UNSIGHTED

Amazing game! The main inspirations are clearly Hyper Light Drifter and CrossCode, and Unsighted combines the zelda-like exploration of HLD with Crosscode's great puzzles to produce a really coherent metroidvania-zelda hybrid. I think the most interesting thing about the game is the way that the individual dungeons (and upgrade items from those dungeons) feed into one another. While there's a pretty on-rails dungeon order (unlike HLD), sequence breaks are also extremely well-scaffolded by the game, to the point where I had several a ha! moments during my first playthrough. This only becomes more ridiculous on a replay; in that sense the game is a lot like Tunic. The combat is arguably the best part of the game; it takes hyper light drifter's great combat system and improves on it with a dash-jump system that feels incredibly clean. It is remarkable how seamlessly the hookshot and top fit into the combat, since I assumed they would be mostly out-of-combat mobility tools. All in all, the combat feels like a fully realized version of HLD combat, with more options than just chain-dashing, and with attack options (unlike HLD) that chain cleanly with your movement. The only flaw with the combat is that the parry system is really overturned, I think the game would have been better if it didn't exist at all. Generally the game has great exploration and great combat; I think it executed on the map exploration extremely well (the entire map is more like one large megadungeon! It's really cool!) Some other reviews called the exploration confusing, but my understanding is that updates have added more formal objective markers that have helped this out a lot, and I never personally ran into issues. What's so interesting about the game is that on the surface it presents a fairly linear Zelda-style map of dungeons (go into dungeon, get item, access second dungeon, get item...), but the game is also so blatantly made to be broken that it's a treat to figure out how exactly to do that. Strengths: - Combat. This game has incredible combat, much better than HLD and Crosscode, which both had great systems themselves. - Puzzles. The game has map-embedded puzzles like Crosscode and executes on them extremely well. The metroidvania format is also IMO a much better place for these sort of puzzles to shine. - "Sequence breaking." While there is a linear path to follow for new players, the game is practically begging to be broken. The world is incredibly interconnected and rewards fiddling around with seemingly item-gated passageways (which can often be bypassed early if you're clever about it). Unlike Tunic, where these sequence-breaks usually came up on repeat playthroughs, in UNSIGHTED you'll probably find a few on your first playthrough just by mucking around with the systems. Weaknesses: - Atmosphere. UNSIGHTED really falters here compared to games like Hyper Light Drifter, which constructs a really incredible sense of the world that makes you want to explore through vibes alone. - Dialogue and lore. The game isn't super coherent lore-wise. This isn't inherently a problem (HLD also does this) but this is very much not a lore game, and the dialogue isn't especially punchy, so don't come here for that. - Parries. Why is this in the game. This game is the epitome of an excellent combat system that is fundamentally compromised by parryslop, which turns every fight into a rhythm-based QTE. Fortunately, if you just unbind the parry button, the combat is amazing, so it's a quick fix. Final verdict: 9/10. The game executes on what it wants to do extremely well, and its problems are sufficiently out-of-the-way to not be a huge issue. I just realized I wrote this entire review without talking about the timer at all! You have probably read about this on other reviews -- IMO it is a game system with a bigger psychological impact than gameplay impact, so to speak. Very few of the at-risk characters can seriously impact your playthrough; mainly it just means you can't really get a "perfect" playthrough without being extremely fast, and that's fine! I don't think it was a particularly well-executed mechanic, or at least not well executed enough to justify the visceral psychological reaction you will get from players just by having it in the game, but it's quite inoffensive on an actual gameplay level. I left the timer on during my playthrough, and lost maybe half of the characters, and that was that. I don't recommend turning it off, but I don't think it was well-executed enough to really make or break the game. It's just kind of really, really awkward for marketing because of that visceral reaction (which I also had, to be clear).