Recent reviews by Craftian

I don't really play games anymore, very little grabs my interest, but man, Space Marine II feels good. Much like Evil West a while back, it feels like a PS3/360 game in the best way possible. No bloat, no open world, no "surprise" mechanics, none of that rubbish, just a simple, straightforward game that's a lot of fun to play.

I haven't played the original, but it doesn't seem like you'll miss much in terms of the story. You're essentially Doomguy on steroids in a world where you can be killed ten different ways just trying to cross the street, so you don't have any time to agonise about the futility of war and what not. It's serviceable, really there to justify gameplay, and that's fine.

Visually, the game is gorgeous to look at, especially considering the AA budget. One thing Space Marine does really well is captured the scale of conflict. Rendering so many enemies on screen is no easy feat and that deserves serious props. The 40K aesthetic, combining religious iconography and mysticism with cold steel, is timeless and walking around in these environments is a real treat.

Gameplay is, unsurprisingly, really solid. Weapons feel great to use, there's a decent range of execution animations and the splatter and gore in combat is turned up to 11. I went through the campaign with the two bot companions and the AI was pretty good, although the bar isn't very high. They will revive you when downed and there was only once instance involving jetpacks where they couldn't understand different elevation.

My biggest criticism is that the PC controls are clunky and the game was obviously designed for a controller. Even after playing for a couple of hours, mouse wheel to aim and both melee and firing with mouse buttons still felt incredibly unintuitive. I recommend swapping the bindings around to something that feels better.

Performance is also very good. No raytracing here, but the lighting is particularly nice and, more importantly, remains smooth even in the midst of combat. I only had one crash, but I'd wager that's more to do with this lacklustre PC than any fault of the game. I could nitpick over a few bugs, but the game is in a good state overall.

I can't speak for the co-op and PVP modes, although they looked pretty barebones. The only time I tried the Operations feature, it bugged out and left the squad standing in the docking area with a button to skip what was presumably a cutscene that wasn't playing. Maybe it's great, maybe it'll die out, but I was really only interested in the single-player campaign. Your mileage may vary.

In a time where the industry is being swamped by "live service" and asking you to spend more for less, where there's a perpetual lowering of standards on all sides, where developers are using characters as their own, thinly-veiled political mouthpieces, Space Marine II is just an all-round simple and fun game to play.

It's a throwback to a time where we didn't need complex progression systems, in-game stores, stories where film school rejects are busy huffing their own farts under the illusion everything they touch is "high art", Space Marine II is just a game. And that's all it needs to be. Punchy, visceral combat in a setting that remains timeless.

The devs should be proud with what they've come up with here. Let's get this to Game of the Year and show that people still appreciate good games that don't look, feel and play the exact same as everything else being released nowadays.

Now, for the love of the Emperor, please give us a proper Sisters of Battle game. I need me some Nuns with Guns.

It's a rare thing, to get a proper cRPG these days. Rarer still, to have one set in my own country. To see the bush, native wildlife or to hear the Aussie accent, instead of the same old Americans. It's got nothing to do with patriotism, but the idea of a role-playing game set in Australia could have been something really special.

I love role-playing games, with everything ranging from the Infinity Engine to Shadowrun, and it's clear the devs feel the same. The original Fallout has long been my favourite (and peak) of the series, so from the moment I came across the booth at PAX Aus 2019, I really, really wanted this game to succeed. Unfortunately, I can't say that it has.

This game does a lot right, but in aiming for the sun, Broken Roads comes up short. And that's a real shame.

To understand why, we first need to look at what kind of game this even is. One of the first big missteps is a result of that influence I mentioned earlier. Disco Elysium this is not, and if you're coming into Roads expecting that, you're obviously going to be disappointed.

Of course, that's not a bad thing, but now that I've played it and got a proper feel for the game, it's not like any of its major influences. It's not an existential character drama like Disco, it's not mechanically deep like Pathfinder and it doesn't have the strong worldbuilding of the Forgotten Realms.

If anything, I'd describe it as a spin on Wasteland 2 with the same kind of disposable characters, laborious combat, quests only there to justify gameplay and lacking the depth and "soul" of the greats. If that wasn't bad enough, Roads makes the baffling decision to frontload the first part of the game with a long, long sequence of heavily scripted quests that awkwardly pulls the player from one location to the next before the world has had any chance to breathe.

Even now, writing this review, I barely remember any of the characters' names or who they are beyond the surface level. The central morality system that was meant to be a game-changer is just... the same alignment chart we've seen a million times before.

Worse than that, I don't have any reason to care. Is it truly Machiavellian when the fate of a NPC that ran onscreen 30 seconds ago is now in my hands? And sure, it's not fair to blame Roads when the issue of meaningful nuance has been plaguing RPGs for decades, but the compass was specifically pitched as revolutionary.

All the quests I've encountered so far have been pretty straightforward, dialogue can have its moments with personalities shining through, and then they just... end. The writing is fine, but that's a whole other problem because it rarely stands out.

It also leans heavily on lingo to the point it feels over the top. I mean, I'm Australian and no one actually talks like that. Couldn't you have dialled it down just a bit and focused on being genuine and authentic? Because it detracts from those little moments of Australiana that do hit home.

On a better note, the art direction is beautiful. The iron red sands of the outback, rusty shacks nestled between Eucalyptus trees, roos hopping along through shrubs. The whole world has this worn, cosy feeling to it and textures use a paint brush style that adds to that feeling. I also really like the soundtrack, with some of the music reminding me of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' work on The Assassination of Jesse James and The Proposition.

Broken Roads is very much an indie game. Before you start applauding my ability to state the obvious, that's the best way to sum things up. Drop Bear Bytes did a good job with what they had, the team genuinely deserves respect for what they've pulled off, but this is an ambitious game that was clearly made on a tight budget.

Anyone who's played an RPG before knows they tend to come with their fair share of jank, but Broken Roads goes beyond that. It lacks major quality of life features and feels unfinished.

Combat is really rough. It has fundamental design issues that I don't understand how they got through playtesting, such as being unable to click on enemies that are either behind or too close to party members as a result of the fixed isometric camera. Or having to wait for the whole party to line up every single time you interact with something.

There are no shortcuts either: no way to end turn, no alternative to clicking the skill and item wheel, no way to speed up how slow each character is... even the cover system is a bit iffy. Crouching down behind something with a shield indicating full cover doesn't seem to do anything when a party member is hit anyway.

And good luck, because there are no tooltips or combat log. I can't rebind any of the controls and I can't turn off subtitles in cutscenes either. While the visuals are great, the UI has that cheap Unity feel.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't split the stacks of items either, which makes trading difficult. I don't want 5 Lamingtons, just 1... but I guess I have to buy them all. Dialogue is functional, although it can lock up a bit when going from the trade screen back to previous lines.

Even if this all worked perfectly though, it still doesn't change the fact that the character progression, combat, economy... it's all as shallow as the random, pseudo-intellectual philosophy quotes. I've been picking up items the whole way through, radio parts and then a working radio, rope - which if you know, you know - and I've got tonnes of water and food in the party inventory. Some books, batteries, crafting ingredients and other stuff. But what's it all for?

Why am I investing in combat skills that sound nice, but I don't ever feel the need to use them? This is meant to be a long game and yet my character is already over 100 with the ranged weapon skill and there's no tangible difference anyway. Builds don't seem to matter, party composition doesn't matter and loot is completely unremarkable, if not useless. Combat is a chore with very basic encounter design.

To be fair, there have been lasting choices, such as a character living or dying, and the player backstory feature seems to offer a substantial change for how things kick off, although I haven't played the others to see how it goes. When it comes down to it though, this is meant to be a narrative-driven game but lacks anything to really engage the player. Nothing matters, so what's even the point of continuing?

I hate to do this. If it's not already clear, I really did want the best for this game and the dev team. Make no mistake, there are glimpses of that in the time I've spent with Broken Roads but frankly, I don't have it in me to continue.

Perhaps I'm way off the mark with this, but my suspicion is that something went very wrong behind the scenes. If you've been following this game for a while, you may remember that it was set to release late last year when, just a few days before release, Roads went silent and changed to 'Coming Soon'.

This doesn't happen out of the blue. Whether it's publisher interference, contractual issues or running out of money, it's clear that development hasn't been easy as the game's been pushed back again and again, year after year, and changed hands several times.

That being said, it still doesn't excuse the shortcomings of the final product. We can only judge what's in front of us on its own merit and unfortunately, Broken Roads comes up short.

You may very well enjoy the game, provided you're willing to look past its many flaws and lack of depth. The setting is unique, if nothing else, and I appreciate what the game tried to do. But this ain't it.

The resurgence of classic RPGs has seen plenty of hits, but even more misses as indies claim influence but fail to live up to expectations. Beyond the art style, for every part of Broken Roads, you can find better elsewhere.

Returnal is a good game, but a bad roguelike. After beating it a bunch of times and achieving the "true" ending to the point it all feels rather pointless and esoteric, there are some major flaws pulling down what could otherwise be a great game.

For starters, much like how the term souls-like has become ubiquitous, Returnal suffers the same flaw as many of its fellows: map variety. Don't get me wrong, in terms of the visuals, the game is second-to-none. Running this with raytracing and DLSS is a real treat and Housemarque have pulled off something that's deserving of the generational leap. (And there goes my only reason to ever get a PS5.)

The problem is that these sections are very, very limited and you'll quickly memorise everything, thus hampering replayability. The only thing that really changes is where (and which) enemies will be placed between runs, which doesn't exactly help the roguelike nature of a roguelike game.

Speaking of replayability, beating the game and progressing to the next set of biomes is made all the worse because in a game that should be rewarding skill and progress... decides to reset it. Returnal has the baffling habit of telling its story through making you play through the game again from square one, ironically feeling like a Sisyphean task of its own.

And by far the biggest flaw is that very story. The time loop trope has become almost as tiresome as multiverses in recent years and Housemarque decided to use cosmic horror to explore Selene's past and her connection to Atropos. You'd think that would be right up my alley, but the problem is that when I don't know what's happening or, worse, don't care, there's really no drive to learn more or engage with the worldbuilding.

Reaching the credits the first time took about 12 hours, at which point the game just ends and then has the audacity to say keep playing to unlock its true secrets. If that annoyed the hell out of me when Nier did it, you better believe it does here too.

I ended up beating Returnal another few times, which might sound like a contradiction given that I criticised the replay value earlier, but as you get better at the game, runs can take an hour or two at most. At that point, I threw some podcasts on to see whether this true ending was worth it.

Spoilers: it's not.

To even claim this is a full "third act" is extremely charitable at best, as all it involves is going through the same six biomes again to collect parts of a key item. There are no changes in bosses, no secret areas, nothing. On doing that, you get another short cutscene that doesn't really answer anything and... that's it. Seriously?

Sure, someone's going to argue this was a stylistic choice, that the game wants to leave everything open to interpretation through trippy imagery and metaphor, but again... I don't care. And it all feels like a waste of time... because there basically is no story.

That's not to say it's all bad, however. Movement might sound like a weird thing to praise, but damn, does it feel good... especially when you unlock all the upgrades like the grappling hook. 3D audio is always a neat addition and the game as a whole absolutely nails feedback. Returnal lives up to the bullet hell name with some great music to boot.

Bosses themselves are... fine. Strangely, I found them to get easier as the game went on with the final one being the easiest of them all. This sucks given that combat otherwise feels amazing with a decent range of guns and unlocks to each, but it's not a huge deal.

Performance overall was pretty good, although I loaded in falling under the map on too many occasions for my liking. The first time I tried a daily challenge, the map didn't even load at all and I was left falling through empty space.

The amount of particles and stuff happening onscreen generally isn't a problem and there was only the occasional drop in performance. Given that it's the middle of summer here in Australia and I was playing in a hot house, that's more likely to be on my end than an otherwise solid PC port.

Returnal is probably the most neutral game I've played in a long time, but given how solid the foundations are beyond that, I'm willing to give it a recommendation, albeit with some caveats. I'm glad I got it on sale, but even then, it felt like it was pushing it.

If you're looking for a roguelike to sink a tonne of hours into, there are better choices out there, but for a visual feast with rock solid gameplay, it's worth a look. Just don't bother engaging with its story.

I don't know, man.

Coming off Wrath of the Righteous, one of the best games I've ever played and the only true successor to Baldur's Gate II in decades, I was expecting Owlcat to smash it with another classic. I'd stayed away from any pre-release chatter or early builds and picked it up day one to see for myself.

I'm not that familiar with 40K and I'd be the first to admit it, but on paper, this game should have been a dream come true. Another RPG from the studio whose previous title I've put 600+ hours into and dozens of playthroughs? Turn-based tactics in the vein of XCOM 2, a game I've long joked was my equivalent to crack?

Hell yeah, sign me up. Right?

As much as I'd love to say that Owlcat has pulled it off, that this is the game Warhammer fans have been waiting for, I can't. There's too much wrong with Rogue Trader and while, sure, the bugs and stability will be fixed with time, there are a lot of issues underpinning the whole experience. And it's a shame.

First off, this game could give even Pillars of Eternity a run for its money in how not to handle frontloading exposition. This is a long game which should come as no surprise, but right from the get-go, you're flooded by wall after wall of text and... why should I care about any of it?

Again, I recognise that I'm coming into this as an outsider, that the extent of my knowledge of 40K was a half-dead guy sitting on a throne and beefy Power Rangers shouting about heresy, but for as good as the writing is, it lacks restraint. (And that's especially ironic, coming from me of all people.)

You could argue that the worldbuilding assumes some prior knowledge from players, that this was one for the fans, but... that's not really good enough, is it? This is a solid, interesting setting with tonnes and tonnes of things to pull from the source material, but it doesn't make for a good experience for those coming into it for the first time.

It's overwhelming, to the point it's almost... hard to read? While it's not anywhere near as egregious as the pointless, Kickstarter backer segments that Pillars awkwardly stuck into its world, those crucial first few hours felt like I was trying to make sense of a half-finished wiki page, rather than the world slowly revealing itself over the runtime.

This leads into what's probably my biggest criticism, which is how little Rogue Trader values your time. Everything is so, so slow... I can't believe some of this made it past playtesting. To illustrate this point, I'll compare it to Wrath of the Righteous which is a similar game running on the same engine.

Map traversal in the former was straightforward: pick a point and watch the party move in realtime on the world map. Routes were easily drawn out and you could change direction on the fly. Here, every single jump has to have some level of risk through navigating the Warp, more buttons to click on, more pop-up scenarios or, if you're really unlucky, you'll get pulled into combat before proceeding.

Insight is available as a resource to help mitigate some of this, but charting routes is unclear or where you're even supposed to go half the time. Maybe you'll get from point A to B, maybe one of your crew will pull you in for a conversation. So much stuff getting in the way of... actually playing.

Space combat is a huge downgrade. Despite having never actually played Might and Magic before, I loved the army management in Wrath, although I seem to be in the minority with that. (Shoutout to my man Setsuna Shy.) It played into the feeling of leading the Crusade, enemy movement was clear and it all came together on the same world map.

If we compare it to the ship battles here, it's... not good. Navigating the grid is fine, I'm not asking to swivel the ship around like a toy car or infinite movement, the tactical element is actually really interesting with the need to manoeuvre your ship into the required angle or range.

But when each unit takes so long to complete their turn, that there's a pause between each attack as the camera slowly zooms in... it all just drags on. It feels like a chore.

Even beyond that, the whole colony management system feels like a massive step back to the arbitrary resource gathering and text-based errands of Kingmaker. Isn't this what one of your underlings would be responsible for, not royalty bearing a Warrant for the Imperium? Is this the grimdark future of the 41st millennium, or a Facebook browser game?

Then we get to combat itself. No doubt this is going to drive some people insane, but... I miss real-time with pause. Because combat forms a large chunk of the game, it's compounding the numerous time-wasting issues already there when you run into a mob.

Even ignoring how some feats are bugged, that animations can get stuck when moving from tile to tile or just refuse to work at all, first you have to slowly set up your party members and, much like space combat, then watch each enemy slowly take their turn. Each and every time.

I'm no stranger to tactics games and XCOM 2 can be guilty of this as well. But when I want to play a role-playing game and it ultimately ends up feeling like I'm bashing my head against the wall, there's not much enthusiasm to continue. It's been almost two weeks now and I'm still in the second chapter.

Wrath of the Righteous consumed my life for months after it was released, something that's only ever happened with a handful of games. I genuinely wish I could say the same, but this game ain't it... and I feel like I've hardly gone anywhere after 30+ hours.

To be clear, I don't want this to sound like I hate Rogue Trader but at the same time, I was expecting more. After already being letdown by Baldur's Gate 3, the most disappointing game I've ever played as evidenced by patching in major content for Act 3 and fixes months after release, I was looking for a rich, deep RPG to dive into.

And this is a good, well-made game. The writing is pretty solid with a great cast of characters, choices are well-developed, quests and locations are interesting to explore and for long-time 40K fans, this must be a dream come true. This is life, with its highs and lows, in the Imperium and a chance to live and breathe as a character in that world.

The art team has gone all out and, as a former game dev who was trained on it, I'm impressed this is running on an engine as terrible as Unity. The lighting in particular really nails the aesthetic.

But then it all starts to fall apart. This is the most buggy game I've played in ages... Wrath was personally fine at release and even Cyberpunk 2077 before it was broken by subsequent patches, although I didn't pick up Kingmaker until a year or two later.

One of the more memorable ones I've encountered so far is turning invisible during romance scenes, then watching a bandolier float through the air. Some of the power abilities don't work because some kind of condition isn't met, other times an ability just won't work at all. Or the turn will inexplicably end. Or be skipped on loading saves.

A major patch has already improved things which, for what it's worth, demonstrates Owlcat will be continuing to support the game. I haven't encountered anything game-breaking or quests unable to progress so far, although you should expect the later parts to dip in quality.

The character build system took a bit of time to get used to, but it's okay. To the game's credit, it did introduce me to the Sisters of Battle, although it's a shame Argenta can't be romanced. Guess there's no room in her heart for anyone than the Emperor.

Ultimately, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is... fine. I still recommend it, especially if you're a fan, but it speaks volumes that I can't bring myself to play it.

I just want my playthrough to be over now and once that happens, I doubt I'll be coming back.

This is not it.

In the days leading up to the launch of Early Access, I stated in my review of Baldur's Gate II that it's the best role-playing game ever made and, also, that the series couldn't be in better hands.

The first part of that statement remains just as true as it was 20 years ago, but as much as it hurts to admit, I cannot say the same for Larian. This is the most disappointing game I've played in a long, long time. I can't bring myself to do a second playthrough, knowing what awaits in Act 3 as everything falls apart.

Think about it for even a few seconds and you'll understand why. Don't make excuses either; it's no more acceptable to wait for updates, patches or a Definitive Edition to fix it than it is with Cyberpunk 2077, Battlefield 2042, Fallout 76 or any other game. As a reminder, this game was sold at full price for three years before release.

Baldur's Gate 3 is nowhere near good enough and Larian has sold out, choosing to one-up big titles coming later in the year, rather than finishing their game to make anything that you do matter or your choices meaningful.

While it's nowhere near as irredeemably awful as something like the writing in Fallout 4, this game misses the mark so hard that it not only repeats the mistakes of Original Sin but also damages the legacy of the Bhaalspawn saga and characters it had no right to use. To the point it feels spiteful.

If you love this game, that's great. Don't let anything I've said dissuade you from having a fun time with friends or alone. Dive into 5e buildcrafting or another playthrough. It's not a "bad" game, by any means. Baldur's Gate 3 is a beautiful, lovingly-crafted game and the team clearly put everything they had into it... but, ultimately, it fails in every way that counts.

For anyone looking for an actual successor, there's Wrath of the Righteous instead.

What a game. Honestly, it's difficult to put into words... but I guess this review can be a form of therapy after just finishing it. It may not be fun, it may feel like being kicked when you're already down, but what an experience. There's nothing else like it.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is beautiful, harrowing and one of the best games to come out in a long time. It's a shining example of what games can offer as a storytelling medium and it's a damn shame it hasn't received the recognition it deserves.

This is everything The Last of Us and other overly cinematic Oscar bait games wish they could be. While it isn't perfect, while it definitely won't be for some, I can't recommend it enough. Now let's talk about why.

For a game that dropped out of nowhere a few years back, Innocence was a remarkable achievement and well-deserved hit. Asobo, a small French studio best known for doing licensed titles, showed that with only a fraction of the budget of AAA titles that they could stand among the best.

The game itself was fine enough and a pleasant surprise, if a bit cliched at times, but where the ending left things open for a continuation of Hugo and Amicia's story, only time would tell where things would go next. Requiem is a huge leap forward in all respects and, not only that, elevates its predecessor in the process.

The simplistic mechanics of the first game have been expanded, adding new tools in along the way, including a crossbow. Levels are more open-ended than the small combat arenas from before; allowing for greater choice in how players move through them. Very few encounters have the one "right" way to progress and that freedom to experiment is refreshing.

Visually, Requiem is on a whole other level. What's even more impressive is that it's not Unreal Engine 5 either, but the studio's very own custom tech. The lighting is gorgeous to look at, textures are very high quality across the board and vegetation has a level of photorealism to it. If you love taking screenshots, then Photo Mode will be a dream come true.

A small thing that also may go unnoticed is how many rats the game can render onscreen at once. That is no easy feat for tech built exclusively for this series, but optimisation is pretty good. I did get the occasional stutter in dense areas like marketplaces, but with Ultra settings and raytracing enabled with DLSS, performance overall was smooth as butter.

The audio work is equally stellar. The scratching cello motif, intense orchestral work or just quiet moments where you can stop to catch your breath... the soundtrack provides the foundation for so much of the game as the story throws everything it can at making you genuinely care about these characters.

Speaking of which, I cannot overstate just how phenomenal the performances are, above all, Charlotte McBurney as our heroine Amicia. Writing young characters, especially children, is a difficult thing to do, especially when diving into material as dark as this.

Nevertheless, McBurney's range of emotion carries this whole game, just on its own. When she screams in anger, breaks down and cries or her voice cracks in desperation, you feel it. This kind of thing is rare enough to see in film or television, let alone a video game.

It's criminal that she didn't receive proper recognition at the Game Awards or BAFTAs, but with this level of talent and a career-defining performance, I wish her success for the future. Amicia is a brilliant, nuanced character and this game wouldn't even be half as good without her.

The script has an equally important role to play, but I don't want to spoil anything about your journey through plague-infested hell. All I can say is that, if you're even remotely interested in playing Requiem, avoid all spoilers and make sure to check out the first game to get the whole context.

Of course, it's not all sunshine and rat bites. Much like the first game, it's pretty easy to exploit the enemy AI. The range of detection and how quickly you can lose them can make intense moments mostly trivial at times. You could argue that part of this is due to game balance, that it's almost too easy to use an Extinguis to get out of most situations, but I wouldn't say this detracts from the overall experience. Amicia is still very much vulnerable.

This is kind of a nitpick, but there are also a number of situations where the game presents something as a choice, such as trying to save an alchemist being escorted by guards, when it's just scripted. That same example, I kept retrying till I was able to take the guards out without him getting swarmed by rats, but the game was never meant to account for this so he randomly died. It also has a knock-on effect for what I assumed was playing to the overarching theme.

Similarly, a chase sequence towards the end of the game had a friendly character running with the player before bugging out and going straight into the rat horde, with characters literally asking where they had gone as if this was intended. I'd heard them scream after being eaten alive, but a short time later, they were back at the start of the cutscene. It's not game-breaking by any means, but more confusing with continuity.

Finally, this is a nitpick with the story, but I have to point out just how much of a non-character Amicia's mother is. Across two great games, it's strange to me that she has basically no purpose beyond being a plot device. There is no arc to her relationship, no sufficient time spent with Amicia to endear her to players... if anything, she's an obstacle. But hey, maybe that's just me.

For all the strides that gaming has taken in terms of storytelling, it's disappointing when most that follow either the artsy style or cinematic route tend to follow the same kind of template. While Requiem isn't going to appeal to anyone tired of so-called "movie games" already, my experience with it is something I really can't compare to any of its contemporaries. The closest would be Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice... another genre-defining game in its own right.

Asobo clearly cared about this game and they put everything into it. The results speak for itself. While I'd personally like to see the story of the De Rune family come to a close, it's also promising to see where the studio may be going next. There's a wider universe, or perhaps an entirely different game. Don't be afraid. It's okay for things to end.

Whatever the case, A Plague Tale: Requiem is a wonderful game and will no doubt come to stand the test of time. A special thing in a sea of battle passes, full price, disguised Early Access and callow, uninspired titles chasing trends.

It's a remarkable note to end one of gaming's great stories on. And you owe it to yourself to play it.

Evil West feels like a PS3/360 game, and I mean that in the best way possible. It's action-heavy and entirely linear - something that's seen as a negative in the present day of bloated open worlds - but serves as a reminder of a time long since passed.

There are no over-the-top skill trees hiding basic functionality behind progression, the size of environments hearkens back to the technical limitations of old, basic puzzles serve as a palate cleanser between fights without breaking the overall pacing and, most of all, cosmetics are something you unlock by... playing the actual game. What a novelty.

What you see is very much what you get, but it certainly helps to have a current gen coat of paint. The production value in the cutscenes alone also deserves a lot of credit, with a real cinematic flair. The lighting looks great, although the budget does start to show when talking to generic NPCs and there's no lipsyncing or sign of movement.

While the pulpy writing is nothing special, I've also got to point out what a relief it is to not have a protagonist making quips every five seconds or a script full of that awful, self-aware humour. Jesse keeps his mouth shut, so you can focus on having fun.

Visual and audio cues are both well done, combat is meaty and satisfying and the electrified gauntlet in particular is a lot of fun to use. A bit too fun, actually... throwing off balance since there's rarely a reason to change the stun + pickup strategy once you get it. There's even a glory kill system.

This game understands what it is and, for the AA budget, does it very well. It should go without saying, however, that its older design ethos also comes with a level of jank.

Much like the terrible PC ports of the PS3/360 era, West was designed with a controller in mind. Full remapping is available, of course, but PC controls feel awkward to adapt to. This is further complicated by the fact that some traversal is automatic, while other objects that look the exact same require input first, both indicated by a glowing white shader.

Although there are plenty of ranged weapons on offer, enemies are immune to attacks outside of the specified area for some reason. Whether this is a limitation on AI, who knows, but it doesn't feel good to hit magical shields for no damage. Combat is only allowed when the developers say so.

Melee combat suffers the most (which is a problem considering it's the cornerstone of combat) with input lag - or just not working at all - depending on what state the enemy is in when you try to connect. Trying to cancel an enemy attack with a kick might work one moment, the next it's completely ignored.

Animation transitions are iffy at the best of times... even trying to aim can be a pain when it's all too easy to get staggered out of it. Is this a fast, instant feedback beat 'em up or a slow methodical third-person shooter with attack commitment? It's like the game can't make up its mind.

A lot of this could be circumvented if the dodge (and block) mechanic was better, but alas, there are no i-frames. Something that's easy to take for granted in the post-Souls era. On that note, I played on Hard where the enemies (and definitely bosses) are far too spongey. The final boss was unbelievable and took over an hour.

Unless you care about achievements, don't bother on anything other than Normal since the difficulty hasn't had much thought put into it beyond damage modifiers. All it does is make fights last longer than they need to. Combat overall, much like the rest of the game, is fine. And you know what... that's okay.

Despite the problems, I'm glad Evil West exists. If you miss the days of Prototype, classic God of War, Bulletstorm or the countless experimental titles that never got a sequel, this might be right up your alley.

Now more than ever, it's important to give these games a chance, even if they don't quite stick the landing. AA games should be celebrated, rather than being force-fed the same mass market slop.

Would I play it again? Not really, but for a bit of a throwback that was on sale, it's worth a look. Recommended.

There are a lot of things to be cynical about nowadays, but thankfully, this ain't one of them. Remake is fantastic... and I say that as someone who doesn't like the original, so there's no nostalgia attached.

The original Resident Evil 4 is one of the most overrated games of all time, just behind The Last of Us. Much like what horse armour did for microtransactions, RE4 popularised the awful trend of QTEs, not to mention bastardising survival horror as the series lost its way for many years after.

As I mentioned in my Village review at the time, it was baffling to me that people were criticising it for not being scary enough or leaning too heavily into action over horror. Meanwhile, these same people held up RE4 as the best in the series... an arcadey shooter with suplexes and, memes aside, painfully cheesy writing.

But here? Well, the remake has addressed basically every complaint I have with the original and it's a vastly better game for it.

Returning as everyone's favourite rookie, Leon is dispatched to the backwaters of Spain where the cult surrounding Las Plagas have kidnapped Ashley Graham, the president's daughter. Not exactly top priority for any holiday destination, so let's hope you brought an attache case along for the ride.

Not to mention hair spray. How the hell does he keep it so immaculate?

Right out of the gate, the presentation aspect of the remake is (obviously) a huge leap forward in the years since the original. RE Engine continues to play like a dream - arguably the best in the industry - as performance was once again rock solid at Ultra with raytracing turned on.

Instead of the same grey and brown, Capcom really went all-out with the locations. This game is downright gorgeous at times and the variety and attention to detail across each of the main locations is impressive. There are even new tasks to earn upgrade currency with The Merchant to get you looking around, adding extra playtime for those interested in it.

There is an issue with visual clarity at times, where I'd struggle to see anything because of how bloody dark it was, but generally that adds to the overall atmosphere. And keeping players on their toes for enemies waiting to jump out.

For a game that pioneered the third-person shooter and led to countless imitators in its wake, it's ironic that RE4 has ultimately come full-circle to riff on the likes of The Last of Us. The half-baked stealth mechanics, knife durability, yellow paint that's been inexplicably placed everywhere, even the HUD is reminiscent of Naughty Dog's designs.

To its credit, however, the campaign is a massive improvement over the original. One thing I was pleasantly surprised by is just how well the remake handles the dynamic between Ashley and Leon. It should come as no surprise that Ashley in the original was on the verge of making ears bleed and, overall, a chore to look after.

However, through a combination of both gameplay and subtle growth, Ashley grew on me and the pair's relationship was endearing by the end. That is no easy feat, especially since chunks of the game revolve around the dreaded escort mission.

This is in due in small part to Genevieve Buechner in bringing her character to life. I also really liked the changes to Luis and the same goes for The Merchant's new voice.

I can't say the same for Ada, however, who's been changed from the RE2 remake. It's not her fault, more a casting decision on Capcom's part, and she doesn't deserve to be harassed. Still, there's no getting around it: the voice does not fit her character at all. Instead of the classic femme fatale, Ada just sounds bored.

The writing isn't much better either, with her only feeling like she does something at the very end. Occasionally popping in to act condescendingly towards other characters is not a good way to endear a character to the audience.

As good as gameplay feels, however, it's not perfect. Maybe it's just me, but having come straight from RE2 and RE3, the controls felt all over the place. Buttons share multiple actions depending on context and, even after changing some bindings around, still felt off.

Using a controller wasn't much better. Sure, I wasn't doing myself any favours by jumping straight into Hardcore again, but I came very close to refunding during the first village fight. I miss using LMB to activate and Jill's dodge during some of the tougher fights, but I'm glad I pushed through it till things clicked.

There's also now weapon sway when aiming... something that ties back into that influence from earlier, but combat feels a bit messy as a result. The stop-and-pop approach of the original is gone, instead freeing up movement, which has left some people unhappy.

The fact the attache case has an auto-sort option or one of the other changes from the original exists doesn't bother me in the slightest because, again, there's no sentimentality attached. Even if you don't ultimately like this game, the remake is not a quick cashgrab like some other recent examples. Capcom put a lot of effort into this and it definitely shows.

That being said, it's scummy and it always will be scummy to try and sneak in microtransactions after the review cycle. It doesn't matter whether they have a tangible effect on the game or not, whether they're XP boosters or a funny-looking hat... this should be called out.

Though it's not without its faults, the remake of Resident Evil 4 is a genuinely great game. Maybe that's an indictment on how stagnant or disappointing the industry has become, but regardless, I don't regret paying full-price on this for a second.

As much as I would like to see 5 and 6 retconned from the ground up, it's time for Capcom to let the remakes go and focus on new titles or more spin-offs like Revelations. Village was excellent and with RE9 on the horizon, I really want to see Jill Valentine and the original crew reunite for present day.

But that's enough of that. Time to dive in for another playthrough.

The crown jewel of immersive sims and one of my favourite games of all time. I platinumed Dishonored 2 back around the time of release and have now bought it again on PC. It's just that good.

The Isles are falling apart. Though it has been many years since the conspiracy behind Jessamine's assassination was dismantled and the rat plague ravaged Dunwall, her daughter's time on the throne has been less than ideal.

The same old bureaucracy, fawning nobility and trade deals... the same sickening industry that thrives on the leviathans to fuel wondrous technology and dear Emily wants nothing to do with it. All the while, the Outsider watches on.

But now Delilah has returned and there's a reckoning to be had. Everything has its price... only by travelling south, to the land of Serkonos, will you understand yours.

Let's just get this out of the way now: Arkane truly went above and beyond with this game. Particularly in its level design, which is genuinely the best I have ever seen. I recommend doing a no powers run - although not for new people - to appreciate just how much work went into it.

The Clockwork Mansion is a freakin' masterpiece with the sprawling, interconnected structure in a game already full of standouts and, not to spoil it, A Crack in the Slab is astounding in both its ambition and execution. A single level here has more thought put into it than entire games.

If imsims are about being given a toolbox and let loose, however, then it stands to reason that the subgenre lives and dies on its gameplay. Not to worry though because, even ignoring the replay value of two distinct player characters, the level of interconnectivity and depth of 2's systems is unparalleled.

Pure stealth is just as viable as it is going in guns blazing... sticking to the shadows or using the environment to the fullest. Crucially, your playstyle is your own. Your choices, your consequences... and the superb AI systems, tailored to difficulty, will react accordingly.

This is a video game that actually plays to the strengths of the medium, creating an experience that we so rarely get. If you were to boil it down, it's essentially just a series of puzzles, but without one right answer... interactive, emergent storytelling at its finest.

Of course, it also helps the rich and varied environments are stunning to look at. Running on the fittingly named Void Engine, built off id tech, Karnaca is quite the departure from the cold, dreary streets of Dunwall.

From sprawling estates to grand libraries to streets fallen to ruin, the southern Mediterranean-esque shores of the Empire are beautiful, but don't be fooled. It's just as cutthroat as anywhere else. Just as sick and cruel.

And much like BioShock or Bloodborne before it, the gorgeous art direction will stand the test of time.

Sound design is often an underappreciated art in video games, but here, it's equally stellar... sound cues making the HUD practically unnecessary. The work of Daniel Licht gave Dishonored its soul and there's nothing else quite like it.

Like many people, Dishonored was my gateway drug into immersive sims. While the original is just as much of a classic as those it emulates, 2 is such a step-up, in almost every way.

The coldness of its characters - even with the excellent voice acting - some might bump off of, but personally, I think it adds to the world. There is something fundamentally wrong with this place and, while the binary Chaos system has its problems, the Void has undoubtedly left its mark.

There have been steady complaints about performance since launch, but I haven't had any issues: rock solid 60+ frames while running on Ultra. As someone who plays a lot of RPGs, with many of my favourites still buggy as hell to this day, it's very polished overall.

Dishonored 2 is an absolute triumph. Not only has Arkane carried the torch for the likes of Thief, System Shock and Deus Ex before it, it has used innovation in the years since to push immersive sims forward. And it's not hard to see why the result is so impressive.

While it may have been too niche, too obtuse, to get the sales figures it deserves, I'm just happy it exists. It's clear that everyone involved poured their heart and soul into it... and I can't recommend Dishonored 2 enough.

What a strange little gem. Esoteric RPGs are my (Mecha)jam apparently and, although Space Wreck is buggy, there are a lot of really cool ideas here. Not to mention replay value for those willing to experiment.

I went for a no combat run - entirely doable, as advertised - with abysmal physical stats and focus, causing my character to potentially trip up and die from crashing into a wall. While searching for a way to refuel, I instead stole an entirely different ship, triggered a decompression killing everyone onboard, plucked the captain's keycard off her corpse and then flew home.

Squeeze through vents easier while naked, shove whatever drugs you can find in your mouth, pick up fecal matter for the hell of it... some of that you can even do in the game, too.

Admittedly, the Early Access element starts to show in the bugs. Quests not updating/completing, interacting with things like vents can trigger even though you didn't click anywhere near them and stealth seems to be all over the place: sometimes I'm detected when everyone's facing the other way, sometimes I can pull things off when there's someone standing right nearby.

It's possible to trigger a conversation when moving between floors, causing the dialogue to get stuck, or a buff to wear off to negative health. I did the entire last part of the game unable to save because of this, which was an interesting challenge.

There was also a funny instance where I reloaded a save and there was nothing onscreen except a naked body floating in space, although movement prompts where still showing on the grid.

Even with the rough edges, the two Latvian developers have done an awesome job bringing this to life. Some QOL changes would be welcome to make for a better experience, such as:
- High contrast/dark mode for the monitor bits. Maybe it's just me, but the LED look is a bit hard on the eyes. DOS is better, but colour blindness is also fairly common.
- Spamming an action such as going near a locked door while detected or trying to loot a container actually triggers aggro/combat, rather than just clicking it over and over till it works regardless.
- Please remove the Escape key to quit. The autosaves are often, sure, but going back to the main menu because I was trying to close a different screen feels wrong.

There are quite a few typos as well and, if the devs happen to read this, I'd be happy to do a pass over the strings to help fix these. That's a genuine offer to help make this game the best it can be. It's been a nice surprise to have stumbled across this a few nights ago and found a cRPG with a crazy amount of depth. Don't let the runtime put you off.

Space Wreck is about as niche as they come, but it'll hopefully receive the following it deserves. The fact it's playable from start to finish is a huge plus, no waiting for chapters to come, and if you're willing to deal with some jank, it's well worth a look.