izigame.me

I planned to write this review a bit later, after I finish the game.
But as the game is currently being included in the Humble Bundle this month - I decided to write the review early, to help people decide if this game is for them.

This game was created by Obsidian entertainment, the creators of Fallout: New Vegas (and of course the original Fallout games).
Which creates pretty high expectations of them from the get go.
If we compare Fallout 3 (Bethesda) to New Vegas (Obsidian) - we see that Obsidian are much better in storytelling, side quests and humor.
But on the other hand, F:NV had loading screens every time you switched locations - while F3 and F4 contained a huge open world.
Looking at this game: it is also an open world RPG in a futuristic setting (which begs the comparison to F:NV), but this time it's also an original IP from Obsidian.
And I must say, it fares pretty well.
Not perfect - but still, pretty well...

RPG elements
First of all weapons - there are 4 categories of weapons (melee, light, heavy, long), of each you have sub-divisions (for example: 1-handed & 2-handed melee weapons, light handguns, rifles and machineguns, etc.).
In addition there are also 4 categories of damage (blast, plasma, corrosion, N-rays), which can be applies to any gun in the game.
Each weapon starts with a basic version, and as the game progresses (and you level up) you can find additional (stronger) versions of the same weapon.
In addition, there are "unique" versions of weapons, which you cannot mod, but have special mods already installed.
And on top of that, there are completely unique (science) weapons which you find usually after doing special quests - which have unique death mechanics unlike any other weapons in the game.
And on top of that - there are 3 mod categories for ranged weapons, 2 categories for melee weapons and 4 categories for armor.
And speaking of armor - there too you have variety, with different bonuses and debuffs, and progression over the game.
So weapon and armor-wise - you have an amazing variety of different and interesting weapons. And weapon-crafting in itself is a game-within-a-game.
Skills-wise, you have several levels of skills distribution you can choose from, when creating your character.
During the game, when you level up, you have both skill points and perks/bonuses you can choose from.
And every 20 skill points, you can an additional perk/bonus to that skill.
In addition, you are occasionally offered to take a debuff, in exchange for an extra perk/bonus point.
And on top of that, you also have the ability to redistribute your points (for a small fee) during the game, if you discover you did not distribute well enough, or you decide to try a different build mid-game.
So skills-wise, the game also offers a large and interesting variety.
In addition, you have up to 2 followers you can take with you.
And the followers have bonus points of their own for you to distribute, and weapons and armor they can use.
And if you choose to go solo - there are perks that give bonuses to builds without followers.
So overall, as you can see, the Role Playing element of this game is very well made, and is one of the strongest points of the game.

Open World
One the one hand, in open world games you want a big map. And the game is pretty huge here.
You have several planets you can visit - each with it's own biome. And each will building or even whole towns you can explore.
And some planets you can land on different parts of the planet, and get different maps in each.
Or sometimes land in different locations on the same (huge) planet map.
On the other hand, many buildings and cities you visit, are not actually part of the same map (in-game) and require loading times when moving from/to them.
Also on a less positive side: there is almost no diversity in creatures. Same creatures can be found on every planet.
Over all the planets there are only 2 distinct species of creatures (ape-types and arachnid-types). (and 1 more in one of the DLCs)
In addition to humans and robots, which can be found throughout the game, but besides being togher in late game (deadlier and harder to kill), they remain pretty much the same (same weapon types, same armor, same loot, etc.)

Story / Quests
On the positive side:
This game epitomizes the cornerstone of any Open World RPG - (almost) every quest can be solved in few different ways.
You can go in guns blazing.
Or talk your way out of a fight.
Or sneak in and do what is needed without being discovered.
And as an added bonus: More often that not, you can negotiate your reward after finishing a quest (if you pass the required skill checks).
And also, as was tradition in Fallout games - this game also has a sense of humor.
There are plenty of easter eggs scattered about in the world.
And in general - many of the quests have a funny side to them.
Now to the less positive side, I've seen mentioned in other reviews as well.
The plot/story here is simply weaker than Fallout.
I'm not sure what's the reason. If the world is just less interesting because it's too much apart from ours.
Or maybe the writing is not as engaging. Or the factions are not very thought out.
But the bottom line is - as much as I enjoy the RPG-style gameplay of the game, the main story itself does not feel engaging to me.
The factions all seem like assholes - and don't make me want to help any of them.
And there is simply too much text terminals. Every large rooms contains at least 1-2 terminals, and some even 5-6 terminals. And each terminal has several messages (half a page long on average) - so in an average location that's dozens of pages of text to read.
And 95% of them are just superfluous text, that adds nothing to the plot.
At some point I just stopped reading them altogether. I'm pretty sure I missed some jokes, and probably some dialog options for talking with people - but that's just too much text to read.

Some additional nitpicking:
At least in the original release - the graphics seem very cartoony. Even too much so.
A serious Open world RPG, needs to have a serious look.
You can't look like a $10 indie game, and expect to be taken seriously.
Also stealing mechanic is not very well implemented.
Stealing / Lockpicking / Hacking has almost zero repercussions, and are very easy to perform even if you're playing a completely non-stealthy character.
It's so easy - it takes all the fun out of stealing :(

After I already had around 20 hours in the regular edition, I upgraded to Spacer's choice edition - and can attest to the differences between the two.
The new edition has much better graphics. Not just better resolution, but many graphical changes.
The people look much more realistic (to the point that some have completely different faces), planets have additional huge structures in the background, which make them look much better. And other minor changes as well.
It does come with a cost though. It definitely takes up more GPU resources than the original, and some people have reported bugs & crashes (although I must admit, in my 40+ hours I have not encountered any)
In addition, the new edition has more skill levels, and more bonuses (for the higher levels). It has more/better Steam achievements.
And the game itself is slightly more difficult - when playing the same difficulty level as the original.
Overall I felt the new version was the better version, and having the choise - the one I prefer to be playing.
But that may not be the case if you have an older/weeker GPU...

The game has 2 DLCs (for which I will post reviews separately):
Peril On Gorgon - Has a whole new map filled with enemies to kill. And an engaging story (better than the main plot of the game IMO)
Murder on Eridanos - I have not finished it yet, but it's a kind of a detective mystery. With some new creatures and fun guns to try out.