(Review) Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

The Short Version:

Almost going completely under my radar, Enslaved ended up surprising me immensely. It has an intriguing narrative, featuring a small but well-written cast of characters, with a highly entertaining set of gameplay mechanics that come together to make it a stand-out title.

There’s a high level of polish that’s consistent in almost every aspect of the game. It’s just a shame that this quality is dragged down by the ridiculously poor camera controls. That being said, if you can persevere through that obstacle, there’s a hidden gem that’s worth your money.

Pros:

-Remarkable storytelling

-Interesting and likeable characters

-Great voice acting

-Superb combat system

-Smooth parkour mechanics

-Intricately crafted levels

Cons:

-Atrociously intrusive camera

My Rating: 8.5/10 - Brilliant

Journey to the West...

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a third-person, action-adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic world overridden with machines. You play as Monkey, a brutish yet athletic survivor whose appearance is heavily inspired by Sun Wukong, a mythical figure from the Chinese novel, ‘Journey to the West’, the story of which Enslaved is a reinterpretation of.

The resemblences to Sun Wukong are easy to spot. The staff that he uses as a weapon is an even bigger giveaway.

Monkey starts off as a prisoner aboard a slave ship, but it doesn’t take long for things to go wrong. At some point, the aircraft sustains damage and is sent on a downwards collision course. The opening chapter consists of you fighting your way off the vessel. During your escape, you meet Trip, a young woman and fellow inmate who's dead set on escaping on her own. To her dismay, you tag along, desperately trying to keep up with her.

The two don’t get on well at first. After the crash, you learn that Trip has hacked into Monkey’s headband, an artifact forcibly placed on him by the slavers, allowing her to keep a leash on him. After being separated from her tribe hundreds of miles away, she enlists his help in reuniting her with her family. Once that task is complete, he will be free.

Understandably, their relationship begins tense, but as they travel across various biomes, from barren wastelands, filled with dilapidated shacks and overgrown cityscapes riddled with danger, to scrap yards littered with deadly robots, they learn to trust and rely on one another.

The world has become a highly dangerous place after the collapse of civilisation, where only the strongest and smartest can thrive.

Just like their connection improves over the course of the game, so do they as characters. Despite being a lone wolf for most of his life, Monkey begins to see the values of working together to thrive in a hellish world. You see Trip mature and become more confident and assertive with her actions. Their development is exceptional, and it’s one of the elements that make the story all the more memorable.

The narrative as a whole is exceptionally well-written. It’s a dark journey that provides a whole range of emotions while also containing light-hearted scenes that offer a break from all the grit — something that is a testament to how high the quality of writing is. Andy Serkis and Lindsey Shaw’s wonderful performances as Monkey and Trip are also worthy of recognition.

The Camera that Fights Back...

Unfortunately, one of Enslaved’s most detrimental issues is noticeable almost immediately, and that’s the incredibly poor camera. It wasn’t something I could get used to, as it interfered with almost every aspect of the gameplay. The problems it causes all stem from the clunky and unresponsive nature of the controls.

To provide more detail, you rotate the camera with your mouse like any other game in the genre. However, it will also move depending on which direction your character is running. If you want to go left, it’ll rotate in accordance to that.

At first, this might not sound so bad, but as you become exposed to new abilities and new mechanics, it’ll become more difficult to manage. Combat is one of the worst-hit areas due to the fact that you move around a lot. Since there’s no lock-on, your character attacks the enemy closest to them, rendering mouse input useless. This also means that the camera moves with you, so if you want to aim for another robot, you’ll have to move far enough away from your previous target to do so. If you’re trying to move both the camera and the character at the same time whilst engaged, you’ll have a camera that doesn’t know what to do.

Some fights will end up feeling cramped as a result the camera's lack of flexibility. Many action sequences are degraded by it.

Even something simple like going from one part of a level to another can end up being more irritating than it should be. The camera often orientates itself towards the way you’re meant to go, rather than the place you want to move to, making some paths difficult to navigate, especially if you’re after the collectables. It’s overly interfering and detracts from the immersion.

It’s a shame that your window into the disturbingly beautiful world of Enslaved is so restrictive because there’s a lot to see and be in awe of. Some of the set pieces are incredible to look at, and there is such a high attention to detail that’s squandered by an unrelentingly obtrusive system.

While not always affected, the parkour will sometimes take a hit from the camera, with cramped angles hindering vantage points.

Surviving the Robotic Apocalypse...

When the camera isn’t being an intrusive pain in the backside, there is a lot to praise about the gameplay mechanics. Both of the main characters possess a unique range of skills that make them a formidable pair. Monkey uses his strength and flexibility to fight off enemies and open up previously closed pathways, while Trip uses her technical expertise to unlock security doors, access terminals, and anything else that requires more brains than brawn.

Depending on where you are, different commands will be made available to you. Progressing without using them will be difficult.

Although you’ll only play as Monkey, you’re able to issue commands to Trip, depending on the situation. Need to sneak past a couple of armed turrets? Ask her to create a holographic distraction. Want to power up a mechanism that’ll trigger a reaction? Get her to a computer.

Not every scenario requires an all-out fight, and it’s through these orders that a safer approach can be made. It adds more depth to the gameplay and it’s designed rather well. She isn’t immortal though, and should your stealth attempts fail, you will have to defend her.

During those instances where you're forced into a confrontation, you're armed with a staff that has both melee and ranged capabilities. This weapon can unleash hell on your enemies, and can be improved even further through the upgrade system, allowing for new moves to be unlocked, such as countering and stun attacks.

An alternative tool for destruction is the robots themselves. Some machines have built-in weaknesses that can be exploited to your benefit.

Despite the camera’s intrusions, the system as a whole is fantastic. Attacks have weight and feel impactful while being able to invest in upgrades makes the game feel refreshing, and engagements with opponents feel rewarding. The variety of moves and the challenging but fair difficulty of the AI boost the combat’s intensity further.

Last but not least is the parkour system, which is also terrific. It’s easy to utilise, and transitioning from one height to another is incredibly smooth. The quality of the animations is remarkable, and the fact that it all came together with no noticeable bugs whatsoever is astonishing.

Overall, I don’t have any trouble in recommending Enslaved. It’s a highly entertaining experience, containing a gripping narrative alongside well-polished and engaging gameplay mechanics. If it weren’t for the awful camera, my rating of it would be even higher.

Technical Details

My PC Specs:

Operating System: Windows 10

Processor (CPU): Intel Core i7-6700k

Graphics Card (GPU): Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070

Memory (RAM): 16GB

Performance: Some cutscenes are capped at 30FPS, but the rest of the game was experienced with a consistent 60FPS.