Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good game. But I’m not sure it deserves all the hype it got last year.
It does some very clever stuff in terms of gameplay, with each character having their own unique battle system that synergise with the others.
And yes, the soundtrack is incredible.
In terms of the story, whilst it was interesting, the way the game drip-feeds you knowledge in the first two acts quickly became frustrating. There were multiple cutscenes where characters speak in such a vague, superficially poetic way. In reality it just felt pretentious.
Major story spoilers:
spoiler
The overall metaphor for grief is unique. I liked the concept of the characters being creations in this painting, and how that layer of reality feeds into the one you begin the game in. But it felt like everything was revealed all at once in Act 3. The game gives you very little up to that point, so it’s hard to emphasize with many of the characters. Perhaps replaying the game knowing what you know changes the perspective of it, but for a new player I’m not sure it’s the best way to tell a story.
Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion but I found the game aesthetically quite ugly. Many landscapes had a feeling of copy pasted Unreal assets that looked so same-y at points they became confusing to navigate (especially given the lack of a mini-map). The characters had these blank, uncanny stares half the time and the designs for some of them (Esquie in particular) just didn’t look good to me.
Oh and I’m really not sure why the devs decided to add entirely unnecessary platforming elements!
I found certain enemy attacks to be inconsistent and not well telegraphed, leading to some frustrating encounters were you had to memorise the parry timings rather than learn them from a valid cue.
I think the game deserves good reviews, but I’m not quite sure how it won so many GOTY awards. Perhaps it just wasn’t the game for me.
For me it hit the number one game I’ve played of all time. I went into the game cold not really knowing anything about it beforehand. The beginning hooked me right away. The battle system I loved (I was a big fan of super Mario rpg and its remaster). The characters I connected with quickly and the scenery I thought was beautiful and quite artistic and varied. Music was also fantastic. I also appreciate the company having the full 8 hour soundtrack on YouTube without ads and that they added so much new and fun post game stuff for absolutely no cost whatsoever. I thought the story drip was fantastic, and had me trying to figure things out like a murder mystery and being confused when my conclusions still didn’t fully add up. The platforming mini games I enjoyed and thought were a nice silly break from the regular loop. I ended up 100% it because I enjoyed it so much. I even bought some merch which is a rare thing for me.
I had some friends that agree with me 100%. I had some friends that thought it was good but not great. I finally had some friends that also thought it was alright but not for them. Everyone has different tastes :).