Recent reviews by Freelancer Josiah

I'm not going to mince words here. This game is... Janky. It's buggy as all get out at moments, there are times where you'll just flat-out have to reload a save just to keep things progressing. Visually it's dated, even for a 2012 title. You can see the cracks and seams where the Unity engine is just bugged up enough to be distracting. The voice acting runs the gamut from great to cringeworthy, and there are a few moments where it felt like even though you 'know' the solution already you still have to go through the motions to get something to trigger. The puzzles are thankfully more logical than most adventure games but there's still moments of total Moon-Logic and the soundtrack, while spectacular, isn't really something that would propel you to keep playing through the mechanics. All this game's really got to carry it along is its story.

Good thing the story is absolutely phenomenal. They credit Jane Jensen, creator of the Gabriel Knight series, as a story consultant and it shows clear as day with how much this game keeps you compelled to push forward. To keep dealing with the weird, janky playstyle and occasionally irritating moments just to keep unraveling the twisted, tangled web of Erica Reed's powers and the enigmatic Cain Killer. Every episode will push you to the edge of your seat and keep you hooked in. This game is like a good book - it gets your attention, grabs hold of you, and next thing you know hours have passed and yet you still want more.

If you're willing to put up with some janky design, odd visuals, and general-purpose questionable design, Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller will have your undivided attention for at least a solid weekend of puzzle-solving.

Overkill, Overkill, Overkill... Or perhaps Starbreeze, Starbreez, Starbreeze... Regardless the point still stands. This game has gone to crap. It was so good for so long; even despite the heavy focus on 5-10 dollar DLC with heists, characters, and weapons - which slowly did become less and less about quality and more about making a quick buck (Ninja pack was a bit lacking, Chivalry pack seemed silly, and Jiro just doesn't seem appealing as a character at all). And then Crimefest 2015 came about, and Payday 2 was hit with the microtransaction stick. Yes, now you have 'safes' that drop and you buy (with real money, 2.50 a pop) 'drills' to open them and get weapon skins. Oh, but it gets worse; those skins aren't just cosmetics, but they have actual STATS attached! And it gets EVEN FREAKING BETTER when you realize that these weapon skins with STAT BOOSTS AS IN PAY TO WIN cost an average on Steam's marketplace of... between 15 and 40 dollars, and that price is probably gonna go up. The game's core fanbase is abandoning ship at a rapid rate, and after this free-to-play time during Crimefest ends I'm willing to bet it just dries up. This is thoroughly unacceptable behavior, and I quite frankly do not plan to recommend this game to anyone, or to play it again unless these changes are reversed. You broke this game, guys. Fix it or we'll leave it to rot.

Let me tell you a story, folks. Once upon a time, there was a game called DayZ. Now, DayZ was a groundbreaking mod, and had a standalone version planned that was equally intriguing. A bit after DayZ found mainstream appeal, many copycat games popped up in its wake, attempting to either provide their own spin on the newly-formed genre of open-world survival (Nether pre-June 2014) or just to cash-grab (Infestation: Survivor Stories). As is the trend, the original game skyrocketed while copycats rode the wave for a while, with many of the lesser quality ones falling off to obscurity while ones with potential and promise rose to the top and were rewarded.

Nether was one of those games. Before sometime in June of 2014, Nether was arguably better than DayZ. It had loot systems that were reasonably sensible, loot that respawned, a reasonable assortment of both gear and AI enemies that included some truly frightening foes, and most importantly - a map that was large enough to be interesting, yet small enough to not completely bore players as they wandered about, trying to scavenge what they could. The enemies, known as 'Nethers' were fairly challenging enemies, however you could hold your own with a bit of skill in melee and occasionally a lot of running. The real opponent was, as it was in DayZ, the other players. However Nether attempted to work on even that, introducing a Tribe system as well as randomly occuring events that would encourage players to work together - at least temporarily so, with massive loot payoffs if they did. Nether was a few upgrades and a moderate amount of bug-fixing away from being a spectacular game, and eclipsing even DayZ.

I don't know what happened between June of 2014 and November of 2014, but whatever happened destroyed Nether. It's a ghost town now, with only servers in the EU and one on US West still offering any players at all. From what I gathered from the remaining players, the economy was broken through exploits and hackers ran rampant through the game. The focus also seems to have altered, with 'Nether Potions' allowing you to take on the forms of these monsters.

This, quite frankly, ruined the game. Now, Nether is a complete ghost game, controlled by hackers and exploiters and no longer the vast, incredible survival experience it once was. It's a shame, really; this game had so many features that DayZ didn't, and it didn't get a chance to cash in on them. But there's no changing the past.

Stay away. This game is a ghost town now, a shadow of its former self. It's no longer worth your money... And at this stage I don't think it will ever reach its former glory again.

Take an old-school RPG like Final Fantasy or something. Now, take the frustrating elements (save points, grinding, random battles, stocking up on HP and mana potions at every town, etc) and throw them away/make them bearable. Add in a hilarious concept, funny writing, and a silly yet intriguing plot. Garnish with a rockin' soundtrack and serve hot to the computer.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Cthulhu Saves the World. If you're at all a retro RPG fan, you need to play this game.

If you're not a retro RPG fan, you still need to play this game for the funniness of the dialogue and the soundtrack.

If you're still not convinced, the price is really low for such a good RPG.

If you're STILL not convinced... Well, there's always the next CoD title.

It's a turn-based strategy game that takes the "luck" aspect out by letting you run sims of what both your units and the enemy units do BEFORE confirming your turn. The fact that it comes in 2-packs is good, as well: it means that you can always play it with your friends. Speaking of which, the online is handled by e-mail: You get messaged when any current game you're in is ready for you. Basically, if you're a fan of strategy games, this should not be missed.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to re-strategise my next turn...