Recent reviews by notNSANE

I don't usually do this, but these guys need a reality check. Stop with the greed.

This review is WIP and I'll update it at some point to be more cohesive and descriptive.

This is hands down one of the best cyberpunk games there is, managing to do cyberpunk best than probably 99% of games out there. The writing is raw, violent, to the point, and has a dose of sex and crudeness barely seen in a game. You cannot go wrong with this one if you want to see how compelling and overwhelming a cyberpunk/post-apocalyptic setting can be, because everything and anything will stack against you.

Just wanted to give some positive buzz about the game because it deserves it. I strongly recommend playing it for 30 minutes twice a day, which is the best way to experience it. If you can tolerate the monetization of the game, there's a really strong experience in here..

I really dislike doing a review for a technical aspect but in this case it's such a mess that it cannot be ignored.

First, the game allegedly has Full Controller support on the store page, right? But, the thing is that Bungie, for some reason, banned the Steam Controller from being used - specifically! Xbox 360 and DualShock work fine.
Again, they banned the Steam Controller for the big Steam release, which makes absolutely no sense.

Then, several months after, they claimed to have added Steam Controller support. Only that they didn't. It literally had zero support.

Now, some days ago they finally added proper support for the Steam Controller via SIAPI - so, now it's all right? Well, it isn't, because they still are disallowing Mixed Input, so you cannot mix Mouse input or XInput and SIAPI input, it has a full second timeout between them.

While the game is technically playable with a Steam Controller now, it's in such a sorry state that it's still better to just emulate M&K or just use another gamepad.

And to add insult to injury, Bungie, for some weird reason, again did something really inexplicable, favoring mouse users and hurting gamepad users: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/06/destiny-2s-guns-wont-recoil-on-pc-as-they-do-on-consoles/

So at this point and after downloading the game 3 times, wasting 240 GB of bandwith and hours of my time, I cannot recommend anyone to spend their time or money on Bungie game because they clearly have no idea what they're doing.

PS: I know you can use a M&K config but that's completely missing the point.

For years I played several online RPGs, trying to find a good home but none ever hit the mark of being even "passable". They all had several flaws (either bad UI/UX or lack of controller support) or had cooldown based combat which was a snorefest after a while because there's barely any challenge. Also the questing system was always the same - either fetch or kill X minions. It's like World of Warcraft put a curse on these kind of games, they're all children of WOW but basically worse in every single thing since most of them are free-to-play, so they had to heavily monetize it.

ESO, in a way, fixed all if not most flaws of all those games: combat is action based, almost no cooldowns, so it's always a challenge to play. What I feel is most important is that all content scales to your level, so you can basically do anything, anywhere. You can even run a stealth Orc or a Khajit tank and the game won't punish you. Content scaling also means that you can group with any friends anywhere and do any content, without level restrictions. Also, quests are generally very varied and they all have some interesting and diverse story attached to them. While writing isn't the strongest point of this game, it's good enough.

I sincerely feel that there's no other online RPG game that come even close to ESO. Every single mechanic is well designed and decently balanced (PVP is out of the discussion here). Also, the detail of the world, graphics, and lighting are all extremely good, specially the dungeons. Game also features partial Controller support which is very welcomed for this kind of game. Cosmetics are account wide, so once you buy something, you buy it for life. There's housing and it's pretty good.

The only caveat of the game I'd say, is the pricing, which (besides the base game) is quite high for mostly everything - I also recommend to never purchase loot boxes because they don't even have a pity timer. But you don't need any of that to get 70% of the game's content (which is basically 100% of the content of most other online RPGs) and events are pretty generous as well.

Edit: It seems that ZOS fired their previous monetization strategist (a good decision) and changed the whole princing issue. While pricing is still high and crates are terrible, there are as of now TWO ways to earn premium currency for free, which is a really fair move for everyone. First, they introduced Ouroboros crates which are basically free gems. And second, they allow to trade in-game Gold for Crowns, which effectively makes most if not all content in the game unlockable by playing it. It's great news, honestly.

Overall, if you wanted to play in an immersive world full of people and things to do, you can't go wrong with this game. Nothing comes close to it in terms of refinement / engagement. I strongly recommend it for casual playing too, since the game doesn't force you to play every day - it's fine to leave it for some months and then return.

Or you're making a japanese game. That said, TPAoE is a very conventional and unconventional game. From the technical and mechanical side, it's an adventure game. You strip the plot and aesthetics, and it's a normal game with very, very dated mechanics (basically could be dated as far as the first Sierra games).

But TPAoE shines in its weird storytelling and unconventional 4th wall approach. The basically tells the whole history of humanity in an hour (give or take an hour or two), in what I feel it's the best way to show it: just make humanity ridiculous, because it is. Corruption, public shaming, politics, dumbness and general things that plague humanity.

It builds up, and finishes with one of the best endings I've experienced in a long time, which makes a lot of sense considering the medium used to tell the story. Like, there's no other way to make this story work except on a videogame.

And that deserves a praise, even though the game mechanics are very, very dated. Play the demo, also, and use all the options. It just works.

If you want to experience something really different, play this one. It mostly involves using a "custom" OS and messenger, a bit similar to Emily is Away in that sense, but this time is a horror story and involves some real-life research to progress. I'm not into horror at all, but this one was mild enough to keep going at it.

While it's a bit rough around the edges, it's core gameplay design is really, really interesting - at least it's different. Reminded me of that very old game from the 90's that didn't succeed because it was too much ahead of its time, can't recall the name but involved calling a phone number to get clues and progress.

Sometimes I really wonder on how can things like this happen. DreamBreak is an astonishing game from the aesthetics perspective, featuring amazing pixel art that it's on the top of its game.

But the gameplay execution is done so incredibly poorly...

First, the whole game movement is copied from Flashback/Another World; and since this game was made in Unity, getting the collision system to work with a pixel art is a challenge on itself, causing that the character eventually will get stuck in the scenary.
And then, the whole game's structure revolves around a mish-mash of mini games that have very little correllation to the game's plot (which is decently done, a bit cliche but works). It's more an homage to old arcade games, and it doesn't really fit to the whole theme of the game.

I wish I could see a completely redone game with this pixel art, featuring more relevant gameplay. Loved the art. Wish I could say the same about the rest of the game.

It makes a very interesting case, though, to understand why the game's gameplay execution has been so disconnected from the rest of the creation.

Pains me to say so for a title that obviously has much care on it, but it's a game that has only one mechanic, with zero plot or story at all. It could have been so much better if there was more diverse gameplay or something that lets me carry the experience forward and evolve in some way, but the game is punishing without any meaning. And even if the game would have better and diverse gameplay, the lack of any sort of story makes the main character and setting unrelatable and insignificant.

This game reminded me of some short films, those cult hits that go mostly unnoticed but have a strong following. A Date in the Park is a beautiful game, that uses real life photography combined with pixel filters to achieve the 90's adventures aesthetic look. Uses a classic inventory system and UX, not unlike mid-early Sierra games, which were a bit rough but usable.
The story is super corny, but it's worthwhile to play just for the experience, again, it feels just like watching one of those short films that leave you with a great impression.

A couple negatives, while the photographic look is well done, the spriting and rendering isn't pixel perfect and you can notice them, which are a bit off-putting.

But overall, it's a really nice experience that you can play in less than 30 minutes, and will leave you with a smile.

Or a permanent pathological fear of parks at daytime and ducks.

Dropsy is really one of the best games of the genre. Feels both warm and cold at the same time, it's like it tries to balance out the overwhelming darkness of the plot and people, with a lovable main character that uses hugs as his main weapon - which is a very nice fu-k you to current trends, and for that I applaud.

During play, I saw indirect commentaries of many, many things that are wrong about today: media manipulation, violence, hive-minded people with wrong facts, seemingly nice corporations, slave-like working conditions; also there's a town full of people that don't want to help you in any way unless you give them something in exchange first, not unlike what's happening today everywhere.

Then again, you have a fat, ugly clown (how can he be more alienating!) that wants to hug you because it's his primal need: just being nice, regardless of everything else. Dropsy, in its own way, feels insanely more human than any of us, which we are already lost in hate and overall discomfort of society.

On the negative side, I feel a bit disappointed with the gameplay itself: I thought Dropsy was going to experiment with some kind of new modes on how to develop the story, but the branching is quite linear and standard. Yet, Dropsy innovates with its surrealistic storytelling and non-verbal communication (though already done by Botanicula and probably others before).

And I have to mention the superb OST made by Chris Schlarb. I've even put "In The Court of the Junkyard King" on repeat for a whole day while I was doing other stuff.

This game is really what's good about games today: the way you can say a thousand things in a way no other medium can do. It's a must play, and I recommend it to anyone who cares just a little bit about games overall.