I'm sorry to say, I feel this was a step back from the previous two Sanguine games:
- The enemies are a bit too quick to react and attack compared to Eleanor, who moves very sluggishly for someone who's supposed to be a vampire. How is it that they all have old west gunfighter reaction times? Why is it when I’m coming up behind an enemy that they sometimes immediately notice me? Sometimes, I'm not sure how they noticed me. How is it that even when I leave the screen they’re on, they can sometimes still aim at me? And it’s annoying how you can walk onto a new screen, see a human, and they immediately open fire (that’s not enough time for me to react to a new challenge). Back in Sanguine 2, the humans could still be difficult if you weren't careful, but there was a bit more leeway. There's the village level, where you basically play "The Floor is Lava", but with snow. Why was it that I could ledge shimmy over the first lady in that level without her seeing me (I was literally two feet from here face) yet when I tried to drop down on top of someone from above, they immediately see me and take me apart?
- The delay when you attack is incredibly annoying, especially for the imps; they move so fast, that I sometimes have to attack them before they start coming at me, but I can still end up getting hit. The crouch attack (a crouch where you poke the enemy with a knife) kills all regular enemies instantly and it can be activated almost instantly. Turns out, killing enemies with the crouch attack is easier, especially the imps and doing so looks ridiculous; there's something very wrong with that.
- The mud monsters just holding you feel like an annoyance rather than anything else. The tentacles as well, where I feel like I need to attack them the moment the appear with the attack delay.
- There are some situation (kind of like entering a new area and immediately being shot by a human) that just feel blatantly unfair, like near the beginning where every platform you step on, a mud monster appeared and, due to Eleanor's new hobby of recovering from a jump, I can neither dodge or attack. The final straw was the pirate ship with skeletons on board. You jump down to an area (which will cause you to recover. You can't roll because there's fire) and some bones on the ship turn into skeleton, which they've never done before now and there's no time to react (I get hit instantly). Yes, there is an area you can jump to that won't result in being immediately attacked, but there was no to intuitive that from the situation.
- Those firey jumpers I just lure off cliff or into the water because dealing with them with Eleanor's attack is annoying.
- You require precision platforming for some parts while also having it that anytime Eleanor lands, she stops for half a second (except if you roll upon landing, in which case, you're stuck in the animation and might roll off the ledge). Platforming has now become a more of a chore instead of something that was a bit more freeing and fun. Yes, there are aspects where you can move very quickly (like jumping into the ceiling, grabbing a ledge while running, and wall jumping), but these don't really make up for a overall slow pace of the movement in the game.
- You don’t explain things very well in this game compared to the second one. Most of the instructions are in the description (which I do appreciate them being there), but why not have them as part of the game?
- I preferred the old model of moving quicker when you had blood and slower when you had none (it wasn't perfect though) compared to the new model of move quicker for a little while, because this encourages the player to move quickly through the level to keep up the momentum, which is not what the game is geared toward (precision platforming with a sluggish character and stealth sections are not a good combo for this). Because it seems like, sometimes, no matter how quickly you move, humans will still see you and instantly attack).
- There's a number of things I'd wished you'd have brought over from the old games, like how you could leave a level by walking off where you came in, the chain, the scythe (with the free hit). I only found out there were still secrets hidden in walls near the end of the game.
- What's up with the story? This seems like a slight rehashing of the first game; interacting with a friendly flame that wants you to kill the main baddy? I was hoping this bad guy would be explained in more detail because Sanguine 1 had it where the main bad guy was the one who turned you into a vampire (so there was some motivation to go after him) and the second had you kill a bunch of boss monsters while the humans questioned you motives behind doing so (wondering if you still had your humanity. And the fact that Eleanor never spoke during the game had the player questioning it as well), both of them interesting stories and ones the player could get invested in. Spoilers ahead: this ended with you killing the boss (which reminded me of the final one from the first game a bit) and then that's the end. What about the flame guy who helped you? It seemed like it was hinting that you'd have to face him or work with him, but you never see him again (at least, not in the main story line). The whole story resolution was just very disappointing.
Since I went overboard with the critiques, I'll tell you what I did like:
- I liked that you could pick up blood and goo that you dropped after being hit.
- The graphics, music, and sound design are pretty good like the previous installments, which is why I invested so much time into playing the game.
- The bosses were pretty good.
- I like all the different environments you use (like the ship level) while at the same time I don't know if they were necessary (kind of giving me Mario world vibes).
- I do like a game that demands skill from the player.
- Despite its fault, I still found myself coming back to it, wanting to beat it so it was doing something right.
Sorry to give such a low score. The game feels like eating a piece of cake that someone threw salt on. It's still sweet, but it's let down by the salt and you're left with an empty plate at the end.
Addendum:
I appreciate the reply though I don't know if I made it clear. I understood most of the design choices of "it's a video game". It did come across; I just don't think it's a good design in this case when you're mixing real world elements with cartoonishly overpowered ones (it creates a feeling of "I must be doing something wrong because this part worked like this) and, more importantly, deviating from the design of previous installments. And I will still not understand how a character can hear me get out of the water when they're nearby, but put a few more feet between me and him and, all of a sudden, he won't hear it.