Recent reviews by Revan

Pentiment is a wonderfully crafted narrative game that immerse you in a historically accurate recreation of a small XVI century Bavarian village (Tassing) and its nearby abbey of Kiersau.
While it lacks many of the traditional RPG elements (stats, level ups, character creation, inventory, combat encounters, etc.) that are usually present in other Obsidian games, you still retain the ability to define your character's background, some of his skills (that can provide some interesting opportunities during your quests) and his personality, choosing how you interact with the many NPCs you'll encounter in your journey and making decisions that can have an impact on your game.

It's a game that is very much focused on its narrative and you'll spend most of your time talking to other characters and trying to learn more about the misteries of Tassing and Kiersau, its gameplay is a bit on the simpler side in terms of how you interact with the game world and its people, it's also definetely smaller in scale compared to other Obsidian games but I'd say that in the end Pentiment's more focused approach is one of its strenghts, not wasting any time with filler and concentrating to what's important and making it a very compelling experience, thanks also and in no small part to its stunningly beautiful visuals that take inspiration from Medieval and early Modern Age historical illustrations and also its terrific writing, that is able to skillfully touch on a lot of interesting (and quite complex at times) themes and make for a believable setting full of believable and deeply human characters.

Obsidian has made some incredible games in the past and Pentiment can sit right among the very best of them.

A worthy successor to the original Psychonauts that doesn't quite reach the same level of geniusness of its predecessor but still gets surprisingly close, while also improving its general gameplay. Overall a great experience and definitely one of the best 2021 releases.

Heavily inspired by the great first person shooter of the '90s, Dusk takes us back to a long forgotten style of FPS, one that features big open levels, full of secrets and most of all full of dozens if not hundreds of enemies ready to challenge our every step.
Weapon design is not particularly original but still very solid and every instrument of death at your disposal is useful and, most importantly, fun to use, and you'll never be short of opportunities to use them! Enemy design is also great, thanks to a rich variety of cultists and strange (and sometimes horrific) monsters to shoot, each with its own strenghts and weaknesses.

The first episode is probably the weakest (and easiest) of the game, but it's still very good overall, so you know you're in for a good ride. The first levels allow you to learn the basics of the game while still showing some pretty interesting stuff, but as you go on maps become increasingly more structured (and also weirder, but not in a bad way). All in all, a great FPS, that stands tall among the giants that inspired it.

Not just one of the best retro shooters, but one of the best FPS of the last years, period.

Ion Fury entertains from start to finish, thanks to its satisfying gameplay, the solid arsenal of weapons (not the most original, but it definetely gets the job done) with which we can shred the enemies to pieces and most of all the rich level design, that manages to be complex without being overwhelming or confusing. And even the graphics are fascinating, in all their vintage glory!

Could've used a better enemy variety, but It's still a great game, one that is made for people who loved 90s shooters but that can also be enjoyed by newcomers.

I am a huge fan of the first Gothic (and its sequel), so when I heard about a Gothic Remake from THQ I was surprised but also very excited to step back into the Colony, this time with better graphics that are up to today's standards, full support for HD resolutions and maybe more polished controls.
Instead, I found something that is completely different from Gothic, in all but the name and some very minor tidbits here and there. This game keeps central characters like Diego and Gomez, the usual factions in the three camps and most of the lore, but fails to really deliver the proper Gothic experience and actually isn't even aiming at that, which is the biggest problem here.

Gothic was harsh, the game started by slapping you in the face right in the introduction and then having to navigate a tough world, full of monsters ready to kill you in a single shot and people that would not hesitate a second to exploit you for their own goals and then stab you in the back when you were no longer needed. Its characters weren't very talkative, dialogues were dry and to the point, but they conveyed perfectly the tone of the game, what kind of place you were put in and helped shaped the unique (and very charming) atmosphere of the Colony. The story itself was not as good as in other games, nor was really the focus, it was there to give you a purpose and guide you through this very interesting, harsh and at the same time fascinating setting.

This Playable Teaser has nothing of that: the world is no longer as tough as before and you can defeat packs of wolves, guards and snappers at level 0 with no armor and a broken sword (whereas in Gothic at level 0 you had to pick every fight carefully, since all but the weakest enemies could destroy you), it tells you that you are not special and that this is a harsh world through its dialogues but the gameplay itself tells you a very different tale (again a departure from Gothic, that let its gameplay speak for itself). The tone is completely different as well, instead of the dry and up to the point characters of before you now have people that talk all the time, even making jokes that seems to belong more to a Marvel movie than to a prison camp, you have long expository dialogues with no subtlety at all, you have melodramatic characters that clearly love the sound of their own voice... compare that with the dry but subtle characters of Gothic and you can see how this new possible remake is a completely different game.

There are other changes as well, ranging from the combat and the UI, that make it a quite generic console action RPG now, but they're not really the big problems here, and actually the combat system could even become decent or even good (now it is not) with enough work and polish put into it. The main issue, however, is that this Playable Teaser is almost in total anthithesis to what Gothic really was about. It doesn't try to improve the presentation and maybe making it a little less "rough around the edges" while preserving the soul of the game, it's just something completely different that doesn't even feel like Gothic anymore except for the title and the names of the NPCs and factions.

It also feels like the developers don't understand Gothic, or possibly they do but they don't like it at all; in both cases it's obvious that they're not fit for the job of bringing that very same game to a new audience. Maybe they would just be better off by making their own game with their style, and it could even be decent/good enough, but they don't know how to make a good Gothic and that is obvious from the first minute.

THQ, if you want to make a Gothic Remake, this is not how to do it. You have to respect the source material and keep the soul of the game intact, while improving graphics, UI and controls (Gothic 2 already did improved on those and it could serve as a good starting point).
I can apprecciate the intention of taking this beloved franchise into the gaming world again, but if this is how you plan to do it we're better off with no new Gothic (remake or otherwise) at all, honestly.

A great narrative RPG that may look like a classic isometric role-playing game but is actually quite a fresh and innovative experience in a lot of ways, thanks to its unique and fascinating setting and its dialogue system that has you talk with different parts of your psyche.
The gameplay revolves entirely around the story and the dialogues (there is no traditional combat system, unlike many other RPGs), which are many and luckily also very well written. In fact, the narrative and the characters are definetely Disco Elysium's greatest assets and together form a rather unusual but at the same time extremely charming experience, that is also complemented by a terrific art direction and a very good soundtrack.

In summary, Disco Elysium is a great RPG, with no doubts one of the best of this decade and everyone looking for a great narrative game should definitely give it a try. You won't regret it.

Un degno erede di Baldur's Gate, con un gameplay RTwP che omaggia chiaramente i grandi giochi del passato ma propone anche qualche nuova meccanica interessante e rifinisce la formula di gioco ottimamente. Con l'espansione The White March e la patch 3.0 inoltre il lavoro fatto sul fronte del bilanciamento delle classi, magie e abilità, delle meccaniche di gioco e anche con gli ottimi contenuti inseriti dall'espansione stessa (i migliori del gioco, soprattutto nel design di missioni, mappe e battaglie), è un gioco assolutamente consigliato per tutti i fan del genere.

Nonostante qualche bug di troppo, Kingdom Come: Deliverance è un ottimo gdr, con un mondo fedelmente ricostruito, molte belle missioni da affrontare, personaggi interessanti e ben scritti e un sistema di combattimento ben studiato, soprattutto nei duelli con la spada.
Assolutamente consigliato per chiunque sia stufo di draghi ed elfi e voglia provare un'esperienza un po' diversa, nella Boemia medievale.

I approached the game expecting a good but flawed rpg, with a fascinating setting and some brilliant ideas turned down by being too much "hardcore" and try-hard just for the sake of it.
Instead, I found out a great game, with a complex world populated by believable characters and factions that pursue their goals instead of hand-holding the player through the campaign, a very interesting multi-layered plot and world background that will require more than one playthrough to be fully discovered, a solid turn-based combat system that poses some real challenges to the player (especially to the beginners) but, contrary to the common belief, is not impossibly hard once you understand its rules (and also it's completely optional if you play a "talker"), an outstanding reactivity to your choices that results in a great replayability (since each new game will likely be different), and also a very good writing.

Granted, it's a harsh and unforgiving game and your PC will die a lot, especially if you try to play it like every other rpg or if you put your skill points with little care (in that case you may eventually find yourself in the impossibility of finishing the game). You'll need to save a lot, and invest your skill points wisely (a simple tip for the beginners is to specialize and go either full talker or full fighter, hybrid characters are more difficult to manage and require more knowledge of the systems to be played effectively).
It's definetely not a game for people who thought Dragon Age: Origins to be too hardcore for their tastes, nor for people who want to play the hero and defeat evil.
Nonetheless, it's a unique and very well-crafted game that brings some fresh air on the rpg scene, and deserves to be played by anyone who is willing to try a thematically mature and challenging game, and play one of the best recent rpgs. It comes with a demo, so you can also download it and see for yourself if it's your kind of game.

Uno dei migliori giochi basati su Star Wars, imprescindibile per tutti gli amanti della saga creata da George Lucas.