Recent reviews by Artemisia

Ya shoulda came to Steam when your game was actually good

It may be short, but it is a puzzle that both confounds yet draws you in. Stories are the most basic of things and yet people take it for granted how much of a an effort stories take to craft.

And when writing, you often have plot points and character arcs or conditions that must happen. The question then is: How exactly can you craft the story with those conditions?

The game has a very simple yet puzzly system that allows you to make a story through conditions. And it makes for fun stories when you spice things up for it.

Puzzle-adventure game emblematic of the early 2000s

I wish I could've played this in 2002 when it first came out. Because the world created by Benoit Sokal is gorgeously beautiful. Inspired by the steampunk themes, this world is an alternate universe to our own, where automation was created early and automatons are common and part of history. The difference between a robot and an automaton are defined here and while by the events of the story, automatons are not regarded as objects of fascination like in the past, it still rings through today.

Kate Walker is a lawyer with an assignment that takes her further and further from home and far from the person she used to be. You solve puzzles, problems and find a paper trial chasing Hans Voralberg of the automaton historic family.

Its a very nice world built and puzzles which tickle you. A leisurely journey that keeps asking you to believe in wonders and abandon rational decisions

Syberia the World Before - like all Microids Syberias before it is, confused but has the spirit.

Don't get me wrong, this game is magical. Its beautiful and wonderfully detailed, in the world of Benoit Sokal who created this steampunk-esque alternate universe. TWB is so beautiful and a feast for the eyes and the art and music is so beautiful, it will be stuck in your head for days.

However, like all Syberias before its always a 'one step forwards, two steps back'. Every single Syberia has improved on the last whether technologically or creatively - but it has also had drawbacks. Its a double-edged sword. LIke all game companies, have improved on the games each time, it also everytime makes you miss and prefer the old controls or the old movement controls, etc.

After the disaster that was Syberia 3 - where they lost their way without Benoit after he passed and tried to take what he had and ran off with it a random and predictable direction that ultimately betrayed his creation - they listened and returned to the original method; beautiful character stories about discovery, adventure and puzzles.

But TWB while it had better controls than Syberia 3, still was clunky in the click-and-hold system it had tried to do in 3 and you would often go in a direction you had not intended and takes some getting used to.

THE MOST ANNOYING PART is the Overly Efficient auto-save. How can an auto save be OVER efficient, you ask? Well, previously Syberias had a manual and auto save function - which was useful since you had achievements that required you to do puzzles in one go and it was helpful to just 'main menu' and come back and start again. But SOMEHOW, some genius at Microids decided to do away with 'save games' and just have a super efficient auto save that, while it is a very good system, the lack of a manual save feature means that one mistake means you have to REPLAY THE ENTIRE GAME just for one extremely specific achievement.

THAT same GENIUS also had the mad idea that you cannot skip or fast forward cutscenes or conversations. Which makes the above point even more annoying if you want to speed run the game. Don't get me wrong, its beautiful game but it gets ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tedious the third time you're forced to do things and the whole point of an adventure mystery is to discover something NEW not replay the whole thing when you know whats going to happen already.

Which makes it difficult for people to make game movies of this game - which is a pity because as mentioned its a very beautiful game. Because, while ultimately the story is set for you and your choices don't really matter, you still want to know how different dialogue choices make different reactions. AND it makes sense now why there's a severe lack of guides and walkthroughs because its ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tedious to replay and figure out. Most players find out the HARD WAY, which i did, how to do certain achievements.

Therefore: one step forwards, two steps back. Microids is a little confused but got the spirit. While its a better game than all the previous 3, its the most annoying and disgustingly frustrating.

Another thing I will note narratively, there are a lot of plot points that are left behind. Like how Kate's ex-best friend (who's being a b word in this game) cheated with Kate's ex-fiance and then married him in Kate's absence. She never admits that it might have been a factor as to why Kate left and somehow likes to poke her nose in Kate's family's affairs by taking care of her mother. Granted, that's nice but its an AITA reddit thread waiting to happen (AITA for cheating with my bestie's fiance and then taking on the daughter role to her mother while she's MIA in Europe and imprisoned in a slave mine?) Then there's the whole Syberia 3 plot which unfortunately is canon. Then there's Anna/Sarah's baby snatching. Was it the original plan from Dana's parents to give the baby to the Zimmers who they owe a great deal to. And while understandably, you would not have a lot of emotional attachment to a daughter you never knew lived, it seems convenient she didn't confront the Zimmers for it. And they seemingly just let Dana alone during WW2 as a Vagaran. And happily made of with her baby. All of it seems so unresolved and leaves the plot (while it is not the main idea) quite unfulfilled.

Edit: thankfully, Microids managed to give me a solution that enabled me to get 100% achievements which is more than i can say for MOST game companies who just say 'play the game' even when there's an issue with said game they designed. Arguably, this redeems them and even elevates them as a game company that actually cares about the experience.

I'm here for Tall Mama. And the action, story and zombies

But did it deliver? Well....

Maybe its the cynic in me but RE8 both lived up to its expectations and failed it.

After extensive Tall Mama marketing, she's unfortunately not even the main villain which means she's only in it until you get enough upgrade on your gun to kill her.

Secondly, RE8 follows what we would call 'standard Resident Evil' format; which means you grind villain, a section where you run from unkillable boss till you reach a sequenced area to kill them. Although, each of the Four Lords have their own theme. Dimitrescu has the old formula of the boss chasing you around while you collect things. Donna is more psychological, [spoilers] no weapons and a lot of jumpscares [/spoilers]. Moreau is the standard grotesque boss where the player has to be quick thinking to evade him. And Heisenberg is well... He's just a big boss fight with lots of mini bosses.

The game has a lot of holes in lore unless you read the little notes in the game. I get it, you're supposed to look for lore and all that but compared to RE2 and RE3 remakes, RE8 is a lot less intricately planned out. It was as if they spent more on the mocap and action storyline than world-building cos RE2 and RE3 were already world built and they just had to mocap and spruce it up. I understood more of the storyline and the backstory in those older games remade than i did these new gen of REs even though they also put plot and lore in the little documents scattered all over the place. But the thing with RE8 is that they introduced mini big bosses - new characters each with their own personalities, abilities and backstories. Whenever you do, you need to build them. You only know them so far as the area runs out. The only one you get at least a bit of motivation from is Heisenberg because you have a cutscene and a 'sort of' sit down chat with him. And Dimitrescu who is a lot more clear cut (her motivation being her family and blood). You don't really give a ♥♥♥♥ about the other two. And Mother Miranda herself is not as interesting because while they tried to tie her in as this ancient source of all evil (where the Umbrella corp got their inspo from) and where the RE7 virus came from, you only get to see her at the end. And all she wails about is her daughter, whom you don't get a chance to get attached to. You feel a little sorry for her since she's essentially has the same motivation and goal as you but you really dont care about her much in the end. She's just a hole that needs to be filled with bullets.

Ethan is less annoying than he was RE7. But I still had a hard time liking him. Which is a problem since you play as him. His relationship with his wife is still ♥♥♥♥. And you only really see 'marital harmony' in their marriage when either of them are offscreen. Its like they can only communicate when the other one is not there and only say things while the other is dead. Ethan is seriously annoying because he has the chance to ask so many questions after the bosses literally give him chances, especially Heisenberg to answer so many of these with their chat. like: "How is Rose powerful? Why did they take her? What can Rose actually do?" Granted, some of these answers can be found in the lore, and granted they wanna set up a sequel for Rose and ♥♥♥♥ but come on. Its kinda hard when you as the player has all these questions you want answers to and all Ethan says is "♥♥♥♥ YOU". Sure, sure. This is the second time someone has tried to ♥♥♥♥ up his family. And he's tired of all that ♥♥♥♥. But seriously? He's who you're playing as he should be a little more moderate to relate to the player and give him personality in some other way other than having him say "♥♥♥♥ you" to everyone.

AND ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ CHRIS REDFIELD. Maybe its cos they didn't get Roger Craig Smith this time but ♥♥♥♥ me dead they butchered his character. They went from him having a major character development in RE6 of how he has a duty to 'save the world' to "STAY OUT OF THIS YOURE SLOWING ME DOWN" kind of boulder punching testesterone meathead.

zzzzz

Bruh.

Overall, its enjoyable in the way its a point and click and treasurehunt-go around collecting ♥♥♥♥. Kind of game with zombies and 'somewhat' of a story narrative game. But it still did not live up to its hype.

Not enough Tall Mama. Not enough writing. Just point and shoot zombies.

6/10. Maybe 7 purely cos graphics and art was nice.

Got all the achievements and almost all challenges except the mercernaries abilities (cos i dont wanna waste more time on that game mode) and the other two x number of lei in iventory thing

Beth Wilder

Control is a beautiful game with layers upon layers of world built in it. On second playthrough do you see things you missed. Control offers a world of supernatural and paranatural hidden by a Bureau of Control and Jesse Faden's quest to discover the truth. At first, everything is strange and mysterious. But after a while, you learn to suspend your disbelief, as Jesse does, as anyone would do if you were told the crazy things in the world happen for a reason. That sometimes even the Bureau cannot control or even understand.

Control is a supernatural, action game with a female protagonist that is by no means stupid. Having lived her life on the run and searching for a hidden truth. She is more than she seems.

The graphics and camera shots are stellar. It reads like a movie - kinda Remedy's thing. You gain abilities, you gain more weapon configurations. You explore and search for the truth. The characters have some depth. But all the while you feel the bureaucratic red tape which binds all organisations weighing you down, the expendability of a worker in the grand scheme of a company, the bosses can get too big for their boots and how the lowly Janitor does everything basically. You are the Janitor's Assistant, and you clean ♥♥♥♥ up.

Ethan Winters is a man who is suspiciously fine when he just killed his wife with an axe

When i first played the demo, I was very freaked out. I liked RE6 because it had action, zombies, drama and yet it was a zombie game. I didn't like this horror jump-scare take. On that note, this game relies on it.

The voice acting is okay but as stated above is suspiciously lacking. Its like they want you to not care what happens to Mia . Fairly straightforward twist to the story and a cameo by everyone's favourite man Chris Redfield

The gameplay is first-person POV so it forces you into the horror while it still has action. I must say that the horror elements on first playthrough are really good. The first few minutes of the game you're defenceless while a literal killer stalks you through the house. The extra content also push the depravity of the Baker family to its limits but also tells you the other side - they were victims too. A normal happy family with a troubled son. But normal and safe. Their act of kindness cost them their lives and the lives of the victims they would torture.

Iventory system
is kinda annoying. Unable to destroy what you don't need later like other RE games. And there's an achievement that limits you to 3 times of touching the item box (and if you play the game there's 3 times you HAVE to touch the box)

All in all: a good game. Ambience, design, story and themes were on point. But not excellent.

Free weekend review:

Its Fallout 4 but online.

Its pretty clear everything is run on microtransactions. Even with the familiar systems and controls its hard to navigate the added online aspect if you're a noob and there's almost no help for it. The community is mostly friendly (that i've encountered) but the game is basically from what i can tell, an endless grind for cosmetics and weapons and to get your edge there's a microtransaction everywhere.

I spent more time in the loading screen than i did playing the actual game

Lukewarm recommendation

I keep expecting Jon Hamm to speak but i keep getting a British man.

This game is fairly enjoyable and i'm a sucker for Victorian London. The art and graphics is quite beautiful and the detailing in the game quite beautiful. The characters were wonderfully voiced and the main storyline is quite intriguing. It teases you with a mystery bit by bit; the story of a workaholic detective and his adopted daughter of dubious origins.

However, for full price i wouldn't recommend it. Fortunately, i got this at 90% off.

The mini puzles and games are quite frustrating, with quite poorly designed user interfaces and a lack of tuturials or helps. And deduction mode is so confusing when it is first introduced. Thankfully there is SKIP function - which in itself is questionable. If you're going to be playing a puzzle game, why are you even skipping? And the skip function also makes it easy for you to miss certain achievements and I had to replay an entire case to get the last achievement. The cases are quite interesting and involves some moral choices that unfortunately have 0 bearing on the ending of the story and the climax of your main story arc. Though, of course, that is because this game is more of a detective thing and not a RPG. The element of the moral choice is simply for engagement, but that to me just makes it that much more shallow and less meaningful if the outcome is to be the same. The cases sometimes can be a bit confusing and the disguise function is quite sparsely used.

All in all, it is a good game, only for a sale period and for a passive enjoyment for history buffs and a simple challenge for those looking for puzzles. If not, you can skip it.