SuperScabs
I went in with low expectations and that was a good thing because it somewhat exceeded them. It's about everything I thought it would be, from the pointless trinkets to the shallow combat. The naval combat in particular is spectacular initially, but it wanes when you realize it's just spam cannons and mortars. It is a good thing then that the world is wonderfully realized, it just feels good to inhabit. Drunkards wander the streets, people talking among each other, workers going on about their day. It feels surly and dirty with rats littering the streets and seedy filth lines the facades. It's then a shame that the story is just kind of fine.
It had been built up as being the pinnacle of the franchise in terms of its story, and I'm sure it is, but it's really just a series of plot contrivances to get Edward into a world he doesn't belong. The assassins and templar stuff is awful, it's boring and it's basic, all this needed was a man dealing with the fallout of his society, but instead it is endless ex-positing and talking. People never shut up, even in the end when you should just be sailing off quietly with your daughter, they talk about nothing, soiling the moment.
I get idea of freedom vs order relating well with assasins:templars and pirates:government, but the execution is bloated and painfully long. There are about a hundred characters whose names you'll forget instantly, and blackbeard, whose whole purpose is just to populate the world. It's hardly a mess, but it does feel like too many cooks in the kitchen, the animus notes is a good indication of that. It was a nice place to inhabit for a while, but not one I think I'll be returning to.
It had been built up as being the pinnacle of the franchise in terms of its story, and I'm sure it is, but it's really just a series of plot contrivances to get Edward into a world he doesn't belong. The assassins and templar stuff is awful, it's boring and it's basic, all this needed was a man dealing with the fallout of his society, but instead it is endless ex-positing and talking. People never shut up, even in the end when you should just be sailing off quietly with your daughter, they talk about nothing, soiling the moment.
I get idea of freedom vs order relating well with assasins:templars and pirates:government, but the execution is bloated and painfully long. There are about a hundred characters whose names you'll forget instantly, and blackbeard, whose whole purpose is just to populate the world. It's hardly a mess, but it does feel like too many cooks in the kitchen, the animus notes is a good indication of that. It was a nice place to inhabit for a while, but not one I think I'll be returning to.
2004
An impressive technical showcase with a lot more baggage than last time. There's a bit too much waiting around for story beats to finish out and even more drawn out firefights. While good it seems to play too much off the weaker aspects of 1, hoping the other two episodes improve on the experience.
More of the same mostly, at least they really played with the darkness this time around, although I would have preferred this have been used in Ravenholm. This crystallizes my problems with 2 though; a ton of set pieces without any variety. This was fine in 1 because there was a new weapon or mechanic being introduced constantly, but here it's just jury rigged aspects of source used to propel a narrative that doesn't have much going on.
Still too many scenes where you're waiting for characters to finish talking about nothing, but the pacing is at its peak here. Every section introduces something new for you to explore and the change in setting is certainly refreshing after all the yellow and brown. Still can't believe people had to wait 13 years on that cliffhanger.
2020
Great experience, but fails to bring HL to the next level. At their core these have always been great tech demo games, it's why I'm glad they decided to do this in VR, but the problem is that it fails to innovate. Every great thing that Alyx does for VR I feel that I've seen other places, that's not a mark against it, quite the contrary. It produces a wonderful showing of some amazing tech by aping QoL aspects from other games. This on its own would be fine, but it also apes stuff from the other half life games, notably the ending of 2. It's a project which has absolutely reinvigorated the series while failing to add anything which makes it unique outside of its platform. Utilizing all of these aspects and smashing them together into a spectacle is a great experience, but it's not a great game.
EDIT: I am wrong, so completely wrong. Not only a hugely interesting game, but almost definitely a masterpiece. Imma make a video on this one.
EDIT: I am wrong, so completely wrong. Not only a hugely interesting game, but almost definitely a masterpiece. Imma make a video on this one.
2020
A game that's stretched thin on too many fronts. It looks and feels great in VR once you're in the cockpit and the control scheme is intuitive, creating interesting tradeoffs. A lack of budget in regards to the set pieces however really drags this one down.
I literally just wanna blow stuff up and the one mission where it just told me to blow a bunch of things up in succession was easily the best. Escort missions and inflated health pools do nothing to vary up the experience for me.
If there had been some on world missions or some elaborate space stations, even a death star run, i'd have been satisfied. It's clear that most of the environments just had to be mostly skybox and debris based on the budget, which is a shame because what is there looks great.
I just want a stupid game where there are particle effects everywhere and I get to smash up ships, there's bits of that here, but entirely too much nothing inbetween.
I literally just wanna blow stuff up and the one mission where it just told me to blow a bunch of things up in succession was easily the best. Escort missions and inflated health pools do nothing to vary up the experience for me.
If there had been some on world missions or some elaborate space stations, even a death star run, i'd have been satisfied. It's clear that most of the environments just had to be mostly skybox and debris based on the budget, which is a shame because what is there looks great.
I just want a stupid game where there are particle effects everywhere and I get to smash up ships, there's bits of that here, but entirely too much nothing inbetween.
A collection of stories about the staff, similar to Portal 2 final hours with some more flashy effects. A nice vague overview of the development, but unfortunately nothing particularly deep, I found the actual commentary for the game far more insightful. It's harmless though, just somewhat unremarkable.
It's got all the same problems as the previous entries compounded by the fact that we're back to teleporting to different rooms. I like a single unified space that incorporates story elements into the puzzle rooms themselves, this is just a random gathering of neat set pieces. It's still satisfying to see all these mechanisms play out, but I can never say that I'm thinking and entertained at the same time.
This review contains spoilers
Everything past the factory has me left a bit underwhelmed, but ignoring that I was fairly satisfied.
Decadently detailed environments make it worth it for me. Only real gripe was that I wish I could've skipped the DLC missions. The story is actually pretty well paced outside of those.
2020
Way too cute for my taste. Coming of age just hits me less nowadays and unfortunately a lot of stuff is just polluted with it. I like my characters deeply flawed and alienating, these people are just way too nice. It's fine for the art and music, but outside of the visuals it did nothing for me.
2021
Less bad, but also less good.
2021
This review contains spoilers
All of the writing that surprised me was kinda blown right at the start of the game. Everything else is fairly linear to a fault. Also a severe misunderstanding of its own premise as it leans into punishing the supposed villains of the game. The entire end of the game has you getting a god to empathize with people only to punish them. There's no attempt to work through problems. Strangely black and white for how much it's been built up unfortunately. Still better than most Bethesda games, no joke.
2019
The jokes just weren't landing for me and the the actual puzzles didn't hit like I was hoping. Shame 'cause the aesthetic is neat.
It's a step in the right direction, but there are some kinks. The enemy AI in one section had me actually turn on the not-so-scary mode 'cause he wouldn't move from one spot and it was a hassle either leashing or shoving past him.
The projector slides are a definite improvement over the walls of text from the main game, but still suffer the same issue of reading like exposition rather than discoveries. There really needed to be some kind of obfuscation to gamify the process of archaeology, but overall net positive.
As it is and based on additions to the ending it clearly reads as a prototyping phase for what will likely be Outer Wilds 2. It doesn't add enough to the core experience or fit well enough into the world to be called anything, but contrived. If it's up to me I'd cut this out of any future playthroughs, which thankfully they were mindful enough to preserve, but taken on its own it's pretty neat.
The projector slides are a definite improvement over the walls of text from the main game, but still suffer the same issue of reading like exposition rather than discoveries. There really needed to be some kind of obfuscation to gamify the process of archaeology, but overall net positive.
As it is and based on additions to the ending it clearly reads as a prototyping phase for what will likely be Outer Wilds 2. It doesn't add enough to the core experience or fit well enough into the world to be called anything, but contrived. If it's up to me I'd cut this out of any future playthroughs, which thankfully they were mindful enough to preserve, but taken on its own it's pretty neat.