Nylige anmeldelser av Bryan

If you would have told 4th grade me that I'd be playing my favorite series decades after it's original release on a Steam Deck, I would have said "Cool! What's a Steam Deck?"

Kingdom Hearts 2 is one of the greatest video games of all time. It is the sun that the series revolves around and the Final Mix version (the one included in this collection) makes it better. Play them all, but buy this collection for Kingdom Hearts 2. Kingdom Hearts 1 is great too, Birth By Sleep - while still quite good - introduces a LOT of important characters and concepts but also communicates to the audience that the writers didn't have a solid narrative planned for the series before making the first game.

Plot inconsistencies abound, retcon after retcon - the Kingdom Hearts story is convoluted and held together with glue and duct tape at best.

There are two "movie" games, which is a shame, because the 2 Nintendo DS offerings were truly quite fun to play in their time and I would have loved it if they spent the money to clean them up with a port for this collection. As they are now? Just read a quick synopsis on a Wiki somewhere - the "movies" aren't entertaining. They consist of grainy cutscenes that feature almost no action (because the action was in the gameplay), and the stories are slapped together for no other purpose than to attempt to explain something that never needed an explanation. If A is followed by B, I don't need you to tell me about C through Z. I believe the phrase I'm looking for is "over-egging the pudding."

That all being said, this collection has the best version of one of the greatest video games to ever exist and I recommend it on the strength of Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix alone, though it also features 2 other very good games, one bad game (sorry, CoM fans - I liked it on the GBA, it doesn't work in full 3D), and 2 horrendous representations of what were fun entries in the series.

Voodoo Garden is a relaxing management clicker with idle elements as long as the game is running (read the bottom paragraph for some unfortunate details on that). You plant 3 rows of crops, sacrifice animals to harvest crops automatically (each animal also has a passive ability that corresponds to what they eat), and place totems that attract critters. Click to collect everything that makes its way on the screen and start automatically selling voodoo-themed items based on the priorities you set for them. There's not terribly much here, but if you want a game running while you're doing whatever else on another monitor - this is a cute little contender for that.

I cautiously recommend it. Know what you're buying and really think about if this is something you're going to enjoy. Read on for a weird issue that might dissuade you from buying even though I do recommend this title for a specific type of person.

This game has a similar issue to Triple Town in the way when you leave it running, it slows down over time. After having it on for an hour or so, I'll notice the frame rate flirting with 40-50fps on my 1080TI, the problem only worsens over time, I've seen it as low as 20fps. The game is running in windowed mode at only 1080p, and restarting the game fixes it. I think it's called a memory leak but I genuinely don't know. The frame rate also seems tied to the actual speed of the game, so 20fps wasn't just ugly looking - the game actually appeared to be running slower in my experience.

I'll join the chorus and say that Vampire Survivors is great. Runs are forced to end eventually so it's just a game about moving around and making good choices. I tend to gravitate towards the same items and combinations, but mostly everything offered is viable. Lots of achievements and satisfying challenges within the game that mix up the gameplay. I recommend it, and it seems to have started the action roguelike craze that's taking over Steam these last few years.

At its absolute worst, I would give Children of Morta a 9 out of 10. The art and narration are beautifully done, I loved the fast-paced action-RPG gameplay, every character plays significantly differently and all of the skill trees symbiotically benefit the entire roster (at certain nodes). I Played at 800p with a locked 60fps on the Steam Deck OLED 1tb, which gave me many hours of gameplay on a single charge. I have beaten the main story and I'm looking forward to diving back in with some DLC in the future, and I'd love to give co-op a try.

Edit: I am on the last mission of the game. Crashing had been a problem up until this point but it wasn't common enough to mention, could be my PC, etc. I am unable to complete the final mission because it crashes in the exact same spot every single time. This changes my very cautious recommendation to a very solid thumbs down.

I wish this could have been my introduction to the series. Chimera Squad feels like "XCOM Lite," a stripped down version of XCOM as series veterans know it. You will have a maximum of 8 members from a pool to choose from (with mods, you can add a lot more), there are only about three things you can do in a given day to progress your base (which is already decked out, you just need the man-power to do stuff), and the missions are small and zippy. Yes, it is fun - but it's streamlined in a way where I always end up pretty bored with it after a few hours. There's just not much meat to bite into compared to the other modern entries, and that might turn off someone with a lot of experience. That being said, I cautiously recommend it (I wish there was a "neutral" recommendation option on Steam).

Dark Souls is an absolute classic at this point. This remaster (and removal of Games for Windows "features") has given this title a permanent spot in libraries and top 10 lists on PC. Gone are the days of wondering if your computer is about to explode when descending into Blight Town (no matter what rig or console you used to have, this section slowed down to about 10 fps across the board).

I love this game, I love this series. Dark Souls never "cured my depression" or anything like you will see claimed over and over when we start to talk about "hard" games, but it did teach me a new - more satisfying way to play challenging video games. Ever since Demon's Souls on the PlayStation 3, I don't think From Software had made a less than amazing game (yes, even Dark Souls II is amazing - in a MUCH different way).

If you like puzzle games where you start from scratch and build out strategically (like Dorf Romantik, Train Valley, Triple Town, or even World of Goo), you will like ISLANDERS. Every island starts you off with a basic set of resources, then depending on the features of your current island, you begin to select which buildings you're assigned (to a degree). For example, if your island has a lot of water and not much land - you might find it more beneficial to choose buildings and resources that utilize the water more. Get enough points, move on to the next island and do it all over again - every new island increases the points needed to move on eventually ending your game. This is a long review to say that I think the game works well, and this game resonates with me. I like it and I think if you're like me and enjoy both traditional and non-traditional puzzle games, ISLANDERS might be for you.

Incredibly fun, just like the first one but dialed up to 11. Constant visual stimuli, constant little calculations and decisions to be made. You can't turn off your brain, but you can enter a "flow state" - and that's really satisfying. This is a perfect example of a "just one more..." game. Tons of skills to unlock, tons of levels to fight through, and lots of variations to the gameplay (which is wild because there are only two buttons). I can't recommend it enough.

I'm almost 100 hours in and I still check it once a week or so. You eventually unlock idle progression little by little. I recommend scoping out the mods for this game, since some mods alter the balance to make the game less of a trudge and give it more of a lively step. I like it, it's mindless and I don't need to make any little calculations or decisions - I simply click.

I've played the original since I was in college (when the dinosaurs still roamed). This is a tremendous update. The frame rate hasn't budged from 60fps, which is impressive because the original could crash most anything if the run lasted more than a few hours. I really love the additional achievements for this remake, since the original only had a handful. One thing I will say about the new trial mode is that it's not incredibly well balanced. I love the idea of using characters in interesting and new ways, but the main game never requires most of the stuff you'll do in the trials. Some are easy and fun, most are obnoxious and severely exact. I'm grateful there are different ways to earn rewards and challenges.