Fear Effect Sedna

It took a rocky trip through hell (both metaphorically and in-game) to finally appreciate what Fear Effect Sedna tries to do. It’s clumsy, controversial and at times even ugly (not Hana, though!), but if it was too perfect it wouldn’t be Fear Effect; rough around the edges and morally dubious. In the end, the game did respect its characters and origins, opening a possible future for the franchise.

Fear Effect Sedna is a flawed return for the late PS1-era classic, with its combat occasionally being a bit clunky and not utilizing the tactical elements as well as it wanted to. But the creepy descent into Inuit horror, stylish graphics, and challenging puzzles and gameplay may still provide you with enough reasons to take a peek at it.

Fear Effect Sedna is saved by a great story and awesome puzzle design.

The cell shaded look of Sedna and the soundtrack are excellent, but the change in gameplay, some of the combat and the isometric look lessened my enjoyment. The puzzles and innovative ideas are great though and some of the world themes are interesting to revisit, but it most certainly left me remembering the original as the better experience.

Fear Effect Sedna does many things but with mediocre results in all of them, like with the excessively punishing puzzles or the ridiculous voice acting. It's a real pity, as it shows great love for the original games and it deserved to be more successful.

It was probably developed with the best intentions in mind, but Fear Effect Sedna remains crippled by technical defects and gameplay problems, which always draw us out of the game experience.

Fear Effect Sedna is a bad game.

Fear Effect: Sedna is a bad game. Sushee’s confusing design choices are splattered everywhere in sight; ridiculous voice acting, poor level structure, frustrating puzzles, and shoddy combat, to name but a few. The overall product remains tedious, boring, and underwhelming, throughout.

Overall, Fear Effect Sedna felt very underwhelming and mediocre at best. I’ve been searching for reasons to recommend it, but coming up with almost none. On the bright side, the developer is working on a remake of the original game, so there may be some light at the end of the tunnel for the series, sadly Sedna is going to be its black spot though. Goodbye Fear Effect, you had a great run back on the PS1.

Fear Effect Sedna is a case of improperly executed good intentions. It has an intriguing story at its core, but the bad script fails to make it shine. It has lots of different gameplay mechanics at work, but none of them feel good, let alone good enough to carry the weaker parts. It has a presentation that's less than stellar, even for fans who enjoyed the originals. There's still a chance that you can enjoy the game, but you'll have to forgive the various flaws to do so.

A failed attempt at resurrecting a cult favourite, Fear Effect Sedna is a tactical shooter in which tactics are largely irrelevant. Atrocious cut-scenes, dreadful boss encounters and dire presentation overall, make this something better left in the past. Steer well clear.