Well, after fourteen hours, and about ninety deaths, that's a wrap. Overall, I'm walking away really positive, and it perhaps my new favourite of the year.
My thoughts on the game, sort of mirror Mark Kermode's opinion on The Zero Theorem, a film I haven't actually watched. In that both, this feels like Mikami has thrown everything up in the air, and where it lands, it lands, and also, this feels like unbound Mikami, for better or worse.
To get the bad out of the way, I really hated both chapter 11 and 12. They felt really unfinished, and I actually have a handful of screenshots on my PS4, which show things like a rectangle of water just hanging off the edge, and other unsightly and easy to find blemishes. Both chapters also present gameplay scenarios, which I just don't think the fundamental mechanics are really up for handling too well.
Performance is another sore point, with some of the earlier chapters failing to hold on to that thirty frame rate.
Now for the good. The game can look absolutely beautiful at times, and the clear art direction really aides that. I also appreciate that, while far more on the nose than say Silent Hill, a lot of the imagery and monsters exist for a story reason, which gives them more a sense of purpose, rather than just feeling like they're flung in because they look cool.
Chapter 9 was absolutely fantastic, with some great atmosphere, decent puzzles, and some unscripted scares.
I think I actually liked both Ruvik, and the lore, more than most. There's nothing award winning here, but I felt both were interesting enough to give the game some driving force at least. I think I also liked the boss encounters more than most too.
So yeah, great game, in my opinion, and I can see myself going through new game plus sooner, rather than later.
