Forced Analysis – A playable comic set in a cyberpunk world

Foreclosed presents a story set in a cyberpunk world in a very original comic format, with more shadows than lights

The cyberpunk setting is one of the most recurring of recent years, being portrayed in titles of all kinds of genres. From first-person RPGs like Cyberpunk 2077, isometrically like The Ascent or more direct-action focused like Ghostrunner. Today we bring you the analysis of Foreclosed, another title from this frame with a rather original proposal, which looks very good in some aspects and much less in others.

Foreclosed is a stock title developed by the independent Italian studio Antab Studio and published by Merge games. Its story unfolds in a format of interactive comic, gender mix shooter with research and puzzles. In a world where large companies own the identity of their inhabitants, in debt since their birth and at their mercy. Evan kapnos, our protagonist, discovers that his identity has been seized, losing his job, all his technological implants and waiting to be auctioned so that another company has its “existence”.

Story and action vignettes

From the first bars of the title we can see how all his narration develops through vignettes that overlap as if one were leafing through a comic strip

. With different styles of cameras that mix 3D and 2D scenarios that usually last more than a few minutes. In this sense, the pace of development of its history is quite good. We will soon find out that things are not as they seemed at first and that we are involved in something bigger than we thought.

Thanks to an unknown ally, we will discover that we can develop special skills thanks to the original designs of our implants. Our new friend will take us to find our first and only weapon in the game, the symbiotic gun. And here begins the action part of Foreclosed, just like most of its issues and flaws.

Uncontrolled action

Although the visual and narrative proposition is quite convincing, action scenes, mostly focused on filming, can be frustrating. All of them are developed in third person, with a camera that has fairly rough control, resulting in too fast. It’s true that from the options menu we can configure the view speed and auto aim help, but even being generous the thing doesn’t work.

The shooting feel is also not well adjusted, when we take a headshot the most satisfying part of everything shooter, enemies only collapse over a second later, with no visual or sound effects that reward us. Where in many situations we won’t know whether to keep shooting or change targets, slowing the pace of the action.

The artificial intelligence of enemies also leaves a lot to be desired, not to say that it is non-existent. They will just appear on the map, travel to their destination point, and stand still while shooting, waiting for us to execute them. Its purpose is quite deadly, however, which creates another pacing issue in the game. Since they usually spawn in groups of 3 or 4 and it is essential that one is behind a blanket to cope with them. Due to the rough camera control we will have to wait longer than we would like after covers, recover health until we can kill all enemies. This is not the one that the fight is inherently difficult, but quite uncomfortable.

As we advance in our adventure, we will unlock new abilities and upgrade our symbiotic weapon.. Animate the fight a little more but without solving its main problems, which persist throughout the game.

Other playable skins

In addition to the action scenes, we will find a few phases of stealth and puzzle, which really shine neither for their originality nor for their mastery. Also note that the save point system is not particularly kind to the player. Many times we will have to review the same cinematic or the same dialogues without the possibility of omitting them if we die in an area after these. Being zones between checkpoints

too long, forced to repeat tedious battles that play out in exactly the same way due to lack of artificial intelligence.

During the many dialogue scenes, we will be able to choose between different questions and answers to ask with our interlocutors, although in the end they all lead to the same place.

Ultimately, highlight the artistic design of the game, without a doubt, the part in which it shines the most. So much for the comic-like format which pleasantly connects all the scenes of the title with thumbnails, as well as the design of its characters and its sets.

Foreclosed final conclusions

Ultimately, Foreclosed seemed to me a title that brings good ideas, especially artistically, but which spoil because of a Game much less inspired. Visually, it is very attractive and its history, without dazzling, meets what one might expect. But the action scenes are very difficult to act out and can be quite frustrating.

It’s hard for me to recommend this title to a player who doesn’t quite know what they’re looking for. If you are into sci-fi stories based on cyberpunk style universes, you might be able to have a good time with this title, which can last between 3 and 4 hours. The game is fully translated into Spanish, with very well localized texts, but with English voices.