REVIEW: Obey Me


Title	Obey Me
Developer	Error 404 Game Studios S.A.
Publisher	BlowFish Studios
Release Date	April 21st, 2020
Genre	Action
Platform	PlayStation 4, Steam
Age Rating	Teen
Official Website

I had a chance to take a look at an isometric brawler named Obey Me from Error 404 Game Studios S.A. The game features two very interesting characters, Vanessa the Huntress and her Hellhound companion, Monty. The two are sent on a mission from their boss to assassinate a traitor, but things soon get out of hand. The two find themselves in an adventure that could shake the very foundations of Heaven and Hell.

The story itself isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it is good enough to keep the player invested in and moving forward. The banter between Monty and Vanessa is pure gold. They say some really crass and humorous things to each other all the time. Vanessa in general is quite a smart ass, which I always personally love.

Graphically Obey Me is pretty solid. The environments look like something straight out of your nightmares with plenty of things that look gooey, to say the very least. Later stages include some interior settings that look pretty basic. The enemy models look great. There’s plenty of nasty plants, zombies, slime and other baddies to take out on your journey. I kind of wish there had been more variety, but this game is pretty short so this is passable. The boss models are all top notch and you can tell a lot of love went into making them. They are just as bad ass as they look as well, since these battles are very difficult at times. My only real issue in this area is the screen tearing. On my vanilla PS4 you can see this game needs some V SYNC badly. You get used to it after a while, but folks might want to consider getting this one for PC instead if that is an option.

The music found in the game has that good Techno / Cyberpunk sound to it. You can almost get a rhythm killing the baddies to the music. The sound effects are really nothing special, but they get the job done. Where this one really shines is in the voice acting. Monty and Vanessa’s voice actors do a fantastic job bringing these characters to life. Their personalities and the exchanges between the two are no doubt the best part of this game.

One might look at Obey Me and dismiss it as a typical Isometric Hack ‘n Slash. While it does have most of the basic gameplay elements you would find in one of those, there is a lot of depth here. Much like in Devil May Cry when you dispatch the baddies in a area you earn crystals (orbs). These can then be spent to level up your abilities on a skills tree. Both Vanessa and Monty have unique skills for players that will aid them on their quest. There is a skill tree for each different weapon you find for Vanessa and each different form Monty can take. These skills will grant you extra moves, buffs and more! You will need every one of these to take out the bosses of this game. Even on the easy difficulty they can be quite a pain in the ass.

Stages here are pretty straightforward, but you will need to be on the lookout for hidden goodies. Finding these will give the player extra life and crystals to spend on upgrading skills. Each stage has plenty of floor hazards to make your life a living hell as well. I’m pretty sure I’ve had my fill of sharp pointy object after my time with Obey Me, for sure. The game is pretty generous with checkpoints, so dying isn’t that big of a deal. Though certain areas were still pretty annoying at times.

Obey Me is a pretty solid overall. The combat is fast and fun, the characters quirky and while it’s a bit on the short side at just 5 hours, the rating system gives it good replay value. The game takes quite a bit of inspiration from the Devil May Cry series and makes it into its own thing, and I think this comes over very well. Performance issues on the PlayStation 4 took away from my experience just a bit, but I think if you can snag this up on PC it would be much better. The game is pretty difficult, but I think it was fair for the most part. The stage hazards are just plain overkill at times, and some of the boss battles were just a bit much. They seem pretty overpowered to me. For the $19.99 price tag if you’re a fan of this genre you’ll find a lot to love here. For everyone else, if you’re interested in trying one of these games for the first time I feel this is a good place to start.