Scion Draconis

The story might be good. I'll find out with longer play...if I don't tear my hair out and delete the game first. The combat system is garbage. For some reason, the main melee attack is in the form of a lunging swing of the weapon. This almost always results in the player being forced into a bad position that requires a dodge (stamina use) to get clear or constant attacking to prevent the enemy from attacking back, which only works with faster weapons and doesn't work so well on level 6+ enemies. Vampiric feeding leaps that target the player actually curve to auto-latch even when I dodge or there is non-destructible furniture in the way. I've been fed on several times already and haven't been able to find a way to break the feed short of letting it run its course. It seems the system decides the attack hits as soon as it's activated instead of checking for collision. It also seems that offensive abilities like Shadow have to have a locked target to actually land on an enemy. Otherwise, it lands at the player's feet. So, when fighting multiple enemies, if you're locked on to one target, you don't face the others and can easily run out of stamina from dodging everything and end up surrounded, pinned, and dead. If you're not locked on to one, your potent offensive abilities do jack all. The autolock function actually makes this problem worse. If it's turned on, you'll often find your lock changing targets right before you trigger your ability. It also seems that locking onto a target can toggle the walk speed, which is a stupid and unnecessary risk in combat. There is no jump, no swim, and no crouch. For an action game, these are severe mobility impediments. There's also no climbing or mantling. "Teleporting" to out of reach places (across a small canal, for example) is explicitly situational and a form of environmental interaction instead of a proper ability. TL;DR: Combat Systems: 0/5. Poorly designed. Mobility: 1/5. Thoroughly lacking. Visuals: 5/5. Audio: 5/5. Character interactions and social systems: 5/5. Story: Too early in the game to rate. Unfortunately, as an action game, the Combat Systems and Mobility weigh in rather heavily. The severe lack in those aspects turns what critics were calling an "ambitious game" into an unenjoyable beat fest with the player as the pinata on Normal difficulty. Recommendation: Go play Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines instead.