game review – Klardendum

Happy about: The Beekeeper’s Picnic – A Sherlockian Adventure

05/05/2025 05/05/2025

Over the years there have been plenty of Sherlock Holmes media, some of which attempted to be closer to the original works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and some tried to reinterpret the famous character. Having been a fan of the books since my childhood and lucky enough to have worked on two games based on the character as an adult, The Beekeeper’s Picnic – A Sherlockian Adventure caught my attention as a seemingly “wholesome” approach to the character, set during his retirement days. And now having played it – it really is very nice.

In love with: The Roottrees are Dead

30/04/2025 30/04/2025

I hate to do it again, but… It really feels as if Return of the Obra Dinn was a monumental release. For how many fantastic investigative games existed prior to it, its influence on almost all best investigation focused adventure games since is impossible to miss. But that doesn’t mean that said titles lack identity – usually it’s the opposite and they feel fresh and unique, despite utilizing several key elements canonized by Obra Dinn. And The Roottrees are Dead is no exception – this game pulls more direct influences from the older adventure games that presented themselves as real crime dossiers and asked you to use actual internet websites to unravel its mysteries. And it’s really awesome.

O tempora: Sonic Origins Plus

24/04/2025 24/04/2025

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

I watched my friends play Sonic games a lot, I played Sonic games a fair bit, the style, the soundtracks, the Knuckles himself… So many memories about these games that… I don’t love that much, if I’m honest. I’m not much into platforming games in general, unless they focus on exploration and/or puzzle solving, so despite the era of games I grew up with having so many great (and not great) examples of the genre, I didn’t play a lot of them much or at all. But after replaying Sonic Generations for the Sonic X Shadow Generations release that I really liked, I was in the mood for more Sonic. So after giving Frontiers a try and getting frustrated with it after a few hours (even though it has so many things done so well), I’ve decided to finally play Sonic Origins with the Plus expansion. And this return to the classics was somewhat predictable, but still necessary for me.

Happy about: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black

18/04/2025 18/04/2025

This has been the first Ninja Gaiden game I have completed. Sure, I have played the classic NES titles, but I was never a fan of action platformers, so I saw more of those games more than played them myself. And of course I have heard a lot about the reboot of on the original Xbox, later re-released as Ninja Gaiden Black. But didn’t own the consoles you could play it, or its sequels on. I did plan to grab the Master Collection when it was announced, but was dissuaded by the negative reviews on the PC port quality. It was as if playing Ninja Gaiden is just not going to happen, until earlier this year an upcoming sequel to the rebooted series was announced. And, even more surprising, the announcement was accompanied by the same day release of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black – a remake of a remake of the second game, but now running on Unreal Engine 5. I had to finally play this game, and I am extremely glad I did.

Happy about: ASYLUM

13/04/2025 13/04/2025

Back in 2006 a very small team from Argentina created a moody horror themed first person view point and click adventure with pre-rendered backgrounds called Scratches. And while it became a surprise hit, after releasing a Director’s Cut of the game the following year, the original team ceased to be soon after. Then, in 2010 lead programmer and designer of Scratches Agustín Cordes announced that their new studio was making ASYLUM. Almost 15 years of development later, it’s a released game one can play. Which I immediately did and enjoyed my time with it quite a bit.

Disapprove: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

07/04/2025 07/04/2025

I absolutely loved Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. I was never a fan of the original game, heck I have more interest in FF8, despite it being a less fun game to play. But Remake, and the Episode INTERmission? So freaking good! I was excited about Rebirth and couldn’t wait to play it. Yet, as I was playing it I couldn’t wait for it to be finally over… It isn’t a bad game, but if the final part of this remake trilogy follows the same gameplay formula, I’m not buying it. I can have my time wasted for free.

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.