55
While I wanted to like Recompile thanks to the strength of its concept and visuals, it never managed to strike the right chords with me. Regardless of how sharp it looks, the experience is marred by weak metroidvania design and frustrating platforming that override the aesthetics. Players interested in this one would do well to watch Tron or track down the excellent first-person shooter Tron 2.0 instead.
50
The game does occasionally muster some remnant of satisfaction with the way its world and aesthetic is structured. But a case of artistic vision overwhelming implementation leaves Recompile with a muddled, at times horribly-frustrating sense of progression.
90
When you perform an inaccurate jump and fall to the void, you won’t be terminated until you reach the bottom, which means you can be free-falling for about ten seconds before the round concludes. However, these problems are secondary to the mixed, complicated emotions I experienced–from the pure joy and satisfaction when finishing a challenging area, to more complex and bitter thoughts about our humanity–and our efforts to be better. Hypervisor provokes conversations not only about our daily dependence on technology, our increasing levels of anxiety around it, or the isolation bubbles created through social media, but how our imminent future could be made even worse. Hopefully, we can change this trajectory before it’s too late–if it isn’t already too late.
2
Garbage. First off, what's with all the long walks for no reason? Do I really need to run for 30 seconds on a bridge before you blow it up and I have to go the other way? Just blow it up right away, stop wasting my time with pointless running. Second, the speed I want text to appear on screen is instant. Third, I don't need 3 dialog boxes seizing the control away from me that I have to click maddly through because you decided to display it at a speed of a 3rd grader with english as a second language. It's not nessessary. Also, I'm sorry I died be cause your camera is bad. And why is the fall 20 seconds? It must be so I can contemplate how much longer I can play before I ask for a refund. Really cool artwork though, that's worth 2 points.
3
Remember the 90s where game dev studios made all these experimental, 3rd person platformer-shooters with terrible design flaws and they were nearly impossible to enjoy because you were struggling with the camera while also trying to combat enemies without being able to lock on to them? Do you like nonsense "hit the switch" puzzles? Do you think basic weapons like a shotgun that's completely worthless because it overheats is your idea **** time? Well, all those issues and more are back in Recompile. Do you enjoy slippery play control where you have to be so incredibly delicate with your jumping? Gone is the ability to even see where your character is going to leap to or any possible hint of depth perception, because they decided to 1. put no shadow underneath it and 2. the game is extremely dark 100% of the time with only very subtle neon lights to guide you. So if you have slightly bad vision (those with astigmatism, beware), good luck actually trying to figure out where to go next. Oh let's not forget the level design of the entire game is meant to completely screw you up and make you continuously fall off and die. I fell off the game's world within the first 10 seconds of playing the game. It's ridiculous. And then the game's "lore" is told through long, uninteresting corporate email communications between IT people - is this something I enjoy reading? NO! This is exact OPPOSITE of enjoyable. I would rather skim through articles on Wikipedia. At least I'd be getting some education. The game has a very minimal art style and music, as well as decent SFX, but it's also covered with ugly 80s ASCII art UI that only very old people are going to appreciate. I thought I liked it at first but in the end, I was just over it. Don't get me started on the game's almost indecipherable map. Do not bother with this game. I'm glad I didn't pay a penny for it (Amazon Games).
3
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
Recompile
Released On:
Aug 19, 2021
Metascore
Mixed or Average
68
User score
Mixed or Average
5.8
My Score
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Metascore
Mixed or Average
29% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
71% Mixed
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Sep 7, 2021
90
When you perform an inaccurate jump and fall to the void, you won’t be terminated until you reach the bottom, which means you can be free-falling for about ten seconds before the round concludes. However, these problems are secondary to the mixed, complicated emotions I experienced–from the pure joy and satisfaction when finishing a challenging area, to more complex and bitter thoughts about our humanity–and our efforts to be better. Hypervisor provokes conversations not only about our daily dependence on technology, our increasing levels of anxiety around it, or the isolation bubbles created through social media, but how our imminent future could be made even worse. Hopefully, we can change this trajectory before it’s too late–if it isn’t already too late.
Aug 23, 2021
87
Recompile is the complete adventure package. It has good gameplay, an intriguing minimalist story, striking visuals and music, and developers who respect the player’s ability to explore on their own. Go get it, you won’t be disappointed.
User score
Mixed or Average
32% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
36% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
32% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
Sep 3, 2021
9
I really enjoyed the game. the music and the amtosphere are amazing. The story is really good too and ad more hour to the game if you want to discorver all of it.
Sep 2, 2021
8
After all those genres combined, i think that, Recompile, is mostly a narrative game after all. I found the story incredible interesting and well written. The gameplay is fun too, specially the platforming. The biggest problem for me was having to wait until i reach the bottom of the map every time i fall off; there are always large falls and become tedious quickly. But that was my only problem tbh. The bosses are wonderful, the music fits the story in every scene and the controls are as responsive as they should be.
Aug 19, 2021
65
In the end, despite some big design mistakes, Recompile remains a very funny title that will offer a wonderful trip in a very colorful universe to its players. The flaws and the too great facility of the title are, without any doubt, compensated by its enchanting atmosphere and its more than pleasant game feeling. Far from being a must-have Metroidvania, Recompile will nevertheless be the kind of title that, although it doesn't offer anything new, will keep a small place in the memory of the players who will have the courage to launch into its adventure.
Aug 19, 2021
60
Recompile is a game that promised a lot but in reality is lost in itself. All the gameplay mechanics are dull and shallow, especially within a structure much more linear than it may seem at first.
Aug 19, 2021
60
Recompile is a competent metroidvania with a strong story and great writing let down by overly bland gameplay. Its platforming and puzzles are too simplistic, and its infrequent combat can frustrate, but hunting for bits of lore between those sections still managed to stay interesting. It's a short-lived and sometimes forgettable metroidvania, but with a story that still makes it a few hours well spent.
Sep 7, 2021
50
The game does occasionally muster some remnant of satisfaction with the way its world and aesthetic is structured. But a case of artistic vision overwhelming implementation leaves Recompile with a muddled, at times horribly-frustrating sense of progression.
Dec 10, 2021
7
It is a fine 3D platformer with a great, artistic concept of the setting and audiovisual design. The ambience is fantastic and calming. Level design in case of geometry was satisfying and traversing through mainframe was pleasant. Unfortunately there are a few flaws. Falling off a platform takes 6 to around 20 seconds before you die and respawn. Bosses were very similar and the difficulty of fighting them felt artificial. Puzzles were very simplistic. Working out the logic gates had great potential at first but next tasks of this sort weren't challenging. I also found writing of characters ridicilously made stupid for the sake of the plot. Other than that, it's a fine platformer. It has and does what you would expect from a 3D platformer, but it doesn't bring anything new to the genre or to gaming as a whole in terms of mechanics or storytelling. You could even say that there's small variety in new options in terms of travelling through levels. For me it is 6/10 but it has a potential to be a very good game.
Aug 30, 2022
3
Remember the 90s where game dev studios made all these experimental, 3rd person platformer-shooters with terrible design flaws and they were nearly impossible to enjoy because you were struggling with the camera while also trying to combat enemies without being able to lock on to them? Do you like nonsense "hit the switch" puzzles? Do you think basic weapons like a shotgun that's completely worthless because it overheats is your idea **** time? Well, all those issues and more are back in Recompile. Do you enjoy slippery play control where you have to be so incredibly delicate with your jumping? Gone is the ability to even see where your character is going to leap to or any possible hint of depth perception, because they decided to 1. put no shadow underneath it and 2. the game is extremely dark 100% of the time with only very subtle neon lights to guide you. So if you have slightly bad vision (those with astigmatism, beware), good luck actually trying to figure out where to go next. Oh let's not forget the level design of the entire game is meant to completely screw you up and make you continuously fall off and die. I fell off the game's world within the first 10 seconds of playing the game. It's ridiculous. And then the game's "lore" is told through long, uninteresting corporate email communications between IT people - is this something I enjoy reading? NO! This is exact OPPOSITE of enjoyable. I would rather skim through articles on Wikipedia. At least I'd be getting some education. The game has a very minimal art style and music, as well as decent SFX, but it's also covered with ugly 80s ASCII art UI that only very old people are going to appreciate. I thought I liked it at first but in the end, I was just over it. Don't get me started on the game's almost indecipherable map. Do not bother with this game. I'm glad I didn't pay a penny for it (Amazon Games).
Aug 19, 2024
2
Garbage. First off, what's with all the long walks for no reason? Do I really need to run for 30 seconds on a bridge before you blow it up and I have to go the other way? Just blow it up right away, stop wasting my time with pointless running. Second, the speed I want text to appear on screen is instant. Third, I don't need 3 dialog boxes seizing the control away from me that I have to click maddly through because you decided to display it at a speed of a 3rd grader with english as a second language. It's not nessessary. Also, I'm sorry I died be cause your camera is bad. And why is the fall 20 seconds? It must be so I can contemplate how much longer I can play before I ask for a refund. Really cool artwork though, that's worth 2 points.
Sep 18, 2021
2
I waited for so long the release of this game... I had such high hopes. Unfortunately the amazing visuals and compelling story are killed by a subpar videogame. Clunky movements, then you die and you are forced to go trough the cutscenes without skipping, I could go on and on. Such a wasted potential
Summary This atmospheric, Metroidvania hacking adventure lets you take control of a semi-sapient program struggling against deletion. In the sprawling 3D world of a Mainframe, Recompile features intense combat, tight 3D platforming, super-powered abilities and an environmental logic-based hacking mechanic.
Platforms:
- PC
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox Series X
Initial Release Date:Aug 19, 2021
Developer:
Publisher:
