I must say that I was a bit of a fence-sitter with regards to Ritual Entertainment’s SiN Episodes: Emergence that saw its inaugural release yesterday on Steam. I preloaded and paid for it practically on a whim with the resolve to support electronic distribution and episodic game content. (The free inclusion of SiN 1 was also a motivating factor, as I had never played it.) A couple weeks ago, however, I got a bit nervous. What if it wasn’t very good?

Like most of the Internet yesterday, I chronically restarted Steam in anticipation of the game being unlocked and ready to play “immediately.” When Valve says you will be able to play immediately upon release, what they really mean is you can play as soon as your game files decrypt and you download a small update that presumably contains the main game executable. Unfortunately, by the time the game was ready to play, it was time to go to work. Those hours spent at work were kind of difficult. But, the time did finally arrive.

I was pleased. The game is well-presented; the music track that plays at the title screen is great and configuring video options and keyboard controls is as easy as it is in any other Source engine title. Load times were acceptably short, and before long I was actually playing the game.

I won’t be issuing spoilers, but I will say I feel I got $20 worth of entertainment out of the game. One can expect around 5-7 hours of gameplay, and there are literally tons of secrets and easter eggs. It really feels like an FPS done Mesquite style, and I am going to play it again as soon as I am able, because it is just that awesome.

Strangely, the one main complaint about the game can also be considered positive: the game is really difficult. The dynamic difficulty system works, and is quite a nice new feature. Unfortunately, it can make the game frustratingly difficult at times. Conversely, we seem to have one of the most challenging FPS games in years where gamers are complaining that they are getting too easy. I am certainly no pro, but I made it through without cheating. So even if it is difficult, it is not impossible.

Overall, the game was a good length for the price. It didn’t seem too short or too long. I’ll definitely be saving a place for episode 2.

Grade: A-