Anya Harms

I really wanted to love this game. I loved the original. But once the hype wore off, it's s... okay. The graphics are great and ambient sound design is great. The upgrade system and progression is pretty good. Gun combat is good. It falls off from there. The combat overall doesn't hold up to modern games. It feels really bad to have no good method of damage mitigation. Enemies run or leap on you and you have 4 options. Tank it. Melee it which can stagger, but more on that later. Stasis it, but that's a non-recharging resource, or slowly slog away hoping they don't hit you in the back. A reactionary, skill based dodge or parry would help a lot. Melee animation is terrible. It will look like you have a necromorph stagger locked, but it's still attacking you. You just see your health drop periodically. Force grab is janky. They really should have streamlined this. I tested it out of combat, aiming directly at an unused claw, and 5/5 grabs pulled other things, even from further away. I stepped sideways and then it grabbed. It feels arbitrary, and I don't have the passion to further test how it works. Callisto does this mechanic SO much better. I have to specify that the claw was unused, because for whatever reason you can only use claws and poles to deal damage once. The model will look in perfect condition but you cannot pick it up again. Have fun remembering what's been used during combat. I didn't pay much attention to voice acting until this game. It's so bad it's funny. They shouldn't have focused so hard on getting Isaac's original VA, he just isn't good compared to modern actors. It's a personal preference, but I hate their new Isaac. Old Isaac was quiet and stoic and older. It was different. New Isaac is young male, personality is wisecracking. He's the artificial vanilla of protagonists, dime a dozen. Yawn. They also ruined the hopeless atmosphere of the first game, you don't feel as alone or blind. In the I played it through once, and I'm trying to forget it. I wish they had made it a spiritual remake, just name a new protagonist instead of destroying what made the original fresh and grim. It still wouldn't have the atmosphere but at least they wouldn't be stomping over nostalgia.

If you're considering playing this game, DON'T!!!! TURN BACK! YOU'LL REGRET IT! It will ruin every other game that you try to play after it. Nothing is this fluid and snappy and fast. It's punishing, brutally punishing but fair. The feeling of finally beating a boss after getting knocked back over and over is... it's like being a kid again, that exultant rush that had me jumping up and down shouting "I DID IT!!!" Visual, and audio design are amazing. Beautiful throughout. Somehow dark and grim and brooding works with neon vaporwave. I don't understand it, but I want more.