Recent reviews by Rumsy

The mechanics are quite simple, you have different moods you have to balance and these moods give you different bonuses when studying. You get to study two skills a week, from obscure and ultimately useless ones like "Animal Handling -> Falconry" to more useful ones like "Military -> Strategy" and "Courtly Manners". It would seem almost impossible to tell which skills are more useful until you get a couple playthroughs under your belt and learn the sequence of static events and paths that your choices/performances take you down. Fake example just to avoid spoilers: You know there is a battle coming up in Week 20, but a royal ball coming up in Week 10 and if you fail that then all hell breaks loose. You would most likely want to train skills for the ball first to impress nobles to keep them happy and still have ample weeks to train for the upcoming battle (that may not be revealed to be happening until Week 18). This insider knowledge gives you almost a required advantage as being blindsided by events can often end in your untimely (although amusing) demise. Make new saves often.

I would recommend this game for cheap during a Steam sale. Initially, during my first playthrough I wanted to say that it was worth more than a few dollars but there are two key things that prevented that. First, although it would appear as if events are random to some degree, all of them are static. This isn't necessarily a problem since they play out like branches of a tree as you progress through weeks (the first few events are always the same but choices eventually branch out into hundreds of possible combinations). Although there is eventual variety of outcome based on choices you may have made at the start of the game, and some of them have a greater degree of impact than others, they all feel pre-determined, albeit outlandish at times.

This segues into my second reservation about the game and really the two points could be summed up into a "This game isn't unrestrictive but pretends to be" argument. My second problem with the game is that it feels too short, i.e. it has a timely ending. The 40 weeks (read: 100 or so decisions made by me) were just enough time for it to really feel like the world was about to react to the character I guided or vice versa. It was just enough time for the plot path I ended up traversing to thoroughly piss me off and make me want to switch to ruling with an iron fist and transforming into a cruel leader bent on revenge.

In short, what I really wanted was a dramatic unfolding story with random events that could carry it much farther. I was impressed with how many possible combinations they had in the 40 weeks, but would have traded half of those combinations for the game to even double its length. Ideally, this game would go on forever, like some sort of visual novel crime-drama strategy sandbox extravaganza. I'm glad I didn't bother paying attention to any of the dozens of dukes and dutchesses and their names because the end came too quick for any of that to matter much.

In summary, LLTQ is a fun game to sink a few hours into for relatively cheap but falls short of its potential in that it isn't quite a visual novel version of Total War or Civilization without the combat. Its replayability depends on your mood toward short playthroughs where it could have cemented its replay value with more depth per playthrough.

I made it out of my car and walked up to the building and peeked in.

10/10 would play again.

I have to say this was the best $5 I have ever spent on a game. I kind of wish I had just given the developer $20 toward a sequel.

10/10. Gorgeous art even on this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, fluid combat/movement that is engaging until the end and some future replayability because DLC/awesomeness from everything outside the story/lack of sequel.

First, the game plays out sort of like this:
You adventure through an area via Assassin's Creed-esque climbing antics. While climbing is not as intense as it is in the AC games, in ENSLAVED it is more streamlined especially early on. I didn't really enjoy the scaling until later in the game when there were more challenges added to it, but I didn't hate it either. One of the things they do really nicely is, the camera angle changes slightly when you climb. At first it was a bit off-putting, but I quickly realized that they were giving really cool angles with their gorgeous backgrounds and art style. It quickly becomes sort of addicting to scale these large beautiful expanses with your every step looking like a screenshot in a gaming magazine.

When you aren't reaching new heights, you're fighting mech mobs or mini-bosses. The combat is pretty simplistic and is carried by mechanics being constantly introduced to keep it refreshing. I played through the game on hard first, which made it feel more rewarding as I can't imagine how stale the combat must feel on easy. Once you get in a good rhythym it's easy to overlook the fact that combat consists of spamming X and Y. You can upgrade your dude as you progress and eventually the B button plays a small role too. All the mechs do something different that help you clear the mob if you can take advantage of them. They block and dodge which can be annoying but makes it all the sweeter when you get a slow-motion kill on them. Your dude is pretty much Goku. Seriously, both Dragonball Z and this game are based on the same Chinese story so your guy is pretty much Goku in a different world and setting.

Lastly, the story and characters are pretty well done. You play as Monkey (Goku) who has a complex relationship with a highly skilled techno-wiz/hacker named Tripitaka or Trip for short. Without spoiling past the first 5 minutes, the complex part being that in the first few minutes of the game you become enslaved by her. Now you can't get too far away from her or let her die or you die. This actually has more effect on the story than actual combat, but there were a few fights where mechs went after her or I climbed too far from her and ended up dying. I fell in love with both these characters and their interactions, and I think it had to do with the amazing motion capture and the actress/actor used. The beautiful environments, witty dialogue and crazy cinematics helped. The story itself is nothing to write home about. It is pretty much these two just trying to survive while travelling West. What makes the story seem particularly good though is that you genuinely care about these characters pretty quickly and can't wait to see where their adventure takes them next. This is all tied together by a fairly interesting ending to the plot. Again, without spoiling, I think perhaps my final thought process during the ending is telling:

"Oh yeah, there's a plot to this game I guess besides them just travelling. Okay there is kind of a message about the human condition that most post-apocalyptic content has already explored. Well, that was kind of a neat twist to a plot I hadn't thought important while playing, a plot that I thought was just a means to the journey's end. Not exactly an original twist, but a neat spin on it for this context."

That all being said, the story really benefitting from the character's relationship unfolding makes the ending kind of maddening. I really want this game to have done well so that they would make a sequel. I really love the setting. I really love the main characters and their adventures. There are loose ends left when the game ends when it comes to the characters' story. I guess that is always the case when you want a game to keep going. You want to know what happens to them next. The next game could have picked up where it left off. This game felt like certain aspects such as climbing or combat were really well done but maybe a few tweaks in a sequel could have perfected them. It's glaringly obvious this game was set for a sequel that might never come because of lower than expected sales and that's a shame. A damn shame. A damn crying shame.

Edit: I wouldn't be doing this game justice if I forgot to mention how much of a fox Trip is.

Quite frankly, this is one of the coolest games I have ever played and I knew it as soon as I touched it. My only worry was the plot would not come together quite right which couldn't have been closer to yet farther from the truth. The story and immersion is awe inspiring with help from the beautiful clay artwork and stunning ambient sounds. This game can leave you with so many questions but they are the kind of unanswerable questions posed by the very existential philosophy this game constantly makes subtle pokes at. This game follows my favorite sidescroller formula; it gives the player a great unique mechanic and forms even more unique puzzles around it and forces the player to reinvent uses for a familiar tool. Every puzzle feels different although they largely have the same variables. The game spares the player nothing by making them discover everything themselves--it feels honest, rewarding and refreshing. I would definitely recommend this game to everyone who enjoys sidescrolling puzzle platformers with an interesting atmosphere you just won't get in another game. If this game goes on sale, snatch it up (and then let's have discussions about the story/ending)!