I’ve seen some threads about the game feeling not very gross or creepy.
TLDR; Needs Fog of War, PP Troops are too Superhero like, Maps way too Small, AI too eager to All-In-Rush, Barely any Mist like Stephen Kings ‘The Mist’ to obscure during the day, Barely any Darkness at night for Flashlights and red klaxons to be cool, and not enough Cthulhu-esque horror.
I think the problem is the lack of a decent fog of war, or in this case some type of mist element, and the map size and exploration of the maps.
The maps are usually well lit, which if fine if the player can afford to wait for daytime to attack a mission, giving decent visibility in mist territory, although not complete. Guns should have flashlights, and troops should look a little more frightened or cautious depending on their level and experience. Or if they’re the last one left.
I think the map sizes are too small for the game to be sufficiently creepy and intimidating. I think there needs to be some downtime in missions for travelling, exploring, looting crates, finding research, uncovering dead bodies or weird anomalies caused by the mist.
I think the idea is that you maybe run into a few anthrons and trade some shots, you kill one, sustain an injury to one of your troops, they retreat, and you feel like you have some breathing room, but their threat is still out there in the mist, and who knows what else is out there.
Alot of horror is what isn’t seen, and the Scylla/Chiron/Siren produces no horror because it doesn’t hide, it doesn’t ambush. There are no sound indicators, no scares.
I think the combat layer is far too fast, I think the combat layer should be an undertaking in it of itself.
Almost like Fallout 2 or Mutant Year Zero. Combat should be substantial, quality over quantity approach to make each away mission a serious consideration.
You have a large map to uncover and explore, an objective to find, and pods of enemies that grow bolder as you cause more trouble on the map. Or maybe you try to approach it silently as long as you can.
The only mission that should feel safer and more comfortable are maybe Haven Defense/Base Defense missions, but they also could be turned into a terrifying experience if the lights in the base go out, and you have to hunt down a terrifying monstrosity in the dark tunnels of your base. Or how about a tunnel you fill with turrets to thin down the enemy ranks like in “Aliens”. Havens should have us in position to help the Haven’s security forces gun down the waves of Pandorans crashing against our defenses.
I also think soldiers are too tough. These maps should allow 20 troops to be deployed alongside tanks and apcs, but make the troops far more vulnerable and less like supersoldiers. I love the idea of low quality biology units taking on superior more expensive technological units, ala Terrans vs Zerg or Space Marines vs Tyranids, in this game your troops are only saved by their tech or mutations, the aliens should field more troops than you can, but with less quality and less accurate means of fighting you.
They have the advantage in swarms and by late game can field something equivalent to your best. You can meet your match by fighting NJ or Syn, and a weird mix from the Anu. Raiders should have a numbers advantage as well, but they won’t yield mutations or as strong weaponry.
Firaxis Xcom and PP both let us make super soldiers, which is not the right way to go about it. Maybe some troops can develop into Master Chiefs and Legends but I think there could be some kind of hero cap, where the majority of our troops are nothing but boots and rifles that have to make due, maybe with equipment that they find on the field to improvise with. (A Broken Humvee with a functional Turret a troop can mount to increase temporary firepower)
I think this game plays too much like a chess game, or just a game in general. It’s not treated like an atmospheric experience. You have your troops and they have theirs and you just duke it out. There isn’t any battle against the environment itself or the world has no impact on your people. It’s just a trading of stats and it really feels gamy.
But it seems to me like it’s too late to do any of this, it seems like an entirely different game, or at least the game I imagined when I saw the darkness of the first trailer, and the Scylla pop up from the sea on the oil rig.
All this being said, I beat the game, and I did enjoy it. I just wish I could have enjoyed it more. It’s unfortunately just not quite there yet, and I’m pretty sure I forgot some stuff too.
