Vapourware RPG Codex's Best RPGs - 2019 - REVIEW THREAD!

[Ventidius]

Dark Souls II:

Spoiler

Dark Souls 2 got off to a rocky start with an initial release that was marred by under-cooked campaign balance, lack of content, and the stigma of having been developed by a “B-Team.” However, by the time the definitive Scholar of the First Sin edition came out, many of these issues had been fixed, and it ended up being a worthy entry to the franchise with its own set of strengths.

For one thing, Dark Souls 2 gave the player more options in terms of character building: more stats, spells, weapons and armor, and more ways to mix and match all of the above. This meant the pool of interesting builds, and thus replayability, was greater, not to mention that magic was incontestably at its most fun in this entry. Along with this also came a greater scope: the game has a greater amount of areas than any other in the franchise, and these were also more varied.

Finally, the game deserves praise for the way its encounter design is elegantly enmeshed into the dungeon exploration itself: enemy encounters are harmoniously combined with navigational hazards and uncertainties in order to create tactical puzzles that challenge the player. The result is that, like in old-school dungeon crawlers, the dungeon is the enemy, but the interesting spin on the formula comes in the way that enemies themselves are the dungeon. Of course, all games in the franchise have exhibited this quality to an extent, but DS2 emerges as arguably the most nuanced in this area.

Dragon's Dogma:

Spoiler

Dragon's Dogma is probably one of the best - if not the best - implementations of the Action RPG concept in the industry. Its greatest asset is its commitment to approaching the kind of build variety and customization options that we see in turn-based RPGs in a third-person, real-time engine. Dragon's Dogma manages to implement nine different classes, each of which employs elements from at least three different styles of gameplay: melee, archery, and magic. The most remarkable thing is that the gameplay for each of these options is smooth and competent by the standards of modern action games while providing a genuine sense of build variety through its robust and refined physics engine.

Apart from having great build variety and combat, the game also boasts a large handcrafted overworld filled to the brim with encounters and monsters to fight, as well as loot and secrets to discover. The game takes a non-scaled open world structure that allows players to explore areas with varying threat levels at his own pace, and charting the map as its fog of war unravels constitutes a paradigmatic RPG exploration experience.

Once we throw in truly epic monster fights that allow the player to climb gigantic beasts, an impressive bestiary that brings to life legendary creatures that have long been a staple of myth and fantasy, and the option of bringing along a party of companions; the result is the most successful attempt to translate the feeling of epic fantasy adventuring of the great tabletop and computer RPGs into real time action.

Tell me if the reviews are too long, I can try to trim them down, though I feel the current length is necessary to do them justice.

 

[Doktor Best]

Doktor Best Just do it!

Alrighty. The quick edit became a directors cut in itself though


When Wasteland 2 got released in 2014 after an extraordinarily successful Kickstarter campaign and a long winded development process with several delays, it unfortunately failed to live up to its expectations. However, Inxile released a revamped Directors Cut version, which fixed many of the base game's flaws and is now a really fun mix between Fallout1 and regular combat oriented turn based S-Rpgs like X-Com or Jagged Alliance. The game is more linear and structured as its spiritual successors, but also a much larger one and you could even say that the different setpieces contain as much branching game progression as other rpgs in total. The different paths to solve a quest each pose various skill checks, though you can pass most of them easily if you skill your squad appropriately. The writing is decent and like Fallout filled with references and over the top trash movie charme like in Mad Max, Badlands or Solarbabies. The combat is fun, the itemization works, the perk system leads to some pretty interesting and unique playstyles, the quest design is well crafted and filled with interesting C&C. So while you can argue wether or not Wasteland 2's still not stellar reputation among the codex is justified, you should also recognize that the few who did take a second look at the DC almost univocally came to the conclusion that it has much improved.

 

[Jason Liang]

Does Codex really need two more Pillars of Eternity reviews...

Sengoku Rance is an ideal introduction to the Rance series, one of the most innovative yet underplayed jewels of computer gaming, and to TADA, the brilliant Japanese creative director of the series. Having concluded in 2018 with the release of the series finale Rance X, the Rance games follow its eponymous shark-teethed warrior anti-hero and his clingy but useful slave girl companion, Sill Plain, along both short and epic adventures as they journey across an intricately detailed and realized weird-fantasy continent defined by perverse kingdoms, cunning monsters, monstrous humans and nightmarish demon lords. Rance loves killing monsters, loves rescuing beautiful women from the monsters, and loves fucking the beautiful women after he rescues them from the monsters. It is a world so violent and vile that our magnificent bully/ tasteful rapist is its greatest hero by comparison. While Sengoku Rance is the 7th installment of the series, its excellent story is basically stand-alone as Rance travels to JAPAN, an isolated part of the continent, on a quest to fuck JAPAN's four legendary beautiful princesses. Knowledge of the previous games is not necessary to enjoy this one. Considered the pinnacle of the series for gameplay, Sengoku Rance can be described as a squad management/ harem collection war game with turn-based combat supporting a perfectly designed strategic layer with over a dozen different regions to discover and conquer. The gameplay is frankly absurdly addictive, raunchy and wild, with many innovative and just-plain-cool mechanics that add to the game's spiciness.

Sengoku Rance is a game that both stands on its own as an unique gaming experience that you will not regret and never forget, and leaves you with an insatiable lust - or should we say hard-on? - to dive dick first into Rance's further adventures and conquests that combine to make an incredible story and magnificent journey.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Dragonfall may lack a complex combat system or robust character development (even if there are one or two nice encounters like the one with apex). However this Harabraned studio made game makes up for those shortcoming in writing, storytelling and atmosphere department. Contrary to other RPG boasting about their storytelling, Dragonfall isn't overwritten, there is a nice balance between action and exposition. Each npc serves a purpose and your part consist of pretty likable shadowrunners.

Thanks to hub structure you can choose between few missions available at a time. Each run is different, one day you participate in the corporate spying, the other you fight the neonazis, just to infiltrate corporate facility to kill a compromised shadowrunner in the next. Each mission has a few optional task that spice things up.

The game is good looking an has an excellent soundtrack by Jon Everist. It's a great entry point to Shadowrun franchise.

 

[ArchAngel]

I'm not a native English speaker so I hope the grammar of this review is acceptable. Feel free to remove or edit weird sentences if you spot some, Felipe.

Diablo II
With its innovative gameplay and incredibly solid atmosphere, the first Diablo is an unparalleled masterpiece – and yet, it is dwarfed by the scale and mastery of Diablo II. It expands on all of Diablo's mechanics, doubling the number of character classes and succeeding in making all of them equally interesting and very different from each other: while the assassin is using martial arts training to kick demons in the face, the necromancer hides behind its own skeleton army, raised from the corpses of his enemies. Combined with a clever procedural level generation, random and satisfying loot, multiplayer co-op and an enormous world divided into four acts, those classes give Diablo II an incredible replay value where each game feels like a distinct adventure on its own.
Another truly remarkable feat, and perhaps the best part of Diablo II – best enjoyed with its near-perfect expansion Lord of Destruction – is how it is able to build a vast, cohesive, convincing universe using only few words. Town dwellers aren't the talkative type, the hero almost never speaks, and yet through items and enemies names (as well as superb level design) Diablo II's dark and tortured world feels more alive than many others. A feeling its sequel would fail to replicate.


If this review is OK, then maybe I will write more if some games don't get much love.

Come on man, this is so low effort. Assassin class comes with expansion which also brings 5th act.

 

[Marten Broadcloak]

Come on man, this is so low effort. Assassin class comes with expansion which also brings 5th act.

Wow, you seriously think we're supposed to review D2 classic. I'm amazed.

 

[Jason Liang]

Despite several years of playtesting and development, Age of Decadence still feels far closer to a cobbled potpouri of great concepts than a polished, satisfying game. Set in a harsh fantasy/ scifi world of fallen kingdoms, the game begins with the player joining one of the various competing factions, including an ambitious militant order of Legionaires, a colorful and skulky guild of thieves, and a dangerous and vengeful brotherhood of assassins. Each faction interacts with the byzantine three-act plot from its own unique perspective. While there are some scripted points where one can choose to betray their original faction and switch to a different path, by and large the game and story moves along these curated and railroaded journeys. Each act typically follows a pattern of three general main quests, three faction-specific quests and a handful of sidequests.

Age of Decadence's much-praised turn-based combat features innovative and thoughtfully designed weapon/ armor/ combat skill systems, but unfortunately most of the joy is derived from learning via trial and error the game's poorly documented combat mechanics. AoD's combat isn't challenging; it is simply only unintuitive. Once players learn to exploit the game's poorly balanced, OP mechanics such as knockdown and bola-choke, combat becomes a shallow, repetitive and disappointing chore. In other words, the combat is only challenging and enjoyable for those who haven't figure out how the game's combat mechanics actually work. The combat sours once you realize that your enemies are actually gimped and do not have access to the same OP tools that you have at your own disposal, ultimately sterilizing the game's potential for tactical depth. This is a shame as clearly much love and passion has gone into hand-crafting every exquisitely balanced combat scenario. Still, despite the critical flaws of its combat system, the game does deliver one of the most glorious and unforgettable battles I've ever experienced as a gamer. Age of Decadence is worth at least a single playthrough, as an Imperial Guard, just for this one fight.

Age of Decadence's other system that deserves consideration and praise is its revolutionary Lore system, which beautifully integrates discovering the game's vast missable content into both a game mechanic and an organic aspect of the setting. This is a tremendous breakthrough in rpg design on a deep level. Yet just like the game's combat innovations, this Lore system is saddled by a retarded and simplistic skill points based locked content system, CYOA decision making, and a map teleport system that skips over both travelling and exploration. The end result is a deeply flawed game that had the potential to be an open-world adventure classic but settles for a railroaded experience that is almost a pathetic parody of open-world gaming. I don't hate AoD but it is more fun to thinking about and argue about this interesting but deeply flawed game, whereas actually playing through it is a chore.

 

[Zer0wing]

Hate to be the devils advocate so use these with caution because my writing and speech skill are shit. Also, my english is very engrish so let me know if there's problems with grammar and punctuation.

For this one I'll try to explain it differently than the others why it should be played & why it's a baby's first TES. (yes I do mean & as an operand) Muh Shkyrim and muh FO76 bekuz muh Oblivion whiners can go впизду, they can't write a proper recommendation either.

TES IV: Oblivion

Oblivion is the last Elder Scrolls title that still has that semblance of the good old TES fun with flexible rpg system and exploration buried underneath medieval europe fantasy outlook, cookie-cutter characters and often childish writing. That's why it remains the first go-to TES title to start with, even for kids despite the age rating. Oblivion as a game is built as a theme park with smaller map with cranked together points of interest and quest arrow. It gets the job done when it's needed to introduce the player to the Elder Scrolls universe. It's core gameplay and the idea behind the roleplaying system, its good and bad parts are more akin to earlier titles than Skyrim so you won't be that lost if you try to pick up earlier titles such as Morrowind next, which is most recommended second TES title to try out.

The Age of Decadence

The fools dream about The Ultimate RPG comes true with all ups like immersive writing, rich roleplaying mechanic and advanced branching storytelling that adds huge replay value and downs like rundimentary weapons, entire skillsets and nonexistent balance surrounding this vague concept. That's why the Codex seems so split about and why AoD is so often criticized here too despite the fact that it's made by honorable codexer Vince D.Weller himself.

Age of Decadence is a low magic dark fantasy post-roman RPG that mixes CYOA-like structure in storytelling with complex turn-based combat and skill system that removes leveling from the equation like an appendix. The gripes of choice and following concequences starts right at the character as it's gives you eight backgrounds that form four variations of storyline based on four professions that will survive the downfall of any empire - trader, thief, imperial guard or praetor of local noble house. They're flexible in playstyle as seemingly all about talking traders route can give you combat scenarios aswell as imperial guard route gives plenty of non-combat alternatives in main or side questlines. Or you can skip them at all.

The graphics ranges from outstanding 2D like UI and portraits, lighting to very low quality 3D meshes, though the animations are smooth and look lively and the visual style in general remains consistent throughout the game. Modern classic as its finest.

 

[mushaden]

I don't hate AoD but it is more fun to thinking about and argue about this interesting but deeply flawed game

quickly saying why you think this game is great and should be played

Why would you write a review of a game you didn't vote for? Unless...

 

[Zer0wing]

Also, fug this is wrong Realms of Arkania title in the list, the 2nd and 3rd have much more to describe.

 

[Jason Liang]

I don't hate AoD but it is more fun to thinking about and argue about this interesting but deeply flawed game

quickly saying why you think this game is great and should be played

Why would you write a review of a game you didn't vote for? Unless...

I don't see any other AoD summaries, and tbf the voting system disincentivized voting for more than a handful of games.

 

[Zer0wing]

I don't see any other AoD summaries, and tbf the voting system disincentivized voting for more than a handful of games.

Just wait a day.

 

[Morality Games]

I've made the best rules compliant summary of Tyranny I could, maybe Expeditions: Viking later.

Tyranny is so often overlooked by genre enthusiasts that most forget to count it when referring to the recent spate of RPG releases. It is the latest example of mediocre isometric game that might be redeemed through its simple charms – it doesn’t take itself too seriously, with nowhere near as much of the verbose reverence for its writing that surfaces in Pillars and Torment. Overall, it is a decently told, easy to handle squad-based RttWP game in a pseudo-classical, dark fantasy Bronze Age.

Like its first-person cousin Fallout: New Vegas, Tyranny has the player exploring a county at war. Faction choices include the Dishonored, soldiers whose regimented camp lifestyle and martial discipline evoke the Roman Legions, the Scarlet Chorus, a confederation of gangs whose frenzied power struggle echo the Mongol hordes, and “the Rebels”, a local group of ragtag freedom fighters each army has pledged to eradicate. Forgiving a combat system that comes across as mobile-esque despite featuring a spellcrafting novelty, these factions and their route exclusive content ensure there is an interactive, C&C intensive story hidden in an RPG whose mechanics and systems otherwise fail to stand out.

 

[Ventidius]

Divinity: Original Sin II

Spoiler

To say that the second entry of the D:OS series has not been as well received in the Codex as the first is an understatement. The game annoyed many fans of the franchise through a series of drastic design changes that ruined the experience for them. Chief among these were the infamous armor and initiative systems.

Aside from those admittedly poorly implemented mechanics, however, the game's combat engine has anything a fan of the genre could ask. It's turn-based and squad-based, while also boasting environmental interactivity, a proper positioning system, now with elevation mechanics, and an impressive array of spells, status effects, buffs, debuffs, and moves.

Even the reviled armor system brought something to the table by limiting the effectiveness of the CC spam and alpha strikes that dominated the first game, allowing for more challenging and varied encounters. That is why despite its flaws, D:OS 2's combat remains a rewarding experience for those who can look past some of its more inelegant design choices.

Even though combat is arguably the game's central aspect, it's worth highlighting some of the improvements made in other areas: a more varied and nuanced skill system, greater race variety, increased reactivity, and better art direction, writing and exploration. This last element is especially noteworthy, as the game boasts detailed maps for each Act packed with diverse loot, encounters, quests, and secrets, which, combined with the game's environmental interactivity and open-endedness, allow for engaging expeditions full of surprises.

Prey

Spoiler

Set in the Talos I space station, Prey stands as Arkane Studios's attempt to create a spiritual successor of sorts to the legendary System Shock 2. However, players are well advised not to walk into it expecting System Shock 3, on pain of courting disappointment. Whereas SS2 was a hybrid between the immersive sim formula associated with Looking Glass Studios and survival horror elements centered on resource and tension management; Prey, on the other hand, eschewed any survival horror elements and focused on creating an ambitious immersive sim that gave the player ample gameplay and character-building options.

At this the game undeniably succeeds, primarily through the diverse suite of powers - many of which are highly environmentally interactive and combat symmetrical - that are implemented. The powers are unlocked through the use of consumables dubbed Neuromods, and they include skills for combat, sneaking, manipulating the various interactive elements in the station, and an impressive suite of psychic abilities that allows the player to become an unstoppable Esper. This diversity of options in character capacities is definitely one of the perks of immersive sims, and it is something which Prey delivers in spades. Apart from this, the game also boasts excellent level design.

The flip side of the game's plethora of options is that it suffers from some balance issues, as the player can become so powerful that even the strongest enemies eventually cease to pose a threat, not to mention that the abundance of Neuromods means that the player will often be able to pick so many abilities he will not even have to specialize in a given role.

Nevertheless, the game's environmetal storytelling and interaction, emphasis on observation, and an open-endedness that minimizes scripting in advancing the narrative all ensure that there is a symbiosis between Prey's excellent lore-cum-worldbuilding and its gameplay that is rare in gaming. That, and the qualities of said gameplay, make it a worthy successor to the classics that inspired it.

 

[Lady_Error]

Grimoire (maybe Dorateen can do a summary of his review too)

Almost 20 years in development, the spiritual sequel to Wizardry 6 & 7 delivers exactly what the starved fans of this genre were looking for. The tone of the game is somewhat lighter and sometimes closer to the Might & Magic games, yet the scope is even bigger than the monumental Wizardry 7. Grimoire contains user interface improvements, such as autowalking on a map and remembering the combat choices from previous rounds. Some people complain about the complexity of the game or its outdated graphics. Yet the philosophy of games like this is to evoke a dream-like state where you use your imagination to fill in the blanks - instead of having boring photorealistic graphics that leave nothing to imagination.

Might & Magic X

A worthy conclusion to the venerable series of Might & Magic RPG's. This game came out many years after the generally disliked Might & Magic IX. Instead of full 3D exploration, Might & Magic X went back to step-based movement of the earlier Might & Magic games, while improving the graphics and the user interface considerably. Combat is still turn-based and varied enough to be fun throughout the game. The main criticism is probably the relative shortness of the game, as well as the relatively slow beginning with gated areas.

Lords of Xulima

This RPG is quite unique in that it combines top-down-view exploration (similar to Baldur's Gate) with blobber-like combat (similar to Wizardry or JRPG's). This combination works surprisingly well. The world of Xulima is huge, ranging from icy regions, to forests, jungles, deserts, as well as towns and castles - all with beautiful, fairy-tale-like graphics. Exploration of extreme weather regions is actually dangerous since you run out of supplies much faster, adding a lot to the fun. What can be criticized about this game is that it has relatively few dungeon areas, as well as a somewhat formulaic design where the same elements are repeated on several maps (one castle, one town, one witch house). Also, the end game is not very well done and could have been trimmed down somewhat.

 

[Ventidius]

Elminage Gothic

Spoiler

To understand what the oddly named and outwardly inconspicuous Elminage Gothic represents, one must first know the story of the developer that created it: Starfish SD. A Japanese studio that worked on sequels of the Wizardry franchise that were produced in Japan after Sir-Tech sold the rights to it, Starfish had been making games in the style of old Wizardry (games 1-5) for more than 10 years by the time of EG's release. In the meantime, they refined and iterated on the formula, bringing it to heights that its creators would never have dreamed of.

That is why dismissing it as “yet another Japanese Wizardry clone” would be a grave mistake. Even though it kicks off with a convoluted starter dungeon that suspiciously resembles something made to weed out short attention spanners, the game quickly picks up in the dungeon design department, which culminates in the consistently varied and increasingly challenging dungeon design of the mid, late, and post-game sections. Expect dark tiles, teleporters, spinners, the works. Also, the game's Ibag Tower offers arguably the greatest dungeon crawling challenge that has been seen since the days of Wizardry IV.

Although the game's greatest strength lies in its dungeon design, it also boasts excellent party customization. There are many class options from Lords with their impregnable defenses and Cleric spells, to the spell-casting and dual-wielding Samurai, to Summoners with their own unique Monster capture mechanic, to the legendary Ninja of ol' Wizardry, here to kill things, take names, and then kill the names as well. Apart from that, the game offers great racial variety, and when all these elements coalesce with the class-changing mechanics of Wizardry, the amounts of party building options that result are truly staggering.

Add to all of this serviceable blobber combat that manages to offer a challenge despite the myriad customization options available to the player – an achievement in itself - and the outcome is a true successor to classic Wizardry in every way, and a feast for fans of RPGs that prioritize, or at least appreciate, the genre's core gameplay.

Dark Souls III

Spoiler

There are those who think of the Dark Souls series as “the hard games” or as combat-centric games. I have always been rather of the impression that games in the franchise often had many things going for them, and often the level design was as important as the combat itself. However, the third and supposedly last entry to the series does its best to live up to this reputation. Dark Souls III focuses on the combat and streamlines most of the other aspects of the old formula. The complex and devious dungeons of the first and especially the second game are gone, replaced with more linear affairs where the next bonfire is often a stone's throw away, the second game's experiment in expanding the character system and the skills it offered was reversed as the game settled for more minimalistic customization, and the amount of weapons, armors, and spells received a similar cut back.

Nonetheless, what the game does do well, it does very well. The newfound focus on combat benefits from the fact that the engine is built upon that of Bloodborne, which translates to faster, smoother combat with leaner and meaner animations. The boss design also got an upgrade, there is arguably no Souls game that has as many great boss fights as DS3, and the cream of crop are among the very best in the franchise. This is somewhat mitigated by the tendency of later boss fights to evince inelegant design elements such as HP bloat, multiple bosses, and multiple phases - usually in combination - a tendency that becomes more marked in the DLC content.

Nevertheless, even these issues cannot hold back the game from being a strong contender for the hardest Souls game with the best combat, and for those who think of this aspect as the central element of the franchise this game will not fail to deliver.

 

[Lady_Error]

Pillars of Eternity

This controversial game could not quite live up to the hype and the high expectations of recreating the experience of Infinity Engine games such as Baldur's Gate. As such, it received a lot of criticism for its combat system, the relatively bland companions and a lack of choices and consequences. These criticisms were taken to heart and somewhat corrected in later patches, as well as in the two expansions to the game (The White March I & II). The game did receive praise for its beautiful graphics, as well as the create-your-own-adventure text events in the style of Darklands.

Pillars of Eternity II

After the somewhat disappointing first game in this series, Pillars of Eternity II comes close to delivering an experience on par with the Infinity Engine games such as Baldur's Gate. The criticisms of the first game were taken to heart and to a large degree corrected. The game is set on an island archipelago with natives, pirates and a colonial-like theme. It features exploration on a ship, as well as ship-to-ship combat. What didn't change is the philosophy of balancing the whole experience where each of the numerous professions is more or less equally strong. The latest patch to the game also introduced turn-based combat. One area where Pillars of Eternity still lags behind Infinity Engine games are the mage battles, which were more fun in those games due to hard counters.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Wasteland 2

Wasteland 2 isn't a masterpiece we were naively hoping to get, which caused much anguish, however it is pretty good. The fact that it is front loaded with the worst areas in the whole game didn't help either during it reception.

You create a squad of postapocalyptic militia with a mission to bring the rule of the law into the Wasteland. The game is more balanced towards combat than Fallout, which is serviceable. Character creation is good, however you will have pretty much every skill covered in the first playthrough which reduces replayability.

The game world is divides into to two separate maps, which sadly have some areas that aren't reachable from the start. There are both weak locations like Rail Nomads and excellent ones like Rodia. I didn't like that there is not much interconnection between cities in quest design.
The writing is hit and miss. It get weighted down by the choice to go with a keyword based system which makes conversations lose a more natural rhythm.

The oldschool sensibility oozes from Wasteland 2, which makes up for all game shortcomings.


Sengoku Rance

Sengoku Rance is a porn game with a better story than most story focused games and a better combat than most combat oriented games. Protagonist is an antihero with no redeeming qualities, a murderer and a rapist who haven't become a villain only because he thinks too high of himself to become villain. Somehow he manages to be one of the most likable protagonist of any game.

As a ruler of Oda clan, you are tasked in uniting Sengoku era Japan. You make strategic decisions on the overworld map, you decide which provinces to attack, which dungeons to enter, which companions to talk to. During battles each of your characters hit points and damage is proportional to how many troops are under their commands. There is a turn limit to every battle and you don't need to kill everyone to win, just maintaining an advantage is enough. The combat system isn't that deep, however it uses every mechanic at its disposal splendidly resulting in a very fun combat.

There is a few optional optional paths in the game, which provide quite a lot of new content and even sometimes change the game rules.

 

[Dorateen]

Grimoire (maybe Dorateen can do a summary of his review too)

Lifted from the Review:

Grimoire

Released in 2017, this is a computer role-playing game belonging to the early 1990's, and places value on many design principles of that period. The game is viewed through an adventuring window, turn-based and grid-based, unapologetically opaque in delivery of mechanics as much as narrative; a behemoth in scope allowing multiple hundreds of hours of playing time for a player who is given just enough rope to hang their party as they explore Hyperborea. All this, as well as the chance to rise in exultation with each triumph, whether in combat or deciphering the mysteries of the richly developed game world.

 

[Lady_Error]

Age of Decadence

If you are looking for choices and consequences, this game is for you. You play a single character in a post-apocalyptic society. It is possible to align with different factions and backstab any or all of them, if you so choose. Combat is hard and unforgiving, which is why some love it and others hate it. The game is built for replayability, since it is impossible to see all the content in one playthrough. The graphics range from awesome (character portraits) to serviceable (3D graphics). One frequent criticism is in fact the 3D engine and the necessity to rotate the view. Overall, Age of Decadence can be considered a modern hardcore RPG classic - made by fellow Codexers.

 

[Lady_Error]

I'm sure Darth Roxor could do a nice ELEX review, while Might & Magic 2 would be something for Jaesun (if he was here) or octavius. Undertale might be something for Crooked Bee or Unkillable Cat, if I am not mistaken.

 

[Mark Richard]

The Witcher 3

A masterpiece or a scourge on the RPG genre? Depends on who you ask. Our hero Geralt is barely allowed to walk across a room without a literal step by step guide, revealing the game's serious doubts about the average player's intelligence. Fortunately what The Witcher 3 does well, it does REALLY well, and if you can accept some patronizing design choices you'll be rewarded with storytelling and presentation that's second to none. The world of The Witcher is adapted from the novels in uncanny detail with well over a hundred compelling side quests that could pass for official short stories. It's like a game made by superfans who by some miracle turned out to be excellent storytellers in their own right, and it's all bolstered by stellar voice acting & music to produce a consistent high level of polish from start to finish.

What the game does well, however, it does really well.

Woah. After I finished I looked up other Witcher 3 reviews and found this. It's as if I straight up stole your line and made it better.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Undertale might be something for Crooked Bee or Unkillable Cat, if I am not mistaken.

Don't look at me, I'm mostly sporting the avatar to troll Codexers who state that Undertale is shit without even playing it.

 

[Lady_Error]

The Witcher 3

consistent high level of polish

I see what you did there.

 

[Parsifarka]

I'm no expert in Diablo as I played it for the first time this last winter, but I loved it to the point of voting for it instead of awarding a higher score to some M&M game -so, since no one else has written it yet, here goes my attempt at short reviewing it, though it's hard to convey what Diablo makes me feel while trying to keep some critical perspective in such restricted word count:

Spoiler

A lone hero arrives to a dismal village and receives the quest to explore a dreadful dungeon reaching from the accursed damp catacombs of a desecrated church down to the flaming depths of hell. This isn’t about raising numbers, it’s about going down all alone.

The strong sense of place and momentum, a remarkably simple yet effective combat system and a prodigious soundtrack which cannot be complimented enough push the player into descending through walls of wailing demonic flesh until reaching Diablo himself -this is a horror tale with nightmarish sounds, grim visuals and a bare-bones RPG system fuelling an aggressive gameplay more akin to id’s shooters than to anything else.

Everything works like a clock, even that which taken by itself seems unfitting -such as the limited inventory and speed of the playable character- forces the player into constantly making relevant choices with both delayed and instant consequences (i.e. life or death), which account for the rather slim character building.

As a proper masterpiece, Diablo is both the father and the end of a genre characterized by a brutal immediacy, set apart from the hordes of uninspired clones it spawned -a classic.