Recompile

Terrible experience. The aesthetics and story are good, but the platforming and gunplay are intolerable. The platforming is really unpleasant and relies on you getting upgrades to compensate for the bad platforming, and then you enter OKT and have to do a bunch of precision platforming on random floating platforms to the point where I'm not kidding when I say it felt like playing Bubsy 3D. The gunplay is terrible because most of your weapons are weak. The only one that does respectable damage is the BSoD weapon you get for killing the TET boss, which does splash damage to you if you fire it point blank because it's a grenade launcher. All the other weapons are completely useless. Enemies also have a bad habit of flying directly over your head, which is bad because in FPSes and games where you are in 3D and are locked to two rotational axes, the mouse controls yaw (X) and pitch (Y), so what do you think happens when you look at the camera's "north pole" and try to look left? If you guessed that you just spin in place because you'd need to turn on the roll axis, then you're absolutely right. Aiming while looking up is impossible. So why the hell are enemies floating directly above you where you can't shoot them? Stupid design. I was able to tolerate all of this until I got softlocked. I have been playing the game like a normal person, exploring everything I see and beating the boss and getting to the end before returning to the hub, and I got everything I could find. However, this wasn't enough, as I am stuck in the bottom of ICO near where that portal door is. I do not have a jetpack. The game wouldn't give it to me at the end of OKT. I don't have any hacking abilities. I can't modify logic gates despite the game giving me a hacking mode at the BEGINNING OF THE GAME. A mode I haven't been able to use once. I have over 3700 bits that I can't use, and now I'm stuck in an area that to my understanding is almost impossible to get out of if you don't have the jetpack. WHO DESIGNED THIS? Technically it's not a true softlock as I could theoretically get out if I put a tremendous amount of effort doing extremely difficult and tricky platforming, according to one person in the thread who barely managed to escape the cave, but like hell I'm going to put that much effort into getting out when I don't even know how to progress. Let's imagine that I actually do it. What then? ICO was the last area and my last lead. I was supposed to finish this area and then finish the game. I still don't have any of the hacking abilities like this elusive ability to change logic gates that I've somehow gone the whole game without finding (recall that the game gave me recompile mode at the very beginning and I have had no ability to actually use said mode for the entire game). The ability that I need in order to get the jetpack and open the gate that I'm currently stuck at. If I can somehow get to the gate way out in the boonies that leads to the final boss, I might be able to finish the game, but I already saw someone doing it in a speedrun and just don't care enough to do it myself given that I've just gotten softlocked. To make matters worse, in the thread where other people were complaining about getting stuck in ICO, the devs said they would look into fixing it. [b]This was two years ago.[/b] ♥♥♥♥ this game. I quit.

This game has so much potential. It could be really good, but it falls short on 3 major fronts, that most people will just put the game down and not finish it. 1) Unskippable dialogue. If more of the dialogue was shown and it could be sped up, that would be ideal. Instead, the player has to wait for it to be drawn on screen, which wouldn't be too annoying if it was clearer when dialogue would end. There were so many times where I would think the dialogue was over, but it would just keep going on and on. Then when it would end, if I had just gotten to a new area, I would regain control, move forward a little bit, and then an unskippable "cutscene" would play showing the whole area. People want to move around and not have to deal with unskippable things like this. Every once in a while is fine, but it felt like it happened way too often. I was interested in the story and the dialogue, but the way it was done in game is not to my liking. It felt too intrusive. 2) Which path to take in game. The pathing in the game is fine, but it could be better. If you don't get the slow-mo upgrade early on, then having to face some of the bosses without it is going to be painful. The developers should have had the pathing be such that the player would "choose" a path so that they can get key upgrades first. 3) Unable to teleport to locations. Why can't I teleport to a gate that I've already visited? If I need to do any backtracking, which I did near the end trying to figure out what else I needed to do, it makes it so annoying have to basically redo each level again. --- There are other things that the developer could improve on quality of life wise, like showing on the map what items have already been gotten, but I don't want to be too hard on the game. It had a lot of potential and could have been so much better, in fact it still can be so much better if at least #1 and 3 are patched into the game. #2 would be a bit harder, but I digress. Would I recommend this game?....Maybe. The story is interesting, the art style is great, the upgrades are cool, plays great on the steam deck. It's not a bad game, but it's shortcomings are so glaring that it detracts from everything the game does well.

While i can understand why this game has mixed reviews, for me it ticked basically all the boxes i wanted it to. I want to provide a good idea of exactly what the game is, as i feel like that doesn't really get across very well what with it's metroidvania marketing and such. First thing's First, Recompile is a narrative driven action platformer way before it is a metroidvania. there are metroidvania elements, specifically with level design and pacing, but that takes a backseat to the amazing story it tells. This game does not have a lot of combat. what's there is serviceable, but it is not a focus. You will spend way more time platforming and reading than doing any sort of combat in this game. The weapons available allow for fun shootouts with drones and robots but it is not the forefront. what IS the focus are the amazing graphics and stellar story. The environments do a great job of complimenting the story being told in them through various data logs you pick up. I never encountered any area that felt outright boring, and never found a moment where the story wasn't gripping me. When reading about the Hypervisor AI you are "hacking", you will come to not only feel sorry for it, but the people it attempted to help before going offline. The narrative does a great job of making everything feel desolate, inside a computer of all things. I won't go too far into the story for spoiler reasons of course, but safe to say, the story will probably stick with me for awhile. There are 3 main areas, as well as a smaller sub area. Each with a different theme. Each area's theme not only correlates to a gameplay mechanic, but also a different part of the Hypervisor's Tasks and how it was helping the people it was assigned to. Some people didn't trust it, some trusted it too much. and the relationship between the Hypervisor and it's human companions was probably the most gripping part of the game for me, and what led me to getting every single data log for the true ending (which is the most satisfactory ending as well). The platforming was not as hard for me as it seemed to be for others. Matter of fact i personally ran into 0 camera or controls issues at all. I would however recommend playing this game with a keyboard and mouse if you can, as i could see how a controller could make the combat more tedious than fun in certain parts of the game. I will leave off with this; Recompile is a game made for a particular kind of person. it isn't a flashy combat driven action adventure game. nor will it scratch that 3D metroidvania itch you want scratched so much. Instead, it will take you on a beautiful and emotional adventure through the inside of a long comatose AI, an adventure that i recommend to anyone looking for a great narrative. I probably can't recommend buying this game at full price, what with it's short story. But if you catch it on a good sale, do yourself a favor and give it a try. it may surprise you. I wish the game got more love, as any chance of a sequel are probably dead in the water due to it's mixed reception. I hope my review maybe talked you into giving it a try. Thank you for reading :)

[h1] Platformer with plenty of exploration that will not always hold your hand. You have to look around to find THE WAY *knuckles chuckles*. Gameplay is set in dark cybernetic environment where as lone program you have to recompile the E.X.E. process. Gather new power ups as you play allowing for further exploration. Level design allow for a bit of freedom but not too much. Involve in shooting to get rid of corrupted programs, scripts, etc. Overall calm ambience and original idea. Good for single playthrough. [/h1]

I have a soft spot for this game, if I'm being honest. If you want a nice little take on the internals of an AI, all while being a metroidvania, play it. They really killed it with the art direction and music.

This is an indie game programmed with love. At the full price, the control and the sometime-too-vague level design that lets us guess at what to do, can be frustrating. But on sale, especially with such a big cut - as I write this the game is at less than two dollars. The concept, the animation, the decors, the writing, and the BO are all just right! It's a fine example of what a Tron game could and should be like... but never has been because Disney made it all about special effects and nothing about digital worlds - anyways. So if you're a fan of the series, try this out! --- I don't understand why this has so much negative evaluations. Agreed, I got stuck and dropped the game because I was tired of running around on the map to underrstand what I did wrong- but I could watch a walkthrough, and I plan to return to it. Ok the theme is gorgeous but not central enough as most of the thing is about jumping, loading screens, and frustration. But the frustration is stytish. Ok, there is little to no hacking, or anything that can be called a puzzle in the long run, but... but I decided that I love it, ok? It's still a great work of art and could be appreciated just for that!

This was a surprisingly fun adventure. I finished this in 12 hours. If you dislike or find 3D platformers challenging then this game is not for you. Early game is challenging and direction is pretty open until you figure out that you need certain unlocks to progress. The level design is fun and really reflects the inner themes. The bosses are fairly challenging without cheesing. overall I very much enjoyed this game. The game does not hold your hand on where you need to go. Recompile ability was pretty useless IMO and elevators are a bit too slow for me. Replayability is non-existent but I feel this is not a bad thing. Fall damage is a bit difficult to feel out at first. Pretty lights hehehe.

A beautiful, short piece of art. The gameplay in and of itself is somewhat underwhelming, unfortunately. However, this is one of, if not the best story games I have ever played. If you do decide to pick this up, take the time to collect all of the logs. The story told through them is beautiful and an amazing experience to piece together. It also allows you to unlock all 5 endings, which in their own right are amazing as well. The music is also incredible, fitting the atmosphere perfectly and really emphasizing the idea that "you should not be here". If the game is on sale, highly recommend getting it.

Critical flaw #1 main hub lets you choose either green or red area first even though red is 90% necessary to complete green area. I started in green, the wrong choice. The 10% wiggle room some said worked for them in the green area is what i can gather just guessing the puzzle right. The provided guide in the menu is undecipherable showing three different types of curcuits and in the level there is what looks like either open or closed and not like the picture at all. "This is not required but actually can't be reasonably done without" is what others have said (discussions) about other abilities/weapons/hacking further into it. Critical flaw #2 you cannot go back to the main hub. If you get stuck through no fault of your own (already bad game design) you have to "backtrack" which is not a normal feature in this game so that would be ridiculous. Also you can't start a new game file. Since i refuse to go backwards back to the beginning area and i didn't get the bits needed in the red area for recompile hacking, i quit. Spending a few hours starting over doesn't seem like the worst idea since it has a good amount of exploration still in store with a blue and yellow area. But if i wanted to find something i need and missed, i can't get even close to nearby, i have to literally start all the way over for each color portal. And these areas are mountain sized meaning this might take far more brain power than I'm willing to give, even with how shiny and flashy the neon lights are. I'll be halfway through already before i even unlock the 3 more hacking skills. That's a lot of learning without a lot of pay off. Shame on them for getting my hopes up and leaving people confused. This is downright disrespectful. Without any guidance from a master map or some idea of how far developed your player should be, it's just a waste of time.

Феерическая скука. Интересна игра была первый час, пока я привыкал к её визуальному стилю... а потом понял, что кроме него она выделяется разве что бесконечным платформингом с оживлением на конкретных точках и возрождающимися врагами. Пиксельный «Дарк соулс», плюс «Марио», плюс какой-нибудь «Талос принсипал» (не трогаю головоломки). Короче, не моё, да и тех, кому это понравится, представить могу с большим трудом.