izigame.me

This review is subject to change as I get further into the game, but after around the first hour of gameplay, I can't really recommend it, for a few reasons. I'm not a subscriber to the whole "it's good for only being made by one person" idea. The game is either good or it isn't. There's been games made by one person that are better than games made by 100 people. This game unfortunately is not one of them. This game feels like it could have used a couple more years in development.
Positives:
- Level/world design is really simple to grasp. If you get lost/can't find something, you either have never played a video game before, or have brain rot.
- Game has a sense of humor that I enjoyed.
- The environments are good. There's tidbits of environmental storytelling that I enjoyed.
- Could see how the gameplay loop can be addicting, doing quests, getting upgrades from outposts, getting new weapons/equipment from quests, etc.
Negatives:
- Not sure why some of the reviews mention how good the writing is. The game is very in-your-face about it's "humanity sucks and we're causing global warming" messaging. It's not wrong, but could use a little more nuance. The writing doesn't do enough to establish the world the player is coming into, just that global warming has almost caused complete global extinction.
- Gunplay is just barely serviceable. Could really use tweaking to maximize player feedback, like punchier/meatier sfx and more reactive and dynamic animations.
- This game feels less like an RPG and more like a barebones Bethesda game without the inventory management and skill checks. So not really an RPG at all. It has dialogue options, but they don't really affect anything. Multiple outcomes to quests could have really elevated this game.
- The game really feels like it's lacking player freedom. For example, I freed this alien from a cage, and he said I could have whatever is in the crate. He then traps me in the cage, but lets me out after I told him I'd give him my sword. I then, as most other people would have done, tried to kill him for being deceitful and trapping me in the cage in the first place. You cannot kill this character. I get that the developer wanted you to actually give him the sword because he claims the only reason he trapped you was for your sword so he had a weapon to survive, but it's not much of a "Role-Playing game" if you can't decide for yourself how to handle a situation like this.
- UI is extremely minimal. Would love a map to see the places I've already been, maybe a fast-travel system (though this isn't "necessary" since the map isn't that huge, but it'd be a nice QoL feature). You also can't see what skills/upgrades do before you purchase them with XP. A description when you hover over them would be nice. A minimal inventory system would also be nice to be able to pick up food for later and keep track of the weapons you've collected.
- Some sfx or lack thereof were kind of jarring. A few sliding and self-opening doors had no sfx. The eating sound is very cartoonish and kind of clashes with the rest of the sound design. The first alien pistol the player picks up has a firing sound that doesn't really seem like it fits the weapon.
- Actual voice actors instead of AI-generated ones would help this game a lot. If the NPC's are monotone and sound like they're not invested in the plot, the player probably won't be invested either.
Overall, this game is very bare bones. It's a game that just needs... more, to put it simply. There's not enough substance here to call this a proper RPG experience or a proper FPS experience. I understand it's only $4 ($2 on sale right now), but the game just isn't worth playing as of right now. It doesn't have enough going for it to warrant any amount of money be paid for it imo. I'm going to keep the game and return to it, but my review will stay as it is unless the next few hours of gameplay really wow me or prove me wrong.