Recent reviews by Snus

As I was playing the game, I tried not to think of it as a sequel to Batman Arkham series, and not to compare it to the trilogy by Rocksteady. However, it's really hard to do. The combat system is similar, but worse (I specifically installed Arkham Origins to compare), the world structure is similar, but also worse, the side missions are very-very repetitive (and you have to do some of them to progress the story!), and the story (you guessed it!) is worse. Speaking of the story, it probably feels bad because it doesn't have Batman and Joker, but also because of mediocre writing and a lack of interesting developments (however, there are a couple twists). The final nail in the coffin are the boss fights: they feel very samey, and you mostly just attack and evade in all of them.

There's a saving grace about the game: Gotham City looks gorgeous, and if you are not opposed to participating in repetitive activities such as looking for batarangs or fighting gang members, it offers a lot to do explore. And maybe it is fun to do with friends: after all, the game offers four playable characters and supports coop. Still, I am thinking of it mostly as a singleplayer game, and I just cannot recommend it. Well, maybe with a huge discount or right now when it's a part of the Humble Choice and you can get a bunch of other games for just $12.

And even then, Batman Arkham trilogy (+Origins) is even cheaper right now, and if you want a more modern game, Spider Man 1 and 2 (+Miles Morales) are really good and offer a similar combat system, great story, amazing boss fights, and arguably a better super hero.

TL;DR This game would have been a great adventure or a walking sim, but they decided to add "gameplay", and it's really mediocre even for an AA game. I wish Steam had a mixed opinion as an option. Blacktail is not bad, but I cannot recommend it for its game mechanics.

The visuals are great, the story is ok, but the gameplay is just meh. Half walking sim, half really bad shooter, this game fails to deliver any memorable moments, and essentialy just repeats the same combat encounters recipe over and over again. Besides, difficulty curve is all messed up: it's ridiculously easy at the beginning, but some fights later on are pretty frustrating, mainly because there are some enemies that teleport to you and attack immediately, and you can't do anything.

Also, there are some 2D platforming sequences in the game, and they are extremely bad. Not hard, just bad and boring, and the controls are horrible.

As many other people say, it's an amazing adventure, where you unravel the mystery step by step, and it feels really satisfying. The only downside is probably the ending, which is a bit underwhelming. Still, the game is a must play for everyone.

And in case you are wondering about the DLC, it's also worth playing. It's about two times shorter than the main game, and is probably less interesting because you already know a lot about this world, but it offers some new game mechanics nevertheless. The only out of place thing about the DLC is a couple of stealth sections, which are not bad per se, but don't really fit in this kind of exploration gameplay.

Still, both Outer Wilds and the Eye DLC are amazing games. And if you want more after finishing the story, there are tons of quirky achievements (like flying a small model ship to another celestial body).

TL:DR Good sim of living in a medieval Czech kingdom, bad and boring game.

***

I didn't buy the game expecting a walk in the park, and I spent 10 hours trying to like it, but I just can't. Everything about it is clunky and obnoxious, and while it is hard, it's not that kind of hard you want to overcome. It's that irritating trashy junk you want to forget.

The combat, while unique, is extremely clunky and slow, and camera movement when you are hit is even worse than in Doom 3 (if you know, you know). Chivalry and Mordhau managed to implement similar melee combat systems, but they are actually fun. Kingdom Come is just plain boring and bad.

The UI is just horrible. Everything from trading to learning out what your abilities do takes way more time than it should. Yes, I get that it's essentially a medieval sim, but it's also a game, why should it be that mundane? Equipping items is just a mess: you can only learn which item goes in which slot only by trial and error. Why isn't it possible to have vambraces (on forearms) and elbow guards equipped at the same time? Why can't I have a gambeson and a shirt at the same time? It feels like the game developers just hate you: on one hand the game seems to be a sim, on the other basic logic doesn't work.

The world exploration is also a let down. Yes, it's not supposed to be a fantasy world with dragons and powerful loot hidden behind a waterfall, but how come even huge castles don't have anything aside from an occasional locked box? Oh, and the lockpick mini-game is so bad, Skyrim/Fallout and Thief seem like masterpieces. As for the other world, you can travel miles while encountering only mushrooms and hares (which is realistic, but boring).

Maybe the story and the quests are fun? Nope, it's a typical "a nobody suddenly becomes somebody" plot, and the quests are all generic gather and fetch we've seen million times. Yes, some of them also act like tutorials, but it's still super boring. The game just fails to grab your attention from the start, and the overabundance of clunky and boring mechanics don't really encourage you to continue.

Anyway, maybe they will fix some of the issues in the sequel, but for this one I recommend taking a pass, or maybe checking it out during a sale.

If you liked the first game, you will definitely love this one. Everything except for maybe story (and only because you already know what's happening) is better: visuals and animations, cutscenes and narrative, gameplay variety, level design and secrets/collectibles.

The only downside is that you cannot get 100% achievements in one playthrough, so you need to start a New game plus. And NG+ is a letdown: it has absolutely the same encounters and gameplay as the NG, but the enemies have lower reaction times, which is not a problem at all because by chapter 6-7 of NG+ you will unlock absolutely all upgrades (actually, it's the exact reason why you can't get all achievements in one playthrough).

Also, it seems not possible to unlock all secret chests in NG+ (because there's not enough knives that open them), so be sure to find and unlock them in NG. Also, even though they are not displayed as collectibles in chapter progression menu, you can actually replay the chapters to unlock the chests you missed on your playthrough.

Other than the NG+ being too easy and too samey, the game is a great adventure, and I totally recommend it along with Plague Tale: Innocence.

While the visuals are ok for 2017, and there's an interesting premise (though the story and the writing quickly become too cliched), there's practically no reason to waste your time on this game. Maybe if you played the original and are nostalgic, but even then, the remake is just a mess with game breaking bugs.

To start with, the camera, controls and shooting are horrible. They are not just bad considering the game was released in 2017, they are bad even by 1999 standards (the original Outcast release). The UI is not that better: there are so many things done wrong, it doesn't even make sense to list them. But just to name a few, it's not possible to sort items in the inventory, hide completed quests, and when you open the map in full screen, you can't see the compass. All this makes in0game interactions really tedious. It's ok to have that in 1999, but in 2017?

Then, there's stealth. I sneaked around an NPC to pass one of the tests in tutorial and never ever used it again. It's broken, it's useless, it's zero fun. Heck, there's more stealth in Doom and Quake than in this game, and shooting and movement in these games released in 1993 and 1995 respectively is also better than shooting of a 1999 game remake released in 2017!

Then maybe the side quests are good? Nope, zero interesting stories, lots of kill and fetch tasks. And paired with clunky movement and bad shooting, it's not fun doing any of them. Maybe for the weapon upgrdades and money (to buy weapons, ammo, and more upgrades), but really no. You can easily complete the whole game with the basic pistol (which I did), because that's the least clunky weapon in Outcast.

If the game is so bad, why did I complete it with all the achievements? Well, it's rather short when you follow a guide (good luck solving some of the puzzles without it!), and I wanted to see why this remake was praised so highly. I have no idea except that maybe the original game is even worse, and people are too nostalgic?

Anyway, avoid this even if you started playing videogames in the 80s like I did. It's not worth it even for the nostalgia.

A little action adventure with a silly writing and colorful visuals which doesn't overstay it's welcome: the game can be easily beaten in 3-4 hours. Because of this, you won't be bothered by only a few enemy types, basically one boss type, and quite repetitive gameplay.

However, if you decide to go for 100% achievements, the game becomes really tedious: since it's absolutely linear, replaying the same four levels to get everything isn't that fun. There's an arena mode which is more or less a roguelite experience, but it's also very repetitive.

Also, the more you play, the more irritating the camera and enemy lock become. You see, it's not possible to target enemies manually or lock on on them, and more often than not between two enemies with 100% HP and 10% HP standing next to each other, your character choses to attack the one with more HP. Also, the camera is too close to the character, so enemies often attack from behind and even from the sides, and there are no indicators or UI elements warning you about an incoming attack. Because of this a couple achievements (finish a level and arena run without taking damage) become a much bigger challenge than they should, so it's understandable why only 1.5% of players have them.

Other than the camera and a lack of content, the game is fine, but don't expect getting more that 5 hours out of it unless of are ok with replaying the same missions over and over again.

Unavowed is one of the best point and click adventures I ever played. Great story, memorable characters, amazing music and visuals, and, most of all, non-linear walkthrough: depending on the choices you make, there are several ways to solve every problem.

While point and click adventures are usually linear, Unavowed is unique since it always offers you options. Still, these choices don't affect the general storyline, so don't think of this game as an interactive movie, but it's still good to have them, and it adds to the replayability of the game in a genre that is supposed to be tightly locked on rails.

Overall, if you like adventures, interactive movies and good stories in general, definitely play this one. It's on par with the best games of the golden age of the genre such as Broken Sword, Full Throttle and Sanitarium.

Probably the worst expansion in FEAR series, it also tells the same story, but from a point of view of a different character. Kinda like what Opposing Force and Blue Shift did with Half-Life, but those did it better.

Moreover, Perseus Mandate has too many strong enemies and powerful weapons, so even though it's only 4 hours long, fights quickly become too dragged on and repetitive.

Then why am I recommending it? Well, given a lack of good first person shooters nowadays, everything remotely good is worth playing, and I can't call Perseus Mandate a bad game. Yes, worse than the original FEAR, but still fine.

A typical addon to a mid 2000s game: a couple new enemies and weapons, but mostly more of the same. If you like the original F.E.A.R, you will probably like this one, but keep in mind that Extraction Point is slightly worse.

Moreover, it's worse technically: the game crashed a few times, also there were fps drops sometimes (the original doesn't have those issues). Still, given a lack of good shooters in 2024 and the recent years, definitely something you can play.