Getting lost in a cyberpunk setting is always fun. Stealing everything that isn’t bolted down, and some things that are, while doing so is even better. Seven: Enhanced Edition does it all. Step into the skin of Teriel, Master Thief, and enjoy the wonders and dangers of the island of Peh.
Seven: Enhanced Edition is the rerelease of Seven: The Days Long Gone, the enhanced edition is free for people that already owned the base game, it also includes the Drowned Past expansion. The developers at Fool’s Theory and IMGN.PRO have outdone themselves with this gem.
About to go all Ezio on them with an air assassination.
- The
exploration: I’ve always preferred
open-world RPGs and Seven is a great example as to why I do. Once
you get done with the tutorial mission and get onto the main island
you’ll be able to freely go your way. Well if you can get a Visa
for the area you’re trying to get into at least.
Quickly after landing on Peh, the place where most of the story takes place, I got completely and utterly lost. Which was great! Sure, I could get back on track relatively easy but the exploration factor is a big draw of this game. - The top-down P.O.V. works: I don’t often like top-down RPGs, sure I enjoy Path of Exile and Diablo as much as the next RPG fanatic, but I’ve always preferred to be in the thick of the action. However, Seven simply makes the isometric view work outstandingly. The top-down perspective gives you a great overview of your surroundings, which is explained in the game as an ability of Teriel, granted to him by his cybernetic eye.
- The fluidity: The combat, the stealth and the parkour all flow wonderfully into each other. I was climbing on the top of some ruins while exploring and I heard some people talking to each other. I decided to sneak closer and saw three enemies standing around a safe. I did what any self-respecting thief would do and landed an air assassination on one of them and killed the other two in direct combat. The combat is smooth, the top-down view gives a great perspective and interspersing your attacks with dodges and your special moves keeps it from becoming stale.
The world is three-dimensional. If you see it, you can climb it.
- The
crafting: I enjoy crafting, the oils
and potions in the Witcher 3 were a big part of its appeal to me,
but Seven’s crafting system feels just a bit clunky.
You don’t unlock crafting stations straight away, you need to do a quest to unlock them first. And if you’re somewhat like me, you won’t be focussing all that much on getting every side-quest done in an area before moving on.
This caused me to ignore crafting for a long time, and I wasn’t impressed when I started. Making the items is fine, you need schematics, junk items, components (which you get from dismantling other items) and currency. It can be a bit of a bother to gather, but that’s not the issue. The problem is that the items you create are just boring upgrades that you have to slot into your gear. If I waste time collecting all those materials I want to get something fun or exciting.
Better have a Visa ready or you’ll regret it!
- The story:
While the physical world is a joy to
explore, the story behind it is less interesting.
It’s a rather standard cyberpunk setting, amazing technology but a rather bleak society. None of the countless chat boxes I had to go through could capture my attention all that well and most characters were fairly forgettable. It’s a shame that the story couldn’t live up to the gameplay.
CONCLUSION
Score: 84%
An open-world sandbox to play in with good combat, fluid movement, stealth and parkour.
Developer: IMGN.PRO Publisher: IMGN.PRO, Fool’s Theory
Played on: PC
