Recent reviews by EMP

Personally I think if you aren't playing this game you are missing out on one of the coolest and most unique multiplayer experiences ever made and hate fun.

Shadow of Chernobyl is both an incredibly well executed, ambitious game and a hot mess at the same time. Before even starting the game, I recommend downloading the mod "ZRP", it's essentially the equivalent of the bug fix packs for Bethesda RPGs, and damn does it need it. Secondly, play on the hardest difficulty. This game does difficulty horribly. Pretty much everything below the hardest difficulty is essentially unplayable in my opinion. Lower difficulties lower damage globally. That includes you. So have fun blasting away at bullet sponges in a game where ammo can be a commodity. Just put it on Master. Don't be a baby.

Once you iron out the bugs with ZRP, you will start to play and notice 2 things:
1. The atmosphere is nearly unmatched in the industry, even for a 2007 game it rivals and surpasses almost every game in 2024 in the atmosphere department. There is a reason this game has such a cult following, and the worldbuilding and atmosphere is that reason. It kicks so much ass.

2. You can't hit a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing with your starting weapon. This will be a recurring theme for 50% of the game. My guess is that the developers found the game to be too easy with deadly accurate ballistics, so for the first half of the game they decided to make you feel really weak by just making half the weapons (the only ones you find for like 8-10hrs) absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. This is frustrating, really frustrating.... but.... it works. The game is incredibly tense and forces you to progress slowly and take in it's world because one wrong move, getting caught out of cover, and you're dead. Really dead. No twitch shooting here.

For the second half of the game, essentially when you get your first scoped weapon really, the accuracy is pretty much what you would expect of a normal FPS. This feels really good. Like you started out as a nobody stuck with rusty outdated soviet weaponry and worked your way up to a deadly precise killing machine equipped with advanced hardware from the present century. For the next 25% of the game, this feeling will remain as you mow down enemies swiftly. Then you get to the last 25% of the game. Basically the last 2 "levels". Oh boy. The last 2 levels. If you thought the first 50% of the game was brutal, you were wrong. You were just in boot camp, the devs said "Okay, they know what they are doing now, let's make them feel accomplished and strong for a little bit" and then once they've allowed you your power trip, they send you straight to hell. HORDES of enemies. Heavily armored enemies. Remember when you were killing enemies with 2-3 swift body shots? Nah. These mfers have riot suits and exoskeletons (which essentially make them cyborgs). You BETTER hit those headshots. Hope you didn't get too complacent on your aim mowing down the grunts. P.S. they have rail guns and RPGs. Have fun!

So, other than phenomenal atmosphere and a brutal experience, what else does Shadow of Chernobyl offer? Well.... that's mostly it. The story is definitely there, and it's pretty interesting but nothing world changing. You won't really get attached to characters for story reasons, but rather gameplay reasons, So what makes Shadow of Chernobly such a cult classic? Well outside of the combination of the aforementioned brutal difficulty and tension, it's the atmosphere. It's just that good. Atmosphere so good it elevates a pretty much universally regarded frustrating (albeit really fun) game to cult classic status singlehandedly.

The concept of STALKERS, the anomalies, the mutants, the world design, the lighting, the sound design, the AI design... damn it's all so good.

STALKERS are just cool as hell. A ragtag band of rejects that throw away a normal life, running headfirst into literal hell on Earth to have a chance at striking it rich and changing their lives. The different blend of personalities and ideologies you will encounter in game is really striking, no morality in STALKER is black and white, everyone has justified reasons for what they are doing, be it good or evil.

The mutants are very cool, and absolutely terrifying at times. I don't want to spoil any as their first encounters are quite significant moments in the game, but just know they would give any horror game a run for it's money in unique monster design.

Anomalies, similarly to mutants are really interesting and there is a wide variety of them to avoid... or bravely run into following the trail of treasure. They add so much to the world, what might be a simple task of crossing through a tunnel is turned into a tense puzzle of navigational and observation skills ensuring you aren't burnt to a crisp by a nuclear phenomena.

The world design is top notch. By and large, most people understand vaguely what Chernobyl looks like. But this isn't the Chernobyl we all know. This is an alternate universe Chernobyl, set in 2012. There are still some iconic landmarks, such as the ferris wheel of Pripyat, but there is some much appreciated flare added by the alternate universe, and the "Zone" as it is called manages to feel very unique despite being located in an area that has been portrayed countless times by many forms of media.

The lighting makes a game from 2007 still look phenomenal in 2024. It's incredibly dynamic for it's time and always set up perfectly to compliment the world design. Creeping through dark tunnels or sneaking into a bandit camp at night is kino as ♥♥♥♥ thanks to the lighting. Character models aged the worse, they are lacking in the polygon department, but the general art design of them does overtime to compensate. The armors and clothing in STALKER just look incredible. The type of ♥♥♥♥ that has you googling how to purchase them for cosplay after only 2 hrs of gameplay.

Finally, the dynamic AI. I'm not talking Oblivion "Radiant AI" ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ where AI is just programmed to do stuff at certain times. No, this AI is truly dynamic. You might leave a few bodies in a field, return a few hours later and see them getting devoured by mutants. You might run into a mutant nest, decide to go around, come back later and see it has been liberated by STALKERs, you might come back to a STALKER camp and find it has been overrun with bandits (and if you were present when the bandits were attacking, would have been able to help the STALKERs fight them off). The world truly moves around you, whether you're there to see it or not. It goes a long way for making you not feel like "THE guy" (although in this scenario, you technically are very much the guy), but rather just a cog in the wheel in the Zone. It's truly some of the most immersive, well built out AI in all of gaming. Unfortunately, the same doesn't hold true for the combat AI, it's no FEAR in that regard, but it's not terrible either.

So with all that said, Shadow of Chernobly will try your patience, it is inevitable. But show it patience and it will give you an experience you will never be able to forget, especially when playing other games of a similar vein and genre. One last thing I recommend, the modding community for STALKER is massive, and so many mods are phenomenal, but just stick with ZRP for your first playthrough. It remains thoroughly true to GSC's original vision and only improves the game in non-intrusive ways. Other mods are very aggressive in what they change, and most times it is arguably for the better, but best left for tertiary playthroughs; and yes, you will want to play through it multiple times because no other game will be able to scratch the unique itch STALKER creates in you.

Fully convinced this is one of the most underrated games of all time. I think I have played through it 5 times now across Xbox 360, Steam, and the 2 different releases.

The game is a master class in pacing, it knows when to slow to a crawl and let you soak in the environment and lore, when to go balls to the wall non-stop action having you backed to a corner fighting for your life or even worse, running for your life. The sound design is incredible, it has so much attention to detail of every little piece of atmosphere, equipment and environment making different sound queues to really immerse and terrify. The graphics for the time were unbelievably good and even better in Redux. 95% of new games STILL don't look this good. The gunplay is incredibly weighty and innovative with the different weapons and ways to use them and modify them. The selection of different difficulties and the large difference they make in the game as well as the different gameplay modes that feel like you have 3 different games entirely, topped off with a hidden moral system that leads to 2 separate endings give the game so much replayability which I have used to it's fullest potential. The stealth is very well done and compliments the atmosphere perfectly.

I literally have 0 complaints about Metro 2033. In my eyes, it's a perfect game and one everybody should try. I could write paragraphs and paragraphs of every little detail of the game, how the Librarians are some of the most well crafted horror game enemies in all of gaming, just how detailed and interactive the world in this game is. But at the end of the day, the less said the better, the game deserves to be experienced, not read about it. It's a perfect game. Play it. Do it.

Archaic and simplistic in design, but it's the simplicity that makes it so fun. Wolf 3D is FPS games distilled down to the absolute basics. As far as gameplay goes, you get to shoot nazis, shoot some more nazis, shoot zombie nazis, shoot nazi dogs and then shoot some more nazis. Occasionally you shoot Hitler (Mecha Nazi). Also find some keys, open some doors. You know, the basics.

Despite being essentially the first FPS, the shooting is incredibly satisfying, enemies blow up into piles of gore, the chaingun sounds chunky and deadly and clears rooms out like nothing. All good fun.

To get around the archaic nature of the game and bring it somewhat closer to this century, definitely download ECWolf. Having built in strafing is a godsend because this game is hard as ♥♥♥♥. Automapping is also a godsend because some of the map designs are downright diabolical.

Completing the game on the hardest difficulties is probably up there in the top 5 most difficult but satisfying gaming accomplishments I have under my belt.

♥♥♥♥ 6-7 and 6-8 man.

Honestly did not enjoy as much as the first Call of Juarez despite this one seeming to be the more appreciated game. For the first half and some change of the game I was honestly pretty bored, it was just a by the books janky shooter with underwhelming story, characters, direction and gameplay. It introduces a handful of mechanics which would be cool if they were ever able to be used effectively or outside highly specific, linear scenarios.

For example, one playable character's whole kit is essentially built around stealth, but outside of the stealth tutorial, guess how many times you can utilize it effectively. Once, on the second to last level. That's it. Pretty much any other time in the game the enemy is pre-alerted to you or at best you will get one or 2 unalerted kills before all hell breaks loose which is essentially useless when 2 bullets get the job done just as well.

Outside of that, you can also use your lasso to climb surfaces, could have been cool in practice but outside of linear sections, when are you ever allowed to use it? Never. As for the other playable character, he really doesn't have anything special to him, he is a pure run and gun character, but is also the best choice for pure loadout and fun. Outside of story preferences, you don't really have any reason not to play as him. He is the only character that can dual wield pistols which is by far the most effective weapon loadout in the game, especially when the pistols have speed loaders after the first few levels. You can basically hold W and mow down everything in your path without breaking a sweat, even on hard difficulty.

What's unfortunate is that I recall the first game having a lot more flexibility for sandbox style gameplay. As I recall, when you played as Billy pretty much every level was able to be played through in full stealth or at least close to it. It just really feels like a step back.

The level design picks up a little bit and paces the action better (faster lol) in the last few chapters in the game, but by then it's nowhere near as satisfying as it should be because the first 4-5 hours were just a slog.

The combat is clunky and dated, but it is no less fun to just walk through town and mow down enemies with your dual wielded pistols. The game does do that very well at the very least. If you want to feel like a badass pistol toting desperado, you will definitely get it from this, but why you would choose it over contemporaries like Gun or Red Dead Revolver? I'm not really sure. Maybe if you played them all already like myself.

I don't necessarily NOT recommend Bound in Blood, but it is a very soft recommendation if you're looking for this exact vibe and have exhausted your other options. It definitely does some things pretty well but it just never really gets past feeling mediocre, especially when played after the first one which to me felt much more fleshed out, or Gunslinger which is just an amazingly underrated game.

Pretty good, probably not necessary for the "Remedyverse" though, at least from what I've gathered, it is marginally canon at best.

The gameplay is much improved over Alan Wake 1 though, there is a much larger selection of weapons, they all feel a little bit better and Alan is a bit more nimble. All culminates in a very good feeling action game. My biggest complaint of the gameplay loop is the same complaint I had for Alan Wake 1, which is that much of the story is obscured by collectibles which break up the pacing of the game. Unfortunately, that means a collectible guide is pretty recommended, which is never a good look for a game.

Outside of that though, the story is actually pretty solid. The side characters you meet all have their own charm, Mr. Scratch is a fantastic villain and the live action cutscenes throughout the game add a lot and look great.

Arcade mode is also pretty fun if you like the combat of Alan Wake, it puts exploration and story to the sidelines and gives you different arenas to survive in with built in scoring and goals. They aren't an unlimited horde mode as much as they are a score attack mode. Getting 3 stars on all the levels is pretty fun.

If you can grab American Nightmare for cheap it would be a steal.

Similar to part 2, not at all a big challenge. It's actually easier than the main game, just like the 1st DLC. This package relies more on trial and error than actual problem solving skills. Think "which server contains files actually valuable to me?", once you have discovered that through trial and error, you can breeze through this DLC with no issues at all. Story was essentially non-existent. Not the challenging DLC I was hoping for.

Other developers could learn a thing or 2 from Warhorse offering these as optional. Gives audiophiles the option to run the game with hi-fi sound while still providing the ability to not include the hi-fi sound in the download to keep space usage lower if it is a commodity for you. Great implementation. The voice acting is some of the best ever included in a Western RPG.

Other developers could learn a thing or 2 from Warhorse offering these as optional. Gives audiophiles the option to run the game with hi-fi sound while still providing the ability to not include the hi-fi sound in the download to keep space usage lower if it is commodity for you. Great implementation and fantastic audio work, the game's soundscape is incredibly immersive with or without this DLC, the DLC just makes it even more so.

$4 is an absurd price for this DLC considering the chests and loot are already in the game and all it adds is the maps that show how to find it. The maps were very straight forward and pretty easy to find, took me maybe 20 minutes when you cut out the travel time in between points. $4 for a 20 min scavenger hunt is just an incredibly steep price.

The armor itself does look really nice and is useful to avoid repair costs as it all repairs for a 10th of a groschen regardless of condition, but that isn't the reason to get this as you can just look up the locations on a wiki for it. So buying purely for the adventure aspect of using the treasure maps, it's a hard no unless you can get it for a dollar or less on sale.