Recent reviews by EatChildren

All wrapped up!. My overall impression, as a very passive Dragon Age enjoyer (and not really a 'fan'), is positive. I had a really good time thanks to the game's strengths and generally well rounded, polished, and mostly complete, content rich journey that ends on a fairly spectacular and well executed high.

For context on the Dragon Age fandon thing: I thought Origins was neat but also wildly uneven and not anywhere near as amazing as the big Dragon Age fans feel, and I say that as someone who grew up with and love CRPGs. But I was also never a big fan of Baldur's Gate either. DA2 had good ideas but was clearly rushed and unfinished and lacking focused direction as a follow up to its predecessor. I had a great time with Inquisition and it was my solid "knock off from work and wind down" game at the time. In short, I'm not really a "BioWare fan" in general, with exception to Mass Effect, KOTOR, and Jade Empire. And even then, KOTOR2 was the better of the two!

So, with that in mind, if I had to quickly scattershot my pros and cons:

Pros:
- Ultimately I actually liked the entire cast, and it's in part due to how much work BioWare put into the content available to each. They do, for most part, feel fully formed, and characters I thought would be very annoying turned out to be not. But this is usually how it goes with BioWare casts; I have a bunch of feelings at the start and once I'm done with everyone's narrative arc and exhausted their dialogue I feel there's strength in there. Yes, even Andromeda's side characters (except maybe Cora). And yes, even James in Mass Effect 3. When all was said and done here, I liked everyone in their own ways.
- Thematically earnest in some of the themes it explores. Even with my grievances with how some of it is presented (language used, surface level depth, dissonance with the series tone, etc), I'm not going to knock BioWare for taking some earnest ideas and running with them, even if I felt they could have explored them deeper.
- Very pretty and technically accomplished use of Frostbite. Not entirely sold on the new art direction but it still made for pretty characters and pretty locations and maybe the least buggy use of Frostbite ever.
- Tons of variety in locations, especially for side quests and explorable locations. Expected a lot more asset reuse and location recycling and honestly never felt it. The content on offer is impressively large and varied with a great attention to detail in the presentation.
- Satisfying combat that feels punchy, weighty, and dynamic in a way that I'm sure annoys the ♥♥♥♥ out of Origins fans but, if I'm being honest, was a lot of fun to play. Never hits Mass Effect 3's highs but you can see that team's DNA in there.

Cons:
- Saccharine tones to the character writing, dialogue, and narrative that too often presents like young adult fiction for my taste, and appears actively avoidant towards exploring complex, challenging themes in favour of a heavy focus on personal emotional discovery and catharsis and one dimensional representation of heroes and villains.
- Enormous volume of side content, particularly companions, while welcome, inevitably leads to a pacing imbalance between the main narrative and optional stuff.
- Combat shows you almost everything you'll see in the first 1/4th of the game or so and from then out it's repetitive encounter design (if still fun).
- Combat issues like a horrendous camera and lock on if you're not in an open area.
- Clumsiness in the pacing, seemingly unfinished/undercooked arcs, and the odd crack here and there that is demonstrative of a game that was stuck in dev hell for a decade.
- Majority of the OST didn't land for me. There's some solid tracks in there but they're a minority for my taste.
- Most of Harding's writing and performance.
- Stupid dumb post credits stinger that also sounds dumb.

I can sympathise with hardcore Dragon Age fans who felt Veilguard missed the mark in a number of ways, even if I'm not one of those fans. I get it, and can feel what is meant by the complaints, and to many extents resonate with my own. I do have grievances with BioWare's tonal shift in writing and how it feels surface level and lacking meaningful friction to truly compel me, and it's not how BioWare has always written. I do feel the game is absolutely chock full of stuff that is evidence it had a hurricane development cycle, and I feel for what was changed or cut or redirected or just couldn't get in.

But that being said, I think even if this is the best-case-scenario of whatever the Dragon Age team were sitting on, it's pretty damn solid and I had a really good time. It, by and large, feels more complete, polished (at least technically and mechanically), well presented, and evenly enjoyable to play than a BioWare game in a long time. I'm glad I committed myself to it and saw it through, and I felt compelled to complete all the content and see what BioWare had to offer. It ended on a well produced high and I enjoyed most of the journey getting there. Would I feel different if I were a hardcore Dragon Age fan? Probably.

Is it "return to form" BioWare? I don't know, because I think "return to form" for BioWare means many different things to different people. In the simplest terms, I do think it's a "return to form" for BioWare, in the sense of making a game that I didn't feel was wrestling with technical or production issues (see: Andromeda), or felt woefully undercooked (see: Anthem), or just generally misguided and uneven in vision and execution (see: both Andromeda and Anthem). Veilguard is miles from perfect but it was a solid romp with a lot of stuff to see and do and well meaning intentions, and the most consistent fun I've had with a BioWare game since Mass Effect 3.

A remarkably strong reimagining. Bloober anchored themselves on the roots of Silent Hill 2, took from it the key ingredients, and wrapped their reimagining in their own prose seemingly without intent to replace the past or gaudily mimic it. In the same way that a book may be adapted to film multiple times and, with each iteration, take on new forms influenced by the creators vision, Bloober's focus here seems to present their own take on the material.

Knowing that you could never really, truly replicate the era specific prose, technology, and design language, that both intentionally and unintentionally give Silent Hill 2 its timeless identity, Bloober's vision is the best of both worlds: all the right ingredients to show care towards identifying what makes Silent Hill 2 tick, but confident enough to build upon, from, and into it to make for what often feels like an entirely new experience.

And in the end, unexpectedly, we've got two things: a remarkably true to spirit reimagining of Silent Hill 2 in all its greatness, and a genuinely good, fresh, modern Silent Hill game by its own merits.

The Unreal Engine 5 warts dampen the experience, and the subjectivity of stutter will differ wildly based on taste, personal thresholds, and hardware. And while I obviously would have preferred strong technical consistency, the engine faults just aren't enough for me to hold back a recommendation.

INDIKA, or How I Learned to Abandon Faith and Hate Myself.

Okay, that's a bit reductive, but the spirit (pun intended) is there. INDIKA tells a story of personal worth, and identity, and challenging both while constrained by society, our relationships, God, faith, gender norms, civilisation versus nature, and everything in between, and namely the price we pay, or don't pay, in pursuit of confronting the Self. Or if we do play a price, does it have any value if the economy doesn't exist? And is there meaning to be found in absence?

I think the less said about INDIKA, the better. Where it fumbles most is in keeping itself mechanically engaging. Expect a lot of walk-and-talk and small handful of rudimentary puzzle solving, with cheeky gimmicks wrapped in for good measure. On one hand, elegant simplicity works best when a production is constrained by budget and size, and I think Odd Meter have done the best they could with what they've got. That sounds dismissive, but it's not supposed to be. To its credit, puzzles rarely outstay they're welcome. Each is used sparingly rather than repeated. But it does lead to a game that is mechanically minimalist in its engagement, and quite rudimentary, versus simple-but-inventive. If that makes sense. You've 'played' this stuff before.

But where INDIKA excels is in its quirky, self aware presentation and prose. It's unexpectedly funny amidst the drab, dire premise, and at no compromise to meaningfulness and brevity where needed most. It's narratively not what I expected, and I mean that as a compliment. I think there's a deliberate, conscious method of prose being used here to inflict absurdity and surrealism as a diversion from the raw truth of the narrative and what's really beating at its heart. It's conscious of you, the player. It's conscious of being a video game. And it's conscious of how to use these facets as a strength deliver it's story.

It's the ending that really brings it all together, one that seems sudden, as if it's missing something. But when you realise, well, that's the point, the brevity is felt and the strength of everything leading up to that moment is felt at its most profound. There's some really clever stuff leading up to and nailing the climax, and I think the devs should celebrate that achievement.

Very excited for whatever comes next from Odd Meter. Thumbs up.

While I'm still early on the PC port, I've played through the game already on my PlayStation, and Ghost of Tsushima is easily one of my favourite new AAA titles to come out of a major publisher in a long while.

It might present as a Samurai/Ninja game, but functionally it's, intentional or not, a spiritual successor to the Arkham series. While Rocksteady went in a different direction (and Warner....well, you know), Ghost of Tsushima embraces Arkham's DNA of multifaceted gameplay systems and encounter states seamlessly, organically blending together and, by and large, at the behest of the player's agency. What I mean by this is that the Arkham series' highs were that the stealth, combat, and traversal were all tight, fun, and exciting by their own merits. All made use if various gadgets, tools, and abilities to enhance the moment-to-moment experience. And, more importantly, the game actively encouraged you to transition between gameplay states at your own behest. In a single stretch of short play in Arkham you could go from soaring over Gotham, diving into a perch, beating up dudes, smoke bomb, escape, transition to stealth, and use tools to methodically take down the pack. All without the game disconnecting to a cutscene or forcing you to play a particular way.

Ghost of Tsushima is exactly that. The combat is fun. The stealth is fun. The traversal is fun. And the game routinely lets you play however you want, and swap in and out of encounter types and gameplay states however you wish. This is further supplemented by controls, input response time, and feedback that seems, for most part, to be function-first over animation priority. While I love games like Red Dead Redemption 2, these titles emphasise immersion through meticulous, realistic animations for every little thing you do. Ghost of Tsushima is still animated very well, but puts responsiveness first at the cost of long, self indulgent animation chains, resulting in controls and feedback that is punchy, satisfying, and instantly gratifying. And a lot of this feeds into basic Quality of Life stuff, like how exactly you pick up objects with a a tap of the trigger, or how you interact with and navigate environments.

The end result is a game that's just perfectly buttery and friendly to play. You can play for 10 minutes or 10 hours and most of your time spent in either scenario feels earned and valued. Don't get me wrong, the map collectables do get repetitive, and the last area is oddly thin in content compared to the first two. But a lot of this stuff is just like...easy-to-improve-in-a-sequel and still very good for a first outing in a new series. It's just a damn fun game to play.

And I really like the story. I think Jin Sakai is one of the most earnest, wholesome, positive male protagonists in video games. He is soft, gentle, and caring, but not at a compromise to his own independence and confidence. Instead, this is a foundational theme of the story, that challenges Jin to confront his past failings and self doubt, with an uncertain future that challenges his preconceived notions of honour and duty. He must break the cycle of tradition and norms that are holding Japan back, in order for Japan to triumph, and in doing so must face criticism from traditionalists without losing the earnest, honest part of himself and his genuine care for others.

Also it's gorgeous and the soundtrack is amazing and it's loaded with smart audio and visual cues that guide gameplay systems instead of obnoxious menu icons and pop-ups. It's weirdly zen and relaxing while thrilling and exciting at the same time. Peaceful and visceral. It's a gem across the board.

My short time with the PC build so far has dug up a couple of annoying bugs. Framegen introduces weird edge smearing whenever the depth of field kicks in, often during cutscenes (I think the smearing might be from the black letterbox bars). And there's a bug that can fudge the "hold Y" during standoffs. But it otherwise seems to be a really solid port.

Not much else to say. Ghost of Tsushima is just one of those games that hit a magical sweet spot for me on the PS4, where I was a little jaded at how hard Sony has doubled down on cinematic-first bootleg-HBO games, and then along comes this that is tight, lean, and gameplay first in all the ways it probably didn't need to be and would have gotten away with it. And I admire Sucker Punch for sticking to their convictions and making a game that is, first and foremost, an absolute blast to ~play~, and then wrapping great presentation around that.

Great concept. Easy to understand puzzling rules that require minimal complex input (the entire game can be controlled with the mouse) but at no cost to abstract thinking. You are, essentially, tasked with mastering navigation of 3D environments using your bullet, maximising your kill efficiency (based on distance and hit location), timing your special powers, and positioning your ballistic in such a way that you can iron out special enemy types.

As said, very basic concept that's handled very well; just the right simplicity to be easy to learn, yet enough depth to maintain interest in the long term.

My only grievance (other than selfishly wanting more content!) is that I think the last level, while a climax, is also a fairly significant difficulty spike and regresses the flow of puzzle solving to a fairly trite trial-and-error. Especially if you kinda suck like me. Because there aren't really any emergent factors of the game. It's not like fighting a boss over and over where understanding and learning is half the battle, and reactivity to how it fights each time is another. The level plays out the same way every single time, as it should as a puzzler, but with a high difficulty failures equate to a fairly boring repetition of play.

But that's just a minor grievance and specific to my own skill level and what I perceived as an end game spike. Otherwise the game's good, simple ♥♥♥♥ that's strong on paper and in execution. I'm not going to stick with the game to master leaderboards. But I'm glad it's there, and the it was worth my time nevertheless.

People often point to the consumer friendly business practices of Arrowhead and how they inform the overarching design and presentation of Helldivers 2, which is absolutely fair and true and valid to capturing the entire end user experience. But I also think all of this is the cherry-on-top of the actual gameplay, which does most of the heavy lifting. It's not just an excellent quasi-live service, consumer friendly game, it's genuinely, by its own merits, an exceptionally fun and remarkably well designed game.

I said it elsewhere, but it probably captures that romantic "30 seconds of fun" that informed much of early Halo's encounter and combat design. Every objective, tool, weapon, gadget, and function of the game feeds into a very simple gameplay loop, and because of that the game never feels restrictive, rigid, or compartmentalised in its moment-to-moment or evolving experience. The simple act of "shooting stuff" is tremendously satisfying, from the mechanical input to the audio and visual design, and every other game element, whether diving or emoting or clutch reloading or desperately hammering arrow keys in a pinch to call in the perfect stratagems; everything you do feeds into the combat flow and clearing of objectives.

The end result is a game that is very, very easy to understand and learn right from the onset, yet deceptively rich in the content offering. You can pick-up-and-play as someone new and still feel engaged and like you're actively contributing without being overburdened by complex systems. And as you get a better grip on the combat flow you can start tailoring your loadout, timing your stratagems, cranking the difficult, combing over optional objectives, all the while feeling unburned by bland oversimplicity of clumsy overcomplexity.

It's the kind of game where someone with 1 hour can drop into a match with someone with 50 hours and the functional experience for both is still a tons of fun, non-toxic, and generally laden with good, wholesome vibes.

Throw in all the other stuff, like what I mentioned above about the consumer-friendly practices, and the exotic quasi-live service nature of updates and the galactic war, and you've got a game I can guarantee will wind up on many GOTY lists come end of 2024, and rightly so.

I had zero interest in the game at all, and it's quickly evolved into one I see having a fixture on my drive and regular in my gaming rotation for the foreseeable future.

Unbelievably good in mostly all the ways that matter. Perfectly balances faithfulness to the source material while successfully reinventing and modernising where appropriate, never once sacrificing the tone, mood, and prose that makes Dead Space....well, Dead Space. Visual and audio production is honestly about as good as it gets for video games. The artistry in volumetric lighting, detailed shadows, and immaculate texture work makes for scenes and vistas that truly are video game artists at their best. The depth and tonal difference to the sonic work in just nuts, audio feeling appropriate spacious and locational.

Loved it. Only downside, really, is that the PC port is a bit rubbish. I didn't have stuttering issues as badly as some others have reported, but they're absolutely there, and I just figure my hardware brute forces past the hitches not so much to get rid of them but to make them less noticable. Framerate swings wildly, particularly during cutscenes where it tanks. I'm convinced that the chosen detail level of DOF is pushing way too many passes, because it seems to take more often than not when the DOF (especially cutscene DOF) kicks in. Also had some GPU crashes, mostly on boot though. Only other grievance I had was with the tiny spider necros. The animation and input feedback for shaking them off feels worse than I remember the OG, just kinda stilted, delayed, and a bit rubbish.

Otherwise, looking past the technical issues for the game, it's an A+++ remake and exactly what it needed to be. Hugely impressive, and really highlights how timeless Dead Space is. Despite its obvious influences (see: Resident Evil 4), Dead Space really is its own beast, particularly in its aesthetic and tone and overall mood. Captivating horror. Hopefully heralding a return for the series.

I'm a rat, I'm a rat, I'm very clever rat. Cheese and whiskers, I'm a very clever rat.

Wind Waker 2 isn't exactly what I expected but it sure is good.

I know there's a handful of PC specific quirks, but the rate of patches and quality of updates seems solid and community focus. More to the point though, Returnal is a remarkably original and brilliantly challenging work in the roguelike genre. Like the PS5 build I do think there's an argument to be made against fair algorithm balance, namely in the wildly differing usefulness of some gear that is reliant on 'random' drops (hello, spaceman figurine). But these complaints are nitpicking what is otherwise a tremendously intriguing and exhilarating work.

The roguelike genre has seem a lot of incredible outings in recent years. Returnal is up there with the best, and maybe ~the~ best example of a roguelike where all the gameplay-first tropes of the genre, from build variety to game system focus playability, are wrapped in AAA production values behind the story, visual presentation, and audio score. There's a deeply intriguing and magnificently presented narrative at the spine of an otherwise run-and-gun, action centric, gameplay rewarding roguelike, and I think that's a wonderful achievement.

Buy it to support Housemarque's original and excellent vision, as it's well deserved in its acclaim by this merit alone. Buy it to support Sony funding interesting titles like this with a budget most other publishers wouldn't bother with. Buy it to encourage Sony to distance themselves further and further away from single platform exclusivity. And buy it because you just want a damn fine video game.