Recent reviews by Hren-kun

When the light is running low
And the shadows start to grow
And the places that you know
Seem like fantasy
There's a light inside your soul
That's still shining in the cold
With the truth
The promise in our hearts

JonTron's video probably will cover the game at its fullest (I think…).

Despite hearing about this title a long time ago (and watching the aforementioned video above), I never played Clock Tower in any shape or form. Until now.

Clock Tower: Rewind greets you with an animated intro (which I think is quite good alongside the new theme song). After that, you get into the menu with the built-in emulator to choose which version you wanna play.

Because IT IS an old title, expect it to be very, veryy clunky with everything (and you'll get used to that eventually), but as an average Alone In The Dark Trilogy enjoyer, I adore that. After a short intro, you may do whatever you want in Barrow's mansion. Some things are random, some you can trigger in a way, but if you are playing for the first time, try it blind first and then use guides and community map to navigate.

Despite being on an emulator, this game has only one save state (and to get all endings in the menu, you will have to start over exactly on that slot from the game's menu, not from the save slot). Lack of PlayStation button layout is puzzling, despite having controllers from Sony on the supported list. Pop-ups for unlockables are frustrating and shouldn't be all over your screen while playing. Playing in windowed mode requires BorderlessGaming - otherwise, you will be staring at the Windows header all the time.

Overall, I enjoyed playing it with a controller (mouse and keyboard were a hassle to me in this game), and I was very pleased that such a cult classic was released in modern day. But I don't really side with the pricing and quirks that this game is bundled with.

Thanks to Akira Yamaoka for helping me to find this game. Essentially, the whole gameplay in this title is just walking and one-button mashing. But the story and the atmosphere are what this is all about.

Set in Paris, this story is about a cabaret dancer and the terrible tragedy that befell her. And in this situation, through emotional instability, she tries to find herself and her inner strength to escape inevitable doom.

I don't really think that Yamaoka's vibe (because I don't really remember his music in other titles except Silent Hill, where he was credited) is really shown here, but overall the OST is good, even memorable at times (Tout dépend de toi is practically the main theme of the title). If the story won't interest you that much or even at all, this game is not for you, because gameplay-wise, other than mini-games, it is nonexistent.

While I had PlayStation 1 and 2 back in the day, my first encounter with the Silent Hill franchise was on PlayStation Portable with Silent Hill: Origins (and I still do think that is a good game). So I played the original Silent Hill 2 on PC (via emulation) and didn't manage to fully complete it (the stop point was around halfway through the Otherworld Hospital), I've tried some time later to do that on my PlayStation 3 with Silent Hill HD Collection (yep, that re-release with horrible FPS drops, installation issues, and all-time favorite Comic Sans font).

And with that backstory out of the way, Konami finally announced something in the Silent Hill world that is not a pachinko machine, skateboard, or Silent Hill: Book of Memories. That was a full remake of the most popular title in the franchise, which is going to be made by the Polish Bloober Team, which I mostly know for their Layers of Fear.

Due to this info, I thought it was going to be a fluke - bad trailers, no previous experience from the team for such a massive task, and so on. But in the end, I think they did good, and I really hope Konami will greenlight other games in this beloved franchise.

The game itself (for me) felt a little weird at first (the transition from a fixed camera to a fully controllable one felt like playing Last of Us or Resident Evil). But playing for several hours straight, I got (mostly) rid of that feeling (I still like fixed cameras in the old games, but it is a welcome change).

And here comes the technical part - Unreal Engine 5 is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Without tweaking, I got constant framerate drops, two crashes, and one missing texture in the inventory. Only by switching to -dx11, removing nanites, swapping DLSS to 4.0, and lowering the render scale to 75% did I get at least manageable hiccups.

Oh, and cutscenes without a mod or frame generation run in 30 FPS locked in 2024, which seemed like "a cinematic masterpiece choice" (especially on PC). I hope developers will stop making such decisions (all of this reminded me of black bars in Evil Within and The Order: 1886).

It's finally out. About ~3 years later, the first chapter is now playable for free, and the first minutes in it truly serve the ENA aesthetic. If you don't know what it is, you should first look up Joel G about the ENA series. Or don't and play blind. It's your choice after all ;)

And if you liked it, there are several vids you can watch with ENA content on that channel mentioned before. I really hope to see new chapters soon, but it would be wishful thinking, I guess.

Whilst being not a very accepted title in the SH community (alongside Silent Hill: Downpour maybe, but it didn't escape the clutches of consoles, sadly) Silent Hill: Homecoming was a somewhat pleasant journey to me, as I strive for more entries in the SH franchise (except Silent Hill: Book of Memoires on PlayStation Vita, which is certified poopoo). The PC port of this game was released in a horrible state (and still is), and to even play a Steam version of the game, you'll have to install Silent Patch by UnknownProject (he did God's work to make this game playable for all of us).

But I did enjoy the overall atmosphere of the game and even the notorious combat mechanic. Akira Yamaoka once again made very enjoyable music for this title (Elle and Alex themes are great, and Terminal Show is still sometimes on repeat in my playlist). Storywise, it's okay, I guess.

Even with SilentPatch, expect the game to crash sometimes, and God knows why it may or may not do that, so save as often as possible.

After 100% completion of the previous two games (couldn't finish Brothers - two-stick controls are quite interesting but i get lost a lot), I was pleasantly surprised when Josef Fares went on the TGA 2024 stage and announced a new title. And in his manner he said it would be a banger. I thought back then - we will see about that. And oh boy, I was brilliantly amazed.

It runs well, it plays well, the story (being sobby and heartwarming in some moments) is… decent (Zoe's story is literally another Ethan from Heavy Rain or Alex Shepard from Silent Hill: Homecoming ). Each stage tries to be innovative in some way or form, and each new scenery is mostly well paced between one another. Side stories are mostly great (pig tale and first dentist visit are my favorites). This title is more action-packed than previous ones, and it feels organic. The final boss battle is a perfect blend of the game's core design.

Can't say anything else because I strongly recommend trying it for yourself knowing as little as possible about the game.

While I didn't play AoM back in the day, neither Age of Empires, the RTS genre is still quite fond to me. After Warcraft, Starcraft, Stronghold, and several others, I decided to try AoM:EE but wasn't quite fully interested in it (just casually playing with friends against each other or bots).

But then the remastered version came out, and my friends wanted to play it, so I decided to go along with them. And oh boy, did I find another major time killer. While I had no interest in Arkantos's story (or even cheesier story about his goofy son Kastor) and friends didn't have time to play with me as often due to various chores, I did enjoy playing Arena of Gods on Hard and the new Immortal Pillars campaign (and yeah, I've played as Chinese in AoM:EE. It was not pleasant).

I didn't play against other players online (I would probably suck a lot), but it still provides a good solo RTS experience.

Oh boy, I really tried not to leave a negative review, but here we go.

At the moment of 07.02.2025, the game is working and accepting CD key provided via properties in Steam. But to launch it even on Oculus Quest 2 is really something. While Doom VFR and even Gal*Gun 2 gave me headaches (the second game especially) to run, I eventually got the result that I wanted. This one, however, for some reason, I cannot make it to.

There are only two ways I could run it on Windows 11: via Oculus Link, launching it directly from RGL, and Virtual Desktop via replacing openvr.dll and launching it through RGL to make it open Steam VR. Otherwise, I get this infamous Oculus "runtime error: -1.".

I prefer to run it with the Steam overlay enabled (it's just one of my quirks - I tend to avoid Meta's software wherever possible with Dash Killer to save GPU VRAM and launch directly in Steam VR without that white Oculus-Meta discopanel). And I know that if the games run natively through Oculus runtime, in many cases, they would perform better.

Now about the game - personally, I think it transitions really well in VR. But because it IS an old title, there are janky controls and very unpleasant character movement. You cannot turn smoothly like in modern VR titles by thumbstick - it's either a very low-degree turn or spinning with a significant delay for some reason. Pushing the forward thumbstick to go forward sometimes registers as a different direction, depending on your position. (I think if I bought it on PS4 PSVR (gen 2), I would've played it without such hassle).

There are fewer cases than in the main game, and they significantly butchered it (I guess to improve the VR experience), so for me it's like Batman™: Arkham VR on PC - a very prominent and lengthy tech demo.

Things that I personally enjoyed: driving (like in VR Chat custom rooms but slightly better, I guess?), looking for clues, and interrogating suspects and witnesses (there are some blurry smears on their faces when they change emotions - but I guess it's due to facial capturing). Oh, and fighting par on par with criminals using only bare hands is also really satisfying.

I came to the series in 2017 when Persona 5 released on PS3 and PS4 with its stunning art style and enjoyable music. Even when I had the PS2 and PSP back in the day, I didn't have much interest in any JRPG, not to mention even trying them at all. So after the P5 release, I started to get into series backwards with anime and other games (yep, not only 3D games, but also P1 and P2: Innocent Sin - though I barely played them to the end - for me, they did not age well).

And from that perspective, I think that remake does a pretty good job of bringing an old game to the modern table. While I tried playing the original P3 and its FES release (P3:Portable too, but the only two things I enjoyed from that are Kotone Shiomi and poor Theodore), I couldn't finish them fully (maybe if I played them back in the day, I could bring myself to finish them, but nowadays nah - P4G on PS Vita is more my jam).

One thing I really appreciate is full control over your teammates (no more Marin Karin from waifu Mitsuru[personacentral.com] and other stupid stuff). Visual aesthetics, music, and art (especially I adore the menu like in P5 or P5R with Makoto and Aigis) are pure gold in this game. After P5 or P5R here you will be just at home with controls and overall mechanics.

Episode Aigis (or the Answer in FES Edition) is a good DLC, but with two problems - price and monotony. I guess they tried to make a rogue-like (maybe?) dungeon crawler, where you can fight non-stop. But transitions between story points are very lengthy and take a lot of time just to get to them. And it's much easier to complete than its FES counterpart (which is good in my opinion).

For myself, I cannot answer which 3D game is the best of them all. P3 holds bittersweet vibes with 2008's aesthetic. P4 is more goofy than the previous title, but it has sad moments and a unique, foggish atmosphere. P5 is much more grotesque and vibrant with a high focus on handcrafted palaces. So each one stands on its own regard, and I would recommend playing them all if P3R was an enjoyable experience for you.

(Played on GamePass UWP version before transitioning to Steam - hence the hour count is low).