Enslaved- a belated review

I’ve had Enslaved since it came out (I bought it partly because I thought I had time to play it, partly to support Ninja Theory, and partly because I like the Monkey story) , but only played it properly recently.

Despite it being relatively old in this generational terms, it’s still very much worth a go. Enslaved has many attributes that point to the future of the medium. The characters (there are basically three) have a well-realised dynamic through subtle writing and strong acting, and it touches upon themes like devotion, purpose, revenge and love as part of the adventure. There are many clever touches using the environments (like having a section of a game within a theatre playing Shakespeare, the motorcycle zen, the use of NYC, the parallels between the mountains and Chinese painting) that make it deeper and more allusive than most action-adventure games.The lack of conclusive ending is also a good thing-perhaps designed for a sequel that never happened- but in context wraps things up nicely.

Technically, and from a design and mechanical point of view, it has annoyances. The texture level of detail pop on the PS3 is awful (and bad to see in cutscenes), the enemies are repetitive and the combat functional. The unlock system, involving picking up glowing orange spheres in the environments adds a nuisance level of ludonarrative dissonance. It would be like going to see an exhibition of abstract impressionist paintings and finding that the artist has also snuck in their own copies of old Alma-Tadema works, just to prove they could paint academically if necessary. We already know that Enslaved is a game- it doesn’t need collectibles to prove it- just unlocking the upgrades via level completion would have been fine.

Narratively, it’s very little to do with the Monkey legend, but that’s fine- it does its own thing, so aside from some similar characters and some initial scenario aspects (a headband of control, a flying cloud, a staff) it’s basically unrelated.

Still, it’s a strong core narrative in a decent world, and doesn’t linger too long. It’s no classic, but there are many elements that point to a bright future.