Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is an action-adventure game developed by Ninja Theory and published by good ol’ Namco Bandai. It was released on the 360 and PS3 in October of 2010 (then had a “premium” version released for PS3 again and Steam in 2013, which had all the DLC included). This is the 360 version but the only DLC we’re missing out on are costumes.
The game’s story was written by Alex Garland and was very loosely inspired by the famous novel “Journey to the West”, sharing character names, general themes, and cardinal directions. However it’s set 150 years in future America, not in China, after some kind of global war that is left mostly vague and unexplained. This lets the game have some pretty nice looking environments that are overrun with foliage when the textures aren’t trying desperately to load in.
Gameplay is simple but satisfying, only breaks occasionally, and the voice acting is fantastic. Also Andy Serkis is in it twice. Joining me on this adventure is my cool friend @lynxwinters. This LP will have cut and uncut videos available.
Odyssey is the best mediocre action game I’ve ever played so I’m super hyped to follow this. Also, the only media that attempts to realistically show what a quote unquote “realistic” version of Wukong’s hair would look like.
I was going to comment on the fact that that scarf looks like a tail and his movements reminded me of a monkey, but from what you said it must be deliberate. In that context, it’s quite nice. This seems interesting, looking forward to the LP
Aah, out of place red orbs for leveling up. Yup, this is a modern beat em up game.
I really like the idea of “wild” robots. It’s a cool concept.
Also good lord I forgot how hilarious just spamming “HEY!” is. God this game is great.
Dragonflies, by the way, are like most flying insects. They don’t really stop moving until they die. I think some Dragonflies like…rest on reeds in lakes, cause they eat mosquito’s and still water is where mosquito’s lay eggs, so they just kinda chil on a reed near some reeds near a lilypad, waiting for their dinner to be born.
I’m pretty sure the fish tank might be a possible thing, if the algae inside is enough to eat the fish poop. That or since it’s the cyber future it’s an automated filter system.
I feel like the weird phantom skulls are a reference to Journey to the West. Speaking of! I had a Chinese friend of mine look at Trip’s shirt, and the symbol on it stands for “Jing”, which has many meanings but given the context it’s likely intended to be the actual scrolls of western knowledge Wukong and his buddies were going off to find in the first place. Given that her name is Trip, this has some interesting connotations to it, I think. It’s also goofy as hell because it means she’s wearing a shirt that effectively says “scrolls of wisdom” on it.
Tripitaka is also one of the actual names of the sage Xuanzang that she’s based on, though it’s not Chinese so we’re not entirely sure where it came from. While I’m at it, the circlet Wukong wears in the actual story was given to him by Xuanzang, and he can use magic to make it squeeze his poor monkey head. Unlike Trip, that’s all Xuanzang really does…other than getting in trouble. Trip’s way more helpful.
I hope you enjoyed throwing your Dad and or son off a volcano for Father’s Day Fenns.
Maybe it’s just me but there’s something about the way Monkey moves when doing the whole climbing thing that feels really satisfying. Most parkour heroes do flighty little ninja hops or try to be kinda subtle. Monkey does some acrobatic shit that actually looks interesting to watch.
I don’t have any specific legend information here, but it goes without saying that “Trip gets menaced by a rude demon, Wukong has to punch it to death” is kind of a thing with Journey, and I imagine Dog is possibly based on one such demon. Also Dog is just a really cool design I think, even if it does pursue you for like half the game. And cause the game to glitch out and need to be restarted during the theater segment. Stupid mutt.
I actually haven’t touched story mode at all yet haha.
He’s a brute force, simple kind of guy and it really shows through in his animations. Climbing with him does feel super satisfying, and I think I enjoy the climbing sections of the game more than the combat.
You’re going to have to elaborate on that one for me. I haven’t had the game crash that way yet.
Yeah that was a bit of me venting there. When I was playing this, when you enter the actual puzzle area of the theater…the game glitched, the dog never came out, and the switches didn’t work. So I had to restart the entire level and it sucked.
God, the Cloud music is so good. I love it. Speaking of the cloud, ye olde Wukong’s cloud was called “Jīndǒuyún” or “Kinto’un”, which translated literally means “Somersault Cloud”. It’s unclear if it’s an actual magic cloud he rode on, or some kind of technique that let him somersault 54 000 kilometers. It is sometimes both, and it doesn’t require purity of spirit like another certain famous Wukong. For those of you keeping track, using the Chinese measurement of li, that jump is 108 000 li long. Rep that Buddha number.
Of note with regards to why it only works certain places; the gods told Wukong that the entire journey part of The Journey To The West was…the ENTIRE POINT, so just flying everyone to India on his cloud would of been silly. Likewise here, if Monkey could just electromagnetic skateboard his way to his destination it wouldn’t be such a fun game…though it would still be a fun one, I’m shocked they didn’t add in skateboard tricks.
As for the bridge, I’m fairly confident that we just happened to show up as it reached critical mass when it comes to rust and decay. The fault system is really interesting, and helps diversify the gameplay a bit…and given how this game is pretty simple that’s sorely needed after awhile.
