Boy this game can be frustrating, but i cant deny the underlying masterpiece that it is.
At first i hated it, but the more i delved deeper into the actual core of the game, under the surface, it all started to make sense. How do you make a game truly perma death? I think thats what the devs asked themself. In the previous version you could cheese a little, restart, reconfigure. There was just no point continuing if you had a brutal death or event, so restarting was easier. This made the perma death kinda pointless, empty.
Now the very structure of the game itself, encourages death, and repeated playthroughs with new soldiers. Since win or lose, your going to lose your men anyways, you push through the deaths, and are even rewarded for it! So what would usually be a ragequit back to the main menu to start again, instead is pushing ahead through the adversity, and this little moment, is so rare in gaming, the fact they captured it so purely is in itself while being so unique, is a true work of art.
So, whats the TLDR? This is hands down, the purest form of perma death gaming i have ever played. You cant alt F4 or undo anything, but its not so brutal that it kills the game enjoyment itself. Your expected to die, even to completely party wipe until you get it right and the game does not punish you at all. It simply becomes part of the experience, part of the flow. For example with Xcom, sure it has perma death, but usually the deaths are so brutal, deleting 20% of your team skills and experience. In a game so difficult to begin with, its always better to restart, and give yourself a better chance of beating that legendary run. So the perma death, you never really FEEL IT in Xcom. But in this game, you surely will.
Now bear in mind, its not perfect. Kinda went from one extreme to the other, i love the perma death but i certainly dont love the forced repeated runs. Sometimes a run just isnt possible no matter how much luck or gear you have and i do get that feeling like im grinding just for the sake of grinding. Ive just cleared chapter 2 now, and by the flow of the game, i can tell i have like 40 more runs to go to complete everything on the easiest mode, and i think thats just a little too long, it should be at least somewhat possible to clear a boss on a first run and the candles system is annoying with all the upgrades, i shouldnt have to complete 10 runs just to have my stagecoach and characters upgraded, thats far too grindy. I would have preferred 3 or 5 to at least keep that sense of flow and progression constantly ticking over, but as it stands now, the biggest blocker to me loading up the game now, is knowing how many runs its going to take, just to be all caught up, levelled and equipped.
But no such thing as perfection. The good easily outweighs the bad.
Fact is, this is a GAMERS game, made by devs who understand gamers.
9 out of 10
Get it.
