[SPOILERS!!!]
This port is absolutely awful.
i'm sure the game (that's probably been optimized for xbox and it's controls) is fine, but on steam, everything from controls, mechanics and the numerous bugs that occur to the story, dialogue and environment this game just is not good.
I encountered so many bugs, one of which soft locked me at no fault of my own, another got me killed when it shouldn't have happened at all. (for specifics, Randall and Stella in ACT III right near the ending, stella crawls through a vent and randall climbs through the window, when you hop to the other side while still hanging, the window drops and gltiches out because (i assume) the ledge becomes a wall and the physics glitches.)
I have swung the axe NUMEROUS times at a "Shadow" (theyre zombies and that's what i'm calling them from now on) the axe will not connect many times when it absolutely should, causing me to needlessly lose health and/or die on multiple occasions.
the traps in the sewers were confusing for the most part, you could call it a skill issue but it felt like some traps had to be done with one certain move when jumping while running suffices.
on multiple occasions there were sections where you sprint into a breakable barrier and the building begins collapsing and if you don't maneuver in time you immediately die. the issue (as it is with multiple sections in the game) is the weird delay/controls for parkour and the extremely tight timing between moves makes it impossible to assess what's happening the first time, and impossible to pass the subsequent 2nd and maybe 3rd time. Even when you expect it, it's still difficult to make it out first try.
during the section where you're being gunned down by the helicopter with Rat man's son, there's a section where you go to sprint out of a window and there's a stack of paint cans that you *CANNOT* run into or else you'll die instantly and you'll have to redo the whole 3 floors every. damn. time.
jumping timing feels extremely off. when jumping from one side to another across a gap, it feels like you're jumping at the exact right time when the game registers it as too early, this is seen with the stack of paint cans in the running section with the huey. For this game, you'll basically want to ever so slightly jump a little later than you should most of the time, and you'll be on the spot.
running and jumping feels variable in the worst way, when a jump shouldn't be variable, it should be the same jump everytime. when running and jumping sometimes it feels wrong, given that it's such a simple input. but it is the correct solution often and it comes down to (again) an issue of timing your jump, even when running, timing the jump sometimes makes it so you jump higher sometimes??
some grabbable ledges feel out of reach and the parkour doesn't feel fluid for some movements. some ledges feel too far out of reach or not part of the solution until you stand perfectly still, just under it then jump straight up. it breaks the flow of some of the parkour that the game should be about.
hidden areas are hard to distinguish from the way forward, i missed so much thinking the way forward was a hidden area that then blocks you off (yes jumping the concrete rafters from the underground garage tunnel).
1 part stuck out to me. the scene where you get medicine for ben. there's no option to check the ambulances for aid? you find medicine and aid in 1 random locker room/storage room and some other place in the hospital? other parts of the game just feel unnecessary or don't make sense to be there given what's happening at the moment.
game/level design. the design of the game is hard to enjoy, some of the movements are hard to follow. some puzzles and fighting sections etc are pretty linear, and other times you're lost for a solution as the glow around certain destructable/interactable blends in with the rest of the art style and camera shots etc.
recurring movements and "tactics" that are not so recurring, start of the game very early on the game tells you to use the side keys to move on the ladder from one side to another. i've only seen this (from a casual playthrough) ONCE. if you plan on introducing a mechanic, and it's within the first bit of the game when many other mechanics that *are* used more often are introduced. it'll stump you on 2 or 3 occasions.
the parkour and movement timing of certain time sensitive sections. the huey section and collapsing building sections suck because of how *fast* they catch up to you, if it was running with an occasional vault (which is a basic ass parkour move that any parkour game should have. it's the most basicest move to have?!?!) it'd be fine, a jump here, a dive roll there etc. but the game has you doing wall rebounds vertically when youre being run after horizontally, crawling, sliding slowly down etc. you'll die multiple times no matter what.
the story and dialogue aren't the best either, doesn't feel very "seattle" all the characters have a character to them and that's all they stick to, randall speaks in such a corny cheesy "batman justice" way, stella speaks whiningly all the time when she speaks. some dialogue plain doesn't make sense (randall, trying to get through to stella that the safe haven doesnt exist but is a trap by rogue military agents, says at some point "that blood on your mouth is all we have left that is real" like what does that even ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mean?) and the story is extremely cliche but there could've been a different better story set in place instead.
all in all, no hate to the makers of the game and those who contributed and worked on it, but the game overall (this port at least) in my eyes is a 4/10, from the mechanics to the story to the sheer frustration of the game basically robbing you of a fun fair experience and good parkour and story. there's too many improvements that this should just be revamped into a different game, same gist (of genres like zombies, parkour and setting of pnw) but maybe more pnw? and better/more parkour mechanics.
i gotta say, the John Wayne Gacy I.D collectible was pretty cool and some of the environmental story telling was kinda cool, but gold leaf won't save a turd from being what it is.
do i regret buying this? Yeah i kinda do, i wish it was just a bit better than what is available on steam currently.
