Your Complete Guide to the PBA Schedule and Upcoming Games
As I sit down to map out my gaming calendar for the upcoming season, one title keeps demanding my attention: the much-anticipated release that promises to redefine action-adventure gaming. Having spent countless hours analyzing combat mechanics across various genres, I've developed a keen eye for what makes a game's enemy encounters truly memorable—and what makes them fall flat. The PBA schedule for this game reveals an interesting approach to difficulty scaling, one that relies heavily on escalating enemy numbers rather than introducing truly innovative challenges. This design philosophy becomes particularly evident when examining the game's limited enemy roster, where developers have compensated for variety by simply increasing damage numbers and adding new attack patterns at higher levels.
What initially caught my interest during my early gameplay sessions was the clever inclusion of husks—these brightly colored spectral entities that tether to regular enemies create some genuinely strategic combat scenarios. I remember this one particularly intense battle where a single husk was connected to three different host enemies simultaneously. The dance of carefully dispatching the husk multiple times while methodically picking off its hosts created this beautiful rhythm of tactical decision-making that reminded me why I fell in love with action games in the first place. These moments represent the game at its absolute best, where player skill and strategic thinking combine to create unforgettable combat encounters.
However, as I progressed deeper into the campaign—around the 15-hour mark according to my playtime tracker—the game's reliance on sheer enemy numbers to maintain difficulty began to reveal its limitations. Instead of introducing smarter enemies or more complex attack patterns, the developers simply threw more bodies at me, leading to some genuinely frustrating encounters where deaths felt cheap rather than earned. The underground corridor sections, which comprise approximately 40% of the game's later stages according to my rough estimate, become particularly problematic when you're facing swarms of enemies in those dark, confined spaces. It's during these crowded encounters that the game's technical shortcomings become impossible to ignore.
The lock-on system, which worked reasonably well during one-on-one encounters, completely falls apart when you're surrounded by eight or nine enemies in those gloomy underground passages. I can't count how many times I found myself desperately trying to target a specific enemy while the camera jerked around uncontrollably, often focusing on some distant foe rather than the one actively attacking me from behind. This camera and targeting struggle becomes especially problematic when you're trying to prioritize husk-tethered enemies in crowded encounters—the very mechanic that makes the game's best fights so compelling becomes a source of frustration when the tools can't keep up with the action.
From my perspective as someone who's completed the game twice now, the developers missed a crucial opportunity to evolve the challenge in more meaningful ways. Rather than just increasing enemy density, they could have introduced new husk behaviors or environmental interactions in later stages. Imagine husks that could transfer between hosts dynamically, or enemies that learned from your combat patterns—these would have maintained difficulty while keeping encounters fresh. Instead, we get the same basic enemies, just in larger numbers, which ultimately makes the later hours feel repetitive despite the solid foundation established earlier.
What's particularly disappointing is that the game demonstrates it knows how to create brilliant combat scenarios—those multi-tethered husk encounters prove the developers understand strategic action. But these moments become increasingly rare as the campaign progresses, replaced by straightforward swarm battles that test your patience more than your skills. If I were to put a number on it, I'd say about 70% of the late-game encounters rely too heavily on enemy numbers rather than clever design, which is a shame because the remaining 30% shows glimpses of genuine brilliance.
Looking ahead to the upcoming content schedule, I'm cautiously optimistic that the developers might address these issues in future updates or DLC. The foundation is absolutely there—the husk mechanic alone provides a fantastic template for creative combat design. If they can refine the lock-on system and camera controls while introducing more varied enemy behaviors rather than just more enemies, this could easily become one of my favorite action games of the year. But as it stands, players should prepare for some frustration during those later underground sections, where the game's technical limitations collide with its questionable difficulty choices.
Having completed my initial playthrough and started experimenting with different combat approaches, I've found that adopting a more mobile, hit-and-run style helps mitigate some of the camera and targeting issues in crowded encounters. It's not a perfect solution—the fundamental problems remain—but it does make those swarm battles slightly more manageable. This is the advice I'd give to new players diving into the game based on the current PBA schedule: embrace mobility, don't get greedy with combos, and always keep an eye on your positioning in those confined spaces. The game rewards patience and spatial awareness, even when its own systems seem determined to work against you.
Ultimately, my relationship with this game remains complicated. There are moments of pure combat bliss that rank among the best I've experienced this year, followed immediately by frustrating sections that make me want to put the controller down. It's this inconsistency that prevents me from wholeheartedly recommending it to everyone, though action game enthusiasts will likely find enough to love despite the flaws. As we look toward the upcoming content releases, I'm hopeful that the developers will learn from these missteps and deliver the refined, consistent experience that the core combat mechanics deserve. The potential is undeniable—it just needs better execution in those critical later stages.
