Beyond Mankind: The Awakening

This. Game. Is. Trash. The studio shouldn't be allowed to use the name Brytenwalda, in case it tarnishes that fantastic Mount & Blade overhaul by proximity. Nonsense cutscenes entirely lacking context, story depth as deep as a spit puddle on a hot day, with all the narrative coherence of a tweaker trying to explain the Fast & Furious saga. You crash cut from one random situation to the next, the frenetic pace only slowed by minute+ long sequences of doing nothing and waiting for the game to push ahead to the next frantic crash cut. The gameplay is rough and outdated, and the graphics make it look like a bad custom map on Half Life. In the starting area, there's even blatant clipping - assets that probably shouldn't even be there, much less so blatantly poorly assembled. A game is supposed to try and hook you in the first few minutes; this game did the exact opposite. I have never been so repelled in my life. The rest of the game may be the greatest storyline since Half Life 2 and the best gameplay since the first Modern Warfare, but no one will ever make it past the introduction to find out.

I heard of this game when it got Linux supported and that made me buy this. I really wanted to like this, but I just can't deal with the overall jank. The graphics are almost good, the survival and inventory management is kind of bad. Very annoying that the currently equipped weapon / flashlight gets unequipped when going to the inventory and back. The inventory screen is a nice concept but really terrible for actually seeing what you have. The last nail in the coffin was the first (or second?) cave level where I reached the end boss with absolutely no ammo, and fighting with a melee weapon in the dark is impossible as you can't see anything. Also I picked things for my character to specialize in ranged combat, but apparently that is a beginner trap as there's not enough ammo in the game. So getting stuck there with enemies on all dark paths and no ammo was the last straw. Also seems like the developers have abandoned this game that is so close to being playable with just a little bit of focused effort from a fresh set of eyes who could see everything wrong with the game.

I really wanted to like this game it has so many cool aspects that work in its favor. It’s heavily inspired by Deus Ex and almost feels like a mod for it, from the gameplay to the UI. The narrative plays out like a cheesy early 2000s sci fi B tier TV show, complete with all the familiar tropes. Unfortunately, the execution feels half baked. The dialogue is atrocious, the level design feels outdated, the voice acting is painful, the inventory system is possibly the worst I’ve ever used, and the plot is a confusing mess that jumps from scene to scene with no explanation. With more development, this could have been a hit. As it stands avoid.

Sadly, cannot recommend It's difficult to believe the same company that made the excellent Viking Conquest DLC for Mount & Blade released this. We would have requested a refund had I not purchased it back in SEP 2021 Definitely not worth the $16 CAD spent Others have gone into detail re the multiple bugs, clipping issues, hard cut scene edits, poor outdoor environmental textures, janky movement controls, and even jankier combat controls. Most examples are not exaggerations, and many reported @ release have yet to be addressed. Some we did not see mentioned: Enemy attacks connect through locked doors or walls Enemy corpses block doorways requiring jump>> crouch>> crawl gymnastics to pass through. Melee combat: attacks will often not connect with targets shorter than you unless you crouch or go prone, even with swords The inventory/crafting system does not pause while open: a very poor decision considering you often have to navigate through different full screens (INVENTORY VIEW on open for some [food, water bottles, weapon] items, CHANGE VIEW/Zoom View(?) for other [first aid, bandages, water [b]again[/b] ] items, and CRAFTING VIEW to actually create something) to access or use i…

Interesting setting and premise for the characters, but completely uninspired gameplay. Hope you like shooting rats and bugs in underground tunnels. Horrific optimization once you reach outside leading to big fps drops too, which is sad for such a graphically simple game. The inventory, crafting, and hunger/thirst system is completely tacked on, like the devs played The Forest and wanted to put that in the game regardless of appropriateness or understanding how or why it works in that game. Finally, there are some dialogue choices to make but some seem like pointless time wasters and I don't really want to play through the slog of the rest of the game to see if they change anything.

Seems like the game might be fun. Too bad it wouldn't let me play the damned game - loading screen, move for five seconds. Loading screen. Cutscene. Loading Screen. Walk into a decontamination chamber. WAIT. Wait. ....wait... Walk five steps. Make a character? I think? Loading screen. Cutscene. Intro cinematic (by the way every video made my nearly brand new, solid-state drive PC crawl to a halt before playing). LOADING SCREEN. Then you finally are in a spot where you can play. But... take one damned step, and... POPUP WITH RADIO ALERT! ♥♥♥♥ this. I'm not interested in watching the game. I wanted to PLAY the game. As well, the controller "works" with this game, but while they claim it is intuitive and easy to use... it is NOT. Do not recommend this game, for any price. Hey devs - you want people to try to play your game? Maybe start with a section letting them PLAY THE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ GAME before all the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ starts.