I doubt, even with everything in this game, that KojiPro would have someone called “theoriginalDONG” or whatever it was running around the game world. I don’t think there were a ton of us but enough that I recognized some Polygon folks and YouTubers like YongYea.

Excellent review. Told me all I need to know and wanted to know about the game without spoiling a single thing.

Yeah, I figured it would. The folks on the Giant Bomb east crew seemed pretty down on it over all. I think those that bothered to finish it settled on “it’s worth experiencing, but I cannot recommend it without a ton of caveats.”

As per some of what I outlined in another commenter, I think it’s pulls objects in using a variety of factors. Because of that I actually think that this won’t be as big of an issue as folks might think. Regions also only show other players structures *after* being connected to the chiral network.

I’ll probably break…

To be fair, I think people with limited time looking for a quick, painless fun wouldn’t want to play an 85+ hour game which mainly consists of delivering goods like an UPS guy...

The love-it-or-hate it reviews I'm seeing are to be expected, I suppose, tho I trust Heather's judgment more than most. I suppose I'm wondering how many people there really are on these servers pre release, vs "players" that are really just help planted by the developers. 

Pacman?

Also, let’s be honest here: not every game reviewer is interested in games as art or sophisticated musings on the state of the world. Camera angles seductively portraying male bodies is an instant 1/10 in some circles.

The first good video game?  

Depends on where you’re from, though. I’ve seldom (never?) seen such unanimous reviews among the French specialized press/websites, with reviews ranging from 8/10 to 98/100, with a collection of 19/20... Even the site that’s considered the harshest here goes with a 9/10 (and no, since their launch in 2000, no game has…

Heather, this is my favourite review of yours in a while out of consistently great articles; it’s wonderful and insightful. Tim, I’m only twenty-odd minutes into the hour, but it’s typically playfully elegant and soothing to listen to.

You know what... Now that I’m married, I have very little time to play games. I was waiting for the reviews of this game to decide whether to get MediEvil or this. Now I know for sure I’m getting MediEvil.

So how much are you missing out on if you’re not connected to other players? Would the game be significantly harder or more tedious? I want to play but PS+ has never been worth the investment for me

Good review, and it doesn’t surprise me that the female characters take a backseat in this. Kojima’s handling of female characters(save Eve in MGS3, probably his better handled female character in an important role, and that’s a LOW bar to cross)has always bugged me.

Not gonna lie,

Yeah, Tim saw some of my stuff. Chris (Person) did too. Tim didn’t really build as much as I did though, so I didn’t catch many of his things. I made a real point of it: a bridge outside of the first city, a silly message near a plot-ruined bike, the aforementioned ziplines.

As I understand it, the game sort of culls…

God, this review is amazing. Thanks Heather (and also Tim for the video). Curious though, did you ever encounter Tim’s creations on your server or vice versa?

It’s almost like different people have different opinions!!!!

Well, technically it does run. But everyone who paid $60 for it based on Bethesda’s promises got totally ripped off by a game that almost everyone involved (even Bethesda) would agree was nowhere near what they promised. It was a total bait and switch scam.

Everyone should be allowed to get a refund after they put the promised mod support and private servers behind a pay wall with that stupid subscription thing.