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miffy495

ReCore: Definitive Edition - They maybe finished their game!

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I finished up Recore today. It really seems like a game that should be more popular with the Idle Thumbs community, to be honest. As a group, we seem to be drawn to the interesting but flawed games, and boy is this ever one of those. So much about it is so close to incredible, but always falls just a bit short. It's also completely unfinished. There is art on the cover and the disc of an entire type of robot buddy that didn't make it into the game, for example. This buddy has question-marked-out spots on 3 different menu screens, you can still collect parts for it, and there are entire "cut" dungeons that you can make your way to by Skyrim-ing around the environment that rely on using it. Seriously. It's such an obvious vacancy in the game that googling "Recore T8-NK" turns up conspiracy theories about its absence. Factor in that the critical path was less than 1/4th of my playtime (and I still felt like I didn't take that much time with the game) and that the final mission is about as long as everything else in the game up to that point (despite being mostly filler), and you have a decidedly "What the fuck why wasn't this given another year to become amazing?" game.

 

It's extra tragic because what is here and complete is really good. The combat is dynamic and fun, the buddies and their different styles and upgrade paths are varied and cool, the traversal is really fun (yay jetboots!). All of the fundamentals that make the game a game are great. Technical hiccoughs aside, it's fantastic to play. I just wish they'd actually got to make a full game.

 

I love it and hate it at the same time. It's super fun, but VERY flawed. If your tolerance for these things is high in the pursuit of interesting experiences, please try it. The more people do, the better chance they'll have a chance to make the game that this could have been in Recore 2. And yeah, there is of course a post-credits stinger that leaves room for one, so I'm going to hold out hope for at least a while.

 

Hey, remember last November when twmac and I spent a lot of time lamenting the tragic missed opportunity that was ReCore? That question about giving it another year to become amazing? Well, they took another year and at least added in a bunch of the stuff that was missing...

 

So a few weeks ago (apparently) Microsoft dropped the "Definitive Edition" of this game. I just discovered this tonight while browsing the Live store because there was exactly zero publicity about this release. Turns out it was even a free update for us existing owners (even of the disc edition, as I just popped my disc in and it worked fine). That T8-NK that was so conspicuously missing from the game is now in, as are 10 dungeons that are brand new. I played the first of them tonight on a whim and I think I'll be going back to see the rest.

 

I still have incredibly mixed feelings about ReCore. I loved so much about this game, but there was so much broken or unfinished about it. It still makes me angry a little because if they'd done right by everything that was good in this game, it would have been my GOTY last year by a mile. Instead it will always be a "man, what if this had worked?" throwback to those weird and innovative PS2-era games that I loved so much. I certainly don't mind dipping back into this unbelievably flawed but interesting thing for a few more hours, and here's your public service announcement that the "finished" version of the game is now out, because I may as well let you know if Microsoft isn't going to.

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I really wanna try it but I'd have to buy it on the Microsoft store and I'm still hesitant to do that. U:

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Yeah, if you're on PC the store is terrible. XBone is fine though, despite loading times, for those who have that option.

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I also played a few rounds of the game and the new core is great! I was worried that it would kind of suck but it is actually fast and fun to dash around with the little fella.

 

ReCore was one of my games of the year and this has certainly improved it some. Less so for anyone that has already finished the main plot - as most of the new content doesn't add anything meaningful to the game. Anyone starting now, though, should find that a lot of the grind to get enough stuff to unlock the final stages, a lot less pronounced.

 

Added features like not having to go back to the trawler to swap your crew around is a much needed feature too.

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