I am writing this after a few rums, the last one being in my other hand, and late at night. I have had a night filled with pure excitement as I have never stayed up for a ‘midnight’ digital release and I gotta say it almost matches the old days of queuing up at game for the midnight release of GTA V. I was so excited I even tried to trick my console into thinking it was tomorrow to see if I could play the game early, of course that didn’t work. There’s also no denying that Mike’s first impressions and private chats had me hyped to a tee, so what followed at midnight; was it a game to match ALL of the good things I have watched, heard and read?! Here I was sat waiting with my lights off and the volume turned up, I felt excited yet nervous – a mixed feeling of hype I hadn’t felt in a long time.
Here’s a proper opening statement, this game simply looks too good – this is the closest to real I have witnessed and my god it makes me wonder what the PS5 will be capable of. We’ve had very realistic looking games in the past but this is so much more in depth than anything I’ve experienced before, there are just so many tiny details around you that you may miss without really looking but they make everything burst out of the TV screen. Everything about this game wraps you up like a familiar yet freshly washed blanket, I will be vague so as to avoid ANY spoilers here, but I was surprised at the first hour or so of the game because I felt charmed.
Even the way you’re taught to use mechanics is done so in a sort of familiar way, and no moment is wasted; each tutorial was only there to drive the story forward. I loved getting to know this slightly older Ellie, who now had more personality which was only enhanced by the insane level of detail in her facial expressions. Very early on you jump between a few different…..scenes, which introduce you to new characters and set up a seemingly huge interconnected story, needless to say so far there’s nothing to say this won’t be a 10/10 come the end. Every part of this world has been thoughtfully created to seem real, even the way the drawers open and close wasn’t done a the typical static video game fashion – they felt like a drawers that had been abandoned and rusted. I could happily have just walked around in this wonderfully crafted world with no gameplay just smiling in awe at the realism and interaction around me. But of course it’s not just about the world, there’s also the combat.
The combat is so visceral and involving, you feel like you’re right there in the moment. Extra buttons and animations added in make everything feel so much more alive, I don’t even want to ruin that experience for you but I was so overwhelmingly delighted with the new combat style that made me feel like a real badass. There are definitely some mechanics that have been, let’s say, borrowed from Uncharted 4. However in this world they inly made it feel more intense and violent, not the run and gun joy that N.Drake has. I actually giggled in glee at some of the hand to hand combat made available early on as this was so up my street, I love being made to feel like I’m in a real fight; it’s just so satisfying and bone crunching. It’s what you’ve experienced in the first one but timesed by 10, you’re still crafting and looting and stabbing but there is so much more detail in the way enemies go down and take damage that it just makes you want to keep killing.
It’s like the first game but on steroids, imagine the first game is your normal self and this is you but with bionic arms. Every inch of this new world has been beautifully created in such a way that you’ll probably want to play through this game at least twice. I am finding it hard to keep talking about it without any spoilers and also don’t want to be too vague so I’m going to call it there, but thanks for reading and if you haven’t PLEASE go and buy this game now.