redbattle

I've been playing for about 15 hours so far and while I am enjoying the game I have to say it's a bit underwhelming at times. The controls often feel really clunky and could do with an overhaul and some of the enemies are absolute damage sponges. I'm okay with bigger enemies needing a lot to bring them down but even a lot of trash enemies take a frustrating amount of arrows to take down especially in the early game. Another big gripe I have is the music. Having the same short track playing constantly throughout your exploration is very tedious and I find it hard to believe that this was overlooked in a game like this. So far I'm a bit disappointed. Weird oversights and distinctly last gen feeling mechanics hold it back from greatness.

Goddamn this game is good. It completely came out of nowhere for me and has been a supremely pleasant surprise. Having heard about the game in the past being in early access, I was expecting something of a middling 'steam horror' affair that would be okay, but lack the polish and heft to really satisfy me. I'm thrilled to say however that the game has way exceeded my expectations. First of all, from a presentation perspective the game is extremely impressive. I feel like it gets off to a bit of a rough start what with the fmv intro which is quite compressed and the facial work leaves a lot to be desired. That's okay though because it's the environments and the lighting that really sell the atmosphere. Older survival horror titles had a knack for making each room and hallway feel distinct with little touches of detail and camera angles and TS has this in spades. It's so important when it comes to back tracking and memorising the layout of the map so I'm very glad that the devs managed to nail this aspect. The dynamic lighting employed in this game is actually jaw dropping at times given the budget of the game and the texture and material work is surprisingly good and I'd go as far as to say outshines some of the more big budget games I've played recently. Big props to them for also getting darkness right. Too many games will claim areas are "dark" when in reality you can see just fine without a flash light and it completely ruins the mood. In dark areas, you can see what your lighter illuminates and that's it! If you turn it off, it's literally pitch black. Makes some of the segments extremely nerve wracking. The sound design is also, again, surprisingly well realised considering the budget. It's grimey and frightening when it needs to be and the music strikes an excellent balance between Silent Hill's industrial style tension music and Resident Evil's memorable piano driven tracks. It really draws you into the world. Some of the weapons are actually really fun to use too. The nail gun is satisfying and the makeshift shotgun has one of the coolest weapon reload animations I've seen in a long time. It's really strange to be playing this game that clearly didn't have a huge budget but has so many cool little ideas and details and a level of competency that makes it all come together in such a compelling way. I've been gushing like crazy so far so now for some negative points. Whilst striking and distinctive, I do feel like the default outfit is a bit much. In the right game I can live with some fan service and letcherous intent but in this game it just feels a bit out of place and kinda cheapens things in a way that I feel the game is better than. Everything else about the game feels like it's going for this certain type of tone and then the main character is literally dressed like she just stepped out of a final fantasy game. Feels a bit weird. Thankfully, the devs have patched in the ability to swap clothes into something much more fitting right from the start. As great as this is however, I do feel like the alternate costume should've been the default one and the default costume should've been an unlockable one. That's kind of a minor personal gripe though and doesn't have too much impact on the overall game and comes down more to taste. The other big stumbling block from time to time are some of the puzzles. There were some puzzles in the game where I genuinely don't know how I would've worked them out without a guide. There are hints if you're paying attention but some of them are so obtuse that it's only after you've looked up the solutions that you'll think "oooh yeah, that makes sense now!" and they are very cool in retrospect. Problem is though, they can stall your progress for a long time and make you feel a bit frustrated that it wasn't something you could work out for yourself. Again, your miliage may vary in this regard, but it was a source of frustration for me on occasion. So why am I giving this a 9 with the aforementioned complaints? Well, the game is just so damn satisfying and has a real genuine heart to it that it's hard to let the complaints overshadow the whole package. Given the cost of entry being around £15 digitally and the length of the game being around 8-12 hours depending on your play style, I'd say it's well worth the cost and time investment and if you're into survival horror games and have been yearning for something genuinely scary to give you Silent Hill vibes, this is the game for you. It easily outdoes the recent Western Silent Hill games and even gives some recent RE games a run for their money in my book. Pick this one up, you won't be disappointed.

These games will probably be a bit love or hate for a lot of people as their rigid and obtuse nature can be off putting but if your willing to put up with some head scratchingly confusing progression road blocks and a distinct lack of gameplay then these are some incredible stories to check out. From that description it sounds like there's not much to like but you'll find yourself weirdly compelled to move forward thanks to the plots and the odd sense of satisfaction when you best the game at its confusing little battles of whit. Well worth checking out for something different and great stories.

Woo boy where to start with this game. First things first there are plenty of things about this game to pick fault with but the culture war stuff feels entirely unnecessary. There's plenty of things to pick fault with and if you're not into the characters then you'll probably not enjoy the game very much. Thing is though it'd be the same if the characters weren't "SJW" they'd still be naff characters so try to look past that and take the game on its own merits. Anyway my first 5 hours with the game had me ready to write this off as an exercise in frustration. Right off the bat if you're not into stealth games you're probably gonna have a bad time. It can be very unforgiving and some of the combat encounters can feel a bit laborious. Once you get further in though it all feels like it clicks into place and you get a real feel for what you're doing. For me the story was a harrowing experience but very well delivered subjectively of course. In retrospect I've dropped the score down to an 8 as the more I've thought about it the more **** have cropped up. The tendancy to lavishly animate literally everything wears thin and ironically lends an air of uncanny valley when you're doing something quintessentially videogamey like crafting or upgrading. What you're doing isn't especially realistic within the time frame so it's odd to see it played out with hyper realistic animations. I'd rather they saved the fancy animations for the meat and potatoes of the combat, exploration and social interactions. Would save the players time and likely cut down on unnecessary Dev crunch. Also the game could stand to lose a few hours and would probably be better for it. Plus some of Ellie's behaviour and decisions later in the game I just couldn't quite suspend my disbelief on which took me out of it a bit. If you're in the market for a decent stealth game with oodles of exploration and insane visuals with a good story to boot then you're in for a treat. Just be aware that it's extremely heavy going emotionally and is very stealth focused.

It's actually alarming seeing how many professional and amateur critics alike can't get over the fact that the gameplay focus in Death Stranding isn't geared mainly towards combat encounters. Weird considering the best players in MGS are aiming to get in and out with as few straight up combat encounters as possible. There's so much to love about this game and it's well worth a look.

So isn't this all just blowing up in specatular fashion. To here the way some people are talking about this game would imply that this is simply a bland unforgivable experience from top to bottom. The problem is...well it really isn't. My issues with the trending outlook on the game is the increasingly common use of 'it's boring' or 'there's not enough to do!'. Thing is, for some gamers the same criticism can be leveled at the likes of Overwatch, Hearthstone, Rainbow Six to name a few. Now I'm not saying these games are bad, they serve a purpose for the people that like that sort of thing however if you don't...then the enjoyment you'll get out of those games is slim pickings. That's my reasoning for the high score I'm giving No Man's Sky. I had no pretence or hype train tooting going into this game and frankly the main thing that drew me in was the soundtrack. Having sat down and played it though I can attest to exactly who this game speaks to and why some of its limitations are okay. Having played the game with someone who is somewhat 'casual' when it comes to gaming the first thing that struck them was the ability to explore and craft things (however limited you might suggest those mechanics are) without the imminent threat of being tea bagged by enemies and having to learn and be good at whatever combat mechanics are in the game in order to compitently survive. For some people that's all they really want from certain games. I fail to understand why it's kind okay for certain genres to be unmistakably niche and be reveld in because of their 'gameplay mechanics' however when something comes along which is perfect as a chill out game or something just to enjoy for what it is. The mechanics might be repetative for some but for other's it's therapautic and satisfying. The way some people have been carrying on seems outright unprofessional. In short, go into this game looking for a chilled out experience which can be quite eye opening and fun if you let it be.