ShaamaanPL

This game is... Well, it's NOT a 0, 1 or any of the low scores people give it. It's also not a 10. It's a very... specific game, and that's putting it nicely. Yes, the primary game play loop is about... walking. Or, well, travelling from one place to another, with mechanics added in to make this more difficult (uneven terrain, crevices and the occasional enemy). That's all there is to it; that's the whole gameplay. Sprinkled in are VERY long cutscenes in classic Hideo fashion. If you enjoy games like Elite: Dangerous or Euro Truck Simulator then this will probably be OK with you. If you feel bored if you don't get to shoot an enemy in 5 minutes, then this will bore you to death. The problem with this game is that it was never really marketed appropriately, shrouding the game in mystery without ever showing the actual gameplay. So people expected it to be something it's not. But KNOWING what you're getting into is now a lot easier with gameplay videos and detailed descriptions, so if the concept of making deliveries, on a fundamental level, seems appealing then you're good to go. Visually the game is decent enough, with the real-life actors being portrayed really nice in-engine. Performance is smooth with no issues at all. Music and sound are very good as well. The story is... well, it's Kojima. I won't spoil it, suffice to say there are some really nice moments... and some really cringy ones too. Ultimately I'm having fun making aforementioned deliveries and rebuilding roads and pushing the story forward. But, again, this all ties back to the main loop - if you feel making deliveries is enough to keep you going then have at it. Otherwise, skip.

While the game certainly has some issues and oddities, it's got some of the best RTX implementation on the market and a very peculiar atmosphere. I'd recommend playing for the atmosphere alone, which is sublime. That said, I didn't like the difficulty curve - basic grunts and mobs are very easy to take out, but named enemies can deal surprising amounts of damage very quickly if you're not careful whilst having a huge health pool themselves. The game also lacks a New Game+ mode - it'd be great going back and revisit some of the missions without worry about getting your gear and upgrades again (and starting a new game == clearing out the save file). The final ending is also a wee bit lacking, with the last boss being somewhat uninteresting and not really giving too much closure (yes, I understand there are DLCs already made and planned and you can kee pon playing after the end but still). Still, it's hard to hate the game when so much care had been put into making the game world feel almost life-like in visual presentation. It... probably won't age well (photorealistic visuals tend to age poorly), but right now? On a 2070 Super with RTX and DLSS this thing rocks.

This game manages to nail almost everything right... except the narrative (and, to a much lesser extent, the gameplay). Unfortunately, narrative and story are paramount in a story-driven game, especially one with nearly no replay value, so no amount of visual fidelity can save this. Couple this with a somewhat boring gameplay and you have yourself a solid 5 - a mediocre game which you will play once, and probably never return to. Is it a 0/10? No, absolutely not. But equally it's not a 10 (nor anything nearby).

- price is HIGH; perhaps it's a regional-pricing thing, but it's really expensive in PLN. Way more than other titles that sell for 60USD... Than again, this seems to be some kind of a really screwy trend recently - same thing happened with Borderlands 3... Not cool, publishers! - Souls-like - I know that Souls games have a following, and the combat in this game seems ****? But I, for one, hate games with respawning enemies - it feels like a chore, rather than fun, once you're dealing with the same group of enemies for the n-th time (especially since the game has all this backtracking) - minibosses are just regular mobs with damage output x10, and possibly a minor change to the attack pattern - not really inspiring - unrewarding exploration, with most of it giving really disappointing colour swaps; there are a few exceptions (bonus HP, bonus healing, bonus force), but these are few compared... on top of that, the ponchos look AWFUL (ALL OF THEM) - no fast travel - this probably ties in with the second point but this really feels like a time waster - go to planet, do your thing, then you need to trek all the way back to the ship... then you go to another planet (you've already been on) and need to trek to the one place you can now unlock... and so on; way WAY too much time is wasted on backtracking - performance is mediocre: 1070 with an i7 7700 and plenty of RAM to spare, and the game will often dip below 60 on a 1080p... That said, there are some good elements - the combat feels OKish (as mentioned), the visuals, while nothing mind-blowing are solid enough (really like the way planet-to-planet travel was done), sound and music are spot on, some pretty good voice work and facial animations as well. Still, with the above - I just can't see the justification for the price. :/

Loved the subtle, creepy atmosphere and aesthetic of the game. Some moments were truly memorable, and are still in my head. The game is a "slow burn", so don't go in expecting things to explode in action packed scenes - this is definitely a "quiet" experience. The game clearly draws inspiration from works like Space Odyssey or Moon, and I think it manages to nail the story fairly well. Said story is best experienced "blind" without knowing what's going on. Admittedly, it's not very long and there were a few minor bugs / issues along the way. The most notable problem, for me, was the fact that the game has some really wonky controls on the PC, and works far better with a controller. That doesn't mean it's unplayable using a keyboard + mouse combo, but if you do have a controller lying around, it might be a good idea to use it. The other issues I faced were: a single, minor case of a model spawning in the wrong place in the geometry (I think this may have already been fixed as some updates have been released since), a single crash (thankfully the game auto-saves), and beyond that a few cases where I got a bit stuck because the on-screen instructions didn't line up with what I was actually supposed to do. This leaves the games length. I did buy the game for 40PLN (roughly 10 USD*), and for that price I can't complain at all; this is WITH the Epic discount currently on hand. Without the discount? Well, you need to judge for yourself - I'd probably find it a bit too short / expensive, but YMMV. Overall? I still highly recommend playing Observation. *- I don't know how much the game ACTUALLY costs in USD - regional pricing be damned. You, dear viewer, will need to check for yourself. PS. Be weary that most, if not all, of the negative reviews / scores are likely from people being salty that the game is on Epic Games Store. Obviously if that's a deal-breaker for you, then skip the game (or wait till it's available on another platform), but don't give the game a low score for that alone...