Raigenki
2023
This review contains spoilers
What a game. Normally I skip out on horror games and movies, but when you hear something is so good, its so intriguing that I just had to get this one and try.
And boy did it not let me down. This feels like modern gaming to the max. The foliage, sound design and voice acting are out of this world and especially the foliage is insane. There are bushes everywhere, and you see every halm of grass and every tree looks different and all the buildings are filled with life and look so realistic.
The gameplay is a bit clonky but I like that you can switch between the two characters, if things get a little stale for your taste. And the mind place is a really cool innovative feature which makes you keep up with every detail of the story.
SPOILER: As far as the story goes, there was one cycle of "Alan needs to change the scenes" too much for me. The game is a bit too long for my taste and the enemies are not that creative. I'd appreciate it more if there were less enemies, but maybe introduced a bit more. I remember finding manuscripts and emails about a monster that lingers around the workshop and I got really tense about and facing it, but it was just a plain old taken brute.
The story itself is brillantly confusing and you have to really keep up with the details if you want to understand. Especially the conclusion I liked and the easter eggs for the other games are great. And you have so much memorable moments, the musicals, the death screen, the ending, the music at the end of a chapter or initiation, the mind place, the old gods of asgard and so on and so on.
And boy did it not let me down. This feels like modern gaming to the max. The foliage, sound design and voice acting are out of this world and especially the foliage is insane. There are bushes everywhere, and you see every halm of grass and every tree looks different and all the buildings are filled with life and look so realistic.
The gameplay is a bit clonky but I like that you can switch between the two characters, if things get a little stale for your taste. And the mind place is a really cool innovative feature which makes you keep up with every detail of the story.
SPOILER: As far as the story goes, there was one cycle of "Alan needs to change the scenes" too much for me. The game is a bit too long for my taste and the enemies are not that creative. I'd appreciate it more if there were less enemies, but maybe introduced a bit more. I remember finding manuscripts and emails about a monster that lingers around the workshop and I got really tense about and facing it, but it was just a plain old taken brute.
The story itself is brillantly confusing and you have to really keep up with the details if you want to understand. Especially the conclusion I liked and the easter eggs for the other games are great. And you have so much memorable moments, the musicals, the death screen, the ending, the music at the end of a chapter or initiation, the mind place, the old gods of asgard and so on and so on.
Objective Rating: 4
Subjective Rating: 4
Outstanding:
Swinging around New York City
Good:
Combat
Graphics
Mediocre:
Mission types
Bad:
The Map
The Worst:
Thoughts:
The second and a halfed Spiderman game lets you play as both Miles and Peter Spideys. Its not that big of a deal since the abilities are farely similar. The gameplay is really fun and the combat plus the smooth fast movement is good enough to keep you going. I rarely clear everything in an open world game but the Spiderman games I always fully cleared. But the Map is kind of dreadful. Again New York City is just a bit boring for me. Overall a really good game, but not perfect.
Subjective Rating: 4
Outstanding:
Swinging around New York City
Good:
Combat
Graphics
Mediocre:
Mission types
Bad:
The Map
The Worst:
Thoughts:
The second and a halfed Spiderman game lets you play as both Miles and Peter Spideys. Its not that big of a deal since the abilities are farely similar. The gameplay is really fun and the combat plus the smooth fast movement is good enough to keep you going. I rarely clear everything in an open world game but the Spiderman games I always fully cleared. But the Map is kind of dreadful. Again New York City is just a bit boring for me. Overall a really good game, but not perfect.
2020
Objective Rating: 4,4
Subjective Rating: 5
Outstanding:
The soundtrack
The length
The choices
The freedom
Good:
Experimanting with the classes and abilities in fights
The voice acting
Mediocre:
The D&D system
The multiplayer experience (partly fixed)
Bad:
The perfomance in act III for many people (partly fixed)
People running away from your pets (fixed)
Missing crafting element
The Worst:
Thoughts:
Where to begin with this behemoth of a game. There is so much going on, that there is a lot to attack. But thats the thing, you can critize so much on this game because it has it all. So many classes, so many dialogues, so many fighting abilities, so much story and so on. This game broke the RPG genre and sucked in so many players who had nothing to do with RPGs or CRPGs before and they had fun. If I had to critize something its the too early release date. They should've waited a bit longer and release it with all the features it has now like changing your appearance.
And we have to talk about multiplayer. Multiplayer even being an option is outstanding by itself because you can share your experience with others and really roleplay your way into the world. But no one tells you in the beginning how important the origin characters are. If you play with three friends you are missing out so much important content. The game should recommend atleast one of you playing an origin character or let them be an weaker ally you can bring as a fifth member. Also if we can alter the classes of them (which makes no sense) why not let us alter the looks? Just a weird choice overall.
And I am not 100% on board with the D&D system. It is very cool to theorycraft stuff but there are so many dead spells and abilities. Why would you ever want to pick the champion if you knew what he does and when do you cast spells like true strike? I atleast didn't use half the spells because after one or two uses they felt completely useless.
But even though I only used half the spells and perks it has more to offer than 95% of other RPGs. Thank you Larian Studios for bringing this genre and the fantasy theme on a podium again and giving it the spotlight it deserves.
Subjective Rating: 5
Outstanding:
The soundtrack
The length
The choices
The freedom
Good:
Experimanting with the classes and abilities in fights
The voice acting
Mediocre:
The D&D system
The multiplayer experience (partly fixed)
Bad:
The perfomance in act III for many people (partly fixed)
People running away from your pets (fixed)
Missing crafting element
The Worst:
Thoughts:
Where to begin with this behemoth of a game. There is so much going on, that there is a lot to attack. But thats the thing, you can critize so much on this game because it has it all. So many classes, so many dialogues, so many fighting abilities, so much story and so on. This game broke the RPG genre and sucked in so many players who had nothing to do with RPGs or CRPGs before and they had fun. If I had to critize something its the too early release date. They should've waited a bit longer and release it with all the features it has now like changing your appearance.
And we have to talk about multiplayer. Multiplayer even being an option is outstanding by itself because you can share your experience with others and really roleplay your way into the world. But no one tells you in the beginning how important the origin characters are. If you play with three friends you are missing out so much important content. The game should recommend atleast one of you playing an origin character or let them be an weaker ally you can bring as a fifth member. Also if we can alter the classes of them (which makes no sense) why not let us alter the looks? Just a weird choice overall.
And I am not 100% on board with the D&D system. It is very cool to theorycraft stuff but there are so many dead spells and abilities. Why would you ever want to pick the champion if you knew what he does and when do you cast spells like true strike? I atleast didn't use half the spells because after one or two uses they felt completely useless.
But even though I only used half the spells and perks it has more to offer than 95% of other RPGs. Thank you Larian Studios for bringing this genre and the fantasy theme on a podium again and giving it the spotlight it deserves.
Objective Rating: 3,9
Subjective Rating: 3,5
Outstanding:
The Graphics and sound design
Good:
The voice acting
The characters especially Reed and Songbird
Mediocre:
The Storyline
Bad:
That Ponpon Shit is still on Heat Radio
The driving
The Worst:
Thoughts: I was one of the many who were really hyped for Cyberpunk and got really dissappointed. I couldn't finish the original game for a long time because of the main quest bug. Now, years later Cyberpunk somewhat redeemed itself a bit. I'm still pissed that there are so many features missing especially the boring open world annoys me. The future is apparently food stores and erotica. But that said I have to acknowledge that this DLC is worth its money. The story is interesting enough to always keep you going and the fighting is just fun.
Subjective Rating: 3,5
Outstanding:
The Graphics and sound design
Good:
The voice acting
The characters especially Reed and Songbird
Mediocre:
The Storyline
Bad:
That Ponpon Shit is still on Heat Radio
The driving
The Worst:
Thoughts: I was one of the many who were really hyped for Cyberpunk and got really dissappointed. I couldn't finish the original game for a long time because of the main quest bug. Now, years later Cyberpunk somewhat redeemed itself a bit. I'm still pissed that there are so many features missing especially the boring open world annoys me. The future is apparently food stores and erotica. But that said I have to acknowledge that this DLC is worth its money. The story is interesting enough to always keep you going and the fighting is just fun.
2022
Rating overall: 0,4/5
Hours of time played: 27h 26m
5/7 Fun: I only play pro clubs with my friends and when fifa 23 works, its actual really fun. Each player having his own role and being part of a larger thing is incredibly rewarding. You really feel a difference in the playstyles. Now to the sadly bad list of things. Crashes, joining into games but not all members actually join , EA Play is horrendous on itself. You cant customize as much as in Volta for example. But seven different pink color tones for all the afro people out there are of course included.
4/6 Genre: Well its more or less the only football game out there that is relevant. Its more or less the same every year.
1/3 Graphics: Meh, its ok.
2/6 Atmosphere: All the bugs and crashes and weird mechanics never really let me feel like Im in the stadion.
0/3 Gameplay: Seriously the gameplay is so important for this game and its just trash. Y passing feels really random with aim assist, so I turned it off. The camera is weird, specially when I cant look on a free kick where I am and the map disappears, why? Opponents always just run wide and pass high over the whole map 10x a game until it works way to often. Maybe I am just bad, but if I watch Fifa Esport I find it hilarious what the mechanically meta is.
-10/10* Deduction: The E in EA stands for evil and thats exactly what FUT is. Corporate greed at its finest which destroyed so many games which wanted to follow the footsteps of the money printing system FIFA is. It completely changed the video game industry and while it made the whole scene bigger, it really hurt the craft of making video games good instead of profitable. Thats why FIFA is just a game, but The Last of Us, Hades, Plague Tale and so on are art.
Hours of time played: 27h 26m
5/7 Fun: I only play pro clubs with my friends and when fifa 23 works, its actual really fun. Each player having his own role and being part of a larger thing is incredibly rewarding. You really feel a difference in the playstyles. Now to the sadly bad list of things. Crashes, joining into games but not all members actually join , EA Play is horrendous on itself. You cant customize as much as in Volta for example. But seven different pink color tones for all the afro people out there are of course included.
4/6 Genre: Well its more or less the only football game out there that is relevant. Its more or less the same every year.
1/3 Graphics: Meh, its ok.
2/6 Atmosphere: All the bugs and crashes and weird mechanics never really let me feel like Im in the stadion.
0/3 Gameplay: Seriously the gameplay is so important for this game and its just trash. Y passing feels really random with aim assist, so I turned it off. The camera is weird, specially when I cant look on a free kick where I am and the map disappears, why? Opponents always just run wide and pass high over the whole map 10x a game until it works way to often. Maybe I am just bad, but if I watch Fifa Esport I find it hilarious what the mechanically meta is.
-10/10* Deduction: The E in EA stands for evil and thats exactly what FUT is. Corporate greed at its finest which destroyed so many games which wanted to follow the footsteps of the money printing system FIFA is. It completely changed the video game industry and while it made the whole scene bigger, it really hurt the craft of making video games good instead of profitable. Thats why FIFA is just a game, but The Last of Us, Hades, Plague Tale and so on are art.
2022
Rating overall: 5/5
Hours of time played: 62h
7/7 Fun: This game is just a masterpiece. The game is long but not too long. Its full of action, epic fights, clever dialogues, brillant acting and a story that ties everything perfectly to an end. I was just in awe after finishing the last scene of the last quest and this was the first game I actually jumped and screamed for excitement multiple times.
6/6 Genre: Action Adventuring at its finest.
3/3 Graphics: PS5 gaming at its finest. Easily one of the best looking games of today with tons of animations and acting.
6/6 Atmosphere: The music, Kratos familiar voice, the norse mythology...its all so well crafted. The actors really stepped it up in terms of transmitting feelings and emotions through the screen. Deborah Ann Wollss Faye as a counterweight to Kratos and Teen Atreus, the dwarfes, even a squirrel has a more fleshed out character than some protagonists in other games. Everybody in this game has strenghts and weaknesses and ideals he or she follows. Nothing is black and white and everything has consequences.
3/3 Gameplay: You can progress naturally and the weapons feel nice and diverse. There is a surprise later on I wont spoil for you, but it fits in perfectly in playing the game. When Kratos dismantles his opponents the game is peak fun and when you choose your path of fighting and overcome the bosses it just feels amazing.
Hours of time played: 62h
7/7 Fun: This game is just a masterpiece. The game is long but not too long. Its full of action, epic fights, clever dialogues, brillant acting and a story that ties everything perfectly to an end. I was just in awe after finishing the last scene of the last quest and this was the first game I actually jumped and screamed for excitement multiple times.
6/6 Genre: Action Adventuring at its finest.
3/3 Graphics: PS5 gaming at its finest. Easily one of the best looking games of today with tons of animations and acting.
6/6 Atmosphere: The music, Kratos familiar voice, the norse mythology...its all so well crafted. The actors really stepped it up in terms of transmitting feelings and emotions through the screen. Deborah Ann Wollss Faye as a counterweight to Kratos and Teen Atreus, the dwarfes, even a squirrel has a more fleshed out character than some protagonists in other games. Everybody in this game has strenghts and weaknesses and ideals he or she follows. Nothing is black and white and everything has consequences.
3/3 Gameplay: You can progress naturally and the weapons feel nice and diverse. There is a surprise later on I wont spoil for you, but it fits in perfectly in playing the game. When Kratos dismantles his opponents the game is peak fun and when you choose your path of fighting and overcome the bosses it just feels amazing.
2021
Rating overall: 3.4/5
Hours of time played: 4h 34m
5/7 Fun: What a cute little game. What a creative idea to make just unpacking boxes not boring.
6/6 Genre: Very creative way to tell a story. Seeing things get older or dissapearing or a collection which grows over the years really gives you this uncomfortable feeling of living a strangers live in a few hours. You blink and years have passed by. I loved that feeling in unpacking as its a reminder that we only have one life.
1/3 Graphics: Well its pixelart. You can like it or dislike it and it suits the game, but its not much and the easiest way to show something.
4/6 Atmosphere: The music and the sounds are fitting to the artstyle and opening the boxes is fun.
1/3 Gameplay: Well you unpack stuff and besides that you cant do all that much.
Hours of time played: 4h 34m
5/7 Fun: What a cute little game. What a creative idea to make just unpacking boxes not boring.
6/6 Genre: Very creative way to tell a story. Seeing things get older or dissapearing or a collection which grows over the years really gives you this uncomfortable feeling of living a strangers live in a few hours. You blink and years have passed by. I loved that feeling in unpacking as its a reminder that we only have one life.
1/3 Graphics: Well its pixelart. You can like it or dislike it and it suits the game, but its not much and the easiest way to show something.
4/6 Atmosphere: The music and the sounds are fitting to the artstyle and opening the boxes is fun.
1/3 Gameplay: Well you unpack stuff and besides that you cant do all that much.
Rating overall: 4.2/5
Hours of time played: 12h 11m
6/7 Fun: I feel like you will love this game if you can emotionally invest yourself in stories. If not, this game will feel sluggish and irrelevant on many occasions. It pulls you into this dreamy town full of kind people and everybody is a nerd who loves video games and D&D. Its a bit cheesy by times and you have to listen to so many things. But man, does it work on me. I am a sucker for coming of age films anyway and at some point you do a LARP, where your fictive video game character acts as a fantasy character which roleplays a fight which is an actual turn based fight in the game. Amazing stuff! That being said I played it on Gamepass. Paying 60€ for this is a bit too much.
6/6 Genre: There is so much so explore and do and listen to and payoff is nothing except kind words of the townfolk. Thats the spirit of the game. Doing kind things will get you these cute little scenes. For example: I found paw prints in an back alley of a shop. Sometime later I find a guy who is sad about someone leaving him. After fingding a missing dog poster I realize this man is looking for his dog and I know where it went and can help him. Yes there is no rewards besides this guy thanking you but it feels nice to do good in this world. Your choices probably don't matter all that much, but this game is more about you roleplaying as Alex.
2/3 Graphics: The graphics are well done and especially the mimics of of the characters are mostly well done and you can really see their emotions, which was never done so beautifully for a cel-shading game.
6/6 Atmosphere: The music is awesome, the voice acting is authentic to the brim and world is full of people interacting with you, moments where you can relax and meditate.
1/3 Gameplay: Probably the weakest part about this game. Your powers are not really powers like in the other games. Your just an expert in reading people and using that to your advantage, or not. For me the game would be better if everything are just Alex thoughts about how and what people think.
Hours of time played: 12h 11m
6/7 Fun: I feel like you will love this game if you can emotionally invest yourself in stories. If not, this game will feel sluggish and irrelevant on many occasions. It pulls you into this dreamy town full of kind people and everybody is a nerd who loves video games and D&D. Its a bit cheesy by times and you have to listen to so many things. But man, does it work on me. I am a sucker for coming of age films anyway and at some point you do a LARP, where your fictive video game character acts as a fantasy character which roleplays a fight which is an actual turn based fight in the game. Amazing stuff! That being said I played it on Gamepass. Paying 60€ for this is a bit too much.
6/6 Genre: There is so much so explore and do and listen to and payoff is nothing except kind words of the townfolk. Thats the spirit of the game. Doing kind things will get you these cute little scenes. For example: I found paw prints in an back alley of a shop. Sometime later I find a guy who is sad about someone leaving him. After fingding a missing dog poster I realize this man is looking for his dog and I know where it went and can help him. Yes there is no rewards besides this guy thanking you but it feels nice to do good in this world. Your choices probably don't matter all that much, but this game is more about you roleplaying as Alex.
2/3 Graphics: The graphics are well done and especially the mimics of of the characters are mostly well done and you can really see their emotions, which was never done so beautifully for a cel-shading game.
6/6 Atmosphere: The music is awesome, the voice acting is authentic to the brim and world is full of people interacting with you, moments where you can relax and meditate.
1/3 Gameplay: Probably the weakest part about this game. Your powers are not really powers like in the other games. Your just an expert in reading people and using that to your advantage, or not. For me the game would be better if everything are just Alex thoughts about how and what people think.
Rating overall: 4.2/5
Hours of time played: 10h 30m
6/7 Fun: This is the great tale of two siblings who have to flee from the black plague and soldiers in france. Its a great action adventure game that has more too offer than you originally would think. On a footnote its amazing what such a small developer team can do!
5/6 Genre: As far as action adentures go, this has a perfect length, you can solve every level multiple ways, your not spammed with ressources and have to carefully decide what to upgrade. And especially the sneaking is well done and things like light, shadow, distance and sound actually play a role.
2/3 Graphics: Room to improvement, especially some cutscenes are extremely short or jumpy, I figure because of the small dev team.
6/6 Atmosphere: Darkening the room, putting the language on french and turning up the volume on your headphones really add to the atmosphere this game can bring to the table. You are really sucked into france in medieval times and the voice acting on Amicia and her little brother Hugo is just incredible.
2/3 Gameplay: You play through multiple chapters and each chapter there is a new mechanic introduced which lightens up the gameplay. This is unfortunately not enough to keep the gameplay from being dull from time to time. But I really like that the game does not have fear to throw companions by your side which sneak, fight and act alongside you.
Hours of time played: 10h 30m
6/7 Fun: This is the great tale of two siblings who have to flee from the black plague and soldiers in france. Its a great action adventure game that has more too offer than you originally would think. On a footnote its amazing what such a small developer team can do!
5/6 Genre: As far as action adentures go, this has a perfect length, you can solve every level multiple ways, your not spammed with ressources and have to carefully decide what to upgrade. And especially the sneaking is well done and things like light, shadow, distance and sound actually play a role.
2/3 Graphics: Room to improvement, especially some cutscenes are extremely short or jumpy, I figure because of the small dev team.
6/6 Atmosphere: Darkening the room, putting the language on french and turning up the volume on your headphones really add to the atmosphere this game can bring to the table. You are really sucked into france in medieval times and the voice acting on Amicia and her little brother Hugo is just incredible.
2/3 Gameplay: You play through multiple chapters and each chapter there is a new mechanic introduced which lightens up the gameplay. This is unfortunately not enough to keep the gameplay from being dull from time to time. But I really like that the game does not have fear to throw companions by your side which sneak, fight and act alongside you.
2016
Rating overall: 3,6/5
Hours of time played: 8h
4/7 Fun: I picked up this game again after getting it recommended by a friend. I will just rate the campaign though as multiplayer doenst interests me in this game. I like the fast pacing especially in the times where you can go invisible. Shoot, hide, slide around the corner, throw a grenade, go invisible, jump behind an enemy, stab him, and shoot again. The combat feels really like you can be in control and if you are, its very rewarding. And if you are not, you can die easily which is awesome if playing on the hardest difficulty. And of course sitting in a Titan feels very mighty and like you are invincible. I did not like that there are not that many Titan sequences and after invisibility is replaced the combat is not the same sadly.
5/6 Genre: As far as Shooter Campaigns go, this is the best I have played after the Modern Warfare series, or atleast nothing comes at mind at the moment. The weapons could hit a bit harder, I mostly played the second loadout on my Titan for example, because the sound was the best in the game.
3/3 Graphics: Grahpics are awesome for 2016.
3/6 Atmosphere: Matt Mercers voice lines are so dull and the actor itself is so underused its unbelievable. He only says the most basic stuff and his Titan has way more personality than he could ever have. Which is so sad. Besides from that the pacing is fast and you feel the importance of your mission. The missions are very creative and this game never gets boring except in the very beginning.
3/3 Gameplay: The combination of running, sliding, skills, the titan and weaponry is well balanced and you can play with way more playstyles than lets say a Halo or CoD.
Hours of time played: 8h
4/7 Fun: I picked up this game again after getting it recommended by a friend. I will just rate the campaign though as multiplayer doenst interests me in this game. I like the fast pacing especially in the times where you can go invisible. Shoot, hide, slide around the corner, throw a grenade, go invisible, jump behind an enemy, stab him, and shoot again. The combat feels really like you can be in control and if you are, its very rewarding. And if you are not, you can die easily which is awesome if playing on the hardest difficulty. And of course sitting in a Titan feels very mighty and like you are invincible. I did not like that there are not that many Titan sequences and after invisibility is replaced the combat is not the same sadly.
5/6 Genre: As far as Shooter Campaigns go, this is the best I have played after the Modern Warfare series, or atleast nothing comes at mind at the moment. The weapons could hit a bit harder, I mostly played the second loadout on my Titan for example, because the sound was the best in the game.
3/3 Graphics: Grahpics are awesome for 2016.
3/6 Atmosphere: Matt Mercers voice lines are so dull and the actor itself is so underused its unbelievable. He only says the most basic stuff and his Titan has way more personality than he could ever have. Which is so sad. Besides from that the pacing is fast and you feel the importance of your mission. The missions are very creative and this game never gets boring except in the very beginning.
3/3 Gameplay: The combination of running, sliding, skills, the titan and weaponry is well balanced and you can play with way more playstyles than lets say a Halo or CoD.
2021
Rating overall: 4/5
Hours of time played: 128h
7/7 Fun: In my opinion the best rougelike card game out there and better than Slay the Spire. While Slay the Spire is very fast past, AtO is very slow and a run will take much more of your time. But it is also the way better card game in itself. It has more mechanics, more playstiles, and for me they difficulty is way better. While in Slay the Spire you try to mitigate your luck so that you can always be on top, sometimes that doenst work and you lose because you draw the wrong cards or an enemy spawns, that perfectly counters you. In AtO you can also lose to randomness, but this factor is way smaller. You can negate so many risks just by learning the game, they paths, the enemies, the attacks. I learn that I shouldnt bring thorns into the Ice World, because many enemies will steal them and the boss in the end hard counters me. Or I can play around that. If I play a slow deck in slay the spire, there are elites that hard counter me but I can only handle this by having a lucky flask, or doding elites or drawing lucky.
6/6 Genre: You have 16 heroes, many pets, cards, supply crates and equipment to unlock and find, 128h into the game I have not unlocked everything yet. But it doenst feel sluggish like in Slay the Spire where you do multiple runs for 2 new cards. You have so many variants you can test out, rogues as tanks, mages as tanks, no tanks at all. Playing Fire as Cold damage, everybody spamming dark stacks and so on. I have not played a blunt stacking combo yet so 128h in I have still things to try out.
1/3 Graphics: Grahpics are fine for an indie game, I like dark fantasy way more but it suits the game.
3/6 Atmosphere: There is not much going on. You can play this game and watch Netflix by it side or play with friends and talk about other stuff. The story is non existent and there are no real animations for attacks besides maybe the legendary cards. Combined with the child friendly popish art style there is no real atmosphere but in the boss fights.
3/3 Gameplay: Coop in this kind of game is really refreshing to see. I doesnt make the most sense because often there is one right way to play which can lead to an alpha leader problem where one person could play alone and not all classes are equally fun. If I have to tank alone I mostly play some shields and thats it. Sure everyone can play hybrids but that only gets you so far in this game. But its just fun to play as a group of four.
Hours of time played: 128h
7/7 Fun: In my opinion the best rougelike card game out there and better than Slay the Spire. While Slay the Spire is very fast past, AtO is very slow and a run will take much more of your time. But it is also the way better card game in itself. It has more mechanics, more playstiles, and for me they difficulty is way better. While in Slay the Spire you try to mitigate your luck so that you can always be on top, sometimes that doenst work and you lose because you draw the wrong cards or an enemy spawns, that perfectly counters you. In AtO you can also lose to randomness, but this factor is way smaller. You can negate so many risks just by learning the game, they paths, the enemies, the attacks. I learn that I shouldnt bring thorns into the Ice World, because many enemies will steal them and the boss in the end hard counters me. Or I can play around that. If I play a slow deck in slay the spire, there are elites that hard counter me but I can only handle this by having a lucky flask, or doding elites or drawing lucky.
6/6 Genre: You have 16 heroes, many pets, cards, supply crates and equipment to unlock and find, 128h into the game I have not unlocked everything yet. But it doenst feel sluggish like in Slay the Spire where you do multiple runs for 2 new cards. You have so many variants you can test out, rogues as tanks, mages as tanks, no tanks at all. Playing Fire as Cold damage, everybody spamming dark stacks and so on. I have not played a blunt stacking combo yet so 128h in I have still things to try out.
1/3 Graphics: Grahpics are fine for an indie game, I like dark fantasy way more but it suits the game.
3/6 Atmosphere: There is not much going on. You can play this game and watch Netflix by it side or play with friends and talk about other stuff. The story is non existent and there are no real animations for attacks besides maybe the legendary cards. Combined with the child friendly popish art style there is no real atmosphere but in the boss fights.
3/3 Gameplay: Coop in this kind of game is really refreshing to see. I doesnt make the most sense because often there is one right way to play which can lead to an alpha leader problem where one person could play alone and not all classes are equally fun. If I have to tank alone I mostly play some shields and thats it. Sure everyone can play hybrids but that only gets you so far in this game. But its just fun to play as a group of four.
2022
Rating overall: 4,2/5
Hours of time played: 7h
6/7 Fun: This game is done very well. Maybe at some times a bit predicting, but I played it coop which was so cleverly implemented. Decisions are based on votes but you have a pool of deciders that you can use to vote some decisions alone. Important decisions however you have to have the same opinion on.
6/6 Genre: This rating may very if I play this game more than once. On my first playthrough I had the feeling, that there are so many variants and possibilities on how the story could unfold, checking all the branches after a chapter was quite the highlight in itself. I fear though, if you play it for a second or third time, there will be some illusion of choice and this rating will go down.
2/3 Graphics: I like the art style, sure its not the most triple a, but atleast you dont have to spend resources on animating face expressions, you can just show one fram of it. So you have to use your imagination a bit.
4/6 Atmosphere: The setting was nice and many characters are way more complex than we assume in the beginning. There was nearly never a moment where I thought that a character acted way out of his own logic, which is awesome. Although the story could have a bit more suspenseful moments.
3/3 Gameplay: As far as these movie games go this is done perfectly with the voting system as I mentioned already above.
Hours of time played: 7h
6/7 Fun: This game is done very well. Maybe at some times a bit predicting, but I played it coop which was so cleverly implemented. Decisions are based on votes but you have a pool of deciders that you can use to vote some decisions alone. Important decisions however you have to have the same opinion on.
6/6 Genre: This rating may very if I play this game more than once. On my first playthrough I had the feeling, that there are so many variants and possibilities on how the story could unfold, checking all the branches after a chapter was quite the highlight in itself. I fear though, if you play it for a second or third time, there will be some illusion of choice and this rating will go down.
2/3 Graphics: I like the art style, sure its not the most triple a, but atleast you dont have to spend resources on animating face expressions, you can just show one fram of it. So you have to use your imagination a bit.
4/6 Atmosphere: The setting was nice and many characters are way more complex than we assume in the beginning. There was nearly never a moment where I thought that a character acted way out of his own logic, which is awesome. Although the story could have a bit more suspenseful moments.
3/3 Gameplay: As far as these movie games go this is done perfectly with the voting system as I mentioned already above.
Rating overall: 3,2/5
Hours of time played: 35h
5/7 Fun: This game is my favorite kind of game. Coop pve in a fantasy setting is just the best. Until the lategame this game never got boring. The funny questlines, the loot, the exploration are enough to build up so many memorable moments with your playthrough.
2/6 Genre: This is my biggest problems with this game. Sadly, the balance and loot are not so good. This is bad in a loot shooter game. Melee is trash if not a few specific builds. With that, somce classes are just bad, especially tanking feels very unrewarding. In addition we played with a friend which was way ahead of us and the balance system never got to the point where it felt we actually did some dmg.
2/3 Graphics: The graphics are fine, but the environment lacks diversity.
4/6 Atmosphere: The world doenst take itself seriously, but Ashly Burchs perfomance as Tiny Tina is just outstanding.
3/3 Gameplay: Gameplay is fine, the weapons feel very different and hit hard.
Hours of time played: 35h
5/7 Fun: This game is my favorite kind of game. Coop pve in a fantasy setting is just the best. Until the lategame this game never got boring. The funny questlines, the loot, the exploration are enough to build up so many memorable moments with your playthrough.
2/6 Genre: This is my biggest problems with this game. Sadly, the balance and loot are not so good. This is bad in a loot shooter game. Melee is trash if not a few specific builds. With that, somce classes are just bad, especially tanking feels very unrewarding. In addition we played with a friend which was way ahead of us and the balance system never got to the point where it felt we actually did some dmg.
2/3 Graphics: The graphics are fine, but the environment lacks diversity.
4/6 Atmosphere: The world doenst take itself seriously, but Ashly Burchs perfomance as Tiny Tina is just outstanding.
3/3 Gameplay: Gameplay is fine, the weapons feel very different and hit hard.
2017
Rating overall: 3,5/5
Hours of time played: 2h
5/7 Fun: Pretty fun free game to play with a friend. There are like 3-5 puzzles and one of them is bugged which gets really frustrating. This game is like 2h long, so there should be no major glitches. Sad.
4/6 Genre: A clever puzzle game where one part is the executioner of the tasks and one player is the guide, who has to puzzle the hints together.
2/3 Graphics: Fine for a free game.
5/6 Atmosphere: Its the myst like melancholic atmosphere I really like. Talking to your friend with an actual walkie talkie ingame adds so much, as you have to actually say "[...] over" to not interrupt our partner.
1/3 Gameplay: Like I said the huge bug is kinda stupid. Other than that there was not much gameplay going on.
Hours of time played: 2h
5/7 Fun: Pretty fun free game to play with a friend. There are like 3-5 puzzles and one of them is bugged which gets really frustrating. This game is like 2h long, so there should be no major glitches. Sad.
4/6 Genre: A clever puzzle game where one part is the executioner of the tasks and one player is the guide, who has to puzzle the hints together.
2/3 Graphics: Fine for a free game.
5/6 Atmosphere: Its the myst like melancholic atmosphere I really like. Talking to your friend with an actual walkie talkie ingame adds so much, as you have to actually say "[...] over" to not interrupt our partner.
1/3 Gameplay: Like I said the huge bug is kinda stupid. Other than that there was not much gameplay going on.
2019
Rating overall: 4,2/5
Hours of time played: 40h
6/7 Fun: This game is a nearly perfect card game rouge-light. You have so many combos and so much to explore and to test out.
6/6 Genre: In terms of card games, there is not much too critize. Like every card game you are sometimes in a situation where you lose randomly which feels pretty unsatisfying, especially if you can do nothing about it. But most of the times, the randomness is in your hands and this is what makes this card game so good.
2/3 Graphics: Graphics are fine.
4/6 Atmosphere: The atmosphere is fine, but nothing like Hades or inscryption.
3/3 Gameplay: The fast mode should be included in any card game since this is a delightful tool.
Hours of time played: 40h
6/7 Fun: This game is a nearly perfect card game rouge-light. You have so many combos and so much to explore and to test out.
6/6 Genre: In terms of card games, there is not much too critize. Like every card game you are sometimes in a situation where you lose randomly which feels pretty unsatisfying, especially if you can do nothing about it. But most of the times, the randomness is in your hands and this is what makes this card game so good.
2/3 Graphics: Graphics are fine.
4/6 Atmosphere: The atmosphere is fine, but nothing like Hades or inscryption.
3/3 Gameplay: The fast mode should be included in any card game since this is a delightful tool.