Recent reviews by Mertall

Having a combat system so clunky and stiff in our day and ages is simply unacceptable.
Poor blocking system
poor stamina management
poor input recognition

If only the people in charge of gameplay were half as good as the art team...

First of all, let it be known i have not finished the game. I plan to and will, as i am sure the ending is worth it. The game is extremely unique, to the point i can confidently say i have never played anything similar. The atmosphere is brilliant, the story is great, the choice system is i think revolutionary and the way said choices are brought forth is very inteligent. Then why the negative review...two reasons:

First: I have backed this game when the project was announced back in 2014 i think, as i could already see the potential it held. and while news were scarce, the occasional email with an update on progress was always refreshing. and now 5 years down the line...the game doesnt run very well. the game is not big in term of ressources used, the graphics are fine but simple and the map is far from enormous, yet it barely scratched 60fps for me, and i know a lot of users are having worse performance. Also the game has the annoying tendency to crash in the middle of gameplay, like that, for no reason. When you know progress can only be saved at specific spots, this becomes frustrating really fast.

Second: Death...i have no problem with dying .. when its my fault, didnt eat >> starved, didnt rest >> collapses, ignore the plague >> dies of sickness. this is fair enough. The game has a mechanic where all your death are counted, even if you restore a previous save, and the game make it really clear that dying is NOT good on the long run. The main problem is that the combat system is so garbage you WILL die because of it, no matter how well equipped you are due to a few key points. Ennemies do not make noises, apart from occasional grunts on hit, they do not make noise, especially footsteps. I ahve died twice after engaging an ennemy and getting stabbed in the back by another who had sprinted behind me like a ninja. The stamina management is a disgraceful failure, the rate at which you lose max stamina is insane. sprinting for ten seconds with a full bar will make you lose 10% of it, and as soon as you start throwing punches it dives. trying to take on more than one guy in close combat is a nightmare as them hitting your guard cost stamina, and thus you cant attack, and they keep attacking, effectively stunlocking you. Running is not an option as they have infinite stamina. and the last nail in the coffin: if you get hit, your character will get all dizzy, spinning around like a drunkard, but they can tank uppercuts without flinching.
I can already hear the smartass guild telling me to use a gun, great idea, ammo management is difficult, but this is fine, i dont expect a village lost in the sticks to be sitting on crates of ammo, but in that case, make the bullet counts... even a headshot will not kill a guy, a guy who is sick with the plague to boot. And back to the previous point, hitting them with a bullet will barely make them flinch. Cherry on the cake, the revolver jams extremely often, even in near perfect condition.

So in short, great story, excellent story telling, garbage combat, i know it is not the main point of the game, but it is not avoidable. you HAVE to fight at some point. And the system is so simple it's incredible they managed to make it so bad, especially in this day and age where everybody before you has made such mistakes and you simply have to look at them to know what NOT to do.

PS: as mentionned before, i backed the game at the beginning, which normally entitles me to a free copy of the game on release...i never received it, one more reason to be disapointed.