Beyond Sunset Early Access Playthrough (Jun 2024): Chapter 0

In April 2024, Beyond Sunset's early access release received an update to re-incorporate what was originally contained in the demo over 2 years ago, as "Chapter 0". I figured this would be a good way to refresh my memory before jumping into the early access content proper.

I originally played the demo in January of 2022, and recently skimmed that gameplay video so I could compare and contrast it against Chapter 0, knowing that the latter had received some significant updates to better fit with the rest of the game.

Unfortunately, Chapter 0 left a weaker impression than the demo in a few respects, especially with regard to dialogue. Many NPC dialogues have been arbitrarily shortened, and many choice prompts were removed. Those choices presumably didn't matter much in the first place, perhaps justifying the removal, but the dialogue feels more shallow as a result. Moreover, some of the dialogue bits they removed were some of the most memorable and amusing lines in the demo. I don't understand why such cuts were deemed necessary or a good idea. Some of those cut lines gave NPCs more character or told more of a story. If you're going to have dialogue in the first place, shouldn't that be what it's there for?

Throughout the chapter, I also noticed a few error messages about missing scripts; these were clearly instances where the demo content had been changed to better fit the full game, but these errors make it come across as a rushed effort with inadequate attention to detail. Another potentially missed detail is that upgrades you buy in Chapter 0 can carry over to Chapter 1, but you'll find the same weapon upgrades re-purchasable - and re-purchasing them does absolutely nothing.

One removal that I figure was probably the right call involves the platforming challenges at the very beginning of the demo. Some of those rooms were surprisingly brutal and I distinctly recall thinking they'd at least have worked out better if presented in a different order. I was a little surprised that they were removed entirely (well, save for one secret, at least), but I have to figure they ultimately didn't fit in with the rest of the gameplay, at least outside of dedicated challenge segments. (Upon checking the latest build of the demo on Itch, it would appear they had already at least scaled back the platforming section even during 2022.)

While on the subject of platforming, fortunately, one of the things I noted in the demo seems to have been addressed: you no longer "bounce" clear over platforms if you're holding jump during a ledge-grab.

One change across the board that I initially found odd was the complete 180 from the demo in terms of autosaves. Instead, Chapter 0 introduces terminals that you can interact with to save (which create... guess what... autosaves). But you can also press F2 to save whenever you want, so why do these even exist? My assumption is they're meant to serve as reminders to save when something big is coming up, without typical autosaves' limitation of either firing one-time-only or annoyingly firing even when you don't want them to, which could become problematic when the game's levels are intertwined, sprawling, and approachable in various orders, which becomes even more of a thing beyond Chapter 0.

The game is still in early access of course, so I can only hope that Episode 0 gets another pass to resolve the more critical points above. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to approach Episode 1 and beyond as a blank slate, as Episode 0 started off as a standalone demo, after all, and was a late addition to the early access release.