Ooh lots to talk about here. To be blunt, this game is fantastic. It's itched a Deus Ex-sized patch on my heart with its incredible verticality - which got me planning careful trajectories and paths across the landscape - it's unique powers - including the ever-present flash and the very interesting chronosphere - really add the Im-Sim feel in spades, and the surprisingly in-depth systems (crafting, upgrading, upskilling, "perks", stealth, combat, fast-travel, etc.) made it feel cohesive, like the world actually existed in real time.

The voice acting helps this along too - everyone is absolutely on-point. The voices are emotive, funny, not hammy - but neither are they grating. The actors struck a terrific balance, though some had very strong accents at times.

This is absolutely a must-play if you like exploiting movement mechanics and special abilities to stealth your way through entire maps, a-la Deus Ex. There are only a few points I could suggest to the developer to be cognizant of in their next project, and for you, likely a prospective buyer/player, to be aware of.

First, there are a few bossfights which are utterly broken unless you figure out precisely how to play them. Despite 98% of the game being stellar exploration and stealth/ combat gameplay, this 2% of mandatory bossfights really annoyed me.

Second, the game is played in an isometric view. This is perfectly fine, and even works fantastically at showing off the impressive setpieces that the developers have constructed, but at times, the verticality of the game poses a problem. The game auto-hides anything that obscures your view of Teriel, the MC, and so sometimes it is difficult to know that there is a higher level/even a roof above the character's head, and as a result I've been trying (and failing) multiple times to get up onto a ledge only to find that a ceiling is blocking my movement.

Other than that - EXCELLENT voice-acting, a reasonable story, very good dialogue, a beautiful, beautiful world with loads of very intelligently designed systems acting all at once to give the impression of realism, and a brilliant soundtrack to wrap it all up into a great little package. I got 30 hours out of this, and I BARELY scratched the surface of all the side quests that are available. My map is still littered with markers for potential quests, and I look forward to a future playthrough where I experience them, too.

The developers deserve to be praised, hugged, and supported.

The overall playstyle concept is ingenious.
Imagine Ultima XIII (Pagan) with super-fluid, intuitive and responsive control.
Level design is masterfully vertical-oriented, from single building architecture to world-scale.
Bursting of loving detail.

I bought the game at release and expected an ambitious approach that will need lots of polishing.
And that is what I got.
I let it rest in my Steam library like wine bottled at release.

Could the crafting, skill advancement etc. been more thought-out and rewarding? Yes. *sigh*
But I'm spending every free minute on it since I re-installed it a few days ago.
There are so many aspects that work out in combination so well, I never spent a thought on anything that *on paper* we could wish for.