Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, released in 2010 by British studio Ninja Theory, loosely reworks the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West into a post-apocalyptic future where lush nature has overtaken the ruins of human civilization and cities have become overgrown with jungle. The main hero, Monkey, is captured by a girl named Trip, who fits him with a control headband that forces him to protect her from the dangers of the journey under threat of his own death — what begins as mistrust and manipulation gradually develops into a genuine alliance and a deeper bond between the two characters.

The gameplay combines acrobatic jumping and climbing across vegetation-covered city ruins with action combat against robotic machines, with Monkey using his hovering staff both as a weapon and as a means of fast travel across the terrain. Trip, for her part, has her own technological abilities, such as luring enemies away with a holographic decoy, which complement Monkey's brute strength. The screenplay was written by author Alex Garland, which shows in the above-average dialogue and pacing of the storytelling; Monkey's movements and facial expressions were captured by Andy Serkis via motion capture, and the score was composed by Nitin Sawhney, all of which makes the characters and world feel unusually alive and cohesive.

Reviews praised especially the visual design of the environments, the chemistry between the main characters, and the cinematic storytelling, while criticism was directed at the somewhat repetitive combat system and overly linear level progression. Although the game commercially fell short of publisher Namco Bandai's expectations and received only a minor expansion, Pigsy's Perfect 10, among players and critics it earned a reputation as an underrated title with an above-average story, still cited today as proof that Ninja Theory was able to tell emotional stories through unconventional characters long before its later successes.

Why play it: For fans of cinematic storytelling and chemistry between the main characters, it's an underrated title with an above-average story, even if the combat system and linear level progression drag a little.