Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsAn X-Files movie directed by David Lynch
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2019
This game took me by surprise, came out of nowhere and it's an early contender for GOTY. A bureaucratic government agency has been corrupted by aliens from another dimension, and now you're the new director. There's a weird janitor, corridors that transform as you move through them, a trans-dimensional motel, a creepy puppet show, and lots of callbacks to Alan Wake. And it just gets weirder from there.
At it's heart the game is a sci-fi shooter, but the storytelling and voice acting are top-notch. Much of the story you uncover yourself, via files scattered around or film projectors. There are some clever puzzles to solve, and a range of weapons you can upgrade. Most of the time, however, you're be grabbing anything you can find -- chairs, forklifts, chunks of concrete -- and flinging it at enemies as you float around the room.
On Xbox One X I never encountered any performance issues, although it lagged a bit when coming out of the pause menu and the map takes a while to load. Remedy has already released one performance patch, so hopefully some of the issues for base-model consoles will be addressed. Some of the boss fights can be nasty, so be prepared for some frustrating retries.
All in all a great experience if you want a well-crafted story and some truly innovative environments with solid combat mechanics. The whole game can be completed in about 20 hours, but you'll probably want to play it again.
