When it released, Amid Evil quickly proved itself my favorite boomer shooter thanks to its willingness to forego being exactly like the classic games in favor of fixing many of the genre's longstanding issues. The Black Labyrinth is more of that but simply better, all wrapped in a couple-hour package filled with plenty of secrets.

Part of this comes down to just how badass the DLC manages to be when paired with the base game. The purple Scythe offers an incredible BFG style attack while having its powered attack literally deleting enemies off screen. That's not even including the anime-style special attack of the fists. I had plenty of moments using them where I was sitting there playing and just having a shit-eating grin on my face.

The sense of scale combined with the game's already impressive visuals just makes it an absolute treat. The Dark Coast map is a particular standout, but even some of the less unique levels are still more than commendable.

If you're a fan of Amid Evil already, and are cool with a couple more hours with some added goodies, this DLC proves a testament to why this game is the GOAT.

Arx Fatalis is very much a relic of its time. A game that was made back when games were arguably much more willing to take creative risks to create a unique setting. It's the type of game that, even from a studio like Arkane, you probably wouldn't see. However, it being a relic of its time means that it comes with some drawbacks that are at their best jarring, and at their worst infuriating.

Arx's strongest aspect by far is the atmosphere it invokes. I always love living underground in sandbox games where it allows me to, so an entirely underground civilization is right up my alley. The artistic direction and sound design (barring some awkward transitions and harsher sounds) accentuates this beautifully, as does some of the humor the game pulls in the first half.

I also found the rather clunky combat growing on me over time. It's very slow nad methodical, but it was nice using that slower combat to weave in spells once I got more of them unlocked. Even the spell system is unique, drawing out combos of shapes to cast spells. If I do return to Arx at some point, a spell-based build is an absolute must for me.

However, these strengths are beset by some hefty negatives. The biggest issue by far was with Arx's infatuation with making things obscure. I can handle having to find some things out and puzzle solve without too much guidance, and I'll fully admit there's stuff I looked up that I probably should've pieced together. However, I can't imagine playing this game without several walkthroughs showing me how to do x, y, and z. Hell, I went through half the game completely misunderstanding the heavy attack system since it doesn't teach you.

Some of this can be explained by early PC games having manuals, but the way you progress the main quest can be unnecessarily vague and require random bits and bobs. It could be a pickaxe from a specific level here, or a specific spell there. It drew the runtime out immensely to where I eventually started noclipping through walls at times just so I could skip some parts of the busywork. One part was even necessary when one of the objectives just didn't spawn in.

The story also isn't anything to write home about. It's fairly bog standard for its time, and has plenty of exposition dumps for you to immediately forget. If you skip through most cutscenes then you should be fine, but it can be pretty tiring if you care a lot about lore like me.

I think Arx will jump comfortably in that pile of games that aren't bad, but could go so, so much further with a modern-day remake. Keeping that art direction and combat similar while not being so up its own ass with obscurity would go a lot way, as would making the main plot a little more intriguing. If you can appreciate an atmospheric RPG, and especially if you have Game Pass, this is still worth checking out.

this game is some shit i wished i made. i enjoyed just about every bit of this trip and all the lil freaks i had to meet along the way. i really enjoyed the puzzles, i thought they were decent challenges and were better than the combat. the combat is alright, the worst part of it is how the levels seemed to be designed before the combat was implemented or even considered to be added. i wished the marketing for this game was better so that it didn't get the flak that it got, big mistake to make it seem like it had more action than it really did. It's not for everybody, but i definitely fit into the niche it's going for.

i saw some people compare the early game to myst so now i know i have to get to those games sooner

I just keep abandoning games! I guess I just hate them now! Deathloop is kind of dope. The artstyle and architectural design is fine, I really like Colt and Julianna's personalities and voice actors. What I don't really like is the structure of this game. The tutorial is really long and I just wanna be let lose, but then when I got loose, I fucked up the objective (I forgot to jump I guess and dropped the ghost vacuum machine in the ocean, so I can't suck up the visonary(have to restart the level)). I think I would just vastly prefer a normal level structure like Dishonored. It's dope they did this, but I don't wanna play it.