While Conscript has been out for almost two years now, something about it didn’t quite click with me for the longest time. It’s the type of game that is almost hard to believe is what it actually claims to be, because it feels like it shouldn’t work. A classic survival horror game in the setting of the Great War that doesn’t technically have any supernatural elements and works with the top down perspective? How is that going to work, right? But it does. Not without faltering, of course, but Conscript, in its current updated Director’s Cut version, is a genuinely interesting game and fans of the genre shouldn’t ignore it.
Tag: game review
Thoughts on: Darwin’s Paradox!
Making cinematic platformers is hard. The “cinematic” part of it usually means that developers need to introduce enough variety and also fun unexpected twists and moments, while also somehow making sure that the pace of the game feels very tight, with no moments that would drag on. This also means that the best examples of the genre tend to be relatively short experiences, clocking under 4-5 hours if you do things well. Which makes sense – as with a good movie or a theater play, you wouldn’t sit through a longer runtime, it will simply start to get boring. Usually only puzzle-focused type of these games, or outright puzzle platformers, take longer to complete, since those games focus more on systemic puzzle solving, rather than an exciting adventure that keeps on moving. There are well known examples of the genre, from going back to its origins with Another World/Out of this World, to far more recent classics like INSIDE. And people seem to generally like the Little Nightmares titles, even though I find them a bit too boring. There are even some great but more “underground” examples like The MISSING: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories.
Darwin’s Paradox!, based on its initial showings and a demo, had a lot of promise. Octopus as the main character, who can stick to surfaces and shoot ink, in itself opened up a lot of possibilities for fun shenanigans, and the American 1950s pulp as the tone seemed really fun too. As I was playing the game’s initial sections I was occasionally frustrated, but always wanted to ignore those annoyances, because the game simply had too much charm. But as I kept playing, the game started dragging on, until by the end I was constantly on the verge of just dropping the game entirely. Which is a real shame.
Happy about: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Prypiat – Enhanced Edition
Seven years ago I sat down and played through the original three S.T.A.L.K.E.R. titles. Of that playthrough, Call of Prypiat was easily the big highlight. Shadow of Chornobyl was frustrating, if curious. Clear Sky was a slog. But this one? This one was actually cooking. It felt like GSC Game World have finally figured out what the series are supposed to be about, at least as far as my tastes were concerned. So, when I decided to check the Enhanced Edition versions of all games that are part of the Legends of the Zone Trilogy release, I fully expected things to go similarly. I mean, I secretly hoped that the re-releases would fix the first two games as they desperately needed it, but, unfortunately, while the new versions are mostly superior, they didn’t change how messy and frustrating those games are. Call of Prypiat was already good, so is there a point in this re-release? Well, kinda.
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Happy about: Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered
Being the Legacy of Kain fan that I am, as I’ve covered in my review of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered last year, I was extremely excited about Defiance. Ever since Soul Reaver 2 still didn’t finish the story started in Soul Reaver 1, people expected the inevitable Soul Reaver 3 (and Defiance was actually known by that name internally at the start). So when the Blood Omen 2 (which hasn’t been remastered yet) was released first, I was slightly confused, but also intrigued. After all, the events of the game contradicted the known timeline, and even the developers vaguely mentioned that something in Defiance would lead to Blood Omen 2 events existing. Then the early PS2 trailer for Defiance (as it was officially unveiled) hit with some cool nu-metal-ish song playing and I downloaded and rewatched that trailer a lot (the track is called “In the Crossfire”, by the way, as I’ve learnt years ago from the best LoK fan site). Playing as both Kain and Raziel in an epic conclusion to the storyline of Raziel (as it would probably be), was such an exciting prospect.
And then the game came out and… I liked it. But it was also weird. It did conclude Raziel’s story in a mostly satisfying way in broad strokes, it left a lot of questions unanswered. But far more importantly – the game felt even more unfinished than Soul Reaver 1, and that game ended with a “To be continued” screen. This feeling is not something that Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered can fix, but where it could, the remaster made the game a lot better.
Happy about: Pragmata
Capcom used to stick with safe releases. New Monster Hunter or Street Fighter game, remaking a Resident Evil title that was already good and doesn’t need remaking, maybe even making a new Resident Evil game to varying levels of quality. But in the past few years, they’ve started to spice things up with unexpected things. Less than two years ago they released Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess – a fantastic and weird mix of hack and slash action and tower defense. This year, the surprise is Pragmata – a very curious mix of different ideas that starts really well and ends… alright.
Revisiting S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chornobyl and Clear Sky – Enhanced Editions
Seven years ago was the first time I’ve decided to finally sit down and play through all of the original three S.T.A.L.K.E.R. titles start to finish. Because even though I have followed the development of the original from early 00s, when it was just a sci-fi Oblivion Lost project with no ties to the Roadside Picnic or the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, I didn’t particularly care about the game when it finally came out. Anyway, that playthrough from seven years ago was the second time I’ve completed Shadow of Chornobyl, first time I’ve completed Clear Sky and also first time I’ve played Call of Prypiat at all. For that playthrough I chose to not use any mods or fan patches to judge the games as they were. Now that Enhanced Edition versions of all three games are part of the Legends of the Zone Trilogy, I’ve decided to do the same. And in this post, I will talk about Shadow of Chornobyl and Clear Sky, the two titles I like less and which should have benefitted the most from a re-release.
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Happy about: Avowed
When Avowed was first announced half a decade ago, I was mildly curious, but somewhat concerned about the idea. After all, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire has shown a significant drop in writing quality for Obsidian Entertainment, even if it was ultimately still an alright game. Going full on first person action RPG?.. Not the direction I wanted the series to go in. But then again, The Outer Worlds wasn’t terrible, even if still a clear drop in quality for the team, so maybe they were onto something. And so a year ago Avowed was finally released to somewhat positive reviews and after seeing some people play the game online, I’ve decided to grab it sometime later when it gets patched a bunch. Year later, the game received a massive update that added a few nice elements and quality of life features, so I’ve decided to finally give it a go.
Happy about: Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse
Three years ago I enjoyed playing Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo, that came out of nowhere and was made by Square Enix, of all companies. It was a fun and creative adventure game with the presentation that most people associate with Visual Novels and lots of inventive “meta” ideas. Given the modern state of gaming industry, I was afraid that it will stay a cool one-off, but no – we have a sequel now. Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse is exactly what one could want from a sequel – it’s “more but different”.
Happy about: Everspace 2 (with DLCs)
Since I’m not a fan of roguelite or roguelike games, I did miss Everspace when it was originally released. It was a curious combination of action RPG, space sim (or more space shooter) with the FTL: Faster Than Light inspired structure, where you were jumping between different procedurally generated locations, while being chased by a powerful foe. It did have a story, but the main draw of the game was specifically in that die and repeat nature of the genre and the fact that the space dogfights were quite fun. And then in 2023 the developers released the sequel Everspace 2 (although it was in Early Access for a few years), and with this game they’ve changed a lot in the direction that got me interested. Instead of a purely roguelite structure, a proper handmade world with interesting exploration, story, quests and all of the cool stuff I tend to like, while still keeping the fun space battles intact. Knowing that the game will get updates and DLCs, I decided to postpone my own playthrough and now, when the game is, as developers claim, in the more or less completely final state, I’ve decided to finally give it a go. And while it is quite a bit messy, I enjoyed playing it a lot.
Disapprove: Assassin’s Creed Shadows (with Claws of Awaji)
I keep doing it to myself. I keep playing Assassin’s Creed games, long after most of the world dismissed them completely, in hopes that the series will finally find an identity and stick with it, instead of being the epitome of the “Ubisoft game”, as a dismissive description. I’ve played every game that was released on PC so far and the only two I have never finished were one of those uninteresting Chronicles games (I think the final one), and Valhalla, which was so horribly boring, I didn’t get much further than the opening act. Yet, if Valhalla was easily the worst Assassin’s Creed game so far that I didn’t finish, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the one I wish I didn’t finish, instead of wasting almost 60 hours on it.
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