Binary Domain

Excellent game, had a lot of fun playing it! The highlight for me is the character banter, especially between Dan and Big Bo. The story was also very interesting with a couple of unexpected twists towards the end. The gameplay was pretty decent as well with a ton of varied boss fights (each major boss has unique movesets and some were absolutely gigantic). The voice recognition stuff was cute but very finicky, which did lead to a lot of unintentionally funny moments, and also meant I couldn't max out trust with everybody (except Shindo). Also, some of the onscreen commands for QTEs (like hit "space" or "m") didn't match the actual keys, but that could just be me messing up the default key config. Overall, it's pretty short story-wise, but a very enjoyable and light-hearted game. Definitely recommend getting this on sale. Damn shame there won't be a sequel to really finish off this crazy story. My thoughts on the various crewmembers (major SPOILERS so don't read any further if you want to play this game yourself): [spoiler]- [b]Dan (protagonist):[/b] Witty tough guy with a hate boner for clankers. Definitely not a blank slate; he's got a history of being a "Survivor" and some motivation for his hatred of robots. The game didn't really go too in depth with his backstory for this, unfortunately. But, he has a big change of mind towards the end of the game thanks to Cain and Faye. - [b]Big Bo:[/b] Bo is Dan's best friend and sticks with him throughout most of the game. The banter between these two was a biiiiig highlight for me as I mentioned earlier. I will never forget him yelling "Get the lead out!" at me every time the voice recognition inputs the wrong voice command. Also related to voice commands: it kept misunderstanding something I said so Dan would always be yelling out for Bo even when he wasn't part of the squad later in the game, so he must've sounded schizophrenic to the rest of them. Also, [i]he sure is big[/i]. - [b]Faye:[/b] Very interesting character with a completely unexpected twist. Her and Dan's relationship was cute as they bonded throughout the game (she was still kinda mean to him sometimes lol). Also, [i]hot[/i]. - [b]Charlie:[/b] Standard captain figure who's a stickler for following orders (most of the time) with a huge rivalry with Dan. The back and forth between the two of them was fun though and I didn't really dislike him, despite his attitude. - [b]Rachael:[/b] Absolute unit of a woman who becomes your demolitions expert in the team. Like Charlie, she starts off kinda hostile towards Dan but lets go of that after like a chapter. After the elevator sequence where you save her, she doesn't really have much to do or say until the very end of the game, sadly. - [b]Jean:[/b] French. He died 💀. - [b]Cain:[/b] One of the most badass clankers to ever walk the earth and a sick design as well. Very cool character that had a lot to do during the middle/end of the game. Ever since Legion and EDI from Mass Effect, I've had a soft spot for robots so this guy was almost instantly a favourite. Wish there was more closure on his status after the ending. Also, [i]French[/i]. - [b]Shindo:[/b] Japanese Resistance guy that joins you towards the end of the game, but he's a cool guy that kinda takes Bo's spot during those sections while the big man is elsewhere. His bickering with Kurosawa was pretty funny. Shindo's death felt a little rushed/unnecessary to me given they didn't really explore much regarding how he felt about Yoshiki being a Hollow Child (other than being, understandably, shaken). So, when he was grabbed by a single robot and, instead of shooting it and joining Kurosawa and Dan, decided to stay back and "hold them off" when he was only inches from the elevator door, it felt a little like they needed to get him out of the ending fight. He's also the only character I gained max trust with so I believe his death was scripted. - [b]Kurosawa:[/b] Japanese detective that gets introduced near the end of the game and hunts Dan and his gang but is forced to switch sides thanks to Amada's evil shenanigans. He's only really there for that one scrapyard part with Shindo before the final battle, but he's a pretty likeable and interesting character still. The interactions between him and his junior officer were where the bulk of his likeability comes from. I wish he was introduced a little earlier in the story because he kinda comes in out of nowhere (could be I'm forgetting some earlier scenes; there was a couple-month gap between me playing chapter 3 and 4). When Dan sends Kurosawa off to warn the Japanese police of the incoming nuclear strike, I think this could've been a better spot to remove Shindo from the main squad as well. Also, [i]all hail Lelouch![/i] EDIT: I just found out there are multiple endings to this game (including one with Bo and Cain surviving) so I guess I'm gonna play this game again in the future. But yeah, very fun cast of characters that make the story more engaging.[/spoiler]