Second Son has a binary morality system that mirrors the black-and-white decision making from the previous games. Unlike in previous Infamous games, your health regenerates over time, so knowing when to seek shelter and when to stay aggressive forces you to fight thoughtfully. Take too much damage, and your view becomes oversaturated while an angelic voice scores the soundtrack of your death. So you show off your quick feet, drifting into and out of fights, peppering aggressors with flaming missiles while you dance just out of their deadly strikes. They construct concrete walls and dive upon you with deadly might, so standing still is an easy way for you to meet a quick end. Troops have the power of cement to complement their standard arsenal. Snipers perch upon billboards, armored vans carry reinforcements, and helicopters patrol the skies. The slow-paced, methodical movement that defined the two earlier Infamous games has been stripped away here, replaced by a frenetic speed that has you rushing through this open world like a sentient lightning bolt.įights are structured for you to take advantage of your extraordinary abilities.
The empowering sense of freedom worms its way into your heart once you realize your unbelievable potential. Float through air vents to propel yourself from the rain-drenched streets to the striking rooftops or drift like an ethereal shadow among the citizens compelled to fear you. Through the power of smoke, you can turn into a translucent wisp at a moment’s notice. That chance meeting transforms Delsin from just another forgotten screw-up into the potential savior of a beautiful metropolis. Once you’re set loose in Seattle, the narrative problems that haunted the early moments fade into the background.ĭelsin has a run-in with the escaped conduit Hank, who has smoke coursing through his veins. However, once you’re set loose in Seattle, the narrative problems that haunted the early moments fade into the background as you flex your elemental muscles. During the first hour of Second Son, you’re stuck watching cutscene after cutscene establish the fiction, and that uneven pacing feels like shackles preventing you from exploring this gorgeous world.
Delsin’s immaturity is immediately an annoyance as he spouts terrible one-liners while shirking any responsibility. His youth was spent spray painting cartoonish doodles while avoiding the wrath of his older brother, Reggie, a police officer with a firm belief in what’s right and what’s illegal. You see the situation through the eyes of Delsin. The binary morality doesn’t show a balanced angle that could have made you sympathize with the government’s actions, even if you disagree with how those rules are enacted, and that one-sided viewpoint turns what should be a hard-hitting situation into one that’s difficult to relate to. It’s an intriguing setup, but one that fails to stir a strong emotional response. By offering an exaggerated viewpoint of the safety-over-freedom measures that are now a part of our daily lives, we see how dangerous such a path could be, and how few people rise up if their lives remain comfortable. The world of Infamous: Second Son plays upon the recent changes that have taken place within our own society.
Infamous 2 fade away free#
Do you fight those who loathe you? Or free Seattle from the chains of an oppressive dictatorship? So when protagonist Delsin Rowe finds that he is able to absorb others’ powers, he enters a society ready to pour their hatred upon him. The citizens willingly accept their new overlords because so many are scared of their friends and neighbors who are now imbued with superpowers. Unmanned drones patrol the skies, invasive checkpoints detain suspected bio-terrorists, and high-tech surveillance cameras monitor everyone’s actions. Department of Unified Protection director Brooke Augustine has set her fascist government organization loose on the God-fearing populace, abusing her power to round up those with mutant abilities.