Sofie: The Echoes™

[h2][b][u]Note:[/u][/b][/h2] This is a review originally written for [url= https://www.opiumpulses.com] Opium Pulses [/url]. The full article can be found [url= https://www.opiumpulses.com/article/875/sofie-the-echoes-review] HERE [/url]. Feel free to take a look at the Opium Pulse Steam Curation page [url= https://store.steampowered.com/curator/3800356/] HERE [/url] as well. Note: Review Is written based on the state of game at launch. Sofie: The Echoes is the first title both developed and published by Working Game Studio. It is a self-proclaimed story-driven, third-person action-adventure title boasting horror and compelling narrative elements as you play the part of Sofie, a determined wife and mother. Through combat, exploration, and puzzles in a “dark world”, you will be tasked with unraveling secrets to ultimately save your family. However, despite this enthralling narrative, the only thing I found unraveling was my patience and sanity, ultimately leaving me to wonder: What on Earth WAS going on here? From the get go, things were difficult for Sofie. On the heels of a somewhat delayed launch, I was eager to sink my teeth into something new and fresh. What I found, however, was anything but. Character dialogue reads at the cadence of an awkward baby giraffe, lending me to potentially believe there is some use of AI as far as voice work is concerned. Immediately this makes what should be a highly compelling story very hard to latch on to. Odd pacing and awkward sentence structure will leave most players scratching their heads, so distracted my the sheer fragmentation and lack of care the story will fall on deaf ears. Unfortunately, on a graphical standpoint, many of the same issues echo. Lacking in any great detail, levels feels very angular and static. Parlor lighting tricks and the occasional overturned asset really do little to cover the fact that the game is really quite threadbare. Items look stark with occasional blood-splatter for flare- while you might notices mismatches or odd sizing that is just scaled incorrectly enough that it makes you tilt your head at the feeling of Uncanny Valley you are constantly caught in. Enemies all look very similar, and while there is some variance, you can’t overlook each of the troops being carbon copies, nor the mass majority of “zombies” being the exact same model. What they lack in brawn, the certainly do not make up for in brains- constantly getting lost, hung up, or suffering from nothing short of a full-scale break down entirely, making no attempt to move or attack. Controls feel floaty, and work at a very primitive level. While I appreciate there is even an option to take cover, it doesn't serve any real practical purpose. As delicate as your health is, you entirely lack the ability to lean out from said “cover” to open fire. Instead, you woefully glitch about a foot in the air, shimmying along the wall. Death will be swift, I promise. Even should you forego taking cover, gun play is sloppy at best, feeling weightless with no real kick. While some enemies drop magically with one poorly placed head-shot (the hitboxes are “generous” to say the least), other will never succumb to their wounds, and endless bullet sponge for you to empty your entire store of ammunition on. Ultimately, in it’s present state, Sofie: The Echo is bordering unplayable. Coated in a thick layer of spaghetti-code crawling with bugs, there’s just not enough substance here to drive players past the initial frustrations that are so glaringly obvious. Lacking core functionality, no guidance or tutorial, ghastly voice acting and an unbelievably disjointed and ill-paced story, it is obvious this title needed more time in the oven. While the trailer shows promise of a wildly thrilling journey of a determined mother and spouse, it becomes rapidly apparent that it comes in Dead on Arrival. Hopefully the developers will be able to make some much needed adjustments, leaving it’s present state as nothing more than an Echo of the Past.

Great concept, seemingly good story, terrible gameplay/combat system. Quiet game (randomly has good music) even the enemies with guns don't make any noise, you just see the tracers of the bullets. Game needs a lot of work.

Kudos to the team! The latest update fixed several issues I encountered before, and now the gameplay feels more immersive. Sofie’s movement is way more responsive!

Em Sofie, ela é uma professora universitária e mãe, cuja vida vira de cabeça para baixo quando seu marido e filho desaparecem em circunstâncias misteriosas. O jogo se desenrola enquanto Sofie embarca em uma jornada comovente através de ambientes reais e surreais para descobrir a verdade, lutando contra forças das trevas e resolvendo mistérios ligados à pesquisa militar experimental,o jogo se passa em uma variedade de ambientes assustadores e lindamente renderizados, que vão desde uma biblioteca misteriosa no topo de uma montanha nevada até paisagens devastadas pela guerra assombradas por soldados zumbis. Cada cenário é elaborado para refletir os estados emocionais e psicológicos do protagonista, criando uma experiência profundamente envolvente que mistura a realidade com elementos de terror psicológico e surrealismo o jogo precisa ser mais otimizado ,e arrumar pequenos bugs aqui minha live em 4k galera. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBnXtF8o_os

Refunded. Seems the devs don't really want to let you play the game, never mind enjoying it. Weird: Store page says 75% mostly positive, 20 reviews. Click on reviews: says 47% mixed, 38 reviews, what a nosedive. So confusing. Bound keyboard keys respond haphazardly (Example: R for reload, works or not depending if you are crouching or covering or whatever). Firing is a dice game: You shoot a padlock 5 times from 2 cms away and you miss !. Same padlock in other retries can be shot at once. Sometimes you can shoot in any direction you want, sometimes shoot only works if targeting a foe, with an unblocked line of sight. Sometimes you can shoot through a wire mesh, sometimes you cant. Very badly programmed and thought out. Begin game having to sprint away at once, no explanation, chased by armed foes that wont stop coming, no matter how many you kill when you get a weapon: Piles of foes. Conclusion: Better sprint away at the shopping cart.

I was really looking forward to the game and after 120 minutes I am unfortunately very frustrated. The controls with the controller were very awkward at first and didn't respond, e.g. at the first aid stations or when pushing crates. I solved the problem by switching from the XBOX controller to the Playstation controller. At least I was able to get to the point where you have to walk through a winding corridor with lots of zombies. Unfortunately, it turned out that after each death there was always less ammunition in the inventory than when I first entered the corresponding save point. I now start at the save point without any ammunition. Basically, I now have to start the game all over again, cheat or do God knows what else. In any case, fun looks different.

Do not buy this game

As far as I know, the game is being developed by a small team, thus I can say that they over-performed with graphics and cut-scenes. Even though some glitches make it a little bit harder to get into the atmosphere for now, I presume those would be fixed shortly with updates, and we can focus more on Sofie's story :)

Highly recommend this if you’re into games that focus on storytelling and atmosphere.

[h1] Hodnocení 2/10, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34526713-Gaming-Professors/] Curator [/url] [/h1] Tuto hru jsem si chtěla zahrát hlavně kvůli jejímu podmanivému příběhu o matce Sofii, která se vydává na strastiplnou cestu, aby našla milovaného manžela a syna. Titul sám o sobě sliboval navíc poutavou herní mechaniku. Bohužel, Sofie: The Echoes od Working Game Studio se zdá být příkladem hry, která měla sice silný potenciál, ale výrazně pokulhává v jeho provedení. Ponořila jsem se do světa Sofie s nadšením, které nedlouho po odehrání několika hodin, dvou přeinstalováních a pěti nových započatých hrách vystřídala frustrace, smích a nakonec zbylo jen zklamání. Hra totiž působí hůř než dort, který vytvářel pejsek s kočičkou. Zbytek recenze si můžete přečíst zde: [url=https://www.gamingprofessors.cz/sofie-the-echoes-recenze/] [/url]