game review – Klardendum

O tempora: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater – Master Collection Version

02/04/2025 02/04/2025

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

If there is one entry in the Metal Gear franchise that is unanimously beloved, it would be Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Impressive for a PS2 release, wonderfully balanced in gameplay and storytelling, funny and dramatic, systemic but easy to understand. Yet, it was never among my personal favorites. I’ve only played the game (specifically Subsistence release) once and while I liked it enough, many things about the game frustrated me. And due to that, MGS2 remained my favorite. And yet, surprisingly, as I was revisiting the games through the Master Collection, I found how MGS1 and 2 didn’t age as well as I had hoped… While MGS3 felt a lot better than I have remembered.

Happy about: Blade Chimera

29/03/2025 29/03/2025

There’ve been quite a lot of metroidvania titles in the past decade, however most of them now love to lean into the whole Souls-like design language, with huge emphasis on precise and punishing combat and limited healing. And there have been some fantastic examples of games done that way, some of which I could even enjoy, although in general this is entirely not my cup of tea. But apart from the great Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, that I grew to like more as the years went by, very few games felt like a Castlevania-type metroidvania, the IGAvania, if you will. Or at least, few that seemed interesting enough to play. Blade Chimera was another such titles I didn’t get interested in at first. However, after seeing it played on streams, I found it curious enough to check it for myself. And for the most part, it is a very solid and fun game.

Read more“Happy about: Blade Chimera”

O tempora: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – Master Collection Version

24/03/2025 24/03/2025

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

For the longest time I’ve considered Metal Gear Solid 2 to be my favorite entry in the series, from the mechanical perspective. Not the most popular opinion, to say the least, given how much controversy surrounded MGS2 and how much more beloved MGS3 usually is. But in many ways, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was the final evolution of what Metal Gear was up until that point and a glimpse into what it turned into for the next couple of entries. And because of how much I liked that simpler stealth action approach of the earlier titles, it was very nice to see the idea taken to its logical conclusion. Still, it’s been decades since I’ve played the game so I was a bit worried if I will like it again, as it did before. I did. But it definitely didn’t age as well as I’ve remembered.

O tempora: Metal Gear Solid – Master Collection Version

13/03/2025 13/03/2025

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Geez, when was the last time I played Metal Gear Solid?.. It’s been at least 20 years. This is a bit strange, because out of the entire franchise, I always had the warmest feelings towards the first two MGS entries. Apart from MGR: Revengeance, of course. Last time I’ve played MGS1 was with the interesting but flawed PC port of the game that is still available on GOG… but I’ll speak on the different versions of the game later. The main reason I’ve decided that it was finally time to replay a classic was the release of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 1. Yes, it has been released back in 2023, but the original release was highly flawed, so I’ve waited for some time for it to get patched and it seems like the game included in it are at their potential best by this point. So it was time. And Metal Gear Solid, originally released in 1998, is still really cool but also far more flawed then I have remembered.

Quick thoughts on: Butcher’s Creek

08/03/2025 08/03/2025

David Szymanski has created a fair share of shorter horror themed titles by this point. He started with some really cool story-driven titles. Achieved huge success with fantastic classic FPS DUSK and continues to work on another big project currently in Early Access – the Thief inspired Gloomwood. And in the meantime has decided to experiment with smaller action adventure games, starting with the adventure Iron Lung and short but very entertaining Chop Goblins. Which were followed with Squirrel Stapler, The Pony Factory and now Butcher’s Creek. And these titles are all kinda…. okay.

O tempora: Clock Tower: Rewind

03/03/2025 03/03/2025

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Discussing Clock Tower is a bit strange. On one hand, the original game is still incredible in many ways and at the time was highly influential. On the other – it never figured out how to become a franchise, despite 3 further attempts. The latest entry in the franchise was released back in 2002, but several other attempts to re-create the experience were made since then… only for all of them to mostly fail as well.

Clock Tower: Rewind is the first official international release of that inventive original game. And it’s a mixed bag of a release, with a lot of good and some very bad.

Belatedly happy about: Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

26/02/2025 26/02/2025

It’s a bit weird – since childhood I had a fascination with planes. Yet, I’ve never went into much of a “fandom” with the aircraft and barely ever played flight simulation games. But one of the games I did play and enjoy as a teen was Ace Combat 2 that I got in a bundle with the used PS1 my parents got me. I found it quite challenging, but it was an exciting experience that attempted to bring the cinematic and almost arcade racing approach to the flight simulation. It had a cool soundtrack, as titles from Namco (before they were merged with Bandai) of that era used to have. Since Ace Combat 2, I think the only flight sim I’ve played was Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X (which was neat) and that’s it.

But I’ve heard very good things about Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown and after years of debating with myself about if it’s even worth it for me to try it out, I did. And while it remains “not my thing”, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Thoughts on: Forza Horizon 5 (with 2 expansions)

21/02/2025 21/02/2025

For years now I’ve been told how Forza Horizon series are “arcade racing”, a type of racing games that defined the 1990s and most of 2000s, the one I used to like a lot. And for years I didn’t believe people and refused to try them out for myself. Well, now that I’ve played Forza Horizon 5, I feel much better knowing that I was right – it’s not an arcade racing game, not what it used to mean. And while it’s a pretty good title in many ways, and I’ve had a fair bit of fun playing the game, it also made me feel very depressed about the current state of the genre I used to find so relaxing.

O tempora: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered

15/02/2025 15/02/2025

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Legacy of Kain has been one of the most important franchises for me personally. While it has not been a series I replayed very often, unlike a lot of survival horror classics, it has remained a benchmark of worldbuilding, character writing and storytelling. The incredible work Silicon Knights did when creating the world of Nosgoth for Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain still holds up. As do the stunning writing and cutscene direction of Amy Hennig and her team with later entries, as Crystal Dynamics became the owners of the franchise. There has been only one dud in the main series (Blood Omen 2), and even that game had its moments. Franchise consistently had incredible music, some of the best voice acting in games and one of the most cleverly written storylines… That to this day remains unfinished. Legacy of Kain: Defiance, the final “proper” entry in the series was released in 2003 and was an ending, but not the ending to the incredible tale started in 1996. And since then only cancelled projects, including some incredibly misguided ones, followed. By now, with almost all of the original team spread across the industry (or sadly not among the living) getting a sequel is not just unlikely but may even be preferable. The industry is too different and Legacy of Kain requires a strong vision and choices that development studios and especially publishers would simply not risk to make.

So, given that getting no future games in this wonderful franchise might be the best outcome possible, let’s look at its past with the recently released Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered.

Thoughts on: Dragon Age: The Veilguard

10/02/2025 10/02/2025

As someone, who got into computer roleplaying games due to the first two Baldur’s Gate titles decades ago, my takes on Dragon Age were often considered at least somewhat controversial. While I liked Origins, I never cared about it that much and found it quite boring. As everyone pointed at the copy and paste dungeons of Dragon Age II, I called it the best story-driven RPG BioWare has created, and stand by those words even today. And… Hmm, I suppose saying that Inquisition isn’t worth your time was not a very controversial opinion. But nonetheless, I admired Dragon Age world and even Inquisition, for all of the dozens of hours of boring crap, felt like it still belonged to the same world first shown in Origins. The Veilguard offers only tiny glimpses of that and most of the time feels like a Saturday morning cartoon adaptation of the story. Yet… it can be quite alright to play anyway.