game review – Page 12

Happy about: Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo

20/03/2023 20/03/2023

I’ve always admired how Japanese adventure games manage to combine lots of elements and different gameplay ideas into something that looks and feels quite consistent and stylish. That said, I also always disliked the tendency of these games to overexplain plot points, require you to click on literally every tiny thing on the scene before allowing you to proceed with the story and, if they have lots of potential story timelines in the chart/timeline, being grindy about it. So I was a bit cautious about Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo because I’ve enjoyed far fewer games of this sort than I’ve tried. Luckily, this one is genuinely fun.

Thoughts on: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

15/03/2023 15/03/2023

When Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered finally arrived on PC last year, I couldn’t believe how much I was enjoying it. Despite being a more “typical” example of an open world game formula, it managed to feel fresh and exciting nonetheless and, most importantly, made the open world itself be fun – usually more fun than linear story-driven segments. So, even though I felt that the DLC package The City That Never Sleeps was absolute garbage and stopped playing it midway through the second one, I was still excited to play more of the same with Miles Morales. And now that I’ve done that, I’m glad that I did. Even though it does feel like more of the same.

Disapprove: Resident Evil Village – Winters’ Expansion

08/03/2023 08/03/2023

Two years ago I’ve completed Resident Evil Village and while my first playthrough of it was very entertaining, it turned out to be the least replayable RE game for me. I got bored on my third playthrough, while trying to unlock more stuff as I usually do, and found myself so utterly bored with the game that I stopped and haven’t looked at it since then. That is, until Winters’ Expansion, a new DLC, got released and I’ve finally decided to play it. At worst I expected this to be more of the same and, following this logic, at least fun on the first playthrough. But no. It wasn’t fun even the first time around.

In love with: Pentiment

03/03/2023 03/03/2023

Pentiment is a new RPG-ish adventure game from Obsidian Entertainment that, honestly, came out of nowhere for me. I had to rub my eyes when I first saw it in stores, first to figure out what am I even looking at and then to make sure I am seeing the name of the developers right. And I’m really glad I’ve finally had a chance to play it.

Happy about: Like a Dragon: Ishin!

26/02/2023 26/02/2023

Have you ever considered how a “shot-for-shot” videogame remake would look and play like? Well, now we have the answer – Like a Dragon: Ishin! is, for all intents and purposes, a remake of the 2014 Japanese-only title Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! (and to avoid confusion the Japanese title of this remake just added Kiwami, just like with previous remakes). But unlike the Yakuza 1 and 2 remakes, this one feels, looks and plays almost exactly the same as the original game did. Is it good? Is it bad? Probably neither, but the result is a pretty cool entry in the Like a Dragon franchise that, however, does feel like it’s from the past in more ways than the setting.

Happy about: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion

20/02/2023 20/02/2023

Being not much of a fan of Final Fantasy VII, I was never in a rush to try out any of the related games or media that Square Enix dubbed “Compilation of Final Fantasy VII”. So I did watch Advent Children back in the day, and thought it was quite crap, but have not looked into 2 internationally released games in the collection – Dirge of Cerberus (for PS2) and Crisis Core (for PSP). Yet, while Dirge wasn’t particularly liked by anyone, Crisis Core did have a lot of positive reviews. Which might be one of the reasons that Square Enix decided to remaster (on a technical level – remake) the game for modern platforms now called Reunion. And I’m glad they did, because this title is pretty neat.

Happy about: ASTLIBRA Revision

15/02/2023 15/02/2023

I did not expect what Astlibra Revision would turn out to be. When I first saw it and ignored it. When it was brought to my attention again and I’ve decided to play it. Even as I was playing it. It’s not some inventive never before seen mix of genres or anything, it’s just that it’s so constantly full of surprises. And huge. To a fault, really, but still, we’re talking about a game that looks like this lasting 60 hours and still finding ways to introduce some new stuff in the last hours of itself. But it’s also not without many issues.

In love with: The Case of the Golden Idol

10/02/2023 10/02/2023

I’ll be honest, the first I saw of The Case of the Golden Idol, I thought it was a typical point and click adventure with an “ugly” art style to fit some sort of comedic/parody plot. I was so sure of it, that I completely filtered out the positive reception the game was getting up until very recently, when I saw it being compared to the amazing Return of the Obra Dinn. Confusion turned to determination to play the game for myself and I’m really glad that I did.

In love with: Dead Space (2023)

05/02/2023 05/02/2023

I’ve revisited the original set of 4 Dead Space games (and related media), starting with the still wonderful original, less than 3 years ago. The original remains one of the most interesting survival action (and almost survival horror) titles in history, while Extraction and Dead Space 2 were really awesome and memorable in their own right. And there’s also Dead Space 3. And after EA so unceremoniously ran the franchise into the ground and then closed Visceral Games, and no I’m not forgetting that, you’d think they would give up on the franchise. Yet, in a completely unexpected turn of events, instead we now get Dead Space, the remake of the original that is basically attempting to be Resident Evil 2002 (know as REmake) for this franchise. A remake that is both extremely faithful, but also expanding on the title and introducing elements meant to surprise returning players. And it is really great… if lacking in finesse.

Happy about: The Chant

30/01/2023 30/01/2023

I’ve never heard about The Chant until it suddenly appeared at the storefronts and something about it made me curious. And now that I’ve finished it, I’d still call it “curious”. A pleasant variety of curious, though, and quite likely worth your time if you like horror themed action adventure titles of the survival action-esque variety.