BlueBangkok

Not for everyone, but a great game nonetheless. Surreal and gripping, with multiple endings which you might not even be aware of (that really motivates you to play this multiple times). Compared to the original, it has better performance on PC (!!), more concise story telling, new ending, and new features like photo mode. Unfortunately no ray tracing but it looks great even without it. If you like story heavy games I can wholeheartedly recommend this.

Well, this one is difficult. On one hand, I can't deny I had some fun with the game, all things considered, on the other hand, it has lots and lots of idiotic design decisions. The game was made by Frima, developer who primarily has experience in the mobile market, and boy, it shows. Disciples Liberation is a Kings Bounty clone with base building. Constructing buildings, hiring units, and upgrading equipment costs resources (and there's a lot of them, like not just gold but 7 types). How does one gather so many various resources in what is ultimately a real-time game, you ask? Well, of course, you gather it in REAL TIME. Yes, that's right, you conquer mines on various world maps with your army, and that gives you resources per hour. Once every few hours, you have to return to Yllian (your capital base), and manually click on "gather" to add the mined resources to your stockpile. Overcomplicated? Yes. Completely unnecessary? Yes. Copied from mobile games without further thought? Yes. Combat is turn-based, and is very flashy. Units are quite varied, and even if there aren't dwarves this time around, there's a ton of units and companions you can bring along to fight so the game doesn't get stale. Well, not until late game, anyways. Combat is super easy, anyone who wants a challenge should play on hard at a minimum, as normal presents no obstacle whatsoever, and you will regularly stomp even higher level enemies. Now, there is a special place in hell for whoever implemented the ultimate abilities your heroes get later in the game. You see, EVERY battle is decided on the first two turns, tops. The longest battles are with bosses and even those take like 7-8 turns maximum. Ultimate abilities, unlike all other abilities, begin on cooldown at the start of combat (standard: 5 turns). That means you can use them only 5 turns into combat. By then, every single fight except boss fights will be over... I don't know who thought this is a good design, but "imbecilic" is the appropriate word for it. I have 70 hours in this game, and I have NEVER seen a single ultimate ability in action. Game also encourages you to finish fights asap, because if you drag them, enemies will eventually start killing your units, which is something you obviously don't want to do. The main heroine, Avyanna, is the modern archetype of a strong, independent woman. She is super special, chosen by destiny, of course, and great at everything. At the very least, it's explained why she is so great and powerful. This is the core messaging of the game - all females are regal and powerful (Ormeriel, Illmeren...), and all males are either stupid (Baghtal), or a laughing stock (Orion). Avyanna can also sleep with anybody, and I mean anybody - she can treat anyone and anything, no matter if male, female, undead bone golem, etc., as a **** The game is woke af, and what it's trying to say is obviously that males are here to please women, and women are above all. A redeeming point for the main antagonist being a woman, too, though. The game looks like it will have a lot of replayability at first glance. To recruit the strongest units from each of the four factions (Humans, Undead, Demons, and Elves), you need to upgrade your reputation with them to the highest level, which is not easy. Also, the game seems like it has a lot of choices in its dialogues. It encourages you to play through it multiple times. But that is an illusion. Besides trying a different factions, I see no point in playing this twice. The choices aren't real, the outcome of quests and the game itself will be more or less the same no matter what you do. The devs also very much like to waste your time. There are two unskippable logo animations you are forced to watch every time the game is launched, there is, of course, the launcher, which offers zero functionality other than spying on you and showing you ads for their other games (I am not kidding - there is literally nothing there, you cannot even adjust game options from it), and every time you finally get to the main menu, you are greeted by a giant prompt to leave a review... which cannot be dismissed permanently, and doesn't go away even if you do leave the damn review on Steam. Absolutely appaling. The Disciples lore has been butchered, the game connects to the atrocious Disciples 3 and there are tons of references, but it doesn't respect the lore in any meaningful way. So why the 4 stars if it's so bad on so many levels? Well, if you pretend that this is not Disciples, and turn your brain off, you can have fun with the game and I certainly had some. So, I am not giving it 0/10 but I can't give it a high score either, for reasons stated above. If you want a cheap King's Bounty clone with nice graphics, you won't go wrong with this one, but for Disciples, replay the 2nd one. It will never be surpassed.

Oh, Humankind... you promised to were a revolutionary game that would be a true Civilization's competitor. Amplitude's "magnum opus"... So, what did we get in the end? We got a half-baked, half-arsed attempt to re-invent the wheel, with plethora of bugs to go along with it, and obvious gaping holes in gameplay that will later be filled with DLC. For every step forward in the right direction, the devs took three steps back. The basic "revolutionary" premise of Humankind was creating your own story (as if that was never done before...). That is really the most elementary thing that makes a game - you play it, and you create your own story, but somehow, Amplitude made a marketing out of it. OK. In Civilization 6, for example, you create your own story by picking a unique, pre-defined civilization, and play with it from the ancient era all the way until today's world (or somewhere in-between if you/somebody wins earlier). The factions are fixed in Civ 6, but very rich and varied. Each game is unique, because each pre-defined civilization is unique. That is what creates the game's story. Another example of this would be Stellaris. In Stellaris, you create your own civilization, and guide it through a randomly generated galaxy full of wonders and dangers. The factions are customized, not set, and it enriches the gameplay loop - again, each game of Stellaris is unique, although that uniqueness is more due to the faction design choices and random chance rather than the fixed faction variety of Civ 6. Now comes in Humankind. You start as a neolithic tribe, wander the map, collect food and curiosities, explore and hunt. So far so good. HK's start is probably the best start any 4X strategy game has had to date. However, the good things end when you found a city and pick a nation. From that point onward, every game is the same, and the spastic nation-swapping mechanic reinforces that feeling. Every game of Humankind feels like the same game. AI blatantly cheats, even on lower difficulties, since it can always see curiosities in the fog of war, so it will go from neolithic to picking a nation sooner than you. Good luck trying to secure Mycenaeans, as AI will pick them first every single game. Every single game there will be some colored blob next to you who will be Mycenaeans, then probably Goths, then probably Byzantines or Norse... or whatever. After a few hours, you won't care anymore. And to add insult to the injury, the leaders are random and they look out of place most of the time. The culture swapping is mostly a gimmick that only exarcebates the blandness of Humankind. In reality, it gives you no extra flexibility, because you can't really play what you want or create your own faction. It's the worst of both worlds. The diplomacy is a complete joke. AI will randomly start to hate you, create grievances, and so on. On normal and lower, they will be weaker than you, so they won't ever attack. Each AI has its "personality" but that is a lie. All of them are the same idiots. The real gameplay consists of min-maxing and micro-management, which in this game is absolutely mind-boggling. You have about a million infrastructure projects throughout the ages, and 99 per cent of them can be summed up as "+X to farmer output" or something like that. This was also a problem in the Endless series, but here, it's cranked up to eleven. The balance is non-existent. Agrarian and Builder nations are overpowered and should be picked every time if you're playing to win, as they will breeze through the eras and earns a ton of score, which, by the way, is how you win the game. By the way, the game obfuscates what gives you score and how. The UI hides important information, while bombarding you with nonsense at the same time (like getting 20 grievances from that orange blob every single turn). In a way, it's a real achievement how awful the UI is. And don't even get me started on the bugs, or how obvious it is that the game is designed to "wow" you for the first 2 hours or so, for the sole reason that you won't have the chance to refund it. Add to it the obvious blank spaces (like nonsensical and nonimpactful religion) that are reserved for DLC. Absolutely disgusting. The most common myth I see many people stating when they give this game 6/10 or similar score is that it has its flaws, but ultimately, somewhere "under all that" it's a good game. In reality, no. The game is bad, its fundamentals are flawed. There is nothing "under all that". It cannot be fixed with updates or DLC. The only really good thing Humankind does is the initial stage of the game and that's it. It's a huge step back for Amplitude compared to the Endless series. If you want a unique story each game with pre-defined factions, play Civ 6. If you want a unique story each game with customized factions, play Stellaris. And if you want to bore yourself to tears with a soulless Civ rip-off, play Humankind

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I really wanted to love this game. I really did. Somewhere, deep down, there is a solid, fun gameplay here. But it is buried under tons of bugs, lack of polish, and straight-out amateurish development. Where do I start? Well, let's start with the good. Campaigns, for what is probably the first time in history since Heroes III, are actually enjoyable and well thought-out. The RPG elements are possibly the best ever - the skill wheel and general lack of skill points ensures that: a) each hero is unique in his/her own right, and b) hero development is not based on random chance this time - you decide how to build your hero. That is what you call good game design and that is why I tried to much to spend worthwhile time in this game. Sadly, no matter how good some core concepts are, the fact of the matter is that the game is unplayable because even 3 years after release it just does *not* work. One of the most important thing, the AI, is not even broken, it's basically non-existent. The AI, no matter the difficulty, will always behave in the same idiotic way: it builds its army, then it throws itself against you. So far so good. However, when you defeat it, it will continue to waste its gold on buying heroes in the tavern and do nothing for the rest of the game. Yes, that's it. That's literally it. Difficulty only changes the magnitude of cheats the AI uses and thus the strength of its initial attack. Any intern with basic programming knowledge could gobble up a network of if-statements and it would work better than Heroes VII's AI. So, at this point, I said to myself: well, maybe the game is enjoyable in multiplayer. My mistake. Since nobody is playing this crap online, I had to persuade my friend to try both network and hot seat. Network multi player doesn't work because of constant time outs. Trust me, we tried. It's beyond ridiculous. OK, so hotseat it is, then. At least in hotseat, the game actually works, since there is no Internet connection to time out.. However, it blatantly uncovers the second fatal flaw of Heroes VII and the last nail in its coffin - there is no game balance at all. While in Heroes III, V, and even VI to an extent, you can pick any town in multi player and win, unless you pick specific towns or do a specific strategy in VII you are simply screwed. There are hero builds that are simply stronger than others. There are towns that are simply superior to others. Since units now get substantial flanking bonuses that are basically unavoidable, superior attack is always better than superior defense and everybody is literally a back-stabbing bastard now. And so on, and so on... Nothing screams "rushed launch" more than total unbalance Heroes VII is. And it's a shame because the new skill wheel is simply superb concept. Lack of polish (weird or missing sounds, bad animations, recycled assets, inconsistent art style) is just an "icing" on the cake of problems mentioned above. Since ubisoft, of course, pulled the plug and discontinued its collaboration with the developer, the only thing that could save this game is modding but since nobody plays it, there is no hope left. Nothing has changed in years. RIP Heroes VII, you had a chance.

"Your choices in this game matter. Be thoughtful of your actions." . . . option 1: "kill her" option 2: "kill her mercifully" option 3: "spare her" Choosing option 3: 'She picks up a rusty piece of iron and kills herself.' GJ Obsidian, 10/10 at "mattering"

I must admit that when CDPR announced that they will be doing an open world RPG I was a bit worried because they had zero experience with open world games. First hour of Witcher 3 showed me how wrong I was. This game is simply breath-taking in every possible way. It is one of the if not the best modern CRPGs ever created. CDPR has done the impossible - the game is both challenging for hardcore players and welcoming for newcomers. It is both huge and compact at the same time. It has exciting story, ton of memorable characters. Nothing feels out of place or unpolished. Even the 'fedex' quests are fun. Many thanks to CDPR for exceeding expectations.

I started this game three times over the past 4 years, only to uninstall it well before the end of Act I. That's how bad DA2 actually is. I just couldn't bring myself to go past all the crap that Bioware put into this game to see the supposedly good narrative. Granted, the story itself is somewhat passable, maybe even more so than DA:O, but that is the only good thing about DA2. If you want to see insulting references about sexuality which are supposed to be elaborate love stories for adults, dialog wheels with "humorous" choices that are insulting to anyone whose IQ is above 70, Flemmeth after boobs surgery, enemies appearing out of thin air, shallow, bland characters who only act based on their most basic instincts (sex & killing) then by all means, give Dragon Age 2: The Awesome Uninstall Simulator a try.

In this game you can expect: THE GOOD - Weapons that are pretty fun. Also dual-wielding shotguns and assault rifles... - Moon ****. - Occasional moments of brilliance (e.g. night train scene). - Wolfenstein 3D easter egg. THE MIXED - Collectibles and perks that feel really out of place and are often useless. - Linear corridor shooter gameplay - basically a CoD clone with ****. - Quicktime events. - The difficulty setting translates into gameplay experience like this: very very easy -> very easy - > easy -> **** THE BAD - Silly, ridiculous narrative which is totally unbelievable. It would have been fine if the authors had presented it as such. Unfortunately the game takes itself too seriously. - A lot of cutscenes, including a totally unneeded and pointless love subplot with a sex scene. - Crappy close-up textures and vegetation, courtesy of idTech 5 engine. Devs tried to hide it with film grain effect and a ton of lens flares. Unsuccessfully. - Stealth system & AI is beyond atrocious (AIs don't even flinch when they find their killed comrades). - Throwing a knife into a **** palm insta-kills him even though he can otherwise take multiple shotgun blasts. - You lose your weapons after every mission. Tl;DR: If you like this kind of games, grab it while it's on sale. Otherwise you are not missing out on much.

Bethesda. Bethesda never changes. Yet there are still millions of people that pre-order their **** That is nothing short of mind-boggling. Thanks to people like those we get games like Fallout 4. The cycle never ends.

Expecting paid mod DLCs and mod DRM by the end of the year. Really epic move there, **** and Vulve. Congratulations. If gaming community buys this, I will lose my remaining faith in humanity.

Ah, the power of re-releases. I remember my disappointment when NWN 2 first came out. It was a buggy mess and first half of the campaign scared many players away from this title. Now, after nearly 10 years of polishment form both Obsidian and especially fans, NWN 2 is pinnacle of CRPG experience. It offers everything to everyone who has at least some inclinations to play RPGs. Want a good story-driven experience? Play original campaign, Mask of the Betrayer, Mysteries of Westgate. Want a more free-roam experience? Storm of Zehir is for you. Want both? Grab some of the dozens high-quality fan-made modules from Neverwinter Nexus. You basically get dozens of games for the price of one. Whichever campaign you play, whatever race and class you choose, you will have fun. Every character is unique, RPG system and character development is so good you will feel the urge to advance just-one-more-level before you go to sleep. Companion banter in OC, MotB and MoW is witty and funny. Fighter, rogue and caster classes are all equally fun to play, which is something of a miracle in DnD-based computer CRPGs. I would like to point out one more thing and that is Mask of the Betrayer. MotB is the best RPG experience Obsidian ever made, hands down. Excellent story with truly epic moments can rival even BG2 and Planescape: Torment. The game would be worth its price even for MotB alone. All in all, if you have never played NWN 2 before and want to give CRPGs a try, grab a copy of NWN2 Complete on GoG. You will get hundreds if not thousands of hours of very enjoyable gaming experience.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I have played all the Civ games since the very first one. After playing Civ 5 for a few days and fiddling with mods, I've finally decided to give up. This game probably has the most inconsistent gameplay I have ever seen. THE GOOD The graphics look really nice, especially if you run it under DX11 and have a pretty beefy PC. The new combat system, ranged attacks, and one hex = one military unit rule are just brilliant. Too bad AI is unable to utilize it effectively. Oh, and I like the new UI. That's about it. THE BAD Everything else is just plain broken. The AI is so stupid it's breathtaking. It is simply not an option to evade war and win a non-combat victory. AI just keeps insulting you and declaring war for no reason. I've tried playing as Gandhi and did everything the AI asked (even not settling near their borders which is, frankly, **** request). Still, they kept denouncing me and declaring war. No matter what you do, no matter who you befriend, you always end up in a global conflict with AIs declaring war on you and each other. And when you actually get in combat with AI, it is laughable. They NEVER send more than 4-5 units at once, even on higher difficulties. It's fascinating someone is actually able to program an AI that is stupider than Civ 1's and slows down to a crawl even on high end quadcore systems (late turns during an epic game on huge map slowed down to 1-2 MINUTES on 4Ghz i7 processor). Moreover, there are annoyingly long load times. Add poor optimization and frequent crashes to the mix and realize you will be spending a LOT of time doing virtually NOTHING! Granted, Civ 5 was developed for multiplayer - but even multiplayer is somewhat disappointing due to the lack of any depth and features (no espionage, no religion, no government...). You could redistribute your national income any way you saw fit even in Civ 1. You cannot do so here. No research or culture boosting... In other words, Civ 5 has been **** in every possible way. Fewer playable civs (without DLCs) than in Civ 4? Check. Idiot-friendly micromanagement (no wealth redistribution, global happiness...)? Check. Stupid AI and super-easy gameplay? Check. No vanilla Earth map? Check. After playing a few games, I realized Civ 5 is not a game. It is more like a framework for future DLCs, patches, and most importantly, mods. The AI, balancing (you research really really fast while everything else takes ages), engine.... nearly everything is either broken or in stages of beta version (even AFTER many patches Firaxis has released!). Wait for a year or two before buying this game. Hopefully by that time it will be patched properly and some nice modpacks will allow you to play a balanced game with more features. Until then save your money for something else.