Possessor(s) was offered by Devolver Digital for assessment. Thanks!
Coronary heart Machine has at all times had a knack for creating worlds that really feel without delay ethereal and suffocating, vibrant but hopelessly fractured. From Hyper Mild Drifter’s cryptic melancholy to Photo voltaic Ash’s huge, dreamlike traversal, the studio has carved out a definite aesthetic identification, one constructed on ambiance, thriller, and momentum. Possessor(s) proceed that lineage, however channels it into one thing sharper and extra confrontational: a grim, kinetic metroidvania the place every motion is as a lot an act of warranted violence as exploration.
Set in a quarantined metropolis swallowed by decay, Possessor(s) follows Luca and her otherworldly counterpart Rhem, two halves of a single being, certain by parasitic connection and shared guilt. The narrative unfolds by implication greater than exposition; you don’t a lot comply with the story as really feel it creeping into your periphery. Environmental particulars, scattered dialogue, and town’s weird denizens all trace at one thing deeply fallacious simply beneath the floor.
It’s a tone that Coronary heart Machine excels at, desolate but oddly intimate, however gamers, together with myself, on the lookout for readability could discover themselves wanting. The writing is efficient when it leans into emotional unease, although its tendency towards the summary sometimes dangers detachment. Nonetheless, when every part coalesces, a quiet trade in a flooded hall, or a flicker of regret in Rhem’s dialogue, Possessor(s) might be haunting.
At its finest, Possessor(s) is an exhilarating dance of aggression and precision. The fight blends directional inputs paying homage to platform fighters with the deliberate weight of a soulslike, rewarding timing and spatial consciousness. You’re consistently pushed to learn your opponent’s rhythm, to parry and punish, to launch them skyward earlier than smashing them down with a charged strike. Weapons, for those who can name them that, have an improvised, street-level brutality: repurposed devices, instruments, and devices, comparable to Kitchen Knives, Laptop Mice, and so forth.
Every hit feels tactile, heavy, and deliberate, because of glorious animation and audio design, regardless of the absurdity/desperation in your weapons of selection. Chaining assaults into aerial combos is immensely satisfying, and the management scheme’s responsiveness (when the framerate behaves) makes even primary skirmishes really feel tense and alive.
That mentioned, not each a part of the moveset feels equally polished. Grapple mechanics, specifically, might be inconsistent, just like the whip generally latching when it shouldn’t or lacking clear anchor factors. Wall-jumps and vertical navigation sometimes lose their circulation, creating moments of frustration that break the sport’s in any other case fluid pacing. These are minor blemishes, however in a recreation so centered on momentum, they stand out nonetheless.
Coronary heart Machine’s artwork route stays as impeccable as ever. The ruined metropolis is a masterclass in ambiance; each neon flicker, each waterlogged alleyway tells a narrative. The layered parallax offers every display screen an uncanny depth, and the studio’s distinct color palette, luminous blues towards washed-out decay, stays hanging. The music and soundscape complement that aesthetic superbly. Percussive synths rise beneath fight, whereas ambient hums and distant echoes make quiet exploration moments genuinely unsettling. There’s a confidence in how the sport is aware of when to overwhelm and when to let silence breathe.
That is significantly spectacular and essential in a recreation the place exploration is as methodical as it’s rewarding, and is one more present of mastery on Coronary heart Machine’s flourishing journey of progress. The town folds in on itself with intelligent shortcuts and hidden chambers, sometimes providing elective encounters that check each your mechanical ability and your endurance, as any good metroidvania ought to, and when the extent design is dense and interconnected, balancing vertical traversal with fight arenas that really feel purpose-built for acrobatic aggression, Possessor(s) finds it fastidiously carved out place within the myriad of different, extra distinguished titles inhaling the identical style area.
Possessor(s) – Steam Deck Efficiency
For a recreation that lives and dies on precision, efficiency is every part, and that is the place Possessor(s) sometimes stumbles. When the sport runs easily, its fight sings. Inputs really feel fast, motion is crisp, and the fluidity of chaining assaults makes for a real adrenaline rush. However when the framerate dips, even briefly, that delicate rhythm falters.
On Steam Deck, body pacing inconsistencies can come up throughout particle-heavy scenes or giant enemy clusters. These moments don’t break the expertise, however they do undercut the sport’s responsiveness, which is crucial in a system constructed round timing and management. The distinction between a clear 60fps and a fluctuating 45–55fps isn’t simply aesthetic; it modifications how the sport feels. With that being mentioned, a direct change to the sport’s settings to Low throughout the board offers the most effective, though nonetheless unfavourable, likelihood at hitting the excessive 40s/low 50s.
I’ve additionally encountered traversal-oriented bugs, significantly tied to the whip and wall interactions, that seem to stem from animation state points moderately than pure efficiency drops. Nonetheless, the notion of inconsistency could make fight really feel uneven, particularly when execution issues most.
Coronary heart Machine’s monitor document suggests post-launch updates will easy a lot of this out, however because it stands, Possessor(s)feels simply shy of technically cohesive. The great thing about its world and the brilliance of its fight basis stay intact, however the general stability doesn’t at all times help the ambition.
Accessibility
The sport affords a modest set of accessibility fundamentals: sliders for each Display Shake and Vibration, toggles for Movement Blur and Chromatic Aberration, and configurable button mappings.
Conclusion
Possessor(s) is a recreation of contradictions, punishing but swish, intimate but alien, technical but emotional. It’s some of the visually arresting motion video games of the yr and an imaginative evolution of Coronary heart Machine’s design philosophy. When its programs align, it achieves one thing spectacular: a ballet of violence wrapped in existential dread. However that spectacle is dependent upon stability. For a recreation constructed so squarely on really feel, the occasional stutters and traversal inconsistencies stand out all of the extra. They don’t sink the sport, however they do stop it from hitting the seamless heights its design so clearly reaches for. Nonetheless, even with its technical blemishes, Possessor(s) is unmistakably Coronary heart Machine, formidable, trendy, and brimming with unusual, painful humanity.
Our assessment is predicated on the PC model of this recreation.
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