Ayzic
BACKER
2023
With a seemingly endless number of places to see and things to do, Starfield felt overwhelming at first. An unusually slow start when compared to BGS prior works and hours of tutorials compounded these feelings, and had me worried that I might not be in it for the long run. I’m so happy to say that despite a slow opening and hours of tutorials, Starfield is truly something to behold.
Storylines and quests are what drive this game, as opposed to the exploration which games like Skyrim and Fallout 3 masterfully use to keep players engaged. That being said, Bethesda has never made a storyline as good as the main quest in this game. Ever. I also don’t think I’ve ever experienced a better New Game + system from any game before Starfield.. To avoid spoilers, I’ll leave it at that, but it truly is a compelling story with themes much deeper than past Bethesda quests, and high stakes. Almost all of the faction quests are of a similar high quality as well. That being said, a lot of the other side quests can get repetitive quick, and most can easily be diluted to “just fetch quests” aside from a few standouts.
Circling back to exploration now, I think it’s fair to say that the majority of players will be disappointed in how Starfield handles arguably one of the biggest aspects of BGS games. Hand-crafted spaces are much fewer and farther between compared to their past titles, and Starfield is only made worse because of it. I think the procedurally-generated planet experiment was cool in theory, but in practice it’s boring. Of course, finding a randomly generated outpost or research tower is fun the first few times, but gets stale quick. Similarly, space exploration is non-existent. You can’t fly from planet to planet like in No Man’s Sky, and there really isn’t much to see except for the occasional encounters with other space-faring people. I really didn’t find this to be too much of a hindrance, though, as to me, being in space was just a transitory period until I got to my next quest marker.
Two things I really loved that I didn’t think I would care for at all was ship building and ship combat. I often found myself completely lost to time while I was tweaking my ships or even building completely new designs. The dogfights in space really are awesome. If you play on Hard or Very Hard, even two enemies can be a challenge, which was very refreshing as enemies on the ground are fairly simple to deal with.
I experienced a fair share of stuttering, screen-freezing, long loading screens, glitches, and straight-up crashes to the dashboard during my time playing, which really did suck. Bethesda is infamous for things like this, which is inexcusable imo. Needless to say, the fact that I had to deal with these issues quite a lot during my 135 hours with the game and STILL think it deserves a 9/10 is a testament to how special this game is to me. I’ve reached NG+10 and have done every Faction quest and main quest at least twice and I don’t see myself putting this game down for a long time.
Storylines and quests are what drive this game, as opposed to the exploration which games like Skyrim and Fallout 3 masterfully use to keep players engaged. That being said, Bethesda has never made a storyline as good as the main quest in this game. Ever. I also don’t think I’ve ever experienced a better New Game + system from any game before Starfield.. To avoid spoilers, I’ll leave it at that, but it truly is a compelling story with themes much deeper than past Bethesda quests, and high stakes. Almost all of the faction quests are of a similar high quality as well. That being said, a lot of the other side quests can get repetitive quick, and most can easily be diluted to “just fetch quests” aside from a few standouts.
Circling back to exploration now, I think it’s fair to say that the majority of players will be disappointed in how Starfield handles arguably one of the biggest aspects of BGS games. Hand-crafted spaces are much fewer and farther between compared to their past titles, and Starfield is only made worse because of it. I think the procedurally-generated planet experiment was cool in theory, but in practice it’s boring. Of course, finding a randomly generated outpost or research tower is fun the first few times, but gets stale quick. Similarly, space exploration is non-existent. You can’t fly from planet to planet like in No Man’s Sky, and there really isn’t much to see except for the occasional encounters with other space-faring people. I really didn’t find this to be too much of a hindrance, though, as to me, being in space was just a transitory period until I got to my next quest marker.
Two things I really loved that I didn’t think I would care for at all was ship building and ship combat. I often found myself completely lost to time while I was tweaking my ships or even building completely new designs. The dogfights in space really are awesome. If you play on Hard or Very Hard, even two enemies can be a challenge, which was very refreshing as enemies on the ground are fairly simple to deal with.
I experienced a fair share of stuttering, screen-freezing, long loading screens, glitches, and straight-up crashes to the dashboard during my time playing, which really did suck. Bethesda is infamous for things like this, which is inexcusable imo. Needless to say, the fact that I had to deal with these issues quite a lot during my 135 hours with the game and STILL think it deserves a 9/10 is a testament to how special this game is to me. I’ve reached NG+10 and have done every Faction quest and main quest at least twice and I don’t see myself putting this game down for a long time.
2023
Cerebral, mind-bending, macabre, and thrilling are all words that describe Alan Wake 2 perfectly. A masterclass in survival-horror that doubles as the culmination of everything Remedy Entertainment has learned over its 20+ years in the games industry. Tensions are high throughout the entirety of the 20 hour runtime of Alan Wake 2, not only through combat, but through auditory cues, jump scares, changes in scenery, and striking shifts in color. Remedy utilizes all these tools to keep you on the edge of your seat while your heart pounds in your chest as you slightly turn your eyes from the screen in an attempt to reduce your anxiety. All of the best parts of Alan Wake 2 can be summed up in one word. Atmosphere.
Atmosphere is this games strongest aspect, and unlike other games of the same ilk that released this year such as Resident Evil 4 Remake and Dead Space, there is less combat here than you would expect. I found the majority of my playtime was spent piecing together the story, exploring the different locales and looking for collectibles, callbacks to other Remedy games, and hints at future events in the story or the greater Remedy Connected Universe rather than fighting Taken. That being said, combat is a delight in this game. Every encounter is important due to scarcity of ammo and other items, especially during boss fights, but I do wish there were more enemies to defeat. Graphically, this game astounded me at every cutscene and set-piece, and was enhanced by a robust and vivid color palette that truly nails the feeling of Autumn in a small rural town.
The story in Alan Wake 2 answers so many questions that players were left with after the first game’s ending, but tactfully introduces just as many (if not more) new questions and ideas into the fold. No spoilers, but I DO wish some of the new stuff that was introduced here was explained/explored more fully, as they really did a fantastic job of weaving new characters, plotlines, and genuinely intriguing concepts into the Remedy Connected Universe. If Alan Wake and Control are anything to go off of, I’m sure we can expect some DLC to tie up these loose ends before too long, and I am more than excited to return to this universe.
Atmosphere is this games strongest aspect, and unlike other games of the same ilk that released this year such as Resident Evil 4 Remake and Dead Space, there is less combat here than you would expect. I found the majority of my playtime was spent piecing together the story, exploring the different locales and looking for collectibles, callbacks to other Remedy games, and hints at future events in the story or the greater Remedy Connected Universe rather than fighting Taken. That being said, combat is a delight in this game. Every encounter is important due to scarcity of ammo and other items, especially during boss fights, but I do wish there were more enemies to defeat. Graphically, this game astounded me at every cutscene and set-piece, and was enhanced by a robust and vivid color palette that truly nails the feeling of Autumn in a small rural town.
The story in Alan Wake 2 answers so many questions that players were left with after the first game’s ending, but tactfully introduces just as many (if not more) new questions and ideas into the fold. No spoilers, but I DO wish some of the new stuff that was introduced here was explained/explored more fully, as they really did a fantastic job of weaving new characters, plotlines, and genuinely intriguing concepts into the Remedy Connected Universe. If Alan Wake and Control are anything to go off of, I’m sure we can expect some DLC to tie up these loose ends before too long, and I am more than excited to return to this universe.
2014
Wow. WOW. A remaster of a remake of one of the best Survival Horror games to exist. It’s no surprise how Resident Evil became a pioneer of this genre. Survival is genuinely hard in this game, with very limited safe areas and a small carry-capacity (especially with Chris). Combining this with a general scarcity of resources and a throng of varying enemies means that if you linger too long in certain areas, you are only compounding this difficulty further, which is an excellent motivator to figure out what to do and move on in a timely manner. I found that the game lightened up in difficulty once you branch out of the mansion, and the experience becomes much more linear to keep you focused on your goal, which was a nice change of pace.
Puzzles are fairly simple but rewarding, and the story is really intriguing. Having already played a few RE titles before this one, it was AWESOME to see how they set up future characters and plotlines in this game. I also LOVE how campy this game is. When I first played RE7 and later RE4 (my first two entries in the series), I thought there were some incredibly out-of-place lines of dialogue that made the characters sound silly or dumb, and even some enemy designs and plot points came across as too over-the-top for me. But having now played the original Resident Evil, I understand that camp is just as important in this series as survival, puzzles, story, and tense moments are.
The only gripe I have with Resident Evil is the loading screens between rooms. Constantly having to sit and wait for the next room to load started to get very tedious early on, but even this can be a beneficial tool used to quickly disengage from an encounter if you really need to. More often than not, though, it was more of an annoyance than anything. Still, Resident Evil is a spectacle, and is a nearly impeccably designed and tightly wound package that will continue to be the blueprint for all Survival Horror games for years to come.
Puzzles are fairly simple but rewarding, and the story is really intriguing. Having already played a few RE titles before this one, it was AWESOME to see how they set up future characters and plotlines in this game. I also LOVE how campy this game is. When I first played RE7 and later RE4 (my first two entries in the series), I thought there were some incredibly out-of-place lines of dialogue that made the characters sound silly or dumb, and even some enemy designs and plot points came across as too over-the-top for me. But having now played the original Resident Evil, I understand that camp is just as important in this series as survival, puzzles, story, and tense moments are.
The only gripe I have with Resident Evil is the loading screens between rooms. Constantly having to sit and wait for the next room to load started to get very tedious early on, but even this can be a beneficial tool used to quickly disengage from an encounter if you really need to. More often than not, though, it was more of an annoyance than anything. Still, Resident Evil is a spectacle, and is a nearly impeccably designed and tightly wound package that will continue to be the blueprint for all Survival Horror games for years to come.
2022
I was pleasantly surprised with NORCO, as I’m not really a fan of Point-and-Click adventure games and really only wanted to try it because it's leaving Game Pass this month. Lo and behold, NORCO is one of my favorite experiences I’ve had in gaming this year. As soon as I started the game, I was hooked due to the immediately compelling narrative, gorgeous pixel art and a creepy futuristic southern gothic aesthetic that I absolutely fell in love with. This game goes places that you would never expect, and is beautifully harrowing, macabre, and sometimes downright fucked up in its subject matter. Your journey starts off small in scale but by the end of the game, you’ve realized you’re in way over your head and that you could have never imagined how deep the rabbit hole really goes. I love how overtly NORCO ties religion to social media, as well as the tactful ways this game parodies internet culture and shows the dangers of the mob-mentality that is so abundant in our world today. Occasionally you’re met with some hysterical moments as well, which really do help to break up an otherwise deeply disturbing adventure. Only negatives are the “combat” in this game, if you can really call it that, and the fact that some characters lacked development and could have easily benefited from being explored more thoroughly.