Recent reviews by VirusSixZero

Recommended whether you enjoy Phasmophobia, or not. Forewarned has an intriguing XP/levelling system. You get gold to buy better equipment, and XP unlocks new equipment to buy. Gold is picked up in the tombs, whereas XP is granted for performing tasks in the tombs, such as photographing archeological evidence. Without spoiling anything, the systems feed into each other. Some equipment is required to solve the mysteries of the tombs, so sometimes exiting the level with the gold you have in-hand is more worth it than trying to push for the Mejai relic and risk losing it all!

The game also plays well with groups, and has some options to keep things suited to tastes. You can be more competitive, or co-operative as the host likes. With limited inventory space, it's easy to see how a team working together can help each other with both lighting, and evidence collection.

Overall, Forewarned rewards your time spent, and supports a couple of different playstyles. I'm interested to see how the development process will improve this product.

This is a great little horror game. The sound design is quite good, and the developer knows how to build atmosphere. The game wants to tell the player a story, and create tension. Overall, this game is great value for money. It's just long enough to draw you into the story, and not overstay its welcome.

HellSign is a cross between Diablo, and Phasmophobia. It offers a compelling gameplay loop once to grasp its mechanics, and features some unique horror elements. Your character scales like an RPG character with equipment that gives bonuses, and character classes that funnel you towards a playstyle. The tutorial is a little vague, and doesn't quite explain how to deduce what is haunting the area you're in.

The game is meant to involve a lot of trial and error, and yes, there are some truly unfair deaths you will walk into. It's up to the player to figure out what nets them money (even if you die in-mission), and what maintenance like ammo reserves they need to invest in before doing another run. Enemies have weaknesses that you can discover, but more often than not, you're going to want to consult an expert source and they'll give you the cryptozoology journal entry on it.

Overall I recommend HellSign for its interesting take on horror (there are some clever surprises), and its grindy RPG mechanics that are simple, yet rewarding. Just be warned the initial learning curve is a bit steep.

This game seems to have an identity crisis. It bills itself as a co-operative horror game, but it is possible to play solo. In practice, the pieces come together and don't really serve either scenario adequately at this time.

- All the puzzles are solo in nature. There are no teamwork puzzles like pressure plates to help teammates get somewhere, or switches that need to be pulled simultaneously, etc. This makes the game viable as a solo player, but makes the co-operative part of the game weak. You don't need your teammates, they're just elsewhere collecting keys. This means you end up exploring less of the maze yourself (a trade-off, but worth noting).

- Several scripted horror moments are one-time-only. This means a solo player experiences them all (some are quite good), while a multiplayer game means the first person into the room gets the benefit, and any follow-on players miss the experience.

- Enemies deserve both praise and scorn in this game. Every level has a unique threat or two. This is a great idea, to keep mazes from getting monotonous. The enemies have different triggers to make them aggressive, such as noise, line of sight, or if you are looking at them. This also makes for some interesting shifts in player behaviour to deal with threats. However...
As a solo experience, the enemies become quite a nuisance. They wander the maze seemingly randomly, so some unfortunate delays and deaths can occur if they get you right before you can grab a key or fetch quest item. This is acceptable to a point because usually a player error caused the death, but it starts to rip you out of the immersive horror and anxious atmosphere. Later in the game, several frustrating gameplay loops are likely because if you are playing solo, there are no teammates to distract enemies. You end up in trial-and-error sequences trying to find items to progress, and getting killed/reset repeatedly. This is especially true in a later sequence when the puzzles are visual and require memorization. You're trying to puzzle through something, only to get killed repeatedly from behind. This is not due to player error, it is not tension building, it is poor design.

The devs of this game need to make some quality of life decisions on how to serve the audience(s) they're aiming for. As it stands, there are a few half-measures aimed at making the game versatile, but ultimately detract from the experience overall. It is not enough to paste multiplayer over a single player experience, nor is it adequate to have enemies that frustrate solo players mercilessly because they don't have teammates to draw them away from a puzzle that requires concentration or multi-stage input.

I really wanted to like this game. I'll update my review if I see some steps to refine it. As it stands, the promising and adept elements do not come together well. I have no desire to revisit the late-game exercises in frustration and repetitive game loops.

A masterclass in survival games. Subnautica has some breadcrumbs of story to guide your experience, but there are game modes for those who just want to build bases, or have permadeath. The game has some natural barriers to the player, that are naturally unlocked by exploring and getting better gear. The best part is, these barriers are not necessarily hard enforced, they're just impractical without the right gear. That is to say, if you can't get deep enough with your small air tank, the game doesn't prevent you from say, installing an air pump on the surface and making a ridiculously long pipe down to where you want to go.

The environments are lush, and the game does a great job of giving you enough crafting blueprints at the start. You will not spend your first hour dying because half the environment is poisonous, or you can't find ingredients for a basic necessity. Subnautica does not hold your hand too much either. There are far more blueprints and advanced gear to craft, but there is no trial-and-error frustration wasting your time with lost resources over dead-end recipes.

This is a good game, with a lot of content, and freedom to explore. There's an actual narrative to follow for those folks who need a reason to be doing all your crafting and surviving. Every system is developed to an average to above-average level. The game is definitely better as a co-op experience, as the sheer amount of farming resources and gear would be onerous as a solo gamer. I would not recommend solo play at all.

The story is good, not great. It definitely struggles with scale towards the final chapter, and the writing for the ending is a massive letdown. Without spoiling anything, the multiple endings are either trite, or incoherent with what you know about the protagonist (you). Endnight get points for having a story in a survival/crafting game, but they definitely drop the ball in how to close it out in a rewarding way for players who stuck it out and explored their world.

Overall, this game justifies its price though the volume of content, and options to the player(s). It is more than the sum of its parts. My interest was piqued with the story hooks, but the final chapter is nonsense and detracts from the overall value of the story.

This is a fantastic co-operative game that plays like part mystery, part puzzle, and part horror game.

The early levels can be a bit rough as you learn the ghost behaviour. If you die in a mission, you lose any equipment you brought to the truck outside of the freebie basic gear you will quickly outgrow. Getting set back that way is far less likely in a group of 4, or when you've learned the game mechanics better.

Overall Phasmophobia is an immersive experience that repeatedly feels engaging and rewarding. I highly recommend playing with headphones, and using the in-game audio for voice and sound. The game imposes limits like proximity voice, or radio jamming when ghosts are actively hunting players. These greatly add to the experience, and should not be missed.

I'd like to see some more quality of life upgrades to this game, but there's time because it's Early Access. Once you unlock Professional difficulty investigations, you've unlocked everything. Adding some later unlocks for advanced players would be nice. I'd also like to see players able to tailor their experience more, searching for specific maps, or being able to choose all their missions to be a set difficulty. In its current state, the game is excellent, but I can see interest waning if improvements or features aimed at longevity are not implemented.

This is a great game that rewards exploration and seeking alternate routes. You can play any style you want, or a combination of them all. The game is slanted towards, and more heavily rewards the slower, stealthy approach however. Getting the pacifist achievement at the end, and/or the no alerts achievement are quite challenging at some points. All in all, Deus Ex Human Revolution rewards you for the time you invest in it.

Aside from a UI that takes a bit of getting used to, this is a fantastic product. This isn't a game, so much as it is a platform. With TTS installed, you can then tap into the smorgasbord of Steam Workshop items that recreate the experience of other board games. The real strength of TTS opens up when you can get a game with a lengthy setup, and it's simplified to a few mouse clicks with a scripted TTS mod.

I highly recommend this product to board gamers, especially if you find yourself separated from a regular circle you used to play with. Take the time to do the tutorial, maybe even watch a video of some of the advanced features. 85% of the things you'd like to do are possible - the controls are just a little oddball because they are so contextual.

Of all the LucasArts SCUMM engine games, this is the pinacle of their efforts. This game offered players 3 different ways to beat the game, based on your preference for play, harder puzzles, teamwork (dialogue and NPC control), or punching people out. While the story arc remained largely the same, the three routes did offer some variety and an excuse to replay this great story.

LucasArts games have been seeing remasters lately. This gem will hopefully get a new coat of polish, along with the slightly more obtuse but no less nostalgic-inducing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade puzzle game.