Recent reviews by weedian

Imagine John Carpenter has decided to create a video game adaptation of The Thing. Yep, that's what Still Wakes the Deep is, and it's lovely.

Magnificent game and an absolute must-buy.

I beat the game so you don't have to. The graphics and driving system are stunning; the rest is a joke,

This game has literally changed my life

|( ͡o Д ͡o)|

The game had a relatively tiny promo campaign, and there was a 10% discount during the pre-order period and multiple days after the launch date. It didn't feel like a good sign at all, to be honest, so I had zero expectations for Clair Obscur. But when I got into the game, oh, mate... I'd like to go deep into details, but I will try to keep it as brief as possible instead.

The graphics aspect is nice. It may not be your UE5 title with all the bells and whistles, but the image is overall sweet. I ain't no fan of additional filters and was glad to have an option to completely disable motion blur, film grain, chromatic aberration, and vignette. I also haven't spotted the depth of field effect on long distances. That said, native rendering in conjunction with DLAA provides a razor-sharp image even at long render distances with no edge blurring or ghosting. Hats off!

The characters are gorgeous in every aspect: subjectively, the characters just look pretty, and their design & visuals feel like a breath of fresh air here. The models were made with special attention to hair & clothes physics and lively animations. The voice acting is pleasant.

The music is okay. Sometimes it feels off and a bit dramatic with no reason, but it also accurately resonates with the surroundings at times.

The lore and the world are done in a way that I find interesting to explore, bumping into candid gags sometimes. The story is fine so far; I might update this part of the review upon the game's completion.

Character building, progression, RP, and combat are good and make up a solid TRPG. No offence to JRPG chads due to the absence of comparison with that genre. I like the dodging/parry mechanics, especially.

All in all, I have no regret about buying it on day 1 and just suggest you try it out at least within the refundable 2 hours.

UPD: 57 hours later I can confirm everything mentioned earlier. The writing is gorgeous in this game.

Shader compilation during the gameplay was the worst decision nixxes could come up with. I am good with waiting several minutes for the stuff to be compiled while in the main menu, but for whatever reason the dudes decided to compile them on the go. During the compilation, this 5-year-old game loads 7800x3d for up to 80-90%, so you receive microstutters and even 0 FPS drops as a bonus to your experience.

Great decision, bravo!

18 hours throughout the game so far. Below is a highlight of the main points about the game.
TL;DR it's a slop.

Pros:

• No enemy autolevelling.
  
• The combat system is fine.
  
• Exploration is somewhat fun for the first several hours.

Cons:

• The world is static (i.e. dead) with a few scripted elements placed here and there.
  
• Neutral NPCs and guards not even make no reaction on aggression towards them, but you even cannot damage neutral NPCs. They are just props on the map, so the sword just "floats" through them.
  
• You cannot interact with almost all non-quest NPCs (i.e. props).
  
• Side quests have little background and therefore almost no sense.
  
• There is no option to remove the items from your inventory. The items can be either disassembled into scrap or transferred to the party camp chest. It's a lack of core game mechanics that is usually observed in early testing builds.
  
• No diverse weaponry. There are just weapon types (e.g. short sword, long sword, bow, wand, etc.) which must be upgraded. You'll have the same sword, bow, wand, etc. throughout the whole game and every time you loot. Several hours in the game, you'll have a couple dozens of stacked swords, bows, wands, etc. in the party camp chest.
  
• Weird map design with no option to place custom markers.
  
• There is no stealing or pickpocketing mechanics, which are one of the core features of any immersive RPG game.

Avowed feels like an alpha test build for a low-budget version of the game announced in the very first trailer. I get that Obsidian used to produce AA games. I realise that they might have not made any AAA except for the New Vegas. Still, there was Outer Worlds (2019) which feels so much better and more alive than Avowed (2025).

Considering the price tag, this game is an absolute slop. I honestly regret spending money on it and do not recommend buying Avowed without a solid discount. If you feel like playing this game, try to reconsider and maybe try out Pillars of Eternity (1, 2) or Outer Worlds first.

The game's a disaster. Just a quick breakdown from the first hour of the game:

• Launcher crashes during the fist 2 launches
  
• Only 3 map size options
  
• No fast movement/combat
  
• No autoexploration for scouts
  
• The icons that look like AI-generated content
  
• No construction queue
  
• No option to view the city/town tiles via clicking on the city/town name

I'd take it gladly for 30 with an early access label but it's an absolute spit in the face to sell this kind of game for 70-130.

动态网自由门 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Free Tibet 六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門大屠殺 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 反右派鬥爭 The Anti-Rightist Struggle 大躍進政策 The Great Leap Forward 文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 人權 Human Rights 民運 Democratization 自由 Freedom 獨立 Independence 多黨制 Multi-party system 台灣 臺灣 Taiwan Formosa 中華民國 Republic of China 西藏 土伯特 唐古特 Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama 法輪功 Falun Dafa 新疆維吾爾自治區 The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 諾貝爾和平獎 Nobel Peace Prize 劉暁波 Liu Xiaobo 民主 言論 思想 反共 反革命 抗議 運動 騷亂 暴亂 騷擾 擾亂 抗暴 平反 維權 示威游行 李洪志 法輪大法 大法弟子 強制斷種 強制堕胎 民族淨化 人體實驗 肅清 胡耀邦 趙紫陽 魏京生 王丹 還政於民 和平演變 激流中國 北京之春 大紀元時報 九評論共産黨 獨裁 專制 壓制 統一 監視 鎮壓 迫害 侵略 掠奪 破壞 拷問 屠殺 活摘器官 誘拐 買賣人口 遊進 走私 毒品 賣淫 春畫 賭博 六合彩 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Winnie the Pooh 劉曉波动态网自由门

A piece of art.