Recent reviews by Solon

I find this to be a really interesting, fun, and peaceful strategy (and puzzle) game. Once you have completed the main campaign there are lots of additional missions, and then endless innovative fan made maps that really push the game far beyond the original mechanics. Some genius modders have even created FPS maps, and maps where you play as the creep. (You don't have to download any mods, you just browse the community maps in-game, it's super easy and accessible)

This is currently my favourite game to relax and unwind, and it has endless replayability.

I thoroughly enjoyed this remaster. Personally, I prefer to use the old graphics, but with some of the updated features. I think it's a shame to see so many negative reviews from people not liking the remastered graphics, because the game is delivered exactly as advertised. You might wish for more, but they weren't offering more, or pretending that more existed. Look at the pictures - that is how the game looks. No hate, though, I too dream of a day when the StS games would be properly remade with new artwork etc.

It took me 37 hours to complete this game and I really enjoyed all of it.

The locations are much more varied and open world than the previous games. For me, it had an excellent balance between being open and linear, you have a good amount of freedom and can approach objectives as you like, but not so much so that you get side tracked for days like in Skyrim and Fallout.

The crafting system is streamlined with only 2 types of resource, and feels like an integral part of the game (at least, on the hardest difficulty).

The graphics, design, and attention to detail are beautiful, it makes for a very atmospheric and immersive experience.

The story, dialogue, and voice acting are all good. I generally felt compelled to listen to everything everyone had to say.

The only thing that brought the game down a little bit was that there is one particular area where the game seems to crash, not just for me, but for many, many people. It crashed about 5 times for me before I managed to get passed through the area, but I saw that some people simply couldn't get through it and eventually gave up on the game. It also crashed at one other random time for me. But, ultimately, it was about 20 minutes of hassle for 37 hours of fun, so well worth it.

Overall I give the game 26.5 out of 29.3 - Highly recommended

Pretty entertaining game with a mostly nice community. Easy to dip in and out of. Incredible graphics.

I really love this game! I played it when I was a kid, and I just played it again with my partner (it's not multiplayer but its fun to put your heads together to work out what to do). I'd like to say, the music/design/narration of the trailer is absolutely awful, but the dialogue, acting, and music in the game are brilliant and you get very immersed in the quirky fantasy world they've created. The remastered graphics aren't very good, but I preferred to play it with the original graphics and sound anyway (which is also an option). Despite being ancient, it's still one of the best point and click games I've ever played.

I truly do not comprehend the popularity of this game. It's a game about communication, piecing together the evidence, while the impostor will try to convince you of their innocence, or that someone else is guilty. It could be great, except from my experience no one communicates. The most people will say is "start", "go", "*colour*". Usually someone will just say a colour and then everyone will unquestioningly vote for it, so even if you win there is never a sense of anyone outsmarting anyone. I suspect that this game is fun with a group of friends, but it is certainly not worth playing on the public servers. I witnessed host abuse almost immediately; the one good match I had where the impostor did manage to keep us off their back until they won, the host BANNED them from the server, then banned me, too, when I objected.

TL;DR - ugly, mini-game for non-gamers on their mobile phones, with a toxic community.

I'm really disappointed that this game is unplayable for me. It sounds/looks great, but it doesn't work with the Valve Index controllers, so you have to sit down and use the keyboard. It seemed like I had to turn in my seat to look behind me, but of course my keyboard stays in front of me. From reading other reviews I see that most people seem perfectly happy to play this using an xbox controller, but I don't have one and they seem expensive, and I don't feel its fair that I should have to buy one anyway. If anyone wants to educate me on how to enjoy the game on Valve Index, please do so, because I'm sure the game is brilliant, when playable.

It's actually immoral that Bethesda is selling this game at any price, let alone full price. The base game is virtually unplayable (see what I did there?) Absolutely do not waste your money on this unless you are prepared to spend a day learning how to mod the game. It took me a day to mod it on my computer, and it took me a day to mod it on my mum's computer a month later. You can mod it, it is possible, but it ISN'T simple, you will have to google a lot of things, watch a couple Youtube vids, do a bit of trial and error, load up and close the game about 30 times. It's fun browsing the mods, but implementing them is a nightmare since there will be a tonne of compatibility issues. Even once you've installed all the mods you need/want, you have to spend the rest of your life setting them up in different load orders, since if Mod X loads before Mod Y, one or the other won't work. I have spent almost 20 hours in the game at this point (this does not include the many hours I spent setting it up initially), and I'm still not happy or convinced with my mod set up. I'm starting to suspect that Skyrim VR simply looks bad, even with the mods. I've seen some great screenshots from the game, but you have to remember that these are how it looks on your computer monitor, not how it looks through the Valve Index (or whatever) lens (Spoiler Alert: It looks much worse). I feel like I've just spent a week testing the game in some kind of pre-Alpha condition and should shortly be receiving my hard earned cheque from the developers, but something went wrong and I've actually ended up paying them, instead. The Skyrim VR concept is an alluring one, but the reality of it is a travesty. Think carefully before buying.

Half-Life: Alyx is absolutely brilliant, the developers have played to VR's strengths, and utilised them incredibly well. Unfortunately, as it turns out, many of VRs strengths revolve around terrifying you. Bleak, muted colours to avoid eye strain; small confined spaces to maximise performance; high fidelity, spatially accurate, creepy sound effects to heighten immersion; massive, hairy, spidery, head crabs to facilitate the wetting of your under garments. Yes, HL: Alyx has all of that, and more! It essentially lays the ground work for how VR FPS games should work. Also, I've been playing for 25 hours and I still haven't completed the story. I strongly suspect that the game can be won in 3 or 4 hours, but if you're like me and have to crawl at a snails pace, peaking around every corner, bracing yourself before entering every room, then you'll probably get really good value out of the game. I've just met Jeff and its possible I will never be able to complete the game... That guy... just, no. That's my verdict, awesome game, I recommend it up until Jeff.

All the nostalgia with brilliantly remastered graphics, audio, music, cinematics, and functionality. The original game was a work of love, and the remaster, possibly, even more so. This is how its done, Blizzard.