There's also no puzzles or too much climbing in the world. Interestingly the world is quite empty, there's just a few types of collectables to find that increase your HP or stamina and shrines that heal you (which is pretty much unnecessary) and also serve as respawn points (theoretically useful but as I said, I respawned only a single time).
Between fights you get to travel through these huge and gorgeous landscapes, preferably by horse, and that fella, Agro, becomes your best friend very soon.
#HEXCELLS ICON HOW TO#
That was a tad disappointing but still, figuring out how to make an enemy expose itself was satisfying most of the time - and a hint system that provides some pointers if you're taking too long keeps the game from getting frustrating.īut of course SotC is not just about the fights. It's generally always about provoking the enemy and then climbing onto them once they are exposed - there's usually just one such provocation pattern per enemy that we repeat two or three times. From a game exclusively about boss fights I expected more complex and challenging patterns especially in the later portion of the game. I'm gonna be controversial and complain a bit about the simplicity of the fights: the boss patterns are generally very simple and it's ultimately always about climbing towards "vital points" and stabbing the crap out of them. There have been very few games that even remotely tried to imitate SotC's formula (climbing around massive enemies) so much of it still feels unique and spectacular. The "boss fights" (which are famously the ONLY fights in the game) are still pretty great, however. I died only once and that was because I tried jumping in a spot where you must be riding the horse, lol. It's a bit short, I beat it in less than six hours, and pretty easy on normal difficulty. Oh yeah, actually the controls were improved a little bit - by default a "modern" button layout is selected that's a lot more sensible than the original one.Īs for the game itself: it's great. That makes the game feel very odd at first and especially the camera work is sometimes a tad annoying but you get used to it. Interestingly they don't seem to have changed anything in terms of controls or mechanics, even the camera behaviour appears to be the same as in the original game. The music itself is still as amazing as it was back then and one of my favourite soundtracks. My only gripe with the latter is that the dynamic music system is outdated, with pretty weird and abrupt jumps between tracks during fights but that's okay. And I don't know how much they did with the audio but the game also sounds amazing, both in terms of SFX and music. Some details, especially human characters and animals, don't look that good but the environments are just stunning and I just had to tap the capture button at least once a minute. Bluepoint Games are known for nigh-flawless HD remasters but this was their first port/remake/whatever with a genuine visual overhaul that was supposed to make a classic game compete with modern titles.
#HEXCELLS ICON PS4#
I didn't actually enjoy SotC that much but dear lord, it's good that I gave the game another chance in the form of its PS4 remake.įirst off: the remake is utterly gorgeous.
#HEXCELLS ICON PS3#
It didn't help that I got the PS3 version of SotC the same day the PS4 remake was announced, lol.
Two years ago I got the Ico + SotC collection for PS3 and beat the former (and was blown away by it) but ragequit and abandoned the latter. Overall a 7/10, I would recommend it to all action cRPG fans.
Still, it's a fun little adventure to embark on.
There isn't much exploring involved and world lore is bare-bones. Storyline is average, only there to push you further down through mostly linear levels really. It's definitely one of those games that don't take themselves too seriously. Thanfully there's a big selection of spells (at least as a Wizard), although other than 3 or 4 spells they are mainly situational, like telekinesis, pull, push, tag enemy etc. I finished it with a Wizard and then began with two other classes (Warrior and Conjurer) - beginnings were vastly different although each path led to a same place in chapter 4.Įven though it's technically a RPG I guess you could also call it an action adventure as hero stats raise automatically each level without any input from the player whatsoever and the selection of items is very small. There are three classes to choose from and supposedly each follows a vastly different storyline. An above average if a bit short and linear hack 'n' slash/action cRPG.
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