A Disaster of Cliches, Half-Baked Ideas and Poor Acting Only Faintly Redeemed In Its Final Act
For all of its explosions, gun fights and chase scenes, I was most blown away by A Way Out's pedigree than any of its action scenes. That this ham-fisted, clunker of a game could come from the same gentle touch that made Brothers back in 2013 is baffling. Evidently, less is more with this creator and having to work with a smaller budget and scope ends up saving them from themselves as every luxury of production - be it voice acting or a slightly more open world - only left a gaping hole of polish or game play ideas that are poorly executed.
The game nearly saves itself in a final act flip of the script that recalls the end of Brothers, a marriage of theme and game mechanic that is so clever mechanically that I have to tip my hat. But even this is poorly executed, a better idea in theory than practice that especiall falls apart narratively when given even a second of thought. Hopefully Hazelight gets more time or money or a better editor (or perhaps all three) going forward, because there's no denying the potential in some of he ambition underlying this game.