[REDACTED] Review (PS5) – Innovation Caught the Escape Pod Faster Than We Did

Imagine trying to escape a version of Hell, clearing room after room of enemies and traversing across different regions. There’s a gnawing feeling in your head that says you’ve played this game before, but you continue on anyways.

After the last enemy is downed, you pick up the Boon left behind to see what’s available, and there’s Mistral Dash from Demeter! You’ve now got the perfect build of Boons, and you think, finally, this is the run where you’ll escape from the Underworld.

Except, you aren’t Zagreus fighting creatures of the Underworld to get to the surface. You’re a guard in Black Iron Prison battling your way through mutated inmates to escape to outer space, the ‘Boon’ you picked up is called an ‘Experiment,’ and it’s not Demeter’s Chill your Dash inflicts but ‘Cryo.’

Welcome to [REDACTED], a new sci-fi roguelike dungeon crawler developed by Striking Distance Studios where the stakes are supposedly high, the enemies are gnarly, and the gameplay feels… way too familiar.

If you’re in the mood for some fast-paced survival in a sci-fi setting, [REDACTED] will keep you entertained. Just don’t expect it to break out of any roguelike conventions. If you’re anything like me, it’ll make you want to boot up Hades again to appreciate it for all the things it did that this game missed the point with.

KRAFTON provided me access to [REDACTED] for review. Starting 31 October 2024, it’s available on the Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Steam, and Epic Games Store.

Comic Book Style and Comic Timing… Almost

In [REDACTED], every death means you return as a new prison guard with the same mission. Meanwhile, everything that’s going down is being observed through the security cameras by a shadowy agent whose identity is obscured.

It has a very strong punchy, comic book visual style and a sarcastic sense of humor that sets the tone for the game from the very start. While I appreciate how consistent it is with the art direction and style of dialogue, I felt it was flat-out obtrusive in some instances.

The narrator will frequently react to events that are happening on your screen. He’ll compliment you on a kill streak or make snarky remarks if you purchase items from the in-game shop.

This wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the many instances where he’d interrupt gameplay with his commentary. Every time he’s speaking, a semi-transparent portrait of him is splashed across the entire screen.

I found it incredibly distracting and difficult to track the chaos going on underneath all of that until it went away, never mind that the humor falls flat half the time.

The game’s combat has a real weight to it, especially in melee attacks, though it can feel a bit too intense. Admittedly I feel motion sick quite easily, and the screen shakes for every successful melee action combined with the intense haptic feedback on the Dualsense felt all too much. Thankfully, the game does offer the option to turn off screen shakes, which vastly improved my experience.

Why Am I Already Tired of Trying to Escape?

The gameplay in [REDACTED] felt easy to pick up. Not necessarily because of the straightforward introduction to controls and mechanics (which is appreciated), but it felt like I’d just picked up Hades again. And that’s where a lot of my problems lie.

Like I’ve mentioned earlier, [REDACTED] felt very much like a Hades reskin with its core gameplay, i.e., the combat and the Boon system of perks. I don’t mean just the concept of Boons, but I found multiple ‘Experiments’ to have very close Hades counterparts, which is inevitable if your combat is going to be just as similar.

It feels like it aims to do what Supergiant’s game did but in space, it also fails to understand why there’s such a massive following behind it in aspects as obvious as its rewarding gameplay loop or intriguing plot.

Every time I died and went back to the Hub, I was hoping to find something that would motivate me to keep moving forward. Sure, with every run I was closer to unlocking a suit, weapon, or environmental upgrade that would make my runs go smoother, but what else?

I understand the hub being devoid of life for a reason; you’re supposed to be one of the last few survivors of a massive outbreak, so you can’t exactly have a lively populated atmosphere like Hades’ palace with tons of things to interact with (with more stuff unlocked over time).

But that’s one of the reasons dying and starting new runs in Supergiant’s game didn’t feel like a massive chore, even after escaping the Underworld multiple times.

Sure, dying meant I could cash in for a permanent upgrade. But more importantly, it meant there was some sort of plot progression, interesting NPCs to talk to (each with their own sidequests), see what the Shades are thinking about this time, pet Cerberus—the list goes on.

I never experienced that feeling of excitement, discovery, and wonder during my time playing [REDACTED]. Even the environments and music felt repetitive after a while, with color filters thrown on the same few assets presented as newer regions while the music made me question whether the same three tracks were on a 30-second loop.

Free the Originality From Maximum Security

The game is mechanically polished in what little it does, with great art direction and a tight combat system. But it just regurgitates a proven roguelike formula without allowing for much originality to shine.

This almost frustrates me more than if it were a terrible game. Considering it’s a spin-off on The Callisto Protocol, which we reviewed and loved, there’s a lot of wasted potential for something much greater that could truly stand on its own.

It does try a few of its own ideas, like being able to fight the corpse of your past attempt or having other survivors of the outbreak that can challenge you in more than just a fight, but there’s not nearly enough to feel like it’s anything more than a stripped-down version of a better game.

As it stands, if you’re a fan of sci-fi and roguelikes with strategic combat building, you’ll enjoy [REDACTED] for what it is.

If you’ve already played the game it seems to take a little too much inspiration, then you might not find anything very new or compelling here. As someone part of the latter group of people, I’d give it a solid 6/10.

[REDACTED] Review (PS5) – Innovation Caught the Escape Pod Faster Than We Did

While [REDACTED] offers a polished experience with strong art direction and a satisfying combat system, it struggles to break free from the shadow of other games. The gameplay feels too familiar is it tries to recycle ideas and mechanics without adding much originality to the mix. It might an interesting experience to a roguelike newcomer, but if you’ve already experienced the charm and depth of Hades, you might wish you were playing that instead.