Zeno Clash

Great games like BioShock have shown us how far games have come, but Zeno Clash shows how far we have left to go. The imagination, ingenuity, and focus of Zeno Clash is undoubtedly the title's crowning points; it's something we don't see enough in games. While many reviews of the game have built themselves around paragraphs celebrating the art direction and storytelling, there is still a game here that must be examined. Zeno Clash in play doesn't quite meet the pedigree of its production values, but it never gets in the way enough to mar what is an absolutely original title.

Zeno Clash’s story is best received with an open mind. Explaining the story in words alone will only come across as alien jargon but I’ll try my best. You play as Ghat, who resides in the world of Zenozoik; he is the son of a sexless creature known as Father-Mother. The game begins with Ghat killing this entity, and the rest of the game has you dealing with both Ghat’s exile and his memories that pre-date the assassination. Between the world’s strange set of rules and the story’s non-linearity, the game is best experienced then explained -- and what an experience it is!

Zeno Clash is one of the best-looking games I’ve ever played and not for the usual reasons. You won’t see any advanced lighting effects, but what ACE Team Software has delivered on is a world that is so abstract and surreal that it often feels like you are living in a painting. Every little detail in the character models and locations is inspired and thought provoking. The game conveys as much emotion and information in its visual design as it does in its story—this is the first time I think I could ever say that about a game. One can state that the developers were working with such minuscule levels and a short length that it would of course appear more detailed than Fallout 4, but that doesn’t change the fact that you don’t see games as richly textured and conceptually complex as this.

You might not think it at first but Zeno Clash is more-or-less the rebirth of old school beat em’ ups. Everything from all your favorite Konamiarcade games is here, although with a more evolved combat system. You start every fight in an enclosed space with nothing but your fists and maybe a gun or melee weapon. You can counter, block, and do some minor combos but everything is simple in concept. It takes a while for the combat to click and you’ll damn the game until it does. By the end, the game will throw some pretty nasty fights at you but if you play them smart you’ll be able to handle it. The rest of the game is a linear adventure much like Half-Life 2’s bigger set pieces. Variety is key to any game that seeks to keep the player interested and Ace Team is aware of this. Although you’ll go through similar levels, there is always enough different to keep things feeling fresh.

If there is ever a Criterion Collection for games, Zeno Clash would be right up there between ICO and Bioshock. Many players will get flustered with the game’s combat, but the learning curve is worth seeing to its end. As good as the combat is, it will always be second to Zeno Clash’s memorable story that feeds on a vocabulary unfamiliar to games. Rather then making comparisons to Gears of War and Half-Life, my mind thinks up images Salvador Dali paintings or the films of René Laloux. Good gameplay deserves a higher standard of story telling, and Zeno Clash serves as a good example as to why.