1.5/5 ★ – Smabbott's review of The Last Case of Benedict Fox.

Oh boy. The last Case of Benedict Fox is one of the most disappointing experiences I've had in a long time. The reveal for this metroidvania was absolutely spellbinding and I couldn't wait to get stuck into this gothic sleek tale as I battled demons and uncovered the secrets to this world. The beginning of this game is pretty lackluster. A bland clunky tutorial section which literally has nothing to do with the main story, only for the story to begin after this section. The game is gorgeous, Unity is a hard engine to work in, but the art direction in this game is incredible. The noir styled mansion with the moonlight bleeding in the entrance hall, the side scrolling level design adding that realism to the building itself. The sound design elevates the tone through the grammar phone and radio. It's great. But nothing compared to when you enter an anchor. The lovecraftian setting of Limbo is nothing short of jaw dropping. The amount of detail in the environment is insane from such a small team. This on its own will give the game a longevity with fans (if they're still around at the end) The combat is rather simple with a bayonet and a pistol. The timing between a swipe and button presses is too long and feels unnatural. The gun feels great to use to finish off the enemies. Having it charge up with melee damage dealt was a great way to incorporate both weapons efficiently. Unfortunately the dodge is locked to being the right analogue stick in either direction. Until there's a patch which allows for key bindings. For a metroidvania, the game is very loose on what it wants you to do, only stating in grammatically incorrect writing what is your current objective. But the errors will be fixed in a patch. The world itself is massive, contained in three unique areas: the mansion, the Father's Limbo and the Mother's Limbo. The game has no icons to speak of when seeing what's on the map. For example, if you find a door which you need to return to later, it will appear as a question mark until you find it. Then it will stay as a question mark. There are two unique types of doors which gate off areas which are essential to progression. But instead of showing what kind of door it is on the map when you've discovered it. It stays as a question mark. Why does it do this? Don't know. But if you turn the difficulty down to "I'm lost" the icons show up when you reach them. Why does it do this? It makes no sense to have the icons still be a mystery even after you've discovered them. This makes backtracking a real nuisance. For two reasons: one, that reason. And two, the game is built in such a way where you have to progress in one direction. As slopes and walls which you've slid down cannot be traversed backwards. The same with elevators. After leaving an elevator, bearing in mind you've just reached the other side where you need to get to reach the elevator, the lift resets its position. Making it impossible to backtrack. In metroidvanias this again makes no sense. I guess it will be sorted in a patch, I don't know about this one. There are no I-frames after being hit, meaning while recovering you can be hit again and then stun-locked until you're dead. Healing doesn't input properly and as a result even after healing to full health before being one hit away from death, you will die. Because the visual has come through. But not the code. Again, will be fixed in a patch. The game stutters like crazy in all areas. Never running smoothly at 60fps. This doesn't bother me too much as this will be fixed in a patch. The best mechanic in the game is the device which represents these runes which is a four digit code composed of a made up cipher by the Devs. And it's so cool to get your head around. The problem being when you open the book, the camera starts to drag it down, but only on some of the puzzles. Will probably be fixed in a patch. The puzzles which need to be solved to open doors with this device are really well done. And then they are ludicrously stupid. Like written backwards wording of numbers which have to be placed upside down. Because of course they do. There is no tutorial for any of this. To other puzzles being straight up incorrect from research. Like Roman numerals. This isn't my opinion by the way, the Devs straight up admitted that they got it wrong. So a forum from them tells you the answer to that riddle. Brilliant. But apparently in the unreleased patch, the new puzzle is correct. So that's good. There is no autosave feature for the game. And the only way to save the game at all is by saving and exiting. Sometimes. Other times, you'll save and exit only to return to a point of your save hours before you saved and exited. Because it's never clear if the game is saving or not. But it will be fixed in the patch. So thank god. The problem with this is it spits you back to a point in the story where SPOILER ALERT you lose your gear and have to retrieve it again. Except this time, the room that you spawn in is locked. Because it waits for the cue of an NPC dialogue to open the doors. The problem is, this character has already said this dialogue. So it's a permanent cage. Luckily there is a button on the menu that takes you back to the save before this encounter. Which is the half way point of the game. So imagine my frustration after literally clearing everything and doing all the side objectives where the game tells you nothing of how to use mechanics and where to go for any of this. I find myself at the end of the game. Only to find that the game is unbeatable thanks to a bug which makes you run too slow to outrun the threat. Because an animation is looped twice. Annoyed, I save and exited the game, to spawn back into this room. 8 fucking hours of progress lost. But don't worry, because the Devs have assured me that there is a patch coming and they're sorry. Nah that's not good enough. If you physically cannot beat the game, that means that this wasn't play tested. This shouldn't be something that can be patched. I've talked to over 20 people who have all encountered the same problem. It gets worse as there is a board which shows all the notes and progress you've made throughout the case, which straight up doesn't appear on Xbox. I only discovered it due to tuning into a developer play through. I was corresponding with another player who like me made it to the end of the game and didn't see it once. Something which is vital to progression and understanding. The fact that we got this far without it is a testament to our willpower. But it's okay, because it will be fixed in a patch. I went onto the forum to defend the game from the reviews. Because all I was hearing was people complaining about the stuttering, the lack of key bindings and how boring it was. And I had to say my piece. Because at the beginning. Yes the platforming wasn't perfect and the combat was interesting to say the least. But it wasn't enough to hate a game. And then I reached the mid game. And hour by hour; also including repeating those hours, my experience was soured. I feel so sorry for the Devs who have been very vocal on the Steam forum for the game. But as it stands, saying crucial aspects to beating the game will be fixed in a patch is not good enough. And as a result, I can't say this game is even good. Even if all the patches help the game, the first experience for everyone wanting to play this game is tarnished due to terrible management. Here is a list of all of my bugs, glitches and problems I've collected (Spoilers, if anyone cares) Grammar mistakes Lip sync Weird teleport effect between the father's study secret room and the salon anchor. Glitch where the game will not let you open up the map or anything. Then after closing traps you in a room half way through the game, deleting all progress before that point when you override the save. Stutters and performance problems. Needs icons for things already on the map after you've discovered them. A question mark is used when you haven't discovered something in metroidvanias. Having it in an easier difficulty makes no sense. Items are too vague on when to use and how to use them. Tarot cards don't even have a tutorial page. Combat has a strange delay and doesn't feel right when slashing. The game doesn't have a clear quest structure allowing players to know what they're doing and in which section. You find yourself stumbling upon things in both anchors randomly Rather than organically as there is no sense of direction after the first boss. Portal doesn't show up on the map, when it really should. Wall blocks in salon anchor when on the map it is a clear path. Elevators returning to their original states after leaving them destroys the ability to backtrack through the area. Also being able to jump out of the top is unnatural and feels like a collision detection is off. There's a collection board which apparently is meant to spawn in the loading screens which hasn't spawned once. Cellar anchor ladder glitches the map and then spawns you there. Darkness areas of the map even after being explored completely are still way too dark to see what's going on. Harry has 3 arms while drinking tea Book slides when doing some device puzzles. Not all tarot cards are visible in the pouch. Tarot doors after being solved should open on both sides. Can't beat the spider at the end of the game. The game is unbeatable. What a damn shame.