Fear Effect Sedna

First: thanks for making the series come back to life. I'm a huge fan of Fear Effect. Sedna is a good game. It has the essence of both FE1 and FE2 very well. Graphics are very good with the cel shading aspect like the previous games. Combat gameplay is much better than the demo version now. Great puzzles just like before. Listening to some classic and familiar soundtracks included in the game just give me the chills, nostalgia hits me hard! Also the game has a very good length. I finished it in 8 hours in my first time. Very good references to the classics, specially at the end! Approved.
But... the negative points: I don't like the isometric camera change, I prefer the classic one or something that make us resemble it. I missed animated lightning effects and objects like the previous games had. And Sedna is way more linear, sometimes it feels the gameplay it's getting repetitive, in previous games we had to look for items all the time to make puzzles or key to open doors. The villains in this game didn't convince me, they're not rich in personality, it feels like something's lacking. I missed strong villains like Madam Chen or Yim Lau Wong, the king of hell. I'm very lost at the end of the game too, I don't know what happened to the villains, are we getting a sequel to this!? I hope Sushee can change all of this to the future games of Fear Effect, beginning with "Fear Effect Reinveted". I'm sure fans like me will like it way more that way.
Please, as requests, I'm playing with a xbox controller but the bindings are wrong and from playstation's controller. Please add xbox controller key bindings/icons ! And if it's possible, please, please add a camera zoom option so we can see the characters more close.
And where is the "Mission mode" bonus you guys said??? I was counting on playing it. It sounded cool...
If you like Fear Effect (specially if you're a fan), give this game a try. It's not better than FE1 and FE:RH for me but I love it.
Story: 7.5/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Gameplay: 7.8/10
Combat: 7/10
Puzzles: 10/10

It really does feel like a Fear Effect game. Combat is passable at best, just like the originals. "Animated" (via post-processing) 2D backgrounds, just like the originals. Main strength is atmosphere and worldbuilding, just like the originals. Instant deaths and a cheesy game over screen that you will likely see a lot, just like the originals. Art style is very much like the originals too. Plot and visuals are dark and supernatural, just like the originals.
It felt like playing just another PS1 game in many ways. Flawed, and charming. Of course, that might not be acceptable to many in 2018. But honestly I think I liked it about as much as Retro Helix. The only really distracting flaw was the quality of voice acting. There are a few lines in this game that are almost worthy of being in House of the Dead 2.

Considering all the budget constraints, the game is pretty faithful to the original concepts.
As far as I can tell, the main point of criticism is usually some parts (or it as the whole) of the gameplay.
The gameplay is varried, though the combat/stealth part is nothing to write home about. Of course its not a tactical thing like Commando or X-Com, like the initial glimpses of info could've suggested - so I guess I can understand dissapointemnt of some people coming from there. The action part is pretty basic (though mostly passable). But come on, the original games haven't done it any better. I'll go even further and say that when the guns or stealth were involved, FE 1 and 2 used to quickly descent into frustating mess, while Sedna is at least forgiving and transparent. We still liked those games, but for different reasons.
The stealth/action thing never was the reason why anyone played them. Probably, those parts were one of the least engaging things about FE. The key thing always was, you know, the drive to see what else FE 1 and 2 had to offer - to get further and see more. And it mostly comes down to these:
- weird and varried locations and little bit of (PSOne action/adventure -era) exploration (check);
- fun mini-games and puzzles (check);
- stylized cut-scenes that belong to late 90s and very early 2000s (also check).
In my book, Sedna does everything it needs to do.
The other point of criticism is VO - and it could be hit and miss at times, but still the game sounds fine for the most part, and It's alright for a game of this caliber. And here's the thing: FE Sedna wasn't made by Crystal Dinamics, Naughty Dog or some Ubi Soft monster studio, so of course the production value isn't even remotely there. The difference can be rather jarring if you are used to play mostly those games. So I guess if you expect that kind of expirience, even a stripped down version of it, than don't, I would recommend skipping Sedna.
But as I see it, the devs had limited resources - still they spread them the most optimal way possible, and the result is pretty decent. I think the full package is solid, even if some gameplay elements wouldn't stand on their own.

It's... not bad. It's not good, sadly, and nowhere near the return Fear Effect deserved, but it's more bland than anything. Bland, yet functional combat, bland story, some nice puzzles sharing a place with some shitty ones, some nice cutscenes mixed with bad sound design and voicework...
Still, some fans of Fear Effect will have a relatively nice time with it. I did. Other fans won't - and there are a lot of possible reasons why. As for non-fans... there is nothing for them here. So yeah, it's a game for a very small portion of people and even than it's not a great one. Too bad, really.

CAN BE BOUGHT!
Well it is an very hard game with hard puzzles and even harder fights, what is the most fun part of the game. To sad the devs make this part very anoying by clicking through 3 screens only to reload the autosave. Besides that the game is nice, but its kinda short, for a small price its OK if you like this kind of games and want some challenge.

I bought this game and the DLC deeply discounted. This was my first exposure to the Fear Effect franchise. I enjoyed the artwork, especially the cutscenes. I enjoyed being introduced to two new beautiful female protagonists, Hanna and Rain. They are as beautiful as classic Lara Croft. The story was ok. The puzzles were ok. Unfortunately, the combat was annoying. As I progressed through the game, I found myself only wanting to make it to the next cutscene, so that I could enjoy the cutscenes. The artwork in the DLC was stunning. I haven't listened to the music in the DLC but the music in the game was good.
The overall gameplay is reminiscent of Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris.
I would like to point out that this game fully supports x-input gamepads.
I will buy the remakes of the original Fear Effect games.
For me, the artwork and cutscenes are of high enough quality to recommend this game.

It's alright. It's not awful. It's not as good as it could have been either, but hey. They made an alright Fear Effect sequel in 2018. What a crazy time to be playing videogames. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed Fear Effect, so it was really nice to see these characters again.
Bad thing first:
The combat? Not great. The tactical pause is pretty fiddly and you end up resorting on simply kiting enemies into ambushes you've set up by placing your other characters behind cover, but that's about the extent of the tactics available.
Most of the time it works fine, but there will be boss fights and directly-post-cutscene ambushes with multiple enemies rushing you where everything kinda breaks into a clusterhuck and you kinda hope for the best and use up all your medkits.
This could have been a great little action game with a more direct shooting model, but as it is, it works okay when you can stealth, and you hope for the bigger action sequences to be over quickly. There's a couple of preeetty frustrating moments towards the end. I'm not saying the original Fear Effect games didn't have incredibly frustrating combat in them. I certainly didn't play them for the shooting.
The writing? A bit all over the place. At its worst, some of the characters act so unlike their PS1 versions it comes off as bad fanfiction, but thankfully those moments are limited to one or two, and the dialogue and character interaction is really quite enjoyable, especially in cutscenes.
Elsewhere, the plot itself and the main story beats make this very much a Fear Effect game. It's a pretty short experience, and the ending isn't quite as satisfying as they could have made it, but it doesn't overstay its welcome.
The art of course is lovely. Fear Effect absolutely shone with its visuals and while the fixed camera angle prevents the kind of interactive movie sequences the first two games pulled off, the cutscenes are enjoyable and the characters look gorgeous. Really, really digging the designs of all of the cast, and even the backgrounds have some nice attention to detail.
All in all, against all odds, it actually manages to be a pretty decent little Fear Effect chapter. If you're expecting the same kind of scale and ambition as the PS1 originals, you will be disappointed, but if you enjoy the characters and the puzzles, it's a surprisingly decent romp to go through. Pick it up at a discount if you're unsure. And I recommend using a 360 controller, keyboard and mouse felt a bit off.
I'm now really looking forward to the remake of Fear Effect 1 the team will be working on next. Hopefully we will eventually get a remake of Retro Helix as well.
7/10