BrunoV
These are still some of my favorite games of all time, and this is the best way to play them right now. It’s not much more than a new coat of paint, they are pretty much the same games underneath, but they look nicer and feel more cohesive as a trilogy.
There’s the jankiness that comes with age, the rather dated design elements and the combat never was much more than serviceable. The characters, writing and worldbuilding are where this series’ strength lie. We do not often get original epic space operas that are as detailed, fascinating and actually great as this one. It’s a true pleasure to come back to this universe every now and then.
There’s the jankiness that comes with age, the rather dated design elements and the combat never was much more than serviceable. The characters, writing and worldbuilding are where this series’ strength lie. We do not often get original epic space operas that are as detailed, fascinating and actually great as this one. It’s a true pleasure to come back to this universe every now and then.
2023
Instantly became one of my favorite games of all time. Easily the best release of 2023, and clearly the best gaming experience I’ve had in a while. A balanced mix of everything I love out of RPG storytelling and immersive sim, sandbox-y mechanics. It feels like a game specially made for me.
It also helps that I love fantasy and have been playing plenty of DnD for a while now. It makes terrific use of the Faerûn setting, and it’s wonderful to toy around with what are mostly one-to-one translations of the 5e mechanics as a player instead of a DM.
It’s an outstanding experience from start to finish. The writing and performances by the voice cast are impeccable, combat and exploration allow for an enormous amount of player freedom, the world is reactive and alive in a way that feels truly rewarding to explore every single nook and cranny.
There are some technical polish issues towards the end of the game, some that have been fixed already and some others that will be fixed in the coming weeks. I mostly no-lifed this playthrough since release, it took me longer than it took me to finish all three Mass Effect games in the Legendary Edition, and encountered 0 game breaking bugs, just a couple minor ones and some performance dips later on.
It’s a game I already want to return to roll a new character and have several ideas on how to approach it in several different ways in order to experience new stories, and I’m sure I won’t be the only one. I’ll wait a bit for now, until they update some stuff, so as to not burn out early. But I wholeheartedly encourage anyone even remotely interested in it to try it out, and there’s no time like the present.
It also helps that I love fantasy and have been playing plenty of DnD for a while now. It makes terrific use of the Faerûn setting, and it’s wonderful to toy around with what are mostly one-to-one translations of the 5e mechanics as a player instead of a DM.
It’s an outstanding experience from start to finish. The writing and performances by the voice cast are impeccable, combat and exploration allow for an enormous amount of player freedom, the world is reactive and alive in a way that feels truly rewarding to explore every single nook and cranny.
There are some technical polish issues towards the end of the game, some that have been fixed already and some others that will be fixed in the coming weeks. I mostly no-lifed this playthrough since release, it took me longer than it took me to finish all three Mass Effect games in the Legendary Edition, and encountered 0 game breaking bugs, just a couple minor ones and some performance dips later on.
It’s a game I already want to return to roll a new character and have several ideas on how to approach it in several different ways in order to experience new stories, and I’m sure I won’t be the only one. I’ll wait a bit for now, until they update some stuff, so as to not burn out early. But I wholeheartedly encourage anyone even remotely interested in it to try it out, and there’s no time like the present.
2013
As a modern urban city sandbox this is still pretty much unmatched. The city just makes sense as a space, it´s interactive, it´s populated, it really feels alive and most importantly it is fun to traverse and explore. There´s a crazy number of activities to partake in, you are sure to find something interesting there, and the famous GTA mayhem is as fun as ever. The shooting is ok, standard third person cover action, nothing special there. The driving is simply excellent, you are going to be driving a lot in this game, and it manages to always be engaging.
I’m not as fond of the story sadly. The main trio is very well realized and compliment each other wonderfully. All the systems introduced to make playing with three characters at once while also making them feel like individual characters work flawlessly. It´s just the narrative and its structure that doesn´t quite feel as polished as the other elements of the game. The plot is technically moving along, but it doesn’t feel like it goes anywhere or that there is any reason behind the things that are happening. It lacks some major end goal or evolution in its characters and story that leaves it feeling aimless and similar to doing a set of chores. I can’t help but compare it to Red Dead Redemption 2, which I believe is a way better game in pretty much every sense, where there always was something to look ahead for, plenty of unexpected surprises, and honestly, the strength of the writing and characters held up any sequences that might feel a bit lackluster in comparison. Here it seems like they are hiding behind the irreverent tone and jokey satire to not really develop much of anything, and the comedy and satire are not nearly as solid as they should be to carry the momentum all by themselves. It starts strong, but it just becomes more of the same as it goes along, never really surprising the player nor justifying itself. I also played a bunch of the side missions and while they have some interesting moments, they don’t really amount to much sadly.
I´m not even remotely interested in trying out the Online component.
Amazing city sandbox, not so great story, you probably have already played this, so you know it already.
I’m not as fond of the story sadly. The main trio is very well realized and compliment each other wonderfully. All the systems introduced to make playing with three characters at once while also making them feel like individual characters work flawlessly. It´s just the narrative and its structure that doesn´t quite feel as polished as the other elements of the game. The plot is technically moving along, but it doesn’t feel like it goes anywhere or that there is any reason behind the things that are happening. It lacks some major end goal or evolution in its characters and story that leaves it feeling aimless and similar to doing a set of chores. I can’t help but compare it to Red Dead Redemption 2, which I believe is a way better game in pretty much every sense, where there always was something to look ahead for, plenty of unexpected surprises, and honestly, the strength of the writing and characters held up any sequences that might feel a bit lackluster in comparison. Here it seems like they are hiding behind the irreverent tone and jokey satire to not really develop much of anything, and the comedy and satire are not nearly as solid as they should be to carry the momentum all by themselves. It starts strong, but it just becomes more of the same as it goes along, never really surprising the player nor justifying itself. I also played a bunch of the side missions and while they have some interesting moments, they don’t really amount to much sadly.
I´m not even remotely interested in trying out the Online component.
Amazing city sandbox, not so great story, you probably have already played this, so you know it already.
2019
It’s hard not to play and think about this game in relation to Sam Barlow’s other superior directorial efforts in the FMV space, Her Story and Immortality. Telling Lies sits as the awkward middle child, bigger and more convoluted than the first one, but not as groundbreaking nor sophisticated as the latter. Clearly a necessary creative steppingstone for the team, it sadly isn´t nearly as compelling, surprising nor artful as the other two games.
it keeps the same basic method of interaction as Her Story, but fails in truly understanding what makes the clip watching and investigation move forward. I’ve read the same complaint over and over again, the videos are too long, with too many spaces without relevant information because of the nature of them being secretly recorded, one-sided, phone conversations, and the fast forwarding is too slow. And I have the same complaints. I’ve also read that the intention of the developers was to make that ‘scrolling’ intentionally cumbersome in order to force players to search through keywords and locate the beginning, or at least the important part of each conversation clip. There’s an issue here, and it is that that aspect of the investigation is never compelling at all. There’s no real incentive in making the effort of trying to figure out where the relevant part of each conversation begins other than scrolling through the clips being a pain in the ass. There’s not much else in terms of gameplay to talk about, it’s the same as in Her Story, only made duller because of the addition of unnecessary complexity.
The story is solid enough. Fairly basic in terms of narrative, we’ve seen similar stuff before, and the style of narration and succession of events feels closer to a traditional movie or narrative than Her Story and Immortality. In my case I felt like it started fairly slow and dully, and wasn´t truly engaged until I reached around 2 hours of playtime. Maybe it’s because it felt familiar or annoying to play, but it managed to offer enough twists and reveals to keep me engaged the rest of the way. There’s a point where you just get what is going on and the story doesn’t offer much new going forward.
There’s a lot more to chew on from a thematic standpoint. There are some really interesting things being touched upon in terms of toxic masculinity, surveillance, activism, etc. And those are the things that I ended up appreciating more and the ones that kept me coming back to try and finish it. It's a short game, and if you liked Her Story I think you'll at least get some enjoyment out of this, just maybe don't expect the same level of engagement.
As expected by now with these Sam Barlow games, the performances are excellent. Some recognizable faces here just doing great work.
it keeps the same basic method of interaction as Her Story, but fails in truly understanding what makes the clip watching and investigation move forward. I’ve read the same complaint over and over again, the videos are too long, with too many spaces without relevant information because of the nature of them being secretly recorded, one-sided, phone conversations, and the fast forwarding is too slow. And I have the same complaints. I’ve also read that the intention of the developers was to make that ‘scrolling’ intentionally cumbersome in order to force players to search through keywords and locate the beginning, or at least the important part of each conversation clip. There’s an issue here, and it is that that aspect of the investigation is never compelling at all. There’s no real incentive in making the effort of trying to figure out where the relevant part of each conversation begins other than scrolling through the clips being a pain in the ass. There’s not much else in terms of gameplay to talk about, it’s the same as in Her Story, only made duller because of the addition of unnecessary complexity.
The story is solid enough. Fairly basic in terms of narrative, we’ve seen similar stuff before, and the style of narration and succession of events feels closer to a traditional movie or narrative than Her Story and Immortality. In my case I felt like it started fairly slow and dully, and wasn´t truly engaged until I reached around 2 hours of playtime. Maybe it’s because it felt familiar or annoying to play, but it managed to offer enough twists and reveals to keep me engaged the rest of the way. There’s a point where you just get what is going on and the story doesn’t offer much new going forward.
There’s a lot more to chew on from a thematic standpoint. There are some really interesting things being touched upon in terms of toxic masculinity, surveillance, activism, etc. And those are the things that I ended up appreciating more and the ones that kept me coming back to try and finish it. It's a short game, and if you liked Her Story I think you'll at least get some enjoyment out of this, just maybe don't expect the same level of engagement.
As expected by now with these Sam Barlow games, the performances are excellent. Some recognizable faces here just doing great work.
It's good enough for what it's trying to be. Nothing really game changing here, just more Half-Life, which is cool. Really short and kinda uncompelling in the narrative department, while still managing to feel rather repetitive and dull at parts. Alyx is still great, and here you get to spend a bit more time with her through the story, and there are some cutscenes that offer some real spectacle and scale. I just don´t see how this adds anything of consequence to the Half-Life series as a whole. It´s not the next step, it´s a bit more of the same.
The music score goes insanely hard though.
The music score goes insanely hard though.
Truly a fascinating approach to a sequel to the original Silent Hill. It does away with the direct cult shenanigans centric narrative of the first one and focuses instead on a purely internal and personal psyche-based plot. And honestly there isn´t much of plot here, which works in favor of what the game is trying to do and say.
Right now I feel like I like this approach to Silent Hill better. Here the surrealism and insanity doesn´t just come from a supernatural presence, it´s internal and more up in the air with its reasoning and motivations. More obtuse I would say, and doesn´t really want to give answers to its events, which I like and appreciate. It’s through this approach that it clearly becomes a more mature experience than its predecessor.
The David Lynch inspiration comes easily. There´s this uncanny sheen to every element of this game’s story and overall structure. An uncanniness that I tend to associate with the surreal and zany elements of Lynch’s oeuvre. But because of its nature as a digital interactive medium, the ‘videogame-ness’ of it all adds an extra, very particular, layer of weirdness and surrealism to the experience.
While most locations didn´t necessarily feel as fresh or shocking as they are fairly similar to what is to be found in the previous game (excepting some really fascinating ones in the latter section of this one), the characters are a clear standout. They feel developed, interesting and memorable in a way no character in Silent Hill 1 felt. Obviously, this is all the more clear with the player controlled character. Here James is a real protagonist, with an arc, and actual three dimensionality as a person. Even Mary, the fridged wife, has more of a personality than any character in SH1.
In terms of gameplay, it´s very simple and pretty much identical to SH1, you’ll walk around, read clues, pick up useful items, check your map, solve a puzzle here, solve a riddle there, kill a monstrous abomination with a steel pipe or a gun, stomp on it a little to really make sure its dead. Not hard per se, just kind of obtuse like pretty much every other game of this type that released around this time. But exploration is fun, and spooky and the environments are so rich and detailed that it’s worth it.
You are mostly here for the story, the scary atmosphere, the truly fucked up designs and environments, and I must make special mention of the musical score, which absolutely fucks hard. It’s some insanely good music, some of the best ever written for the medium, and an album that now listen to often.
A horror game that knows how to deliver a proper gut punch. I loved the ending I got this time around, and the final letter that plays before the credits just destroyed me.
‘Born from a wish’ is short, so play it too, but it doesn’t really add anything all that interesting. I guess it worked as a bonus for certain game editions at the time of its release, but pretty much non essential.
I played the Enhanced Edition on PC, at 60 fps, and it plays and looks flawlessly. It feels like a modern port pretty much, this must be the best way to play this game today. I’m extremely curious about this new remake that is being developed by Bloober Team, as I truly do not understand how you remake this game for modern audiences without changing plenty of stuff that make it special and would fundamentally alter any experience one could have with it. I’m not saying it would be bad, I just don´t believe that it would be a superior experience, nor the definitive one as with the Resident Evil 2 Remake, just a very different one that I’m very much looking forward to trying out.
Right now I feel like I like this approach to Silent Hill better. Here the surrealism and insanity doesn´t just come from a supernatural presence, it´s internal and more up in the air with its reasoning and motivations. More obtuse I would say, and doesn´t really want to give answers to its events, which I like and appreciate. It’s through this approach that it clearly becomes a more mature experience than its predecessor.
The David Lynch inspiration comes easily. There´s this uncanny sheen to every element of this game’s story and overall structure. An uncanniness that I tend to associate with the surreal and zany elements of Lynch’s oeuvre. But because of its nature as a digital interactive medium, the ‘videogame-ness’ of it all adds an extra, very particular, layer of weirdness and surrealism to the experience.
While most locations didn´t necessarily feel as fresh or shocking as they are fairly similar to what is to be found in the previous game (excepting some really fascinating ones in the latter section of this one), the characters are a clear standout. They feel developed, interesting and memorable in a way no character in Silent Hill 1 felt. Obviously, this is all the more clear with the player controlled character. Here James is a real protagonist, with an arc, and actual three dimensionality as a person. Even Mary, the fridged wife, has more of a personality than any character in SH1.
In terms of gameplay, it´s very simple and pretty much identical to SH1, you’ll walk around, read clues, pick up useful items, check your map, solve a puzzle here, solve a riddle there, kill a monstrous abomination with a steel pipe or a gun, stomp on it a little to really make sure its dead. Not hard per se, just kind of obtuse like pretty much every other game of this type that released around this time. But exploration is fun, and spooky and the environments are so rich and detailed that it’s worth it.
You are mostly here for the story, the scary atmosphere, the truly fucked up designs and environments, and I must make special mention of the musical score, which absolutely fucks hard. It’s some insanely good music, some of the best ever written for the medium, and an album that now listen to often.
A horror game that knows how to deliver a proper gut punch. I loved the ending I got this time around, and the final letter that plays before the credits just destroyed me.
‘Born from a wish’ is short, so play it too, but it doesn’t really add anything all that interesting. I guess it worked as a bonus for certain game editions at the time of its release, but pretty much non essential.
I played the Enhanced Edition on PC, at 60 fps, and it plays and looks flawlessly. It feels like a modern port pretty much, this must be the best way to play this game today. I’m extremely curious about this new remake that is being developed by Bloober Team, as I truly do not understand how you remake this game for modern audiences without changing plenty of stuff that make it special and would fundamentally alter any experience one could have with it. I’m not saying it would be bad, I just don´t believe that it would be a superior experience, nor the definitive one as with the Resident Evil 2 Remake, just a very different one that I’m very much looking forward to trying out.
2022
In terms of art design, environment design, and just overall graphical fidelity it’s an impeccable work of art. In terms of gameplay, it’s an exceedingly frustrating experience. It’s an experience that really needs to be streamlined and focused on what works. The addition of half baked gameplay systems like combat and puzzles feel added because they are things people expect out of videogames rather than being stuff that the team felt should be there and would enhance the gameplay experience. Combat is straight up terrible, and best avoided when possible, and even when it should be possible to avoid these encounters hit boxes tend to work in such a way where this avoidance isn´t even possible. Puzzles range from extremely obtuse to mind numbingly stupid, there is no real in between there. Same happens with exploration, some levels are extremely confusing to traverse through, while most are just linear hallways that look gnarly. The only consistent aspect of the game is how fucking gnarly it is. The gore and just crazy shit that you’ll be looking at all the time is what made push ahead and reach credits. If it wasn´t for that and for the mercifully short length, I would have quit and uninstalled plenty of times before.
2023
It’s an easy recommendation to anyone who’s into the whole Harry Potter/Hogwarts world. As long as you know what to expect I don’t think anyone could be really disappointed with it.
With that said, I was disappointed with many aspects of this game. I’ll first start with the positives I got out of it, and I can say that I mostly had a positive experience playing it. It’s pretty spectacular in terms of art design. It’s a very pretty game that nails the aesthetics parameters set by the movies, with some of the wackier elements of the books mixed in as well.
As it stands right now it’s the definitive Hogwarts exploration experience. The castle is recreated to perfection, inch by inch of what was shown in previous material with some much-needed connective tissue included. Same goes for Hogsmeade and other areas that are recreated here.
In terms of its combat, I feel like they did well in going for a hack n slash combo-based approach to the magic spells. It’s simple enough to not alienate possible players and complex enough to not get extremely stale immediately, allowing you to shake up combat encounters a bit if needed.
The story has some nice sequences and set pieces, a few of which border on breathtaking, and some compelling characters and side quests. Players could appreciate the adventure they are being set upon, Harry Potter fans might enjoy the soy face “remember that” moments, but I felt that it lacked the friendship and teen hijinks element that I always enjoyed the most in Harry Potter books.
Maybe the single biggest issue I have with the game’s story is how bland the protagonist is. I get that the fantasy of making your own character is key for a Hogwarts game to succeed, and I agree that the option should be present, but here there is no real roleplay opportunities to make your character interesting on your own and the narrative doesn’t do the issue any favors. What makes rpg narratives in videogames where you create your own character truly memorable is mostly the strength of its side characters and the possibility of shaping your experience, and Hogwarts Leagacy has neither. I don´t think I´ll remember the names of the main cast in a week.
The problem with Hogwarts Legacy is that it is a shallow game. A game that so clearly tried to cram everything that is remotely popular in mainstream western open world rpg-lite games that it forgot to actually develop and dive deep into any of its parts. It’s a game that looks pretty but doesn´t have much underneath.
The castle, that looks great and is huge, has virtually nothing to do in it. Yes, there are hidden collectibles, tiny puzzles that allow you to get some gear or a micro lore page to tick off the box, but you’ll never do anything more interesting than following the marker to the next quest. The castle doesn´t change, there´s no interaction with it, no real reason to explore or spend time there, it’s set dressing. I can only imagine what that space could have been if not for the inclusion of a humongous open world that feels even duller to explore than the castle is.
This open world environment is filled with tiny map markers, comprised of repetitive activities that I’m sure not even the developers have any interest in completing. I can understand wanting to include Hogsmeade or other iconic locations in the game, but there really is no further justification for it otherwise. It’s crystal-clear padding. Padding for runtime, padding to give players something to do, padding to easily justify the AAA tag, because bigger is better always, right?
Pretty much the whole story could have taken place in Hogwarts and its immediate surroundings. You just go to a place that you’ve seen before, enter a cave, fight some baddies, rinse and repeat. There’s no real sense of exploration nor wonder here, and for a game about magic this kinda sucks.
I’m convinced that this would have been a much better game if it were a more linear experience and the whole open world fluff was cut out of it.
In terms of its combat, the basic spell mechanics are fun enough and don’t get old all that fast, but the rest of the adjacent systems are superfluous. At least while playing in normal difficulty, I never felt the need to engage with the potions or combat plants at all. The whole gear system is also truly unnecessary and unengaging, it feels like it’s only there to give players something to loot when going out into the world or solving puzzles to get to chests. You can technically improve the gear, but once again, never felt the need to do it and I doubt most players even touched that possibility. Some talent upgrades have cool effects, but they never shake up the gameplay loop enough to actually become invested in leveling your character up. It’s another underbaked and underdeveloped system that in its current form has no reason for being there at all.
The Room of Requirement also falls under the same umbrella. Several of these underbaked gameplay systems are connected to it. The only real ‘magical’ and interactable place in Hogwarts really gives you no reason to spend time in it and interact with it. Everything you can do here is completely pointless and disconnected from the rest of the game both in terms of gameplay and narrative.
It's hard to separate what the games is and what I hope it was. I really wish that the devs looked more towards games like Persona or Fire Emblem Three Houses for inspiration rather than to The Witcher 3 if they wanted to produce a rpg experience. I would have been fine with a bombastic AAA linear experience if that meant not getting this middle of the road, meandering attempt at a fully-fledged AAA rpg. For a Hogwarts themed game, I would assume that the magical high-school experience that most kids actually fantasized with when reading those books would have been their north star. It clearly wasn´t and I don’t really understand why.
I’m pretty negative about the game, but it’s mostly because I expected something more out of it. There’s plenty of hours of entertainment here, in a beautifully detailed setting, with some compelling story beats sprinkled about and fun combo-based combat. Just focus on the main quest and you’ll have a nice time. There’s a strong core here that I hope can be further developed once sequels or spinoffs start coming out. As it stands it´s an average game with potential. And now it doesn´t run all that bad on PC.
With that said, I was disappointed with many aspects of this game. I’ll first start with the positives I got out of it, and I can say that I mostly had a positive experience playing it. It’s pretty spectacular in terms of art design. It’s a very pretty game that nails the aesthetics parameters set by the movies, with some of the wackier elements of the books mixed in as well.
As it stands right now it’s the definitive Hogwarts exploration experience. The castle is recreated to perfection, inch by inch of what was shown in previous material with some much-needed connective tissue included. Same goes for Hogsmeade and other areas that are recreated here.
In terms of its combat, I feel like they did well in going for a hack n slash combo-based approach to the magic spells. It’s simple enough to not alienate possible players and complex enough to not get extremely stale immediately, allowing you to shake up combat encounters a bit if needed.
The story has some nice sequences and set pieces, a few of which border on breathtaking, and some compelling characters and side quests. Players could appreciate the adventure they are being set upon, Harry Potter fans might enjoy the soy face “remember that” moments, but I felt that it lacked the friendship and teen hijinks element that I always enjoyed the most in Harry Potter books.
Maybe the single biggest issue I have with the game’s story is how bland the protagonist is. I get that the fantasy of making your own character is key for a Hogwarts game to succeed, and I agree that the option should be present, but here there is no real roleplay opportunities to make your character interesting on your own and the narrative doesn’t do the issue any favors. What makes rpg narratives in videogames where you create your own character truly memorable is mostly the strength of its side characters and the possibility of shaping your experience, and Hogwarts Leagacy has neither. I don´t think I´ll remember the names of the main cast in a week.
The problem with Hogwarts Legacy is that it is a shallow game. A game that so clearly tried to cram everything that is remotely popular in mainstream western open world rpg-lite games that it forgot to actually develop and dive deep into any of its parts. It’s a game that looks pretty but doesn´t have much underneath.
The castle, that looks great and is huge, has virtually nothing to do in it. Yes, there are hidden collectibles, tiny puzzles that allow you to get some gear or a micro lore page to tick off the box, but you’ll never do anything more interesting than following the marker to the next quest. The castle doesn´t change, there´s no interaction with it, no real reason to explore or spend time there, it’s set dressing. I can only imagine what that space could have been if not for the inclusion of a humongous open world that feels even duller to explore than the castle is.
This open world environment is filled with tiny map markers, comprised of repetitive activities that I’m sure not even the developers have any interest in completing. I can understand wanting to include Hogsmeade or other iconic locations in the game, but there really is no further justification for it otherwise. It’s crystal-clear padding. Padding for runtime, padding to give players something to do, padding to easily justify the AAA tag, because bigger is better always, right?
Pretty much the whole story could have taken place in Hogwarts and its immediate surroundings. You just go to a place that you’ve seen before, enter a cave, fight some baddies, rinse and repeat. There’s no real sense of exploration nor wonder here, and for a game about magic this kinda sucks.
I’m convinced that this would have been a much better game if it were a more linear experience and the whole open world fluff was cut out of it.
In terms of its combat, the basic spell mechanics are fun enough and don’t get old all that fast, but the rest of the adjacent systems are superfluous. At least while playing in normal difficulty, I never felt the need to engage with the potions or combat plants at all. The whole gear system is also truly unnecessary and unengaging, it feels like it’s only there to give players something to loot when going out into the world or solving puzzles to get to chests. You can technically improve the gear, but once again, never felt the need to do it and I doubt most players even touched that possibility. Some talent upgrades have cool effects, but they never shake up the gameplay loop enough to actually become invested in leveling your character up. It’s another underbaked and underdeveloped system that in its current form has no reason for being there at all.
The Room of Requirement also falls under the same umbrella. Several of these underbaked gameplay systems are connected to it. The only real ‘magical’ and interactable place in Hogwarts really gives you no reason to spend time in it and interact with it. Everything you can do here is completely pointless and disconnected from the rest of the game both in terms of gameplay and narrative.
It's hard to separate what the games is and what I hope it was. I really wish that the devs looked more towards games like Persona or Fire Emblem Three Houses for inspiration rather than to The Witcher 3 if they wanted to produce a rpg experience. I would have been fine with a bombastic AAA linear experience if that meant not getting this middle of the road, meandering attempt at a fully-fledged AAA rpg. For a Hogwarts themed game, I would assume that the magical high-school experience that most kids actually fantasized with when reading those books would have been their north star. It clearly wasn´t and I don’t really understand why.
I’m pretty negative about the game, but it’s mostly because I expected something more out of it. There’s plenty of hours of entertainment here, in a beautifully detailed setting, with some compelling story beats sprinkled about and fun combo-based combat. Just focus on the main quest and you’ll have a nice time. There’s a strong core here that I hope can be further developed once sequels or spinoffs start coming out. As it stands it´s an average game with potential. And now it doesn´t run all that bad on PC.
After not really enjoying the original trilogy all that much, I was really surprised by how much fun I had playing these two. I can appreciate the Nathan Drake collection for its place in gaming history, and they are well made linear action-adventure games with a middle of the road story and so-so characters. These new ones do follow in the originals’ footsteps, but also add so much more to the previously established blueprint, shaking it up just enough to turn it into something truly enjoyable and engaging at all times.
It's more than clear by now that making The Last of Us changed Naughty Dog for the better. Here we have Uncharted with actual character development and real emotional stakes. Nathan Drake has an arc, Sam has an arc, even Elena has an arc. The bad guy is a charismatic and threatening presence. For the first time I can say that an Uncharted story is a delight to play through.
In terms of presentation, it is pretty much unmatched. It still looks gorgeous, nearly photorealistic at times. Character models look great, the animation is dynamic and seemingly limitless in its variations, and the scenery work is outstanding. So many scenic vistas, I can only imagine the work this team put into them.
The overall structure follows the same pre-established mold. Cutscene, some platforming, combat arena, rinse and repeat. It doesn’t innovate in that sense, but what it does is innovate in each individual element of that structure, avoiding completely the tedium that it generated for me in the previous three games. As I said, cutscenes here have weight and are compelling to watch. Platforming isn’t just jumping from handhold to handhold anymore as some additions, especially the new rope, have added a layer of dynamism that was much needed to make these sections enjoyable for a longer gaming experience. And combat is now an even more polished experience, with smarter and more varied enemies, a larger arsenal of weapons, and a completely overhauled stealth option, that while it still isn’t my preferred form of engagement, it has become a very valid approach to combat sequences.
The Lost Legacy keeps everything that makes Uncharted 4 great and condenses it into a shorter and more contained experience, that still makes for some of the best the series has to offer. It can easily stand next to A Thief’s End without feeling overshadowed.
Overall, these two games are some of the best work Naught Dog has ever released, and the best the Uncharted franchise has to offer. I’d even encourage people to avoid the original three and dive into this one as soon as possible.
It's more than clear by now that making The Last of Us changed Naughty Dog for the better. Here we have Uncharted with actual character development and real emotional stakes. Nathan Drake has an arc, Sam has an arc, even Elena has an arc. The bad guy is a charismatic and threatening presence. For the first time I can say that an Uncharted story is a delight to play through.
In terms of presentation, it is pretty much unmatched. It still looks gorgeous, nearly photorealistic at times. Character models look great, the animation is dynamic and seemingly limitless in its variations, and the scenery work is outstanding. So many scenic vistas, I can only imagine the work this team put into them.
The overall structure follows the same pre-established mold. Cutscene, some platforming, combat arena, rinse and repeat. It doesn’t innovate in that sense, but what it does is innovate in each individual element of that structure, avoiding completely the tedium that it generated for me in the previous three games. As I said, cutscenes here have weight and are compelling to watch. Platforming isn’t just jumping from handhold to handhold anymore as some additions, especially the new rope, have added a layer of dynamism that was much needed to make these sections enjoyable for a longer gaming experience. And combat is now an even more polished experience, with smarter and more varied enemies, a larger arsenal of weapons, and a completely overhauled stealth option, that while it still isn’t my preferred form of engagement, it has become a very valid approach to combat sequences.
The Lost Legacy keeps everything that makes Uncharted 4 great and condenses it into a shorter and more contained experience, that still makes for some of the best the series has to offer. It can easily stand next to A Thief’s End without feeling overshadowed.
Overall, these two games are some of the best work Naught Dog has ever released, and the best the Uncharted franchise has to offer. I’d even encourage people to avoid the original three and dive into this one as soon as possible.
Honestly this is a game I can barely recommend. Pretty much only play this if you are really curious about the AC franchise and really want to try out the game that started it all. If that’s not you, I’m tempted to recommend skipping it altogether. It’s pretty cheap on a discount, so feel free to try it out though.
The PC port is not good. It isn´t unplayable, but it’s really not good. Mostly in terms of compatibility with newer setups and overall controller input. It’s already a game with janky elements, made even jankier by this port.
It’s an interesting game and I can see why it became so popular when it released. The setting is awesome and one we basically never see in games. It kinda tries to be historical fiction, which I appreciate. There’s also this flow that the game falls into when everything is working properly that is quite engaging. The problem is that it everything doesn’t work properly all of the time.
There’s a lot here that is impressive for its time, but there also is a lot of jank. Some that comes with age, some that I’m pretty sure was always there. Platforming and free running are cool in concept, but rapidly becomes extremely unprecise and unwieldy. The auto-jumping has a tendency to go nuts and the character likes to get stuck at times, completely breaking the flow the game is trying to maintain in these sequences. I was rather impressed by the physics simulation and the NPC density and reactions though.
Combat is button-mashy, very simple in terms of options available to engage enemies, and stealth options are also rather limited, making the non-engagement of enemies pretty much unviable in the long term.
In terms of the gameplay loop, there really isn´t much more to it. The latter half of the game gets a bit more varied in the structure of its main missions. You’ll always end up going to a new section of a city map, unlock a couple of towers by climbing them, dispel the fog of war and unlock some side activities, repeat a couple of these activities (which are all basically the same objectives, repeated over and over), unlock the main assassination, complete it and do this again and again and again. It’s the same exact structure all the time, and as I said, there is some variation in the missions later on, but during it’s first half all main assassinations are pretty similar, and all side activities are the same.
In terms of narrative, it isn’t all that interesting either. Both the ‘present day’ framing device and the main Altair plot are very shallow and by the numbers. The Altair story has its interesting setting and occasional compelling moments going for it. The framing device has nothing, a really uninteresting and convoluted concept that should have been left on the cutting room floor. Altair is a bland protagonist though; the side characters shine a bit more. I would have loved if the PC version included subtitles, alas it doesn´t.
An interesting piece of gaming history, the point of origin for a massive videogame franchise, I think I appreciate it more in that context than as a game I played this year. But, it’s a short game, and I think that there is plenty here to be entertained and appreciate for the length of its main story. If curious check it out, if it seems dull don’t feel bad about dropping it and booting up some of its more accomplished successors.
The PC port is not good. It isn´t unplayable, but it’s really not good. Mostly in terms of compatibility with newer setups and overall controller input. It’s already a game with janky elements, made even jankier by this port.
It’s an interesting game and I can see why it became so popular when it released. The setting is awesome and one we basically never see in games. It kinda tries to be historical fiction, which I appreciate. There’s also this flow that the game falls into when everything is working properly that is quite engaging. The problem is that it everything doesn’t work properly all of the time.
There’s a lot here that is impressive for its time, but there also is a lot of jank. Some that comes with age, some that I’m pretty sure was always there. Platforming and free running are cool in concept, but rapidly becomes extremely unprecise and unwieldy. The auto-jumping has a tendency to go nuts and the character likes to get stuck at times, completely breaking the flow the game is trying to maintain in these sequences. I was rather impressed by the physics simulation and the NPC density and reactions though.
Combat is button-mashy, very simple in terms of options available to engage enemies, and stealth options are also rather limited, making the non-engagement of enemies pretty much unviable in the long term.
In terms of the gameplay loop, there really isn´t much more to it. The latter half of the game gets a bit more varied in the structure of its main missions. You’ll always end up going to a new section of a city map, unlock a couple of towers by climbing them, dispel the fog of war and unlock some side activities, repeat a couple of these activities (which are all basically the same objectives, repeated over and over), unlock the main assassination, complete it and do this again and again and again. It’s the same exact structure all the time, and as I said, there is some variation in the missions later on, but during it’s first half all main assassinations are pretty similar, and all side activities are the same.
In terms of narrative, it isn’t all that interesting either. Both the ‘present day’ framing device and the main Altair plot are very shallow and by the numbers. The Altair story has its interesting setting and occasional compelling moments going for it. The framing device has nothing, a really uninteresting and convoluted concept that should have been left on the cutting room floor. Altair is a bland protagonist though; the side characters shine a bit more. I would have loved if the PC version included subtitles, alas it doesn´t.
An interesting piece of gaming history, the point of origin for a massive videogame franchise, I think I appreciate it more in that context than as a game I played this year. But, it’s a short game, and I think that there is plenty here to be entertained and appreciate for the length of its main story. If curious check it out, if it seems dull don’t feel bad about dropping it and booting up some of its more accomplished successors.
2023
A near perfect update of the original Resident Evil 4, and I must say I enjoyed playing this one a bit more. It looks gorgeous, runs flawlessly, and the narrative is more compelling here. It retains some of the weirdness of the original while making it a fresh and more cohesive gameplay experience.
While combat is really fun, I was left missing a true dodge option for controlling Leon. Quick movement and trying to escape close encounter combat got too janky at times without an option that wasn’t context sensitive. This and some pretty hard difficulty spikes in Normal difficulty (which involve having to care for Ashley, though her improved AI makes her an enjoyable companion this time around) are my only gripes with the game.
I very much enjoyed the twists added in there for returning players of the original, and the overall expansion of character moments and stories. The side objectives that are scattered throughout the game are solid enough to offer more game-time for players looking to stretch their campaigns, or gather more resources in higher difficulties, but stay non-essential and unintrusive for the players who would rather mainline the story.
Best Resident Evil release since RE2 Remake.
While combat is really fun, I was left missing a true dodge option for controlling Leon. Quick movement and trying to escape close encounter combat got too janky at times without an option that wasn’t context sensitive. This and some pretty hard difficulty spikes in Normal difficulty (which involve having to care for Ashley, though her improved AI makes her an enjoyable companion this time around) are my only gripes with the game.
I very much enjoyed the twists added in there for returning players of the original, and the overall expansion of character moments and stories. The side objectives that are scattered throughout the game are solid enough to offer more game-time for players looking to stretch their campaigns, or gather more resources in higher difficulties, but stay non-essential and unintrusive for the players who would rather mainline the story.
Best Resident Evil release since RE2 Remake.
A solid near-three-hour Resident Evil experience, that fleshes out Village’s ending and manages to breathe new life to some of that game’s most iconic locations. The third person perspective implementation is a bit janky, especially considering how smooth playing the Resident Evil 4 remake is, but it’s serviceable and never presented major issues other than the combat being a bit sluggish.
It's story heavy, and it’s a really fun one, with some new and returning characters. It’s also fairly scary and creepy, not as visceral as Village was, but close enough. A worthwhile addition to the game and the franchise.
It's story heavy, and it’s a really fun one, with some new and returning characters. It’s also fairly scary and creepy, not as visceral as Village was, but close enough. A worthwhile addition to the game and the franchise.
2001
Awesome game that has mostly aged like fine wine. Platforming isn’t its strongest suit, and there was a certain jankyness, especially with the camera and npcs getting slightly stuck in some sequences, but overall, the PC port presented no issues whatsoever.
Everything else is working at the highest level possible for a 2001 third person shooter. The story is a delight. A brooding, extremely serious but not afraid to get goofy and weird, noir. Consistently engaging, as edgy as it needs to be, a masterclass in establishing and maintaining tone and atmosphere. I love the graphic novel narrative device too. Max is just an awesome character to play as. The more I read into the game and its layers the more I like what it’s going for.
The gameplay loop is extremely satisfying and addictive. Shotting as Max Payne is simply too much fun. Bullet time is such a compelling mechanic, kinda surprising I haven’t played more shooters that attempt this kind of thing. Superhot is the one that comes to mind right now. Every encounter is kind of a puzzle as well.
Wonderful level design and sense of place. Spectacular worldbuilding and a musical score I’ll remember fondly.
Everything else is working at the highest level possible for a 2001 third person shooter. The story is a delight. A brooding, extremely serious but not afraid to get goofy and weird, noir. Consistently engaging, as edgy as it needs to be, a masterclass in establishing and maintaining tone and atmosphere. I love the graphic novel narrative device too. Max is just an awesome character to play as. The more I read into the game and its layers the more I like what it’s going for.
The gameplay loop is extremely satisfying and addictive. Shotting as Max Payne is simply too much fun. Bullet time is such a compelling mechanic, kinda surprising I haven’t played more shooters that attempt this kind of thing. Superhot is the one that comes to mind right now. Every encounter is kind of a puzzle as well.
Wonderful level design and sense of place. Spectacular worldbuilding and a musical score I’ll remember fondly.
2012
An utterly fascinating game. It both feels kinda gross and upsetting to play, but I just couldn’t stop playing it. Extremely satisfying in terms of gameplay, it’s easy to see how GTA V’s gunplay is just a watered-down version of what Rockstar achieved here. Shooting people in the face is as fun as it was in the Remedy Max Payne, only here I end up feeling kinda bad and a bit grossed out when the final bullet of the level is shown splitting someone’s head open in slow motion. Maybe only this and The Last of Us Part 2 have managed to make me feel both extremely satisfied and completely repulsed when finally killing everyone who stood in my way.
In terms of narrative, it quickly separates itself from the two previous entries by being extremely self-serious but without an inch of goofyness nor self-mockery. Max Payne 3 is pure, unadulterated hard-boiled stuff. There are glimpses of satire, but this isn’t GTA, this is mostly the real world we live in, and it’s presented as such at all times. While it’s treatment of poverty, gang violence, south America and specifically Brazil leave plenty to be desired, I really liked the way Max’s character is developed throughout, especially his relationship with alcohol. Surprisingly nuanced for a series and a game that normally lacks nuance. The rest of the cast is compelling when they show up but mostly rather forgettable after. There’s no Mona Sax here, no Jack Lupino, no Lt. Bravura, instead we get the Branco family, people whom I would have gladly shot in the face if given the opportunity to do so.
The way the story is presented is what truly grabbed me. A mix of fully animated cutscenes and Max’s inner monologue during gameplay replace the graphic novel panels I so much loved. Still, even though I can admit that the game contains way too many cutscenes, interrupting gameplay incessantly, these cutscenes are simply a delight to watch. They ooze style at all times. Rockstar’s signature handheld camera cinematography is present here, but it’s the heavy use of filters, transitions and split frames that won over my heart. I wish more games would approach cutscenes this way.
I need to make a special mention here. The soundtrack is impeccable. It’s hard to follow up such iconic soundtracks but HEALTH absolutely nailed it. I’m pretty sure I like it even more than the one present in Max’s previous outings. Especially the credits song, the one that plays in the airport sequence, what a wonderful piece of music. It’s a mix of thumping electronic sounds, synths, industrial banging, all of what made the Max Payne soundscape special brought to new life.
Even though the game insists on portraying Sao Pablo as either gross and poor or shiny and new, I must say that it’s an incredibly detailed portrayal of these spaces. Maybe it’s because the levels are focused and linear, but I was truly surprised by how much stuff populates these places and how much of the detail they got right.
In terms of narrative, it quickly separates itself from the two previous entries by being extremely self-serious but without an inch of goofyness nor self-mockery. Max Payne 3 is pure, unadulterated hard-boiled stuff. There are glimpses of satire, but this isn’t GTA, this is mostly the real world we live in, and it’s presented as such at all times. While it’s treatment of poverty, gang violence, south America and specifically Brazil leave plenty to be desired, I really liked the way Max’s character is developed throughout, especially his relationship with alcohol. Surprisingly nuanced for a series and a game that normally lacks nuance. The rest of the cast is compelling when they show up but mostly rather forgettable after. There’s no Mona Sax here, no Jack Lupino, no Lt. Bravura, instead we get the Branco family, people whom I would have gladly shot in the face if given the opportunity to do so.
The way the story is presented is what truly grabbed me. A mix of fully animated cutscenes and Max’s inner monologue during gameplay replace the graphic novel panels I so much loved. Still, even though I can admit that the game contains way too many cutscenes, interrupting gameplay incessantly, these cutscenes are simply a delight to watch. They ooze style at all times. Rockstar’s signature handheld camera cinematography is present here, but it’s the heavy use of filters, transitions and split frames that won over my heart. I wish more games would approach cutscenes this way.
I need to make a special mention here. The soundtrack is impeccable. It’s hard to follow up such iconic soundtracks but HEALTH absolutely nailed it. I’m pretty sure I like it even more than the one present in Max’s previous outings. Especially the credits song, the one that plays in the airport sequence, what a wonderful piece of music. It’s a mix of thumping electronic sounds, synths, industrial banging, all of what made the Max Payne soundscape special brought to new life.
Even though the game insists on portraying Sao Pablo as either gross and poor or shiny and new, I must say that it’s an incredibly detailed portrayal of these spaces. Maybe it’s because the levels are focused and linear, but I was truly surprised by how much stuff populates these places and how much of the detail they got right.
A “just ok” addition to the Remedy canon. Only really worth playing if you really like how Alan Wake handled combat encounters or you are trying to play everything Remedy has made. It’s pretty cheap and short to get through.
Personaly there are very few things here that I found compelling. The story isn’t nearly as interesting as in Alan Wake. The overall presentation isn’t nearly as interesting. Mr. Scratch is a fun character, and I always dig the live action cutscenes, but in terms of the overarching Alan Wake story this adds pretty much nothing.
I’m not sure why they decided on the looping structure, but it was a mistake. It’s simply a very repetitive experience, with not much pushing the player to get through it other than the combat encounters if you appreciate those more than I do. They added new enemies which is welcome, but man, I still do not like Alan Wake as a shooter.
I get why this one wasn’t added to the remaster.
Personaly there are very few things here that I found compelling. The story isn’t nearly as interesting as in Alan Wake. The overall presentation isn’t nearly as interesting. Mr. Scratch is a fun character, and I always dig the live action cutscenes, but in terms of the overarching Alan Wake story this adds pretty much nothing.
I’m not sure why they decided on the looping structure, but it was a mistake. It’s simply a very repetitive experience, with not much pushing the player to get through it other than the combat encounters if you appreciate those more than I do. They added new enemies which is welcome, but man, I still do not like Alan Wake as a shooter.
I get why this one wasn’t added to the remaster.