Nataraja

While it was initially interesting, spending 20 hours with the game and have little to no progress for the last 5 hours the RNG became completely exhausting. I feel that I totally wasted my time with this game and for the love of god, PLEASE ALLOW THE CHARACTER TO MOVE FASTER. I don't mind a slower pace and it fits but this geriatric movement speed on top of the cruel RNG make this game one that I now resent. Nice idea, horrible execution and definitely not a game of the year contender for me.

While it was initially interesting, spending 20 hours with the game and have little to no progress for the last 5 hours the RNG became completely exhausting. I feel that I totally wasted my time with this game and for the love of god, PLEASE ALLOW THE CHARACTER TO MOVE FASTER. I don't mind a slower pace and it fits but this geriatric movement speed on top of the cruel RNG make this game one that I now resent. Nice idea, horrible execution and definitely not a game of the year contender for me.

Really great presentation and concept. However, very odd design choices in using Italian names for almost everything in the game with really poor onboarding of the player. The Italian terms are fine IF there is some sort of explanation. Using BPM Italian music time words for describing charging times really doesn't work without providing a reference somewhere. Also the cast time of "lines" (spells) is never mentioned. In addition, the design of many of the boss fights have a certain level of RNG where the AI may or may not spam an attack you can't counter. Other times it won't. It isn't fun to have RNG instead of patterns to learn. Souls is about a key and lock approach but where your key (playstyle) is viable against any lock (boss) if you can figure out how to negate the pattern. In addition there is a ton of jank, and not the fun jank of games like Elex, where you just learn how it works. This is random jank. There are weird things that happen at random intervals. Also they really want you to play an Elementalist build. Basically everything else is just window dressing. This is because you entire defense against certain bosses is entirely dependent on that one virtue (stat). Just not a fun game to play for me. Your mileage may vary. Personally I would much rather play Lords of the Fallen, Lies of P, Steel Rising or any of another bunch of Souls likes. They are simply better games because they have well tuned and well developed gameplay.

Not sure how this got scored by my account as I do not own and have not played this game.

An incredible art direction and attention to detail make this game probably the best in art direction for 2024. This coupled with a great combat system, great voice acting and solid coop missions and PVP makes this a must play for 40K fans. Playing this reminds me just how much icons of video games, such as Master Chief and the Spartans, Gears of War and other weighty, heavily armored heroes owe to Warhammer 40,000 for inspiration. After all, the first rule book for Warhammer 40K was published in 1987 (and when I first started to play the table top and consume the artwork which includes the iconic Space Marines). I am deducting a point for the defend missions that are impossible above Normal as a solo player with bots. These are clearly tuned for cooperative play and are beyond challenging with the bots to be frustrating and over tuned.

It's surprising to me just how under rated this game is. I think the timing of its release really didn't allow for it to get play it deserves. It isn't as complex as Nioh but is still a fun game to play with a much better story than Team Ninja's other games and a remarkable depiction of Japan during one of the most turbulent periods of modern history.

TLDR: Game is amazing for those who embrace its design; the DLC controversy is much ado about nothing and you do not need ANY of the DLC to enjoy the game; the game can be as short as 30 hours but to get the true ending it is unlikely you will reach it without doing more; the game rewards curiosity with useful items, gear, and even events and quests. Truly a must play for any who enjoy deep RPGs with fantastic combat and a truly unique pawn system. The game is amazing. It is probably not for everyone, especially if you want a game that will hold your hand and take out the need to explore. For those that want to "teleport at will" this is not designed that way and if you cannot get over that, then do not buy this game. As for the DLC, it's totally unnecessary to enjoy the game. This game uses it's own conventions and rewards curiosity and exploration both in meaningful items and unusual events and quests. It also will not hold your hand for completing certain quests and instead requires that you think and do something logical to advance certain quests. Re-playability is very high as there is literally a hundred plus hours. You could main line the game and complete it in about 30 hours, but for those that go deep, the first play through can easily be 100 hours (mine was this long and I still had plenty to revisit) and the true ending (you will know when you reach it) is unlikely to be reachable without going deep.

After they mostly resolved the server connectivity issues, it has proven to be a really fun and engaging game. It is definitely an "easy to pick up, hard to master" game. I wasn't sure how well it would translate to third/first person perspective but it definitely works. Still very buggy but plays well when you are able to find stability. Very much Starship Troopers and I love it.

A disappointing game that is heavily padded with arcane systems that are an annoyance. A true regression for Bethesda who seem to be slowly but surely releasing games that are worse than the one prior to it ever since Skyrim. This is not the game that was needed to repair XBOX Studios reputation after the disaster of Redfall and constant kicking the can down the road on releases. It also does nothing to repair Bethesda's reputation. Ever since Skyrim each release has be worse than the prior title. Bethesda is the milk-toast game developer now, churning out bland, mushy products that waste an immense amount of the player's time. Arcane systems that are not fun (looking at you encumbrance and storage capacity limits) or that are so poorly or entirely unexplained make the game a chore at times. Personally, of the 100+ hours I have played the game I estimate I enjoyed about 30% of the time in game. That is a terrible return on investment. The padding is extensive and so meaningless. Good material is hidden under bizarre random generation meaning that some people may never experience good quests. Assets are reused constantly including in the main campaign. As for the classic Bethesda bugs - they are definitely there, at least on Series X - from the beginning - graphic anomalies, audio overlaps where you have 3 conversations going at once to the point where you miss all of it even in peak moments of the main campaign or faction quest lines. The dead, plastic faces with locked eyes when speaking to NPCs, random quest breaking bugs, etc. I am grateful that I was able to get it on Game Pass and only paid a fraction of the title's retail cost to get early access. I was very optimistic about this game going in but had tempered my expectations. Regardless it is a huge disappointment. I truly hope that Elder Scrolls VI will be a far better game.

Incredibly poor game design. The entire game is gatekept by a single, reflex related ability - deflect. If you cannot get the deflect down you can not progress out of the tutorial. If it was just defeating a single phase boss, fine. But to have two phases that rely on reflexes ONLY is a really, really poor game design choice. The only reason why it is not receiving a 1 from me is that it was made available on Game Pass so at least all I was out was time and space on my SSD. I was able to get to the second phase multiple times but the pace of the deflects changes drastically. Also the deflect window is inconsistent and the hit boxes for the first boss are obscene, making any dodging impossible. The same is true of the second phase. If it were a single phase I could understand it. After beating the first and second boss, the game really relaxes and is more fun to play, However I am retaining the original score, despite beating the game. It was very poorly designed in many respects which is a shame because once it relaxes the game play becomes fun. The story is very poorly voice acted, the music is either very similar to or exactly the same as Nioh, the stats on equipment and weapons are practically meaningless in their randomness, etc. Just a badly designed game. Add to that the technical issues with the game when I am literally pounding on button with a positive Qi state and the game refuses to let me heal. I could dodge, deflect, etc. but no healing. The stealth is also broken. I have 40 pints in water so my stealth is very high and when I slowly approach mobs some will randomly become aware of me or it won't, randomly, register the the stealth fatal strike key press. Lastly, in one of the big final cut scenes, it freezes, pops up the very start screen with the nameless warrior, so I got to listen to it but not view it. Just technical mess on series X using performance. I think I will stick to From Soft games. At least there I can find multiple ways to progress from the beginning and enjoy it in its entirety..

Incredibly poor game design. The entire game is gatekept by a single, reflex related ability - deflect. If you cannot get the deflect down you can not progress out of the tutorial. If it was just defeating a single phase boss, fine. But to have two phases that rely on reflexes ONLY is a really, really poor game design choice. The only reason why it is not receiving a 1 from me is that it was made available on Game Pass so at least all I was out was time and space on my SSD. I was able to get to the second phase multiple times but the pace of the deflects changes drastically. Also the deflect window is inconsistent and the hit boxes for the first boss are obscene, making any dodging impossible. The same is true of the second phase. If it were a single phase I could understand it. I think I will stick to From Soft games. At least there I can find multiple ways to progress.

Incredibly poor game design. The entire game is gatekept by a single, reflex related ability - deflect. If you cannot get the deflect down you can not progress out of the tutorial. If it was just defeating a single phase boss, fine. But to have two phases that rely on reflexes ONLY is a really, really poor game design choice. The only reason why it is not receiving a 1 from me is that it was made available on Game Pass so at least all I was out was time and space on my SSD. I was able to get to the second phase multiple times but the pace of the deflects changes drastically. Also the deflect window is inconsistent and the hit boxes for the first boss are obscene, making any dodging impossible. The same is true of the second phase. If it were a single phase I could understand it. I think I will stick to From Soft games. At least there I can find multiple ways to progress.

Incredibly poor game design. The entire game is gatekept by a single, reflex related ability - deflect. If you cannot get the deflect down you can not progress out of the tutorial. If it was just defeating a single phase boss, fine. But to have two phases that rely on reflexes ONLY is a really, really poor game design choice. The only reason why it is not receiving a 1 from me is that it was made available on Game Pass so at least all I was out was time and space on my SSD. I was able to get to the second phase multiple times but the pace of the deflects changes drastically. Also the deflect window is inconsistent and the hit boxes for the first boss are obscene, making any dodging impossible. The same is true of the second phase. If it were a single phase I could understand it. I think I will stick to From Soft games. At least there I can find multiple ways to progress.

Incredibly poor game design. The entire game is gatekept by a single, reflex related ability - deflect. If you cannot get the deflect down you can not progress out of the tutorial. If it was just defeating a single phase boss, fine. But to have two phases that rely on reflexes ONLY is a really, really poor game design choice. The only reason why it is not receiving a 1 from me is that it was made available on Game Pass so at least all I was out was time and space on my SSD. I was able to get to the second phase multiple times but the pace of the deflects changes drastically. Also the deflect window is inconsistent and the hit boxes for the first boss are obscene, making any dodging impossible. The same is true of the second phase. If it were a single phase I could understand it. I think I will stick to From Soft games. At least there I can find multiple ways to progress.

Omensight is a fun game with some great ideas but not all them are executed well. The small amount of platforming involved is frustrating and can be painful to work through. Overall I enjoyed the game.

The adventures of Quill in the land of Moss are some of the best VR games out there. While one greatly benefits in the story from playing the original Moss - also a fantastic game - Polyarc manages to provide all the information you need for understanding the game mechanics early on in a very straightforward manner. The art direction, the art, sets and level design, music score, enemy creation and the new gameplay mechanics are top notch while retaining everything that made the original so wonderous to play. If you want a fast paced action sequenced game you won't find it here outside of some of the battles. If you want a great storybook to play in and wonder at, this game is worth your time and money. The sense of discovery and achievement and bringing that not only to you but the mice you play with and along side is something very missed in the gaming space of 2022 in my humble opion. Thank you Polyarc for an outstanding VR game.

343 has managed to resurrect Halo to a status of respectability. This is, in my opinion, a good game but not a masterpiece as it relates to the campaign. The gunplay is solid, the grapple shot adds some great versatility and the open world is well executed. The new Cortana/not Cortana can get irritating at times. The combat starts to run out of interesting things to do and execute toward the end and feels very similar, including the fight with the Brute leaders with one shot hammers. While I completed the game, I think it would be good to revisit the checkpoints, especially the final boss. That would keep the game from overstaying it's welcome. I know most people are here for the PvP but I play just the campaign. I will say that I believe this was pulled out from the ashes single handedly by the leadership of Joseph Staten - and who could have made Destiny amazing along with Marty O'Donnell, both of whom left ostensibly due to creative differences with other Bungie long time members. I hope Joe continues to work with 343 and other Microsoft studios as his writing and direction is top notch. I look forward to the next Halo. Thankfully it seems to be headed in the right direction.

This is a time when the critics just don't get what makes a good game. While the story is okay, the gameplay loop, exploration, the setting and atmosphere, sound (except for a few sound bugs in isolated locations) and music are all top notch. It's challenging to play but so worth the $30 price tag. The game has a lot more going for it than games from much larger and better funded studios. As the first game from this studio, I for one really look forward to what they do next. The amount of polish and smoothness of this game is amazing for a dev team of only 12 people.

I believe that this is a case of individuals playing a game for a short period time (Yes I am looking at you T.J. Hafer of IGN who obvious only touched the surface of this game) and then dismissed it. The developer, Piranha Bytes, develops games that places high difficulty at the beginning of it's games and expects players to be smart enough to figure out how to advance to where they will be stronger than their companions and it takes time, a lot of exploration, and quest completion to get to that point (about level 12 to 15). This is a well conceived game, with great world building and atmosphere, decent graphics and decent voice acting. The quest construction is amazingly well developed in that you can complete a quest if you happen upon it and can instantly complete it when you speak to the quest giver. In addition, your actions really have an impact on the world and what happens and how you are treated in future. It also has the world change at the end of the campaign and you can continue on in that altered reality - something most games don't do. When it tells you that a character will remember something or that you have changed the story, you really have and often it's not small. This game has few bugs (I had some loading issues when playing on PS5 via backward compatibility) but are not game breaking and yes the combat can be a bit wonky. One thing to note is that effectiveness of your companions is based on your relationship status to them - the better the relationship, the more effective the companion. It has some minor issues, but they really are minor. The economy is hard and forces you to make a lot of choices and forces you to refine your character so that you can afford the best gear once you join a faction. All in all, this is a great action adventure RPG but may not be for everyone. It sure is a hell of a lot better than the 4.9 IGN gave it. For me it's a solid 8 of 10. Looking forward to PB's Elex II this spring.

Death's Door is a surprising game that clearly takes inspiration from Dark Souls, Zelda and Metroid. Positives: - Great level design - Excellent combat - An enjoyable story - A distinct and fun art direction - Well executed sound and great music - Rewarding exploration - An interesting post game experience if you want to continue past rolling the credits (I really suggest you do play post credits if you have enjoyed the exploration during the main game) Negatives: - Difficult to navigate levels; it becomes hard to find your way even when exposed to an area multiple times This is a game that is very worth it's price. If you are interested in a game that is solidly developed, has great combat, environments, art direction, sound, score and exploration, this game is very much worth your time and money.

I caught a few streams of portions of this game and I really enjoy it to a point. At 55, my reflexes are not what they once were and that will make this game overly difficult. It truly relies on twitch reflexes. It is, however, a beautiful game with very compelling atmosphere and an intriguing story. The game play is solid, but the decision to make it a full rogue-lite was, in my opinion, a mistake. The RNG factors in so heavily that it is hard to want to run the game over and over. I have played over 20 hours and come close to defeating the first boss but have yet to. This is a game that I may dabble in, but it's absurd decisions in design make it something very less appealing to keep trying. I have enjoyed other difficult games and slowly struggled through because there was always a way to figure it out (ie Sekiro, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, etc.) and progress and eventually complete. If you love this game, that is wonderful and I am envious. I want to love this game, but it truly feels insurmountable for me and that is a shame. Thankfully I have it in physical format and can trade it in once I finally give up all hope of beating the game and seeing the story play out. If you are not a twitch reflex player and don't like a game that you have to replay, do yourself a favor and pass this up. If you are great at bullet hells and like rogue-lites then this may be a good purchase for you.

It should be noted that Bandai Namco is unabashed about using the Dark Souls formula that they published for From over the years. So much so that one optional boss fight literally uses a Souls sound effect and boss structure. However to say that Code Vein is only a Soul's clone is to sell the game very short. Bandai has made the game a wonderful mix of coop Souls and allows for masochistic solo play. It is very important to note that most of the game is tuned for coop play - either AI or human, and to go solo significantly ups difficulty. I personally found that the AI coop made it more accessible while player coop made it to easy. The story is serviceable and fun but not as deep as a Souls game. It is a shame that users cannot award half points as this is clearly an 8.5 for me.

Remnant: from the Ashes is a well executed game that doesn't break new ground but instead reformulates the best of souls like game play with a focus on ranged combat and competent melee combat. The story and lore in the game is well written with decent voice acting and a lot buried in files and diaries. Like From Software, you can choose to engage in the story and go deep or you can just float over the surface and get the general gist. The art sets a bleak tone which suits its post apocalyptic setting and the character models are decent with some character customization. Since it is third person over-the shoulder, the character customization is not all that meaningful. The strongest part of Remnant is the game play in coop. It has the best of Gears (of War) and Dark Souls with tough situations. Some of the boss fights, in my opinion, need tuning, particularly for solo play. Playing solo requires one to be mostly perfect on normal, near perfect on hard and unerringly perfect on nightmare (on first play through) and the bar lowers significantly when playing in coop. It is obvious that the game is better tuned for two and three player groups than it is for solo play. The random generation encourages additional playthroughs, especially since playing through once you will not have all the story elements or see all of the enemies, layouts, loot and bosses. Each players world is unique due to the variability of the game through a large amount of content and the use of random generation. It also encourages group play so one can see different zones and bosses and different layouts. The game also encourages and rewards exploration with hidden, meaningful secrets and loot. For a $40 game with additional free content to be added in the future it is one of the best priced games available and well worth the price. Hopefully the gunplay used in Remnant will find its way into the upcoming Darksiders 4 with Strife's focus on guns - in my opinion it would be a perfect fit.

Remnant: from the Ashes is a well executed game that doesn't break new ground but instead reformulates the best of souls like game play with a focus on ranged combat and competent melee combat. The story and lore in the game is well written with decent voice acting and a lot buried in files and diaries. Like From Software, you can choose to engage in the story and go deep or you can just float over the surface and get the general gist. The art sets a bleak tone which suits its post apocalyptic setting and the character models are decent with some character customization. Since it is third person over-the shoulder, the character customization is not all that meaningful. The strongest part of Remnant is the game play in coop. It has the best of Gears (of War) and Dark Souls with tough situations. Some of the boss fights, in my opinion, need tuning, particularly for solo play. Playing solo requires one to be mostly perfect on normal, near perfect on hard and unerringly perfect on nightmare (on first play through) and the bar lowers significantly when playing in coop. It is obvious that the game is better tuned for two and three player groups than it is for solo play. The random generation encourages additional playthroughs, especially since playing through once you will not have all the story elements or see all of the enemies, layouts, loot and bosses. Each players world is unique due to the variability of the game through a large amount of content and the use of random generation. It also encourages group play so one can see different zones and bosses and different layouts. The game also encourages and rewards exploration with hidden, meaningful secrets and loot. For a $40 game with additional free content to be added in the future it is one of the best priced games available and well worth the price. Hopefully the gunplay used in Remnant will find its way into the upcoming Darksiders 4 with Strife's focus on guns - in my opinion it would be a perfect fit.

Remnant: from the Ashes is a well executed game that doesn't break new ground but instead reformulates the best of souls like game play with a focus on ranged combat and competent melee combat. The story and lore in the game is well written with decent voice acting and a lot buried in files and diaries. Like From Software, you can choose to engage in the story and go deep or you can just float over the surface and get the general gist. The art sets a bleak tone which suits its post apocalyptic setting and the character models are decent with some character customization. Since it is third person over-the shoulder, the character customization is not all that meaningful. The strongest part of Remnant is the game play in coop. It has the best of Gears (of War) and Dark Souls with tough situations. Some of the boss fights, in my opinion, need tuning, particularly for solo play. Playing solo requires one to be mostly perfect on normal, near perfect on hard and unerringly perfect on nightmare (on first play through) and the bar lowers significantly when playing in coop. It is obvious that the game is better tuned for two and three player groups than it is for solo play. The random generation encourages additional playthroughs, especially since playing through once you will not have all the story elements or see all of the enemies, layouts, loot and bosses. Each players world is unique due to the variability of the game through a large amount of content and the use of random generation. It also encourages group play so one can see different zones and bosses and different layouts. The game also encourages and rewards exploration with hidden, meaningful secrets and loot. For a $40 game with additional free content to be added in the future it is one of the best priced games available and well worth the price. Hopefully the gunplay used in Remnant will find its way into the upcoming Darksiders 4 with Strife's focus on guns - in my opinion it would be a perfect fit.

First and foremost, this is not a game for everyone. This is a game that, more so than other FromSoftware titles, requires you to learn. There are multiple approaches to everything but assuming that the tactics of old will work here will frustrate you. With that said Sekiro is a visual wonder. The environments, mobs, player character and NPCs are amazing works of art. The sense of exploration is very palpable and strongly rewarded. The story is much more straight forward with huge amounts of depth hidden in subtle ways. This is a different way of story telling for this developer and I believe that it is still very effective, with plenty to research and get out of nuances, yet everyone who plays will understand the surface of the story which has not been true for other games with the exception of the exceptional VR game Derracine. Sound is very well done - great music appropriately fit to the games moment to moment action. The Japanese voice acting is impeccable but the English voice over work is, frankly, awful. If you can handle reading subtitles I would strongly suggest it. The English voice work is so bad as to be totally breaking of any immersion you may have in the game. Sound effects and source to reception is very well done. Combat gameplay is unique and very well implemented. It requires the player to develop some baseline skills and once you have it down it becomes thrilling and rewarding to enter combat. Stealth is enjoyable but a bit wonky in places, yet there is no requirement to use stealth, but the game becomes much more difficult if you don't use it. Stealth can change the game significantly as charging head first into areas usually ends up with your death in short order. Sekiro is an unforgiving game. There is a certain baseline of skill acquisition that is expected of the player. If you don't enjoy precision requiring games and prefer button mashing, this will not be the game for you. If you love what FromSoft does, then this is a game you absolutely should play.

This game is an adventure game - something very different for From Soft. It is a really well developed adventure game that uses interesting controls and weaves a very melancholy story. In order to get the most out of the story you must be willing to explore and experiment. It will be very disappointing if you try to rush this game. It has a slow, contemplative pace but weaves a very interesting fantasy tale of faeries in an English manor. The visuals are wonderful and the story is as engaging and as deep as you are willing to explore. For those who are considering getting Deracine based on the experience with Dark Souls, etc. (which I love dearly) need to understand that Deracine has no combat - it is a purely narrative and exploration experience.

The game is seriously mediocre. Shooting is okay, graphics are marginally better than Mass Effect 3 and the character models out of armor are just poorly done and this is after the major patch job done to resolve the many issue it had at launch, It has bloated content and side missions are terribly dull and poorly implemented. Bioware should be ashamed of this title - Dragon Age 2 was actually better than this game and didn't waste nearly as much of my time. I just hope that Anthem is not a train wreck and that there are actual stories of interest in the game. If Bioware can go back to telling great stories with plenty of tension and action then Anthem may be what Destiny should have been. But if it resembles Andromeda in terms of story, it will be another let down.

It's unfortunate that we can't give a 1-100 score as a consumer - if I could this would be a 65 to a 68. Vampyr is uneven, The writing is excellent but at times so full of filler that it makes it hard to digest. The atmosphere is excellent and the story is overall very good. The voice acting is definitely a highlight as is the soundtrack and both are well done. Those are the biggest positives. The negatives are almost overwhelming. On the original Xbox One it has technical issues - below average graphics, HUGE loading issues that break immersion and can make you want to scream (when it hits a loading pause during a random piece of combat you know it has issues - especially when it takes 30 seconds to resolve) and it will have bugs that break the game during dialogue and audio glitches that disrupt conversation and even create long loss of voice during some scenes. The combat gets in the way of the game - it's okay, but not too challenging and you can cheese it in places easily. If you do die it is random as to what resources you will respawn with - sometimes it has you consume all you used and other times you respawn with everything you started with before dying. But the greatest sin is the placement of written materials in places on certain levels that are long and you read to open dialogue. Then when you have the dialogue it GOES OVER EVERYTHING YOU JUST READ. This game could have been much better paced. The only thing that made me stick with it until the end is the story appealed to me, but as a game it disappointed me. The combat was okay, but realistically should have been better developed or removed. Vampyr could have been a great game, instead it was released as an okay to fairly good game.

I was really enjoying the game until it spoiled itself by imposing a rhythm game into the class trials and it is a do or die MUST do part of the game. I personally HATE rhythm games and refused to play it once it was introduced (and I tried playing it and hated it instantly). Similar to QTE events in games, rhythm games are nothing more than QTE on steroids. I HATE QTE games and they are the WORST and CHEAPEST form of game design. It relies not on skill but twitch reflexes and key memorization. If I could disable that aspect of the game I would enjoy it far more and could appreciate it as a whole. If you are into rhythm games I am sure that it's great fun and will have a blast with it. For me, it ruined the game and I completely lost interest. So if you do not like QTE or rhythm games, stay away from this title.

I was fortunate enough to wait to play this game until all of the bugs (or at least the worst, game breaking ones) were removed. My biggest complaint lies with Bethesda and Zenimax as the publisher and their continual pushing of product out when it's clearly not ready. This half baked launch ethic really hurts games like Dishonored 2 - and I have taken the approach that I will wait at least several months if not a year post release before playing a game published by them . With that being said, Arkane continues to build incredible games and wonderful worlds. TL;DNR Great stealth action title with options to play in a variety of ways, excellent gameplay mechanics, good sound with a few issues, excellent musical score, great art direction and a solid story within a well developed world with well developed characters. The big take away is, however, that Bethesda and Zenimax continue as publishers to push out product in an unfinished state and hurt their games BADLY by doing so and damage their development team's reputation. Arkane is a great developer and should be afforded the time to get it right on launch. Game Play Dishonored 2 plays very similarly to Dishonored and the gameplay is spot on for stealth action. While it is possible to play a more assault oriented style, it is, IMHO, more difficult than playing through in a stealth style - with the caveat that the ghost style - no detection and no deaths - is extremely difficult. I seem to default to an assault-non-lethal style of play (bodies get spotted, I get spotted, I just let you live...) Sound I have one big issue with the game and that is the occasional sound problem - and it happens at the worst time - being a distortion of source to reception volume. On occasion an enemy will sound like they are right next to you - when in fact they are some distance and even floors above or below you and this can be deceiving. While never coaxing me to my death (thank god for vision abilities) it does take away immersion and game flow. Besides those few times this cropped up the sound and music are phenomenal. Graphics Great graphical fidelity. I happen to really like its steampunk aesthetic and the world is very detailed and enjoyable to interact with and just look at. Story The story is well told. The writing is fantastic, with a lot of deep lore should you choose to read the myriad of books and notes found throughout the world. Voice The voice actors do a tremendous job and deliver great performances.

Firstly it's inevitable to compare The Surge to the Souls and Bloodborne because it borrows so heavily. While the combat is well done, the graphics are very well done and it boasts a smooth frame rate it is missing certain things and there are certain design decisions that make this game more of an exercise in frustration and a feeling of cheap deaths that make it one that should only be purchased on a deep sale. it's a shame that the story is buried under such frustrating design decisions. There is no attempt to explain your respawning after death; no "homeward bone" to use to return to save point, requiring the installation of an implant to be able to see enemy health, extremely poor environmental cues for finding your way in a level. And then there are the deaths that simply feel cheap. As a Souls Like if you will, this game is far inferior to Nioh, another game that borrows heavily from the Souls series.

This is an excellent but highly improbable story that brings to light a series of philosophical concepts surround perception and reality, Very well written and voice acted with a series of well designed puzzles. Getting to all of the endings, however, requires some bizarre combination of events that are not easy to create or choose. For those who enjoy puzzles and great narrative this is a must play game and is perfectly suited to the Vita.

A very well crafted open world game with many things to do and fun combat. If you use your head and plan ahead you can take down the biggest targets relatively easily. The story is well told and incredibly detailed. Well worth your money in my opinion.

Persona 5 is a great entry for the JRPG. This is a classic dark Persona story with social sim, turn based battles, persona fusions and lots of things to keep you occupied. If anime art styles, turn based combat, and repeating acid jazz soundtracks turn you off you may want to watch some early game play videos. If those things are something you can tolerate to really enjoy, then you can't go wrong with this game. More than 120 hours of game play with great dungeon crawling, logical puzzles (light on difficulty) and ample rewards for playing smart and a bug free launch (unheard of these days, especially for this much content) make this a must play game.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: Reviews are funny things - so subjective and hard to fathom when they are contrary to your own view point. Recore is suffering from a lack of objectivity. While it can be wonky at times for controls and suffers from HORRIBLE load times, the game is, never the less solid. Its more about exploration, platforming and movement and timing than it is about shooting and combat. The core system is fun and the corebots are well developed. Its a semi open world that works well with a decent story line. Music is appropriate for a game that relies heavily on the open world, providing ambient immersion through low to no music and punctuating climatic moments with appropriate score. It is not, however, a soundtrack to go looking for. When you compare this to other lack luster recent releases, (No Man's Sky for example) its amazing that its critic score is LOWER than most incomplete and semi broken releases. TLDNR; Recore is at its heart an exploration and platforming game with movement and timing based combat thrown in to break up the primary core game play. If you like open worldish games with fun things to do, you should consider trying it. Because the combat is less about shooting skill, if you are looking for a story driven shooter than I would move on - but if you like platforming and exploration in an **** world you may want to consider getting it or renting it (if on console). Its hard to recommend as a purchase in its launch condition considering the LONG AND INEXCUSABLE load times and occasionally wonky controls. So I would say rent or borrow if possible unless you know its the sort of game you will enjoy. Its also appropriate for a wide age range, which is admirable considering the abundance of adult oriented games that are heavily represented in this release cycle. TECHNICAL: Recore suffers from long load times (some up to more than 2 minutes), occasional frame rate drops and wonky controls and camera reactions. The number of load screens destroys the pacing and immersion and if anything should be addressed by the developer, as soon as possible, it would be fixing the load times. GRAPHICS: Ranges from acceptable and colorful to muddy textures bland graphic fidelity. Overall its okay but nothing to get excited about. SOUND: Ambient noise, weapons and bots are done well enough to flesh out the world. SOUNDTRACK: Music is not very prominent but is used to good effect for enhancing immersion and to punctuate climatic moments. It is otherwise unremarkable and is not something that would be worth pursuing for game music enthusiasts. VOICE ACTING: Serviceable voice acting is provided with some deliveries being on the mark while others are slightly cringe worthy. GAME PLAY: While the color coding and corebot variety is a fun addition, it is a well developed platformer with some fun exploration. Combat is serviceable although there are some odd RNG and difficulty spikes thrown in at times that jar with the rest of the game. Controls and camera reaction can be wonky at times leading to frustration, especially when factoring in the LONG load times. This is particularly problematic when you need to repeat difficult boss encounters and have to wait in some cases over 2 minutes for the stage to load. These load times are also random as the stages that are loading are not overly complex. Instead it shows a lack optimization and quality control for base programming. STORY: The story is decent but not horribly original or thought provoking. Its standard sci-fi world colonization fare. Its written well enough but suffers at times from poor voice acting. MULTIPLAYER: N/A REPLAY VALUE: Recore has relatively low replay value. If you like time challenges you may want to re-run some of the traversal rush dungeons, but otherwise a single thorough play through will pretty much exhaust what the game has to offer. VALUE PROPOSITION: This is a game that will appeal to a very specific player base. Its a solid but well worn path that it follows with little innovation and unfortunately is hampered by technical flaws that break up the immersion and the pacing of the game with occasional highly frustrating control and camera responses and odd difficulty spikes that are then exacerbated by the long load times. I would suggest that unless you know that this is the type of game that you really enjoy, I would avoid purchasing it until the load times and other technical issues are resolved. If you plan to play it on console this would be a good game to rent for a long weekend. PERSONAL SCORE: 75% out of 100. A solid, basic game with room for improvement. Seems that it was rushed to hit a specific release window (not much to compete with at this time) instead of being well honed and polished, which is a shame.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: Reviews are funny things - so subjective and hard to fathom when they are contrary to your own view point. Recore is suffering from a lack of objectivity. While it can be wonky at times for controls and suffers from HORRIBLE load times, the game is, never the less solid. Its more about exploration, platforming and movement and timing than it is about shooting and combat. The core system is fun and the corebots are well developed. Its a semi open world that works well with a decent story line. Music is appropriate for a game that relies heavily on the open world, providing ambient immersion through low to no music and punctuating climatic moments with appropriate score. It is not, however, a soundtrack to go looking for. When you compare this to other lack luster recent releases, (No Man's Sky for example) its amazing that its critic score is LOWER than most incomplete and semi broken releases. TLDNR; Recore is at its heart an exploration and platforming game with movement and timing based combat thrown in to break up the primary core game play. If you like open worldish games with fun things to do, you should consider trying it. Because the combat is less about shooting skill, if you are looking for a story driven shooter than I would move on - but if you like platforming and exploration in an **** world you may want to consider getting it or renting it (if on console). Its hard to recommend as a purchase in its launch condition considering the LONG AND INEXCUSABLE load times and occasionally wonky controls. So I would say rent or borrow if possible unless you know its the sort of game you will enjoy. Its also appropriate for a wide age range, which is admirable considering the abundance of adult oriented games that are heavily represented in this release cycle. TECHNICAL: Recore suffers from long load times (some up to more than 2 minutes), occasional frame rate drops and wonky controls and camera reactions. The number of load screens destroys the pacing and immersion and if anything should be addressed by the developer, as soon as possible, it would be fixing the load times. GRAPHICS: Ranges from acceptable and colorful to muddy textures bland graphic fidelity. Overall its okay but nothing to get excited about. SOUND: Ambient noise, weapons and bots are done well enough to flesh out the world. SOUNDTRACK: Music is not very prominent but is used to good effect for enhancing immersion and to punctuate climatic moments. It is otherwise unremarkable and is not something that would be worth pursuing for game music enthusiasts. VOICE ACTING: Serviceable voice acting is provided with some deliveries being on the mark while others are slightly cringe worthy. GAME PLAY: While the color coding and corebot variety is a fun addition, it is a well developed platformer with some fun exploration. Combat is serviceable although there are some odd RNG and difficulty spikes thrown in at times that jar with the rest of the game. Controls and camera reaction can be wonky at times leading to frustration, especially when factoring in the LONG load times. This is particularly problematic when you need to repeat difficult boss encounters and have to wait in some cases over 2 minutes for the stage to load. These load times are also random as the stages that are loading are not overly complex. Instead it shows a lack optimization and quality control for base programming. STORY: The story is decent but not horribly original or thought provoking. Its standard sci-fi world colonization fare. Its written well enough but suffers at times from poor voice acting. MULTIPLAYER: N/A REPLAY VALUE: Recore has relatively low replay value. If you like time challenges you may want to re-run some of the traversal rush dungeons, but otherwise a single thorough play through will pretty much exhaust what the game has to offer. VALUE PROPOSITION: This is a game that will appeal to a very specific player base. Its a solid but well worn path that it follows with little innovation and unfortunately is hampered by technical flaws that break up the immersion and the pacing of the game with occasional highly frustrating control and camera responses and odd difficulty spikes that are then exacerbated by the long load times. I would suggest that unless you know that this is the type of game that you really enjoy, I would avoid purchasing it until the load times and other technical issues are resolved. If you plan to play it on console this would be a good game to rent for a long weekend. PERSONAL SCORE: 75% out of 100. A solid, basic game with room for improvement. Seems that it was rushed to hit a specific release window (not much to compete with at this time) instead of being well honed and polished, which is a shame.

Perhaps one of the most overlooked games ever released. Nier has a lot going for it with only a few flaws holding it back - occasional wonky controls, audio issues in places when playing for long sessions and horrible drop rates for useful/needed items forcing long grinding sessions for side quests, lack of consistent quest indicators when complete, etc. - Great story Good combat Good voice acting Phenomenal sound and soundtrack Decent graphics Acceptable puzzles Nice farming mechanism Great introduction to the game play and its mechanics Multiple endings with depth in a NG+ If you haven't played this game yet and enjoy RPGs I strongly encourage you to try this game and its worth owning - if not essential to own.

Perhaps one of the most overlooked games ever released. Nier has a lot going for it with only a few flaws holding it back - occasional wonky controls, audio issues in places when playing for long sessions and horrible drop rates for useful/needed items forcing long grinding sessions for side quests, lack of consistent quest indicators when complete, etc. - Great story Good combat Good voice acting Phenomenal sound and soundtrack Decent graphics Acceptable puzzles Nice farming mechanism Great introduction to the game play and its mechanics Multiple endings with depth in a NG+ If you haven't played this game yet and enjoy RPGs I strongly encourage you to try this game and its worth owning - if not essential to own.

This is an excellent game that was severely hampered by poor optimization at release. At the writing of this review, in fact the day of the review, a patch is finally out that has alleviated some of the technical issues. The game would suffer from huge drops in FPS, from 60 to 7 or 8 with no warning or apparent reason, forcing you to quit and restart and in some cases even completely rebooting your PC to resolve memory leaks. Despite these technical issues, Mankind Divided is a great Deus Ex Game . For those who are saying its short they are robbing themselves of the full experience - you really should do all of the side quests and take your time, explore and drink in everything that the game has to offer and you will be playing upwards of 40 plus hours - I played for over 60 hours and loved every minute of it. Had it launched without the technical issues this game would have easily scored a 9 for me. TLDNR: If you like great tactical stealth/combat games, you will love this game. If you want to run and gun, you should look elsewhere. Otherwise this is well worth your time and your money in my opinion. GRAPHICS: Beautiful game to look at, very immersive (when not plagued by the technical issues).with the exception of HORRIBLE CLIPPING ERRORS. Jensen's face, neck and hair would constantly clip through his collar and that drove me insane - very immersion breaking and odd looking. SOUNDTRACK: Awesome score that is well orchestrated and adds tons to the atmosphere. SOUND: Excellent sound effects and source to reception recognition, which is very important in stealth and tactic oriented games. LEVEL DESIGN: Excellent level design with multiple paths and approaches to every mission including all side missions. GAME PLAY: Excellent controls that can be reassigned, good shooting mechanics, excellent stealth mechanics and a lot of player choice and it avoids the use of "boss" battles that were a bit of a hinderance to Human Revolution. Just simply a great game to play. If you like RPG atmospheric cyberpunk stealth shooters you should absolutely play this game.

No Man's Sky (NMS) is a divisive game. What is in the game at launch is only a morsel of what it hoped to be. Justifiable or not is a personal perspective and I am disappointed with the launch product and the over hype of the game. Regardless I can lose hours to the game as a form or relaxation and exploration. On that level it delivers. But its also very repetitive in a ungratifying way. There is no drive to do much of anything unless you create your own purpose and goals. The controversy continues when people weigh its value proposition and many feel its not a $60 game. I am fine with its price point but for anyone on the fence I would urge you to rent it for PS4 or watch a lot of streams so you know what you are purchasing. The technical flaws on PC are large and unavoidable. Graphically its serviceable. The sound and soundtrack are the strongest part of the game. The rest is simply mediocre, from mining to spacecraft to shooting, etc. The best criticism that I heard of the game is its "an ocean of content that is only about an inch deep." For those who love sandboxes though, this will be a stellar title. For me this sandbox is just too lose and offers too little engagement to keep me interested for an extended time, but has provided 40 hours of entertainment and will be there whenever I decide I want to mindlessly grind away at NMS.

This game is an incredibly well written narrative experience. The soundtrack is superb as is the writing and game play. What truly holds it back is the very poor design decision to make it super low 8 bit graphics. I really think this interfered with immersion. Pixel art is fine and had this been done in the resolution of say the Blackwell series it would have been much better. Regardless, if you enjoy old style horror such as HP Lovecraft or Edgar Allen Poe then you owe it to yourself to purchase and play this incredible gem.

This game is an incredibly well written narrative experience. The soundtrack is superb as is the writing and game play. What truly holds it back is the very poor design decision to make it super low 8 bit graphics. I really think this interfered with immersion. Pixel art is fine and had this been done in the resolution of say the Blackwell series it would have been much better. Regardless, if you enjoy old style horror such as HP Lovecraft or Edgar Allen Poe then you owe it to yourself to purchase and play this incredible gem.

While Inside is a short game it is highly polished and very immersive. In typical PlayDead fashion its very very dark and very odd but left me thinking about the game for a long time. Inside is very much worth both your time and your money. Some of the best puzzles since Portal 2. GRAPHICS: A very simple palette with a 2,5D structure, great backgrounds and a very clean and simple art style. SOUND: Sound is fantastic and very atmospheric creating a constant state of unease and very eerie game. GAME PLAY: Simply amazing. The puzzles will make you think and some require impeccable timing but all are solvable and create a sense of tension followed by relief and a feeling of elation when you get through them. This is what puzzle platformers should be - immersive, intense, atmospheric and very fun to play. This is a definite purchase for anyone who enjoys great game design and great game play. So far this is definitely one of my top games for this year and one of my all time favorites.

This is a short but interesting interactive fiction piece. No where as finely developed as Life is Strange, but is unique. It does encourage you to do multiple play throughs to achieve a full understanding of the story, but I felt little interest in playing it a second time. GRAPHICS: Simple cartoon-esque graphics that are serviceable. SOUND: Sound is well developed to serviceable. SOUNDTRACK: It is workable but not memorable. VOICE: Excellent voice acting. STORY: A good story but hard to follow at times, mostly because you will most likely need to play through multiple times to get all of the story to unfold. Its interesting but frankly was not engaging enough to get me to play it more than once. GAME PLAY: Aside from dialogue choices you "tune in" to various objects to unveil events and stories. This game is not a powerhouse of game play but it works well enough to progress the story. OVERALL: If you like adventure games and/or narrative driven pieces this would be a decent purchase on a substantial sale. Otherwise I would pass on this game. If you are really into narrative pieces and think you can stand back tracking and having multiple play throughs then I would consider buying it since it is decent and has a low price point.

This is a wonderful piece of interactive narrative fiction. I hesitate to call it an actual game, although it has game play elements, mostly in the use of an ability to rewind time in order to alter immediate events. What makes this worth while is the excellent voice acting, painterly aesthetic of the graphics and a an immersive story that is well written. If you are looking for an action game and value game play over story - avoid this title like the plague. If, however, you like narrative and games where your choices matter, this game will shine for you and be very worthwhile purchasing. GRAPHICS: Well done with a painterly aesthetic. SOUND: Well developed sound effects that enhance the immersion. SOUNDTRACK: I really enjoyed the soundtrack for this game - very fitting and served to enhance the game and its immersion. GAME PLAY: Limited at best. Its more an interactive film than a game. As long as you understand that going in, the game play serves to enhance the immersion but is not the center piece of the game. Instead player choice is the central part of the game and it shines. REPLAY VALUE: Unless you really want to know what happens with every choice you make the game has little replay value.

Spiders has issues with introducing its games - everyone that I have played start out HORRIBLY and can be hard to take for the first few hours. If you can get past the typical rough edges and tough starts, the game will unfold into a decent RPG. It is usually best to wait for the games to go on sale - but I seem to NEVER take my own advice! GRAPHICS: Its a pretty game and really is nicely developed to provide a good aesthetic although some of the character models are a bit funky looking. SOUND: Sound is well done with reasonable source to receptor variation and creates a decent atmosphere. SOUNDTRACK: Serviceable to good but not all that memorable - pretty standard sci-fi and cyberpunk riffs and ambient music. GAME PLAY: The controls are a little funky and it can be pretty "floaty" at times and it takes time to get used to. The AI is not the best but serviceable. Stealth is pretty worthless in the game and not implemented all that well but the combat, once you get used to it, is decent but could use some help in the targeting realm - like many melee action games it will default to the enemy closest to you, despite whomever you are locked onto and the camera control is wonky at times. STORY: An interesting story and intriguing enough to keep you playing through although the dialogue at times is cringe worthy. VOICE: Voice acting is all over the place - from good to downright awful - which is partially the script which is not consistent in terms of quality. REPLAYABILITY: It may be worth playing twice to see how it changes by making different choices. This game is definitely worth playing, but I would look for it on sale or rent it. If you do rent it, there is at least 40 hours of game play if you do the side quests and explore the areas fully, so it may be a 4 or 5 day rental depending on your time and interest in the game.

A very underrated game that does borrow from the best in class including Half Life, BioShock, even Resident Evil and Prey but does so with some additions of its own, mainly time manipulation. The result is a really solid shooter with a unique story. Graphics: Well done for 2010 Sound: Excellent sound and sound effects. Soundtrack: Immersive and well paced and not overwhelming, perhaps a bit too understated at times. Voice: Well acted throughout, but not incredible. Game Play: Excellent game play with some unique weapons and very good shooting mechanics and the Time Manipulation Device (TMD) is really interesting to use. There are some puzzles but not terribly difficult or complex. If you enjoy narrative shooters this is a definite purchase and if you are on the fence I would urge you to borrow or rent it as its worth playing.

This is more visual novel with alternate endings. The first books were a bit slow but the pace really picks up in book 4. As usual, with Ragnar Tornquist at the helm, the writing is top notch and is a great narrative driven game. The voice acting is well done and the visuals are decent to great. Character models are a bit stiff and movement is a bit wonky at times. There is not much in the way of game play and there is a section with searching for Saga's pictures that was infuriatingly unnecessary. So much so that I quit playing for a couple of weeks and then just slogged through that section to get on with the story. All in all its a deep and rich story and worth playing to experience. Having been a huge fan of Ragnar's work in the past, this does not disappoint if you go into it understanding that its more narrative than game. For me its an excellent game but not as good as The Longest Journey, Dreamfall. I happen to also really enjoy The Secret World - and wish Ragnar and Martin Bruusgard were still a part of that team.

Overwatch is essential the updated version of Team Fortress 2, but in my mind is more polished and varied. Its also a great experience that is simply fun. Unfortunately it is online competitive multiplayer only and unless you get the PC version ($40 for the base game) you are stuck with the Origins edition for consoles with a $60 price tag - which is definitely $20 more than it should be! With that aside, Overwatch is a great FPS competitive multiplayer game that is easy to pick up and play. Each character is very unique and fun to play. GRAPHICS: Great detail and love in the maps and to the characters - its very upbeat and lighthearted and works very well with a smooth 60 FPS. SOUND: Great sound design with good banter and indicators as well as source to reception variability. SOUNDTRACK: Not amazing but fits with the game for sure. VOICE: Well voice acted with small tidbits of sayings and emotes - not a big part of the game but is well done none the less and adds to the enjoyment. GAME PLAY: Incredibly varied and fun but released with only 4 modes and 12 maps. REPLAYABILITY: Very replayable and is is built for replay and hopefully free updates will expand the content, but this is Activision that is publishing it and microtransactions are already present - so one will most likely have to pay for every piece of additional content. For me the game is worth $40 and I will get $40 worth of enjoyment out of it. If you are on the fence, see if you can try it on console or rent it for a console to see if it fits for you. If you like Team Fortress at all, then I think you will really enjoy this title.