Blah, I was quite literally in the middle of creating an impressions thread, too. Well, might as well copy it into here! EDIT: Also, user-review if anyone's interested!

I'm only at chapter 6 right now, but I've hit a snag where I can't seem to exit out of the save room... None of the mirrors are allowing me to pass and I can't seem to interact with anything else. I've restarted the chapter twice to the same result, so... hopefully this isn't a bug or something =/ Nevermind, sorted.

In any case, this at least gave me time to actually put the game down and compose my own thoughts thus far. What made for a complete contrast to Alien: Isolation is how this game makes a really poor first impression. The way there's no build up and literally within seconds of entering the asylum you're thrown into all of the grindhouse madness felt like it was all progressing far too quickly. Then there was that awkward forced stealth encounter which didn't help things.

Since then it's improved, but it's worth noting that this is of course a shooter first and foremost. It's not quite as action-orientated as RE4, as ammunition is actually rather scarce throughout and there's much less focus on melee attacks, but it's still on a similar playing field. It's a little rougher around the edges, too. Even though it allows you more maneuverability over RE4's tank controls, they aren't as tight as the controls found in RE4/RE5 and the Dead Space series. I don't think it controls poorly by any stretch, but I imagine it may taking some getting used to for some.

The letterboxing is also undoubtedly going to be divisive, though I believe it can be turned off for PC players. It was awkward to play with this degree of screen being boxed in at first, but I've gotten accustomed to it. Because of it the atmosphere can sometimes feel a little suffocating at times, too.

Beyond the opening the pacing is well done, which shouldn't be a surprise given this is still of course the guy behind RE4. It tends to ebb and flow, with many segments thus far being rather slow-paced until eventually being supplemented by something much more action-focussed. The part involving you and Joseph Oda--complete with music that sounds like something out of The Matrix--shooting Not-Ganado I honestly didn't expect. It was pretty fun and all, but... it's not the sort of set-piece I was expecting.

As a standard horror-themed shooter it's again still pretty fun. Guns feel powerful and all of the sound effects are sublime. Headshots sound nice and gooey, and the sound effect for scooping up the green gel stuff on the floor I find to be weirdly satisfying... Plenty of gore throughout, with many... er, shall we say extravagant death animations for Sebastian.

Story mostly seems like nonsense thus far. Voice acting and dialogue is pretty bad, but then I'm sure we were all expecting as such. Well, maybe not the voice acting what with all this Hollywood talent they went out of their way to recruit. This Anson Mount guy is totally phoning it all in, though. Like, he's bad, but not in an an endearing way like many of the older RE games. For the most part he just sounds bored. A real shame Jon Curry turned out to be a placeholder during the game's early trailers, as I think I would have much preferred him.

Game looks real nice, too. Framerate problems on PS4 only arise very briefly and aren't that distracting, least not for me. It's still really disappointing that it isn't locked, what with this being a bloody cross-gen game at that... But luckily I've found it to be fine for the most part.

Random thoughts:

• Sebastian's curb stomp animation is hilarious, especially with the way he tends to swivel around when doing it sometimes.

• The introduction to the first not-Ganado you face is very clearly mimicking the very first zombie encounter from Resident Evil, which I thought was a neat little reference.

• Another reference is Julie Kidman's badge looking awfully similar to the STARS logo.

• These whatever-zombies are, like, so the Ganado/Majini from Resident Evil it's almost funny! They utilise all of the same sorts of weapons and tactics and so on. No crazy mutations, though, least not as of yet.

• I think @patrickklepek is likely to be disappointed by this game, especially within the context of a Spookin' With Scoops, as it's not in the least bit scary. I'm playing in the dark with headphones on and... nuttin. Though some of the enemy designs are certainly creepy to say the least.

• There's something comical I find about going around punching boxes with your bare hands.

• The stealth system in this game seems half-baked to say the least. They keep placing bottles everywhere for you to use and then potentially throw as a distraction, but... it's never been necessary beyond the opening stealth section. I wonder if that's the developers trying to put in their requisite The Last of Us influences in there. And I've never found a reason to hide under a bed or in a closet.

Overall I'm enjoying it and I'm curious to see where it goes. The way the game often switches into different environments and such is a great method for keeping the game constantly moving into something different. Dem RE4 roots be strong with this 'un.

The good:

1. Good balance between fun, but clunky survival horror combat and great atmosphere.

2. Difficulty seems fair on survival so far.

-------------

The bad:

1. The fucking camera combined with the black bars. This game takes 50% of your TV and has the camera close to the protagonist. Considering that there are traps that can kill you and exploration is a big part of the game, it makes this game a chore to play at times. There's some motion blur too that gives me a headache.

2. Not crazy horror enough. I was expecting some bizzare-ness out of Mikami. Especially since he's dealing with the whole "what's real?!" scenario, I'd have thought this would be a more fun and gory horror game. It's a bit too dry for me.

I voted for decent solid 3/5 game so far.

The letterboxing is also undoubtedly going to be divisive, though I believe it can be turned off for PC players. It was awkward to play with this degree of screen being boxed in at first, but I've gotten accustomed to it. Because of it the atmosphere can sometimes feel a little suffocating at times, too.

My problem with it is that you have it in conjunction with the fact that the camera is close to Sabastion's head. At least in a game like RE4, you have the whole screen to look for bear traps, open boxes with Leon's knife, etc. I'm sure there's a good defense for it, but I don't see it.

@yummylee: Two quick questions, is stealth ever really a necessity? I'll usually use stealth given the option but absolutely hate it when it's forced on me, by that I mean if I'm spotted is it easy enough to lose enemies and sneak up on them later? Also how's the music?

The only issue I have with the letterboxing (which I love from a stylistic perspective) is not knowing where your feet are and getting stuck on objects because of it, seemed to be an issue in the QL.

@shivermetimbers: I agree that it's a bit much, and I especially dislike how zoomed in the view gets when you aim. It's more akin to over-the-arm than over-the-shoulder... It's not ideal, but like I said I've gotten accustomed to it and it hasn't gotten in the way. Plus, I think it at the very least makes the game feel almost like it's quite literally boxing you in. Though it would have been more fitting if the game was actually scary.

As it is, though, I'm still fine with it.

@wampa1: During the opening sequence with the chainsaw guy, yes. It's annoying, but it's also really short. As of where I'm at now it hasn't ever again been a requirement to proceed. You can still utilise some stealthing to snag some easy one-hit kills, but it's otherwise easy to see how someone could pretend stealth doesn't even exist in this game and be fine.

Music is... I dunno, hasn't been especially distinctive, beyond the music that plays when you're nearing a save room. Which is unfortunate because of how superb Alien: Isolation's music is.

The good:

- Story seems pretty interesting so far
- Aiming and shooting feels amazing
- Weirdly RPG-ish with it's critical chances and stuff, which I like!
- Voice acting is bad, but in a good way?
- Great atmosphere
- No tank controls! Yay!


The bad:

- Putting a forced (and pretty bad) stealth section at the beginning of the game (AND have your character limping the whole way) was a really dumb move
- Game looks and runs pretty poorly (PS4)
- I haven't played through one myself yet, but I noticed in some videos I've seen that the game has some " wave " sections where you just fight off a bunch of enemies like you did in RE4 quite a few times throughout the story. I really didn't care for these sections in RE4, and I very much doubt I'll care for them here either
- That mission complete screen looked pretty bad. Kind of a minor issue, but it bugged me nonetheless :P

For those who have played more than me, are there boss fights at some point? I liked the bosses in RE4, I hope this game has some too. No game feels right without boss battles.

@steadying: There are boss fights. Though as of where I am now I've only faced one.

@yummylee: Ah, cool! Good to hear.

This game is getting pretty good reviews.

So I've got a few thoughts about this game, mostly on the positive side so let's start with the negative. The biggest drawback is the performance, the game looks decent overall but man the short chugs are a real bummer. It doesn't seem like there is any merit to it although there are a few sections so far (just got to chapter 5) that I think look great. As for the letter box, honestly I hardly notiiced it after 5 minutes in and since then I instantly just get sucked into the atmosphere that I don't even see them. Also like some have said, the stealth is decent but not great. The game wants you to shoot things so getting stealth kills are more of a bonus.

What I do really like is the atmosphere and so far creature design. The game revolves around the gross style of horror than actual scare factor which is fine. I never found the older resident evils scary either as they were disturbing and that stays true here. However, this is by far the closest survival horror has gotten in a third person shooter. Ammo is pretty scarce and enemies just take bullets like noting, running away is a valid solution for when you feel overwhelmed. I really do like the combat too, while the camera is sure to put a few off I feel like it makes encounters stupidly intense. When an enemy runs at you it doesn't feel like you can just pop them in the head, you need to maneuver and actually take time aiming.

Nobody in the story is really grabbing me as a stand out charcter but I am pretty intrigued by the story going on. Like Brad mentioned in the quick look the "what is real" trope can be tiresome but so far here I think they've nailed it. Hard turns leaving you an in entirely different, unfamiliar territory is unnerving and a bit uncomfortable. Like Yummylee said, the initial impression is a bit jarring, it reminds me of the movie world war Z, they literally throw you into the thick of it as fast as they possibly can without building anything up whatsoever. I do appreciate the sleight nods to games like silent hill ( the radio static in the beginning of the game) and the first reveal of the enemy is very familiar to Resident Evil 1.

So those are my knee jerk reactions, it creates a good sense of place but isn't entirely scary but more disturbing. The first time you see creepy long hair blood monster running at you is genuinely gross and freaky. Overall, I'm enjoying it and definitely,the story actually explains itself in some respect although most reviews say it dleant so I'm keeping my expectations tempered.

Also let me state again, letterbox isn't as big a deal as you think but seems like pc is still the way to go.

And here I thought I'd get the game today. :( I'm tempted to watch spookin tonight, but I'd like to go in the game blind. From someone who obviously hasn't touched the game I'm really only put off by two things. The letter boxing/camera looks really bothersome in cases. And the gameplay (boss fights in particular) looks like it can be a bit too clunky. I'm basing this stuff off the quick look, so I don't know how prevalent these problems can be throughout the game.

Any good? The Boss fights are among the primary reasons as to why I'm interested in this game.

I just love how there is another horror game which hits the parts of horror that I enjoy. The game isn't full of jump scares of trying to build tension constantly. It is just full of crazy shit that is unsettling. One of the reasons I liked all 3 of the Deadspace games. I have always enjoyed the disturbing side of horror rather than the jump scare stuff.

The one I've faced was pretty standard, nothing particularly memorable about it. Wasn't bad, but... eh. Plus if that's really to be the end of Laura, the multi-armed blood lady, then that'll be really disappointing what with how much of a focus she was in the marketing.

Oh, and erm...

The damage modelling is pretty good, too.

Anyone playing the PS3 version? My copy comes tomorrow, and I've seen next to nothing about last gen. I saw a comparison image that showed it's quite ugly (way more than it should be), but I'm more concerned about performance. I don't mind some frame drops and tearing, I just hope it's not a Bayonetta PS3 situation or something.

Sounds like a game I'll get on sale. Still sounds enjoyable though, which I'm happy to hear.

Yeah, just quit because I got frustrated. Going to come back to it when I'm in a better mood to futz with it.

Changing the aspect ratio from what i can tell removes the black bars but cuts off the side of the screen (so just zooming in) for those hoping to see more of the floor or the surroundings etc your out of luck. I was expecting that it would just make it full screen, drop the boarders and reveal more of the world but it appears not. Looks like it really is just rendering what ever the actual visible area is and nothing else, how they still couldn't get it running locked at 30 on consoles really makes you wonder

Edit: It also looks like changing the aspect to full screen bombs the frame rate... so im totally confused at what is actually going on, because as mentioned it doesn't actually appear to be rendering anything more in fact it looks like its rendering less...

Doesn't seem like a particularly good game at all. Would I say pick it up for 15-20$ perhaps at some point? Maybe its worth that, but for 60 its not even close to worth it for me. Just was making me want to play RE4 or Shadows of the Damned.

lol wut

I can confirm the shooting is drastically superior in this than in Shadows of the Damned.

Cons

- black bars

- clipping through vegetation

- sneak attack animation is meh

- archaic save and check pointing

Er, the Dead Space games are rife with jump scares.

@yummylee: True, just meant that Dead Space did a good job doing the same kind of horror I was talking about.

So far it's pretty good, but it just crashed on me which has me concerned. I'm hoping this doesn't become a thing for this game.

All I can say is that that one freeze frame effect is downright infuriating/awesome.

On chapter 5 so far, this game is not really scary. Fuck Invisible Enemies, ammo is REALLY scarce, Story seems pretty typical, Animations are pretty bad, some cool gore, really liking the gameplay so far

So... if anyone is curious or having this problem and don't know yet.

If you're playing on steam disable the overlay. It causes random CTDs.

My game stopped crashing when I found this out and did it so that seems to fix that problem.

I like what the game is doing and I am enjoying the experience so far.

Ok. Some thoughts.

I think it looks nice, obviously it's a nicer looking last gen game, but some of the environments look pretty and are dripping with atmosphere. I've taken a bunch of screenshots. The technical stuff is a little weird at times, but it's totally playable.

The shooting. I have no idea why I hated the camera in RE6, but think it's fine here. Probably because none of the enemies have guns. The shooting is fan-fucking-tastic. That squeltchy headshot noise and the boom of the shotgun are incredibly satisfying. Enemies explode into bits rather wonderfully.

It's not scary, but can at times be super tense. Some of the boss encounters (most notably the Safe-head dude from the trailers.) can be nerve wracking. Most bosses will result in you losing the vast majority of your ammo and possibly all of your health. Bosses are aggressive and fast.

The mansion with Ruvic was probably one of my low points. I really don't find his random spawns and unfair one hit kills to be fun. I found myself having to run do/collect a bunch of things then run back and save as the hiding spot system, seemingly created for this will usually result in Ruvik murdering you. He's totally unfair, like seriously. he can teleport right in front of you and occasionally around corners. I found myself running away from him so many times only to kick open a door to hide under a bed only for him to punch me to death without warning.

The transitions can come at any time, often in the middle of chapters. The way the story is disjointed actually works as I have started seeing little bits here and there click into place.

The game is Resident Evil 4.5, but it's tough... It can be very demanding at times. It's not afraid to throw a boss at you right after a big gunfight. scavenging for stuff has never felt so vital. Even in the Last of Us I always felt like I had enough ammo, however limited it may be. I can see it being a little too tough on the normal setting for some, and it has mostly been appropriately challenging, but a couple of encounters have left me exhausted as I was required to run around taking potshots at enemies with my fists and then running away.

Some of the one-hit-kill stuff of certain bosses kinda sucks, same as the disarm trap QTE that feels like they knew it was wonky but couldn't be fucked fixing it... button prompts are often finicky.

I've actually been having a ton of fun with it for the most part. I assume I'm right at the end of chapter 10 (of 15) It's not scary and it has got way more combat than I think some of the survival horror purists will care for ( A trophy just popped in my game for getting 200 kills) Stealth is good here and there, but it's never a reliable way of clearing areas.

Super thankful for the limited regenerating health. It doesn't break the game and it makes up for how few healing items there are scattered around. I rarely have full health, and find myself running around with the bare minumum. The game would probably be too hard without that tiny bit of regenerating health.

This might come off sounding negative.. I'm super tired, but I genuinely love the game a lot more than I was expecting.

This is the story/acting summed up in under 20 seconds.

@yummylee said:

@theacidskull said:

@yummylee said:

@steadying: There are boss fights. Though as of where I am now I've only faced one.

Any good? The Boss fights are among the primary reasons as to why I'm interested in this game.

The one I've faced was pretty standard, nothing particularly memorable about it. Wasn't bad, but... eh. Plus if that's really to be the end of Laura, the multi-armed blood lady, then that'll be really disappointing what with how much of a focus she was in the marketing.

Oh, and erm...

The damage modelling is pretty good, too.

I'm sure she'll appear more times, the story is pretty disjointed from what i've heard so the games past can be chronologically your future. And that damage looks fucking sweet! If there's one thing I'm sure I won't be disappointed with, it's the gore.

Is sebastian really a blank slate? I was hoping that this would have an immersive story.

Going through chapter 3 at the moment... just killed the chainsaw guy from the QL

• Slow start in the first 2 chapters, hand holding with lots of stealth
• Game picks up a lot in chapter 3, the combat is tense and satisfying (very RE4-esque)
• It doesn't properly explain some of its mechanics...
• No scares so far, definitely doesn't feel like a "scary" game, I got more actual scares playing Alien: Isolation

I was a little frustrated and not enjoying it a lot during the first 2 chapters, but Chapter 3 got things going and now I'm currently enjoying it a lot.

@theacidskull said:

@yummylee said:

@theacidskull said:

@yummylee said:

@steadying: There are boss fights. Though as of where I am now I've only faced one.

Any good? The Boss fights are among the primary reasons as to why I'm interested in this game.

The one I've faced was pretty standard, nothing particularly memorable about it. Wasn't bad, but... eh. Plus if that's really to be the end of Laura, the multi-armed blood lady, then that'll be really disappointing what with how much of a focus she was in the marketing.

Oh, and erm...

The damage modelling is pretty good, too.

I'm sure she'll appear more times, the story is pretty disjointed from what i've heard so the games past can be chronologically your future. And that damage looks fucking sweet! If there's one thing I'm sure I won't be disappointed with, it's the gore.

Is sebastian really a blank slate? I was hoping that this would have an immersive story.

She does!

@shagge: playing on 360, and it looks fine. Frame rate is at the very least consistent, as i haven't had any instances of chugging (versions probably not identical, but I assume the last gen versions are pretty similar).

It feels more like TLoU than it does RE4, and while I don't think that's a bad thing, it's a little disappointing to say the least.

I played four straight hours last night. It's not perfect by any means, but I think it's safe to say that the game has hooked me now and that I'm loving it. Let's see here...

For one, this may be the goriest game I've ever played. It's absolutely disgusting in some pretty fucked up ways, but I'm digging it. The death animations are so horrific that I can't help but laugh every time I die. Having your head get pounded into the ground until there's nothing left is downright nasty. The damage modeling on the enemies is also very impressive. Bullet holes look nice, but partial headshots are always really cool. Blowing a hole straight through someone's head and having them still come after you is awesome.

I had trouble getting a grasp on the gameplay at first, but a few chapters in, I figured out how the game should be played. Very cautiously. At least early on. It's actually way more difficult than I was anticipating, and I'm very happy about that. It feels like a survial horror game should, and constantly running low on supplies keeps the tension very high. The combat, for the most part, is very satisfying. Up close, it kinda falls apart and can be really frustrating for no reason, but the general act of shooting and actually landing shots on dudes feels real good. I just wish melee attacks were more effective, or that there was some kind of dodge mechanic to get out of the way from being hit after melee-ing.

It's not very scary so far, though. I few minor jump scares, but it seems to be going more for a mild psychological horror theme with buckets upon buckets of gore thrown in. I don't mind it; I'm not sure if I really expected it to be scary. The atmosphere is still thick, and the environments and general art design are very strong. The characters seem to lack any sort of personality, though. I'm not sure if that will change at some point (from what I hear it doesn't), but they are not memorable in the least, and if this intends on becoming a franchise, better characters will be needed.

One thing I absolutely hate...the stamina mechanic. Holy shit, this must be some kind of bad joke. Without upgrades, you can sprint for all of three seconds before becoming winded, and if you try to go longer, you come to a complete stop to catch your breath, even while being chased. It's so fucking stupid and frustrating, and it's a gameplay conceit I simply won't accept. Who the hell would stop running when they're being chased by a giant fucking monster?

Besides that, I'm enjoying the hell out of this game and really looking forward to playing more. Got to the first real boss fight last night.

I didn't vote because I feel the poll needs something between "it's pretty decent" and "it's pretty bad."

I preordered the game digitally on PS4 because I love Halloween, playing horror games around the holiday, RE4, and Shadows of the Damned. I'd rather be replaying one of those games at the moment. I was rooting for this game so much and couldn't wait to play it! I don't usually preorder games that had questionable previews throughout its development!

I'll admit I may be too harsh right from the start of the game because I'm about to start chapter 3. So far I'm disappointed with the stealth, characters, and story. Throwing the bottles as a distraction worked much better in The Last of Us because you got a better sense of where it would land and if it would actually hit your target. The AI snaps onto you too well when you're sneaking around, especially after throwing a bottle (the noise came from behind you and not where I'm crouching!). The frustration of the stealth has overridden any sense of fear I get from the creature design and environment. Maybe I'm playing it wrong? Maybe I'm not patient or strategizing enough when it comes to sneaking around?

The protagonist is boring (actually, all of them are except for the mental patient) and the acting is bad and unconvincing. I don't mind the letterboxing for the cinematic presentation which is definitely what they're going for from the Cabin in the Woods copycat boxart to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre opener. The framerate can be poor and the camera too close to the character.

The game is inconsistent with informing you on what to do. For example, it didn't tell me how to interact with the first door to let me know I need keys to escape the room after the character cut himself down; I just knew I had to do something from seeing an E3 preview. The story feels pretty convoluted. I hope it all weaves together and makes sense in the end because it all feels like unconnected nonsensical horror genres so far. Don't get me wrong, I love Halloween haunted attractions that mix things up regarding genres and settings, but if there's supposed to be an underlying story then I hope it is made apparent at some point.

Because I paid my $53.99 and hope things improve, I'm going to stick with the game for a while longer. I may be too judgmental, but after experiencing how a game can grip me so quickly (Again, RE4, Shadows, and the more recent Shadow of Mordor) I don't have the time and patience to slog it out with a mediocre game and especially one that lets me down so soon. I really hope it gets better over time! I'm surprised it has so many good reviews (doesn't deserve bad reviews either), so maybe I'm missing something...?

It definitely gets much better as it goes on. There's a lot of environmental variety and it's always exciting to see where the game will throw you next. The castle part was really cool and was basically sucked right out of RE4, much like the opening village segment with the chainsaw guy. Enemy variety is a little slim, but nailing headshots is still super satisfying against whatever it is you're shooting. Giant dog boss really sucked, but the boss after it was pretty intense. Kinda disappointed in the lack of puzzles, though. Even RE4 appears to have featured more puzzles than this, and what's in here is extremely simple. Hell, with the very first one there's a character that literally just tells you the solution.

Still, I played it for like 8 hours yesterday so, it's overall doing something right.

@bonorbitz:

I think you're definitely making too quick of a judgement. You're barely an hour into the game and right before where the rest of the mechanics start opening up. Chapter 3 is where it starts getting good. I'm on Chapter 5 right now and the game has become close to exactly what I wanted out of it. As you start gaining more combat options and becoming more capable, it gets a lot more fun, and I don't think you have to rely on stealth nearly as much, if at all, as the game goes on. You definitely do have to really careful and patient early on, though.

The characters don't become anymore interesting, though. And I agree about the camera issues. I don't like how close it zooms when you aim, but I've gotten used to it. The camera still makes up-close encounters a pain.

@onekillwonder_ said:

It sounds like I'm letting the stealth taint my initial impressions. I've probably become too spoiled (or lucky?) by the games I've decided to play hook me within the first half an hour. I was planning on sticking with it anyway, but now I'm really looking forward to what's to come.

I was wondering if the mechanics would change or switch up starting with chapter 3 because the game told me I wouldn't have access to the preorder bonus (double barreled shotgun, brain goo surplus, extra crossbow bolts) until then.

Trust me, any similarities to TLoU disappear pretty quickly. That is if you're referring to the stealth elements.

@yummylee: that's good to hear. Gonna play more tonight after work, starting at ch 3.

Been playing a bit more, just got past that chainsaw guy part in chapter 3.

So far, this game feels so much like RE4, even if RE4 didn't really have stealth at all. The way I got a ton of green gel for killing him and a big chest with stuff in it is really RE4-ish. I love it. Really enjoying it so far, even if I'm kinda not?

I hope the game has a new game plus feature, I can see myself going back and getting all the upgrades and stuff like I did with RE4.

EDIT: Also: I found it amusing when he says " I should hold onto this.. " when he sees the chainsaw on the ground, and then immediately gets rid of it when you cut the chain 10 feet away from him. :P

Cheers, brudda. Hell, sounds more stable than what I've heard about the current-gen versions. :P

1. Game runs at about 21 FPS on the regular. Bummer.

2. I liked the black bars when there was no HUD. It did make it more cinematic. Cramming a HUD in the tiny play area? Burn in shit.

3. Game is pretty fucked up in a good way.

4. This game goes from zero to Outlast in about ten minutes. You're being a cop and detecting shit and then KABLAMMO you're being hunted through an abandoned hospital by an offensive linesman covered in gore.

5. Is the plot for this game just like the plot for Outlast which was just like the plot of F.E.A.R.? Government military experiments with psychic powers create a terrible prototype who kills everyone.

6. I love the warning at the beginning that is THIS GAME MIGHT EXPLODE YOUR BRAIN EVEN IF YOU DONT HAVE EPILEPSY. That got me in the mood.

@brodehouse: Are you playing on PS4? If so the framerate is at its worst during the early stages in the foggy village. From then on it's a solid 30. And no, that's not the plot.

@steadying: By the by since you asked I should let you know there is a NG+ feature, however it's like how it was in RE4 (gasp!), in that you can't actually take your upgraded self into a higher difficulty and can only play through completed chapters.

Also, the story's kinda junk. Still enjoyed it overall, though! 4/5

@yummylee: That's fine, the only reason I would have played through a higher difficulty anyway is for platinum, but there's a trophy that asks you to beat the whole game without ever upgrading anything, and fuck that, that just sounds boring. :P

And yeah, I'm on chapter 6 now and the story so far seems fairly horror game standard, but it's entertaining at least, as are most horror stories.

I've been playing on the xbox one and got to chapter three last night, waiting for it to get dark right now so I can jump back into it. Thus far, my feelings on it are positive, the beginning parts are a surprising slow burn, it wasn't until about forty five minutes into the game until I actually got to shoot anyone and the stealth section at the start felt a bit wonky. Maybe it's just me but I felt that guys "cue" of when he spotted you was a bit low audio wise, the chainsaw didn't sound any louder or aggressive when he spotted me from the other end of the room as I was sneaking away from him and was greeted to an unexpected chainsaw decapitation à la Dr.Salvador from RE4. Oh, and like Yummylee pointed out earlier, I thought the wink to RE1 with the haunted gnawing on a corpse was fantastic, I cracked a smile.

Once I got past the opening bit the game got a lot better, it's still a bit slow but that's on me, I'm carefully wandering around the foggy town, taking it slow and exploring the environment and trying to not get into too much trouble with the locals. I'm also looking in every nook and cranny for green gel and other supplies. The game feels like a more modern RE4 with a much deeper focus on conversation of supplies which is pretty much what I expected and desired from this game. I still think the way RE4 plays and looks holds up, so making another game channeling that with a bit of modernization to it suits me just fine. I'm interested to see where the story goes, but some of the voice acting isn't really helping. The actor for Sebastian (Anson Mount is his name?) just sorta sounds....weird tonally. It's like he was reading for a pure action game, the way he sounds when he responds to things happening in the game so far just feel very tonally different from what is happening on screen, it's like he thinks he's in another game. The person voicing Joesph is fine, which I believe is Yuri Lowenthal, I've been a fan of his work for years so it's always nice to see him pop up and Jennifer Carpenter is okay as well.

The letter boxing hasn't been an issue for me either, the only part where I feel it's a problem is in some angles where I aim my revolver, the screen just oddly zooms in on my hand. Just looks odd, other then that I haven't felt handicapped from doing anything in the game. My only real complaint would be is that so far, it just hasn't been very scary, but striking a balance between a protagonist who is capable with actual scares has always been difficult. I'm only early on, so it remains to be seen if anything later on will get to me, regardless though the atmosphere of the environments is absolutely great. Combined with the letter boxing, I feel the game is doing a great job of making me feel suffocated and tensely waiting for something around the corner to lob my head off.

As an aside, maybe to people who have beaten the game, is there any point to map fragments other then just being a collectible? I've picked up three and wondering if getting them all will net some kind of secret later on in the game or if it's just stuff to pick up like Sebastian's journals.

(To anyone)

Chapter 10 is annoying me. Make sure to keep enough ammo on you for that stage. You'll be having a rematch with a certain boss. Fighting the boss isn't the problem, but not having ammo to fight back is. During the fight it dawned on me who this certain boss is, and now I understand why fire is its weakness. There's some evil shit going on in this game.

@falserelic:

Yeah I noticed it afterwhile. It drove me nuts and then I seen the highlighted switches. I'm on the chapter where your in the city now.