Recent reviews by Rominvictus

“Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
―Arthur C. Clarke
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=687073782
The Solus Project is among the most engrossing games I've played. The creators have clearly put a lot of time and thought into creating this world and its story. While still in Early Access, it is important to note that the current content and gameplay is complete and polished. Regular updates add more content and areas to explore. And exploration is where this game shines.

Stranded on an alien planet, with an unstable, volatile weather system, you must survive to make contact with a humanity that has lost it's home and desperately needs a new one. As you search the open-world for parts to build a communications tower and survival goods, as well as try to survive the richly atmospheric weather, you begin to reveal a deep story behind the planet's inhabitants. The mounting level of intrigue, even horror at times, is expertly written and delivered. Anyone at all interested in aliens/ancient aliens lore will be immediately swept into the story and begin to formulate theories of their own.

“The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak; and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." -Numbers 13:32-33
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=688004825
The story seems to hint at ideas most popularly written by the likes of Zechariah Sitchin and Erich von Däniken, concerning such things as Nibiru (the theoretical tenth planet in a much wider elipse of the sun), Sumerian myths concerning the Annunaki, and the much interpreted biblical passages concerning the Nephilim, more widely written about in the apocryphal Books of Enoch.

"The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God (bene Elohim) came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them." Genesis 6:4
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=687074677
At its heart, The Solus Project is an exploration game. The game world is beautifully rendered with UE4 and highly optimized for any machine. While it is tagged as a survival game, it doesn't have some of the common elements of EA open-world survival games such as crafting menus and base-building. This absence does not detract from immersion in any way. The story touches on themes that no other game has ever touched, remarkably so, because it is a rich treasure trove of fascination, mystery and intrigue, and yes, as Arthur C. Clarke so famously said; absolute terror.

(All quotes herein are from "Heart of Darkness", by Joseph Conrad)

“The mind of man is capable of anything.”
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=612595231
Open world survival horror sandbox. Even in Early Access, The Forest is at the top of its genre. I first played many months ago and the very early stage of the game was evident. But I was intrigued and set it aside, hoping that the devs wouldn't join the growing throng of abandoned or semi-supported titles, and that they would actually live up to the purpose of the Early Access program. Now, easily sinking 100 hours into version .031 in just a couple weeks, I can honestly say that Endnight has been very, very busy. It is an understatement to say that The Forest has come a long way. At this rate, it stands to rival popular AAA titles.

"...deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness”

Playing this time around, I was immediately impressed by the graphics and optimization. The options available make it possible to play, and still enjoy, on nearly any pc. And it is stunningly beautiful, so well complimented by the audio, both ambient and situational. This combination, along with some of the smartest AI I've encountered, makes for a worldspace that is among the most immersive I have ever experienced.
Immersion...

“But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself and, by heavens I tell you, it had gone mad.”
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=664289677
When you can build and decorate a cozy cabin by a pond and set up a little bench to just sit upon and listen to the frogs chirping in the soft rain of sunset, lulled by the crackling of the campfire... that is immersion par excellence. As you watch the raindrops dimple the surface of the pond, from somewhere in the pitch black of night, beyond the glow of your lanterns, an inhuman scream shatters your idyll... something bellowing from the pits of Hell. Then another, and another, and you realize they are communicating. They are hunting... and they are headed straight for you with lightning speed, raw fury and an insatiable hunger. Hopefully you prepared well for this onslaught. Because it will be unrelenting, horrific, and your new routine almost every night. The things I've had to do to survive... bathed in the blood of butchery. I will never be the same again. There is no going back from this...

"He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision--a cry that was no more than a breath: The horror..."
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=607430795
In short, The Forest is Early Access done well. It truly epitomizes the spirit of what EA is all about, and this is worth remarking because we all know that so many do not. The devs maintain a regularly scheduled updating discipline, continuously adding new content, fixing bugs, and optimizing. They listen to the community and actually implement the input. Already on my list of all time favorites, I will easily devote another hundred hours. I am convinced that The Forest will get finished, and that when it does, it will be an exceptional game without rival in its genre.

“It was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.”

Tonight I stack their corpses like cordwood on the flaming pyre. I build walls from their bones and stuff their skulls with burning embers. And now, the mad howling I hear piercing the night... is me.

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=603202762
One of the very best Early Access titles available, and easily in my top 3 survival sandbox games. I love the idea here, and the direction it's going. For that genuine deserted island survival experience you just can't beat Stranded Deep. The audio is masterful and immersive, very realistic, with the occasional chords of music at appropriate times. The lighting from the upgraded engine makes for the most beautiful sunsets and the most realistic water I've seen. Seldom have I felt more dread in a game than when diving out on a beautiful, sunlit reef when it suddenly drops out, and at your back is nothing but the black darkness of the deep ocean... you see the flicker of a huge dorsal fin out of the corner of your eye and hear the chords of music that let you know... you are being hunted. These features, combined with the survival and crafting elements, and a map editor that allows you to create your own custom world space, make for a truly immersive survival experience.

Some very minor improvements that I would like to see, to improve immersion: A chair to just sit in, by the fire, and watch the sun set or the moon rise. The ability to make time pass in real time. The sound of rain falling should reflect the type of roof it is falling on when inside a shelter. Caves. Fishing (there is spear fishing, but bait and tackle fishing would really be an impressive feature). An ultimate end-goal, or a story campaign, would be nice, but not necessary for the experience.

I've been checking in with the state of the game every couple weeks or so, and I can say that it is progressing and growing. Regardless of some of the negative reviews, the devs really are listening to the community and doing their best to please everyone, often straying from their original vision to appease people. It seems the devs are learning some key attributes of almost any online community:

1) Generally, many people are the most vocal when they have something negative to say. Conversely, those that are pleased often say nothing.

2) You can't possibly please everyone.

A good example of these things is the history of the crafting system in Stranded Deep. In earlier builds the crafting system was intuitive and had no actual in-game guide to tell you that a stick + a rock + some lashing = a crude hammer. You had to figure it out, and there was some satisfaction in that. And I found it more realistic. After all, why would our plane-crash survivor just happen to have the Webelos Field Guide To Deserted Island Survival in his back pocket? Despite the fact that there were numerous guides on the community hub, with all the recipes spelled out, many people found this crafting system too difficult to understand and demanded an in-game guide a'la other survival games. So it was done. But now all the people who liked the previous system, but said nothing, are loudly vocalizing their disapproval of the new system. Even evoking maudlin hyperbole that the game is ruined, the devs betrayed them, they have lost their way and sold out... etc. ad nauseum. (I should say here that I like different aspects of both the old and the new crafting systems. It is a means to an end, and not a make-it-or-break-it feature of the game.) So hopefully, lesson 1 and 2 here have been learned and the devs will remain faithful to what makes a game great; when the devs truly believe in it, and they make a game that they themselves would enjoy. You will never please everyone, but if, at the end of the day, you have remained true to yourself, you will have truly achieved something worthwhile.
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=603679541
edits and updates are in the comments below

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=584965355

Absolute genius.

Frictional is at the top of their game with this masterpiece. Continuing their tradition of innovating the horror genre that began with the seminal Penumbra and Amnesia titles, games that have inspired so many since, with Soma they have achieved nothing less than inventing a new genre for gaming: Existential Horror.

Soma has all the hallmarks of great horror; atmosphere aplenty, immersive sound, suspense and tension, shocks and scares. They had already achieved mastery over these elements in games that so many have borrowed from. But Soma introduces another element, something deeper and more truly horrifying than almost anything imaginable. It delves into the human psyche and threatens it's very core needs. It identifies the fundaments of who and what we are, then takes them away. This can potentially cause an existential crisis in the contemplative mind. What other vehicle of media can claim that? Perhaps some movies and great works of fiction touch upon it, but the closest I've ever been to such a feeling is upon waking from a nightmare.

Get it. Play it. Feel it. It's ok if you need to call your Mommy afterwards.

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=584965418

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=579947789
I remember when the pre-launch trailer for The Evil Within hit the media. Bethesda plying it's hand to horror, with Shinji Mikami at the helm, it looked like everything I had ever hoped for in a horror game. Expectations were high. Then it was released and I read the negative reviews with chagrin. My heart sank. And so I waited. I tried the demo and was... underwhelmed. Finally it went on sale for 8.49US and that seemed a reasonable risk. If nothing else, the atmosphere alone was worth the sale price.
This is one of those games that is difficult to recommend, but the aspects that I didn't like aren't quite enough to not recommend it. The atmosphere and graphics are genius, superbly well done. The gameplay however, is lackluster and often irritating. Instead of jump-scares, there are jump-murders. You may suddenly, without any warning or provocation, be killed. The game wants to teach you how not to get killed, by killing you repeatedly. While this is not new in games, and is even much lauded in some games, it is irritating here. The learning curve is made deliberately steep, and it is not an easy game to complete.
Complicating this aspect is the player movement mechanics, coupled with picky hit-boxes and quirky targetting for item interactions. Stealth is almost never a viable option, and renders the dev's assertions, that you can own your play-style, disingenuous. The game soon devolves into a run-n-gun, mash this button 400 times, cut-scene formula. My least favorite aspect is that the game takes over the camera far too often, making it feel as if you really have little control. It is almost a laughably absurd level of player control hijacking. I understand if the director has a vision and he just really wants you to experience it the way he intended, but it feels bullyish and invasive. This theory is backed by the fact that there are no settings to change the post-processing affects in the game. You see it the way it was intended, or not at all. These issues have been addressed in other reviews, but still, not enough to not recommend it.
Another aspect that has been addressed is the feeling of disconnected, disjointed levels. And the fact that this may be due to each level being an homage to other games, as if the game itself is a collection of Easter Egg levels. Many masterpieces of horror are given a nod here. While I do love the levels, it still leaves one feeling as if it's a puzzle with beautiful pieces that just don't fit together. While it may be an homage to past masters, it ends up feeling, more than anything, like Shinji Mikami's homage... to himself.
All in all, I have to recommend The Evil Within for hard-core horror fans, even if only for the atmosphere. That is were this game truly excells. And while I enjoyed immersing...basking...even bathing... in the environments for the very first time, the sum of all the little nit-picks prevent any desire to experience them a second time.
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=579947653

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=565636474
The top three things that make good psychological horror are; atmosphere, atmosphere, and (you guessed it) atmosphere. This game has it in spades. Other qualities would include the pace and building of tension, the story itself, and the fear factor. The Park does them all very well, especially in the second half of the game where a progression device is used to masterfully build tension, fear and general unease.

Many reviewers, even some of the popular professional reviewers, state that they finished the game (or "beat" the game) in an hour or two. It took me almost 4 hours to read everything, get all the achievements, and experience it the way it was likely intended. Without spoiling anything, the second half of the game has readables that change as you progress. This device is what helps to build the tension, reveal clues in the story, and heighten the sense of horror. So I can imagine that many players didn't give the items a second (or even third or fourth) look after reading them the first time, if at all. I suppose it is possible to finish the game in under two hours IF they ran the entire game and didn't bother to check all interactive items. But doing so would rob you of the actual game experience. This is not a game to "beat", but a game to experience. Those of the tl;dr generation, or of the mindset to beat a game as fast as possible and "win" will likely not enjoy or appreciate The Park. Instead, it is rather like a short story from one of the early collections of Stephen King, or The Bachman Books. Perhaps even a PG-13 version of Clive Barker's Imajica or The Books of Blood ("We're all books of blood... wherever we're opened, we're red.") So if you were the type of fourth grader who preferred Koontz over Blume, The Shining over Superfudge, you will probably enjoy this.

That being said, the price point of 12.99 is too steep for a game that is less than four hours long. This puts the hourly rate between 3 and 6 dollars an hour, far too much. The appropriate price would be 4.99US. A dollar an hour is generally as high as I am willing to go for any game, and for that, it better be good.

I do hope that Funcom decides to make more vignettes like this, set in The Secret World style, or even a full length feature for single player. The fact that it's Multi-Player Only is all that is keeping me from playing The Secret World.

In summary, The Park is a great experience for true psych horror fans, but wait for it to go on sale at least 75-80% off.
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=565882318

While this is a Not Recommended review, I can really only recommend it for other game developers. I do not recommend it for the average gamer. It is, in places, visually interesting. The narrator (and author) is actually a decent voice actor. It seems to attempt a deeper meaning than is readily clear and it may be compelling for some to think about. There are many theories and ideas about it's meaning popping up, and it has created some interesting conversations. There is some value in generating this kind of open table discussion, so far without any input from the author, but it boils down to third-party speculation about one individual's personal head space. Interesting for a philosophical symposium, but ultimately futile. Most reviews and threads I've read about it could be summarized with the statement "Because I do not understand it, it must be deep and meaningful."
The author seems to have a message he wants to convey, but struggles with how to convey it. I think this was a rather personal game, made as a message, or apology, to a specific person. There is an extant interview with the author that backs this theory. The narrator is a sort of devil's advocate, playing as the person he wants to apologize to, while the fictional second character is the author himself. A kind of role-reversal, as if to say "See, I know how you feel, and I'm sorry."
In any event, it didn't leave me with a good feeling. The parts where the second character was railing at the narrator for needing a purpose or point in a game, felt like the author himself railing at gamers in general. In fact, it gave me the feeling that gaming itself is a futile waste of time and life. A strange message to convey in a game, and a depressing notion for a gamer. Even the part with all the notes left by fictional gamers felt like a condescending mockery of gamers in general, as if we are all a bunch of selfish, immature cretins demanding that the emotionally complex genius of a developer gut his poor soul for our entertainment. It seems to me The Beginner's Guide to disenfranchising your customer base. A feeling of unease, almost nausea, builds throughout. There was some potency in the final sequence, but mostly I was just glad for it to be over. After all that, the mopey song at the end just felt like cynical manipulation.
What I think in a nutshell: the few negative reviews for The Stanley Parable really got to him and this is the result, a figurative middle finger extended to gamers. I could be entirely wrong, but that's the feeling it gave me. If it were free to play I might recommend it, but no one should pay actual money for what amounts to an expiremental, self-indulgent foray into a game developer's emotional state, personal life, and thought process. The message I got was -- making games is hard, emotionally taxing and psychologically draining for the tortured genius. Though a game may be published, it was not made for you, but is simply an expression of the author, a catharsis of artistic talent and technical skill which you do not deserve and could never possibly understand. It reminds me of juvenilia, the kind of poetry that teenagers write; deeply personal, self-centered, overwrought tripe that has little to no value for most other human beings.

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489916653
I am in love with the art direction in PixelJunk Eden. It has become my go-to game for when I've had enough of killing things, blowing things up, and other related virtual mayhem. Or, after rage-quitting the last five games in a row because they are deliberately obtuse or sadistically difficult, it serves as a good reminder of why I play games in the first place; to have fun and feel good about myself. PixelJunk Eden has those "Man, I'm good" moments when you clear an area, in the same way that very well done puzzle games do. It can have it's frustrating moments, like falling 50 stories after a long and complex climb, but they are always user error and not the fault of the game design. Difficulty progresses naturally and not without commensurate upgrades and new abilities. Time is made a valuable, albeit renewable, resource. It has the perfect balance of relaxing and challenging that makes it highly addictive to play. Adding to replay value are the achievements for clearing an area a second time or for activating all of a certain interactive object. The soundtrack is generally pleasant, in a techno-jazz kind of way, but I occasionally found it irritating and so played that area in silence. And as I've said, I do love the art direction, although some screens in the higher levels are downright hard on the eyes. It is still one of the most fun, refreshing, satisfying and addictive games I've played in a while, well worth the full price.
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489916563

While I appreciate the originality of the idea and theme, the execution of the gameplay falls flat. Simply put, it's boring. And when it's not boring, it's just frustrating, two qualities that will ruin a game every time. Why do I play games? For fun. This game misses that mark by a longshot. The voice acting is good. There is not much else I can say that is positive.

It is never clear what can be interacted with and what can't be, and the interact mechanic often doesn't work, so you end up clicking on something multiple times before discovering if it's static or not. Solutions to puzzles are arbitrary, counter-intuitive and make no contextual sense, so that it becomes a random guessing game with a lot of back and forth expirementing. It has that old-school Hidden Object Game feel to it, where you end up trying every possible combination with everything in your inventory. Except you don't have an inventory. You can only carry one item at a time, while other items you have collected are stored in a seperate location that requires a loading screen upon entry and exit. Why they thought it was a good idea to exchange an inventory for a stash room that requires a double loading screen for the retrieval of each individual item, I do not know. But tedious is an understatement.

If the point of the game was to get you to feel the frustration of memory loss and dementia, then it succeeds. It could have more appropriately expressed itself with logic and memory puzzles. The mind is a use-it-or-lose-it faculty, so a game designed to exercise it, while addressing the issue in the story, may have been the admirable goal of the developers. They over-reached, and fell miserably short.

Also, achievements that I earned did not unlock for me. That was the final straw that prompted me to write my first ever Not Recommended review. For the price, there are many more far superior games to choose from.

12-14-15 Edit for Road To Gehenna dlc at bottom
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=414324438
Possibly the most existential game I've played. Though it is, at it's core, a puzzler. The puzzles are often complex, a few head-scratchers, but sometimes require a more reductionist approach. What may seem complex at first may turn out to be very straightforward. At times it requires you to question the assumptions it has itself given you. Good exercise for the whole brain, as it doesn't train through repetition but demands both creativity and reason, both abstract thought and technical logic. Along with the puzzles a story gradually unfolds. Concepts of self, place and time begin to dawn while another mystery deepens. I like that the story is only hinted at and alluded to, so that you formulate the idea on your own. It makes it that much more meaningful and powerful. It is likely the most existential and eternally relevant topic one could imagine, and the story itself would make a fascinating novel or film. My only complaint is personal, that the game seems to make assumptions concerning beliefs, more specifically, that having them is a universal quality of humans. But this is not at all the case. At times it seemed as though the authors had an agenda to express their own beliefs, but perhaps this was just my suspicion of beliefs in general. The dialogue trees where multiple choice and never once did I actually agree with any of the choices. So it felt like being pigeon-holed and I ended up arguing for a point I didn't actually think was correct. Other than that minor brow-furrowing frustration, I really enjoyed spending time in the beautifully rendered game world. The music was lovely and atmospheric. Extremely smooth play with a good variety of menu options. It's rare that a puzzle game addresses both hemispheres of the brain as well as the subconscious mind. I strongly consider it a work of genius. Oh, and if you decide to play it, I left some messages for you. ;)
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=575360255
Edit for dlc: While a bit on the pricey side for a dlc, it is well worth it. For those seeking greater challenge, many of the puzzles in RtG are considerably more difficult than in the base game. With greater challenge comes greater satisfaction at solving them. Themes from the base game are carried over, and somewhat expanded upon, in a way that I found both humorous and enlightening. It seems to me nothing short of a mirror held up to human nature itself. My earlier point about feeling pigeon-holed in the interactions is rendered moot by new understandings and realizations. So it goes with real learning, when something this worthwhile makes it's dawn across the mind, all one can do is smile. :)