Developer: Amature Studio, LLC, Comcept
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Playable
Rrp: £14.99 (Humblebundle and Steam)
Released: 14th September 2018
Available on: Humblebundle and Steam
Played Using: An Xbox One Control Pad
Approximate game length: 14 Hours
I remember seeing the trailers for this game when it was first announced, much was promised and it didn’t look bad. But what have we learned about trailers? Most of the time they over promise and the games end up under delivering, and it seems that this was the case with Recore.
When this game was originally released it got absolutely panned by the critics and understandably so. Buggy game play and slow load times along with a £60 price tag, it was doomed to fail. Just to add insult to injury within months of the games release Horizon Zero Dawn dropped and I can tell you choosing between this game and that one is no contest. Two years after its initial debut the Definitive Edition was released. This new version fixed quite a lot of bugs and reduced the load times as well as seemingly adding a new ending if you did enough.
With this review though I’ll not be taking into account how the game originally released but from what my was experience at the time of writing.
The game takes place on the planet of Far Eden which has been selected for terraforming for the remnants of humanity to live on after a cataclysm has destroyed Earth. This process of terraforming will take a long time to come to fruition, hundreds of years in fact. Due to this, Corebots (a form AI controlled robot) are sent down to handle the task while the humans remain in cryo-sleep, occasionally waking one or two specialists to oversee things and go back into stasis. This is where you come in, you play as Joule, a young woman who has awoke from cryo-sleep to find that something has gone very wrong, the terraforming hasn’t occurred and nearly all the Corebots have become murderous. I say nearly because Joule is accompanied by Mack, her own trusty Corebot, and as you play through the game you’ll have more Corebots that join your cause.
I’ve been tempted to call this game ‘open world’ but it doesn’t meet my personal qualifiers to be classed as that. The world you play in is separated into specific areas, each time you pass from one area to another (or enter and exit most dungeons) you have to wait for a loading screen. This is quite frustrating when the world itself is quite small and that other games had been released long before this one with bigger worlds and very few loading areas (such as Skyrim and Dying Light).
Each Corebot has a coloured core (thus the name), the colour of the core dictates how the Corebot will act in combat. Typically you’ll fight Corebots that are one of three colours; red, yellow or blue. Red Corebots tend to be more aggressive and can perform attacks that have a damage over time effect. Yellow Corebots have an attack that slows you down and lastly blue Corebots have an ability that will stun you, forcing you to waste precious moments freeing yourself from the effect. There are other Corebots you find that are combinations of colours, such as green or orange who can perform attacks from both colours. The last, and most important, colour is white, White Corebots are bosses and will change colour to perform attacks related to that colour.
In combat herself Joule uses a rifle to take down the various Corebots that attack, however she isn’t alone, she also has a Corebot companion of her own to assist her. Joule can switch her rifle to use one of four ammo types each of which corresponding to the enemy Corebots colour (Red, Yellow and Blue). Shooting the Corebot with the matching ammo does increased damage and can even interrupt attacks. You also can command your companion Corebot to perform their own special moves on selected targets which can really even the odds. Combat is the only time you can collect enemy cores (more on that later) which cannot be attained by simply destroying the Corebot in question. So while in combat you have to decide if you want the materials the destroyed Corebot will drop or their core. If you want to collect the core you have to first weaken the Corebot to a specific point (which is indicated on their health bar) and then push the [Right Analogue stick] in. Once you do this you enter into a tug of war with that Corebot, though to be honest it has more in common with a fishing game really. Pull back on the analogue stick to try and dislodge the Corebots core, if the line glows red you need to be careful and if its white you have to release it completely or the line will break. Of course, while you’re busy having a tug of war the other Corebots aren’t simply going to ignore you and any damage you receive will immediately end the tug of war.
The cores and materials you collect are used to improve your friendly Corebots, which is done through two methods (both of which can only be done at a workbench) researching blueprints or fusing cores. Blueprints are found out in the world in chests etc once brought to a work bench you can research them to create new Corebot pieces each of which have stat increases and sometimes special abilities. Doing this will cost materials that you find in the world. Remember I mentioned about collecting cores? This is where those cores become important. Collected cores can be ‘fused’ to give stat increases to your Corebots making them much more potent in combat. Red cores increase attack power, yellow defence and blue energy (which is used for directed attacks).
Ok, lets talk about the world this game takes place on, Far Eden. From what we’re told its a desert planet, with a breathable atmosphere and not much else. The problem is that the world is TOO well realised in that regard. There is nothing alive on this world (apart from the Corebots), the majority of the game is varying shades of brown under a blue sky. Sure, they break it up with the some of the remnants of the terraforming machines but those are just as lifeless and dull. Frankly, playing in this world became a tedious affair, I started using the fast travel as much as possible because I didn’t want to have to trudge through that sea of brown again.
How do I feel about Recore… well in its current state I don’t feel it deserves the ire it seems to be garnering. I’m not saying this game is good, per say, but it certainly isn’t terrible and definitely not deserving of the ‘mostly negative’ it has on Steam. That being said… play Horizon Zero Dawn instead, the gameplay is better, it’s prettier and frankly has a much better story.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Horizon Forbidden Dawn
Mad Max
