The Ancient Gods Pt. 1 is an expression of absolute confidence in id Software and its commitment to the fans.

They didn't back down from the game journalists or people who can't face a simple challenge in life or try to improve themselves. The negative reviews prove my point.

Everything in the DLC is double-down and it's not for new players. Combat arenas are more chaotic than ever. There is a significant increase in pressure units and fodder demons. My first playthrough was on Nightmare difficulty and it was more challenging than the main game on Ultra-Nightmare.

id Software couldn't have chosen better composers than Andrew Hulshut and David Levy. They did a fantastic job. I enjoyed their work more than Mick's Gordon.

Something that often gets overlooked is the fantastic job done by Emerson Tung - the creator of most characters, environments, languages and the whole Maykr lore. DOOM has never been a series about stories or lore. But this whole new DOOM universe they have been building is very well thought out and unique.

A free Skyrim mod that is better than Skyrim or anything from Bethesda in the last 10 years!

Simply describing Enderal as a mod wouldn't do it justice. This is a full game featuring its own story, lore, spells, gear, and a large map that is densely packed with places to explore and loot.

Enderal's story is dark and original, very well written. It has its lore and many interesting characters. There are a lot of dialogues that are fully voiced, not in a bad way, which is surprising for a "mod". The storyline is long and there are plenty of side quests.

I find it ironic that Enderal's greatest flaws are coming from Skyrim's engine itself. Nevertheless, this is one of the best RPGs in recent years. The developers have better ideas, more talent and more passion than the majority of AAA studios. You can have all the money and resources in the world, but without original ideas - you won't go far.

By Sigmar, the Hammer, and the Empire!

Fatshark did an amazing job in creating an immersive, easy-to-learn but hard-to-master intense co-op experience like no other. Vermintide 2 has a high skill ceiling and rewards team play but also elevates personal skills. Supporting each other is essential but a single great player can save the run and clutch the moment. The community is very friendly and welcomes new players. The player base is still active and there is plenty of content!

Sigmar! Bless this review!

A complete lack of confidence!

Shadow Warrior 2 tries to be a fast-paced dumb fun FPS but it ends up being a painfully unfunny cringe-fest. You start the game and... rabbit sex. I'm not even joking.

Every good game wants you to play a certain way. They push you into their systems and with every new challenge, you become a better player.

But what does Shadow Warrior 2 want from the player? Judging by the fast movement speed, being able to constantly dash and double jump, It's trying to be a fast and chaotic old-school shooter. Why are there skills and experience points? Why is there sprinting? Why are there so many long and painful to watch cinematics with cringe "humour"? Why are there abilities/powers? Why can you aim down the sights? Why does it take so long to reload weapons? Why is there a hub area?

Those gameplay components separately are fine but why did the devs decide it's a good idea to jam every possible design choice? They just threw every possible system from the FPS genre because they didn't want to scare away new players.

Some people might tell me to ignore these parts of the gameplay but I'm already ignoring the whole story, cinematics, and "humour". How many parts of the game do I need to ignore to enjoy it? To make matters worse:
• The weapons also barely have any impact.
• The difficulty options mainly change how much bullet sponges are the enemies so there is no real challenge.
• The levels are procedurally generated but still manage to be boring and repetitive.

It's obvious Flying Wild Hog lacked any confidence and didn't have a clear vision of what they wanted Shadow Warrior 2 to be. The "humour" is loud and irritating to compensate for that and during cinematics, there is a constantly flashing "Press any key to skip". I might only recommend getting Shadow Warrior 2 only if it's on sale and because of the co-op mode.

A bittersweet end of the Doom Slayer saga!

After the surprise success of DOOM 2016, id Software has reached new heights with DOOM Eternal and raised even more the bar with The Ancient Gods Part I. It was only natural for The Ancient Gods Part II to not be as good as the other content.

I have beaten the main campaign, TAG I and Super Gore Nest master level on ultra-nightmare difficulty but tried to keep my expectations low. Yet, I'm still kind of disappointed.

The Ancient Gods Part II brings even more great lore to the DOOM universe and ends the Doom Slayer saga with a bang. The new arenas and locations are creative and look gorgeous. All the new demons are fun to fight and do change the flow of the battles.

However, everything else is a big step down from TAG I. To begin with, everything exciting about the DLC was leaked a week before the release so there were no big surprises. The arenas are a lot easier than TAG I and the Sentinel hammer smashes the balance in certain fights. Now even game journalists will manage to beat the double Marauders. The final boss is not that hard as it's annoying, cheap and not exciting to fight. You can easily cheese him too. And because of the drop in difficulty - the whole TAG II campaign feels significantly shorter. They even made easier some of the arenas in TAG I - why? There is also a problem with the audio mixing ever since TAG I. To hear the soundtrack, I had to wait for Koma to upload his game rips to YouTube.

It might sound as if I hate TAG II but that's not the case. It's still good, and it's worth getting it, but it's just not as good as other content. Despite the ongoing pandemic, id Software fulfilled its promises and released 2 DLCs before the 1st anniversary. I'm sure they had bigger plans but working from home doesn't help.

A true cult classic!

Honestly, I understand why a lot of people don't like the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. They are clunky, confusing, and maybe frustrating. There is a reason why people call it "Slav jank" (or "Euro jank" if you are outside Europe). It's not for casual players and most find it very hard to get into it. But beneath all the bugs and jank, this is one of the most original series ever made and truly an underrated gem.

The atmosphere is simply fantastic. The Zone is terrifying, it's unforgiving. The lighting, ambience, sound effects, and resource management aspects all add to the feeling that you are constantly being hunted. You never know what to expect next.

Firefights are tense and crushing. The beginning could be rough because you are extremely weak and have bad gear. It causes you to take every action you make more carefully and teaches you how to survive efficiently in the Zone. This is why most players find S.T.A.L.K.E.R. frustrating. They simply play it the wrong way - like your typical FPS. Taking cover, leaning, and taping/bursting headshots is the only way you can survive. You always have to be careful with your resources. You are not able to carry a lot of items so you should plan before traveling to a new area or going on a mission. Ammo conservation is important. By the end of the game, when you are much better and have better gear, it feels like you have come a long way.

The story is... unique. It's just the tip of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. iceberg. The lore is rich and there is a lot of room for interpretation. It's based very loosely on "Roadside Picnic" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - a fantastic novel, highly recommend reading it. The novel inspired the movie "Stalker" by Tarkovsky which is one of the best art movies ever made. They don't share the same stories or worlds. They share the same philosophical questions and interesting thought-provoking ideas.

I could easily go on and on. It's better to try it for yourself. I highly recommend to new players a blind vanilla playthrough. Set your game difficulty on Masters for immersion and actual difficulty. Remove the crosshair, you do not need it. After you beat the game, you can try different mods to make the experience even better. The mod community has been active ever since Shadow of Chernobyl came out and continues to keep the series alive with high-quality mods. I also highly recommend getting Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat.

Good hunting, Stalker!

I was excited to try Outward since it looked similar to one of my all-time favourite RPGs – Kingdom Come Deliverance. Both are challenging and punishing RPGs, where your character is not “the chosen one” so you have to constantly learn to survive. I can get behind the idea of a game that doesn’t hold your hands through your adventure. I’m sick of uninspired titles which constantly borrow the same mechanics and concepts from other titles without adding anything original.

Outward seemed like it was going to answer that issue. I believe some of the most original development teams are indie or AA. The details put into Outward are great – you have to manage your thirst, stamina, and health as with any survival game, but there are even more things that can impact your character like disease, poisoning, curses, wounds, etc. I especially liked the idea behind the backpack, lantern, and camping systems. The backpack makes you more clumsy in fights so you can shed it at the touch of a button before fights.

And there is a coop and split-screen. We need more coop/split-screen RPGs.

So where is the downside?
Let’s begin with the combat. It’s simply not impactful or fun. You don’t feel any impact of your strikes, arrows, or spells. Stiff, fixed animations with no weight. There is no staggering of the enemies. There is no need to learn attack patterns or strategies. Enemies strike you relentlessly and all you have to do is time your strike and constantly move to decrease the chance of getting hit. Having clunky combat in a combat-based game is not a good start. They kinda tried to make it similar to the Combat of the Souls series but failed terribly.

The split second you feel you’re starting to figure things out, you get attacked by far stronger enemies and have zero chance of winning the fight. When you die, you don’t die. You just get respawned in a different __cpLocation with negative effects which means you have to constantly run back and forth since fast travel doesn’t exist. Nor do you have a mount.

This would be fine if the world was not so bland. A trip can take you around 10-20 min and you might not encounter anything during it. Outward seemingly wants you to explore, only to make sure you’re punished for it any time you try. The player is not even motivated to explore since you never get awarded for it. I’ve played for 10h and It feels like I made zero progress. Most of the side quests are also basically fetch quests or repetitive activities. NPCs also feel lifeless and from what I have seen of the storyline/lore so far is basic and not that interesting.

A great way to explore Chornobyl and Pripyat virtually!
It seems it’s almost obligatory to start a review of Chernobylite by saying how this is a completely different game to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. While this is true, people fail to mention how the studio, The Farm 51, since the beginning of their Kickstarter right until the final release compared their project to “nuclear horror games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.” (this phrase was also used in emails when sending review codes to some YouTubers).

I’m one of the early backers on Kickstarter and this is exactly what caught my intention. I’m glad Chernobylite is nothing like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. If I was to say “Chernobylite is like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.” then I wouldn’t give justice to the project and the team behind it.

The main gameplay loop of Chernobylite is simple – you build a base, manage resources, shoot soldiers and nuclear ghosts, and recruit and manage different characters who help you find your wife. The base building and NPC management are very integral to what the game is about. However, It seems like The Farm 51 didn’t have a clear vision. There are a lot of mechanics added and all of them are quite basic, middling at best. After playing for 3-4 hours I started to feel like I’d seen all there is to see and do. The combat is laughable. On higher difficulty, enemies are bullet sponges while being aimbots and see you through walls, trees etc. The game never truly pushes you to collect more resources. You can easily beat the game without ever exploring even on higher difficulty which is a missed opportunity.

You are exploring devastated land by one of the greatest disasters in human history yet It’s a pretty forgiving landscape. All there is really to worry about is pockets of radiation which can easily be cured and the gas clouds… for which you have a gas mask. There are no mutated wild animals or anomalies to worry about. The survival elements of Chernobylite are missing.

The story of the Chornobyl site is persistent. When you die, you don’t get back to a checkpoint (although the game allows it, again – why?). Instead, you get captured and the story continues. Your failure becomes another part of the story and you even get the chance to meet new characters and finish side quests. The strength of Chernobylite lies not exactly with the story itself but more so with how flexible it is. There are a lot of decisions you have to take and your decisions have consequences. From time to time, you get the chance to change your decisions if you have enough “Chernobylite” resources.

Another great mechanic on paper but ruined because of the lack of clear vision is the mental state of you and your team. You play as a nuclear physicist so all the shooting and stabbing is too much for your psyche. But that simply makes the edges of the screen dark and has almost zero influence on the gameplay or story. How do you fix your psyche? By eating a bowl of soup or swilling down some alcohol which is quite clearly supposed to be vodka. A clear spirit in Ukraine – it’s not going to be a Beefeater gin or Bacardi rum. What about the psyche of your team? Just build more comfortable accommodation, clear the air and give them more bread.

“The Zone” is gorgeous and dreadful, and Chernobylite squeezes an impressive amount of variety out of each __cpLocation. This is truly a photorealistic game. Honestly, this might be one of the best-looking indie games I have ever seen. The environments are made with 3D scans of Chernobyl and Pripyat and this is for most people the closest you’re ever going to get to exploring the area. The ambient soundtrack complements the visuals perfectly. Radiation pools expand. NAR soldiers arrive better equipped. Tempestuous "Chenobylite storms" grow more intense.

Despite being a very middling experience, at the end of the day, I recommend Chernobylite because of the weight it gives player choices and the flexibility of the narrative makes it compelling and the atmosphere is truly well done. Congrats to the team for all the hard work and I’m glad I backed the project on Kickstarter.

ELDERBORN is promoted as a "Metal AF slasher with brutal FPP melee combat" and let's be honest - nothing of that is true. I tried hard to like it but I had enough. There is no depth to any of the mechanics.

I'm confused by the many reviews claiming that the gameplay is "fluid and fun" because all I could find was slow, clunky and boring melee gameplay. For the first boss, I just had the scythes and parry all his attacks until he dies. Zero challenge even on the highest difficulty but you often die from one-hit kill traps (which sometimes you can't even avoid). This is definitely not " souls-like" in the slightest and it barely has any RPG progression (add meaningless points to increase damage or attack speed by tiny percentages).

The overwhelming success of indie titles shows that being an indie title is no longer an excuse for shallow gameplay. ELDERBORN feels like a unity cash-grab in many ways.

The Committee on Science, Arts and Culture declares that HROT does not contradict the party's policy on the ideological and cultural front but needs corrections.

The events in HROT are not entirely connected with the daily lives of the workers and peasants. Therefore, the developer is obliged to re-write HROT or [REDACTED].

Glory to the Party! Long live the Socialist order!

Buy S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, support Ukraine!

If you've played this far into the series you know what you're in for. A cult classic with the still active and creative mod community!

Слава Україні! Героям слава!

MEDS: NOT TAKEN
MIYAZAKI: BLAMED
VOICES IN THE WALL: HEARD
MAIDEN: TAKEN

YEP, IT'S BIG DARK SOULS TIME

Greatest Star Wars media - free from George Lucas and Disney!

There were times when Star Wars was all about compelling stories and rich lore which mirrored real-world history and philosophy. The unfinished classic Knights of the Old Republic II from Obsidian is arguably one of the best stories from SW Legends and any media in general.

KOTOR2 turns Lucas' pure good/pure evil false dichotomy into the moral playground that makes you question everything. The story is an intensely philosophical reflection on war and morality. This is achieved thanks to the masterfully written dialogues. Every major character you meet frequently raises questions of responsibility and complicity, often manipulating the character/player and leaving it open for you to think about the choices you made and the nature of the Force itself. A great example is the philosophy and story of Kreia which highly mirrors the book by Friedrich Nietzsche – “Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None” and the concept of the Übermensch. The interwoven plot and rich storytelling of KOTOR2 couldn’t be possible in any other media which proves that video games can indeed be art.

The only downside is that when KOTOR2 was released it wasn't complete due to LucasArts pressuring the developers for an early Christmas release date. Many parts of the game were cut out. But thanks to hard-core Star Wars fans out there they made the TSLRCM which is easy to download from Steam Workshop and allows you to play the game with the cut-out parts.

Outside of being unfinished, KOTOR2 hasn’t aged well. The combat feels dated and it’s too easy even on the highest difficulty. You’ll die very little, outside some boss fights, and this leaves you feeling as if you are playing on rails. Dialogues are skipped over at unreadable speed when you play for a couple of hours which is some kind of bug where memory starts leaking.

Knights of the Old Republic II is a “must play” tier RPG and the greatest piece of Star Wars media that Disney will never acknowledge. Let’s hope for a proper remake!

There must always be a Darth Traya. One who holds the knowledge of betrayal, who has been betrayed and will betray in turn.