Recent reviews by Forkinator

♥♥♥♥ the timer

This is one of the better Assassins Creed games. I played Origins for some time, but got bored of the setting quickly. Odyssey feels more complete and interactive than Origins. It feels like it's trying to go more "Witcher 3" with Odyssey, especially when it comes to your steed. The side quests seem to be handcrafted as well, although the main objective is still "get this, kill this person, deliver this, etc". Still, this handcrafting is what keeps the game going and it keeps it from getting stale too quickly. When you think about it, It's pretty amazing that Ubisoft can put out a game like this in a year.


While on sale, I recommend you pick up Odyssey.


Edit: The more I play this game, the more I enjoy it. Odyssey really shows that the developers paid attention to detail when it comes to almost everything, especially the story and graphics. Normally, I would get more bored with a game the longer I play it. With Odyssey, I enjoy the game now more than I did when I started. I am very impressed with this installment in the AC series.

Do you like bullet sponge mobs that takes you minutes to kill?
Do you like to hide behind barriers for 3/4 of the time until the mob reloads so you can shoot it?
Do you like like bullet sponge flamethrowers that charges you?
Do you like a fixed savepoint system that'll reset the enemy waves so you have to do it all again?

If so, then this game's for you.
It's not for me.

This is pretty bad. I don't know what else to say.

TL:DR ; If you enjoyed Tomb Raider 2013 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, You will definitely enjoy this one.


I pre-purchased this game to get early access and within no time at all, game journalists (who I did not agree with) didn't like this game despite the fact that there is no reason why this should be considered worse than the previous two. Let's see, you've got: brutal killing of wild animals, cultural appropriation, stereotypical portrayal of natives, and of course the most controversial butt in the history of butts-- it's all there. And this was a game that originally tried to pander to feminists by making Lara Croft less sexual and more human. So now you've angered the side of the political spectrum you originally tried to appease, while simultaneously having angered the other side for ever giving into their demands in the first place. So essentially, thanks to politics we already have a game that everybody hates. If this game ends up being a massive flop, which is seeming likely at this point, let this be a lesson to game developers not to try to gain favor with certain political groups. Stick to keeping the game fun, and staying faithful to the series.





[Performance]


First of all, there is something you may want to do until we get a patch. Go into task manager and set CPU priority to high. Like magic, the stuttering in the game will stop and you'll get a huge fps boost. This is the only game I've had to do this on, and it's really annoying that the stuttering issue is even there. You'll have to do this every time you open the game, unfortunately. People with newer 8-core CPUs may not have this issue, but I'm using an i7 5930k. Also, Screen Space Shadows on "High" setting seems to cause artifacts in the shadows. I recommend setting it to normal for now to fix the issue. If you want a quick look at this issue, run the benchmark and look at Lara's face in the beginning.

I'm using a 1080Ti @ max settings in game @ 1440p , and im getting a solid 80fps minimum. This is excellent optimization. This is a really graphically demanding game and they made the game with 4k/30fps in mind, clearly. They also clearly intended to take advantage of it's unique antialiasing. It's not hard to get a playable 30 fps in 4k on my hardware. at 4k, I can't use max settings(some of the stuff murders frame-rate), but I can get close to it. But obviously PC gamers want 60 fps, right? This seems problematic at first, even if the game is running at a stable 60 fps in some parts, it will plummet in other parts. Luckily, the Tomb Raider games have this amazing feature that I wish every game had where the game will adjust it's resolution to the size of the window in window mode, and to make it even easier, you can scale the resolution down in window mode easily. And this Tomb Raider also has some amazing high-level AA that will make even low resolutions look better. The ultra-aggressive AA can make the lower resolution tolerable.

With maxed out settings, this is probably the best looking game on the PC, surpassing even Quantum Break. In 4k/30 fps, it surpasses even God of War on the PS4 Pro, even if that game has more impressive lighting effects. And if you have a PC that can do 4k with SMAAx4 and ultra-settings then it will look even better, but I was getting like 35 fps with those settings. At least the game is future-proof. Hats off to Nixxes, you guys did great.


[Gameplay/Story]

So all I've talked about is politics and graphics so far. So, how is the gameplay? Basically, you should listen to the positive reviews and not the lower reviews from people who are most likely just mad over the size of Lara's butt/breasts.

They have done a fantastic job of making a modern Tomb Raider game while listening to the fans' complaints over the last few years. More tombs, more "supernatural" elements, more puzzles, tombs and exploration, with adjustable difficulty. The platforming still isn't quite as deadly as the 90's games, and even with puzzle and traversal difficulties on the hardest setting Lara still yells out a few too many hints, and the tutorial icons still remind you when you can do special moves like repelling. But those are small complaints. Everything about this game is lots of fun, from the pulpy, but satisfying plot, to poison arrows that make enemies turn on each other.



The game gives the fans what they wanted, mainly more puzzles and less combat, and vastly improved stealth. I really hate the stealth in Uncharted(and in general), but I like this. They cut back on open world elements a bit too, since people complained. Frankly, I wish they hadn't, but oh well. As for the plot, it keeps the game flowing, and I actually enjoy it. The cinematography is excellent in the entire Tomb Raider series. I am not that far in the story but I am enjoying the game so far. So, yeah, if you like the other TRs, and you're not too bent out of shape about the politics just get it. Personally, I love it, and I'm sad it may end.

While at the time of writing this review, I haven't even gotten past the first Act yet(I have 40 hours so far(GOG version) and still in Fort Joy) , I nevertheless feel compelled to write a review for this beautiful game. For me the game's highlight are its excellently designed turn-based combat, and its well told story.

With combat, there are no potentially pesky RNG elements and therefore every fight follows the same strict rules allowing you to have full control over how every battle plays out. There's also an insane amount of skills that are open to each and every character, and free to combine at your leisure (half of the fun is simply experimenting!). While the game is very very challenging (in a good and fair way!), I never felt the need to look up guides as with some thought you are more than able to compose your own diverse team of heroes (except maybe on hard difficulty - but don't play that until you finished Classic!).

The voice acting is superb, with tons and tons of spoken dialogue and different choices you can make. Also initiating a dialogue with another of your team members may open up a whole different story which may reveal more of the character you are interacting with or the world around you. Finally, the graphics look more than impressive enough considering the game's genre, and the level design has nothing to complain about.

Admittedly, no game is without its flaws though and I will summarise my, minor, grievances here. Inventory management is still a hassle. It's a common issue for RPGs, and I'm not sure if there ever will be a game that's perfect in that regard, but with four party members, switching items to and fro, out and in of backpacks and the like, becomes a considerable hassle. Especially when it can be hard to discern between quest items, crafting materials, fluff, and junk. To add to that, civic skills like bartering and lucky charm (increases your chance to find rare items with that player only) are not group-wide. Frankly, It's not a big deal for me since I can fix this with mods.


Last, but not least, there's no way to change party members during a conversation, meaning that if you are forced into a dialogue (probably because he/she was closest to the conversation starter) with someone and a persuasion check needs to be passed, it is impossible to have your player with skill in pursuasion take it over (this led to frequent quickloads for me). Basically during dialogue your team members turn into mutes unless they are scripted to take part in the conversation.


I recommend to pay more focus to the great things this game has to offer, rather than the minor nuisances because it is still one of the best games of all time.

Rise of the Tomb Raider (RoTR) is undoubtedly a gorgeous game, graphically pushing the envelope offering richly detailed environments, quality character animations & visual effects. Everything you look at is superbly crafted together, from the camera direction, animal animations to the smallest plants or rocks. This really brings the locations to life. Going hand-in-hand with this is the competent narrative that is always well voiced & engaging cut-scenes from the main story arc that seamlessly bend into the gameplay. RoTR's well-polished presentation is an entertaining experience.

Yet by the end of my play through, there were some elements of the game I found disappointing; such as, finding the plot a bit predictable after or that there was some grindy gameplay mechanics.

One of the big things I was looking forward to in this sequel was the 'Return to Tomb Raiding' with bigger & better tombs. The nine optional tombs on offer in RoTR had some crafty puzzles, but regrettably they are relatively short & quick to complete. They primarily centre on an entrance/discovery section followed by a main room with a short series of puzzle steps to get to your prize. Not as elaborate or engaging as I was hoping for.

The same can be said for the open world exploration sections where I found most easy to figure out how to navigate around or find hidden locations. There were a few tricky bits that took me some time to find, but overall not too difficult to progress. Everything you need is always put right where you need it, and shown on the map so you rarely need to actually hunt around for much. There are some open sections such as or where you have some freedom to do missions or challenges, and go Easter Egg hunting, ahem, farming to upgrade your kit, but much of the game levels are more linear or scripted in nature.

I did get the feeling there was less combat in this verses the first reboot, which I prefer, but would have liked to see more mission/tomb/challenge content instead of the massive amount of collectibles (murals, strongbox, documents, coin cache etc.) you need to track down if you want to 100% complete the game. Hunting & gathering is also required for some crafting, so you get lots to do, but does become a bit mundane after a while. Much of this is optional content so can be avoided though if you just want to progress the story.

As with the previous instalment the controls are forgiving and controlling Lara's wide range of abilities is intuitive. It’s situational based so it’s easy to traverse a cliff face or square off in a gun fight. The further you progress the game will add more moves, weapons & abilities. Some are useful like larger storage space, but others like show all traps do make an easy game even easier.

The AI ‘Henchmen’ are not the brightest bunch still (not sure if they improve on hardest difficulty or just are tougher to take down). Seem to be prone to line of sight issues allowing Lara to get away with a lot before being discovered, and in combat tend to follow the same attack patterns, making most fights feel fairly generic. Although there is stealth Lara can deploy in most locations to varying degrees, I would have liked to see better utilisation. There are also places that it seems you cannot avoid a fight using stealth.

Multiplayer has been dropped in this sequel, but a new replayable system has been introduced called Expeditions. These have various challenges like Score Attack & Chapter Replay. Each challenge can be modified with up to five Expedition Cards. Cards are unlocked by playing the campaign, coins can be converted into card packs & also cards are unlocked in Expedition mode itself. Cards can offer all manner of buffs/debuffs to change up your gameplay, from Big Head mode, to weapons/gear, to other game mechanic modifiers. Certainly more appealing than multiplayer was to me, but I am not sure how many times I would find replaying the same levels fun. Regardless, for those wanting further replayability it a nice addition.

RoTR ticks a lot of the right boxes that kept me wanting to play it through to the end, especially at the price I paid (15USD from cdkeys website). It’s an enjoyable ride for the most but over time the lack of challenge & overall casual nature of the game mechanics and level design left me feeling it was a bit lacklustre. Story was a tad predictable, linear, puzzle tombs were a bit of a letdown & collectibles system is a little excessive. Still .. I find myself recommending RoTR. I had a lot of fun in my play through, entertaining, despite some dislikes in the gameplay department it is one slick action-adventure game.

So far I am pretty impressed with the optimization of the PC version. I have a I7 5930k @ 4.5ghz + GTX 1080 Ti and the game runs at least 60 fps @ 1440p on max settings plus some more settings turned up through the graphics config tool.. I haven't tried 4k yet but I probably will just to see the performance hit/visual difference.

Just a heads up to everyone, Nvidia VXAO is NOT enabled in this demo. I know that Square Enix is saying that this game will have VXAO in the final version so just be aware that your performance will no doubt change if/when the final version does have VXAO.

Also, to anyone who thinks you can enable VXAO through the config, take some before and after shots and tell me if there is a difference. Also, go into your config file and type in

ShowConfig=1

Now open up the game. It will say in the top left that VXAO is OFF even if you have NvidiaVXAO=1 in the config file and even if it says its "on" in your graphics settings. The graphics settings merely read and write to your config file. The box at the top left actually tells you what is enabled in the engine.


For anyone that is curious, you can find the Graphics Configuration Tool at X:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\Common\FINAL FANTASY XV PLAYABLE DEMO\tools\GraphicsConfigurationTool

This tool will let you customize the games settings further than in game will allow.

Do note that the config tool will leave a GraphicsConfig.ini file located at X:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\Common\FINAL FANTASY XV PLAYABLE DEMO\

Leaving this file in the main directory will take priority over the config file in the documents folder. I like to copy the config to the main config area located at

X:\Users\YourUserNameHere\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XV PLAYABLE DEMO\Steam\76561197966420303\savestorage\


Play around with the config tool and you can increase the graphics even higher than allowed in game. I gotta say, I am pretty excited for the full game to come out after playing the demo.

FFXV is definitely a beautiful game and I recommend it to anyone that is a fan of Final Fantasy games. I do think this game could use better Anti-Aliasing though. Give the demo a try, especially since it is free

I don't normally write reviews, but there is a lot of controversy surrounding this game and the fact that it contains micro transactions. I will touch on it at the end of the review, but know that with micro transactions in mind, I am still having a blast with this game. It was hard for me to make the purchase at full price, but I found it at a much lower price than steam's price and I am happy to say it was worth it.

This is one of those games you get lost in with the endless combinations and posibilites that are part of the experience. The nemesis system is refined and brings a lot of posibilites. For instance, I was fighting two captains at once and one of them i cut his arm off and he ran away. The other captain I killed. The one which had his arm removed later ambushed me and wanted me to suffer for what i did to him so I ended up killing him and cutting off his other arm. Thats not it though.

The guy comes back from the dead with two make shift arms and says something like "you can't kill me, Ive been alive on this earth longer than you, i wish to rest"

so i kill him again. Later he ambushes me again....and i once again killed him....


This is where I am now. I don't know if he is coming back, but this kind of stuff is awesome. The amount of unique dialogue the captains have is amazing. I have not heard the same dialogue twice. I haven't progressed past the second zone because of how fun the nemesis system is.

Give it a try. I get it, lootboxes suck. If we purchase premium single player games that have micro transactions, we are telling the developers that its okay to include microtransactions in future games. Depending on how well the game does, other developers will take note and also do the same thing. So yeah, I don't like the micro transactions and loot boxes. It does not matter that they are not required to finish the game.


You can chose to not purchase the game based on the micro transactions, and I get it. I would not have purchased this game full price, instead I got a good deal and I am glad I bought it. Give it a try if you like spending countless hours with endless ways to kill orcs.

It's been fun. Maybe Voksi will come back and surprise us.