This one feels very wrong.

[MintyDog]

Story, characters, dialogue, graphics, all of it is great, but something about this game feels very wrong after the first game.

For one thing, the first game felt like you were organically flowing through the environment with areas that didn't feel linear even if they were, with stealth being a viable and functional mechanic. In the first game I was always throwing rocks at distractions and slipping by and effectively manipulating the guards. But in this game, never. It feels like all of the stealth set ups were eliminated in favor of the assumption you would just kill the guards rather and whats worse is after they get alerted to you with their ESP abilities, they will always know where you are even if they don't know where you are. If they search for you in one area and you move out of that area, they will follow you. This screwed me so many times as I tried to get around them without killing so I could loot the chests. They way they path around your general location and the way the light and rats are set up always screws your ability to sneak without detection or killing.

In this game, it feels more like you're entering arenas and then exiting them at the other end through one of those stupid narrow passage way loading screens, its the gameification arena design that replaces a more organic area that happens to have enemies in it. Think of Splinter Cell Chaos theory where you're in a real office building and enemies are inside vs Splinter Cell Blacklist where you're in obvious arenas with crates and short walls and patrolling guard types and its obvious how a natural environment is ruined by the unnaturally guided hand of gameification.

I did not often get caught and have to restart in Innocence, but it is constant in Requiem. Get good, right? Well no, the mechanics have obviously changed dramatically and its not fun and at the very least, nothing like Innocence. It seems they replaced a lot with modern game sensibilities, turret sections and spectacle and relegating enemy encounters into arena zones with obvious entrances and exits and tiered paths to take.

Innocence I feel was more of a guided puzzle experience with the rats while Requiem feels more like they intended for a sandbox experience where the combat is emphasized in battle arena sections between the puzzle based hallways that connect them. Feels far less organic and where I think a lot of the frustration comes from, because combat was part of the puzzle in Innocence while in Requiem its separate where action is incentivised by the layout.

All I can think back too is how I would manipulate enemies in the first game and neatly slip through the areas, while in this game, how I'm just constantly being spotted, alerting guards, trying to slowly crawl away from the magnetic following, perpetually searching guards and having to restart into bad checkpoints where the guards are already on my ass. A much worse gameplay experience.

Let me not forget how this game constantly crashes, freezes and blue screens my computer.

[MintyDog]

As I continue to play this, it is clear they put no thought into enemy placements as per how you could get around them with anything other than direct combat. They're just like, well here's some enemies right here, you have no means of distracting them, other guards are walking your way, you're completely open and can be seen for miles instantly, get out your crossbow I guess.........oh but also you have to not kill anyone to advance in the stealth skills.

Well thank you game for being so forward thinking, tell me not to kill then set up the environments so that I have no choice.

[Furry Chipmunk]

True, a lot of the frustration comes from combat in Requiem.

[MintyDog]

Originally posted by Furry Chipmunk:

True, a lot of the frustration comes from combat in Requiem.

Yes like how I'm CONSTANTLY being pushed around or blocked from moving by my conga line of allies that follow me around! FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFKIN MOOVE!!!

[MintyDog]

I hate this game. The ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ never ends, I'm at a loss for how awful it is. The beginning was awesome, now its just a murky cesspit of the most asinine AI mixed with the worst thought out environmental stealth I've ever seen.

[wren06]

I think the pathing is very annoying as well. In general, you can do a very stealth related playthrough, you just have to be/get good at it through getting caught and dying a lot, but eventually I was getting very good because the guards are pretty easy to sneak past. They make this harder by overlapping guard coverage, and once you are spotted or even suspected by using the same ways of distraction more than once, then they all break their patterns and things get real. That said, I ended up using combat primarily because A. I stopped being patient enough to avoid detection, and B. It's just a more satisfying way to play a game that already tries to control everything you do, even to the point of giving you only one way to complete a mission, vs. several viable options that all could work, like..well, many other story driven games. This game does allow you to literally clear zones of all enemies so you can then loot every chest. The first game that wasn't possible at all I don't think. I will also agree that the first game was a proper balance between play styles. you could not blunt force your way through it, so you had to use stealth more, this game it's either be very patient with stealth, or clear your path. I thought I would never be so happy to be able to use a crossbow, and then they make finding bolts nearly as difficult as finding a knife, lol. In the end the sling was fine, you get damn good with it because you have few other options. I was also excited to be able to push enemies into fires, off cliffs, into rats, etc., only to discover it wasn't really a thing that came up save one or two "setups." The two things I did enjoy about this game more than the first was length, it was nearly twice as much playtime, and better companions. Not just in abilities but their backstories and personalities. Still, side quests would have helped a ton here. This games version of a side quest is "quick, save this npc before it's too late!" *pause to allow what you're seeing mentally sink in* "too late."

To the the authors last point. The game never crashed, blue screened, froze or anything for me. I played it on at 1440 res. with ultra settings, a 9th gen i7 cpu and a 2080 gpu. Not cutting edge but not a slouch either. Not sure why you had issues. I did finish the game in about 16 hours though, perhaps I didn't give it time to crash. :P

[Mr.Hope]

I don't understand why you hate this game so much. I think the game is much better, less linear and offers more gameplay than the first game. In the first game, almost all levels were designed to be passed in stealth and could only be passed by throwing stones or pots. In the 2nd game, you can only play stealth or action-oriented if you want, it's entirely up to you, it doesn't force you to stealth like in the first game. There are many ways to kill or distract enemies. The level design in this game is great, there are different areas of interaction and ways to finish almost every level, it's definitely very well designed. I think the reason you hate it so much is your inability to grasp the gameplay or your incompetence.

[MintyDog]

Originally posted by Mr.Hope:

I don't understand why you hate this game so much. I think the game is much better, less linear and offers more gameplay than the first game. In the first game, almost all levels were designed to be passed in stealth and could only be passed by throwing stones or pots. In the 2nd game, you can only play stealth or action-oriented if you want, it's entirely up to you, it doesn't force you to stealth like in the first game. There are many ways to kill or distract enemies. The level design in this game is great, there are different areas of interaction and ways to finish almost every level, it's definitely very well designed. I think the reason you hate it so much is your inability to grasp the gameplay or your incompetence.

Actually I don't hate it, I wrote that in anger after trying to loot a few chests for like an hour and the getting spotted by the worst pathing AI, rats and level set up. However I will say this game is a LOT worse than the original in every single regard except for graphics. Once I stopped trying to stealth like I did in the original it became ridiculously easy, because that's the point, the game is designed for you to go Arkham City on it, not a puzzle stealth game, so the set ups aren't there. Its bad AI and level design that is demanding that you just kill your way through, thats why it sucks. They wanted to open it up into being a combat focused game and reduced stealth to having little importance, rats have far less importance, puzzles are hardly present and the pacing of the game is far less structured and more like segments that are punctuated by metal doors and idiotic narrow passage ways where you gotta lift a log out of the way to pass, so you're locked in once you go through.

[Parry Hotter]

I stopped caring that my companions kept scolding me how blood thirsty I was because sneaking around was taking forever, haha.

[The Phasmid]

I have to agree with the OP. I'm almost done with the game, and the core stealth elements feel repetitive. They lack the ingenuity the original had. The issue is they didn't truly expand upon it. They added a couple of cool new mechanics, but not enough to truly differentiate it from the original. In fact, most of the stealth sections feel "perfunctory" and you can sense them coming from a mile away. There's also the fact that they put too many of them in the game. Such a beautiful world. Let us explore more of it.

I really like this game, but it feels like at least half of the stealth sections don't truly add anything to the player's experience or story. I wish they'd offer a choice at the beginning of the game where you can scale the amount of "arenas" are in each chapter.