Liberated Reviews
Liberated: Enhanced Edition is to be commended for trying to do something a bit different. It’s just a shame that the gameplay here isn’t a little deeper and more polished. But ultimately, it’s not really the focus of the experience: that’s the story. If you’re a sucker for tales that draw you into dark, dystopian worlds, chances are you’ll still get a considerable amount of enjoyment out of it.
To tell such a cohesive and well-thought-out tale across several perspectives in just four chapters was impressive. With the enhanced edition, two more chapters have been added, but not necessarily to end the narrative. It was more of an additional segment to further iterate the story that was already told. The entire game including the extra chapters can be knocked out in sitting of fewer than 4 hours, which makes repeat sittings to explore alternate choices much more manageable. It was a game that did not overstay its welcome while still delivering an immersive experience that didn’t feel too short either.
Liberated: Enhanced Edition fails to deliver on a promising premise. At its core, the game tells an interesting story in an innovative manner, however, the gameplay sequences let it down. The gunplay is formulaic and lacks variety. Predictable enemy placement means that the game quickly becomes repetitive. While Atomic Wolf attempts to vary the gameplay with puzzles and QTEs, these are few and far between. With some technical issues thrown into the mix, this comic-inspired title has a few too many issues.
Liberated is a great comic book turned video game. Dark and dystopian, almost absurdly gorgeous visuals, and a compelling story make this a surprising, but welcome, entry in the Switch library. Although you can beat the game within a few hours, don’t let the short run-time turn you off. There’s a lot of game packed into that those few hours.
Great game but held back in animations and forced QTE sections
Liberated is a vivid noir work that does a great job with the visual presentation and can charm you with a story, but completely fails in many other departments.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Liberated is a game that could have been better. The premise is fine but full of clichés, and there's nothing new to make it more interesting to those who have heard these stories countless times already. The presentation is nice, but the pauses between page turns feel unnecessary considering the style. The gameplay feels repetitive, since direct violence is the only viable answer. Unless you've been dying to get this one the moment it was announced, you'd be better served putting it off for something else instead.
The comic setting works great, and the story is an interesting take on the overused dystopian and Orwellian future. Liberated snatches attention with its premise and the neo-noir aesthetic, but ultimately ends up feeling unfinished. The dialogue choices and the puzzles feel tacked on and undeveloped. The style looks great in stills, but in action it's messy. It feels like this so close to being something truly special, it just needed a bit more time.
A dark & gloomy indie platformer with some tense gameplay and unique visuals.
Liberated wants to be so much, but it trips on its own feet within the first comic issue. The idea to read a comic book on your Nintendo Switch, and also play within those same panels, was a fantastic creative decision. However, the developers seem to have put more effort into that idea than filling out the rest of the gameplay, which is nothing short of lacklustre. If, at times, the cliche story didn't read like a low quality YA novel, then I'd have appreciated it more.
Liberated is a dystopian action-adventure game inspired by comic books that gets quite stereotypical very early.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
"Big brother is watching."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Liberated's interesting game world and monochrome visuals are undermined by a middling story of a future dystopia and relatively basic gameplay.
Then again, when you find yourself trapped in an authoritarian government that makes peaceful protest dangerous, then maybe violence is the only answer. At least that’s what the Liberated believe.
While it may not the most exciting action-adventure platformer out there, the artwork and stylish storytelling is impressive and makes the experience worthwhile.
It may not look next-gen on your 4K TV running through your PS4 Pro, but it doesn’t need to. Conversely, I thought it was well suited to something like the Switch: much like a comic, you hold it in your hands and flick through at your own pace. In that regard, Atomic Wolf have nailed it.
There are better games out there, folks. I appreciate Liberated's attempt to blend comic storytelling with action sequences, but hopefully somebody will take this baton and do it better.
Liberated on the Nintendo Switch assumes the form of an interactive comic book that uses a noir aesthetic and a very dystopian plot to put the player in the middle of a sombre, disquieting and genuinely frightening experience. Its technical issues and quick time events are the game's Achilles' Heel but the plot, visual outlook and accessibility, which even allows the player to treat it as if it was purely a comic book, make this a very interesting choice for Nintendo Switch owners.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Liberated feels incomplete. The writing is poor and never really explores the characters. It never tells you much about them or allows you to get invested. Its a go, go, go game. Not necessarily a bad thing, but we’ve seen examples of this done and still maintaining a good story. Even with nonsensical dialogue, fun gameplay can save it. Unfortunately, neither are here.