Let me preface this review by saying that this was the highlight of the week for me, in a week in which there were a LOT of releases.
El Shaddai basically means Almighty God and this game has a heavy, but very stylized, theological theme running throughout.
The game is loosely based on apocryphal tales from Judeo-Christian biblical writings, but it's purely as a backdrop and engine to drive a narrative. There's no preaching or judgement and the story can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of denomination.
You play the part of Enoch, a celestial scribe, (who also happens to be an immortal with ridiculous combat skills) tasked by God to venture to Earth and round up six fallen angels prior to the cleansing of the world by flood.
The core gameplay of El Shaddai is that of an ARPG, but a completely deconstructed ARPG.
The whole game is stripped back to a bare minimum. Not in a lazy or cost cutting exercise, but in the precision manner in which a racing team sheds unnecessary weight from a finely tuned machine.
There is no HUD, only 4 buttons (attack, block, jump, cleanse/steal) and the game has a fixed camera.
At first consideration, this may make the game seen simplistic, but far from it, combat is all about timing, range, rhythm and positioning, the more you discover the more depth and layers are added to each encounter.
As well as your fists, you have 3 additional weapons at your disposal, the arch, the gale and the veil. Each one with unique strengths and vulnerabilities. However you can't simply unlock and switch between them, you need to stagger one of your opponents and steal it from them in order to wield. Once in your possession you also need to occasionally cleanse it from corruption as you fight. So weapon choice and maintenance add further depth and consideration.
Combat is remarkably fluid and incredibly precise, comparisons to Bayonetta and DmC are inevitably going to be drawn. While there are visual similarities, El Shaddai is running a lot leaner, rather than throw continual button press combos and specials at you, it hones it's particular brand of combat to perfection.
After a couple of minutes you don't even notice that the game is doing all the camera work for you, it seems to always be in exactly the right place at the right time even as you move around the combat areas. Particularly impressive are slow motion and close ups of finishers and weapon steals.
Visual representation and clarity are important with the lack of a health bar and HUD, both Enoch and enemy health is displayed as physical armour which is gradually knocked away during combat.
The game perspective also effortlessly shifts from 3D to 2D sections in a similar style to NieR Automata; using 2D sections to drive the narrative along, explaining storylines and introducing characters against some of the most sumptuous backdrops and visuals I've seen in any game.
The whole damn thing is gorgeous to look at from start to finish, one of those incredible works of art that make such memorable titles.
All of this in what is essentially a ten year old PS3/360 game, that puts the majority of modern releases to shame in terms of content, presentation and execution.
I genuinely have no criticism of this game, if I really had to nitpick, perhaps some of the 3D platforming can be a little tricky in places due to perspective. But even then I found it so much more fluid and easy to judge than in comparison to this week's other big release, Psychonauts 2.
Every aspect of El Shaddai seems to have been carefully considered, engineered and implemented. Art Styles, animation, camera angles, effects and an absolutely "biblical" soundtrack.
It's almost been approached from the perspective of a high production value movie than a game.
While I doubt there could ever be a "perfect game", if it came down to perfect execution and technical excellence, I would be hard pressed to think of anything to top El Shaddai.
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is out September 2nd on Steam priced $29.99.
There will also be a 2 week launch discount in which you can save 19% ($24.29).
In addition you can also get the deluxe version which includes digital art book and soundtrack with a 45% discount ($26.55), I'd definitely recommend this version at that price, for this content it's a steal !
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