random-dude

Sterile, is the word that comes to mind whenever trying to pin down just what the biggest issue I have with this one is. It's just... sterile. Flavourless, odourless. It's the Ship of Theseus of gaming. It's the same game, but... not. Something's off. It's the smallest of changes, but those small changes together have sanded down the edges that gave Oblivion it's identity. Now it just looks like every other game. No visual originality. Chasing down "reality", the crafted stylistic atmosphere has suffered. It's still Oblivion. Still a good game.

HFW has the best combat of any open-world game. Refined, fast paced, good progression, variety, the feel and weight behind every skill... Perfection. Exploration feels great, despite the checklist-design. Side content is a bit of hit-and-miss, but mostly good. Graphics and visual design will age very well, the world is gorgeous and presented well. I only wish there was better official controller support for the PC-port (so I wouldn't have to use mods to get adaptive triggers to work), because playing with adaptive triggers "on" is a MUST. My main gripes with this title are the story (not a gripping mystery like ZD, and all twists & reveals can be seen miles away), and there's also minor design choices that break the immersion. For example, the world is littered with wooden structures left standing, when it's an organic matter Faro Robots would've consumed based on the established "metal world" logic from ZD. And people of different ethnic genetics (within the same community) talk with different inflection & accent. How did that come to be in their culture? This is a post-apocalyptic world where everyone descends from the same small pool of ethnically diverse people who learned to speak from their hologram nannies. So, shouldn't the world have regional accents, instead of basing it on perceived ethnicity within communities? Small details, small complaints. Overall still a 9/10 experience, and one of my favourite open world games. As a sidenote for those worried Aloy suffers from uglification: most of the game Aloy looks good. There's a few unfortunate cutscenes with goofy cinematic choices that are... not good, at all. Unflattering lighting, weird camera angles, short focal length lense which makes her face look bloated, over-exaggerated cartoony facial animation... But outside of those, Aloy is just as naturally pretty as she was in ZD.

Oh, how hath Bethesda fallen. Everything wrong with their previous games are also present here, with no improvements to be had on anything. Everything is mechanically worse. Questing is worse. Runs like garbage, and is a buggy mess even YEARS after launch. Gameplay has less freedom and variety. Choice is non-existent. Even the main story has been dumbed down to be a melodramatic, incoherent mess of contradicting plot points - straight from a daytime soap opera. This is truly the Illusion of Choice: The Game. Why even pretend your choices can matter if the game just pushes you into the "correct" one anyways? Also the ending (Shaun being a synth, The Director being real Shaun) makes no sense. It feels like that plot twist was hamfisted into an already existing story at the last minute, just for the shock value. That twist serves no other value, and just creates inconsistencies and contradictions within the narrative. And we're meant to believe all this hinged on the fact that Shaun (an adult man!) was throwing a tantrum and wanted to test his parents' love for him? Right. This game has been one of the biggest disappointments I've had playing "masterpieces" of yesteryears.

Story of this one is simply peak. Storytelling (=how the story is told) though... not so much. New cool ideas for open world games, but falls just a bit short on execution as repetitive-ness is still an issue.

The only problem I have with this one, is that it's too short. I want more.

Went in with low expectations, got pleasantly surprised. This proved to be one of the highlights of this year, and a new IP at that!

Runs smoothly, very polished gameplay. But falls into almost all the Korean game design tropes that I don't personally vibe with (storytelling, dialogue, character design). Definitely worth a try, for all souls-fans. Just don't expect to be wow'd or surprised by anything if you've ever played any recent games from another Korean studio.

Definitely not a masterpiece, it's still rough around the edges. But what an exciting first iteration of all these new cool ideas! Can't wait what the studio does next, how they refine what's already there. There's some discussion about the in-game time mechanic, I gotta admit I was also worried about it beforehand. But! It wasn't a restriction at all (you can finish some 90% of the game on a single playthrough). Unfinished quests you have no time for aren't failures - a failed or unfinished quest/activity sometimes leads to better content than just doing everything "successfully" (so by completing everything you lock yourself out of some cool stuff). Positives far outweigh the negatives, but there's also negatives: Like clunkiness in navigating the world (wall/roof scaling in particular). There's jank in combat, the target lock-on and camera should've been polished more. Some gear is clipping with character model. And the game is BEGGING for a stealth system (I understand it's a massive feature and would've required more resources and time to implement, but it just feels like the biggest lost opportunity). Best of the year so far for me. 9/10

Wait for sale, or buy a used disc. It's NOT hot garbage, but NOT a good game either. Everything else in the game ranges from painfully average to downright bad, except optimization & graphical fidelity which are top-notch. It's buggy, which is very surprising for an Insomniac title. It's super easy to go out of bounds, even unintentionally. Or get stuck in geometry. The dynamic combat camera works, sort of. Unless you're close to a wall. Or have enemies attacking from out of view. Story has major pacing issues, and is heavily back-loaded (plus it's shamelessly sequel baiting). The voice lines are delivered in an overly cartoony way (issue is with directing, not talent). This seriously gets in the way of what the game is desperately trying to be: a cool, mature new take on the character of Wolverine. In conjunction, the dialogue itself (=writing) is some edgelord-level of cringe and goofy teenage angst. Which begs to question why they opted for this style when the game is targeted for 18+ Mature Audiences. Gameplay and mechanics are the worst part of this experience, which is a major bummer because it's a VIDEOGAME, meant to be built around those two pillars. There's no challenge to overcome, nothing to discover, nothing to explore. No sense of accomplishment, no sense of achievement, no choice on how to tackle the objectives. Everything is handed to you on a silver platter, and you just need to buckle up for the OK-ish story unfolding on your screen.

The combat in HFW feels near perfect. Enemy variety is greatly expanded on from Zero Dawn, and the skill tree opening new finishers for melee is imo the best improvement. Puzzles in extra content are improved upon, especially nice because on optional content Aloy doesn't have dialogue that spoils how the puzzles are solved (unlike on mainstory missions). Great game overall, but... Hoo boy, this game did not put it's best foot forward. Instead, first part was way too long (Daunt & No-Man's Land). They should've combined those into one, to get into the meat of the story (and better parts of the explorable world) faster. Players will burn out on all that mega-generic extra content by the time they even get to meet the much-hyped Tenakth tribes, which is a shame since their extra content is far superior in writing and variety. Also should've combined Utaru tribe into a sect within the Tenakth, to avoid both tribes feeling like one-dimensional monolithic tropes. Instead, we got tribes where every single person hold same values, same aspirations, same outlook on life. Inner conflicts of values would've been SO MUCH more interesting - the warriors VS pacifists, utilitarians VS artists, combat-focused society and cultural appreciation clashing. Wasted potential in worldbuilding, imo. Still one of the greatest open-world games out there, and definitely the one with the best combat and gameplay loop.

It's very good, but not quite 10/10. Nice contrast in gameplay with different characters. A masterfully crafted atmosphere and environments. Sound design is one of the best in industry. Guns are a bit so-so though, and 3rd person view takes me out of immersion from the horror aspect. Movement feels a bit floaty at times, but otherwise a superb experience.

Holy dialogue bloat! Anyone defending JRPG's having dialogue bloat by saying it's a staple of the genre, clearly hasn't been gaming pre-2010's when the poorly-paced writing began to creep into JRPG's. Nowadays it's so prevalent it's difficult to find games that don't have it. And my God, this game suffers from it massively! It's like they have a first draft of the script for dialogue and then forget to edit it. It shouldn't take 10 or more sentences to convey a character's anxiety, *with nothing else in those 10 sentences*.

This was a very, VERY lazy cash-grab. Just play the original one on PC, you'll get a higher resolution, oftentimes better textures and a better quality gameplay overall. To anyone defending this utter lack of optimization or quality control, saying "MGS3 ran at 30fps at launch and nobody cared": so because in 1920 movies didn't have dialogue and nobody cared, it's wrong to complain about voice acting or sound mixing quality today? Morons.

Wilds is unfinished and not worth the asking price. There is absolutely no justification for this game to run so **** poorly when the visuals aren't even close to what other studios (even the small ones) are putting on the table. Frame stutters, screen tearing, textures not loading, pop-ins, artefacting, crashes... The textures themselves are pretty bad, especially cloth textures, and upscalers (that the game itself recommends needs to be used) make them even worse. Any close-up scene is painful to watch. Removing Calico controls so status effects are virtually obsolete now, and streamlining exploration until it's a mindless autopilot. Optimizing fun out of the game to ensure even the most brain-dead vegetable is able to play un-obstructed and without any friction (or fun). This game desperately needed another year in the oven. My partner has this on a high-end PC, and it somehow looks and runs even worse than my PS5 version.

I can understand why this is a favourite for many who grew up with the game. But since I have no nostalgia for it and played it in the current era, it doesn't really feel like it's all that great. I can see why it was impressive at the time, but understanding that doesn't elevate the experience for me.

This was one of my favourites when it came out, and one that desperately deserves a remaster compatible with modern hardware. While the character writing outside the immortals was lacking (especially the villain), the story is compelling and explores its themes maturely. Gameplay is very familiar basic JRPG of 00's - though the inclusion of playable immortals leads to some cool party-builds one can experiment with. Acting is a hit-and-miss, but the best parts of the backround story aren't voiced (the texts you find).

If one enjoys deep RPG-mechanics, then this is a must-play. It's an amazing accomplishment how well all the different mechanics fit together coherently, and elevate the gameplay instead of bogging the pace down. This is the most immersive gaming experience I've ever had.

Not a fan of the junction system, or the grindyness. As for the story... Must be one of the most shallow romances in the franchise - it's just teenagers with needless melodrama stemming from communication issues. Gameplay still mostly holds up as a classic turn-based rpg, though the animations are still way too long and unskippable. The world and its people are interesting and introduce excellent themes, but exploring them through the lense of an angsty teenager Squall does not fit my definition of peak.

It's good, but ultimately a shallow experience. The lore is interesting and definitely a high point, but nothing interesting is done with it - nothing interesting happens in relation to it. Gameplay is what saves this game, but it's just more souls-combat - this time in an open world format. Utilizing the open world is better than in most games, but instead of rewarding curiosity it actively punishes it (which corrals players into the intended path regardless). I feel I would've liked this better if it wasn't marketed as a re-invention of open world format, because that was the biggest disappointment I had with this. Definitely fell victim to overhype.

One of the better shooters that've come out in the last two years. Didn't know much about Warhammer universe, but this game got me intrigued.

This is propably my favourite take on a turn-based combat. It's unique, very variable, stays fresh, and gives so many opportunities to go ham with the mechanics. Presentation of information is the weakest link in this game, but a minor gripe compared to all the things DOS2 gets right.

Too many side quests. And no way of knowing which ones are worth doing and which are absolute garbage (spoiler: most fall into the latter). "Optional content" does not mean bad quality should be excused. If the majority of content is low quality, then it's a low quality game.

I'm so tired of these political aspects bleeding into games. When a game asks me to look at a character for 80+ hours, at least have the decency to make them attractive. Arthur with his unwashed, swollen & sunburnt face just looks like he's been on a month-long bender and woke up in a ditch somewhere. He looks like he smells bad. Game is definitely a slow burn, and has some cool things with its mechanics. But everything takes too long, and the payoff isn't always worth it. Also... if you need to play 10+ hours until the game gets good, it's not a good setup for a game.

I mean... what hasn't been said already about this game. It's been 2 weeks since I finished this game, but the multi-layered storytelling and its themes still haven't left me. I find myself humming the tunes while cooking. I keep thinking of the existentialism this introduces, of actual soul being a part of art. The ethics the game gives no ready answers to. This game is in itself a piece of art, with soul, and it resonates deeply. It's been years since there's been such a multi-layered story in a game, and so well executed! High concepts are masterfully tied to characters to make it feel personal. Then expanded to even higher concepts, and brought back to character in the finale. Gameplay feels like a natural evolution of turn-based style, and enhances the story & gameplay loop instead of hindering/slowing it down. Music is (mostly) criminally good. Sound design is top tier. Acting and animation delivers so much emotion - you can know what a character is feeling and thinking just by their small gestures and facial expression. Presentation is also a chef's kiss, especially boss battles. Easily one that will become a classic and a must-play even for future RPG fans.

I mean... what hasn't been said already about this game. It's been 2 weeks since I finished this game, but the multi-layered storytelling and its themes still haven't left me. I find myself humming the tunes while cooking. I keep thinking of the existentialism this introduces, of actual soul being a part of art. The ethics the game gives no ready answers to. This game is in itself a piece of art, with soul, and it resonates deeply. It's been years since there's been such a multi-layered story in a game, and so well executed! High concepts are masterfully tied to characters to make it feel personal. Then expanded to even higher concepts, and brought back to character in the finale. Gameplay feels like a natural evolution of turn-based style, and enhances the story & gameplay loop instead of hindering/slowing it down. Music is (mostly) criminally good. Sound design is top tier. Acting and animation delivers so much emotion - you can know what a character is feeling and thinking just by their small gestures and facial expression. Presentation is also a chef's kiss, especially boss battles. Easily one that will become a classic and a must-play even for future RPG fans.

A decent game. Good action, great bosses, but mid story and uninspired level design. Story has some cool ideas, but fails to land them. Also Eve as a character is a bit bland, and has no character arc. I'd like to see a sequel or a prequel for this, though, and for the team to successfully deliver on the established premise since it has a lot of promise. And they should definitely brush up on their storytelling skills - they're quite atrocious.

I think this might be one of the most faithful recreations / remakes there is.

Takes a really good game to get two completely opposed types of gamers together to enjoy a title. A classic, and deservedly praised.

If I'd ever want a remaster or remake, this would be it. It's just goofy fun, doesn't take forever to progress, and even with it being fairly simple it keeps your mind active.

While IV never reached the heights of III, it was still a good addition to the franchise.

I've played every expansion. Some as a hardcore raider, others more casually. Every expansion (even Shadowlands) has had some immediate hook to their narrative to get players pumped for exploring the new zones and to defeat dungeon bosses, but this one... I don't think it delivered that at all. Even the dungeon design left me wanting. Raids have been an improvement, they've clearly realized they needed to take inspiration from their competitors. But it doesn't change the fact that it's still overall the same gameplay loop from ever since TBC, and hasn't really changed all that much. Maybe I've just become jaded for the franchise, maybe it's not for me anymore. But this ain't it. Bonus points for finally giving player housing.

It's polished. But can we please get something new and exciting from Nintendo franchises, for once?

A game that knows what it aims to be, and does just that with quality and polish. It doesn't over-promise, and it doesn't overstay its welcome. A neat package, a bite-sized adventure well worth its asking price.

Not much to add what hasn't been said before. It has its flaws, but it's a very impressive game, and Kratos has become one of the most memorable protagonists in video game history.

I'd like to see Persona evolve. It's still relying on anime stereotypes for characters, and the tropes make every character seem more like a caricature than an actual individual. UI is stylish but too busy: the most important information to a situation is not highlighted enough if every little thing in the UI is vying for attention. Music is the best thing about this game. Graphics are not very impressive, and the art style is derivative instead of innovative.

I'd like to see Persona evolve. It's still relying on anime stereotypes for characters, and the tropes make every character seem more like a caricature than an actual individual. UI is stylish but too busy: the most important information to a situation is not highlighted enough if every little thing in the UI is vying for attention. Music is the best thing about this game. Graphics are not very impressive, and the art style is derivative instead of innovative.

Gameplay still holds up, even if graphics are very outdated. It's just silly, cheesy, cringe and very much fun. Also poking fun and satirizing the idealization of organized crime - like all GTAs.

The PC port has been updated and most noticable bugs fixed, so I've lifted my score from 4 to 7. I feel like I would've had a very different opinion about this game if my experience wasn't marred and coloured by the bad PC port.

A bit of an incoherent mishmash of different ideas that takes forever to pay off (if they do).

A charming game that delivers on its premise. It knows what it wants to be. This is what it looks like to have an uncompromised vision, and to faithfully follow that vision through.

Bugs are not what I pay for. Bugs should never be an expected part of experiencing Bethesda games. I'm tired, boss.

Nothing new. Nothing innovative. It's polished, but still the same game I've played many times before with Atlus' other releases. Relying too heavily on anime tropes (characters, plot, dialogue, world and character design - everything is obeying the established tropes from shounen anime). The graphics are ok for a mobile game or a Switch release. But not nearly enough to be the messiah of revival for turn-based RPGs people like to pretend this is. It's repetitive, way too long, and the color palette looks muddy. The music is the saving grace for this title - without it it would've been just a generic fantasy game no.38749. The story is lacking any nuance, and the writing is holding the player's hand just to make sure nothing is left to interpretation or introspection. Ultimately this game has nothing to say.

A decent game, but most of the enjoyment is exploring the castle and living that wizardry dream. Outside of that, there's little to do that doesn't get very repetitive very soon. There's no role playing or consequential choices. There's not very much different enemy types, and you'll do the exactly same battle over and over again. Most boss battles are just waves of wizards or goblins. Puzzles repeat numerous times. There's very little to do outside Hogwarts grounds. There's not much customization you can have in the style you play (only a very bare-bones skill tree). The story isn't very deep, it's intentionally easy to follow but it feels dumbed down so much that it loses any bite it could've had. The story also ends very abruptly, just when I thought the hype for an ending was beginning to build it ended - the buildup was the ending. And there's really no re-play value - nothing new to explore, no hidden bosses or new story routes. I kept wishing there were consequences to choosing your House, or learning Dark Arts. But nothing changed. I feel a much better design choice for this game would've been to lean heavily into that roleplaying fantasy of being a student at Hogwarts. An immersive sim without much combat or an open world, perhaps? This is not a bad game by any means - it's quite impressive for a first try at an RPG for the studio. But it's not among the greats either.

The biggest crime this game has committed, is not being unique. There's nothing special in Veilguard that you'd only get from a Dragon Age -game. There's very much similar dark fantasy around. There's better similar combat systems. Better similar puzzles. Better similar levels. Better evolving companion stories. It just keeps reminding of all the times some other game did something better than DA: Veilguard. It doesn't have anything unique, so it just falls into "Generic Fantasy Game no.9864"

So, Metacritic has deleted my previous rating and review. All I remember thinking after finishing this dlc was: That can't be all there is, right? RIGHT??? Definitely not enough to justify the prize tag.

I really, REALLY didn't want to jump into the bandwagon to hatepile on this game. But man, this expansion ain't it. This has some of the worst dialogue writing in recent memory, along with button-mash endgame gameplay that gives nothing of value. Nothing feels earned. I'd forgive lackluster writing if the presentation delivered, but it's just not there (except that one cool cutscene). This expansion just doesn't feel like a Diablo game - it feels like a one of the cheap Diablo-knockoffs of early 2000's.

I was so hyped up for this, and finally got to play. But I've already played the same game before. The building-mechanic is cool, but some verticality and an underground were not delivering what I thought would be a unique experience building on top of BOTW's innovation. This should've been a large expansion or DLC, not a new game.

I really hoped they would've innovated and expanded on the HoMM3 formula, in a different direction than HoMM4-7. Instead it's just a copy, and doesn't have nearly as much charm.

Would I recommend this one? Yes. Would I recommend familiarizing yourself with the novel first? Unfortunately, yes. Without knowing anything about the novel this was based on (Journey to the West), it doesn't make much sense narratively. All the way through it made me feel left out at every reference I didn't get. That's the biggest minus. It could've done introduction to the mythology of the novel much better, without alienating newcomers. I can understand this creative decision, as I imagine most Chinese who this was targeted at are already very familiar with the source material. Otherwise it's a decent and a pretty good action game, though not on the level of Stellar Blade that was released earlier this year. Also, the game as of now (september) has some performance issues and hiccups even on a high-end PC.

It's not horrible, but not very good either. Spent about 17 hours with this one before tapping out. Graphics are very last-gen. Performance capture is nonexistent. Gameplay mechanics (especially stealth, shooting and enemy AI) are from PS2 era. There's just so many missed opportunities, some good ideas they were unable to manifest into the game. Playing Outlaws feels undercooked - like a test build to gauge if planned game mechanics will be engaging and fun or if they need to be developed further before advancing on the pipeline to polishing into final product. The mechanics are simply unfinished.