That feels like a very clear read to me as well, they were woefully unprepared to design a compelling linear game. I wouldn’t call making linear games easy, because they can get just as repetitive as an open world title faster. So many careful decisions are required to make a linear game come alive, fun, well timed diversions…Thematic cohesion that breathes live into the world and makes it feel lived in. Also, it shouldn’t have been too difficult to not insult the gamer’s intelligence with all the markers and guidance, the weird and unjustified breakable placement. The “hidden” chests is so crazy, like it wasn’t even that difficult to find some of them. Even the Logan that they crafted, felt incredibly wrong as he was more of an asshole with a heart of gold. The under utilization of cool characters like Mystique just screams mistake to me. The initial impression I got from watching this review is: Insomniac thought they could make an uninspired, borderline slop game and have their praises sung.

Insomniac better pay for this incredible misstep, they better get fuck all in terms of sales, and low ass ratings. Critically torn the fuck apart for the right reasons (not stupid culture war bullshit from stupid hate mongering tourists in gaming spaces).