This is a very good physics sandbox game, with a few major flaws.

Let's start with the good: Practically everything is an interactive physics object, and enemies take physics damage. That means if you're out of ammo you can grab the nearest brick or pole and start bashing heads in, or even just punch things (though good luck relying on your fists). Semi-automatic handguns also feel good to use. If you're holding something and come up to a door, you can push the handle down with whatever you're holding -little details like that make a huge difference. It's not super polished (the first time I tried to pull a drawer out of a filing cabinet and the entire cabinet flailed around made me realize why the cabinets themselves aren't physics objects in Half-Life: Alyx), but ultimately the mechanics are quite good.

The music is pretty good too. I don't have much to say about it, it's mostly just pleasant ambient stuff.

The bad starts with you. Or, more specifically, your body. The very first thing I noticed when entering this game is that my in-game arm stopped an inch or two short of my real arm when reaching forward. I spent most of an hour trying to figure out how to calibrate my body, because it just didn't make sense that they would let something so obvious and horrible continue to be a problem, but you can't. You can adjust the height, which also effects arm length -I think my arms were the correct length at about 8' (I'm 5'9"), but then I could never not crouch. This is the sort of thing that doesn't go away, I could never really get into the game because I had that constant reminder that this body is nothing like my own.

Then there's the movement. Lots of people praise it, but honestly I would've preferred the most rudimentary teleport to whatever they put into this game. It's floaty and disconnected, the jump is delayed, you have too much momentum, and there's a control to extend and retract your legs because they couldn't think of a better way to deal with dangling physics legs while you're climbing.

I could go on and on about the truly awful body, but that would make this way too long. The last bad thing I'll mention is the story. I actually haven't finished the story, because a couple hours in I realized I was aggressively bored. As in, so bored I was starting to get angry about it. I think all the unnecessary platforming with the disconnected movement wore me down and the lack of any real goal or character interaction hammered it in.

So why do I recommend the game? Well, it's a good sandbox. If you try to get immersed in it or care about the story you'll have a bad time, but if you just want to find a million different ways to slaughter a room full of aggressive balloon animals, it's great fun.

This is a very good physics sandbox game, with a few major flaws. Let's start with the good: Practically everything is an interactive physics object, and enemies take physics damage. That means if you're out of ammo you can grab the nearest brick or pole and start bashing heads in, or even just punch things (though good luck relying on your fists). Semi-automatic handguns also feel good to use. If you're holding something and come up to a door, you can push the handle down with whatever you're holding -little details like that make a huge difference. It's not super polished (the first time I tried to pull a drawer out of a filing cabinet and the entire cabinet flailed around made me realize why the cabinets themselves aren't physics objects in Half-Life: Alyx), but ultimately the mechanics are quite good. The music is pretty good too. I don't have much to say about it, it's mostly just pleasant ambient stuff. The bad starts with you. Or, more specifically, your body. The very first thing I noticed when entering this game is that my in-game arm stopped an inch or two short of my real arm when reaching forward. I spent most of an hour trying to figure out how to calibrate my body, because it just didn't make sense that they would let something so obvious and horrible continue to be a problem, but you can't. You can adjust the height, which also effects arm length -I think my arms were the correct length at about 8' (I'm 5'9"), but then I could never not crouch. This is the sort of thing that doesn't go away, I could never really get into the game because I had that constant reminder that this body is nothing like my own. Then there's the movement. Lots of people praise it, but honestly I would've preferred the most rudimentary teleport to whatever they put into this game. It's floaty and disconnected, the jump is delayed, you have too much momentum, and there's a control to extend and retract your legs because they couldn't think of a better way to deal with dangling physics legs while you're climbing. I could go on and on about the truly awful body, but that would make this way too long. The last bad thing I'll mention is the story. I actually haven't finished the story, because a couple hours in I realized I was aggressively bored. As in, so bored I was starting to get angry about it. I think all the unnecessary platforming with the disconnected movement wore me down and the lack of any real goal or character interaction hammered it in. So why do I recommend the game? Well, it's a good sandbox. If you try to get immersed in it or care about the story you'll have a bad time, but if you just want to find a million different ways to slaughter a room full of aggressive balloon animals, it's great fun.