Capcom really made something special here, a combination of the classic RE4 combat system along with the methodical survival horror of a game like RE7. The union here feels like you're almost playing two different games at times, the shift is so drastic. You feel empowered and nigh unstoppable as Leon, yet you're weak and vulnerable as Grace. The game truly shines in the earlier sections in the care center. However, I do think it stumbles a bit near the latter half of the story, but by no means are these sections bad either.
It looks amazing, it runs amazing, it plays amazing.
I wholeheartedly recommend this game if for some reason you're still on the fence about getting it.

I was initially interested in this when I saw that Rutger Hauer voices the protagonist, since I'm a fan of Bladerunner.
In truth, this is a clunky mess of a walking sim with an awful UI and hardly any actual gameplay at all.
Buy if you enjoy having epileptic fits brought on by flashing lights and shaking visuals that'll bring you near nausea, since these devs seem to think this is what 'horror' entails.

A phenomenal game that will resonate with you and have you thinking about it long after beating it. From story, to ambience, to the art direction. I was thoroughly hooked and invested in this. After finishing it, I couldn't wait to hop back in and play through it a second time and that's a rare feeling nowadays.

Quake at home

It's Doom, enough said.
Still an enjoyable experience even three decades later.
Can you even say you've played video games if you've not tried it?

When you start the game, you might think some of the mechanics are kinda interesting. There's a sanity mechanic, you can order squad members, you can share inventory with them, oh and you have to manage your temperature too. Pretty interesting!

Don't be fooled. None of these features are really relevant, particularly the sanity, since you're never with the same set of people for very long for it to make an impact. You might be naive in thinking you'll be controlling the same squad for most of the game. This isnt the case, you will control many different squad mates and you'll remember none of them. They will quite literally vanish at times when you enter new areas, it makes it somewhat comical. And the game throws engineers at you for when you need them to progress through some obstacles. Ahh, but only some! Because our protagonist can also fix some of these obstacles himself, it makes you wonder why this is even a feature at all. You will also enjoy your squad dialogue when they lose their minds and regain their sanity in the span of two seconds, and all the repeating voicelines that occurs. I feel like you have to actively and deliberately go out of your way for anything bad to happen with this mechanic, it genuinely requires no management from the player despite all the warnings at the start of the game.

I had a moment where one of my squadmates went missing and it got my mind thinking, is it possible for a scripted event to occur where a squadmate becomes the thing when you're not looking or they got ambushed? And what a cool mechanic that would have been, but no, he actually got stuck behind a door. And don't worry, this will happen more than once as the AI pathfinding is atrocious at times.

But the absolute deal breaker for me, were the final levels of the game, where it truly becomes a different beast. Where rather than The Thing, you instead fight hordes of human enemies and automatic turrets. The bosses themselves are reskins of each other, in these tiny cramped rooms, but there's never any fear factor, since the game gives you near infinite ammo for most sections.

Even if you're a fan of The Thing, I genuinely question your standards if you think this is actually good or an enjoyable experience of a video game. I think there's a lot of potential for a game with this setting, unfortunately, this ain't it chief.
Maybe if I also played this when it originally came out, I'd also be blinded by nostalgia.

TLDR: It sucks lol

This game is such a mixed bag for me, if I was able to I'd give it a neutral review, but I really can't solidly recommend it to someone. The movement feels floaty and simultaneously clunky. The gunplay is just not satisfying, it works, but there's no real meat to it.
The actual detective elements which are the main part of this game are interesting at first, but quickly become repetitive as it never really changes. Piecing clues together is simple and even a moron could do it. The game also has to have some 'special vision' that highlights things, because of course it does.
I found the ending to be unsatisfying. There's a claim of branching story paths and that your choices have consequences, but the choices are really contained to the Story Acts they're present in, they rarely go beyond it. And none of these have any impact on the ending itself, you're free to reload a save and see the different endings.
Some of the character models just look awful as well and at times you get this terrible lighting/fog effects when you're exploring the city which makes it near impossible to see anything. Despite that, the game ran perfectly for me and I had zero issues with performance. Considering this is a UE5 title and I was playing this on Linux, that's impressive I guess.
Some of the side cases that you do were actually really good, many of them are simple fetch quests but there were a few standout missions that had some backstory to some significant characters in the game.
If you're a fan of Lovecraft stuff, I'd recommend you pick this up on sale. You're more than likely used to mid/garbage games. Otherwise just avoid it.
Maybe the sequel will be better? We'll have to see.

A very disappointing follow up to what was a fantastic Chapter One. There are really awful bullet sponge enemies, but it was mainly the level design that killed this for me. With large sprawling maps that only serve to confuse you, I spent far too much near the end of a level frantically looking for a single key needed for progression, this is really not what you want and kills any sort of momentum.
Granted, maybe I am just utterly blind here, but I had zero problems like this in Chapter One and this seems to be a frustration that many other people also had judging by reviews.

They really just don't make em like they used to

Another walking-sim style horror game, but what sets it apart from other's like it is a very cool atmosphere and great sound design. Confusing story, some very spooky moments and lack of handholding, makes it earn that psychological horror tag. Good game.