This is not a game I would have normally picked up, and if Epic wasn't giving it away I probably would never have played it. It just never showed me a hint of a direction or reason that would draw me in. But as a free game to deviate a bit? I've followed that path before and even found some fun on the way. This time though? Well I can't deny quality when I see it, but this one just isn't for me.
Story: Honestly I really can't tell you much about the story because there really isn't much to talk about. You play a young woman who wakes up in the trash (literally your first mission is to escape the trash compactor) missing your forearm. Pissed off you start climbing... it could be for revenge, it could be to escape, I honestly don't know, and while the game does have story beats in the form of short cutscenes between each chapter, they don't really explain anything so much as set a tone.
And it's not like you can count on the in-game scenes to tell you much more. The areas you travel through at first seem to make a logical sense going through some sort of complex, but this sense is shattered around the half-way point when you start going to random cities, complexes, houses, and euclydian spaces that are more made to fit the gameplay then tell anything. If you can get anything out of the story, then you did far better then I with it.
5/10
Graphics: You will play this game from a first person point of view as you run, dive, and perform parkour through a variety of environments, and I have to say it all looks absolutely gorgeous. The whole game takes glossy almost minimal-futuristic look to itself, and absolutely owns it. But the areas it takes place in, however, are far from as consistent. As noted during the story part, the areas you are in really carry no single tone outside this art-style, making it more of a collection of levels instead of a consistent world like most games.
But for as good as the game looks, this is also the odd game where I have to take issue with the user interface for reasons you would not expect. It's clean and very minimalistic like the rest of the game, even using the cursor to keep some of the more important details front and center very effectively. But if you look to the bottom of the screen, you see the biggest issue right away: the health meter.
This meter is a small red clover in the lower right corner of the screen. It keeps out of the way, but with how much "darkness with neon ambiance" the game uses, it's also incredibly easy to lose track of... and for how little damage you can take, this can be a huge issue. Later an ammo count will have the same issue on the lower left, too.
Overall though, this game looks gorgeous, even if some functionality suffers for it.
8/10
Sound: This is one place I have sing the praises of the Severed Steel: it sounds even better then it looks. The cacophony of battle when things get heavy is truly blood pumping and compliments the action with all the intensity you could ask for. For all the combat junkies looking for fast like a Doom game, you are in for a treat.
And then we can get to the music, which is absolutely perfect. You will be listening to a set of techno tracks that just flow beautifully, complimenting the battle in so exquisitely that I'm hard pressed to think of a better mashup for a game. I have a feeling more then a few people bought the soundtrack DLC to add to their libraries and frankly wouldn't be surprised if a rave DJ used some of it for a mix or two. It's solid as hell.
I can't speak for the voices though. Out side of "SHE'S HERE!" and some death yells, there really isn't much here at all. Sounds right, but the game doesn't really need much in the way of voices to work.
9/10
Gameplay: Sadly this is where the game failed for me, but this might well be a me thing in this case. As noted, this is very fast First Person Shooter where you will go through each level to complete defined goals told to you in huge white letters across the screen. And fast is the word, as your movement, despite being indoors, is based on parkour action instead of the standard you might expect for a shooter.
In fact, the first few levels have no enemies at all. They exist to show you how to slide, launch, double-jump, and run along walls as you will constantly once the game really begins. If this kind of motion sounds good to you, you are gonna love this game since it will never let you sit still. Further pushing this motion is your health: doing parkour protects you from damage while just a standard run or walk leaves you open to take the little damage it will take to end your run. Suffice it to say, this will encourage you to always keep moving. But this is where I personally had an issue with the game. I tend to want to play more tactically and found myself not nearly as in control of the situation as I wanted to be diving at break neck speed at all times without being able to even take a look around to see what parts of the environment I might use in the fight. Basically it just taught me I should avoid games like Mirror's Edge since that appears to be the whole point of it.
But that doesn't mean it doesn't do cool things with it, or make you adapt as you play. The levels are all very destructible, so depending on your weapon or the enemies in the room, you can expect to make Swiss cheese out of everything before you are done most of the time, changing how you need to get around in the think of the battle.
All in all combat is fast and furious and if the idea of parkour maneuvers during insane gunfights sounds good to you, then you are defiantly in the right place. That is exactly what this game is... no more and no less.
7/10
Bugs: Honestly I can't say much bad about how this game ran. Admittedly I had to fiddle with the graphic settings a little for the AMD software to be able to track framerates, but other then that, it ran like an absolute dream.
Score: While this is clearly not a game for me, I can not deny the overall quality of the game. And while the UI could have used a little more polish, it clearly does a lot right. It's fast, furious, liquid smooth, and if you are a fan of the style of action it offers, you will have a great time with it. So if you are a fan of games like Mirror's Edge, but wanted a lot more gunplay while you dodge and dive around, you probably want to give this game a shot!
7/10
System Requirements:
- Dual Core processor
- 8 GB RAM
- NVidia GTX 750
- 4 GB hard drive space
- Windows 10
System Specs:
- Ryzen 7 (5700X) 3.4 Ghz
- 32 GB RAM
- AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8 GB VRAM)
- Windows 11 (64 Bit)
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