Unchained: Enslaved Premium Edition Now On Steam
Freedom (from console exclusivity)
So it was written by an Australian ratings board (and then later confirmed by Namco Bandai), so shall it be. After avoiding a PC release for three years, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West has finally accepted our loving, all-accepting embrace. The action-adventure from DmC: Devil May Cry developer Ninja Theory is based on classic Chinese tale Journey to the West, and it's brimming with strongly acted character-driven drama. Bless you, Andy Serkis. Bless you. If that's not enough for you, you also get to thwack snarling scrap robots with a giant metal pole. Oh, and there's (criminally underused) hover surfing. It is, in other words, incredibly faithful to the original story. See it in action below.
Here's a synopsis, for the video-averse:
"Trip, a technologically savvy young woman has been imprisoned by a slave ship but manages to escape using her mental prowess. Monkey, a strong, brutish loner and fellow prisoner also gets free by virtue of his raw power and brawn. Trip quickly realizes that Monkey is her ticket to freedom and is her only hope to survive her perilous journey back home. She hacks a slave headband and fits it on Monkey, linking them together. If she dies, he dies and her journey has now become his. ENSLAVED centers on the complex relationship between the two main characters. Players take on the role of Monkey, utilizing a mix of combat, strategy and environmental traversal to ensure he and Trip survive the threats and obstacles that stand in the way of their freedom."
The Premium Edition includes couple-hour-long DLC episode Pigsy's Perfect 10, which actually changes the game pretty significantly. While Enslaved proper is pretty heavy on platforming and rock-'em, thwack-'em robots, Pigsy's more about stealth and discretion.
You'll also nab a number of bonus character skins, including "Sexy Trip," which turns an otherwise decently written, interesting character (at least, by game standards) into an object. Thanks for that, gaming industry. Ugggggghh.
It'll only run you $19.99 on Steam. It's out now, so hop to it. Wot I Think coming soon.