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.

Getting back into this as well and, honestly, aside from some somewhat sloppy battle mechanics at times, it's a really solid game that didn't get the recognition it deserves. It makes something new and fresh out of the boring old adventure sandbox genre, making it engaging for a change again instead of the uninspired slog it usually is.

Also robot dog.

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

I managed to pick this up for about 7 bucks on the spring sale too, and honestly, it's so fucking cool.

I was talking to my girlfriend when we were in bed last night about how at the start of a new console cycle, we're gifted with a ton of new IP that, more than likely, are trying to become the next established franchises. When the 360 hit, those IP included Viva Pinata, Dead Space, Gears of War and Kameo to name a few, and while some like Kameo (sadly) didn't pan out, and others like Viva Pinata (sadly) only had two real titles to their name, the fact of the matter is that we're blessed with totally new original titles that we likely won't be getting 5 or 6 years into the same consoles life cycle once things have become more or less set in stone in what's worth investing in for future returns money wise.

That's one of the things I've really been enjoying about finally having and XB1, is the fact that I get to play a lot cool original stuff like this, or simply replaying the things I liked on Steam (Yoku, Slime Rancher or even Subnautica which I never played on Steam but always wanted to try).

I'm really gonna enjoy the early titles the console has, because it seems like, now that we're well into its life cycle, things have become, as I said, pretty much set in stone and nothing wholly original is coming out anymore. But I'll still enjoy the really cool shit that was made for the console until I reach that point, and Recore is among them.

I know this game wasn't that well received, but I have wanted to play it since the Xbox One launch. Well I was granted my access to project xCloud this week and am happy to report that ReCode is one of the available games. I will definitely need to dig into that.

Anyone have any suggestions for other xCloud games I should try out, especially Xbox exclusives? Full list of xCloud games.

Beat the game and the expansion during free trial of xbox game pass. I mostly used the dog and ape robots because you play as a glass cannon shooter and a melee tank is the most logical companion for that. While exploring I mostly used the flyer (which helped a bit with platforming) and the tank (the one that drives fast and is not hard to kill). I did enjoy most of the game with the best aspects being the story and setting. This game has a fascinating world and lore. The combat was challenging and it was interesting how the game is only partially a shooter because of the heavy auto aim.

I am not a fan of platforming though I found most of the platforming to be well done. I liked how the character has abilities that make it harder to fail at platforming, especially being able to grab a platform if you just miss it. The early and mid game platforming was well incorporated into the environment but the late platforming was of the excessively difficult and arbitrary type; the type where you know someone specifically made it just to be a platforming challenge. I wore out my voice swearing at this game because of that platforming.

I cared about the lore and went online to find the contents of logs that I missed, though I did not care about the side activities in the game. By the time I was into the expansion I wanted the game to be over with and I ended up being somewhat under leveled for the final boss.

7.0/10