The type of FPS games which “Rise of The Triad” (2013) takes inspiration from, comes from an era before I got into shooters. Most notably, my very first FPS I recall playing was COD 4: Modern Warfare & while I hold that game in high regard I am also aware of the criticism surrounding that series & what direction it helped steer the FPS genre into. That being overly linear & heavily scripted games that generally fell into being very easy to play & it being seen as an overall downgrade.

Despite this lack of experience with “older” shooters I’ve always had an interest in trying some FPS games which play more retro. Especially when observing franchises such as Doom/Wolfenstein holding onto the formula & new indie games such as Dusk/Ultrakill that seem to embrace an older approach too. However instead of spending money for a game I’m uncertain to even like I looked through my steam library to see if I already owned something from a bundle which could be my first dive into a more “retro shooter” & “Rise of The Triad” seemed to be the closest thing to it.

After having played through it, I’ve come to the conclusion that ”retro inspired shooters” is a game type I want to try more games from… However it’s not because “Rise of The Triad” won me over, it's because I felt extremely constrained of having a decent gameplay loop stuck in an experience that ran out of ideas ½ way through & then decided to overcompensate with enemy spam & gimmicks that disappear as quickly as they’re introduced.

And it's a shame because shooting is pretty damn solid! It has some punch on every weapon & the arsenal you’re given is quite creative (explosive type & “special”-type being standouts) It’s really enjoyable to shoot in the game. Thus it’s disappointing as the game progresses you end up getting increasingly limited in ways to take enemies down. Because they become armored (bullet sponges) immune to anything that isn’t explosives, matrix like acrobats & so on!
I started dreading encounters during late stages because I knew I could overcome every enemy type like I had done 5 dozen times before, but when you have to unload a whole clip of ammo into each enemy before they‘re defeated it becomes tedious more than anything.

And this is not even addressing the technical issues, which also are plenty. Had to reset different stages probably 5-6 times during its 5 hour runtime due to being soft-locked or stuck on terrain. There’s also a less daming issue of looping sound effects if a sound is playing as you finish a stage (like if an enemy is shooting a gun right as you complete a level you’re gonna hear that until next level loads)

Nothing super game-breaking is present, but I do feel it speaks for “Rise of The Triad” (2013) as an overall package. It’s a game that has some nuggets of potential, but it's just a bogged down experience - both from a technical standpoint, but also just in terms of polish. I did have moments of fun with this game in spurts when it wasn’t technically janky & if enemy spam was on the milder side briefly, but it overall left me wishing for a more cohesive experience.

An interesting tidbit to start off with - Sly Cooper & The Thievious Racoonous actually ended up being a game I played way later than its sequels. Which makes for a peculiar experience, considering Sly 1 vs Sly 2 & Sly 3 is a very apples to oranges comparison. You still do a lot of the same things in the sequels (varied missions, sneaking around, collecting different valuables) but it’s in a different avenue because Sly 1 is more straightforward than it’s sequels. Going for a smaller hub in general, not really featuring Bentley/Murray much outside of the odd level once a blue moon, combat being harder, etc.

Fortunately, nobody said that because it’s a different context also must mean it’s inferior & in Sly 1’s case it still stands well on its own. It still has a lot of the Sly charm which the whole series has (the comic book-esque aesthetic & generally memorable characters) & while combat is different to its sequels it’s not a deterrent. Because enemies go down just as quickly as you - hence it makes the challenge not feel insurmountable.
Probably the biggest complaints I’ve seen is that some missions felt gimmicky & while I do see where people are coming from there were only 2 “gimmick” levels which led to personal frustration, being the chicken level & 1 of the bosses. However I felt the games deviation from more standard gameplay more often than not led to an enjoyable experience.

And that’s also how I’d rate this game - mostly enjoyable! It’s a slight outlier compared to its sequels, but it holds up fairly well with quite some years removed since it came out. I’d recommend it to any fan of 3D platformers.

Very much been in the mode recently (that happens 1 a year or so) where Minecraft ends up getting a surprisingly amount of time committed from me for 2-4 weeks & then I drop it like a rock. I'm starting to get out of such a phase again, but why not review it while leaving this time?

My experience with Minecraft is not anything special compared to other people's experience with it. I got into it early during the Yogscast days & played it very consistently until 2014-ish where I just grew bored of it & just 1 day stopped logging in. Assume this is a quite normal experience for people - considering it's also around the same time the game had its first official ”Playerbase decline”, even if it's weird to think about something you had been intertwined with socially for years just suddenly got left behind. I spent a lot of time on multiplayer servers during those years & experienced “regulars”/”friends” suddenly disappearing without trace, but also realizing in hindsight I did the exact same thing by suddenly deciding not to play anymore without any heads up about it.

Hence It’s likely not a shock either that somebody who used 4-5 years on a game still swings by once in a while to check up on it sometimes. See what’s been implemented - perhaps play on a new server where nobody knows you or with friends briefly. That’s pretty much been my experience every time I’ve returned to Minecraft years after. See/Learn the new mechanics, have some fun & dip when bored, rinse/repeat months later.
This most recent playthrough I decided to attempt beating the game on hardcore though. Definitely more of a challenge for somebody who truly hasn’t fully committed to ”understand” all the new stuff since downgrading from playing daily/weekly to maybe yearly almost a decade ago…But I managed it! Only to then get bored… But I’ll probably return to Minecraft once again when somebody from my friend group wants to play at some point in the future!

It probably has been noted I haven’t really talked about the game yet - but honestly I think for somebody in my position it's hard to attempt rating a game objectively when it also comes with personal memories & experiences associated. Which my experience with Minecraft does - It could’ve been any multiplayer game, but for me Minecraft ended up being one of those titles. Which also is why I keep returning to it over time. Even if it doesn’t hold the same importance today it did leave a really strong impression on me that’s stuck through the ages.

Well this was a pleasant surprise! Ryse had my interest way back when it was announced for Xbox Kinect of all things. It was heralded as one of the first “real first party title” for the addon & that intrigued me. However I never picked it up when it changed from a Kinect game to a Xbox One launch title… both because it lost some appeal just becoming a standard action/hack & slash game, but more importantly due to Microsoft’s horrific Xbox One launch marketing.

Now roughly a decade later I picked up the game from Steam cheaply &.. It’s a pretty fun time? Admittedly it’s a quite short game (beat it in 6 hours & I’m not a person who breezes through) but it was an enjoyable ride I’d say. It’s still a shockingly gorgeous game despite being like 11-ish years old & the combat is also pretty solid… Which is a relief because going in I had heard it was pretty dull, though it holds up without issue & has enough variation to be interesting + the executions are all quite varied & stylish.

In the context of this as a retail game that originally launched for 60$.... Yeah under those circumstances I’d rate it quite a bit lower, but at a fraction of that nowadays I would give it a recommendation to people who are drawn in by Ryse’s setting or just want to play a solid hack & slash game that doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Been playing a surprising amount of this recently, it's a quite unique experience. Considering its a horror-adjacent setting coupled up with team-based vs. solo player PvP game. Not a combination I’ve seen often, but is quite fun to play with 1-3 friends if playing as a survivor or still enjoyable solo as ”The killer”

Though will make it pretty clear that I do not think this is a good multiplayer game to play on the survivor side if playing completely alone. Sure, you can be lucky & get a lobby of moderately to good randoms once in a blue moon, but otherwise my (admittedly limited) experience solo queuing as a survivor normally leads to being paired up with griefers, either sabotaging the survivor side or dying instantaneously deliberately. Rage quitters, who leave as soon they’re hooked/downed their first time or sandbaggers… Who arguably could be new players, but are so avoidant of the killer they pretty much contribute nothing for the team side. Which also is why I recommend playing with 1 friend minimum when playing as a survivor. Because then you can be sure ½ your team is cooperative at least.

Playing killer though is fun! You aren’t weighed down by potentially useless teammates & based on my own personal experience you can still have fun in most match-ups. If equally skilled just play normally, however for “lower skilled” survivor teams I tend to adjust my playstyle to make it a bit more difficult to hook people (also cause it's never fun to curb-stomp a team that's obviously outmatched)... There are ofc the infamous high skill “survivor bully squads” that can suck running into - but I run into those so rarely I wouldn’t worry about it (though should it happen just slug them. Don’t make a habit of playing like an ass, but if they start it then all is fair)

As for the game on a mechanical level. I do agree with the comments that it does become formulaic after a while doing gens/hooking survivors/etc. But I’d say it holds the interest for a good while before hitting that level & running different characters with varying playstyles definitely extends that window tremendously. I still boot the game up & run a few lobbies these days without being bored (I don’t have 1000’s of hours like other people have in this game. But TBF I don’t have that amount with many games?) It’s a fun game & I’d definitely recommend it if intrigued by the concept of a horror-esque multiplayer game.