Hob: Runic's next game Out 26th Septmeber

[DjchunKfunK]

Runic have been showing off thier next title and it is a bit of a departure from their previous stuff. Titled Hob it is an adventure game which will contain no text or dialogue with narrative being revealed via exploration and interaction with the surrounding and strange life forms.

It is being developed for PCs and console and they say they will reveal more at Pax Prime on the 28th of August.

It certainly looks pretty and it is nice to see the studio doing something a bit different to what they have previously.

[Medicine Man]

[DjchunKfunK]

This game finally has a release date, due out on the 26th of September.

[Medicine Man]

EG review...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-09-26-hob-review

Recommended

[DjchunKfunK]

Picked this up, so will post some thoughts once I get round to playing it.

[Medicine Man]

NIce one Dj. Cheers matey.

[Lee]

I just wish it wouldn't take about 10 tries to get the game to load or crash just before I attempt to start a new game >.>

Going through the usual ways of trying to get it to run seems to do nothing much

[Lee]

I finally completed the game a few days back and it was all fun and nice and a pretty rewarding ending, if you like to ponder on it. Worth it at the current price but if you're on the fence definitely grab it on sale!

[DjchunKfunK]

Still not got round to trying this. I hope to finish Original Sin 2 this week and this is the first game I'm going to play once I do.

[DjchunKfunK]

Started and completed this over the weekend, here are my thoughts.

Before I give my thoughts I'll briefly outline what kind of game it is. The premise is that you have been tasked with ridding the world of the corruption that is slowly taking over. In the first few minutes you lose your arm to this corruption and have it replaced with a large robot arm and it is this which gains powers as the game moves on. It's primarily a platformer with some combat, a lot of people have likened it to older Zelda titles because you unlock abilities that allow you to then access other areas and you have a small amount of freedom in where you go. However there is a lot more platforming in Hob and less combat, but the biggest difference is that while you do get new equipment which allows you to access new areas, most of it is gained fairly early on and you are actually solving puzzles to change the environment itself in order to access new areas. The whole world is mechanically powered and as you go through the game you raise and lower the landscape in order to access new areas. It is this manipulation of the environment that I think is the games strongest facet and this is where I derived the majority of my enjoyment.

The other major thing the game has going for it is the world Runic have created. Graphically I really like the look they have gone for and the use of ambient music is very similar to that of Breath of the Wild and whilst it isn't as well done as in Nintendo's game it is still effective and complements the style they are going for. There is no dialogue and no text in this game so the story is conveyed in actions and the world itself, so it is a very contemplative game, there are even spots on the map why you can sit and the camera pans out and the music swells. This all combines to create a world in which I enjoyed spending time.

It is not without its faults though. The animation of the main character is very well done and is necessarily expressive for a game in which their is no dialogue, you need to get a feeling for the character somehow. However this means that in combat everything takes a bit too long. Your first attack is not fast enough if you don't have your sword drawn already and consecutive attacks don't always come out as fast as you are pressing the button. The dodge is also a fraction too slow if you have just attacked meaning that combat with tougher enemies devolves into a dance of one hit then retreat to allow them to attack and then you go back in again, get a hit and retreat once more. Combat on the whole is fairly easy though and with generous check-pointing it is pretty low stakes, so these issues don't really impact on the game. This does mean though that the upgrade mechanics are pretty much redundant. Apart from increasing the damage of my sword, I never used any of the other abilities I unlocked. Everything around the combat feels lacking really, like it could do with being fleshed out. Thankfully there isn't a great deal of it and there are no bosses. In fact you can even run past everything if you want, except in the odd circumstance where you need to clear a room to progress, and as enemies only drop the currency you use to upgrade your skills, you are not missing out on anything by just bypassing them. (Upgrades for your sword are found in the world rather than bought with currency.)

The other thing to mention is that as the camera is fixed you will sometimes die because you haven't quite pushed the right direction when you jumped, or the game transitions to another area and suddenly you are pushing the wrong direction. Because they do things with perspective the fixed camera is necessary and I think it is the right decision, a free camera would completely change how the world would feel, however this does lead to the occasional expletive as you miss a jump. Thankfully the ledge grab is fairly generous so most of the time you will just end up grabbing the edge of a platform rather than walking off completely, but it's not perfect.

Overall I really enjoyed my time with Hob, Runic have obviously put a lot of care and attention into creating this world and that came through whilst I was playing. I think they manage to strike the right balance between exploring and puzzle solving and on the whole the game does a good job of guiding you through. It's a game that doesn't bowl you over when you are playing it and I don't think it is one you will remember a lot about in years to come, but whilst playing it it gives you that feeling of warmth that only the best games can manage.

[Medicine Man]

Nice one Dj, thank you.

[DjchunKfunK]

No problem, hope it is useful.