Recent reviews by VOid

This game reminds me of the Quest Mode in "Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring." But it occasionally feels like Dynasty Warriors and I don't appreciate it.

I generally don't play these types of games much deeper than the campaign + the DLC. So I have no comment on the endgame or meta stuff. From a gameplay perspective it's simple. It's fun to kill stuff in this. It's much more action focused, every class is able to dodge as an innate function. The ability progression is rather linear and quite shallow compared to something like Grim Dawn in my experience.

I don't really know how it's monetized and I don't care. I am enjoying playing the base game, that is all I have purchased at the time of writing. I have tried 4 of the classes. They seem to play relatively the same minus their theme and further progression. But again, it's lacking a lot of depth on that front.

I prefer Grim Dawn overall. I think Torchlight 2 is excellent. I miss the Monk from Diablo 3. Something weird is going on with The Last Epoch, and it seems to always have something weird going on. I get a lot of Book of Demons vibes from this as well. I just don't like Titan Quest because I don't like Greek or Roman stuff, whatever the difference is. And Path of Exile I've just stayed away from.

My verdict: I'm enjoying this game. The combat feels good. It's fun to just kill stuff. It is, however, lacking a ton in character build depth, (from what I can tell) and it's monetized like many other games in current year. Horrendously. Hope that helps.

Hurt people hurt people.

Yakuza 0 is where the series canonically begins in my understanding. I have only played Like A Dragon otherwise at this time. In this game, you'll switch between playing as Goro Majima and Kazuma Kiryu. Ultimately, despite all the drama and side activities, this game is about a small piece of real estate in a large-scale business model that interests a considerable number of parties.

Unlike Like A Dragon, which is turn-based. The Yakuza series is traditionally a beat 'em up. Akin to something like if Streets of Rage 2 were to have been developed at a different time period. Anecdotally, this game reminded me of a game on PS1 called “Ehrgeiz” — it was a 3D fighter— it had this adventure side mode with RPG-style leveling and an inventory. But it played as a dungeon-crawling beat 'em up.

There's no English dub, so prepare for a lot of reading. Makes for a great Steam Deck game. And it runs great on that. Only drawing about 12-17W on average. 800p@60 on high preset. It's an older title so it's not terribly demanding in the first place. And I think it still looks great. There's something nostalgic about this style—this time period—of visuals. Makes the game feel immediately familiar despite largely being unfamiliar with the series.

The combat is overtly simple, you can get through the entire game with the same “X,X,Y” combo, while only occasionally side-stepping an enemy combo that would otherwise stun-lock you. You can spend in-game money (I hate you have to clarify that now) on Kiryu or Goro, things like more health, deceased rate of heat drop. There are abilities that expand the mechanics of the combat, but they are unnecessary to be successful in combat, at least on normal. So it's really more for player variety. However, they are so expensive you won't really see them until very late in the game.

And the game overstays its welcome, I found myself disinterested in some of side characters by the end. Very dramatic backstories that go on and on while the main plot also dragged its feet. Mind you, there are a ton of side activities just like Like A Dragon so the game can be “main-lined” in a sense to avoid this burnout. But the combat simply isn't good enough for me to want to push through. It's about the same depth as something like Sleeping Dogs, contextual graphic animations — “Heat” and the Face meter essentially operate the same. But I found this game to be slightly less satisfying. There's something about the way the characters lock-on, or “engage” with certain enemies but evasion is very free, very open in its movement. You can switch styles to avoid the wild swings you'll occasionally get. Some fighting styles seem built for groups of enemies. Such as Kiryu's “Beast” style where he auto-grabs things around him as weapons and swings them horizontally. Ultimately, I found the combat tedious.

I think this is an enjoyable game, but be prepared for a novel while you beat up street thugs. I personally preferred the turn-based combat in Like A Dragon. I felt it was more fitting for what I now understand as the tone for the series.

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There's (currently) two entry points to the Yakuza series. Yakuza 0 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon. However, they feature completely different combat systems. At the time of writing, I have only played a few hours of Yakuza 0 and this title. So I would consider this game to be my first. But you can't go wrong entering the series at either place, regardless.

Much like the Yakuza culture, being steeped in tradition. This series has you normally playing as Kazuma Kiryu. With the games he's in being beat 'em ups. However, in Like a Dragon, you'll play as Ichiban Kasuga. Who is obsessed with Dragon Quest. No really. The whole game is turn-based because that's how he starts to envision fighting.

Moreover, the game is effectively a traditional JRPG set in a 'low-fantasy' setting. That said, the skills are secondary to the core of the combat, which is positioning and timing. This might sound odd in a turn-based game. Let me explain — the characters are always moving around each other. All mixed up. Enemies and party members alike. If you do a basic attack when there are enemies in the way, there is a significant chance you'll not only take damage from an opportunity attack, but you may be interrupted entirely. Making your turn completely wasted. So the core of the combat really comes down to selecting targets that are open to attack as everyone is moving around.

Of course, the combat is deeper than this, there are status effects, types of attack, melee, blade, etc. Resistances to the aforementioned. There is also a job system which can be leveled individually from character level. You're able to use some special attacks to avoid the chance of being interrupted by targeting enemies far away. I'm unsure if that was intentional, but I ended up doing it a lot.

There's also a mechanic to block attacks to mitigate damage, you must press the associated button right before the attack lands. It's a little like Super Mario RPG — that's what it reminded me of anyways. Some special abilities also have a timed button press to increase damage.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3419070558

In spite of this, I did not find the game excessively grind-y. Given the genre, you might expect that. But you can do mini-games that are rather involved and some that are less involved. See movies with companions, build a relationship (bond) with them — this also increases your own chance for opportunity attacks as well as allow non-active party members to gain experience points.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3419070716

The city itself is teeming with life. While it feels oddly restrictive, in that you cannot really interact with the world, there's a ton of items and things to find though exploration. It can be rather rewarding.

Doing sub-stories will often gain you characters that can be used in other aspects. Typically either for “Poundmates”, which act as summons in the combat, or for one of the more elaborate mini-games introduced as “Ichiban Confections”. This one is unlocked a little later in the game. You'll run a business, manage employees and decide when to expand. There are even shareholder meetings which has an entirely different “combat” system.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3419070955

At one point I even traveled to the park just to collect bugs for the “Part-Time Hero” side missions. There's some really, genuinely funny and enjoyable side stuff in this game.

This is gonna pull around almost the full 25W all the time. But it runs phenomenal on the deck. 800P native, no scaling — the game will run 35-60FPS depending on the area. But as the game is turn-based, this shouldn't effect much. I personally think it also looks very good on the OLED screen and I think that the JRPG genre is simply perfect for handhelds.

Fantastic story, good combat. Great entry point to the series. Very satisfying still if this is the only Yakuza game you play. I can't honestly say anything bad about it. The cutscenes can be a little long, I guess. I'd recommend it to everyone unless you truly just cannot stand JRPGs.

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With finesse!

Succinctly, this game feels like a Fable game in a Harry Potter wrapper. Which is not inherently a bad thing — but much like Fable is, at least historically, it promises more than what is present. And while there is a TON to do in the game, a lot of it feels kind of lifeless, banal and unfulfilling.

I feel like the game relies on the lore-rich world it inhabits rather than present that lore in any sort of meaningful way. You start Hogwarts Legacy as a 5th year student. Which from my perspective, a person that has read all seven Harry Potter books twice and enjoyed the films, including the Fantastic Beasts — the game itself feels devoid of, well... magic. The game throws you into Hogwarts as if it's already known, as if the process of discovering there is a world beyond the world you believe wouldn't have any effect on your frame of reference for reality.

Instead, the game employs some vague plot regarding ancient magic and your character's ability to see and use it — which does become more involved. But this game takes place roughly a century before the events therein the Harry Potter books, so there isn't necessarily many similarities regarding the overall plot.

The game's combat and spell mastery is satisfying, for a time. When you learn spells, they can be used in and out of combat for puzzles as well.

The main issue with the combat is that no enemies require any different tactic to defeat. You can spam the basic spell and then either block or dodge, rinse and repeat. This works with every enemy in the entire game. The only alteration of this is that occasionally some enemies will have a specific color shield. Purple, Yellow or Red. The three 'combat colors'. You use the corresponding color spell to break the shield. However, as you progress in level and use talents points, you earn abilities where you don't have to use the same color spell to break a shield — insofar that the basic counter spell, Stupefy, will take down any color shield. On top of this, the spells themselves expand to have either have a ricochet effect or increase the area of effect. More or less, the combat becomes this sort of slightly more active version of holding trigger and waiting for cooldowns similar to Dragon Age: Inquisition. There is some level of spell combinations that result in doing more damage quickly — then you wait for the cooldowns and perform them again. It becomes a chore.

The classes in Hogwarts themselves aren't even as robust as mini-games such as the game Bully presents. They start out that way, but very quickly become cutscenes with “assignments” attached to catch up with the other students. These are effectively tutorials.

This is an area unlocked early/mid-game where you are able to cultivate plants, raise and breed captured animals and brew potions. There are specific spells learned that are explicitly for moving items around in this room. Which have their own currency, it ends up feeling like filler content.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3164243080

Nope, while you do get to fly on a broomstick and there are races to complete. There isn't any Quidditch to be had. You can capture and fly around on a number of beasts, however.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3164256802

Hogwarts itself plays an alarmingly small part in a game called Hogwarts Legacy, you may enjoy going into random caves or exploring the forbidden forest, but the game doesn't really encourage nor reward you for doing so. Unless you really, really enjoy simply being around Hogsmeade and seeing places in your favorite childhood books come to life in video game form, I can't say this game does anything that special. I think it's skippable. A lot of the side stuff is just not that pressing or interesting. Some of the larger side quests are compelling with certain other students, but I found they didn't offset the tedious combat and conventional main quest.

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This review is only for the base game. Mild spoilers

Well, not really. Glen Schofield, the executive producer of the Dead Space series, is the director of The Callisto Protocol. And while I ultimately think it's unfair to compare the two games, there are a lot of similarities.

The differences between the games would take less time to list. Considering even things like the sound your inventory makes, if it is not the exact same sound, it's nearly imperceptibly different.

That said, I believe that The Callisto Protocol is different enough to stand on its own. I think both of these series can co-exist.

The Jovian (Jupiter) moons have become an extremely popular location for sci-fi to take place due to the speculation of their innate potentiality to harbor organic life, if not human life. Callisto, is one of the larger moons. Playing as Jacob Lee, a character that is shrouded in mystery for most of the game, you'll be delivering some items to this now prison moon — when disaster strikes and you crash onto the moon, Jacob is taken prisoner in the equally shrouded in mystery “Black Iron Prison”. Then our adventure begins.

Played from an over-the-shoulder camera much like Dead Space, this game has more of a melee focus than its counterpart. The dodge system reminds me of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. Alternating directions between swings. Further in the game, creatures will start to mutate which made it feel like Resident Evil 4. If you do not do what is necessary before the creature mutates, they will become stronger. What this leads to is that fights can very quickly get out of control, so you'll need to figure out how to do some crowd control from a very close up range.

The game does also have its own version of the telekinesis module — a “Gravity Restraint Projector” or GRP. It's more used to pick up enemies and throw them into environmental hazards than puzzles like Dead Space typically employs the meachanic.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3153474212

Much like Dead Space, HUD elements and game information are all “in-environment” — one of the things Dead Space was originally praised for. Upgrades for weapons are purchased through a printing assembly. While suit upgrades are narratively earned.

Dead Space is one of my favorite series of all time, and I stayed away from this game from all the negative reviews at launch. I believe those issues are largely fixed.

I was able to run the game on the Ultra preset at 1440p with an average of 83FPS. However, the game suffered massive frame drops seemingly at random. Though, I was able to effectively remove them completely by dropping it to the High preset.

Specs
Ryzen 5 5600X
RTX3070
32GB of DDR4 @ 3600Mz
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3153488928

While I cannot honestly say I would have paid full price for this, especially at its length of around 10 hours. I did enjoy it, I think it's good. The story is kind of generic but it's well told. The gameplay is satisfying and the mystery of the prison is compelling enough to push through the slower sections. This and Dead Space deserve sequels.

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https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3153488318

The DLC "Final Transmission" is worth playing.

Days Gone is an open-world post-apocalyptic zombie game with survival elements. It's a LONG game. At the time of this review, the 68.7 hours I have in the game is a single playthrough doing only the main story with a fair number of extras.

You'll take the role of Deacon St. John, an abrasive character for sure. The game throws you not only into an active virus outbreak that leads to a zombie apocalypse, but into Deacon's relationships with a number of people. People he seems to not have the greatest history with — “burned bridges”. He's also stuck on his lost love, two sentiments I identify with more than I care to admit in my real life. Ultimately, this makes him slightly unlikable. That combined with the game's length makes this a game for people looking for a certain experience.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3144447687

Being reductive, this game feels a lot like Death Stranding meets Far Cry. But I don't think it would be inappropriate to draw comparisons to Red Dead Redemption 2.

Your bike is your lifeline. It's how you travel, it's how you save. It will literally save your life. Fast travel is allowed if you have the gas and the path is not obstructed by things like infestation zones. Otherwise you need to get around without it. The bike does need gas to function but this is relatively trivial as an aspect of the game's survival traits. For one, gas cans respawn and do not run out of gas. And gas pumps are still active in this time, it's only been a few years. When I first started playing, I became rather anxious thinking I'd need to be constantly concerned about gas. You're always getting something as well. Killing stray zombies (freaks) or marauders will earn you XP to upgrade Deacon's abilities. The freak ears and other zombie types can also be sold to camps for credits and that will also build trust.

You do need to be careful however, ambushes can happen out of the blue. Not only this, but the gunfire or explosions can cause more freaks or non-infected wildlife to show up. Wolves, bears, mountain lions. The game can go from 0 to 100 real fast.

Your bike can be upgraded upon building trust with camps. As a drifter, you're able to go out on missions for a number of camps and establish more trust within them. You'll earn both trust (a type of XP really) and camp credits to refill things like ammo. Other resources can be pilfered out in the wild. You'll learn where to find certain types of resources as well — scrap can be found in almost any vehicle if the hood is still shut, gas cans are usually found around industrial vehicles such as tow trucks. Ammo can usually be found in police vehicles, medkits in ambulances — things you'd expect.

Much like Death Stranding, while you aren't a “Porter”, you are effectively playing that same role within this world. You'll learn the map and better ways to navigate it to perform the tasks the camps want. Bounty hunting, horde killing, resource retrieval and more.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3144447046

There's also a bit of conspiracy if you investigate the NERO checkpoints and go down that path.

I think this game appeals to a rather specific audience. It does have multiple endings and there's a TON to do in this game. Granted, it can be a tad grindy. But the gunplay is great, the bike riding is great and I personally identified with Deacon in a number of ways. More prudently, if you feel... lost in your real life, this game might be the exact thing you need to distract yourself for a time.

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3144448670

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This is a remake of the 2008 original game of the same name. This review will assume you've either played the original or are unbothered by minor mechanical and story spoilers.

- Improved visuals
- Issac now has a voice, the character did not speak at all in the first game. Dead Space 2 was when he got a voice.
- The limb system is improved, flesh will tear off the bone before more force is required to maim a necromorph.
- Upgrades are slightly different, arguably improved
- Some of the puzzles are different, for instance that horrible sequence where the ADS cannons are offline in the original is dramatically improved.

On the following specs I was able to run the game at the high preset at 1440p around 50-90FPS. However, I ended up enabling V-sync to lock it at 60 because the fluctuation became too much.
Ryzen 5 5600X
RTX3070
32GB DDR4 @ 3600Mhz

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3121661740

In addition to the visuals, the game does a much better job at conveying what is actually going on while still being vaguely mysterious. Of course this is difficult to achieve having played the other two games numerous times.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3121665732

The one improvement I wished was in the remake is the ability to alter what the locator is looking for. Such that you're able to find benches, stores or save stations easier.

There are other differences as well such as needing security clearance to open certain lockers or storage units. You won't miss them, it's part of the story. Previously, you would have needed to use a power node to open [optional] doors. A resource used otherwise to upgrade weapons or your suit. Kind of like using a shiv in the Last of Us to open doors.

This is a great remake, if it doesn't inspire Dead Space 2 and 3 to also get remade I hope at the very least in reignites interest in the franchise and Dead Space 4 gets made.

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There are many people that describe this series as “Survival Horror”. And they also say that Dead Space 3 specifically strays from this path becoming an “action” game. Well, I've got news for those people, Dead Space was always an action game — just set with a horror aesthetic and theme. What I believe people intend on conveying when they say “survival horror” is that there is resource scarcity that requires management that makes combat more difficult. Which is not untrue of Dead Space, but on the medium difficulty there's nearly no place where you won't have health packs or ammo. In my understanding, the term “survival” — at least in regards to genre tags — implies there is something akin to tending to needs like hunger, thirst, sleep, etc. But for whatever reason, the survival part of “survival horror” seems to only be used in the more traditional sense. The sense where you are trying to not die. Which can be applied to a considerably large number of games.

In any case, I consider the Dead Space series, or games like Resident Evil 4 and older to be action games set in a horror theme. The original 3 Resident Evil games, not the remakes, are what I truly think of when the term Survival Horror is used — 'tank' controls, inability to aim precisely and fixed cameras. But that's just my two cents.

Somehow I managed to stay away from this game all this time. I didn't even know the character's names. This was my very first playthrough. I think it's safe to assume the vast majority of those who will read this have already played the original or are at least vaguely aware of it.

So here's what you want to know:
It's a visual upgrade from the 2013 original, and it has the Left Behind DLC included. Performance wise, it ran great, or better than I saw being reported.

Tech:
On a mix of Ultra and High settings, it ran around 60-80FPS at 1440p on the following specifications:
Ryzen 5 5600X
RTX3070
32BG DDR4 2x16 3600MHz

There were occasional hiccups where the game would drop into the 50 FPS range and more often, the game would flash textures in and out of existence. None of them were game breaking, however.

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3098178355

I don't think this game is terribly unique. Not even in the time that it originally came out. If you combine Resident Evil 4, TellTale's the Walking Dead — both of which technically predate this game, 2005 and 2012 respectively. I think you can ostensibly predict what this game entails.

That said, it's still an extremely well told story and traditional triple A video game. Which is to say, it's pretty good — again, just not that unique.

More specifically, the game is played from an over-the-shoulder camera, primarily focusing on stealth and resource management. The game actually does a very good job at making switching weapons rather cumbersome until further into the game and you upgrade your pack. Which can be be done through finding weapon parts and using them at workbenches, finding manuals (not unlike Fallout, they'll increase explosive's radius or increase the number of uses of a shiv before it breaks, for example.) There's also the more human upgrades like healing or crafting speed which can be done by spending supplements. Found in either pill bottles or by harvesting the plants the supplements are derived from. Melee works very similarly to State of Decay 2, where it has a condition and wears down from use.

You're able to “listen” to your environment, either for zombies or humans. This information is conveyed visually as bright spots as the mode greys the world out.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3098185525

If you've already played this, I can't say I really see a reason to play this version specifically. I don't see much value in it unless improved visuals and some director commentary really get you going. However, if you're in the same boat as me and never played the game at all before (and don't want to buy a console) — this is a fine option.

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https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3098189617