Seneste anmeldelser af Fallen Tenshi

Given the general response to The Callisto Protocol I expected a considerably worse game, or particularly egregious mechanics, and yet I would argue Callisto is a fairly solid game.

The big obvious weird point is the melee combat. The developers seemed to want a more cinematic experience and as such melee combat sort of.. magnetises you into it. It is unusual, and it can end up with very awkward and unfair situations where getting out to reposition or use your firearms is not always possible, or you just get hit by multiple enemies in quick succession. So to fix that, partially, often times multiple enemies will just not attack you at the same time, instead taking a spectator's seat. It takes getting used to like any new thing, but it is manageable. It is.. okay.

Callisto is also very much able to be renamed The Quicktime Protocol, but there are options available to mitigate or remove the amount of reactive button spamming one might have to do. There's also the yeet-glove, which can trivialise a few encounters while also being cathartic, or despite having a stealth mechanic many times enemies will just burst out of vents or enter the area with full knowledge of your presence; but again, all of this is.. okay. Games have their quirks.

The core of Callisto remains however a pretty respectable survival horror. The resource management isn't perfect, the lack of a map can make being certain of which way is the storage room and which way is the story a bit difficult, and you it's a lot more linear than the traditional Resident Evil or Dead Space, but it still plays to a similar tune. Arguably the linear path helps remove any backtracking you might end up doing to make sure you cleared a room or unlocked all the things that can occur in the aforementioned. You don't often return to the same areas you have been which does mean there isn't as much of the evidence environmentally of things getting worse, though Callisto still takes a couple of moments to do so.

There is also the extra story DLC. Callisto does mostly wrap up nicely, but they did leave a hook with the ending for a small bit more. The idea behind the entire thing is an interesting choice. It's appropriate. It fits. I don't like it on a.. satisfaction level, but it works. Gameplay wise it is much the same. Shorter, more direct. They try a little to stamp down on the ease of certain mechanics and a couple of encounters are just outright frustrating, but again these things are all fine.

I won't say The Callisto Protocol is as iconic or genre perfect as its predecessors, which realistically all have problems of their own, but despite reception it is a quality piece and I still enjoyed my time with it.

There are a lot of quality elements to the Silent Hill 2 remake. Art, graphics, animation. Subtlety, symbolism. Emotion. Certainly in its original time some of these things would have been groundbreaking. There is a solid balance of risk and resource management with the combat difficulty.

And yet if I were to look at this cult classic game I would question how the in the flying pyramid-head no one mentions that it is in fact fifteen straight hours of walking down dreary streets and hallways hitting things with a pipe with next to no context or purpose interspersed with maybe thirty minutes of information that half the time isn't at all relevant, and only ends with twenty minutes of actual story. Silent Hill 2 managed to be overwhelmingly, infuriatingly, disappointing.

I even went in with the slight advantage of knowing vaguely what Silent Hill is about. Apparently that's not enough to pull out the video essays people have managed over the years from what you're given. Is it all hidden in New Game Plus, or the eight different endings? Do I need to have played the first Silent Hill that for some reason they decided remaking in order was not valuable enough? Do I need to have two decades and additional Silent Hill games and press releases to somehow make this game worth playing rather than reading about? I'm aware the movies did things wrong but at least they weren't a waste of time. Hell, Pathologic is a walking simulator most people don't manage to finish but at least you know why you're going from point A to B. Why am I fixing this broken jukebox? This sure doesn't seem to be related to my wife. The only reason I'm in this bar is because I found a pack of matches randomly on the ground. James sure had nothing to say about it being relevant to himself or his relationship. In fact, the only time James does have something to actually say about where we're bloody going is when you get to the final area, thanks James, or when the developers give you a contextual reason in the middle of the game to chase after another character for a couple hours.

The big man himself isn't even cinematic enough to be imposing. His first appearance he decides to do some freestyle Source Film Maker posing, not creepy spasms like some later friends, just weird Power Ranger dance battle moves.

Note: Apparently with a brief google, yes, the remake is twice as long as the original. They sure didn't add anything to fill that time with then. Goodness. And there is a lot of stuff that could be added to genuinely improve on the whole thing, even though I know some would worry about the purity of a remake.

Anyway, hecc this game. I say, very emotionally detached from the experience, clearly. Angyface.

I cannot say I started playing Disco Elysium with the patience it deserves, to read or listen to each bit of dialogue, or give responses a second thought let alone a first: and in spite of that Disco Elysium still manages to be a beautiful orchestra of sense and nonsense. The description of emotions and instinct, environment and sensations paint wonderful pictures as you learn about the world around you and piece together who you are.

It is very easy to worry about every failed check, that maybe you've missed out on something, particularly in the moment. I would encourage accepting them: it is ok. Often it may just be that one approach or avenue of thought is unavailable, or it may be that you can come back and try again later.

I would take that moment in the sun again, if I were to go back, and glimpse the golden bird once more before it flies away.

On the one hand The Casting of Frank Stone is more or less exactly what one might anticipate from the combination of The Dark Pictures and Dead by Daylight. It maintains all the aspects of cheesy, kind of bad horror and throws in an excess of DbD references.

On the other, The Casting of Frank Stone is just kind of.. worse. The horror seems less pervasive, the danger less spread out. The characters are less endearing, while I imagine in some regard on purpose, that also comes with less incentive to have them work together and help each other - though there is also less opportunity to do so. While Supermassive games have always been rather overpriced, they did at least come with a production quality involved. More inherent things like smooth transitions and camera cuts. Some of that polish is lacking.

On top of that while Frank Stone has cooperative aspects built in there are no online coop options despite this being featured in other titles. There are workarounds, but the point is that they shouldn't be necessary. They add the Cutting Room Floor, to let you more clearly see where in the game decisions can be made or to continue from various parts; and yet this too doesn't seem to work as optimally as it could - often making you replay most of the game still.

The Casting of Frank Stone also seems like a missed opportunity for a greater tie in with Dead by Daylight. While it can be understood not wanting to tie yourself too much to what might already exist, and the troubles of trying to make the characters and theoretical abilities associated, they could have added more characters/skins or a map. They find plenty of opportunities for you to work on a generator at least?

It just.. could've been better. Maybe a patch or two will help. Maybe there will be other attempts at applying the Supermassive model to other IPs. As much as I have a slightly tumultuous regard to their games they can also be good fun with friends, and Frank Stone wasn't as fun.

Bokura is a pleasant* little cooperative adventure. None of the puzzles or platforming is particularly complex, instead the focus is on player communication to navigate the areas and problems encountered.

Where Bokura particularly shines is in perspective. Each player seeing things differently, Having different experiences that might encourage different answers, but working together to understand each other as much as possible. Bokura does a superb job in expressing these ideas more intrinsically than a single player story.

*levels of pleasant may vary. The doggos are particularly cute~

It can be easy to forget that while they say a picture paints a thousand words, words paint wondrous pictures themselves. That being said, Skald uses both~ At first I found the art style a little off, perhaps the chosen colour palette, but after a little adjustment found its dark crevices adding to the experience.

There is also a catharsis found in not worrying about extensive animation sequences and particle effects. In pressing buttons and having immediate results. Baldur's Gate is by all means a beautiful game and fantastic in its own right, but getting to adventure with all that removed is genuinely freeing. A similar freedom to not having to deal with a morality system for the most part, and if the game has resources around they are yours to use.

As for the content of the game and story itself.. a mix. Skald starts fairly solid, even with a flashback sequence. Its first few acts are set up well. The final acts felt a little messier, and the ending is a hard one to land. However I still enjoyed my time with the game, it felt about the right length, and I appreciate the in game parallels to some of its own events. I might request more resolution to some quests, but at the same time sometimes we just have to move on with our journey regardless of whether the farmer's boy will decide to come down from the mountains or not.

I have enjoyed many souls-likes over the years, yet something about Nioh 2 makes it a struggle to play and enjoy. The combat itself is.. FineTM; but whether it's the separation of everything into missions, the constant cycling of equipment, the encouragement to stick to one weapon type to unlock moves for them and to be able to use them properly.. I just cannot get into the game enough to want to proceed.

I could've watched all of Bleach instead of playing this. Which would have objectively been a worse use of my time, but how long the damn thing takes is the problem.

But I realise too that can be the appeal for some people. Having a game built on the long term investment rather than something that is all said and done in an evening. Getting to build up relationships with characters over some ~300 days of small interactions - and Persona 5 does have wonderful characters and style and music, all such things make a beautiful game. I can understand why the series is loved, and I love parts of it too. Plenty of it is cheesy or predictable, but a lot of it is the fun along the way.

Reaching the end however is just more.. stuff in the way. Yes, you explained the themes of the game and everyone's personal investment in it several times, lets have another conversation about it, or string of text messages, five fake loading screens in a row so you can get little thought bubbles of the public's opinion on what's going on.

Gameplay wise... I just don't know. I feel I objectively played the game wrong. I was overly paranoid about time so I relied on a guide to decide what needed to be done every day. I would probably have a better natural feel for what you could do each day if I explored myself, but even quantifying "I might've just picked different things to do each day because idk" it doesn't sound like a particularly great difference. The palaces and combat? Sure there are an interesting number of different personas, and you can stack abilities and traits into some near invincible ones by the end; but I don't know whether any of that was 'good' either..

As much as I am currently saying 'never again', perhaps I should try another Persona one day sans the guide. Maybe SMT or Strikers would be more my speed. Maybe not. Right now though just.. never again, please. I'll watch someone else play parts of it or just give me some highlights.

Souldiers is a solid metroidvania. Given the expanse of the game and some wonderful art it is in some regards surprising that it is not more popular. I would argue "soulslike combat" is a bit of a stretch, but there are certainly some difficult fights, particularly early on.

That being said, Souldiers does come with its share of flaws. From small things like spelling/grammar to awkwardness like having thirty sub weapons to cycle through. Only once did the game actually break and that was an enemy not spawning correctly in the coliseum forcing a restart.

So, if it is at its base a good game, not succeeding at being more enthralling must come from little bits all over the place. Perhaps the theme of 'generic fantasy' is a difficult hook to pull off well. Maybe a lack of characterisation? There are characters in the game to make the story, none of them are offensive, but they don't manage to stand out particularly well either. The aforementioned excess of subweapons and other similar gameplay beats like having to pick one of three classes at the start? Maybe. It can certainly be improved upon, perhaps allow the freedom to switch between the main classes, and refine the extra weapons.

There are many ways that Souldiers can be worked upon. There's plenty of set up in the story for a sequel. I still enjoyed that a lot of the time I was actually reminded of the Megaman Zero games, and overall I still enjoyed playing a decent Metroidvania.

I.. do not quite understand what the positive reviews see that I do not. Perhaps more patience for slow, halting gameplay than I and the story eventually develops into something more interesting. Four to five hours in and I feel the story is finally beginning, but I cannot imagine the game changing pace and flow, and the whole time I have been wondering where the budget for the game went to be charging such a price.

I have played cheap games before, I have played slow games before, I have played awkward and clunky games before; Scarlet Nexus just.. isn't enough. Somehow it reminds me a fair amount of God Eater.