Recent reviews by Countess Isolde

Enjoyable game, if a bit flawed.

Chorus is an arcade space combat game that leans heavily on its story and RPG elements. If you don't like the character dialogues or the story you're not going to like the game - but if you do, it's worth it to see it to the end to see what happens in the story.

The combat alternates between easy, challenging, and damned near impossible, and not in any particular order. The gameplay is fun, but the strange difficulty spikes/lulls mean that you either feel disgustingly overpowered (especially when your space magic is leveled up) or totally hopeless (against the boss encounters of the game).

There is also a bit of a lack of enemy variety, as later-game enemies are just harder versions of earlier ones, which ultimately ends up giving every minor enemy a hitscan laser weapon that requires a perfect dodge to avoid damage.

I played the game with a HOTAS setup - multiple controller input/mapping is natively supported as of a recent patch, and it's quite an enjoyable way to play if you have that hardware.

Ultimately, would I recommend it? Yes. It's a fun space game that has a dark space fantasy feel and a universe you want to explore. I want to see more, but I'm not going to deny that the flaws exist.

It's better than current Ace Combat titles. There, I said it.

It may not have the same polish as the AC games (something that I will credit them for), but it makes up for it in heart and its extremely tight gameplay.

It has several features that the AC games lack (ability to equip multiple special weapons is the big one) that make the gameplay more dynamic and rewarding.

To think that this was done by a 3-man team is outright astounding.

It even nails the cheesy bombastic plot that you'd expect from a flight action game.

It's cute.

If you want your heart warmed and to just smile at many of the funny/cute moments, this is the game for you. The exploration gameplay is pretty fun too, it keeps you engaged in between watching silly human moments between the two characters.

I do hope the developers eventually do more with this IP; they did a good amount of worldbuilding on this and I would like to see more of it.

It's Mass Effect, and it has almost all of the single-player content in one package. That's great for 99% of people who want to replay it, unless they really missed Pinnacle Station.

However, if you are at all interested in multiplayer or in modding, the original versions of 2 and 3 might be more appealing to you. Nothing significant has been changed for 2 and 3 in the Legendary Edition, so you lose nothing with the original releases.

I'm going to attract a lot of flak for this, but I think this is the definitive way to play Deus Ex. But as someone who has probably played Deus Ex over 20 times, someone who fell in love with the original in 2005, I think I'm at least qualified to weigh in.

The mod fixes most of the irritating bugs found in the original, and it's graphically stunning.

Yes, there are level alterations and I don't agree with all of them. But, in general, the levels are more expansive and feel more "lived in" than the originals, while (mostly) maintaining the feel of the original. This really improves on the atmosphere of the levels a lot.

Hong Kong and New York look straight out of Blade Runner. And Paris looks a lot like the real place. It's atmospheric, it's moody, and I love it.

Also, Ocean Lab is now outright terrifying, improving on what was a pretty forgettable level in the original.

If you've played the original, this is a great place to come back to for the nostalgia trip.

If you're new to the game, I'd -still- suggest playing the original to get the OG experience, but this is a great starting point too.

In short, yes it makes changes, but no they aren't bad ones, and it feels a lot like what I think Deus Ex would have been if it'd been released a few years later with greater graphical and memory capability.

It's uh... interesting?

The concept is really nifty - the AI will copy what you did in the previous cycle, so if you escalate to more aggressive tactics, you're setting yourself up for fun in the next cycle, where you'll be trying to survive without shooting.

But the gameplay loop eventually gets tired. The game's short, but longer than it needs to be.

The environments are pretty, but they get really samey. This game doesn't have many assets and it uses repeating environments as an artistic choice. Fine, but combined wth the game being about 2 hours longer than it needs to be, you'll be rushing for the finish.

The story is confusing. Voice acting is suprisingly good, but it feels like they just weren't able to deliver on what they wanted to with the concept.

I'd recommend it on sale if you want something unique. Just be aware of the criticisms I leveled.

Great sequel to an excellent game.

This meets all the promises of Doom 2016, and expands upon what was a surprisingly good story with more of the same intense gameplay.

There are a few annoyances in the sequel - ammo is a lot rarer, there is a particularly annoying enemy that requires playing in an artificial way to beat, and there are still some stability issues (July 2020) but it's definitely worth it. That said, the annoying enemy in question becomes trivial once you learn its pattern; other reviewers' complaints about them may be a bit excessive.

Tip: Play it on Ultraviolence or Nightmare. This is a game that pairs well with high difficulty, and when you're in the zone it's like a dance of death.

Addendum: The DLC is pretty amazing too. That said, do not attempt it unless you are ready for a challenge. The DLC will kick your ass even if you've mastered the base game: it challenged me even after I beat the base game on Ultra-Nightmare.

It's fun and wacky, although the difficulty can be extreme at times. Even on low difficulties, your health will evaporate in fractions of a second, which makes using some of the unique gameplay elements introduced later quite a bit harder than they should be.

Overall, it's a decent shooter experience with good worldbuilding. A lot of the Nazi-occupied world stuff is still really chilling and imaginative.

It's Descent.

If you played games in the nineties, you'll know what Descent was. Vertigo-inducing, claustrophobic, and unplayable without the in-game map.

Yeah, it's Descent. The developers of Descent 1 and 2 came back and made this. Gameplay is basically identical to those old classics (most of the weapons from Descent return under different names), plus some RPG elements that reward exploring and finding the secrets.

I 100% recommend it if Descent is your thing.

The only part missing is that ice-cold "Self-destruct sequence activated" female PA voice in the original.

All the classic Crash games, remastered for PC. What more do you want? Keyboard controls can be either a blessing or a curse depending on how good you are at platforming with one.

Relaxing and casual if you want, frustratingly difficult if you are going for completion. Completely recommended.