ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West (Premium Edition) Review

The post-apocalyptic game setting has been tried and tested many-a-time, and one game series that stands out when you mention that type of aesthetic is the Fallout series. It’s aptly named, well performed and all coupled with a great storyline to-boot. The image of a banished world with little to no life left is often placed in an all too familiar dark and grey world; bland colours, matching with the bleak outlook on the future of the fictional world. Few games tackle the environmental impact on said world, where nuclear fallout isn’t necessarily what has driven the world to the state it is.

ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West is that game. Set in New York among the man-made debris lies a lush, overgrown world based 150 years in the future. You play as Monkey; a human captured by the organisation that’s responsible for the mass slaughter and enslavement of every human left alive. The tension and mystery of this unfamiliar world is immediately thrown in front of you as you must evacuate a Pyramid airship that’s destined to perish. The second main character, Trip, is ahead of you, hacking her way through the security doors, ignoring your pleas for her to wait up, forcing you to jump around the outside of the collapsing ship, rather than being able to easily stroll alongside her through to the escape pods at the other end of the ship.

Ninja Theory, the game’s developer, have done a simply wonderful job of gradually introducing their players to each and every game mechanic. Simple movement, then combat, then more advanced combat moving onto player character commands and so-on, not throwing too many crucial game techniques at you all at once, allowing you to first use them in an instructed fashion and then using your own initiative to implement such techniques to further you in the game.

After finally getting off the airship and somehow surviving a ludicrous crash, you start to get to grips with how the game is going to play out. Trip, after denying you from all reasonable means of escape, has taken you hostage, albeit using some foreign technology. Your headband serves as your ‘incentive’ to help her achieve her goal of getting back home, as if she dies, the headband that’s also connected to her kills you instantly. This simple idea works on many levels. First of all, it lays out the storyline loud and clear; help Trip and you can be on your way, fail to do so effectively and you both die - simple. Secondly, it ties knots in how Monkey has a HUD, including being able to give her commands to aid you through the game’s puzzles and pitfalls with the headband’s essentially telekinetic power. And finally, the entrapment. Although starting off as that of hatred and revenge from Monkey’s perspective, it acts as a relationship builder between Monkey and Trip.

Monkey and Trip’s relationship is key to this game’s success. The voice acting delivered by Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings’  Gollum) as Monkey and Lindsey Shaw (Nickelodeon's Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide) as Trip are nothing other than perfect. You feel a genuine affection between the two characters as well as a desire for them to work things out in the end. Many aspects of the story are relatively linear with some obvious foreshadowing but both characters show realistic emotion with the ability to laugh together, in addition to expressing some heart-wrenching moments.

The voice acting in the game may be the heart and soul of the title, but ENSLAVED’s character animations and, maybe more-so, breathtaking visuals are the grounds on which it moves from being not just a game but more of a complex cinematic experience. Seeing New York covered in greenery and foliage as far as the eye can see (or, game can render), makes you appreciate what you are doing and where you are doing it just that little bit more. The title’s chosen time period, the not too distant future, and unique scenery, the colourful and dissertated non-fiction location, are a breath of fresh air to games of this style.

However, at the end of the day, ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West is a game, no matter how good it sounds and looks.

ENSLAVED was released a few years ago for the PlayStation before its adaption to the PC but looks and feels like a crisp and modern day addition to anyone’s game library. The movement and combat, which is mainly hand-to-hand with some minor shooting elements, is fluid and exciting with a no-luck approach to each enemy you fight. The Mechs which are the main enemy players will encounter, come in all shapes and sizes with some being trickier to fight than others, forcing you to maintain the variety of combat techniques you use rather than relying on one powerful attack to destroy everything.

It’s unfortunate that there are a few moments in the gameplay that throw you out of the game’s narrative cocoon that are tell tale signs of an ironic lack of attention to smaller details. I may be a harsh critic in some of these areas; for example where Trip’s movement patterns are erratic and somewhat unreliable, but unexcusable moments where the AI falls through the map and being stuck in areas you shouldn’t be, forcing you to restart at the previous checkpoint are hard to ignore. Nevertheless, these glitches and discrepancies are few and far between and shouldn’t detract too much from the game’s beauty and enjoyment as a whole.

I was unaware of this game’s existence and what it was about before playing it and now I will keep my eye out for absolutely every other iteration that this game has to offer. ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West is a perfect addition to everyone’s library and I know that may sound cliche but honestly, at its always discounted rate, the AAA acting, stunning visual presence and joyful fluid gameplay, it makes it an absolute steal.