Antictra

It is a cyberpunk styled point and click adventure game, it will speak to those who liked Deus Ex franchise, the Cyberpunk 2077, Dex, Shadowrun and other similar games ... I like those games, I do not like VirtuaVerse because of its tiring music score, boring writing and forgettable characters, it is only salvaged by its pixelart graphical style mixed with cyberpunk vibe

It is quite addictive idle game, with a lot of classical ADND characters to collect and customize, all in all that is just a game playing itself in the background when I do something else and the main fun comes from collecting the characters, their boosters and such and manipulating the characters formations in the battle; graphics are simple yet efficient, they have kind of oldschool vibe ... it is not necessary to invest any money in it at all, and I discourage you from doing that; still the game is F2P, but of course there are a lot of monetisation elements, just ignore them

I played that game when I had a problem with my PC during COVID period (difficulty to repair it where I was at the time) and found it moderately fun and complex to be somehow engaging, I liked graphics and music with an ambiance which was not bad (that is why I have given note of 4), still it is a typical mobile/web browser game money grab, that is why it is not a good game overall, and one should not give any real money to such operation; I stopped playing that when the lenghty timers and other obstacles pushed me towards paying anything for that, I have just found other funny browser games. Again, do not be fooled into spending any real money on such kind of games !

I have played Hogwarts Legacy basically to experience Hogwarts ambiance, and in that sense it is rather successful, since all Hogwarts can be explored, the design of the areas is detailed and quite diverse. Both music and sounds are well chosen and overall ambiance makes you feel as if you have fallen into Harry Potter movie. However on a longer run the game tends to be tedious and loose the focus, when considering it as an action adventure or CRPG game. The quests are simplistic, sometimes boring, sometimes just simply annoying (farming stuff), with insufficient storyline narration; the NPCs tend to be classic mary sues, with some rare exceptions and there is not enough interraction with NPCs in general, what makes quite depressing impression after a while. Some stuff is not logical (such as possibility to cast whatever spells anywhere without any consequence or wander around during the nights, while Hogwarts students are normally forbidden to do that)... the character development tend to by quite simple, just ok for a console player, not so much for a full blown CRPG experience. All in all a nice experience for several hours, it might become an annoying chore after a while.

this game is a classic perfection, anyone who played that understands it is a generation phenomenon; pure balance of what makes an excellent entertainment experience, huge modding community, great gameplay memories, all of that with game that is complex, yet simple.

Cyberpunk 2077 had fallen well in Covid period as a nice illustration of dystopian reality, it is seen in the game, it is seen in the contemporary world; the story part is excellent and the storytelling mastery seen in Witcher 3 can be clearly seen together with excellent acting of voice actors. There is quite a lot of content to explore, in terms of ambiance and media (graphics, music, sounds) the world is rich and varied. Most places are quite unique. It is a way to visit "Blade runnerish" city and its different flavours, including Mad Maxish, Fallout like vibes. The disadvantage is that quite many of those places are dead ends, the decorative doors and buildings not accessible to player are numerous, what is somehow a pity for such big gameworld. Another issue is with NPCs: while we can regularly stumble upon those scripted NPCs talking between themselves, I had quite often the feeling that Night City is filled with very rudimentary AI bots in the way I have never experienced in Witcher 3, which seemed much more alive: there are no dialogues with random NPCs and they have very basic routines, giving an artificial feel. As for quests they are linear mostly, and the player's impact on the gameworld is quite insignificant, despite the recurrent theme of "leaving the mark" on the Night City, that is exposed in the game lore and story, still the writing of individual quests is very good and worth following despite that linearity, deeply in the cyberpunk vibe. One can admit: the gameplay is less fluid than the one in GTA V (especially for vehicles part, the races for example are laughable) but still, CP2077 is supposed to be rather CRPG game than action adventure, but it succeeds more as a latter. Actually the simulated content is of bad quality, while scripted one has an exceptional quality (and that explains my score for that game). The character development schema is in state of art, together with skills evolution enforced by player's play style (skills increase levels when they are often used) and quite a lot of customization that can be done on weapons and clothes and such (craft system), yet the random loot somehow renders all that irrelevant, since just playing forward and leveling we gradually get better and better gear without much need for any crafting. The fighting ingame with different enemies is fun enough. Last but not least: the bugs - they are everywhere and they diminish the pleasure of gameplay while being immerged in the gameworld, still they get fixed gradually (though still a shame that unfinished game has been rushed out on market to "increase shareholders value"). I suppose that "undercooked" parts, such as police system, the unscripted part of empty gameworld will not improve much in future (except for modders work maybe, that seems to be supported by CDP RED ?), still for scripted storytelling alone the game is worth to be played and enjoyed. All in all: it is a "must play" for all cyberpunk ambiance fans that liked "Blade Runner" movie or "Observer" game, even if the game has weaker parts, especially those similar to GTA V gameplay; together with other polish game in similar setting, "The Observer", that game is worthy SF content.

It is not a PS:T successor ! PS:T had high literary value, had that "something" making it legendary. That game is kind of pretendent, trying to make it interesting by a huge quantity of text and weirdness ... they just did not get it right. It is best to keep PS:T alone as a legend. Some day talented creator will make something similar in terms of cultural impact, yet original to light up again the flame of mystery, and emotion that PS:T had. Torment: Tides of Numenera is not that kind of game.

Average MMO-like experience. This game gives initially the promise of something bigger than it really is. In the end of the day it consists of zillions of repetitive actions that do not matter. Story is a mary sue stuff that does not really bring anything interesting artistically speaking; in the end Fable III is just an annoying chore.

Baldur's Gate / PST clone, but much less enjoyable. I would say that it really tried hard to reproduce the feel of those tactical CRPGs, but did not manage. Loss of time.

I have spent quite a lot of time to play this game, in some way it is post-apocalyptic version of Skyrim with all its advantages and disadvantages, included but not limited to half-baked storyline, a lot of redundant fedex side quests and sometimes the areas that resemble themselves... still it had managed to pack quite big free roaming gameworld with enough content to keep the player busy. The design quality on both global and detailed level is very well seen in the construction of lore and different side stories that game told to the player. While NPC's/party members are not exceptionnal and writing is average-good at best, it is still quite attaching, just like one of those TV series having +1000 episodes. Just do not expect it to revolutionise your life. It is true that game roleplaying mechanics was terribly simplified with respect to other games in the series, but it does not bother me too much, because of big quantity of other things to do in the game. Otherwise I find the game technically successfull (graphics, OST, sound and so on).

RymdResa is quite interesting 2D "space exploration" game, that I would qualify as an artistic experience of a sort. While it's replayability is limited, I think that for indie-like game it is quite good and worth trying, just to see what creators have prepared for the players. It has a particular ambiance and gameplay is quite simple, typical for indie like games, yet effective. The low score of that game on metacritic is surely not earned.

I have a difficulty to understand the hype around this game; while it has a free gameworld, a lot of skills, and huge roleplaying options it simply does not have the "soul" to speak about, rather a kind of bleak, "middleage" generic setting, too slow, boring storyline, uninteresting characters. Not a bad game for sure, not a legendary one either.

ME Andromeda was a supposed "fresh start" for Mass Effect universe. Beyond technical defaults already resolved either by Bioware itself or by modders it has it's own flavour, even though it does not come close to the quality of original ME trilogy. On a "plus side" it still feels much better than Dragon Age Inquisition for example. I disagree with severe critics of storyline, which I have found quite interesting, even though also subpar to original ME. It is interesting already to reposition the focus on exploration and construction in the "brave new world" instead of galaxy saving. The world is free roaming which gives a certain feeling of liberty, yet feeling empty, which can be understood considering the "recent" nature of colonisation from Milky Way depicted in the game; there is not enough of history of civilisations built before in Andromeda and game is simpler in terms of described "andromeda galaxy" ecosystem in all it's senses. Playing ME:Andromeda feels a little like a nostalgic peek into ME universe and lore, without that profound emotional impact that was left by original ME; The characters feel also less engaging and interesting than in original trilogy, somehow more "bleak", still sometimes they have their "moments" and they feel at least partially interesting to keep the pace of the game, better than for example the characters in the first "Assassin's Creed" series or Dragon Age Inquisition. Gameplay wise I have found it to flow nicely, like ME2 and ME3, especially environmental effects of different planets explored by player. Together with such examples as "No Man's Sky" experience it might give the ideas for future how to try to make "free roaming" space exploration game but with storyline. All in all ME Andromeda is worth to play by ME universe fans, just for yet "another story" about "The Shepard"... knowing we play here with completely different protagonist than a "galaxy savior", as for others, they might as well try the original trilogy first.

Frankly before playing that game I have read a lot of bad critics... and while most of them have the point, I would not describe Dragon Age Inquisition as a bad game, rather average game, which is not a success for AAA title. While it starts good, it seems varied and with a lot of high quality features, I cannot help but feel bored after some time. There is simply no motivation to go up to the end with enthusiasm, no mystery, not enugh of specific ambance making it a special experience. DAI will not remain in the history of glorious creations, in no way it is comparable to the Witcher 3 or Dragon Age : Origins, still it is better than Dragon Age 2 for sure. The story is kind of generic, little broken, but still could be followed, like an average TV series; there are some party members that I have found interesting (Solus, Cole), amusing (Varric, Dorian) or bizarre (Sera) ... and even though they are not on the level of characters from Mass Effect series or other CRPG's mentionned before, still they manage to get the job done on the limited level. During Covid-19 confinement that game managed to keep some pace of adventure, even with all its fedexes ... however with erosion of time the boredom outweights the limited storyline/background. Romances were kind of disappointingly boring, as was the supposed villain; too bad that the main one is hidden behind a DLC paywall. It can be noted that player has some impact on the gameworld, both to modify the ending and during gamplay (the main hub area of the player changes as she/he advances, side areas are also visibly impacted : it is good; on the other hand the stakes are not motivating so that in the end the changes seem meaningless. That brings us to the player character, which somehow has quite low charisma for a role that she/he is supposed to play; even Mass Effect Andromeda protagonist left me with more memories than generic paper-cut protagonist of DAI. In the end I simple did not care at all. In time the interest of player is just extinguished, despite of big beautiful gameworld and huge quantity of (mostly meaningless) dialogues done with good voice acting. The areas are geographically varied and interesting to see, almost like in the Skyrim. Main issue here is maybe that they are kind of generic: we have seen that before in so many other games and the lore/sidequests hardly give the shiver to discover something particularly exciting and areas do not have that much of ambiance to keep interest beyond first several hours (compare that even to the ambiance of procedurally generated Diablo 2 !). I agree with argment concerning too big number of generic "fedex" and "collections" quests: in Witcher 3 at least it had some sens and applicability for Gwent cards and crafting schemas; here it is mostly collecting random stuff, which mostly gives some quantitative "powers" to advance the game or occasionally more or less redundant rare items. The delivery of lore in DAI was simply not interesting, despite apparent formal high quality content. I see the big problem with limited gameplay options: the tactical camera mode is useless and broken, in the end of the day we just use autoattack all the time and not much of tactics can be applied (it is surely not as rich as DA:O or older Baldur's Gate games series). The choice of skills to use is very limited by game's own system, that boils down to the Action "RPG" type. I liked the OST, loved Lace Harding voice acting (mostly because it is the same voice actress as Liara T'Soni), and found generally the game to be well done on technical level. It remains a solid 6/10, diminished back to 5 because of hiding important main story stuff behind a DLC (EA style players trolling) ... not a legendary stuff, but not a totally bad stuff either.

Kind of boring, contrary to other people around here I have not played earlier games in that series (the longest journey). Dreamfall chapters has uninspired graphical direction, uninspired dialogues, scenario events, gameplay is very slow, and artificially slowed down by slow displacement of characters. The story does not really engage the player, frankly I have a difficulty to understand what is all the hype about after playing that game. It is a walking simulator without much to make it stand alone as a game.

Being from Baldur's Gate / Planescape: Torment generation had played Pillars of Eternity with open mind, yet I finished having a "meh ..." attitude. Simply in the end I did not feel engaged by either story or the characters, which I have not found memorable. In my opinion it is a dud, probably will be forgotten in the future just like Torment: Tides of Numenera.

When I played it game I felt as if Planescape : Torment was resurected in late 2010s ... excellent feeling; too bad that there are no more games like that around there in the world. It gives a lot of intellectually interesting choices, while having original setting and kind of mysterious promise to the player that wants to immerse in that title. A must play !

Skyrim gave huge liberty to the player in it's open world, while looking graphically really good for its time. The fact that moddability was very important gave it a boost to be relevant during numerous years. The player can pursue so many additional activities in the gameworld that he/she can literally forget about the main quest. That one is ok, but nothing too much to speak about when compared to Witcher series, Dragon Age Origins or Baldur's Gate (Bethesda has never had good storytelling vibe, their good stuff is focused on creation of immersive gameworlds with great ambiances). The characters are cookie cutter mary sues and a lot of content reuses copy-pasted areas (notably the crypts or some caves), still that game had some kind of mysterious atmosphere to itself thanks to sound, music which is excellent, environmental effects that made me play the game for several hundreads hours.

Half Life is strongly overhyped (even when it was just out on the market back in the end of 1990s) , while it has one strong advantage: strong moddability, that entered to the cultural canon of long time computer gamers, it's story has not much of interesting or original quality, the gameworld felt rather empty, not engaging and not that interesting. The interactivity of the game was interesting and it was used extensively by modders. It also gets old badly.

Original horror adventure game coming from polish author that made some other similar games ... the "buried alive" scene in that game could be kind of iconic, the weirdness mixed with psychodelic vibe; just like a kind of Silent Hill 2

Alpha Protocol is the game of the genre similar to Mass Effect series, but in the "espionage" setting of post cold war "war on terrorism"; I have found it to be done in a very interesting way, giving a player quite a lot of opportunities to change the result of the game. The choices matter in this game and bring consequences; the game still is quite linear and suffers from technical limitations of its engine... still worth to give it a try

9 years after: I played the game just when it was released in march 2012, had a part in the "ending war" with EA and Bioware, replayed game again anno domini 2021 under covid curfews. My vision did not change that much since 2012: Mass Effect 3 was a magnificent ride as it followed and given a closure to so many emotional story arcs, just like a flawless "Rachnia sound symphony" just up to the last 5 minutes of the game spoiled and corrupted by the "reapers". Whoever they were, they were severely punished back in 2012 and then again for Anthem occasion. The inconsistent pacing of the very ending with the rest of game is still there and will remain forever, even though certain mods give the possibility to somehow limit it's "cliffhanger feeling". I would describe it as solipsistic, not because of the sense of its' different variants but because of its delivery, completely out of place and logic of the rest of the game. Beyond that ME3 has the very nice flow both in gameplay mechanics and storytelling, while giving a certain liberty of action, influence on the events and characters in that vibrant, fascinating world. Stylistically original it will remain for a long time in the minds and hearts of the players. Clearly I recommend to play the game for itself, while being prepared for not satisfying ending. Remaining and recurrent problem with EA's game is its intrusive DRM and selling the 9 years old bare game with no DLC. Now they plan their new legendary edition, yet, while it may be interesting for new players, for old ones it risks to be an expensive acquisition (and still with intrusive DRM).