Battlefield 1, Apr 19 (PS Plus)-The single player campaign was a bit different with several shorter vignettes following different characters in independent stories rather than one large overarching plot. It was an interesting change of pace but it also meant I didn't play with any one character long enough to really get invested. The gameplay was mainly chaotic skirmishes interspersed with chaotic vehicle sections. Walking around in a nigh inpenetrable suit of armor was a highlight as were some of the stealthier sections. The end of the tank level was also fun. The game was very polished and I just wish it was a bit longer for the single player game. As it is it took about twice as long to download as to play it which was a bit of a bummer.

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Pangya: Fantasy Golf (PSP)

Used the last two weeks to play through the story mode.
Took me about 22 to 24 hours in total.

Mostly played out of nostalgia for the (long dead) online version on PC, which I played some 10 - 12 (?) years ago.
Btw: the only MMOG, I ever played.

I liked (most of) the Anime-style presentation. Though the same (non-skippable) animations were tiring.
I found the story itself a little silly (but hey: what story can you expect from an Anime-Golf game?)

I did not really like the "Deep Inferno" levels.
They just didn't look good and I found the "Green" was harder "to read" than the surface levels.

Also the one level with Cecilia, which I had to compete entirely against Uncle Bob (my least favourite character in-game), wasn't really that thrilling.
Though, of course - I understand the "why" in the context of the story...with him fallen madly in love with Cecilia.
sigh did I mention the silliness?

But apart from that...a nice game.

Maybe I'll spend some more time in "free play mode".
Though, after two weeks of playing the same courses over and over...maybe not immediately.

Lust for Darkness (Steam)

Replayed it for a refresher after playing the sequels not long ago. It's still just a 3-hour walking sim, but it really has excellent mood, set by the excellent lighting and creepy music. It looks surprisingly great overall, considering it's quite old now- this type of game really comes into its own on OLED displays, having real black to make dark areas actually dark is not to be underestimated for this sort of psychological horror.

The free pre-sequel and true sequel are much better, but this is still good to play first none the less.

Evil West, Apr 22 (PS Plus)-This game reminded me of a mix of other better games like God of War, Darksiders, Gears of War, and Weird West. It also reminded me of Painkiller but it is a much, much better game than Painkiller. The game generally looked pretty good liked something out of a comic book and it sounded pretty good with over the top plot and dialogue. Combat was generally fun. The problem with this game is that the developers ran out of idea about 2 hours in and their solution was more, more, more. They just piled on more and more enemies for each fight and additional waves and more frequent combats. It got so stale. And then it went on for another 8-9 hours. The game was so tedious and repetitive, they really should have cut 5-8 levels because it would've just been starting to wear out its welcome then. There were a couple of high points in combat. I liked the boss fight with the tentacle monster and the fight in the cornfield with no visibility actually added a bit of a challenge. Everything else was the same stuff I had seen for the last 10 hours. I will say that the version I played had no bugs and only stuttered a bit in the final boss fight.

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Layers of Fear 2 (Epic)

Was browsing through all of the free games that I have on Epic and that I can now actually play at decent settings. I decided to play this one, as it's the only Bloober Team game that I haven't finished. First of all, this game looks exceptional. The detail, lighting and mood are spot on. Just like the first game, it's a horror game that messes with your mind and has you trying to figure out what's real.

It's actually a pretty good story. Like most other Bloober Team games, it's short but also feels just an hour or so longer than it needed to be. Whilst the desire to explore and uncover the story is always there to the end, it sometimes feels like it's taking too long, and the chase scenes are just the same as always- run from the monster, make a wrong turn, die. Repeat until you make the right turns and don't die.

Still, I really enjoyed it- though I still think that The Medium and Blair Witch are better. I think I'll soon play the Epic version of Blair Witch as well, as the Xbox version that I played before didn't perform all that great.

First time?

I played it for the first time (well, I completed a run of it for the first time) a couple of years ago. And, yeah, truly an amazing game. Almost certainly the best turn-based 4X game.

Finished a few games lately without writing reviews, so to catch up on that, I'll try to make it short.


Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County

More of the same, but a decent conclusion to the trilogy. Best part was driving around on a scooter.


A Memoir Blue

I got it for half the price and went in knowing what I'd get, which is a short narrative experience without words and next to no gameplay. And it was alright. Beautiful music, nice graphics - the 3D character animations weren't always 100% convincing, but it was cute nevertheless, and all in all very zen. But for it to be touching, the story was a bit too vague and simple, and even though it was only 70 minutes long, it could feel a bit stretched and sleep-inducing due to its simplicity. It's probably better on a tablet than a PC or console (even though there is no android version, just iOS). I don't regret buying and playing it, but I doubt it will stay on my mind for long. I do think that there was artistic talent involved here though, and I would like to see what the devs can do if they try something a little more ambitious with regards to gameplay and story.


Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard (played in German)

This one was a surprise, because I only expected it to be an average retro point-and-click adventure game, not to take me back to the golden age of the genre. But it genuinely felt like a game from those days, with its own setting that was interesting to explore, very few and subtle pop culture references, not just mimicking classics and repeating the same jokes as so many other do. I really got into it, not least because of the excellent (German) voice-acting for the main character which was among the best I've ever seen in a P&C adventure. The voice-acting (and personality) of the sidekick on the other hand, I didn't like at all, but everything else was good enough to overlook this. I just wish I hadn't disregarded the advice to pick the modern difficulty with hotspot display key instead of the "classic" one, because while the puzzles had just the right difficulty to solve them without a walkthrough, and I was happy to usually find the solution on my own after a night of sleep, even when I got stuck, there were 2-3 occasions where I was so stumped that in the end I had to resort to walkthroughs and hints anyway. And it was always related to overlooking some hotspot, even exits to areas I didn't see before. And I had actually had the right ideas but couldn't execute them due to missing this vital bit of info. So picking the modern difficulty would have prevented me from ruining part of the fun by having to look up solutions online. I also liked the beginning and middle part better than the last one, because they were a bit more open and colorful. But apart from that, I can heartily recommend Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard to fans of oldschool LucasArts-style P&C adventure games.


Lil Gator Game

I absolutely adored it. It's like the unofficial successor to A Short Hike, even more so than Smushi Come Home. Very, very similar, to the point of almost being a carbon copy, but still with a personality of its own, and story and dialogues that match the quality of its big inspiration. Plus, it's a longer hike across a much bigger island (or two), with more characters and tasks. The gameplay, once again, is simple, but very satisfying exploration, platforming, talking and questing without stakes or fall damage, and while contrary to A Short Hike there is combat, your funny cardboard enemies don't fight back, so destroying them is more of a collectible mechanic that serves to provide you with paper shred currency for buying and crafting new gadgets and helps to get an overview over which areas you have explored already and which ones you haven't been to yet, because there is no map and orienting yourself on the big island could be a challenge otherwise. There are many fun gadgets and they also ensure that the game remains enjoyable even after finishing the main quest. In fact, it had the some of the most enjoyable post-game gameplay I've seen, and it also has a New Game+ mode that allows your to replay everything but with all the found gadgets at your disposal right from the start. I don't feel like replaying the game now, but I could imagine doing it some time in the future, just like with A Short Hike, and I can't wait to show this game to the kids in the family who loved ASH.

The only really negative thing I can say about it, is that it's not on GOG (yet?). Some minor criticisms: While I was able to remember and complete all quests because I played through the game in three sittings, within three consecutive days, for children and people who take more breaks, a quest tracker would have been helpful. There were also a few characters on the island that existed in two places at the same time. You're supposed to send everyone to the playground, but some NPCs stick around even after agreeing to go there, and then you can find them in their old spot as well as in the playground. I would have preferred if everyone already recruited for the playground could only be found there, so that even without the help of post-game gadgets yould could easily distinguish those who you convinced already (at the playground) from those who you have yet to recruit (roaming the island). Also, some gadgets are less useful than others (e.g. a camera you can't shoot photos with). But these are nitpicks considering how cute, sweet, touching and enjoyable everything else was. A perfectly cozy game about a fidgety croc child hacking everything to pieces, while also being a tribute to childhood and everyone passionate about games. Highly recommended to fans of ASH.

Daughter of serpents (floppy)
Adventure & Point and click game. Don´t ask me, where i digged this game but If you are into Cthulhu mythos, game have interesting story. 3 different endings. You can customize main hero skills, which affects dialogue options and endings.

The Sinking city
Third-person Shooter, lovecraftion, detective, horror, RPG game. Game is OK. i wished the game had been scarier.

Prey 2006
I managed to get this game work on my Windows 11 computer this year. Average FPS. I was relieved when I finally played through the game.

Jagged Alliance 3
Turn based strategy game. Finished the game, which i started to play last year. Not good as Jagged Alliance 2.

Bright Memory infinite
Good FPS game. Graphics are good looking, I have to tinker the game to get Ray tracing to work

Lost castle
RPG, beat'em up and rogue-elite game. Each playthrough, dungeons and bosses are randomized. Good time killing game, if you don`t have something else to do!

Pentiment
Interesting adventure, point-and-click , detective game, shortly said!

Leap of Faith
Visual novel game. Game story is ok. What else I suppose to say!

Tomb raider 1 Remastered
Tomb raider 1 Unfinished Business
Tomb raider 2 Remastered
Tomb raider 2 Golden mask
Tomb raider 3 Remastered

I never played Unfinished Business and Golden mask until now. Never finished original Tomb raider 3, it was time to finish it.
Tomb raider 1 is masterpiece, balanced exploring, combat and puzzles.
Tomb Raider 2 average game. I hate Temple of Xian and water levels in this game.
TomB Raider 3 difficult, frustrating game.
Tomb raider 1 Unfinished Business and Tomb raider 2 Golden mask adds more levels of jumping puzzle and death traps with no story. I didn`t enjoy this add/ons.

My classic Tomb Raider game ranking:

1. Tomb Raider
2. Tomb Raider II
3. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
4. Tomb Raider III
5. Tomb Raider Chronicles
6. Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness

Zero Tolerance first time i managed to beat the game with defeating all the enemies in every single map, good thing you can save and load the game in 3 slots also kinda not sure but is this port maybe slower sometimes or is it the same on the sega mega drive version.
Some stages i though i would run out of bullets especially the sub basement ones, but luckily i still had enough as i made them count by one shot kill mostly and i saved up those that reach 99 max bullets.
I did feel the suspense of this game and it's a good shooter game.
Didn't lose any characters and played with the medic who gets 40 instead of 20 from medipacs.
Also some areas have fire which you can only reach if you put them out with fire extinguisher so don't waste em for nothing if you want to defeat every enemy. You would know if fire exists sometimes in levels that have grey backround smoke.
Also this is my 87th beaten gog game.

Now probably go back to those longer games which will take a while to beat.

SteamWorld Heist (GOG)

What a nice, fun game! Sort of a turn-based, squad-level platform shooter, with a bit of RPG thrown in - all mixed into an original, superbly crafted whole.
The gameplay is fine-tuned and addictive as hell. The art direction is wonderful, with many nice touches. Graphics and animations are very detailed and pleasant. The soundtrack is great and especially features a few catchy "country" songs, at times bizarre and tender. The overall tone is quirky and humorous, with some memorable characters.
It's a very player-friendly game. It's eminently suitable for "casual" gaming, you can adjust the difficulty level from easy to hard, you can replay missions at will, but happily it requires no grinding - I finished the game playing each level just once.
I installed The Outsider dlc right from the start. It adds a great character to the cast, with very interesting mechanics - might be my favourite of the lot.
This was the first SteamWorld game I played (and not the last!); I don't know if playing previously released titles in the series before this one might bring some additional context, but I was certainly able to enjoy it on its own.
A possible criticism is that you don't get any information on level configuration, enemy types, possible threats etc. before embarking on a mission - you essentially go in "blind", so you cannot choose team and equipment accordingly, but more out of chance. However, this is a very small quibble: if you like squad-TBS games, this is for you - but it's recommended to anyone, really.
My rating: I'm really undecided about this one. I'll go for a 4 out of 5, but it could be even higher!

Ravenlok, Apr 27 (Xbox Game Pass)-Its got a lot of simple mechanics that with a little more polish and a little more difficulty could have made this game a bit of a hidden gem. As it is everything is so easy, especially combat, that its not really worth the time. Also the camera movement and graphics in general could definitely cause dizziness or nausea in some.

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F1 23 (XSX Game Pass)

Played through a full 23 race F1 season. I did one race weekend a day. The last one of these I played was the '21 iteration, and not much has changed. The game still does its best to simulate all of modern F1's stupid idiot rules like enforced tire changes to a suboptimal compound- just for the spectacle.

Anyway, cannot blame the game for simulating the dumb rules of actual F1 or how terrible many of the modern circuits are in real life. I mean there are three races in the USA, a country with legendary circuits like Watkins Glen and Luguna Seca that they could use and modify as need, so they instead choose to use a pair of crappy street circuits and the abysmal COTA. Again, cannot blame the game for that. What the game does, is done competently enough- it runs perfectly, is well optimized and looks good. I just wish that Codemasters would take a year off and make a historical F1 game instead- maybe the early turbo era of the 80's, a spiritual successor to the classic Grand Prix legends- just set in a different time period.

Call of the Wild: The Angler (PC Game Pass)

This is one of those games that I started playing just out of curiosity. Then 40 hours later I've done all of the story mode challenges and can identify what species of fish I have hooked just by the way it attacked the bait/lure and the patterns it runs when it fights. Initially, I thought I'd play this a bit each day as a rest from the stress of driving a race weekend in F1-23. After a few days, the truth is that I was playing this game and taking a break with F1.

Yes, I really enjoyed the game.

So, it's the open world fishing game from the same team that does The Hunter: Call of the Wild. What do I know about real fishing? Well, a bit, and not much at the same time. I was always fishing when I was a kid and roughly the same style of inland lake and river fishing that is covered in the game. However, the last time I did any real fishing was about 36 years ago! So, I'm a bit rusty. The game isn't really a hardcore simulation...it's more of a relaxing open fishing adventure game. You pick up challenges off the notice boards at the 4 base camps. You open your map and go there and catch the correct class of fish. Some challenges just give you a photo and you need to explore to find the location. Catching the fish is like a simple puzzle game. You open the journal and read what the fish likes and when it's active and select the most likely lure or bait that will also, hopefully, decrease the chances of the wrong species being caught by mistake. It's simple, yet quite engaging for the right person in the right mood. There are also side activities to encourage more exploration of the map. To catch the rare diamond class fish requires you to do your homework well or be really lucky.

Though I've finished the in-game challenges, it's something I'll keep installed for a while for some relaxing play when I need a break from something else. The only negative I can come up with is the annoying Park Ranger. The guy is an absolute dolt. For a start he keeps calling me Buckaroo- every time he says it, he makes me wish that I was playing The Hunter instead of The Angler. So, I could unload a few rounds into his head. Then whenever I find a new location, he launches into an unwanted leftist hippie latte sipping rant about the evils we're all inflicting on the environment and the coming global warming apocalypse. Worst of all, I'm there having a relaxing bit of bait fishing in the quiet hours of the morning as the sun comes up, and over the radio at full volume "HEY BUCKAROO, I'M AT THE MEADOW CAMP COME SEE ME IF YOU WANT A CHAT!!!!". I've had more jump scares from this idiot than any actual horror game I've ever played.

If you collect the free Epic games, then you already have this game as it was a recent weekly free game. I chose the PC Game Pass version for no reason other than achievements and daily play accrue rewards points towards free Game Pass. The game runs flawlessly and, whilst not AAA cutting edge, looks just fine.

I finished Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 a couple of days ago.

Overall I liked it, the melee combat was pretty well implemented, not too complicated but still satisfying.
The story was somewhat deeper than I expected, not the normal "go kill the bad guys".
The last "boss fights" were surprisingly easy, as you get a weapon at the very end that seems to make you pretty much invincible.

Now onto the next game in the "series", Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2.

Ps. The GOG version needs a controller fix (one dll file) to be playable with modern XInput gamepads, as the mouse/keyboard controls seemed barely working either, as if they were never tested by the original developers whether the game can be played that way too... With the controller fix, it was great to play with a gamepad (I used 8bitdo SN20 Pro+ controller in a wired Windows/XInput mode).