@mrboone01 We've all been spoiled with fully voiced acting in games as of late, but this game definitely has a special something when it comes to the writing, and that, in itself, is a rare gem.

When a game has this much text dialogue and is still engaging, you know they've gotten something right.

@drekula2 The score is based upon more than just the save system.

@MythagoWoods Most definitely. Considering how rich and loved this universe is for it's niche audience, I expect some awesome community adventures to pop up.

Having played a bit of the game so far, I enjoyed your succinct rundown of the gameplay. I'd say everything you touched on feels about right for what I've seen so far.

Thank God, Sims 4 offline.

It's God Mode! ...only not as cool. And that's not saying much.

@Reuwsaat The metacritic rating on the Steam store page getting removed quietly before the summer sale didn't help with the confusion either.

Valve took the metacritic rating off of the store page during the summer sale and it got renamed. I wonder how many people bought it because it was 'cheap' not knowing what it really was.

If all that Ryse turns out to be is flashy and visually impressive cinematics where the player's interaction is merely respond to cues to perform better executions, it will likely not be a very rewarding experience. The changing from button prompts to "audio/visual" cues is definitely a good choice on their part.

But without any meaningful interaction where the player can fail and fail horribly, how can the player experience the glory of victory? Games like Urban Reign, can be frustrating when you fail, and yet, so rewarding when you win because it was you, the player, who caused that to happen. And when the system is setup right, it's almost always your interaction that causes you to 'win' and earn that satisfaction. 'Mashing to Mastery' does not invoke the kind of gameplay experience I think many of us are looking for, and the button prompts shown in the demos do not look appealing to most. Ninja Blade was not a successful title because it relied on so many quicktime events for everything.

I am genuinely curious about Ryse now because everything from marketing has not inspired any confience in the game. But I am indeed interested in seeing what the developers vision was, and if indeed, there is a rewarding combat system in between all of the pseudo-QTE cinematics that have turned off so many people, including myself.

Not a bad idea. A budget priced game without the official license.