Recent reviews by Azralynn

Visage is truly a horror and psycological horror game that is in a better state in early access than MANY others of the genre that are fully released.

See my full live streamed gameplay here: https://youtu.be/vPgt18ZI9VU

• crazy messed up cut scenes that make you think "WTF?!" and make you want to learn more about the story
  
• super immersive creepy atmosphere that keeps you on edge throughout the entire game
  
• jumpscares are done extremely well, and are not over-used or predictable
  
• explorative gameplay to find key items and figure out what to do next is implemented well (some things are a little hidden, but not so obscure that you wouldn't think to check there)
  
• the music, ambience, and sound effects are incredible

• some items feel too plentiful at times and others feel too scarce, and with the very limited inventory space, you can't really stock up on supplies; thus, you need to remember where they were when you finally do make space, and backtrack to get them
  
• while the price of the game may seem like a bit much for the current time to beat (2-3 hours), those hours feel really long when you are scared

• the voice acting could be better, and volume for said dialog is too quiet
  
• [nitpick] items you are carrying sometimes get caught on the terrain and sort of rubberband while you hold them
  
• [bug] items in the inventory were not usable, and a reload was required, this only happened once (acceptable for early access imo)

Visage is a damn good game, that I expect any fan of horror/psychological horror would enjoy. Visage oozes with this terrifyingly tense atmosphere. The fear is instilled moreso with the atmosphere, and fear of the unknown more than traditional jumpscares, and it does an amazing job with it. On top of the rich atmosphere, the well-placed and well-timed jumpscares literally had me screaming on multiple ocassions. Unlike a lot of other horror games that just rely solely on jumpscares, Visage genuinely made me feel scared from just the atmosphere alone, and throwing in the quality jumpscares had me feeling completely stressed out at times (which was awesome!) I can't wait for them to put more content in, as there were many locations that weren't available yet.

Call of Cthulhu is a Lovecraftian game with a strong focus on character dialog and interaction, exploration and detective work, as well as creating a creepy and a sometimes tense and horrific atmosphere.

Check out my live gameplay here: https://youtu.be/T3afXA6zCio https://youtu.be/mWq7DyImwE4

While I have played a couple Lovecraftian horror games, I am not familiar with the work of HP Lovecraft outside of said games. Skip to bottom for conclusion.

• very interesting lore, that can really suck you into the story
  
• excellent immersive atmosphere that persists throughout the game, both visually and audibly
  
• absolutely fantastic ambiance, the sound effects are solid all around, and most of the voice acting is pretty good
  
• environments look and feel great; very creepy, lots of ominous overtones, and some awesome gruesome things
  
• rewarding exploration as you learn about the town, and lore
  
• there are different ways that things can play out depending on player choices throughout the game, which may increase replay value
  
• good horror elements here and there, not only the tense atmosphere, but some well placed jumpcares too

• you don't need to know anything about HP Lovecraft's works to play or enjoy this game
  
• full playthrough took me roughly 8 hours (talking to everyone fully, and attempting to collect all the things),
  
• RPG elements do play a role, and there are some things you can or can't do depending on your skills
  
• died a lot in a stealth area where it felt like trial and error was necessary
  
• load times can be long (using an M.2)

• character lip syncing is really bad, and the character animations could be better - this can certainly hurt the immersion if you can't or won't look past it
  
• some frame rate drops - I really only noticed in one area: the harbour in a later chapter was VERY sluggish, but it didn't freeze/skip - Max settings with Win10, 32GB RAM, i7 6700k, GTX 1070TI
  
• [bug] on two separate occasions objects/dialogs became unclickable for no reason, forcing reloads to be required to progress; upon reload, one of the objects became permanently unclickable, but it was merely a note that was thankfully not required to progress
  
• [nitpick] some gameplay is overly linear (i.e. found an object, couldn't take it, knew I would need it, and figured out what to do, but couldn't until talking to a specific person first, to allow me to pick up and use said object)

Call of Cthulhu's varied gameplay may not appeal to everyone. If you are interested in character dialog and interaction, AND exploration and detective work, AND its horror elements, it's definitely a game worth playing. Call of Cthulhu is by no means a perfect game, and while the negatives mentioned above were bothersome at times, they weren't enough to hinder my overall enjoyment of the game. I really liked the game, its mixture of gameplay, and the Lovecraftian lore. With that being said, the imperfections, and the length of the game are cause for pause, and waiting for a sale price is advisable.

Full live stream of the game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxUSRPXivfk

• interesting story
  
• crazy, unique, and bizarre enemy/boss types
  
• spoopy atmosphere, with a few good jump scares that got me pretty good

• it's an older game, so expect dated graphics that not everyone will enjoy
  
• poor lip sync, and sometimes lackluster voice performance
  
• no auto-saves, and you can only save at specific locations - at times they were spaced fine, but a few times a couple more locations would have been nice to prevent backtracking

• constantly crashes when alt-tabbing and also during loading, not to mention the very long load times (even running on an M.2) - after installing a fan-made patch, the crashes seemed to be much less frequent though
  
• constantly experiences game freezing when trying to save, load, or anytime a cutscene is about to start playing, as well as some other random frame drops here and there (Win10, GTX 1070 TI, i7-6700k, 32GB RAM)
  
• the audio is sometimes broken, and you can only hear it in mono instead of stereo; on top of that the soundtrack just feels very awkward and out of place during many of the dialog scenes
  
• combat feels incredibly sluggish and clunky, and it can be extremely frustrating on some of the encounters; this frustration can be even further amplified due to the VERY limited health and ammo in some areas

Seriously, whatever you do, do not play this on PC. The PC port is absolutely terrible. I am almost positive that I would have enjoyed it FAR more had I played on console. That being said, even without the sheer brokenness of the PC port, this game is bound to infuriate some people with the combat.

I regret backing this on Kickstarter. I even waited a few weeks for fixes, but there's no fixing this game.

I managed to force myself to play for just over 5 hours (which was 3+ hours longer than I initially wanted to stop). IT WAS AGONY indeed...

If you want to see my live gameplay before I got so frustrated and annoyed that I quit and immediately uninstalled, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFeYtKOjjuM

I liked Q.U.B.E., I liked the Director's Cut of Q.U.B.E. more than Q.U.B.E. and I liked this Q.U.B.E. 2 way more than both of those games.

See my full live gameplay walkthrough here: https://youtu.be/dE2-QtyvgzM
Pros:
-fun puzzles, and unique puzzle mechanics
-good learning curve, where the difficulty increases as the game progresses and combines mechanics in the end
-great audio: voice acting, music, and sound effects were all done very well
-graphics are very good - nice environments and visuals
-solid level design

Neutral:
-while the puzzles are enjoyable, they aren't super difficult (this is subjective of course)

Cons:
-[nitpick] lacks replay value - no way to just load individual chapters after finishing the game, or have any sort of speed challenges or anything for the different puzzles

While it's not an insanely challenging puzzle game that will leave you stumped for hours by any means, it is certainly an enjoyable puzzle experience with a thought prvoking narrative, that is absolutely worth a play through.

See written review below or watch it here: https://youtu.be/eoZrhhJ8mn0

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is an atmospheric adventure experience that journeys into madness. You play as a viking warrior named Senua, and you are trying to save the soul of your lover from the clutches of the underworld. You hear voices in your head and they intensify, and grow more frequent; the psychosis gets more and more severe, the deeper into Helheim you go. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but the story is outstanding. I loved the way the story developed, and I was fascinated by the Norse mythology.

Hellblade is a very interactive experience. A lot of the gameplay throughout Hellblade is walking around, climbing, exploring, watching cinematics, and listening to dialog. There are also several pseudo-puzzles where you’ll need to match up patterns with their corresponding shapes in the actual environment. I don’t really consider them puzzles, but rather more like eye-spy’s. I didn’t mind the mechanic for the most part, but it gets repetitive.

There are extended periods where you will not encounter any enemies at all, but there is a significant amount of combat throughout the game. Very early on in the game, you die, and the darkness takes hold of you, and every time you die, this rot of darkness spreads further. The game tells you that when the rot gets to your head, that you will die permanently. This perceived threat of permadeath is ever present, and it makes the combat feel very intense and quite enjoyable.

The frequency of combat increases as the game progresses. The combat system is very simple, but I still found it extremely satisfying. The combat is fast-paced, and does require some timing. All of the attacks are clearly choreographed, so it’s just a matter of learning what to expect and reacting accordingly. You only have two attacks, light and heavy, and then you can dodge or block. A well-timed block allows you parry and swiftly counter attack the enemy. As the game progresses, more enemy types are introduced, and the number of enemies you fight at one increases.

As you fight, you build up focus. This focus allows you to activate your focus ability, which drastically slows your enemies movements. This ability is really awesome, and it’s extremely helpful when fighting multiple enemies, and is necessary for defeating some enemy types. The boss fights are crazy, and each boss encounter is completely unique, and the bosses are badass. There was one boss that I struggled with, but I think that was largely my own fault for not staying in the proper area while fighting the boss. The combat feels very intense, and the threat of death is ever present which makes it quite enjoyable.

• immensely immersive atmosphere and excellent story that keeps you enthralled from start to finish
  
• the graphics are stunningly gorgeous: the world as a whole is truly magnificent - everything from breathtakingly beautiful landscapes to the grotesque areas of Helheim provide a visual treat all around
  
• impeccable character design: the main character animations are absolutely fantastic the main protagonist looks and feels so real, and the emotions she conveys really makes you form a connection with her, and care about the characters and the events in the story
  
• the enemy designs are awesome, especially the gruesome and creepy-looking bosses with well choreographed attacks
  
• the perceived threat of permadeath is ever present, and it makes the combat feel very intense and quite enjoyable despite its simplicity (this may not be the case for some)
  
• soundtrack and ambience are spectacular, and the binaural audio is implemented extremely well - it feels like the voices are talking to you from different directions, and the constant voices in your head bickering amongst each other really screw with you (These voice telling you what to do, and what not to do simultaneously creating both doubt and confidence in the player giving you this perpetual state of uncertainty as you play.)
  
• the voice acting is terrific; the conversations feel authentic, and even though the voices in your head speak so often, they don't feel repetitive
  
• performance is solid (Win10, GTX 1070, i7-6700k, 32GB RAM)
  
• controls are fully customizable, and there is full controller support

• combat is simplistic, and may feel repetitive at times (this won't be an issue for some)
  
• repetitive "puzzles" that are more like Eye-Spy's can get a bit tedious

The game took me about 7.5 hours to complete, but I did miss a few of the runes that tell you about some of the lore. The linear story doesn’t necessarily need to be replayed, but the game is so good that I can definitely see some people wanting to replay it.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a fantastic game and experience. Although the action increases as the game progresses, just don’t expect it to be mainly focused around combat. With that being said, I highly recommend this game to anyone looking to experience some fun, yet simple combat, an excellent, immersive story, and a gorgeous world that is sure to wow you. Hellblade is a work of art, and it has the quality of a AAA game at a very reasonable price. Hellblade is really something special. I absolutely loved the game, and frankly, I would have been perfectly ok spending a bit more on it.

If you like my reviews, please feel free to join my Steam group, and follow my curations here.
You can also view this review on my website here.[www.azralynn.com]

See written review below or watch it here: https://youtu.be/cC2aXk3ANOw

You are sent to Tacoma space station to investigate the crew that lived and worked on the station, and what happened to them when faced with disaster. You learn about each character on the station, and even a bit about how their lives were back on Earth. I found it was a good balance of detail, plenty to help me get to know each character, but not so much as to become tedious.

The bulk of the gameplay is watching and listening to the crew member’s past interactions with each other as it’s presented using the station’s 3D surveillance system, and see how the characters develop and how the story plays out. Different crew members interactions run parallel to one another. It’s pretty neat to see the story from different perspectives, and make use of the rewind and fast-forward to make sure you don’t miss out on any details.

The rest of the gameplay entails moving around the station, reading documents and other correspondences, and interacting with just about any object you’d like to. There are some clues you will need to find to unlock specific door codes, but there’s not much in the way of difficulty.

• good, genuine characters and good character development
  
• a great story, that is thoroughly enjoyable and is sure to have you invested in it
  
• unique storytelling mechanic where character conversations are happening in parallel to one another, and you can pause, rewind, and fast-forward it
  
• the environments look great, and the animated characters being faceless coloured models are presented well, and fit nicely with the story
  
• the music and sound effects are all done very well
  
• the characters feel genuine, and the voice acting is excellent throughout the game
  
• the keybindings are fully customizable and there is full controller support

• (nitpick) a bit on the short side with (~2 hours) for the price, and as far as the replay value goes, aside from going back for missed achievements, there isn’t really any

Tacoma is all about its characters and the overall story. I find the price tag a little hefty for how short it is, but the game is a quality product. If you enjoy walking simulators, especially ones that provide good, and immersive story experiences, then you’ll likely enjoy Tacoma.

If you like my reviews, please feel free to join my Steam group, and follow my curations here.
You can also view this review on my website here.[www.azralynn.com]

See written review below or watch it here: https://youtu.be/ylafRyb4Whc

I purchased this game from Green Man Gaming.

You wake up in this gorgeous world without any clear objectives. As you explore, and progress through the world, you learn about the story along the way. The story is told visually with animated projections. I love the way the story is told. With the game having absolutely no dialog or text, I admit that did feel a little uncertain about some of the details along the way, but overall I liked the story.

The gameplay is largely that of a walking simulator with a focus on exploring the world and solving various puzzles to progress. The world can be explored freely, and to get the most out of Aporia, I definitely suggest exploring thoroughly. If you don’t, you might miss out on some of the story elements. I liked the exploration, but I regret not saving the game prior to hitting the point of no return because now I can’t go back to explore the island further.

You have a tube of glowing liquid that’s required for unlocking doors, and growing vines to climb. This fluid is consumed when you use it, so you’ll need to keep refilling by finding more supply around the world.

As far as the puzzles go, some of the puzzles might make you stop and think for a bit, but overall they aren’t very difficult. There really aren’t that many puzzles either, so I was hoping for there to be more, but Aporia seems to focus more on creating an immersive world to enjoy rather than throwing an abundance of puzzles at you.

• good story with lovely visual story telling with animated projections
  
• the environments are diverse and immersive with absolutely gorgeous and stunning visuals
  
• fantastic ambience and superb soundtrack that sets a very calming and relaxing mood where you can just sit back and enjoy the world
  
• performance is excellent
  
• full controller support

• with the game having absolutely no dialog or text, some details of the story might not be
  
• (nitpick) some people will want more (and/or more difficult) puzzles
  
• (nitpick) keyboard controls are not customizable (WASD, F, Ctrl, Space, Mouse)

The game took me about 4 hours, and as long as you explore thoroughly, there isn’t much in the way of replay value unless you want to just bask in the game’s beauty.

Aporia: Beyond the Valley is a good game, and I expect those enjoy walking around, exploring, and soaking in a beautiful immersive world would like Aporia. With that being said, I personally would have liked a lot more puzzles, so I’m glad I got Aporia at a sale price.

If you like my reviews, please feel free to join my Steam group, and follow my curations here.
You can also view this review on my website here.[www.azralynn.com]

See written review below or watch it here: https://youtu.be/mEzD0QorMmo

You play as a thief who’s battling against rival thieves and gangs to claim victory by taking control of the city. You need your wits to scout out the area, and strategize your moves each turn. The single player campaign has a bit of a story, and the objectives on each map play into it.

In every match you’ll need to build and manage an economy. The currencies you earn are gold and lanterns. Lanterns allow you to purchase bribes for victory points, as well as purchase upgrades in your guild house. Once you unlock various skills such as urchins or gangs, you can then use gold you’ve earned to recruit more goons to use. You are limited to how many of each type of goon you can have, and some of them are only able useable once, like the assassin.

You will need to scout around the town with your master thief, and from there you can choose whether you want to blackmail the churches, burgal for jewels or gold, or fulfill assassination contracts to earn victory points. To win the game, you will need earn the required number of victory points before your opponent. You can also murder enemy gangs, and evict enemy urchins to seize control of their territory. There are sometimes mandatory objectives you’ll need to complete, while other times, the objectives are optional.

There are different maps available, and there are random factors in each game when it comes to building and enemy spawn locations. The different buildings each give unique bonuses, and having access to one type of building might make you alter your playstyle for that game slightly until you’re able to scout more and create a more diverse economy. For example, someone with an orphanage might try to expand quicker to make use of having cheaper urchins, while someone with a tavern who can make cheaper thugs might work on buffing up their gang more.

As for the online multiplayer, there are two modes available. The first is a casual multiplayer mode. In this mode games can play out over several days, and you have as much time as you need to do each turn. In casual mode, players can choose to be notified by email when it’s their turn.

The second multiplayer mode is a live mode. In this mode, both players are on a timer for each of their turns. Players need to think and act quickly to outwit their opponent. I do prefer the live games over the casual ones since I enjoy the faster style of gameplay, but I think the casual mode is great for keeping people coming back to the game. As for the time you are given, it feels like enough time to plan things out without it dragging on too much in between turns.

• fun, turn-based strategy gameplay with some economy management
  
• good faster-paced live multiplayer that they can be completed in a single sitting (usually 30-45 minutes), instead of taking hours or even days like some other turn-based strategy games
  
• nice, slower-paced casual multiplayer where you can play 4 games simultaneously
  
• you can set up custom rulesets to play skirmishes against the AI, or PvP in local multiplayer
  
• the story for the main campaign is fine, and has a good narrative
  
• the graphics are great - the maps are nice looking, and the fog of war is implemented well; the characters and their animations are good, as well as adorable
  
• the voicing for the narrative is excellent, the soundtrack is superb, and the sound effects are all done well
  
• good replay value with the live, casual, and local multiplayer modes

• (nitpick) no keybindings for the gameplay, or any form of mouse customization, and there is no controller support (all of the actions are done with only the mouse)
  
• (nitpick) hardcore veterans of turn-based strategy games may want more difficulty or complexity

The game took me about 4.5 hours on normal difficulty. Normal mode isn’t too difficult; I’m not super awesome at strategy, but I only had trouble on a couple levels. There were a few times where the AI did some predictable things, but overall I can’t really complain about the AI. Hard mode would probably be recommended for those who are decent with strategy games though. While I haven’t had any issues finding matches so far, the size of playerbase isn’t that large, so it might be harder to find live matches in off-peak hours.

Overall, Antihero is a fun, and adorable turn-based strategy game. Whether you just want to play the single player campaign, practice against the AI, play locally, or delve into live or casual PvP, Antihero is a solid pick-up for those looking for an enjoyable turn-based game that isn't overly complex.

If you like my reviews, please feel free to join my Steam group, and follow my curations here.
You can also view this review on my website here.[www.azralynn.com]

See written review below or watch it here: https://youtu.be/n8Zooz3xTxE

You are searching for your brother who seems to have vanished into thin air. While looking for information, you stumble across an ancient brotherhood that protects a powerful object called the Eye of Basir. I don’t want to give away too many details, but as the story developed, there was the potential for the game to really delve into the supernatural, and psychological horror.

The gameplay feels like that of a walking simulator. The atmosphere may be a little spooky at times, but the game’s attempts at jump scares fall flat. As you play, you will need to find and interact with objects in order to trigger events. You can only interact with the specific items that are intended for immediate use, and you wind up having to do a lot of backtracking to trigger events before you can progress.

On the Steam store page, the game claims to have “difficult puzzles,” but frankly, the “puzzles” are a complete joke. You use an item to view the world a slightly differently, but the majority of the game feels more like a series of fetch quests and item search rather than anything else, and it’s not particularly engaging or enjoyable. I don’t consider walking to pick up an item, and then taking an item to interact with something else to be a challenge at all.

• the environments look decent
  
• the voice acting for the narrative is okay
  
• the music is good, and the ambience is decent enough, and the atmosphere is sometimes spooky

• puzzles are practically nonexistent despite the game advertising "difficult puzzles"
  
• lots of backtracking since you need to trigger items/events to progress (for example, in one part in the game, you need to input a 4-digit code, and even though you find the code from a hint, you are forced to do several other tasks before you can actually use the code)
  
• the story never takes advantage of the opportunities to venture further into the supernatural/psychological horror elements, and the story overall winds up being somewhat bland
  
• (nitpick) some minor texture issues, poor anti-aliasing, and some invisible walls that seriously hurt the immersion; the game also lacks basic graphic and audio options aside from just changing the resolution - this lack of options wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn't for some of the lense flare effects being sometimes blinding, and the blurry vision effects being distracting at times
  
• (nitpick) the controls are not customizable (WASD, F, shift, M1, M2), and there is only partial controller support right now

The game took me about 2 hours to complete, but there were lots of times where I had to backtrack to click on a specific item, or walk a certain way for events to trigger properly.

No70: Eye of Basir aspires to be so much more than it actually is. The “puzzles” are nonexistent, the “unique atmosphere” isn’t anything special, and while the psychological horror elements had some potential, they failed to come to fruition. No70: Eye of Basir isn’t a terrible game, but it’s mediocre at best.

If you like my reviews, please feel free to join my Steam group, and follow my curations here.
You can also view this review on my website here.[www.azralynn.com]