My review on "BATMAN - THE TELLTALE SERIES"

Decisions and action in Gotham City

After playing the first episode and then replaying it after the patches came out (I was actually lucky, it seems, to avoid all the horrible bugs other people are describing, on day 1 the game only crashed once and then performed flawlessly; but there were minor glitches I hope now are all exterminated) I just love this game.
It's the next step after "Wolf Among Us" and "Tales from Borderlands" and shows the progress of Telltale games since "The Walking Dead". Graphics is getting better (and here it gives a nice comics feeling), action scenes are now intense and much more diverse than in earlier games, explorations part of the games doesn't feel empty with logic puzzles (simple but nice) in addition to the usual dialogs. It's too early to say if your decisions will shape a truly unique story - but they sure influence events in my current playthrough.
As for the story itself - it reminds of "The Long Halloween" at first, but takes a different turn. You meet familiar characters from the Batman comics, but sometimes their relationship with Batman or Bruce Wayne may surprise you (I wasn't definitely expecting Telltale approach to Oswald Cobblepot - and I think there's an interesting development ahead).
The game has a new feature - "Crowd Play". I don't use it myself, but it looks like an nice addition to the decision-making part of the gameplay for people who have more Batman-loving friends.

My review on PS: I don't know why my review DON'T look like this.Even though I made it like this. :/

You have been Slain!

Do you like hack n slash? Do like retro feel in game? Do you like Metal? Yes? Then get this game (Get it even if it's a "No").

The good:
+ Great music
+ Good pixel art (With optional CRT effects which adds more retro feel)
+ Controller Support
+ Satisfying combat
+ Challenging enemies
+ Awesome sub-bossfights
+ Awesome bossfights
+ Checkpoints
+ Good replay value.

The Bad:
- Keys can't be changed from in game. (But you wont need to chaange them as there are 2 control layouts)
- Blocking and reflecting projectiles need some practice (read SACRIFICE).
- Some gamers may find it repetitive.
- Waiting for platform can sometimes be boring.

Final verdict: This is a spectacular gaming gem and anyone who like 2D games must play it. For me it's a solid 8/10.

you have been slian - cool story bro, keep it up! ;)

Okay, let's try this. Here's a review of current version of Worms W.M.D.

Wonderful + Mediocre < Decent (1.0.0.78)

Worms W.M.D is a "match"-based game - gameplay experience consists of individual matches, as opposed to a big adventure. It ain't a roguelite or arcade-like thing either, so your matches are intertwined with setting the matches up. Separating the former and the latter reveals one's flaws overshadow the other.

The game part of the game is great. If you're not aware, Worms is a turn based game where you move your worms and destroy enemy team with varying arsenal. A bunch of game systems are streamlined when compared to predecessors, but this is balanced out by complexity of the new additions. Buildings, parts of the map subjected to visibility restrictions, work surprisingly well. Stationary weapons and vehicles are rather non-intrusive and fun additional options. The greatest addition seems to be weapon crafting, having nothing to do with often obtuse crafting of other games. You order a weapon or a mod for one, and get it - but on your next turn. This really mixes things up in a good way. There is field for gameplay refinement, but it's hardly necessary. Oh, presentation's great too.

Enter the menu and problems stack up. There is no cross PC-platform online play, even ignoring the consoles - while Galaxy is there for that, and Worms developers made their own metaservers in past titles. There is also no map import tool in GOG version, not that one available elsewhere is without problems, nor is there an in-game map editor; available seeded maps are bland. The default key bindings interfere with menu operation... how did this happen? Authenticate with Galaxy, in case you want to try online play or just like the client, to get a profile-locked savefile - got offline? Gotta remake the teams! It really doesn't matter in comparison that the deeper menus are somehow clunkier than ever.

It's really disappointing since clearly a lot of thought was put in gameplay, and nonzero amount was put in other things, but altogether I cannot really recommend Worms W.M.D.

edit: formatting fix

Here's my review for Gemini Rue-


Thoughtful, finely crafted cyberpunk


Wadjet Eye Games has consistently developed and published point-and-click adventure games with good puzzle logic, beautiful and nostalgic artwork, strong voice acting, and memorable settings and stories. Gemini Rue was one of the first games to be published by Dave Gilbert’s Wadjet Eye but developed by another party. Fortunately, developer Joshua Nuernberger continued the Wadjet Eye tradition and delivered one of strongest entries under the Wadjet Eye banner. Most of the elements mentioned above (voice acting, artwork, etc.) are on par with other games by the developer, which already makes the game very good in those regards. What sets Gemini Rue apart, however, is its thematic weight and integrity. Considerable effort has clearly gone into developing a strong backdrop to enrichen the game’s setting and deepen the stakes for the characters. The adventure game genre has a great deal of potential for strong storytelling, but video game designers often are not well-versed in how to create a video game and a compelling story. I would hazard to guess, however, that Joshua Nuernberger has spent a good deal of time studying dramatic theory. The story’s themes are consistent and identifiable, and its structure is solid. The principle of Chekov’s gun is well-applied- here is no wasted time or pointless diversions. Despite the traditional low res graphics and an unostentatious point-and-click interface, the game has a cinematic feel. I personally would submit Gemini Rue as the second best Wadjet Eye game and would heartily recommend it to any fan of adventure games or thoughtful science fiction.

My review of Splunky

Titan Quest Review:

"Shines in Multiplayer. A Must Have !"

Titan Quest is a classic. Everybody knows that.
It added an interesting setting for its time especially before LOKI which was far (edit:) less polished than this game.

Here are the points you need to know if you're, like me, addicted to this kind of game:

- Very nice set up and bestiary. The dubbing is excellent and dialogues are really well done.
But lacks the possibility to choose different answers/ paths in quests.

- 8 Masteries/ Classes to choose from. Beware you can fail your character construction.
Plan your progression wisely. Statistics are a bit too simple to manage. Health, Mana, Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity... each class need 2 stats or 3.
Also nearly every magic school has a cool companion to summon. A very good point for some that are based on direct damages and area of effects.

- Returning to villages/locations to resupply and selling gear is very easy. The portal stone is a marvelous item. Only inventory management is a bit tedious due to lack of space/ size of items in general.

- Clear and simple, the interface leaves not much place for mistakes. My only regret is some controls that don’t respond immediately like one of the most useful: the quick pick up key.

- Beautiful game with a night/day circle. Environments are varied. Lacks character body/face customization. You can only dye your basic tunic with 6 colors.

- Excellent Multiplayer. Classes were tailored to be played with other players. Many buffs, restorative effects, traps and other companions can do nice synergies. Noticeable in front of the increased difficulty in multiplayer.

- The difficulty setting is a bad point in solo. You can't select a higher one if you didn't finish the game previously. If you're used to this kind of game, first hours will be rather boring.

-Huge life span due to countless sets and items, huge zones to explore.
Higher difficulties hide some great moments. Boss fights are good.

-Wizards are all funny to play... maybe too much compared to others.

Human Resource Machine - Original

This game is very much like TIS-100, in that you are doing programming. However it can be done entirely with the mouse.

Graphics: This has a very similar look and feel to their previous game Little Inferno, and is cute. Well animated, and otherwise just bleeds with ambiance. It almost has a paper cutout look similar to South Park, but a lot more polished. It also feels a bit like flash with parts of their bodies being attached in a skeleton to the body. Still it's presentation is verging on joyful, and childlike.

Sound: Simple, be it from the sound of the bell from the elevator to the talking from your bosses that sound not too unlike Pikmen where certain syllables have a simple sound. Depending on the location background ambient noise will also be present, like the rain, or telephones ringing softly as though they are 3 rooms away.

Voice Acting: Funny when present, generally in a few cutscenes involved in the story.

Music: A variety of musical tracks. From New Age, to jazzy upbeat, to heavy 80's synth music, it's generally relaxing and goes on for long minutes at a time with background noise mixed in. It's never too upbeat, but you could just zone out for an hour and listen to these while taking a nap or trying to relax if you need. Seriously, if you can just listen to this in the background sometime when you need background noise.

Mechanics: This is the meat of the game. As mentioned it's programming, but you drag and drop the commands of what you want to do. Drag the commands up and down, or the resulting end of jumps. You can leave labels in the program, but these are not typed in, they are drawn in (hand written). You can step through the instructions, backtrack, or zoom through and watch him work at full speed.

Each level (being a year of employment) going up to the 41st floor can be beaten with 2 extra objectives, namely making it as fast as possible (fewest instructions run) and the shortest (fewest instructions total). You also have 3 slots for your script so you can do both or even experiment without losing your previous work (Much like Zachtronics games).

I'd have liked to see a few more commands to make smaller more useful scripts, namely another different comparing jump, and maybe something to convert numbers to characters and vise-verse, but that doesn't seem to be an option.

Story: The overall story of a robot invasion is a bit funny, But is the least important aspect of the game.

Graphics: 5/5
Sound: 5/5
Music: 5/5
Voice: N/A (Just not enough to make it worth scoring)
Mechanics: 4/5
Story: 3/5

Final: 22/25, 8.8/10, 4.4/5

My review of Hard West, sneaking in just under - seriously, 79 left, that's less than half a tweet - the 2000 character limit.

Giving the Dev His Due

Death has a story to tell you.

It's about deals and revenge and a handsome man in a black suit who comes to you when you are dying, and he tells it in a voice like the angel Gabriel on a night shift. Mostly, though, it is a story about regrets.

A classic Weird West tale: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy lies bleeding out beside her body and sells his soul for a second shot at their killers. All narrated by Dave DeAndrea, doing a bang-up job of distracting you from threadbare prose with his woodsmoke-and-whiskey purr. Even if I didn't favour unforgiving turn-based strategy games, I'd buy Hard West just to hear the man speak.

And make no mistakes – Hard West is unforgiving. An essential character takes a bullet through his soft, pale throat? Back to the start of the fight. No mid-way saves, no compromises. Hard West only makes deals with the devil himself.

The fights are (appropriately) hard as hell. Your people have low health and the game has some truly nasty guns. If you're not on the side pulling the trigger, a single shot can put you down or even out. What you have on your side is luck.

Luck is probably the most interesting mechanic Hard West has going. When a character dodges a bullet, they use up luck. When they're hit, it replenishes. And it's marvellous. Nothing feels more Clint Eastwood, undead gunslinger cool than dodging a shotgun blast from three feet away; nor tenser than praying you make this final killing shot because you are, quite literally, on your last legs and all out of luck.

It is, in the words of Oscar Wilde, atmospheric as balls.

The plot loops around and ties back on itself smartly, with emotional beats in all the right places, but they lack the build-up to land the hit. Like the knucklebones of a skeletal hand; useless without sinew and wet, red connective tissue.

But it has style, and that's worth any price. Old Nick always did have the sharpest suits.

Hello! Here goes my review for Torchlight!

Zero-frustration hack'n'slash experience by Feamelwen

So, we all know about hack'n'slash type of games. Gaming reduced to its simplest form - click, loot, get more powerful, then enemies get more poferful, then you have to click and loot some more to get more powerful than the enemies. A neverending cycle, a Skinner box where conditioning makes us activate that pleasure brain-circuit again and again.

That's what those games are. If you don't go into Torchlight seeking something it's not (for instance, an open-world game, an engaging and thoughtfull story, deep and carefull strategies) and you take it for what it is, my guess is that you'll probably have a blast like I did.

The gameplay is Diablo-like, but without the frustration that often sets in in even the best of Diablo clones. Your inventory is full? Instead of running to town several hundreds of times to sell junk, you can send your pet, and a totally needless time-wasting is eliminated. (You have to admit that giving a ridiculously small inventory and having to go in person to sell stuff in a type of game where loot is the main reason to play is nothing short of sadistic!) You're afraid that you'll have to specialize too much and won't survive in higher difficulties without a very precise build (Diablo II, I'm looking at you)? No probs, the difficulty stays on the "fun" side of the slider, and every class has versatile skills outside of their main speciality, letting you customize your character as you like. You weep because you want to change your weapon, but you don't want to lose that cool socketable that is in it? Hey, it's ok, you can destroy the weapon to retrieve the socketable!

The graphics are cutesy (the "Torchligh textures" mode makes them look even cooler), and the music is suitably atmospheric and sometimes even dark (the composer is Matt Uelmen of Diablo's fame).

In short, Torchlight is a very pure, almost childlike, wonderful clicking-looting experience. Not much else going on, but hey, it's fun the way it is.

My review of Judge dredd


5 Stars best arresting criminals simulator


An underrated gem of first person shooter game that has aged well and still enjoyable

Summary- If you are a fan of Judge Dredd comics and movies, this game is a must buy. It stays true to the source material. You are Judge Dredd who is the arbitrator of the law. Your arch nemesis Judge Death has been released from his prison and is terrorizing the people of your city. Your job is to fight and kill his henchmen, vampires, zombies and other powerful creatures and subdue him.

Plot- The story is well written and the pacing is good. This is an immersive game.

Most exciting elements of the game- (1) Arresting criminals and perps. That is where majority of the humor is. I arrested a graffiti artist painting the walls and gave him 2 years of imprisonment. I arrested a fat woman in a parking lot and she got ‘illegal parking’ charges.
(2) Interesting and tense boss fights.

Gameplay- One word- FUN. It is not at all frustrating. And the controls are fluid, smooth and easy to play. Nothing complicated.

Graphics- For a game that is over a decade old, it runs fairly well and modern systems including windows 8 and does not have any glitches or game-breaking bugs.

Sound- The voice acting, music, and special effects are fantastic and well done. You can tell the developers worked really, really hard polishing this game to perfection.

Replay value- For Judge Dredd fans, yes there is.

Glaring problems- None encountered.

My opinion- Go buy this game if you want some old-school nostalgia, plot twists, humor and want to blast your way through multiple types of interesting enemies.





My review of Interstate 82


5 stars The best car combat game there is

Summary- This game is a sequel to the critically acclaimed game called Interstate 76. The game begins 6 years after the ending of the first game and you have to go find your partner and best friend and rescue him from the clutches of evil. You can choose your cars, guns, chassis, armor type and special weapons for each mission.

Plot- Set during the Reagan administration, with a lot of America cultural references, this game offers an interesting take on conspiracy theories and plot twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat. And some plot twists just give you jaw-dropping moments. This is not just a simple clichéd ‘find and rescues a friend’ game. It has a deep and interesting storyline.

Most exciting elements of the game- (1) The car combat provides an over the top adrenaline fueled, intense, edge of the seat, action-packed experience that gamers will never forget.
(2) The spectacular rock songs that play as background music.

Gameplay- It is much better and less complicated than its predecessor Interstate 76. It is easier to upgrade your cars and weapons so they can go head to head with fully armored tanks and still destroy them.

Sound- The best part about this game is the soundtrack. Voice acting is also filled with emotions and talent.

Replay Value- Yes most definitely. There are a lot of cars, trucks, SUV. Each with different weapons and abilities. Just one playthrough is not enough to experience the entirety of the game.

Graphics- They are nice and colorful and this game runs well with modern systems such as Windows 8.

Glaring problems- Some of the enemies encountered early on in the game are just too hard to fight against. You cannot destroy them, just drive away to the finishing checkpoint. It is only until 1 hour into the game when you can start upgrading your car with more weapons and stronger shield that you stand a chance against big fully armored trucks and tanks.

My opinion- You can count on one hand the number of GOOD car combat games there are out there. Interstate 82 is one of them and way better than Interstate 76. Go buy it.



My review of Apotheon


5 stars best game that explores Greek Myths


Plot- You are a human warrior who has been abandoned along with his fellow humans to perish and die by the Gods for unknown reasons. It is up to you to invade the Gods domain and seek vengeance and find a way to return humanity back to its triumphant days. With the secret help of Queen Hera (Scheming wife of Zeus), you become a one-man-army against the kingdom of gods and go on a rampage destroying everything that tries to stop from accomplishing your goal to save humanity.

Most exciting elements of the game- The massively rewarding Boss battles and soundtrack. From the forests of Artemis, to the dark lair of Apollo, to the underworld of Hades, to the seas of Poseidon, you fight multiple boss battles that are very satisfying and enriching.
With each God you kill, you gain their weapons and abilities that play a pivotal role in defeating other bigger more powerful and deadly gods and monsters.

Gameplay- The game has a very unique fighting system that is fluid, which makes the game easy to play. Gameplay is very engaging and immersive.

Sound- The music is very attractive and the special effects and the soundtrack during boss battles are very “godlike”.

Replay Value- I am 50/50 on the replay value. The campaign allows you to fully experience the lore about Greek gods. You don’t miss anything on the first play through. So there is really no need to play it again once you have beaten the game unless you really want too.

Graphics- The graphics are well done and the art style resembles ancient color in a modern setting. The characters resemble the figures drawn on Greek pottery.

Glaring problems- In some levels, the enemies keep on coming and there is no limit to them. The best thing to do is just reach the finish checkpoint of that level as soon as possible.

My opinion- If you want to play a game about slaying Greek Gods in massively epic way then look no further. This game is for you.





My review of Rogue Trooper



Rating – 5 stars Best cover-based shooter on GOG

Summary- Before gears of war there was another cover-based shooter gem with a fantastic storyline. You are a genetically engineered super soldier created to destroy another faction that is at war with yours. Your job is to blast your way through enemies, super soldiers, tanks, aircrafts and other dangers to find what really is going on in this war and who is right and wrong.


Plot- The game starts off with a Bang, you are dropped right in the heat of battle and you have to face against enemies that are armed to the teeth with guns and grenades.
You can play this game in “guns blazing” mode or “stealth kill” mode. Both are rewarding in their own ways.
The AI is intelligent and actually calls in reinforcements if they detect your presence. And they quickly take cover.

Most exciting elements of the game- (1)The levels are constantly different. So you are traversing through Beaches, mountains, underground labs, corporate buildings and heavily armed military bases. (2) You can collect and salvage material from your dead enemies to upgrade your guns and other weaponry which is super fun.

Gameplay- The gameplay is easy to pick up and play. Nothing complicated.

Sound- The voice acting by all the actors is done nicely and the soundtrack is alright.

Replay Value- There is not much replay value unless you become a hardcore fan of the game which is unlikely as the game is good but not great.

Graphics- This game has aged well. Even after a decade of release, it works well on modern systems and displays good graphics.

Glaring Problems- Not much encountered. The game is linear. There are no side quests. The ending seems like a cliffhanger hinting at a sequel, which was never made. The multiplayer is practically dead.

My opinion- As of yet, there isn’t any good cover based shooter games on GOG to my knowledge. This makes Rogue Trooper stand out of the crowd. If you are looking for some old school nostalgia and fun, this game is for you.

My review of Stasis:

Five stars

Stasis is something of a miracle. It’s a tiny budget game made by the tiny team at The Brotherhood Games (the majority of the development was handled by brothers Chris and Nic Bischoff), five years in the making, and it’s one of the best adventure games I’ve played in a long, long time.

The game opens above Neptune on the medical research vessel the Groomlake as main character John Marachek awakes from stasis. He’s woozy, injured, and things have gone very, very wrong in the time that he’s been asleep. John doesn’t know where his wife and child is, so he sets off to find them. Lights flicker, broken computers spark, blood and bubbling ooze abound, and we’re off on a gothic science fiction horror show.

While there are a couple of jump scares in Stasis, the game is more concerned with disturbing you. Kurt Vonnegut said in his rules of fiction, “Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of.” The Bischoff’s are sadists, and I mean that as the best sort of compliment. John Marachek is put through hell, forced to perform morally compromising actions and suffer horrors of all kinds. I’m rarely surprised by games, but Stasis managed to surprise me with the depths it sunk to.

As you guide John through the Groomlake, you’ll face somewhat typical adventure game puzzles – pick up items, combine them, use them where they’re needed – and it’s here that the game stumbles a little. While the majority of the puzzles are pretty great (I particularly enjoyed the puzzles that required me to really pay attention to the environments), there were a couple of times when I was stumped. When that happens, the game kind of grinds to a halt as you run around, clicking on things, trying combinations, running the mouse over the environment hoping for hot spot hits. It’s a problem common to the adventure genre so Stasis is not the only offender, but it is still a problem. Where this really becomes a problem is when there seemingly aren’t enough hints. The hydroponics area held me up for a while, as did the stasis chamber puzzle (although that one was fair, it just needed some laser focused examinations). I couldn’t figure out where to go at one point, but as it turns out, I just didn’t walk in the right spot, which seems unfair. While I generally loved reading the PDA journals that divulge clues and tell the stories of the characters that inhabited the Groomlake – I particularly enjoyed reading about the technician who had some bad luck and an unhappy marriage – there can be times where you have to sit and read quite a bit at one time. The villain is a little flat, coming off as a bit of a one-note version of Doctor Frankenstein. It’s all forgivable, because the rest of Stasis is just so strong. Stasis’ environments are absolutely stunning, so much so that I found myself constantly screenshotting. To paraphrase Hellraiser’s Pinhead, the Bischoff’s have such sights to show you. It’s a joy to explore the horrifically gorgeous world of the Groomlake. The sound design is also great, as is the tremendous music by game legend Mark Morgan, Christopher Bischoff, Daniel Sadowski, Jovana Djordjevic, and Meesah Kuteyi.

One holdover from adventure games of yore that I was delighted to see return was that John can die, the pains of which are mostly avoided due to autosaves. The new, episodic King’s Quest game from The Odd Gentlemen also employed this, and both it and Stasis show how old mechanics can be freshened up and made palatable again. I enjoyed every single one of the gruesome deaths that I lead John Marachek to - I'm sure that the Brotherhood truly enjoyed thinking up and animating each one.

If you have any love for adventure games, buy Stasis now. It’s a beautiful, horrifying ode to Alien, Event Horizon, BioShock, Dead Space, and The Dig. It’s scary, it’s smart, it has a dark sense of humor, and it has soul. I was frequently disturbed, and I was left exhausted and beaten down by the end. What more can you ask of horror? Highly recommended.

My review of Alone in the Dark Trilogy:

Five Stars, A Survival Horror Masterpiece

If all you know about Alone in the Dark is the execrable 2005 Uwe Boll film, I know this will be difficult given what a toxic atrocity that movie is, but trust me: 1992s Alone in the Dark is a wonderful, scary, atmospheric classic that shares nothing with the film other the title and character names. If you’ve never seen the film, let me just stop you here: don’t, but definitely play the game.

I first played Alone in the Dark on my Amiga 500. Having read a number of Lovecraft stories, I was thrilled to find a game that sought to emulate the cosmic horror of the Cthulhu Mythos. As crude as it all may seem now, the 3D models against the beautiful pixel art backgrounds and the fixed camera angle cinematic stylings blew my mind. I suppose that just as it’s hard to believe that audiences were truly scared by (the wonderful) Browning’s Dracula and Whale’s Frankenstein, playing Alone in the Dark on release was scary – there was a very real sense of playing a horror film. The surprise early monster encounter was a legitimate jump-scare, and the first zombie, arms outstretched, slowly creeping into the room, genuinely frightened me. Certainly, technological progress and games that built upon Alone in the Dark‘s foundation have blunted these experiences considerably, but this is where 3D survival horror started, and it still has a dark power about it that makes it worth playing even today.

I never finished it back in 1992. I found it tremendously difficult, and much of that is the limited resources and adventure game puzzles combined with a clunky-even-for-92 interface. Any Resident Evil vet will recognize the tank controls, but that’s not the only challenge. In order do anything, one must navigate a sub-menu of commands and inventory items, and then, press the action button. Aiming is pure guesswork for the most part, and combat is a fumbling mess. Like adventure games of old, there’s places you can just outright die merely by exploring, and you can find yourself in a situation where you can’t finish the game due to expended resources. This is an old game, so one must expect a certain archaic essence.

So, yes: sometimes, this game can be a real pain to play. But as I said above, it’s very much worth playing today. It’s still a wonderful evocation of horror and of Lovecraft in particular. There’s a sense of urgency and tension, aided by the early game surprises that can end in death if you don’t act fast. The very first room can result in a death in a minute or less from a toothy, avian nightmare if you don’t take certain actions. Obnoxious to be sure, but also, surprising, scary, a sense that anything can happen, and a subversion of expectations – this is what horror is all about. The music is effectively chilling, and the primitive sound effects are still eerie – I’ll never forget the footstep noises, or the smash of the upstairs window. There’s a number of in-game texts that are pretty darn cool Lovecraftian tales that are still worth reading. Once you come to grips with the game and the interface and as long as you save often, it’s really not that difficult, and if you get stuck, there’s many a walkthrough on the internet to help you out. While Alone in the Dark was certainly surpassed technologically, it’s still a wonderful experience I highly recommend. It’s available on GOG for purchase for a cheap price along with it’s sequels, so if you’re looking for a trip to Lovecraft country, give it a go. It’s one of the best adventure games ever made, one of the best horror games ever made, and it’s also a fascinating stepping stone in the development of survival horror – if you want to see where it all started to come together, this is it.

My Witcher 3 review:

5 Stars - Morrowind Dethroned (Spoiler Free)

Possibly the best RPG I've ever played. Not to say I hunt them all down, but to take the crown from Morrowind is no small feat. An excellent story on its own but gains even more depth if you've read the books by Andrzej Sapkowski, also well worth your time. It doesn't have the instantly gripping, fast-paced start of the second game, but it builds in a way that is ultimately more satisfying. Saying too much would risk ruining a few moments so you'll have to take my word, and everyone else's, on that.

Gameplay is nicely rewarding and the challenges are effected by more than the difficulty. A powerful shield is almost like cheat mode and a few fights would have been incredible tests of skill without it. I'm not ashamed to have relied on it more than once. You could easily forego it if you're a master at dodging or maybe at knockdowns, or have a panache for setting people on fire. My only complaints are partially of my own making: If you want to complete every quest and point of interest then the pace of the story will suffer somewhat and in Skellige you'll grow to hate the water. And you'll learn, never trust a horse.

The visual design has captured the atmosphere of the Witcher's world wonderfully. From the brown, dirty, muted life of war-torn rurals, to the frigid beauty of isolated islands, to the lush splendor of a perpetually partying duchy. The only disappointment is that the graphics themselves could have been much better - luckily we have mods for that.

There's simply nothing to complain about with the audio. Beautifully scored, and with excellent foley work, the immersion is wonderful. As with any RPG, you'll also wish the game had five times the voice content, but what is there is still impressive.

As I mentioned, there's no lack of mods to help further enrich things as well. Too many to list but I strongly recommend two:
The HD Reworked Project - an impressive bump without changing the world
All Quest Objectives - will save a lot of wasted time

***My review has not been posted yet, although should not take 2 days to approve. Should this disqualify me, please delete this with my apologies. ***


My favorite game on GOG, yet to play W3

Geralt is born.

I should say reborn, looking 30 ish and with no memory at the beginning of the game. Let me rewind to the very beginning....one of the outstanding features in The Witcher are the cut scenes. The opening cut scene is like watching a cinema trailer with the voiceover explaining the background. Do not skip any of them. I often find myself re-watching the opening one, as still amazes me today.This is an adult game with dark themes, no frilly niceties saying it will be alright, as you will decide not only your physical direction, but your moral one as well. This brings me to "decisions." You will decide the fate of others, like Abigail near the start, you have the ability to be as mean as you want, or to play the game following your own morals.

Unlike most games of the genre, the inventory screen only allows you to upgrade your chest amour, with the main focus being on your weapons. Two (yes 2) swords (steel for humans, silver for monsters,) together with 2 ring slots, a small weapon and a heavy weapon slot. All rounded up with a trophy slot..well you have to earn somehow :)

There is a plethora of information, from Quests to Formulae, together with a glossary and tutorials. You have everything you need. The Hero tab is where you spend your well earned points. Both swords can be upgraded, together with signs (magical abilities), though some rewards require you to drink a potion. The Witcher is beautiful, however the fixed point camera can take a little getting used to. Combat is slightly different as well, as not only can you choose your sword, you choose your style from strength, quick and group. A flaming sword shows you when to click for a follow up. The tutorial is well rounded.

I have found a couple of issues playing on Windows 10, most notable, character hair flying around during discussion. Play in compatible Win 7 mode to limit this.

The Witcher sucks you in, rolls you around, and will spit you out if not prepared. Save often.

I don't want to sound assholish or ungrateful or anything but how about, I don't know, sending the gift codes or adding some funds to wallets of last honorable winners? AFAIK none of us got anything. Did you fotget about us? ;)