I was immediately put off by it when I read the majority of the cast are women. That alone was enough to tell me it wasn't worth my time.
Yep that only works in some anime. Not in western games.
Yeah, sadly these days it's more of a red flag than anything else. It's either be a tiring girlboss thing, or a coomer harem fantasy. Sigh.
I was hoping it's not too woke, but after reading some and looking at some footage it's a pass for me. Not a fan of the "diverse" french main cast and demographics portrayal, and if what I'm hearing right about the general story message - not a fan of that either.
Summary of the Allegations Against Sandfall Studio translated in english just for you guys :
► Show Spoiler
Two individuals (one of whom is ****** and not French) shared that at the end of their studies, they went around various Montpellier-based studios to hand out their CVs in person.
- When they arrived at Sandfall, the staff allegedly:
Treated them poorly, almost yelling at them.
Told them they weren’t hiring, and in any case, they don’t take juniors.
Refused to accept their CVs.
- However, some time later:
A white acquaintance of one of them was hired at Sandfall.
It turns out the studio is actually mostly made up of juniors, contradicting what they were told.
- Additional context:
The studio's level designer is reportedly a fan of the Raptor, a French YouTuber known for reactionary views.
The leads are said to be former Ubisoft employees who left during the wave of harassment and assault allegations, claiming the industry has become "too woke."
TL;DR Sandfall is being accused of racial discrimination in hiring, favoritism toward white applicants, and being led by people with conservative or anti-progressive ideologies. The experience highlights a double standard: rejecting junior applicants while actually hiring juniors, based on discriminatory criteria.
Last edited by Makirige on June 5th, 2025, 21:16, edited 2 times in total.
Unavailable due to work and thesis
Thou must returneth whence thou came. This land is peaceful, its inhabitants kind, but thou dost not belong. I beg of thee, plunge down from the plank, and hurry home.
I got the game from Fitgirl and started playing yesterday. Got about 4 hours in.
First impressions were good. I'm a sucker for emotional plotlines, interesting stories, good voice acting etc, so after the prologue I was liking what I saw so far. After 4 hours, I'm not sure I want to play anymore. It's just so bland and boring. The enemies are lame, and so is the combat. Really dislike the dodge/parry system a lot. I could get through the easy fights with no or minimal damage, but there's a boss that keeps smashing me because I can't seem to time the dodges and parries right. The level design is dull and feels like something from 20 years ago. I still haven't figured out how to use a lot of the items I picked up along the way. (the ones it says you can use at camp, but I can't seem to find anything in the UI about how to do so)
So yeah, in 4 hours, my impressions went from good to bad. I'm glad I didn't spend money on the game.
Pros:
Voice acting
Music
Story (I guess, from the little I saw of it)
Cons:
DEI. **** there's a lot of ******* in it. And they seem oddly singled out for positive treatment in the prologue. One ****** dies trying to save you. A niglet gets his head patted in affection by the male main character, while the 2 white kids with him, don't. The male main character also seems more upset about that previously mentioned ****** dying, than the woman he loves, the other woman he seems to love, and the entire rest of his **** expedition. I heard someone say that the girls enjoy eating fish tacos, but I never made it that far to find out.
Parry/Block system
Boring combat, bland gameplay, wasn't always intuitive on how to do things in menus etc.
Lame enemies. They feel very generic.
The female characters' faces look weird.
I don't know why so many people say it is a masterpiece.
Every single negative - or less positive - review on Metacritic mentions Parry/Dodge. You either hate it or love it, and if you hate it, you will hate the game too.
I'd say, every story-driven game needs to hit that sweet spot where gameplay still matters, but not so much that players rage-quit in frustration or get so focused on the action that the story feels like a chore. I do not like soulslike games exactly for that reason - takes so much energy to beat the mobs, I have nothing left for the story.
However(!) if you happen to like it or get to the point of one-shotting the mobs (you will), you can focus on the story and then you see that it is incredibly beautiful and every element - including gameplay - is part of it. (ok, DEI adds nothing, but do not fixate on it, it's "one burned potato chip," not "a fly in the soup" level and will be gone soon) You need to get through hardships with that particular set of people, need to know them and have to get through the changes to be ready for the final choice. Steak to it, it's worth it!
First impressions were good. I'm a sucker for emotional plotlines, interesting stories, good voice acting etc, so after the prologue I was liking what I saw so far. After 4 hours, I'm not sure I want to play anymore. It's just so bland and boring. The enemies are lame, and so is the combat. Really dislike the dodge/parry system a lot. I could get through the easy fights with no or minimal damage, but there's a boss that keeps smashing me because I can't seem to time the dodges and parries right. The level design is dull and feels like something from 20 years ago. I still haven't figured out how to use a lot of the items I picked up along the way. (the ones it says you can use at camp, but I can't seem to find anything in the UI about how to do so)
So yeah, in 4 hours, my impressions went from good to bad. I'm glad I didn't spend money on the game.
Cons:
DEI. **** there's a lot of ******* in it. And they seem oddly singled out for positive treatment in the prologue. One ****** dies trying to save you. A niglet gets his head patted in affection by the male main character, while the 2 white kids with him, don't. The male main character also seems more upset about that previously mentioned ****** dying, than the woman he loves, the other woman he seems to love, and the entire rest of his **** expedition. I heard someone say that the girls enjoy eating fish tacos, but I never made it that far to find out.
Level design does feel like a corridor JRPG in UE5, funny how they removed all the ******* a few hours in. Did you finish it?
Haven't seen environments this fantastical in a long time. Feels lovely and whimsical to explore
Also parrying is far from the horror stories I heard from people. Yeah some attacks can be unintuitive or feel cheap, but the patterns are clear once you see them once or twice.
The parrying window is unforgivingly tight, but it's quite rewarding to get it right.
Also parrying is far from the horror stories I heard from people. Yeah some attacks can be unintuitive or feel cheap, but the patterns are clear once you see them once or twice.
The parrying window is unforgivingly tight, but it's quite rewarding to get it right.
I think a lot of people chase after that sweet riposte feeling and forget that basic dodge exists for a reason.
Whenever you meet a new enemy you should start by dodging, which is vastly easier to guess, and look for the "perfect!" dodges, that have the same window as parries. Once you can do a perfect dodge, then you switch to parry.
really tired of this trend of digitizing people into video games
you can make literally anything and you choose to copy existing people?
agree .. I an SICK to death of them inserting voice actors into in a game as actual characters , all it does its make them way more important than they need to be, which is problem because most of them are woke , its also means talented people wont get hired cause they are not pretty , and most importantly it limits creativity
Haven't seen environments this fantastical in a long time. Feels lovely and whimsical to explore
Also parrying is far from the horror stories I heard from people. Yeah some attacks can be unintuitive or feel cheap, but the patterns are clear once you see them once or twice.
The parrying window is unforgivingly tight, but it's quite rewarding to get it right.
Maybe I'm old but when this game introduced the 4TH Qte type (Parry, Dodge, Jump Dodge, and Gradient Parry), all with a different key, I had a little nervous breakdown.
Also parrying is far from the horror stories I heard from people. Yeah some attacks can be unintuitive or feel cheap, but the patterns are clear once you see them once or twice.
The parrying window is unforgivingly tight, but it's quite rewarding to get it right.
I think a lot of people chase after that sweet riposte feeling and forget that basic dodge exists for a reason.
Whenever you meet a new enemy you should start by dodging, which is vastly easier to guess, and look for the "perfect!" dodges, that have the same window as parries. Once you can do a perfect dodge, then you switch to parry.
That sounds like a sensible way to gradually progress the player's parrying proficiency... but us MEN take no easy way out PERFECT parry or DEATH (die a lot (sometimes ragequit))
Haven't seen environments this fantastical in a long time. Feels lovely and whimsical to explore
Also parrying is far from the horror stories I heard from people. Yeah some attacks can be unintuitive or feel cheap, but the patterns are clear once you see them once or twice.
The parrying window is unforgivingly tight, but it's quite rewarding to get it right.
I just don't like the mechanic, I don't find it interesting.
True, it's just a reaction check. Old tried-and-true mechanic, how could it be Interesting?
What it is, though, is engaging. And I favor action over turn-based anyway, so I'm into it.
really tired of this trend of digitizing people into video games
you can make literally anything and you choose to copy existing people?
agree .. I an SICK to death of them inserting voice actors into in a game as actual characters , all it does its make them way more important than they need to be, which is problem because most of them are woke , its also means talented people wont get hired cause they are not pretty , and most importantly it limits creativity
It also destroys all creativity in character design. Instead of having characters with original designs and real artistic vision, whether to match the game's environment or the character's writing, we just get mirror images of real people.
It's artistic laziness.
The moment a game features characters that are just reflections of their voice actors, I instantly lose all interest in it.
Maybe I'm old but when this game introduced the 4TH Qte type (Parry, Dodge, Jump Dodge, and Gradient Parry), all with a different key, I had a little nervous breakdown.
The irony is that the last QTE type introduced is by far the most lenient.
Decided to actually try and play this.
Launched the game, set all the graphics to Ultra or Epic or whatever it was called. DLSS > DLAA at 100% resolution rendering at 1080p.
The game looks like I'm trying to peer through a dirty dusty window that's been washed with a filthy rag. Absolutely disgusting.
UE5 is just dogshit.
Decided to actually try and play this.
Launched the game, set all the graphics to Ultra or Epic or whatever it was called. DLSS > DLAA at 100% resolution rendering at 1080p.
The game looks like I'm trying to peer through a dirty dusty window that's been washed with a filthy rag. Absolutely disgusting.
UE5 is just dogshit.
Well, that's what would happen if you turned on all the blurriness features. What happens if you turn the AA *OFF* and use only the sharp edges without blurring?
Decided to actually try and play this.
Launched the game, set all the graphics to Ultra or Epic or whatever it was called. DLSS > DLAA at 100% resolution rendering at 1080p.
The game looks like I'm trying to peer through a dirty dusty window that's been washed with a filthy rag. Absolutely disgusting.
UE5 is just dogshit.
I was immediately put off by it when I read the majority of the cast are women. That alone was enough to tell me it wasn't worth my time.
Yep that only works in some anime. Not in western games.
Yeah, sadly these days it's more of a red flag than anything else. It's either be a tiring girlboss thing, or a coomer harem fantasy. Sigh.
I was hoping it's not too woke, but after reading some and looking at some footage it's a pass for me. Not a fan of the "diverse" french main cast and demographics portrayal, and if what I'm hearing right about the general story message - not a fan of that either.
Not sure if it's enough to redeem the game, but
► Show Spoiler
the father of the main character is the only one who is actually sane, both his daughter and wife are nutters who can't face reality. And for once there are no excuses for them.
I agree on the ******* misplaced ethnicities shoved in though.
I heard that Daredevil is a voice actor in this, and when somebody asked him about this game he didn't know anything about it but wondered if he was secretly the bad guy at the end. Well, was he?
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Yep that only works in some anime. Not in western games.
Yeah, sadly these days it's more of a red flag than anything else. It's either be a tiring girlboss thing, or a coomer harem fantasy. Sigh.
I was hoping it's not too woke, but after reading some and looking at some footage it's a pass for me. Not a fan of the "diverse" french main cast and demographics portrayal, and if what I'm hearing right about the general story message - not a fan of that either.
Not sure if it's enough to redeem the game, but
► Show Spoiler
the father of the main character is the only one who is actually sane, both his daughter and wife are nutters who can't face reality. And for once there are no excuses for them.
I agree on the ******* misplaced ethnicities shoved in though.
Except...
► Show Spoiler
He is portrayed as the bad guy the entire time and just gives up at the end like a pussy to comply with his crazy daughter's wishes to live a lie, essentially negating his entire plan and motivations so far, just for a cheap tug at the heartstrings. Typical woman writing.
I heard that Daredevil is a voice actor in this, and when somebody asked him about this game he didn't know anything about it but wondered if he was secretly the bad guy at the end. Well, was he?
No. He is a fake protagonist and gets killed at the end of Chapter 1. I guess he was too expensive for these indie devs that work out of the goodness of their hearts with nothing but passion and dreams and a movie deal.
