For better or worse the Dark anthology series and Supermassive games as a whole is something I certainly have.... opinions about. House of Ashes though is the bloody worst of them all, by a long shot.
The lingering feeling of having missed or got an input wrong in previous games is here turned up to the max where frequently there seemingly is no correlation between what you try to achieve and what you actually get out of the game, unless what you wanted to achieve was meaningless walking and meandering looking for clues, collectibles and any semblance of having your actions as a player matter to the outcome of the story.
And by the Lord, do we have a story here. Little over a month since the end of the Afghan war, House of Ashes delights us with one of the most tone deaf presentations of the war in the middle East that was ever given in fiction. And that's just the thematic surface because below that we have a wide array of cinematic references to cult classic horror sci-fi movies such as Alien, and Aliens, or Alien³, and Alien Resurrection, Alien vs Predator and, sometimes, it will spice things up by bringing in Prometheus and Alien Covenant. And it will always, categorically, refuse to do anything interesting with any of its inspirations and rather just give us the barebone experience of boring military dudes stuck in a midly interesting situation and you have to just take the controller maybe a couple of times because this is an interactive movie and apparently that's how we do horror today.
Too bad all this series has been so far is covering for annoying cliches and taking what could amount to a bad hour and a half long movie and stretch it to a four to five hours slog, which isn't made better by playing it with your friends. At all. Watching horror movies with your friends is fun, at best they can be deeply engaging, visceral, camp even, but playing one of these pile of manure even with company is just passing around the controller to give inputs to meaningless chores, like picking up paper documents and opening doors and fucking breathing of all things, while a movie devoid of personality and character plays, diserargind pacing, enjoyment or any semblance of quality narrative.
To hell with all this.
The lingering feeling of having missed or got an input wrong in previous games is here turned up to the max where frequently there seemingly is no correlation between what you try to achieve and what you actually get out of the game, unless what you wanted to achieve was meaningless walking and meandering looking for clues, collectibles and any semblance of having your actions as a player matter to the outcome of the story.
And by the Lord, do we have a story here. Little over a month since the end of the Afghan war, House of Ashes delights us with one of the most tone deaf presentations of the war in the middle East that was ever given in fiction. And that's just the thematic surface because below that we have a wide array of cinematic references to cult classic horror sci-fi movies such as Alien, and Aliens, or Alien³, and Alien Resurrection, Alien vs Predator and, sometimes, it will spice things up by bringing in Prometheus and Alien Covenant. And it will always, categorically, refuse to do anything interesting with any of its inspirations and rather just give us the barebone experience of boring military dudes stuck in a midly interesting situation and you have to just take the controller maybe a couple of times because this is an interactive movie and apparently that's how we do horror today.
Too bad all this series has been so far is covering for annoying cliches and taking what could amount to a bad hour and a half long movie and stretch it to a four to five hours slog, which isn't made better by playing it with your friends. At all. Watching horror movies with your friends is fun, at best they can be deeply engaging, visceral, camp even, but playing one of these pile of manure even with company is just passing around the controller to give inputs to meaningless chores, like picking up paper documents and opening doors and fucking breathing of all things, while a movie devoid of personality and character plays, diserargind pacing, enjoyment or any semblance of quality narrative.
To hell with all this.
2021
Rogueshit
2018
Teaches the important lesson that after any sad event life is far from over, all you need to get back on your feet is KEVIN PENKINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Like Ace Attorney but the author actively hates me, it's amazing.
2019
A humbling experience of majestic proportions, paired with the shittiest controls ever conceived.
I just can't be bothered to read about a protagonist loved by everyone, who can do everything right, a masterful genius, a seasoned strategist, a witty diplomat, gifted with amazing powers, the one and only of his kind, someone that even while failing and feeling miserable can still win in every situation..... Just fuck off, with a cast this big and rich of colorful personalities I would've loved if the main character wasn't half as central in the lives of every single one of them, he's so goddamn perfect and edgy I cannot take any character arc seriously.
2018
It would be 5 stars but I'm not gud enough to collect the fifth one.
2015
I really respect the understanding shown by Matt Thorson and Noel Berry for the mind of someone playing a game like this: in many different levels I would miss a jump, just by a few milliseconds of inaccurate reflexes, and end up landing on spikes, or complete a difficult to master section but my brain would be too slow to process what had just happened and I'd find myself on a disappearing platform, to fall on yet more spikes. This show how carefully and precise the design process was, everything in this was crafted to the most minuscule pixel so that the one clear solution to solve a level and perform the perfect sequence of jumps would be sculpted into the player's muscle memory, readying them for what has to come.
Anyway, 983 deaths later I still don't understand the appeal of challenging games.
Anyway, 983 deaths later I still don't understand the appeal of challenging games.
2018
Over the years option have been added to tweak the game so that it may suit every possible kind of game, genre and tags were a great addition in particular. Yet, no matter which settings you choose, there is still an ungodly amout of picking from mostly the same pool of songs, regardless of the difficulty, which, when you combine multiple watched lists for thousand of possible titles to pick from at a time, it is quite silly and very boring.
That being said, it is the peak ftp weeb party game.
That being said, it is the peak ftp weeb party game.
2016
Witnessing a story that actually unfolds and shifts based on many different decisions you take from the very character creation screen is certainly impressive. What makes the game far from being memorable or interesting to explore is the lack of a strong writing that keeps the player hooked. Thorough the story the main drive is almost always chasing different magical mcguffins to make your character over powered and renowned, doing quests from people you choose to be friendly with as opposed as those you antagonize, which is a very cool concept.
The issue with this is that there is a clear lack of depth since, once you betray or antagonize a member of a faction in some occasions, you are going to fight that same faction thorough the rest of the game, making someone willingy to play like a smart villain who carefully plays factions against each other very hard to do since there are few occasions and with very little consequences where you can actually manipulate the people around you, even with high stats in this game version of speech check. For example, at some point my character made a sound argument, recognized by most of his allies, which had the consequence of winning a huge battle but while downplaying other important allies who were reasonably acting like daft twats and not helping the war effort at all. In return, these allies got so pissed that I was never, ever, allowed to attempt a meaningful strategy with any of their troops, no matter how reasonable the situations were they just acted like I murdered their families instead of doing the right (in perspective) thing.
So the story shifts based on your decisions but also the minor decisions you don't take are gatekept hard from you in a manner almost inconsistet in a game where you play for a faction of cunning evildoers. In fact, there were multiple instances where two armies battling each other decided on the spot to make a truce just to attack my party because I was nearby and my existence was more important to them than the actual war they were fighting. Bloody hell.
This sounds way bigger than it actually is, the game is still pretty fun to explore but the real deal breakers come in the form of: 1. bland character writing, none of the members of your party (with the exception of maybe two who were not really interesting but at leastly smartly written and very idiosincratic) have any sort of humanity or meaningful interaction with the player character of among themselves, nothing like dragon age origins, baldur's gate, even persona and mass effect...; 2. there is just no hook, the whole game revoles around lore, worldbuilding and magical shenanigans, which might be fine for people deep into studying fantasy stuff for their own reasons but it lacked the quirkiness, the mystery, the symbols, the characters and the themes that make actually great fantasy stories memorable. It played like any standard fantasy world you are expected to know with very few little twists and none of that weird enough to function as the hook for the whole game (Kyros and Tunon certainly kept me interested but I got bored with the Spires and Oldwalls and Banes and Edicts and Archons and Beastmen pretty fast.)
It certainly an improvement over Pillars of Eternity 1, at least the writing is a little more focused on characters rather than just worldbuilding, but it still falls far from the heights of masterfully written rpgs.
Edit: Oh yeah also lots of character's quests and important stuff about the world are in DLCs because Paradox.jpeg
The issue with this is that there is a clear lack of depth since, once you betray or antagonize a member of a faction in some occasions, you are going to fight that same faction thorough the rest of the game, making someone willingy to play like a smart villain who carefully plays factions against each other very hard to do since there are few occasions and with very little consequences where you can actually manipulate the people around you, even with high stats in this game version of speech check. For example, at some point my character made a sound argument, recognized by most of his allies, which had the consequence of winning a huge battle but while downplaying other important allies who were reasonably acting like daft twats and not helping the war effort at all. In return, these allies got so pissed that I was never, ever, allowed to attempt a meaningful strategy with any of their troops, no matter how reasonable the situations were they just acted like I murdered their families instead of doing the right (in perspective) thing.
So the story shifts based on your decisions but also the minor decisions you don't take are gatekept hard from you in a manner almost inconsistet in a game where you play for a faction of cunning evildoers. In fact, there were multiple instances where two armies battling each other decided on the spot to make a truce just to attack my party because I was nearby and my existence was more important to them than the actual war they were fighting. Bloody hell.
This sounds way bigger than it actually is, the game is still pretty fun to explore but the real deal breakers come in the form of: 1. bland character writing, none of the members of your party (with the exception of maybe two who were not really interesting but at leastly smartly written and very idiosincratic) have any sort of humanity or meaningful interaction with the player character of among themselves, nothing like dragon age origins, baldur's gate, even persona and mass effect...; 2. there is just no hook, the whole game revoles around lore, worldbuilding and magical shenanigans, which might be fine for people deep into studying fantasy stuff for their own reasons but it lacked the quirkiness, the mystery, the symbols, the characters and the themes that make actually great fantasy stories memorable. It played like any standard fantasy world you are expected to know with very few little twists and none of that weird enough to function as the hook for the whole game (Kyros and Tunon certainly kept me interested but I got bored with the Spires and Oldwalls and Banes and Edicts and Archons and Beastmen pretty fast.)
It certainly an improvement over Pillars of Eternity 1, at least the writing is a little more focused on characters rather than just worldbuilding, but it still falls far from the heights of masterfully written rpgs.
Edit: Oh yeah also lots of character's quests and important stuff about the world are in DLCs because Paradox.jpeg
The only tutorial you will need for this game (and Crusader Kings for that matter) is reading 'The Dictator's Handbook', by de Mesquita andSmith.
2012
It's not the funniest 80-90s action movie I've played, but it does its work well enough in single player and coop alike. Could use more cheesy madcap bits in its story over long empty hallways downtimes, or just make the mercenary mode somehow the story campaign, but otherwise is an "okay" sequel to an "okay" sequel to RE4.
2015
I looked up over the oxford dictionary for a definition of refunct and came up with nothing. What does the title even mean, please.
1998
Nothing says genius storytelling as entering a dungeon, realising you are low on hp and mana despite coming from your hub ship which is where the game taught you hp and mana get healed whenever you enter it, so backtrack out of the dungeon, enter the ship, move the ship away because you can't enter its quarters when it's too close to the dungeon, then traverse the hangar, the elevator, the hallway, find the guy who'll let you sleep (he talks a lot, requires an input to confirm the healing and then some seconds of black screen have to pass for it to happen), then out of the sleeping room, back through the hallway, back through the elevator, into the deck, talk to the navigator who has some unimportant shit to say (because of course he has), move the ship back close to the dungeon, exit the ship, enter the dungeon, get back to the point you were before, fall down in the water and repeat all the platforming because this game was made by the creators of Bubsy 3D.
The story might be as genius and full of potential as a book from James fucking Joyce, but if that's really the kick just watch evangelion or read a fucking book. Most of the other games usually compared to books with dogshit gameplay (like planescape) at least allow you to skip through most of the gameplay if you just want to do the story.
The story might be as genius and full of potential as a book from James fucking Joyce, but if that's really the kick just watch evangelion or read a fucking book. Most of the other games usually compared to books with dogshit gameplay (like planescape) at least allow you to skip through most of the gameplay if you just want to do the story.
1998
The main issue I have with these old school adventure games (IHNMAIMS is another good example) is how uneven the tone of the story is. Sanitarium has some strong imagery, certain depiction of body horror and gore are strong and effective still today thanks to the incredible and timeless work the art department did in designing some of the most brutal sections (The Hive for example is a visual nightmare), and the writing reflects that, almost lovecraftian in describing the dread felt by the characters.
But then there are other sections filled with out of place humour or clearly toned down (i.e. most of the Lost Village or the Circus), required for some levity or just a way for the developers to have some fun with their game, but still way less impressive or memorable compared to what the game has accustomed the players to.
The story itself is pretty good but without much fanfare or twists, it wants to be a psychological thriller and horror but it plays very straight for most of the time and there isn't much room left for debate about what is going on or what the metaphors under each level mean. Not that being simple and direct is necessarily a flaw, but thematically speaking it felt like halfway through the game it had already played each of its cards and I was just left putting down the royal flush without tension or thinking required.
Also some puzzles are just a pixel nightmare dictated by noticing minute details that for the life of me are indistinguishable from the backgrounds, and the stairs' animation detection with this system of movement is trauma inducing.
Yet all in all it is certainly a timeless adventure game, son of the best the 90s had to offer despite some light missteps and almost consistently enjoyable visually, albeit clearly having some sections much weaker than others.
But then there are other sections filled with out of place humour or clearly toned down (i.e. most of the Lost Village or the Circus), required for some levity or just a way for the developers to have some fun with their game, but still way less impressive or memorable compared to what the game has accustomed the players to.
The story itself is pretty good but without much fanfare or twists, it wants to be a psychological thriller and horror but it plays very straight for most of the time and there isn't much room left for debate about what is going on or what the metaphors under each level mean. Not that being simple and direct is necessarily a flaw, but thematically speaking it felt like halfway through the game it had already played each of its cards and I was just left putting down the royal flush without tension or thinking required.
Also some puzzles are just a pixel nightmare dictated by noticing minute details that for the life of me are indistinguishable from the backgrounds, and the stairs' animation detection with this system of movement is trauma inducing.
Yet all in all it is certainly a timeless adventure game, son of the best the 90s had to offer despite some light missteps and almost consistently enjoyable visually, albeit clearly having some sections much weaker than others.