Recent reviews by butterbean

I am a big Monster Hunter World fan - I've got about 50hrs on PC, and probably 200hrs on PS4, thereabouts. It was just the right amount of challenge and charm, but could get a bit tedious setting everything up because everything was so far away. Well, MHWilds heard that, and they went a bit too far stripping out everything from the big hub so it's now a tiny village.

I'm probably going to keep playing, but this game is missing a lot. No Monster Hunter language, no palico canteen, (most disappointing because I'm sure I saw a clip somewhere with new palico canteen animations), and most egregiously, WAY too much story. The cutscenes are like pulling teeth, especially now that I'm locked into playing it in English.

The quest structure has changed, so instead of going on an expedition to find clues about a monster so you know what you're going up against, you get dropped into a fight in substandard armour. I have skipped basically every cutscene (because they are just straight up boring, and I'm playing this for the monster hunting, not the story) and it will start with something innocuous happening, only to end and I'm in a fight with no preparation. Lots of walking around at a snails pace in forced story exposition, and apparently you are supposed to be enjoying the story rather than the story just being there as a loose narrative to feed you the monsters. They tried to give all the characters proper personalities, and at least your handler isn't constantly in danger this game - but Alma *is* constantly in the way.

And then there's the optimisation and performance, which I don't think I need to tell anyone about. Even on a high-spec PC, this does not run very well - frequent stuttering, exploding polygons, you name it.

I was really looking forward to playing this game, but I think I let the hype get the best of me. If I'd known any of this before buying it, I probably wouldn't have bought it. It's a beautiful game, but it's missing a lot. Honestly, if I don't go back to World, I will probably just play a souls-like instead.

The one huge bonus this game has over the previous is that the armour is unisex, so I can show off my male hunter's great legs. True equality. (But sadly, not enough to keep me playing.)

"Spat in my face and tried to carve me a new nipple" is going to be echoing in my head forever.

Huge amount of polish for an early access game. Expected amount of bugs, mostly not game breaking. There are some features to be added later, ones that are advertised and ones that I hope for - but I love it so far, and I'm excited to see what there is in store for it going forward.

I would love to see more of this book series translated into game form. I grew up with the Redwall books, and the aesthetic of the books carries really well into the stylised graphics of the game. There's certainly some gameplay aspects I would like to see refined, and hopefully in the future there will be another chapter of this series. Looking into it, the company is more focused on the softer, U-rated aspects of Redwall, so darker themes are unlikely to be explored - which is a real shame, as that's what I remember most dearly.

It's only a short wee game - less than 10 hours to get through the whole story if you skip some optional quests and don't try to 100% it - but there's clearly a lot of love put into it. As much as I feel it drags on in parts, and it ends a little abruptly... if you like the Redwall series, this may make you remember that fondly.

6/10. Be aware that it's short (and at times a little janky), but it's hard not to like this sweet game. It would have been nicer to see more developed animations, varied puzzles, and the darker side of Redwall - but it's by no means a bad game.

Possibly the greatest RPG ever released. Takes a *long* time to complete, especially if you are a bit of a completionist - but worth every minute, and every penny.

Eldritch Horrors: On Ice.

I loved the main game, and this is more of the same. It feels like there could have been room for more story/lore hidden away, but I had fun with it anyway.

Beat up big stompy monsters. Farm the loot to make better equipment to fight bigger, stompier monsters. Spend 20 minutes in menus between quests.

10/10 I love it.

Beautiful game. I love a fishing minigame, and I love horror - while I was a little sceptical about how the two would combine, it works really well. I found myself getting pretty tense at times, and holding my breath as my damaged boat was limping back to safety.

Excellent atmosphere, great art direction. A couple of frustrating parts, but that's mostly down to RNG and my being a little impatient. Overall, a solid 9/10 game.

I love cats, robots, and cyberpunk, so naturally I also love this game. I've been quietly excited for it since it was announced at E3, and I'm not in the least bit disappointed. The world, character designs, animation, and music are all beautiful.

Meow/10

Brings me back to the many, many hours I spent playing Zoo Tycoon as a kid. I'm basically living 9-year-old me's dream. Still very appealing if you don't have the nostalgia factor and you're just looking for a sim game. The animals are all well animated, and it's nice to watch them go about their business in the habitats you build, and there's lots of layers of micromanagement to keep on top of besides that.

One of the most engaging, emotionally-charged and immersive games I ever ever played, hands down. It's visually eye-catching, simplistic enough that it never drops into the uncanny valley but realistic enough that nothing ever feels too cartoony. Each character is recognisable from a distance, and nobody shares too many visual characteristics (unless they're related), which is important when there are so many characters passing through. I have, in the past, played games where I was really struggling to remember names and faces, but with the ability to tell everyone apart so easily I didn't lose track of anyone.

If I was to talk about only one part of the game, however, it would be the writing. I really found myself caring for Clementine, and by the final chapter I was just as invested as Lee was in her survival. That's not to say I didn't care about anyone else, however - I wanted to see as many people survive as I could, sometimes even the characters that I didn't like too much, which is all too important in a game like this. The Walking Dead was absolutely carried by its writers (and, by extension, the voice actors who brought their script to life) and wouldn't have been nearly as incredible or emotional without them. 10/10.