Recent reviews by Keeper-Outcast

One of the best RPGs in resent years. I had very little expectations after Shadowrun Returns, and was simply blown away by Dragonfall. Allow me to share some of my thoughts on the matter.

1. Story and characters.
Probably the most important part of any RPG in my opinion. And I am happy to say, that Dragonfall' s characters stayed with me long after I finished the game. And then came back a year after. And then came back again next year.

I understand, that the richness and the impact of the story are highly subjective variables based on the cultural level of the player. So, basically, what I find deep and engaging you might find boring and formulaic, because you might have seen it before a thousand times. So let me just tell you, that Dragonfall's story managed to surprise me not on one, but on two occasions. I can't recall the last time that happened in video game. Seriously, probably not since Planescape Torment....

What you must understand, that it is not my first dance. I am well accuanted with cyberpunk genre both in literature and in games, and usually begin new journey with “been there, done that” attitude. So, you can imagine my surprise, when the story managed to not only engage me, but also surprise me.

2. Atmosphere.
Another Dragonfall's strong suit. I haven't felt this tense being hunted by nebulous foe since KOTOR 2, which is hight praise for me, since KOTOR 2 is my favorite game. Take it as you will. The atmosphere in Dragonfall does something magical: it sucks you in, it encourages you to read into context, to learn who the major players in this world are and what is your place in the grand scheme of things.

Let me put it this way: when you find yourself reading 3d and 4th editions of Shadowrun rolebook and the “Sixth World Almanac”, while analyzing discussions about the nature of elf immortality, after replaying Dragonfall, then you know the game does something right.

3. Gameplay and UI
There are things that Dragonfall does right. And then there are Gameplay and UI. First of all the UI. I don't know who had the brilliant idea of putting all the text in a small window on the right side of the screen in a game MOSTLY CONSISTED OF TEXT. All I can say is get accustomed to eye strain. The text itself is very well written, but sometimes feels redundant.

The combat is basically the same that it was in Shadowrun Returns, which is to say: not very good. It's slow, it's boring, it's not very tactical, and it's repetitive as hell. And since roughly 60% of the game consists of combat, I can practically guarantee that you ll be grinding you teeth by the end of the story.

The structure of the gameplay is basic enough: hub-mission-hub, but it works well, and allows for a lot of quite time, which is essential for creating complex and interesting story. The game has a very “cheap” feeling overall: assets are used, then reused, and then used again for good measure, which is not a problem per se, but considering the astronomical sum that Shadowrun Returns was able to acquire on Kickstarter, I can't help but wonder, where did it all go.

In conclusion: take it, not as a review, but as a love letter to a game, which came out of nowhere, took my hearth by storm, and permanently occupied part of my brain for itself. Both Dragonfall and Hong Kong are worth your time, if you re not afraid of reading, but hey, if you made it here, all the way until the end (for some mysterious reason) then I know, that you re the right metahuman for the job. Until then, I ll see you all in shadows. Oh, and never, EVER cut a deal with a dragon.

Хороший, олдскульный поинт-энд-клик квест. Дух киберпанка передан блестяще, но к сожалению ближе к развязке сюжет начинает плыть: если вы знакомы «Нейромантом» Гибсона, то во второй половине игры вас начинает преследовать чувство, что вы это уже где-то видели. В итоге, вместо заимствований у Гибсона, игра начинает бесстыдно копировать целые куски и сюжетные повороты из книги, что не является преступлением, но на оригинальность не тянет.

При этом, игра умудряется сохранить индивидуальность во многом благодаря атмосфере и персонажам. Герои получились сложными и интересными. Один из них на протяжении большей части игры не вызывал у меня ничего кроме отвращения и раздражения, пока я не понял, что наркоман в ломке и не может быть обаятельным и интересным. Другой оказался... не совсем тем, чем казался (ох, без спойлеров не просто) и это привело... к интересной динамике в отношениях между главными героями.

Графика, как это и свойственно проектам от Wadjet Eye выполнена крупным пикселем и выглядит здорово, хотя текст читается с трудом. С художественной точки зрения дизайн выдержан бесподобно- высокие, холодные небоскребы, яркие неоновые вывески, вечная ночь, все на месте.

Загадки тоже принадлежат к старой школе и не отличаются логичностью и простотой. В этом, пожалуй, заключается одна из главных проблем игры: головоломки не работают на сюжет и не продвигают историю, а скорее служат препятствием, лишь преодолев которое, удаётся вернуться к повествованию.

В целом, Техновавилон- отличная игра, красивый и умный киберпанковский квест с интересными персонажами и увлекательной, хотя и немного шаблонной историей.

Warband is a unique type of rpg: it has no story at all. The sandbox nature of Warband allows you to freely juggle between all of its gameplay aspects at will. 

You can: trade as a merchant, serve as a vassal in 1 of the 6 medieval kingdoms (and change your allegiance as you desire), fight at tournaments for glory and gold, court noble ladies in secret, in hope of gaining influence in high society, guard caravans and work for guilds, own productive enterprises, become a lord of villages, castles and even cities, dedicate your life to protecting poor and defenseless, serve as a cynical mercenary, killing without question or hesitation, be a cunning and power hungry  manipulator, starting civil wars and pulling the strings from the shadows, become a renowned marshal, known for his military prowess and tactical genius, rob villages and caravans as lawless brigand, become a confidant to powerful lords and kings, or, if you re truly worthy, ascend as an emperor of the known world yourself. 

The best part is that you can be all those things AT THE SAME TIME. Role playing in warband is more of a metaphysical concept that in most RPGs, meaning that you don't just play a role in a given situation or a plot, but rather create the situation for role playing yourself.  I struggle to remember a lot of games with this level of role playing  freedom and immersion. 

The combat is something else entirely. Deceptively simple, frighteningly realistic: it takes skill and practice to win a fight against superior number of foes. 3-4 is manageable, 7-10 is a suicide. 

The customization is as deep as the ocean: one handed arms, two handed, pole arms, shields, bows, crossbows, throwing weapons, battle horses, the list goes on and on...

Rpg system is robust and flexible: horse archery, tracking, knowledge of medicine or siege weaponry, trading or tactics...

There is no story in warband. No predetermined path. Except the one that you create for yourself. You are the master of your own fate. And what a glorious fate that is!

I ve spent 1000 hours competitively in this game. And I am still not sure how to play it properly. I tried to be the best teammate I could, concentrating on communication, logistics and team coordination. Some called me "in game leader", others- "stratcaller", but all complimented my calmness and focus. 

Yet I felt as an anchor for my team. My aim and reaction time where mediocre at best, I couldn't clutch, and tilted constantly (though always tried to hide it, so it won't affect the team).  

So I started to practice. Aim, recoil control, tap shooting, tactical movement. And got better. About 2 to 3 %. The laws of diminishing returns kicked in faster that I expected, and any significant change  was negligible. On top of that victory never felt like victory- it wasn't achieved, you never won because of your skill, rather the enemy was weaker and allowed you to win. Yet if you lost- it was always because of you- you were weaker, stupider then the enemy, never on the level. 

I tried to play against better players, but it was for naught. It is a great lie that you learn to play better against stronger opponents. You learn to die better against them. You learn to hate yourself better against them. You learn to tilt better against them. 

And then it hit me. I wasn't enjoying the game. I was forcing myself to play it in faint hope that the next game will be different. That all the pain, all the humiliation will just fade away. I am not Albert Einstein, but the irony is not lost on me. 

I stopped playing outer games. I forgot my true love: narrative driven games. I had no energy to try something new. I was truly lost. So I stopped. 

You must understand, it wasn't some miraculous act of will. No. I just... Burned out, I guess. Cs go chewed me up and spit me. One day I looked at my stattrak Basilisk and asked myself: what the hell am I doing with my life?

My name is Basil and I am counter-strike free for two weeks. I am a counterstrikeholic. Thank you.

A curious mix of western choose-your-own-adventure and eastern visual novel.

Quite short (an average playthrough takes from 15 to 30 min), but rather wide adventure (22 total endings)

The plot is nothing to write home about (a romance story in action fantasy setting), but has a certain naive charm to it, characters are as cliche as it gets, but still charismatic and their interactions are somewhat believable.

In conclusion: an interesting little experiment- choice oriented western style visual novel. Get it on discount.

P.S. Get ready to hook up with pretty elf boy. No way around it, I am afraid.

Shadowrun Returns is a first installment of the Shadowrun Returns trilogy (followed by Dragonfall and concluded by Hong Kong).

A kickstarter success, the project led by Jordan Weisman, the creator of the Shadowrun tabletop role-playing game met its funding goal of $400,000 within 28 hours. The game ultimately had gathered $1,895,772.

The first installment in the series comes with one story campaign called “the dead man switch” - which takes about 12 hours to complete. The story itself consists of two distinctive parts: first 4 to 5 hours you're tracking down a serial killer, and the rest 7-8 hours you are fighting crazy doomsday cult. The story concludes with you stopping the invasion... of giant spiritual bugs representing ancient evil. Sigh.

The combat is weak too- it is extremely slow, repetitive and plain stupid. The only saving grace is that no predetermined class approach guaranties a lot of freedom in character building (same goes for roleplaying as well).

Honestly, the story and combat are pretty weak, but that's not the point. The point- SR R is a prologue, first act, exposition if you will, to one of the best game trilogies in recent years. It misses on story and combat, but it menages to create a feel, to add some context and to set a stage to the amazing second act (Dragonfall), and good third act (Hong Kong)

So in conclusion- if you have some time to spare- start at the beginning, and play Shadowrun Returns first, before attempting Dragonfall or Hong Kong. If you don't- go for the Dragonfall and Hong Kong, you cant afford to miss them. They are THAT good.


P. S. If you re playing Shadowrun Returns first, then lower your expectations and remember 2 simple things: firstly- its an introduction of the setting, and secondly- it gets better with second and third games in the series.


P.P.S. While tracking down serial killer, you come across a suspicious and creepy man at the crime scene. He' s mumbling something about how he loves to strangle kittens and that his mother never loved him. "Leave him" says the game, we still have 10-12 hours to investigate these strange murders.

10 out of 10, would investigate strange murders again.

Let's get something out of the way first: human Revolution is a masterpiece, plain and simple. It became an instand classic and a must play, and frankly- quite deservengly so.With that being said, it still has some minor issues.

HR is a prequel to the first Deus Ex, taking place 25 years before the first title of the series. The setting probably, is the strongest part of the game: it's art direction, music, visual representation and overall style are simply breathtaking. It is worth playing, simply to experience all of it.

The gameplay is reminiscent of the first Deus Ex with 2 significant changes:

1.Chest hight walls
Yes, I am afraid that trends of modern gaming didn't pass HR completely by, so get ready to shoot people from behind cover. While shooter part is diminished by ever present chest hight cover, the stealth part is actually enhanced- it is extremely convenient to be able to see behind corners, and plan your approach accordingly.

2.Level design
While Deus Ex provided HUGE open ended areas, with a lot of freedom, HR' s levels look more like corridors. We are still able to choose from a verity of approaches, (vents, breakable walls, sewers and so on), but the illusion of freedom of movement has been diminished somewhat. We are still however have an absolute freedom in game play aspect of problem solving: stealth or direct approach, lethal or non lethal, guns or melee takedowns.

The story itself I will break into 3 parts: plot, setting, and philosophical context.

1.The setting.
Simply amazing. Frighteningly realistic, it menages to build a bridge between our reality and the bleak dystopian future of the first Deus Ex. Geo-political disputes, ethically bankrupt corporations, shadow governments and rampant abuse of technology create a world almost as believable as it is repulsive.

2.Philosophical context
HR's main focus is on transhumanism and the plethora of questions around it: The ethics of human augmentations, self controlled human evolution and the line between the man and the machine.

3.The plot
The weakest link in HR. While the plot itself is serviceable, characters don't have arks, motivations are lacking, and by the end the plot runs out of steam, disconnecting you from the story and characters completely.

The missing Link DLC included in the director's cut provides about 2 hours of gameplay and indeed enriches the story, but itself consists of nothing but straight corridors with even less freedom to explore.

In conclusion: A masterpiece. Highly recommended.

Shadowrun Hong Kong is a third and last installment in Shadowrun returns series. And I am happy to say that in my mind it is almost as good as Dragonfall.

HK feels a bit weaker in story department, compared to Dragonfall - combining cyberpunk and fantasy cliches, it still however menages to deliver a well crafted and thoughtful story, with a diverse cast of interesting characters. It provides rich roleplaying options as well- both on mechanical and social levels of interaction with the game world.

Mechanically SR: HK shows a lot of improvement, in comparison to earlier games- while the combat is still slow and boring, most missions are designed in a way that allows you to minimize playtime spent fighting, if not outright skip most of the fights.

First hour or so feels a bit off-putting, with slow and downright boring exposition, but after that the story picks up and the fun begins.

So, to summarize :

Good story
Amazing characters
Nice writing
Boring fights
Slow first hour

The bonus campaign consists of 4 missions and holds up to the original game (if just barely), by providing a definitive ending to the story.

So, if you re into CRPGs, then do yourself a favor and play both SR: HK and Dragonfall- they are worth it. (Mostly, by being 1 of the best RPGs in recent years).

Have you ever wanted to play Planescape Torment in Star Wars universe?

This is it. Enjoy.

Best story
Best characters
Best philosophical crisis I ever had

Let me put it this way: gravitational pull of this game is so strong, that I fear that I will never be able to break it. Like the best works of art, this game gives you with one hand, and takes away with the outher: it creates a beautiful philosophical dilemma, a paradox if you will, but the price is steep. The price? A small thing: just a part of your soul and your mind to inhabit forever. It damages you, but in a good way: it forces you to reevaluate your your views, to broaden your horizons, to let in larger world.

It shows you... the Force.

I am certain in one thing: this 60 hours of metaphysical experience I will carry with me for the rest of my existence.

What can change the nature of a jedi?

100 часов в метро
или как я провел лето.



UnderRail медленно но верно подползает к отметке в сто часов, и конца пока не видно. Для игры, сделанной фактически одним человеком, весьма солидная цифра. Причем здесь нет случайно генерящихся квестов "подай-принеси", или "сходи и убей". Каждый квест, каждая сюжетная линия разительно отличаются друг от друга.


За эти сто часов я успел: половить рыбу во всех злачных местах южного метро (особенно весело было в столичной канализации, где каждые пять минут рыбной ловли прерывались толпами озверевших мутантов); расследовать убийство, представляя интересы таинственной организации, взяв на себя роли и патологоанатома, и детектива, и судьи, и палача; спровоцировать войну банд, представляя интересы своей станции; стать чемпионом кровавой гладиаторской арены; внедриться в таинственный технокульт; уничтожить страшного и практически неуязвимого монстра, террорезируещего целый город; остановить продвижение опрессивного режима, объединившись с идеалистичными борцами за свободу; поработать копом на улицах антиутопического "мегаполиса"; и конечно же скрафтить себе псионически-регенеративную силовую броню.

Список можно продолжать до бесконечности, но лучше пережить все это самому.