To get it out of the way,is a beautiful, well-crafted game that has an engaging story and a brilliantly conceived post-apocalyptic world. The sequel to 2017’s critically-acclaimedpicks up shortly after the epic final battle with the Hades artificial intelligence. Now, former outcast and current reluctant savior of the world, Aloy, must travel into the ruins of San Francisco in order to find a copy of the lost computer program that will stop the deterioration of the world.
Where the game fails is the combat, which is the main reason that I never finished the first one. Like a Fumito Ueda game, it’s often more fun to look at than to actually play. It’s weird how something that is clearly trying to be the halfway point betweenThe game is at its best when Aloy is stalking machines and setting up traps for them to run into. In those moments, it feels like a brilliant execution of all the tools at the game’s disposal.
Even if you don’t fail these moments, the game will force you into giant battle scenes that would be a lot more fun with proper guns. In most games, the bow is a weapon designed for quietly one-shotting enemies without alerting others. The slowed pace of the draw and release meshes well with stealth and assassination. Here, it’s your primary battle asset, slowing you down and constantly leaving you scrambling for resources.
It’s so counterintuitive against decades of game design, and not in a revolutionary way. Even if you turn on aim assist the game operates completely against all logic. Rather than drawing your crosshairs to the target, it will guide the projectile after it leaves your bow. This greatly increases the feeling that all the damage you’re doing is random rather than calculated.
The sequel also suffers from a common failing in that Aloy is inexplicably underpowered. Her loss of equipment is explained away by her long journey, but the stripping of her physical abilities is more aggravating. There’s no reason she shouldn’t be able to ambush enemies from above with her spear right off the bat, and the game’s early levels even seem to want you to do it instead of awkwardly jumping off rocks and swinging ineffectually.