It doesn't cease to amaze me what my potato laptop can pull off

This was almost good enough for me to finish, but the one thing that stopped me was that it weighs 35 GB. For a game this heavy, it's actually pretty underwhelming. This game could've easily come out in like 2005 and not feel any different, so it completely does not justify its weight.

And I get it, it's the graphics. This is a totally separate conversation, but I don't believe graphics have evolved very much since like 2014, yet games keep getting more demanding. Besides, in terms of the art style, it's actually kinda ugly. Either way, I was running it at uber-minimal settings with heavy FSR, so for me the question of graphics is completely irrelevant here.

The most enjoyable aspect of this game for me was the characters and their dialogues. This is where all the focus of the team went, I think. The writing is very creative, especially when it comes to banter. That being said, after 3 hours of gameplay, I still have no idea what this story is about, but it's beginning to look like a generic "are we the baddies?" and "androids have feelings too" which the latter especially is a huge pet peeve of mine.

When it comes to the gameplay, it's a strange mix of a basic TPS and a basic slasher, which kinda makes it a jack of all trades, but a master of none. The guns are generally pretty useless, especially until you unlock the slow-mo upgrade. In the first mission they're useful against strictly melee enemies, but later it becomes very hard to identify which enemy is which. Generally, the best tactic is to spam dodge and melee everyone. For which you have like two combos, I think. So this gets kinda repetitive. That being said, the whole aspect of dodging/blocking and counter attacking is a lot of fun, and the finishers are spectacular. Occasionally the game lets you feel like Neo.

Ultimately though, it can't really compete with something like DMC in its melee and with Max Payne in its TPS. The mechanics are very limited in both aspects. Rather, the actual joy of the game comes from the variety of tactics you can employ and switch between, but I'd be lying if I said it's the most fun game I've ever played.

On top of that, the constant mini-games and the returns to hub area are an annoyance because they add nothing to the core gameplay and are generally pretty poorly designed.

I think, if this game did indeed come out in 2005, I would've probably had a blast with it and rated it a point or two higher. But here in 2026, it's kind of an embarrassment. If it wasn't for the lovable characters and the stylistic cinematic direction, it would've been a very forgettable title.