Get Even is a game of mixed realities. With two unreliable narrators guiding you through a purposefully fragmented and jumbled story, Get Even seems like the kind of game where an intriguing and rewarding narrative would take centre stage. While the initial hours of the game start the foundations of what could’ve been a brilliant tale about how memories can deceive people out of context, Get Even dramatically fails to bring its narrative together in a way that has any form of meaningful weight.
You play as mercenary Cole Black who, after failing to save a girl named Grace, is forced to relive through memories to find out why he was there and who set up Grace’s kidnapping in the first place. You do this by wearing a helmet called the Pandora given to you by the ever-looming Mr Red. The Pandora allows you to travel through your distorted memories and find copious amounts of evidence in an attempt to piece together the events of the days prior.
Half walking simulator, half stealth-based shooter, Get Even sidesteps the fundamental flaws of the former genre by introducing a healthy mixture of different gameplay styles over the course of its runtime. While the game does feature the seemingly genre-crucial desks full of papers and audio recordings, it also has sparse moments of optional combat and a Condemned-style evidence scanner to mix up the tired, repetitive formula.
The puzzles during its first half are interesting and break up the monotony quite well, even if they are quite simple in their design. Some puzzles have you using thermal scanning to change heat or power levels in certain areas, or even use UV light to discover hidden messages on walls. It’s not particularly unique in concept, but it does give you something to do other than plod around down a linear path. Some of these puzzles can even be skipped completely, much to the dismay of Mr Red, by finding a way to brute force your way through an area should you get stuck.
You see, of all the things that Get Even prioritises, the number one focus of the entire adventure is player choice. You don’t have to gather all of the evidence in every level; you can kill as many enemies as you want; you can let a group of psychopaths roam free through an asylum. Every action you take will have consequences. While the developers do seem to have the need to shove said consequences in your face quite ham-fistedly, especially when it comes to those psychopaths, it’s satisfying—or depressing—to see the consequence of choice instead of it being simply alluded to.
Much to my surprise however, Get Even’s final third is a bit of a mess. Without spoiling the central narrative, the third act has multiple twists and turns that are not only unsatisfyingly abrupt but nearly all are seen from a mile away. While Mr Red will tell you throughout the game to “never make assumptions,” it seems more like a warning from the writers since it’s extremely easy to figure out the game’s plot hours before it happens. Even when it comes to the identity of Mr Red, which is initially a big mystery to Mr Black, the game provides you with so much reading material that the twist lands face first into a pool of the writer’s tears.
On the other hand, Get Even does excel in areas outside of its initial half. Throughout its entirety, Get Even provides you with fantastic sound direction which even incorporates the breathing of the player character. Many unimpressive sections of the game are held together by this. Now, don’t get me wrong, the soundtrack is not something you’ll want to buy on a CD as the entire soundtrack—bar one extremely weird pop-ish song if you get caught in a graveyard—is ambient. It’s an OST that adds a lot to the tension and heightens the experience to a level where the game was dripping with atmosphere. This, however, doesn’t bring the overall package above its flaws and is ultimately an incredible part of a mediocre game.
Summary
Get Even is the very definition of a mixed bag. While its gameplay might be varied and thoughtful, its narrative sees a staggeringly sharp decline as you enter the final third. The sound design might be truly phenomenal, but the level design loses its stride about halfway through. If you’re a fan of the walking sim genre but you crave something more interactive, Get Even is certainly a game to consider, but not one that is in any way essential.
Lewis is a games journalist, freelance gaming and consumer-tech journalist. They contributed 344 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: has since served as Editor-in-Chief at StealthOptional and Gaming Editor at MSPoweruser, with bylines at Gfinity Esports and FRVR.