Deciding I was close enough to the end and the chapters seemed to be fairly short, I took one final sit-down to finish off the game once and for all. I still have some extras to grab, some trophies to snag, but the main story is over and done. How did I do it? Well...
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CHAPTER 7:
LEVEL 1: More standard levels. Not much to talk about here, though a puzzle at the end involves a pachinko style setup where you have to turn a series of red switches green. It took me a good five minutes to get through it, but still absolutely no real downside to failing. Should mention that every puzzle in the game has some kind of hint scroll nearby that can reveal the answer if you so choose, but you lose out on a sizeable chunk of experience if you do. They're all easy enough to figure out for yourself, so why not just do them?
LEVEL 2: A puzzle level. This one is almost entirely based around hitting switches to move electrical currents around. This is probably the first bona fide level puzzle in the game, since you really do have to stop and think to see how everything fits together. A rather nice boss, too, with an obvious weakness. This area's definitely got Frankenstein influence.
LEVEL 3: We hear a lot of narration talking about Gabriel's development, rage taking over his mind and heart, but we don't ever actually see any of this in-game, save for a few cutscenes here and there. It's a bit disappointing.
However, this level isn't. Providing a new string of puzzles and showcasing the life this game still has left in it, we now enter a room with five off-shoots, each one opened by a mixture of three lenses to open everything up. With a little bit of trial and error or knowledge of color theory, it's simple to get into these rooms. This level also features a good balance of combat versus more cerebral tasks.
The boss, however, is a bit too chaotic; three giant stuffed dolls not unlike Oogie Boogie in Nightmare Before Christmas, all attacking you at once. They're not too hard especially if you use your Shadow Magic against them, but trying to counter three surprisingly fast, very active foes is a lot to handle.
A nice cutscene afterwards, though. And that wraps up Chapter 7!
CHAPTER 8:
LEVEL 1: It's kind of odd; your light medallion will be almost a full grade BELOW your shadow medallion, despite getting light before shadow in the game.
Anyway. In the best of ways, this level is what really reminds me of God of War. There's even a segment very reminiscent of God of War II that really shows off the environment [I won't say which one], as well as GoW's usual pacing of heavy combat broken up a few times with small bits of puzzle.
LEVEL 2: This one is almost entirely an upward climb, save for a brief boss fight, a repeat with minor upgrades. The climb is nasty, largely because one of the things you need to know how to do is never discussed formally in the game save for maybe the abilities menu: when rapelling, you can jump after another jump to get even more distance between you and the wall, allowing you to leap and climb over some obstacles.
LEVEL 3: A boss level. You fight the brother of another fight back in the village just prior to entering the castle, and it is certainly a good deal tougher. Once you learn his methods, he is somewhat easy to avoid, save for a few attacks, and the last stretch can be painful, requiring reliance on getting your Focus meter filled to grab any extra magic you can.
The puzzle at the end of the level has an easy solution, but is difficult to get to. It's a bit like a wooden labyrinth, where you have to navigate a small metal ball through a maze to the hole on the other side. Difference is, of course, you're navigating blood in a stream, and you have to hop between different little checkpoints before time runs out til you reach the end.
LEVEL 4: Gauntlet of enemies plus standard boss fight plus long series of cineractives. Somehow, the game still manages to hold my attention even as the formula is starting to be worn thin, largely because of the cinematic flair, the visual design, and the ease of control. New equipment added: The Seraph Shoulders. No chance to actually use them right away, but you get access to several new abilities to unlock in the travel guide.
CHAPTER 9:
LEVEL 1: By this point in the game, you have everything you need to go back and collect every single thing you missed. If you were thorough, it's not much; only about seven or eight titles total, if that. This level focuses on utilizing your Seraph Shoulders, employing a lovely little double jump which actually is very aesthetically pleasing. New enemy: Headless Burrower. A zombie who takes his own head off and throws it at you while the body digs underground and tries to grab you like the Naiads. Destroying their heads has them pop up from underground so you can grab them and destroy them. Kind of annoying, but a fun little enemy.
This is also the third "arc" of the game, so to speak; we have two pieces of three of the Lords of Shadow mask, won from the Lycan lord and the Vampire lord. Evidently, we're going after Death himself, which sadly takes us out of the castle. Luckily, this area has a style all in its own, and some of the designs really are just gorgeous.
LEVEL 2: A combination puzzle/combat level, with a new enemy: Scarecrows. These guys are big and fast, and difficult to counter, but a good amount of space between you and them is enough to stay comfortable. The puzzle itself is actually really clever; you have to get a key held by each of the scarecrows, but in order to fight them, you have to get a flock of crows to land on them. Meaning, you have to shake a series of rigs which hold some of these scarecrows up until they eventually land on the one you want. Not exactly a stumper, but certainly interesting.
We also get to meet Baba Yaga. I've yet to find a version of this character I haven't enjoyed.
LEVEL 3: Wow. This level actually blew me away a bit, not so much for how complicated its puzzles are, but the way it's all implemented. It's a great, creative way to close the chapter, and creates a wonderful feeling of "I wonder how they'll top this." It's not the most amazing thing in the game, but it's yet another example of the amount of aesthetic variety the game likes to throw your way.
CHAPTER 10:
LEVEL 1: Well. This one's certainly different. Starting out in a crystal cave, you work your way up to a barren wasteland of titan corpses, littering the place. It's a gorgeous sight, though difficult to navigate amicably. Your task is a little less clear this time around, which makes exploration a must. The sneakiest-hidden place in the whole level is also one of the places you need to find to progress... Not sure how I feel about that.
Regardless. Two new enemies: Creeping Corpses and Creeping Coffins. As you can tell by their name, yes, they're related. The Corpses are pretty much just crawling cadavers which have a surprising amount of speed. They're easy to defeat, but that's not where they're interesting: They hop into coffins, and suddenly has the box sprouting legs and mandibles. The Creeping Corpse is actually fairly formidable, especially considering you rarely fight just one at a time. They're large, fairly quick, and difficult to predict, though none of their moves are particularly new or unique to them.
LEVEL 2: A boss level, and probably one of the crowning moments of the game. Rather than just give you a generic boss fight, you're given a battle against a familiar face [within the context of this game, anyway], in one final trial before you are deemed worthy of your quest. The battle still employs many of the same methods, except you are without your magic for the first round or so. As the battle progresses, you are granted more and more of your magic, while your opponent adds more into his own arsenal. By the end, you have to figure out which magic will work for which situation, all while being tastefully bombarded by some rather emotionally harrowing dialog which neither oversells nor understates the point of the battle.
LEVEL 3: A bit of climbing leading into one giant puzzle. This one was a lot of fun; using points of light, you have to break three locks on a central cage to get your powers back. While you're never in a heck of a lot of danger, thanks to various health fonts, there are plenty of zombies [by the way, new enemy] which, while not tough, can swarm you pretty nastily, especially at the very end. There's one annoying tie-off to the level, where you have to ring two gongs within a few moments of each other, and there are just SO MANY ZOMBIES in the way. I almost thought this would be a great place to grind for experience; sadly, you actually can kill all the zombies in the level after a long enough attempt, so fie on that.
LEVEL 4: A gauntlet into boss fight into escape sequence. We fight the Gravedigger, a rather interesting boss fellow, whose death seems almost impossible at first. The trick is simple but fun.
The escape sequence doesn't really seem like one until you realize you're about to be set on fire. That was a bit odd, but the climb is fairly entertaining thanks to a bunch of very short ledges and frequent jumps. The escape marks the end of this chapter.
CHAPTER 11:
LEVEL 1: Probably the longest level thus far. This one borrows from Portal a bit; you have to navigate a series of small portals and mirror-like doors which transport you through a very strange sort of dimension. Navigating is like a puzzle unto itself, and presents some very interesting leaps of faith throughout.
This level also introduces the Reaper and Necromancer. The Reaper is something of a phantom bearing the visuals of its namesake. It's destroyed in just a couple of hits [if even that], but they like to appear in crowds, and if even one of them hits you, that's more than HALF your health gone. Yeah, scythes are never good news. Necromancers are the ones that can summon these guys up, which makes their rather typical strategy spiced up significantly.
It's also the last level where there are collectibles; no more gems by this point.
LEVEL 2: A boss level. And it's a big one. If some of the previous boss battles didn't scream "Shadow of the Colossus," this one will. It's a further example of MercurySteam knowing what the spirit of these elements are and employing them in a way that works for their game, even if those individual elements aren't as strong as the games they're pulling from. Though, I do have some complaints: It can be particularly difficult figuring out how to get [i]started.[/i] Navigating the beast mostly makes sense, but occasionally, you just find yourself wondering where the heck you go next. And if you fall, you have to start over [for the most part; I never fell on the latter sections of the battle, once I figured out how I was supposed to do it]. Still, despite those complaints, it was an exhilarating fight, with a very nice finish.
CHAPTER 12:
LEVEL 1: The only level in this chapter, and the very end of the game. You're pretty much only going to deal with one boss, and if you're not certain how to defeat him, he can be an incredible ordeal. He utilizes a similar strategy as a previous boss, and certainly hints at it, but I'll leave that to your own handling.
The ending was a load of "WTF." Not necessarily in a bad way, just, there are a number of twists, some expected, some certainly not expected in the least. What really ties this package off is the epilogue, after the credits; if it doesn't confuse the heck out of you, I don't know what will.
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And there you have it. The game is complete. I'll have a concise, spoiler-free review up within 24 hours, so keep on the lookout.
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