Recent reviews by Magnitude

Return of the Obra Dinn is a game that simultaneously made me feel like an idiot and is also a game that I finished in a single sitting. It's a game that asks for your full attention, and then some.

The premise of the game is as follows: a shipping vessel, the Obra Dinn, went missing during an eastward voyage from England, and has reappeared with its entire populace of crew and passangers dead or missing. Armed with a list of the crew, some sketches, and a pocketwatch that lets you walk around the scene of a person's death, you are tasked with figuring out exactly how all 60 men and women aboard the Obra Dinn died or disappeared. If a crew member was murdered, it's also your task to find out the name of their killer.

The core gameplay loop has you examining dead bodies with the special pocketwatch which, in addition to showing you the scene of the death, also replays the conversation immediately preceding the individual in question's death. From there, using contextual clues found in dialogue or the scene itself, you must solve the puzzle of what happened to the crew piece by piece.

It's a logic puzzle, and an extremely difficult one to boot. I will admit to using a guide for some of the trickier solutions - I was so captivated by the narrative that I just wanted to see what happened next. I don't claim to have a mind for puzzle games, but when I was informed of some of the solutions I immediately thought "how was I supposed to know that?" before realizing that the answer was simply to improve my eye for detail. The answers are there, it's a matter of ensuring you've thoroughly picked apart each death scene. There are only few crew members with whom you must make a logical leap of faith, but you are given plenty of evidence to make your guesses as educated as possible.

The macabre nature of the gameplay is tied together with a "one-bit" graphical style which mimics retro computers displays (think Macintosh or Commodore). Though it's heavily stylized, it doesn't detract from the weight of the story the game presents to you.

It's incredibly difficult to describe details of the story of Return of the Obra Dinn, this being a mystery game and all, but to see the engrossing narrative of this game develop as you fill in more of the blanks and narrow down the fates of each crewmember is a joy to experience. This game's greatest triumph is getting a player to remember each of the 60 members of the Obra Dinn's crew. Each character feels defined and purposeful, and the Obra Dinn itself feels like a real ship, where everyone has a role to play. The game's ability to convey the relationships between characters with still scenes and short dialogue exchanges is masterful.

Return of the Obra Dinn asks those who play it to slow down and examine evidence, remember small details, and maybe even get out a pen and paper. It's completely unique, totally engrossing, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it. An absolute must-play for those who like mystery games or puzzle games, and I strongly recommend anyone who appreciates good storytelling to check it out as well.

NieR:Automata is a weird one. The overworld is empty and dreary to the point of depressing, most of the sidequests were a chore for me, the world gets tedious to navigate, the combat is a tad simplistic, and you spend far too much time in the game without any form of fast travel.

And yet, for all its faults, this game is a sublime triumph in terms of being a piece of fiction that could only exist as a video game. Virtually every game mechanic has an in-universe explanation, from the existence of a HUD, to the ability to respawn, and even the brightness settings. It's common for a player to be fighting a giant enemy at one moment, then playing an isometric shooting mini-game at the next, and finishing with a bullet hell shooter sequence. The best thing about this is that it works, plain and simple. The genre-bending nature of this game meant the story beats never felt stale as you progressed through them.

Yoko Taro's non-traditional narrative layout rewards players who pay attention. The ones who invest themselves most in this game will find their expectations pleasantly subverted at every corner. Events that seem shallow or insignificant early in the game are expanded upon in further "playthroughs" in the best of ways. Quest-giving NPCs, bosses, or even item vendors that you thought insignificant become fully-realized characters as you delve into the narrative.

Of course, there's the sweeping soundtrack behind it all. Nearly every song is an absolutely resounding hit, and music is perfectly timed to occur when it will affect the player the most. NieR has some of the best usage of a vocal soundtrack that I've seen. I'm particularly fond of how every battle theme in the game has an 8-bit version that is transitioned to seamlessly when switching between battle mode and hacking mode.

NieR:Automata is a game which revels in being just that. Director Yoko Taro's method of setting up expectations in the player, then subverting them is captivating and charming, and definitely worth a look for anyone who appreciates games as an artistic medium.

I recommend this, with reservations. The core gameplay is great, but the game is pretty repetitive in structure. It's pretty brainless fun. This is not a "deep" or emotional experience, just an exhilirating action movie of a game. A great game to play while watching something on Netflix in the background.

Damn, this game is good.

The world is absolutely stunning for one. Detailed, lovingly crafted, and absolutely gorgeous to look at and soak in. Towns and cities feel alive, and the game's major regions (Velen, Skellige, and Novigrad) all feel varied and distinctive. It's also pretty damn big, too.

The story is great, even if you've never played a Witcher game before, like me. There's a couple of confusing things, but most are clarified very well. The main story on its own is long, but there's so many branching side-quests which are just as interesting, and they're incredibly easy to get lost in. In fact, I recommend that you do, since the game's story may reward you for it.

Combat is very well done. Swords feel weighty and impactful, and there's a really high skill ceiling. Preparedness for fights is rewarded, and makes you feel like a true monster slayer when succeeding in preparing against a tough monster.

The player has so much agency in how events turn out, too. You can go in with your sword flying, or try and talk your way out using your wits, your money purse, or your magic. I always had to consider my actions and their potential consequences.

Damn, it can get hard, though, especially if you're not good at this game like I am. I had to turn down the difficulty to the lowest setting just to slow my heart rate a bit while playing the game.

A few minor details bog down the experience, which is to be expected in a game of this scale. There's a little too much Witcher Sense in quests, and the GPS/waypoint system is a little screwy, but they don't negatively impact the experience noticeably.

A must-buy for Witcher fans, RPG fans, open-world fans, or anyone who likes a damn good video game like I do.

This is a very good Musou-genre game with some added tower-defense elements to help flesh out the whole thing.

The good:

• Lots of DQ fanservice and callbacks
  
• Colorful cast of characters with unique personalities, playstyles, and niches
  
• Fun Musou gameplay with some added DQ flair
  
• Lovely Toriyama character design
  
• Voice acting is done well
  
• Lots of content
  
• Gorgeous graphics/art design
  
• Passable soundtrack, if a little forgettable
  
• Controller support is well-implemented

The bad:

• Some cheesy/hokey writing and dialogue, particularly towards the end
  
• Clunky, slow user interfaces (accepting quests and recharging healing items takes far too long)
  
• I found the pace of the story to be slow, but this might depend on the player

Telltale's weakest outing, it's Game of Thrones in name and setting only. Telltale interpreted Game of Thrones as "kill everyone important" without seeing how the killing of main characters is only effective with proper development. The presence of characters from the show is frustrating because they're full of plot armor and you know they can't be beaten or influenced, since they've got a show/series to stick to.

Get Life is Strange or The Wolf Among Us instead.

My favorite game of 2015 so far. Played through it once, and couldn't stop thinking about it, so I played it again to get the best ending. Thoughtful gameplay, spectacularly written dialogue, fantastic characters, and an engrossingly detailed narrative are all tied together by a lovely soundtrack.

The only con is, in order to get the "best" ending, you might need to consult a guide, which might diminish your experience, as you don't want to get spoiled for this game.

Absolutely worth the money.

EDIT: One year later, still worth the money.

Framerate drops and pop=in are major issues indeed, and I hope that they will be addressed with the re-release of the game on Steam.

That being said, the game is absoulutely fantastic, and completely lives up to the high standards Rocksteady has previously set with Asylum and City. It is still an absoulte joy to take the role of the Batman and strike fear into the criminals of Gotham.

Although there was indeed a surprising amount of Batmobile gameplay, it is nevertheless a well-implemented system to the game and doesn't feel forced. The Batmobile controls tightly and feels satisfying to use.

I don't want to spoil too much of the story, but Rocksteady has continued their trend of effectively weaving a narrative. Those who have played the previous games in the series know that Rocksteady is particularly good at creating good hallucination sequences.

Get this game when the technical bugs have been sorted out.

A riveting experience, though it is a rather short one. I finished the game in about 3 hours, but I did not thoroughly investigate all of the areas, so some might get an extra hour out of it. While the game isn't difficult, I don't think that's the point of it. Rather, the fun part of the game is experiencing the absolutely wonderful world that the developers have crafted. The variety and creativity of the locales that you visit is stunning. Although the character models look slightly jarring in their quality, the world itself is well-textured and modeled. Lastly, it's a pretty emotional experience that really hits home, as the game's story really gets you invested in the two brothers.

I can't remember the last time I've felt so satisfied playing a game. Portal 2's writing is immaculate and hilarious, and it is a joy to solve the game's varied puzzles while listening to three of gaming's best-written characters speak. The puzzles themselves are not impossible by any means, but hard enough to make you think for a good deal. The best part about Portal 2 is that it makes the player feel so rewarded when they reach that "Aha!" moment of solving a puzzle, and it does this countless times in so many different ways.