Aragami: Nightfall DLC

Um...WEEEEEEEEELLLLll...Okay. This seemed less polished than the base game. I think they overstretched themselves trying to make a multiplayer experience, new game mechanics, and new characters. The story didn't really do as much character building as the base game and that makes sense because its an add on and has a more condensed plot. But I didn't get to know these characters so I wasn't really that invested in seeing it through to the end. I don't care about Shinobu or Hyo and I don't feel like they even really care about each other. It was very contrived and lacked authenticity because the player is just dropped in it without anything that brings them up to speed. But thats what they did in the base game? Yes, but they also spent a lot of time giving the player opportunities to find answers. It was also central to the plot. The aragami had to know as little about what they were doing so they would be Yamiko's tool. With the DLC, there is so little world building and you never really see the characters interact in a casual way you'd expect from a family clan social structure. The result is the characters feel really one dimensional without any real need to slog through the plot. I can relate to their experience in that regard. And that was the opposite of the base game. Aragami and Yamiko seemed to have a genuine rapport. Sad really because the story of Hyo and the remnants could have been just as compelling as the first game...If they had given a damn about the story rather than getting a DLC out quickly. And when your game is buggy and glitchy and requires a lot of do overs because of game breaking nonsense, I really want to have more to look forward to beyond more suffering. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a difficult game that kicks my butt and challenges me to be better. Thats what I love about games like GhostRunner and The Technomancer. It can be a punishing experience. But this was tedious and if it hadn't been for trying to get all the achievements, I wouldn't have finished it. I've been shot by archers through boulders and building walls. I've glitched through the world. I've gotten stuck in cracks and been overwhelmed by enemies when I couldn't move. I've moved in to kill a target, but the action trigger never registered so they killed me even though I was mashing spacebar. The controls aren't complicated but getting them to work consistently can be. the checkpoints are evil at times. The art style isn't as refined either. They tried to incorporate more animations for the cut scenes but they somehow look worse than the base game. Oh and you can miss the Kunai shots. I'm going to be generous and say it was an intentional choice to make it not lock on to targets. I don't know...maybe so you can hit a spot near a group of enemies but not alert them until you explode it. Its about can be about 50/50 if your shot will actually hit unless you stop and line it up. I don't mind having to be careful when aiming but its really tedious if you can't line up a shot well enough while moving and end up hitting the wall behind them. I've also see it Pass straight through enemies. Long story short, the story isn't good enough to make it worth while to put up with the problems this game will lay at your feet. AAAAND there are collectibles. Except unlike the collectibles in the base game which world build and help you put the puzzle together, they are just swords...they could add to the story. They could add more detail to the shadow adepts or the war but you just pick them up. You never get to look at they either. They just get counted. There are worse games but this hurts more because I liked the base game and this seems like a hollow mockery. now that I think about it, the last time I was this disappointed was MYST 5. If you like half assed, problematic games that leave you feeling used and discarded because it could have been so much more but it was too busy shoving your head through a bamboo fence, than you might like this dlc. If you are casually interested or just want to complete your collection or actually like MYST 5 go for it... I'd just wait for a significant discount.

Noticeably buggier than the base game but not in any way that affects gameplay, at least that I've noticed. This expansion is a direct prequel and builds on the story exposed in the base game's collectible scrolls, but there's not enough to be worth spoiling in this review. These 4 missions are (imo) a bit longer than the average mission from the core game, so they wouldn't be finished as quickly, moreso if you like to unlock the badges and achievements. You also get a different set of skills, 4 instead of 6, and the 2 defensive skills are ones you'd have used before - Kage (temporary invisibility) and smoke grenade (same as that skill that threw shadows in guards' eyes to blind them). The offensive skills are new though, as the Kunai can be detonated after being thrown and using Twin Shadows could either mark a guard for death by your partner character in singleplayer, or teleport you to your partner player in co-op. Either way, this last one does come in handy since you'll run into paired guards more often than you're used to. If you liked the challenge, story, or variety of skills you had in the base game then I recommend getting this, it also has it all.

I actually do like this dlc a lot, but... It is SOOOOO BUGGY!!! I've ran into so many bugs while playing this dlc. I also should say I played this game strictly on single-player. To name a few bugs: 1. A bug kept a prompt on my screen to read a scroll from a guard, when I was nowhere near it (which is really annoying when you're trying to hide bodies. I fixed it by re-reading the scroll). 2. Another bug was causing issues with trying to assassinate enemies. Sometimes the game would not register you're trying to kill an enemy and won't even allow you/give you the prompt. 3. A terrible bug that came up, is when you die from an enemy it will respawn you next to the enemy that killed you and turn you completely invisible and make you unable to move (if you use kage when you're in this predicament you can see your character in the downed/dead state). This is a soft lock and the only way out of this is to restart the chapter, which really blows for people going for achievements. What caused it to my knowledge is bug #2 or even possibly the game just decided "NO!" Besides all these bugs I only have 1 problem with this game. The Soul Alchemist mission is the worst... I will not give spoilers of any sorts. All I need to say is that this mission is just the most annoying and tedious mission you'll ever do in this whole game, no matter if you're going for achievements or not. Overall I don't think this is terrible considering the price, but it's not great either.

While not quite on on par with the base game, I really liked the DLC as well. There's definitely a lot more variety, certain objectives are hidden which requires you to explore a bit more. The story adds on to the base game by providing more information about Yamiko. Strangely there wasn't much information about Hyo's past which I would've loved to know more about. The DLC took me about 5 hours to beat which was the same time it took me to beat the base game so I wouldn't say it's shorter, but everyone plays differently so it could be possible to beat it under 1 hour. Gameplay wise remains virtually the same, although Hyo does take longer to kill enemies than Aragami, so you need better time management and planning when playing the DLC. The new powers are interesting. You have four powers in this DLC: Kage, Twin Shadow, Shadow Grenade, and the Explosive Kunai. The Kunai does have its drawbacks unfortunately, while it shares some similarites to Shinen, you need to be careful not to blow up the bodies in front of another guard. The new powers definitely takes some work to use them correctly which I do like, as it feels a lot more rewarding. All in all, I love the DLC, but it would be nice to have some more lore in it. I always value the story above the gameplay. I think it's sold at a reasonable price, as I beat the DLC in about the same time I beat the base game.

A Bulletpoint DLC Review: -Adds 4 new levels to the game, with 2 different characters to play. The DLC is actually optimized for co-op! -The characters have different abilities than vanilla. -Levels seem much bigger, wide open, and AI seems to be increased in terms of its detection ability. -Ten dollar pricetag may be a lot for 4 levels, especially if you're single player only. Overall, I'd grab it on sale. If you liked the original, you'll probably like this, but if the original didn't capture you, this is an easy skip.

I already knew getting into this DLC that it was pretty controversial, but I got it anyway. It was, to be polite, way worse than I expected. Look, to make things simple, the DLC is just a worse version of the main game. In almost every aspect, the main campaign is a lot more fun and interesting than the DLC. First things first, the bugs. Holy shit is this DLC a buggy mess, from enemies seeing you from across the map to the game literally softlocking you on random, forcing you to reset the whole chapter because idk, fuck you I guess? You can actually lose your entire progress just from some random bug you get when you kill someone and some wacky shit happens, which is specially worse in some levels (chapter 3 could be an example) where there are A LOT of enemies to kill, making Oni runs a pain. But the real problem I have with Nightfall is that the kit the player is given is almost a [b]direct downgrade[/b] to what we have in the main campaign. First of all, most of your upgrades are gone. You know that upgrade you get that increases your essence regen rate? Yeah, forget about it, you'll be glued to the shadows for a long time here waiting for that shit to recharge. That 25% may not feel like much, but play 5 minutes of the main game and then Nightfall and you'll see what I'm talking about. Also, the giant 3rd level that has almost 100 enemies to kill? It's set in daytime too, so good luck using the shadows to move around when you barely got any essence to climb a fucking house Then we have the gadgets. They are, for the most part, decent. You get 2 new ones but get to keep Kage (invisibility) and Shadow Grenade (Kurosuna, shadow stun wave). The new ones are pretty good, Shadow Twin allows you to call your partner and get some pretty fun double kills and Explosive Kunai is just really fun to throw at crowds. The main problem I had with the gadgets was that Kage was not fully upgraded, in fact it was a straight downgrade from the base one we get in the campaign. It lasts very shortly, makes noise while running AND still loses charge when you use any shadow ability, making it so that you won't be having the invisibility active for long. All of that makes for an ability that feels very clunky and uncomfortable to use. We still have shadow kill, but it takes double the time to execute. I happen to like this change, actually. Shadow kill was too easy to use in the main game, being fast, getting rid of the body in almost the same time it'd take you to kill AND hide the enemy, and it even gives you a skill charge for free. Now, that would be a good change if the rest of the kit was balanced around it to compensate. Instead, they nerfed everything and got us two new abilities that were just decent. They nerfed the player character for no reason while still having a harder experience, making everything feel awkward and weird. Also, and this is more for the idiots like me that want to get the platinum for the game (because of course the shit DLC has shit achievements), this DLC has the worst kind of collectible there can be in any game. Untrackable, useless collectibles that won't even give you a piece of lore or something. We can collect a number of katanas every level, but unlike the main game, they do absolutely jack shit and can't even be tracked with the "Kurosu vision". So another negative for me. Overall, this DLC was pretty disappointing. The gameplay in Aragami is great, but they nerfed everything so much that the contrast of fun between the main game and DLC becomes too ridiculous too quickly. Also the bugs are so bad it can actually feel like the game is trying to fuck with you. Do not get this unless you really love the game and want to get the platinum since it's not that hard and only requires some time and patience. As an actual gaming experience, it's not worth it. Stick to the main game, that shit slaps.

I thought this expansion was amazing. It expands on the lore of the first game in awesome ways answering questions and showing behind the scenes. The coop felt way more in depth this time around. Any fan of aragami should really enjoy this

I loved the original game, I thought it was the perfect blend of simplistic stealth gameplay, with basic elements, but with smooth and enjoyable design. Everything in the original game blends together in a perfect way, the abilities, the stealth, you can choose to play a mission lethally, or non-lethally and still enjoy the heck out of the game either way. The game had incredible level design, was pretty straightfoward, and while it did had its fair share of secrets, they were secrets that would help you unlock abilities that would serve to enhance your gameplay experience, and assist you in pushing through some challenges. What I enjoyed the most about this abilities however, was how every single one of them could complement one and other. On one side you could have an ability in which you could plant a portal in the back of an enemy, kill the enemy in front of a group of enemies to lure them to their death "comrade" only to then trigger the trap taking them out with the corpse as well. And this was in theory, to me, the philosophy behind every decision made in the original game. It had multiple ways to complete each mission, each of them was supported differently, there wasn't an optimal way to play through the experience, everything worked, and every single one of the elements of the game were in tune. So why the heck in this one am I getting spotted in the middle of "stealth kills" that I happen to do in darkness? Why the heck can they hear me performing this STEALTH kills? and why the heck would you add abilities that only work in killing groups of enemies if corpses get spotted before using them? I couldn't get past the first level just on how frustrated I was with this decisions, frustration is a term that a lot of people in this industry relate to challenge, and difficulty. But it isn't the difficulty that turned me away from the game, what turns me away is the fact that the game breaks rulesets for no apparent reason, that the game even if giving me the option of playing by myself clearly was designed with co-op in mind, a decision which I question if it was an honest original idea from the creators of the game, or one that was made with the intention of appealing to more people. Either way, the game removes abilities from the player. I only have four of six that were present in the original, two of which were present in the original, two of which are new but are not really that creative, and while in concept, would be fun, because of the way they're implemented, they end up being a detrimental, rather than useful. The abilities that are present for the original are one that allows you to turn invisible for a short period of time, unlike the original however, enemies can hear you while you use it, this could be bypassed in the original game by upgrading that ability permanently, it was great for speedruns. The other one is one that allows you to blind enemies, it was a rather poor ability that I didn't use in the original game that much, but I can see its usefullness in some situations. Then there's one of the new ones, it allows you to shoot a Kunai (think of it as a throwing knive), this was present in the original as well and was rather useful in helping you taking out archers at long distances, in this dlc it has the added ability of blowing up at your command, sort of a remote explosive. The problem is that if you use it, it alerts any enemy nearby, even the black hole of the original game didn't do this, so why they decided to add an ability that blows things in a stealth game. And lastly there's an ability that you can use to call in your parter by marking an enemy and then using it so she, or he, can execute that particular enemy immediately, it is the best one of the two new ones giving the fact that you can sincronize your executions. But again, it isn't that useful because enemies get alerted when witnessing the execution, and, or, when finding the corpse. All of this builds up to being a bit contradictive in the rest of the game's design, mainly because the design hasn't changed that much from the original game. You still get ratings at the end of each level, you still get killed in a single hit, the difference is that those were fair compromises in a game which gave you all the tools for your success. But in this one even some core gameplay elements have changed. At times some enemies can spot you even if you're on top of them, the distance in which you could perform an "aerial execution" has been drastically reduced, and practically every single one of the enemies line of sight has been increased significantly. The problem is that all of this serves as a way to decract from my freedom of how I choose to play the game, I want to play the game my way, I want to play it in a way that satisfies me, and makes me feel challenged at the same time, not a game that breaks its own rules, and imposes to me an style of play just because it hindered a lethal way of resolving conflict within itself. It is strange to me as to why this was implemented, or why even the game choosed to make some objectives be multiple ones that require you to collect a series of scribbles around the level, this completely destroys the flow of the game, and in turn, in detracted from a lot of what I enjoyed, and still enjoy, from the original game. I completed the original one multiple times, in this platform, and in others, in every level of difficulty, in both versions I have obtained every single achievement. That's how much I like the original game... And that in turn should let you know how much can I dislike this.

If you really enjoyed the base game (like me!), this was probably an instant-purchase. However, for someone debating whether or not to buy this DLC and is looking to the reviews to help push them in one direction.. I have to say not to get it. Not without a meaningful discount. It's not that I think that this is bad, I just only feel sorta positive towards it. Meaning, I enjoyed parts, but I don't know if I can go as far as to say I liked it. One of the major criticisms of this is going to be how short it is compared to the price point it's sitting at. I'd have to see what it drops to during major sales before fully agreeing with that assessment, but concede there really isn't a whole lot here. Where the scrolls and medals gave you upgraded skills and skins in the base game, the katanas and medals from Nightfall don't give you anything. Even something small like letting you play as one of these characters in the main story might have been enough. It's not that every little thing needs a cookie to award the player, just that a precedent had been set, so it makes it feel a touch empty. The story itself does a good enough job of linking some of the characters to the base game, but overall doesn't add that much for me and that could just be a personal thing. However, the ending was a let down, without spoiling anything, I would have liked to have had a stronger gameplay element to the final chapter. The level design just feels blah. There is a trap that developers can fall into when creating a sequel or expansion where they'll just do more of the same thing except bigger and more. The problem can arise when the gameplay needs to be tweaked to accomodate things like more enemies, etc. There were attempts at this, where because there are bigger levels, there are a couple of routes/ways to achieve the same goal. I appreciate that it was attempted, it's just that it happened so rarely. Again, partly because of the length of the DLC. But overall, the levels ended up feeling like big, densely populated fields of enemies with some obstacles placed about. It just seemed like the gameplay balance that felt so right in the base game was upset by there being 70+ enemies in these wide levels. I don't think the "new" Shadow Techniques threw the balance off at all. They are (basically) just interesting alternate options to what exists in the base game. Giving some more functionality to the Kunai really made up for having less skills overall and the completely new ability of Twin Shadows gives versatility in both solo and co-op play, very cool. Other than that, I've experienced a few bugs, some very annoying multiplayer disconnects, and a crash. Most of which I assume will be ironed out by the developers, but I'm sure affected my experience and unwillingness to say I 'like' this expansion. It's fine, but by absolutely no means a 'required' addition.

Aragami: Nightfall contains some of the best levels in the entire game. It is quite clear that Nightfall has been designed with cooperative play in mind, in both the map design and the mission structure, but it has not been designed in a way that *requires* you to have a partner. Even for me as a solo player the DLC is a lot of fun. The open design makes it very replayable by potential for optimization, especially if you have a friend to play this with. The new abilities freshen up the gameplay, both characters are quite likeable for what they're shown to be and the DLC adds some welcome backstory to what we knew about the world before. Also, the music is pure awesomeness, as is to be expected from TwoFeathers. Nightfall has one problem though... it's short as hell. A solo pacifist playthrough with several restarts took me less than 2 hours. While this is not a problem to me personally, because I love this DLC and I am sure as hell going to replay it several times, I feel like this could be a colossal downside for budget gamers who want to get a lot of content out of their game purchases, or people who are not already megafans of the game itself. This is the one caveat it has in my opinion, and why I cannot give a blanket recommendation for Aragami: Nightfall. I DO recommend this add-on though, to people who loved Aragami and simply want more of it, and people who are looking for a great coop stealth game, because this one is freaking superb.