Recent reviews by Kain Klarden

If you like point and click adventure games, you have seen the Wadjet Eye Games logo at least once or twice in the past 15 years. They have developed and published some of the best adventures of the past decade and have been one of the most prominent users of Adventure Game Studio. And ever since I’ve decided to try the Blackwell series back in 2013, I was never disappointed with a release developed by them since. Even when it was short and simple like The Shivah or The Blackwell Legacy, or as rough around the edges as Blackwell Unbound. Their Unavowed from 6 years ago is easily one of my favorite adventure game titles ever. So to say that I was excited about Old Skies is to say nothing. And yet, somehow, this game was easily the least enjoyable title from Wadjet Eye Games I’ve played.

There are things that are as good as they ever were if not better. It’s almost expected now that the story and storytelling in a Wadjet Eye Games would be good and Old Skies almost doesn’t disappoint there with a clever premise and interesting moral questions to raise. I mean, the idea of playing as a character who can travel and change the past but has to see how almost everything around them (including their own past) gets constantly shuffled and changed is very cool and the way things develop from there is great as well. The visuals are incredible and constantly surprise with some new interesting presentation ideas and transitions. The soundtrack is, as always, fantastic.

So… what’s the problem then? The biggest issue lies purely with the gameplay. For the most part, Old Skies flows well from one problem to solve to another and while it is quite streamlined, it isn’t bad or boring either. But then there are two major sticking points. One is the fact that you have access to the database of all historic events and people at your disposal that you need to use from time to time to progress. Yet even if we lived in a world without Her Story or Return of the Obra Dinn, the way that database functions never feels good. You are given search terms you can use based on unknown criteria, as sometimes you’d have there names and titles of things that at the moment are irrelevant, yet lack names and titles of things that you’re actively researching. There’s no breadcrumbing either, so if you find someone’s biography with the names of their family, you won’t get those names as search terms. Even if later on you will need them, but the way to get them would be from some otherwise pointless discussion with an unimportant NPC after performing an unnecessary task. This whole mechanic just feels off, which is especially sad, since it’s clearly based on the clue gathering mechanics that were successfully used in the Blackwell games.

The second problematic point is that almost every time the developers tried to use time travel as a mechanic or core of a problem to solve, it’s either very bad or barely needed. There’s precisely one curious usage of the idea during the very last “puzzle” of the game. Most of the time the game instead tries to do a time loop problem, where you have to relieve a certain sequence of events until you get it right. Which can be done in a fun “trial and error” way in theory and there have been a few games to pull that off. But Old Skies isn’t among them – every such “puzzle” feels like blindly stumbling through options, none of which make sense, until the game lets you continue instead of suffering through the same dialogue options or unskippable parts of scene over and over again. Maybe the developers simply wrote themselves into a corner with the approach to time travel they took, but either way, the end result is mechanically not good.

Overall, I just didn’t enjoy my time with Old Skies. It’s well made, beautiful game with great soundtrack and well written and told story. Even if a lot of the characters feel one-sided and there’s a strange disconnect between what game usually allows you to choose for the characters and where they fully take control. But playing it was simply “alright” at best, and outright frustrating at worst. I think the game is worth checking out, but I also think that basically any other game developed by Wadjet Eye Games would be a better choice.

After having played and enjoyed Lamplight City 5 years ago, I was curious to check a new game from the same developers set in the same alternate history world. I did expect that, as with their previous projects not being American, will affect my liking or understanding of some elements. While additionally, this time is was to be a wild west themed game – something I was never a huge fan of either. But Grundislav Games have shown an incredibly fresh and very non-linear approach to designing adventure titles, so I was interested nonetheless. And while Rosewater is, in my opinion, a weaker overall experience than Lamplight City, it has a lot of wonderful elements of its own that may interest you.

So, just like with the previous projects of the developer, this is a point and click adventure game built on the Adventure Game Studio that despite its very very old age still manages to get a lot of new and updated features. Being designed with pre-rendered elements in mind it does tend to look a bit blurry in full-screen, as most of the projects made on it have a rather low native resolution. But it gets things done and because of it tends to be liked by adventure gaming community. Especially since Rosewater is yet another example of a game that isn’t your “typical classic” title and does many things, the titles from the 80s and 90s usually didn’t do.

In practice, Rosewater is a “road movie” adventure, where after a relatively short introduction, a crew of newly met people goes on a “quest” that will, hopefully, net them lots of money. Along that path they will encounter problems that need to be solved, which often involve several different approaches, some of which have long-lasting consequences. The relationships between the main character and the rest of the team will grow based on your actions and will affect the last act of the game. And even some of the smaller adventures on the road will be unique for each playthrough, since they are either fully randomized or depend on your current standing with the character. At its best, this works like a perfect mix of more “classic” adventure design and the more linear and “cinematic” design popularized by Telltale Games, where you get enough freedom to think and solve issues on your own, but also every situation is succinct and directed enough to feel “cinematic”.

The issue is that the game is not always at its best. The beginning of the game feels messy, because the first act doesn’t clearly ease you into what the game actually is. So as you perform your first tasks in the location that narratively you expect to become the main location for the game, the way the game wants you to breeze past details feels odd. And only starts working when you realize that every location is just a part of the journey and you shouldn’t get attached to any. Sadly, some of the locations and events/tasks tied to them are worse than the others too. The things that game expects from you are inconsistent, sometimes allowing you to think ahead and do things on the tiniest hint and sometimes requiring you to talk to everyone about everything before you’re allowed to do something blindingly obvious. Some of the gameplay inconsistencies also stem from the developers ambitions – sometimes an event might be timed and it doesn’t feel like there’s enough time to even understand what is expected of you and sometimes an event feels narratively timed, but isn’t and you can faff around. And some minor frustrations also pop in from time to time, like when you travel with the group between screens you have to wait until everyone slowly walks into their idle position before you can do anything.

There is a lot of good in the game. You do get to like your companions and the story takes interesting turns. The non-linear approach to solving issues feels very good, even if more limiting than it felt in Lamplight City. It’s a solid game, just quite flawed. And how much you will enjoy it would depend on how much you get to like the characters and the world. The game does have a demo and it’s worth checking it out. I just still think that Lamplight City is the strongest game from the developer as of now.

Ever since I’ve started my Like a Dragon journey with Yakuza 0 release on PC, every new release from the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio would be at least curious. Some of them were a genuine joy to play. Some were just fun. Some I didn’t like that much, but they usually had something about them that I’d grab onto. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is the first game in this run where I’m not sure what I was supposed to even get out of it. It’s certainly not bad, but also… What was the point?

As is the case with the majority of Like a Dragon titles (at least for now), this is an action adventure beat ’em up title within an open world style map. Being a yet another side-story game (despite lacking Gaiden in its title this time around), it reuses a lot of the content originally created for the Infinite Wealth. So, once again the main setting is Hawaii, a map I didn’t enjoy the first time around, it’s just that this time you don’t have turn-based combat. But there are a couple of new locations as well and on top of that several huge new systems and mechanics. One big change is that you can now jump, which… doesn’t do that much in practical terms, actually, other than being slightly confusing in terms of controls if you’re already familiar with the series. I mean, you can air-juggle enemies, but this is no Devil May Cry and the overall beat em up nature of the combat remains relatively simple.

Far bigger addition is the idea of sailing a ship and participating in sea battles. Some of the on-foot elements here are reusing the mechanics from Gaiden and Ishin, but the naval combat is entirely new. And also incredibly boring. The basis here is similar to the now 12 year old Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, but it’s so much more primitive and uninteresting, that for a while I thought I was playing the game wrong. But after checking others play the game I have confirmed that – no, it’s just not very good. To the point where even the equally uninteresting naval combat in Ys X was less boring, because at least it was faster paced. You do need to engage in it along the main path, while the main side-path of the game is all about this tedious sea exploration and boring battles. Though, weirdly enough, you can get overleveled quite easily and quickly.

So, is the story at least any good? Also no. As has been the case with all RGG titles lately, the beginning and ending parts are quite strong, but all the several dozen hours in between are just pointless filler. Characters don’t play to their strengths for the sake of unfunny gags or just due to the lack of direction. Things happen. You often get asked to do pointless tasks just to stretch the play time… It’s not good and ultimately disposable. With the only potentially “important” thing being an eventual expansion on the several previously unexplained plot points from Infinite Wealth.

The game also suffers from serious technical issues. Almost all RGG titles are known to randomly crash depending on some particular conditions, but most of them do it only in some rare instances and are best known by speedrunners. But Pirate Yakuza just crashes regularly when you play it for long enough. It also yet again showcases just how poorly Dragon Engine (the in-house engine used for these titles) handles daylight, especially with natural environments. Most locations in the game look straight up hideous and reminiscent of the Xbox 360 era early Unreal Engine 3 titles (minus the brown tint). And only during night time or indoors with lots of artificial lighting the game starts looking gorgeous.

But yeah… I don’t know what was the point of this game. The idea sounds fun. But in practice, no element of the game is interesting, even if none of them are outright terrible. Titles like Gaiden, Infinite Wealth or Lost Judgement had many separate things that would make the game feel worth it for one reason or the other. Be it story, fun combat or whatever else. Yet Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, despite such an insane premise, feels like the most bland and uninteresting game RGG could make.

Many many years ago there was a cool website called Experimental Gameplay Project, that, as I didn’t even realize at the time, was full of university projects (specifically of students from Carnegie Mellon University). There were lots of short but very memorable and fun little projects, some of which were just silly fun like Attack of the Killer Swarm, On a Rainy Day, Gravity Head, Tower of Goo or Super Tummy Bubble! (which is basically Suika Game decades before the actual “Watermelon game”) and some were more mysterious and strange like The Crowd. The team behind this project would later form Tomorrow Corporation, but even prior to it, they’ve collaborated on other projects. One of which was done by a mostly two-man team at 2D Boy. The game was a fully realized idea previously shown in Tower of Goo – World of Goo, which was released in 2008 to huge critical success and become one of the earliest biggest examples of independent developer success stories (at least from the critical reception perspective).

Yet, despite the success, following that game up with a direct sequel would’ve been strange. It felt like a more or less well developed idea and its “story” was quite simple. So it made sense that Tomorrow Corporation worked on different puzzle titles that continued some of the themes and ideas, but played very differently. However in 2024 World of Goo 2 was released on several platforms (but with odd exclusivity deals on PC). With the latter being finally over, I was able to complete it and while I have enjoyed it quite a lot, I have to say its existence still feels strange.

The basic idea of World of Goo is about using different types of “Goo balls” to build simple connecting structures, as they stick to each other following simple sets of rules unique for each type. Building towers, bridges, weird flying or swimming contraptions all of which could collapse from their own weight or poorly thought out placement of elements. And because the basic concept is that simple, most of the puzzles are built around unexpected and fresh ways of utilizing the basics. If you have played the original game (or the Tower of Goo), you know what to expect in general and I didn’t feel any noticeable differences between the titles as far as the behavior of constructing things out of Goo Balls goes.

However, even though things are instantly recognizable and some of the Goo Ball sounds and mechanics seem to have been unchanged ever since 2005, there are plenty of smaller tweaks and updates and even some new mechanics. Visually the game looks richer, though I wouldn’t necessarily call it “better”, because both titles are more about visual design then technological prowess and the first title, despite being from 2008, still looks great. Still, it does look quite beautiful. The music and audio is in a similar situation – most of the soundtrack is comprised of new arrangements for the already fantastic tracks from the original game, so whenever you like the new takes on them more or less will be up to personal preference.

One big change is that the ability to undo your actions by touching the white flying bugs is now always present and is only limited by how far the “undo history” will allow you to go, but otherwise any action can be undone. And there are several really cool new types of Goo Balls that look nice and feel nice. There are, in fact, quite a few levels in the game where the general puzzle idea and layout is similar to a level from the original game, but now with a twist which usually involves using the mechanics of the new Goo Balls. Unfortunately, for whatever reason the freeform building level that was present in the original game has not been revisited. Though instead the game supports modding (including Steam Workshop) and custom levels.

What’s strange about this whole release, though, is that it doesn’t quite feel like the developers themselves were sure they wanted to make a sequel. The “story” this time feels especially unfocused and lacks any real theming like the original game, apart from some meta commentary of sequels. The game repeats the twist with one of the chapters being somewhat different, but now goes extremely hard into it by jumping genres. Yet, none of the ideas explored there are particularly great and jokes often fall flat. On top of it all, it feels like none of the biggest issues and most common complaints from the original game were addressed either. It’s still hard to grab the Goo Ball you want when there are several types of them sliding around in groups. Controls still can betray you at the most inopportune time. You have even less control over where the idle Balls are, since there is no whistle in this game, so in levels where you must destroy part of your structure, you can only hope that you don’t lose too many Balls. And a few levels are just terribly designed with no understanding of where the goal even is. I have not finished one of the optional challenging levels because of how frustrating it is too.

So, it is kind of a remake, but kind of a sequel. And it doesn’t really feel like a fully thought out completed experience, the way the original did. But it’s also a wonderful puzzle game with lots of fun levels and in many ways it is an improvement over the original. It’s strange. I definitely liked it and can easily recommend it to others, but I would also probably recommend playing the original first anyway.

While there have been a lot of classic FPS titles coming out in the past decade, the usual expectation of them is that the title will take Doom or Quake or Duke Nukem 3D as a reference point and then evolve the ideas from there. Wizordum does things differently. For one, its main gameplay and level design reference point seems to be something more along the lines of Wolfenstein 3D and Rise of the Triads, so gameplay area is far more “flat” than what Doom introduced with stairs and elevators. For another – instead of looking and sounding like a typical classic FPS, it instead goes for epic fantasy atmosphere. So, think less Hexen and more Might and Magic VI. Which is probably the main reason I decided to stick with the game til the end, because as an FPS title, it isn’t particularly exciting.

Gunplay and fun action is what people usually think of, when thinking of classic FPS titles. There are more components that make a game of this type good, of course. Replaying the original Doom recently reminded me of just how good a lot of the levels are to explore, how varied the encounters are and how smart the pacing of most of the game is. But if the guns feel bad in a game where most of your interactions are shooting the gun, it does sour the overall experience. So to get it out of the way – similarly to how Wolfenstein 3D nowadays feels rather bland with its weapons and enemies, Wizordum isn’t very exciting or surprising. There’s precisely one interesting weapon here – a wand that freezes enemies that can be shattered afterwards, while the rest are either boring or just not very effective. The enemy variety is here, but functionally most of the enemies aren’t very fun and with later levels they tend to become more frustrating then challenging or interesting.

I have to say that the idea to make this classic FPS feel almost like an action RPG is interesting in concept. You get two playable classes, each of whom has access to four spells you unlock as you play and one super spell. And the rest of the normal spells and also other magic potions and abilities are found in levels as usable items you can carry around and use when needed. And one of the big goals in levels involves gathering treasures, which ties with a shop where you can buy upgrades. But in practice, this feels rather superficial. Apart from spots where you’re basically required to use an item to avoid taking damage (usually for secret hunting), you barely ever need to use them. Or spells. Which aren’t that useful anyway, if I’m honest. So in the end, all of these systems simply overcomplicate the flow.

So if that’s the case, are levels fun to explore? Most of them are, actually! Because the game focuses on telling an epic story, your journey takes you through extremely varied locales, some of which are very open unlike the typical cramped corridors of a Wolfenstein 3D-era game. And most of them also tell an interesting story of their own, with ravaged towns, dangerous forests, haunted manors and evil castles that are far more narratively interesting than the narrative of the game itself. Same goes for the soundtrack that goes incredibly hard with its epic fantasy orchestral music, which could easily feel at home in an Infinity Engine game or The Elder Scrolls title. Granted, sometimes it goes too hard and its relentless orchestration starts to become frustrating as you’re running around the level for over an hour searching for more secrets. But the music is fantastic, nonetheless.

Would you enjoy this experience or not, probably, would depend mainly on the desire to explore these classic FPS levels, rather than to rip and tear. There are poorly placed secrets and poorly designed levels, but they are a minority so exploration is mostly fun. But is it fun enough to last up to 20 hours of very same-feeling combat? I’m not sure. The game has a demo, so it’s definitely worth checking out and the soundtrack, whenever it becomes available, is worth listening. The game itself, though? Check the demo, see if it doesn’t feel boring and imagine precisely that happening over many more (varied and cool looking) levels, and consider if that’s something you want to play.

Ten years ago I’ve experienced Grand Theft Auto V for the first time. My opinion on it was very positive, but somewhat underwhelmed – not by the quality of the game itself, but rather by how evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, it all felt. Again, it wasn’t really much of a fault of a game that it couldn’t quite follow up on the previous entries (especially the first three 3D games) in terms of their inescapable impact on the entire game industry and defined an entire genre. But either way, in 2015 I felt very pleased with the game, but not too excited. Now with the Enhanced version of the game being out, I’ve decided to revisit the entire series with this new playthrough of GTA V being the final title. And surprisingly, I’ve found myself loving the game a lot more than I did ten years ago.

Let’s start with covering what this “Enhanced” version is all about. GTA V was originally released on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2013 and a year later received an “enhanced” version on PS4 and Xbox One, and half a year later also on PC. Then in 2020 the current generation of consoles has received the “Expanded & Enhanced” version of the game, that was probably called this way to avoid confusion with the previous port that was already “enhanced”. And this version featured some performance improvements and new visual elements, including ray tracing for some aspects of the game.

Now in 2025 PC gets that release, with a few additional visual improvements, except called Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced, which surely adds to the confusion. Nonetheless, this version of the game looks incredible, runs exceedingly well and probably serves as a technical preview of what the next entry in the franchise is going to look like. However, it also clearly switches focus to the extremely profitable GTA Online section of the game, as it is the first tab of the game you see when you open it, requiring you to switch a few tabs to play the story. Which is all I cared about and I haven’t even launched GTA Online once. I’ve heard good things about it (and lots of bad things about Rockstar’s greed), did try it a bit ten years ago on the old version and it’s just not for me. I heard it has a few downgrades in terms of PC experience in comparison to the old version, so if you care about the multiplayer you might want to research this bit more. But personally I couldn’t care less.

What I cared about was re-experiencing the singleplayer portion of the game that not only feels great on its own, but especially enjoyable after going through the previous entries. Sure, it does lack in some aspects by making things a bit too convenient or finally providing you with cars that you permanently own, motivating you to use those more rather than participating in the titular grand theft auto-ing. But to me that’s a boon and the game feels like the culmination of the entire series and even other titles Rockstar has worked on over the years. Everything feels “just right”. Aspects of non-linearity are beautifully interchanged with the infamous Rockstar scripted nature of missions, to the point where the scripted aspects almost never stick out and are easy to ignore, unlike the previous games. Going in and out of missions, switching between three playable characters that have unique abilities feels seamless and fun. Return of the skill system that now feels fun and not annoying as it used to in GTA: SA. Vehicles control “just right”, having some weight to them, but no longer being stressful to drive as they did in GTA IV.

The city feels alive unlike everything that Rockstar has done before. And the developers were also smart to address the claustrophobic design of the roads from GTA IV, where taxi was always faster and more comfortable to get, than trying to navigate the narrow sprawling streets of Liberty City with its constant high traffic. Now everything is very wide and you can have a lot of traffic, while also easily sliding between moving cars. The cop system is reworked to be far more fun than it was in the previous game, despite the cops being more aggressive and the crazy over the top elements like tanks and attack helicopters returning (and it’s 5 stars instead of 6 for the first time since the introduction of the system).

The mission design ranges from simple, but fun, to extremely exciting and over the top with cool switching between characters during the mission. Heists can play out differently depending on your choices. Random world events don’t feel too generic and may lead to surprising consequences. Random stories you encounter on the map occasionally are as interesting as main story missions.

This is also the first game in the series to make a genuinely big impactful push for a specifically written soundtrack instead of relying on licensed music. It plays during many missions, including when you’re on foot, and even when simply exploring if you turn the vehicle radio off the ambient soundtrack will gently fade in. It’s really good and it’s a real shame that the developers decided to really treat it as ambience in a modern way, so it’s often composed and mixed to be wallpaper, rather then be as memorable as the themes for GTA I-III or IV. I hope, next time Rockstar make an even bigger emphasis on music composed specifically for the game.

So, with all this praise I’m giving the game, there must be some negatives too, right? Yeah, there are. The story, as I’ve noted ten years ago, feels a bit stale and not particularly exciting. It’s not that it’s bad, rather, the “issue” here is that GTA V instead banks on telling many small stories of the three key characters of the game without a real huge overarching plot. On the plus side, it does make every “episode” you experience feel good on its own without creating huge conflicts with whatever other “episode” you will choose to experience next. On the downside, the only big plot progression of the game that you feel is how the relationships between the main characters change over the course of the game, which is a bit too subtle to feel as impactful as, say, the blunt but efficient “you owe money to the mafia and are building a criminal empire to make money” plot in Vice City.

Sure, GTA V might be somewhat underwhelming and more evolutionary than even its predecessor. And it really is a shame that the absurd profitability of the online section meant that this game never got any singleplayer expansions or DLCs (even though, at least one was planned). But it’s also easily the most fun GTA game I’ve played, I loved revisiting it, especially now that it looks even more incredible. And was a bit sad to having finished everything I wanted to do for now. Unless what you really want in this type of game is good plot, you simply can’t go wrong with playing Grand Theft Auto V if you haven’t already.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3479411935

An incredibly low effort and lazy remastered collection that contains one fantastic game, one very good game and also The Angel of Darkness is there. I'm shocked at how poorly handled this is, yet the quality of The Last Revelation and most of Chronicles shines through. And ultimately, this is the best way to experience those games. Still, I almost wish I wasn't recommending this.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was, in many ways, a huge change for the series. In some ways, it was the Metal Gear Solid 3 situation: you still saw the remnants of the previous identity, that evolved and remade itself over the course of the previous games, but you could also see what the future of the franchise is going to be. And people loved it, it is considered one of the best games of all time and… I never cared about it much. There was a lot in it I remembered liking, but also a lot more that frustrated me. So the revisit with The Definitive Edition was going to be curious. And it was – I did like the game more than I originally did. But I still don’t like it very much.

GTA: San Andreas continued with the formula originally established in GTAIII and many things are immediately recognizable. Same general concepts, many of the same limitations and abilities and same, if incredibly improved from the style and technology perspective, visual identity. Original game has been quite a looker for 2004 on PS2 and while by modern standards a lot about this game visuals is extremely dated, the sense of style in how the world is presented in different lighting and weather conditions is incredible. Something that is mostly retained with the updated version of The Definitive Edition with the “Classic lighting”, since the older versions of the port completely destroyed the way the game looked like. Now it’s far from perfect, but closer to the original vision than even the old PC port of the game had.

However, the more you play the game, the more you see how things got significantly changed in comparison to the previous entries. Some major new basic elements were added, like crouching and stealth kills (clearly borrowed from Manhunt released earlier). Swimming finally became possible. An entire RPG-light system for skills and attributes was added, with the progression done The Elder Scrolls/Final Fantasy 2-style, where the more you do something, the better it gets. Bicycles were added as a new type of transportation, working off the existing mechanics of sprinting. Game got several different mini-games and concepts like dialogues, where you could reply positively or negatively… There’s a lot of small and huge stuff almost in everything that at first seems familiar. Because the whole game got a lot bigger.

San Andreas isn’t just big, it’s extremely big – with three entire cities to explore and two huge open areas between the cities with smaller towns in them. The focus on the story became even bigger than in Vice City, with characters being more “real” and stories becoming far more complex. This, along with the drive for “realism” and “simulations” defined almost everything Rockstar has done since and… I can’t say I like it.

The game is way too big. Territory wise, it is a pain to get from one part of the world to another, even if you use public transportation options that are supposed to speed it up. Missions are exceedingly long at times, and it’s pretty common to have a huge chunk of the mission being just the very long and boring drive to where something important actually happens. Failing the missions, because of that, was extremely frustrating in the original versions, but at least in The Definitive Edition you get mission checkpoints you can restart from that are relatively generous.

And even the story, that starts off so well, meanders with plots that go nowhere for the entirety of the middle part of the game. Where after a genuinely well delivered opening chapter you get thrown into never ending pastiches of different movie genres, missions that have nothing to do with said good opening chapter. And while they often have good characters and moments of their own, it leads to muddied storytelling where by the end of the game, when things finally go back to the actual plot, you don’t even care anymore. Especially when the game forces you to go through extremely boring “gang wars” system for at least an hour to even get the privilege of unlocking the final mission.

Which is another frustrating thing about the game. Some missions could require you to just grind a skill to even get it. Or waste some time, because they only start during certain time. Or force you to go through the stupid flight school, only to then have just 3 or 4 missions where this is required, and the missions are easier than the school. Also why is there a boat school in the game, if there is no boat skill and no missions that benefit from it?.. Just, so much pointless bloat and annoyances that were simply absent in Vice City. Which, while far from perfect, was a far “purer” experience as a result, a game that just wanted to be fun.

Still, it’s not like the systems are bad, or the characters and stories aren’t interesting. There are wonderful performances, genuinely good writing here and there with some solid jokes and moments that are still entertaining. Sense of style and presentation is still solid, complemented by the great selection of licensed tracks to build the right atmosphere. And when the game works, when you’re not grinding skills because you have to or driving across the entire game world for some nonsensical reason, it’s actually quite fun.

Though it is here where issues of The Definitive Edition are especially noticeable, in comparison with the other two releases. There are countless visual bugs and issues – holes in geometry, incorrect behavior of particles like fire and smoke (you can be on fire and not even see it if you’re moving in a vehicle), jetpack lacking animations (yes, despite the push for realism, SA still had a lot of silly stuff). But more importantly, there are gameplay issues too – in most gang wars enemies have incorrect path finding and often run away from you, for example. Cars and pedestrians can behave closer to how erratic they were in GTAIII, which was somewhat lessened in SA originally. Partially because of how many cars and pedestrians could spawn at once – now a lot of them can spawn, often in large groups in one single spot, which negatively affects missions. Especially since the opposite can happen too and for no real reason missions that require you to have a vehicle quick at hand suddenly forget to spawn any around… It’s a mess. A playable mess, but one that has more issues than the original release did, for all of the faults that original PC port had.

But who knows, maybe someday Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition will get updated to the fully playable state and at that point and will entirely surpass the original release in desirability. And when that happens, I am still never replaying it again. I didn’t dislike my time with it and some of the updates (especially the checkpoints) made the experience even better than one I had with the original two decades ago. But I still can’t say that it was very enjoyable or fun and I’d rather replay Vice City again. If you’ve never played San Andreas before, I feel like it’s worth trying and The Definitive Edition has by now became a solid choice. But I wouldn’t recommend it as an introduction to GTA series.

While Grand Theft Auto has existed since 1997 and a lot of its basic structure and ideas remained the same to this day, Vice City was an important milestone in its development. While still full of crazy arcade-style elements, this was the first game to try focusing on a story, interesting characters and gameplay that was “grounded enough”. The second game of the “3D era”, a considerably smaller in scope follow up to GTAIII, it used to be my favorite entry in the series. And while revisiting it with the updated and extremely flawed Definitive Edition, I was glad that it didn’t age that poorly.

In comparison to the predecessor, Vice City was more focused, more condensed, more balanced, stylish with a character who speaks and has a personality to fit the gameplay. Based on Miami and set in the 80s, the game was first in the series to heavily invest in licensed music. Rockstar also got lots of famous actors to voice the characters. It was primitive and still somewhat arcade-like, nothing like Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, that was already out and getting lots of (deserved) praise for its storytelling. But it was extremely fun and entertaining. Still is.

Most of the game, with its sandbox open world structure, followed the rules already set in GTAIII, the rules that are still mostly the same in modern open world titles that follow the GTA formula. And it kept some of the restrictions from its predecessor too. You still could not swim, access to the second half of the world was limited via story events, missions had no checkpoints, people and car on the streets could behave extremely erratically and get in the way while the 6-star police system was almost unchanged. But at the same time, many things got more accessible and fun, side-missions and unlocks were better, mission structure was often well done and memorable. The last third of the game is completely non-linear too and has a lot of side story content that is mostly good. This is probably the easiest, fastest and most fun GTA to 100% and I did it with the original PC version many years ago to my own surprise.

Definitive Edition brings its own share of improvements and nice elements. You can now restart any mission you’re on if you fail it for any reason, instead of having to manually go to the mission start every time. After many updates and the return of the lighting system that’s closer to the original games, the game can look very good too. Still messy and far from the best it could be, but quite good. Controls can be customized to not follow the classic scheme and be closer to more modern third person shooter approach (though it has some bugs of its own). Some missions seem to have been slightly tweaked to be less annoying and handling of some vehicles feels better – falling off bikes is considerably harder now than it used to be. Autosaves are also a great addition, though it’s still beneficial to go back to the save points. And the map now features more modern elements, including a navigator and custom waypoints.

Really, apart from some poor design decisions and missions that are not as great as the most, the biggest issue with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – The Definitive Edition is that it doesn’t feel very “definitive”. Not even because of some licensed music tracks missing, but rather because even with the genuinely good updates to the game visuals and performance, the remastering work feels half-arsed. And that’s before we remember that Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories were not included in this “definitive” collection.

I was happy to replay Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. It’s still a very good game, even if it is showing its age. It’s probably the best entry point into “older” GTA titles for people who have never played them and in most ways I still prefer it over San Andreas or GTA IV. Shame “The Definitive Edition” doesn’t live up to its name, though, but it is an, in general, better way to experience the classic than the original version.

Over the years there have been plenty of Sherlock Holmes media, some of which attempted to be closer to the original works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and some tried to reinterpret the famous character. Having been a fan of the books since my childhood and lucky enough to have worked on two games based on the character as an adult, The Beekeeper’s Picnic – A Sherlockian Adventure caught my attention as a seemingly “wholesome” approach to the character, set during his retirement days. And now having played it – it really is very nice.

As mentioned – the main events of the game happen during the time when Sherlock Holmes has long retired to become a beekeeper. Specifically, it’s the 1920, after the Great War has ended and doctor John H. Watson has a chance to return to England, having served during the war. As a result, you can imagine that the game isn’t about the famous pair trying to investigate some grisly crime with their youthful energy and is instead about two old friends trying to have a nice time together and figuring out if they’re happy where they are at the moment with their lives. Not that there is no crime solving along the way of this very short game (took me slightly over 2 hours to finish), but the overall tone of the game is considerably more “wholesome”, as I’ve mentioned.

And it works well. It has a few moments, where figuring out what to do next may be not very obvious. But those are rare and there is a cute hint system in the game as well, that you almost want to use, as it involves more of the canonical characters. The game also feature non-linear elements and some of the problems you encounter can be solved in multiple ways. You even have a say in just how platonic the relationship between our main heroes is, which has been a popular topic of debate over the years.

I really liked the game. It feels very much in tone with the original books in the best way, using the same parlance where needed to remind you of when it’s set, giving you just enough references to the books and their characters to feel nice, but without ever overwhelming the story the game is trying to tell. It is, at times, a bit too silly, but at the same time it feels almost intentional. To give a nice retirement for the characters who went through a lot in the books and the times between the books. If you like nice more story-focused but still investigative adventure games and like Sherlock Holmes, you should definitely give this game a chance.