However, unlike most Souls-likes, which utilise environmental storytelling and item descriptions, this game has none of the typical methods of storytelling. ![]() In typical Souls-like fashion, the story is vague and fragmented, leaving the player to figure out what is going on for themselves. This is by far the worst aspect of Bleak Faith, in my opinion. If this is what the developers can accomplish after 2 weeks of patches, then I am excited to see what will happen after a couple of months. The combat has gone from being one of the worst I've experienced in a Souls-like to one of the best, being on par with games like Mortal Shell and The Surge in terms of weightiness and feel, while also having some fantastic skill implementations, reminiscent of games like Code Vein. Movement is much smoother, collision is significantly improved and most glitches I found were generally benign and didn't affect my overall enjoyment. All in all, the mechanical aspects of this game are a little shaky still, but they are a lot better than they were and continue to improve.Įdit: I have played through the game after the last big Narrative Improvement update and the vast majority of mechanical problems from launch have been fixed. I would often save the more powerful buffs for bossfights. In terms of other mechanics, there is crafting and, unlike many games, the consumables you craft or find in the world make a big difference in the gameplay feel. For most weapons I found this to be at the end of the windup to a swing or as the weapon is in motion to attack (although faster weapons have their combo input at the moment they strike the enemy). The combat relies on a combo system, where you have to input attacks at specific frames of the attack animations. As for the mechanics that work well, I think combat on the player's side works very well, if you can get used to the controls (I played on Mouse and Keyboard and have no experience using the controller). I have no doubt that after a few more patches, many of these issues with collision will no longer apply. However, these issues have been steadily addressed and many have been fixed over the course of my play time (I played it as soon as it released on the 10th of March and finished it 6 days later on the 16th). ![]() The most noticeable of these is in the form of terrain collision, where enemies (particularly large ones) often clip into and glitch through walls and floors, but there's also some issues with weapon collision (for the enemies). There are many bugs, glitches and collision issues that plague the game world, taking away from immersion and occasionally providing some frustration. This is, at the moment, one of the rougher aspects of the game. All of these combine together to create an experience unlike one I've experienced in a Souls-like to date and, while I believe some of these innovations weren't used to their fullest potential, I think the developers truly created a really unique gameplay experience that I hope will inspire others. ![]() These differences alone would set this game apart from the ever-increasing list of formulaic games that have been multiplying in this genre, but there's even more to this game than that in the form of Outward-styled passive perks, crafting, swimming sections and climbing on various creatures and terrains. There's no "souls" analogue (a staple of the Souls-like genre), levels, dodge i-frames or bloodstains you need to pick up after dying. The combat is fairly straight forward for a Souls-like, with the addition of a combo system, but there are some really nice little differences in terms of skills, magic and archery that allow for more dynamic combat than I expected going into it. The core design philosophy of Bleak Faith is very interesting and innovative, in my opinion. ![]() I like to break games down into 4 categories or parts that make up the whole: Design (the core approach to how the game was conceptualised and designed, which includes level design and gameplay concepts), Mechanics (how well the technical aspects of the game hold up), Writing (the story, dialogue and overall narrative qualities) and Atmosphere (visuals, sound, music and voice acting). I have just done so, clocking in at around 25 hours (although I think it's safe to remove 1-2 hours due to stuff like food and toilet breaks). Ok, so I decided to wait until finishing the game before leaving a review, since I wanted to be absolutely thorough and sure on any critiques I might have.
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