This was a game I played because Ben Vernel (from the Filthy Casuals) had it as his game of the year of 2019. It sounded interesting and when it was on sale, how could I say no.
A major plus for this game, was that Caitlin was in her extended and now infamous, time off (FYI checkout https://www.aerowalsh.com/cr if you haven’t already) and had ample opportunity, perhaps more importantly no excuses not to, watch me play the whole thing. Caitlin’s favourite power was Mind Control in case you were wondering. I preferred Telekinesis as it was obviously way more useful and did way more damage per second.
Ben’s initial review mentioned a lot of bugs and slowdown. These are now non-existent and I can happily report that the game runs as smooth as a dolphins fin.
The game is set in a single building. The Federal Bureau of Control. You explore the building and uncover various truths about yourself and what has happened. The bureau is very heavily inspired by the SCP tropes established on the internet, but executes them competently and consistently. The bureau has lots of nooks and crannies and feels lived in. I love when a game rewards you for exploring, not just with gear, but with emergent story. There was a wild side quest about fungus that had a boss fight at the end and went for 40 minutes that I swear I just found by accident and was deliberately not on the main path.
The monotony of a government bureaucracy juxtaposed with the terror and chaos of unknowable, untameable entities works well and defines the themes. Audio logs of people complaining that a wing of a floor is inaccessible due to infinitely multiplying grandfather clocks and a man staring in horror at a TV because if he looks away it will escape and pulverize him to death are just some examples.
The characters are solid. There are only a few human ones with Jesse Faden the protagonist being really good. The real standouts are the non-human, incomprehensible artefacts that are littered throughout the bureau. They manage to have an alien charm that feels rich and intriguing despite just being, for example, a red telephone. The side quests and stories for these objects are really well written and witty.
Gameplay is fun and punchy. You gradually unlock more powers and can level up the ones you have which gives you a good incentive to want to explore (although the setting and in-world narrative are enough by themselves here). By the end of the game you are levitating around and throwing chunks of concrete through enemies everywhere and it feels food.
Music is OK. Generally solid ambient, although there is one exceptional track: https://open.spotify.com/track/7cNFUeL0A0Ea45kMYXAfCA?si=xuOOoo1hS8KE3ZSqyYrTBg This seems to be a hallmark of the producer, Remedy, to do something like this. It’s fun when it appears.
Rating: 6/7, we/Declan enjoyed/devoured this game/war greatly/terribly
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