Journey (Epic)

So, my all time favourite PlayStation exclusive is no longer a PlayStation exclusive. I've played it a few times on PS4, but don't own it, I played it as a PS Plus title when I briefly had a subscription. I always intended to buy it some time, then it came to PC and is currently selling on Epic Store for $4.99 (with the Epic discount). If you don't have it for PS4 then get it, I can now confirm the PC port is a good one. Well, okay it has one problem only- I couldn't see any option to invert the y-axis in the controller settings. This must be an oversight, since you can do it on PS4 and you can invert the mouse look if you play M&KB...hopefully they patch that in. Anyway my controller has programming so I inverted the y-axis that way. If you don't invert your y-axis for 3d games, then you have nothing to worry about.

With an RX580 I was able to run 2160p with ultra settings and locked 60fps, with only one concession being to turn down MSAA. So it's not a demanding game to run, and it ran faultlessly for me- without bugs or crashes. You can download and run from the .exe without the Epic launcher, but I used the launcher for multiplayer- which I consider to be an essential part of the experience. Though I did only come across 3 other players in my play through.

Otherwise the game is the same artistic masterpiece, just on PC at higher resolutions and potentially higher frame rates than on a PlayStation. Now everyone can play it, and you should- it's a short experience, but an excellent one just the same.

Stories: Path of Destinies

A very cool action hack&slash/Choose Your Own Adventure hybrid. After you get a whole bunch of different (non-true) Endings, you do start to see the seams in the story structure, but to make something of this magnitude 100% consistent with no plot holes would be a humongous undertaking (not that having 25 different endings isn't.)

Silent Hill 2 (PS2)

So I thought completing the first Silent Hill meant I could beat this game without wetting myself, I was wrong. The moment that caused me to regret playing it was when I entered a room I had been in previously and this terrifying music suddenly played, there weren't any enemies in the room but I stood in the corner waiting for them to arrive for about 2 minutes before eventually realising. Fortunately I got used to it and eventually powered through to completion.

Silent Hill 2 is known as one of the best horror games on the PS2 and it's easy to see why. The story has shifted since the first game, with you playing as James Sunderland, a man who receives a letter from his supposedly dead wife asking him to meet her at her favourite place, Silent Hill. As he wanders around he finds the town near deserted, plagued by monsters, with the only other humans being others who were drawn to this place. As the story progresses you learn the truth behind what's going on and your actions throughout decide how the story ends. Gameplay is fairly simple, unless you play on hard and kill every enemy you come across you're unlikely to suffer from low ammunition as the majority of enemies are killed with very few attacks. This is the only the 2nd game I've seen where you can set the difficulty of the puzzles (The first being Monkey Island 3), although normal should be fine for most people.

The game is shorter than the first game and with fewer enemy types and bosses. However I think the interactions between the cast are improved and make up for the shorter story. There were a few bugs, corpses jerking around, the infamous pyramid head's appearance wasn't as effective on me as he got stuck in a corner and was unable to move. The ending I got, when compared with the others, probably wasn't the 'best' ending, but it definitely wasn't the worst. It was a good game, a far cry from now where jump scares have become the norm in horror games. I'd recommend it a go, however it's only available as a physical copy (or as a ROM) as far as I know.

Diablo as a rogue. Although game is much shorter than I remember, it is still briliant piece and I can recommend it to anybody. Great for me is that you can play only a short time a day and deeper I was in the dungeon more enthusiastic I was. Maybe the best part is timeless music and graphic style which is still nice for my eye with lot of action and simple story.

Metro Exodus (XB1X)

Played using Xbox Game Pass. Ever wanted to go on a FPS road trip? Well this is the game for you, well it's a rail trip actually. One of the best story driven FPS's I've now played, probably only outdone by Bioshock Infinite in that regard. By great story I don't mean like a good book, but more that it just builds up investment and care factor in your crew, the train and where your going- the story keeps you going because you want to see it through, not just because you want to shoot things.

It's a show case technically. It's 4K on an XB1X and is one of the sharpest looking games around. Only issue was 3 lock ups during my play through that required reloading a checkpoint. Saving is a mix of save anywhere using one save slot and check pointing in case you screw that up.

Unlike the earlier two Metro game this one is not just tunnels, you get to visit different environmental types as you journey across Russia and have to stop for various reasons. The levels are evenly spread between a few open levels where you can make your way in various different ways. Then those are broken up with more linear areas closer to what you remember in the first two games. Likewise the combat varies to stop staleness, you fight humans front on or using stealth, plus levels where the main enemies are mutants- those levels play more like survival horror with the usual premium on conserving ammo. Overall it's a slow paced grounded thoughtful shooter far more than a run and gun game like Doom 2016.

As with earlier games there are more than one ending based upon how benevolently you play. As usual for a first play I just played however I felt like to enjoy without restrictions. I'll go for the better ending in a second play through. I almost started a new game straight away, but I've got many other games I want to play- so that will have to be for another time.

Ashes 2063 + Dead Man Walking DLC

I play various mods for videogames but this one is easily TOP5 of the best mods I played so far. Great soundtrack, oozing atmosphere, hectic action, lot of mysteries and questions and many references here and there.

It was so good someone made DLC for it because he could not wait for the next episode from original creator :]


No One Lives Forever 2 - A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way

eh, not that good tbh?
Humor is weaker beside two instances, difficulty spikes even bigger (some sneaking moments are difficulty even for people who played old schoold sneaking games)...
beside RPG elements there is little to no improvements. Beside graphic (some characters get improvements, first level is charming).

oh and they choose Italian voice actor for Amstrong, the most stereotypical Scotish person alive

Deathtrap (90% off sale)

What is Deathtrap?: A tower defense / ARPG hybrid set in the Van Helsing world

Technically, I've only finished the campaign with the sorceress (50/66% completed with the warrior and marksmen classes), so aside from finishing with the other two, there are several other play modes as well - scenario(?) and endless.

When I played the Van Helsing game, I actually thought the mini-game tower defense section was under-developed and a bit disappointing. So I'd eyed this one for a long time and almost pulled it off my WL once or twice, but ultimately $2 was too tempting to pass.

And on the whole, I really liked this game. It feels like the developers really flushed it out into a coherent, fairly full standalone game. Somewhere around board #7 I was ready to say it was fun and well done but much too easy. The same 3-4 strategies were available on every map, and made them a bit facerolly.

But the last half of the campaign really turns that around.

I will also say, the 3 classes seem fairly well balanced overall while playing very differently with the marksman geared towards trap support with hit and run but super squishy, the warrior getting in the middle of everything, and the sorceress somewhere in between.

The progression is 3-tiered:
Skill points: You gain 3 skill points per character level, and levels are gained from xp from progressing in any given map. Replaying the map, or any part you already got experience for, doesn't give you any more xp. It seems as if you get the same amount of XP regardless of the difficulty you beat the board at.

These are spent on attack strength, active skills, and passive bonuses that at least at lower levels are broad and allow for some pretty different specializations based on what you enjoy and how to play, while seeming at least mostly balanced.

Trap points: You gain a set amount of trap points based on beating a map at different skill levels. So while re-playing a board on hard won't net you any more xp, it will provide the additional trap points for moving each tier higher (but nothing for re-playing at the same level).

Gear (loot plus a fairly slim crafting system)

Between the 3, there's a pretty good balance of progression - providing some incentive to replay maps if you enjoy them, but really taking the grind out of it if you don't want to.

There are a few flaws - some of the later maps seem a tad too long (6 waves of >100 mobs takes a while - hopefully you weren't going anywhere), with no ability to save and exit outside of the campaign menu. So I tend to play only 1-2 maps per day.

I'll definitely keep this one installed, and will chip away at the remaining content, but for now calling the campaign completed and moving on to the next item on my backlog- probably Dragon's Dogma, thanks to Doc.

Cuphead (Switch)

Cuphead is an action/platformer game with a heavy emphasis on boss fights. The game is well known for two things, its 1930's animation aesthetics, and its high difficulty. The difficulty comes from the fact you only have 3hp for every fight, and there is no way to heal any lost damage. This couple with bosses with attacks that came out of 'bullet hell' games who can tank large amounts of damage explains pretty much everything. The final boss is, surprisingly, relatively easy compared with some of the more absurd bosses encountered half way through which includes side scrolling platforming, projectiles that split into more projectiles and a huge health bar all rolled into one.

This is one of those games where the difficulty is there to make up for the shortness of the game. Each boss takes about 2 - 3 minutes to kill, and just over 20 bosses would mean slightly over an hour to complete were it not for the difficulty. I managed to complete it in 2 days, with most bosses requiring less than 10 attempts with a few requiring about 25 attempts. Overall it's a good game with great visuals and music, but I'd only recommend getting it on when on sale

Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded

This game is [the second] remake of the original Leisure Suit Larry. It adds voices, sounds, new graphics, a new GUI, some new jokes, and the game has no dead-ends (deaths will simply restart you back right before you died).

The narrator is quite good, and the game itself is fun (it's still fundamentally the same LSL), but I prefer the original text parser version. However, if you're turned off by the old graphics and interface of the original, I would certainly recommend this game!

Battle Chasers: Nightwar, Jun 17 (GOG)-Definitely the best game I've played so far this year and I think it will be tough to top. I really enjoyed the perk system and each dungeon felt unique and interesting. I liked the difficulty option to the dungeons: it allowed for some replayability as you frequently got to see new screens/encounters on a second run. The story was ok but mostly it didn't get in the way of bashing on things. I've read some reviews that say the game is too grindy and I thought so too for a brief moment but because you can redistribute your perk points anytime before battle you can cherry pick exactly what you need for a tough encounter. A couple of minor quibbles: I felt like there were far too many abilities that seemed to do exactly the same thing, half as many may have been better; every dungeon screen had half a dozen barrels and chests that mostly seemed a waste; and only being able to rotate the party at select areas wasn't a great choice. All minor complaints though. Would definitely be interested in the Further Adventures of.

Full List

Shadow Warrior 2.

I wish it was closer to the first/classics instead of turning it into a 'looter-shooter' but still a good game. Beautiful graphics, cool weapons/powers in large open levels.

Lo-Wang wanna kick ass not manage inventory though.

Quake 4.

Expanded quake 2 universe with a different character on a different mission.

Game plays OK mostly and the new enemies are OK. Expanded strogg universe is good, but too many on rails shooting sections. Feels weird having your silent character interacted with and being unable to speak - at all!

Guns are OK - enemies are OK, game plays OK. Because of the shared engine the game feels a lot like Doom 3 with dark lighting, similar colored world and industrial interiors. Squad memebers can be annoying or die without being any help, your commander can turn into a complaining ass at times. Towards the end of the game it feels overly contrived in an effort to fill time.

It is fun to feel part of the invasion force rather than a lone hero, but the game slows down too many iimes to chat. Some cool guns. Some cool boss battles. Being turned into a strogg is a neat idea.

It's just an average game. Ending was a real let down, like a movie that expects a sequel that never arrives.

Shenmue (XB1X)

Just finished a game where I get a job, go to work, drive a Forklift (you really have to do actual work), get paid. It was awesome. Now that I've finally played this game I see where David Cage got half of his ideas from- which led to Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain. Unlike Quantic Dream though, Yu Suzuki knows how to keep a story together, well based upon the first game at least- according to the man himself, when Shenmue 3 comes out soon, the story will still be only halfway finished. Based on the first story, I'm looking forward to the rest of the story.

Anyway, Shenmue was way better than I was expecting. Describe the game to anyone that hasn't played it and it sounds boring. Yet it kept me engaged all the way. It's refreshing to have a game where to find where you need to go you ask someone or look at the roadside map board. Unravelling what to do also involves talking to people. Despite the game giving very little artificial gamey direction cues, I also had little doubt as to what I probably needed to do at any given time. It's well designed.

It's old though. The movement control is clunky, especially in tight quarters. The new remaster apparently stays very close to the original, just higher resolution, some texture improvement and widescreen. All those things can be turned off for something close to the original Dreamcast version if you prefer. It's actually how I like remasters to be done.

Apart from the old style awkward controls, the only negative I had was the amount of waiting you had to sometimes do. The world runs to its own clock and when you need to be somewhere tomorrow and it's too early for bedtime, you just have to wait or find something to amuse yourself- there's no time speed up or skip. That's what all the side stuff is for- play actual SEGA arcade games like Hang On or Space Harrier. Go get your fortune told. And don't forget Forklift Racing.

It's on pretty much all platforms now. Of course I played it using Xbox Game Pass and will be doing the same for part 2 soon.

The Girl and the Robot (Act 1, see below)

I already reviewed the pre-alpha version in May, now I've finished the official release version as well. What I wrote about the pre-alpha version still holds true for this one, with these additions:

- The pre-alpha didn't have the first two levels like I wrote, but one and a half (or maybe even just a third of the second one?). The release version has 5 levels of varying length and quality.

- The release version removed one puzzle room that was present in the first level of the alpha version, and placed one target in level 2 at a slightly different location where it's hard to overlook. I think everything else was the same.

- The girl now has the ability to heal the robot. Seems like the robot can take 3 or 4 direct hits before dying, and the girl can fully heal it, if she kneels beside it.

- The release version introduces cutscenes (without words as well), new characters beside the robot and the girl, and a background story told in paintings. There is new music as well, I think.

- The release version now has an autosave feature at checkpoints (no manual saving, just one savefile, starting a new game erases your progress). The checkpoints aren't always placed at the most convenient spots, so dying can lead to some tedious repetition at times, but the game is rather easy most of the times and you can catch up to where you were before in next to no time, so it's nowhere near e.g. Dark Souls level of annoying. XD

- Even though it's not in the title or the short summary of the game, just casually mentioned in the longer description, the release version is actually just Act 1. It was kickstarted and since the release, the devs haven't really posted anything of note on the website and Twitter account, so I don't really expect that there will be an Act 2. Act 1 ended quite literally with a cliffhanger, and it's not a good one, especially if Act 2 will never follow. It does not really conclude anything, or if it does, than in a way that kind of renders the whole thing pointless. Still, the story is more of a bonus anyway, I thought the game fun even without a story. (EDIT: I may have spoken too soon, I found some minor evidence that the devs might still be working on Act 2, slowly.)

- But I have to say, I liked the first levels better than the last ones. Near the end I actually had to check some things in a walkthrough because trying to solve it by myself got too tedious and frustrating. The last level was big and mostly empty, although there wasn't much do to, most space was just wasted, and while it was filled with water, both girl and robot could walk on the water and didn't even make splashy sounds. It felt a bit as if the release version was still more like an alpha or beta. The second and final boss fight (both are more like puzzles) was very simple and easy in theory, but somewhat annoying and boring in execution, and since it felt pointless to repeat the same simple things until I got a bit more lucky, I just watched the last cutscene on Youtube and never officially completed it myself.

- All that being said, I don't regret buying it. I did have 2-3 hours of fun with it, I still think it's very charming, and that there is potential for a wonderful game in there. It's a shame that it probably won't ever get the chance to fully realize this potential.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Installed it to see how poorly it would perform on my system, but turned out to be very playable at maxed settings (30-40fps would not be playable for me in a fast paced action game, but worked nicely here) and I beat it in 3 weeknights.

Certainly a unique game. Not a full on action game, but the combat is pretty visceral and "weight". The puzzles, all to do with "changing perspective" (think Riddler puzzles in Batman Arkham games) were neat, though felt a bit overused at times. And the voices.... Also no on-screen UI (HP/stamina bars, button prompts, etc) to get in the way of immersion.

I enjoyed it, glad I picked up this month's Humble Monthly.