Останні рецензії користувача HollowAtelier

What is Astalon: Tears of the Earth?

Released on June 3rd, 2021 (on PC, Switch, PS4, and XB1), this retro-styled metroidvania follows a classical aesthetic while having a more modern methodology. Leading to an overall fun experience. This might be one of the few games where I honestly pick up the OST. The music is really good!

Created by Labworks. This is a stellar entry by a largely unknown studio. I'm interested in knowing more about this world and I hope Labworks get the support they need to continue doing that. It's very clear they know what they're doing and how to create a modern feeling game with a retro look.

The game follows a simple cycle. Explore the Tower, kill enemies, gather orbs, collect items, perish: upgrade your heroes and repeat. There's not much to it, but what is there is polished to a fine sheen. The game feels great to play and is responsive.

I think the only thing people might have an issue with it, is that when you jump: you are committed to the direction you are looking when you jump. It's a classic product of it's era, but I can imagine that might be the only thing that might irk some people. You'll get used to that quirk eventually.

Other than that, the game also does not tell you what upgrades do. Which is another product of the era and the design philosophy behind this era of gaming. So I can find some people might not like that.

This is not a rogue-like. The Tower is clearly and carefully designed. There isn't much in terms of replayability, outside of some bonus modes. However, that shouldn't dissuade you from picking it up. For it's 20 dollar price tag, I got nearly 22 hours out of it, with a keen desire to play more.

This game is not terribly challenging, but it is not a complete pushover either, at least initially. While it is retro-styled, it is not as punishing as games from that era.

This is a game where it can be beaten eventually. The slope in terms of difficulty is pretty steady with no real sudden spikes in terms of challenge. By the time I got to areas that were challenging, I largely felt prepared for what I had to go through. Even making it through one of the hardest areas in one shot!

All in all, it's a good little gem and I hope it gets the opportunity to shine. Give this one a go!

What is Lost Planet 3?

Lost Planet 3 is a third person, cover based shooter following the thematic elements of the Lost Planet franchise, but telling the story of Jim Peyton. A prequel to the other two games in the franchise. It was released on August 27th, 2013 across Windows, PS3, and Xbox 360. It was not developed in house at Capcom, but rather made by an alternative studio: Spark Unlimited with help from the initial creative directors.

I eventually picked this up because I was interested in how the story continued from the previous games. I did NOT do my research on how this compared to the previous games. So... yeah...

*Edited Note:
As Maco-Taco points out in a comment below: The Sequel is not entirely Co-Op only and that is does feature a Single Player mode. This was a mistake on my end, and I'm sorry about that. I should have done some more research on it before writing that.

Technically, the game is not bad but is marred by baffling control schemes and the fact that it is obviously a port from a console release. It's lack of optimization for computer forces it to run at a lower frame-rate than most computers can handle, making controlling Jim at times more challenging than it should be. This is especially true when you are trying to perform any kind of precision aiming.

When the game shows a "Press W,A,S,D" prompt to turn a wheel but the game wants you to press the Action Key (F) is a sign that this wasn't ported with the best of intentions. As a product of it's time, there are many QTE (Quick Time Events) where the game tries to get you more invested in what's going on by having you spam buttons to pick yourself up, force away attacks, and so on.

Sometimes it works, and most of the time: it just doesn't. When a majority of the more important encounters devolve down to this QTE dance, I feel it detracts from the experience rather than enriching it.

There's also the matter that you have to press the "P" key to pick up resources at times. Which boggles my mind. Nothing quite like stopping what you're doing to pick up ammo and negating your ability to see what you are doing or avoid trouble. Who uses that key?

There are standard controller configs, but I tend to play with Keyboard. I imagine the game runs fine and this complaint literally only exists for those that prefer Keyboard and Mouse. I never played the game with a Gamepad, so I do not know how that changes things. If anything.

Those comments aside, the story is enjoyable and has some given twists and turns. I ended up liking Jim and his companions and their struggles. People that you end up disliking, you have logical and understandable reasons for not liking these people and wanting the heroes to succeed in their efforts.

I get the feeling that the ending was wrapped up quickly, as it feels like crunch was involved in the final stages of it. There are parts of the final series of events, where you skip forward through sections without reason. Ignoring whole areas and finding yourself teleported to various spots after cut-scenes. Which was jarring.

The voice cast is also rather admirable. For a relatively small collection of voice actors, there are a lot of different characters that are voiced by the same people: but it avoids The Elder Scrolls Syndrome of feeling like you're conversing with the same six people over and over again.

The Gameplay is firmly divided between on Foot and in Rig segments. On foot is your standard third person shooting, with some light cover-shooting mechanics thrown in. Cover shooting is important in this, as you can be torn apart rather quickly if you are not careful. You can blind fire as par for the course.

There are some pretty standard weapon variety, but nothing particularly unique or original to write about. You have your standard shotguns, rifles, machine guns, and so on. Don't expect anything too exotic.

Meanwhile being near or in your RIG provides you with the all important information about how much ammo you have, your money (referred to as T-Energy) and your mini-map. The decision to lose these critical bits of information when you venture too far away from your Rig bothered me more often than not, as I like to know how much ammo I have for a given weapon. There are a few segments where this unwelcome circumstance happens.

Your RIG on the other hand, feels powerful and safe. They mention it was your "Home Away from Home" early on, and it quickly becomes a comforting sight to see. It's strong, but not too slow. It lacks the speed or mobility of other Rigs (compared to the First Game) but it performs it's intended tasks well.

There are some slight Metroid like elements to the game as well. There are collectible upgrades that allow you to progress to areas you previously couldn't, some upgrades for your Rig and for yourself. It's minor, but always appreciated.

Jim still feels like a man even after all of his upgrades. He's no super-soldier or anything like that, and that keeps the story grounded.

For those that are interested in learning about everything there is to know about the game: Look up a guide for finding all the lore bits. As the story progresses: supporting plot and lore bits vanish between segments. Making it impossible to backtrack at later points to find them. I don't agree with this philosophy and figured I'd share that warning.

All in all, it's a solid installment that's marred by it's state of being an obvious port. Had it been more directly designed to function on PC, I would definitely recommend it.

Pick it up if the Lost Planet Series interests you, or if you like 3rd person shooters. It's good at what it does, but doesn't stand out above the rest as far as it's release is concerned.

I enjoyed my time with it, but I don't feel a strong motivation to play through it again.

So what is Deep Rock Galactic?

It's a First Person Shooter where you take on the role of one of four Dwarves working for the titular game's company. Each Dwarf has his own kit that allows him to deal with the various threats and obstacles that get between him and his mission objectives.

One of the game's honest selling points is the Co-Op. Where you can take on the role of one of the Dwarves, Gunner, Engineer, Scout, or Driller: and work together to complete objectives. The more Dwarves there are, the harder the mission is, but the greater the rewards.

I tend to end up playing Solo, which is approachable. If playing by yourself: You have a companion bot named Bosco who hovers about and can do things such as retrieve items (Batteries, Gemstones, etc) or attack specific targets with his smgs or rockets (when ordered.) Bosco is a viable companion, but lacks the features of what an accompanying player would have. Which is the aforementioned kit.

Each Dwarf has a unique kit with their own selections for upgrades. Each Kit consists of one primary weapon, which helps define their role, a secondary backup weapon, a mobility related tool, and then a support tool of some kind.

For example, the Gunner has a Zip-Line Gun that can connect to points together for easy traversal. The Driller has two gauntlets that allows him to drill holes between various objectives. The Engineer has a platform gun, and finally, the Scout has his own Grappling Hook. When combined together, nothing is out of reach.

This game is clearly a work of love and dedication. The Devs enjoy what they do and while they have made mistakes in the past (making some objectives hard to see in a dark cave), they are quick to change course when needed/requested. It's very easy to fall into a routine of doing mission after mission.

Hours can fly by if you're not careful.

I bought the game before they added the Miner's Manual, which is an accessible collection of advice to help new players get used to the game while not revealing everything there is to find/see. It details environments, hints at the various resources you can find, and gives an ongoing bestiary of various creatures and, now constructs, you can find in the various Caves.

This is not to say that I wholly support this game and certain aspects of it. As don't feel a glowing bit of commentary without critique will be all that helpful. There are problems with Deep Rock, but they come down to personal tolerances, I suppose.

For example: Each Cave System is created dynamically. There are times where bonus objectives will be out of your reach for your given class without being really inventive or just giving up on that bonus. This is mostly a solo problem, but it's worth mentioning. There are times where valuable resources are just stuck floating in the air and there will be no way to get them.

There will be times during specific events (Machine Events) where the targeted enemies will spawn in a region that's wholly inaccessible in the time limit. Rendering the event a failure because they cannot get to you, and you them, in the allotted time.

Machine Events, to clarify are randomly generated events where you start up a machine and are intended to perform a given task: analyze a unique enemy's remains, kill a certain amount of creatures, or blow something up with unique explosives, etc, while under a time limit. Due to the RNG nature of things, you may end up triggering an event (especially solo) where you cannot reasonably accomplish it.

Considering Machine Events allow you to get the more coveted rewards: Cosmetic and Game-Changing. This can be upsetting or frustrating for some. So consider that possibility.

Last but not least: The AI. Molly is your sci-fi equivalent of a Minecart. Molly will carry your collected materials and extract with you when you leave. Molly, and her upgraded variant: Bet-C, will walk into you when you are doing things. Often launching you off your precarious perches to your doom. I have died numerous times to the terrible path-finding of these two particular companions and it's caused me to want to quit my session shortly thereafter.

With that said, I still recommend Deep Rock Galactic. It's a fun Co-Op experience that can easily tank a handful of hours. It's got problems, but the devs are a dedicated bunch. It feels like they're always at it. Working on things to make them better.

I wrote this as an addendum to the recent release of the First "Season" Update.

Now with the 1st Season in effect, you can gain unique rewards for completing objectives. This was created as a means to combat the recent Content Drought that was in effect for the past handful of months. I hope that with the Seasons and the steady release of content from that, that we might not end up with such a long stretch of nothing like we experienced before this update.

Now would be a good time to pick it up, if any of this interests you!

I recently revisited this after a long hiatus from the game.

Actually beat it, again, in two 4.5ish stream sessions. Making my Third Play-through about 9 hours in length. My original time was somewhere around 16 or so hours. If time means anything to you.

SOMA is a horror game that not only covers the general basics of the genre, but leaves you with some haunting afterthoughts.

SOMA rarely has moments where I would describe it as having jump scares. The cheapest form of horror or shock. Instead, SOMA focuses on making you think about your actions and your commitments to what you decide to do and the world that you find yourself in.

There are Monsters of course, which range in the rules that they follow and the rules you must follow to avoid them. Learning how they act and how to counter them will be helpful on your journey. While the variety of them are few, they are unsettling creatures that will make navigating their areas difficult.

SOMA is the type of game that is an experience best encountered alone. Devoid of distractions and without anything else in the background.

Unlike Amnesia: Rebirth. SOMA starts with a quote and runs through it's entire experience devoid of loading screens or pauses. Your journey starts and ends seamlessly. Should you pursuit to complete the entire thing in one sitting.

It's clear from the beginning that this is a work of inspired competence.

SOMA does have some puzzle elements, but for the most part they're not too challenging. It's clear that SOMA was designed with more of a narrative focus than a game-play one. There is an inventory, but you will not find yourself managing resources or anything of that sort throughout the experience.

All in all, SOMA is a thought provoking horror game that is highly recommended.

Aquaria is a 2D metroidvania game taking place primarily underwater.

Aquaria stars Naija, a Mermaid of sorts who has had the misfortune of forgetting why she is there and her search not just for her missing memories (which is optional) and her desire for adventure. Her voice actress is a particular treat to listen to.

There is not a lot of voice acting in the game. It consists mostly of narration by Naija.

The world of Aquaria is a massive place. There are a number of distinct biomes with unique creatures and some interesting mechanics.

The game is 100% indie, and it does show in various ways.

The map tends to overlap in areas and it can be mildly, and I do stress, mildly frustrating to use.

Of note, there is some difficulty with discerning objects that are part of the foreground and background. So there will be times where you will run into an object that you'd think you could pass through and some areas where you feel you should be blocked off, and it is not the case. The latter is thankfully, relatively rare.

There are also some puzzles that could have been handled better. It's not clear how to go about a particular section. So there may be a handful of times where you might have to look up the solutions. As the game, while it tries to reveal it, may not be clear about the execution of certain things.

All in all, though, it's a good game. It's cheap and still plays rather well. I feel that if you like the demo, you'll enjoy the rest of the game.

Give it a go.

I cannot recommend this if you have any intentions on playing it solo. As it's "perpetually on" PvP settings means you will be constantly stabbed in the back or hunted down by more experienced players.

Accomplishing anything on your own requires both excellent timing and luck.

The lackluster ability to also report cheaters defeats any sense of balance this game might have.

While the game is fun with friends, the inability to play it solo kills my enthusiasm to play it. I'll only play this with friends. I'm done with getting killed trying to learn how to play.

A fairly short, mildly challenging action-platformer, with a more tactical focus than running straight into every enemy mindlessly.

You will be punished if you try to do this.

I was lead to believe that this game was going to be unforgiving. My experience, even on the "Recommended" Difficulty was hardly that. I died, sure, but never enough times to want to pull my hair out or quit playing altogether.

That said, I didn't find it as challenging or as difficult as some reviews led me to believe, but the game is not an easy one either. They warn you outright upon starting a new game that this is not meant to be a quick "run and gun" experience.

The Heroine, swings melee weapons slowly. Timing is important. Traps are appropriately dangerous, but relatively rare. Figuring out when to dodge is likewise, very important. Nothing particularly new here.

I found a wide variety of weapons available, mostly swords, axes, daggers, and hammers. I never encountered any spears, as far as I am aware of.

Ranged options are mostly down to various throwing weapons (both traditional and, uniquely, some throwing bottles), a few bows, and casting spells. It took me some time to encounter a bow, so if that's your preferred playstyle, be wary of that. You may not acquire one till an hour or more in.

I like the interactions between various mechanics. Casting a Lightning spell while soaking wet is, obviously, a bad idea, and a quick way to kill yourself. Finding means to solve these moment to moment problems is definitely a treat.

However, I want to preface that previous statement with confirmation that you will be doing quite a bit of inventory management. If you're suffering bleed stacks, you can die quickly. So you will find yourself going into the inventory very often to resolve various issues. Casting a fire spell, while covered in Oil is likewise, a bad idea.

Also, if you do find yourself changing your routine to fight against a boss. The Green "Angel" Checkpoints will only store whatever version of your equipment you had as you passed them. So you will have to reset your equipment should you be stuck at a boss.

I didn't find it annoying as other people did, but I can see why it would get frustrating. So I will also mention that here.

All in all, I found it a fun, and occationally challenging experience that lasted a handful of hours.

Highly Recommended if you like a Dark Fantasy World with Metroidvania elements.

Some games try really hard to ape older Metroidvania's and they often can't capture the mood, or the gameplay, or just the execution of the genre. While Ender Lilies isn't perfect, it tries to be it's own thing, and it does it rather well.

They do so much with animations and a limited use of language to convey a story. It's exceptionally well done.

There are some areas of this game that I feel could use some refinement. Notably two.

Guardian Silva's boss fight. . I still have no clear idea how I succeeded. It's probably the only fight in the game I would actively dread if I wanted to replay it. Which I do. This mostly boils down to telegraphing attacks could be better conveyed. You'll figure it out when you get there. Good luck. It's not far.

Progress past that, and you're in for some significantly better fights.

There's a room in an area of the game, very late in the game, where I have to question if The Devs just wanted to be as Malicious as possible. It's in the Verboten Domain. You will know this place, you will hate this area. Just take it slow and cautiously. That area will tear you apart otherwise.

One of the best aspects of Ender Lilies is that it's aesthetic design and art direction really lends itself to some beautiful backgrounds and with the ability to remove the UI at any time while paused allows you to capture any moment in the game easily for a nice desktop wallpaper. They knew what they were doing with that feature, for sure.

Buy it.

I'm recommending this if only because it's an important part of the Half Life story, but ultimately at the rate that it'll take to get Half Life 3, I'll probably be 50-60 or older by the time that's ever released. If it ever is.

For clarification: I'm 34 as of this commentary.

My inspiration for playing through, and 100% completing HL2 was because of Civvie 11's wonderful hour long video concerning the importance of HL1. Check him out, he's a good gent.

Half-Life 2 is the continuation of Gordon Freeman's adventures post Half-Life 1. The Scientist turned Action Hero goes about freeing humanity from The Combine. A largely mysterious alien force that dominated humanity shortly after the events of the first game.

For the most part, it's a fun, varied experience travelling across the unnamed countryside, and various fortifications throughout the very linear plot. Don't expect any side avenues to explore or alternative routes to go about your objectives. It's very straightforward.

If you are an achievement hunter. I wish you the best of luck with Lambda Locator and Zombie Chopper. The first involves finding (45) hidden caches of resources which will help you along the way. Which are welcome sources of ammunition, health, armor, etc. Nothing special, but welcome nonetheless.

None of these contain a weapon ahead of your scheduled time you should get it. So while they are "secrets" they won't dramatically change the course of your play-through.

The second involves playing through an entire chapter without using guns in an FPS. It's agonizing, slow, and at times frustrating. I don't recommend it unless you really want it. Upon getting the unlock. I stopped playing HL2 for a bit, as I was very much done with the game for a while. I did it on easy. I can't imagine how frustrating it would be on Normal or Hard difficulty. I wouldn't recommend that at all.

My only reason for writing this is that maybe, hopefully, Valve might take some criticism to heart with their thoughts towards HL3.

1. Please let the ability to sprint not be limited to a stamina bar. You can only move quickly for a handful of seconds. This isn't helpful and doesn't convey that you're in a Hazardous Environmental Suit that for all intents and purposes is a suit of power armor. This bar is also linked to other things, like your flashlight.

2. Please have the flashlight last longer than 10 seconds. Like sprinting. Your flashlight lasts only a handful of seconds. It's also tied to the same sprint bar. So don't expect to sprint or see, for very long in the many, many dark areas you have to traverse.

3. The most enjoyable parts of HL2 are the points where you do NOT have to deal with AI squadmates . I understand the desire to break up game-play with something different, but when they are nothing more than obstacles in your path. It becomes frustrating extremely quickly. On harder difficulties, I can expect them to be the causes of many deaths and restarts.

There are things I do like about HL2.

The AI, for the time, is pretty intelligent and capable. The Civil Protection and Combine Troops are surprisingly diligent and able to navigate quite effectively. I would've liked to see more variety among them, as a means to break up game-play, but what is there is solid for a 2004 shooter. They are a clear successor to the HECU Grunts.

I just wish they weren't so commonly placed next to explosive barrels all the time.

The New Zombies Are a welcome addition. If horrifying nightmare fuel. Check out what they're saying for some sleepless nights.

While the total collection of weapons in HL2 is less than HL1. They are solid in what they do, and I found myself using each weapon according to need. Without having one become the dominant workhorse throughout the experience. Ammunition, for the most part remained consistently flexible enough that I didn't feel forced to use anything I didn't want out of a need to. Which is a good feeling, overall. I would've liked to have been able to store more than a handful of rockets but hey. That's a minor gripe.

All in all, HL2 is a fun experience. Will HL3 finish sometime this century? Who knows?

All in all, a fun time. Just screw those achievements. Uggh.

Forged In Hell Update:

This update includes the ability to exclude the RTS elements of the original release. Which allows you to quickly play through the 2D "Megaman X" like areas. While it's an improvement by removing the RTS mode, it also cuts down the humor too.

I would recommend at least giving the default mode a go first. As the game's humor is part of it's charm.

Other than that, the game remains the same. It's a challenging but fun platformer with an amusing sense of humor.

It might border on too challenging for me, personally, but I liked the time I spent with it.

-=-=-Original Review-=-=-
What, did you think I just down vote everything?

Smelter is a fun, but challenging Megaman X like platformer with an Actraiser feel. The game doesn't take itself too seriously and has some entertaining dialogue between Smelter and the various cast of characters you meet along the way.

The game is divided into two distinct game-play styles. The first one is the Megaman X style combat levels, where you play as a transformed Eve, traversing various platforming and combat challenges.

In my usual method of not spoiling things. You don't acquire new abilities from fighting bosses, but rather acquire new forms that allow you to do different things. These forms are viable for mobility, combat, and defense. Making switching between them a fun experience.

The second is a very bare-bones, RTS like system. You build houses, "farms", and then have two forms of defense. Either converting servants, called Zirms, into either melee or ranged fighters. It's not overly complex, but it's serviceable for what it has you do.

As you expand your empire across the map, you have various tasks to do both in an RTS form and a Platforming form.

All of that is introduced in the first 30 minutes.

To unlock new abilities for Smelter's various forms, you have to complete various challenge rooms. These trials. I'll admit I usually hate these kinds of things. Emphasis on usually. They're on par with Escort Quests, if you ask me. Annoying, frustrating, and often not rewarding enough.

These trial rooms do get challenging, but they never overstay their welcome. They are short, and occasionally punishing, but not so long or so hard that they made me quit in frustration. Furthermore, if you do find a door in a level that leads to one of these areas, you can always go back to it later. So you don't have to do them all in one run if you don't want to.

Also, once you open one of these doors, and try it, you can unlock an upgrade on the world map to try them later.

It's not a perfect game by any means, however, my negatives really devolve down to nitpicks.

One: I immediately passed this game upon first viewing because Eve's outfit with Smelter is just stupid in design. If it wasn't for a friend streaming it and I got a look at the game play of it, I would've never have given this game a second chance.

Two: You cannot switch between form 3 and form 1. You have to go back to form 2, then to form 1. I don't understand why you cannot switch between them in a scrolling fashion. It doesn't break anything, but it seems strange that you can't do that. It's very much a Megaman X habit.

Three: Smelter's main ability is to "Smelt" enemies (or objects) by grabbing onto them with his green floating hand. Objects (or enemies) that you can interact with in this way develop a green floating outline around them. This can be used to hold objects in place, restore your health, or deal damage to bosses.

I wish this mechanic was active more often so it wouldn't fall by the wayside.

I constantly kept forgetting it existed because the chance of it is so low at the start that the button doesn't become a part of the regular method of play. So when an object goes glow green, sometimes I just forget that I'm supposed to use his ability to take advantage of it. Sometimes I outright died because I didn't realize what I had to do against a particular boss because of how rare it is as it starts.

Beyond that, I'm looking forward to finishing this. It's an entertaining ride, and I hope it maintains it's momentum. I do feel like the game might be on the shorter end, but I've gotten 12 hours out of it thus far, and I don't feel I'm too close to the end.

I'll edit this when I get to the end to see if my opinion changes. Thus far though, I'm excited to see how this turns out.