Ok, I know I'm late to this, but that stupid bronchitis did not help at all. I had been eager to give this game a try, knowing it's on Game Pass and something about its interesting narrative sort of intrigues me. Plus, we have the Sinners movie to thank for.
To those who have little interest in what goes on in the deep south of the US, this game might not affect your choices. But what I definitely say is that there is quite enough to like here when it comes to story, music, and adventuring. I like how it reminds me of early adventure games involving exploration, combat, and platforming like Alice In Madness, and ReCore.
If that is to say, all aspects of the game rise to the higher bar, the gameplay somehow doesn't live to the mark due to repetition, some jank, and how stiff it feels.
- A storm is brewing
Taking place in the Deep South, despite obviously looking like it's inspired by New Orleans rural culture, is Hazel and her mom, Lacey. A huge storm is coming, which puts them in a distressing situation. Once Hazel checks her neighbors out, the house and her mom goes for swimming.
Hazel now has to run and catch to the house as it goes through the lake stream, but something much more sinister seems involved. She starts seeing shadows, presence of the spirit that dwells in the land, and a ghostly flashback of the lady named Mahalia, leading a family through the swamp for safety. Before finding herself in her grandmother's old house, who happens to be white.
I guess the intro was a little disinteresting considering how passively American it is, but once I leave the grandma's house, is where kind of the magic follows. This is a pretty adult oriented story of the Bayou side of the Deep South with otherworldly folk-lore stuff involved.
It is established that Hazel might be a descendant, with her having powers to summon things, using two scythes for platforming and combat, and being able to breeze through the air reaching far out places. There was a lot to like, the mixed in stop-motion animation with the 3D real-time, and the lush forests, mixed in water drawing based color-palette, and the southern music.
Was clear that it hinges on a lot of its narrative strengths. I didn't like Hazel sort of at first, but once she started to get the hang of the place, her personality was becoming easier to like, especially helped with her voice actor. In fact, a lot of the characters are well written and help with the immersion too. I couldn't care less if it has DEI, Sweet Baby Inc ties, long as the game does its job to make me interested in playing, and it did quite a lot of that.
- Troubled stories
The platforming provides a sense of danger, avoiding thorns, spikes out of tree roots, and many of the evil stuff. Though, not a fan of the controls, they can feel a little janky at times, but all I had to do was be careful. Now I said it reminds me of Alice, this is why.
Unfolding so much mystery, with deep lore drops, and heavy hearted personal stories about the people here. Strong atmosphere and themes about loneliness, isolation, discovery, and dealing with discrimination. A lot of thought-provoking stuff interlaced through open-world exploration and environmental storytelling. Even some real world stuff like greedy real-estate driving people away.
- Finding the light
As stated before, the storytelling is its strongest suit, but exploration and platforming is one essential part, combat is another. Something I'm not particular fond of. It's competently made and simply straight to the point. You have to dispatch the evil of the land using the dual scythes.
Including with Hazel's ancestrial magical abilities, you push and pull enemies, stun them, these have no damage affects and leave them mostly stunned, so you'd just basic attack till they're subdued, and you unravel to kill them off. As well as their nests. Enemy variety is a plenty, including flying larvas you can grab using your telepathy, and throw them to nests.
It can be a little tough at times, due to how fickle everything is, including the locking system. I wasn't too worried, as I also could upgrade and unlock new abilities. In fact, these abilities could also be used to get to places. Conjuring items to get across, carrying rocks to knock off hanging tree branches on ledges, and much more. A lot of it's very interactive.
In fact, the entire thing feels structured to play a game in the Deep South that has so many somber, whimsical, and endearing stories to tell. Sure, platforming and combat can feel a bit stiff at times, but has great moments where they shine a lot in this short run adventure.
