One sec El Paso, Elsewhere was one of my favorite games released last year, this year’s offering Strange Scaffold left me a bit icy. That’s okay. Click AND Life Eater They were quite experimental and just didn’t suit me.
I must have missed it I am your Beast. Something about the trailers didn’t sit right with me either. At this point I don’t even remember what made me jump at it. That’s because when I finally sat down to play it, it didn’t take me long to hot up to it at all.
You’ll play as Alphonse Harding, who is very vehemently opposed to doing one last job for his employer, the COI. He’s apparently been told multiple times that doing one last soggy job would get him out of work, and now he’s just done. Jaded would be an understatement. He reacts to being pulled out of retirement by killing every one of his coworkers in the area. When more are sent, he kills them too.
I am your Beast is pretty loose in its narrative. It’s strenuous to really get a sense of the stakes, since it’s largely just you in the woods, killing anyone wearing khaki in the area. The job, your employer, and the goals behind it are left pretty vague. They sound cynical, but so is everything else. The enemy soldiers are remarkably indifferent to the whole “get killed by a hypercompetent mega-soldier” thing. It sounds like either an expected outcome or an annoying inconvenience.
Harding was also voiced by Xalavier Nelson Jr. (director of Strange Scaffold), and his character is largely the same as James Savage from El Paso, Elsewhere. He speaks in a low, overly composed voice with a clipped, slight accent. If Alphonse Harding turned out to be James Savage having a nightmare at the end of the game, I probably wouldn’t be surprised. I mean, I really like that voice. The dialogue is entertaining, and the delivery is great. It’s just… the same character with a different story.
The film’s plot also lacks depth, mostly offering action movie clichés with extremely competent, nigh-invincible heroes – my favorite kind of action movie – and it’s really strenuous to tell whether the film takes itself seriously.
The game itself clearly doesn’t take itself seriously. It’s a high-speed action game. Your challenge is to complete uncomplicated objectives and exit the level as quickly as possible. Sometimes that means killing all the enemies, other times it’s just touching a few laptops. But the most essential thing is your speed.
I have some difficulty remembering the movement system that I liked so much I am your Beast. While it does have some parkour elements, it’s not focused on them. You can climb trees and cross wires, but you can’t, say, run up walls. There’s no diving like in Max Payne (Or El Paso, Elsewhere(for that matter) There’s also no bullet time option to facilitate sort out the chaos.
Where it succeeds is where most games succeed in combat: it’s very readable. It’s basic to tell what item you’re going to grab from the environment, and whenever you hit an enemy in the face with something, you know their weapon is going to fly out of their hand and into your path. This makes picking up a branch, throwing it at an enemy, stomping on their head, grabbing a knife, and then throwing it at another enemy feel possible and intuitive, without having to boil it down to dedicated interactions or QTEs.
It’s clearly a game built on the philosophy of making the player feel powerful. Enemies will bark ridiculous, terrified statements like “Harding uses headshots!” just to boost your ego. The marketing materials call it “the fantasy of the player who’s in the walls,” which seems appropriate.
It doesn’t last very long though. Or at least it doesn’t keep up that pace for very long. I clocked in at 2 hours. The game stalls you a few times, the first time requiring you to complete a certain number of optional objectives, and the second time requiring you to get an S rank on at least one level. The cutscenes that are almost only vast dialogue subtitles displayed on a panorama of the forest, in reality take up a lot of time. My husband complained that every time he looked at my screen, all he saw were subtitles.
The main narrative, however, only serves as a foundation for the gameplay. It encourages you to complete side objectives and try to escalate your rank on each level. It doesn’t reward you very well, but the opportunity to participate in its hectic combat is a reward in itself. It’s actually quite refreshing, as many games these days rely on tiny rewards to keep you interested. I am your Beast just let the fun speak for itself.
The soundtrack is also enjoyable, but since the game seemed like just a flash of entertainment, I had a strenuous time fully understanding it. It’s the same composer as El Paso, Elsewhereand I listened to this soundtrack after finishing the game, so I’m pleased. Xalavier Nelson Jr. lent his vocals again to a few tracks, which I like, even if it reinforces the feeling that he’s pigeonholed himself.
I am your Beast is faint in some areas, but not significantly. Most of it is okay, but what is good is Really well. It manages a combat system that is brisk and confused while remaining intuitive, which is an impressive feat. Part of me wonders if something like this could be applied to a broader, longer game without watering it down. As it is, I am your Beast applies it perfectly, making it a compact but meaningful experience.
