Well, now I feel obligated to write something down! Thanks to the people who showed interest. Here goes a spontaneous review attempt:
Betrayer is not what I thought it'd be. Looking at screenshots and the store page trailer, I thought it was some sort of stylish action RPG. I guess it kind of is, but it's also a detective game where you collect clues and interview witnesses. The trailer focuses on the stealth kills and such, making it look more action-packed, but it actually has quite a slow progression where it's often a better idea to skirt around the bad guys than it is to run in guns blazing. Muskets take kind of a while to reload... It's also something of a horror game, which I had no idea about going in.
The most striking thing is the visuals. Whether you play in black and white or not, as there is an option for it, it's very stylish. The colored mode has a HDR-inspired look with very bright and very dark colors, giving it a dreamy feel. I recommend playing an hour or two in BW, and then turning the color on, to get the best of both worlds in one playthrough. Personally, I loved the BW aesthetic, but found it a little hard to see the terrain and was happy to find that it's still decently aesthetically unique with the color turned up.
This is where the praise sort of stops, though. I'm torn on how much I actually like playing this game; it nails atmosphere and is creepy, at least for me, and I love seeing the lush and thick vegetation covering the forest you explore, but I'm also kind of bored with the gameplay progression. All you do is run around and try to find audio cues, as objects in the world give off a sound when you're close, since that's really the only viable way to find what you need. The vegetation is simply too lush and thick! The game's strength is also its weakness. It's even worse in the "other world", where draw distance has been reduced to basically the length of your character's arm and all you end up doing is mashing X to 'listen' (activate audio cues that tell you in which direction to go).
The same goes for the combat. I normally don't bother with stealth, because I couldn't really get it to work properly and the demonic conquistadors would find me even when I was crouchwalking only when the wind was blowing (which is how you're supposed to do it). They can also see you from miles away and come running at you before you even spot them, so for me the only option is to take the fight or sneak around it if possible. Since enemies stay dead while you're alive, but respawn if you die, the combat gets to be pretty tense and exciting, as you really don't want to have 15 guards spring back up, impeding your exploration. Especially considering you die in two melee hits, and the enemies are vicious! Being surrounded by three guys at once is a true "holy shit holy shit holy shit" moment that has me flailing and jumping around, trying to dodge their arrows while landing shots of my own.
To try and summarize; it's beautiful, creepy and cool, but a little too tedious and repetetive to play for like 5 hours straight. I'm enjoying doing about an hour a day, which equates to one of the 6-7 areas available, but after that I have to quit and play or do something else. At the price I paid, 4 on sale, it has been absolutely worth it for the style and atmosphere and I absolutely want to see where the story goes and learn who my character actually is, and who the maiden in red is. There is a lot of engaging mystery here, in my opinion, even if the gameplay itself isn't as engaging.
noooo I want to hear your thoughts on Betrayer.. from what I've seen you have a good eye for games and I've only put an hour or so into Betrayer and would love to hear impressions.
I made it to the first fort, rang the bell, and found some notes but now I have no idea where to go lol
You need to ring the bell again. When you do it the first time, you get taken to the "other world" but the maiden in red wakes you up. Any time you do it after that, you can go back and forth at will and the maiden doesn't disturb you.
and sorry it's nothing huge like some of the games that have been given out here lately ... but I really hope someone still finds these games cool
