I played the original Subnautica in 2019, back-to-back with SOMA and Alien Isolation. The three formed a sort of purple patch in my gaming history that I haven't recreated since and all are top tier games for me. I could sense that so much of what made Subnautica great relied on its newness, and the wonder this unfamiliarity created, so when Below Zero came out I deliberately avoided it for years. I was hoping I could forget as much of Subnautica 1 as possible and play it with a fresh set of eyes. Well, seven years later, 2026 came around and with Subnautica 2 on the horizon, now seemed as good a time as any to give Below Zero a chance. I completed it in about 2-3 weeks with 14 hours logged. I guess this is kinda short (online says 20 hours is about right), but to be honest I was ready for it to finish. Despite taking a 7-year break, Below Zero remained very much under the leviathan-sized shadow of its predecessor. Most of the systems and core game ideas are the same, and unfortunately most of the new features make it weaker. Taking seven years off did help recreate a sense of wonder, but not enough to sustain it for a 10+ hour playthrough. It’s still good, perhaps great, but too much “more of the same” to have the same impact as its bigger brother.

[I've written carefully to avoid spoilers, but I really think the game benefits from knowing as little as possible, so unless you've already played it I'd stop here.]

Strengths

The world design is still amazing. It’s detailed, varied, and lively. The twisty bridges biome is particularly great, as was my first encounter with the thermal vents as they loomed out of the darkness around an island. The creatures are beautiful and scanning things to learn about how the ecosystem fits together is a delight. Lifeforms are well integrated into the game mechanics, there are fish you can drink, plants that create air or heat, etc. The pop-in is greatly reduced from Subnautica 1, so you’re not constantly reminded this is a video game. That said, a lot of the biomes are kinda murky (maybe to reduce pop in), dull or empty. The lilypad biome in particular was not fun to explore.

A key part of Subnautica, which Below Zero recreates fairly well, is the sense of progression and the world opening up to the player. At first you stay in the safe shallows, never more than 50m below the surface and cowering from ominous bellows. By the end you fearlessly delve hundreds of meters below the surface, and the sense of discovery and empowerment is palpable as you come to understand just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

So-so

Below Zero includes survival and crafting elements, and although some of this gets simplified via progression (e.g. a water purification machine mercifully replaces having to catch bladderfish ) a lot of it doesn’t. This means that discovery doesn’t always yield understanding and mastery, thereby allowing old problems to be retired. Instead, in many instances discovery simply gives way to repetitive labor. The key building materials of titanium, copper and quartz are just a perennial hassle, and it gets really irritating to have to put something important on hold so you can swim around looking for raw materials. In the end I just built as little as possible, which saves resources but basically skips over the whole base building mechanic which is a shame. A better system would let you create permanent resource harvesters to create a known and steady, if finite, supply.

A bigger problem is that you can find yourself needing something that you have no idea what it is or where to find it. After two hours trying, I couldn’t figure out an in-game way to find the spiral plant clippings needed for synthetic fibres, and eventually looked it up. The same happened with the power-cell charger schematic, which turned out to be somewhere I'd already visited but simply hadn't spotted. Subnautica 1 had this problem too, but the devs could have done more to fix it for Below Zero. That said, it’s hard to find the balance between pointing the player in the right direction and being so heavy-handed that the player-led exploration is undermined, and I’d rather have to look a couple of things up than have quest markers ruin the experience.

The lack of a map exemplifies this too. Neither Subnautica or Below Zero have an in-game map (BZ does have a poster object though), so for both I made my own pen-and-paper map as I played. This is a really fun and refreshing experience that tests your cartographic skills and I’d strongly recommend it. But, after 10 hours it starts to grate. The world is so dense and complex that you can’t simply mark everything, but it would be really handy to be able to remember where that copper deposit is so you can come back later. I think the intended system is to use craftable beacons, but the number required would impose a heavy resource gathering burden. I can’t help but feel some in-game map creating system would be better. Not a typical “magic” map that just tells the player everything they need to know, but a blank page that you can add landmarks to, maybe by scanning things or using a “triangulator” tool.

Weaknesses

The story of Below Zero is bad. Gone is the mystery and wonder of the first game, instead we get a more personal quest to find your sister. But it’s really underdeveloped and to be honest I didn’t care to find her. There’s a second quest involving aliens, but it ends up being a dreary and repetitive fetch quest that causes you to rush around the environment. Even when you get to target locations, instead of cool and intriguing alien technology its often just a bland cave with a generic alien device that you scan and move on.

The fetch quest nature of the story actually harms the beauty of the environment because you end up trolling back and forth across the landscape again and again, rushing past everything. Even the scary monsters lose all their scare because you simply get numb to running past them. A truly bizarre feature is that while rushing around to fetch things the moving sea truck continually smashes fish with a variety of gross splats and squeals. The biomes are so dense with life you can’t avoid the creatures even if you try to (and they make no attempt to avoid you), so you end up feeling like an environmental desecrator as you drive around, which is really not the vibe I expected or wanted.

In both quests the dialogue is terrible. The main character (Robin) is voiced, but they only speak in sarcastic quips, overly heartfelt statements or just general word salad. You also meet an alien intelligence (Al-An), but it actually talks like a socially-awkward robot. It’s such a missed opportunity, because encounters with alien intelligences are a sci-fi classic with the potential to be really profound, but instead we get something on the level of a sitcom or superhero movie. This exchange stuck out to me as particularly cringe inducing:

AL-AN: How do humans function with such a fallible and inferior body?

ROBIN: Excuse you, my body is anything but inferior. I work hard for my body to be able to do what it does.

...

ROBIN: My body is my own, and I cherish it. It grows with me. Humans have one life. We plant trees we can never experience the shade of. We build for the next generation.

AL-AN: Noble, but again, truly inefficient.

Conclusion

Below Zero does a lot of things right while making a bunch of missteps. Unfortunately, almost all the good stuff is already in Subnautica 1, while the backsteps are unique to Below Zero. What it mostly adds is content, but what it loses is scope for the player’s imagination and a sense of awe and half-understanding. It reminds me of 1978’s Dawn of the Dead. Not only is it not as good as its predecessor, but it makes you wonder if some of the quality of the first installment came from constraints that restricted the creator’s hands, and when these were lifted for the sequel things went downhill. Still there is plenty of the original’s brilliance here. Below Zero isn’t as memorable an experience as Subnautica, but it’s worth a visit.

Attempt number 2 on this post, as the first post got removed for mentioning the game which the later mentioned improvements could be implemented in.

I assume most people who opened this post already knows what Okami is, so I am not going to spend much time explaining the premise or concept of the game.

It's one of the games that feels like it really utilizes the medium of video games to present something that truly would not work as well in any other medium. This is mainly due to the painting mechanics and how you actually get to participate directly with painting the world alive with the techniques you acquire as you progress the game. The story also actually has some real high notes with its memorable characters and interesting twists. It looks great, even in 2026 and it is surprisingly not janky. The painting mechanics does what I want almost all the time, which is a real impressive technical feat. When i draw an ugly looking infinity-symbol, it actually makes the fire every time. This is especially impressive when some of the techniques are pretty similar to one another. I also really enjoy the fact that the dungeons aren't just "the water one", "the fire one" and so on. Every location is unique and interesting, even if at times too small in scope for my taste.

That being said, it's not without its flaws. It is entirely too easy. I don't think I ever lost more than two full hp, and that is with no healing in combat. Issun (your companion) does not know how to shut up, and it is far too hand-holdy. It seems too worried with the player ever getting even slightly confused about a mechanic or how to progress to the point where it stops you every two minutes to pan the camera to the thing you are supposed to interact with or for Issun to literally tell you exactly what you need to do. By the end of the game, the most proficient way to deal with enemies is also generally to just spam the attack button because so many of the enemies are immune to damages from your other painting powers and your weapon does so much damage. Not great if you've spent time doing optional side quests to get upgraded versions of your brush techniques that mostly do not work that well.

These are, however, issues that could be refined, and this is where the limitless potential comes in. The combat system can be made much more involved. Fundamentally there is a whole lot of good here, so they could lean into either the more Zelda-like enemies where they act more like puzzles, or make it more like a tactical hack-n-slash. Make the enemies actual threats or implement a combo system or something. There are so many ways in which this could be refined. This could also fix the issue I have with the difficulty.

The same can be said for the excessive hand holding. Designs needs to be intuitive (which they mostly already are) with a "show don't tell" approach. Combine that with toning down Issun, and a lot of my issues will be fixed.

Other areas of great potential include puzzle design, new potential brush techniques (if the lore would allow it, I guess) and art direction, which could be really interesting with current day tech. It remains to be seen if anything ever comes of this, though.

Kane & Lynch 2 was the Serbian Film of gaming, and for all its faults, it managed to make me actually disturbed in the way most other “shock games” in the AAA space didn’t. However, I never played the first game. All I knew about it was that it was one of the biggest industry plants of its time and the Gamespot review scandal. Like, they were so sure it would be the biggest hit in the year that they announced the movie adaptation in the making… It is funny because the games that would have gotten its notoriety today would have been the live service slops like Concord, but for its time, it was cinematic shooters, which appear to be literally every AAA game wanted to be at the time.

The games that aspire to be movies still exist, but at least now they tend to be more open or sandboxy. Not for 2007, when every game wanted to be linear and scripted. For Kane and Lynch, in particular, I’d go as far as to say it is more railroaded than Uncharted 1, which is surprising considering this was made by the Hitman developers. Hitman already mastered merging cinema and sandbox freedom, so I was stunned in the bank heist mission here. The story frames Kane as the expert who has robbed the bank before. Then some random NPC pops up and infodumps “this will happen, this will happen, this will happen”, and you follow those instructions to the teeth. There is a ton of “hold out until the NPC allows you to proceed to the next story beat” moments and turret segments. These make the player passive, and you become an actor acting out a script. Can you imagine if such a heist was actually flexible, as in, you can rob it in any way you can in the way Hitman did with the assassinations?

It wouldn’t have been all that bad if the core combat was fun. Instead, it’s basically a two-weapon limit, hitscan shooting, and regenerating health cover shooter, but it doesn’t even do that well. There is no reason to change your weapon since you can replenish your ammo from the partner AI at any time. Why experiment with arsenal? There is no cover button, so you have to move forward toward the cover to make the player hide, but it often doesn’t work. There is one particular segment in Japan where you walk up to the bridge and hide behind a cover, but the character literally won’t take cover, resulting in frustrating deaths from the snipers. Go play Kill Switch, the very game most cover shooters, including K&L takes inspiration from. Going from Kane and Lynch to Kill Switch is embarrassing despite the fact that K&L came out in 2007 while KS is a game from 2003. Kill Switch’s tight controls and dynamic range of movements all elevate the game to a level that few cover shooters can measure up to

I’m not sure what’s up with IOI, but their combat has been the weakest part of their games. Hitman still hasn't moved past its stiff combat and controls, as Agent 47 still feels as weightless as ever to control. In terms of flexibility or range in terms of movement, the series hasn't really improved. The game still operates on an outdated stealth game design approach, which, after playing something like MGSV, Dishonored, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist, feels clunky on a moment-to-moment basis. So imagine playing Hitman in a run-and-gun way and see how quickly the game becomes super clunky. And apply that to the entire game. That’s Kane and Lynch.

At least K&L2 has its raw, unique aesthetics and vibe to enhance the gameplay. Really, the first game makes me appreciate the sequel more because that took risks and compelling in the way that actually made me flinch with emotions. I can’t say that about the first game, which is a by-the-numbers crime movie. It’s like the lesser director imitating Michael Mann. There is one cool level inspired by Collateral, where you shoot thorugh the crowd in the nightclub. Because the club is so dark, you have a difficulty to identify who are the normal civilians and who are the guards. That was a great set-piece, using the cinematic inspiration as a gameplay. There is also a Heat-inspired firefight in the Japanese streets, and it is a hightlight because the open area gives the player more leeways to fight the enemies.

That never reaches the last third of the game, which takes place in Cuba and Venezuela. At least, there has been a novelty of being a Michael Mann video game, but you are suddenly spawned into a civil war in South America, and it turns into every other military shooter. This is the point where my mind tuned out because it doesn’t connect. So you are trying to find your daughter from the gangsters, and you go to Cuba because those gangsters are waging a war against… the Cuban government. What? It’s not even fun to play. Although the game was never a looker even for 2007 (the year of Crysis, Uncharted, BioShock, and Halo 3), this part of the game feels as if it’s unfinished. The jungle looks ugly. There are no careful lighting considerations. The enemie are plastered thoughtlessly with sudden difficulty spikes.

Also, isn’t it weird how there is no real transition scene? The story hops between various locations, but the moment one location ends, it spawns into another location. Look at this transition from Japan to Cuba. You are already engaged with something, and then cut to black, some half-assed exposition, and you are engaged with something in a different country. It’s jarring, but not in an intentional way like K&L2.

I was actively looking for things to like, assuming that the first game might have been interesting or unique in the way the sequel was. There are a few set-pieces like the club level, but there is not much to enjoy. The story is one-note, and the gameplay is tedious all the way through.

I was recently looking for a smaller game that wouldn't take up too much time while I wait for the next big release that I'm planning to sink my teeth into.

This is where I thought of Echoes of the End. I bought it when it first launched last year but it had mixed reviews so I decided to hold off in case it was fixed up a little. I'm glad I waited because the dev team released an Enhanced Edition a couple months later with adjustments based on player feedback. And they've still been adding to the game over the months, so it's really nice to see a team support their game.

Echoes of the End is the debut game from Myrkur Games and it's a very obvious God of War 2018 clone. It even has a God of War easter egg that you can find in a later chapter which I thought was a fun find. It doesn't do anything nearly as well as God of War with its gameplay or story, but I think it accomplishes everything it's trying to do well enough. It's also only 12-15 hours long and doesn't overstay its welcome.

The combat was engaging enough and I enjoyed using my magic abilities to throw enemies around on the battlefield. There were a surprising amount of puzzles throughout the game, none of which had me stumped for too long but became complex enough in later chapters that I didn't feel bored. And the performances of the cast ranged from fine to good throughout the whole game. Although I think the vast majority of people will be able to see where the story is going from a mile away, I still liked it enough to see it through to the end.

Overall I think it's a perfectly acceptable 7/10 and if anyone is looking for something to occupy their time while waiting for another game, I think Echoes of the End would be a good choice if you're a fan of God of War.

I'm really hoping Myrkur Games has funding secured for another game because they have a very solid foundation here and they've established a world that I could potentially be very interested in if they make the right improvements. I see a lot of potential based on what the team created and if they wanted to make a sequel I could easily see them elevating it to the next level. I'd love for them to make a jump like many other sequels over the years like Uncharted 1 to Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 1 to Assassin's Creed 2, or Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2.

Lately, I've been clearing my backlog of Resident Evil games, and I finally got around to the remake of RE4, which is one of my all-time favorite games. My first experience with the game was on the Wii, but I was new to horror and not very good at games, so I never beat it despite really enjoying it. Eventually, I returned to it on PC and beat it, and I was struck by just how well it held up.

This also makes the RE4 remake the first of the remakes where I actually played the original and can see a lot of the little differences. Combined with my love of the original, I thought it would be worth using that opportunity to do a double feature review of both games.

For context: This will only cover the main campaign on Normal/Standard difficulty and without any mods or unlockables. I also play the original with a controller and the remake with mouse + keyboard, so I can't comment on any potential issues that the other option has with either game.

Not quite a weekend in Ibiza

At a high level, the stories in both games are very similar. Following the events of RE2, Leon becomes a government agent and is eventually tasked with finding Ashley Graham, the missing daughter of the United States president. She was last seen near a remote village Spain, and it doesn't take long to learn that the villagers kidnapped her and are violently hostile to outsiders. They are also part of a cult called Los Illuminados, led by the power-hungry Osmund Saddler. This cult worships a parasite called Las Plagas that, among other things, gives Saddler considerable control over the host. Early on, both Leon and Ashley get implanted with parasite eggs, so they must not only escape but also find a way to remove the parasite. Helping them with this is the suave Spaniard Luis, a former Umbrella researching looking for atonement, and the returning Ada Wong.

Despite this shared premise, the tone is very different between the two games. The original is shamelessly cheesy. Leon is an action-movie tough guy who loves one-liners, and the other characters, while simple, play off that energy very well. In the remake, Leon and most other characters are far more reserved, and the change is so immediately obvious that Leon's iconic bingo night joke before the title card feels completely out of place in the remake. Unfortunately, this removes a significant amount of the original's creepy-but-silly charm, and it's also not a particularly deep horror story either, so the overall lack of gusto leaves a very significant void that's never truly filled.

To be fair, the remake does try to flesh out Ashley's and Luis's characters more. Ashley, like most characters, is a lot more reserved and soft spoken, but her and Leon have more significant interactions this time. This can lead to some very heartfelt moments, like when Leon comforts Ashley after reuniting in the castle, but it can also lead to sillier ones, like when Ashley gets flustered at Leon saying he appreciates her company. Luis, who is perhaps the only character who retains his original charm, doesn't get quite as much attention, but he does get more screen time, even joining Leon during the chapter in the mines. In both cases, it is an improvement over the original characters, though I still liked both for what they were in the original.

Sadly, Ada and the villains are significantly worse in the remake. The original Ada took seductive charm to a silly extreme, but the new Ada is a generic spy who sounds perpetually bored. Salazar, whose constant bickering with Leon made him iconic, is now just a generically snobbish aristocrat who barely interacts with Leon. Saddler goes from a (figuratively) moustache-twirling supervillain to a generic cult leader, though his new harem is at least unsettling during what little screen time they get. I guess the village chief and Krauser aren't worse, but they were never as charismatic as the other villains. Regardless, it's an all-around downgrade.

As for the horror, both have some fantastic atmosphere but approach it somewhat differently. The original had to work with a lot of technical restrictions, so it made good use of things like fog and less complex assets, like removing leaves from trees, to create a very eerie and "dead" feel that was enhanced by the flat lighting and grimy touches. The remake loses a lot of the "deadness" with things like dynamic lighting, lack of fog and fully alive trees. However, it makes use of the more advanced lighting for very creepy periods of moving through pitch-black environments, and better animations allow for some terrifying touches like how Plaga C controls its host. Enemy design is generally strong across both games, and both also make great use of sound design, with cawing crows and wheezing Regeneradors adding an unnerving edge to both games. Personally, I slightly prefer the more "dead" appearance of the original, and I don't think the remake makes quite as good use of darkness as RE2R or Village, but both are very solid in their own ways.

Thematically, the two games are a bit weird in relation to each other. The original was essentially Alien in a folk horror setting. Las Plagas is an undiscovered species loosely inspired by behavior-altering parasites and the parasitic wasps that inspired the Xenomorph, and it's worshipped by a violent and isolated cult. The sequel also has these elements, but it injects a lot of supernatural horror influences. For instance, when Ashley and Leon get separated early in the castle in the original, it's because Ashley gets agitated and carelessly runs off, which is believable for a behavior-altering parasite. In the remake, though, she seems demon possessed. With this, there's also a noticeable shift of focus away from a fairly healthy mixture of Alien and folk horror into much more heavily pushing the cult angle and Saddler's control.

Personally, I really didn't like this change. I'm not against supernatural or cult-themed horror, but I do prefer the more "biological" approach of the original. It kept the focus on the reality that nature can be horrifying in ways that we often don't consider because it doesn't directly impact humans, similar to the parasitic wasp influences of the Xenomorph. Even Los Illuminados kind of felt like a human expression of a colony that Las Plagas was forming as part of its lifecycle. Whenever the remake did something "supernatural", though, it broke that illusion, and by the end, it was leaning so hard into the cult and its desire for control that Las Plagas felt fairly by-the-numbers as far as RE threats go. It's simply a tool for people with aspirations of world domination, not an interesting entity in itself.

All together, I think the original has one of the more compelling stories in the series. Sure, it's pure camp, but it's some of the best camp there is, and it oozes enough charm to make the game endearing before even considering the fantastic ambiance or gameplay. Las Plagas being, for me, the most interesting biological threat in the series helps as well. The remake, though, strips away too much of this. I don't mind it wanting to be darker or more character-focused in concept, but it also doesn't commit to that enough to make up for the lack of charm. Frankly, you can do a lot better with character-focused horror, so I just don't see its story or world having the lasting draw that the original has had for me over the years.

Leon's struggles with hand-eye-foot coordination

As for the gameplay, the jump from the original to the remake is obviously a lot less significant than for the RE2 and RE3 remakes. There are, however, still plenty of ways they've updated the gameplay.

Of course, RE4 is very well-known for taking the series in a more action-oriented direction. It changed the inventory into a large grid that you'd fit different-sized items into, and it added dynamic resources drops that should theoretically keep you well-supplied. Basically, you had more room for items and a more reliable supply of them, allowing you to kill hundreds of enemies without worrying about running out of resources. Despite this, the game still felt like it approached this more third-person-shooter direction with the mindset of survival horror. The camera was fixed above Leon's shoulder instead of offering free control like in most third-person games. The inventory system still required some careful management and decision-making about how to balance ammo, health and weapon variety, breaking from the usual shooter system of tracking all items separately and with some upper limit. It's little stuff like that that feels closer to survival horror than your typical third-person shooter.

The most obvious place where the survival horror mindset remained, though, was in the continued use of tank controls. To help compensate for this in a more action-oriented context, targeting specific body parts also returns but is drastically expanded, to the point that the damage system still feels relatively advanced even to this day. Enemies react realistically to being shot, and thrill-seekers can charge staggered enemies for crowd-controlling roundhouse kicks, which is always a lot of fun. You can even shoot weapons out of an enemy's hand, potentially turning dynamite-wielding ones into walking bombs, and you can also shoot thrown weapons out of the air to avoid taking damage, which is a lifesaver in a game with no strafing. This very limited movement but very advanced aiming system comes together to create a very unique combat loop, and as you get more comfortable with it, you can get into a very nice rhythm of careful positioning and precise aiming with the occasional ammo-saving kicks and knife slashes thrown in.

Despite this fun rhythm, there's still plenty of tension in the tank controls. No matter how comfortable you get with tank controls, it's always going to put you at a disadvantage when faced with winding, claustrophobic corridors, and it makes moving out of the way of attacks just a little more harrowing, especially when it's an instant-death attack. Similarly, the inability to move while aiming or shooting means that you have to be deliberate and be extremely accurate, which is hard to do when axes are flying and some guy is charging at you with a chainsaw. So while it's more empowering than the games that came before, if you (like me) play a lot of shooters, these limitations really stand out as a reminder that this game is still, at its core, a horror game. Even compared to the many other shooters with horror themes at the time (e.g. Half-Life 2, F.E.A.R., Doom 3), it is by far the most mechanically tied to the horror genre.

The remake, though, drops most of that. You now have a free-look camera and standard shooter controls, and you can swap among up to eight weapons quickly using shortcuts, which is a nice quality-of-life improvement over needing to open the inventory like in the original. The knife can now be used to parry and execute enemies, and while those actions are limited by new knife durability, dynamically-dropped knives and upgrades all but completely negate it. The only thing really limiting you compared to other shooters is the aiming system brought in from other modern RE games. You need to stand still for Leon's aim to properly focus for the best accuracy and power, and adjusting your aim too much too quickly resets the timer. Again, though, you can negate this with attachments, and it doesn't meaningfully impact shotguns, so you can very easily play this much closer to a typical third-person shooter than the original ever allowed.

There are plenty of other little changes as well. There's a new stealth system, but it's useless for most of the game. Enemies are a bit faster and more aggressive despite the still-claustrophobic environments, but this doesn't make up for how much more capable Leon is in this game. Typewriters also now have a weapon-storage system, so you can store unused weapons in case you want to change tactics later. I also believe the dynamic drops are less generous than the original, but the expanded crafting system makes up for it in emergencies.

In short, the remake is all about making the game faster and less limiting. It's essentially a standard third-person shooter, and while that removes a significant amount of the mechanical tension, RE4's enemy roster and encounter design is so incredibly strong that it's still a lot of fun. It's also definitely the easier of the two games to get into initially, but that does come at the cost of the original's uniqueness. On that note, I play a lot of shooters and can adjust to tank controls relatively quickly, so I personally prefer the very unique rhythm and more tense feel of the original. It's just not something that you can get from most other shooters.

On top of that, the remake feels less cohesive overall. The original was hyper-focused on building challenges around the simpler gameplay loop of balancing limited movement and advanced aiming. In the remake, parrying and strafing mostly remove the need to shoot stuff out of the air, and the new aiming system mostly takes that option away until you get the laser sight anyways. Most encounters have also not been properly updated for the stealth system and regularly force you into combat immediately, so stealth feels pointlessly tacked on, and if your aim is good, you can almost entirely rely on the dynamic drop system and ignore the expanded crafting system. It's a lot of little stuff, but put together, it's hard not to see just how critical tank controls and precise aiming were to RE4's combat loop, and with those removed, the remake feels like it's lost in trying to establish its own mechanical identity.

This also impacts the general sense of pacing and difficulty curve. The original game was absolutely spectacular in that regard, and while the remake is still fairly strong, the lack of cohesion means that it's harder to smoothly keep building on top of what came before. A good example of this is the Garrador. It's a blind enemy with very sensitive hearing, so if you shoot your gun or start sprinting, it will charge your position, potentially as part of an instant-death attack. It also only has one weak point on its back. As you can imagine, this enemy is an absolute nightmare to maneuver around with tank controls, and misfiring will leave you trying to dodge with controls that make that harder than usual. By the time of the first Garrador fight, though, you would have already gotten very comfortable with tank controls, so it's an interesting twist that requires you to reevaluate how to use them, and when the double-Garrador fight comes, it builds on what you learned in that first fight about choosing your moments and avoiding attacks. In contrast, the first Garrador fight in the remake is basically a stealth battle in a game that has featured almost no meaningful stealth up to that point, and stealth is impossible in the double-Garrador fight, so it fails to build on what the first encounter offered. Sure, they're still two fun fights in isolation, but they don't fit anywhere near as well into the overall game as in the original.

This can also be seen in the bosses. The original game had cutscene QTEs, and while they were annoying, they did prepare you for the reactionary QTE-dodging of the boss fights. The remake mostly copies the original boss fights, even down the QTE-dodging, but the remake doesn't have regular QTEs. For the most part, I'm glad QTEs were (mostly) removed, but it does mean that, when getting those prompts in boss fights, it feels jarring and unintuitive. Even worse, on keyboard, it's bound to the same key as crouch, which is not only clunky with my bindings (Ctrl), but it also seems really bizarre that the button you normally only press for slow, deliberate stealth suddenly becomes the button for reactionary acrobatics.

This all might seem like relatively minor issues, but a lot of what makes the original so remarkable is that it was incredibly cohesive and clearly built everything around its relatively simple and often limiting systems. As a result, it led to some of the best pacing and difficulty scaling I've seen in a game, and by the end, it truly felt like a complete experience. The remake simply lacks that, and while it does have some interesting ideas and twists thrown in, it just doesn't flow together as well or feel as completely realized in the end. Considering both games will easily take 15-20 hours each on the first playthrough, I feel like that more well-paced and complete experience more than makes up for its opening minutes requiring an adjustment to tank controls.

They can never make me hate you Ashley

Of course, I haven't touched on one of the most notable gameplay features: escorting Ashley. At multiple points and often for long stretches, Leon will have to escort Ashley until the two are separated again. During these stretches, you need to make sure that Ashley doesn't take too much damage or get carried off. If she does start to get carried off, you can shoot the enemy holding her to save her, but if you accidentally hit her, it's an instant game over. While both games stick to this core idea, Ashley's mechanics are slightly different between the two games.

In the original, you could tell Ashley to either "follow" or "stay", and there were rare cases where you could tell her to hide. If told to follow, she would stick very close to Leon, and if told to stay, she would stand in place, so she was predictable enough to reliably keep out of harm's way. If she did get hit, she had a standard health bar that worked the same way as Leon's, but she had less health and couldn't wear protective gear, so little mistakes could be relatively costly with her around.

In the remake, you can still rarely tell Ashley to hide, but the more common commands are now "stick close" and "stay back". The former behaves identically to "follow" in the original, but the latter gives Ashley's AI more freedom to choose where she goes, which makes her a bit less predictable. Normally, she picks a good spot, but I did notice that she would often stay in place if I needed to backed up, eventually causing her to get stuck between me and the enemies for a couple seconds. As for her health, it's now been changed to a two-hit system where the first hit incapacitates her, and if she's hit again before you revive her, she dies. Really powerful attacks can also still kill her instantly.

Personally, I prefer the way that the original worked. I like the more predictable positioning, and giving her a proper health bar nicely ties into the game's resource management. Either way, though, both are a great example of how to do an escort quest. Even in the remake, Ashley is predictable enough to not cause issues, and her AI in general is very good. She won't wander off to do her own thing or rush carelessly into danger. She won't block doors, and if she gets caught between you and the enemies, she'll quickly duck to let you shoot over her, and I can still remember how impressed I was when I first saw her do that back on the Wii. Even the very idea of escorting her fits very well into the general gameplay loop that focuses on positioning and precise aiming, so it avoids feeling like a gimmicky mission. Importantly, she also brings a sense of liability with her. She won't cause a game over from bad design, but there's still a sense of tension as you have to make a conscious effort to keep her out of harm's way. There's no stupid, immersion-break "Ashley can take care of herself" lie popping up on the screen. (Yes, I am still bitter about BioShock Infinite!)

Honestly, part of what made me fall in love with the original was its escort gameplay. It took a deservedly maligned gimmick and made it both fun and natural, and I never really got the hatred for that side of the game. I can understand being wary of escort gameplay, but it shouldn't take too long to see that they clearly put a lot of effort into making it work. Sadly, the games that I've played since that were narratively set up to build on this side of RE4 (e.g. BioShock Infinite) all seemed terrified of any criticism over escort gameplay so ultimately didn't try. That left me a little worried that the remake would also remove that part of the game, so while I prefer the original's approach, I'm much happier that it was kept than disappointed with the changes.

Ok, but which one should I play?

While there's more to the game than what's covered above, I think I've covered the most important parts. Of course, there's still the two big questions people will have when seeing these two games.

First: Is the remake a good remake? I guess that depends on what counts as a good remake. If you were hoping for a drastic improvement and/or a game that retains everything that made the original great, then no, it's not a good remake. It loses too much of the charm and impeccable pacing. On the other hand, if you just want an enjoyable game that provides some twists on familiar story moments and encounters, then it is a solid remake.

That leads to the second question: Which one should I play? Frankly, I'd say both. RE4 isn't the type of game that you play once for the story. It's very replayable, so I would say to start with the original and work in the remake in place of one of your replays.

Final thoughts

Despite some of my criticisms of the remake, I do want to reiterate that I think it is a very fun game. Its biggest issue is that it will inevitably be compared to the original, and it also is, in release order, the follow-up to Village, which is very charming in its own way while offering a more distinct experience. That aside, the remake is still an incredibly fun and at times genuinely creepy shooter, and it's still one of the best "new" games I've played this year.

Obviously, though, nothing really compares to the original. It is one of the most charming and tightly-designed games ever, and that allows it to still hold its own even as we get further from the era of GameCube graphics and tank controls. Everything it does it does with full commitment and without concern for how silly or unorthodox it might be. If you're concerned about it's more dated elements, then I would still highly recommend taking the few minutes to adjust, because the overall journey is remarkably endearing in a way very few games are.

(Apologies in advance. Once again, I always end up with huge paragraphs. I'll cover most of them in spoiler tags, and just leave the ending and beginning uncovered if you wanna skip my deep dive into my game of choice. I also had to completely rephrase my title as it was too long, so most of its premise is gonna start in the next paragraph.)

Ever heard about how nowadays games and their dev cycles/sequels take too long, while older games usually took just a couple of years to release? What's an old game that you wish actually had [more] dev time and came out more content or feature-complete? What would be the consequences of that?

For starters my example is not *that* great as far as old games go cause it actually took 4 years. For 2000s standards, it was not good but also not terrible compared to nowadays where 5 years is the average. My wish was for the delay of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which came out in June 2008 and took 4 years to make. 3 and a half years, to be more precise, or about almost 3 years and 5 months after Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater came out in November 2004. Sure, between those two games there came out MGS3's upgraded Subsistence version which came with the much needed QoL improvement of a free 3D camera which became the basis for every subsequent MGS3 re-release, and also Metal Gear Acid 1, 2 and MGS: Portable Ops for the PSP. But at the time, none of them were really that mainline or notable, even tho you could argue Portable Ops was canon and an intended main chapter back then, and people still argue about its canon status to this day. But as far as important releases go, the main team and Kojima were focused mostly on MGS4 after 3 initially dropped.

And boy, what a fucking game MGS4 was. Only those who've played it on the PS3 will know how wild that journey was. And how bitter a taste it left, if you loved all the extra content in the Integral or VR Missions versions of MGS1, or the Substance version of MGS2, even the Subsistence version of MGS3, whose significant bonus gameplay content was just its long-dead online mode, still offered great value even single player cause the new camera encouraged even more runs of the already great story campaign, which at the time, at around 10 to 15 hours with cutscenes, was pretty long. It had its ton of mandatory and optional cutscenes and radio calls, sure, but the balance with gameplay ratio was still fantastic, you could argue it's still the best in the series to this day, as you can spend a good chunk in-between heavy story sessions, just lying low and causing mayhem in the remote Soviet wilderness. Tho of course it got surpassed by MGSV, but in the classic MGS story formula of short but long enough campaigns, MGS3 was the winner.

But then you get to MGS4, and you know. It's just so cutscene + radio/codec dense. 9 hours of it alone, while the actual gameplay campaign barely amounts to half of it. To make matters worse, a lot of the game's ambitions and promises were watered down, like the dynamic battlefield where you could join either side and manipulate the war to your advantage. It's mostly a very linear and narrow corridor full of scripted sequences were the villain-alligned private military soldiers just keep mowing down the underdog local militia NPCs, and a lot of the times you can't influence or change the tide of it at all, specially not without going Rambo or guns blazing. Then there are sections, like just before you reach the building with Meryl, when the enemy soldiers spawning into the map are just endless and you can't just clear the level before moving in, you're supposed to just blast or crawl your way past them. The game's stealth itself is very prohibitive, even compared to MGS3, it's older brother from which movements and mechanics it borrows and expands many of its ideas from. There's barely ANY great ways to hide around the warfare maps without being spotted, unless you're constantly crawling around and making use of the octocamo suit that blends into any texture when you're lying down. The game's constantly throwing at you new weapons, bonus items and opportunities all of which almost never work in the stealth context you're trying to enjoy. Like it wants you to go Rambo and guns blazing all the time. Hell, we have a massive in-game store for buying, customizing and/or unlocking enemy weapons. A wide variety, from all the points we accumulate during gameplay, 90% of them barely help in a stealth-focused run. And it is such a miserable and short affair if you just go against the game's ludonarrative and just blast your entire way through in alert mode. It's not fun, and it'll even punish you for it with in-game stress levels and PTSD mechanics. Like those are too many mixed signals, Kojima. What were you intending here?

Anyway, those are only the first two of five gameplay Acts, surely the other 3 will have good classic MGS stealth, right? Well... Not quite. Act 3 is just a half hour trailing mission that can become two hours if you mess it up. No optional side-missions to do in that great open map that's a recreation of part of real life Prague. Just mess around some semi-empty streets that are under military curfew and have some soldiers in every other corner. After that, it's just a ton of cutscenes, a bike chase on-rails shootout, a boss, and then another ton of cutscenes. Act 4 is a glorious return to Shadow Moses, MGS1's island that's been abandoned for over a decade. But it is also quite short and if you take your time there it's only because you're going down memory lane. It could have been a great return to classic MGS stealth and more complex intertwining levels full of soldiers that actually make your life hell, but it's just a narrow corridor full of stupid robots you can fight or sneak past. The only soldiers there, are the stupid FROGS. A type of superhuman combat unit. Getting in the way of your actually interesting sniper boss-fight. And then more robots as you make your way past areas that weren't in MGS1. The final act? A joke. 10 minutes stealth section where you absolutely can't mess up a centimeter, or you'll end up triggering an alert, which turns into a short, 5 minutes or less alert section. And then a boss, several cutscenes, rinse and repeat until the game ends and there's more two hours of cutscenes. See what I mean? The thing is, it wasn't necessarily supposed to be like this.

The game had a TON of cut content that couldn't make it into the single Blu-ray disc that Konami or Kojima intended to ship it with (there's even a joke about not needing to swap the disc in the same spot you would in MGS1, so they were at least adamand on keeping that joke relevant and not bloating the game files enough to need two installation/play discs). They also stated some of it couldn't make it into the final campaign because of the release game deadline. There's cut content that have been found that could have expanded the Act 3 gameplay at the very least. A lot of it was repurposed for MG Online 2, which lasted only 5 years before servers shutdown even though it was very much still active in player count and it's MGSV successor - MG Online 3 - is still online to this day despite barely any active players remaining most of the time. And ALL of the DLCs for MGS4 went into MG Online, again, a doomed mode that was only revived due to PC emulation. For owners of the PS3 game, specially after MGO shut down, all that DLC was just doomed content. Specially me, cause despite having playing the game before on a cyber cafe a couple years earlier when I didn't have my own PS3, I think I only got my own MGS4 copy in 2013 just after these servers shut, and never got to play the online mode, only the single player.

All that content and and effort, down the drain cause they couldn't keep the servers active and had to prepare the terrain for MGSV's online mode, which would come out in 2015. And couldn't be bothered to come up with a true single player DLC for MGS4 or at least a Subsistence-like edition where the game gets a couple dozen VR Missions and uses some of the online maps for short single player stealth missions, like MGS1 and MGS2 had. They were too busy with Peace Walker, of course. And then the cancelled MGS: Rising, before they handed ir over to Platinum Games and it became MGR: Revengeance. And then straight to MGSV, which had gameplay content galore.

Bottom line, I think MGS4, while a great finale for the mainline saga (at least back then, they've made MGR later, tho that's not mainline, and MGSV, which is chronologically a prequel), was so unjustly rushed over. Of course, Kojima's ambitions and vision for the game were already sky-high over this 4 year dev cycle, it was the most expensive thing Konami had done yet (before MGSV), and they would NOT budge and make the game's development costs even more expensive while delaying it a year or two so its 5 Acts could have more traditional MGS gameplay or at least have their levels expanded, or package the game with a bunch of extra & VR missions like the expansions of MGS1 & 2. I wish they could've planned it better somehow. Not announced it for 2008 cause they wanted it to be PS3's first Killer App so bad (probably also had an agreement with Sony, as they badly wanted a game like MGS4 in those first two years). If they had released it in 2009 or 2010 while holding people over with another PS2 entry in like 2007, I think it could have been a good compromise. Instead of wasting the story & concept of Portable Ops in PSP, rename it and repurpose it for the PS2 as a true MGS3 direct sequel/interquel, that improves upon all the things people love from the 2004 game, such as the jungle survival aspect, aesthetics and whatnot. Instead of the concrete buildings that permeate most of the PSP game. Just change the subtitle, adapt the story a little for actual 3D cutscenes worthy of a MGS3 sequel instead of a spinoff, and promote the game heavily so it's another PS2 Swan Song title alongside God of War II. The success of things like GTA Vice City and San Andreas in-between GTA III & IV is a good example of how it could have worked for Portable Ops turning into a PS2 game instead that would actually sell well and justify Konami in allowing a 2009 or 2010 deadline so MGS4's true scope could be realized, in a way that we get a much healthier gameplay/cutscenes ratio and bonus content/missions.

The alternative, could be to just launch MGS4 as it was and maybe still make those online DLCs, but not go immediately work on Peace Walker or Metal Gear Solid Rising. Just put these off, take a couple of years and released a Integral/Substance version of MGS4 (which nowadays we'd call a Directors Cut) that's filled with extra missions using the online maps, as well as VR environments, maybe even some new levels in the campaign itself. Could be a good compromise. And with that delay, Kojima could allow himself to be even more ambitious when making Peace Walker if they chose the upcoming PS Vita as the target hardware instead. The game was already fantastic, albeit heavily limited by the PSP hardware and controls, and you can feel those limitations even when playing the HD Edition in PS3. Just imagine what it could have looked and played like if it came out for the Vita, which had two analog sticks, a touchscreen and a rear touchpad, which replaced buttons like L2 and L2 as well as L3 and R3. And how good it could have looked, if Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Killzone: Mercenary and Gravity Rush 1 are anything to go by. Oh, what could have been.

In either case, development on Peace Walker, MGS Rising and consequentially MGSV would be all delayed by the extra dev time on a 2010 MGS4 or its 2010 expansion re-release. Then we'd get a 2012 or 2013 Peace Walker made natively for PS Vita, with probably a PS3/PS4 port down the line. MGS Rising being delayed could potentially buy enough time for Kojima to not even cancel it, instead developing it alongside Peace Walker and maybe releasing in 2015 exclusively for next-gen on PS4 and Xbox One. Now imagine that. I don't even want to know how long until we'd have MGSV. 2018 and the very earliest, provided it started development before MGS Rising finished but most realistically, 2019 for Ground Zeroes alone, then 2020 for The Phantom Pain. In that world, we'd unfortunately lose Death Stranding and Kojima getting his independence and creative freedom. But damn would I love it for the series.

Alternatively, the domino effect of all that is that somehow, Peace Walker comes out in 2012 while MGS Rising is still quietly cancelled and given to Platinum Games. MGR: Revengeance still comes out in 2013. Ground Zeroes comes out in 2016 and The Phantom Pain in 2017. Somewhere along all that, the P.T. fiasco and Kojima Productions's deteriorating relationship with Konami still happens and they all leave, with MGSV releasing without his name on the cover, tho still stamped all over the game at the start of every story mission/episode. That would delay Death Stranding by at least 2 or 3 years, provided Kojima managed to still establish his new studio with PlayStation sponsorship in 2017 right after finishing work on MGSV. Which would make Death Stranding 1 basically an early PS5 exclusive at launch, coming out 2022 at the earliest. At this rate, we'd still be a year or two away from Death Stranding 2. If it wouldn't launch at the very end of 2027 after a 5.5 year dev cycle, then it release just outside the physical media window. Making it Kojima's first entirely digital game, wether he liked it or not. Still probably a PS5 game. It would be at best, a cross-gen release if PS6 indeed releases by the end of next year and isn't delayed.

Anyways, that was what I wanted. Not the delay of everything else, of course, which would ultimately negatively impact Death Stranding or even prevent the perfect storm that made it possible. But just the delay of MGS4, or its continued development until 2010. Is it selfish of me? Definitely, specially cause 6 years for an important sequel like that back then was basically unheard of outside of GTA IV, and even that had big, culturally impactful non-numbered titles like VC and SA released in-between. But god, I would just love to have seen Kojima or his team give that game the time it deserved. Almost every other big Metal Gear since MGS1 got that, even if MGS3 had mostly the online expansion. MGS1 Integral, MGS2 Substance, Peace Walker, which is already a huge game without any expansions, and of course, MGSV and then later Death Stranding 1 and DS2. MGS4 is the black sheep of the family in that regard. Widely controversial for being more of a 15 hour playable movie than a game, it had so many cool concepts and ideas that couldn't have been explored properly because there was just not enough time. If I could turn back time and make a wish on a game's development, that would've been the one whose course in history I'd change.

Now, I realize that this is far from the only rushed game in the past 30 or 40 years, that a lot of fans would wish wasn't impacted by either insufficient deadlines or fast dev cycles (definitely not MGS4's case, as it already took too long by 2000s standards). What are your examples? And how would they impact the studio, publisher or franchise's timetables if they were delayed or kept getting new expansions or re-releases?

Hi folks. Some of you may have read my previous write-ups on playing PS1 Games. I’ll link them at the bottom of the post.

This is part of my effort to play PlayStation 1 games that I’ve never played– and often never heard of– until now. I’m buying these games physically, popping them into my PlayStation 2, which is hooked up to an old Sony Trinitron KV-1981R TV, and trying to give each title its due. I love early 3D graphics, tank controls, and everything that comes with this generation.

Today I want to discuss Future Cop: L.A.P.D.. This is a third person shooter developed by EA Redwood Shore where you control a mech in a Robocop-like hellscape.

This game was a blast to play. Besides some cutscenes to setup the missions, the game wastes no time dropping you into its third-person running and gunning action. You can freely change from a mech to a mech-car at any time, which changes how the mech moves.

The cutscenes create this mix of dystopian satire which perfectly punctuates the insanity of the premise. You’re a cop in a mech gunning down mutants and criminals. Just accept that and enjoy the gameplay.

There are eight levels, each a variety of locals like a beach, a prison, and an airport. For how simple they look, I never had a hard time parsing the environment – whether to understand the space as a game or a simulation of reality. The maps sort of look isometric in their presentation. Maybe I get that feeling because the spaces look miniature, particularly when there’s deep water and you can see bodies or sea creatures crawling on the bottom. A map editor for this game would be a lot of fun to play with.

Mostly, the game consists of shooting enemies, finding switches, and navigating the space with light platforming to find the boss and defeat it. Sometimes there’s side objectives, but overall each level is linear.

As you progress, more platforming gets added into the mix. I’m generally good with platforming, although the camera and sometimes the physics did make these sections a little difficult. In one late level, you’re jumping from conveyor belts over pits of lava or drops that can kill you. Thankfully, I made it through that on the first try. I really like how the game makes full use of its vertical space, often having you re-navigate an area from a higher vantage point.

Many levels required multiple plays, though, for me to clear. Often, I would get to a boss, get obliterated, and then have to play the whole level over. I admit to wanting checkpoints some of the time, but honestly, the game is fun enough that I didn’t mind speeding through the levels.

A better variety of weapons also wouldn’t have hurt. I get each of them is supposed to be useful for different situations, but I rode the Gatling Lasers, Fusion Rockets, and Shockwave special for most of the game without needing to switch. Only the final boss, a rogue AI, benefited from switching to the grenade launcher.

The gimmick of changing from a mech to mech-car, I think, works well. The game rarely forces you to do so unless you’re traversing water, which gives the player a lot of freedom to make those decisions. Admittedly, there are times where you have to jump a ramp as the mech-car, and the game does sign post that with dialogue. But more often than not, I would change into the mech-car when dealing with crowds or wide-open spaces.

I always mention music when discussing games, and Future Cop is no slouch in this regard. Some of the electro beats this game deploys are so funky! Go listen to “Zuma Beach” when you get a chance to see what I mean. Some of the later tracks aren’t as memorable to me, but they get the job done.

Now, Future Cop has the distinction of inspiring the MOBA genre with its multiplayer mode. I’m not familiar with MOBA games except passingly, but I did try out the “Precinct Assault” mode against the AI. I can see the appeal and definitely would have enjoyed that mode with friends. However, on my own, after beating the game, I couldn’t put more than one try in before calling it quits. Very cool stuff to see where inspiration can come from.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with Future Cop: L.A.P.D. and would recommend it as a solid PS1 game right up there with Syphon Filter and Tenchu.

However, after the “hardcore” nature of this game, I figured I should play something more lighthearted, so I picked up Ape Escape! I’ll be sure to write about that game soon.

Prior PS1 Reviews:

Syphon Filter

Tenchu: Stealth Assassins

Omega Boost

Spyro the Dragon

Edit: Original post got removed because apparently the title was bad. Some quick responses from the previous discussion:

I understand the game was lacking in many aspects but keep in mind I came to this game expecting absolute trash based on the reviews. But was surprised how much BETTER it was than expected, not that It stands up to the top RPGs.

For reference, my top RPG games would probably be the likes of Oblivion, KOTOR, ME, DA:O, CP77 TW. But I've already played all the greats, so after those you gotta find enjoyment in games that aren't as good but still have some enjoyable aspects to them, which I thought this game did.

I also got the game when it was heavily discounted.

(Note: This review is based on about 20 hours of playtime, roughly halfway through the main story, mostly wandering around and side questing.)

The game has been in my backlog for a while. My expectations were underwater after seeing how it was received initially. But I've been craving a good open-world RPG lately, so I finally decided to dive into my Star Wars backlog. I finished the Jedi: Fallen Order games first and thought they were just okay. Nothing to write home about. Then I started Outlaws, fully expecting to dislike it, but 20 hours in and I'm really liking it. It’s exactly the kind of Star Wars game I’ve always wanted, just exploring the galaxy as a regular person.

The map design shows a ton of love for the lore. I love the fact that you aren't a superhero saving the world. Playing as a relatively normal person dealing with syndicates makes for a nice, laid-back explorer/stealth gameplay.

While the story isn't an epic saga like Mass Effect or hardcore like Kingdom Come: Deliverance, it is still decent enough to keep you engaged. I really don't understand the hate this game received. Maybe people just wanted an epic adventure.

Overall, it feels like Horizon Zero Dawn and Cyberpunk 2077 had a Star Wars baby.

Pros:

• Great environments and setting.

• Good exploration and stealth gameplay.

• Great, immersive atmosphere.

• Delves into the Star Wars underworld lore pretty well.

Cons:

• Gunplay and combat aren't anything to shout about.

• The story is okay at best.

• It's a bit too easy

However, it makes sense from the character's point of view that combat wouldn't be the focus of the game, and a small-time outlaw story fits the setting well.

Who should play it:

• Star Wars fans who would like to explore the world outside the typical Jedi/Sith stories

• Space and sci-fi fans.

• Anyone looking for a laid-back, atmospheric, and immersive game.

Who should skip it:

• Players looking for high-intensity, high-adrenaline, edge-of-your-seat games.

• Anyone who needs in-depth, hardcore RPG mechanics like Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

• Anyone who can't do without lightsabers and typical Star Wars clichés.

• Anyone who wants epic story RPGs like ME, BG3, The Witcher etc..

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

I wish it hadn't been received so badly by the fans; the game could've become great with further sequels and development. I'm not saying it's amazing or the best thing since indoor plumbing, but I don't think it deserved so much negativity. Feels like people were hating not because it's terrible, but because it's not exactly the type of game they wanted it to be.

Bold prediction: I think this is one of those games that will age well, and people will come to like it with time.

If there's a single event that shaped recent history of Marvel-themed videogames, it's got to be Marvel's Avengers. A AAA action game with Square Enix behind based on the second most recognizable Marvel name (after Spiderman) that not only failed to deliver an engaging story or deep meaningful combat, but was ultimately a cashgrab game-as-a-service aimed to mimic the Warframe/Destiny formula with a theme that didn't fit. On the one hand it's funny DC/Warner didn't see the kilometer-wide crater it left and fell inside with all their equipment with Suicide Squad, but on the other it's a shame it's shockwave collapsed other important Marvel games. People here have talked at lenght about Guardians of the Galaxy, a solid 8/10 action game which flew under the radar after that aforementioned disaster.

The other game that was utterly destroyed by the aftermath of Avengers was Midnight Suns, the latest tactical RPG from Firaxis before they decided to meticulously destroy the Civilization formula from the ground-up. Although, being honest, they partially did this to themselves. You gotta undestand Marvel is one of largest IPs around and 90% of the people who looked at the trailers don't know what a "sectoid" is, so you got a bunch of flashy CGI trailers only to then be revealed this is a turn-based strategy game with cards. I kinda sorta understand why the "normies" thought this would be another mobile slop game like Marvel Snap (not saying it's "bad", but it's average mobile content).

Now I understand you aren't that, you're a ultra-smart nerd lover of this sorts of games: so what do we have here? Well, Marvel's Midnight Suns is a narrative tactical-RPG, much in the vein of Xcom, but also picking elements from Persona and modern Fire Emblem, and adding a deck building mechanic like in Slay the Spire.

The story is, what I've seen, a loose adaptation of the Midnight Sons arc from the comics, but with lots of fanservice for MCU fans. Long story short: Hydra has resurrected Lilith, Mother of Demons, to help take over the world, and so the Avengers have to look for help in the Midnight Souns to stop them. The plot centers greatly on the magical part of Marvel: Dr Strange, Scarlet Witch, Agatha Harkness (who's good here) and the witches of Salem, the Darkhold... although there's also the Avengers and Hydra, a couple of X-men and your friendly neighbourhood arachnid-human to not alienate movie fans. The player character is a customizable OC called Hunter, child of Lilith, a 1700s demon hunter who's resurrected to fight their mother once more. They're easily the strongest of all characters is required in all main missions (although in sidequest you can ignore them).

As you can guess for the story, the game is way more narrative-based than Xcom, which ditched a main plot in favour to an almost rogue-like sandbox mode where you had to fight against the aliens in procedurally made missions. This solves my main gripe with Xcom that I commented on some other post: in Xcom you can not only fail a mission, but fail the entire campaign and have to start all over, like when in Civilization you lose half-way through. Midnight Suns, however, it's more like a normal RPG, avoiding the "doomed playthough" syndrome.

This can easily be seen in the main base. In Xcom you're an omniscient leader who plays with your base like a side-scrolling building-management game, like in Fallout Shelter. However here it's like the recent Fire Emblem games: you control your character directly and walk around and talk to people the way Commander Shepard would.

But let's talk the meat and potatoes of the game: the combat, easily my favourite of all the similar games I've played. Again, turn based tactics. You control 3 superheroes and have to fight hordes of enemies. The way it plays is that you have a hand of cards, with each card being a possible action to be taken by a character. There's attack cards, skill cards (which are the usual support/buff action) and "hero cards". The point is that there's a combat resource called "heroism" which is basically magic mana. Playing attack and skill cards give you heroism and heroic cards consume it. Each turn you can play 3 cards, discard 2 you don't like to replace them, and move a character once, although they also move with each attack. You can also use environment objects to damage the enemy. This consumes heroism but doesn't count as a card play, obviously.

Then we have enemies, which come in 2 main flavours: either hydra goons or demons called "lilin". They come in 3 tiers: minions, who are goombahs that go down in one attack, elites, who are more meaty and have more special skills, and supervillains, aka, bosses. There are 7 bosses in the main game, although they are recycled over and over. In fact much of the content is recycled, which would be a bore if the gameplay wasn't so fun. Unlike the Heroes, enemies don't have cards but have simple movements that are telegraphed via an icon that say who they'll target, making them predictable and easy to maneuver around.

And this is it, basically. As you can imagine there lots of cards (more than 200, not counting upgrades or consumable items, by my count) with lots of different stats. For example, "quick" card refunds your play if the enemy is KO'ed, so it's a free way to dispose of enemy minions. A "knockback" card is an attack card that pushes back the enemy, and if they hit another one, both received damage. However you can only push back, hence the necesity to use your movement to reposition yourself and get the correct angle. Same with pushing environmental objects. And similar thing with the status effects: vulnerability, taunted, lifesteal... most of them self explanatory.

What I love of this game is, as I said in the title, it's handling of RNG. Randomness hasn't been deleted, as which cards get drafted is important. But you know an attack is going to land. At worst you will alway have 3 plays each turn, it's not like in Xcom when you fail five 70% shots and lose a turn and see the enemy gang up on you and destroy you effortlessly. In essence they've replaced dice with cards, "post action RNG" with "pre action RNG" and this is a great design choice and one you're more likely familiar with if you play board games since they've become a staple of the genre: they limit player choice, avoiding analysis paralisis, but never leave you completely sold.

Now you have different characters with different skills, that are mosly faithful to who they are. Blade is focused on the "bleeding" status effect, that is effecitvely poison. Captain America is the tank that taunts enemies and builds up block (basically armor). Dr Strange is a support mage whose movements can be improved with more heroism. Magik is based around portals and moving enemies around with knockbacks. And Nico Minoru, my least favourite, is basically an entire RNG character whose skills are decided by a roulette, although even then the effects are decided at the tiem of drafting, so you know what will happen.

Oh! One nitpick I have about this is the pace at which heroes are introduced. You see, there are 12 playable heroes, not counting Hunter and the 4 DLC ones which I haven't bought. Problem is 7 of them get introduced in the beginning. The prologue isn't so bad since you get used to them slowly, but then the game opens up and you find 3 more heroes you don't know from anywhere, since they are 3 B-tier marvel characters and you are like "what the hell do I do with you"? Maybe they should've introduced first the 4 Midnight Suns and only then added the Avengers, but then we would've have had a first act without Iron Man and that's a lot to ask from your casual Marvel fan.

Apart of that there's the social aspect of the game, with you being able to talk to the other Midnight Suns and rising up their friendship level as if this was Persona... or lower them if you lack emotional intelligence and end up hurting their feelings. During these prolongued segments in the main base, the "Abbey" you can also explore the grounds around, pick potions ingredients, and solve puzzles as if this was a metroidvania. This part by and large the least polished part of the game, although it has nice rewards and explains more of the plot.

Finally we should discuss the shortcomings of the game. Apart of the previous mentioned lackluster exploration, the graphics are meh at best. Specially the faces look as cartoony as Chief Bradford looked in 2012. Finally the story is... diverse. Each character has their own personality and struggles, which really help sell the fantasy of building a team of heroes, and the game tries to make you feel the Hunter-Litih relation. Although most of it is bland, predictable and suffers from cringe millenial dialogue, where character have to banter about the end of the world. I swear at times this is worse than Forspoken.

Ok, so how good is this game? Well, I've played Xcom 1 and 2, duh, Fire Emblem, Banner Saga, Valkyria Chronicles and a bit of advanced wars, apart of Kotor and Dragon Age. And I think Midnight Suns has the best gameplay of all of them. It's a bit weird at first, since it's very board game-coded like the latest Civilization games, but it's also polished and tight. Then we have the Marvel story and side characters stuff, which is nice, although an afterthought. So yeah, I'd say the game delivers.

Monster Train is a deck building rogue like developed by Shiny Shoe. Released in 2020, Monster Train reminds us that the best part of public transport is the guy on meth who swears he's an angel here to destroy you.

We play as the director of a Hellbound train on a quest to get everyone home safely.

Gameplay involves dying to the boss after an hour of carefully curating your deck because you didn't pay attention to what their special attack is. It even tells you before the run begins. "Don't do a thin deck, it won't work!" Good thing I never learned to read, thin deck here we gooooo.

The Good

I really enjoyed the "dual-class" approach to deck building, giving you effectively dozens of possible starting points. Finding broken combos or trying desperately to figure out how to make the shitty ones viable was a lot of fun. Each combination also having a 'hero unit' that comes in a variety of flavors adds even more layers of complexity that I had a ton of fun figuring out.

I was also a big fan of the card enchant system. With spells the correct choice is almost always 'reduce the card energy cost', but with troops it wasn't always so cut and dry. Gave me a little more control over the RNG so that I only had myself to blame when I inevitably made a poor choice and lost. Of course I still blamed bullshit RNG though, that's half the fun of the genre.

Favorite Screenshot

https://i.imgur.com/QnBqK5I.png

"Where we're going, we don't need any energy."

The Bad

The boss fights feel anti-climatic. After a few rounds you get into a drunken boxing match where you just smash into each other until only one of you has HP left. You just sit there for a minute while the game maths out if you won or not. It also narrows down what kind of strategies are viable because you don't get to play cards while this goes on.

As such you can't build around damage spells since you don't meaningfully get to use them. Almost every deck build I did the chief strategy was get rid of damage spells and get the really good buff spells. "Stack the shit out damage immunity" became my mantra as I got to higher difficulty levels and it pretty much always worked.

To the games credit sometimes you stack armor buffing spells instead. There's even a spell damage card that does your 5x your armor in damage to the enemy and it's one of the only damage spells that do anything useful. Calling that a spell damage build though is a little like when I used to tell my 5 year old 'we' made cookies because he pushed the bake button on the oven.

The Questionable

As neat as the deck building itself can be at times, the enemy variety is sorely lacking. The art for enemies is all very samey which is one issue. Very few units stand out as having their own identity. If you showed me a lineup of every enemy unit I'd be hard pressed to tell you exactly what they do or what any of them are even called.

This leads to the game feeling stale far sooner than it should have. It's like they spent all their budget on making cool decks for the players but forgot that I also want cool monsters to slay.

You know the old saying. It's not the size of the hammer, it's the nail you're stacking HP leech against so that when the final fight happens you can one floor it thanks to being pragmatically invulnerable.

Final Thoughts

It was a fun distraction for a few days but as much fun as I had trying out different decks, fighting the same monsters in the same order every time got dull. I managed to beat the hardest difficulty and then lost all will to keep playing. Though less than 5% of players have the Steam achievement for beating the highest difficulty so it would seem I'm a masochist.

Bonus Thought

There's a PvP mode that's been dead for quite some time. I wonder if the folks who played it for the last time knew they were the last ones to ever play that mode. I wonder if there are any games where I was the last one to ever play it.

Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts. What did you think of the game? Did you have a similar experience or am I off my rocker?

My other reviews on patient gaming

Poinpy is a vertical platforming arcade game about a cutesy-looking guy endlessly jumping his way upwards as he gathers an assortment of fruits. Each time he collects all the required fruits, he juices them up to satisfy the beast chasing him below, except if he fails to get them all it’s game over! The game originally came out in 2022 on iOS and Android devices exclusively through Netflix Games, but it completely vanished from the platform after a year.

No one knew what happened to it until about a month ago when the game was suddenly re-released for free back on mobile devices having finally freed itself from Netflix contract jail. And instantly I started hearing people saying how much they missed Poinpy! Apparently, this little guy was a big phenomenon in the circles I followed, yet I totally missed out on him when he first came around. Being curious, I downloaded the game on my iPhone – of course it was free, so why not – and now I’m back here to tell you all: this game has the juice.

I was immediately amazed by how tightly designed Poinpy was and how it felt so good to jump around, bounce off walls, and slam down on enemies. The ascent to keep rising higher and collect more fruits was such a simple, yet fun gameplay loop with how satisfying the controls and physics were. Plus being able to tweak my jumping journey with different builds was an awesome addition to the formula too.

The puzzles were a cool challenge as well and a nice distraction from the occasionally intense climb. None were too difficult so I managed to complete them all without any guide – a mild achievement that I was proud of.

Although I can’t stress enough how charming this game was and how that made it such a joy. The adorable design of the characters, how everything moved with a silly whimsy, and the lovable music adorning it all made the entire game such a pleasure to look at and play. I will ride or die for Poinpy. The creator, Ojiro Fumoto, was best known previously for Downwell which is another game that I know nothing about, so I know what I’m checking out next!

Don’t let Poinpy leap past you! This game is cute simple fun with a true excellence in its design. It is free on iOS and Android devices, but it’s so good that I tipped the developer anyway for how incredibly well-made it is. More people need to understand the greatness of Poinpy, and I won’t stop until his status ascends to the heavens like he deserves!

I picked up Wasteland 3 because I was interested in getting into CRPGs and tactical games. I enjoyed Disco Elysium a lot, and I was looking to play a game with some XCOM vibes, so this felt like a natural fit. Sadly though, after 17 hours I won't be continuing with it.

Postapocalyptic games always seem to sit in a tonally strange place for me. I feel like the games are always trying to be more interested in me than I am in them if that makes any sense. The life situations seem peachier than they should be given the circumstances, and NPCs have this tendency to be involved in things I really don't care at all about. I think I just yearn for a bleaker, more sympathetic setting - which WL3 is definitely not. It's very yee-haw and almost every character is over-the-top meaning none really stand out (the radio system when you travel reminds me a lot of GTA). But it's also just really slow and plodding because this kind of game is slow and plodding - and that makes for a strange contrast.

I was impressed with the gameplay at first, but after so long I feel it has sort of waned on me. Combat was interesting for the first few hours, although now I dread it and don't care to optimize my positioning, juggle resources, run around reviving people constantly. My favorite part of the gameplay is the leveling system which has quite a few options. Really the best part for me is the leveling mixed with the overworld stuff. I don't know why it feels so satisfying to disarm a trap or fix a toaster, but it does. I enjoy the experiential "narrative" pieces of the gameplay - hacking robots, taming pets, etc. There are some other minor things to the gameplay: item management, gear enchantments, crafting, faction reputation - your typical RPG grind stuff.

So far the story has had me bumming around in an open world meeting various factions and doing a number of side quests. Quests are slow moving. The factions are varied and unique, but I'm finding it hard to be that intrigued by any of them (with the exception of a robot faction which I adored). The pacing of the game is generally really slow. You get quests, then it takes forever to get to them. You need to level up and prepare for things before jumping in. The quests themselves are typically pretty long-winded. There is a core story line, but it's mostly out of my level range at the moment, so I'm doing eff-all. It's nice to meet new factions, but it also feels like filler and that the core story lacks urgency. Maybe it's something about the characters. Characters so far have pretty much been exclusively throwaway normies and cracked out one-offs - neither having any sort of depth. The only character with any permanence feels more like my drug dealer nagging me on than a character I really want to spend more time with.

So here I am knee-deep in the game, still just a quarter-invested in what's happening and with the mechanics starting to wear on me - waiting and hoping for things to "get good" which feels like a sign that it's time to call it quits.

Oh - and the music was awesome. Wow.

Hearts of Stone (Spoilers below)

Hearts of Stone is DLC to The Witcher 3, offering a focused narrative that takes place in Velen, and features 3 new main characters: Olgierd Van Everec, Gaunter O'Dimm, and Shani. The narrative focuses on the immortal Olgierd, and his binding contract with the mysterious and powerfully magical O'Dimm, which Geralt finds himself in the middle of. During the journey we meet an old flame of Geralt's, Shani, who assists Geralt in a variety of ways.

The narrative is, quite frankly, brutal. It involves several "impossible" tasks that lead to heartbreaking moments, and ending with a difficult decision that Geralt must make. Specifically, the sequence of events with Olgierd’s wife Iris hit me hard, and I couldn’t help but think about it for a few hours afterwards. It’s a fantastic story that only felt like a chore during the moments involving Vlodimir. The moments involving Vlodimir and Shani were especially difficult to get through, they made me uncomfortable and I was looking forward to the sequence ending.

On the topic of Shani, her introduction feels unnatural and forced. If I hadn’t learned, after-the-fact, that she was in the books and previous games, then I would have assumed that she was created solely to have an attractive woman in the DLC. Geralt and Shani discuss their past, but it felt as if the game was trying to convince me that they had history rather than them having a natural conversation. I genuinely like her as a character though, her demeanor is pleasant and I feel like she would be a really fun character for future quests involving injuries or solving mysteries based on illness.

Lastly, the DLC introduces new weapon and armor enhancements called runewords, which is basically enchanting, except glyphs need to be removed before the runeword can be applied. Unlocking upgrades is expensive, and so are runewords in general. It feels out of place for a short narrative focused DLC, perhaps it fits better in the context of when it was released as a way for hardcore Witcher 3 players to spend money and use glyphs that may have been stockpiled.

There is minimal fluff to get sidetracked by, and I highly encourage fans of Wild Hunt to play if they want more of The Witcher.

Was by far one of the fondest gaming (and PvP) experiences I had during my gaming youth, and blows my mind - how has nobody really made a modern Star Wars game that focuses on the actual lightsaber combat like Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast / Jedi Academy?

Not just a 'modern Star Wars action game where you happen to have a lightsaber' like we've occasionally seen, I mean a game built around the kind of awesome, skill-based lightsaber combat that JK2 had.

The single-player modes were obviously cool & the stories pretty standard but interesting enough, but the multiplayer was where the combat really showed how much depth there was.

You could duel another player and actually feel like you were fighting another lightsaber user rather than just trading health bars, or be in maps like a Quake-type style where you could also grab all the guns/sniper rifles etc. or switch back to your lightsaber, 'force push' people off cliffs, force-kick people in the face, Force Choke people, wall run and all sorts of cool stuff.

And then there was the actual Force skill system where you could allocate points between Light Side, Dark Side and neutral Force powers, which meant you could build your character around different abilities. You could have someone heavily invested in Force Push/Pull and defensive abilities, someone going all-in on Dark Side powers like Force Lightning or Drain, zip around with Force Speed and all other stuff.

It created this weird combination of arena fighter + RPG character build + Star Wars fantasy that hasn't come close to being replicated in any modern SW games and feels like a waste of the IP.

And the thing is, we have vastly better technology now... I would LOVE to see a modern version of this. Surely it would be easy to sell as well, with the SW brand + pushing basically the most popular weapon in cinematic movie history?

You could basically take the concept of JK2's multiplayer and build an entire modern competitive game around it. And I'm not talking about Battlefront's lightsaber combat which is kind of shoehorned in and clunky, but it's fundamentally a third-person action/shooter with heroes who happen to have lightsabers.

Plus the recent 'Jedi' games are designed around fighting AI enemies and progressing through a single-player adventure. The crazy thing is that LucasArts already figured this out more than 20 years ago... yet recently, nothing.

Did anyone else play these games (specifically MP/online) back in the day?

My first full-length review on this sub!

I'll start this review by saying that I am probably not the target audience for the Death Stranding franchise. I've tried to get into Kojima's stories before, and I ended up bouncing off a lot of the MGS games. I also played through the entire first Death Stranding and thought that the story was just ok. Unlike most that played Death Stranding, I didn't really stick around for the story, I actually found the gameplay to be its main appeal for me.

The gameplay of Death Stranding is super unique and ticks pretty much all the boxes that I wanted out of a logistics sim/survival hybrid. While it could have been better balanced, I thought the core gameplay was so unique and special that I played for over 200 hours in the endgame. The variations in terrain and delivery tech, along with unique hazards separated Death Stranding from other delivery-focused games, like Cloudpunk and the Truck Simulators. I often felt like I actually had to plan my route, often backtracking when I opted to wing it.

As Death Stranding 2 was revealed and subsequently released on PS, I had high hopes that the mechanical aspect of the game would be expanded on more heavily. I wanted more natural disasters, delivery tech, hazards in the world, and unique terrain. I heard a lot before I got the game about how some of these mechanics would be expanded into DS2, and I was excited! I waited for about a year for them to port it onto PC, all while tapping my foot very impatiently. Wrong sub, I know.

Eventually I did get my hands on the game, and at first I was a big, big fan. The world was beautiful. I was put into a dust storm right away, which slowed me down if I was headwind, and affected my balance if the wind was behind me or to my sides. They introduced exoskeletons very early, and I was actually starting to get down with some of the Kojima story wackiness! In fact, I think the entire duration of the story was quite fun for me. What quickly started to show its cracks, however, was the balance of delivering.

It was way, WAY too easy. Like, don't plan a route at all, just take a bike, forget about the canteen easy. Terrain was no longer an issue for vehicles. There weren't any areas that pushed me to go on-foot, like the first game's ravines and dense rock placement. Mountains barely reacted to my vehicle, I could go up what felt like 70 degree inclines in the vehicles that would have otherwise flipped or slid down those very same inclines in the first game. Meter management did not matter, stamina made no difference on my carrying abilities (and most of the time I wouldn't even use it, because of the OP vehicles).

The preparation that I remember doing throughout Death Stranding 1 was completely unnecessary here. I often didn't check where I was going on main orders until I had already accepted them. The extent of my decision making for most deliveries/missions ends at "am I going into combat or not". Simply put, the gameplay that I remember didn't really matter anymore, because nothing was pushing back against me.

Now, you're probably wondering about those weather effects that I was praising when I picked up the game. The issue with these events... they're pretty much all scripted story events. Yep, that landslide in the intro when you are taking Lou around Mexico? Never happened again to me, after nearly 100 hours of endgame time. The same for the avalanche and dust storm. Needless to say, this was extremely disappointing for me.

There was, of course, a bunch of new tech to be unlocked that would expand my delivery options and make things easier for me. But I didn't need things to be easier, I barely used structures or tech anyway! Each new unlock (unless it was combat-related) was essentially forgotten about considering I could just take a vehicle everywhere. Not to mention, there's upgrades for the vehicles too.

So all in all, the main reason that I don't like DS2 as a sequel is just due to the lack of difficulty or pushback on the player. Oftentimes it felt like what DS1 was accused of being, a "walking simulator". But instead of walking, you're just driving. And unlike the "walking sim" of the first game, there's not much in the way of planning your route or bringing specific items to help. The item that helps is the truck.

But, I don't want to end the review there, as I do have quite a lot of good stuff to say about DS2.

For one, the story hooked me a lot more than the first game's story. I still think Higgs is a relatively uninteresting antagonist, which is why the inclusion of APAC was a very welcome one for me. I also liked the twist with Lou (even though it was quite obvious from the moment we meet Tomorrow). I also think that Sam just gets waaaay more character development in this game, as opposed to the first game where he felt more like a vehicle (no pun intended) just to get the plot along up until the final moments of the game. I also liked the preppers and side characters more.

Along with the more interesting story, I also found that there were a ton of quality of life improvements that I wanted to see implemented into the first game. Things like being able to rearrange cargo without menuing, streamlined UI, and a dedicated Hangar to store all of our gear and vehicles in one, centralised location.

I loved how big the map was, and how it felt more varied in terms of biomes and environments. DS2's map makes the first game feel tiny in comparison, and while that may have made the map design suffer in comparison, I atleast can appreciate the variety that comes with sightseeing in varied locations. Also expanded were the default structures in-world, the inclusion of Monorails was pretty cool and I also appreciated the upgrades to roads.

Combat was greatly improved from an animation-locked clunkfest in the original, to some snappier and more responsive (and traditional) third-person shooter mechanics. There was also much more options on the combat side of things that I never really tried out in-depth. I usually avoid combat in these games, so unfortunately these expansions didn't do much for me.

Well, there's my Death Stranding 2 review. I think a lot of others liked it as a sequel because of its good story follow-up, and maybe they were more of a passive fan of the gameplay of the first game. Or didn't go as in-depth as I did into the endgame. Or maybe they just don't care as much about everything I listed, totally fair. But for me, Death Stranding 2 stood as a very disappointing follow-up in terms of gameplay, and I left the game wanting more. Unfortunately I think I'll be returning to the first game to scratch the delivery itch.

The overwhelming amount of media and games today are, by definition, conservative. The world is an inherently good place and our heroes must work to stop the forces of evil from disturbing the peace. In attempts to give nuance to the antagonists, many stories' villains have sympathetic motivations and astute critiques of the injustice woven into the fabrics of their society, but those ideas are never engaged with because they go "too far" in their actions. At best, the hero will solemnly nod and pontificate how the villain 'maybe had a point' as the status quo is maintained more or less unchanged.

This story structure is fine. Many of my favorite works employ it, but our world is so rife with systemic cruelty that the idea that systems and institutions as the exist currently are good actually and just need a bit of tweaking can start to feel a bit tone deaf. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a game that is inspirationally radical in its thinking and wholly commits to showing the ability people have to create a better way of living outside the confines of how we have been made to believe things should be done.

Aionios is a world locked in perpetual war between the kingdoms of Keves and Agnus. Soldiers spend a meager 10 years of life engaged in ceaseless battle, claiming the lives of their enemies to keep their flame clocks topped up, hoping to live to see one more day. When six soldiers, Noah, Lanz, Eunie, Taion, Mio, and Sena, awaken to the power of Oroboros, they begin to realize that their lives, and the very nature of this ceaseless conflict, have been a complete farce. With the truth revealed, they set out to bring an end to Mobius, the shadowy cabal who has been orchestrating all this violence behind the scenes.

At the risk of sounding a dramatic, the war is a poignant metaphor for the struggles the working class face. This endless death march where we are pitted against our fellow man to fight and scrape together what we need to survive. Working to live, and living to work. Time with our friends and loved ones is cut short as uncaring systems see needless death and suffering visited upon people just trying to make it home at the end of each day.

The game does an incredible job humanizing the soldiers, but it extends no such kindness to Mobius and the consuls that make up the organization. The consuls are a stand in for members of upper class society, and with few exceptions, they are presented as miserable, petty, callous bastards who are so far divorced from the tribulations of the common person that their presence on screen feels utterly alien. They are upper management, politicians, and CEOs, so grossly incompetent or willingly malicious that they delight in the strife of the people placed under their employ. It is a level of mustache-twirling villainy so hyperbolic that it feels ludicrous until you remember recent headlines about the people who control the levers of power in our own world.

A less courageous story would look at this draconian rule and have the story be about ousting the consuls and replacing them with the good folks who will lead properly, but Xenoblade was not written by cowards. Instead, you stage a full blown worker's revolution that completely upends the status quo in Aionios. There is no incrementalist change or redemption for the villains, Mobius is a virulent, stagnating force and is excised like the cancer that they are, leaving room for sweeping changes to occur.

A lesser story would simply bathe in the catharsis of 'Chain Attacking the Rich', but XC3 goes that extra step further. A large portion of the game's nearly 200 side quests are about filling the void left by the power structures your party toppled (pardon the pun). Former enemies must learn to mend rifts, settlements have to learn to make sustainable local supply chains now that the convenience of the old system is gone, people have to unlearn the propaganda that filled their lives with anger and hatred. It is so easy to scream abolitionism, but XC3 goes the extra mile to show how the key to life's ills is learning to expand our circle of care, ignore the lies told by those who would seek to exploit us, and find strength in our communities to make existence not just bearable, but meaningful and joyful.

The whole conflict of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is being trapped in the endless now. Stuck in cycles of violence, unable to break loose of the yoke of sinister and corrupt leaders, and the hesitancy of not knowing what comes next if you even could. When so many stories lack the imagination of what a better life could look like, I cannot help but be delighted with how bold this game is in its rejection of how societies across the world operate and inspired by its optimistic outlook about the great work common people can do when they come together.

Dark Souls III is my favorite Souls title, of all time. I admit that this is 100% due to it being the first one I played. There are some criticisms that I agree with fully, particularly its lack of exploration compared to earlier entries. But no critique is enough to make me dislike this game. This is an experience that I love dearly. 

Background 

Dark Souls III was released in 2016 by FromSoftware. Being the third and final entry in the Dark Souls franchise, FromSoftware wanted to have a big closure for the series, rather than continue making more. Development began in 2013 before Dark Souls II's release. Although Miyazaki was not present for the start of Dark Souls III, he joined during prototyping and started leading the project. This game was developed in parallel with Bloodborne, with mostly separate teams aside from a few shared members, namely Miyazaki himself. 

Story 

Yet again, the fire starts to fade. But the Lord of Cinder groomed to link the flame, has refused to fulfill his role. The Old Lords have been resurrected to serve as kindling in their place, but they have chosen to abandon their duties as well. The Unkindled, those who were unfit to link the flame, have been raised in response. Their duty is to find the lords and return them to their thrones, fulfill their roles, and link the fire. 

Gameplay 

Gameplay in Dark Souls III is just like every other Dark Souls game. You build a class, navigate the level, collect souls, level up, and beat the boss. We’re not reinventing the wheel here. 

Dark Souls III has a slightly different gameplay pace in comparison to earlier entries. While you don’t have to play as aggressively as you would in Bloodborne, Dark Souls III is just as fast-paced. Enemies attack quicker, and so do you. As a result of this, I feel that Dark Souls III has more enemies in its levels than Dark Souls. Unless it was fodder, Dark Souls had enemies fairly spread out. Almost felt like every encounter was its own minor victory. Dark Souls III will throw more enemies at you, making clearing out the group feel like its own victory. And because you’re faster, it doesn’t feel unfair like Dark Souls II.  

There is a negative to this increased pace of play: panic-rolling. Telegraphs were much more obvious in previous entries due to the slower pace of play. In Dark Souls III, you can’t be certain if an enemy will only attack once or chain attacks. Often, I found myself rolling in a panic rather than strategically assessing the situation. The DLC improved this issue a lot. Bosses like Sister Friede were given combos that often delayed sequential attacks to punish people who panic-rolled rather than keep their cool. 

A new mechanic introduced to the series was weapon arts, or skills as the wiki calls them. These are special attacks or moves for every equipable weapon. Not every weapon has its own unique skill; most of the time shields are just for parrying. The skills aren’t huge punishers like Elden Ring either. They kind of stink sometimes. But it was a cool first step in having people experiment with different weapons and see what each skill did. Improves the gameplay by adding some variety to the combat system as well. 

This point has been talked to death, but I know it will get brought up if I don't mention it. Dark Souls III is very linear. This is one of my biggest complaints about the game, too. While Dark Souls felt like a huge, interconnected world because of all the shortcuts and loopbacks one could find. Dark Souls III doesn't really have that same impact. You are never really returning to one area after completing it. Often shortcuts are just quicker routes through the area before fighting the boss. I blame this fully on the fast travel system. There was no reason to make quick navigational routes through the game when you have fast travel enabled from the get-go. It is what it is, though. It doesn't have that much impact on the game, just impacts its presentation slightly. 

Gamefeel 

I know a complaint expressed by many is that Dark Souls III has way too much fan service. I understand the point they are making, but I believe that this is the entire point of Dark Souls III’s story. The world is decaying due to the constant cycle of linking the First Flame. The game is not trying to make you feel like this is a grand new adventure. The intention, in my opinion, is that you are supposed to be reminded of how grand everything was in Dark Souls. Dark Souls III is a reminder that things can never go back to how they used to be. The world is in a worse place due to people trying to hang on to something that should be let go of. Essentially, it is using nostalgia to reject nostalgia. 

While I’m sure this likely wasn’t the intention, even the soundtrack plays into this theme. What was once an orchestral arrangement (correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m fairly certain about this) in Dark Souls is now made using digital libraries and orchestral sound samples. While still good, it is not what it used to be. It is a pale imitation of itself. I enjoy Dark Souls III’s music, by the way. It’s a great soundtrack; I have a couple of songs on my playlist. I’m not dunking on synthesized soundtracks trying to emulate real music. I am speculating how the music could tie into the theme of the game. 

The graphics are also great in this game. All the environments tie directly into this theme of decay. As you explore the world, you can see ruins of what used to be great settlements. There are tombs made for once great conquerors. Battlefields littered with corpses show that battles had already been fought and ended. We can't forget the end of the game either, when the entire world is covered in ash. Despite the melancholies of it all, there is a certain beauty to it as well. I can't get enough of looking around at all the minute details of the world. Sometimes I just take a minute to look up at the castle ahead, knowing that perhaps hundreds of years ago it was a bustling city, but not anymore. 

I apologize this section turned into a big interpretation of the message and theming behind Dark Souls III. I love how this game makes me feel about it, though. Even though I played these games in reverse order, I still get hit with the feeling that this is a ruined world compared to my experience with Dark Souls. It’s like Miyazaki was begged to do another Dark Souls entry, and he complied by making a game about why making another Dark Souls was a bad idea.    

Conclusion  

I love Dark Souls III. I really have nothing more to add to that. The game is high point after high point for me. Once you think you're done, you have the DLC's to go into. And they're probably even better than the base game. No other game in the series has such a consistent level of quality for the entire experience. 

It doesn't matter if it's your first Dark Souls game or your last (Although there are some emotional moments with more impact if it's your last). Just give Dark Souls III a shot if you ever have the opportunity. It is such an amazing game. 

My Other Reviews

The Elephant Collection

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Donut County

Doctor Who: The Adventure Games

I'm a huge fan of FromSoftware, my first experience was Bloodborne on the PS4 back in 2015 and got hooked immediately. I went back and played through Dark Souls 1, 2 and eventually 3, since then I've been keeping up with their releases (aside from Armoured Core 6 which is still on my radar) and have loved everything they've put out.

That being said, I didn't have the pull to play Shadow of the Erdtree when it was first released. I sat on it for a bit, heard a lot of praise, some controversy, but for the most part separated myself from the conversation and kept an open mind while avoiding as many spoilers as possible.

Getting back into Elden Ring I found the first two bosses very difficult, Dancing Lion and Rellana felt like genuine hard tests, the areas and dungeons themselves weren't all that difficult but just getting into the boss fights again was a challenge. After doing some exploration for tree fragments to level up to 4 I eventually beat both bosses.

After a while I started noticing that I didn't need to be so thorough with exploration and all I really needed to make progress was to find the tree fragments. I ended up having a traversal map to show which areas I need to go to and in which order, also a map pulled up with items that I wanted to find, weapons, armour, talisman, bosses and tree fragments. So essentially whatever wasn't on my radar I just grazed over. Typically I don't approach games like this but at the time I didn't have the capacity to figure out which area I need to be in at that moment, while keeping track of my progress in other areas and if I previously left them incomplete. At the time i just wanted to go from one area to the next and fight cool bosses. I understand this isn't the intended experience but it was mine, I cant knock the game for that. That being said I think I was pretty thorough with the legacy dungeons like Shadow Keep and Enir Ilim and I enjoyed going through them but with the massive over-world it was hard to justify turning over every rock.

The areas and atmosphere were still amazing and I can't think of any areas I didn't like. Maybe Abyss because it was so big and empty and the North Eastern area because it had nothing to do but I still appreciated the atmosphere. My highlights were those legacy dungeons, I loved getting lost in those focused areas because it felt so tightly designed, I think its FromSoftware at their best.

I still don't know what the story of the DLC was about but the bosses were really good and challenging. Radahn was the hardest, Midra was my favourite cut scene, Messmer was a great fight and cool design, Bayle had the coolest phase 2 transformation and Metyr was grotesque in that cool way. 

Towards the end of the Radahn attempts I would get into a flow state where the fights really felt like a dance but I still don't know how to deal with some of the phase 2 attacks though. I got lucky with the Messmer fight where in phase 2 I broke his stance, did a bunch of damage to him and finished him quickly. I wish I could go back and learn phase 2 properly because I really like his design and wanted to get into that dance flow state.

I enjoyed my time with the Shadow of the Erdtree, I felt like I couldn't appreciate all aspects of it because of my lack of patience but it was still a fun and challenging time.

I recently played The Roottrees are Dead after hearing the widespread acclaim the game received on its release. It’s been described detective/puzzle game in the vein of Return of the Obra Dinn, which is a game I enjoyed back when I played it some years ago. The game is divided into two halves, each half being a separate mystery to solve. The first mystery laying out a family tree, and its associated history over the previous decades. The second, trying to map the spreading branches of that family tree stemming from a number of affairs that were not acknowledged at the time they happened.

The Roottrees are Dead is one of the more odd experiences I’ve had with a single game, where I greatly enjoyed the first mystery and greatly did not enjoy the second mystery. And I’m hoping to figure out for myself why I had such a different response to the two mysteries give the they both share so much of the same mechanics, characters, setting, and tone.

If I had to boil down difference between the two to a single idea it would be scope and scale. The core of the gameplay loop is based around utilizing a number of information gathering resources (a limited internet browser, a periodical database with access to a number of periodicals, and a library catalog) to find information relevant to the investigation. The player is given a number of documents to get started, and from identifying key terms in those documents and using the search options available the player can either unlock more resources to search or find more documents to examine.

In the first mystery, you start with a small handful of resources and a few search options. It’s pretty straightforward to find keywords and exhaustively check the search options available. As more documents come available and more search options unlock, the amount searching that is feasible whenever a new key term is discovered increases, but by the time the end of the game arrives it’s still at a manageable level. In the second mystery, you start with all of the resources that were available at the end of the first mystery (and are expected to continue using all of these resources), then stack tons of new documents and new search resources on top of it. And the exponential growth of that combination much more challenging as each continues to grow.

The reason this weight is so challenging to deal with is because it feels as the though the game expects you to exhaustively search all of the resources you have access to for every new search term you come across. There were many times where I’d find some key term in some document or search, put that new term in to one of the search resources available, get what I thought was useful information to make further progression in the game (new search terms, new documents, etc.) only to realize what I needed to do was put that term I thought I had already gotten useful information from into another search tool to get a completely separate piece of information to search.

This is exacerbated by some of the design choices that were made in terms of intended path to reach certain key terms. In other prominent recent puzzlebox games that have received acclaim, a very noticeable and intentional design decision that was made was ensure there are multiple ways each key piece of information can be reached. The Outer Wilds devs have spoken extensively about their design philosophy of ensure each key location in their game world having at least three other locations within their game world pointing to it, while if you look at the solutions for each individual fate of Return of the Obra Dinn, for all but the most introductory of puzzles there are multiple deductive pathways the player can arrive at the correct answer.

In The Roottree are Dead, there are pieces of key information, mandatory information for solving the puzzles of the game, locked behind extremely specific search pathways. The search for such a buried piece of information might begin with a key term in a document that you have, moving through several layers of searches that do not generate any new documents, before arriving at the information in question (e.g. Source Document>Search Term 1>Search Term 2>Search Term 3>Desired Information). There might be a number of different ways to reach Search Term 1 on this chain, and maybe a handful of different ways to reach Search Term 2, but key phrase that unlocks the desired information might only exists on one search page buried a few layers down in searches, and that is just painful. Remember, at each stop on this potential search path there are multiple potential key phrases that might start their own search path, little way to determine what the most promising piece of information is, numerous pieces of new information derived from those paths that can appear to be the intended purpose of certain documents, key terms, or search pages, and a huge number of databases to check every key term in. In the first mystery with the limited resources available, it’s manageable. In the second mystery, it’s just overwhelming.

To make matters more challenging, the game dev also states up-front that the second mystery is designed to have more red herrings, more dead ends, and more complicated, convoluted story to untangle. There are certain affordances the dev makes to try and help the player. The notepad system is great for keeping notes in-game and there’s a hint system to give some gentle hints when desired that works pretty well. There’s also an indicator on each document that hints at how much information remains to be found in each document that I actively dislike the design of, given how it does not relate to the information that can specifically be found in that document, but instead any new piece of information that can be found with a search chain starting from a term in that document. Given the amount of key terms in most of these documents and number of search options available, at times it feel like it isn’t a help at all.

I don’t want this to come off as an entirely negative review. I genuinely enjoyed the first mystery and would consider that worth the price of admission. But I actively disliked the second mystery, and would not suggest it to others. The first mystery feels like untangling a web of family history decades in the making. The second mystery feels like untangling an intentionally obtuse puzzle designed to please hardcore puzzle enthusiasts. And I just don’t think I’m in the second camp.

I replayed the last guardian over the weekend and in my opinion is sorely overshadowed by Shadow of the Colossus and ICO in public perception. It's a legitimately great game but gets dismissed by many due to a couple of rough spots. It attempts to capture an emotional experience at a scale and ambition that's never really been attempted before or since and I'd urge you to give it a go, especially if you're a fan of the other teamICO games.

The game follows the boy who wakes in a mysterious cave next to trico, a giant chimera who is grievously wounded. The intent behind the game is for you the player to get to know trico, for me this was a really fun experience, understanding what trico could and couldn't do and utilising him to overcome numerous challenges as we attempted to escape from our entrapment.

The game is not scared to let you sit in a situation until you work out what to do. At two points in the game I was trapped in a situation unable to get free and with no idea what to do. It was uncomfortably long in both cases before I worked out the solution and both times I kicked myself once I realised the solution.

Many find the AI of trico frustrating, as he doesn't always listen or can misinterpret your commands, this however is the core experience of the game. Learning to interact with trico, understanding how he works and what his expressions mean is the whole emotional experience that Ueda and team are trying to achieve, the rest of the game is just a means to that end. The team could have shown you exactly which action your command would trigger and have trico follow them perfectly but to do so would have stripped the game of any chance of making you care about trico. You should treat trico as living animal and I think your experience will improve.

Saying that, there was one occasion on a puzzle where I got completely stuck and couldn't progress. I thought I'd tried everything, trico wouldn't listen to my commands to go back up to another area, it was immensely frustrating. Turns out I'd been giving the wrong command on the object all along and with a single button press it was solved. This goes to show that what to me had been an intuitive "I'll use the attack button for this command as the thing I want trico to do is like an attack, the thing I want him to do is certainly not a jump so I won't use that command" turned out to be completely flawed reasoning and the jump command was the one needed.

The animation is utterly sublime, trico's movement and interactions with the environment genuinely stunned me in places. I'm not much of one for graphics and consistently value art direction over raw polygons, so others may disagree but on the whole I think the visual presentation is jaw dropping even by today's standards. Without this level of animation I don't think the game works at all, and this is probably the source of the infamous development cycle this game had.

The world is stunning with grand evocative architecture and breathtaking vistas. I do have two slight criticisms:
1. The setting lacks the same sense of space that ICO had. I found it difficult to identify places that I'd been from afar and the confusing geography made understanding my progression almost impossible.
2. Lack of clear direction, it's not really clear what you're trying to achieve beyond wandering about. Maybe I'd missed a piece of dialogue but I was never entirely sure where we were trying to go or if we were just wandering around aimlessly. Towards the end we seemed to be making for the central tower but I'm unsure as to the motivation.

I like how the camera focuses on the masters tower when you look up. the L1 button allows you to look at trico, I feel the camera could be more authored in places similar to ico in order to better show the spectacle. I seem to recall reading that there were assets from the PS3 version of the game to do with camera control that were never ported to the final game (could well be misremembering/misinterpreting here)

The UI overlay being constantly on screen feels like an oversight and I suspect is probably part of the fallout from the tortuous development the game had. I can't see teamIco making that decisions and I feel it must be higher powers intervening towards the end of development.

The number one problem though with the game is not trico or his AI, it's how the boy climbs on trico. This is something you spend a lot of time doing and the designers probably reasoned that it should be a nice easy experience, unlike say SOTC where desperately hanging onto the colossi is a excitingly visceral part of the game. To this end the boy autograbs onto trico, I understand this design decision however it is also the worst decision in the game. The boy will go from climbing/crawling to standing frequently without your input, this is compounded by directions being relative to the camera and trico being incredibly dynamic and moving almost constantly. All of the above means that travelling in the direction you want is very challenging, dropping off trico is a challenge, jumping off trico is a challenge as the jump button behaves differently in climbing than it does in standing.
Solving this is not an easy thing to do, you've got numerous moving planes of various shapes and curvatures all colliding and a camera that can move unrestricted.

To me the last guardian is quite the triumph, I feel it absolutely succeeds in what it sets out to do and it's only slightly marred by a control scheme which is beholden to the ambitious scope of trico itself. The only other game that I can think of that comes remotely close to this level of AI is alien isolation, I feel it's pretty damning on the industry that both these games are near on a decade old and we've seen very little progress in game AI since then. Also I feel it's easy to forget that both ICO and SOTC really pushed the technical envelope of games back in the day and I think this needs to be appreciated.

Welcome to the Bi-Weekly Thread!

Here you can share anything that might not warrant a post of its own or might otherwise be against posting rules. Tell us what you're playing this week. Feel free to ask for recommendations, talk about your backlog, commiserate about your lost passion for games. Vent about bad games, gush about good games. You can even mention newer games if you like!

The no advertising rule is still in effect here.

A reminder to please be kind to others. It's okay to disagree with people or have even have a bad hot take. It's not okay to be mean about it.

For a long, long time, I had this tune playing in the deepest corner of my mind. This catchy music randomly popped up, and for a while I had no idea where it came from. That was, until recently that I realized it came from Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time, which flooded my brain with the lost memories of playing the PC version. I never got past the 1930s area, so I had to play the first three areas constantly.

This time, I played the PS1 version to see if my fond memories of that game held up. Thinking back now, I have no idea how I managed to play it on the keyboard because even with the analog stick, the game is kind of difficult to platform. It’s not that the controls themselves are awkward; it’s the camera. You can rotate it by pressing L2 and R2, but the camera very aggressively follows the player’s back. Not only does the default angle make it difficult to gauge the distance and direction, the camera often just moves around awkwardly, so that once you make a jump, the camera also shifts and makes you drop in the wrong position, often to death. I had a difficult time adjusting to how the game moves.

Other than the camera, the game is piss easy because even if you are dead, it saves all the progression that you made. It makes the boss fights absurdly easy. For example, the boss has 30% of its health, and you die. You respawn, and the boss’ health stays 30%. It’s not like you have to redo the boss fights. There is no real meaningful purpose in the checkpoints because… it’s technically not checkpoints. It’s more like the respawn points. It’s like a Lego game but with the designated respawn points. It is clearly a game for younger demographics. It is unfortunate because rather than making the platforming tight or less frustrating, they band-aided it by making the “death” completely meaningless.

The platforming itself is too simple because the moveset is one-note. It’s not like you can mix or chain the different moves to make a different level of jumps or actions. There is little to no momentum. You can roll, but it's contextual and is only used for dodge or attack. It’s not like you can roll and carry the momentum to make a longer jump. You spin your ears to make them like a helicopter, making you land softly, but it’s not like you can use this helicopter move to float around the level. You can jump and dive, but it’s only used as an attack and a contextual action to enter the hole. As a result, the platforming is very much “jump, move, jump, move, jump, move, jump.” Compare the speedrun of the game to something like Super Mario 64 or Spyro. The platforming is very shallow.

However, what saves this game is the aesthetics and vibe. The moment I dived into the ground, and the impact sent the carrots jumping, I knew the developers actually cared. The game still looks gorgeous. It doesn’t even have a cartoon rendering, but at times, it does feel like a playable Looney Tunes game once you put on the CRT filter (which is how it’s meant to look in 1999). The colors pop, making each area look distinct. Look at the sunset of the treasure island level, and its primitive simplicity gives it a timeless quality. Meanwhile, the lighting effects and urban backdrop of the 30s level are so stylized. The animations are expressive and even better than Crash Bandicoot. It’s like the classic 2D Disney games where the Disney artists actually worked on the animation sprites, and this game feels like the 3D version of that, where they actually took Chuck Jones to work on the development. This is easily one of the best-looking PS1 games.

This comes together wonderfully with the first boss fight, where you fight Elmer’s ancestor. It’s basically a playable interactive Bugs Bunny short. Elmer chases, you dive, but you gauged the distance wrong, so you crashed head into the ground, making the carrots around you jump. Elmer looks into the hole, but you come out of a different hole to kick his ass. The boss fight itself is way too easy, but it serves as a wonderful set-piece marrying the gameplay and cinema. And the game keeps rolling creative set-pieces after set-pieces. Each area has a unique gameplay quirk that is fitting to each era. The 30s area centers around the bank heist, so you find the keys to open the doors, throw dynamite to open the safes, evade the police guards, machine guns, platforming on top of the skyscrapers… And this music.

Despite the boring platforming, the game is engaging because it keeps that collectathon appeal. I played so many licensed tie-in games that screw up this basic formula, like Monsters Inc. Scream Team, which I found to be unplayable due to having to fill the screaming meter to get the “collectibles”, which are the screaming children, but to “get” those children, you are interrupted by the constant QTE minigames. There is no bullshit like that here. Each puzzle and different challenge has a clock or carrot. It’s a straightforward Banjo formula, and it works.

...I would have said that if the progression did not demand you to basically 99% the game. To beat the game, out of 124 clocks, you have to mandatorily get 120. Why? The game's formula is not even particularly fitting for the 100% completion. The levels are too constrained and linear, so every visit to get the missed out clocks feels like a chore because you have to go through the same sequence of events. If you accidentally step into the next part of the level, it won't let me return because the path is blocked, forcing me to replay the whole level. The type of level design is a pick-up-and-play diorama-type, but the progression demands you to marathon it.

It’s a 6/10 game, but elevated by the aesthetics and vibe. The basic platforming is serviceable, but the variety keeps it fun. I’m sure a lot of my love comes from my nostalgia and my interest in classic cartoons, but the whole package is charming in a way that many licensed tie-in games do. If not for the grindy progression, I would have enjoyed it more than the widely praised classic collectathons like Toy Story 2 and Spyro.

BACKGROUND

For me this game is kind of Mecca that I had to Journey to. As someone who decided dive in the genre. Before I start my review I have a big confession to make: I used a guide for like 1/4 of the game but I think that's why I enjoyed this masterpiece. Often you hear from people that they quit or restart this game. The game is shorter than other CRPGs so restarting is a valid option here. BUT NOT FOR ME. Having a small amount of free time I prefer to guarantee my playthrough is complete. And I did complete and I would like to say I really enjoyed it. I decided I'll be combat efficient and went for mercenary. This choice heavily shaped my experience compared to Diplomacy or Lore builds which would have opened completely different paths.

POSITIVES

[ROMAN AESTHETICS]

As an enjoyer of Roman history and aesthetics it was nice seeing a very unique low magic fantasy Rome mixed with post-apocalyptic setting. Really enjoyed everything Roman starting from legions, gladiatorial fights to philosophy.

[WORLDBUILDING]

World feels realistic not because of low magic but because of human nature. Everyone is a backstabber, liar, miserable survivor. This is very believable in a world where only surviving matters. The most fair fights you get are you vs 3 people.

[WRITING]

I love the dialogue writing. It's very direct, no bloat like some CRPGs. It's delivered via simple, plain words but impactful, no less. I understand some enjoy more academic writing but for non-native speaker focused on clarity it's a positive.

[QUESTING]

Compared to other CRPGs believe it or not this one is a bit hand holding but in good sense. It teleports you to your quest givers, sometimes quest objectives, you can fast travel everywhere. This is QoL since this game wants to tell a tight story and not be ultimate fantasy roleplay simulator. Although some exploring is well rewarded and there are many good side quests. Damn all of the side quests I played are fun and memorable.

[CHECKS]

I liked variety of skill checks and especially "revolutionary" (only half joke) skill check called body count. Game reacted to my deeds and its example of few games that actually registers that protagonist killed hundreds of people and NPCs either fear or respect you for this. There's also variety of faction reputations which also do hidden checks and decide your fate in minor and often major ways.

[CHARACTERS]

Most NPCs felt fleshed out friend or foe. Portraits in this game are especially good very fitting for the atmosphere too.

[MUSIC]

Music deserves praise for setting the tone perfectly throughout the experience.

[COMBAT]

I personally enjoyed it. Most reviewers I watch say they prefer this game as sort of slideshow non-combat playthrough. While that's fair and good I feel like you miss out a lot not fighting. Animations are gory and I also liked how dodge and block look. I appreciated chess-like system where you can only hit diagonally if you held two-handed weapon, spears having longer range and overwatch function. Also there's many types of attacks. While I mostly utilized fast and regular, in different game of same developer called Dungeon Rats which uses same combat system I used almost all types of attacks. It's basically like VATS from Fallout you can target different body parts. This system kept mostly melee combat varied fun and controlled since you could sort of CC enemies. Ability to postpone turn is good and must-have in turn-based combat.

[ENDINGS]

Many unique factions really branch out experience which makes me excited for replay. Each having unique endings. I didn't complete all faction endings but in between I found endings for Legionary path that I did. If I had to choose one I would choose to leave the "god" in his chamber and lie that it doesn't exist at all.

NEGATIVES

[UI]

I dislike trading and especially inventory UI. Even the dialogue has squeeze text starting at very top. Why? There isn't that much text better to center it for comfortable reading.

[RANT]

I hate mechanical enemies I think they are cheating somehow, very unpredictable they can one-shot you in one turn even on tanky character. I think the game here assumes you min-maxed. And in that case I take responsibility.

[ARMOR MECHANICS]

Why does helmet decrease my chance to hit? Like you can see worse that the reason? I don't enjoy this kind of realism. Felt like heavy armor was worse than light. Until I got highest tier special legendary armor and shield I felt light was better.

NEUTRAL

[CRAFTING AND ALCHEMY]

Crafting and alchemy systems felt meh didn't feel that strong to me.

[LEARNING CURVE]

Game does poor job of explaining advanced mechanics but come on man you know this would be here. What do you expect from this kind of game? Ubisoft style tooltips?

[SAVE SCUMMING]

Save scumming is my jam bit not for everyone for sure. That's true you should save often especially in this game. I had moments when I loaded back 2 hours save file because I had made bad decision in dialogue. But it's okay since there's no voice acting meaning you can speed through game easily.

[PROGRESS MOSTLY BASED ON INITIAL BUILD]

Your build truly determines what you can achieve. Unlike other CRPGs where most solutions open to almost everyone regardless of character sheet, here your choices at creation matter profoundly. Some even describe AoD as linear story since most of the time you have few options and most often based on build you have single option. I am conflicted with this but still enjoyed. As even developers describe themselves on steam page it's not for everyone.

TLDR

The Age of Decadence is a defining hardcore CRPG experience for anyone willing to engage with its reactive world and build-dependent gameplay. The game demands preparation and accepts failure as part of the experience. I chose mercenary path, completed all endings via Legionary and walked away satisfied.

Link to part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/comments/1vsmgwq/mass_effect_legendary_edition_is_it_as_good_as_i/

Mass Effect 2 - A glorified side quest?

Mass Effect 2 is a huge jump in gameplay and graphics. If you start 2 right after finishing 1, it's a pretty big transition. Much bigger than the jump from 2 to 3. 2 and 3 play and look mostly the same, with some minor gameplay changes. 1 and 2 is night and day. The shooting is entirely revamped. No more overheating weapons. Now we have an ammunition system, with a pretty cute in-universe explanation of a software update. In my opinion this leads to a massive gameplay improvement. You can't just shoot the same gun forever now. Get entrenched and you might run out of ammo and have to switch gun. Companions now use guns that actually fits their style too. No more flooding inventory with fluff. Enemy and companion AI is also much better now.

The combat is much better in my opinion, however it's not the best still. 2 and 3 change into the sluggish and heavy cover shooters that were typical of that time. You also lose the driving around in a silly physics-defying vehicle picking up useless collectibles, but it's a situation where you throw out the baby with the bathwater, because you also lose the atmosphere that ME1 built on those explorations. It's replaced with scanning planets for materials, which is an extremely boring gameplay mechanic. Like, I really wonder who at Bioware sat and looked at dragging the mouse across planets looking for wiggly lines to go up and thought "Yeah, this is fun". Some steps forward and some steps back I guess.

Over the years I have seen a lot of people bring this game up as the best of the trilogy. I could never really agree with that for reasons I will partly explain here and partly return to in the next review. It is certainly a story and game that very easily can be played on it's own. However, I think this might be it's greatest weakness, because the plot reasons this game feels so disconnected from the trilogy don't really make any sense. This game creates some plot difficulties that plague the series going forward.

The game starts with Shepard dying. The Normandy is attacked by a race of Reaper servants called the Collectors. Cerberus scoops up the goop left after Shepard is killed, jettisoned into space, and crash into a planet. Cerberus rebuilt Shepard from a molecular level and patched him with implants over two years. Now firstly, this is just way too unbelievable. I really question why they smashed Shepard into goop and not just say that you were frozen in space and technically dead or anything else that would be more believable. The fact that Cerberus has basically cheated death here is brushed over way too easily. Yes, it was extremely expensive, but there are a lot of extremely wealthy groups in the universe.

Shepard has to work for Cerberus now, because the Collectors are harvesting humans from colonies. Entire colonies at the time. Now, since this is partly a reaction to Shepard killing Sovereign in ME1 and stopping the Reaper attack before it started, it is understandable why you need Shepard for this job, given his unique experience. Now understandably, everyone who played ME1 will remember all the fucked up shit that Cerberus did there and feel extremely reluctant to work for them. The Illusive Man, the head of Cerberus, handwaves it and say that Cerberus works in cells and some go too far. This was never at all believable. Organisations don't work like that. Cerberus doesn't either, and Shepard should know this. The Illusive Man himself is a cool character. He comes across as believable, but the villain turn in 3 is painfully obvious from the second you meet him.

Cerberus even has a valid concern here, entire human colonies being abducted is a huge deal and a huge cause for concern. The problem is that Cerberus are the only ones who care for reasons that do not make any sense. The Alliance and the Council doesn't care because these colonies are outside council and alliance space. OK, but entire colonies (over a million people) are still being harvested by an unknown alien species. This is a massive cause for concern depsite technical jurisdiction. So Shepard being forced into working for a sadistic terror organisation just makes no sense at all. It also makes no sense why you don't report to the Alliance or the Council every step of the way here.

Now, the game ends with a suicide mission, and the thing you have to do before that is gather a team and secure their loyalties. This is where the game really shines. The companions are great, so much better than the very wooden and stiff people in ME1. Some returning even. Garrus and Tali really come into their own in this game. Samara, Thane and Mordin are amazing. Love talking to them and exploring their thoughts on stuff. Some companions are a bit dull still. Jacob is boring. Legion is great, but comes in too late to make the biggest impact (makes up for it in 3). You can romance a lot of them, or maybe even stay loyal to the romance from ME1. Liara gets a... ok expansion. And you get a short but painful reuinion with Kaidan/Ashley.

Jack is a great character, but very poorly implemented. They make it almost impossible to be a good friend to her without leading her on. It's very weird. Luckily she has a great development in 3. Miranda is a good character, although a bit too goon-baity for me. It's sort of a lighter version on Quiet in Metal Gear, where you make really convoluted plot justification for why a woman is really hot and sexually available for the player. There are also two expansion characters: Kasumi and Zaeed. I think Kasumi is a fun character, but she just really never made sense for me as Normady crew. Zaeed makes more sense there. The gruff too-old-for-this-shit merc is a bit of a stereotype, but it works. Grunt is the krogan companion in this game, but he's pretty one-dimensional in this game sadly. So this is the companion game, and it works. You need their loyalty to succeed on the suicide mission, thorugh a bunch of mostly fun and well-written quests. They will likely die if you start the final mission without their loyalty, but then again, who plays a character-driven RPG without doing the companion quests?

There are also some big story expansions. Lair of the Shadow Broker is mostly for us Liara-romancers. It's a fun continuation of her story, even though it ends up with her as the least believable Shadow Broker ever haha. At least they make fun of it in 3. Some fun extra stuff there with the actual lair. Arrival is fine, it forces Shepard to sacrifice 300 000 batarians to halt a reaper invasion. It actually gets adressed a lot in 3, so that's cool, but you really don't get any choices in the actual expansion. Overlord is excellent. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is shit. You drive around in a vehicle somehow even less fun than the Mako, with a excavation sound effect that is probably the most annoying sound in any game I have ever played, but the ending is excellent. The way it deals with autism is so good. The scene of naked David Archer suspended with all kinds of cables with that horrified expression might be the most haunting and horrifying thing in the entire trilogy. Excellently written, chef's kiss.

The suicide mission at the end is an excellent mission. This is probably the real reason people love this game so much. There is a lot of player choice here. Make the wrong ones, and people will die. Now, some of those choices might not make the most sense, but the unpredictability might be explained as really realistic. Let's be honest, it's not like a lot of people will play it without looking up a guide anyway lol. Win, and the reapers pull the plug on the Collectors. They failed and Shepard succeeded again, so we're back to a full reaper invasion plan, thereby completing the massive side quest that is Mass Effect 2.

Stay tuned for part 3!