Zeno Clash Comments by Dan Pearson

I'm only a few chapters in, but it's pretty fun so far. A bit repetitive and unpolished and I hope it gets more imaginative further on, but I feel I'm getting my dozen of euros worth at least.

What the what ?

Never heard of it. Will be buying it shortly.

Sounds intriguing although I'd prefer to try a demo first. Is there one?

*waits for a Steam sale*

There was a Steam sale prior to release. You could pick it up for Very Cheap Pounds.

Sold!

Didn't even know this had been released!

sounds weird enough to warrant a buy.

I've had my eye on this for a while. It caught my interest but I was never able to pre-order it without knowing if it was actually any good. Will be buying it soon now.

I was in a chat room with the devs yesterday at launch and they are working on a demo right now, great game by the way :-)

I saw this on Steam last night right before I was ready to call it night. Time for lunch now, and then it's time to start playing.
I have a strong feeling I'll get my ass kicked left, right and center in even the first fights though - I stink at brawlers :), but the gameworld looks so intriguing that I just have to give it a try.

^It's not very hard to master the basics imo.

From the Gamecube review of Tales of Symphonia, which turned up today:-
"There's a refreshing lack of being washed up on a beach with no memory...."

From this review of Zeno Clash:-
"but the plot does constitute a welcome change from boys waking up on beaches with amnesia...."

OK what's this game with the beach and why has it hurt these two reviewers so badly that they're referring to it many years later?

Curious synchronicity. I've been playing quite a lot of JRPG's recently, pretty sure it happens in one of the YS games. You got a link to the other review?

There's one other way the Sagrada Familia is just like a video game; it's massively late (they now say it'll be finished by 2015) and they're always patching it.

Yours, Eurogamer culture vulture.

I seem to remember a beach and memory loss in Steambot Chronicles, can't think of any others right now. Now villages and hillbilly boys with hidden power...

Sounds fun, good find Dan, thanks for bringing it to my attention, for some reason it makes me think of God Hand - not sure if this will work on my crummy comp but will have to find out.

Looks mad as a badger.
Screenies remind me of Stranger's Wrath.

I don't think the specs are too demanding actually. I'll try and dig them out.

From Direct2Drive:

* Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/Vista 64 Operating System
* 128 MB Shader Model 2.0, ATI 9600, NVidia 6600 or better Video Card
* Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz processor
* 1 GB of available system memory
* 3 GB of available hard drive space
* Microsoft DirectX 9.0c, DirectX 10
* DirectX 9.0c compatible Sound Card
* Keyboard, Mouse

Yeah I agree, I played a few of the first fights. It's fun, some of the controls take some getting used to but I really quite enjoy the insanity of the presentation.

It reminds me of Neverhood or Sanitarium in a way. With a more brutal and direct style of gameplay.

Minimum
o Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista / Vista64
o Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 3.0 GHz
o Memory: 1 GB RAM
o Hard Disk Space: At least 3 GB of free space
o Video Card: 128 MB, Shader model 2.0, ATI 9600, NVidia 6600 or better
o Sound Card: DirectX® 9.0c compatible sound card
o DirectX® Version: DirectX® 9.0c, DirectX® 10

Recommended
o Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista / Vista64
o Processor: Intel® core 2 duo 2.4GHz
o Memory: 1 GB RAM
o Hard Disk Space: At least 3 GB of free space
o Video Card: Shader model 3.0, NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better
o Sound Card: DirectX® 9.0c compatible sound card
o DirectX® Version: DirectX® 9.0c, DirectX® 10
o Controller: Supported

Great review. I played it for a couple of hours last night, and enjoy it a lot.

It feels violent. It makes me feel pretty violent.

I am glad I am not the only one. The fistfights are totally immersive. I am punching someone violently in the face with my bare fists, my subconscious kept telling me. There's a barrier removed, compared to most other games, between you and the game in the directness of the combat.

And I love the elbow check you can do when running. *KA-CHOMP*. Take that, ugly birdface! :)

@Wastelander
Looks mad as a badger.
Screenies remind me of Stranger's Wrath.

I love that game! I wish it was added to the backwards compatibility list on 360 as I gave my Xbox away.

@UncleLou
Great review. I played it for a couple of hours last night, and enjoy it a lot.

It feels violent. It makes me feel pretty violent.

I am glad I am not the only one. The fistfights are totally immersive. I am punching someone violently in the face with my bare fists, my subconscious kept telling me. There's a barrier removed, compared to most other games, between you and the game in the directness of the combat.

Yeah, I can't put my finger on it, it's the sound, the way your viewpoint shifts realistically as you dodge and strike, the way you look at new targets before locking on them, it's incredibly immersive alright.

Just played through the first couple of fights (won't be able to continue until tonight unfortunately), and I definitely love both the visuals and the brutal feel of the combat so far.
Rather than using keyboard/mouse controls though - as intended - I downloaded a config file someone posted on the Steam forums, which allows you to use the 360 controller instead.
It feels great for hand to hand combat (and a relieft for my hand, which is acting up at the moment, as I've been doing a lot more mouse clicking the last few weeks than usual, after I bought a proper gaming PC - I've played almost nothing but PS3 and 360 games for the last year), but aiming firearms at long range on quickly closing opponents isn't easy, as there's obviously none of the auto-aim/aim aiding that makes shooters perfectly fine to play on consoles.

I'd love a big-ass sequel with a ton of melee weapons, like in Dark Messiah.
Great game. Parachuting squirrel-bombs FTW!

Finished this about half an hour ago. Totally madhat. I'm impressed by that alone.

I'd give it an 8, too. I like it a lot, but I'd like to like it even more. The final hour or so is really disappointing: a string of relentless boss-fights in areas you've already visited. And the big reveal is, well, not anywhere near as big as all the chaos would lead you to expect.

It's so visually arresting, though, really drawing you into the utterly ludicrous world. It's like I imagine those hallucinagenic shamanic rituals are like to venture on. Or like Metal Gear Solid would be if you played it on acid. There's a string of iconic enemy characters who keep re-appearing in the increasingly ridiculous story. In a sense, it feels like the sort of game I'd have expected to have been playing - and loving - about a decade ago. There's nothing progressive about it. But it is incredibly creative. I'd definitely recommend people to buy this.

You wake up on a beach with no memory in that Zelda game on the gameboy color - The one about the Wind Fish. Which wasn't a fish. And had nothing to do with the wind.

This kind of reminds me of Roald Dahl, for some reason. Maybe the art style is a little similar to the way those old books were illustrated... This has more random nudity though, obviously.

looks good...artwork is sooooooo inspired/ stolen from hieronymus bosch....i love it....i hope valve will port this one to XBL someday soon

Sounds like it would be well suited to XBLA, it sounds like the sort of game I'd rather play on my larger TV with a more tactile console controller rather than the more accurate but less involving keyboard and mouse setup, but I highly doubt anyone will be in a hurry to port a bizarre Chilean indie game, so I may have to check it out as it is.

Sounds like it would be well suited to XBLA

All MS needs to do is raise the filesize limit for XBLA games by a factor of 10. :p

"All MS needs to do is raise the filesize limit for XBLA games by a factor of 10. :p"

Or maybe release the game in a reduced form (just the loading screen and menus) then patch the main game in with a gig or so patch or free DLC pack!

But seriously, the filesize limit needs to go. Being able to fit on a memory card really isnt justification to hamstring a digital download service.

Curse my stupid crashing PC. :(

I think it managed to create a cool bug though. Made the post-processing effects go all crazy and produce this image that looked like some hallucinogenic painting.

looked like some hallucinogenic painting.

That's how it looks normally?

First hour was great so far, really kinetic combat. Mental design, worth the pre-order price so far. Running it on very low hardware (ati1600) and it's fine at 800*600.

Fantastic game, 'nuff said. But seriously, am I the only one who was TOTALLY creeped out by those weird gelatinous torch-people? Their weird shape shifting upon being hit actually had me writhing with disgust because it looked so real and lifelike, as far as a shape shifting gelatinous man can be lifelike.

"i hope valve will port this one to XBL someday soon"

Or you can play it on a PC now.

Looks good although I think I'll be waiting for the inevitable 75% off weekend.

Hm, this reminds me of that awesome hyperbudget fps game I played 10 years ago. some robots, a few arena's, budget title. Can't remember the name though. Anyway, that was a great experience, so I hope this will be the sameish.

Art style looks a lot like Giants:Citizen Kabuto, and yeah, a bit Hieronymus Bosch too, though I feel like a prick saying so. But I don't like the fact that "Zeno" isn't spelt with an X, so I won't be buying!

Finished it last night - terrific game. I haven't been that immersed in a game world in quite some time - here's hoping they will make another game in the same universe.

Took me a little more than 5 hours, so the pre-order price I payed is bargaintastic, too.

Bennicus: Giants and Metal Gear Solid were the two that sprang to mind for me. Fighting-wise, it's like Riddick with more weight.

Gurrah: I actually found a lot of it quite visually disturbing. The Corwids were rather tragic.

I had this pre-purchased on STEAM for ages.

I really like most of it. Controls, visual style etc

The game delivers some of the best first person melee combat out there, and it's really impressive for an indie production.

But I HATE the story and characters. It's just too bloody weird!

Bought it on Steam this morning. Brilliant art direction and BRUTAL fighting mechanic, like Final Fight/ Double Dragon played from first perspective in a world designed by Alejandro Jodorowsky (after all the developers are Chillean) and Hieronimus Bosch. Can't wait to get home from work. Oh, and devs at least have a sane attitude on Piracy, here's what they posted on most major torrent sites:

"I'm one of the developers of Zeno Clash. I would appreciate you read this if you are about to download this file.

Zeno Clash is an independently funded game by a very small and sacrificed group of people. The only way in which we can continue making games like this (or a sequel) is to have good sales.

I am aware that at this moment there is still no demo of the game, but we are working on one which will be available soon.

We cannot do anything to stop piracy of the game (and honestly don't intend to do so) but if you are downloading because you wish to try before you buy, I would ask that you purchase the game (and support the independent game development scene) if you enjoy it. We plan on updating Zeno Clash with DLC and continuing support for the game long after it's release.

Thanks for taking the time to read this… hopefully it will make a difference.

Carlos Bordeu
ACE Team"

I mean, I planned to buy Zeno Clash months back but this really sounds honest and well-mannered and I'd feel like a dick if I liked the game and didn't buy it afterwards.

Indie devs have the good will of the people on their side.

EA and their wretched DRM do not.

"Si es chileno es weno!" ...


"If is chilean is good!" ...

I would buy this for the thickly haired testicles