theDriu
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Elden Ring
2022
Been a big fan of the Souls series since Demon's Souls on PS3, but Elden Ring just doesn't work for me. To the point where it's probably my least favorite of the entire series.
The game is simply too big and wastes your time with lots of samey mini dungeons and repeated bosses that are a slog to get through. Way too often I encountered a specific enemy type that I've fought multiple times already and just couldn't help but sigh. I must've fought like a dozen different dragons in the same way every single time.
The size also creates balancing issues. While you could just say "well, just don't do all the content", the game has an insane difficulty spike in it's final act that pretty much requires you to have a broken build. I never summoned NPCs or players in any of the games on my first playthrough, but when I reached Farum Azula and encountered the Godskin Duo I simply had enough of the game's bullshit and proceeded to steamroll the game with the mimic tear.
The mimic tear was so overpowered that the entire game suddenly became a cakewalk and even let me stunlock Malenia to the point where I somehow beat her on my first attempt. I just kept doing jumping attacks while the mimic kept her busy when I needed stamina. I'm sure I lucked out, but the difference between using mimic and not using it should be obvious.
I'm willing to give the game another shot ... in a year or two. My insistence on playing these games with my typical DEX melee build might have caused me some frustration, but right now I just feel let down by bosses with exaggerated patterns that force you to roll 20 times until you get 1-2 hits in. I'm so sick and tired of that formula and it almost makes me want to get Sekiro combat back.
One thing I simply can't deny about Elden Ring however is it's impressive design. The game never failed to impress me with awesome landscapes, castles and other surprises. The highs of the game were serious highs even compared to the rest of the series. If the game was mostly that and reduced by half in size I would probably enjoy it way more.
But the rest of the world seems to be happy with it just the way it is, so they'll probably make the next one even bigger. Don't expect me to be on board, though.
The game is simply too big and wastes your time with lots of samey mini dungeons and repeated bosses that are a slog to get through. Way too often I encountered a specific enemy type that I've fought multiple times already and just couldn't help but sigh. I must've fought like a dozen different dragons in the same way every single time.
The size also creates balancing issues. While you could just say "well, just don't do all the content", the game has an insane difficulty spike in it's final act that pretty much requires you to have a broken build. I never summoned NPCs or players in any of the games on my first playthrough, but when I reached Farum Azula and encountered the Godskin Duo I simply had enough of the game's bullshit and proceeded to steamroll the game with the mimic tear.
The mimic tear was so overpowered that the entire game suddenly became a cakewalk and even let me stunlock Malenia to the point where I somehow beat her on my first attempt. I just kept doing jumping attacks while the mimic kept her busy when I needed stamina. I'm sure I lucked out, but the difference between using mimic and not using it should be obvious.
I'm willing to give the game another shot ... in a year or two. My insistence on playing these games with my typical DEX melee build might have caused me some frustration, but right now I just feel let down by bosses with exaggerated patterns that force you to roll 20 times until you get 1-2 hits in. I'm so sick and tired of that formula and it almost makes me want to get Sekiro combat back.
One thing I simply can't deny about Elden Ring however is it's impressive design. The game never failed to impress me with awesome landscapes, castles and other surprises. The highs of the game were serious highs even compared to the rest of the series. If the game was mostly that and reduced by half in size I would probably enjoy it way more.
But the rest of the world seems to be happy with it just the way it is, so they'll probably make the next one even bigger. Don't expect me to be on board, though.
This review contains spoilers
Il gioco è meravigliosamente scritto, la molteplicità delle parti del protagonista in gioco sono una ottima orchestra che spiega molto bene cos'è una mente frammentata, incapace di avere una sintesi, prodotta da un soggetto depresso ed ormai schizofrenico. Ma il gioco non si ferma semplicemente alla costruzione di un protagonista e del buon Kitsuragi. La stessa costruzione del pale è molto interessante e può produrre una analisi che il disastro ambientale non fa notare, e cioè che il pensare, l'atto di essere creature in perenne riflessione, sia il motore trainante delle cose che accadono. Sia internamente che esternamente. Il disastro ambientale non produce una contraddizione nelle persone perché molti accettano che le cose debbano andare così per i comfort che hanno, quindi non è che manca coscienza del danno, semplicemente l'uomo è disinteressato generalmente al futuro per il suo essere intensicamente pragmatico e attaccato al presente. Se invece noi spostiamo il focus al "pensiero" come motore trainante del disastro allora possiamo sottolineare che siamo creature spezzate, il pensiero costante tenta di riattaccare la realtà sensibile delle cose ma è genuinamente persa, e in questa frattura noi creiamo una ulteriore frattura: la realtà circostante (la società). Il pale è come la frattura della realtà sensibile delle cose, esternazione pratica di una specie frammentata per natura. Il phasmyd non può cogliere la realtà sensibile delle cose e ne è dispiaciuto. Non ci accusa di essere maligni per il pale, addirittura ci invidia. Sa che possiamo cogliere qualcosa di ulteriore, semplicemente non siamo stati in gradi di creare il contesto sociale necessario e questo si collega al punto fondamentale di disco elysium: il fallimento del comunismo.
L'incontro con l'eremita mostra quanto siamo in un mondo in rovina da cui non ci possiamo riprendere. Ci è negata la speranza, siamo disperati e rotti "con un buco nel cervello" e chi non è così è perché semplicemente è un borghese che per definizione non è umano perché è alienato e aliena gli altri con il suo egocentrismo. Di fronte a questa ennesima spaccatura infine ci troviamo di fronte al phasmyd che ridà come una speranza tirando giù le pareti del reale proponendoci un "surreale", che sarebbe la meta di un inseguimento che non deve mai finire, perché è proprio lì che si cela il mondo sensibile delle cose. Mi viene da piangere a ripensarci.
Il gioco, comunque, non è "marxista", anzi è estremamente cosciente della sconfitta (parliamo di Estoni del resto) e sempre prendendo l'incontro con l'eremita/il disertore, che costiituisce un importante climax, ci dà la botta tremenda di sto messaggio -perchè l'unico modo per essere coerente è vivere FUORI dalla società, ma è tremendo (a ragione di ciò sottolineo che esiste un cinema che insegue la stessa lezione, in particolare man with no name di wang bing). Poi in più di una occasione si fa riferimento alla classe intellettuale neomarxista -i sociologi francesi fondamentalmente- che in verità sono ultraliberali/nichilisti, gente che in sostanza ha capito la lezione ed è giunta alla conclusione che vuole morire o distrarsi ogni giorno godendo di vari vizi ecc. Questo è il gruppo più velenoso che sia mai capitato nel mondo intellettuale, la morte di ogni possibile rivoluzione è la loro stessa esistenza. La loro appropriazione di ciò che dovrebbe essere in mano a chi ha l'altezza morale di non cadere mai è il chiodo su questa bara. Difatti gli autori di disco elisyum non sono nichilisti, ma sanno di essere sconfitti, e quindi stanno in questo limbo cercando di fare "prassi" tramite l'arte per non far morire la coscienza necessaria. Questo mi ha un po' fatto chiedere: ma chi non ha coscienza di classe cosa precisamente trova di incredibile in questo gioco? ma va beh mi sono ricordato dopo che le cose possono essere apprezzate su molteplici piani, anche se non li capisco.
Oltre a tutte queste riflessioni il gioco propone un sacco di linee di dialogo divertenti ed emotive, per esempio tutta la questione di Dora, nella parte in cui si parla con Dolores Dei soprattutto, è talmente ben scritta che è difficile parlarne in maniera fredda. È inutile nascondere quanto possa ricordare a chiunque quel "primo volto della morte" a cui lei stessa si riferisce: l'amore.
Parlerei per ore anche solo delle interazioni con Cuno, di come Klaasje forse meriti di essere lasciata libera, del pale, delle decine di minuti che puoi passare a sentire teorie razziste e di quanto sia interessante tutta la questione dei criptozoologi.
Questo gioco è in definitiva il capolavoro con cui tutti quanti devono interagire
L'incontro con l'eremita mostra quanto siamo in un mondo in rovina da cui non ci possiamo riprendere. Ci è negata la speranza, siamo disperati e rotti "con un buco nel cervello" e chi non è così è perché semplicemente è un borghese che per definizione non è umano perché è alienato e aliena gli altri con il suo egocentrismo. Di fronte a questa ennesima spaccatura infine ci troviamo di fronte al phasmyd che ridà come una speranza tirando giù le pareti del reale proponendoci un "surreale", che sarebbe la meta di un inseguimento che non deve mai finire, perché è proprio lì che si cela il mondo sensibile delle cose. Mi viene da piangere a ripensarci.
Il gioco, comunque, non è "marxista", anzi è estremamente cosciente della sconfitta (parliamo di Estoni del resto) e sempre prendendo l'incontro con l'eremita/il disertore, che costiituisce un importante climax, ci dà la botta tremenda di sto messaggio -perchè l'unico modo per essere coerente è vivere FUORI dalla società, ma è tremendo (a ragione di ciò sottolineo che esiste un cinema che insegue la stessa lezione, in particolare man with no name di wang bing). Poi in più di una occasione si fa riferimento alla classe intellettuale neomarxista -i sociologi francesi fondamentalmente- che in verità sono ultraliberali/nichilisti, gente che in sostanza ha capito la lezione ed è giunta alla conclusione che vuole morire o distrarsi ogni giorno godendo di vari vizi ecc. Questo è il gruppo più velenoso che sia mai capitato nel mondo intellettuale, la morte di ogni possibile rivoluzione è la loro stessa esistenza. La loro appropriazione di ciò che dovrebbe essere in mano a chi ha l'altezza morale di non cadere mai è il chiodo su questa bara. Difatti gli autori di disco elisyum non sono nichilisti, ma sanno di essere sconfitti, e quindi stanno in questo limbo cercando di fare "prassi" tramite l'arte per non far morire la coscienza necessaria. Questo mi ha un po' fatto chiedere: ma chi non ha coscienza di classe cosa precisamente trova di incredibile in questo gioco? ma va beh mi sono ricordato dopo che le cose possono essere apprezzate su molteplici piani, anche se non li capisco.
Oltre a tutte queste riflessioni il gioco propone un sacco di linee di dialogo divertenti ed emotive, per esempio tutta la questione di Dora, nella parte in cui si parla con Dolores Dei soprattutto, è talmente ben scritta che è difficile parlarne in maniera fredda. È inutile nascondere quanto possa ricordare a chiunque quel "primo volto della morte" a cui lei stessa si riferisce: l'amore.
Parlerei per ore anche solo delle interazioni con Cuno, di come Klaasje forse meriti di essere lasciata libera, del pale, delle decine di minuti che puoi passare a sentire teorie razziste e di quanto sia interessante tutta la questione dei criptozoologi.
Questo gioco è in definitiva il capolavoro con cui tutti quanti devono interagire
Forza Horizon 4
2018
I really was enjoying this game. The gameplay is fun and the different types of events helped keep the game from getting stale.
Then the full game opened up after the intro segment and there was just too much to keep me motivated. There were so many events on the map that I just didn't know what to pick, and the amount of cars I had got from DLC, Wheelspins and Barn Finds just made it really hard to pick what to drive (especially as I'm not a car guy).
If the openess of this game appeals to you then I'm sure you'll love it, but if you want something a bit more guided then you might be better served by playing something else
Then the full game opened up after the intro segment and there was just too much to keep me motivated. There were so many events on the map that I just didn't know what to pick, and the amount of cars I had got from DLC, Wheelspins and Barn Finds just made it really hard to pick what to drive (especially as I'm not a car guy).
If the openess of this game appeals to you then I'm sure you'll love it, but if you want something a bit more guided then you might be better served by playing something else
A terrifying anti-adventure game that rips your agency away in front of you. Rather than give you the illusion of freedom, the game drags you unwillingly through suspicious doors and unnatural conversations, deep into an abyss of conspiracy where you're the target. Artfully nightmarish and hostile to the player in a way few games will commit to.
Bloodborne
2015
This review contains spoilers
Bloodborne is one of the best games I have ever played, but it has too many flaws for me to call it perfect
The game takes the Souls formula, which I already love, and then makes some major improvements to it.
I was never a fan of blocking in video games. I feel like an attack is about to come, so I start holding my “stop taking damage” button and once the attack is over, I stop holding that button. This is just not how I like playing games. So I really enjoyed that this game just did away with blocking altogether. The more generous parry windows encouraged me to actually try parrying for once and it’s super fun. Quicksteps feel much better than dodge rolls to me. The rallying system is amazing at encouraging you to play aggressively early in the game though later in the game it becomes less relevant as enemies get longer combos and deal more damage.
The level design is also top notch. Central Yharnam probably has my favourite layout out of any action game I ever played, but the rest is great as well. Forbidden Woods is probably the only level I don’t love.
But as mentioned before, the game is full of flaws. For all the great improvements the game made to combat, it has surprisingly few bosses that really let these changes shine, especially in the late game (not including the DLC).
I also dislike the changes to how the online systems work. I like being invaded occasionally and that just doesn’t really happen in this game if you’re not doing coop or hanging out in one of I think 2 very specific spots. And coop isn’t very fun to organize either. I mentioned this in my Elden Ring review already, I like incidental coop, i.e. I’m already in the online state and then I see someone’s summon sign and think “sure, why not”. In Bloodborne it’s even worse than in Elden Ring because you don’t even see if it’s a busy area or who you’re going to summon or something, you just ring your bell and then hope for the best. Neither coop nor pvp feel very rewarding either, you just get some blood echoes and a single insight. It’s also very strange to me that there’s barely any NPC summons, but they didn’t entirely cut the feature either.
Speaking of NPCs, the NPC quests are atrociously obscure as always. Not as bad as in Ds2 or Elden Ring, but still really bad. I think I completed only Alfred’s quest without a guide.
The game is also a bit lacking in build variety in the early game. Yes, all of the various trick weapons are cool, but you start with a selection of only 3. It takes many hours before your build actually starts feeling unique from all the other builds you’ve done before, something that heavily discouraged me from doing multiple playthroughs. Only getting one (two with dlc) of the highest upgrade material for free also discourages experimenting within a playthrough, at least in the lategame.
Chalice Dungeons are an interesting idea but the execution is pretty awful.
Lanterns are just a big mess. I do not understand why they didn’t just copy Bonfires, those worked perfectly fine. It sucks that you have to go through the Hunter’s Dream whenever you want to teleport or respawn enemies for farming.
Which brings me to my biggest issue with the game. Farming for Quicksilver bullets and blood vials. Yeah, I get it, I’m giving in to the hunt by killing these beasts over and over again, ludonarrative resonance, whatever. I don’t want to pause in the middle of my attempts at a difficult boss to farm. It ruins the pacing and I still haven’t beaten the Orphan of Kos because I keep running out of vials and I at one point just got tired of constantly farming for them. It would probably be fine if the prices didn’t increase as you progressed through the game and you could just buy hundreds at once in the lategame.
Despite all of this, I really love Bloodborne, and that is in huge parts thanks to the story. If it was just “Victorian werewolf horror but then it’s revealed to actually be Lovecraftian horror” that would have been super cool already. But it’s even better than that.
Something a lot of Lovecraftian horror gets wrong is that the eldritch monsters aren’t supposed to be malicious killer gods. They’re just so far above humans that their motivations are entirely incomprehensible to us. Bloodborne goes one step further. The Great Ones are, generally speaking, mostly benevolent. They’re just entirely incomprehensible to humans, and they overestimate humans, so despite (almost) everyone’s best intentions, things end up going horribly wrong. If there is any other eldritch horror piece that explores this idea, I have yet to find it.
I am now noticing that I spent more than half of this review talking about the game’s flaws, and that feels a bit unfair to me. It’s just that I have a very clear idea about what I dislike about this game, while the things I love are a lot less clear. But damn, I love this game.
I am constantly tempted to up my rating of it to 5 stars, because it’s easy to forget about a game’s flaws if you’re not playing it right now, while the great things have completely infested my brain and I constantly think about them. I really hope this game gets a PC port someday, so that more people can appreciate this masterpiece.
The game takes the Souls formula, which I already love, and then makes some major improvements to it.
I was never a fan of blocking in video games. I feel like an attack is about to come, so I start holding my “stop taking damage” button and once the attack is over, I stop holding that button. This is just not how I like playing games. So I really enjoyed that this game just did away with blocking altogether. The more generous parry windows encouraged me to actually try parrying for once and it’s super fun. Quicksteps feel much better than dodge rolls to me. The rallying system is amazing at encouraging you to play aggressively early in the game though later in the game it becomes less relevant as enemies get longer combos and deal more damage.
The level design is also top notch. Central Yharnam probably has my favourite layout out of any action game I ever played, but the rest is great as well. Forbidden Woods is probably the only level I don’t love.
But as mentioned before, the game is full of flaws. For all the great improvements the game made to combat, it has surprisingly few bosses that really let these changes shine, especially in the late game (not including the DLC).
I also dislike the changes to how the online systems work. I like being invaded occasionally and that just doesn’t really happen in this game if you’re not doing coop or hanging out in one of I think 2 very specific spots. And coop isn’t very fun to organize either. I mentioned this in my Elden Ring review already, I like incidental coop, i.e. I’m already in the online state and then I see someone’s summon sign and think “sure, why not”. In Bloodborne it’s even worse than in Elden Ring because you don’t even see if it’s a busy area or who you’re going to summon or something, you just ring your bell and then hope for the best. Neither coop nor pvp feel very rewarding either, you just get some blood echoes and a single insight. It’s also very strange to me that there’s barely any NPC summons, but they didn’t entirely cut the feature either.
Speaking of NPCs, the NPC quests are atrociously obscure as always. Not as bad as in Ds2 or Elden Ring, but still really bad. I think I completed only Alfred’s quest without a guide.
The game is also a bit lacking in build variety in the early game. Yes, all of the various trick weapons are cool, but you start with a selection of only 3. It takes many hours before your build actually starts feeling unique from all the other builds you’ve done before, something that heavily discouraged me from doing multiple playthroughs. Only getting one (two with dlc) of the highest upgrade material for free also discourages experimenting within a playthrough, at least in the lategame.
Chalice Dungeons are an interesting idea but the execution is pretty awful.
Lanterns are just a big mess. I do not understand why they didn’t just copy Bonfires, those worked perfectly fine. It sucks that you have to go through the Hunter’s Dream whenever you want to teleport or respawn enemies for farming.
Which brings me to my biggest issue with the game. Farming for Quicksilver bullets and blood vials. Yeah, I get it, I’m giving in to the hunt by killing these beasts over and over again, ludonarrative resonance, whatever. I don’t want to pause in the middle of my attempts at a difficult boss to farm. It ruins the pacing and I still haven’t beaten the Orphan of Kos because I keep running out of vials and I at one point just got tired of constantly farming for them. It would probably be fine if the prices didn’t increase as you progressed through the game and you could just buy hundreds at once in the lategame.
Despite all of this, I really love Bloodborne, and that is in huge parts thanks to the story. If it was just “Victorian werewolf horror but then it’s revealed to actually be Lovecraftian horror” that would have been super cool already. But it’s even better than that.
Something a lot of Lovecraftian horror gets wrong is that the eldritch monsters aren’t supposed to be malicious killer gods. They’re just so far above humans that their motivations are entirely incomprehensible to us. Bloodborne goes one step further. The Great Ones are, generally speaking, mostly benevolent. They’re just entirely incomprehensible to humans, and they overestimate humans, so despite (almost) everyone’s best intentions, things end up going horribly wrong. If there is any other eldritch horror piece that explores this idea, I have yet to find it.
I am now noticing that I spent more than half of this review talking about the game’s flaws, and that feels a bit unfair to me. It’s just that I have a very clear idea about what I dislike about this game, while the things I love are a lot less clear. But damn, I love this game.
I am constantly tempted to up my rating of it to 5 stars, because it’s easy to forget about a game’s flaws if you’re not playing it right now, while the great things have completely infested my brain and I constantly think about them. I really hope this game gets a PC port someday, so that more people can appreciate this masterpiece.
Inscryption
2021
This review contains spoilers
I wish this had just been a normal game.
The game starts out really strong. The first few hours of Inscryption are just a really great roguelike with some neat mechanics about exploring the space you're in tacked on. The sacrifice and bones mechanic is so much cooler than some kind of mana system. There are many viable strategies, and you don't need some broken combo to feel strong. The StS-like map is (as always) much better than in StS, my only complaints about it are that Totem enemies should reward you more and that Bonelord encounters feel kind of pointless. The atmosphere is amazing.
The biggest issue with this Act 1 of Inscryption is that it's a bit too easy, and that is before you unlock totems. Totems just feel like they're designed to break the game for you, because there are so many sigils you can give to your squirrels for a free win. I have honestly no idea how you're even supposed to lose with tutoring squirrels.
Just act 1, with some rebalancing and ascension and all that stuff might have been a great game. I know they’re making a mod for that, maybe I should check it out at some point.
Act 2 is so much worse. There are 2 new cost mechanics. I don't think it's possible to build a good Mox deck, and Energy cards are just way understatted to be any good. So you mostly end up playing the same kind of Sacrifice/Bones deck you've been playing for all of Act 1, only now it's more consistent because it's a CCG instead of a roguelike deckbuilder. I've won so many fights with double Mantis God turn 1. It's mostly trivially easy, especially because there aren't even any consequences for losing, so if you have a bad draw, just concede and retry.
The only encounter in Act 2 that isn’t super easy is the Magnificus fight, and that’s because that fight just throws all the rules out the window and makes up a new game. At least the music is nice.
Then you get to Act 3, and for a moment you’re full of hope that it might at least come close to the greatness of Act 1. The battles are trivially easy and boring, the overworld is ugly and confusing. As you go on, the game keeps throwing random mechanics at you and it feels like none of them matter.
I’d like to give a special dishonorable mention to The Archivist. Ohhhhh, you can show images when I open them, ohhh, only scary programs like Paint can do that (and yet you couldn’t even play the mp4 of the Utena musical). Ohhh now you’re threatening to delete my file ohhh how scary, ohh it isn’t actually deleted who would have thought.
The finale is fine. The bone-focused game seems kinda fun, wish we could play that one properly. The Yu-gi-oh-like with Magnificus is boring but I can’t say it didn’t make me laugh.
I have now written over 500 words without even mentioning the story. That is because the story is absolute garbage, in my opinion. I’m sure the Creepypasta fandom would have really loved this story in 2010. No one is shocked by self-aware video game characters, we’ve all played Undertale. Setting up a mystery and then “redacting” its solution is so cheap. The ending was so hilariously bad, I actually laughed out loud. Also, what was even the point of Grimora deleting the game?
During the finale, it becomes clear that all Leshy ever wanted was to play. This made me kind of sad. I also just wanted to play Leshy’s game, but Inscryption wouldn’t let me.
The game starts out really strong. The first few hours of Inscryption are just a really great roguelike with some neat mechanics about exploring the space you're in tacked on. The sacrifice and bones mechanic is so much cooler than some kind of mana system. There are many viable strategies, and you don't need some broken combo to feel strong. The StS-like map is (as always) much better than in StS, my only complaints about it are that Totem enemies should reward you more and that Bonelord encounters feel kind of pointless. The atmosphere is amazing.
The biggest issue with this Act 1 of Inscryption is that it's a bit too easy, and that is before you unlock totems. Totems just feel like they're designed to break the game for you, because there are so many sigils you can give to your squirrels for a free win. I have honestly no idea how you're even supposed to lose with tutoring squirrels.
Just act 1, with some rebalancing and ascension and all that stuff might have been a great game. I know they’re making a mod for that, maybe I should check it out at some point.
Act 2 is so much worse. There are 2 new cost mechanics. I don't think it's possible to build a good Mox deck, and Energy cards are just way understatted to be any good. So you mostly end up playing the same kind of Sacrifice/Bones deck you've been playing for all of Act 1, only now it's more consistent because it's a CCG instead of a roguelike deckbuilder. I've won so many fights with double Mantis God turn 1. It's mostly trivially easy, especially because there aren't even any consequences for losing, so if you have a bad draw, just concede and retry.
The only encounter in Act 2 that isn’t super easy is the Magnificus fight, and that’s because that fight just throws all the rules out the window and makes up a new game. At least the music is nice.
Then you get to Act 3, and for a moment you’re full of hope that it might at least come close to the greatness of Act 1. The battles are trivially easy and boring, the overworld is ugly and confusing. As you go on, the game keeps throwing random mechanics at you and it feels like none of them matter.
I’d like to give a special dishonorable mention to The Archivist. Ohhhhh, you can show images when I open them, ohhh, only scary programs like Paint can do that (and yet you couldn’t even play the mp4 of the Utena musical). Ohhh now you’re threatening to delete my file ohhh how scary, ohh it isn’t actually deleted who would have thought.
The finale is fine. The bone-focused game seems kinda fun, wish we could play that one properly. The Yu-gi-oh-like with Magnificus is boring but I can’t say it didn’t make me laugh.
I have now written over 500 words without even mentioning the story. That is because the story is absolute garbage, in my opinion. I’m sure the Creepypasta fandom would have really loved this story in 2010. No one is shocked by self-aware video game characters, we’ve all played Undertale. Setting up a mystery and then “redacting” its solution is so cheap. The ending was so hilariously bad, I actually laughed out loud. Also, what was even the point of Grimora deleting the game?
During the finale, it becomes clear that all Leshy ever wanted was to play. This made me kind of sad. I also just wanted to play Leshy’s game, but Inscryption wouldn’t let me.
Inscryption
2021
This review contains spoilers
My overriding feeling with Inscryption is that it ended up being a bit less than the sum of its parts. Knowing it's a roguelike adventure deckbuilder where all is not as it seems I was expecting this to be one of my favourite games ever, but I found myself underwhelmed.
I was quickly drawn in to the world, in love with the macabre atmosphere and all the little gruesome details. After a couple of hours, though, I found myself struggling. Small strategic mistakes or RNG misfortune meant I had to retry a bunch of times even after my second win, but the mechanics were a little too shallow for it to stay interesting. It became clear why later on, when those mechanics were thrown away and then adapted for a less interesting (but still enjoyable) dive in to the meta hole.
Those pacing issues aside, I would say I liked but didn't love the story. I appreciated the writing and the variety of ways in which it was told—cards speaking, live-action videos, mysterious text files— and I'm always down for a mystery, but I'm quite tired of self-referential games about games and the associated meta-humour. There's an "isn't this clever" vibe that isn't backed up by any substance — it's an intriguing conspiracy about a haunted game, but it doesn't say anything interesting with it.
I was also really looking forward to Kaycee's Mod, but it's just that first part of the game except less forgiving and with even less power progression. Total time sink.
I guess I mostly like I'd seen each thing the game did well done better elsewhere. The deckbuilding adventures of Hand of Fate and Slay the Spire; the FMV mystery of Immortality; the run-by-run progression in Hades; the "game about games meta"-ness of Undertale. I had fun, but it dragged on a bit, and I really wish it had some substance to tie it all together... but I won't expect much given the ARG (I looked it up) revealed that the cursed code was stolen from the pocket of LITERALLY HITLER
I was quickly drawn in to the world, in love with the macabre atmosphere and all the little gruesome details. After a couple of hours, though, I found myself struggling. Small strategic mistakes or RNG misfortune meant I had to retry a bunch of times even after my second win, but the mechanics were a little too shallow for it to stay interesting. It became clear why later on, when those mechanics were thrown away and then adapted for a less interesting (but still enjoyable) dive in to the meta hole.
Those pacing issues aside, I would say I liked but didn't love the story. I appreciated the writing and the variety of ways in which it was told—cards speaking, live-action videos, mysterious text files— and I'm always down for a mystery, but I'm quite tired of self-referential games about games and the associated meta-humour. There's an "isn't this clever" vibe that isn't backed up by any substance — it's an intriguing conspiracy about a haunted game, but it doesn't say anything interesting with it.
I was also really looking forward to Kaycee's Mod, but it's just that first part of the game except less forgiving and with even less power progression. Total time sink.
I guess I mostly like I'd seen each thing the game did well done better elsewhere. The deckbuilding adventures of Hand of Fate and Slay the Spire; the FMV mystery of Immortality; the run-by-run progression in Hades; the "game about games meta"-ness of Undertale. I had fun, but it dragged on a bit, and I really wish it had some substance to tie it all together... but I won't expect much given the ARG (I looked it up) revealed that the cursed code was stolen from the pocket of LITERALLY HITLER
Half-Life
1998
remains my favorite first-person shooter experience after all this time. while there may not be as many immediate "wow" moments as a lot of single-player experiences in the genre down the line like doom eternal, modern warfare, or hell, even half-life 2 - much of what makes half-life so wonderful lies in the unspoken and understated.
as an example, think of the moment where gordon finally makes it out of the initial horror of the impact of the resonance cascade near the start of the game. the science team has been pinning their hopes on the military's black ops unit to show up and get them out of this mess; a pure accident and something the team had been trying to prevent. where half-life 2's combine is shown as a clearly benevolent and constant force within its universe, half-life 1 deals this reveal in a much more moment-to-moment manner: screams over the radio, shells ringing in the distance, and the IMMEDIATE gameplay shift to brutality upon your first eye-lock with the black ops.
this mentality is true of the game design that permeates half-life's skeleton, too. the areas feel extremely organic, not very "game-y" at all - the laboratories, the bomb shelters, the waste disposals, and those wide open red rocky mountains in which the game reveals an almost proto-snake eater confrontation with the harsh openness of nature after cooping you up in sheltering and claustrophobic areas for so long. the breadth of half-life is extremely becoming of such a short title.
the movement is quick and the second-by-second playbook is rewarding to master - where previous landmarks like doom or quake often gave you a toolkit with obvious champions, the half-life armory is a diverse kit with a dozen-so weapons each serving their own indispensable purpose throughout the entire experience. there is NO fps i've ever played that has made grenades, the starting pistol, and non-hitscan weapons feel so necessary. in tone and layout execution, i've often lovingly called half-life the "first 3d metroid" game (sans the lack of the breadth of metroid's exploration elements of course) and i still stand by that - especially true of half-life's intergalactic closing chapter.
the ending is particularly intriguing and the threads for a still unsolved quarter-century fascination with the g-man are sown within only a conversation's time. gordon's questions have no time to be answered - only a choice and a revolution awaits. all respect to half-life 2 and what it manages to achieve from every technical standpoint - but friends, it's in what half-life 1 doesn't say...
as an example, think of the moment where gordon finally makes it out of the initial horror of the impact of the resonance cascade near the start of the game. the science team has been pinning their hopes on the military's black ops unit to show up and get them out of this mess; a pure accident and something the team had been trying to prevent. where half-life 2's combine is shown as a clearly benevolent and constant force within its universe, half-life 1 deals this reveal in a much more moment-to-moment manner: screams over the radio, shells ringing in the distance, and the IMMEDIATE gameplay shift to brutality upon your first eye-lock with the black ops.
this mentality is true of the game design that permeates half-life's skeleton, too. the areas feel extremely organic, not very "game-y" at all - the laboratories, the bomb shelters, the waste disposals, and those wide open red rocky mountains in which the game reveals an almost proto-snake eater confrontation with the harsh openness of nature after cooping you up in sheltering and claustrophobic areas for so long. the breadth of half-life is extremely becoming of such a short title.
the movement is quick and the second-by-second playbook is rewarding to master - where previous landmarks like doom or quake often gave you a toolkit with obvious champions, the half-life armory is a diverse kit with a dozen-so weapons each serving their own indispensable purpose throughout the entire experience. there is NO fps i've ever played that has made grenades, the starting pistol, and non-hitscan weapons feel so necessary. in tone and layout execution, i've often lovingly called half-life the "first 3d metroid" game (sans the lack of the breadth of metroid's exploration elements of course) and i still stand by that - especially true of half-life's intergalactic closing chapter.
the ending is particularly intriguing and the threads for a still unsolved quarter-century fascination with the g-man are sown within only a conversation's time. gordon's questions have no time to be answered - only a choice and a revolution awaits. all respect to half-life 2 and what it manages to achieve from every technical standpoint - but friends, it's in what half-life 1 doesn't say...
Boku no Natsuyasumi
2000
don't let my 'completed' on this fool you: i'm never wrapping this game up and i'm never seeing the ending. i don't know how this ends, and i don't want to. in my world, boku's going to get that ultimate wish and live out a truly endless summer as long as i have a say in it. he's going to draw pictures and catch bugs and sit on logs and explore the sunflower fields for as long as his little heart can take it, until his smile sticks on his face for good.
ozu's 'good morning' and home movies of the summer of your first kiss, wrapped in a deep embrace in a sleeping bag surrounded by the buzzing of the august cicadas. this is one of the games i started learning japanese with the hopes of playing and now that i'm here, i can say it was worth all that work. this is the grateful dead's 'ripple' of video games - one of the few genuinely perfect, genuinely, overabundantly loving and tender experiences in its medium. truly in the league of katamari damacy and earthbound in that regard. just dear... just precious.
ozu's 'good morning' and home movies of the summer of your first kiss, wrapped in a deep embrace in a sleeping bag surrounded by the buzzing of the august cicadas. this is one of the games i started learning japanese with the hopes of playing and now that i'm here, i can say it was worth all that work. this is the grateful dead's 'ripple' of video games - one of the few genuinely perfect, genuinely, overabundantly loving and tender experiences in its medium. truly in the league of katamari damacy and earthbound in that regard. just dear... just precious.
Silent Hill 2
2001
pyramid head very hot and tempting and
I will defend this masterpiece until the day I die
Undertale
2015
I know this is kinda slutty but I want to hold hands with Sans Undertale. That's my darkest, scariest secret. I want to feel his cold, bony hand intertwined with mine as we walk together through the streets of Snowdin, window shopping at malls and eating hot dogs with him. I can't tell anyone else about this, because I would be made fun of, but here, I am an anonymous Sans Lover.
Undertale
2015
It's a crime that it took me this long to get around to this.
Contained herein is reasonable evidence to suggest that Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood, decades before their "game" debut, were better environmental storytellers than just about anyone who has worked on a game with "-shock" in the title.
On a less caustic note, this is a pitch-perfect accompaniment for two albums that I thought would never be capable of eliciting strong feelings from me again after wearing them out in my younger years. Wish there was a Optimistic sequence but the triple-threat of How To Disappear/Pyramid Song/You and Whose Army? will make up for it.
On a less caustic note, this is a pitch-perfect accompaniment for two albums that I thought would never be capable of eliciting strong feelings from me again after wearing them out in my younger years. Wish there was a Optimistic sequence but the triple-threat of How To Disappear/Pyramid Song/You and Whose Army? will make up for it.
Demon's Souls
2020
For being the first on the Souls series it was really good. Bosses were probably the most varied of the series too. Only thing it needs is more shortcuts to get back to bosses faster.