This game is certainly persistent…
Stranded, malfunctioning and caught in the inexorable pull of a black hole, “The Persistence” is overrun with a crew mutated into horrific & murderous aberrations. It’s down to you, a clone of security officer Zimri Eder, to make your way deeper into the depths of The Persistence to repair the systems and prevent the ship from being torn apart. Gather resources, upgrade abilities and fabricate an arsenal of weapons in this brutal sci-fi horror roguelike.
Originally a VR title, The Persistence was then ported to consoles without the need of VR, but the game design such as teleporting through objects that felt normal in VR didn’t quite come across as seamless with the standard version. The Enhanced version is a free upgrade and while the new visuals and higher framerate are welcome, the game still has its faults…
The Persistence Enhanced is a first-person roguelike game with stealth elements and tough combat, which can sometimes feel a bit clunky. It does have a great horror atmosphere that feels reminiscent of Dead Space at times, which is always a big plus in my book. Obviously, the roguelike element of the game isn’t for everyone and that obviously remains the same in this upgrade, so with that and the hangups of VR controls still in play, it makes for a mixed experience overall.
Having said that, I did enjoy my time with the game despite it. I found myself getting used to the controls the more I played and while they are far from perfect in combat, I still managed to persist and get through to the end. Now the visuals have had a nice lick of paint to them from their PS4/Xbox One counterparts and while I appreciated the ray-tracing, I preferred the framerate boost instead. Honestly though it’s just my personal preference, it all depends what you prefer.
The Verdict
A roguelike game that was meant for VR was always going to be tough transitioning to a normal console version and while that’s true, The Persistence Enhanced is a damn good game despite it. The horror atmosphere alone sells it and while the controls are clunky and at times frustrating, I know I’ll still be going back to it at least until the Dead Space remake comes out…