Recent reviews by Varcova

What an exceptional distillation of exploration and progression, paired with some of the best audio engineering I've heard.

I have to recommend this game to anyone who loved Psychonauts and has a headset. Seeing this art-style in VR is wonderful. The presentation, writing, pacing, and music doesn't miss a beat, despite the 13 years between the games. I laughed frequently at the writing, and enjoyed the game.

While the game doesn't have motion controls, playing with a game-pad is effective. Moving is done by hopping between characters with the Clairvoyance ability, while other abilities are used for some light puzzle solving. The characters are reactive to player input more so than most VR games I've played, lending a sense of presence and weight to their freaky design.

If you haven't been prone in some bushes evading enemy recon while frantically scanning thru gaps in the leaves for any sign of movement 3 bushes and a tree over thru shell-shocked vision from the danger-close artillery your racist squad leader called down right in front of you while yelling "Go home GI" in a bad Vietnamese accent while the other team blasts Fortunate Son over proximity chat only to be team killed by their own flame throwing marine making weed puns, you really haven't experienced peak Rising Storm 2.

I've played this a fair bit before it came to Steam. The core gameplay is a lot of fun, with the combat placing an emphasis on your positioning within the map, the direction your mech is facing, and which part of the enemy mech you want to destroy while managing your ammo and heat. There is a wide selection of weapons and parts to equip your mech with which can be daunting, but thankfully premade mechs are totally viable.

My friends and I have a lot of fun in Quickplay when we don't queue up together. There is a lot of communication going on between team members such as callouts of enemy positions, priority targets, and planning moves. Everyone seems mature and there to have fun playing the game as a team. With 1500+ hours in CSGO, this is pretty sweet and still catches me off guard some times.

Unfortunately, if you make a group to drop with a friend or two all this communication goes away. No one is talking or making callout outs or alerting to flanking enemies. I think this has to do with hidden 'group' and 'individual' queues. There is a drastic change in the feel of the match when I drop with just one friend even though the maps, objects, mechs, and players are the same.
I think that people dropping in the 'group' Quickplay have 3rd party VoIP options and only talk to their friends out of game, ruining the magic that is the 'individuals' Quickplay communication. The game devolves into what feels like a 6 pairs of mechs bundled together fighting another 6 pairs of mechs in the same spot every match.

There is a multi-match campaign mode where you select a faction and fight for territories on a galactic map, but I've only play it a few times years ago and can't really speak to the pros and cons of that mode.

Other than lackluster gameplay when trying the Quickplay with just one friend, the game is blast.

First, some background on where I sit with Killing Floor. I've around 200 hours between KF1 and KF2. Most of my time in the first game was played as Support, while in KF2 I played Berserker. When I think of the KF franchise, and Tripwire in general, great weapon handling and tense firefights come to mind. In Killing Floor: Incursion these things are both present, although in a different flavor.

LOCOMOTION supports sitting, standing, teleporting, full locomotion, and trackpad turning. You can also select left or right handedness but unfortunately not eye dominance.

THE GAMEPLAY is divided into two modes, Story and Endless. In KF1 and KF2 the gameplay occurs at two levels; the micro and the macro. Micro gameplay is the second to second stuff; shooting, reloading, positioning, prioritizing targets, and backpedaling. The Macro is stuff that takes place once per round; dosh sharing, weapon purchase, and resource management. I've completed the story mode, and the micro gameplay you expect of a Killing Floor title is all there but none of the macro. Story mode levels are like a Call of Duty level; moderate openness that create a sense of real locations, but linear enough as to not get lost. Ammo packs around the level are still there, but healing is done with health packs instead of the syringe. The Zed time is even more fun in VR.

Endless mode is more like traditional Killing Floor as you face constantly spawning Zeds of increasing variety and have weapon progression, but it is not exactly like Killing Floor. There are no waves which means no time to take a break and rest your legs, weapons are awarded thru a glowing spawn point instead of bought thru dosh, and there are power ups that appear throughout the modestly sized play spaces.

STORY pacing is good, and I've really enjoyed the more narratively focused experience that KF:I offers. I didn't feel particularly driven to action when a main character's relative was in danger as they had been mentioned only a bit before, but there were no major issues that left me feeling like I could have written a better plot within the defined structure. I'm so used to getting KF lore thru environmental design and quick voice over bits, that proper exposition was much appreciated.

THE GUNS (pump shotgun, bolt-action sniper, automatic rifle, and a pistol) carry over from the traditional KF games, and all feel great to use save the sniper. The sniper has a nice creature comfort; if you hold the gun with both hands and bring the scope up past a certain threshold, it snaps to your right eye and reduces weapon sway. I am left eye- and left hand-dominate and have a lot of experience firing real firearms. Let me tell you, when all your muscle memory, experience and body positioning is telling you that your rifle is nestled in your left shoulder, and you can see through the scope with your left eye, and you move your head a little closer to the scope to spot that Husk off in the distance, and the scope suddenly jumps to your right eye and your left eye suddenly sees a natural FoV is as jarring as a system freeze in VR. Throwing is a bit awkward, but more doable than not. I was disappointed in how the fire-axe handles since I love the KF2 Berserker and melee feels so right in VR. Grenades are useful, but again, suffer from how strange throwing things in VR is.

ENEMIES include Cysts, Clots, Slashers, Crawlers, Stalkers, Gorefasts, Husks, Scrakes, Fleshpounds, and previously not seen massive boss. Cloakers are more of a fright in VR. Crawlers alone have me wishing for leg tracking so I can kick those spidery freaks in the face. The positional audio makes Scrakes far more intimidating as they swing their chainsaw towards you.

BUGs were few and far between. The only one that I can say for certain was a bug happened consistently. When using full locomotion and walking through a doorway, it was possible to be lifted into the space above the door if you slide along the door frame. After a few seconds I was returned to the ground. Not game breaking, but immersion breaking and consistent.

COMPLAINTS basically boil down to the above-mentioned bug, the sniper issue, grenades, default ammo vest positioning, and the flashlight. I wish that when I picked up a grenade, the game model would orient in such a way that the pull-pin was facing the other hand. I'm left handed, and when I grab a grenade with my left controller I have to reach to the back of my left hand with the right controller. The natural way of doing this doesn't line up the in-game right hand with the pull-pin, and fenagling occurs. Same goes for the ammo vest. Its default position is rather high up, going for pistols under the armpits. When I'm firing at Zeds closing it, it was far too easy to holster a pistol when I bring my hands back to my chest. I feel like the default inventory positions should be swapped. Lastly, and I think most importantly; the flashligh. The flashlight can be held in the hand or left on and holstered to your ammo vest. When handheld, it is as responsive as you would expect pointing a flashlight to be. When holstered, the flashlight points to center of your vision, but there is a delay between head movement and flashlight movement. This is a massive design flaw in the darker areas. Any latency between head movement and visual feedback increases chances of nausea, and because of this the flashlight was never holstered.

IN SUMMARY - Killing Floor: Incursion isn't a port of either of the other Killing Floor games and isn’t like Killing Floor in the sense that you don’t defend from wave after wave of zeds. On the other hand, the graphics, monsters, weapons, sounds, animations, locals, characters, and themes; it is Killing Floor through and through. I waited for a 60% sale, and I feel experience was worth far closer to full price.

Eh

This is an all around stunning game. From the level design, texture quality, and unique animations to sound design to the beautifully crafted narrative of which the game is focused, nothing fails to impress. The gameplay is based around puzzles/platforming in a three-dimensional environment. The gameplay does not present much of a challenge but the controls are solid and intuitive, playing great with gamepad or keyboard/mouse. The music and ambient environmental sounds are immersive and calming, allowing for a stark contrast when the narrative calls for it. The narrative deals with themes of addiction, abuse, and denial through excellent use of imagery and symbolism.
Everything fits together amazingly well in this game. It's rare to find a game that so excellently parses mature themes without resorting to mindless violence. I've been playing games for fifteen years, and I can honestly say this is one of the best. I bought it on sale not knowing what to expect and having beaten it, I gladly would have paid many times over the price for such an experience.

Red Orchestra is: staring out of a window in a ruined house, watching a distant figure go sprinting from one alley to another, unsure whether he’s an enemy or a friend, unsure of whether to shoot, feeling the pathos rolling around your stomach like a mouthful of copper, and then being stabbed in the neck by a man who was creeping up behind you the whole time. That’s Red Orchestra -RPS

Bontanicula proves googly-eyes make everything better. The controls are solid. The gameplay is point-and-click puzzle solving that is challenging but not difficult and exploration than is never dull thanks to adorable character design and colorful level design. I normally don’t use “adorable” to describe aspects of a game, but then again I normal don’t find myself smiling every five minutes. I am not a fan of puzzle games or point-and-click adventures, but I played Botanicula from start to stop with a grin. This game is a gem and I recommend it to anyone looking for a warmer, more heartfelt game.

This is the only game that has scared me to the point of shaking in my chair. Saying it's a survival horror doesn't do justice. You must protect your sanity by avoiding darkness and keep your health up all while armed only with your lantern which must be continually refilled with fuel. The horror experience shines when your mind is torn between saving your sanity by exploring a room in hopes of keeping your dwendling flame going a little longer and avoiding the ever increasing sound of an enemy that cannot be killed.