samuraigaiden
Arcane
Don't max out the settings!
-
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What game are you wasting time on?
- Thread starter Trash
- Start date
You've obviously never played Risen 2 or 3.
I'm Big Into Anal
Arcane
oblivion game of the year mod
looking for some mithril razor thing that sounds important in a big ass dungeon
looking for some mithril razor thing that sounds important in a big ass dungeon
Ivan
Arcane
Visage
atmospheric horror game, very light on jump scares, awesomely detailed house to explore
atmospheric horror game, very light on jump scares, awesomely detailed house to explore
Finally, finished my completionist run of Frostpunk. My first game where I got all achievements, aside from the Walking Dead games, where all achievements are awarded for simply finishing the story.
Now I am thinking about giving Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous another go. I loved the orgina game despite its numerous flaws and even preordered WotR but could not get into it because of overt wordliness and bugs. I see Steam downloading game updates all the time so I expect the main bugs to be fixed now but I am really afraid all characters in the game will feel the urge to tell me their entire life story for some weird reason. Like I literally do not care.
I played the game right after release, but I did not get very far. I quit after the tavern defense, which was totally bugged and the demons never actually attacked the tavern, but instead kept spamming at the outskirts and endlessly moving stuck in place while I killed them one by one using ranged weapons. I tried to get them unstuck by attacking them melee but that caused like 10 of them to attack my fighter at the same time insta killing him. So I just went with ranged attack and won easily, even got the achievement for defending the inn without loses. I wonder if I should pick up the game from that point (if my saves are even compatible after all the pathching) or restart. Also, I played on hard and it felt difficult in an unfun way (tons of reloading until I got lucky with rolls for all difficult fights). I enjoy challenge but not if it based on random chance that my archer one shots enemy mage capable of wiping out my entire party. So I am thinking about restarting on normal.
Now I am thinking about giving Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous another go. I loved the orgina game despite its numerous flaws and even preordered WotR but could not get into it because of overt wordliness and bugs. I see Steam downloading game updates all the time so I expect the main bugs to be fixed now but I am really afraid all characters in the game will feel the urge to tell me their entire life story for some weird reason. Like I literally do not care.
I played the game right after release, but I did not get very far. I quit after the tavern defense, which was totally bugged and the demons never actually attacked the tavern, but instead kept spamming at the outskirts and endlessly moving stuck in place while I killed them one by one using ranged weapons. I tried to get them unstuck by attacking them melee but that caused like 10 of them to attack my fighter at the same time insta killing him. So I just went with ranged attack and won easily, even got the achievement for defending the inn without loses. I wonder if I should pick up the game from that point (if my saves are even compatible after all the pathching) or restart. Also, I played on hard and it felt difficult in an unfun way (tons of reloading until I got lucky with rolls for all difficult fights). I enjoy challenge but not if it based on random chance that my archer one shots enemy mage capable of wiping out my entire party. So I am thinking about restarting on normal.
Looks like I won't be able to play this after all, due to the head bobbing making me seasick. It's not so bad when just running on flat ground, but running over obstacles really make seasick.
There's supposed to be a mod called TrueView that helps, but the only links I can find are 15 years old and dead.
Also, adjusting the "floating zone" is supposed to help, but I can't find this option in either the separate ColdWarAssaultPreferences program or from within the game itself.
bussinrounds
Augur
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2011
- Messages
- 475
Play on the highest difficulty...which removes the on screen helpers.
If you're able to play, that is.
Last edited:
Playing through Ys IX: Monstrom Nox on PC/Steam.
Ivan
Arcane
Visage 
Visage is an ambitious horror game in the vein of Frictional's Amnesia/Soma games. Its strongest components are its visuals, which do a fantastic job of seeling the setting. The game takes place in a beautifully detailed house with an abudance of rooms to explore. The sound design is well done and the scares are mostly of the atmospheric variety, seldom devolving into straight up jump scares. Where Visage falters is some very questionable design choices, an obstuse inventory system, and uneven level/puzzle design. While Visage is a visual and sonic delight, it is a damn chore to play. You move at a GLACIAL speed, even when holding down the sprint button. This isn't as much a punch to the balls when exploring the house your first time through, or when you're exploring a linear segment of the game. But the moment you need to backtrack or look for an item you may have missed, that's when you'll feel the pain of the movement speed. What exacerbates this is that some of the game's "levels" will have you meandering back and forth throughout the house for a variety of reasons: perhaps you forgot which room was where, or perhaps you've just learned that you need an item that you don't have on your person. This brings me to the inventory, a bit like Resident Evil, you can only carry a select few items on your person at any given time. The game splits items into "Quest" items and any other item that doesn't fit that bill takes up one of 5 slots. The issue is that later on in the game, you will be required to have a specific tool (think point-n-click adventure games) which means SLOWLY backtracking to a supply closet where all of these environmental TOOLS respawn. It boggles my mind why the devs didn't treat these tools (e.g. crowbar, sledgehammer, compass) as Quest items, b/c then that would have trimmed some of the backtracking fat that this game suffers from. Gameplay woes aside, I thought it was pretty goofy that the game didn't have any modeled hands for world interactions. The game often takes control of the camera away from you for "cinematic" sequences which look pretty silly without the body awareness. Often you will pick up items in dramatic fashion by zooming in on them, which made me think I was sticking my eyes right up to the damn thing. Equipped tools will appear floating on-screen, one for each arm if you have two items equipped and it can look damn silly, especially when they clip against walls.
In the end, I stuck it out because I did find the horror gripping, the sound design and the detailed playspace was wonderful. It was the actual playing that was a chore to get through. Your mileage may vary, but I came pretty damn close to dropping this when I saw how much the backtracking and the glacial movement speed impacted my enjoyment of the title. A noble effort, but much could be improved. I hope to see actual combat mechanics in the future, b/c I'm not a man of the instant fail-state when making contact with monsters. If they polish up the gameplay and trim the fat of the backtracking, I'm sure SadSquare's next title will reach greater heights and be that much closer to greatness.
XIII/Thirteen
13 is a mixed bag of half-baked mechanics, but strong aesthetics. The strongest elements of 13 are its visual style and its soundtrack. The music is damn good: a funky, jazzy, spy-fueled collection of tracks that complement the action very well. Unfortunately, the gunplay is quite poor. I had more fun sneaking my way through levels and sniping enemies with the crossbow. It's a shame you can't play the game this way throughout, as it often gives you a tight script to follow. The game does feature a nifty stealth mechanic whereby you can see a visual cue that tracks nearby patrolling enemies. The game also lets you pick up and hide bodies, but I never found this to be all that useful as the level design is very linear and I only did this when it was a level requirement.
I like the idea of having separate inventories for weapons and for tools, but it makes switching between them cumbersome during firefights. I liked the tactile feel of having to equip and use your tools on world objects (much like Deus Ex). This definitely helped ground me in the playsapce and left me wanting for more tools, perhaps in the way of traps, but again, the level design is so linear that it wouldn't facilitate this design, nor would the AI respond. You can't distract guards, or attract them with noise, it's all based on line of sight.
Blue Fire shelved
A 3d platformer heavy on Zelda-like dungeon delving. Unfortunately, there are many poor design decisions that elicit frustrating moments frequently. Visually, the art style is easy on the eyes, reminding me often of Zelda: Windwaker. That said, there is a significant lack of detail in the world. Playsapces are pretty vast but sparsely decorated. The story is notably flat but thankfully there aren't many cutscenes. It does commit my pet peeve in these types of games, where whenever you enter a new level the game will take control of the camera and show you panning shots of the new area. At its core, the platforming is the star of the show. Here the game puts its best foot forward. The dash and the jump are dependent on how long you press the button, which gives you a great amount of control in navigating the levels. That said, the game is oddly punishing. Enemies do quite more damage than you might expect, and the game fails to re-supply you with healing items at a reasonable pace. What makes this worse is that the game has fall damage, which is just asinine in a game that is encouraging you to zip through its levels. To top things off, the game lacks meaningful checkpoints. Make it 4 fifths of the way through a dungeon and die, start all the way in the beginning. Sure, scripted combat encounters are checked off and won't have to be repeated, but it's mind boggling that the game omits these. The game lacks a map, which would come in handy as you unlock new dungeons in the overworld, or as you collect keys in dungeons and you reach a moment where the map layout loses you.
There's a fair bit of combat here too, your typical z-targeting affair. Enemies attacks have significant knockback, such that it's easy for them to know you off platforms or ledges, often leading to successive fall damage (who thought this would be FUN). The game also has sectioned off platforming trials that are fun to navigate, until you reach a challenging section that may or may not require a power-up that you may or may not already have. The game doesn't provide you with this information. Also, if you fail at any point in these gauntlets, you start over at the very beginning (i.e. re-tread the familiar boring/easy sections until you get to the challenging bit that stumped you before).
I kept playing the game, part of me was rooting for it to get better, but these little decisions led me to shelving this and move on. Its heart is in the right place, hopefully the devs get a second crack at honing their craft, trimming the fat, and listen to popular feedback should they be granted the opporunity on working on another title.
Portal 2
Replay: a fantastic sequel that adds new movement mechanics to the portal dynamic. I felt like this one takes the kid gloves off much sooner. Loved how the story naturally allowed the levels to flow from tests to urban exploration, then back and forth as you zero in on Wheatley. The writing is better than I remember. I absolutely loved trying to squeeze the proverbial lemon out of all of the voiced characters that I could. Some very cool reactivity to whether or not you actually backtrack when NPCs bluff you. Tests got extra spicy at the end. Thankfully it had been a long time since I've last played so it was good fun working them out all over again. This time I'll be dipping my toes into the community maps/campaigns, and the new "Portal Reloaded" which launched earlier this year if I recall correctly. In sum, a great continuation and capoff to the original. More of everything, including a credits song and strong music sprinkled throughout as well. I'll have to see if my gf wants to play the co-op campaign. Fat chance of that though.
Visage is an ambitious horror game in the vein of Frictional's Amnesia/Soma games. Its strongest components are its visuals, which do a fantastic job of seeling the setting. The game takes place in a beautifully detailed house with an abudance of rooms to explore. The sound design is well done and the scares are mostly of the atmospheric variety, seldom devolving into straight up jump scares. Where Visage falters is some very questionable design choices, an obstuse inventory system, and uneven level/puzzle design. While Visage is a visual and sonic delight, it is a damn chore to play. You move at a GLACIAL speed, even when holding down the sprint button. This isn't as much a punch to the balls when exploring the house your first time through, or when you're exploring a linear segment of the game. But the moment you need to backtrack or look for an item you may have missed, that's when you'll feel the pain of the movement speed. What exacerbates this is that some of the game's "levels" will have you meandering back and forth throughout the house for a variety of reasons: perhaps you forgot which room was where, or perhaps you've just learned that you need an item that you don't have on your person. This brings me to the inventory, a bit like Resident Evil, you can only carry a select few items on your person at any given time. The game splits items into "Quest" items and any other item that doesn't fit that bill takes up one of 5 slots. The issue is that later on in the game, you will be required to have a specific tool (think point-n-click adventure games) which means SLOWLY backtracking to a supply closet where all of these environmental TOOLS respawn. It boggles my mind why the devs didn't treat these tools (e.g. crowbar, sledgehammer, compass) as Quest items, b/c then that would have trimmed some of the backtracking fat that this game suffers from. Gameplay woes aside, I thought it was pretty goofy that the game didn't have any modeled hands for world interactions. The game often takes control of the camera away from you for "cinematic" sequences which look pretty silly without the body awareness. Often you will pick up items in dramatic fashion by zooming in on them, which made me think I was sticking my eyes right up to the damn thing. Equipped tools will appear floating on-screen, one for each arm if you have two items equipped and it can look damn silly, especially when they clip against walls.
In the end, I stuck it out because I did find the horror gripping, the sound design and the detailed playspace was wonderful. It was the actual playing that was a chore to get through. Your mileage may vary, but I came pretty damn close to dropping this when I saw how much the backtracking and the glacial movement speed impacted my enjoyment of the title. A noble effort, but much could be improved. I hope to see actual combat mechanics in the future, b/c I'm not a man of the instant fail-state when making contact with monsters. If they polish up the gameplay and trim the fat of the backtracking, I'm sure SadSquare's next title will reach greater heights and be that much closer to greatness.
XIII/Thirteen
13 is a mixed bag of half-baked mechanics, but strong aesthetics. The strongest elements of 13 are its visual style and its soundtrack. The music is damn good: a funky, jazzy, spy-fueled collection of tracks that complement the action very well. Unfortunately, the gunplay is quite poor. I had more fun sneaking my way through levels and sniping enemies with the crossbow. It's a shame you can't play the game this way throughout, as it often gives you a tight script to follow. The game does feature a nifty stealth mechanic whereby you can see a visual cue that tracks nearby patrolling enemies. The game also lets you pick up and hide bodies, but I never found this to be all that useful as the level design is very linear and I only did this when it was a level requirement.
I like the idea of having separate inventories for weapons and for tools, but it makes switching between them cumbersome during firefights. I liked the tactile feel of having to equip and use your tools on world objects (much like Deus Ex). This definitely helped ground me in the playsapce and left me wanting for more tools, perhaps in the way of traps, but again, the level design is so linear that it wouldn't facilitate this design, nor would the AI respond. You can't distract guards, or attract them with noise, it's all based on line of sight.
Blue Fire shelved
A 3d platformer heavy on Zelda-like dungeon delving. Unfortunately, there are many poor design decisions that elicit frustrating moments frequently. Visually, the art style is easy on the eyes, reminding me often of Zelda: Windwaker. That said, there is a significant lack of detail in the world. Playsapces are pretty vast but sparsely decorated. The story is notably flat but thankfully there aren't many cutscenes. It does commit my pet peeve in these types of games, where whenever you enter a new level the game will take control of the camera and show you panning shots of the new area. At its core, the platforming is the star of the show. Here the game puts its best foot forward. The dash and the jump are dependent on how long you press the button, which gives you a great amount of control in navigating the levels. That said, the game is oddly punishing. Enemies do quite more damage than you might expect, and the game fails to re-supply you with healing items at a reasonable pace. What makes this worse is that the game has fall damage, which is just asinine in a game that is encouraging you to zip through its levels. To top things off, the game lacks meaningful checkpoints. Make it 4 fifths of the way through a dungeon and die, start all the way in the beginning. Sure, scripted combat encounters are checked off and won't have to be repeated, but it's mind boggling that the game omits these. The game lacks a map, which would come in handy as you unlock new dungeons in the overworld, or as you collect keys in dungeons and you reach a moment where the map layout loses you.
There's a fair bit of combat here too, your typical z-targeting affair. Enemies attacks have significant knockback, such that it's easy for them to know you off platforms or ledges, often leading to successive fall damage (who thought this would be FUN). The game also has sectioned off platforming trials that are fun to navigate, until you reach a challenging section that may or may not require a power-up that you may or may not already have. The game doesn't provide you with this information. Also, if you fail at any point in these gauntlets, you start over at the very beginning (i.e. re-tread the familiar boring/easy sections until you get to the challenging bit that stumped you before).
I kept playing the game, part of me was rooting for it to get better, but these little decisions led me to shelving this and move on. Its heart is in the right place, hopefully the devs get a second crack at honing their craft, trimming the fat, and listen to popular feedback should they be granted the opporunity on working on another title.
Portal 2
Replay: a fantastic sequel that adds new movement mechanics to the portal dynamic. I felt like this one takes the kid gloves off much sooner. Loved how the story naturally allowed the levels to flow from tests to urban exploration, then back and forth as you zero in on Wheatley. The writing is better than I remember. I absolutely loved trying to squeeze the proverbial lemon out of all of the voiced characters that I could. Some very cool reactivity to whether or not you actually backtrack when NPCs bluff you. Tests got extra spicy at the end. Thankfully it had been a long time since I've last played so it was good fun working them out all over again. This time I'll be dipping my toes into the community maps/campaigns, and the new "Portal Reloaded" which launched earlier this year if I recall correctly. In sum, a great continuation and capoff to the original. More of everything, including a credits song and strong music sprinkled throughout as well. I'll have to see if my gf wants to play the co-op campaign. Fat chance of that though.
Baron Dupek
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2013
- Messages
- 1,870,826
More than decade later I've started a new Doom3 playthrough.
No duct tape this time.
But SSG instead. Can't bind it to any key though...
Fuck the Lost Souls, this cursed combination of D3 screenshake and homing attacks sucks.
No duct tape this time.
But SSG instead. Can't bind it to any key though...
Fuck the Lost Souls, this cursed combination of D3 screenshake and homing attacks sucks.
Last edited:
samuraigaiden
Arcane
deadmeme
Learned
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2019
- Messages
- 152
It is excellent. Areas you visit are beautiful I also enjoy the soundtrack. There are even some puzzles there. You also learn a lout about the settings lore. I only played UT' 99, 2004 and 4 before.
Vlajdermen
Arcane
I beat Starcraft 2 a while back, I'm very conflicted on it. On one hand I can't deny I enjoyed having an RTS I could beat - I'm a total retard when it comes to this genre and I wasn't able to beat the original - but I can't deny it's an objectively inferior game due to its casualized campaign structure and bloated gameplay mechanics. There's too many units, simply put. The likes of the Reaper and Hellion become obsolete before you know it. The presentation was also a downgrade, in both the art style and voice acting. It's too soft and Halo-esque. There was still parts that I liked - some of the missions were fun and interesting, there's some cool unit quotes, certain units like the Raven were good ideas, and as bloated as it is, the gameplay was still fluent and fun. I'm still somewhat tempted to play the expansions but I'm not sure if I'd rather do that or git gud and beat the original first.
jackofshadows
Magister
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2019
- Messages
- 4,535
Yeah, they're for multiplayer, basically (early game harassment).
The zerg expansion as far as I remember mostly implies small scope and rpgish type of gameplay, a nice change of pace (and the protoss one mostly full epic scope, yeah). So you might try the zerg one I'd say easily. But the original game (and campain) is worth it, I don't think you have to learn much in order to beat it - perhaps your micromanagement is lacking? Just watch a few vids regarding that.
laclongquan
Arcane
Ground Control is nice and simple~
Corbin Dallas Multipass
Learned
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2021
- Messages
- 698
The main problem I had with starcraft 2's campaign was that it wasn't representative at all of the multiplayer game. Different units, things work differently, no macro mechanics... Starcraft 1's campaign sort of taught you the basics of the game, all the units in the campaign were real units usable in multiplayer.
The campaign was hit or miss in places, storywise and mission quality wise. The terran campaign was mostly fine, but kind of boring to me. Still, the missions were unique, the writing was... fine...
I loved the zerg campaign. I dunno, I always liked the zerg anyway. I preferred the missions that played more normally vs the RPG like missions. The missions were pretty unique and fun for the most part.
The protoss campaign was terrible on every level. Plus, and this may just be personal preference, I just didn't enjoy the protoss units at all in SC2. And the missions were practically all the same, secure 3 sites, capture 3 artifacts, press 3 buttons. They were all kind of structured like puzzles, there was a "right way" to do things, and it was obvious that I was supposed to play it that way.
I suppose that last part was an issue for me throughout all of SC2's campaigns. They were designed more "tightly" than SC1's maps, for the most part. There was usually some kind of time limit, resources were tight, unit selection was limited, etc. Rather than just letting the map play out organically, like many of SC1's campaign maps. In SC1 I felt that I had come up with a way to win. In SC2 I felt like I found the intended way to win and then followed it.
Vlajdermen
Arcane
You mean like Rexxar's campaign? That sounds killer, I loved that part as a kid
I'm with you. What little you get to see of them in WoL, they really failed to impress, especially the Phoenix.
Yes, it's why the game feels so "7th gen". There's less room for imagination, and the faux-nonlinearity of inbetween-mission upgrades diminished the "git gud or git rekt" approach of the original. It's similar to what happened to shooters after Gears of War, albeit not as extreme.
Demo.Graph
Liturgist
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2018
- Messages
- 1,006
You're probably overestimating SC difficulty. I'm sorta crab myself and I remember completing zerg campaign with "almost mono" lings (I've used a pack or two of hydras/mutas for anti-air). It won't be possible in Brood War, but vanilla SC was easy.
Corbin Dallas Multipass
Learned
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2021
- Messages
- 698
Yeah the vanilla SC campaign was pretty easy. Brood war was definitely harder, you did have to think a bit sometimes. And fuck that level where you have to wipe out the protoss base within X time limit.
But in both, the optimal strategy typically boiled down to: Make many barracks/factories/lairs/gateways, make many units out of all those buildings, throw 200 supply worth of units at enemy base, win.
BROS
I MADE CALADRIA GREAT AGAIN LOLLOLOL TOOK ALL CITIES NOW GAME KEEPS FREEZING SO I MIGHT NOT GET THE CHEEVOS
PLAYED HALO REACH FUN ENOUGH FOR WHAT IT IS
STARTED HALO ODST BUT MY SAVE POINT GOT FUCKED I THINK I HAVE ENOUGH HALO
MIGHT JUST FUCK AROUND WITH RANDOM THINGS LIKE UPDATED RESOLUTIONS TO EVRY NINETIES SHOOTER I OWN LOLLOLLLL
WAS GONNA PLAY PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN BETHESDA BUT FUCK IS THE GAME SLOW AND JANKY
I MADE CALADRIA GREAT AGAIN LOLLOLOL TOOK ALL CITIES NOW GAME KEEPS FREEZING SO I MIGHT NOT GET THE CHEEVOS
PLAYED HALO REACH FUN ENOUGH FOR WHAT IT IS
STARTED HALO ODST BUT MY SAVE POINT GOT FUCKED I THINK I HAVE ENOUGH HALO
MIGHT JUST FUCK AROUND WITH RANDOM THINGS LIKE UPDATED RESOLUTIONS TO EVRY NINETIES SHOOTER I OWN LOLLOLLLL
WAS GONNA PLAY PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN BETHESDA BUT FUCK IS THE GAME SLOW AND JANKY
Fenix
Arcane
Won ToME4 with Ghoul-Solipsist Insane difficulty.
Ivan
Arcane
Bastion (replay) 
Bastion is carried by its presentation and unique, reactive narration. It's been many years since I've last played, and it was the narration that instantly resonated with me. It was like listening to that one band you liked in high school and find, to your delight, that you were right in liking it in the first play. I had forgotten the little bits of reactivity they included in the script. The game feels like a sluggish action game in these times, especially after playing Supergiant's lastest title Hades, but it's definitely cool to see the foundation that was established here in Bastion. You've got you dashing, parrying, guns, melee weapons, projectile throwing, all of these elements are present here. The game doesn't do a good job of letting you switch your toys mid-level, instead relegating that to very specific areas that aren't present in every level. I would have loved to have been able to switch and modify weapons on the fly. Also, the game has a pretty big lack of boss encounters. I wish they had enemies that made better use of your pretty expansive arsenal. I think Supergiant should venture into this direction in their next project after Hades. I would love to have a large world to explore, with puzzles and encounters that make you utilize a vast toolset.
Endgame: mechanically, I forgot that Bastion drops the ball so hard here. Yes, most will probably remember the "emotional" finale of carrying Zulf back to the Bastion. What I had totally forgotten was that the game forces a new heavy weapon on you that limits your movement speed to an absolute crawl. It doesn't last too long, but this totally left a sour taste in my mouth as the game drew to a close.
In the end, Bastion has all the ingredients that I'd love to see incorporated in a more ambitious game. I think with the success of Hades, I have my fingers crossed that Supergiant take a stab at delivering such an experience. They have the mechanics, the arsenal, the art, and the music down. Now I want to see them iterate on a contiguous world design.
Ghostrunner
Ghostrunner feels and looks like a AA take on the 1hp room-clearing genre. It has more in common with Hotline Miami, where your only means of manipulating the AI is by line of sight, even then though they will just wait you out. A bit of a shame since I would have loved to see more stealth oriented mechanics, given the whole ninja motif. Unfortunately, its levels are super linear, which make the more platforming oriented levels a bit of a bore. This is especially true in the VR sections of the game which don't mesh with the core gameloop at all. These sections feature puzzles and disable your dashing ability. I think they meant these to be palette cleansers but they stick out like a sore thumb and wish the game did without them.
The combat experience: you know what to expect if you've played Hotline Miami. 1 hit and you're dead, 1 hit and they're dead, rinse and repeat. You get a few new moves as you play: a new projectile weapon, bullet time, the same shit you've come to expect. The one thing GR nails down best is FEEL. The wall running, the spider-man like grappling, the sliding, it all looks and sounds very slick. I do wish you could use your body to interrupt enemies. Say, sliding into enemies, or tackling enemies coming out of a wall-run. Unfortunately, the game's combat encounters all have this same feeling of being in a linear racing circuit. The fact that the game just repeats this over and over makes me wish that the sequel opens up the playsapce and allowed for more exploration. The enemies are a bit of a mixed bag. There are few erratic enemies that result in some cheap deaths: melee types that can lunge at you across large distances and kamikaze enemies (whose timer I as never able to quite figure out how to activate). Considering you die in 1 hit, I would have liked more audio tells to give them not just more personality, but give the player more warning of them taking aim at you. Speaking of little details, I do wish the enemies had more varied death cries, perhaps more exaggerated blood effects, blood smearing on your sword. I'll commend the game's boss encounters. Each one felt unique and made use of the movement mechanics in fun ways.
I'm not sure if this game needs the 1hp system to still retain its thrilling gameplay when everything is working. I think it would be neat to acquire some sort of armor so you can tank 1 or 2 hits, as it's pretty frustrating to get killed by a lame stray bullet after a long encounter and have to restart. Also, I wish the rails were more magnetic, as there were plenty of times where I felt like the game wasn't registering where I was trying to move. Again, when it works, it's amazing, when it doesn't, eh, at the worst you're just looking at a quick restart.
My biggest hope for the sequel is more for expansive playspaces and greater interactivity between your body and the enemies. I would love to be able to stip enemies up with the slide, or land some cool kills by falling from great hights. I really don't want to see the same "race car circuit" level design all over again as the ingredients are all right here for them to apply it to a more open level design. Also, please axe the VR sections, or at the very least don't use them for boring puzzles. Platforming gauntlets (like the finale of the base campaign) would be great, but nothing that kills the momentum.
TLDR: when the game's clicking and responding to your inputs as you intend, it's a great time. at the very worst, when there's a disconnect between what you intended and the game kills you, eh, you're just a mere second away from giving it another try. A solid foundation upon which a great game could be built.
Deadbolt (replay)
Deadbolt is as excellent as I remember. I think it's the combination of the awesome bluesy/punk soundtrack, the sound design, and the simple but easily readible art style that make this one of my favorite titles in the 1hp room-clearing genre. As stated before, this game has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard in a game. The campaign is composed of 3 chapters that introduce new enemies and mechanics. Each level gives you a few mechanics to play around with to mess with the AI to isolate them and go in for the kill: noise (knocking on doors, or firing off a round to attract nearby enemies), toilets/vents to zip to other exits around the map, line of sight (you can play peek-a-boo with enemies by quickly opening and closing doors). The campaign is pretty brief and it makes me wonder how much more content they could have added to the game since there are few cool ideas/weapons that only appear once in the game. For instance, there's only one "booby-trap" level where you carefully have to read the environment and navigate it just so to skirt around the traps. There's another that introduces landmines, which bring in the fun dilemma of whether you'd prefer to navigate around them or spend ammo on them.
I have my fingers crossed that we'll see a Deadbolt 2 in the future. I think the chances could be pretty good, considering the devs did a follow up to their debut title Risk of Rain. In sum, if the sound of Hotline Miami + Gunpoint sounds palatable, don't hesitate to give this a shot. Definitely one of my favorite indie games.
loved:
-the gore/gibs when killing different types of enemies (organics vs skellies), liked how each enemy had a unique color of blood
-the simple but effective audio design. aside from the music, the game is very quiet, which allows the gunfire to take front stage
minor issues: dropped items near doors can be a pain, b/c the game sometimes won't be able to tell which you want to interact with
would have liked: I think enemy barks, simple text above their heads, would have added more personality and humor to the game
thoughts on Hard mode: I've really had to learn to make the most of my tools, particularly melee weapons. Melee weapons can be swung indefinitely, but if you use them as a projectile they're gone. Hard mode tweaks the encounter design, such that you have to spend more thought on how you are going to use your tools to outlast the enemies, as most missions task you with clearing out all enemies (but not always). You definitely don't want to be left empty handed as swinging your fists at anything larger than the average goons is a recipe for disaster. Another nice change with the remixed encounters is that you're probably going to need to spend your currency on unlocking some of the beefier starting weapons. While you can get by fine on the normal difficulty with the base pistol and by looting as you go, I really had to think about my loadout toward the endgame. There was even one level where I has just enough rounds to complete the mission. Definitely a refreshing way to experience the game in a more demanding, but more gratifying fashion.
Bastion is carried by its presentation and unique, reactive narration. It's been many years since I've last played, and it was the narration that instantly resonated with me. It was like listening to that one band you liked in high school and find, to your delight, that you were right in liking it in the first play. I had forgotten the little bits of reactivity they included in the script. The game feels like a sluggish action game in these times, especially after playing Supergiant's lastest title Hades, but it's definitely cool to see the foundation that was established here in Bastion. You've got you dashing, parrying, guns, melee weapons, projectile throwing, all of these elements are present here. The game doesn't do a good job of letting you switch your toys mid-level, instead relegating that to very specific areas that aren't present in every level. I would have loved to have been able to switch and modify weapons on the fly. Also, the game has a pretty big lack of boss encounters. I wish they had enemies that made better use of your pretty expansive arsenal. I think Supergiant should venture into this direction in their next project after Hades. I would love to have a large world to explore, with puzzles and encounters that make you utilize a vast toolset.
Endgame: mechanically, I forgot that Bastion drops the ball so hard here. Yes, most will probably remember the "emotional" finale of carrying Zulf back to the Bastion. What I had totally forgotten was that the game forces a new heavy weapon on you that limits your movement speed to an absolute crawl. It doesn't last too long, but this totally left a sour taste in my mouth as the game drew to a close.
In the end, Bastion has all the ingredients that I'd love to see incorporated in a more ambitious game. I think with the success of Hades, I have my fingers crossed that Supergiant take a stab at delivering such an experience. They have the mechanics, the arsenal, the art, and the music down. Now I want to see them iterate on a contiguous world design.
Ghostrunner
Ghostrunner feels and looks like a AA take on the 1hp room-clearing genre. It has more in common with Hotline Miami, where your only means of manipulating the AI is by line of sight, even then though they will just wait you out. A bit of a shame since I would have loved to see more stealth oriented mechanics, given the whole ninja motif. Unfortunately, its levels are super linear, which make the more platforming oriented levels a bit of a bore. This is especially true in the VR sections of the game which don't mesh with the core gameloop at all. These sections feature puzzles and disable your dashing ability. I think they meant these to be palette cleansers but they stick out like a sore thumb and wish the game did without them.
The combat experience: you know what to expect if you've played Hotline Miami. 1 hit and you're dead, 1 hit and they're dead, rinse and repeat. You get a few new moves as you play: a new projectile weapon, bullet time, the same shit you've come to expect. The one thing GR nails down best is FEEL. The wall running, the spider-man like grappling, the sliding, it all looks and sounds very slick. I do wish you could use your body to interrupt enemies. Say, sliding into enemies, or tackling enemies coming out of a wall-run. Unfortunately, the game's combat encounters all have this same feeling of being in a linear racing circuit. The fact that the game just repeats this over and over makes me wish that the sequel opens up the playsapce and allowed for more exploration. The enemies are a bit of a mixed bag. There are few erratic enemies that result in some cheap deaths: melee types that can lunge at you across large distances and kamikaze enemies (whose timer I as never able to quite figure out how to activate). Considering you die in 1 hit, I would have liked more audio tells to give them not just more personality, but give the player more warning of them taking aim at you. Speaking of little details, I do wish the enemies had more varied death cries, perhaps more exaggerated blood effects, blood smearing on your sword. I'll commend the game's boss encounters. Each one felt unique and made use of the movement mechanics in fun ways.
I'm not sure if this game needs the 1hp system to still retain its thrilling gameplay when everything is working. I think it would be neat to acquire some sort of armor so you can tank 1 or 2 hits, as it's pretty frustrating to get killed by a lame stray bullet after a long encounter and have to restart. Also, I wish the rails were more magnetic, as there were plenty of times where I felt like the game wasn't registering where I was trying to move. Again, when it works, it's amazing, when it doesn't, eh, at the worst you're just looking at a quick restart.
My biggest hope for the sequel is more for expansive playspaces and greater interactivity between your body and the enemies. I would love to be able to stip enemies up with the slide, or land some cool kills by falling from great hights. I really don't want to see the same "race car circuit" level design all over again as the ingredients are all right here for them to apply it to a more open level design. Also, please axe the VR sections, or at the very least don't use them for boring puzzles. Platforming gauntlets (like the finale of the base campaign) would be great, but nothing that kills the momentum.
TLDR: when the game's clicking and responding to your inputs as you intend, it's a great time. at the very worst, when there's a disconnect between what you intended and the game kills you, eh, you're just a mere second away from giving it another try. A solid foundation upon which a great game could be built.
Deadbolt (replay)
Deadbolt is as excellent as I remember. I think it's the combination of the awesome bluesy/punk soundtrack, the sound design, and the simple but easily readible art style that make this one of my favorite titles in the 1hp room-clearing genre. As stated before, this game has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard in a game. The campaign is composed of 3 chapters that introduce new enemies and mechanics. Each level gives you a few mechanics to play around with to mess with the AI to isolate them and go in for the kill: noise (knocking on doors, or firing off a round to attract nearby enemies), toilets/vents to zip to other exits around the map, line of sight (you can play peek-a-boo with enemies by quickly opening and closing doors). The campaign is pretty brief and it makes me wonder how much more content they could have added to the game since there are few cool ideas/weapons that only appear once in the game. For instance, there's only one "booby-trap" level where you carefully have to read the environment and navigate it just so to skirt around the traps. There's another that introduces landmines, which bring in the fun dilemma of whether you'd prefer to navigate around them or spend ammo on them.
I have my fingers crossed that we'll see a Deadbolt 2 in the future. I think the chances could be pretty good, considering the devs did a follow up to their debut title Risk of Rain. In sum, if the sound of Hotline Miami + Gunpoint sounds palatable, don't hesitate to give this a shot. Definitely one of my favorite indie games.
loved:
-the gore/gibs when killing different types of enemies (organics vs skellies), liked how each enemy had a unique color of blood
-the simple but effective audio design. aside from the music, the game is very quiet, which allows the gunfire to take front stage
minor issues: dropped items near doors can be a pain, b/c the game sometimes won't be able to tell which you want to interact with
would have liked: I think enemy barks, simple text above their heads, would have added more personality and humor to the game
thoughts on Hard mode: I've really had to learn to make the most of my tools, particularly melee weapons. Melee weapons can be swung indefinitely, but if you use them as a projectile they're gone. Hard mode tweaks the encounter design, such that you have to spend more thought on how you are going to use your tools to outlast the enemies, as most missions task you with clearing out all enemies (but not always). You definitely don't want to be left empty handed as swinging your fists at anything larger than the average goons is a recipe for disaster. Another nice change with the remixed encounters is that you're probably going to need to spend your currency on unlocking some of the beefier starting weapons. While you can get by fine on the normal difficulty with the base pistol and by looting as you go, I really had to think about my loadout toward the endgame. There was even one level where I has just enough rounds to complete the mission. Definitely a refreshing way to experience the game in a more demanding, but more gratifying fashion.
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