Dread Meridian

Index user: Another game with a mostly positive review score that I whole heartedly disagree with. I only played for 36 minutes, and I can already tell I was not going to enjoy it. The level design is very bad. It may as well be a railroad shooter... you are not permitted to explore, and you are not rewarded with anything other than invisible walls if you try. The layout of levels feels very contrived to suit the railroad storyline, which makes for a very boring and immersion breaking experience. Where I truely realised the game had nothing to offer me was the first combat experience. I was given a dagger and a gun. The enemy approaches (it's unarmed) I slash at its weak spots with the dagger for little damage, it swings at me, so I hold up my waepon to block. There is no blocking. I try runing by and slashing, but the enemy can land an attack on me every time... so the melee weapon is useless. Next the gun, it is almost impossible to pull the slide to arm the pistol because the character wants to hold the pistol with two hands. The sweet spot to grab the slide is nearly impossibly tiny... so in combat good luck reloading before you die. Accidentally ejected magazines cannot be picked back up to put in the gun. Animation of characters has a very... PS2 era vibe. Not good when they force you into cutscenes less than an arms reach away from NPCs. Honestly the only positive thing I have to say about this game up to the first true combat scene is that there was a pretty cool transformation sequence. That's it. TLDR: Nothing of substance, hard pass.