What is the game like to play

It's predominantly a stealth-based adventure game where you'll be creeping around, avoiding enemy troops, saving civilians, and scavenging items to craft traps. But it's not all stealth eventually you'll get spotted and become embroiled intense gunfights and close-quarters melee clashes saying that the gunfights they're a little underwhelming and the controls, in general, are a tad unresponsive and wooden. But the game rewards you more for not getting into combat and I'd say it's more for stealth fans gamers who don't mind scouting ahead taking their time and using covert tactics to avoid enemies.

Scavenging plays a big part as you'll need to collect items in order to use the user-friendly crafting menu all of which give off massive metal gear vibes. However, combat is unavoidable from time to time and the game has a wide variety of firearms you have to loot and scavenge as you progress. Your melee weapons will break so you'll need a couple of spare ones in your inventory just in case. You can craft all sorts of items like Molotov's painkillers and wire traps.

The game also includes mechs which add some variety to the enemies and you'll also get to use them yourself which is incredibly satisfying after you've been hiding in the sewers for what seems like hours. The enemies are widespread and pretty dangerous but the AI, however, is appalling with soldiers suffering from short-term memory loss completely forgetting you just killed their friends and then just going about their rounds, of course, they would do that. The game world looks good in general and it's a derelict War Zone vibe throughout. You'll encounter innocent civilians who you can rescue and guide through the conflict zone but you don't have to help them but be aware all your gameplay choices and conversation choices have consequences.

Save points are few and far between which can be frustrating as you'll frequently have to repeat the same thing over and over. It's a game that does give you good freedom to approach each level in your own way with multiple routes offering different challenges. The sound effects and music are fine but the voice acting was a little bit disappointing with performances lacking any gravitas to make you feel connected or empathetic to what's really happening.

Graphically it's solid rather than being spectacular it's very reminiscent of games like metal gear and the like in terms of the menus cover art and the just general animation and graphics. Speaking of animation is very wooden and it really feels dated aesthetically. but once you get past the visual issues it's not a big problem. Also your AI companion has a very annoying voice and every time there's a near enemy it tells you that over and over and over and it's just incredibly annoying.

What's Good and What's Bad

What's Good: The game offers good freedom of choice in how to approach each level. The stealth gameplay mixed with scavenging and crafting works well. The menus are clean and easy to navigate and the story is interesting as it deals with some pretty sensitive topics without being crass.

What's Bad: The animation is very dated and the controls are quite unresponsive. The infrequent safe points make for a lot of repetition and in general, it feels like a game that's 10 years too late as the industry standards for graphics and animation are much higher nowadays.

What's the Verdict

Left Alive is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's an enjoyable stealth adventure where you have to use guerrilla tactics to progress save civilians, and scavenge for resources. The levels are well designed and offer you multiple paths if one route is not working you've really got to dig in chip away and use everything at your disposal to get through the enemies. I also liked how the game dealt with issues like genocide civil war and child trafficking these are topics that aren't generally touched upon in games but Left Alive dealt with them well.

I'm not saying it's a narrative masterpiece but it's nice to see more serious issues of conflict being touched on rather than the Call of Duty sensationalism we're spoon-fed every year. But the game does have its issues mainly with its graphical engine its animation and its slow and clunky feel of the gameplay. It feels like a game that if it had been released 10 to 15 years ago it would have been lauded with praise but when it was released it felt well behind the curve the game's industry has moved on considerably and it's an example of developers not adapting or moving with the times. So, is it worth trying? Yes! I enjoyed it once I got over the awkward and dated feel of the controls and the aesthetics but if those things are deal-breakers for you then you'll probably be better off avoiding this one.