It’s not often that a game takes the path of no discernible dialogue, and instead relies on you to not only figure out what it’s saying by body language, but also gives another language to decipher on top of it. That’s not to say games don’t do it – Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is one of the more notable games in recent years to do this. But it’s a bold approach. When a game not only does that, but creates a sense of deep emotions within the first few minutes, and follows it up with deep combat and puzzle-platforming, you know you’re in for something truly special.

Hob is one of those games that you may see a trailer for, think it looks neat, and then skip right over. While it’s received some press (PSX a couple years ago was the most notable), the game is widely unknown by people whenever I mention it. I usually follow up my inquiry with the fact that the developer created the Torchlight series. If I still receive blank stares, I mention Blizzard and Diablo. At this point, I usually have the audience’s attention.

While Torchlight is very similar to Diablo (you may even argue better), Hob is a huge change in direction. To be more specific, we’re going from an Action RPG to a Puzzle-Platformer Action-Adventure. Basically, Diablo to Zelda: A Link to the Past. Not only is it a huge change in regards to genre, but it’s the developer’s first game on console (these guys just did that too). With that many unknowns for the developer, it’s hard to gauge just how excited you should be about the game prior to release – anyone can make a spiffy trailer. No real track record is reason enough to be cautious, and I don’t blame you. But people said similar about Horizon Zero Dawn coming from the people that made Killzone.

The good news is, this is one of the best games I’ve played in a long time. The first few minutes are dedicated to some minor world building. You’ll explore your surrounding areas while being accompanied by a robot that is a mix of Bastion from Overwatch and the robots from Castle in the Sky. Shortly thereafter, you’ll progress without the help of the robot to continue his mission. You’re shown how to build up your character, given a map, and then set free to explore. Aside from a marker on the map of where your goal is, there’s no real direction.

The feeling I get when playing this game is the same I receive from playing something like Super Metroid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and a number of older Zelda games. Finding items off the beaten path is just as exciting as progressing in the story. Getting into fights with enemies much larger than you and having a little fanfare once you defeat them is rewarding and something to cherish. Gaining new abilities allowing for you to backtrack to puzzle pieces you saw previously that you couldn’t quite figure out feeds the love for metroidvanias. One of the nicer features I found while solving the puzzles the game has to offer is that it doesn’t force you to complete them again if you die. If there’s a timed puzzle that you complete and you end up falling off the ledge right after (very possible with some of the fixed camera angles), you don’t have to worry about rushing through it once again.

The game offers a lot in terms of content, and the challenges are also quite dubious. While you’ll likely be upgrading your character your first run, subsequent playthroughs challenge you to beat it with less than 5 deaths (Limbo, anyone?) and no optional upgrades. These are certainly doable, as the game offers a few difficulty options, but fun and worthy challenges nonetheless.

The skills that were learned in the creation of the Torchlight series are evident here. The level creation, the ability to see your character through the environment with the fixed camera (love this so much – I forgot how much I prefer to not have to control the camera in this type of game), and the overall art direction are all reminiscent of my time with their previous games. The music is done by Matt Uelmen as usual, and is a hauntingly beautiful score (I embedded it at the top of the review as well).

Perhaps my favorite character of the game is the world itself. While many games boast a living, breathing, open world, they still often feel lifeless. In this, you can’t stray too far off from the provided paths, lest you be hurt or killed by the fauna on the walls – be they toxic or not. This may be seen as a cheap tactic, and it can be depending on how it’s implemented, but it’s done so masterfully here. Perhaps the most awe-inspiring part of the game is when the world itself changes by your doing. You’ll see this a bit from the robot at the beginning, but soon you’ll be making much bigger changes to the world you live in. Whether it be a dungeon or simply a wall to walk across, the ever changing world is one of the coolest aspects you’ll find in video games today.

In my time with the game, there were a few issues. However, the game has been updated multiple times in the course of just a couple days. When I recorded this video, the game was at v1.06, and as of last checking it’s already at v1.08. Going to a couple of the problem areas I saw, the issues have been fixed. The only thing that is noticeable at the moment is framerate dips, and I spoke to the team about it and they’re working to fix that as well. Considering how often it’s been patched already, I don’t expect it to be an issue for very long.

I’m hoping that this ends up a sleeper hit, as people start seeing and hearing just how solid of a game it is. If you were to ask what my contenders for game of the year are right now, it’d be between Persona 5 and Hob. Yes, I’ve played Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn, and the other heavy hitters from the year. No, I didn’t feel as inspired by them as I did with P5 and this. If you’ve been searching for that game with the special something you can’t find elsewhere, you’ve found it.

10 out of 10

Pros

• Ever Changing World
• Unexpected Emotions
• Fun Puzzles/Combat
• Optional and Mandatory Upgrades

Cons

• Occasional Framerate Drops

Hob was developed and published by Runic Games. It was released on PC and PS4 on September 26th, 2017 for $19.99. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Hob, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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