by Sagez » Sun Jan 13, 2019 2:40 pm
Ok, here are my thoughts after finishing episode 1. This won't be a long review, because... there is hardly anything to criticise. Atmosphere, writing, gameplay, level design, weapons, music, secrets, enemies etc - everything works very fine in Ashes 2063. I only have some suggestions regarding various aspects of episode 1:
Solar lantern. I generally agree with people who say that it would be good if PC could wield lantern and crowbar at the same time (however crowbar damage could be reduced when the other hand holds lantern, because fighting while holding it would not be easier). Solar lantern is cool but... it seems almost useless to me. I used it only like 2-3 times during my playthrough (level 5 mostly). Just like other hazards, darkness is kinda under represented in my opinion. I have 2 ideas that may help. Maybe lantern could be used to discover secrets/items hidden in very dark areas? Like it would be almost obligatory to use it if PC want to find them at all. I don't know if you want to make a very dark&spooky level in ep 2 or 3, I would personally appreciate it a lot. Of course this isn't a horror game and not everyone would like it, but this level could be pretty easy to get through using ''main road'', while brave players could stray into the side, darker and totally optional corridors and discover all mysteries (lantern would be very useful then). Some enemies could also flee or be stunned by lantern's light.
Chem and rad hazards. It would be great if those could play a bigger role in next episodes, as I barely noticed them.
A sniper enemy would make gameplay less predictable. It would be awesome if such enemy would change his position after every shot. Also I'd like to see enemies throwing grenades at player if that's possible.
Bike would be more useful if some areas and secrets were accessible only by it.
Human settlements could play a bigger role (more sidequests, maybe option to come back). I would also welcome more RPG elements and more non-linearity in general.
Finally, as others said, more big and open spaces would also be good, more long range fighting and opportunites to snipe (or to die from sniper fire). Quick and jumping trash lurkers were far more dangerous than big and slow Cannibal Masters. It's hard for me to say which level is my favourite, but one of them this definitely 2 - Boneyard. It could be made even better by making more fences and rooftops accesible. As someone said, you can get the gold key from the rooftop (and it's great, sadly there isn't more to loot). Boneyard is (was?) a gang territory. If those punks would use the roofs, I really doubt they would get wiped out so easily. Roofs are great for defending and observing the whole place, it would make sense to have guards on them (tutorial has watchtowers). Humans trapped on roofs, mutants swarming below... (Van Buren had this nice idea of Denver, a city overrun by rabid dogs, where few human scavengers needed to stay above ground).
Thank you for this great game. I will definitely play episode 2 and everything else you may come up with! People like you are the reason why I'm so much into playing mods (but let's say that again: this is a game so good that many people would pay to play it). Take care, I'm also one of the people who registered here just to thank you.