Highly recommended – Page 4

In love with: In Sound Mind

01/06/2022 01/06/2022

There have been so many “horror games in first person perspective” that ignoring them is my first reflex. In Sound Mind looked potentially curious, but from the looks and description it reminded me of Cry of Fear type of games, that work like a horror focused FPS action adventure, which could be interesting. Buuuut it also seemed to be delving into psychology and so few games handle this well (while so many are just edge lord crap, like the aforementioned Cry of Fear) that I decided that this game wasn’t worthy of a closer look.

Many months later, I’ve started hearing positive buzz about the game from people who have a similar opinion on these types of games, so I got curious. And I’m very glad that I did, because In Sound Mind is great.

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In love with: The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

19/05/2022 19/05/2022

Now that it’s been more than 10 years since the original mod, it’s almost weird to return to The Stanley Parable. Especially for me, since back then I enthusiastically proposed to translate that mod into Russian and was among the first to hear that a full commercial version of it was planned. And now we have a new version of the game, which, in spirit of the original, is well aware that it’s a new version of an old game that was a mod. It’s really awesome. But I wonder how I would’ve felt about it without the prior connections.

Oh and to get it out of the way, I’m absolutely not connected to this release of the game. Not that I’d want to translate anything into Russian anymore, but even so, this time it’s a professional translation made by professionals, and not some Ukrainian jerk.

Revisiting The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Anniversary Edition)

04/04/2022 04/04/2022

Well, it’s been more than a decade since I’ve played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim originally and over 8 years since I’ve played the “Legendary Edition” with all of the official DLCs. The “Special Edition” has been released 2 years after that and last year, another 6 years later, the Anniversary Edition got announced and released. The amount of ports and re-releases of Skyrim has long since became a widely known joke… and yet, here I was playing Skyrim again, spending dozens upon dozens of hours on a game that I’ve completed twice before. A game that doesn’t have that much of a compelling storyline or involved and exciting mechanics. Why is it that Skyrim still has a strange addictive charm to it and its legacy is still felt through all of the open world titles released ever since?

O tempora: Final Fantasy VI (Pixel Remaster)

28/03/2022 28/03/2022

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

Well, the Pixel Remaster journey ends with Final Fantasy VI. It’s almost a shame, really, as this collection has been so wonderfully made that I can only hope more classic titles are given this treatment. But at least this collection ends with one hell of a game.

In love with: God of War (2018)

28/01/2022 28/01/2022

Given my previous experience with the God of War series, I didn’t really care about the announcement of the series return. Not that I didn’t like the games, but I only truly enjoyed the second game and since the third entry haven’t even bothered with the Ascension or the PSP titles. But then the game got released on PS4 and everyone praised… the story? In a God of War game? That piqued my interest, but the lack of a PS4 of my own (and the abundance of games I could play anyway) led me to safely wait until some later re-release or a port of the game will allow me to check it out.

Now with the exceptional PC port available, I was finally able to play and enjoy the game myself.

O tempora: Syberia I & II

23/01/2022 23/01/2022

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

Twenty years ago in 2002 when Syberia was released, the point and click adventures were on a decline. It wasn’t like the genre didn’t have any recent fantastic examples, The Longest Journey being from a few years before. But otherwise, it felt as if nobody really knew at the time what to do with the genre and how to approach it. And to be absolutely frank, Syberia itself often times felt like it didn’t really know how to approach the genre either, yet it so elegantly stumbled through its beautiful locations with its wonderful magic realist story that it pretty soon became a critical darling at least in some circles. And also started a short, but pretty decent run of adventure titles made by Microïds that ended around the time of the Sinking Island.

While I have played both Syberia and its sequel when they were new, and did enjoy them (the original more than the second game), I haven’t replayed them ever since until now.

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O tempora: Final Fantasy IV (Pixel Remaster)

13/01/2022 13/01/2022

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

Final Fantasy IV has not been the first Final Fantasy I played. But it is the only title in the franchise so far that I’ve played more than twice. In fact, this Pixel Remaster playthrough has been the… fourth playthrough, I believe. As I’ve previously played through the original “Final Fantasy II” release, the unofficial translation of FFIV, the Final Fantasy Chronicles release on PS1 and the Final Fantasy IV Advance version on the GBA. I’ve also attempted to play the 3D remake for DS, but extremely disliked the visual style and changes to the game. Hence, why I was so excited about the Pixel Remaster version coming – hopefully the “ultimate” remaster of the original version of the game, available for generations to come. And this version is pretty much exactly that.

In love with: Exo One

07/01/2022 07/01/2022

I remember seeing the Kickstarter for Exo One back in 2017 and being confused and inspired at the same time. On one hand, an idea about an exploration game where you use a spaceship marble to explore planets sounded extremely fun. On another – very limited and hard to imagine past the concept stage. Four years later Exo One is finally here to disprove my doubts. I mean, sure, it is still quite limited in potential. But what it does is still far more than I could ever expect.

In love with: Life is Strange: True Colors

31/12/2021 31/12/2021

I have a weird relationship with the Life is Strange series. I hated the original when I first played it and only after giving it a second chance three years later understood why people liked it. Even so, despite my newfound respect, I didn’t quite love it as much as I wanted to see it evolve and become as good as it could be. Before the Storm was also played late, mostly because of the reception the game got. And yet, I liked it far more and in fact, spoilers, it remains my favorite entry in the series as of now. Then there was Life is Strange 2 which had so many pointless and bizarre decisions and detours in the story that by the end it ended up feeling like a mess. So I was glad that True Colors was going to be handled by Deck Nine, who worked on Before the Storm, and had high hopes for this one. It didn’t quite stick the landing.

In love with: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

26/12/2021 26/12/2021

When I saw the announcement trailer for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and the gameplay it was showcasing, I immediately wrote the game off as something that I’m not going to play. But then the game got released to extremely positive reviews and even some people I know personally played it and praised it. So I decided to give it a go and see for myself what was so good about this game that looked so boring in the previews. And, well, the bits that were shown are indeed quite boring. It’s just that the rest of the game is shockingly fantastic.