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Space Hulk: Deathwing (PS4) Status: Stopped playing - Got frustrated I started playing this game on Saturday 18 July, 2020 // I stopped playing this game on: Saturday 3 October, 2020
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.
August 5, 2020 06:50:47 PM
I started up the 2nd mission earlier today. It did not go well. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the game is not dying/losing - but rather the really, really long loading times. Embarrassingly long. So much that I'm not confident I'll want to get back to playing. I'm spoiled for choice, with a drawer full of games. I do think the slower paced FPS is an interesting design choice. There's not stealth just shooting - in narrow and confined spaces (so far). This makes it hard to plan and see what's going on and I'm not sure what "skillful play" is supposed to look like. It's super hard not to get hit, so is it mostly about managing the powers and teammates? I learned today that the apothecary can't heal infinitely - he eventually runs out. Which was a bad thing to learn when I learned it (and the main reason I lost that run). I guess I'm also not a fan of "here's your objective" type missions in which you complete said objective only to get another objective (that's far away). I understand them narratively, but why not just make it another level/mission? As a player it always feels like a let down - oh, that accomplishment I was happy about doesn't mean anything because you still haven't finished the mission. Oh, and the games that drag that out more than once? Those are the worst.
July 21, 2020 11:17:57 AM
Huh. This was NOT what I was expecting. From the tutorial it was clear this was not a turn-based strategic game (like the boardgame Space Hulk) but rather was a FPS game! Ok, this could be fun... ...but the game experience (so far, only one mission completed) is an FPS experience, but really different in a way I'm having trouble articulating. You have a squad of two teammates - you can give them specific orders, but they mostly seem to take care of themselves. They'll follow you around, shoot at enemies, that sort of thing. The Terminators (40K for the giant armor suits the Deathwing members use/wear) are really slow. And clunky. I mean, their boots really go clunk, clunk on the metal floors. So, this isn't really an action FPS. But it's also not a stealth FPS where you see enemies and try to slowly work your way around them. There's a nice mini-map and map which is very much like the boardgame maps (narrow corridors, lots of dead ends, etc.) So, I had to do some backtracking as I ran up dead ends. There are also "genestealer" icons on the map. I thought these were monsters and so I was super cautions but, it turns out they're monster entry points (I think) - which is very much like the boardgame! So far, it's been fine - no real complaints or that much difficulty though my apothecary (healer) almost died and I couldn't figure out how to order him to heal himself. Maybe he can't?

Space Hulk: Deathwing (PS4)