Reviews - JoshL117

I pre-ordered the game, full price $60, after getting hooked on the Blacksmith's Tale trailer and I still do NOT regret it.

Even though I have to handicap myself by limiting the framerate to 24-44fps (depending) because of my system (and STILL get crashes because of that), the game is still amazing and loaded to the brim with non-linearity and quality the likes of which I've, genuinely, never seen before in all my years as a gamer. And with custom tweaks with ReShade, the graphics look more true to life.

Many of you may not be interested in RPGs such as this, or RPGs in general, but truth be told neither was I before this game. This ain't your old-style RPG, this does NOT hold your hand like a good portion of RPGs do.

I've been putting off playing this Custom Story for a while now...and Amnesia, too...and my God, what a CS to play coming back to Amnesia.

This is, hands down, THE BEST CS I've ever played, and I've played a great number of them.

Words cannot express how amazing this CS is, it's beautiful; no, it's not beautiful, it's a masterpiece, it's literature. Beautiful story, beautiful level design, awesome scares, man it's got it all.
The level design is the best I've seen in a near stock Amnesia asset CS, it's beautiful and has a feel all its own. The story is captivating and intriguing, what will happen next?! Voice acting is kinda comical, but that adds to the charm of this CS.
The scares...oh man the scares. Scares most often don't really get me in games, but these got me, oh did they ever. Perfectly placed, perfectly paced, amazingly well done. Genuinely creeped me out a few times and genuinely scared me, that rarely happens with me.
I can't truly express how beautiful this CS is, it's just simply a masterpiece.

Many will say The Great Work, White Night, La Caza, and some others are the best Amnesia CS...well they've never played Key to Freedom, it knocks all others out of the park.

If you're new to Amnesia Custom Stories and want to hit it off on a high note that can NEVER be matched, Key to Freedom is the one for you.

If you guys ever make another CS, good Lord, everyone can count on it being good.

Amazing work guys.

The first great HL2 mod I've seen in a long time, this was definitely needed.

Graphics are awesome (even though I have an old computer setup, it ran just fine, don't know what everyone's complaining about framerate issues) great use of projected textures.
New gameplay elements are always nice. From the QR code "backstory" to the new Gravity Gun.
Level design is fantastic, no complaints there.

Difficulty is a little challenging at times considering the sparse ammo placements and the new gravity gun running off of aux power, it can leave you in a bind if you're not careful.

This is just me and may be a bit nitpicking, but I think it's time HL2 mods stem away from Gordon and focus around citizens, regular people with their own stories to tell. Gordon's already got enough problems on his hands, plus having Gordon in different areas poses canon problems, in my opinion.
If this focused around a rebel citizen during the time of the uprising chosen by Gman, then it would make for an interesting tale, other than having Gordon. That's not to say the mod is already great, because it is.

But all in all, great mod overall, 9.5
DON'T tone down the projected textures (dynamic lights) the ambience will suffer. Maybe have a new menu to toggle various shaders and their quality.

Full review here.
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