The good
- good level design
- enemies do not feel repetitive

The bad
- no checkpoints or manual save, you restart game from the place you last saved
- dismantling items requires alchemist ingredient, so needs a lot of grind
- bosses (especially the last two) don't have predictable movie set and focus more on luck than skill
- character can blend with the background, making it hard to see where we are during the boss fights
- villains are too predictable
- difficulty is not even, and there is moment with huge spike, where we move from killing everything in 1 hit, to being killed by even buffed-weakest-enemy in one hit

Conclusion:
It is good a metroidvania, but bosses fights made me want to drop the game few times. They aren't as polished as bosses in Hollow Knight, and more annoying to beat than skill-challenging.

---

Story:

We are the shardbinder - human that is able to fight with demons, as they have special shard(s) in their body that are able to bind to demon power and use it. We are sent to the demon castle, tasked with banishing it from the world. Along the way we learn the origin of the shardbinders, do some easy fetch quests. Setting is interesting, but plot is uninspiring and shallow.

---

Gameplay:

Metroidvania quite similar to the Hollow Knight. We jump around, kill enemies, use new powers to access previously locked parts of the map. Controls are responsive and the platforming part is good.

There are few weapons to chose from (swords, great swords, katanas, shoes (that are used to kick enemies...), whips). But I found all weapons apart from the swords to be too slow to be used effectively. There are fire arms, but I also never used those. Weapons can be found around the map or crafted. We can also customize our armor and shards that gives us passive bonuses - armor is found or crafted, while shards are randomly given to us when we kill certain enemy type.

Mana is used to activate shards - shooting arrows, summoning dragon that attacks enemies or paintings that act as (rather bad) shield, use elemental powers etc. Shards are upgraded by either finding another shard of the same type (they stack up), or upgrading the shard itself. Both requires a lot of grind, as chance to drop shard from enemy or ingredients is low.

Crafting system is quite robust, but requires enormous amount of grind if we'd want to unlock everything. Cooking recipes gives passive bonuses such as higher mana regeneration, higher damage or higher luck. Crafting best weapons and armors also requires a lot of crafting materials, and they are dropped with 5% or 10% chance from specific enemies. Enemies respawn when we make transition between the screens, but it still takes a lot of time to drop something we need.

Inventory is neatly organized, but it could remember sorting options we prefer.

There are some pointless fetch quests that are supposed to extend the gameplay - kill x monsters, bring grandma specific food to eat, bring specific piece of clothing. But it's not worth the effort that would need to be put into grind and then crafting.

Enemies are different enough to not be boring, and require bit different strategy when dealt with. At the end of the game everything dies in 1 - 2 hits, so at this point we just rush between different bosses. Although there is this nasty difficulty spike around end of the game, that makes it just annoying to progress as weak enemies gets enormous buff. Granted - enemies do not scale with our level, so different parts of the map have different difficulty. And only 1 - 2 small parts of the map have overpowered enemies.

There are no choices or moral dilemmas. Game does have normal and true ending which is neat, but in the end just resolves to "did you visit whole map? if yes - true ending".

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐☆ - Fitting to the atmosphere, but our character can blend with some backgrounds
Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - I don't remember anything about the music, so it's neither good or bad. Voice acting is on good level though. Apart from fetch quests NPCs that literally say one line over and over gain
Bugs - ⭐️⭐⭐ - I didn't encourage any

The good
- game net code works well
- very nice graphic, visual effects and weapon sounds
- good environmental physic - a lot of objects can be moved, glass shatters etc.

The bad
- objects clip through the walls
- animation problems (when enemies were killed close to me, dying animation was rendered in like 30 FPS)
- quest can not register enemies were killed, and next scripts are not executed
- "They killed Alex!" - literally every enemy in the start part of the game is named Alex. Later "Alex" is swapped with another name, but still each zone has only enemies with one name
- loot drops are uninteresting
- cosmetics are uninteresting and not really noticeable
- problem with going into windowed mode on each game startup
- enemies are repetitive and uninteresting
- enemies are dumb

Conclusion:
It is fine game if you don't have anything else to play in co-op. Must be quite boring in SP. I did not touch PvP, so can't comment on that. But even in co-op there are only few missions with some essence, and everything else is copy-pasted fetch quests. Graphic and technical level are really good, but it's like blown egg on the Easter - pretty outside, empty inside.

---

Story:

Oh no, someone made a virus that killed half of the Manhattan, and we're sent to save the day! Kill evil people who terrorize citizens and find a cure for the virus! I mean.. yeah. Plot is shallow, uninteresting and predictable. Setting is also not interesting, as we're part of The Division - super secret military organization that is everywhere, and any citizen can be part of it. No one can know about Division existence though. When alarm rings we take a gun and run to save the day! If you want to play this game for plot don't be surprised to get disappointed.

---

Gameplay:

Looter shooter. So you run around, kill enemies, get marginally better gear and run to another encounter to get slightly better gear yet again. Weirdly there is no obvious progression here, as not single time I felt like I get weapon that is way better than my previous one. Feels like we get weapons just to keep up with higher level enemies, not to give player feeling they received something interesting.

Which brings us to the cosmetic microtranzactions. They are so utterly pointless, as game is stylized to be realistic. So everyone wears dark trousers, dark bullet-proof vest and a hat. If you equip jacket it makes your T-shirt not visible. Not to mention jacket is also barely visible, as 90% of upper body is hidden under the bullet vest. Manhattan is really well made, but fact it's realistic made game really dark (no electricity, shadows of the skyscrapers), which in turn makes it hard to even see your cosmetics. Why would you buy cosmetics that are hard to spot even for you? I did see many players in the hub areas, and not single time I thought "oh this looks nice, I'd want to have it!".

There are tons of useless junk to collect - phones, cam videos, laptops etc. that are supposed to give more depth to the world, but in the end it's just description of how the first days of apocalypse looked like. And we have 2020 now, so we're all well aware how apocalypse looks like. So it just rings hollow.

There is crafting system and shops, but both are useless when playing only PvE. Crafting requires running around to collect parts in specific areas (like electronic in electronic shop, pieces of fabric in clothing shop etc), and crafted weapons feels the same as the ones we find. Shops are terribly overpriced, and by the end of the game I would be able to buy only 2 weapons for my level. After hoarding cash for whole game, and selling all junk I was finding on the enemies. No idea if they are of use in PvP.

We can upgrade our base, but I did it only for the completion feeling. There is literally nothing that is gained by doing so - we can get chest that will drop a piece of fabric every 1 real-life hour or more fancy crafting station. Upgrading the base is requirement to unlock abilities upgrades but again - they are useless. Especially passive bonuses feels pointless. Like "you have chance to get some ammo when you kill enemy with a head-shot" - when you're swimming in ammo. Maybe useful in PvP. Dunno.

There is simple abilities system - healing, tech or security trees, and extra abilities (or abilities modifiers) are unlocked by upgrading said base. You want to have homing grenade? Get enough resources to upgrade base water purification system! I was just sticking to healing pack and scanner, as one was healing me and other makes enemies visible behind the cover. Majority of abilities feel like useless fodder, just to make the abilities screen have more icons. Why would you use mobile cover, when there is something to hide behind every 5m? Why would you use turret that dies after enemy hits it few times? Passive abilities are equally bad. All in all it does not feel you can customize your character in any meaningful way.

Map is divided into sub-areas with different level enemies. So we're forced to beat the map in certain order, as facing enemies with higher than our level will kill us in few shots. And we will not find weapons of higher level in previous or current area. It is always the same or 1 level above us.

Whole gameplay is: hide behind the cover (or you will die in 5s), pick some enemies, change cover, kill some more enemies. There is no planning or strategy, as enemies are copy-pasted with different clothes color, and are embarrassingly stupid. They will walk into grenade your threw, or stand behind the cover and allow you to head-shot them few times. The only difference are the cleaners - enemies with big gas bottle and flame throwers - you can shot the bottle to make them go boom. I think it was most enjoyable part of the game. Aim for the cleaners bottle to make them die in style. We sometimes encourage buffed enemies versions - their HP bar is either yellow or purple - they they are just bullet sponge versions of normal enemies.

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐⭐ - Graphic is really good, just like whole technical layer of the game
Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - Music is "realistic" just like rest of the game. So nor much to say here, as most of the time it's just environmental sounds. Voice acting is decent. But not amazing. Also they get Alex!
Bugs - ⭐️⭐☆ - Maybe not abundance, but fare bit of them. Nothing game breaking though.

The good
- good backstory
- nice side quests that do not feel like fetch tasks, and make replaying levels interesting
- each family member has distinct playstyle
- idea of playing as a family, and unlocking abilities that help other family members
- enemies are not repetitive
- game is not grindy
- good for short sessions
- no microtransactions

The bad
- last boss is not well designed
- multiplayer only on local network or Remote Play
- one optional quest is bugged, and people may repeat the same map dozens of times without getting needed quest item

Conclusion:
It's really nice rogue-lite game, where we play as a family whose duty is to fight with the corruption. Game is generous in amount of gold we receive after the run. Each run takes ~30 min, so it's good when we don't have much time. It also has co-op mode, but it's coach only (or through Steam Remote Play). I played it on XboX Game Pass, so could not try how it works.

---

Story:

We play as the children of Morta - guardian family who's task is to defend world from the corruption that spreads from the mountain every x generations. At first we can play only as a dad and oldest daughter (melee / bow characters). Soon other members of the family join us, after they are shortly introduced to the story. When back home (hub area) family members interact with each other, which allows us to learn a bit of their backstory and motives. It does make game more personal, than usual "restart the game after each death with character of your choosing".

We need to free 3 spirits of Morta, which will allow us to go to the mountain and destroy the source of the corruption. Along the way we learn what started the corruption. There are no choices to be made in this game, but there are small optional quests that can be completed. And they unlock NPCs who can stay in our house as a guests, giving us some bonuses

---

Gameplay:

Upgrades bought in the hub area are permanent, so we start each run a bit stronger. It's not possible to change weapons, only do slights changes how they work with runes found on the maps. Experience points are earned per character, and unlock both new abilities for character and passive perks for the whole family.

There is easy to read mini map and bigger overview map of the dungeon. Each stage has 2 - 3 maps after which we fight sub-boss or main boss. Beating main boss unlocks next area. It is possible to repeat previous levels as many times as we like, if anyone is interested in some grind or achievements.

Enemies are of good variety - melee, ranged, sorcerers, special. Each family member plays a bit different which in combination with enemies makes each combination a bit different. Archer is good on long distance and can move around while shooting, but it drains energy. If energy drops to zero we can shot but not move around. Fire mage can't move when shooting, but there is ability to place decoys and main attack can push enemies away. Hammer user attack on short distance but also on big angle + it staggers enemies and adds them armor. So they can munch through waves of mobs easily.

Side missions are optional, and game does not punish players for ignoring those. They do add more depth to the story, so are well worth doing.

We keep all gold on death, which can be used to upgrade perks (attack power, defense, health, crit hits etc.) in the hub area. Gems are found as enemy drop or on corpses around the map, and used to open chests or buy items from vendors.

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐⭐ - detailed and fitting to the game atmosphere

Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - music is ambient and not really memorable

Bugs - ⭐️⭐⭐ - I didn't encourage anything big. Just this one quest that is more of achievement hunter problem

The good
- good level design
- bosses fights are well done
- game is not grindy
- not microtransactions

The bad
- texture of one cargo container is not loading properly
- some platforming sections are clunky with controller
- game has no map at all. Which makes it confusing to navigate at the start
- countering mechanic feels bit off, and we are getting hit when it looks like we dodged attack at the right moment

Conclusion:
It's good hack&slash with bit of metroidvania. Not worth playing for the story, but good as easy slay-enemies position.

---

Story:

Fury, the third rider of the apocalypse, is sent to catch seven deadly sins that escaped their prison. Along the way she's able to understand her own shortcomings, and able to overcome her temper to do some greater good.

Story is set after Darksiders 1 where War is sent to recover Armageddon seals, and Darksiders 2 where Death is sent to fix War's mistakes. And acts as set-up for Darksiders 4, where we will play as the last rider - Strife. Story is not amazing, but fits into previous two game lore, and fills some gaps of what and why things are happening. Why Heaven is on war with Hell over the earth, and how forces that are supposed to keep balance between the three acts.

Just like in previous two games are accompanied by the Watcher - spirit that see if we don't break any "laws", and we meet Vulgrim that acts as a seller and fast travel network. They don't have much to say in this game, and Watcher is rather uninteresting.

---

Gameplay:

Similar to previous Darksiders games or DmC Devil May Cry. We slash through enemies with various weapons, get power ups to unlock new paths and progress the plot. Fury main weapon is whip which works well on close / medium distance + boomerang-thing for long distance. Later we unlock fire daggers, ice sword, power hammer and lighting lance. Each weapon can be used to solve simple environmental puzzles required to progress the game, and to unlock new paths - lightning power allows us to glide upwards in air currents, ice to walk on the water and do a wall jump, power hammer to hit switches and stick to crystal surfaces, and fire allows to burn spider webs blocking the path. All this makes it bit pointless to look around the map early on, as we are often blocked by obstacle we can't pass.

There is no map at all, so we are forced to fumble around levels, looking for right path to take. Enemies drop souls that are used to buy consumables or armors at Vulgrim. It is also possible to find soul crystals around the map. While we do keep crystals when we die, "free" souls stays where we were slayed. And require us to go back to the area and collect them. But we don't lose anything, so game does not punish players for dying

Element-specific weapons aren't more powerful than basic attack, so they are rarely used. Game relies heavily on dodging, but at the same time basic version is not forgiving. And we often get hit when we think dodge was timed well. It is alleviated with passive perk that rise dodge window by 25%, but it's annoying at the beginning. It is not required to use combos to get better results, and wrath and havoc attacks are not powerful. Especially havoc form attacks feels pitiful - we are transformed into big demon, that deals tiny amount of attack. Only perk is that we are invincible for few seconds.

Souls can be traded for skill points as well, and put into health, attack or arcane category. Attack bumps basic attack power, while arcane bumps havoc form and counter attack damage. There are no skill trees or other complex statistics. Shards can be put into a weapon (both basic and elemental), and give active bonus for weapon in use + passive bonus. And this is important, as buff to dodge window is obtained by putting specific shard into *any* weapon we own. So in general it's good idea to put all available shards into weapon, even those we never use. As only then they will give passive bonuses. Shards are upgraded by the Maker in the Forge, with use of angelic / demonic artifacts. After beating the game I had enough artifacts to fully upgrade 3 shards, out of 6 that can be equipped. Any more would require to grind for gold to buy them from Vulgrim.

Encounters are fluid, and there is good variety of enemies. Only problem is with already mentioned dodge window. Bosses are well-designed and not really frustrating. They all follow attack pattern that can be learnt, and don't act like last boss in the Bloodstained - too fast and too random.

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐☆ - graphic is good. It is not striking or flawless, but it fits into the game style

Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - music is fitting, and sound effect are well made. Voice acting is also on good level. At lest in English version, polish (that I turned on by mistake) was more than bad

Bugs - ⭐️⭐☆ - nothing game breaking, just some badly loading textures or some clipping through textures

19,5h 88/378 The good
- it's possible to switch between old and remastered graphic in 1st and 2nd game
- multiplayer works without problem
- 3rd game gives opportunity to see conflict from both Earth and aliens perspective
- variety of weapons, and most of them feels interesting. They also vary how they work between games
- good variety of enemies
- remastered games get a lot graphical details and looks really good

The bad
- when player is killed in co-operative game camera turns into kill-cam mode, but it's not possible to move it around
- so many games, and the same copy-pasted enemies in all of them
- it's not possible to sprint...
- in first two games one fraction feels like zombie-brainless-fodder enemies
- plot is basic and average
- AI that accompany us is uninteresting
- driving mechanic and physics is on the Borderlands level. Which is not a compliment
- some missions are broken, and need to be played in one session. If we try to beat a mission, close the game and return to it later - game will crash
- setting feels like copy-pasted from Ringworld books
- some games have problem with sound mixing, and some sounds are silenced. It is very noticeable when switching between old and new graphic version, as it also changes version of the soundtrack

Conclusion:
Games available when I played: Reach, CE,2:Anniversary, 3. For achievements I added up those available in games I played in. In total whole collection has 700.

Seeing how many people wait for next Halo game I expected more. And get mediocre plot with uninteresting characters, killing the same enemies over and over again and no interesting game mechanics. So meh. It could be amazing when games were released, but now it's just mediocre.

---

Story:

Aliens wants to activate Halo - huge ring that will kill all life in the galaxy. And we need to stop them! Hurr hurr. Nothing interesting. It gets better in 3rd game, when we learn a bit of history from the alien race perspective. But otherwise - boring and predicable. Right after we stop one Halo from destroying life in the galaxy - it turns out that there is yet another one that needs to be destroyed.

---

Gameplay:

Pure FPS. There are no RPG or strategy elements here - no inventory, stats, planning etc. Game focus on running through corridor levels, and killing everything in front of us. We can occasionally use ground or flying vehicles to move faster in open areas. There are no decisions to make, and there is always only one path in front of us.

There are no special abilities, we can't even sprint in those games. In first and 3rd it's possible to grab devices that will give us temporary shield, turret, decoy etc., but I was often forgetting I even have those. There are grenades, but they are either overpowered or under-powered, depending on the game.

There are three fractions - humans, aliens and zombie-aliens. We play as human, that is heavily inspired by Warhammer 40K - bulky and with super strength, use standard human weapons shooting bullets. Aliens use plasma weapons, have cloaking devices and sometimes heavy melee attacks. Zombie-aliens take whatever is on the battlefield and use it to shot us. It is visible how weapons change through the series, like plasma pistol that shots pink needles goes from simply following target a bit, to needles that act as small homing missiles. Changes are not huge though. But enough to make each game weapons feel a bit different. It is possible to dual-wield smaller firearms, but not all games allow to reload both main and secondary weapon.

Cortana is AI that gives us tips or tell where to go. Though her design in uninteresting, and often feels more like bother than actual help on the way. Especially when she talk too much. We are occasionally accompanied by other soldiers, but they are dumb and die easily. Enemy AI is fine, but nothing amazing. I liked best most basic alien infantry units, that start to run around in panic when we shot them. Though they were sometimes "forgetting" we are there, and were just standing without doing anything.

Driving mechanic is truly awful, with either feeling that cars drive on the ice, or just lose connection to the ground without a reason. Flying mounts are not better, but they are used way less. So it's not as much noticeable.

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐☆ - it is obvious first games are old, as graphic is ugly. But remastered versions look good. But when texture maps are more detailed - actual collisions maps are left unchanged. So it's possible for enemies clip through the wall, as they don't detect texture that is more bulky than original.

Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - weapon sounds are good, but overally music is average. And there are some problems with mixing in older titles.

Bugs - ⭐️⭐☆ - the serious one is not being able to progress with story, if game is closed and then resumed between specific missions. Some smaller are with fact game doesn't record correctly which levels we beaten along with gameplay time, so we may beat whole campaign and see "9 out of 11 completed".

And I need to leave this one here :D

The good
- fluid combat
- good for short sessions
- good variety of enemies and playstyles

The bad
- too much grind to unlock bonuses
- can get boring after few hours

Conclusion:
Good, not really punishing rogue-lite game. But can get shortly really repetitive, if you dislike to repeat the same small levels over and over again. They are procedurarly generated, but share enough similarity between runs to not feel unique.

---

Story:

We start as a lump of cells that reanimate corpse. And only thing we can do is kill enemies, so we keep traversing maps and do it. There are some optional rooms where we learn background about the king and fate of the prisoners, but it's not much.

---

Gameplay:

There are ranged, meele and mixed weapons + turrets, traps, grenades. Along the way we can find scrolls that can upgrade our stats - health + rage / ranged / survival damage. Each weapon has one or two main traits - say bow with rage / ranged. It means that picking up rage scroll will upgrade both our HP and bow damage. But if we pick survival scroll - we will level up only HP, no change to the weapon damage. That's why it's often first good weapon we find that influence which scrolls we pick up, to get high DPS.

Weapons have tiers, and the higher the tier - the bigger base damage that is used to calculate DPS with number of scrolls we have.

We also collect coins (to buy weapons) and cells (that are used to level up permanent power ups, unlock weapons etc.). If we don't buy upgrade that keeps part of the coins after the death - all coins, scrolls and cells are lost if we die before we can spend them. Shop where we can spend coins is localized either on the maps or in hub area between maps. Cells can be spend only in the hub area between levels.

Health drops are rare and we need to rely on the limited number of potions we can carry to keep us alive. Health does not auto-regenerate, but there are abilities or weapons that restore 1 or 2% of health on the enemy kill. It is possible to replenish potion flask at the hub location.

General game design is: map => hub location where we can spend cells and fill health => map => hub => boss maybe => map.

Enemies hit hard, and early on it's possible to die in 2 - 3 hits if we're not cautious.

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐☆ - it's good, but it's pixel art. So 2 stars :blobevil:
Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - fitting, but not really memorable
Bugs - ⭐️⭐⭐ - didn't find any

The good
- our skills influence dialogues outcome
- good satire of society where corporations have unlimited power
- easy to manage inventory system
- good voice acting
- really nice artstyle, similar to this from No Man's Sky

The bad
- maps are tiny and limited to few locations
- broken game economy
- companion quests are rather shallow
- lazy approach to stealth
- there are not accessible worlds on the galaxy map. It is preparation for future DLC, but it's still weird and makes it look like game will be longer

Conclusion:
It's like low budget Fallout: New Vegas. Or how Fallout 4 should look like. cRPG focused on skills and dialogues. Not running around, shooting your way out.

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Story:

Earth sent ships to colonize distant stars. But something goes wrong, and one of the ships, with 10k hibernated colonists on board, arrives in the system years after first one. Star government don't know what to do with them, so they leave them in the frozen state.

Crazy scientist comes on board and unfreezes one colonist - the player. And gives them mission to obtain more chemicals, which will allow to unfreeze remaining colonists.

Along the way player learns how the colony operates, need to decide on fate of some settlements, help companions and NPC in their quests. And decide if they want to support colony government, or rebels and scientist that unfroze them.

Plot is one big satire on how future ruled by the corporations may look like: - "Do not use this terminal without clearance. Doing so will result in reprimend. If you don't report you used this terminal illegaly you will be fined with reprimend"
- "We interrupt your daily dose of advertisement to broadcast important message"
- losing one's job is worse than being a criminal, and people are basically owned by the corporations

- people who aren't performing well enough do not get medicine, and they don't perform well enough as they are sick
Etc. But at the same time this humor is not heavy, deep or dark. Just satirical.

---

Gameplay:

cRPG similar to Fallout 3 or New Vegas. We can fight with ranged or meele weapons, althought meele is really crude and not really useful. Same as stealth. It is possible to hide in the grass and do some critical damage that way, but not enough to make game playable.

Strong part of this game is character creation, and fact that skill level influences dialogues or allows to move around the world easier. With high enough persuation we can talk over the guard, or it makes enemies confused or scared on hit. Hacking allows to obtain otherwise hidden information in PC, and it may unlock different solution to a side quest. High science skill will allow us to talk like true nerd, and do some repairs on our own, wihtout need to have specific companion in squad.

Sadly game economy is broken, and we are showered with med-kits, money, ammo, lockpicks etc. I ended with over 100 med-kits, lock picks and around 2k of each ammo type. Killing enemy may require us to shot 3 bullets from sniper rifle, and on the body we find 10 sniper ammo and 20 energy type. Like if game designers either thought people don't know how to aim. Or did not scale how much you can salvage from the bodies and containers with higher difficulty level.

We also get overpowered fast, to the point all enemy enconquers end after 5s. I did rise level to hard, but id helped only a bit.

Companions die fast and don't have much tactical value. I used them mostly for skill bonuses they provide and as target for enemies, so I can kill them without getting hit.

Stealth part is designed really lazily - instead of making maps where we'd need to avoid guards - we are equipped with hologram device that mask us for x time on the enemy territory. When "batteries" die guards will approach us and ask what are we doing here. But with high enough persuation or intimidation we can tell "nah, we're fine" and battery will refill. Works up to 3 times. If we fail on the check we need to shoot our way through rest of the map.

Levels are tiny, and it's possible to run to the opposite part of the map in few minutes.

There is VATS-like system where we can slow down time, and aim for head / limbs / torso to blind target, incapacitate or do critical hit. Without upgrades it deplets after 1 shot, so is not really useful. Fully upgraded allows to shot 4 - 5 times.

We earn fraction points that show how likable we are by different corporations and rebel groups. And it influences a bit last mission of the game. Most of the quests and side quest can be solved in two different ways (say stealing poster, paying for poster or helping person so they gives us the poster).

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐⭐ - detailed and candy-like. But fitting to the game
Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - music is nice, but forgetful. Voice acting is well done
Bugs - ⭐️⭐⭐ - didn't find any

The good
- good co-op implementation
- can be played in aggressive or sneaky way

The bad
- enemies are dumb
- last boss is just pain in the ass bulletsponge
- maps are tiny and require players to backtrack a lot
- microtranzactions that unlock experience boosters and skins

Conclusion:
It's average Wolfenstein game and it feels like it was made in a hurry. Still, a good option if someone wants to play in co-op brainless shooter.

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Story:

Kill nazists and save Blazkowicz! (your dad). That's literally everything. There are some short fetch quests, but otheriwse story is straightforward. Sisters go to Germany to look for their father. Needed information is in Laboratory X, and they need to get keys from three generals to get there. Which is really convenient backstory to kill horses of nazists.

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Gameplay:

Quite similar to other Wolfenstein games. Can be played in both stealth and shooting way. Killing enemies awards experience that is used to upgrade character. And killing enemies with certain weapon rises it's mastery (and adds bonus to it's damage). Unlockable abilities include double weapon wielding, better stealth, highlighting collectibles on the map, more health / armor etc.

There is easy to read and navigate journal and map, no inventory. Maps are really small game re-uses them a lot to extend the gameplay.

It is not always-online game, but is still focused on the online part. And developers added in-game currency that is used to buy health / experience boosters + unlock unique skins in the weapons. Most of the skins are unlocked with currenty found on the levels, but some require real-cash spending. Or a lot of grind. So it is there only to make people want to have skins owned by other players, and spend cash on them.

Stealth is perfectly viable approach, and when upgraded it allows to OHK even big enemies from behind. Boses still need to be killed with weapons though.

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐☆ - fine. Some texture overlapping here and there, but nothing serious
Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - nice, fast paced OST that fits the game and good voice acting
Bugs - ⭐️⭐⭐ - I don't remember any

The good
- good variety of classes and abilities
- well suited for short sessions, esp with a good team
- inventory and crafting are well designed and easy to use

The bad
- too grindy
- bot AI is average, and they can get stuck in other part of the map or drop book to pick up healing potion
- no minimap

Conclusion:
It is good online multiplayer game to play with friends. Gameplay is optimized for cooperation, not competition. There is element of randomness, but it takes ages to level up gear. So it's not for people that dislike grind. Bit like L4D2 with rat-people instead of zombies.

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Story:

I beat this game, and barely remember the plot apart from "chaos wants to beat us up, we need to defeat it!". So story is not strong part of this game, sorry Warhammer lovers :P

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Gameplay:

Game for up to 4 players. Each picks class that has primary attack, ability to block, and one special ability (that is on a timer). I played as an archer elf, so my special ability was to shot few arrows that lock on targets. Other characters can knock out or sneak behind the enemies. It is possible to gather health items, potions and bomb scattered on the map to use them later. Combat is not complex and boils down to spamming LMB for attack.

Missions are not complex, and pretty much always require us to kill someone, something, or start some machine. It is possible to find books and grimuars that block one consumable slot, but gives better rewards at the end of the mission. Some elite enemies can drop dices that are also used to rise level of the mission reward.

Game spawn hordes of enemies with varied frequency, that floods players. They are typical meat fodder, and on easy + medium difficulty die in one hit. Only problem is their number. And most of the time it's just annoying to chop through them, not challenging or interesting. Special enemies also don't require any planning, unless they are chapter boss. Those are more intelligent, and have bigger variety of attack patterns.

If we survive the mission we receive one chest containing 3 items. Mission can be quite lengthy, so being able to get only 3 items for player makes it really grindy, if someone would want to hunt for specific gear or just to have items of certain rarity. But game at least remmebers level of the gear we get across all our characters, so if we start to play as new class we will not get 1 lvl gear, but on average the same gear we'd get with our 15 lvl hero.

Each class has few weapon types they can use, like my elf has short and log bow, heavy sword, two swords, two daggers, spear. It means though that you can keep getting weapon you don't like, which lefts you underpowered. As our power is not based on our level, but power level of equipped weaponse and amulets.

There are character passive abilities, but they don't have big impact on the gameplay. Like auto heal up to x% or small defense bonus for other players in proximity.

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐☆ - detailed and fitting. But not jaw-dropping
Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - fitting, but not memorable. All character voices are irish / scotish stylized which may be either upside or downside for people
Bugs - ⭐️⭐⭐ - didn't find any

The good
- good co-op implementation
- small touches like when you break the head of the undead enemy, and they start to swing sword around randomly

The bad
- it's not really possible to play as a pure archer, as arrows are really limited
- enemies are repetitive
- companion bot AI is very basic
- dialogues do not require all players to be present, so it's possible to miss whole quest description

Conclusion:
Easy action game with proper co-op implementation. Don't expect deep plot or advanced combat mechanisms. But it's a fine pick if you want to play with someone a short campaign, and nothing else is available.

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Story:

Game takes place at the end of the LotR books. We're tasked with defending land from the intruders, but quite early goal is changed - help Aragorn and hobbits to pass the mountains, by diverting enemy attention away. Rest of the game focus on defeating one of the Saruman servants, who tries to conquer whole north. We will help dwarfs to defend their home, talk with a dragon, help elfs to clear old ruins. Apart from that there are some rather not interesting side quests. It is also possible to meet characters from the books like Gandalf or Frodo.

---

Gameplay:

Third person action game. Main focus is on the sword fight with ability to use bow or crossbow. Game is designed for 3 players. If played solo or co-op rest of the players are controlled by the average-AI bots. So game would not be really fun as the single player.

We can do light and heavy attack + use special abilities that consume energy. Killing enemies awards experience (that is not shared between players) and skill points to unlock abilities and rise health / mana / dexterity stats. It is not possible to jump freely, and instead movement is focused on "cinematic" press key on prompt mechanic.

Loot can be found on the fallen enemies or in the treasure chests. There are bonuses for completing armor set, but there are so many sets it's impossible to do without grind. Otherwise 1 - 2 parts of the set will have really low level, which is worse than having high level parts from different sets.

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐☆ - graphic is on similar to Skyrim level. Surely dated, but still fine
Music - ⭐️⭐☆ - voice acting, music and sounds are fine
Bugs - ⭐️⭐☆ - occasional enemy physic problems, killed enemy models may not disappear

14,5h The good
- whole artistic side - music, graphic, animations, story - are very well made
- it is bit easier, so also more accessible to players. Some may think it's negative though
- well designed levels that prompt exploration
- gameplay-helpers are optional, so we don't need to use "teleport from anywhere to the waypoint" or "stick to walls" if we want to have harder time
- whole gameplay layer is more complex, and draws heavily from Hollow Knight

The bad
- too short :sob:
Conclusion:
This game is so good. It's like eating your favorite ice creams - you're happy and at the same time a bit sad, as you know it will end soon. Very good platformer with good (albeit simple) story, brilliant art style and fitting music. It is a bit different from 1st game, as it's a bit more combat oriented, and platforming part feels easier. I played on Normal difficulty.

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Story:

Game starts with showing how owl juvenile is raised by Ori and his (? I think Ori is a he) friends. When owl is finally able to fly we take a quick tour around... to be separated by a huge storm on an unknown land, that is ravaged by decay. We learn that light which was guarding the place died along old willow. We need to find all light wisps that were created when willow died. Strength, eyes, voice, memory and heart of the forest. Doing so will return light to the forest, and help us save our friend.

There are no big moral choices or complex plot twists. But devs still managed to show simple things like the fact that even "pure evil" characters could be forced to be like that by rejection and other live hardships, or that even "good" characters can fall under the right circumstances.

---

Gameplay:

Basic game mechanic is the same as in Ori and the Blind Forest. Metroidvania game with very good platforming part. We collect life and energy orbs to extent energy / health bars, and spirit light. But while some games change some minor things and release sequel, Ori changed in many ways, as it took heavy inspiration from the Hollow Knight.

Ori uses the light sword instead of auto-aiming projectiles to kill enemies as the main weapon. Abilities are divided into core (like double jump, dash, grapple hook) and additional (like triple jump, damage reduction, damage dealt bonus). Core abilities are always on, but additional ones need to be equipped into shard slots. Which works the same as charms in Hollow Knight. We start with 3 slots and can unlock 5 extra by beating simple combat shrines.

Spirit light is used to buy maps, optional abilities and upgrading abilities. Some optional abilities need to be unlocked by absorbing the light from the spirit trees.

Chase sequences are easier than they were in the 1st game, I think I died only once or twice on each. Instead of hard platforming sequences game has some easy bosses to fight. It may be needed to grind a bit and upgrade energy / health before facing them though.

It is possible to warp to any warp gate on the map, which saves a lot of time. Save points are also abundant, so risk of repeating big chunk of the map is minimal. If you want collectibles and don't want to roam blindly it's possible to buy collectibles maps. There is also NPC that shows various game stats - number of jumps, time underwater, killed enemies etc.

There are some fetch quests, but are entirely optional. Like we find a place where they make soup and get a portion. Then we need to find NPC in the cold area who would gladly eat warm soup, and we get a hat as a reward. This hat needs to be delivered to someone on the desert to guard them from the sun etc.

There are a lot of abilities unlocked with spirit trees, so we bump into one quite often at the beginning of the game. So it does not feel as special as it did in the 1st game.

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐⭐ - gorgeous, just like in it's predecessor. Vibrant and well contrasted colors, fluid animations, hand-drawn style (which means it will also look gorgeous in 10 years)
Music - ⭐️⭐⭐ - fitting to both what is happening on the screen and to the graphic style. Environmental sounds adds more depth. Even way NPCs talk to describe the story is cute and really fitting
Bugs - ⭐️⭐⭐ - I encouraged literally one bug when I was able to get stuck in the wall, outside of the map. Otherwise game is bugless

The good
- enemy AI
- stealth gameplay
- likable characters

The bad
- auto-aim that can't be turned off
- story is average
- not possible to play in the pacifist way
- game looks like it has moral dilemmas, but they don't lead to anything

Conclusion:
I expected more of this game. While it is a good stealth game, story is kind of meh. Environmental puzzles with light are really barebone. And I don't like to take care of whiny kids ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Story:

Raiders of the inquisition come to house of the french nobleman. They start to kill everyone, and only Amicia and her brother - Hugo - manages to escape. On their way to find save place to stay they meet other kids that are orphans - two thiefs and blacksmith son. At some point they decide they can't just hide, and need to kill the Grand Inquisitor to be able to live normally again.

Killing everyone inside Amicia's house turns out to be because of Hugo - he has connection to the plague, and that's the reason why Grand Inquisitor wants to kidnap him. Game shows how infected villages looked like, with markings on doors to show which household is infected etc. But game is not strongly tied to the historical events, connection between black death and rats is made more to justify simple puzzles where we need to make passages between rats hordes than having any educational or deep meaning.

---

Gameplay:

Third person stealth game, where it's not possible to move vertically (apart from pre-scripped action prompts), and not possible to turn off auto aim. Stealth part is good, not stressful or fast paced. But around middle of the game there are more and more situations that are hard to resolve in sneak way. And game endings forces us to kill enemies. So it's not possible to have truly pacifist run.

There is no "hiding in the closet" here, just hugging walls or low obstacles. We can carry one pot with us to distract guards, or shot rocks on piles of metal to get enemies attention. There are few other projectiles for the sling - lighting up torches or fireplaces, putting out the fire, make guards take down their helmet, create temporary light source, attract rats to certain area or sleep powder. Cost of crafting sleep powder is so high that it's not possible to use it regularly. Otherwise we will not be able to upgrade equipment.

Amicia gathers junk laying around - leather, string, alcohol, sulfur etc. to craft ammunition and upgrade gear. More space for materials, ability to carry more ammunition, quiet sling and walking around. Although they are not must-have, and game can be completed without upgrading much.

There are some easy light puzzle, where Amicia needs to make her way across rats. They are really basic - either light up something to chase rats away in a circular proximity, or move stationary lantern to create straight road across rats with a light beam. I think it can even be said those are just puzzle elements, not that this is puzzle game.

---

Technicalities:

Graphic - ⭐️⭐⭐ - graphic is really nice, with detailed models and environments
Music - ⭐️⭐⭐ - very climatic with good voice acting
Bugs - ⭐️⭐⭐ - I didn't encourage any bugs here

The good
- bugless
- enemy AI is decent enough, but it's obvious it "cheats"
- game is similar enough to HOMM to understand gameplay basics fast

The bad
- unit design does not feel diverse between fractions, and city upgrades are identical for all fractions
- enemy AI starts overpowered in all campaign scenarios
- camera does not follow enemies that are visible on the map during their turn
- campaign is not really interesting
- no development tree, so it's hard to see which upgrade of spells / city is needed to progress in direction you want
- level up menu should be divided in sections of spells / hero upgrades / unit upgrades
- it's not possible to play MP without creating external account, and company changed policy to allow themselves to sell data they collect to anyone they want
- tier IV units are overpowered, and enemy AI will make hoards of them to attack

Conclusion:
I am SP player, so I only played SP campaign. Not MP part of the game. And I think SP part of HOMM V or Star Craft 2 is way more polished. This SP campaign feels more like "quickly created, with focus on rush mode" addition, than main part of the game. If you want strategic game that is worse than games I listed above this one is a fine pick. Otherwise skip it. I could also not force myself to beat main scenario to see different ending, or start DLC content. Maybe in a few months.

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Story:

Humans started to expand their territory and enslave other races. Elves, goblins and draconians decided to join forces and oppose them. It's generic and not interesting. Characters are bland, and whole plot focuses on "conquer everything on map to win". There is no interesting lore to follow or backstory.

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Gameplay:

Game is quite similar to Heroes of Might and Magic V. We have hero that moves around map, army we can command in battle tactical view (but units do not stack and are rather uninteresting), points of interest we need to take over to boost our economy (they also need to be within our city influence range to give gold or mana). Units are unlocked by upgrading city but weirdly all races share the same upgrades, with exception for one class-specific building. Units also share a lot of similarity between races. And their special abilities do not feel really useful.

There is no development tree, so at first I was forced to guess which upgrade I need to build to unlock something. Upgrades are described in game rule book, but I should not be forced to dig through dozens of pages to know something as basic as city development route.

I had bad problem with beating one scenario, and went to look on the internet what I do wrong. I read "Just make party from flying heroes and conquer enemies cities fast". And it was true... we often start without a city, while enemy AI has few cities under control. If we play slow AI will easily be able to send dozens of high leveled units on us, making it impossible to win. I like to play it save and slow, so it killed all the strategic and fun part of the game for me.

Heroes can be upgraded after they level up. Although level up window is messy, with long list of hero-specific, army-boosters, spells, offensive and defensive abilities all mixed together. Heroes can equip items, but there is no comparison window between current and new gear. So we need to hover over both objects and remember stats. When heroes are stacked there is no simple way to exchange objects. They need to be dropped on the ground and picked by another hero.

Enemy AI is tuned to go after small teams of weak units, so it's possible lead them away from party by spawning scouting bird. Mana limit is quite low, so it's not possible to cast many spells on the battlefield. And I loved to play as mage in HOMMV, throwing spells on enemies to weaken or kill them without risking my troops death.

The only interesting idea I saw in this game is that when armies are grouped next to each other on general map - they will attack and defend together. So if enemy has army inside a city and 2 armies in hexes next to the city, and I attack with 3 armies - it will be 3 vs 3 army battle. If I have 2 heroes with armies next to each other and something attacks me - both hero armies will take part in the battle.

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Graphic, music, bugs:

Game is bugless. Graphic is simple, but still does not feel dated. And music is fitting, but not really memorable.

The good
- bugless
- new game plus with chapter select
- some parts of the game can be played with sneak or shooting approach

The bad
- framerate problems without manual file edit
- there is problem to read text in game archive due to control problems
- enemies can stagger lock us easily

Conclusion:
Good stealth game with nice atmosphere and more of jump-scare focused horror. Story is not strong part of it, there are no moral dilemmas, and story as a whole it's really confusing.

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Story:

Police detective Sebastian Castellanos arrives on the crime scene - mental hospital where whole personnel and patients were murdered. Our goal is to find out what exactly happened, and it quickly turns out that someone in the hospital was experimenting with human psyche. Sebastian is sometimes aided by two other detectives - Kidman and Joseph, while he moves through world created from scrambled memories of random people. Game antagonist is Ruvik - one of the people who performed experiments in the mental hospital, and only one that can somewhat control whole "simulation" other characters are trapped.

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Gameplay:

Game is more like Prey than Alien: Isolation, so it does not focus on running away from immortal enemies and spending half of the time hiding in closets. There are only 2 short sequences where we need to hide. Otherwise it's more of sneak / slow shooter game. Ammunition is limited, so shooting approach needs steady aim and a lot of head shots. Otherwise Sebastian will shortly run out of ammo and die.

General enemies die easily from headshots. Semi-bosses need to be shot with few explosive bolts or close-range shotgun burst. Bosses can often regenerate, and thus it's not possible to kill them easily. So Sebastian needs to find a way to eliminate them in different way. Game does not have manual saves, but checkpoints are frequent enough that game is not punishing for dying (I died around 80 times during my playthrough).

New weapons are unlocked by finding them in-game. Enemies sometimes drop brain juice (green liquid), that can also be found in the bottles around the maps. It is used to upgrade abilities (health, sprint, ammunition stock etc.) and weapons (firepower, accuracy, reload speed etc.). General ammunition need to be found laying around, but crossbow bolts can either found or crafted from parts. Melee is not an efficient way to kill enemies, and manual weapons break after one kill.

Initial impression that game has Alien: Isolation mechanic is misguiding, as game starts with Sebastian hiding away from huge enemy with a chainsaw. Only later is it shown that enemies can be killed, and the better weapons Sebastian has (and more upgraded they are), the easiest it is to kill.

Sadly game has nasty tendency to stagger lock, so Sebastian can be hit by new enemy attack immediately after previous attack animation is over. Game never gives us a lot of health, so it's easy to be killed due to some small mistake.

It is not possible to freely jump, Sebastian can only do pre-programmed actions in certain places. Like climbing the ladder or jump above small obstacles. He can also open doors and crouch.

---

Graphic, music, bugs:

Game in general is bugless, but has problem with terrible framerate. It is necessary to manually edit game file to have stable 60 FPS in game. Although it leads to stutter problem during intro animation. Graphic is good, but feels a bit dated. As a "horror" game there is not much loud music. It focus on environmental sounds, zombies screams, and door squeaks when we open them. It is nice and slow, fitting mix.

The good
- good co-op implementation

The bad
- clunky controls and awful camera movement with mouse
- annoying QTEs
- unlocking weapons is really grindy

Conclusion:
Good enough co-op game to play with someone. But otherwise is skippable, as story is shallow, controls clunky, and game not scary. 4 stars are here for co-op implementation.

Story: Someone infects city with virus that turns people into zombies. Such innovative... oh wait. Whole story is about "stopping crazy person from turning whole world into zombie land". Boring.

Gameplay: We walk around, shot zombies in the head, do some QTEs, pickup junk. Only thing worth mentioning is that game really feels like previous gen port, so controls with keyboard and mouse are really clunky. But using controller makes you miss a lot when shooting. So there is no "proper" way to play it. Co-op works really well though, which was surprising for such an old game. No connection problems, exchanging items in inventory works perfectly, and it doesn't feel like one player is "main" and second is just walking turret. When playing in SP 2nd player role is taken by bot that works well enough. Checkpoints are frequent enough to not feel penalized for dying. Game is linear, and there is chapter selection in the menu with option to see which collectibles were missed.

Graphic, music, bugs: Graphic is dated, and it's obvious it's previous gen game. I didn't see any big bugs, just some QTEs that feels "unfair". Plus bad mouse acceleration that can't be turned off.

The good
- highly customizable UI and difficulty options
- well designed levels
- both stealth and kill approach are rewarding

The bad
- no minimap
- it's hard to browse abilities to pick, as they are put on long list that is not sortable
- textures are ugly up close
- delusion of choices
- gear upgrades do not give much of an advantage, and majority feel useless to begin with

Conclusion:
I didn't even play Dishonored 2 yet (which is this game predecessor), and it already feels like AC - the same reused mechanic with different setting to justify releasing the same game again. Plus this time it's not possible to 100% game in a peaceful way. Not all tasks have peaceful solution, so sometimes we are forced to kill certain NPC.

Story: Game takes place after Dishonored 2. And as game title indicates - it's about death of the Outsider. Plot is straightforward and without big revelations. And have yes / no choice at the end. So plot is not game strong point.

Gameplay: Gameplay is the same as in Dishonored 1, only that we have different set of powers. Teleport (that works in a bit annoying way, as we need to click double to move), seeing enemies / objects through walls, and camouflage. New skills (quiet run, higher jumps, no dogs alerts etc.) are acquired by finding bone amulets. It is possible to craft them as well, but game does not give notification about it. So I missed it completely. We collect junk (just like in Prey...) that gets converted into coins. Gear upgrades are bought in black market shops, but it all boils down to bigger stack of single use items. Nothing interesting really.

We can pick up contracts on each mission that acts like side objectives. But they are really simple - like "kill dog and burn it's body" or "find this person and drop them inside this crate". More of making game feels longer than it is in reality, than some well-designed side quests. Some of the contracts can't be completed in a peaceful way, and we need to kill someone. So it's not possible to get "complete all contracts" achievement for people that'd want to play only in no-kill way.

Tbh game was made by the same developer as Prey, and it feels like it shares a lot with it. Similar to how Assassin's Creed games share basic mechanics. So may be that they re-used assets and ideas heavily between different games. For example interface customization is nearly identical in both. Same as collecting junk in environment to get materials. Only that Prey felt fresh. And Dishonored feels like re-used game with some Prey perks. How long can you use blink to move between ceiling lights inside or balconies outside, to go behind enemy to kill enemy, before you get bored? I didn't see many environmental ways to kill enemies to make it more interesting. And ability to camouflage as enemy to go and kill another is not really interesting.

There are only 3 small levels, with 4 buildings that can be entered. That may explain why they did not add minimap - to try masking how tiny world is. It is possible to enter buildings in at least 3 different ways, and there are some hidden passages inside to move around. So they are well designed to give some replayability. But still - are really tiny.

Graphic, music, bugs: Textures are fine from afar, and blurry up-close. I didn't encounter any bugs.

The good
- battles are really fluid and cinematic after we learn how to play
- lore is interesting

The bad
- no indication in which chapter we're missing collectibles
- enemies can interrupt our combos, but we can't do the same to them
- maps are tiny
- camera work during encounters can be annoying, especially in the last boss fight
- there is always not enough healing items, and there is no way to effectively regenerate health

Conclusion:
It's obvious game was made by Japanese people where there is some weird sexual notion every 5 minutes. Bayonetta is solid hack & slash (or spectacle fighter as a sub-genre of slasher), that has some weird camera work and tight timing of attacking / avoiding enemies. It's good, but surely not for everyone.

Story: Bayonetta travels to recover lost memories, and understand why hordes of angels decided to attack her. It's hack & slash, so there is not much more to it. Just a background to kill hordes of enemies. There is no deep plot or big revelation.

Gameplay: TPP slasher like DMC or Darksiders. We get bonuses for making long and complicated combos, not getting hit, killing enemies in certain way etc. There are few alternative weapons, techniques, and accessories to unlock. Game is grindy, and it's not possible to unlock everything during one gameplay. Chapters are made from corridor levels, there is no open-map approach to traveling.

We have standard weak / heavy attacks that can be combined into combos, extra attacks, torture attacks (that looks like taken from bondage / BDSM community). Each unlocked weapon has some distinctive traits, and for example ski-boots allow us to move around faster and freeze enemies in combos.

It is possible to replay level but we don't get information where are missed collectibles. Camera can work wonky during boss encounters. I believe game is hard to play with K+M, as it was sometimes annoying to play with controller, for which it was designed.

Graphic, music, bugs: Music is nice, but feels bit repetitive. Graphic is fine but shows it's age. And I didn't encounter any bugs.

The good
- really nice atmosphere
- ability to play game in a few distinct ways (DOOM-like, stealth, "magic")
- easy to navigate, big and detailed maps
- survival mode where it's possible to turn on weapon degradation, oxygen limits and statuses like breaks - for masochists :P
- normal save mechanic, no checkpoint system

The bad
- double loading screens - loading game ends, and clicking continue leads to another loading screen
- enemies respawn, which is annoying at the beginning of the game
- suit is upgraded with modules that are found in-game, it's possible to find the same module two times, and it's entry will be doubled on the selection list
- flashlight can get bugged and will not work in current campaign save (happened to me, so I did not have it for half of the game)
- some achievements are bugged, and get unlocked early or not at all
- it's not possible to sort in-game notes (that contain needed information), they are listed in order in which they were found
- no indication which food or bodies you already "collected", or which books are "read"
- NG+ does not give free skill points to use; instead you start new campaign with character from previous one
- turrets are useless, as even weakest typhoon can kill them with ease. Only thing they can kill are mimics
- ending looks more like start of the next planned game, than moment which ties up current events
- buggy physic of objects we can carry

Conclusion:
Solid FPS / stealth game (depending on the playstyle). Plot was IMO lacking, and some gameplay mechanics could be done better.

Story: We need to fight with alien threat! That's... all. We learn about past and current events from books, e-mails, audiologs and from talking to the characters. But there is not much story apart from that. NPCs are generic and not really interesting. I found it more enjoyable to learn various facts about typhoon than NPCs. Ending wants to be a "big cliffhanger", but I only thought "Ugh I hope I did not see the ending scene, it was so boring".

Gameplay: First person game where we can focus on stealth play, DOOM-like gameplay or using powers to take out enemies. But even on easy some enemies require few shots from shotgun on point-blank range to be killed, and ammo is scarce. So I think only possible approach on hard or nightmare difficulty is stealth, which makes game turn into Alien: Isolation.

Apart from the generic weapons (pistol, shotgun, wrench, stun gun) we can use particle (laser?) gun, gloo gun (makes foam blobs that put out fire or allow to climb on walls), dart gun (hitting switches from the distance).

Collected junk can be changed in recycling stations into RAW materials - later used to create ammo, weapons, health packs etc. It is also possible to throw recycling grenade and convert items in blast radius into RAW materials. It is selective though, so you will transform old turret into metal, but bin that stands next to the turret will remain on place. Feels off. IMO would be better to have "safe areas" where you can use this grenade to not cause dangerous damage, than arbitrary dev rules what can and can't be transformed. Blueprints are needed to create items, but they are abundant. Some can be found 3 times.

Inventory and map are easy to navigate and use. But all notes found in game are stored under "notes" tab, without ability to sort them in any way. Which makes it hard to find info you need fast.

2 or 3 missions are timed but otherwise map is open and it's possible to free roam for hours. But none of the quests I had to do were particularly interesting. Majority of side quests are just fetch objectives. There are some choices to be made, but mostly as context actions. So it's not Mass Effect type, where actions are clearly marked and have predictable consequences. Still it leads to rather (IMO) uninteresting cliffhanger ending.

There are few enemy types but (at least on easy) there is not much difference in approach how to eliminate them.

Graphic, music, bugs: Textures are detailed and whole screen just overflows with small environmental details. Music is really atmospheric and was making me jump a bit in more tense moments at the beginning. Game is generally bugless, apart from physic. It is possible to pick objects and move them around, but not to rotate them. So if you pick up chair on wrong angle it will be never possible to put it back standing. Feels like downgrade, as there are games that allow players to pick up, rotate and put object in any way they want.

The good
- interesting detective gameplay mechanic
- good voice acting
- choices do impact story more than in TWD
- nice graphic

The bad
- stiff animations, especially hands
- inability to skip dialogues (it unlock only after you beat the whole chapter)
- unskippable "previous in chapter" sequences just like in The Walking Dead
- annoying notification you can't pick more of an item as inventory is full

Conclusion:
Good detective game, but it shows it didn't have big budget like AAA games.

Story: Our character arrives on the island and needs to find their lost mother. Game heavily relies on occult and historical events of XVIII century (Bonaparte, Washington, Spanish aristocrat etc). So if someone is really bad in history and don't remember basics about French revolution or beginning of USA - they may find whole story to be rather bland.

Gameplay: TTP detective game. We can collect clues from the environment and books, talk with characters to get needed information, solve environmental / logical puzzles.

We are required to chose character class - diplomat, occultist, detective. Each specializes in different skills, and it cost less points to level up skills that are specific to the class. For example if we start with detective then all skills associated with this class have 1st level, while we need to unlock non-class-specific skills by investing points. Having specific skills is necessary to chose certain dialogue options. If we talk with scientist and have science skill unlocked, then we will be able to ask about science-related topics. That's why it's good to invest enough points into skills to at least unlock them. Leveling up skill further lowers endurance needed to use it. If topic requires 5 endurance points to use - we will need to spend 5 points on 1st level, 2 points on 2nd level, and it's free to use if we have skill on level 3.

Talking to characters is biggest part of the game. Dialogue options are divided between general topics (that does not give detailed information, or will lead to failure in confrontations) and specific topics (tied to unlocking character skills). On top of that each character has their weaknesses and immunities. If we chose specific topic that is an NPC weakness - we will not use endurance points. Choosing specific topic for which NPC is immune makes us exhausted - which means that skills cost more endurance points to use. Finding NPC immunities and weaknesses is a big part of the game, and we can do it via talking, or being noisy and read information left in their rooms (books, letters etc.).

We can carry up to 5 honey jars, golden elixir, thorns, carmelite water. Honey restores 2 endurance points, elixir removes negative effects (like being exhausted), thorns temporarily show character immunities and weaknesses, and water makes next use of any skill free. Amber is not consumable, but finding 4 permanently rise our endurance by 1. Those items are found by free roaming the map, but sadly picking up mechanic is annoying. If you already have 5 of certain item game should not allow to pick more and display "Inventory full" next to the item. Instead of allowing it to be "picked" and showing later huge message "max items number, item not picked".

It's obviously not possible to max out all skills, so we need to decide on which we want to focus. Skills are also used as a help in solving puzzles, but it's not necessary step. We can grab piece of paper and re-calculate dates by hand for example. Many puzzles rely on reading or finding connections in the bible, so you may avoid this game if you're allergic to catholic religion.

Choices look more impactful than those from TWD series. If we help character and prevent them from dying - they will not die anyway 5 min later, attacked by zombies. But instead try to confront us at the very end of the game. I didn't do 2nd gameplay yet to see how many choices like that are in the game, but this one makes it more than whole TED series anyway :eyes:

Graphic, music, bugs: Graphic is detailed, music fits to the game. I didn't approach any visible bugs, but overall animation quality is moderate. While whole body animation is ok - face and hand animations are lacking. Especially hands, as most of the time they act as stiff planks. Not hand that has fingers that can move.

The good
- works well on mobile
- easy and full of cat jokes - so may be good for kids
- thankfully no paid loot boxes

The bad
- jokes about "oh no, another fetch quest" gets old fast
- shallow plot
- gear is unlocked via RNG chests, and all animations surrounding it are way too long

Conclusion:
It was nice distraction while going to work. I would not pay to get it though (it was free on Android).

Story: Our sister is kidnapped and we need to get stronger to rescue her. End.

Gameplay: I played on mobile, so it is surely different on PC. But in general map is open and we free roam it to go into dungeons, attack enemies (still happens on the map, no battle transition), pick up quests from notice board. But whole game is one big fetch quest really.

Experience is earned by killing enemies and character auto-levels up. No skill points to unlock abilities. Magic spells are leveled up via spending in-game gold, and gear is leveled up by unlocking loot chests. Which is stupid waste of time, especially with too long animations, and inability to buy x chests to unlock them at once.

There is some variety in enemies design, but everything boils down to "attack, run away, wait for enemy attack sequence to end, run to attack again" sequence.

Graphic, music, bugs: Graphic is "cute and simple". I played with sound off, so can't say anything about music. And game is bugless.

The good
- graphic is really nice
- good optimization for Unity game
- created world is interesting
- quite a lot of interactions triggered by skills / abilities (like intimidation or diplomacy in talk, or specific athletic prompts in the terrain)

The bad
- character AI is lacking, they get stuck in corridors and can't find their way to enemies
- inventory system is messy and does not remember our filters
- no mini-map
- whole interface lacks a lot of customization
- not possible to sort journal by location
- possible to sell objects needed to complete side objectives...
- characters do not instantly auto-target new enemy after previous is defeated
- companions are easy to miss, as there are no float markers and they look like generic NPCs
- companion quests are bland and uninteresting

Conclusion:
I tried to start this game few times, but was fed up after an hour or so. Finally fact that it was only game that could run on my laptop, at 10 FPS, persuaded me to really give it a chance :hehe:
If you like old style RPG where most of things are done manually this game is for you. Otherwise leave it be. If I'd play vanilla version after release I'd drop it mid-way with 2/5 rating, as game didn't even have something so basic as character respec or inventory sorting on release.

Story: Our caravan is attacked on way to the city, and we end up in storm that "enables" us to see people soul / essence. Which pushes us into quest to save the world. Not amazing description, but game makes up for it with interesting backstory for the world, gods etc. On the other hand companion quests are bland, and in one case it literally boils down to going to one location to talk with NPC. So there is no complex interaction with companions, like in BW games for example.

Gameplay: Isometric RPG which is quite similar to Dragon Age. Only that companions are dumb. And will get stuck on a way to the target. Or not cast any useful spells even when we try to configure (very basic) AI. So it's not "pick characters and order them to attack" game-style. We need to constantly micromanage who characters need to attack, when use healing abilities, move ranged characters away from attackers etc. Character may be left with 10% endurance, and they will not use ability that will recover this endurance... It may be something old-RPG fans will love, but it was just annoying for me.

Character pages are full of data, but don't list something as basic as "which weapon is best for this character". Inventory is a mess that is sorted by name. Not by category or rarity. So even if you try to sort armors by type you will have "Heavy, Light, Medium" order, which is totally unintuitive. It's even worse when it comes to sorting weapons. Sword, magic, shields, pistols are all over the place, instead of being nicely grouped together.

There are no markers on the map or in the walk mode, so you don't know if there is new quest. You'd need to click every NPC over and over again to double check if they have new quest, or if you did not miss them before. Which is especially bad for companions. I literally missed 2 essential characters (and combat on easy difficulty was really hard), as I thought they are general peasants without much interaction. Like if they could not add markers that are turned off by default, to not angry hard-core-fans. I did try to look for a way to turn on markers with mods, but only encouraged angry players that wrote "general location in quest description is too much, I want Baldur's Gate with no hints at all!", and that even this bare bone help should be removed.

There is optional "rebuild your stronghold" quest. But it's nothing like upgrading Normandy in ME2. More like "castle where you can sleep will look nicer" thing.

Characters have health and endurance. Endurance regenerates after the battle, while health does not. We need to eat food or rest in a camp to regain it. And frankly I don't understand whole idea behind it. Character will faint in a fight when endurance drops to 0. And it happens way before health can even reach 50%. Normally endurance is used to cast spells / use weapons and health is health. And here endurance is like health, and health is I-don't-know-what-for. Only thing that matters when you send character with 0 health to battle (yes, it's possible, as endurance regenerates) is that it will permanently die if it's hit by something. And we need to re-load save to restore companion. Otherwise their companion quest fails and they are no longer accessible.

Graphic, music, bugs: Graphic is nice. But zoom out could be bit bigger. Music is fine. Game is in general bugless. But I don't know if companion AI is badly made, or it's buggy. You may send 4 fighters to attack a boss. 3 characters will take position in front and attack. 4th will stand behind them, trying to "go to" target that is "taken" from this side. They will not move around to attack from side or back. You need to click them and move them manually. If caster summons creature it will stand next to them, without attacking anything - again you need to micromanage it etc.

The good
- interesting, more complex puzzles than in previous game
- we have some backstory now

The bad
- it's not possible to run, which makes moving on longer distances annoying

Conclusion:
I liked it. It is not masterpiece on a level of Portal 2 or Talos Principle, but it is solid and enjoyable.

Story: We wake up inside QUBE and are given a task to yet again destroy it! But this time we have some backstory to it, so it's closer to Portal than original QUBE.

Gameplay: Our suit allows us to change color of the white surfaces (just like portals in Portal can be put on white areas). Green power makes a cube that can be moved around. Orange makes block that can be pulled out / in to the wall. And blue makes field that act like a "bounce platform". Game also features sprays that make cube slide around, fire, buttons that control fans etc. So there is quite a lot of variety in what we can do.

Learning curve is fine, there is no need to think for a long time to understand how to use new item or power. Which is important, as game does not give any hints what you should do.

Puzzles are nicely designed. I found them a bit on the easy-normal end. And I consider Talos Principle to be on the normal-hard end. But I think it may be because I played a lot of puzzle games in the past. First time I learned about momentum in Portal 1 I was like "woahhhhhh". Now I enter a room for first time and I'm like "oh yeah, momentum again". Things were nicer when we were kids :sadness:

Graphic, music, bugs: Graphic is fine. Music rather ambient. Game is bugless.

Pros:
- rewarding gameplay
- big semi-open world maps
- weapons that allow to play in the style you want
- good multiplayer implementation

Cons:
- specific humor that will not appeal to everyone (does not to me)
- particle and other graphic options can't be turned off in the menu
- inventory and menus are not designed for K+M
- crapton on DLCs that are added to /all games page on Steam
- really bad driving mechanic
- enemies AI can get stuck
- random invisible walls

Conclusion:
Good looter-shooter from the time when games were not packed with loot boxes and microtransactions. So gameplay is not "optimized" to be grindy to the point of "Ugh I will pay money to skip this grind". Humor may discourage from playing though. It's like being in the room with someone unfunny throwing "jokes" every 10 min. You either endure it or walk away and slam the doors.

Story: We need to stop Jack from opening the vault and killing everyone. Big "part" of the story is game humor, but I'm not a fan. In the end, for me, story of this game is on the level of average FPS game. Enough to justify killing others, but nothing good.

Gameplay: We kill enemies, get tons of junk weapons (with hopes for something good), do fetch quests. So nothing much. Game was clearly designed for consoles. There is simple experience system, but it takes ages to level up. Mostly because doing all the side quests will make you over leveled for the main quest, and all enemies will give whopping 1 exp per kill). Maps are big, but rather empty and filled with invisible walls. There is no fall damage which makes exploration faster. Weapons are divided into groups (shotguns, SMGs, ARs, snipers etc) and are further modified by the company that made them (explosive damage, shooting speed, accuracy etc.) So it's easy to find your preferred weapon and look for it in the drops. There is basic trading between players, but it's clunky due to console menus. Driving mechanics is the worst I ever saw in a computer game (you drive in direction you point mouse at, not where you press directional keys).

Graphic, music, bugs: Game did not date well. But fact graphic is so simple is an advantage here - it looks better than "realistic" Skyrim for example. Music is forgettable. And apart from invisible walls (and collision problems associated with it) and some weird ragdoll game is bugless.