Recommended – Page 10

Revisiting Tomb Raider: Underworld

08/05/2021 20/11/2023

Finishing up my revisit of the Legend timeline, I was most curious about what I would think of Underworld. When it was just released, the reception to the game everywhere was rather positive, but somewhat mediocre, yet to me it seemed like a really good game. And since unlike Anniversary I did not revisit this game since launch, I was afraid that my memories of this entry were a bit more rose-tinted than I was willing to accept.

Well, time to accept it now. It’s still a good TR title, but a lot of it doesn’t work all that well.

Revisiting Batman: Arkham City

18/04/2021 18/04/2021

After wholly enjoying myself replaying Batman: Arkham Asylum yet again, I’ve braced myself for Arkham City. I never truly disliked this game, in fact I quite admire it and what it tried to be. Yet, all of my previous attempts to replay it always ended with me getting bored a few hours in. But not this time – this time I’ve yet again played the whole game, doing all collectibles and side stories and the story DLC (not the challenges, though). And… yeah, it was alright.

Happy about: The Outer Worlds (with DLCs)

01/04/2021 20/03/2023

It’s been a while since The Outer Worlds got initially released, but, as it always happens with me and story driven games with DLCs that happen inside the main story, I tend to not play them until the DLCs are out. And now, a year and a half later they are with Peril on Gorgon releasing late last year and Murder on Eridanos just a few weeks ago.

And I’ve had my hopes pretty low, if I’m completely honest – most of the people I know were very underwhelmed by the game at launch and several of them didn’t even finish it because they got bored. Knowing them, I knew that I had to approach this as something far less exciting and story-driven than a typical Obsidian title and more like a simple RPG, a slightly more nuanced action RPG. And yes, while The Outer Worlds is not full-on Borderlands, it’s more or less Fallout: New Vegas, but somewhat streamlined and simplified in some aspects. And given that I really like New Vegas despite itself, it took me a while to adapt and adjust, before I could start enjoying the game for what it is.

O tempora: BloodRayne: Terminal Cut

16/03/2021 16/03/2021

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

While third person shooters were a thing throughout the 90s, it wasn’t until Max Payne in 2001 when the genre suddenly clicked. It had all of the speed and energy of a late 90s FPS’, but didn’t feel like a bizarre third person mod to one and had its controls and animations tweaked to feel great. Many games followed using a similar formula. PC-centric ones, like Max Payne itself, kept it all really fast and mouse controlled. Console-centric ones tried to adapt the speed and agility to the controller. Many failed to be fun or memorable. BloodRayne, originally from 2002, was one of the fun ones.

Happy about: Trials of Mana (2020)

21/02/2021 21/02/2021

I’ve never played games in Mana (Seiken Densetsu) series before. I’m aware of the popularity of Secret of Mana, yet to this day I’ve not checked it out, nor it’s poorly received remake. However, as a fan of certain type of Japanese action RPGs, mainly the Ys series from Falcom, when I’ve first seen the gameplay from the Trials of Mana remake, I got very interested. Now, after playing through the game several times and doing everything I could think of, I gotta say – I’ve had a lot of fun with the game.

Happy about: The Room 4: Old Sins

17/02/2021 17/02/2021

Fireproof Games have been doing The Room series of titles with intricate mechanical puzzles and Lovecraftian horror theme for almost a decade now. Always focusing on mobile version first and then rebuilding the title for PCs, with the biggest exception being the VR-only entry A Dark Matter released last year. Old Sins, the fourth entry in the series, is no exception as it has originally been released on iOS and Android devices back in 2018, only now having arrived to PCs. And, as usual, it’s a terrific port for a fantastic puzzle game.

Happy about: Beyond a Steel Sky

14/02/2021 14/02/2021

Revolution Software might be best known for the Broken Sword series, with the first entry still being considered among the best adventure games of all time. However, their previous title, Beneath a Steel Sky, is liked as much if not more among some. It was their second Virtual Theatre engine game that had lots of innovative concepts not seen in other adventure games at the time, “grounding” every character in the game and giving all of them their own schedules. It was also a relatively short game, yet packed full of memorable scenes, characters and moments and it’s no surprise people wanted to see more of this game world. 16 years since the release of the original and 7 years since said original has been available for free download, Revolution released Beyond a Steel Sky – a full on sequel, exploring the aftermath of the events of the first game. And while it’s not as revolutionary (pardon the pun) as the original game may have been, it’s a really fun modern take on the genre.

Happy about: Paradise Killer

06/02/2021 06/02/2021

When I first saw Paradise Killer, I instantly went “nope” and moved on. I mean, it looked like a weak attempt to mix the currently still popular 80s aesthetic with Suda51 and Danganronpa that had all of the flair, but no substance. Yet, as time went by I’ve heard more and more good things about the title and eventually decided to give it a go myself. While my original assumptions weren’t entirely disproven, Paradise Killer turned out to be a really enjoyable game.

Read more“Happy about: Paradise Killer”

Happy about: Undermine

24/01/2021 24/01/2021

It’s very rare that I play rogue-like or rogue-lite games, simply because I tend to not enjoy the idea of randomly generated infinitely replayable titles, vastly preferring the hand-crafted games with a definitive end to them (that I can simply replay if I liked them a lot). However, there have been a few titles that despite all odds got me invested. And somehow Undermine joined their ranks. I’ll try to understand why.

Happy about: The Henry Stickmin Collection

18/01/2021 18/01/2021

Ah yes, Flash games. So much was created. So much of it trash. Yet, also so much of it great. Some of the best known games of the last decade started out as projects made on flash, released for free on sites like Newgrounds. Maybe even originally lost among crappy horror themed jump scare fueled point and click adventure games and edgy crap. My personal favorites have always been choose your own adventure toy boxes, where most or even all choices you make lead to fun results. Simple games like Moon Waltz or Caesar’s Day Off.

Somehow, I’ve completely missed the Henry Stickmin games back in those days. And I might’ve never knew about them if not for the fact that the developers of the game decided to not just “remaster” the series, but also create a completely new entry. And also probably because the developers managed to get well known due to their other project – Among Us, – which gained a huge audience during the past year. But whatever the reasons, I’m glad I’ve experienced The Henry Stickmin Collection.