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I did not enjoy the whole experience as I did with the first, but the last few episodes elevates this game to the point of being very memorable, from everything that happens with the story, characters, boss fights, soundtrack, even if is a bit too cinematic, it was incredible to experience, hitting the same feelings as the first game.

This world, characters, creatures continue to be fascinating, although I have to say that I did not enjoy the experience as a whole like in the first game. Most of my frustration lies in the game feeling very samey. You have to connect the network, just like the first, but the end goal felt less compelling. Most new characters felt like a 1 to 1 replacement to ones in the first, even though is much, much better that interactions with them are face to face, not over hologram. And deliveries as a whole were maybe a little too easy? I used a truck more than walked, after the first few episodes I barely had to face BTs, some people might say they give way too many tools that make it easier. I don’t know if I agree with that part, since a lot of the QOL improvements I appreciate. The story felt like it was going nowhere for most of the game, although I might be misremembering and the first could have had a similar pace.

These frustrations come from various places, like expecting something much different than it was ever promised, not waiting to see where the story would lead, and some are really issues with the game, but I think the biggest factor was that I finished the first game 4 months ago. I was afraid I would have this feeling of repetitiveness early in the game on account of that, but it happened around the middle, with me feeling like the game was dragging a bit.

Despite these feelings, I still very much enjoy the concept of this game, making the deliveries is always fun, peaceful and interesting, even towards the end I picked the hardest route for me to walk just because I wanted it. Making the walk, listening to GREAT music, building a zip-line and saving a lot of time and effort, seeing that you can go up that steep slope that you didn’t think possible, it feels really nice and different than most games.

Combat is definitely more present and improved in this game. It is still basic, clunky and not very challenging, but I prefer this way since they give a lot of different tools do deal with it, instead of being limited tools, boring and frustrating. They even throw a few missions that you have to infiltrate and fight bad guys, I don’t remember the first game having that in main orders, if it did it was very limited, so it was nice for a change. I’ll be honest, I never care much for combat in this game, I think it is different enough that you don’t need regular combat like other games. Maybe avoiding BTs could’ve been the main focus. Regular combat with guns I never felt that it needed too much, but we obviously are going to have it, so at least they made it fun and not annoying.

I really had this feeling the story was not very well paced for most of the game, but the last few episodes they take it to levels I was not expecting. I think they made a better job of laying things out, it was less convoluted than the first. It’s a weird universe with a even weirder lore, the least they could do is make it more digestible, which they do, leaving less questions. The last few episodes, I’ll be honest, it’s pure cinema. Everything that was happening, boss fights, soundtrack, the scenery, everything works perfectly, combining with a story that really ramp things up towards the end, making it as emotional and impacting as the first game. I won’t forget very soon the last hours of this game, that’s for sure.

biggest destruction of a gaming franchise

I have a soft spot for this game, I like everything about it and the DLC wouldn’t have to do much other than add to the experience to have the same impact for me. And I’m happy to say it did. It didn’t feel like a money grab, or something they put out only to keep the game alive. It felt like the same level of care and passion was put into this, adding more to the incredible atmosphere and soundtrack, memorable bosses, fun and unique weapons, great level design with an intuitive and rewarding exploration, and a story that might be better than the base game, although I’ll have to watch some videos to comprehend it fully. The performance left a lot to be desired, very choppy in the beginning, which I found a way to circumvent, but the frame drops were constant. Anyway, I’m happy that this was made, revisiting this world it’s always going to be special.

Incredible! This game is just incredible! Can’t really find the words to talk about it, I feel like keeping it very simple. I’ll compare this game with Lies of P for me personally, not because they are similar, they are not, but because as with Lies of P, I see the game being announced, all I can think is “I REALLY want to play this”. But with both games that were things I felt could prevent me from doing so. Lies of P was for being a Soulslike, a genre I never played other than the first couple of hours. And this game was turn base combat, a system I have never played in my life, not for a minute. And this, as with Lies of P, I’ll bee forever glad I stuck through it, saw it was not rocket science, and came out of it playing one of the best games of my life.

Before I cared a lot about stories in games, I thought it always needed strong stories, but lately, after a lot of games trying to be movies, I kind of change perspective. However, this does not mean that we can’t have phenomenal stories in games, quite the opposite. This game gives one of the best stories recently in any medium. Original, creative, unpredictable, emotional, and a group of characters that are incredible, and won’t be forgotten.

And what about the soundtrack? Phenomenal! Countless times I had to increase my volume just to enjoy it more. The game also thrives aesthetically. The world they built is fascinating. It feels amazing just to walk around, explore and see more of the world. And exploration is very rewarding, I maybe even overdid it. I was definitely overleveled for the last third of the game, it took me a long time to move on with the story because I was exploring and didn’t know when to stop.

The combat is great. For my first turn base, I really dig it. I heard the mechanic of parry and dodging is not very common in this type of game, but for me the whole system felt very natural. Combining skills, the weapons passives and pictos, everything is amazing to see it play out during combat. Really enjoyed this.

There’s no way this is not game of the year, even if the award doesn’t recognize it, I don’t care. This is GOTY, and I’ll have to take a look at recent games, cause this may be the best game since don’t know how long.

Wow, what a fascinating world Kojima has created here. This game is so different than most that I think it will take me a while to understand just how much I liked it. It was one of those memorable ones or simply a different, fun and flawed experience?

I honestly thought this game would be more frustrating than it was. Sure, it’s never going to be frustration free because it’s all part of the main experience, but it felt just the right amount of frustration. I guess it could’ve been less extensive, I can see it getting exhausting for some people, still for me it never felt boring, just a little lazy sometimes to do the walk. The challenges of the traversal for sure make it interesting. The decisions on how to take the cargo, if you’re going to risk adding a lot of weight because is close, if you’re going to get some of the new tools you have at your disposal, or if you’re risking mountains or slopes in order to avoid BT and MULEs etc.

About the progress, a lot of the things that could help with deliveries, like roads and zip-lines, they weren’t very impactful on the main story, because nothing could be used before connecting to the network, and you know, your main goal is connecting to the network. I was going to complain about the lack of something similar to a skill tree, like increasing stamina, however it wouldn’t make sense for the type a game this is. Since the main difficulty is planning your route going to point A to B, if you add a skill tree it could make things not so difficult.

The combat, I’ll be honest, is mid. The character is hefty in nature because it has to be, for all the traversal you do, but when it comes to combat, it makes everything clunky, especially hand to hand. Not a big fan of stealth, but it’s better than close combat. You don’t do a lot of combat so this is not really a problem, but this clunkiness does get in the way sometimes.

Now since the whole universe is really fascinating, the story couldn’t be behind. Sure, it’s confusing and all over the place, and as of right now I have more questions than answers, but I do think the game does a good job of laying the foundations, developing characters and make a pretty compelling story, albeit convoluted in some instances. It can even get emotional by the end, they do a very good job with the characters, making you care for most of them, and that’s halfway of doing a good story.

All in all it was a pleasure playing this game. As I said, in a few weeks I’ll understand how much I enjoyed, I also have to dig a little deeper in the story to make sense of it better, but overall it was a fascinating game to play, just very different than anything. There’s something peaceful about traversing this post-apocalyptic world, everything empty and occasionally a great song playing. Solid experience.