Merge Games and Developer Antab Studio presents the comic book style narrative driven action adventure game Foreclosed which releases on consoles and PC from August 12th. Players assume the role of Evan Kapnos, where he becomes stripped of his job, his implants and access to the city Block-chain. People are after him and he needs to reach the courts before the deadline passes otherwise he is considered rogue. This is cyberpunk themed game and features action sequences alongside a few puzzle elements. Is this worth a punt, read or view our Foreclosed review for the full picture.
To begin, Foreclosed offers a number of styles of play to sink your teeth into, ranging from Stealth, shooting and navigation. A few puzzles are tossed-in at various part of the story. From the offset, players should gel with the comic book approach, which for all intents and purposes works very well especially in context with the cyberpunk aesthetic.
Evan isn’t the most complex of characters and neither is the predicament he is in, however the short journey from start to conclusion is gripping and should keep most players hooked moving forwards. Sadly though, some gameplay elements are a little fiddly and could do with some more polishing.
Stealth is pretty decent but don’t expect any hand-holding such as radars, vision cones and means of escape. Foreclosed comes across quite punishing in this regard, and if you fail, then a restart checkpoint is in order sometimes quite far back from where you failed. During the opening sections there is an onus on exploration rather than combat which sets things up nicely once you do actually receive the special upgradable pistol some thirty minutes into the story.
Sadly, the combat is not as satisfying as it sounds and although Evan can upgrade the pistol and customize it to a certain degree, the shooting itself feels a little too spongy. Not only is the aiming (using a controller at least) a bit too sensitive even after turning down the sensitivity in the settings, the enemies don’t fully react as you would expect when shot. Hitting the body for example causes no reaction until they actually drop. Headshots prove to be more effective, but then enemies with shields and helmets appear. Evan can duck behind cover, but you end up in a gameplay loop of popping out, taking out one enemy, then ducking down to recover health, then target the next and so on. Some enemies will try and move to your position, but mostly disappointingly stand their ground. Other waves might spawn in awkward places too resulting in trial-and-error deaths.
Once Evan acquires a few upgrades though, the combat opens-up and feels better and somewhat free-form. With the addition of special abilities as well such as telekenesis and homing bullets, his offensive capabilities become far more satisfying to use. However, once players reach this point, the game ends pretty quickly, not offering enough moments to let players enjoy their powers.
Foreclosed does look great though with its comic book story telling and scenes where the player has control of Evan. It’s stylishly slick, and feels natural in context of what’s happening. The details looks sparse, but this compliments the overall style of the game. Audio is also pretty decent with a synth based sound-track and a varied selection of voice overs for the main characters. Evan gets some multiple choice selections at times but these aren’t voiced unfortunately.
As mentioned, Foreclosed is quite a short experience with little to no replay value. Players can look around for extra XP during various points of exploration, but there is little else expanding the lore of the game. Therefore, gamers can expect to complete everything in around 4 hours, which as mentioned is a shame because the game opens up in it’s closing moments.
Foreclosed is an interesting stealth-action adventure game that offers a neat presentation and mildly interesting story. Whilst the gameplay could do with some polishing, it’s not all doom-and-gloom if you stick with it. There is some fun to be had here, but sadly it’s over far too quickly and could have done with some extra content, perhaps additional difficulty settings. If you desire a visually different game to play then Foreclosed is worth a look especially considering the asking price of around £12 which is quite reasonable.
Score 7/10 – Review code supplied by Publisher.
