Recent reviews by Aronaar

The Thaumaturge is the prime example of a cool concept failing in its execution.
You live the game through the eyes of Wiktor, a thaumaturge - a magician able to tame otherwordly beings called Salutors, and blessed with the gift of psychometry - helped by Rasputin in order to get his powers back, then coming back to Poland to elucidate his father's demise.
While the beginning is convincing, the game falls short quickly after.
Here are the main reasons why :

1 - The Snappin'turge

Psychometry allows you to learn many informations by touching objects - memories, feelings and so on. In order to know wich objects can be interacted with, you right click your mouse : a snapping sound occurs and the items will be highlighted, as well as your path to the next objective.
And honestly a good chunk of the game is spent snapping fingers and clicking on dozens of items in order to advance the story.
You may think it could make for a great investigating tool - and you'd be quite mistaken. Because of the sacrosaint snapping, exploration is a moot point and unlike, say, a game like the Ace Attorneys, you don't have to present the right evidence or come up with a sound theory.
Once you have clicked on all the required items for your current objective, Wiktor will automatically put all the threads together and get the "good" answer.
There is zero thought process in this, it's just busywork and after a while, one can get easily tired of both the process and the items's descriptions.
This alone could make someone quit : the main selling point of the game just gets boring after a while...
And it's definetely NOT a detective RPG when you almost never have to deduce anything.

2- Story and dialogs

The premise for the game is great, its development is not. The store page talks about ambiguous choices but there aren't that many or not so impactful.
Most of the time you are railroaded into the main quest and while Wiktor's father's death could hint at bigger schemes, once revealed, the mystery falls flat quite a bit, the story then rushing to the last act without much narrative meat, eager to offer you three main ending questlines.
I, for one, didn't feel it was "my" story so much.
As for the dialogs, quite often the description of what your character can say ends up different from what he actually says, akin to what happens in Dragon Age II.
Plus sometimes when you want to nudge the conversation in some way, Wiktor gets back the other way. The most blatant example was when I didn't want to disclose the existence of his twin sister, then Wiktor awkwardly says " oh by the way, I have a twin sister, Ligia ".
To be fair, dialogs can often be robust, but there are alos many instances of faux-pas to make the experience jarring at times. I regularly wondered if my dialog choices were really meaningful.
Thaumaturges attract Salutors with flaws, Wiktor's is pride- I tried not to choose prideful options too often, fearing it could lead to dire consequences, but in fact, as I was not proud enough, it locked me out of many dialog options !

3 - Let's get brawling ?

The studio must have thought that they needed to vary its gameplay, thus the combat system. And oh God, The Thaumaturge loves its combats.
You know it because the game ensnares you in a conflict every chance it gets, most of the time the dialog options are useless and you'll fight anyways.
It seriously gets absurd over time, like getting assaulted in the street because you look like a bourgeois- not that it would be unrealistic, but it's jut not needed.
Why so harsh ? Because the combat, like the finger snapping, gets old rather quickly. It's turn-based with status effects and different moves you acquire, which can be upgraded with switchable boni (damage boost, a chance to interrupt the enemy's turn, protection etc.)
Your Salutors attache too with various techniques, and are required to disable enemy's "traits", like a 80% damage reduction.
Winning combats, completing quests and touching items all grant experience, which can be used to upgrade each of the four lines of thaumaturge powers.
The thing is you mainly fight humans, the combat system is not complex or deep, not a challenge either, so it becomes a routine.
Quite a pity because one could easily imagine monsters from the folklore being the results of Salutors wrongdoings, giving more practical utility for a thaumaturge's powers and thus more quest possibilities.
As it stands I'm still perplexed as to why the thaumaturges are not more sought after, they could make for ace investigators, spies or military assets, a topic barely touched upon by the game.

One could find more gripes (like a solid number of quests being rather bland) and while I don't wholly regret playing this game, I wouldn't encourage you to play it either.
The studio claims they adore RPG but it doesn't seem to be their forte...
I'll never come back to it, that's for sure.

It's rare to see such backlash towards a game- but in this case, it's absolutely warranted.
I didn't expect much because I obtained it in a bundle and wanted to play it out of nostalgia. I do remember the classic game fondly, I played it in an area when paper magazines were still thriving, and some were offering complete PC games- that's how I got XIII.
I was so taken in that I later read the source material- the ending was such a cliffhanger...

We're sill in a period where you can see many remakes and remasters, XII certainly deserver one- but not this... Product. I wouldn't be as critical as others regarding the graphics, but the gameplay, oh my. Normal difficulty is much easier than in the original and the upper difficulty doesn't make the AI smarter, which the big problem.
Ennemies like to reload out in the open, fire at non-destructible pieces of the environment or line up in your scope like lemmings. Even playing without too much effort or focus, I mowed them down easily.

Bosses are the most pitiful specimens of the bunch : each of them is a non-challenge, charging you mindlessly, getting stuck in nothing, getting dazed too easily. The game itself is quite playable but the few additions - like the waypoints - are plainly not needed.
I didn't double check by replaying the original, but I'm almost positive they've also skipped several sections, in the levels or narratively-wise, some transitions between levels are more than abrupt.
The barebone multiplayer mode is, of course, completely dead.

Even with the lowered price, wether you are a veteran or new to XII, don't bother. Play the original instead.

Don't mind the big red thumb of doom - it's one of those cases where, once again, I long for a neutral option.
Being a fan of both the novels and the games, when I saw a simili 4X based on the Dune universe, I jumped in the 'thopter as soon as early access began.

The game is a decent mix of real-time with pause and 4X elements, where you must dominate Arrakis in several modes (up to 4 factions, which seemed a bit too few for long-time 4X player like me) and with several win conditions (economy, conquest, diplomacy, the usual).
You can expand by conquering villages or assimlating them peacefully, each faction has its own perks and specific abilities (Harkonnen, to no one's surprise, like to oppress civilians) and each new region you control allow the construction of buildings, to raise your water, manpower, solari, energy cell output etc- you can also erect scientific and military buildings.
Some regions will have special ressources and, obviously, you'll be looking for areas with Spice : it's a major source of income and if you fail to deliver enough spice to the Emperor, you'll have to suffer the consequences.

Exploration with 'thopters is crucial to discover oddities to investigate and reap some rewards, while the game is ponctuated by Landsraad meetings where you can vote for resolutions, like decreasing your unit's upkeep.
All in all, Spice Wars offers all the necessary ingredients for a game of the genre, but the end result might seem as dry as Arrakis' endless deserts. For a game based on one of most famous SF IP, there is a distinct lack of personnality.
The game begs for faction quests you can find in other titles like Endless Space 2 or Endless Legends, which could provide opportunities to make the lore shine and create events with noteworthy characters, and drive the campaigns forward.

While the game is quite accessible and rather simple, even in its combat system, there's also nothing too deep about any of its features, diplomacy, for instance, is quite soulless and not stimulating. In the end, the most vexing point for me was that I didn't feel I was on Dune that much.
Clearly there is potential, but as far as I am concerned, the devs must provide much more content (bigger map, more oddities, competitive challenges between factions to obtain a reward, expanded tech tree, super projects akin to Civ's wonders, quests, narrative events where you must choose an outcome- take your pick) and really bring Dune's universe to life before it gets sufficiently interesting.
Also, I know it's a growing trend with DLCs, but paying a third of the game's price for one new faction still feels a bit too much...
As it stands, I prefer to launch a game of Civ IV with the Dune total conversion mod.

TL,DR : RAGE is the epitomy of average. Steam page is overselling it, though for 10 bucks, if you are really hungry for a FPS, it's an eatable piece of digital tofu (if somewhat hollow).

Did you ever get the urge to scour your Steam library, finally getting to play all those titles you bought individually or in bundle, instead of buying new ones ?
I did recently and RAGE was one of the oldest suspects in custody. I tried it years ago and couldn't find the motivation to go on, this time I soldiered on and...
What a chore.

First, the scenario. I don't expect stellar writing for that kind of games, but the plot was barely there. You have next to no background on what happened (big asteroid hit the Earth, you're one of the happy few saved in statis inside Arches, you awaken to find yourself in a post-apocalypse world, good luck !) and the game doesn't care exploring its setting, characters, lore or anything beyond the bare minimum to guide you through the main quest.
Unsurprisingly, you're as talkative as Gordon Freeman, but at least he starred in a pioneering gaming, showing that FPS can tell interesting stories too.
No such luck with RAGE, amigos. You're a litteral walking deus ex machina, in a mostly hollow world where nothing major could get done before your arrival.
The introduction itself is laughable : a certain Dan Hagar saves you from hostiles, but tells you that by doing so, he endagered himself and his clan.
The solution ? Sending you to kill all the bandits in their nearby den, all by your lonesome, of course ! Just a couple of lines stating that you were meant to be a sort of super soldier could have eased such nonsense.

You'll have to wait until halfway before some semblance of plot is thrown at you : all the tasks that you were forced to do (getting cristals, eradicating more bandits, doing races...) proved that you are an able man, and the Resistance enlists you because the nebulous Authority would track you down, as your body contains Nanotrites they desire for experiments- so if you can't live peacefully, join the good fight !
Sure, but you don't connect with anyone and the Authority seems to be a token evil post-apo government for you to fight, without any depth to it : it's hard to feel engaged (the intrigue is certainly NOT riveting, however tolerant you might be in that regard). You are just a mute golem sent from task to task and you can feel the studio didn't put any passion in it, when you are in the second city, you must do quests for the local mayor, three not too endearing missions in order to fit in...
But it amounts to nothing as the Authority locks aways the mayor and you're back helping the Resistance. No turnabouts, no strong or epic moments, no funny or witty dialogues, no revelations, no gripping atmosphere or well-done post-apo feeling.

While I love story-rich games, it would be foolish to place it above all else in a FPS, even when it's quite lacking as it's the case with RAGE. What about the gameplay ?
Guns, for the most part, have a nice feeling. The shotgun is efficient and decently brutal, headshoting ennemies with the crossbow is satisfying, you have special ammo and gadgets (explosive mini-car, defense turret...) thrown into the mix.
Problem is that gunfights themselves are frequently not intense or challenging. IA is a mixed bag : sometimes clever enough to try to flank you, overwhelm you or smoke you out, sometimes not moving an inch or staying in a bad position.
Major painpoint for me was it got repetitive too often, overstaying its welcome. Boss fights are nothing special and the finale sequence, a glorified shooting marathon, doesn't even have any !
(And of course, you venture into the Authority's citadel without any allies. The Resistance pins all their hopes on you, and doesn't bother to accompany you for the most crucial mission...)
RAGE try to lure you with its vehicle combat and racing ; the former can be avoided most of the time and the latter is quite boring.
Level-design mainly revolves about more or less a unique path to the mission objective, and, as if you were in a Skyrim dungeon, you'll have access to a handy shortcut to go back to the Wasteland once you're done.

Sure it can seem alluring to upgrade your vehicle and roam the Wasteland... Until you realize how shockingly small this open-world is. Sincerely, I fail to see why they adopted this configuration as RAGE's world just doesn't have enough content to justify it, this being even more egregious with the railroading and debatable interest of the sidequests (like, killing mutants in sewers- as if you didn't crawl enough in off-putting places in the main quest).

To end on a more positive note, the game looks quite nice and holds itself well more than 10 years later.
And there's one mystery that still subsides in my mind : why is it called RAGE ?
You don't have a berserk ability, the Wasteland is ruthless but not more than other post-apo games, ennemies are not too frantic...
I could go on with more minor gripes, but if you have read this far, I think you get the idea. I bid you a good day, wherever or whenever you are, and to enjoy much better games than RAGE- or, if you do experience RAGE, I hope you get a more positive outcome that I did.
I'm still amazed they felt inclined to produce a sequel...

Galivanting across the Web, regarding games, you will often hear talk of "underrated titles" and "forgotten gems".
Demonicon is neither of them and if it stayed obscure (the low number of reviews is telling), it's for good reasons.
TLDR : buy this when heavily discounted if you want a short, wacky experience, and if you don't mind repetitive and unchallenging gameplay. And undead prostitutes, too.

Being based on a tabletop RPG, mostly known and successful in Germany, doesn't help, of course. But on its own merits, Demonicon ranges from bad to average in all areas.
Let's adress the elephant in the room first : it doesn't look pretty, even for 2013 standards.
There's not a ton of environments (you visit the same boring dungeon thrice, for example), the city where you spend a good chunk of the game is quite lifeless, the animations are atrocious- no one blinks, ever, giving every character with a visible face the uncanny soulless eyeballs.
However, as far as I am concerned, graphics and artistic direction can be overlooked in a RPG if you have a compelling story and fun gameplay.
You won't be surprised, friend, to learn that Demonicon is also lacking in those departments.

Our story begins when Cairon must go after his sister in a sinister dungeon, their father afraid that she would throw away her virginity in order to thwart his marriage plans for her, the whole bid to obtain citizenship in one of the rare cities that has survived a terrible plague and undead onslaught.
You'll soon learn that this is a moot point as Cairon and Calandra aren't really bound by blood, BUT their blood should never mix, their father insisted on that point.
Alas, Cairon being as bright as a bag of bricks, when he treats his wound sister, he doesn't clean himself and thus the vital fluids do mix, awakening each other's demonic gift.
Yes, I'm spoiling things a little but honestly, you shouldn't suffer any serious prejudice with this stunning revelation. The plot then follows a badly-crafted Chosen theme around a nefarious religion using blood magic, advocating that everyone should become a Mage.

It reminded me, very loosely, of the Bhaalspawn saga- with lower stakes and a 12-hours runtime. Howhever, whereas Bhaal was somewhat clever with his plans, the machination in Demonicon is sketchy at best.
Most of it is convoluted and happens too fast, in the span of a few weeks at most, your sister becomes a successful rebellious figure for the aforementioned religion and masters her gift with ease. Other Chosens are thrown at you to be killed.
The setting is rightfully bleak for a city surviving among a wasteland but the moral choices are not subtle, even if the first one was promising- letting a cannibal necromancer go and risk further ravages from him, or kill him on the spot and condemn his prisoners to death.

Then you must side with the City Watch or a band of scoundrels, and decide which "faction"' will own the most prominent whorehouse of the city.
In said whorehouse, you also have to deal with the owner, who thought turning the prostitutes into undeads would be the best business move of the century. No need to eat, breath, drink, sleep, no fatigue, perhaps no pain either and immunity to the plague- why, it's a win-win deal !
Even hoping this is a "clean" turning into undead, with no decay ever, and even if the owner is mad as a hatter, the mere idea it could work is baffling.
On a side note, I must confess that this was so ludicrous and out of nowhere that it genuinely made me curious to see if the game would throw more terrible situations like those. Spoiler : it doesn't. Well, not at the same level, anyways.

The basic premises of the story could work- finding a solution not involving killing the other Chosens, an eroding relationship with your "sister", unraveling a past of lies to trump the manipulators and reform the evil church pulling your strings.
But how do you reform said church ? Why, you break magical seals involving boring puzzles and stale combats, then you choose between two options (baptism or no baptism to protect the neonates' souls ?), you will never see the consequences, and anyways, will it really matter to you with such a poor presentation from the game ?
So, yes, the intrigue is not thrilling, dialogues often try to be serious in absurd events and comical in tragic events, when they are not just plain.

Gameplay is simply uninspired. You will battle scores of ennemies in areas with invisible barriers to prevent you from evading their attacks to easily, you will mash X to attack while ocasionnaly use your Gift (four spells, with 3 stronger versions for each) and chug a potion if needed, and doing a lot of (easy) dodging, maybe some parrying if you feel fancy. And also throwing infinite daggers !
Normal combats are too plentiful, ennemy variety is as great as its IA- that is to say, not great at all. You can't even count on specific builds to spice things up- there won't be a " warrior Cairon " or " mage Cairon ", magic uses different earned points to upgrades, no skill tree. You will end up maxing damage output to shorten the sleep-inducing battles and constitution to soak up damage yourself.
You do possess some profane skills - lockpicking, legends, persuasion etc. - but they are a minor factor at best, seldom used in dialogue or to obtain another outcome for a quest.
In the end you won't be torn between raising your stats or your non-combat skills (adventure points, aka experience in the Dark Eye, are spent for both) as Demonicon is quite shallow regarding the non-combat RPG elements.
If you had any hopes regarding boss fights, you can crush them- many bosses can be stunlock with the Ice spell or use uninteresting patterns, including the final boss : you have to shatter four special crystals and a wave of critters + an avatar of the Big Bad come each time, zero tactical thought required.

And there are the quests themselves. Usually, you can put them in 3 broad categories : main, side and tasks. Demonicon only has the main quest and tasks, found on public wooden boards.
From the studio's point of view, it may have seemed like a dream : no need for character models, animations, no dialogues, zero voice recording, minimal time and creative investment required.
For the very same reasons, the tasks are pure junk, with riveting activities like collecting three pots of honey found in the same place. What's vaguely amusing is the fact that requests for illegal activities, such as grave robbing, are also publicly displayed and the City Watch doesn't care.
That being said, what else to expect when a good half of the mandatory quests are fetchquests ? Whereas the story was in dire need of strong narrative-driven content, at some point, you will, for example, be forced to clear three spider dens, collect the silk and repair the machinery in order to reach a Chosen.
To add insult to injury, the machines are nonsensical : they move wood planks to complete bridges, which should have been complete in the first place... Alas, Cairon can't jump !
Game padding at its finest. Only one batch of silk, maybe a creative spider boss, and that would have been more than enough.
Until the very end you'll be fetching stuff- the antepenultimate quest requires you to collect 3 shards, in order to awaken an awesome "army" of some ten stone lizardmen thingies.

In the end, I wouldn't berate the studio that much. The budget was not big and it shows. Probably didn't have a ton of time either. I know the studio was bought by Kalypso and only 17 employees finished the project- but honestly I don't think, with those conditions, that it was worth completing.
It was destined to failed and failed it did.
The repetitive combats and the urban setting can make one think of Dragon's Age II, and while that title has many (and some similar) flaws, I'd play it over Demonicon any day.

My playtime is very short, but it did not take long to realize how similar this sequel is to its predecessor.
I was quite excited to see the Plane problem addressed, on the first game, going to another Plane was not worth the time and efforts : too many rough monsters to fight for too small a reward.
While nothing exceptional, I had fun with it, even if the AI was not competent at all.
The problem is that Warlock II doesn't bring enough new content. The AI is still atrocious , the diplomacy could be non-existent, city management is easy... But too simple. As far as fantasy 4X gp, Endless Legend is a much superior product.
The biggest disappointment, as far as I am concerned, is the Plane system.
As first it was nice exploring new pocket worlds, with their unique biome, monsters and ressources, expanding, getting closer to the Unified One and smahsing a rival Great Mage...
But before long, it felt tedious. Once you gather a sufficiently experienced army, conquering Plane after Plane doesn't pose any challenge, you massacre monsters, capture towns (converting some of them into free cities to avoid penalties), get some new quests, encounter unexciting quests etc.
The most problematic aspect is managing your units' movements : the pathfinding is bad, movement is slow, and you must hop across different portals, which quickly becomes tedious.

Don't see the red thumb as sign to avoid this game- once again, I wish there was some more neutral option.
Because Pumpkin Jack is certainly not a bad title. It's got amusing premises - impersonating a rude rogue sufficiently clever to trick the Devil three times, in a mission to doom the world against a haughty Sorcererer - and has a simple yet relatively effective gameplay.
The whole thing is very lighthearted, with Jack complaining about NPCs givinh him nonsensical quests or moments like blowing up Santa Claus' workshop (twice).
No hard puzzles, generous savepoints, short levels- the tempo is fluid.

Problem is the game is very, very short. In truth, it's both a positive and a negative point.
A negative point because 4 hours for the asking price is a bit disappointing. Sure, if that's your thing, you can take time collecting all the raven skulls. It adds no depth to the game, allowing you to unlock costumes for Jack.
A pity, because Pumpkin Jack could have used more levels and collectible to enhance Jack's stats or his weapons.

A positive point because, while anyone can see it'a en excuse plot, the game has not much to tell us and longer playtime would be detrimental. Beyond that, levels will all contain a repetitive gameplay loop, wich can get tiring. You will have a "riding" sequence twice every level after the first, the second time bearing no surprise or excitement.
You'll have to use Charon's boat three times, with the same tricks each time.
In every level, you will have to use Jack's head twice for some sort of mini-game. Again, once is fine, twice is filler.
Making pairs with tombstones is not super enticing and deters from the action.
As for bosses, they all fall in a pattern where you can only strike them after a combat sequence, which gets a little harder each time. Competently done for the most part, the Sorcerer will present a modicum of challenge.

All in all, if you want to take a break between two "big" games and enjoy a simple action/platformer, Pumpkin Jack will provide a brief, fun experience... If, as far as I am concerned, a forgettable one.

I guess I will be quite in the minority here, but in good conscience, I would not advise to get Ara Fell- unless you are really craving for a game reminiscing of old JRPGs, and even then, I think a good dose of tolerance and nostalgia is required.
So let's break down why one could give such a harsh statement, shall we ?

I- STORY

You begin with Lita and Adrian spelunking in old elven ruins, in search of an old ring. Lita gets it and naturally it is an
old artifact of power that she cannot unequip, morphing her into an unwilling chosen one.
That's a good thing because the world is apparently dying (zero clue of that is shown) and vampires, who vanquished the elves long ago, are still a menace.
Well the elves aren't really gone : as they were defeated by the undead, they hatched a very convoluted plan to turn themselves into stone, hoping for the blood drinker to die without the appropriate supplies or be decimated by a hero who would then break the curse by gathering the required Mc Guffins.
So therein lies Lita's quest to save the world...

The plot is quite baffling and while it indeed makes you think of old JRPGs like the first Final Fantasy, with a very minimalistic story, this is no excuse to present such simplistic and flawed premises. Did it never occur to the elves that they should have left a small group behind to ensure the artifacts would be gathered, instead of randomly putting them in hope someone able would wear them and help the elves ?
How come the vampires never enslaved the humans - which are weaker than the elves - in the one millenia (another cliché...) that elapsed since the elve's demise ? Why did he take such a long time for the vampires to act ? Well, that one is explained by the Big Bad : it took him 500 years to know that the elves sealed the Sunstone (necessary to break the curse) and another 500 years to locate one of the artifact of powers.
Once you the size of Ara Fell, such claims are beyond ludicrous and make absolutely no sense. But the story is riddled with inconsistencies and illogical moments, like the heroes not bothering to check if a boss is really dead.
One of the worst moments is when the Big Bad, unable to touch Lita's ring himself, declares they could just sever her finger. Yes indeed. Now why did you not do it yourself at the very moment you realized she had the ring, as anyway you can teleport ? The why, of course, is because there would not be a plot to follow otherwise.

All in all the story is what you might call classical old JRPG stuff- but without originality, low level of epicness in a shallow world filled with (mostly) boring NPC and quite predictable. Even the search of the artifacts is not linked that much to the core quest- you found some by pure chance, like fighting a wyvern in possession of it "because it is shiny".
Then the game is advertised as such :
" When you join Ara Fell's unwitting heroine on her quest to save her homeland, you'll discover a world filled with vibrant characters who laugh, cry, crack jokes, lose their tempers, and even their will to go on as the size and scope of the curse that plagues Ara Fell becomes apparent. "
Like this is some sort of feat. Main characters themselves are OK, even if describing them as deep is quite a stretch. Having Lita experience breackdowns because of all the pressure put on her shoulders does not make her deep.

II- GAMEPLAY

The more robust side of Ara Fell and the game can be praised because he removes the need to hoard a zillion healing items : your party get all their HP and MP back after every fight. If a character is downed, he will sustain an injury (stat debuff) until you heal it at an inn or with Talani the travelling merchant, conveniently following you everywhere.
Even on Normal a little grinding is advised, especially to get crafting materials : you won't buy new equipement but upgrade them until tier IV. It gives the good ol' satisfaction of mowing down monsters in order to get what you need to keep mowing down monsters.
As long as you reguarly level up and craft your gear (plus enchantements : life boost, damage boost etc.) bosses should not be too much of a problem either ; combat can get a little dull sometimes, but if you are into JRPGs of that kind, you know that some passages are filled with a combat routine.
You can also craft your potions but only some boss fights will require you to use them, on Normal difficulty still. The world is OK to explore but you soon feel the limitations of the engine and graphical assets.

Puzzles often feel arbitrary (sure vampires, let's have a door that can only be opened by placing the right paintings otherwise scattered in your lair), the characters pointing out this fact doesn't make it more palatable. Nothing really creative here, no memorable dungeon.
One could have wished for more (you soon get all character's skill and their ultimaes) like bonus attacks, elementary weaknesses but this is serviceable.
Quests will bring you some useful relics, gold and experience points, while not being riveting themselves.

III- CONCLUSION

Ara Fell is a little ball of JRPG tofu. It doesn't do anything so bad that you will grind your teeth and chew it out, but on the whole it is uninspired and without much flavor. I surmise than playing on Expert would mainly mean more grinding : the combats are not brain-racking.
And as for any review for any media, if despite all that you liked Ara Fell- great ! The important part is to have fun and you should not let anyone's informed opinion to lead you astray from this. It did not click for me mainly for the story : I hate lazy writing and while I do not mind simplicity, there is just too much nonsensical moments here.
On that note, have a nice day !

I'm a big fan of T-RPG and mixing some Arthurian lore into the mix seemed like a good idea.
The game wants you to be immerged in a grim and broken Anglia, and aims to start off strong by having your kingdom ravaged and you leading a bunch of survivors (inclunding a not-so-useful Merlin) to seek alliances with the other kingdoms, claim your vengeance and of course, rescue the princess.
Right at the beginning, I was skeptical : so an enemy army and disgruntled local nobles just waltzed in here, nobody saw anything coming and everything is decided in one fell swoop ?

Well, you should no expect a strong story. If I only played about two hours, it is because the characters are really not compelling and the grimdark aspect seems a bit forced. Dialogues are not inspired either.
Alas, the gameplay is nothing to be amazed at either. The game wants you to use conveniently placed barrels again and again, like it's some sort of crowning achievement for environmental control. Merlin, a sorcerer, starts off without any damaging spell or way to attack at a distance. Spam the willpower of each chacter (bonus of action points, action and defense for one turn) to secure victory with relative ease. The AI rushes quite happily into your units in overwatch.

I do not think much of the achievements, but it's a great indicator on Steam to see how much a game is really played. When not even 10% go all the way through the end, it's quite telling.
All in all, when you have already experienced great titles like Fire Emblem, X-Com or Divinity Original Sin II, even when taking into account this here is a much humbler game, you probably won't be satisfied.

Do not take the big red thumb of doom as a sign to frantically avoid this game- this new REmake is neither stellar nor terrible, and I will offer you some pointers as to why.

1) Presentation and maniability. As its predecessor, the new Nemesis looks quite fine and plays accordingly, the dodge being a useaful feature instead of the chore it was in the original.
Jill is now longer outfitted like an escort-girl and it is a pleasure to move through the iconic city of the saga- albeit the adventure is way too short.

2) Story and atmosphere. Here's a shy attempt to justify why Jill was still in the city while she knew full well a new catastrophe could happen and Umbrella and Irons were out of her. She wanted to investigate a little more, alright, but the all "Umbrella control everything in a 100000+ inhabited city" is still foggy at best, and the manner the quarantine is handled doesn't make a lick of sense (why would Leon still go to RC if, as shown in the opening cutscene, a quarantine was officially broadcasted on TV ? How come really no one reacted faster and contacted the outside about the zombie plague intensifying, when they were already article about gruesome murders a few months ago ?).
The rest is not much better story-wise, while the characters are duly "upgraded" from the B-movie vibe that the original had (Nicholai's portrayal is quite good), the return of the legendary "combat data" that no one sane would buy is ridiculous.
Yes, I know, story never was RE's forte, but please, if you want to make your game more serious (and so it appears) working on plot holes, consistency and some modicum of believable content would be appreciated.
One example : like in the original, at one point, Jill is infected by Nemmy and is down for the count.
For half a day. Now in the original, Carlos was there and immediately put her in a safe zone while searching for the cure. Here, she's 3 meters away from the not-really-down Nemesis, separated by a convenient herse. How the heck Carlos needed half a day to reach her ? Why Nemmy didn't finish the job ?
I know it can be quite subjective, but it kinda kills the mood and the more I had to suspend my disbelief, the less I was into the game- and certainly not scared.

3) Nemmy, the big guy himself. You know, the one who gives its name to the original game ? Well, last century it was understandable for Nemmy to be scripted. Here, it's just lazy. Escaping him is rarely hard and some of the scripts are downright poorly handled. Example : early in the game, he chases after you and you are forced to go through a storage box room, while chatting with Carlos, completely halting the chase.
Thanks Nemesis, it is really courteous of you to stop destroying walls and letting us advance for a while without fear !
While Mr X was a success, Nemmy is more show than threat. That's also because of the

4) Boss fights. Now, the REmake² was not brillant with those, and it's not better here. Nemmy mutates way too soon in a more bestial form- but not more efficient. Circling the plaza while easily avoiding its attacks and throwing mine-rounds from the grenade launcher to stop him while he runs itself in a circle like a stupid lizard and then shooting the weak point is not a fulfilling experience. 3rd fight is more or less the same with convenient electrocuting tanks instead of mine-rounds.
Final fight is just a matter of using the railgun several times, shooting the weak points with the Magnum or grenade launcher in order to have enough time to recharge the railgun.

5) Remake aspect. It quite changes from the original and while giving more screentime to Carlos (he investigates RPD, not Jill) and shuffling the event's order is fine, cutting the Clock Tower, erasing the Worm mini-boss and investing more time in the lab under the hospital and forgetting about the facility might be more for saving up time and ressources rather than being creative.
Now, I'm not saying that finishing the game in a biohazard waste disposal was better, but at the end of the day, it's just less content.

6) Puzzles. In the original, they sometimes felt more like tedious/nonsensical obstacles than seamless actions to progress or interesting challenge. I mean, the emblem affair for fetching a battery hidden in the mayor's statue, all that because you are in the sole city in the world with battery-operated elevator- not the game's shining moment.
In this remake though, either you have nothing to replace it, or some attempts so shallow it feels like an obligation. The earliest example, setting a route for the subway train, only need 5% of your brain potential and one awakened eye to complete in less than 30 seconds.
So the "obstacle" part remains- like the obnoxious part where you have to fetch 3 replacement fuses in a warehouse designed but the usal madmen. Alas, one must confess it's par for the course for many horror games.

7) Replay value. By finishing a run and completing in-game challenges, you earn points to spend in a shop in order to ease your future ordeals. A fair concept and useful if you want to complete the harder difficulty modes and getting S-Ranks ; you can for instance buy items boosting your defense, superior weaponry like the good ol' Samurai Edge, an extra pouch, etc.
I'm not fond of the system (mainly because it means you would have to beat the game again and again, which would become stale for me given the level-design) but I can definitely see the appeal- just note that some challenges might be quite long to achieve.
I mean, killing 80 ennemies with the Magnum, when you acquire it very late and can fetch/make about 20 bullets per run ? Bleh.

Despite all its flaws, it remains a competent, if not adventurous, action game- no, definetely, I have a hard time feeling the horror in there, but to its credit, the original RE3 was the point when the series took a first turn towards more action.
In the end, it's more accessible than the original and will allow more people to enjoy it. But veteran of the series or newcomer, the full price is just indecent.
Price eventually become irrelevant as time go on, what with sales, bundles and normal price reduction over the years, but it still stays a factor, and as far as I am concerned, inclunding a multiplayer mode really do not warrant such a price.
Let's just hope Jill will get a better treatment in a future, all-new game...