Clandestine Reviews

Tldr: - An underrated game that deserves a bit more attention and praise than it has gotten - Mostly fun, slightly jank - Low price - For a casual, stealth-focused experience, but not very immersive - Completely unique and satisfyingly synergized co-op mechanics - Tense, satisfying stealth scenarios that test your ability to work like a ghost, and cooperate with your teammate - A slow ramp-up in difficulty and complexity each mission to let you sharpen your skills and familiarity with game mechanics, while still providing a decent challenge - A retro, '90s setting, including mostly accurate technology and world politics during that era, with a focus on the growing cyber-warfare and espionage of the post-Cold War era - It's like a mix of Splinter Cell and Hitman, but with a whole new co-op element attached that greatly enhances the game - The game is built around the co-op aspect. Both players serve integral roles in the completion of the game - It takes about 6 hours to beat the game, but you can play it a second time with a friend, swapping roles, and have another distinctly new and different 6 additional hours of fun with your pal For a 6 gigabyte game, it's pretty damn good. There are bugs and jank to be expected from any game released by a small studio from that bygone era over a decade ago, but the gameplay is great fun for its time. The asymmetric co-op means you can play this game two whole times with a friend, swapping roles after the first playthrough, and still have a completely new and different experience the 2nd time. The choices you make in the game (i.e how many people you kill, and how many mistakes you make that leave forensic evidence behind) have a small but noticeable effect on the mostly-linear storyline. If you are looking purely for an immersive experience, this game won't satisfy. The character models, dialogue, lip-sync, and animations are all kinda meh. But the game overall is just fun if you don't care for immersion or a mind-blowing story. In my opinion, the story and voice acting are alright, and not over-dramatized to the point of sensationalism like most modern games nowadays do. It seems somewhat founded on realism and professionalism, in regards to how characters act. The player character you play as is a technician - not a fully-trained covert operative, so she doesn't handle guns very well. She is kind of slow-moving, and very much NOT a bullet sponge. This forces the player to consider taking the stealth approach on each mission. And that's a good thing, because pulling off missions undetected is satisfying. On most missions, you are able to ghost through entire buildings without leaving so much as a shadow on the ground for people to find, and it's satisfying when the game tells you you've left zero footprint after the mission is complete. And of course, Player 2, the hacker, is integral in assisting you in accomplishing this. You literally cannot beat the game without the hacker. (There is a Solo singleplayer mode where you can take control of the hacker at any time, but I find playing with a friend is more fun and makes for a much more dynamic experience) It's pretty great. :) Kinda daydreaming about the devs coming back to this little hidden gem and giving it a modern facelift.