Recent reviews by Killer Kitten

Three words "No Cloud Save". This is particularly annoying for people like me who like to switch between their steam deck and their computer.

I've played literally every single Mortal Kombat game since the original. This one is probably the worst. But before I get into why I hate it, let's talk about what they did do right.

I liked the story. It's the sort of dumb fun that you want to see in a Mortal Kombat. Nothing really explained, people know things for no reason, but who cares? It's Mortal Kombat, not Crime and Punishment.

While it has some truly touching moments, it never gets to a point where it takes itself too seriously. Johnny Cage's interaction with his younger self is pure gold. This is the first time where I can honestly say I truly liked the character... well, at least one version of him anyway. I liked all the characters. I didn't feel like anyone was needlessly rewarded with something they didn't earn. The devs made very sure that no one got undeserved praise or was handed something.

It has the best costume designs in the series hands down. I love my girl Kitana, but never seen her in a costume I actually liked. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 came close, though... I have no problem with sex symbols, but it does get tiring after awhile, especially since us long term fans have grown out of that.

Combos are difficult to pull off. More difficult than they were in MK9. I had to tweak the controls to see if I could pull them off. This can be very frustrating if you're coming out of other fighting games, but overall, it isn't too bad because with a little practice, it's doable. And while combos are useful, good timing more important. And this gave it more the feel of some of the older titles, which I really liked.

Fatalities are also fairly easy to pull off. Again, with just a little practice. I like that they allow you to practice your fatalities. In fact, the practice modes they offer are helpful. I like how you can pin the combo you're working on. Could it be better? I supposed, but it works.

But let's talk about what they get wrong... Oh, so very wrong.

The biggest problem that they made was the time towers. These are supposed to be a "challenge." I got stuck on beating Shao Khan in the Gauntlet tower. Just so you know, he's invincible most of the time and can kill you in one hit. Gee, I wonder why he's so hard?

Let's ignore how already cheap that is and get into why it's really terrible.

Thought to myself, "Okay, let's look up a strategy. There's got to be some really good strategies and git gud tips out there." Nope. Literally the only strategy was, "Stay out of his reach and use consumables." Consumables. Not get good at four or five hit combos. Not mastering razor thin timing. No. It's grind so you can collect enough shiny pieces of trash in the krypt to cheese him.

Devs that's not creative difficulty! That's cheap difficulty. And having beaten Shao Khan multiple times on very hard in the 2011 MK9 release because I spent the hours mastering the combos and timing (yes, I am tooting my horn), I feel a little insulted. While the game is generous with handing out Koins to get stuff, it's the principle of the matter. You have to collect enough koins to buy enough things to cheese a boss. If you don't see the problem with that, I can't help you.

This is MK3 bull, only this time you don't have the limited memory capacity excuse.

This game has it all. It has climbing. It has big bosses. A sTRonG feMAle LEad. Grappling. And fighting. It even has the Artemis Aesthetic! What could possibly be missing? How about a point?

I get the game will probably establish the point in later parts of the game, but the game play wasn't even all that interesting. It's basically Shadow of the Colossus without any of the things that made Shadow of the Colossus... well... good.

Minimalist story telling can be an amazing thing. Look at Elden Ring. Hell look at Shadow of the Colossus. But there has to be something real and all together human about it.

This is one of those games where you have to look at it from a whole in order to appreciate it. This game's original team consisted entirely of one person. While others could have joined the team later on, that was who came up with the concept. Given that, it's very impressive.

For starters I love the game play. It could stand to allow me to change the button scheme and skip cut scenes, but it's a short enough game (around 2 hours, give or take) that this wasn't a huge deal.

Don't expect much from the story, It's more reminiscent of the original early era Playstation games where there's no real story to it. You're just fighting bad guys because. This also means that character development is non existent. It also means that the game play gets a little silly. Random stealth mission? Sure. Car chase? Why not?

The ending has a very obvious anti American political prod, but okay. It is still worth purchasing and having a lot of fun with.

Let's get one thing out of the way: This isn't a bad game. So, why am I not recommending it? It's not a game for me. I play games for the story telling and this one just didn't do it for me.

The game play is excellent. And I was tempted to keep the game on that basis alone. Sure, it isn't earth shattering, but not everything needs to be. And it definitely borrowed a lot from Dark Souls (more on that later). But all of that is okay. Everything is well executed.

It borrowed a system similar to Souls in the sense that you have to unlock certain respawn areas and you loose your points every time you die. Again, this would be a problem if it was out of place in the game, but it isn't. In fact, it fits perfectly with the rest of the game play. It's best described as a good imitation.

I also loved the telekinesis power and how they didn't feel cumbersome to use. And the reloading mechanics, again, while not unique, still works.

So where does it all fall apart? I can sum that up in one sentence: Jess is boring. The empty grocery bag I left out on my porch in the rain has more personality than she does. It's like the dev's thought that woman with a few snarky remarks here and there will make her interesting, but it isn't. There's no internal conflict or thing that she's trying to come to terms with. Not really. Sure, it talks about her brother, but that's precisely the problem. It "tells us" it doesn't show us.

yOu jUsT wANt thE sTOry tO hOlD yOUr hAnd, all the Control simps will come out to say. Well, yeah. I guess I don't have a big enough ego to pretend I don't see the naked emperor.

The story starts in medias res, which is basically the middle of the narrative and Jess is already well familiar with this paranormal world. And that's fine. In the Witcher III Garalt is already familiar with most classes of monsters he faces. Yet, the Witcher III Garalt talks to himself and/or readily shares his hypothesis with others. This isn't just a quirky character tick of his. This is an essential part of making the world work. As Garalt is working out the problem, gathering the clues, and thinking out loud, we're learning with him.

It's just not the case with Jess. She falls precariously in the "heroines I should like, I just don't" category.

I would like to think that, given time, the game play and story starts to come together, but it's not been a good first impression. I'm sure fans of more obscure sci fi web series like SCP, you might actually like it. And if you're a fan of the Alan Wake games, you very likely will love it. But for people not acquainted or with little interest in either of those things, probably not.

This is the very first FromSoftware game I ever bought, except Kings Field from a zillion years ago. I will never buy one again.

I like the game, but not well enough to put up with a server being down for 6 DAYS!!!! 6 Days!!! The game is just not complete without the PvP mode attached to it. It's not as difficult, it's not as interesting, it's not as atmospheric.

Now, this wouldn't bother me so much, except that FromSoftware knew about this issue for a while and only just decided now to fix it. A bug that could literally destroy people's physical property and FromSoftware ignored the person who brought this to their attention. This makes people's security feel like an afterthought.

This is one game you would not think is very interesting. Let's face it, the entire premise of the game is that you literally check and stamp passports. It in fact, feels a lot like my job in real life.

As an old school gamer, it feels an awful lot like the games I used to play on the IBM in the 1980's. But like with many Indy games, and the games of the IBM era, the intrigue is not found in the game play itself, but in the concept and the message the game is attempting to convey. And this game does it well. In this game, you're not a soldier. You're not a politician. You're not seeking revenge. You're an average joe, just trying to just live your life and care for your family. That's it.

The game play is monotonous, tedious, mind numbing and that's all by design. You start to wonder, "Okay, is this it? Couldn't I be more than that?" In a strange and honest way, this game started to appeal to my vanity as well as my empathy. But everything becomes a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

So, what exactly is the appeal of this game? Well, it's power. Later in the game, you're given the power to detain people. You're also given the power to deny people. You can choose to give people a chance or just deny them without question. It gives you a really interesting insight on yourself. All the things you romanticized about yourself... all those times you said to yourself, "If it was me, I would stand up for what is right" and you wouldn't be complaisant in a system that oppresses people? Yeah, that's probably not true.

And that's very much a very scary thought.

The game design in this DLC is absolutely inexcusable. Your dog is worthless, except to alert enemies to you. I am sorry, but as an animal lover, it is an absolute sin to design a dog companion that you hate.

Well, say you get a good portion into the DLC and now you have to save your brother Sammy. They want an unreasonable amount of items in order to save him. In the meantime, you're playing as Teresa and you can't really fight. They want 10 (yes, you read that right) Merigold flowers to save your brother. And 3 linen cloths, or 6 bandages. They only put 2 linen cloths in the game and 3 bandages. How do you win? You don't.

You either have to have the forethought to bring bandages from the main quest or you just stay in that DLC forever. That is such a terrible game design.

Well, the game is coming out of early access and I have reviewed this game several times throughout the EA phase. This will be my final review as I do not believe we will be seeing any significant changes. And it remains, sadly, an unfortunate disappointment.

The original Mount and Blade games had two parts to it: RPG elements and combat. The combat in the original game, well, wasn't that good. And the graphics weren't that good. But the developers had enough unique RPG elements, that it elevated the game. These small touches really counted and made people want to pour hours of game play into it, regardless of the fact there were arguably better games that did the same thing much better. There was an undeniable charm to the original that gave it a lot of personality and helped it stand out as a simple, yet layered, and enjoyable gameplay experience.

In comes Mount and Blade II with its bigger budget, more time spent to it, and own game engine.

Mount and Blade II improves on just about every single core mechanic, from sieges, to combat, to resource management. It even adds features like crafting and crime management. But all this came at the price of the little things. Your spouse no longer feels like a friend and a lover that you had to work for to earn his or her love and the approval of his or her family. Companions no longer felt like people with their own significant back stories, quests, and likes and dislikes. There were no more outed lords that you could help reclaim a kingdom. All the quests in Mount and Blade II have become by the numbers and make it more like a chore than an actual game worth the wait.

While I do appreciate the hard work and the effort that went into making this game, it has one glaring problem: It just does not know when to shut up.

It starts off with a creepy prologue which was okay, but then it gets into a long narrative about the game's lore. Guess what, developers? I don't care. Not at this point, at least. And it kind of doesn't get any better as characters make long winded explanations about... well... everything. Rather than letting me go out and explore the world bit by bit, and giving me the excitement of uncovering things on my own, it's just all spoon fed by various flat and uninteresting characters. Get to the point, already!

The idea that you've awaken to magic should have been one of those things that is revealed to you, but instead it's explained in the longest, most tedious dialogue I have ever seen since Assassin's Creed. There were several times I wasn't even bothering to look for more information. I just wanted to find the dialogue that would end this conversation the quickest.

Just to be clear: characters capable of saying pretty things, doesn't make them interesting. It tries its best to sound elegant, but it actually is nothing short purple prose. And for people like myself, who can tear apart stories, I can tell you this: I'm only an hour in, and I already can tell you what happened to my family. See what happens when you spoon feed information instead of letting it slowly become uncovered? That is a sign of an insecure writer who has no trust for his audience.

This is NOT a story rich game. It's a dialogue rich game trying to be clever, but it isn't. It goes to prove that Shakespeare was right when he said, "Brevity is the soul of wit."