Theseus – Review

The Greek Maze Runner?

Name: Theseus
Developer: Forge Reply
Publisher: Forge Reply
Released: 26, July 2017
Platform: PlayStation VR

The tale of Theseus is well known to people who knows this greek mythology myth, and it should be a pretty good starting point for a video game. Forge Reply gave this a shot by creating a third person adventure game into the PlayStation VR. And that is a bold move, but did they do alright or did they fail?

What is Theseus?
Theseus along with Perseus, Heracles and a bunch more is regarded one of the greatest heroes in the entire Greek Mythology. If you are familiar with the God of War series that is based on Greek Mythology (until now that is) you’ll find that Theseus is given it’s own boss in of the these games. That itself should be a big deal, and surely be an epic story tell.

One of the most told stories of Theseus is his battle against a minotaur inside a huge and deadly labyrinth. So there is a lot of good aspects to begin with to kick of a good video game here.

Gameplay
Just do give you some hints and clues on how the camera works in Theseus, imagine playing God of War, Tomb Raider or other third person adventure game. And then try to imagine instead of moving the camera with the right joystick, you’ll turn the camera with your head instead. And that is what this is, we’re seeing our hero run around with us “locked” to one position every time. Sure we are switching camera position automatic time to time, it might sound a little clumsy but this actually really works perfectly. The whole “over the shoulder” viewpoints gives the game a real sense of scale. Forge Reply has proven that creating a third person game into VR can work and give you the feeling of “reality”.

But sadly the fun stops here, even though Forge Reply has done an incredible job with the visuals and given this game a sense of reality does the gameplay itself hold the game back alot.

You’ll pretty much run in very linear routes or even pretty much straight lines during your playthrough. There are some aspects where you’ll get the chance to climb and other aspects very similar to “Uncharted platforming”, but this is more annoying and clumsy to control than it should.


The combat isn’t any better, it might be one of the worst aspects of the game. You’ll get your hands on a torch in the beginning that you can use to scare of spiders, and further more into the game a sword. But sadly the combat doesn’t evolve beyond mashing a single button and dodging attacks, even that is a little clumsy to control as well. I was a little disappointed when I was finished with the game regarding the gameplay, it just felt like I finished the first act or something.

Graphics
The graphics is where Theseus shines at best. There was moments where I just had to stop and stare at design in the distance, and I must admit that the design and visuals of the minotaur is extremely good and it also gave the chills when I could “feel his presence”. Same goes with the sound design, the sounds combined with the visuals in this game truly gave me the right feelings depending on what was happening in the game. If the game wanted you to feel a afraid, curious or happy they surely could make you so.

Verdict

Theseus has a lot of potential and might be an incredible good showcase for a tech demo. But this game is sold as a full game for the PlayStation VR. Even though Theseus is packed with well done sound design, game design, animations and other visuals they truly gave it away negatively with the most important aspects of what a video game should have, gameplay.

It’s not that I don’t recommend this game at all, but do not expect a lot of good action adventure game. Think of it more like a visual masterpiece seeing in VR instead.

Overall

5/10

5/10

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Pros

• Gives you the right atmosphere
  
• Game and sound design
  
• The Minotaur is terrifying as it should be

Cons

• Combat isn’t good
  
• The actual gameplay might get boring in length.
• The story could have been a little longer