through improbable dangerous puzzle rooms, occasionally shooting enemies. It's Tomb Raider in a ship. Except that the girl isn't nearly as interesting as Lara Croft, and the inside of a ship isn't nearly as interesting as ancient ruins. We see glimpses of a dark futuristic world amok with terrorists, but none of it seems related to the immediate tasks of jump, climb, shoot. On the plus side, the water and other visuals are very pretty. The artists did their jobs well. But it feels less like playing a video game, and more like watching a futuristic remake of the Poseidon Adventure.