Recent reviews by Kanaev

I can't say I hated the game. Actually quite enjoyed it for the first few hours, but monotony of it all slowly did me in.
The game has many memorable tracks and some locations do look good, but how it all looks the same combined with labyrinthian design made me dislike most of them after the initial impression of entering a new zone wore off.
Weapons also look great, but using them is not. Model (the cool part) doesn't matter at all. Damage is only done when you hit something in the very middle of your reticle. A pixel off? No hit for you. Be it grass or an enemy. Even if by animation it should've hit. Sword swings, thrusts - doesn't matter. I try to cut grass, but oh no, my damage pixel drifted between the stems and I missed. Enemies are also quite tanky, which drags out the fighting. One very simple boss mid game has way too much health and the fight just drags on and on.
Also the game lacks proper keybind feature. You can change them, but only via a text-file. Which is a) cumbersome and b) I don't know all proper names for keys I'm using.
And then there are "inspirations". It was cool at first encountering something and thinking: "oh, I know where this is from", but it never stopped. Is anything in this game even original, or is it just the inspirations mushed together? The game never surprised me on it's own. All "cool" things came from other games as a direct rip-off.

tl;dr - fun at first, but never improves and becomes tedious, has no originality beyond inspirations.

One of the best games I've ever played.

Спасибо, Совокотики!

DLC4 - The Last Sarkorians
An integrated new companion that you can grab pretty early. Has his own story and areas. Interacts with other party members and takes part in your crusade meetings like other companions, so without knowing it's a DLC - he doesn't feel like something added in post. Also adds new shifter class and the next DLC (LoN) expands it. Shifter is quite good and fun. Be a tiger/rat/wolf and rip&tear demons.

DLC5 - The Lord of Nothing
A standalone continuation of Through the Ashes from the first Season Pass. Took me around 10 hours. It's really good. Also it's import in the main campaign is not limited to items, but also a new fight for your protagonist.
Best place to play this is right at the start of Act 5. It can be played immediately after Through the Ashes, but there's a danger of spoilers if done this way. They can be avoided you just need not to talk to a bartender about current events and not click on nameless NPC's in the tavern, since they also comment on what's happening in the main campaign with speech bubbles. If you can stop yourself from doing above - nothing else spoils the main plot.
Can be played by either importing your Through the Ashes save or by creating a fresh character.

DLC6 - Eagerly Awaiting.
Not out yet at the time of review. From description it sounds like ME3: Citadel. I always look forward to more interactions with companions.

DLCs 4&5 already make Season Pass 2 worth it and DLC6 would be a nice peaceful send off when it releases.

DLC1 - Inevitable Excess
A separate max level campaign that took me 7 hours to beat. I have no idea what people are talking about when mentioning puzzles in this one. There's like ~3,5 puzzles for the whole DLC and they are quite easy, so don't bring up your Enigma trauma. I liked the concept and where story went in this one, but can't go into specifics without spoilers.
It takes place right before the finale When heading through a portal in Treshhold game will autosave, this is the moment to launch this DLC - a description of the moment you need to play DLC with minor spoilers. You can then import your character and companions from the main campaign to the DLC. Otherwise - you have to create a fresh party.

DLC2 - Through the Ashes
Another separate campaign, but low level this time, taking place right at the start. Took me around 6 hours. You take control of a group of survivors escaping the chaos of the main story's opening. Preferably played at higher difficulties, as the intent is not on combat, but avoidance of it and fear of every encounter. Focus on low level survival is neat, you need to take care of several non-playable NPCs, considering choices that would let all of you survive (or abandon/kill them yourself, it's an RPG, after all). Ends with a partial cliffhanger and continues in Lord of Nothing, which is part of Season Pass 2.
You can play it as soon as you reach the Defender's Heart inn in the main campaign.

DLC3 - The Treasure of the Midnight Isles
As a standalone - it's a rogue like. If you like large amounts of combat - this is for you. To jump in, test your builds and such. But it's way too monotonous for me, since I mostly prefer story.
It also integrates in the main campaign and inside it it's much more bearable (shorter, for one). You get to play it in parts in Acts 3, 4 and 5, with each act unlocking more of it's parts. Story is interesting, but pretty minimal. Most of DLC is combat. It's also a fantastic source of money and strong~ish items during the main campaign. Gotta fund crusade somehow.

Overall it's a good purchase. As someone who was apprehensive of the standalone DLCs at first - I really liked them in the end. It's a hassle that you have no idea when to play them if it's your first playthrough though. You get some rewards for importing completed DLC saves into the main campaign.

Head big; turret small.

I don't have a Steam Deck. but I see how it's a great way to test all it's functionalities in a playful form. My DS4 finally had some native use of gyro and trackpad.

They outdid themselves.

The game was not as broken as Automata, but SE still didn't deliver an optimal product. And failed to patch it yet again.

My second favourite ND game so far (Blackmoor in the first place and Ghost Dogs in the third) - it has interesting puzzles, characters, plot, setting, lore.. Everything! The game flows even better than a Final Scene, so there's never a downtime. Each time I moved trough the train I had something new to talk about with characters or solve a new puzzles, which are just hard enough to be a challenge but without being tedious.

I can't write anything else, because it just would be praise after praise. What an amazing game.

I found this part to be quite boring. The setting is nice, but most of the puzzles are either too easy, or too tedious (hello, sewing, or chore run across the whole town. Two times over). The end challenge was interesting, and so were characters, but location design is quite bland and I don't think I liked anything outside the "esper's" house (that magnificent cat!). The fact that I'm just off a genuinely fantastic game doesn't help either.
The plot was also a big mess, the fact that they've frankensteined three books into one story is partially a reason, but even without that - there were so many little annoyances with the way it was presented. The kitchen burned and possibly a place of a crime with clues? Why, you can never go there. A banker that's quite willy-nilly about his job and let's you have the contents of another's deposit box? Sure! A suddenly resurfaced will, typed out on a type-writer with no witnesses? Perfectly acceptable. The original Nancy Drew book stated quite clearly, that for a type-written will at least two witnesses are required for it to be accepted.

Overall - I didn't like the game in many ways. I could recommend it for it's unique setting and an entertaining realization of the town with driving around, but many aspects are either underused, or used in a bad way.

Good thing the next game is also one of my favourites and should not disappoint.

This was my first Nancy Drew game and it's probably the best one. Would be able to say for certain when I replay all of the others and catch up to the most recent one. Who would've thought there would be more than ten of them since the last time I touched the series! (Ransom of the Seven Ships, the twentieth, if not counting the two Dossier games)
Outstanding setting, flow, puzzles, music, atmosphere; interesting characters - everything in this game is top-notch. They've fixed up the new interface, introduced in the previous game and now the inventory navigation is better.
The game sets the tone immediately by an FMV opening and then drops you into a gorgeous room, that Nancy will sleep in for duration of the plot. Every corner of this manor is beautiful.
The puzzles in this installment are somewhat non-linear and I like it. There's one giant bottleneck of a puzzle, which you can approach bit by bit at any point of the game, or not to touch at all until the very end. It expects you to take things at your own pace, learn interesting history of Penvellyn family and their ingenious contraptions. It magnificently utilizes fairly small game world, by using every nook and cranny. The puzzles are also quite challenging, but their open endedness contributes to the flow, since you can drop them and go do something else, while thinking of the solution at the back of your mind. Or just abandon everything and play games with Jane. Her games are quite fun!

Overall - this is a masterpiece, with interesting plot, lore, puzzles, visuals - everything! Easily the best game out of the first eleven and boy it was lucky for me to accidentally pick it up in store back in 2006. It kickstarted my love for the series and I've bought and played them all, until Ransom of the Seven Ships killed my passion. I'll see how truly bad it was when I get to it, but I hope the games after still have the passion of Blackmoor Manor.

Also finally reading/hearing everything in English is nice, since the games were fully localized in Russia, and localization was quite good, I might add. Gosh I love this game.