I hadn't heard much about this game before I played it. I didn't even know the plot. I also don't remember adding it to my wish list (perhaps a spooky ghost added it). However, after pressing "New Game" I was quickly engrossed in the story because of the unique presentation of the story. The sound design and cinematography really stood out as exceptional.
The story is told mostly through the environment. All the characters talk to each other like real people, they don't get too "video game-y" (go here and do this, then do that, etc.), and, best of all, they don't have a voice in your head the whole game. No one is talking to you through walkie talkies, or a headset, or even telepathy. Even though the main character does have a sort of spirit inside of her it doesn't talk to her through words. It "talks" with a quick vignette effect and as waypoints in the world. I am never a fan of the voice in your head cliche in video games and I'm glad this game avoided it even though it could have easily added it. This makes more room for the soundscapes and score to fill the player's ears with atmosphere rather than exposition.
The game is a third person shooter, much like the developers' previous Max Payne series. The movement is fluid and I don't feel like I'm fighting the main character for control (ba dum tss). The fighting mechanics are probably the worst part of the game, which isn't saying much because it's not terrible. Without spoiling much, over the course of the game you can upgrade your gun to fire in different ways; essentially making it the typical arsenal upgrade that most shooters have. However, in this case I found that just using the starting gun mode was more than enough to take care of all the types of enemies when combined with the right super powers, so the other guns were more or less taking up extra space on my hard drive.
I had a great time playing this game and soaking in the amazing work all the developers put in to make it real. If I were to compare it to anything else I'd say it is like SCP meets Half-Life, but it does enough to distance itself from either of those. Pick this up when you can because I think it is one of the best games of the year.
9/10
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