game review – Page 11

O tempora: Silent Hill

10/05/2023 10/05/2023

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

There are several games and franchises that I’ve replayed and continue replaying regularly for decades now. And because of that, I didn’t even consider them for my retrospective reviews, just because of how intimately I know them and how “obvious” it is that they did stand the test of time. But perhaps it’s time to change that. To attempt to take a fresh look at these titles and play them as if this is my first experience with them, re-assessing what I think about them. I’ll start with Silent Hill.

Back in the late 90s Capcom blew everyone’s mind with what they named “survival horror” and after a few years of delay, many “clones” have followed. Konami wanted a piece of that action too, which led to the creation of a title that managed to both feel like a continuation of ideas from Resident Evil, while also being quite innovative in many other ways. And, according to the pirate copy cover, it was “more awesome than Resident Evil 2”. That cover was quite correct.

Revisiting Torchlight II

03/05/2023 03/05/2023

While the original Torchlight came out during the time when “Diablo-clone” action RPGs were almost entirely absent from the market, Torchlight II arrived in 2012, and things looked quite different. Among many announced and awaited titles we had two huge releases. Diablo III came out earlier the same year and despite receiving a lot of criticism, it was Diablo and that title still meant something. And in a related genre, Borderlands 2 got released just a couple of days before Torchlight II and despite being more of the FPS, the whole “looter shooter” concept the first title helped popularize had an clear overlap in audience. None the less, the game wasn’t lost and forgotten and got a lot of well deserved praise. Including from me at the time, so I was curious if my opinion would be any different over 10 years later.

Revisiting Torchlight

28/04/2023 28/04/2023

Action RPGs are popular again and have been for the past decade. But there was an odd period of time when seemingly no one wanted to release a classic “Diablo-clone” title, and during those strange times Torchlight appeared out of nowhere to save the fans of the genre from the lull. Revisiting it today is a bit odd, but after replaying Diablo 1 and 2 (and refreshing my memory on 3, on which I really have nothing more to say), I felt like I had to.

Thoughts on: The Last of Us Part I

23/04/2023 23/04/2023

Finally, I’ve completed The Last of Us. This critical darling from 2013… yep, from 10 years ago… Anyway, I’ve tried playing the original game around the time of the release using the PS3 my friend graciously lent me and about 2/3 of the way in I got so bored that I simply decided not to continue playing. But, being a game designer and all, you have to play titles like this – even when you don’t like the whole package, there are elements to learn from, ideas to get influenced by. So I couldn’t keep it this way and now, that a remake of the game (now with Part I added to the title) is out on PC, I decided to give it another go. And yeah, it’s… fine. The port isn’t, though.

O tempora: Diablo II: Resurrected

18/04/2023 18/04/2023

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

Okay, confession time. People love Diablo II. For many it has been THE Diablo game to play and it has been extremely influential, canonizing a lot of concepts that are still in use today. But I never liked it much. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve finished Lord of Destruction before – the expansion pack for the game, though I definitely remember finishing the Act IV. But I did respect the game and, given how much praise this title has always received, always planned to revisit it. Now that a genuinely fantastic remaster Diablo II: Resurrected is available and I’ve finished replaying the original Diablo with its expansion, I went in and played the sequel too. And finally enjoyed it.

O tempora: Diablo (+Hellfire)

13/04/2023 13/04/2023

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

Can you believe that it’s been more than 26 years since the release of Diablo? So weird to think about it. I mean, it wasn’t the first real-time RPG or the first game to be an action RPG. But it became what defined action RPG for the western market, a mix of ideas from roguelikes, lots of loot and simple but engaging dungeon crawling, solo or in multiplayer. And while I understand why people always love the second game the most – to me, the original game has always meant more.

That said – I actually only finished it once before. And I’m pretty sure it was on the PlayStation port too. I’ve never played the often forgotten Hellfire expansion either, so I’ve been meaning to replay the game for quite a while now.

Happy about: Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

06/04/2023 06/04/2023

I have to say, it really is very weird to be going backwards with these Fatal Frame remasters (but I do hope we don’t stop here). Couple of years ago the currently latest entry, Maiden of Black Water, got released on PC and modern consoles and many people experienced the franchise for the first time. And while it is arguably among the weaker entries, with many poor design choices and annoying elements, it nonetheless had some of the coolest ideas for mechanics that were unique for it and not tried in the series before. Still, I went into Mask of the Lunar Eclipse with relatively high expectations and was not disappointed.

Thoughts on: Resident Evil 4 (2023)

01/04/2023 01/04/2023

I have a relatively complicated relationship with the original Resident Evil 4 from 2005, but as of now I really like it. It’s crazy varied, its influence is still felt in modern games, the soundtrack is extremely memorable and while the game is not very welcoming, when it clicks with you, you can’t stop loving it. A remake of a game like this sounded incredibly pointless – apart from QTEs and a couple of moments nothing in the original required a redo. Now, having played a couple of playthroughs of this alternative Resident Evil 4 from 2023, I have to say – yeah, it is kinda pointless. But fun nonetheless.

Thoughts on: Immortals Fenyx Rising

28/03/2023 28/03/2023

Oh, Ubisoft, can you just make a good game a good game and not ruin it for a while?.. Immortals Fenyx Rising is a Greek mythology based action adventure in an open world that attempts to marry The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to the Assassin’s Creed formula from Origins to today. And the concept is genuinely solid as are the basics, but… Well. It’s Ubisoft, so despite liking the game a lot, I’m writing this exhausted and after deciding not to play the DLCs.

Thoughts on: Crysis Remastered Trilogy

24/03/2023 24/03/2023

I’ve revisited the original Crysis and Crysis Warhead just 3 years ago and that was the first time these titles at least somewhat clicked with me. As I’ve mentioned – I never found any of the titles in the franchise, apart from Crysis 3, to be all that fun. But replaying the first games, as rough as those original games are today, made me understand why someone would like them. Now that all numbered Crysis titles have gotten a Remastered release (sadly, Warhead was not remastered), I decided to play them and see if I can actually enjoy the experience.