Ostatnie recenzje napisane przez użytkownika Katosepe

Layers of Fear is a game that could have done with more editing. I mean this in the best possible way, too. There is a cool idea and a dark, engrossing story in here but it's buried under way too much repetition. For every cool note or image that fills in pieces of the story, there are at least four rooms and hallways that you've already been through now with crap in new locations and possibly a cheap jump scare.

About halfway through the game, I stopped appreciating the wonderful atmosphere because it all felt so same-y. There were a few puzzles but not enough to prove a meaningful distraction and they rarely provided any real reward beyond allowing you to continue down the series of endless hallways.

As for the story, I love how they tie your ending to the collectables you've obtained and the actions you've chosen along the way but after seeing the requirements for the different endings, they are far too arbitrary and restrictive. To truly advertise that a person's actions decide their fate, you have to provide meaningful choices and actions to the player the first time through. There also have to be enough endings where the player can feel like their choices made a difference. The way the game stands now, it's nearly impossible for a player to accurately guess the correct actions to receive anything other than the neutral ending. Even on subsequent playthroughs, I have a hard time seeing most players get a different ending without looking up a guide.

Despite it's drawbacks, the game does accomplish a lot of great things. The atmosphere is wonderful in the beginning and while it wasn't as scary as something like Amnesia, it still managed to maintain a creep factor for a surprising amount of time. Also, the hints and clues pointing towards the larger story are well written and provide that perfect balance between cryptic and expository. There's just enough there to allow your mind to fill in the blanks. Still, this isn't enough for me to recommend it to most players.

As a huge fan of Danganronpa, this game came as a massive disappointment. Most of the game is fine, although the cases seemed less polished than the ones from 1 or 2, often having small holes or gaps in logic but they were interesting and the characters were great. While it may not be quite as fantastic or original as the first two, these cases won't disappoint if you enjoyed those.

My problem with Danganronpa V3 lies with the ending. I'll try not to get too spoilery but basically, if you were a fan of the series (which I'm assuming you are if you're considering getting the third game) the ending just spits in your face. You may think I'm exaggerating here but I'm not, it actively insults you for being a fan and undercuts everything the rest of the series tried to say. Not only that but it negates any criticism by adding further insult to anyone who doesn't like the ending.

I've played a lot of games that criticised the genre tropes or even the nature of the game. Things like Spec Ops: The Line or NieR: Automata and I don't have a problem with that. This goes way past insulting the game and just starts insulting you for even buying the game and liking it. I've been a gamer for 24 years and have never been more disappointed in a game's ending than Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. Honestly, if you are a fan of the series, I'd recommend checking out the anime Danganronpa 3: The End of Hopes Peak and take that as the conclusion. Not only will this not leave you satisfied but it will likely taint your memories of the other games. Play at your own risk.

Space Pilgrim Episode 1 feels like a first effort after discovering a love for RPG Maker. It's not a terrible thing but the writing and puzzles feel uninspired and the characters are flat as can be. Perhaps the other three episodes are better but I don't feel any real desire to find out.

Rituals is a game that's hard to recommend. While I applaud the developer for creating their own first-person adventure engine to support this game, I'm not sure it came together particularly well. Looking around feels janky and movement via clicking on arrows often becomes tedious. I understand that it's a throwback to games like Myst but it holds the game back. If Rituals was free-roaming using the Unity engine, or some other such engine, it would have felt significantly better and based on the level design, I'm not sure why that wasn't done.

While there are some basic puzzles in this game, the main draw would be for the storyline and thematic art but it's lack of depth makes it hard to recommend on that level as well. It becomes clear very early into the game what idea the developer is trying to express and the game leaves little room for further interpretation or deeper thought.

I'd be interesting in seeing this developer's future work and seeing what new ideas they can bring to the table but Rituals, on its own merits, can be passed up.

TIMEframe is an interesting look at what a culture would be like when faced with the constant fear of annihilation and it does this remarkably well. The game functions almost identically to Shadow of the Colossus in that you start in a central location and must travel to the points of interest scattered around the map. At each point, you get to read a small snippet of information about the culture that existed in this valley. After a period of time of you exploring, a meteor will strike and the game will reset, sending you back to the central tower but with your progress saved.

While the walking can be tedious, I found the writings at each point of interest more than worth the journey and the wonderful music kept me company along the way. It also gave me time to reflect on the society and the story the game was telling.

Not much more can be said for this game. Many people will find the game isn't worth $8 for around 45 minutes of gameplay but that's a choice each person will need to make for themselves. If the game is on sale and you're willing to give the game some real concentration and thought, I'd say it's worth it.

(Review originally posted on https://lastbossgaming.wordpress.com. This review has been edited to remove images and references to images found in the original)

Shantae is one of those fringe franchises that has been around for 15 years now but hardly anyone has actually played. The original released for the Game Boy Color back in 2002, well after the Game Boy Advance had already released and frankly, the game would have benefited from the increased resolution of the newer console. Turns out, playing metroidvania-style games with large sprites and very little screen space isn't that fun. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Metroid 2!

Still, despite the low sales, the game was well-received and a sequel was eventually greenlit for the DS to be made available for download on the new DSiWare service. This game was Shantae: Risky's Revenge. Another 4 years passed and we eventually got to play the Director's Cut version on Steam.

So, that's the backstory but what actually is it? Honestly, there is very little apart from the art style to set Shantae: Risky's Revenge apart from any of the numerous other metroidvanias out now. While most of those games are dark and mysterious, often taking place in caves or at night, Shantae is very bright and colorful, taking place on a tropical island. The music is also cheery throughout most of the game and it does a lot to break up the monotony of grimdark games, for sure.

Unfortunately, not only does the gameplay not stand apart, it actually doesn't even copy the formula very well. Shantae: RR's world is just small. When you first get the world map only a few minutes into the game, you may actually have the same reaction I did and think, "this must just be one section of the game". It's not.

Due to the small game world, the game could have gone with really tough, challenging gameplay OR tedious backtracking and aimless wandering. Guess which way they went? I have seen some people talk about how Shantae is known for its challenging gameplay but they must not be talking about Risky's Revenge. The only times I ever died were because I wasn't paying attention or I was so bored going through the same area for the 20th time that I charged through the enemies hoping I could just get past that screen.

While the game does require you to go back to the same areas several times and has an abysmal warp system to support you, the main cause for all of the backtracking is that the game never tells you where you need to go to do anything at all. One character may say, "next up, go find the Ammo Baron!" and that's all the instruction you will get. Go Google this game's world map. Do you see Ammo Baron listed there? Look really hard, maybe you missed it. No, still nothing? THAT'S BECAUSE IT ISN'T THERE!

At least those sections though, you know what you're looking for. There are several late game items that you need to get that the game never even tells you to find. You will just stumble upon some obstacles you can't get past and need to scour the entire world looking for the hidden artifacts you missed without even knowing what they are. It's not a challenging game and rarely will you even need to heal up but this type of tedium extends the game by hours.

The dungeons are even worse. Each dungeon in the game thrusts you into a confusing labyrinth that never provides you with a map or a quick exit back to the outside. One dungeon makes you flip switches to change where the nearby door will take you so if you get lost in that dungeon, good luck finding your way back outside! Fortunately, there are only two real dungeons in the whole game.

The one break from the tedious backtracking and small world are the bosses. Each boss you have to face provides a unique challenge and usually involves some puzzle mechanics that you'll have to figure out in order to succeed. The bosses take a TON of damage so don't expect to just muscle your way through. While this can be repetitive once you've gotten the boss strategy down, I appreciate that it at least forces you to find a pattern and truly master the boss.

Too bad there are only 4 unique bosses in the entire game. One boss you get to fight twice and they are also the easiest of the four. Even though none of the bosses posed a particularly great threat, they broke up the monotony and more would have been greatly appreciated.

Shantae has the bones of a good metroidvania. The setting and characters are interesting plus the plot is charming, if not particularly engrossing for anyone over the age of 10. The combat feels alright and the movement is likewise, not the best but not the worst either. Unfortunately, massive amounts of tedious backtracking and poor warp zones make even this 5-6 hour adventure feel like it has overstayed its welcome. If you really must play every Shantae game out there, you can find this on Steam for 10 bucks but if you just need a metroidvania fix, there are plenty of better games out there for the same price.

Check out myself and TB playing through this game on our YouTube channel. Last Boss Gaming:
https://youtu.be/TpWKFpWE5dg?list=PL7UoB5kOlDbsMVBbDmuWzKVMrQEgjDsO1

Overcooked is a game intended for local co-op. If you don't have a buddy or three to sit down with and play through a game, I'd pass by Overcooked. If you do, though, this game is one of the best you can get. Each level places you in a kitchen with its own bizarre layout and rules. They are easy to understand but tough to master. You and your buddies will have to figure out the best way to cook up the requested meals, serve them, and wash the dishes to get the highest score possible on each level.

The gameplay gets chaotic very quickly but levels are bite-sized, usually only lasting 3 minutes, so it never feels TOO stressful. While you are unlikely to ever fail levels completely (you have to basically never complete anything to fail), the game uses a three star system to encourage repeat playthroughs. To unlock new levels, you have to have enough stars on the previous levels. If your goal is just to blaze through the game as fast as possible, this may get annoying at times, particularly near the end when you need quite a few stars to progress, but mastering levels never took too long for us and was always a blast.

The whole thing is wrapped up in an amazingly crazy story about an onion king training you to save the world from a giant meatball monster who wants to eat everything, and that's just the first few minutes of the game! Overall, if you have some friends who you can get together to play this, I highly recommend it. If not or if short, stressful bursts of gameplay aren't your thing, maybe join TB and I in our channel for our playthrough!

Minds Eyes felt more like an experience than a game since I never really felt like I had any agency over what was going on. The gameplay basically consisted of walking back and forth in this house until something changed. Go to whatever changed and then rinse and repeat. There are some shake-ups to this formula but never to the point where I really felt like anything I did mattered and those shake-ups felt contrived compared to the rest of the game (if you feel you have to use pop-up instructions in a segment, don't use that segment.) So, as a game, I think Minds Eyes fails.

That being said, I thought the atmosphere was pretty great. I was creeped out moving around and actually jumped back at a few of the jump scares. This even got me past my frustrations over waiting for something to happen. The rainfall worked well to make me feel like the white noise could be covering footsteps or something else ominous. Also, that damn painting at the end of the hallway! Those eyes are going to haunt my dreams for weeks, no doubt.

So, to the dev, I'd say this, work on sprucing up the gameplay a bit. Prevent the player from feeling like they don't know what they should be doing (that feeling kills a horror vibe pretty fast.) but keep up the great atmosphere. Little details are nice. I enjoyed the paintings and stuff. Maybe having some more things on the counters and walls would give more to play with and more for the player to investigate. I'm guessing you've seen it before but in case you have not, check out Serena (free here on Steam). Not a perfect game but they nail those small details and the sense of progression from the player. It may help give some inspiration for your ultimate horror experience :).

*SPOILER-FREE ZONE*

Many people are saying that INSIDE is a better version of LIMBO. I even saw someone throw around the term "Super LIMBO". While INSIDE does improve on LIMBO's mechanics in almost every way, I doubt that it would be different enough to change anyone's mind who didn't already enjoy LIMBO.

You start off the same way as PlayDead's previous game, you are a young boy in a forest and from there, keep moving right. Story is told in an entirely visual way, without any spoken dialogue throughout the entire game. Just like that game, the story is intentionally ambiguous and is left up to the player's interpretation of the things you have seen. Many people really enjoy this style but many do not. If you do enjoy this, they tell the story masterfully but it won't change your mind if you don't like not having a clear plotline.

Just like LIMBO, as you make your way constantly right, you will encounter environmental puzzles. These are well designed puzzles that utilize the environment in mostly realistic ways (within the context of the story, of course) that rarely feel contrived. The controls are left incredibly simple with only three actions available to the player: move, jump, grab. By keeping things very simple, INSIDE manages to design puzzles that never require any sort of instruction to solve. Player experimentation is required but rarely, if ever, will feel tedious due to the limited action set available. I'm very familiar with video games but am, by no means, a puzzle master. That being said, I never felt stuck on any puzzle for longer than a few minutes. Results may vary but I imagine most players will have similar experiences as well.

There are exceptions to the well-crafted design. A few "puzzles" in the game involve spotlights that move across the ground and require the player to utilize the environment to hide from the spotlights. One major problem with this system is that the cover won't cast any shadows so it is up to the player to try and determine where exactly they need to stand to stay hidden. Since the spotlights move, it can be unclear if you need to stay hidden at an angle to the spotlight or if you should stay directly under their cover. Also, the camera can present the action at an angle so it can be difficult to tell if your character is directly under the cover or slightly outside and in the danger zone. Even in a best-case scenario, these sections feel like mindless filler but they quickly become tedious, as well, due to the guesswork involved in where you actually need to stand to stay hidden. To be fair, checkpoints are quite generous so it never moves you far back if you fail but it still feels frustrating, especially compared to the brisk pace of the rest of the game.

Ultimately, if you enjoyed LIMBO, this is a worthy successor to that title, expanding on the mechanics to improve the overall experience. If you didn't, though, don't bother wasting your 3-5 hours with INSIDE.

Narrative, decision making games are nothing new. Whole companies have been built around the style including Telltale Games, Quantic Dream and many others who have dabbled. As a big fan of these types of games, I feel it means something when I say this is the best one so far by a longshot.

If you heard Dontnod announce this prior to release, you'd have been justified in being skeptical. Their first release, Remember Me, was less than stellar particularly in the writing department. So them doubling down and making a heavily narrative focused game seemed like an odd choice but it paid off. Life is Strange is about a high school girl named Max in Oregon who suddenly discovers she has the ability to rewind time but gets a vision about her town being destroyed by a massive storm at the end of the week. This foreboding image stays in hers and the players mind as she discovers and develops her power during the week while life continues around her.

While time travel powers and world-ending storms seem like they should be the focus, Dontnod smartly made these threads take a backseat to strong character development and grounded stories that help you feel like a part of the fictional town of Arcadia Bay. The world is potentially ending but most of your time is spent helping find a missing girl in town. While it can feel a bit surreal at times, I was never frustrated with the path the story took. The best thing I can say about this game is that it didn't take me long to truly care about almost every character in the game. Not only did I want things to go well for main character Max and her best friend Chloe but I cared about Chloe's family and the other students/faculty at her school of Blackwell Academy. When they were in pain, I felt for them and wanted to use my power to help them.

Life is Strange may take place in high school but don't think that this means you are stuck with juvenile themes and high school drama, this game deals with some very mature stuff, certainly more than any other game I've played. I'm not talking mature in the sense of nudity and violence, but mature in the sense of forcing you to answer tough questions about real issues in the world today. While the first episode starts pretty rocky with cheesy dialogue, things quickly start getting serious and some people will have a very tough time with issues that arise in this game. If you struggle with depression, you may want to think twice before playing.

The narrative is obviously the focus but this doesn't mean the gameplay suffers either. It's far from a difficult game but the game also forces you to use your rewind abilities to solve puzzles in some interesting ways. This isn't a large part of the game and will probably only take you a little while but they are memorable and fun, minus one notable section in episode two that has you hunting for bottles in a junkyard. Oh and I almost forgot to mention, there are absolutely no quick time events at any point during this game nor do any dialogue choices come with a timer.

Many episodic games struggle with using the style in an effective way. As I played Life is Strange all over a couple of sittings, I can't say for sure but I can understand how people had a hard time waiting months for new episodes. There are a ton of names and decisions to remember so I recommend playing this over the course of a weekend or two, rather than waiting a significant amount of time between play sessions. If you don't have that much time to devote to it, there is a rather in depth journal available that will help refresh your memory about every decision made and character bios but it's best to not feel rushed.

One of the toughest parts of this style of game, though, is making you feel like your decisions have weight without feeling like they're funneling you down paths you don't actually want to take with results that feel unnatural or overblown. Life is Strange manages, for the most part, to keep decisions feeling organic without making every single tiny action you make into a life or death situation. No key decision ever made me frustrated that it didn't give me a third option. It always felt like the natural progression and those decisions offered really were the only ones I could go with. Also, decisions feel like they reach a natural conclusion. One memorable moment for me was when I solved a puzzle by ruining some train tracks. I was afraid that this was going to cause some massive devastation later but it didn't. Instead, during a large, unrelated event, there was a trapped person that I needed to save who mentions they wouldn't have been there had it not been for the train being out of order. It was a small moment that made me realize my previous actions put them there. It didn't end the world or put me in an impossible situation that may have felt unwarranted, it simply created an event that I had to deal with later.

Several options happen like this. Maybe you help a student early and then they help you get through a puzzle later. Maybe you don't help them. It doesn't mean that you are suddenly screwed over by this past action, you just have to work a little harder to push through. It's a nice system that feels natural and doesn't paralyze you with fear over every single action you make like some other episodic games. Instead, you can make decisions by your gut, not dreading the consequences to come.

Overall, Life is Strange is easily the best narrative-focused game of the year. It may not be as funny as Tales of the Borderlands (a great game in its own right) but with a strong story, great decision-making and wonderful characters compounded on interesting gameplay and ZERO quick-time events, Life is Strange emerges the clear winner and a game that everyone should try.