Recent reviews by Araxtos

I am often not a big fan of metroidvanias, but the movement in this game alone makes me want to recommend it to everyone. The game gives you so many moves which work together so that every obstacle can be solved in a variety of ways. I normally don't like backtracking constantly, but coming back to areas with new moves just made me want to bounce around the area and see where I can get ( a few times out of bounds). The combat system is probably the weakest aspect of the game, however the one boss fight the game has, shows that it could have had some interesting fights, if it focused more on movement.
I can see the game however being confusing to navigate at the start considering you have no map ( as of now)
and the art style might not be for everyone.
Despite that I highly recommend giving this game a chance if you even remotely like platformers. It is a very short adventure only taking me 4 hours without a guide in order to collect everything, but the price is more than worth it.

This game has definitely had a bumpy ride over the years. At launch it was damn near unplayable online and had almost nothing for single player. I would never have thought that one day I would actually recommend it but sure enough 5 seasons of content afterwards the game finally feels like a proper entry to the series.
If you are interested in buying I would recommend getting the champion edition plus the season pass 5 to get all the characters and most cosmetics in a nice package.
Gameplay wise it a lot easier to get into as a newcomer, so if SF6 got your attention I would certainly recommend this as a way to prepare for that game.
The netcode is not the best tbh, but it's still far better now than it was at launch and as long as you get opponents with a decent connection you shouldn't have many issues.

I started playing because of the unique look, but it quickly pulled me in with it's mystery and world. It is by far one of the more interesting adventure games I had the pleasure of playing.
Going in blind is probably the best thing you can do, so I won't reference the story. Just know that it involves topics of psychological horror and existentialism.
Gameplay wise it is a pretty standard point and click adventure with a lot of interesting puzzles that are thankfully logical. There is no pixel hunting since you can always toggle all the interactable spots on each screen. Most of the early puzzles are pretty straightforward, up to chapter 3, from that point the game gets much larger areas to explore, which requires you to pay attention to everything you are carrying to progress. The final chapters had some really challenging puzzles that had me going in circles, in particular the final big puzzle. Those later areas have a lot of screens that barely have anything for you to do in, as a result, it feels less tightly designed. The backtracking that occurs from this is probably my biggest issue with the game. However, only the last couple of chapters have this issue so it doesn't ruin the experience.
Now on the technical side is where the problems started to appear. Unfortunately the game is quite unstable, and I had it crash on multiple occasions. Thankfully it does have an autosave feature, so I didn't lose much progress, but it was especially annoying when I reached the finale, and the game crashed right at the final screen.
Besides the random crashes there is some stuttering on occasion but nothing game breaking. I would highly recommend you avoid the steam overlay, because it can cause crashes as well.

Simulacra is essentially a found footage film but as a game.
One day someone leaves you a phone at your doorstep, which belongs to a girl that has gone missing.
From there, it's your job to snoop through her phone to uncover hints on what happened to her.
The actors can be very cheesy and hardly believable, but that has it's own charm if you are into that kind of thing. The problem I had with the story was the horror elements that they try to shove in, in the form of jump scares. Apart from being the annoying type of jump scares, they also immediately take the story in a direction, where you as the player know where the story will end up. If the jump scares where replaced with more subtle hints that something is off, I think it would have been a lot more engaging.

To give credit to the devs, they did a good job at imitating a phone OS with multiple apps. That makes it fun to snoop around for clues on how to gain access to specific parts of the phone. Even though you have a variety of apps to explore, however, multitasking is something that the fake OS lacks, which makes jumping back and forth from different apps a chore. Having to constantly scroll through everything to get to the part you need can quickly become a nuisance, especially when it deletes the things you have to fill in.

Despite these issues, I still enjoyed the game enough to recommend it for the price. It only takes around 3 to 4 hours to finish, but it has multiple endings. A new game plus mode exists, which fast-forwards the conversations. I wish it would skip the puzzles as well, so you can just focus on the endings, but alas, it is what it is.

Runaway is a very inconsistent adventure game. On one hand it has a decently interesting plot, while on the other hand it has plot holes from the very first chapter. That feeling continues to the rest of the experience, from graphics being amazing while animations are off, to puzzles that are fun, but sometimes nonsensical, with a heavy dose of pixel hunting. But the game still has it's charm, and you can get it in a bundle with the entire series, plus 2 other adventure games by Pendulo studios. So overall I think it is an adventure worth taking, especially on a sale. For a few more specific details read on.

The story while simple, has an interesting enough mystery that will lead you on a variety of different places. The game is a bit darker than I expected at times, but some "serious" moments do fall flat either because of the way they are presented or because of the voice acting being all over the place at times. There are also some plot holes that pop up really early, in the first few chapters in fact, but they didn't bother me enough to make me hate the game. The amount of weird and wacky characters you meet along the way did help with that as well. Most of them are as one dimensional as they come, but they are still fun to interact with.

Great graphics and hand drawn backgrounds, the cell shaded style aged very well, with the exception of a couple weirdly lit cutscenes. Animations however are very weird and choppy ( especially the facial animations for talking). Another problem is the complete lack of any graphics options besides anti aliasing, which means the game will be stuck to its original resolution no matter what. Thankfully however I didn't encounter any bugs or performance issues throughout so at least it seems to be stable.

This is were the game stumbles a little. Most of the puzzles aren't particularly hard, with the exception of a few weird ones like pretty much any adventure game. The games difficulty however comes from pixel hunting. Most of the times I got stuck, was because I couldn't find that one tiny detail on the environment that I didn't click on. Which ended up with me going in circles checking some areas way longer than necessary. If that bothers you I would recommend having a guide open, at least for the items that can be collected in a specific area, that way if you really can't progress, you can check to see if you missed some tiny detail somewhere. The protagonist can also be painfully slow, since he doesn't run. Most areas however are small enough that it isn't a problem, plus the transitions lets you skip walking by double clicking so it isn't a big issue in the end.

While it certainly has its issues, it is still fun enough that I had a good time with it.
Just don't go in expecting a masterpiece out of this one

Well everything I said for the original still applies to this one. The biggest difference is that this game has puzzles that have you looking around the room instead of only focusing on one box.
Some of the puzzles are really entertaining but there are some weird things for example the fifth chapter being a couple seconds long. You just need to put a crank in a hole and turn it and chapter done.

Besides that I think it is a really enjoyable, short and relaxing puzzle game

The game run flawlessly throughout my playthrough. However it has very little options when it comes to graphics and there isn't even a resolution option, you can only set it to fullscreen or windowed, but the game looked really good on my 1440p monitor so I don't think it's much of a complaint.

"Agatha Knife" is a point and click adventure game that has a lot of Dark humor. You play the role of Agatha as she is trying to help her mother save their butchers shop from bankrapcy, by creating your own religion called Carnivorism. By that you should already realize that if you are sensitive about religion topics this game is probably not for you. The game has a very dark sense of humor which I enjoyed quite a lot but, there are some really messed up scenes, so I can understand it if it isn't everyones cup of coffee.

The puzzles are easy and rather straightforward and some of them can be solved with multiple ways which is something you don't often see in adventure games. That provides some replay-ability, since you can go back and try to figure out the puzzles second solution, which usually has it's own funny dialogue that makes it worth discovering. In case you get stuck there is also an in-game hint system that you can use by talking to a specific character.
The only thing I could find as a complaint would be the level design, since the entire town the game takes place in is in a straight line, a lot of the time you have to run from one end of the town to the other to do something. This could have easily been fixed if the town was structured in a square shape, so you can quickly go from one area to the next. As it stands it only artificially lengthens the game, but the town isn't that big that it becomes that big of a problem.

The graphics style is very cute and every character you meet is unique and rather memorable. The music isn't something special but it fits the tone of playing as an "innocent" child that just tries to help her mother and pets.

Overall it is a great little adventure game that should take around 5 hrs to finish. If you enjoy dark humor as much as I do and you are not that sensitive about topics like religion and violence definitely give this one a try.

The pc version sadly has issues, from random crashes which I experienced twice, but some of my friends had them a lot more often, to weird graphical glitches. For example on some stages like Goro's lair at specific spots, the game freaks out and does almost like a flashbang effect where the whole screen gets white for a second or sometimes the character gets replaced by a black rectangle. The same glitch happens every time I used the elevators in the Krypt where everything becomes very bright for a couple of seconds. Another big problem is the desync issues online, which for some people including me can be fixed, by turning off the RGB lights for the keyboard on the .ini settings for whatever reason.
Another issue is definitely the fact that the game switches from 60 to 30 fps caps on specific things like the Fatalities. Which makes sense on the consoles since they use higher details but that shouldn't be a problem for most PCs, it should at least give the player the option.
MK 11 is a decent fighting game which gets bogged down by its numerous problems and a very grindy progression system. But at the heart of it, it has some good gameplay with lots of content and really good netcode, that Mk fans are sure to love. However, if you want to play the game and you have the option I would definitely recommend the console versions of the game. If you want more details read below.
The gameplay is by far the strongest part of this game. It introduces a lot of changes to the formula with the 2 separate bars, one for offensive purposes and one for defensive. This is an interesting idea because you don't have to worry about your defense since it has each own meter and you can go all out with your attacks. The defensive meter gives you a lot of options to escape from pressure on wake up which all of them have counters like they should. Another great defensive option that gives a lot of depth to the game is flawless block, where you have to block at the last second in order to negate some chip damage and even unleash a counterattack by spending meter. However, even though these options are great they have such strict timings that if you play online they can be hard to execute at times, especially the flawless block. Quite often I see my opponents jump and punch on wake up because they failed the wake-up window and then they add blocking instead because it feels unreliable.
The new variation system, however, is a downgrade in my opinion. Characters have a lot of cool moves that you simply aren't allowed to use in ranked. So something that could potentially give the game some more depth and variation ends up as a wasted opportunity. You can use your own variations in casuals however but it's still limiting if you like experimenting and playing ranked.
This is by far the biggest problem of this game. The game progression feels almost like a mobile game, by that I mean everything requires a lot of hours of grinding the Towers of Time game mode in order to unlock the cosmetics, Fatalities, Brutalities and intro/ outros. The game isn't as bad as when it first launched and it requires half the time to unlock stuff in it now that the rewards you get are better. The problem is that the Towers of Time are not fun in the slightest. They are fights with modifiers that make the game hard in very cheap ways and it seems the developers knew that because you have the option to let the AI play for you.
That is what really made me think of mobile games because I haven't seen games that play themselves anywhere else. What is the point of a single player mode that is so irritating that you have an AI to do the work for you? You should play the game because it is fun if the game feels like a chore then what is the point in it?
The rewards that you unlock are also not that great. I am sure you have heard about the so-called 60 + skins for each character but it's more accurate to say, 5 to 6 skins per character and the rest are recolors of those 5 to 6 skins. The one thing that is very different is the different gear pieces that you get, but those in some characters are so small that you honestly won't notice unless you know where to look.
The game has a significant upgrade in this department. Gone are the brown and grey character designs. This time they use color in costumes a lot better and it makes the characters look a lot better. Overall I think for a lot of the characters these are my favorite versions of them. The environments are also a lot more colorful and beautiful, in fact, they are downright amazing sometimes, with a lot of details and plenty of different locations.
Thankfully the animations are ways better than previous MKs. They aren't perfect and there are a lot of very weird ones but they have been greatly improved.
The music, however, isn't all that great in my opinion and I can't really remember any track that really stands out to me, but that is very subjective so you might like it more than I did.
Overall it is a fun fighting game, with a lot of mechanics that work better offline than online. It has a lot of content but, it is locked behind a very unenjoyable grind and a very wonky PC port. I would recommend the game if you like previous MKs on the console for sure, play the pc version only if you have no other choice or over the switch version ( that one isn't a very good port). If you never liked NRS fighting games then most likely you won't enjoy this one, as it is prevalent to the same issues as the other ones, like stiff movement, annoying zoning, etc.. For me personally, however, I didn't quite enjoy it that much to say I can recommend it to everyone, that's why I wish there was a neutral option but alas steam doesn't allow one.

This version of the game runs buttery smooth and they also fixed a huge game-breaking bug that was present on the console versions. I only encountered 2 glitches in my playthrough both of which were fixed with a loading screen.

This a great platformer that focuses mostly on puzzles and has a bit of combat. There are some annoying features like the lack of checkpoints and the unnecessarily large overworld, but it is otherwise an enjoyable and simple game with an Egyptian theme. So if you like platformers and Egypt give this one a try.

Although this is a platformer you don't really do that much platforming in this game, instead you will spend most of your time, solving puzzles. You take control of 2 characters, Sphinx and Tut. Sphinx plays similarly to a Zelda game, meaning you will have some basic combat and platforming and a lot of dungeons that use one specific mechanic to solve them. That is one problem of the game however, since the abilities you get are almost never put to use after getting through their dungeon. A great example is the bouncing darts which you have to use only once in the entire game.

The second character you play as is Tut the mummy. His gameplay is based entirely on puzzle solving but his puzzles have a nice twist. Since he is already technically dead he can't die agaub, so you can set him on fire, electrocute him etc. in order to solve puzzles. The game can get creative with it and his puzzles are very interesting. I do wish they had some really challenging puzzles considering how many interesting things you can do with the mechanics but alas the puzzles are overall kept simple.

Considering the game came out in 2003 it looks absolutely incredible. The character models, in particular, are very well made with some crisp textures. Since the game takes place entirely in Egypt I thought it would get boring with similar environments, but the artists did a great job of differentiating every area and keeping it interesting. The soundtrack is nothing mind-blowing but it was fitting and enjoyable to listen, I do wish however that the game had some voiceover because the characters do talk a lot but it is just text. Because of that everyone is really animated which gives the game a lot of personality.

In the end, I definitely recommend this game to people that love puzzle-platformers for sure. I do have to warn you though the game has a very lackluster ending with a huge cliffhanger that never got resolved since the game didn't sell all that well.

Once again first a couple of words on the pc version, the game needs a mod in order to play with modern resolutions. Without the mod, the game sometimes doesn't even start, but with the mod, you can play it up to 1080p, sadly I couldn't make it work with my native resolution (1440p) because it kept crashing on startup. Besides that this seems to be the most unstable one out of the three original games. I had the game crash at 2 separate occasions and sometimes it refused to start, which would get fixed with a restart of my pc for whatever reason. Another problem I encountered on the pc version was that sometimes the textures for spikes and fences didn't show up properly, as such I could only see small parts of the texture that was supposed to be there which led to some deaths from spikes.

Compared to the previous games this one hasn't changed all that much when it comes to gameplay, but sadly most of the changes aren't for the better, instead, they make the game feel sluggish and confusing. Despite that, however, I found the story more enjoyable from the second game, this time Lara travels the world in order to collect some artifacts that were crafted from a meteorite that gives them special powers. It also has a couple of interesting levels (mainly the last). I wouldn't recommend it as your first Tomb Raider since the first two are better, but if you are playing through all of them then it is worth a play.
If you want more details, keep reading

The controls are nearly identical to the previous games with a few exceptions. For example, you no longer have dedicated buttons for sidestepping and instead, you have to hold down, walk and then press right or left, it isn't a bad change however since it makes sense for that to be there and you will quickly get used to it. With two buttons left free from that change they gave Lara two new abilities: crouching and sprinting. Both of these new moves are flawed at best and annoying every other time you have to use them. Crouching and crawling, sounds like something that should have been there from the start however once you start playing you will quickly come to hate these, because those actions are ridiculously slow to execute. To get an idea picture her climbing speed but on the ground. It is used in a couple of locations to dodge traps and such which is great but every time you are forced to crawl somewhere you will be annoyed by how slow the process is and if that wasn't annoying enough the turning speed is even worse, she literally feels like a snail. Now as for sprinting, it does have it's uses mainly for covering ground quicker and for some timed sections, the problem is that because of the momentum Lara builds she barely turns and as a result you have to awkwardly slow down, turn, speed up again to get through those sections, but at least it isn't used all that much so it doesn't become as annoying as crawling.
Another new addition to Lara's moveset is the ability to climb on monkey bars. This is something that I really liked as it gives more verticality to the levels and it feels good when you use it, Lara isn't too slow while doing this either so I see it as a welcome addition to her moves.

This time there are some changes to the gameplay but they mostly come from the level design. The levels that you come across are usually more open than the previous two games, in order to force you to explore more, but they are sadly really badly designed making them more annoying to navigate than fun. The game has overall five different locations for you to visit and out of the these, the best levels were in the last area. The Antarctica levels are really fun and they are a mix of the first two games, meaning lots of puzzles, but also action.
Besides those, however, the rest aren't as fun to play through, especially the London levels. Those levels are terribly convoluted and are simply, no fun at all.
Don't get me wrong there are some genuinely enjoyable segments, but most of them aren't as fun as the previous games. However, every area has a boss, that doesn't always die from just being shot to death and instead works like a mini puzzle which I found rather enjoyable.
Since I am talking about the levels here's a little tip to save you on frustration, once you beat the first area the game gives you the option to select which level you want to visit next, something that I personally like. However play Nevada first, because on the second level you will lose all your gear and you do not get them back, so all the ammo you have collected will be wasted.
The enemies have also seen an upgrade, they are much better at targetting you when they have guns, so it isn't as easy to roll around them like in 2, to balance out their newfound abilities in combat, there is much less combat this time around and usually human enemies die faster than they used to. I suspect this was also something they did to avoid frustration for the console players since for some reason they changed the save mechanic on the game. Instead of being able to save anywhere you had to use a limited supply of save crystals, which made the game much harder, but for this version we are allowed to save anywhere, as such the crystals only refill your health.
Another way that Lara has to deal with the new enemies are of course the new weapons she has, which range from smaller weapons like a desert eagle to heavy weapons like a bazooka. Once again these are very powerful so the ammunition is hidden well and since there are fewer enemies they rarely drop items like they used to do in 2.
The vehicles also make a return, this time we have a couple new ones like an ATV which works surprisingly well for the most part and doesn't get stuck in every corner. I wish I could say the same however for the kayak and the underwater swimming engine. The kayak is downright horrible to control, if you thought Lara controls like a tank wait until you get your hands on this thing, it was so bad that it nearly made me want to stop playing and I am not even exaggerating sadly. Thankfully it is only used for one level so you don't have to torture yourself with it. The underwater engine, in theory, sounds good, it is essentially a swimming aid, it makes you go much faster underwater and you can even shoot enemies with it, but when you use it you realize how bad it is implemented. Tomb Raider games always had problems with underwater sections because Lara tends to get stuck on corners, which doesn't happen as much here until you use this machine. That thing is really wide and you are using it in some really tight areas meaning you will almost always get stuck on every corner you can imagine, essentially losing the time you save from its speed. Thankfully it isn't necessary to complete the level so I ignored it completely.
Apart from those two the rest handle pretty good and they aren't that intrusive to the experience.

This is a part of the game that has seen significant improvement, the models are more detailed than ever before and they also have some better-looking textures overall. Another thing that looks nice is the effects like blood splatter, especially underwater, since it leaves big pools of blood that slowly disappear from the water. The lighting has seen an improvement as well and overall I was pleasantly surprised with how much better it looks from the other two.
The soundtrack is as always only present in specific situations, to give more emphasis on a situation, like when you are in combat with something new or when you discover an area. Other than that you are left with ambient sounds to accompany your exploration which is nice, with one exception. In Nevada the first level had some kind of high pitched sound that I think was supposed to be a cricket, however, it was so strong that it overpowered every other sound and gave me a headache.