zwolsa

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This is an awesome game. Unfortunately just not for me. The graphics and level design is amazing. God of war like amazing, although totally different of course. But I hate rogue-likes and difficult games. I play for stories and entertainment and not to be challenged. Give me this as a Tomb Raider without the combats or as an Uncharted and I have a new favorite game. That I don't like challenging shooters doesn't change the fact that this is a great game. Highly recommended to everyone who loves this genre.

The only game I played 3 times since it was released, in almost 40 years of video gaming. It's simple, it has a unique graphic style and a heartwarming story. It's not far away from Limbo and Inside. The difference is, it's not dark and it has a positive story. Like comparing Little Big Planet to Arkham Asylum. But you are also guiding a character through his journey. If you looking for challenges and excitement, leave it. If you appreciate innovative game design and creativity, go for it.

Actually a great game in a creative setting, which became so rare these days. What I hate about this game is the difficulty. There's no way that you beat the bosses, even at a very early stage, when one of the players is inexperienced. To me that's a huge design flaw. I know that it's game of the year and that it has great reviews. Nevertheless I am extremely disappointed. Why not provide a difficulty setting for each player or at least one for both? Not giving a choice, like in all these souls-like games, is nothing but arrogance to me. I'm only interested in stories, not in progressing as a gamer.

This is an awesome game. The story is great, so is the presentation, the acting and the sounds. I would give it a 10 if there wouldn't be some parts, that i found terrible and that finaly prevented me from finishing the game. I love the puzzles in sometimes unreal surroundings and the story. When i'm playing, i'm interested to hear/see/experience a story, like a book or a movie. Hellblade does a great job here. But as a story driven player the fights are simply too difficult for me, even on "easy" setting. Some of them lasts for 12 minutes or more with wave after wave of enemies, that attack you oftentimes from behind, while you fighting against another one. And some parts are just trial and error, like escaping a maze under time pressure. I hate that. That's bad game design, there is no excuse for this. And there are no hints or anything that makes it easier after x attempts. This was were I stopped playing it and i watched the rest on youtube. Summarized, when you not bothered by the parts that bother me, you're getting an awesome game. For future games the developers should think about the balancing. Why not make it really easy for players like me and really hard (what it is anyway) for the soulslike players. This what the difficulty settings are for.