From our overlords at Electronic Arts, here comes a game who’s got a lot of hype over the year, but which I didn’t get to play this year, because it requires one of the hardest to find hardware in the Universe: a friend.
So I was very happy when my good friends, Sorana and Marius, gave me a copy for my birthday, so we got to playing! They did play it together before, so I got a lot of help from them, but it didn’t alter the experience at all. At first I was a bit distracted by the split screen activity, as there are barely any games doing split screen gameplay, even if we have a gazillion pixels on our TVs, but I quickly got used to it.
This game looks absolutely fantastic. I’m not only talking about graphics, but the world detail and design are absolutely superb. I don’t need to say too much about this, you can see it from the get go.
I like the mix of science fiction and fantasy, although it feels it’s breaking the immersion now and then, but at least the stories are coherent and well written. The sci-fi parts are space-y and cyberpunk-ish, while the fantasy chapters have a magical vibe to them.
There’s also a mix of various mechanics and game styles, which makes the game not fall into a particular genre. Is it a platformer? An action-adventure? A third-person shooter? A puzzle game? Yes. I’ve added a video to show what the gameplay is here and there, and there are going to be some spoilers, not story spoilers, but more like encounter spoilers.
Reminding me a bit of Portal and its puzzles, progressing through the stories is challenging and fun, although the bosses are sometimes frustratingly annoying, with a ton of overlapping mechanics. Yep, there’s been some swearing and curses involved, but we don’t talk about that.
As for favourite stories, I don’t have one in particular, as I liked both the sci-fi ones and the fantasy ones, although I liked the different styles of Zoe’s stories to be a bit more diverse and feel that you play different games but with the same mechanics.
The throwbacks to some older games, as well as the inspiration in mechanics for some parts are definitely making this “a blueprint for videogames”, with a ton of references from games, cartoons and other pop culture nods, from Alita: Battle Angel, to Assassin’s Creed, Hogwarts Legacy, Megaman, Portal, Sailor Moon and many many more. It even has a Google Recaptcha reference, lol.
We didn’t manage to finish it, as the time we had to spare was very limited, but we did play about 14 hours so far and we progressed at like 60% of the game, having just finished the 5th chapter, the one with the dragons, but it’s definitely the top priority when my friends come back into town. Once again, thanks Sorana and Marius for the gift, it’s definitely a great one, and can’t wait to finish it! I think this is the 3rd or so awesome game I get from Sorana, she knows me so well!
As I said above, except some boss fights that were a bit overwhelming for my little brain, the general difficulty of the game is not very hard, making it a very fun run all around.
Six joysticks and it’s the best game released in 2025 that I’ve played (although I think it’s the only one).
