Recent reviews by NoGenres

Horizon Zero Dawn (HZD) has a very whimsical, yet interesting concept that can be boiled down to: local cave-woman fight robotic dinosaurs in a destroyed world. Does this open-world product live up to its premise? Let's dive in.

- A beautiful, destroyed world
- Unforgettable post-apocalyptic story
- Huge variety of enemies
- Brilliant combat system
- Tons of entertaining side activities

- Choices presented are mostly meaningless

Graphics-wise, this is a damn gorgeous piece of art, which is to be expected from a former Playstation exclusive title. The world feels alive with its alluring scenery and vibrant color palette. With different biomes available to traverse, you will never get bored of exploring. I highly recommended turning off the HUD elements for maximum immersion.

HZD follows a similar structure to most open-world games, being a large sandbox with plenty of fun distractions. Of course, the main activity lies within fighting the machines with the game’s excellent combat system. With more than 20 types of enemies to fight against, each one has its unique behaviors and weaknesses that you can exploit. For instance, machines that detect your position can be prevented by destroying their tracking component while large opponents have mounted ranged weapons that you can detach and use against them.

Moreover, you are given a plethora of deadly tools to fight the machines. Starting with the humble but versatile basic bow, new equipment and more powerful variants of the previous ones will be available as you steadily level up such as the ropecaster (tie-up enemies) and tearblaster (rip components off). Even the bow comes in three distinct types and nine unique arrows.

Fighting robots is not the only source of fun here. Tons of optional side content is provided for you to enjoy. Thirsty for human blood? Liberate a bandit camp. Want to challenge and time yourself? Go to a Hunting Ground. Desire to help people? Do errands for them. There is no shortage of quests available for you to tackle. Some of them even gives you special rewards that cannot be obtained through other methods.

Apart from that, management plays a big part in everything you do as inventory is limited. Resources come in many shapes and sizes, and if you have too much, you have to sell some of them. Crafting ammo is something you will be doing frequently, and the more powerful ones require costs more to make. Thankfully, the game is pretty generous in providing you loot that can be scavenged from fallen machines, humans and the occasional ancient debris.

In an unfamiliar time, the world has seemingly been plunged into darkness. Humans, while still existing, now live as primitive tribes with distinctive customs and beliefs. To make matters worse (or confusing), the unkempt wilds are filled with animal-like machines of unknown origins that are hostile to mankind. You are Aloy, a woman that was born outside the tribe as an outcast. As she is treated as a freak of nature by her tribe due to not having a mother, her only friend is his surrogate father, Rost. Being taught how to survive physically and emotionally by him, Aloy embarks on a thrilling adventure across the lands to find the truth behind her existence, and potentially change the world in the process.

HZD does a magnificent job of introducing you to the game’s premise without being too overwhelming. The world-building trickled out slowly at first but gradually expands as you progress through the storyline. Besides that, it is also thick with lore thanks to the enormous amounts of story collectibles that shed light on the world that came before. For the most part, it did fairly well in balancing between a ‘chosen one’ plot and a coming-of-age story for Aloy.

Unfortunately, the game’s ‘choices system’ falls flat on its face. While you are given three choices at certain points (to be sympathetic, smart, or cruel), it does nothing of value apart from barely changing a few lines of dialogue. The story beats remain the same with a single ending. Sometimes, you can decide to spare or kill certain characters, but even those have little to no repercussions towards Aloy’s journey.

The Rest

• Every machine usually has one of the following major weaknesses: fire (deals continuous damage), freeze (slows movement and amplifies damage), and electric (stuns enemies).
  
• Most weapons and outfits can be equipped with modifications to increase their effectiveness. The higher the gear level, the more slots you have.
  
• Wild animals can be found and hunted for their meat, skin, and bone. These are used to craft health potions or to expand your inventory.
  
• After a certain point, you will gain the ability to ride certain machines as mounts. They are an excellent way to travel the world quickly without fast travel.
  
• Leveling up gives you one skill point that can be used in the skill tree. Some are basic upgrades like faster reloading while others are game-changing such as the ability to perform silent kills.

Playtime: It took me around 90 hours to complete the base game on Normal difficulty and an additional 20 hours for the DLC.

Replayability: Very much so, especially if you are interested in the grueling Ultra Hard difficulty as picking that option significantly changes the mechanics and enemy AI.

Achievements: 79 of them. Most of them can be earned simply by doing quests and the optional stuff.

HZD is a shining example of triple A game done right. The world is mesmerizing, the gameplay is solid, and the storyline is enjoyable. For me, the highlight is the combat system; easy to learn yet hard to master. Therefore, I recommend Horizon Zero Dawn.

Follow our Curator page, Summit Reviews , to see more high-quality reviews regularly.

Cats Organized Neatly (CON) is a minimalistic 2D puzzle game where your objective is to simply arrange a bunch of fluffy felines in the correct spots. But does it manages to be fun and exciting? Let’s dive in.

-Adorable art style
-Challenging but mostly fair puzzles
-Cats. Lots and lots of cats

-Lack of a hint system

In each level, you are given a select number of cats with varying shapes and sizes. As CON’s puzzle structure is grid-based, all of the cats have to be used and fitted exactly in it with no extra space. The controls are straightforward as it only utilizes your mouse: you hold the left button to grab a cat and release it to put it in the grid while the right mouse is used to rotate them as you see fit.

As mentioned before, you will be interacting with a wide variety of silly furballs to play with. Some of them are small, shy kittens that are begging to be hugged while others are large and imposing house cats that dominate half of a puzzle. This is punctuated by the endearing art style; even though they are drawn in basic 2D, the expressions of the felines (which also change and purrs when you grab them) are incredibly heartwarming. Furthermore, there is also a sweet ‘Collection’ section where you can see all of the cats you have unlocked, complete with names and descriptions of their behavior.

For the puzzles themselves, there are a grand total of 80 levels available. As usual, they started simple enough before gradually turning up the difficulty dials with more complex grids. Most of the late-game levels even have these plants smack-dab in the middle of the grid to add an extra layer of challenge. I do admit that I have to consult a guide for some of the levels; this is due to CON not having any form of a hint system. Having one that would gently nudge or even outright reveal the placements for one cat would have made the game better.

Playtime: It took me around six hours to complete all puzzles and unlock all furry goofballs.

Replayability: Minimal, unfortunately. There are no additional game modes or level creator available, so you have seen everything once you finished it once.

Achievements: 20 easy pickings that require minimal efforts. If you are an achievement hunter, this is for you.

Relaxing, cute and most importantly, entertaining. This product does exactly what it says on the tin and as a cat person, I am greatly satisfied. All in all, I recommend Cats Organized Neatly.

Follow our Curator page, Summit Reviews , to see more high-quality reviews regularly.

The Forest (TF) is a survival game where it is just you versus nature. Oh, and bloodthirsty cannibals. Does this self-proclaimed 'terrifying horror simulator' live up to its name? Let's dive in.

- Play your way without any restrictions
- Unsettling atmosphere especially in the caves
- Intricate inventory and crafting system
- Terrifying enemies with disturbing designs
- A decent variety of locations to explore
- Intriguing lore told through collectibles

- Limited hotkeys
- Resources are easy to farm

From the get-go, TF will not hand-hold you at all. While objectives are provided, you are free to do whatever you want. You will be doing one of these three things: building, fighting and exploring. Apart from that, you also have to constantly monitor your stats. The usual hunger, thirst and energy are displayed on the HUD, while others like temperature, sickness and infection are hidden.

As you are stranded in a dangerous unknown land, the most important step is to build a base. As the map is not procedurally-generated, you are encouraged to explore and memorize any notable landmarks. Once you find a decent spot, it is now time to gather resources. Fortunately, your character is equipped with a survival handbook that allows you to build important structures such as bonfires, water collectors and shelters. You are given full freedom on how and where you want to design your base. Do note though, enemies will eventually find your home and attempt to destroy them; thus, you want it to be on a secure location like an island (as enemies cannot swim) or surround your base with deadly traps and defenses.

Speaking about enemies, you will be fighting them frequently throughout your journey. The most common you will encounter is the human cannibals that always travel in packs and can wield crude melee weapons. However, those are nothing compared to the mutants, which are these grotesque, horribly-deformed monsters that are not only fast but pack a huge punch as well. Their looks are not only unnerving, but the sounds emitted from them are alien-like.

Moving on, we got exploration. While a good chunk of the game is just trees and bushes, there's also a plentiful amount of beautiful places to spice up the variety like villages, beaches, and rivers. You are heavily encouraged to explore at your own pace as there are quite a lot of interesting secrets to uncover. Just be careful of the local fauna; you do not want to be caught off guard by a crocodile or a boar.

If you want to make it out of this hell, you would be wise to upgrade your stuff. This is done by the crafting system. Want to carry more sticks? Make a bag holder. Annoyed at getting cold? Create a warm suit. Enemies giving you a hard time? Burn their bodies and craft armor using their bones. The only criticism here is that TF only allows a maximum of four hotkeys, meaning you have to open the mess of an inventory every time you want to equip something else.

Of course, if you want to get your hands on exclusive loots, the caves are the way to go. The bad news is that these places are not only massive interconnected labyrinths full of dead ends, but it is also pitch black and filled with the game's strongest enemies. The overall atmosphere is also disconcerting with claustrophobic corridors and random unusual noises, creating a feeling that someone is watching you. Once you are prepared enough to traverse through them, you are rewarded with powerful equipment and weapons to assist you in your journey. That being said, I do want to point out that enemies do not respawn in caves but items do, meaning you can easily exit and reenter them if you wish to grind resources, making the whole survival aspect a tad moot.

You impersonate Eric LeBlanc, a reality TV star who is traveling on a plane with his son Timmy. Everything is smooth sailing as usual until out of the blue, a peculiar storm passes over and the plane begins to lose control. After suffering through a nasty crash, Eric regains his consciousness, only to realize that all of the passengers are mysteriously gone, including the one person he cares about the most.

One of TF's strongest points is its ability to convey an alluring story without utilizing a single dialogue (except for one scene). Instead, it is presented in the form of documents including magazines, letters and polaroid pictures. Besides that, environmental storytelling is also aplenty if you pay attention to the surroundings. While all of this is optional and you could simply beeline straight to Timmy without caring about the extra details, it's worth uncovering the truth of the forest and piecing the jigsaw puzzles together.

The Rest

• Despite mentioning the dangers of enemies, there is however the option to play on Peaceful Mode if you wish to simply channel your creativity in building a grand base in silence.
  
• If you crave some company, TF does support online Co-op with up to eight players. Let the chaos erupts.
  
• An interesting stat is sanity, which does not affect anything other than unlocking effigies. If lit on fire, these can be used to scare enemies off. Sometimes it does not work though, because…
  
• … the developers purposely put 'fuzziness' into the enemy AI to make them unpredictable. For instance, if a group of enemies sees you, they may be aggressive, curious or outright ignore you.

Playtime: It took me around 40 hours (or 35 in-game days) to complete the storyline, alongside spelunking everything and finding/crafting every item.

Replayability: Definitely so. You create your fun. Obviously, the more the merrier, so bring your friends too.

Achievements: 45 of them, with a majority of them being simple tasks. A certain few such as chopping down 1000 trees or making it past 100 days do require a lot of patience though.

It is a commendable feat that a team of only four people can develop this product. If you are looking for not only a great open-world survival game, but also one that is capable of making you crap your pants, look no more. All in all, I recommend The Forest.

Follow our Curator page, Summit Reviews , to see more high-quality reviews regularly.

Firewatch (FW) is a first-person adventure game set in the wilderness of a forest. Part open-world, part walking simulator, it is a slow-burn story that focused on creating an emotional journey for the player. Does it succeed in this regard? Let’s dive in.

- Beautifully-rendered woodland environments
- Complex characters with excellent voice acting
- A branching narrative to create your own journey
- Engaging story filled with mysteries

- The ending

As mentioned above, FW is a unique mix of two genres. It is still mainly a walking simulator with a couple of action sequences sprinkled in. However, the places that you need to go are often far away from your starting area and you are only given vague directions on how to get there. Thus, you are provided with a map that covers all notable places with proper legends. As you progressed through the game, it will be gradually filled with more useful tidbits such as notable landmarks, hidden shortcuts or blocked paths. A thing to note here is that the map is a physical object, meaning you have to regularly consult it (with the help of a compass) to find your way around. There is no heads-up display, minimap or anything similar. This contributes to making the game feel more immersive, much like you would be hiking in real life.

If you are seeking for a game to spice up your computer’s screensaver, look no further. Every single scene in FW is jaw-dropping to look at, especially during sundown. The locations that you ventured into also varied frequently, from the luscious forest to a wide canyon to a gloomy cave. Clearly, a lot of effort is put into creating a life-like world full of amazing discoveries.

Speaking of discoveries, the details put into the environments are spectacular. Contrary to most walking simulators, almost every object can be picked up and inspected closely. For a clear-cut example, there are more than a dozen books hidden around the wilderness and all of them have their specialized cover and even a readable synopsis on the back.

Our journey begins from the perspective of Henry (Rich Sommer), an everyday man that chose to work as a fire lookout in the Wyoming jungle to escape his troubled life. Being stranded in the middle of nowhere, his only form of socialization is with his superior, Delilah (Cissy Jones) using a small handheld radio. The job is simple: keep watch for any potential fire while making sure everything is nice and cozy. Seems like a walk in the park, right? Or so he thought.

These two characters ooze personality from the very beginning. Even though we never get to physically interact with Delilah, the conversations that we can engage with her are believable and three-dimensional. Not once do I feel that both of them are flat, uninteresting individuals; instead, I wanted to learn more about them. This is greatly helped by the voice actors who pour their strengths into bringing these people to life.

I would like to acknowledge the theme here, which I believe to be about relationships and isolation (while keeping the spoilers to a minimum). Henry’s broken past heavily involved a close bond and he used the job as a way to cope in silence. Apart from that, some of his talks with Delilah are about their former lives and what it means to care for someone. You can also find a couple of leftover notes detailing the relationship between two former lookouts; hell, even one of the books is about ‘the untapped power of the solitary mind’. It is a thought-provoking subject matter that the writers manage to present fairly well for the most part.

Using the radio, you can inform Delilah of any point of interest that you may have stumbled upon, and these are presented in the form of dialogue trees. These not only encouraged me to explore any secrets FW has to offer, but also expands their relationship further. While the responses that you chose will not affect the events that follow, it does impact Henry’s attitude and his overall stand with his supervisor. Therefore, the destination may be the same, but the journey will be personalized to each player.

And while we are on that topic, let’s discuss the destination AKA the ending. Truth be told, I do not like it. Not in the sense that it was despicable, but because it was a letdown. While it does explain all of the events you witnessed throughout the game, the answers are simply underwhelming (albeit realistic).

• Developers Commentary is available from the start if you are interested in learning the behind-the-scenes of FW.
  
• After completing the game once, a Free Roam mode is available where you can explore the entire map to your heart’s content. The only downside is Delilah is unavailable to talk to.
  
• You can find and pet a turtle. Truly the mark of a next-gen game.

Playtime: It took me eight hours to complete FW, getting all achievements in the process.

Replayability: Minimal. Free Roam can be fun, but by that point, you probably uncovered everything.

Achievements: Ten of them, which means ten percent per achievement. All of them are a piece of cake to obtain.

Campo Santo’s debut game is anything but forgettable. With a simple premise, basic gameplay and minimal characters, they successfully created one of the most memorable walking simulators to date. It is not an experience you want to miss. All in all, I recommend Firewatch.

Follow our Curator page, Summit Reviews , to see more high quality reviews regularly.

Batman: Arkham Knight (AK) is the final installment in the popular Arkham franchise. Putting the player in the shoes of the Caped Crusader, Batman will be facing his greatest challenge yet that could change Gotham City and himself forever. Does this grand conclusion live up to the hype? Let’s dive in.

- Addicting and satisfying combat system
- Brilliantly designed stealth sections
- Large open world with gorgeous environments
- Tons of sidequests and puzzles to tackle
- The introduction of the Batmobile completely redefines the game
- A faithful adaptation that respects Batman’s mythology

- The lack of/terrible boss battles

Generally, you will be doing one of this three stuff in AK: beating up thugs using the FreeFlow Combat system, silently picking enemies off one by one in Predator sections or cruising around the decrepit city of Gotham. Each of them also receives substantial new additions (which will be covered in a separate section), giving more flexibility to the players on how to approach the situation.

Firstly, let’s begin with the combat. A staple of the franchise, it is more rhythm-based and emphasizes strategic offense compared to other action titles. After hitting an enemy three times, Batman will enter into a FreeFlow state where every hit will instantly knock them to the ground. As most of the fights have you engaging with more than a dozen enemies at the same time, the combat system allows Batman to gracefully moves across the battlefield at lightning speed.

To counter this, the goons will come equipped with a wide variety of equipment to hinder your assault. For example, enemies armed with knives must be dodged multiple times while the ones with stun batons can only be attacked from behind. There are also special enemy types such as the brutes that can tank a lot of hits and the medic that can revive downed enemies.

Moving on, we have Predator AKA the stealth levels. During these sections, the mooks are all armed with guns; therefore, instead of engaging them head-on, Batman will instead take all of them out silently. Creativity is encouraged here as there are numerous ways to take down an enemy. Sure, you could just choke them from behind, but it would be much more fun to smash them through a window, grab them while hanging from a ledge or even surprise them from a vent. While playing FreeFlow makes you feel like an unstoppable beast, Predator on the other hand reminds you exactly why Batman is feared by the superstitious and cowardly lot.

Just like normal combat, AK will challenge your sneaking skills by having the enemies adapt to your tactics. Take out too many lone gunmen? They will hunt you down in pairs. Attacking from above? They will place mines on possible vantage points. Certain enemies also have unique gadgets including wearing camouflage suits that make spotting them harder or operating a drone with a large cone of vision.

As the legendary Batman, you will have an assortment of gadgets available at any time. From jamming guns using the disruptor to mimicking audio with the voice synthesizer, these devices will greatly assist you as most of them can be used in either FreeFlow or Predator sections. All of these features are seamlessly integrated into gameplay to provide an exhilarating experience and prevent the game from being repetitive.

Last, but certainly not least, is exploration. Gotham City is a huge concrete jungle surrounded by three islands. Thus, the game is richly-filled with tons of optional content to tackle, ranging from solving intricate riddles to dismantling a supervillain’s career with the Most Wanted side missions.

And while we are on the topic of the playground that is Gotham, the graphics in AK are incredibly appealing to look at. Neon signs can be spotted from a mile away, skyscrapers being bombarded with billboards, and transit rail weaves around buildings; the city has never felt more alive. Moreover, the facial animations look stunning for a game released in 2015 and the attention to detail towards the environments (especially Batman’s suits) is staggering.

AK introduced a great deal of new stuff that warranted its own section. To kick things off, let’s cover the biggest addition: the almighty Batmobile. With two different modes, this monster of a tank completely transformed every aspect of the game; pursuit mode is designed for high-speed chases while battle mode is for fighting armored vehicles. Apart from that, it can also be utilized for solving puzzles and analyzing forensics.

FreeFlow and Predator also receive significant upgrades to spice things up. For the former, the DualPlay mechanic allows you to switch instantly to another character (Robin, Nightwing and Catwoman) in the heat of combat without any interruption. The latter introduced the Fear Takedowns, a powerful move that allows Batman to incapacitate up to five goons in seconds. In addition, both modes also incorporated environmental takedowns that are one-hit-knockouts towards any enemy.

Set a year after Arkham City, Batman, while still heroic, is not as calm as he used to be after the events of the last game. To make matters worse, it is Halloween night and a familiar face resurfaces: Jonathan Crane AKA Scarecrow. Along with the support of every supervillain in town, he is also backed by the Arkham Knight, a mysterious figure who has an endless supply of militia men behind him and knows every secret about the Dark Knight.

The overall execution of the plot is enjoyable. While certain plot twists are quite predictable and there are certain moments where the game forced you to violate your common sense, the characterization of the characters is done respectfully to the source material. For instance, Batman is accurately portrayed as the nigh-unstoppable badass that he is, but AK also deconstructed and discussed issues regarding his character such as his unwillingness to kill and trust issues with his allies.

Despite saying that, the Most Wanted side missions focusing on each villain personally is a massive letdown. What I am expecting is a penultimate showdown where Batman dukes it out with his supervillain in a one-on-one battle. Instead, most of them are taken down instantly without any resistance, either by a QTE or during a cutscene.

The Rest

• Completing missions give you XP for leveling up. Gaining one level rewards you with one upgrade point that can be used to unlock new abilities or boost preexisting ones.
  
• AR challenges are a series of trials to hone your skills in the game. Be warned as they are difficult and designed for experienced players.
  
• Environmental destruction is implemented for the first time here. Run over gates, concrete beams and freaking trees for mayhem.
  
• Enemy chatter. The Arkham series is probably the only franchise where I actively listen to the thugs’ dialogue because of how hilarious they are.

Playtime: It took me around 90 hours to 100% the game on Normal difficulty. A sizeable chunk is also spent getting high scores on AR challenges.

Replayability: Immensely. As mentioned above, the AR challenges alone are enough to keep you occupied for a dozen hours.

Achievements: A grand total of 113. Most are obtained simply by completing quests. Others required a lot more effort and luck like completing a specific level without taking any damage.

No matter if you are a fan of the comics, the animated series or the movies, Arkham Knight is perfect for you. With excellent gameplay and gorgeous graphics, Rocksteady capped off the epic finale of the franchise with a bang. Become vengeance. Become the night. Become The Batman.

Follow our Curator page, Summit Reviews , to see more high quality reviews regularly.

In an over-saturated market filled with generic FPSes indistinguishable from each other, SUPERHOT (SH) chooses to innovate. Time only moves when you move. No reloading weapons. No HUDs. No health bar. Do these ideas work out in the end? Let’s dive in.

- Slick visual presentation
- A concept that is easy to learn but hard to master
- Interesting story with intriguing lore
- Extra game modes with many varieties

- Short main campaign

SH is best described as an FPS-strategy hybrid, with the familiar perspective of the former and critical thinking of the latter. In each level, you are dropped in the middle of an area (usually unarmed) with one objective: kill everyone. Weapons are divided into three types: guns, melee and throwables. The first two are for killing enemies while the last one is for stunning them.

Everyone, including you, dies (or shatters) in one hit. On the plus side, you do not have to aim for the head as a hit to the arm or leg will kill them. On the other hand, that makes you incredibly fragile, and with the enemies vastly outnumbering you, quick decision-making is important.

Let’s talk about the main feature which is the time powers. While you do not freeze time completely, you do reduce it down to a crawl. Moving will increase speed back to normal while standing still slows it again. This allows you to execute some pretty wild feats, such as dodging shotgun pellets point-blank or making a 180-spin kill.

The visuals here are fantastic. Colour usage is minimalistic, creating an art style that compliments the game’s abstract tone. I also like that most of the levels took place in ordinary locations such as an alleyway, a parking lot, a bar, etc., but they are completely painted in white which gives a futuristic vibe to it.

The only notable downside is the length of the game itself. The average person could easily finish the main plot in less than two hours. If not for the extra modes giving a bunch of bonus content, I’d probably not recommend this product.

Despite the campaign being relatively short, SH manages to create a gripping storyline that kept me hooked until the end. It started fairly simple at first, with your in-game character chatting online with a friend that sent files of a cracked game titled ‘Superhot.exe’. However, it is not long until the line between fiction and reality grows more and more blurry, making you question everything you had witnessed beforehand.

One thing that I loved here is the diegetic interface (the game’s interface exists in-universe). For example, the main menu is in the form of a computer screen. When you start a level, the protagonist puts their headset on to continue playing. And when you quit to Steam, they will shut down their computer. Details such as these help in making the game feel more immersive.

There are two extra modes which are Endless and Challenges. This is where you will be practicing your time manipulation skills. The former is fairly self-explanatory: survive as long as possible. Additional tasks are also provided, such as ‘Kill x amount of people quickly’ or ‘Kill as many enemies as possible in x seconds’. With nine large maps to choose from, this mode provides plenty of limitless fun.

The second one, Challenges, is a lot more engaging. In a nutshell, you have to replay the campaign from start to finish with specific conditions, such as using a katana as your only weapon or completing all levels without dying once. The difficulty here can vary wildly from moderately taxing to maddeningly painful.

Playtime: It took me around 12 hours to complete the campaign, finishing all levels in Endless and half of them in Challenges. Certain achievements also require some grinding to unlock.

Replayability: For the main story? No. For the game modes? Definitely. Shooting dudes in slow motion will never get boring.

Achievements: 26 in total. Most are easy grabs, but a select few can be a pain to get such as completing all Challenges.

The Rest

• Hidden collectibles can be found in most levels as computers. Most of them require tons of sequence-breaking and going outside map boundaries. I highly recommend getting them though as they significantly expand the lore.
  
• Holding the jump button will slow down time in mid-air. It is a ridiculously easy way to avoid getting shot.
  
• There is an option to record your gameplay after finishing a level. It will be uploaded to a dedicated website where you can look at other players’ performance.
  
• Something to note is that apart from during the end credits, there is not a single piece of music in the game. It can be quite creepy.

If you are looking for a game to experience the feelings of being a Bollywood action hero or Neo from The Matrix, look no further. SH’s stylistic presentation ensures that it will stand out from other games in the genre. Coupled with addictive gameplay and an engrossing story, what else are you waiting for? After all, it is the most innovative shooter I have played in years.

Untitled Goose Game (UGG)’s premise certainly captures my attention: play as an annoying goose, hell-bent on ruining the lives of normal civilians in a nearby village. Does this unique concept work out in the end? Let’s dive in.

- Simplistic graphics that compliment the game’s tone
- Almost every object can be interacted and toyed around with
- Beautiful orchestral classical music
- Non-linear objectives that can be completed in multiple ways

- Awkward control scheme when using mouse + keyboard
- Buggy AI makes the game frustrating

Putting yourself in the shoes (feet?) of the eponymous goose, UGG can be described as a stealth-puzzle game. In each level/area, there will be at least one human NPC roaming around. You’ll be given a To-Do List: a series of tasks (usually annoying the NPC) that you must accomplish to progress to the next place. The difficulty of the task can range from a piece of cake to a pain in the butt.

What I like is that the game does not hand-hold you at all. You have to figure out how to solve the tasks all by yourself, which understandably means a lot of trial and error. Most of them involve manipulating the objects around you. The goose can use its beak to grab (heavy ones can only be dragged) any object in the environment. Be careful though, the humans will not like it when you mess around with their stuff.

The puzzles presented here are brilliant. I’ve never felt like the game had run out of creativity and become repetitive. This is helped by the NPCs having their unique quirks. For example, one area has a shy little boy that will always run away from you, thus the tasks are designed for you to scare the pants off of him. In another area, there is a burly man that will always shoo you away. Consequently, the tasks offered will encourage you to be stealthier.

Unfortunately, UGG’s basic AI can hamper your planning once in a while. For instance, if you begin piling items in one corner, away from the NPC's reach, they will begin spazzing out indefinitely until you attract their attention. Another infuriating case: if one distracted NPC stands in the way of another, they will get pushed back which can ruin your game plan.

The control scheme here could also use a tad more polishing. The default buttons for movement are the arrow keys instead of the more comfortable WASD. I also have to bind two different keys for zooming in/zooming out because the game will not accept mouse wheel scrolls for both of them. A small nitpick, but worth mentioning.

The gist of the plot has the goose running amok, annoying the hell out of the villagers just because it can. By the end, the game reveals that there is a reason why the goose targets the place, but the story remains pretty basic. Which is okay, of course. The main selling point of UGG is the fun gameplay, not the story.

The game has a feel-good feeling to it though, as I was grinning constantly when playing it. Pranking the poor townspeople even managed to get a laugh out of me now and then. I believe the game's light-hearted tone contributes a lot to this; from the diverse colour palette to the goofy NPCs' behavior, UGG always finds a way to make you smile jovially.

I'd also like to highlight the classical music here (Préludes Complete 24 by Claude Debussy, a 19th-century French composer). Every time you are pursued by someone, a piece of this music would accompany it. Surprisingly, this inclusion works wonderfully, as it makes me feel like I am in a cartoon chase scene straight out of a Looney Tunes' episode.

Playtime: It took me around nine hours to complete the game twice, accomplishing every task and getting every achievement.

Replayability: Good amount. UGG is a great stress-reliever whenever you feel tired or bored. The non-linear gameplay helps a ton.

Achievements: 25 of them. Most of them are acquired by simply playing the game. The ones that are slightly challenging are probably the 'Quickly' set of achievements, which are explained in the next part.

The Rest

• After completing the game once, a long list of hidden tasks will be revealed. These are much tougher than the base tasks, usually requiring manipulating multiple areas instead of one.
  
• Quickly Tasks is, in a nutshell, speedrunning each area as fast as possible. You have seven minutes per area before the in-game bell rings, signifying failure.
  
• Want to express your emotions as the goose? There are two dedicated inputs for that: one for honking, and another for raising your wings.
  
• A notable anti-frustration feature: whenever an object is placed out of the camera's view, a small question mark will appear in its location. This prevents players from making the game unwinnable.

Bizarre title aside, UGG is a fun comedy game that just wants to make you laugh. It did not overstay its welcome and the puzzles are cleverly designed. Some aspects could use more polishing, but the overall product remains enjoyable. It is the perfect game to unleash that chaotic evil in you. All in all, I recommend Untitled Goose Game.

Dear Esther (DE) is widely considered to be the very first walking simulator. It is the stepping stone that led to the birth of multiple successful games in the same genre. But as time flies by, how does this game compare to today’s modern standards? Let’s dive in.

Being what it is, DE’s overall gameplay revolves around walking on a set linear path while the story unfolds in front of you. Set on an island located in the outer Hebrides, the graphics are unsurprisingly beautiful, with luscious flowers, jagged rocks and grassy hills adorning the place. At certain moments, you’ll stumble upon the remains of man-made structures, creating a sense of peculiarity as they clashes with the natural state of the island. I would also like to praise the music composed by Jessica Curry, as the soundtrack felt melancholic and dreamy, with the only nitpick with it being too short. The voice actor of the unseen protagonist also did a decent job in portraying different emotions such as loneliness and sadness. Unfortunately, this is where the praises for DE end.

Painfully, the game is barebones. Extremely boring. This is coming from someone that had enjoyed other walking simulators. I believe this is due to DE having you just walking around with ZERO interactions and a confusing story (more on that later). When compared to other games in the genre, they put a twist to make it much more interesting. For example, The Stanley Parable constantly breaks the fourth wall while What Remains of Edith Finch has tons of gimmicky levels that frequently change the POVs. DE achieved the absolute bare minimum and decided to stop there. No items to be inspected, puzzles to be solved, letters to be read; you spend the whole game just looking at stuff, which will get repetitive after five minutes.

Apart from that, the movement of the main character is extremely slow, which hinders the explorative nature of the game. Speaking of that, there’s also little to no reason for you to take a detour, as most of the time the so-called ‘alternate paths’ just led you to a dead-end that forces you to go back to the predetermined path with the speed of a sloth.

Narrative is one of, if not the most important aspects in making a good walking simulator, as this is usually the reason why players experience them. Unfortunately, DE does not stick the landing very well. Now, English is not my first language, therefore I struggle with the more uncommon words, but it still does not excuse the feeling that the story evoked within me: pretentiously artistic. It felt like the story purposely used a bunch of big words to sound symbolic and deep. By the end of the game, I began to piece up the clues together to form a coherent story; however the conclusion is just, to put it simply, underwhelming.

After slogging through DE in my initial playthrough, I replayed the game again with the developer's commentary. There’s one thing the developers mentioned that got my curiosity (apart from deciding against the ability to sprint): randomized objects. Certain important trinkets may or may not appear in your playthrough. The idea is to create an open-ended interpretation of the story, as the presence of these items (or vice versa) could significantly alter the whole storyline. Good concept, bad execution. Why? Because these objects are so minuscule that most players would easily miss them. Having an open-ended story does not contribute a lot if the core story was a miss to begin with.

Playtime : It took me around 90 minutes to complete DE. It depends on how much you are willing to explore the island.
Replayability : Sadly, little to no reason to replay this. Even the randomized objects mechanics are not worth having another go.

Ten in total. Among them, you will need to trigger all the voice-overs and the developer's commentary. Get ready to hold that W key for a very, very long time.

What a disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, DE has some merits to it, but as a walking simulator, the one thing that you should never do is making the player feel bored. If the developers did something as simple as a toggle for walking speed, I might have given the game a thumbs up. Thus, I do not recommend Dear Esther.

Fears to Fathom (F2F) is a series of episodic small stories where you play out events regarding multiple people who survived life-threatening situations. As of writing this, only two episodes were released; the first is free-to-play, while the second one is not. This review will be focusing on the former only. The episodes are unrelated to each other, so you're free to choose any story you desire.

Overall gameplay is simple. It's a walking simulator, so don't expect to sprint and jump. Playing from a first-person perspective, you walk around a two-story house and interact with items to progress the story. Some objects are optional to be interacted with and are only there to provide immersion, such as a radio playing music or a door that leads to the backyard. Apart from that, pressing 'Escape' will bring up text messages where your character can talk with other characters. It also doubles down as a pause menu, which is a fairly neat diegetic interface.

Home Alone , (the name of this episode), has you playing as 14 years old Miles, whose parents were away for the weekend. Pretty much the perfect setup for something horrible to happen. In my opinion, the story was serviceable. It did manage to build proper suspense that was heavily supported by the background music. There's also minor characterization for Miles from the text messages and there are certain hidden events that I only noticed when playing the game for a second time. It's also pretty refreshing to play a horror game where the threat is more grounded in reality. .

The only storytelling issue I have is that despite having good tension, never at any point do I feel terrified about Miles' predicament. This is because the game explicitly said in the store's description that the stories were narrated by the ones who survived . I deeply appreciate horror with a happy ending, but when I was told straight up the lead character would live, that took me out of the plot significantly.

Playtime : I played F2F twice, culminating in around an hour in total. I was thorough in exploring the house, playing the games slowly as usual. The average player could probably complete it in less than 10 minutes.

Replayability : As mentioned, there are some events that you'd only notice or make more sense of a second playthrough. After that, you should've seen everything this game has to offer.

I only gathered two out of the three achievements; the last one requires a mic to work, but no matter how much I yell, it simply doesn't register. Reading the forums, it seems some people also suffered the same issue.

F2F took the concept of the Home Alone movie and transformed it into genuine realistic horror. What happened to Miles here could very well become a reality to us one day. And it can even be more nerve-wracking to those that had experienced a similar situation before in their lives. All in all, I recommend this.

skip this part if you don't want to hear me talking random stuff
Yeay, I'm back. After 3 months of hiatus (thanks a lot college and Covid), I have a lot more free time than before. Hopefully my gaming activities can return to normal again :) Apologize to those that tried to reach out to me.

Note: This review was supposed to come out around 4-5 days ago. But currently I'm so dang busy with my studies that I barely got any time to even play a single game. Sooo yeah, just informing to those who cares.

Developed by Flying Wild Hog, Shadow Warrior (SW) is a remake of the classic videogame starring Lo Wang, a deadly assassin that is not only known for his proficiency in swords and firearms, but also for his sassy attitude. One day, Wang received an assignment to retrieve a supposedly-mythical sword called the Nobitsura Kage from a heavy Yakuza organization. Seems like a simple task. What could possibly go wrong?

- Satisfying melee combat and gunplay
- Decent enemy variety
- Three upgrade systems (powers, skills, weapon upgrades)
- Enjoyable chemistry between the two main characters
- Wang-level humor

- Environments look the same, so it's easy to get lost
- Combat become repetitive late-game
- Generic music

Just like the original, SW is played from a first-person perspective. As Lo Wang, you'll be slicing and blasting foes using your trusty weapons. On one hand, you got the iconic sword; the Nobitsura Kage itself. It's the first weapon you acquired and also one of the best ones: as your progress through the story, new upgrades will be automatically applied for the sword, making it more powerful.

On the other hand, we got the guns. You've seen these weapon types here: pistols, shotguns, flamethrowers, crossbows, rocket launchers, etc; the usual stuff. What elevates this typical weapons selection, however, is the ability to give them a secondary function. For example, the SMG can be upgraded to be dual-wielded, the crossbow can shoot proximity mines and the shotgun can fire all of its pellets at once. The only issue that I have is the absence of a weapon wheel; because enemies will be Zerg Rushing at you non-stop, having to press the num keys from 0-9 became an annoyance quickly.

Early on in the game, you'll gain access to your 'demonic powers', granting you extraordinary supernatural powers such as healing factor and shield protection. All of them are extremely important to survive through the game; learning how and when to use them could make a difference in a large-scale battle. The last one is the skills system, which is more akin to a traditional skill tree. They range from plenty of categories, from boosting damage dealt to longer sprint meter to improved health bar.

Moving on, how does the enemy fare in SW? Quite good, actually. Most of the enemies you'll be fighting against are demons, which comes in decent variety: flying ones, shielded ones, invisible ones, etc; you name it, they have it. The AI isn't anything special, but one thing that I found interesting is the Enrage mechanic, where the demons became 'pissed off', increasing their damage and speed. The more powers you spam, the higher the probability for Enrage to occurs.

The plot is basically your standard 'creatures invade earth' kind of story, but more light-hearted in tone. Lo Wang is pretty much the Asian version of Deadpool: motor mouth, intrepid and big on sarcasm. But because you're playing from his perspective, his traits makes him a likeable protagonist, especially when you visited the Wang Cave and get a glimpse of his hobbies. The Wang humor is also one of those kinds of humor where you groaned at them at the beginning, but grown to love them at the end. Expect toilet and ♥♥♥♥ jokes.

Another point that SW executed surprisingly well is the relationship between Wang and his demon 'friend', Hoji. Once again, it's the typical 'two enemies forced to work together' kind of scenario, but brightly done. Both of these wisecracks constantly try to one-upped each other at every opportunity with hilarious banters; you can see the growth of their relationship with certain serious moments such as Lo Wang convincing Hoji to continue fighting after the latter has given up and Hoji admitting that Wang is a badass before his death .

Length : It took me 22.1 hours to complete the whole game in the Insane difficulty. I've also replayed a couple of chapters to collect missing collectibles.

Replayability : Moderate amount. There's no special game modes or anything (apart from New Game Plus), but the game's fun enough that you'd want to play through it again.

• The hardest difficulty, Heroic is unlocked after finishing the game once. Difficulty-wise, it’s the same as Insane, but with checkpoints and saving disabled.
  
• Two collectibles: golden statues (money for weapons) and pool of bloods (skills). I’d like to point out that the placement for most of them are rather cleverly hidden.
  
• You’re graded after every battle. You get higher ones by generally keeping up a big combo and killing enemies in different ways.
  
• There are human enemies, but they’re extremely rare encounters. Easy prey as well.
  
• Lo Wang can die if you dash from a set of stairs. Seriously.
  
• Good environmental destruction here. Objects like bicycles, sofas, tombstones, etc can be cleaved nicely in half.

A wonderful remake, Shadow Warrior took the core concept of the 1997 game and brings it to the world of modern 3D graphics without sacrificing the feel of the original creation. With the power of hindsight, it seems that the developers have also struck gold with this franchise, as evidenced by the release of the sequel, with a third game coming soon. Therefore, I recommended this product.