Recent reviews by Pan Filuta

I don't know what it is about Borderlands that makes it so nostalgic. Is it the music, the art style, the god rays? Also, it's probably the last time somebody did that Le QweRky M€m€ P3ngU1n of D00M!! style of "Millenial" humour right.
It can get pretty difficult yet the whole vibe makes it one of the best games to chill out.
Looks beautiful even in 2023 if you use ReShade.

One of the most hilarious games I've ever played isn't even a comedy game. I'm convinced it was written by an actual genius.
People will advise against picking the schizo Malkavian for your first playthrough, as his prescient rambling might spoil things. But I think it's well worth it for the unhinged dialogue, getting stopped by a STOP sign and arguing with it, and then turning on the TV only for the reporter to start interviewing you and telling you terrible jokes. For somebody it might be annoying, for me the insanity was incredibly entertaining. Just like visitting the /x/ board on 4chan.
First 3/4 of the game = legit top 10 of all times material. Last 1/4 = absolute garbage. Overall, highly recommended, will never play again (probably).
Pr0gamer tip: try using the "money" cheat code. It doesn't give you money, but it does give every female NPC something money cannot buy (unless you pay a plastic surgeon).

- more fun kicking than FIFA
- freeze the ground to make dumb orcs fall from the cliff
- kick orcs into fire
- freeze the ground to make 10 zombies one by one slide into a spike wall
- set barrel on fire and kick it into a group of goblins
- flirt with succubus waifu
- rage at janky gameplay but enjoy it regardless

The definition of SOVL. Janky but extremely comfy.
Along with the game, you get an old school manual, and a quote from it says everything:
"Arx Fatalis has been dear to our hearts for many years. It was the project that inspired us to found Arkane Studios. Arx was not created solely to make us a lot of money, it was created because we are gamers and have a genuine passion for games that carry us off into dreams of lost worlds."
And this is the difference between old games born of passion, and modern MTX filled goyslop made by suits and diversity hires only to brainwash Zoomers with politically correct sh!t.
Get the Arx Libertatis mod if you decide to play this.

It's like one of my favourite Japanese toxic masculinity cartoons, but with racism!

On paper, this game is exactly for me.
Buy it if you're like me and love:
- Dark Souls
- Japan
- stealth games
- parkour
- mysterious atmosphere
It's like Miyazaki heard the people who wanted Assassin's Creed in Japan and made it his own way.
You will die, a lot. This is the most difficult game FromSoft made, in my opinion. There is no Drake Sword, Greatshield of Artorias or Mimic Tear. You can't overlevel. You just gotta git gud or quit. However, the gameplay is much more balanced and tighter, it's extremely rewarding when it finally clicks. It's ridiculous how fast it is to kill some bosses once you understand. If Malenia was in Sekiro, she would probably die in 1 minute.
On the flip side, you will learn some Japanese. Repetition is key and some phrases will be repeated to you for 50+ times. Then you respawn and run the boss again.
So far I haven't finished Sekiro yet, but I can see it becoming one of my favourite games of all time.

"Man, I wish Skyrim had Dark Souls combat..."
Not exactly right, but this is as close as you'll get.

Chef Miyazaki cooked another sadistic Souls masterpiece for us. This time he added some finely chopped Dragon's Dogma tomatoes, a touch of Bethesda salt, and lighter, less oppressive sauce, closer to high rather than his usual dark fantasy with hints of horror.

Elden Ring takes itself slightly less seriously than Dark Souls, but make no mistake, it's still no fairy tale. Visually however, it would be very easy to get fooled by that assumption. This time, we move the color palette from 50 shades of grey and 1 shade of blue to a more spectrally inclusive mix of RGB; there are even (sic!) areas of green and gold. The end result is gorgeous. Now without joke, this is one of the most beautiful games ever made, artstyle-wise. In the overworld you can move your camera 360 degrees and get a breathtaking, screenshot-worthy view every single time.

After 250 hours, I finally finished my first blind playthrough. I have no idea how people complete theirs in 50 hours. If you take your time and truly explore, this is a behemoth of a game. Many people claim the last third loses steam and becomes unfair, unbalanced, bad. To this I say, it's clear that Elden Ring brought many newbies aboard. One of the most hated areas, Miquella's Haligtree, felt like a true ass-clenching return to Dark Souls, and as such, was one of my favourites. The first half of the game is incredibly easy in comparison, so I understand the sudden frustration of newbies. Luckily, while Miyazaki didn't give us the Easy Mode (even though game journalists have long cried for one), we did get new tools to make difficulty palatable and maybe even, cheese the game. Players can now summon spirits to help with bosses, and some, such as Mimic Tear, make everything an absolute cakewalk. There's a plethora of summons to make encounters more interesting. I'd even claim that the game is balanced around the use of spirits, and experienced players can choose not to summon them for extra difficulty. Personally, I found Elden Ring to be the easiest of all From Soft games. Long gone are the times of 50 deaths to Fume Knight. The most difficult and hyped boss fight took me 5 tries. And I'm pretty bad. So if you're a more casual player who's been too intimidated to try Dark Souls, do not fret, even you can git gud.

Overall, this is an absolute masterpiece I'd put on the same level as Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne. If the past tells us anything, the certainly coming DLC will be incredible and possibly launch it even above.
I do have some criticism, which I should list for objectivity:
- Soundtrack is weaker, on level of DS3. (If I had to compare: DS1 > BB > DS2 > ER > DS3). Theme music is great. Very few memorable boss tracks (Godskin Apostle). Although the ambient music is quite atmospheric. Maybe my favourite is Mt Gelmir and Mountaintops of the Giants. Caelid will raise your blood pressure.
- Story bosses are amazing. Optional bosses, not so much. There is a lot of asset reuse. However, for most reused bosses, I still enjoyed fighting them. They're just an "extra hard enemy" at the end of a cave that you beat first try, so there is no frustration of having to fight the same bullsh*t boss 20 times (visions of Blue Smelter Demon). Do not expect novelty though. Most bosses are, just like my major critique for DS3 was, super fast humanoids with long combos that seem more like Bloodborne content. If you enjoyed fighting Manus in DS1, you will enjoy the same boss in Elden Ring, many times. I don't see this as such a problem as it was in Dark Souls 3 - because I think Elden Ring is more about exploration, while Dark Souls games are more focused on tight, balanced boss fights - where most bosses are mandatory, so you have to suffer through Bed Of Bullsh*t whether you like it or not. Here, you can just skip bosses you don't like, at least in NG+ there is no real reason to fight them again as you already have the reward.
- People report hardware issues such as stuttering on cutting edge hardware. Funny enough, I'm playing on RX480 with no stuttering, 50 average fps, high-ultra settings. It's something to consider.
- Gameplay balance issues. Colossal weapons aren't very viable as they're too slow. Poise is useless. 60 VIG is pretty much required. There's a lot of stunlock, getting hit while on a horse is often a death sentence.
- Pretty much every quest line has a depressive ending. I'm used to this from Dark Souls, but usually it was the case for one or two quests. Here it feels like you're better of just not questing, it's the opposite of rewarding. You try your best and almost always end up making things worse. It feels like a cheap play on emotions, akin to a jumpscare, rather than masterful writing "with a twist".

It's atmospheric, beautiful, challenging. Play it.

Reznor OP

I convinced my grandma to buy me this game when I was 9. At the time, it was revolutionary because you could decapitate zombies with a pitchfork and play football with their head. Thanks based grandma, better than LEGO.

Joking aside, replaying this after 20 years as a polished remaster, I'm shaking my head that we've never been able to recapture the greatness of these old shooters. The complex level design, hilarious cynical anti-hero, amazingly produced sound effects, creepy atmosphere, all comes together in such a unique package that's just pure joy to play through after a long day. This is a relic from times past, a game that would never be allowed to be made in 2021 - at least not mainstream. Kotaku would go insane. Blood is up there next to Doom and Quake as one of the best FPS ever made. But what mostly sets it apart is its unapologetic dark humour and horror aesthetic. If you haven't played it, you don't know how fun games can be - when investors and blue-haired game reviewers are taken out of the equation.

I really need to pinpoint the sound design - there's something hypnotic about the gun effects, emptying dual-wielded Tommy Gun into your 1000th cultist - who's screaming at you in some weird Latin inspired language - while this music plays in the background: https://youtu.be/RVMZzOkIfQ0. Seriously, the Tommy Gun and also the sawed-off shotgun in Blood have got to be some of my favourite weapons across all FPS ever made just because of their sound.

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