Recent reviews by razing32

It;s ok for what it is but it is a product of its time.

Sorry to say at a playtime of 6 hours ( for me ) it's not really worth full price.
It has some nice ideas but it does not really flesh them out.
1.You can die from the cold but you are rarely outside
2.You have squadmates but only the engineer is critical for opening certain doors
3.Managing squad resources could be an issue if you didn't trip on ammo boxes around every corner
4.If your squad goes insane there is little you can do to calm them down

The biggest problem is the AI is very poor and the squad can barely follow you through a door.
In one instance a cinematic explosion killed half of them despite there being time to get to the elevator.
It's also hard to interact with the clunky interface . I tried to use a blood test to prove my trust but i used it on someone else by mistake and the dude went rogue and attacked us. Also a pain when you want to heal someone else ,not yourself.

You should need your squad but there are large stretches where you are alone. Only above mentioned engineers are necessary.

Also combat is a mess. IF you aim you get locked in place and cant move. It's incredibly stiff and unresponsive.

Nail in the coffin for me is that this is not a horror game. There are SO many enemies it feels like a serious sam game at times. Only time it was scary was at beginning and when you are captured and have no guns.
At one point i thought a swarm was a bug because it would not stop comming.

Get this on a BIG discount if you are a fan of The Thing if not , sorry to say , don;t bother.

Yeah , it's what it says on the tin. A remake of Age of Mythology.
Better than the HD version.

Same game as before.
Engine is functional and fluid.
some stuttering and flickering but i suspect that's the AMD driver on my pc.

The campaigns stay fairly true to the original , though i recall a mission where Arkantos has a dream and he plays as the bad guys destroying Atlantis.
The portraits are a nice touch though why they made Amanra look 60 and cross like she smelled Arkantoses feta laced fart is beyond me.
Voice acting is decent enough , though Kastor seems to be phoning it in.
Also saw some bugs where ship combat sounds were still playing after both ships were destroyed.
One thing that tick me off was unit spawning. This is what Spellforce 1 and 2 did because programming AI is hard . Same thing happens here . I saw two units spawn from a temple at once in a mission and attack me.
In the mission where KAstor goes to mount Olympus the ruins of the barracks at beginning keep spawning units AFTER they were destroyed. Maybe somebody used a while loop instead of a for loop.
Last nitpick - promise. The unit descriptions. In the previous games right clicking a unit or technology gave you some cool flavor text/backstory. Here ? Just endlessly loops unit production - which i found out after i had 20 Minotaurs.

One unnecessary turd sticking to an otherwise decent release is the DLC for the Legacy Portraits. I mean , 6 euro for some dusty pics from mommy's attic ? common now.

Hopefully the Chinese DLC is handled better than the HD version were it was severely panned.
If it works well maybe we'll get more civs , Japan , India , Mezo-america etc.
That would be cool.

Multiplayer works well though i only played a few games with my mates. Worked fine so far.

So yeah. It's good. Could use a tiny coat of polish but it is what players like myself wanted and true to the original.

Edge of Sanity.
A 2-D rogue lite "horror" game.

First off the artwork is good , sound design is good , voice acting is good and story is interesting enough.
Gameplay is where it falls apart for me.

One part is exploring locations and avoiding monsters to collect resources.
Problem here is there is little room to hide from monsters , some ceiling monsters that are almost unavoidable. And if you do get seen or engage in combat you start going mad.
This part can be ok , despite lack of stealth options ( you do have items , but they eat resources to craft , see next part) and the cheap ceiling bugs.

Second part is the stinker.
It's supposed to be a survival affair , but it;s really a bad game of musical chairs.
Each survivor needs food and water , they need to produce it and if they get sick their productivity dies and they lose morale. So you constantly have to ballance food , water , rest and sending someone out to scout to unlock new locations for you to actually go to.

The game died for me in Act 2.
After spending an hour grinding metal and wood and upgrading my food and water stations , i got one bad event that destroyed my food stockpile , another that poisoned my water , another where some surviovrs were thieves and punishing them ruins morale and finally one that destroyed my upgrade to water and food stations. So i could of spent an hour staring at paint dry and the effect would have been the same.

Yes i know rougue like games punish you , but you do it voluntarily. You voluntarily go to the next tile , use X item , enter Y room. Here the game just randomly ♥♥♥♥♥ on you.
Deal with it and get grinding.

Nope. I;m out. bye.

Pretty decent point and click horror.
Story was interesting.
Main character was insuferable but changed along the story.

Act 1 was a bit sluggish in puzzles and out had to talk to one character multiple times - not something i like.
Act 2 was decent in pacing and puzzles were somewhat logical.
Act 3 ending was a bit rushed and puzzles went off the rails.

One major drawback is a lack of any audio.
With a few decent voice actors this game could be better.
Also - why does the trailer spoil so much ? I was lucky to play it before seeing the trailer but it spoils so much of the "reveal".

Overall , takes about 6-7 hours to beat. Pretty decent horror game.

This is a damn fun game.
It's a submarine game presented from a side scroll perspective where each player or bot takes on a role on the ship from Captain to Engineer. Each role has their own perks and can excel at repairing or fighting enemies.
You pick a submarine to pilot and do a mission.
There are three main submarine types , Scout , Attack and Transport.
As such each have their own pros and cons. Some move fast but aren't well armed , others are but eat fuel like a hungry .... radioactive whale ??? Each engine has different properties some being louder or more powerful ( also depending on what you do in the editor)
Each mission has different objectives , from repairing an outpost , to killing a monster or collecting mineral ore.
You can be attacked en rotue and you have to patch the submarine to stop leaks. You can also end up with monsters inside the sub or ballast flora spreading throughout the sub.
Play with friends for an awesome albeit at times frustrating experience.
There is a campaign that takes a crew across Europa to "THE THING" where something happens. The end part of the campaign and the story leading up to it is good. Problem is the missions can get REALLY repetitive.
To pass between biomes you have to bribe or gain reputation with a faction. You will often do a mission to kill a Moloch only to return and be given another mission to .... kill a moloch.
They do get more diverse and hard as you progress and there are environmental hazards . ( pro tip - DO NOT use plasma cutter on sparky sparky crystal - make go boom )
Enemies are varied from bandits and pirates to raptors and zombies ( husks ) and even abyss monsters.
One minor complaint is the characters are kinda ragdolly and lack fluent movement - I wouldn't mind but when half the friend group spends 90% of the mission doing nothing BUT rag dolling themselves - well .....
One MASSIVE positive is the editor. The workshop is packed with subs , monsters , missions and all kind of cool stuff.
It;s not that hard to learn either ( if you go by the crap i made )
One other small gripe - the cave backgrounds make it hard to see what's a wall and what isn't.
Overall a great game to play with friends with lots of community made content , a cool story and lore ..... just don;t have friends that poison you with ethanol and kill you 5 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ seconds before the mission ends.

It's not a bad game. Especially if you are a fan of The Forgotten Realms / D&D
No micro transactions , BS DLC etc.
Sadly i am in the minority which did not like this as much . So here's why :

1.The story is like drinking from a firehose. It starts out easy enough with a world of magic , elves , dwarves etc , but then you get cthulhu monsters , devils , vampires , cults , gangs , politics, protagonists from previous games. It's a pain to keep track of. And it's not just flavor text. If they tell you some story about a usurper to the throne you actually meet him in the game.
With so many stories being so epic it feels like none of them are and they are all intertwined to some extent. It feels like my brain is going to explode at times.

2.The environments are nice and pretty. Beautiful and crafted and artists put a lot of work on them.
Too bad the camera is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥ and rarely cooperates or goes inside a room.
I missed half of Act 1 because i did not jump a bridge and a major side quest in act 2 because i did not see a room with a comatose man.
ALSO - your ally AI sucks at navigating jumps. It's great fun when you enter combat when half your party is missing.

3.There's just TOO much in terms of spells / classes and items to keep track of. Maybe D&D players will laugh but i can't do it. I would get stuck on puzzles only for to read online that you can cast fire or ice or something.
I only figured out to cast water on a burning cage - ONCE.
There are just TOO many possible combinations of spells , armors , items and weapons for me to ever understand what is optimal.
Also , some classes attack two or three times per turn . I'm still not sure what they are or why , but they sure as hell get picked by the enemy a lot.
They also love to make themselves invisble or blind you constantly . I get it's meant to be a challenge but it is annoying.
Also why do my spellcasters need a nap like a damn toddler to cast a spell. Hate me all you want but i prefer a game with mana potions.

4.It's TOO BIG. I used to fantasize about a big game with LOTS of choice and branching paths. I DO NOT ANYMORE. I regret my decission. It's too much. I kept hoping it would end but it kept going with encounter after encounter after encounter. It's like that Wreck it Ralph meme with the bunny getting panckaes till it explodes. Well ,in that analogy i'm a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rabbit cluster bomb.

5. Miss miss Miss mIss miSs miss misS miss miSS
Why don't the enemies ever miss ?
Why do any allies that join me in battle always suck and are almost always underpowered ?

6.Epic battles are great. DO NOT HAVE THEM IN TURN BASED !!!!!
At least games like Civ have QUICK turn based. Here i have to sit and watch as every single ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rat slime thing takes turns to think , animate , move , attack and think again.
ALSO - having INFINITE respawning enemies MAY work in a shooter like Serious Sam or something. It does NOT work in a TBS where you have to wait for every crap to take their damn turn.

7.SAVE OFTEN.
Yes the game DOES auto save but if you mess up a choice or fail to save an NPC don't be surprised if your only viable save is from 1 hour ago.
Also some NPCs suck. I literally saved one from literal ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hell and what does she do ? Keep staying there - because reasons .


Voice acting is good. I like what the actors did . Think Raphaels voice actor was my favorite.

Conclusion- not a bad game , and not exploitative like the industry likes to make but be careful if you are a beginner to the series.

PS : Thank you to the modders. wesslen , unamezement , clintmich , Belinn , hu5K , ROMERO - you made it possible for me to slog through this till the end.

Sons of the ♥♥♥♥

Here's some great improvements over The Forest :
You can't see the map on full screen
You can't eat cannibals
You can't craft half of the things unless you use the NEW mode of crafting which is crouching and flailing around like a dead fish
The inventory was crowded before - now it's so big you have to jump around like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ to see everything
Enemies kill you in 1 or 2 hits
In multiplayer you respawn constantly in a enemy village where you get dropped again

Great fun
Almost as much fun as huffing gasoline and sucking your own ♥♥♥♥

Ubi crap again.
I refuse to buy from them anymore.
Both EA and UBI (and maybe more) pull this crap that you have to login to their launcher to play a game you own on steam.
♥♥♥♥♥ - what's the point ? I already am logged into steam , I don't want any more stupid launchers.

SO - pushed myself to finish it.
What is it ?
A big map with towers and enemy camps
Missions are lame and scripted. Often you have an NPC ally who dies like an idiot.
You also get cutscenes - of two varities - press X to not die , and listen to stupid dialogue until you want to open a window and jump out as it is unskipabble.
Also enemies get more and more spongy as you progress. The falmethrower bastards being the worst offenders. Thanks to whoever put the 50 cal sniper in.

Story starts ok - you want revenge for dude who killed your brother.
BUT
The ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ALWAYS ambushes you. Doesn't matter how good you are he gets the drop on you in a cutscene because REASONS.
Then you kill his boss and him in stupid QTE cutscenes , not even giving you the satisfaction to burn them alive with a molotov or shove an RPG in their ass.

And in the end your allies are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. You can kill your friends and join them , and then they kill you anyway or you can leave.

Besides that not much else , some stupid mini games , hunts and races.

Honestly , if you want to experience this game play any shooter until you kill 200-300 enemies , play a hunting game ans shoot some animals then watch the cutscenes on youtube.

No feeling of accomplishment of killing the enemy , just a miserable gray boring mess padded with tanky enemies and uneccesary hunts.

Thank god it's over and thanks for beer also.

I got this game for free with my CPU purchase

Sadly it is a downgrade on CoH 2.
There isn't really enough of anything to justify this being a stand alone game.
It feels like a cut down version of Coh 1 or 2.
Again the same Germans versus US and British - nothing new. I would expect a Pacific Theatre but then again , SEGA the publisher is Japanese and they did some not so nice things in the war.
The game is lackluster, fewer units , upgrades and most of all maps. 15 on release , 15 still now - and most are a generic flat map with no chockepoints.
Buy CoH1 or CoH2 instead this one , at time of writing , 23.7.2023 is not worth your time or money.

Hogwarts legacy is an open world action game with a Harry Potter skin.
If you like open world games , you will probably like this.
If you're just a fan of the series/world your mileage may vary.

The world is big - and has a lot of locations from the books.
You get to explore Hogwarts Castle and Hogsmeade.
My issue with the world is it feels to big at times.
Maybe i;m not the target audience but there is just too much filler.

You start out fine growing plants and brewing potions but soon you have a lot of other crap.
Field guide pages , flying pages , Dadelian Keys , Moon statues , Merlin Trials, Ancient sites , Boss enemies , Astronomy tables etc.
It feels like too much at times.
And since some of these are tied to level progression or unlocking spells you are kind of forced to do them.
Merlin Trials unlock more invetory and since you trip over items on every mission you need them.
There is barely any reason to upgrade "armor" since you find more and better on almost every second mission.

Combat is a very Simon Says QTE affair. It starts out fine but in late game there are so many enemies it becomes a colored disco.
Orange prompt - block , red prompt - dodge , plus colored shields to destroy with colored spells. And a few miliseconds to attack enemies with basic attacks.
Seriously - it gets to be - dodge , block , dodge , block , block , dodge , 3 miliseconds to brake their shield and repeat.
Also shields should block the spells of the color they are not advertise what spell to use to destroy them.
That;s like a bullet proof vest with the caliber of the bullet that can perforate it written on the front.

Story is decent , though it does borrow a bit much from the books/series.
Harry Potter is a magical child , you're a magical child.
Harry Potter meets a Hippogriff , so do you.
Harry Potter can see Thestrals , so can you.
House Elves are treated badly there , some here are as well.
Some of the side missions are better like Sebastians.

The world itself is a bit weird. There are goblin renegades and bandits and poachers everywhere and no wizards seem to bother.
Why does a teenager have to fix their problems.
That's like a SWAT team outsourcing a bank robbery to a teen from the local high school.
Poachers are bad for plundering rare beasts and getting their alchemical ingredients.
But when you take them by force from their home to a vivarium and gather their ingredients and sell excess animals to a pet shop that's somehow fine.

Oddly there are students and teachers from Africa and India , both of which were colonized by the British Empire at the time the game takes place and not once do any of them say
"Oh btw , mister/misses British student , your country is kinda opressing mine. Messed up , 'innit ?"

Performance is a bit of a mess and the game is resource hungry. And it doesn't even look that good in some aspects , like facial animation.

They cut Quidditch. I just don't get it . Even earlier games on much less powerful consoles had Quidditch.
In game reason is some pure blood got injured and the headmaster , a member of the Black family canceled it.
You can ride a broom and ride through rings . Wooopeee such fun /sarcasm. Great to see the rings from Superman 64 still found work.
Seriously , why the hell did they cut Quidditch ? How about cut some stupid rings , Merlin trials etc instead.

Overall it's a competent action game but the amount of side fluff you have to do gets boring fast.
Must be why every damn Foo Flame is mentioning your field guide and why the voice actress for professor Weasley emphasizes the FIELD GUIDE.
Whether you like this or not depends on you and what type of game you like.
Wasn't for me . Not bad , just too loaded with what felt like mandatory side stuff.