A rebuilt version of the opening chapter of a famous 1997 story, following a mercenary who joins a group sabotaging a power company draining the planet. Fights play in real time, but you pause to pick special attacks from a menu, so it suits people who like both action and planning. Expect long cutscenes and a lot of character drama.
Gameplay video
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Screenshots & review notes
The verdict
This rebuilt opening chapter suits people who like both action and planning, though the amount of story and dialogue can slow the pace for some. Pausing to pick special attacks from a menu adds a layer of strategy to real time fights.
The mechanics
You follow a mercenary who joins a group sabotaging a power company draining the planet, fighting in real time while planning special moves in menus. Expect frequent stops for lengthy cutscenes and character drama.
Presentation
The city setting is detailed and moody in places, industrial and bright in others, with a soundtrack that carries a lot of emotional weight. It looks polished throughout.
Staying power
There is a substantial story here even though it only covers the opening chapter of a larger tale. It suits fans of story driven role playing games more than those wanting a quick action fix.
Frames captured from the gameplay video above; notes are our own take on the game.
What it's like to play
You control a mercenary walking through a grim, sprawling city built beneath a massive power company's reactors, and early fights introduce a system where you move around and attack in real time with one button, but can pause the action at any moment to open a menu and choose a special ability, spell, or item instead. This blend takes a little getting used to if you have never played anything like it, since your first instinct might be to just mash the attack button, but the game rewards pausing to plan every few seconds instead. Within the first hour you are also introduced to companions who fight alongside you and can be switched to directly at any time.
The story follows this mercenary joining a small group sabotaging the power company draining the life out of the planet, and the goal chapter to chapter is usually to reach and disable another part of that company's operations, mixed with plenty of quieter scenes getting to know the cast along the way. Fights grow more demanding as enemies gain more health and require careful use of elemental weaknesses found through a scan ability, so a straightforward brawl early on becomes a more tactical exchange later, still playable by just holding down attack though far less effective that way. This edition bundles in the game's original release along with a substantial side story following one of the supporting characters.
A session tends to move between long, dialogue heavy cutscenes and stretches of real time combat, so it suits players who enjoy a story heavy game and do not mind a fair amount of talking between fights. It is a strong choice for anyone curious about a famous older story told with a fresh coat of paint, or for someone who wants action with a layer of planning rather than pure reflexes. The honest drawback is that the amount of cutscene and dialogue can feel slow if you are eager to get back into fighting, and the story only covers the opening chapter of a much longer tale.