I have just finished it, and I am happy to report that this has been a very enjoyable ride from start to end! If you have a spare time, go grab it!
That said, I do have some criticism as well. I would consider these fairly "meta" nitpicks, so take it with a hint of salt, but those are my feelings.
1) The map design is still utterly fantastic, but it feels like it turned from a believable, lived-in world to more of a "gamey" arcade vibe if that even makes sense. In the previous two installments, the maps felt like a realistic piece of a world. In Hard Reset, they are maps in a game. Very well-designed maps, but still, the previous charm seems to be gone.
2) During the spookier parts of the game, the previous tension seems to be gone as well. It is still deliciously creepy, but the magic is gone. Ashes/Afterglow were both able to create some truly oppressive, scary atmosphere. The ending in The Spire is a perfect example of this. I still remember the original visit in Ashes, many years ago. What an incredible, unforgettable experience.
With Hard Reset, it's just some light card hunt, magdump a few Haunts (in a brightly-lit room), and be done with it. There is no buildup, no pacing, it just ends abruptly without anything really happening. The ending, in general, is pretty underwhelming.
3) The entire Hard Reset feels kinda, well, redundant. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed playing it a lot (more than Selaco, for example), but there is simply no interesting/important expansion on existing lore (other than Walker's fairly simple background). It just is.
4) This last thing is probably the most nitpicky nonsense, so you can safely ignore it, but I am really not a fan of the few AI-generated pictures that are in the game. Not only does it take away from the game's utterly amazing art style, but I also think it is simply not needed.
And finally, Varni's character, including her hentai-tier picture, just doesn't feel like it fits into the game. At all. I don't mind a little spice; after all, Hedon, for example, has a lot of it, and it is great, but here, it just doesn't feel right with the setting. And I think she might have been originally supposed to look a lot different since her dialogue about "her appearance being frightening or disgusting" really doesn't sit right with her bikini-clad, perfect-skin, supermodel look.
That said, this is still Ashes; it is still great and very easy to recommend. 9/10. But it is just not coming close to the genius of the previous two installments in my book.
akrju8
joined
I'm here for way too long.