Automaton Heart

I like the premise and the style so I bought the game, unfortunately for me it doesn't work as an RPG, shooter, or exploration game. Near as I can tell NIER Automata seems an inspiration as it tries to combine genres, lets you explore mega-structures (somewhat of a minor fad) and seems to have a sci-fy story about cycles of rebirth; I say 'seems' because apart from the intro cinematic there isn't an NPC in sight that could elucidate you on any of it. In fact, after exploring the faceless barren wastelands for an hour the only NPC I met stood in a field next to enemies, which I mistook it for at first; and when spoken to, seemed only interested in buying and selling wares.. alright then. The gameplay is jank. It doesn't conserve your momentum, the hoverboard's acceleration is comical, holding down space or space+shift has you bunny-hopping. You get stuck on random geometry. Your stats don't matter as you never come close to running out of any of them and you fill everything back up to 100% as soon as you reach the next save point. The save-points themselves are too close by and too far away at the same time. Exploration feels unrewarding, combat is lackluster, UI elements like t…

Got to a part about 4 hours in where I realized I wasn't having fun, pushed through that for a further 2 hours but nope, sorry for stating this this way, but what fun was had wasn't worth time spent. Loved Automaton Lung, but this just isn't for me. Too RPGish, and honestly, where level design in Lung was fun and novel, this just takes the piss too much. Still, I will say that I think I think it's a step up aesthetically and I think someone with a bit more patience and maybe a bit of appreciation for early 90s PC RPG games might appreciate it a lot more than me - like I don't think it's a bad game per se, I just didn't find myself enjoying it enough to commit.

Curious adventure about exploration, organs and prose. You will (not) grow a wrinkle on your Heart

really cool game! definitely not for everyone. it's much closer to a yume nikki/walking simulator type experience than a more traditional rpg or action game; the structure is there to direct the experience, but the core of the game is getting to spend time in a strange and arcane world. if you want something a little slower-paced and more contemplative this is a good game for you. i've been thinking a lot about how games are a way to walk around inside someone else's head; you don't have context for the choices they've made, but you can interact with the surface of their artistic personality, which is a manifestation of their thoughts. this game imagines that as, literally, being inside someone else's body (via the organ temples in the world; it feels like you're spelunking inside another being). you go through, you collect things, you clear it out. you kill them, but you also give them life through your interaction. it's kind of fascinating on a thematic/philosophical level and that carries it through some of the weaker gameplay aspects. feels like a full expression of what automaton lung nodded towards. very memorable and interesting game!

This game is something special, the world is not made for you, you are merely a child of it. I cannot put into words why I find this game so compelling, but it left me haunted.

it's pretty neat. it's a bit overwhelmingly big though. at times it's tough to tell where you need to go and even then, the game world is just large. felt lost a bit.