Evotinction | PS5 Review

As part of the growing China Hero Project, "Evotinction" comes to us as a narrative driven stealth game centered around a future where humanity's survival is dependent upon select scientists who operate from a secretive research facility known as HERE. Recently having been exposed to the RED virus, and being wholly dependent upon the AI that operates on the infected system everyone involved is forced to hide or die. Thomas Liu, the doctor on the scene, takes the risk of surgically applying NerVR implants in an attempt to be able rescue the remaining survivors. He awakes from the procedure at the behest of his AI genie partner Oz who works with him on navigating the labyrinthine compound as he puts to use various hacking skills.

Coming off like a cautionary tale against the 4th Industrial Revolution, this third person sci-fi stealth adventure has you collecting key items, documents, licenses, and data sets as you learn more about the whereabouts of the resident doctors. Your mission as Thomas Liu being that of rescuing any of the survivors, and at all costs as humanity's survival depends upon it. 

At your disposal is Oz, an orbital AI genie unit that aides in both navigation, and the hacking of everything from RED infected genies to servers, and other important electronic devices. Traversal from point to point, and from cutscene to cutscene is a matter of stealthily putting to use these hacking skills, and an EMP gun that allows for the disruption, and destruction of patrolling RED infected genies. 

As you go about putting to use these skills you'll collect various types of data sets that act as an upgrade currency at special computer terminals. Allowing you to unlock new types of hacks, and Oz abilities that can be put to use on the go. Things like turning the genies around, hacking them, and scanning their bar code to put them out of commission are tools necessary for progress. Leaving your EMP gun, and it's limited, but rechargeable ammo to act as a means to play more aggressively when caught RED handed. 

The gameplay itself is very linear, and guided with short sections of stealth missions that are often times interrupted by CG scenes wherein Thomas, Oz, and other key characters interact as they further flesh out the story. Of course you will also find voiced, and textual story based documents scattered about the labs as well as you search for your next objective point. To add to this there are also upgrade terminals that afford you special upgrade currencies for putting to use recently learned mechanics in a VR simulation, and doing so in a timely fashion. Oddly the game does have it's quirky moments of speed run gameplay along the way too, and records are kept in-game for that reason.

The Presentation ...

Visually the game can be optimized to be graphically enhanced for 4K HDTVs, or enhanced for better performance. Having gone with the graphics option I can say the game holds up nicely, and looks new-gen in appearance. The slow paced stealth gameplay negates any real need to push performance mode. Audibly the soundtrack is ambient, and filled with all the usual spacey electronic sounds of a future electronically managed world. It also includes hints of music, and well voiced voice-overs both in the cutscenes and in the reading of notes that are found. It's a very pleasing experience, overall.

The Verdict ...

This is one of those games I was lucky enough to have fall into my lap without request. Had it not been given I probably would not have requested it for review. I had never heard of the game, and I found myself doing what any good journalist should never do. I judged a book by it's cover, or in this case a game by it's screenshot.

Thankfully I agreed to it anyways, and found myself in what I deem to be an interesting interactive cautionary tale of sorts. It touches base on humanity's over-reliance on technology, and how that technology can easily be turned against us with devastating effect. Through Thomas Liu, Oz, and the other cast of characters we see first hand the consequences of trying to save humanity through technological means. 

As far as gameplay goes it is heavy on stealth missions, but does a good job implementing varied hacking mechanics that can be used in different ways according to player preference. Slightly changing up the approach and playstyle. I can tell you now though that while these short lived missions are very doable you will need to carefully plan ahead or be met with frustration. As each RED infected genie or safety mechanism targets you your infection rate will escalate to the point that Thomas is hacked. This is GAME OVER. Thankfully you'll respawn close to where you left off when opting to continue. The game wants you to see it through to the end and this is a plus.

As far as a recommendation goes I think "Evotinction" is a nice addition to the China Hero Project series of games. The story is intriguing, and the narration on point. It is a visually impressive and immersive adventure that has the player putting in a little more effort than usual to apply the hacking and stealth mechanics, but complimentarily so. As to be expected from a game based on this type of story. The game was released today for those of you who are curious, and is ready for purchase at an AA price. If you fancy something a little different this one might be for you.