Metascore 93 is a complete lie & joke. Terrible game?

[AutomotiveVP]

People out here saying this is better than Outer Wilds or The Talos Principle...? Maybe I’m just not ‘getting it’ like they are... but honestly, this is one of the most overhyped games I’ve bought in a long time.

The gameplay is repetitive, heavily luck-based, and honestly feels like one of the worst puzzle game experiences I’ve had. There’s very little actual problem-solving, It’s basically just luck-based while things slowly fall into place, nothing really complex or clever about it. Feels like it’s more RNG than actual puzzle design.

I genuinely don’t understand the praise this game is getting. The way some people talk about it, you'd think it’s some masterpiece of design. To me? It feels like a £5 indie experiment at best, not a full-priced, critically acclaimed puzzle-roguelike.

[MorpheusLunae]

I think the real takeaway here is that game critics have played the same three games in different coats a billion times already and are just happy if something comes along that feels at least slightly fresh in comparison.

[easytarget]

Other people have opinions I disagree with therefore ratings are a joke is a take exhibiting a fair amount of inflated self-importance suggesting OP believes his opinion is more valid than others. Fortunately for all involved this is over nothing more consequential than a game.

I would suggest OP stop looking to steam reviews and forums for external validation before he hurts himself.

[NorionV]

Origineel geplaatst door Grassy:

The difficulty of the puzzles is really derived from simply requiring the right circumstances to solve them which results in more of a "finally" moment more than an "A-ha" moment.

This is a great way of putting it.

Most of the puzzles I was solving that weren't entirely self-contained within one room, were just me thinking to myself, "Oh, that finally showed up. Okay, check that box..."

I wasn't feeling clever or excited for solving puzzles. I was feeling more... relieved. Like this monkey finally got off of my back. Because the dictation is just circumstances coming together with minimal input from myself, not me being good at solving puzzles or managing mechanics.

In fact, I enjoyed the single room puzzles the most, now that I think about it from this angle.

[Satin Finish]

An aspect that I think is a problem is the expectation of the game. I never thought it would be 20-30 hr just to 'beat the main game', let alone 80-100+ hrs to complete everything. These lengths are getting into RPG/open world game lengths and beyond.

When i played the demo last year, (and stopped after a few runs and reaching the Antechamber aso as to not spoil the game on release) it felt like it was going to be more like a 8-10 hour game, maybe a bit longer to get all the secrets. Its was basically a puzzle game with a cool premise mixing with drafting rooms.

The problem is while many of the 'challenging' puzzles are solvable from information provided in the game, this information is pretty much never provided prior to encountering the room the first time, and judging by what I've experienced after aren't provided for 10-20-30 hours into the game - mostly due to RNG. This is frustrating, as you never know when or where that information is going to come from, then on top of that, you have to then draft and be able to place that room again to solve the puzzle!

For example, many of the safe codes have various hints throughout the game, but most of these are only accessible after considerable game time, one needs you to have visited almost every cell in the map! Yet several of these safes are available from the start of the game, so you are shown safes that if you need the hints are not going to be solvable for a long time, which is frustrating as they are a good resource for gems per run.

This all adds up to a game, that whilst I loved the concept, its implementation has just wasted my time at every point and that's not even including the lack of QOL features that were heavily explained and discussed during the demo!

For my run I didn't really get anything (permanent upgrades, access to various places etc ) until after day 22. Then by day 25 I suddenly had everything needed (and more) to 'beat the game' (room46). So my experience wasn't a nice drip feeding of information, upgrades, puzzle solutions etc, after day 4 or 5 it was then 17 days of almost nothing, then a sudden rush of important rooms. Hence the RNG is bad!

[Jesse]

Outer wilds has 85 btw. This game is not bad by any means, but outer wilds is better by large margin imho

[Resinger]

Origineel geplaatst door AutomotiveVP:

Origineel geplaatst door Bearsuit:

You are right - you don't get it. There is significant problem solving in this game - both to meta the RNG and to actually solve the mystery itself.

What am I missing here, besides the fact it slowly comes together over time? What exactly gives this a 93 critic score? Genuinely curious, because there are plenty of other games out there way more deserving of that kind of praise.

You're missing a ♥♥♥♥ ton of content, getting to the antichamber is only like 10% of the game lol

[CourtJesterCowboy]

Origineel geplaatst door Resinger:

Origineel geplaatst door AutomotiveVP:

What am I missing here, besides the fact it slowly comes together over time? What exactly gives this a 93 critic score? Genuinely curious, because there are plenty of other games out there way more deserving of that kind of praise.

You're missing a ♥♥♥♥ ton of content, getting to the antichamber is only like 10% of the game lol

That's a stretch... Getting to the antechamber is at least 40-50% of the game.... Then getting to the basement after and finishing that is likely 20-30% of the game, then the rest is outside and the specific rare floorplans along the way... I dont understand the desperate shilling to make this game seem way more special than it is. It's a carrot on a stick walking sim.

[The Shrubbery]

Origineel geplaatst door CourtJesterCowboy:

Origineel geplaatst door Resinger:

You're missing a ♥♥♥♥ ton of content, getting to the antichamber is only like 10% of the game lol

That's a stretch... Getting to the antechamber is at least 40-50% of the game.... Then getting to the basement after and finishing that is likely 20-30% of the game, then the rest is outside and the specific rare floorplans along the way... I dont understand the desperate shilling to make this game seem way more special than it is. It's a carrot on a stick walking sim.

The game doesn't end getting to room 46 and rolling credits, there is quite a bit more puzzles to solve after that. I've spent more time after rolling credits than before, and I have only found 6 of the 8 sanctum keys. I know there are more large puzzles after that.
I do think some of the puzzles would be more suitable to a more conventional adventure game where you can go back to clues at your leisure. Sigils , Final exam and getting to the safehouse feel like they would be at home in a Riven type game.

[Badgerlord]

NGL... 93 seems too low for me.