Recent reviews by BerlinCB

A unique and deep experience that is different every time you play. Get invested in a story that that unfolds before your eyes and that you can delve as deep or as limited into as you want. You never know what is going to happen, as so much goes on in the background in the living world.

It took me a bit to get the hang of it, but I found myself getting rather attached to the characters and the world itself. Give it a chance and you won't be disappointed.

Tetris Effect: Connected is visually stunning, with fun music. Each area is uniquely crafted with different types of blocks and scenery. It is a very relaxing and a different type of Tetris experience. I really have enjoyed it.

I love this game and will be back at some point soon to flesh out and give this a proper review for you folks. But, I have to put this here to get my swag and badge stuff for the holiday event. This a review for a game that I nominated for "Labor of Love" in the Steam Awards.

I wasn't very interested in this game or ones like it, but I had a lot friends and streamers I hang with playing it a ton. I'd see people on my friends list in the wee hours of the morning on work and school nights (don't ask me what I was doing up that late also.. sleep is hard) and didn't understand why... A relative gifted me the game and still I didn't feel the urge to launch it.

I don't know why I finally clicked the PLAY button one night, but 5 hours later I was arguing with myself to go to bed versus just ONE MORE RUN! I was hooked.

Vampire Survivors is a very simple concept done very well. Kill lots of bad guys and don't get hit. It feeds your needs for validation, collection, achievement and advancement. It is super laid back and relaxing, while at the same time keeping you on edge of your seat. Buy it. You will not regret the purchase.

Let's see...

TL:DR - You can steal anything not nailed down with your friends. 10/10 would klepto again!

The deets:

- The janky graphics make for some hilarious photo moments, especially if you're in VR and your character moves like a drunken sailor.
- The proximity chat is excellently done and allows for whispering sweet nothings or death threats into your friend's ears a fun game.
- Your character moves slow.. and the "sprint" is only laughably a tad faster, but that is a good thing as it increases the intensity of the fear.
- The game is simple and a tad repetitive, but with just enough randomness sprinkled in to make the recipe that you and your friends create hilariously delicious.
- The game just has that "IT" factor. The graphics aren't amazing and the technology isn't surprising, but playing with your friends is just flat out FUN. I get scared way more by my friends than the ghosts, but that is just even more FUN.
- The game is surprisingly stable for its age and popularity (server stress). I rarely run into big bugs and those you do are fixed rather promptly.

** Recommended, but with stipulations. :)

Back in 1984 I played the original Wizardry game and fell in love with PC gaming forever. I played the entire series and enjoyed them all to a point, but 6-8 were masterful RPGs with a connected storyline that spanned the trilogy (you could port your characters from one to the next). The character depth and NPC interaction was amazing at the time (NPCs remember how you treat and interact with them and it matters throughout the games). The puzzles and critical thinking you needed to utilize to figure things out were challenging. It was difficult, no doubt, but after you learned the ins and outs it gave a great gaming experience.

THAT SAID, the only way that a younger current generation could ever enjoy this game is to understand a few things:

You can't be hung up on graphics, because these are pitiful by today's standards. You can't expect all the user bells and whistles of today's games like auto-mapping, quest journals, etc. None of that is there, and you either have to map and journal by hand or you can use the "Wizardry 6 - Cluebook" that comes with the Steam purchase and is located in the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Wizardry6\Bonus Content" (default) directory. If you want to experience the golden age of RPG gaming, I'd recommend you do it with this companion guide and/or a walk-through from the internet (there are many and these games have a cult following). This way you get to experience the great parts of the game, while mitigating the frustrating parts. You absolutely should research the internet for assistance with the character generation, as it can be daunting, but it quite enjoyable once you understand it.

Definitely pick it up during a Steam sale for under $2 and that way if you don't enjoy it, you didn't lose much.

** - Just an FYI if you purchase this, you can hit "Enter" at the copy protection scheme, as it isn't necessary with the Steam version.