I really wish this game was better. I really do. The style, the writing and graphics are all quite unique and fun. The sound design fits well and the story is servicable. Yet, this game lacks a certain oomph that you need for exploration based games. The tedium to intrigue ration is a bit off.
Journey to the savage planet does not make you want to explore beyond the initial couple of hours. It is quite damning that a game this short (8-10 hours max) cannot hold my interest for more that a fifth of its runtime. Many games suffer from a boring middle phase but are saved by the ending. Yet, the ending here is not only run of the mill, but you cannot truly finish without a boring as hell fetch quest (find fuel to leave savage planet). The boss fights are bland and so are the normal enemies. The AI is support is annoying as hell. Some sections are mind-numbingly boring or frustrating. It just does not deliver on its early promise.
A repetitive game with a vague and random objective of a story carried by initial wonder and uniqueness. Not to mention a fair amount of bugs, clipping and even a couple of crashes in my playthrough.

Sorry, this aint for me chief .
PS: screw fetch quests.

Maybe if I had never played AC3 and Black Flag, AC Rogue would be one of the most impressive AC titles. Unfortunately, I have played those, and Rogue is a very average copy paste of mechanics from those games.
Honestly, I struggle to think of even one of the repeated mechanics that is done as well as previous installments. The ship combat and exploration is ridiculously boring compared to Black Flag, and the convoluted mess of a map is the biggest culprit in that regard. The side missions are traditional Ubisoft filler trash, but even more pointless than usual, only adding visual clutter and nothing else. The music is a bastardized version of Ezio's family theme. Just a whole thrown together 'greatest hits album' of a game that is much much less than the sum of its parts.
In fact AC Rogue adds flaws in some ways, it is the shortest AC game I have played till date with a lot of character work falling short of the standard I was expecting. It is also the MOST easy AC game. You can easily slaughter 15 guys in combat in a STEALTH game using just 3 simple inputs and I think that is kind of absurd.
For what it is worth, the story is the saving grace of AC rogue. Though borrowed, it fleshes out quite a few characters from AC 3 and black flag. The unique aspect of playing on the templar side is also a very interesting prospect, realised satisfactorily. The ending sets up AC unity with in an intriguing and graceful manner.
Unfortunately the gameplay does let it down a bit with all the unnecessary clutter and baby level combat/traversal. The game also has a bug/crash in it on PC.
Nevertheless its an alright experience, just not as good as anything that came before or after it. Even its strongest suit, its story, is borrowed from other installments and STILL ends up as the third worst in the series behind Valhalla and maybe mirage.
I cannot recommend it in good faith unless you are specifically looking to just kill some time or craving some assassins creed action specifically from that era.

The Saboteur is certainly a unique take on a story based shooter game. Playing as a demolition expert of sorts instead of a traditional soldier type character in fictionalized depiction of Nazi occupied France, Saboteur is a flawed but interesting game from the late 2000s.
As such the game shows its age throughout its playthrough. The story is meh and quite predictable, the graphicals GTA-like (San Andreas specifically in my opinion) in many ways and the music is adequate but bland.
Nevertheless the unique skillset and premise along with a very artsy choice of colors help the saboteur shine through as a unique game from its era.
Playing on Steam, I encountered a total of 2 clipping/stuck in geometry kinda crashes which is a shame but par for the course for titles from this time period. The autosave system is also quite trash and I would suggest a certain degree of manual save discipline here.
There really is nothing more to say here. Beyond a few shining unique lights, it is a run of the mill open world game in the GTA vein. But from an era where open world fatigue had not set in, it is servicable, and the short length of the story as well as a very very low pricepoint ( 3 euros regularly on steam sales) mean The Saboteur is definitely worth looking at !

A pretty decent game that holds up ok even after 15+ years, the original Assassins Creed is the fat-free, quick version of the series.
There are certainly quite a few flaws here, and my rating for Ubisoft is 0/5 for making this game incompatible with the internet (not kidding, check the Steam page). The trash that becomes Ubisoft open world busy work is clearly visible here in its nascent form as well.
Luckily the actual game, its story, its world design, and its style are quite good. Altair is a good protagonist, even if he is one of the weaker ones along with Connor in this series. Al mualim is not the greatest of enemies or boss fights, but it serves its purpose. The combat and traversal are not as good as they can be but are servicable today and were downright impressive in their time.
A historical fiction story with cities recreated perfectly and important characters referenced/seen provides a degree of immersion that is unique to Assassin's Creed games. The music conveys urgency and emotion well enough to keep you engaged.
Assassins Creed is a pretty decent game, a great starting point for the series, and I suggest fans of the series who miss the pre-RPG games give it a try!

Mirrors edge is dated. The primary appeal, the parkour is kinda old and janky, it doesnt snap as well as modern games nor is it as free in movement as open world game traversal. Its a middle ground that just doesnt work for me. Sometimes you know what you need to do next but your character just wont snap to it. Disarm is a mess where the button might just not register even if your timing is spot on. The potential for something frustrating to break your flow is high. Ghostrunner for instance has a similarly high focus on precision based traversal with insta kill mechanics but it never got frustrating. Mirrors edge gets frustrating often.
The story and music are decent, nothing spectacular. The story seems contrived and predictable for its whole short runtime. For a game i finished less than an hour ago, i barely remember a tune from the game.
Mirrors edge is a game that was innovative and interesting when it came out. In 2024, it is the equivalent of unflavoured popcorn that you burn through in a movie and never think about again. It is playable , it is alright , its not spectacular, its not something ill recommend unless you are really craving some first person parkour.

A very beautifully designed concept and a gripping mystery story, Obra Dinn is a game like no other. The concept is genuinely unique and the backstories are quite fleshed out for how many characters, accents and quirks it juggles with.
The mystery is gripping with every character and their fate fun to investigate. The music is immersive and the story flows smoothly.
The only minor criticism I have is the fates of some characters can be a bit obscure and I solved them with probability (who is close to who in the image depiction) and video game logic (brave acts=american, bad guy=russian). I believe it is on me to some degree that I dont understand accents too well.
The graphics also give me a migraine over long times which is also a me problem but I would say its a complement that I played this game through all the 60 fates in one long sitting.
Very rarely do I solve a long intricate puzzle in one sitting.
And that is a testament to the writing and immersion of Obra Dinn. A game that graphically looks like it was drawn with a pencil providing much much greater immersion than super realistic modern day games is as much a complement to Obra Dinn as it is a criticism of AAA titles.
A very unique game that makes you feel like supernatural sherlock, Return of the Obra Dinn is worth trying for anyone who is interested in puzzles and mysteries. Definitely recommend a try!

There is a pretty good game in there somewhere. Unfortunately, the game really tries its best to hide it. The actors are carrying the game, yet your character doesnt speak in-game. The gameplay is alright, almost interesting, yet the overabundance of cut scenes and quick time crap distracts from the immersion.
All this is quite unfortunate and along with a forgettable sound track drowning out a decent story, the game is quite full of what ifs.
Even with all these issues I was engaged in its short predictable but fun story. I would have liked to rate it more, but ofcourse, yet again I was hit with crashes and frame rate issues , for a 10 YEAR OLD game !!! I also have a modern PC so believe me, it is the game not the hardware. I do not play COD multiplayer but I have heard it is full of bugs and boring interactions too.
Its a very ok game that is held back by random crap at every corner. I am not sure I can recommend it, but the story is worthwhile if you choose to pick it up.

A somber, eerie, horrifying recreation of World War 2, this edition of call of duty is able to show the true horrors of the event in a game environment.
Like Battlefield 1, COD WaW has certain fantastical elements, has anglosphere is great bullshit.
Luckily, the best part of the game is in the Soviet side of the story. With no necessity to go full americans are the tragic awesome heroes when that section of the story is done, the story really shines in the soviet german side of the conflict. It portrays how both sides are dark shades of gray very well, with the allies matching the germans in atrocities in the name of revenge.
Ofcourse the American side of the conflict contains one of the most interesting factions of a war game. The japanese are portrayed as brave and fanatical, fighting with every available option in their arsenal. I would say it makes up for the boring nature of this side of the story.
The music absolutely elevates the gameplay, hyped up guitar riffs, melancholy haunting tunes, every piece reflects the mood on the screen. I will go as far as to say that the music is precisely what makes this game timeless.
World at War shows it age in 2024, but with two halves to the game, one with exciting gameplay and boring story and another with traditional gameplay but epic story, somehow it melds into a timeless classic of the Call of Duty franchise.
It is worth a playthrough to this day. Give it a try!

Sometimes there is one extremely good element of a videogame that carries the a pretty average alright game to something that stays in your mind for a while.
For Crysis 2 its the music, and ofcourse, its the genius of Hans Zimmer at play. The soundtrack of this game absolutely SELLS it. You feel the desperation, the badass moments, the against the odds vibe of the game.
And the game surrounding it is quite good too. It is not necessarily groundbreaking, but it works well. You can absolutely feel the predator like power of the nanosuit in the gameplay. Alcatraz burns through enemies with ease and efficiency and its a blast playing as him.
Crysis 2 ofcourse looks gorgeous, being a Crysis series game. Making my modern PC chug at high settings but optimized well enough that all you notice is a drop in framerate while a worse looking game at medium setting can crash and burn due to bad optimization (ahem ahemCOD Advanced Warfare ahem).
Overall, if you ignore the furore over it not being crysis 1 when it released, Crysis 2 is a very good time. It doesnt do anything special except having the genius of Hans Zimmer, but it absolutely gets the blood pumping and is a ton of fun.
Give it a try!

Perhaps not as memorable to me as the first DLC, the brigmore witches DLC is still better than most games just by its own.
Unfortunately, it is certainly the least engaging of the 3 stories in the first game for me. Still it is no deal breaker, and it concludes well with a expected but perfect ending, wrapping up the story in a neat little loop.
Yeah the gameplay is still fun, just like always. You have a ton of choices, as always. Its a blast, like always.
Always an easy recommend with anything dishonored really!

A DLC that actually takes the base concept, adds its tweaks , and runs away with it? Yes please. And thats just on the gameplay side. Ofcourse dishonored's gameplay is a ton of fun , with a lot of options and choices in a very well composed, small sandbox. Daud controls quite well and the abilities complement each other well just like the base game.
But the story, as was the case earlier, is what shines. To play as the character that put into motion all the craziness, the one you are driven to really hate as corvo, adds a huge amount of nuance and depth to the story. The almost detective like aspect of having to figure out what and who 'delilah' is, daud's story is quite engaging and entertaining.
A great game , followed by a fun couple of DLCs, dishonored is an easy sell. All of it.

A single person developed game that takes an interesting idea and runs with it. You would think being a line puzzle for a runtime greater than 30 minutes is gonna get boring, yet children of the sun actually stays fresh the whole playtime (about 4 hours).
The meat and potatoes here is the concept: you are a sniper who can bend bullets and re aim at kills , a gory join the dots puzzle. The pacing is classical and perfect, abilities and difficulties rising to a crescendo as you progress.
The story is certainly barebones but told in a cool way, the sound design is terrifying in the bloodlust it can bring in me and has a commanding presence to the game.
There are very few genuine holes in this awesome, sweet and short experience, but I would like to acknowledge that the price is on the higher side for a very short and simple game at >10euros. Luckily, the quality of the experience still makes it absolutely worth it and I would say it is one of the better games of the year so far! Totally worth a try.

I know that this released as a joke, a clone of lethal company in many ways, but I would say its a whole game in its own right. It has all the problems that lethal company has dont get me wrong, but it has all the fun squad shenanigans as well. In fact, my opinion is that it freshens up the concept a lot and is actually a great parody of youtuber culture.
Great game with the same short fun time experience that plummets when you get good, I suggest getting your squad together and having a 5-6 games of good times before you drop it with good memories and a smile (and a ton of clips to laugh at!)

The game exploded and let me tell you it has certainly earned the hype. There is no lie in their sell, its a co-op game, its fun with friends, its crazy shenanigans all around as you see in the streams.
The issue is, its a limited experience, fun till you figure it out.
You need to suck at lethal company to have fun with it ! That is the only true issue and concern with this game. Since you and your squad will get good at this eventually, it because super monotonic and boring after 5-6 attempts.
Additionally this game is basically a borefest solo. As such, unfortunately , lethal company is a great game with a few too many caveats for enjoyment. Still , if you have a squad to play with, you should definitely jump into a few rounds of lethal company to create some cool memories (I rate lethal company similar to among us in many ways)!

A math game masquerading as a horror game, buckshot roulette is exceedingly simple to pick up but potentially very complex.
The design is purposeful and the barebones lore and non-existent story that i generally whine about is really not a problem here, infact adding to the crisp experience.
The music is catchy and the sound design is very impactful.
The gameloop is really just very addicting and mobile-game like. You play russian roulette with some poweruos that help you tilt the odds in your favour. And thats it.
Luckily thats all it needs to be at the less than 3 euros price point and is a very easy recommend from me.