Agony

 Xbox One
Metascore
34

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 11
  3. Negative: 10 out of 11
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  1. IGN Spain
    May 29, 2018
    65
    Controversial, blasphemous, sexualized and generator of agony in the user. Agony can be all these things, as well as an excellent recreation of a particular hell, but quite poor graphics and the simplicity of its game mechanics do not stand out as much as we expected, not even to be considered as a horror game.
  2. Vandal
    May 31, 2018
    45
    Agony has good ideas, but the developers have underrated the complexity of the survival horror genre, and delivered a frustrating experience. Add its poor performance and bugs and you get a forgettable game.
  3. Generación Xbox
    Jun 25, 2018
    43
    Agony promised a lot, but it fell short and failed to meet expectations. Lots of bugs and inconsistent quality.
  5. MondoXbox
    Jun 4, 2018
    40
    Agony focuses too heavily on the macabre and sexual elements of its very oppressive hell, forgetting to provide good gameplay to sustain the entire experience. Add this to a plethora of bugs and all kinds of problems, and you'll understand why we can't really recommend it to anyone.
  6. Xbox Tavern
    Jun 4, 2018
    40
    Agony does a good job at relaying such a disturbing world that’s grotesque, full of obscenity and unapologetically disgusting. It’s a game that’s been making headlines for a number of months due to its dark and somewhat sexual theme. The end result manages to meet those expectations despite its cut content, however, its unforgivable performance issues and its countless flaws almost completely holds it back.
  7. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Jul 23, 2018
    30
    Laborious and horribly put together, Agony really will put you through hell. [Aug 2018, p.78]
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  8. Jeuxvideo.com
    Jun 23, 2018
    30
    Agony clearly deserves its name. The gameplay mechanics are chaotic, at best, the AI is plain dumb, the level-design is muddled, the scenario is boring… Well, there’s nothing to save here.
  9. TheXboxHub
    Jun 5, 2018
    30
    In many ways, Agony delivers an authentic experience of the archaic interpretation of ‘Hell’. Playing this game feels like torture, an exercise in utter tedium as you perform the same tasks and witness the same, ‘gruesome’ scenes. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s that meta, it simply tries too hard. Squandering any potential it might’ve had, the result is a shallow, monotonous experience that’s not worth your time.
  10. Trusted Reviews
    May 31, 2018
    30
    A shame, then, as Agony is a bold and deliberately non-conventional release from a studio that clearly has a vision. However, no matter the content, when the game is both boring and broken, it immediately overshadows any positives.
  11. Stevivor
    May 31, 2018
    15
    Give Agony a hard miss. It looks awful, controls horrendously and definitely can’t get by on shock value. There’s nothing to see here.
  12. TrueAchievements
    Jun 1, 2018
    10
    The best-case scenario for Agony is that patches fix the many technical problems plaguing this game right now. If or when that happens, it will then start to be playable, but even then it will contain a host of gameplay issues. A patch isn't going to redesign the entire stealth system, find new voice actors, or design a vision of Hell that is better than the doodling of a 15-year-old metal fan. There's no fix for much of what hinders this game, and what can be fixed absolutely should have been before this ever hit stores. One thing is clear, it definitely feels like Hell trying to play Agony.

Awards & Rankings

58
#58 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2018
57
#57 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2018

User Reviews

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User Score
4.5

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 77 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 77
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 77
  3. Negative: 43 out of 77
  1. Xbox_Alive
    Jun 8, 2018
    6
    Game’s that are genuinely scary are very few and far between, well that’s the case for me anyway because there isn’t many game’s that haveGame’s that are genuinely scary are very few and far between, well that’s the case for me anyway because there isn’t many game’s that have genuinely frightened me during my year’s as a gamer. Agony is a game that can be included in the very small list of game’s that have actually scared me though, but unfortunately the game just has too many problems and in the end that’s all I remembered about Agony. As I’ve already said this game did frighten me and the atmosphere the game creates is unlike any other I’ve ever experienced before. In fact this game on the whole is like no other game I’ve ever played before and if there weren’t abundance of problems in play at the same time then it would’ve got a much higher score from me. Unfortunately anything good the game does is quickly bogged down with problems and the technichal issues in the game are rife. Some of these technichal problems are small but when they combine together they ruin the immersion levels quite considerably. This isn’t good because the gameplay also has multiple problems and when you combine that with the other problems you literally just feel like giving up. In fact I actually did give up several times and that was mainly due to the frustrating level design. You would think that the frustrating level design would be more than enough to get you really mad but the game doesn’t stop there. Instead the game basically just doesn’t tell you what to do and in the end you just wander around aimlessly getting killed multiple times because you have no idea what to do next. You would think then that the stealth mechanics would stop you from experiencing these cheap deaths, but unfortunately that’s not the case. The stealth mechanics in the game hardly ever work and when you combine it with the several technical issues you just end up getting caught and killed time and time again which in turn just made me get angry time and time again. Thankfully though it’s not all doom and gloom and as I said earlier the atmosphere the game immerses you in is very good, and that’s mainly down to the good sound design and voice acting. Unfortunately though the visuals that are present in the game don’t help with the immersion levels and on the whole the game just looks ugly with not a lot standing out. At the end of the day I would definitely recommend that you play this game where no children are present because it’s brutal to say the least. It also has a few unique ideas as well but unfortunately I can’t recommend Agony to you because it just suffers with a huge amount of problems that hold the game back in every single way and that’s all you’ll remember about the game.… Full Review »
  2. AwfulThings
    May 30, 2018
    3
    Agony's title speaks for itself in the respective fact that this game is absolute agony to play through in it's day one form. Let's start withAgony's title speaks for itself in the respective fact that this game is absolute agony to play through in it's day one form. Let's start with the cons because oh god there are plenty. I was honestly awaiting years upon years for the release of this game because it looked like one of those underdog games to just step on AAA titles. Come release day, Agony was the game to be crushed.

    The biggest issue with Agony, which the devs already addressed is the audio bugs. Most of the game you'll hear anything from cutscene audio playing 5-10 minutes after the cutscene happened to cutscene/npc audio cutting out midway through whatever it was they were saying. On top of the audio issues, there was some screen tearing for me on the Xbox. It wasn't as game breaking as the audio issues however.

    Next issue; it's 2018, for no reason whatsoever should we have to endure games that look like the're a decade old in 2018. The graphics are mediocre at most. The martyr (people you control as a lost soul in hell) textures are horrendous. If you take the time to look at one of them, it looks like they dont know what facial expression to make. On top of that, they just look downright awful. The enemies look okay, but not much better than the rest of the characters in game.

    Gameplay is meh at best. It's nothing new, nothing extraordinary, nothing revolutionary. It's essentially a bad knock off of Outlast but set in Hell. The game does do a good job at providing a horrific environment that keeps you on edge about half the time, The other half just feels empty and unfinished as if the devs rushed the final product of what could've been a much better horror survival game.

    The only good things going for this game however is the shock value and the overwhelming, almost too much to stomach environment. Agony does a really good job at creating a portrayal of Hell. If Hell looks like what it does in Agony, I do not want to end up there. Also, if you're into gore, shock value, nudity, over sexualized tones, and an insanely biblical game then Agony is just right for you. But based on its bland gameplay, unpredictable AI (that make it apparent that it's just better to die than hide), outdated graphics, and bugs on bugs, agony falls short. Very short.

    As someone who has watched this game come together piece by piece after seeing it's initial reveal, I couldn't have been more disappointed in a game on release. It definitely feels unfinished, which shows later in the game. It also feels outdated when it comes to gameplay and graphics. I couldn't give Agony anything higher than a 4/10. It's that bad. Even if the audio bugs are fixed it's still a bland game over saturated with grotesque creatures and scenes just for shock value.    … Full Review »
  3. littledannyd
    May 29, 2018
    7
    It's a good time if you enjoy first person horror and aren't looking for anything revolutionary in terms of gameplay or graphics. Gameplay isIt's a good time if you enjoy first person horror and aren't looking for anything revolutionary in terms of gameplay or graphics. Gameplay is much like Alien: Isolation; controls are simple, player power is limited but it does feel sluggish and unresponsive from time to time. Visually it looks ok, environment and character textures could be better however. Currently it runs rather poorly; occasional screen tearing and drops in the frame rate break any immersion and near constant audio bugs causing the first line of dialogue to loop or in the worst cases turn literally all in game sound into static.

    Definitely worth playing, but perhaps you should wait for them to patch the bugs and maybe try to catch it on a sale.    … Full Review »
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