Hello, yes my lovelies, it’s Craig here again with…NOT another Early Access game! I know, right! I’m actually reviewing a game that is finished for once…! It’s like the other lovely people at Respawning have allowed me to play with the big-boy toys; even though I do love me a good early access game, it’s nice to play a game that is complete, and has no bugs…Well, mostly no bugs (I’m looking at you Arkham Knight and Assassin’s Creed: Unity!!!)…Yes, I know I should let it go, but I can’t…Maybe I should see a doctor about it…
Anyway, today we have, for your reading pleasure, Aragami, from the developers over at Lince Works!
To start, I came in to this game thinking it was going to be a very short burst of gameplay and story, wrapped up in around 3 to 4 hours…I don’t know why, but I just had a gut feeling – Boy, oh boy was I wrong, and no, it’s not just because I kept dying! Admittedly, I wasn’t very good at this game when I started, as I kind of missed the whole concept of stealth and tried to go in all guns blazing…Well, all swords….Uh…Blazing…? Firing….? Unsheathing…? Unsheathing. Yes, that’s it! The game certainly punishes you for being too cocky, shall we say, and thinking that it’s going to be easy is going to get you killed. Easily. Aragami has a high difficulty curve if you don’t follow the rules and tutorials.
I am a big fan of the stylistic choice that was made in Aragami, as it felt very natural, combined with how you play the game, it ran together very smoothly on Dolores (Yes…That’s what I call my PC, don’t judge! It’s better than Joe who calls his Noctis!! (After his NZXT Noctis 450 case…)), which only hits the minimum specs needed to run it; the animated cut scenes were just absolutely gorgeous, and did not seem out of place and was done in a way that actually felt like flashbacks, which just drew me into the game and world more. Lince Works really nailed it on the scenery, implementing Japanese architecture and dense forests all for you to explore with soothing Oriental themed music and battle drums, which was delight for the old lug ‘oles.
Playing the game was an absolute dream, the mechanics, like the teleportation, reminded me of the blink mechanic from Dishonoured, which if you enjoy using that kind of stealth mobility, this should win you over instantly; as you progress through the game, you are able to purchase upgrades, and alot of them are widely useful…But some do seem like they should of been given at the start as they are very basic. I never found dying to be as frustrating as I do in other games such as Souls games or Roguelikes, as it just made me more determined and actually think about the route I’m taking, and each time reevaluating the steps I take to come up with creative ways to overcome challenges.
There is no real combat in the main game play, which for some would be a negative, but I really enjoyed sneaking around trying not to get caught (Which, by the way, is a death sentence!) until you grow more accustomed to the abilities you unlock, and gain some quick reflexes to get you out of a jam. The game is cut up in to thirteen chapters, with some interesting places to explore, and a word of advise from me, explore all you can! You may just find an easier route to take with the AI being a good mix of smart enough to be annoying, and dumb enough to make the stealth mechanics work beautifully.
Just take a look at some of the screenshots from the game:
Overall I found Aragami to be an extremely fun game to play; it has elements of Dishonored and Tenchu, which fans of these titles will love – The devs are still adding patches and squashing bugs as we speak (Which I personally never encountered), which shows their dedication to this gem; with this in mind, I really hope we see some more top notch games coming out of Lince Works, as I have had nothing but pleasure from playing this game.
Aragami is going to get a solid 9/10 from myself!
Reviewed by Craig
Check out their Steam page here >> Aragami Steam page
Also check out the trailer below: