Recent reviews by FireKeep

Simple, short, and effective. Characters are well-written. Visuals are fantastic. Utilizes nonliteral imagery and symbolism in interesting ways. Would recommend setting aside a night to play it through.

Even though it's crashed 100s of times, it's so fun that I don't even care. $70 that's actually worth the price tag.

Great singleplayer and multiplayer. While ultimately a game of random chance, the item mechanics give you some control over the game. This forces you to strategize on the fly to maximize your chances of survival. Though sometimes, no matter what you do, it seems as though the game was rigged from the start...

Let any fish who meets my gaze learn the true meaning of fear; for I am the harbinger of death. The bane of creatures sub-aqueous, my rod is true and unwavering as I cast into the aquatic abyss. A man, scorned by this uncaring Earth, finds solace in the sea. My only friend, the worm upon my hook. Wriggling, writhing, struggling to surmount the mortal pointlessness that permeates this barren world. I am alone. I am empty. And yet, I fish.

Also this game makes you gay.

You don't ask, you never find out.

A passion project made by a developer that has absolutely no sense of asset consistency and is absolutely filled to the brim with trite tropes and cop-outs that plague the horror games of today. Narratively it is led primarily by a beautifully animated raccoon companion that is only sometimes endearing and mostly annoying. The controls feel floaty in that janky Hello Neighbor way.

Regardless of the flaws I'm glad the authors took the time to make this project - I would rather art be created than not. Somewhere beneath the jank lies a fairly decent game waiting to be created, and it just needs the right direction and the technical skills to achieve it.

Given that it is free I will recommend it, but I wouldn't spend any money on it otherwise.

Still a better game than Security Breach.

Terrific expansion to the base game. If you had gripes with the base puzzles being too "easy," the difficulty here has been increased at a level that feels challenging, yet doable for most people. Level Design is much more concise and dense in each chapter, as well as the option to teleport to areas you've traveled to - reducing the time spent just traveling from one puzzle to the next. The environments are gorgeous as always. The philosophy continues to be unapologetically optimistic. What's not to love?

Only big gripe is that many of the newer mechanics introduced in Talos 2 aren't utilized very often, mostly in favor of classic laser puzzles. I love laser puzzles as much as the next guy, but there's still so much potential in the new mechanics that have barely been tapped and I'd really like to see more of them.

Be prepared to look up some hints for the puzzles in Into The Abyss. They are not kidding when they say it is a difficulty spike.

I don't know how they did it, but not only did Croteam make a sequel to The Talos Principle - a game that left on a note that made it basically impossible to do any sort of sequel - but they surpassed any and all expectations I could have ever had for it. Much like the original, this is one of those games you just have to play at least once before you die.

Philosophically, the game takes the next logical step. Whereas the first dealt with defining the "self," and what makes up a human, The Talos Principle 2 evolves onto civilization and the societies us humans form. It tackles with issues and anxieties I think a lot of us are having nowadays about ourselves as a species. Climate change, questionable political leadership, perpetual war, wealth inequality, ecological destruction, unsustainable development, insincerity, polarization. It's hard NOT to feel like humanity just... sucks. Hard. Like just our existence alone was a mistake.

It's things like these that when I was first introduced to the ideals of New Jerusalem and "The Goal" that I actually thought that they were pretty sexy ideas. Humanity peacefully existing in it's own self-contained bubble? Knowing our limits? Living within a small community where everyone knows each other? Compared to the way things currently seem to be, to me and probably most people this sounds like Utopia. It seems like the answers to all our problems reside in the past - we best not let our hubris get the better of us, lest we end up like our ancestors.

And for a while, I maintained this attitude. After all, the whole reason this game series exists is because all of biological humanity perished because of anthropogenic climate change. That's a pretty damn good reason to be cautious of progress. But then the game starting questioning this idea. Questioning me. Questioning why we think this way in the first place. Over time I started to realize that I wasn't "smart" or "profound" for having a cynical view of humanity. For thinking we were doomed to fail, and that we deserve to fail. But it's childish and selfish to think this. There was a data transmission from Athena that perfectly nails this on the head:

"Is it possible that on some level, people want to believe that everything's going to get worse?

That it's comforting to think that humanity is bad and every solution will just go wrong?

Because that way, you're never responsible.

You never have to take on responsibility for anything outside yourself.

Never have to grow up."

How can things ever get better if we believe that they never can? How can we create a civilization that cares for its citizens if all we care about is ourselves?

There's a lot this game has to chew on. This is just a small portion of the value it's brought to me. The environments are gorgeous. The puzzles have a lot of "eureka!" moments. The music is grandeur and hopeful, whilst still remaining contemplative. The ending didn't make me tear up like the first game, but it still left me deeply moved. I encourage you to go through it yourself, experience all it has to offer, and come to your own conclusions. This isn't just contender for GOTY, it's contender for GOAT.

certified hood classic

Wise Guy, eh?