Recent reviews by Ghostayane

I didn't know much about this game upon purchasing, didn't even know it was souls-like. I just had it on my wishlist for a long time, looking at potential purchases I looked into the game more and most comments just said combat was good which is what matters most to me. To preface this, I don't actually enjoy souls-like games, too shallow combat wise and what I normally associate with souls games is a vague story you learn about through objects. Well this game definitely fir's the bill with the die and lose some resources on death, but this game has a full story the whole way through with the collectibles giving you MASSIVE lore dumps about the world.

The story was entertaining beginning to end and if you like a ton of background lore in the world there is massive amounts and found myself reading everything everything I came across, which is most everything in the game. My biggest complaint about this is while it is nice getting this info, getting notes titled NICELY HANDWRITTEN NOTE, OR NOTE WITH TERRIBLE HANDWRITING. But the font is the same no matter what, if it's neatly written SHOW IT don't explain that, you can have an option where you press a button and you can easily read it. But instead they definitely went with the "tell don't show" option here.

Combat which is something I care about the most is actually quite enjoyable. you have 6 weapons to choose from pretty much right at the start and can upgrade any as long as you ave the materials to do so. (MAX 3 WEAPONS PER RUN CAN REACH HIGHEST LEVEL IF YOU FIND THE MATS) Each weapon feels different and great in their own way I experimented a lot in the beginning until I fell into my favorite two weapons to use for the remainder of my first run. You have several skills for each weapon and perks that change how certain moves work that you can toggle on and off. It isn't the deepest combat system but it is enjoyable with a good variety of enemies to fight. The game had a good amount of difficulty throughout and never felt like it got easier as you go on. You also get to choose difficulty at the beginning I do recommend doing Challenge at the start if you are looking for a bit more difficulty. Although, if you are looking for a brutally hard game this also is not that.

Speaking of difficulty there is a point in the game where it turns to night and a bunch of hard bosses spawn around the world, these bosses are definitely the hardest part of the game and the fights are VERY fun.

The story itself was good, but the greatest story ever told. It dragged me in enough to reed the lore, listen to what the characters in the shelter had to say about the current and past state of Aphes. The devs really put as lot of care and attention to the world taking a ton of inspiration from Greece and Roman mythologies. The only complaint I have about the story is that to get the "best ending" is super extremely vague that absolutely requires a guide to get. You have to meet certain requirements and a certain amount of them to get this ending. A lot of it is hidden and a nice chime happens when you meet a requirement and you can check how many you have on the corner of Minerva's desk at the shelter.

Now arguable the biggest problem with the game is the "quest log" or lack thereof. Therte is no map so exploration is up to you entirely, which bothered me at first but not in the grand scheme of things as this game is a lot more linear than it appears to be, there is always only one path forward. The problem is the main quest it does tell you what you need to do it's up to you to find what to do which really isn't an isn't an issue. The real issue is the side quests, you better have a damn good memory or a guide because once you are told something that is the last you will hear or read of it. Hilda writes a vague entry in her journal that explains nothing. Most things you can do on the spot but some you can't do anything about until later in the game and you get a quest item and you just think "I dunno wtf to do with this" because you spoke to some one at the earlier parts of the game that wanted it. Well you better start going to any NPC you can talk to you if you don't have a guide, or write down what/where people are.

I am dedicating this sentence at the end just to say I LOVE the soundtrack it's REALLY good.

Overall it was a very enjoyable game and I loved just about everything in the game, it is rough around the egdes in a lot of ways but the pros outweigh the cons in the end. I enjoyed it enough the get all the achievements and plan on returning to this game again sometime in the future. I recommend people to try this game if you like a linear-ish souls-like with a story inspired by Greek and Roman mythologies and a good but not particularly deep, but satisfying combat system.

I have never reviewed a game before on Steam and I already own the Collector's Edition for Origin and have about 200 hours on this game so I didn't need to buy it, but I absolutely did! I was also just going to write a simple "This game is good buy it" review but since i love Mirror's Edge so much to be my first ever review I feel like it deserves a proper review.

Before we begin you should know this game is a reboot of the series not a sequel or a prequel to the original Mirror's Edge so keep that in mind. With that being said the story is just as forgettable as the first, they tried to create an epic story and some parts were cool but overall meh, it won't stick with you long after you beat it. The reason I'm not going to go into it much is because it's the weakest aspect of both games. I still recommend to follow the story but like I said, nothing too special here. It is however worth to experience at least once, and if you're interested in why Faith the main protagonist was in Juvenile Detention at the start it's also worth it to read the prequel comic Exordium.

This game improves a lot over the first game while also falling short on mechanics from the first game at the same time. You can no longer pick up guns which is a great bonus because in the first game there are sections a casual player would have to stop and pick up a gun and fight to clear a path through an area, which kills all momentum and goes against what Mirror's Edge is. This game improves on that where everything is momentum based, if you are good enough to keep moving you can knock down enemies on the go without ever stopping the flow of the movement. The movement in this game is top notch, it is a racing game but on your feet! With that being said I have no idea what the devs were thinking, but there comes a point you are locked to an area and have to fight waves of enemies and it is by far the worst part of either game by far.

Catalyst takes an "open world" approach rather just solely having missions only. But that doesn't mean there are no missions in this game. To continue the story you have to go to an area which starts the mission, and that area you're in is a specially crafted area just for the main missions which you won't be able to return to in the open world. These missions are extremely fun and at times better than the original, but the majority of the missions aren't as good as the original. Where the open world does shine however and everyone has different opinions on this subject, is there is tons of exploration with different pickups giving different parts of the lore to the player. In the form of documents, secret bags, surveillance recordings and orbs all over the world called Gridleaks. While these may not be for everyone, when I say the open world shines I refer to the player made races, and Beat L.E.'s. While there are random delivery missions go to point A to Point B to deliver something for some one, and pre-made races to put you into a runner division which is more or less just a leaderboard. Players can create their own races and people can compete in them for best time. The large majority of the races people come up with are extremely creative and fun and this is where you are going to spend most of your time playing after completing the story. Beat L.E.'s are just points on the map you place that you feel are hard to reach and people can get to it and put their name on it showing they've been there very similar to a geocache.

A downside to the first game is the upgrade system, which is more of an inconvenience more so than a major negative. You unlock some tools such as a Mag Rope and a Disrupter which is mostly used to get to new areas of the world as the story progresses. The unlock tree also has stuff such as climbing pipes faster and other annoying stuff that you should have just gotten at the start. But regardless even without any of the upgrades the game still moves flawlessly so they're not required to get the most out of the movement system at the start. Once you get them it is just QoL improvements to your existing moveset.

The graphics in this game are incredible, it is a very beautiful game to just stare at a lot. With the inclusion of NVIDIA Ansel you can take amazing screenshots with this game. As you run through The City of Glass you will stop frequently to enjoy the color palettes the game has to offer, or stop to just simply just enjoy the skyboxes. The first ME game had a very unique color palette of whites and reds, and depending on the mission they would change to greens, or blues. Regardless, this game keeps the same look and feel of the original palette while expanding on it in many ways, just stop and look at the world and you will see what I mean. For real, do it. But one thing you might note if you are familiar with the first ME is that the lighting is not "as good". This is due to the fact that the first ME game had its lighting system baked in rather than having it in real time like Catalyst does.

The soundtrack to this game is phenomenal and just like the original the entire game is done by the amazing artist Solar Fields. I actually never even heard of him until the first game, and I don't really actually like the genre of electronic music, but this game is an absolute exception. It is like a mixture of techno, ambiance and trance (I think I don't actually know for sure) and the music just goes so well with the game and makes the world feel more alive. There are many songs that will stick to you well after the game is over. For an example here is my personal favorite from the first game titled "Shard" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQeupYRYPck

One thing to note is to completely turn off "Runner Vision" in the main menu as well as disabling the HUD and enemy health bars, you'll thank me later for it. Runner Vision leaves a red trail to the route to your destination which is absolutely boring. Not only is it not the optimal or direct route to your destination, it eliminates the choices and freedom of movement this game has to offer which is a lot. There are also option as K-Sec usually guard shorter routes to areas making them more dangerous to go through, but once you get good enough to be able to run right through them knocking them all down and continue on your path in just a couple swift movements without ever losing momentum feels very rewarding. Or you can just find a way around, nothing wrong with that either it's just another choice the game provides to you.

Around the world you will also get spotted by cameras and there is a meter that builds on how much K-sec wants you captured, helicopters will come for you and K-Sec guards will start to appear along your path, these are fun because it tests your skill to outrun them and get away from them as quickly as possible. But remember how I said this game provides choices? Will if you really wanted to stop and fight every single K-Sec that gets in your way you absolutely can do that too. The combat can be fun and cool and rather flashy and when you finish off the last enemy you get a cool little finisher. Still think you should just keep running though. There is also a fast travel feature but once you get the hang of the game and understand the playable areas you can get from one side of the world to the other in no time and always find different routes to take.

So if you are looking for a racing/parkour game this is pretty much the only one out there and the best one out there. Newcomers will get enjoyment out of the game and returning ME players will also find enjoyment. As a whole package I do like this game more than the first ME game, and if you were on the fence about it and just kind of brushed it off and forgot about it until you saw it pop up on Steam I absolutely think the game is worth, If before/after you play Catalyst and you want to see where the series started, the original ME holds strong to this day and I recommend playing both at least once.