Angels That Kill - The Final Cut Reviews

**May be spelling errors because I'm tired and angry from playing this game** This game has been in development since 2013. For that couple of years in development, we have around a month of work, well, really lazy, unplanned work anyway. You pay around £10 for an extension to something that had to be rushed in thought and it very much shows. The problems that existed a couple years ago are still here; not being able to navigate effectively, comedically bad controls, absolutely minimal explenation for what youre even doing or where you should go and a lack of anything that could immerse you. In fact thats my main problem with the game, it tries to be something immersive, an engaging noir experience but what you get for your £10 is barely any sound, awful animations that were in the release a couple years ago and a camera that is constantly tilting down and to the right. The way the camera moves is enraging to say the least. Earlier I mentioned the problem with navigation, allow me to indulge with you the pure idiocy of the navigation system; the whole you are located within a city complete with skyscrapers and fog, the ONLY way to know ehere you are going is either by memory (more on that in a minute) or by birds in the sky. Those birds do not stick with you and tell you where you are going they just hover over where you are meant to be. Now do you see the purely stupid connection between fog, skyscrapers and small birds? Exactly, you can only see them when you are close. The whole game you have to run around the massive, bland (immersion problem again )city to hopefully find your way. It doesnt help that your character os only outfitted by his, presumably, somewhat crippled legs. In the top right section of the city there is a map, you can find that map by conveniently running around confused and running into it by chance, handy right? That map gives you three landmarks by which you can identify the city. Only three. Finally, people seem to have an issue with the art style of the game. I have to agree and disagree with them. Why I disagree with them: I personally see what the developers were going for, i find the look of the game very charming but not very well done. That brings me to why I can agree: The art style is very bland, the city has no sound, only about 7 buildings have any detail at all on them (the rest are just big, grey boxes) and the fog gets in the way more than it gives any aesthetic appeal. So as a summary, its nothing more than an unpolished, bland, unappealing mess. Which is a real shame.

Angels That Kill was killing me with it’s ineptitude within five minutes. The game’s city may have also been killed, because it certainly feels dead. It’s bland, vacant and every area looks the same so navigation is frustrating. The map isn’t very helpful because there’s so few distinctive landmarks. Crows hover over your destination, thankfully, because that’s the only way I could figure out where to go. The game’s interiors are so dark that what little is there is difficult to see. There’s not much to interact with, and I’m not sure why there’s an inventory at all, as I failed to find a single item I was able to take with me. Your character’s movement is glacially slow - “running” down the long empty roads is a chore. This is made even more irritating because you need to consume dumpster food to survive. You might spot a dumpster in the distance and traipse down the lane only to find that it's one you’ve already scraped out. It’s also disruptive and unnecessary, I had to leave a crime scene to find a garbage-meal before I collapsed where I stood and was forced through the whole scenario again, and I mean the entire chapter. Also, it ain’t noire. Noire is more than rain and a monochromatic colour palette, it’s a mood, one that is largely evoked by music, of which this game has almost none. When it does, it isn’t noire. While the idea of playing as both suspect and pursuer is a good one, and some aspects of its minimalist presentation are appealing initially, very little else here works.

Notification: English is not my native language. I played the demo of this game and after I've completed it, I simply couldn’t resist buying it. If you can’t decide whether you want to buy it or not, try the demo first. tl;dr This game is one of the best I played in a long time. It's very organic and well balanced in almost every aspect: story, music, visuals and gameplay. [h1] Story [/h1] Take role of one of the two protagonists striving for survival and/or better life (which is quite difficult, as you will find out). The tragedy of this city lies not only in the recent terrorist attacks, but also in the appearance of an unknown murderer wandering the streets. The game has 5 chapters (with more to come in updates) and multiple endings, depending on choices made by the player. [h1] Music [/h1] The developers used music from freesound, masterfully picked and corresponding perfectly. It may be repetitive sometimes but never bothered me, especially radio tracks. Dialogues are completely silent and show up in the form of text, which some players will most probably consider a flaw, even though it doesn't affect the overall feel of the game. [h1] Visuals [/h1] The game has a minimalistic black & white (and sometimes red) graphic style, very atmospheric and pleasant to my taste. The city buildings and streets look very solid and appealing to the eye. If you don't expect graphics like in major studios titles and can get used to overall game style you won't be disappointed. [h1] Gameplay [/h1] In each chapter you are free to go wherever you want, you can chat with people, visit different places and explore the city itself. The game has many little secrets which do not change the track of the main story, but can still amaze when you find them. Some choices you make are really important to the story and will lead to the different endings. Navigation system is a bit confusing at the very beginning of the game, and you will sometimes find yourself lost in the city and not knowing where to go. The map and birds in the sky can help you orient though. After you play through the game to your very first ending and get familiar with the city, it ceases to be a problem. Your first playthrough can take up to 3 hours, the next ones will be shorter if you know exactly what to do, or may be even longer if you enjoy exploring as much as I do. Some chapters of the game are just literally jaw-dropping and had a high impact on me. [b]Overall:[/b] this game is very good, and is going to be even better, because the devs still improve it and add new content. If you like exploring adventures and walking simulators, you should grab this title without a doubt, or at least try the demo.