Análises recentes de Estelle

Remnant 2 was a bit of a surprise for me. Just like the first game I've sunk a bit under a hundred hours into it -- about eighty at the time of writing -- and have seen a large chunk of the game through two full playthroughs at various difficulties and a lot of adventure-mode content. Here's why this game surprised me though; Remnant: From the Ashes was a good game -- emphasis on good rather than excellent, amazing or any permutation thereof. I've sunk almost a hundred hours into it to get a little over 90% of the achievements just to say that I did and I enjoyed my time with it, but it hardly ranked into a favorite regardless. Remnant 2 provided a much more well rounded experience throughout, and a host of improvements in every single department that has catapulted it into one of my favorite games, and easily my favorite game of 2023.

Remnant 2, for the unitiated,, is a souls-like that differentiates itself by having a large focus on ranged combat with guns being a strong focal point. It's somewhat more linear than games like Elden Ring, but far less linear than other choices. What makes the Remnant series extremelly replayable however is the level layout; outside of a few "hub" maps, much of the content is randomly assembled together. It isn't a crazy amount, but it's enough to keep gameplays fresh and incentivize multiple runs through the same biomes to collect everything, fight every boss and go through every story. Lastly, I have to mention that there is zero penalty for death which I don't always condone, but in the case of remnant encourages riskier plays and really pushes you to just keep going to the next checkpoint even if you aren't completely topped off. This is highly similar to the first game and nothing too new to make Remnant 2 stand out however.

What does set the second game apart however, is in the details. For starters, each of the five biomes are distinct and have their own palettes, styles and overall "mood". Some are more fleshed out than others -- but more on that later. The sound design is solid and guns feel impactful, enemy sounds are distinct and immersive, and the voice acting is above average across the board. Weapons mostly all feel really good to use, and almost every choice can viable to take through the game (although you can and will struggle on the highest difficulty if you don't optimize things to death). Lastly, every class feels really fun to use, unique, and with the exception of Archon (more on this later as well), is really fun to unlock. Maps are well assembled, flow nicely into one another, and no biome ever feels like it's going on for too long. Bosses rarely feel cheap (a big improvement from the first) and always reward something useful for at least some builds. All around, there's very little I can say about the core of the game that's negative at all. Personally, I really enjoyed the multiple "puzzles" and interactions you can have by repeatting playthroughs -- things like owning a certain medalion you get from one version of the biome into a specific map of another, unlocking a secret treasure room with unique loot. The game is utterly jam-packed with hidden interactions that don't rely on moon-logic to figure out, and reward you with cool, interesting loot, traits and additional trait points.

A few minor gripes however;
- It is far too easy to get staggered halfway to death (looking at you, little spiky jungle balls) with very little recourse if you aren't careful about spacing.
- Some biomes are leagues behind others in terms of interesting lore. N'Erud feels .. kinda meh in comparison to the beautiful Losomn. Hopefully future DLC adds some more fun in this case.
- Yaesha is kinda recycled from the game. It doesn't feel new if you've played the first and it's kind of disappointing to see it reused this way.
- I won't lie, some builds are just downright overpowered and remove almost all the challenge from the game even at extreme difficulties. The difference that a few missable traits and items can make in a single playthrough is astounding.

All around, Remnant 2 is phenomenal and a very high recommend from me. It's extremelly fun alone, even more fun with friends, and easily has a hundred hours of content at the time of writing with The Awakened King DLC.

There's a lot to say about lords of the fallen (LOTF from herein), but I'll preface this by saying that it's so close to being a good game that it's downright frustrating to downvote it like this. LOTF is another entry in the 'git-gud' souls-like games and combines elements from almost every single one; posture gauges, a "second life" mechanic and an open-ish interconnected world with tons of explore.

Let's start with the good; the whole concept of having a second version of the world going at the same time is really well executed. It's polished and looks fantastic to change between worlds to cross gaps in the terrain, find hidden items and the likes. The enemy's visual design is very distinct between both and the game is usually very good about letting you know that there's stuff going on in umbral.

The game has a lot of redeemable qualities in the combat department as well -- the lamp is a cool mechanic that allows you to pull/push enemies around on some regenerating charges and there's a certain sadistic joy in flinging enemies -- or players -- off of ledges with it. A lot of maps feature these insta-kill pits or very high drops that are guaranteed to be fatal to any rank and file enemy. Furthermore this mechanic is even useful on bosses that -- while they can't be flung -- will deal considerable posture damage to them.
Weapons are varied and the ability to dual wield, power stance and one hand weapons seamlessly mid combos is really cool and feels great to use. The visual design of these weapons is well realized and most of them feel great to use.
Ranged combat is also very well implemented -- a mixture of mana bars for casters and an ammo counter for physical damage dealers means you aren't constantly buying arrows or wasting precious flasks just for a bit of extra mana. The consumables needed to replenish either of these are plentiful and very cheap to replenish even in the early game.

However, all of this has a certainl cost associated with it, and this is where the bad stuff comes in;
LOTF suffers from having combat that is both incredibly slow and methodical to pull off, but also marred with inconsistent hit/hurt boxes for enemies. Some attacks are very well telegraphed, some are downright instant and offer you almost no breathing room at all. There's also an issue with enemy placement; yes everyone complains about every zone past the introduction being utterly flooded with archers and casters in every ledge this side of the planet. These are countered by just using the game's generous ranged opportunities to some degree -- but the sheer number of enemies that are usually in every little portion of the game really harkens back to the feeling of "monster closets". More than once -- even in the early game -- you'll find yourself walking into a new room with two, three or four enemies who lock on to you while one or two enemies pelt you with ranged attacks from afar. It's tiresome, and often a single mistake can leave you completely stunlocked for the rest of your meager life.

Secondly, there's an issue of balance -- most standard enemies feel relatively well balanced, but a few "tough" enemies are thrown about that are extremelly spongy, not to mention they can empty your entire lifebar in two to three hits. Blocking or parrying works wonders if they're isolated, but as the point above stands; this is rarely the case. You'll find yourself surrounded trying to clear the smaller enemies while being assaulted from all sides. Careful preparation is a godsend in getting through some of these areas, provided you don't accidently step off a ledge, get knocked over and stunlocked, or simply run out of stamina while trying to dodge and find better footing.

Weapon balance is utterly out the window. Some weapons are downright garbage, there's no reason to have or keep them. Save for a few instances, you'll find yourself relying on the same weapons you see other players use.

The umbral realm -- while a stellar idea on paper -- comes with a significant problem; endlessly respawning enemies can be a great source of regenerating your "withered health" -- but they're also a constant nuisance, adding to the already extremelly busy monster closets you fight your way out of. On top of this, the umbral realm also usually contains even more enemies that aren't present in axiom. One would think that shifting between realms would offers a different set of enemies, but unfortunately this is not the case; enemies from umbral are added on top of those that already exist. This means that if you find yourself mobbed and in a bad spot, you can expect things to get even worse once you switch over.
Secondly, on the topic of umbral, certain sections "force" you into being in the umbral realm, which takes away your "second chance" mechanic.

Lastly, the quests; the game has three endings. Doing a certain thing near the end of the early game locks you out of all but one ending. Certain items needed for quests are hidden in sidepaths that are super easy to miss, and NPCs will rarely -- if ever -- give you any real directions on what they want and where to find it. The third ending is so convoluted that it's ultimately recommended to grab a guide to get it.

Conclusively, LOTF has a ton of potential. It has so many good ideas and is an incredibly polished game with a lot of charateristics that should make it a smash hit. But some of the level design decisions, and the interaction between some of these mechanics make it a soft pass for me at this point. Worth getting on sale, but hardly at full price.

Sluggish unresponsive combat, spongy enemies and levels that overstay their welcome make this a bit of a ho-hum for me.

Let me preface this by saying that this isn't a terrible game by any stretch. It's competent and does what it says it'll do which is for the most part just fine. You create a character and set out on a linear(ish) adventure through some interconnected stages from start to finish and fight some bosses along the way. The game's difficulty is middle-to-high and it has no qualms in punishing you heavily for screwing up repeatedly. Par for the course for souls-likes which would be well and good were it not for a few critical flaws that stop me from really recommending the game and instead slapping it in the "no thank you" pile.

What I didn't dig :
For the starters, the game DEMANDS that you parry. Not parrying is a death sentence from the very early start to the very end -- some encounters downright impossible without it. The bulk of your damage will come from counter-attacking posture-broken enemies. This is fine, I can get behind it -- i love some high-parry gameplay that rewards good reading, however i find myself utterly frustrated by how janky the parry feels in the game. Let me explain -- parry windows are usually fairly strict in these games, but they make up for it by giving you legible telegraphs with few unnecessary "held" attacks (basically a still windup animation). Parry gameplay revolves around fluidity and legibility, and will usually at least give you some leeway in case you miss that parry window. This game however does not give you these amenities; your parry window is wide and very generous, but enemy attacks consist of elden-ring type windups that are borderline unending (some enemies will legit hold for almost a full second after their windup animation, while your parry window falls to about 500ms). Because these holds are fairly still you have to memorize rather than react for parries. This isn't my cup of tea in the slightest and I much prefer having parries be a result of a good read, not counting down how long an enemy will hold before they release a very clearly designated attack.

Secondly, this game features some precision platforming segments. While some platforming is expected, certain areas are literally dotted with spikes along floors, walls barring one small crease for you to dash through, failue will have you take damage and respawn on your last safe ledge. Compound this with enemy placement designed to make you fight in those tight quarters, and a long recovery animation if you touch spikes and you can find yourself getting infinitely comboed by enemies who will hit you off a platform -- where you hit spikes and respawn without being able to move -- only to be knocked back down again and for this to repeat until your death. Not cool. At least give me control once I respawn so i can keep fighting.

Lastly, blocking is flat out broken. I don't mean this in the sense that you can't block -- you can. Be releasing the block button leaves you locked in place for the length of your parry window but without your block active - despite your character still clearly being in a blocking stance. This feels TERRIBLE when fighting with weapons that require any sort of windup (like axe or staff) since a missed parry leaves you almost no room to at least do a bit of chip damage in.

The stuff I did enjoy:
The level design, color palettes and art are all really good. Visually this game looks great and really gives you a lot to look at. The palette choices for every area feels unique and the level design mixed in with it gives you a generally clear way ahead (barring the mercy colossus fight, which has a hint hidden on a signpost by the arena telling you how to progress). The enemy design is a little bare (a few recolors here and there) but each enemy feels unique in its presentation and gives you a clear indication that it's different.

The music and sound effects are nice and somber, and while not outstanding, are more than above average. This is no ender lillies, but it's got a vibe that's easy to settle into.

The weapon variety is more than enough -- each weapon type feels very distinct in its approach and playstyle and the game gives you a lot of room to experiment with builds and isn't terrible about giving you the option to respec fairly early on using dark fire seeds. Armors are quite unique in that each set will give you a set bonus -- however this does mean you wont be mixing sets like you would in some games. You can, but why would you ?

Stuff im neutral on:
The punishment for death in stripping you from your armor until you use a consumable at a specific NPC is ... interesting. I have no problems with it, it fits the lore and adds a bit of a layer of tedium to deal with if you get stonewalled in a particular place. Having to stop what you're doing to go get your armor back feels unnecesary -- the resources to do it are abundant (i had well over 30 of them by the time i stopped about 5 hours in) and are easily farmable.

The story is servicable, it isn't bad nor particularly amazing. I haven't found myself terriby attached to it, but I wasn't skipping over dialogue either.


Overall this game's a fairly mid "neutral" for me. I'm sure i'll eventually shrug and finish off the last hour or two I seem to have left on it, but the frustration with the forced parrying and bad telegraphs has ultimately left me feeling fairly apathetic towards the game. Your mileage may vary if that's your thing though.

A few opening thoughts before I get to the review :
- I've not experienced any performance problems noted in other reviews. However, im running the game on medium with a beefy system (RTX 3070, 64gb ram, and a nice beefy ryzen CPU). I've not bothered putting the game on higher graphics because it doesnt look like it's super worth it.
- I have a pretty high tolerance for jank in my games
- I have a pretty low tolerance for bad design decisions

On to the review :
Spiders makes a souls-like, and it's .. pretty much on par with what you'd expect from a souls-like made by spiders. If you aren't familiar, spiders is a "double A" development studio that's made some very hit-or-miss games. Its most recent entry was Greedfall which (surprisingly maybe ?) seems placed in a very similar era and style. Where Greedfall promised a "mass-effect"-like experience, this one is hopping on to the "git gud" soulslike train, and just like Greedfall it .. sorta works. Your mileage may vary.

The atmosphere, music and visual presentation is honestly on point, it's original and bold enough to actually be compelling. The narrative is alright, servicable if anything, but so far it's nothing to write home about.
Where I think things start to get "spiders"-y is the combat -- it's stiff, really stiff. This is "by design" (depending on whether you believe the studio's explanation to be completely true, half true, or a lie is up to you) and meant to emulate fighting as a big ol' clunky set of gears of and whirring bits and bobs. Some weapons do feel noticably more fluid -- namely the fans and claws -- while some others feel almost unusable because of the animation commitment every single move requires from you -- namely any heavy weapon. Where things get a little out of my comfort zone however is the difficulty in understanding how enemies will react to certain attacks, and how you'll react to theirs. Much like souls-like games you've got some "poise" score that will determine if getting slapped will knock you straight on your robot arse, or if you're just going to trade blows and watch a chunk of your health get nipped out. For the player, this is super consistent and easy to figure out -- for enemies however, that stagger seems to be on an invisible bar (similar to the "posture" bar that medium weapons excel at breaking for a finisher, but not to be confused with it) that rises and falls based on the "impact" score of your weapon. This inconsistency is a little irksome as you need to do some mental math in order to know if its worth pressing the attack or if you need to back away for a second to avoid trading health. It isn't a dealbreaker, but these are the little details that may be dealbreakers for some.
The last bit I want to touch on is the element mechanic; You get fire for damage over time, lightning for added damage per hit, or frost for (and wait for it) a complete stun for a few seconds on any enemy (including bosses!). This.. is pretty insanely unbalanced -- stacking frost on any build trivializes a big portion of the game until you find some frost resistant enemies, but then fire will be just as devastating. Your ability to abuse these boils down to whether you want to spend a few extra minutes farming for resources to just stock up on grenades, or little alchemial solutions to use your special abilities. I have a hard time justifying this completely skewed balance. But it's part of the "spiders" charm -- just like guns in Greedfall being absolutely overpowered, its just how it is.

Overall, Steelrising is FINE, its competent, it does what it says on the tin -- here's a souls-like game with some cool twists made by a studio that's tiny. If that's your thing, great -- its not a bad romp. But for a double-A game with a triple-A pricetag, you may want to wait for a slight discount if you're on the fence.

I'm not sure where to start with this, but here goes...

Enemies regen health if you don't play aggressively, which is fun and engaging and very reminiscent of bloodborne. But here's where things start to fall apart for me; enemies get absurdly long attack strings the further in you go. Your defensive options are a limited dodge with very few invulnerability frames. To clarify what I mean by limited; you get one dodge, two one you put some talents into it. No more. your second defensive option -- and the game's preferred and guided method -- is parrying. Parrying works very much like a very poor sekiro -- your parry windup is fairly short but noticable, but your parry window is obscenely short, and its recovery if you fail is incredibly punishing.

What this leads into is fights that turn into hyper-aggressive button mashing -- which admitedly feel incredibly good. Alternating between saber, claws and energy attacks can feel really rewarding, but tougher enemies give you few options to guard, and punish you with nearly one-shot combos if you mess up.

Overall ? It's a very rigid soulslike with a great ammount of visual polish. It isn't for me -- and i've sunk hundreds of hours into the souls games, nioh 2 and other "soulsy" titles, but this one just feels like a cross between a bad sekiro, and an even worse bloodborne.

EDIT : I forgot to add also , and probably most damning for me; Cancelling out of attacks is almost a no-go. You commit to every move, and you get few options for correcting if you slightly over-extend. This creates a really strange flow for combat where the balance between the perfect amount of aggression and over-comitting and losing half your health is very slim, and you have no recourse if you over-commit. Since enemies' "poise" is not based on damage or attack type, but when "WHEN" you attack, you want to capitalize on those moments as much as possible but there's no real tell on when they "recover" that poise and become unstaggerable. On the flip side, your character gets staggered by nearly every hit which, again, forces you to either use limited dodges or the obscene parry to try and correct. Many "energy" consuming moves have very long windup or commitment animations that give you hyperarmor. Great for finishing something off, terrible in a boss fight since that usually means you'll be dead by the time you finish your animation with no way to cancel out of it once the blatant input reading comes off.

Look, im sure it's someone's cup of tea, and it's definitely got its merits, but this is one of those games like code vein where you either love it, or you can't stand it.

An absolutely excellent oldschool "blobber" dungeon crawler with online functionality. It's rad, and the community is equally amazing. Development work is steady for EA and there's a lot of fun features on the roadmap that will spice up the game. Definitely a recommend if you enjoy that type of game.

Legitimately awful ARPG. You spend the vast majority of the game getting knocked around by enemies offscreen, the telegraphs are super short, the valorplates all feel the same, and the weapon balance is pretty much non-existent. Do yourself a favor and play Nioh 2 instead.

An exceedingly well polished 2D Brawler with RPG elements and stunning art direction. The game mechanics are solid and the controls are nice and snappy. It doesn't reinvent the wheel or anything, but why should it? A full completion will run you between 7 and 10 hours depending on your difficulty. 100% Achievements will probably take you a bit longer for the gold farming ones.

Some gripes:
- Weapons upgrades in the early game feel meaningless -- upgrading early game weapons is almost not worth it as they easily get overshadowed by the next tier's unupgraded form. A few weapons are exceptions but for the most part, you'll be swapping to new weapon drops after a guardian fight almost unanimously.

- One of the areas forces you into 1-hit-kill scenarios. Granted this is a very short section (approx 15-20 minutes). The enemy difficulty winds down a tad but it's not a very fun section.

Some neutral points :
- Low replayability value. Beat it once, maybe go another round if you want to go max-difficulty if you didnt the first go-around. I'd LOVE to see some DLC content for this with rogue-lite elements.

Easily one of the best and most fleshed out roguelikes on the market, even in early access the amount of content is bordering on infinite. Caves of Qud is absolute insanity, with one of the most interesting character creation and progression systems out there. The new player experience is a bit rough, but for middle of the road roguelike fans, it's both punishing and fun.