ReCore: Definitive Edition

I don't know what all the negative reviews are about. I understand the comments about bugginess, that is true at times but the ones about no story and the world being bland are just false. I'm a completionist and like to do all the little points of interest before doing main story stuff. It was a challenge (enough to frustrate me a lot of the times which is a love-hate thing for me) to complete the dungeons well enough to get all of the rewards. The story and lore is actually complex and beautiful if you pay enough attention to it (it's not in your face about it). They left it on a cliffhanger which made it wide open for a sequel which they have given the generic PR response of "if there's a big enough demand we'll make a sequel" (So I'm actually trying to get more people to play it because I really want a sequel, I want to know more). As for the comments about how you should be able to just swap your cores to different frames whenever you want instead of going to a teleport or your base, that just does not make any sense. You expect her to tote around 2 huge deadweight frames just to make the game easier for you and so you don't need to plan things out? How would you feel being forced to do that? And as for having all 3 companions at all times that would further displace the challenge of having things planned out to make sure you have the color of companion to match the colors of your enemies. That's just lazy.
The lore is wonderful.
The world is interesting.
The characters are lovable.
The gameplay is engaging.

You know, I originally gave this a negative review which, I'll confess, was written a little heatedly at a time I was more peeved than satisfied. But I'm not above saying I was wrong, so I'm rewriting the review.
Honestly, at the moment of writing the review, it did feel like it deserved a negative review, but now, after some time has passed, my impression of ReCore has come to be defined by what it does well, rather than what it does poorly. Looking back, I feel like I appreciate having played it.
Of course, like I said, my original review wasn't baseless or anything, ReCore has a few problems, the problem being that those few problems are majorly frustrating. Tiny stages to fight bosses a third the size of the stage, being knocked into hitstun longer than it takes the enemy to attack you again, too much of the same annoying platforming and so on.
But what the associations I make when I think of the game are how it had good writing, absolutely amazing world building, and a decent plot. How satisfying some actions felt, extracting cores in particular, I can't really even tell you what in particular makes it so satisfying, kinda like how I can't tell you why getting out of bed at literally any time gives me a feeling of impending doom and leaves me feeling defeated I just- I'm just fucking lazy aren't I? But anyway, whoever designed the animation for extraction definitely did something right.
Combat is fun given that you don't get kicked in the shin by one of the bullshit mechanics that I, swear to god, can't imagine the reasoning behind adding. The game looks very pretty, although I do admit I *don't have very high standards for video game graphics. Graphics only matter if they're either so bad you don't want to open the game and subject your eyes to god's mistake or if they're so good that you're frequently blown away by how pretty the game looks. The line of points scored is a plateau for everything in between. And, finally, the soundtrack was quite nice.
I understand the negative reviews. The game only became worthy of a positive review for me as a memory of the experience rather than as the satisfaction as it was being experienced. I really wish we get a sequel because the ending doesn't leave everything resolved and answered. But well, I'm not holding my breath. (I can only hold it for like a minute anyway).

Definitely the least complex and refined (both design and tech wise) out of "Microsoft Action Pack". Not a bad one, though, at least in its current "definitive" state. Just noticeably rough on all of its edges. If exploring eye-pleasing desolate landscapes using simple but mostly fun traversal mechanics sounds like your jam, check it out on sale. Just be prepared to deal with not very deep or engaging combat, and an occasional glitch.

this is a very janky collectaton 3d plataformer (banjo-kazooie, etc)
and yes it doesn't look like one from the screenshots,
the gameplay is decent, the jank is everything else
i bought it with pocket change, and i definitively don't regret it, if you want a 3d platformer... there much worse options out there.

I'm not sure why this game gets so much hate, as I absolutely love it. It feels like a cross between Metroid and Star Wars. The writing is pretty good, the platforming feels spot on, and the combat, while a bit dull, is serviceable.
I've really enjoyed my time with it, and I think it's worth a go for those who might be interested.

I remember when this first came out, and I though it looked great, something akin to Horizon Zero Dawn, but after finding it was an Xbox exclusive, it kinda left my radar after that.
Years pass by.
It's now available to play on PC! I'm pretty excited, and so when it had a good sale, I decided to buy it. I really liked the game. The COLLECTIBLES (I love collectathons, and needing to collect everything scratched that itch for me), and the ability to mix and match COMPANIONS to get to different areas or to help with taking out enemies, really made me love this game. On top of that, the challenge dungeons were pretty cool (and somewhat challenging!), and what story was there made me want to know more. It's not HZD though. The story isn't the great overarching part of this game. There are no meaningful interactions with NPCs, The combat is still very limited. It's a collectathon first and foremost, and all other parts, while more than just merely tagged on, are just compliments to the time you'll spend looking for everything.
Recommended for collectathon & 3D platformer lovers, but if you're looking for an open-world game with more diverse combat and a story, then I recommend that other game.

Charming sci-fi romp that reminds me a lot of action/adventure platformers from the PS2 era.