| spemanig said:
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| BraLoD said: Looks like a walking simulator. |
See this is the issue that I have with the way people often critique this game: they're often basically just rejecting it based on its genre because they don't think story-driven games have any merit or potential. Okay. That's your opinion. You can have your preferred genres of course. But I would urge people not to be so narrow as to contend that no one should appreciate this or that game genre.
That said, I can see the merits in some of your criticisms, Spemanig, particularly regarding the ending. But I also observe that you seem to expect something that is very, very difficult to make work: on the one hand, you ask for especially challenging combat and puzzles and on the other a better narrative flow. Don't you see how these atmospheric exploration type of games are kind of meant to be on the easier side? Otherwise constant deaths and whatnot can really disrupt the flow of the narrative and the sense of immersion in a way that it doesn't in this game! Yes, Hellblade could've been better made, but the way I see it is that the flow of things might've been improved not by upping the traditional game play challenge, but by embracing the type of philosophy you see in games like Gone Home more fully by just rejecting the idea of traditional "gamey" challenges altogether and allowing the player to simply immerse themselves in the mood(s) of the game, letting that be the full draw and appeal.
All that said, it's my personal opinion that Hellblade did a better job of tackling its subject matter than you're necessarily giving it credit for. And considering its lack of competition in addressing the subject of psychosis, what are you comparing it to to say that it does an awful job? Awful relative to what alternative? I'm not saying it's my favorite game of the year or anything. (My favorites so far are Night in the Woods, Pyre, and What Remains of Edith Finch.) But it's genuinely good! I enjoyed it a lot.
