ReCore (2016)

Few games have made me feel entertained and annoyed in equal measure during a playthrough, and ReCore is one of them.

The concept of ReCore is this: in a far future, a planet named Far Eden comes up as a possible settlement for humans. Robots are sent in advance to prepare the planet - doing things like terraforming - and the humans would follow in cryosleep. Our protagonist Joule wakes up from cryosleep to find an empty, dusty planet that looks inhospitable, so she sets out to investigate with her robot dog companion, Mack.

ReCore wants to be an action-adventure game, so there's combat, platforming, and exploration involved. Each system has its own pros and cons. The combat system can be complex at times, required a colour-matching element with enemies to deal damage and modifiers such as shields and support bots. Unfortunately, almost all enemies all bullet sponges, so fights drag on and on. Later in the game, as you're forced to take on droves of enemies at once, this is downright frustrating. The platforming element is really cool, involving double-jumps and air dashes thanks to Joule's thruster-equipped boots. Moving around is generally fun, but the game pushes the mechanics to a limit with frustrating dungeon designs that feature disappearing platforms, lasers and the like. Lastly, the exploration aspect feels boring. The whole planet is covered in sand, so there's visually very little diversity. The endgame scenario forces you to explore and find a certain number of collectibles, which is an incredibly frustrating design decision.

In the end, I was torn between the curiosity regarding the game's world, and the annoyance of actually playing it. I eventually decided to use cheats to see the game through to its ending. I am assuming that the cheats saved me several hours of time, and they definitely allowed me to find a sense of closure with this game.

Here's hoping that the interesting ideas presented in this game will appear in a more polished form elsewhere in the future.

Interesting in some of the mechanics, but far too repetitive and the combat is boring.

I was going to be comical and repeat my same thing over said a different way, but I didn't like it when the game did it to me, so I won't do it to anyone actually reading this.

Pretty looking game, but nothing worth soaking time in to experience.

~David