game review – Page 4

Thoughts on: OFF

13/09/2025 13/09/2025

Closer to the end of the 2000s the independent game development scene was starting to bloom. Independent developers have been doing it for a very long time by that point, but the mix of availability of tools and the evolution of the internet changed the game. People didn’t consider the commercial releases for their games yet as often as they do now, so a lot of genuinely impressive, influential and highly praised titles were released completely for free. OFF was one such title – originally released in 2008, completely in French, it was a surreal horror themed RPG made in RPG Maker 2003 with a memorable soundtrack. And a couple years later, with few unofficial fan made English translations, the game started going rounds around the internet and was often a target for then rising popularity of Let’s Play format of recorded game playthroughs on YouTube.

And now in 2025, after years of being talked about and influencing other developers, the game is officially translated into English, ported to Unity and is available as a commercial release. A faithful recreation of the original project with some improvements and some side-steps.

Disapprove: Cronos: The New Dawn

07/09/2025 07/09/2025

Given Bloober Team’s previous track record and initial showings of Cronos: The New Dawn, I was considering ignoring it entirely as it looked extremely mediocre at best. Yet, at release, the game started getting a lot of positive reviews from everywhere. It can’t be that so many people are praising a poor game, right? Wrong, apparently. Cronos turned out to be not just mediocre in ways that I predicted, but it also somehow managed to do poorly things, that Bloober Team usually does really well.

Happy about: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

30/08/2025 30/08/2025

A few years ago Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered had a surprise PC release so I had a chance to finally experience the new superhero open world title – something that I don’t find enjoyable as often as I’d like. But the game, despite having several notable flaws, was really fun and in many ways felt like a new benchmark on how to make an open world title with fun traversal around said world, and how to build the main and side story content in a way that feels well paced and rewarding, while also fitting with the main character so well. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales followed soon after, and while it was still good, it also felt a bit “too much of the same”, without fully fixing the issues of the original. So where does this leave Marvel’s Spider-Man 2? Well, in some ways it is the best game in the series so far. But in some – it loses a bit of the personality that the first two games had.

Thoughts on: God of War Ragnarök

22/08/2025 22/08/2025

Three and a half years ago God of War (originally a PS4 exclusive from 2018) was released on PC and despite its flaws I loved it. It was a significant departure from the original trilogy of games (and the rest of the Greek era of the franchise) with the biggest difference being in how story focused the title became. And how surprisingly well it was all handled. Going from “cool dude stabs gods” to serious drama was handled exceptionally well, all while the combat was “good enough” and exploration of the world and puzzle solving was genuinely exciting. That original game had a sequel tease built into its own epilogue scene, so unsurprisingly said sequel was made – God of War Ragnarök was originally released on PS4 and PS5 in 2022. And last year it was ported to PCs and after postponing the playthrough for a while, I’ve finally decided to play it. And it’s… I guess it’s okay.

Thoughts on: RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business

15/08/2025 15/08/2025

Several years ago Polish development studio Teyon have shown a lot of promise with Terminator: Resistance. It was a great showcase of using the “middle-budget” kinds of money to create a great experience within a game world built around a movie license and while not without flaws, it (and its later DLCs) was highly enjoyable experience. That was followed up by RoboCop: Rogue City a few years later – a game that played quite differently, yet still fit wonderfully within the established movie world and provided a fun FPS experience where you play as, essentially, a walking tank. This game now has also received an expansion, however this time it was, for whatever reason, released as a standalone game – RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business. And it’s not a good follow up at all.

Thoughts on: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

08/08/2025 08/08/2025

When all of The Elder Scrolls titles became available digitally on GOG and Steam, I’ve bought all of them. Except Oblivion. Oblivion was, and will remain, the only title I’ve refused to buy again out of principle. Because I found the game to be impossibly boring. But people love Oblivion and bring it up from time to time, singing it praises, sometimes purely ironically because of how silly the game can be. So I did consider revisiting it some day, getting the game digitally after all…

Except, now I don’t have to because The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered exists. And while I still find the game not particularly fun, Remastered version does make it quite a bit more enjoyable.

Thoughts on: The Midnight Walk

01/08/2025 01/08/2025

Every time I see a game with a unique visual style and lots of artistry behind its presentation, where gameplay is not immediately recognizable, I am wary. Too many indie developers, due to lack of experience and/or people on the team, have banked heavily into selling their titles based on looks while not having a solid gameplay (or story) foundation behind it. Which isn’t wrong or deceitful, but, in my opinion, usually misguided, because the end result usually feels extremely shallow and forgettable. A lot of developers, however, managed to avoid this issue and make something that is not just visually interesting, but also unforgettable. The Midnight Walk isn’t among those.

Disapprove: Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny

25/07/2025 25/07/2025

After hearing a lot of good things about Onimusha series for over a decade, but only having played Onimusha 3 (because it had a PC port), I was extremely happy to have finally played Onimusha: Warlords six years ago. It hasn’t aged as good as I have hoped but was still a very cool action adventure hack and slash title that did feel a bit like “Resident Evil with swords” as it was originally intended to be. I was hoping that Capcom would continue with remasters of these titles and it did happen (plus, we’re getting a completely new entry next year). Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny is now also remastered and available on modern platforms. A game I’ve heard good things about… Turns out it’s hot garbage.

Thoughts on: The Last of Us Part II (Remastered)

18/07/2025 18/07/2025

After dragging myself through The Last of Us Part I two years ago, I have once again forced myself to go through its sequel now that it has been released on PC. I didn’t like the original game much, but it was an important title to learn from, mostly storytelling wise, and I was somewhat curious about how the sequel could improve upon the foundation. In the end, while I didn’t like The Last of Us Part II all that much either, I did find it to be an overall better game.

Thoughts on: Old Skies

11/07/2025 18/10/2025

If you like point and click adventure games, you have seen the Wadjet Eye Games logo at least once or twice in the past 15 years. They have developed and published some of the best adventures of the past decade and have been one of the most prominent users of Adventure Game Studio. And ever since I’ve decided to try the Blackwell series back in 2013, I was never disappointed with a release developed by them since. Even when it was short and simple like The Shivah or The Blackwell Legacy, or as rough around the edges as Blackwell Unbound. Their Unavowed from 6 years ago is easily one of my favorite adventure game titles ever. So to say that I was excited about Old Skies is to say nothing. And yet, somehow, this game was easily the least enjoyable title from Wadjet Eye Games I’ve played.