Recent reviews by phucdatbich

"Yakuza 0" is a touching tale of two men struggling with their past, their honor, and… how to obliterate someone’s rib-cage using an entire bicycle.

You’ll cry during the main story, laugh at the side quests, and question why you’re teaching a dominatrix how to dominate properly while still recovering from a heartfelt karaoke session about lost love.

This game somehow balances intense real estate battles, break-dancing brawls, and managing a cabaret club as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. One minute you’re fighting for your life; the next, you’re bowling for a chicken that will become your best employee.

I still remember when the Dead Island trailer took the internet by storm—an emotional masterpiece that convinced us all to buy the game, only to be met with crushing disappointment when the actual gameplay turned out to be... well, not that. The OG trailer was a work of art, better than the game itself, and honestly set the stage for No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk 2077 to carry the torch of over-hyped trailers.

This game is like Sherlock Holmes on a budget: armed with a creepy stopwatch and a vague sense of dread, you’ll piece together the fates of 60 people while questioning your own sanity. “Was this guy speared by a Kraken, or did he just trip and die dramatically?” becomes a normal thought process.

The visuals are what happen when someone says, “Make it look like a pirate ship and a Game Boy had a love child.” And yet, it works. Combine that with the haunting music and you’ve got the perfect ambiance for figuring out why Carl fell off the mast while Steve was being stabbed by an angry chef.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Admission! Your job is to ruin lives, one mismatched document at a time."

On paper (pun intended), this game shouldn’t be fun. Stamping passports and catching typos sounds about as thrilling as waiting in line at the DMV. But here I am, six hours deep, yelling “NO ENTRY!” at my screen because someone’s expiration date is off by one day.

Moral dilemmas? Check. Do you feed your family or accept a bribe to let a suspicious “businessman” into Arstotzka? Stress? Oh, absolutely. One typo, and suddenly, I’m not feeding grandma this week. And yet, I can’t stop playing.

The graphics look like they were borrowed from a 1982 typewriter, and somehow, it’s perfect. Every pixel screams, “Life is pain, comrade.”

Final verdict: If you’ve ever wanted to be both a hero and a bureaucratic monster, this is the game for you. Glory to Arstotzka. Detain first, ask questions later.

Review:
What a journey! Mouthwashing is the kind of game that leaves you staring at the wall afterward, questioning everything, including why you thought playing it at 2 a.m. was a good idea. It’s a four-hour emotional rollercoaster where the highs are existential dread and the lows are... well, even more existential dread.

You know a game is special when it makes you contemplate your entire life while also wondering why you now have a deep-seated hatred for mouthwash. Seriously, every time someone says “It’s Mouthwashing time,” I get chills—and not the good kind.

Highlights:
Graphics? Chef’s kiss. Nothing like being trapped in a perpetual space sunset to remind you of how small and meaningless we all are.
Gameplay? Incredible. Never before have I felt so emotionally attached to a random pipe wrench.
Story? Oh, the story. Imagine Among Us but with corporate negligence, emotional trauma, and just a dash of “Oh no, I think I relate to Curly.”

Spoiler-Free Summary: Play as a crew stuck in space while everything falls apart in the most chaotic, heart-wrenching way possible. One minute, you’re trying to fix a generator. The next, you’re screaming at Jimmy for being the absolute worst. And by the end, you’ll realize the real horror wasn’t space—it was Jimmy all along.

Final Thoughts: If you’re looking for a game that’s short, impactful, and will absolutely ruin your evening (in the best way), Mouthwashing is for you. Just don’t play it if you’re emotionally attached to your legs or, you know, basic human decency.

10/10. Would mouthwash again.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥'s Bar

Thronefall is deceptively simple: easy to grasp, charmingly basic graphics, and straightforward gameplay. But don’t be fooled—it’s not a walk in the park. The design is sharp, and with endless configurations, each run feels fresh. Pick your starting area, weapon, and upgrades; then tweak modifiers to dial up the difficulty and rack up points.

Survive nights of monster attacks while building up your kingdom with carefully chosen soldiers and towers, all adapted to the unique terrain and threats of each area. Sure, it’s “simple”—if you consider balancing countless strategies and customizing your challenge level as simple. Thronefall may look basic, but it knows how to keep you on your toes. I’m hooked, and I’ll definitely be coming back for more.

Indika’s graphics are so stunning, you might forget you’re supposed to be following a story. The gameplay is flawless, the characters are charming, and the puzzles are a blast—assuming you don’t get too distracted trying to figure out what’s actually going on. I finished the game, but I’m still not entirely sure what the plot was... maybe it’s a choose-your-own-interpretation kind of thing?

Sure, the story is about as clear as mud, but who needs narrative when you’ve got eye candy and clever mini-games? Honestly, it’s still one of my favorite gaming experiences this year—if only for the visual tour and mental gymnastics.

Hay hơn game Tai Ương 100 lần

Edit: After Hotfixes 4 & 5 and a comment from the lead developer on my last Facebook post, I decided to give The Scourge | Tai Ương another try—and I actually finished it this time. It seems the developers took my feedback (and others’ comments) into account.

The FPS has improved, now holding steady around 50–60 FPS, though it still drops significantly to 15 FPS when entering the Water Puppet room (guess the water effects aren’t fully optimized yet).

Gameplay is also improved: movement is faster, and running actually feels distinct from walking now. However, the story is still paper-thin; you could summarize it in under three minutes without even playing.

So, despite the improved graphics, great sound design, and smoother gameplay, I still wouldn’t recommend The Scourge | Tai Ương to friends due to its shallow plot, poor dialogue, and a few remaining graphic bugs (notably during the dad chase mission). It’s definitely not ready to be crowned the “best Vietnamese horror game to date.”

But I won’t refund the game this time, since the studio is clearly trying their best to make it better.

Issues:
1. Upon respawning after dying while holding the light, I come back with empty hands.

Previous review:

Even as a Vietnamese player, I can’t recommend this game to my friends due to the bugs and crashes. The gameplay is sluggish—everything feels like it’s in slow motion, as if the main character is dealing with chronic sciatica. The graphics are photo-realistic, so no complaints there. But the plot is predictable, and some dialogues are painfully bad, even in Vietnamese. That said, the visuals are chilling enough to make up for some of it.

Issues:

1. Frequent crashes at launch.
2. Takes 4 minutes just to reach the main menu.
3. The Vietnamese dubstep menu music is wildly out of place for a horror game, giving more of an awkward action vibe.
4. My ultra-wide 21:9 monitor caused UI problems (main menu looks fine, but settings zooms in too much to scroll down or adjust gamma), and some cinematic scenes are still 16:9.
5. Some buttons are entirely pointless, like "Press space to bow" or "Press space to sleep."
6. The game occasionally drops from 40 fps to 12 fps for no clear reason.
7. Subtitle delay of about 200ms is a major buzzkill, breaking immersion.
8. Movement feels painfully slow, with animations out of sync with actual character movement.
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Chỉnh sửa: Sau khi có Hotfix 4 & 5 và phản hồi từ nhà phát triển chính trên bài đăng Facebook trước của mình, mình quyết định cho The Scourge | Tai Ương thêm một cơ hội—và lần này mình đã hoàn thành game. Có vẻ như nhà phát triển đã tiếp thu ý kiến của mình (và những người khác trong phần bình luận).

FPS đã được cải thiện, duy trì ổn định khoảng 50–60 FPS, mặc dù vẫn tụt mạnh xuống 15 FPS khi vào phòng Rối Nước (có vẻ hiệu ứng nước chưa tối ưu hóa hoàn toàn).

Gameplay cũng đã được cải thiện: di chuyển nhanh hơn, và chạy giờ thực sự khác biệt so với đi bộ. Tuy nhiên, cốt truyện vẫn rất hời hợt; bạn có thể tóm tắt toàn bộ cốt truyện trong chưa đến ba phút mà không cần chơi.

Vì vậy, dù đồ họa đẹp hơn, âm thanh tốt và gameplay mượt mà hơn, mình vẫn không thể giới thiệu The Scourge | Tai Ương cho bạn bè do cốt truyện quá nông cạn, lời thoại chưa tốt và một số lỗi đồ họa còn tồn tại (đặc biệt trong nhiệm vụ chạy trốn bố). Game vẫn chưa sẵn sàng để được gọi là “game kinh dị Việt Nam hay nhất.”

Nhưng lần này mình sẽ không hoàn tiền nữa, vì mình thấy studio đang cố gắng hết sức để cải thiện game.

Vấn đề:
1. Khi chết trong lúc cầm đèn, khi hồi sinh thì không còn cầm gì cả.

Đánh giá trước:

Mặc dù là người Việt, mình cũng không thể giới thiệu game này cho bạn bè vì quá nhiều lỗi và thường xuyên bị crash. Gameplay rất chậm—mọi thứ giống như đang ở chế độ chuyển động chậm, cứ như nhân vật chính đang bị đau thần kinh tọa. Đồ họa thì thực tế, không có gì để chê. Nhưng cốt truyện dễ đoán và một số đoạn hội thoại nghe rất chán, ngay cả bằng tiếng Việt. Tuy nhiên, đồ họa vẫn đủ gây chút rùng mình.

Vấn đề:

1. Game thường xuyên bị crash ngay từ lúc mở.
2. Mất đến 4 phút mới vào được menu chính.
3. Nhạc dubstep tiếng Việt ở menu nghe không hợp với game kinh dị chút nào, khiến game trông như một game hành động kỳ cục hơn là kinh dị.
4. Màn hình siêu rộng 21:9 của mình gây ra hàng loạt vấn đề về giao diện (menu chính ổn nhưng phần cài đặt thì zoom quá mức làm mình không thể cuộn xuống để lưu hoặc chỉnh gamma), và một số cảnh cinematic hiển thị 16:9.
5. Một số nút hành động vô dụng như "Nhấn phím cách để cúi đầu" hay "Nhấn phím cách để ngủ."
6. Thỉnh thoảng game bị tụt khung hình từ 40 fps xuống 12 fps không rõ lý do.
7. Độ trễ của phụ đề khoảng 200ms gây mất hứng.
8. Di chuyển chậm chạp, hoạt ảnh không đồng bộ với chuyển động của nhân vật.