Ive caught up on all footage now. This game looks so awesome, but I'm pretty concerned about one thing: the up-close combat with freakers.
It needs a lot of focus and a lot of attention and polish. A lot. The part at the end at the warehouse when the player was surrounded was tough to watch. Camera was all over the place, freakers just stood there, and it just looked like a mess. Then at one point he was surrounded again, the camera lost the player, and a freaker actually grabbed him and it was nearly impossible to see what was happening. (39:40). Also, the "freakers jumping and latching on to the player" mechanic might need to be axed or heavily tuned. It's completely immersion breaking to get grabbed, mash a button while 10 other freakers stand there for the long sequence to end. What happens if you're fighting a horde and you're grabbed? Do the other 300 freakers patiently wait for the animation to finish? It needs some serious re-working and re-consideration as to what value that mechanic actually adds to the gameplay. Suggestion: replace it with a jump attack that simply does more damage to the player. It keeps the combat fast paced without taking control away from the player and breaking immersion.
Sounds harsh but I'm really loving everything else I see so I feel it's important to be critical of this.
It needs a lot of focus and a lot of attention and polish. A lot. The part at the end at the warehouse when the player was surrounded was tough to watch. Camera was all over the place, freakers just stood there, and it just looked like a mess. Then at one point he was surrounded again, the camera lost the player, and a freaker actually grabbed him and it was nearly impossible to see what was happening. (39:40). Also, the "freakers jumping and latching on to the player" mechanic might need to be axed or heavily tuned. It's completely immersion breaking to get grabbed, mash a button while 10 other freakers stand there for the long sequence to end. What happens if you're fighting a horde and you're grabbed? Do the other 300 freakers patiently wait for the animation to finish? It needs some serious re-working and re-consideration as to what value that mechanic actually adds to the gameplay. Suggestion: replace it with a jump attack that simply does more damage to the player. It keeps the combat fast paced without taking control away from the player and breaking immersion.
Sounds harsh but I'm really loving everything else I see so I feel it's important to be critical of this.