Останні рецензії користувача Kingslayer

Observer is a game that I liked, but not as much as I hoped.

It is at it's core, a horror walking sim, with some stealth and detective elements. The latter two elements are fairly undercooked. The detective gameplay didn't hit it for me, you scan various things and bounce from crime scene to crime scene, but it never felt like I was putting things together until the end of the game and that was when the main villain basically explains everything. I've played games with fairly easy “scanning” detective gameplay like Witcher 3 or Cyberpunk 2077, but these felt like the clues on scanning was giving hints and giving you a sense of putting things together, I think because the dialogue in these games was much better written than Observer.

The story itself was interesting, the ending was a little weak but not terrible. The game certainly left me wanting more of this dystopian world, there are hints of this nightmare megacorp invading people's lives, and a world falling apart, but we only get glimpses through people's jumbled abstract memories, almost all the rest of the game is set in one apartment block. It's an extremely atmospheric apartment block, with a tremendous sense of place, to be said. I loved how claustrophobic and small the apartments were, too many games make them too big and don't show how space would be a premium in a world such as this.

The game has an interesting premise that the character is a sort of Corporate enforcer, but then we see very little of this because he's on a personal quest to rescue his son, though that in itself is presented well.

The voice acting is decent. Rutger Hauer gives an ok performance, though his character is meant to be in his 40s I believe which is a weird disconnect. It could have been a little better, but it's not terrible and I'm willing to forgive him when it's quite a send off, and I understand he was quite ill when he recorded the dialogue.

The horror felt a little obvious with the scare chords and loud noises at points but I did like some of the twists related to the “monsters.”

The game overall looks great, and as mentioned has a fantastic atmosphere. Weirdly the game still felt a little low budget to me, most of the characters are interacted with through images in intercoms, or in abstract memory/dream states. Most real world characters are dead or dying when you meet them, other than a couple, which I felt was a shame.

Overall I did enjoy my time with this game, but it's more of a mood piece than a satisfying gameplay experience or story that sticks with you. This being my first Bloober team game though, I am willing to give more of their games a try.

Fun, short, little point and click adventure game. The art style is simple but has a nice style to it. Puzzles mostly make sense, though there are a couple that are a bit obtuse, and one where I had to use a guide.

Voice acting is pretty good, I wish the player character's internal thoughts had been voiced though.

The story is pretty good, tying into this I enjoyed the mechanic of switching back and forth between time periods. The whole time travel story is pretty interesting, though there are a couple of unanswered questions/ possible plot holes that are common with time travel story. I enjoyed the bittersweet ending however, and it wrapped things up mostly quite well. Overall not bad for a game I got for about 60p during a steam sale.

An extremely charming game that left me wanting more.

The game is not without it's flaws, primarily centred around it clearly being low budget, with the core developer being only 3 people. There is no voice acting in the game, there are limited animations for characters, and tied to this, the combat system is quite weak and simplistic.

I would not describe any of these as fatal issues, however. The game is incredibly well written, and though I felt the start was quite slow, within a couple of hours I was fully invested. The way the dialogue is presented is punchy and well done, it never gives you walls of text to read, but neither does the dialogue feel simplistic or dumbed down.

The combat is not the core part of the game, and features more as a system to force resource management, or possible solutions to choices/ the story in game.

The game itself is gorgeous looking and very detailed. The book worlds are isometric, but are detailed and very pretty. There is a fantastic variety of environments as you visit 7 different book worlds. The 3d real world is small, being one very small apartment building, but again is well detailed, and has a a real sense of claustrophobic atmosphere, conveying the trapped feeling the main character is suffering.

The core part of the game is point and click adventures and choices as part of the story.

The story is excellent. The full nature of the book worlds, and the real world, are only hinted at, but enough information is drip fed to make each feel fascinating, with a larger world just behind the curtain. I would love to explore more stories developing each world.

The actual story is focused on the main two characters and their journey, which I found compelling and interesting. Despite much of the detail about all these worlds remaining hidden the main story delivered a satisfying ending, even though I was left wanting to explore all these worlds in more detail.

I'm keen to see what the developers can do next, because this has certainly left me as a fan.

Another game where I wish there was a mixed rating. There are a number of commendable things to mention about Styx, but it also has a lot of frustrations as well.

I encountered a couple of bugs, one of which, a climbing bug, appears to be well known, never fixed and nearly stopped me playing the game. The game forces stealth, but then the end boss fight forces you into a combat scenario with the rather wonky parry system, not an issue during normal gameplay as it's meant to be a last resort, but horrible when one is forced to engage it. The game suggests looking for multiple routes, but in a number of scenarios forces one through a doorway or exit with only one route, and basically only one solution to get through. Further the platforming/ climbing mechanics are rather loose and quite buggy at times as mentioned.

The game also repeats a great deal, forcing one backward in the second half of the game through the same levels just in reverse order with new enemies. I also heard reused dialogues on those missions, not just NPC barks but full on conversations I had heard in previous missions.

Despite this, I enjoyed many elements. I have a soft spot for the original Of Orcs & Men game, so I was keen to further explore the world set up in that. While I would have liked it if the game had gone into more detail about the nature of the magical amber, elves, orcs etc, what is here is interesting and hints at a larger world. The character of Styx is also very interesting and the game and most of the plot is centred around his personal journey. I felt the game did a very good job of making him both sympathetic, yet not taking his nature away of being a pretty vicious goblin.

The levels look fantastic, being set in this towering, floating city, and it was interesting to explore it. The stealth, when it worked, did feel fun, and it was very satisfying finding secret alternate routes above enemies in the rafters, or getting the drop on them with aerial kills.

Despite my issues I look forward to playing the sequel, which I hope fixes some, or even all the issues I experienced.

This game makes me wish there was mixed review option. I found there was a number of flaws with the game and things I didn't like. Some of that is my fault, I thought that it was a 3rd person shooter, but while there are guns in the game, there is a lot of focus on melee combat versus very spongy, which I didn't enjoy. The game also prevents you often from using your guns at range through shields that protect enemies until you drop into a combat area, leading to stupid situations where you can see enemies right in front of you but not engage them.

For a game that leans heavily into the wild west aesthetic, I don't understand why guns are de-emphasized a fair bit, when guns are such a big part of that aesthetic. I also found there were several occasions where my character would bug out on invisible walls causing me to have to reload, which was very frustrating.

The game was also made on a budget, this is shown by some rather abrupt transitions between levels/ story beats, and characters not having lip sync in game (they do in cut scenes though).

Despite all that, there was a lot I liked. The game looks very pretty, and ran well for me. The cutscenes are well directed, and while the story is nothing amazing, the voice acting is decent and the characters are well written, which helps propel things along in a compelling way. I'm also a sucker for games with atmosphere, and this game has it in spades, with a steady stream of spooky old west locations and a strong art style. The combat also does have it's moments, and when in it's groove it is quite fun smashing enemies to bits. Overall I'd recommend it to those that enjoy melee combat most of all.

Massive improvement on the previous game, with a much more coherent plot, more interesting characters with better interactions, nicer graphics and semi open gameplay which I think improves the combat/exploration/scavenging, allowing you to plan ahead and approach objectives or enemies from different angles or use different tactics.

Incredibly well written horror point and click adventure, with decent puzzles that make sense and don't rely on weird logic.

I cannot recommend this game following Rockstar and Take Two's actions. They have ruined what was one of the best gaming franchises in history, in the pursuit of money grubbing shark cards and stifling the modding community.