Foreclosed

Foreclosed is short, yet it still manages to outstay its welcome long before you run into one of the two abrupt endings and leave the game without an ounce of satisfaction.

Foreclosed looks nice and somewhere deep inside there are even a few interesting ideas, but that is, unfortunately, that. The gameplay itself is horrendous, as is the story accompanying it.

I also wish some narrative sections played out to their end and the choices mattered a bit more, but Foreclosed tells its story and gets out. I can’t fault it for not overstaying. If you want a snappy cyberpunk adventure it might be worth seeing how the story of Evan Kapnos and his fight for his own identity play out. Just be prepared to deal with some average and occasionally frustrating gameplay all along the way.

Foreclosed is a contained and not unpleasant adventure, but certainly not of great impact.

Foreclosed manages to condense in a single game a decent shooter, a basic role-playing game and, why not, even a bit of science fiction thriller, which doesn't hurt. The problem, however, is who exactly this game is meant for: it is too light as an FPS, too basic as an RPG, and the puzzles aren’t deep enough for an adventure. It needs someone who wants to simply live a cyberpunk experience, as long as your expectations aren’t set too high.

With its tempting line-drawn comic universe, Foreclosed has shown itself to be rather attractive over the thumbnails and changes of viewing angles. But gameplay as narration are seen too limited, providing an experience too on the surface, which ends abruptly without managing to engage us sufficiently in its yet attractive universe. And Foreclosed's shimmering paw has too much trouble to compensate for the pallor of its action phases.

While it has a strong premise and some neat ideas, Foreclosed is let down by rote, subpar third-person shooter action and unimpressive stealth sections during its short runtime.

Foreclosed excels in world-building and presentation. The graphics and stylistic choices of a comic book frame the narrative and its structure. Though the brightness of the neon lights are strewn throughout the city, this dystopian world is rather dark. It’s a shame the game is only a few hours long, making it more of a cinematic experience. Despite its shortcomings with control and narrative, I still had a lot of fun trying to get Evan’s life back from the authority above.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Foreclosed is a complete waste of effort to play. It’s clear the developers were trying to make something cool here, but whether you’re looking for a third person shooter, a cyberpunk game, or a story-heavy game, your time would almost assuredly be better spent elsewhere. Every system presented to the player works on a functional level, but their implementation simply isn’t up to par with what’s required to make an engaging video game—even one that’s only about four hours long—and this culminates in an experience that ends up being more half-baked than hard-boiled.