Recent reviews by Telmi

It's about time I reviewed one of my most-played games from 2023-24. At first glance, Halls of Torment may seem like just another Vampire Survivors-inspired game with a Diablo 1 aesthetic, but it offers so much more. While the aesthetic was what initially drew me in... as I played it more and more I was surprised by its depth—much more than your average survivors-like (and I've tried quite a few). It actually presents a challenge, and the sense of progression is fantastic. Like any game in this genre, you eventually reach a point where you can steamroll through everything, but the journey to get there feels genuinely earned. There are plenty of characters, weapons and playstyles to explore. For completionists, the achievements are intricate and sometimes challenging, a refreshing change for this genre. 100%ing this game again and again always felt fresh because the developers kept things fresh every update. Speaking of updates, I've been playing since early access, and now, with the 1.0 release, the game feels very much complete and content-rich.

To sum up: Halls of Torment is fantastic. If you enjoy survivors-likes, go play it right now.

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies Todd Howard....

it's skyrim with wands

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is a great remake of a PSP classic and an easy recommendation for any Final Fantasy 7 fan. My review is after 100% completing the game.

Although Crisis Core is a prequel to Final Fantasy 7, it should be played after the original game. Some pretty major events of FF7 are spoiled here if you play this first. You play as Zack Fair, working for the nefarious Shinra megacorporation. During his journey, events happen that challenge his beliefs about what is right and wrong, and he grows as a person due to those. Zack is a refreshingly different protagonist compared to Cloud of Final Fantasy 7. His endless optimism and willingness to jump into things stands in stark contrast to Cloud, which I found quite enjoyable. The story sadly becomes a bit convoluted towards the end, and the writing isn't exactly stellar. Despite all that, the bittersweet story has a strong emotional core and remains entertaining all the way to the very end.

Graphically the game looks quite nice. It's a massive improvement over the original PSP version of the game; visuals here are almost on par with Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Character models and backgrounds aren't as detailed as FF7R however, signifying a lower developmental budget. The animations also feel a bit stiff and less natural than you would expect. The cutscenes sometimes look quite low resolution on modern displays, with compression artifacts throughout. Even so, the sheer extent of visual upgrade is commendable. Calling this game 'just' a remaster is doing it a disservice: it is essentially a full-blown remake that stays faithful to the original game.

Gameplay is another highlight: Crisis Core was originally one of the first real time combat systems in any Final Fantasy game. The battle system surprisingly still holds up today, and Reunion enhances that with a few cues taken from Final Fantasy 7 Remakes combat. It feels much like a modern game now, with the unique ideas of the PSP version still present. The Digital Mind Wave (DMW) system, those spinning numbers on the top left of your battle screen, feel like a gimmick at first but eventually turns out to be quite interesting and fun. It does mean that there's an element of randomness to every battle alongside your typical RPG stats. It feels fun instead of frustrating: I enjoyed every battle and the random element never really felt unfair. Sadly, being too faithful to the original game comes with its drawbacks too. The main story has nice environments to explore, but the side missions take place on basically the same few maps repeated over and over again. If you want to fully complete the game these missions become monotonous fast. This is a remnant of the PSP versions gameplay. In the context of 2022, the game would be far better if most of this side content were streamlined away.

Voice acting is one area the game significantly improves upon the original, provided you like Zack's new voice actor. All the lines were re-recorded and expanded and even voice actors from Final Fantasy 7 Remake return here which makes it nicely consistent. Occasionally the dialog feels a bit stilted in places, but it's still serviceable. Musically there are some standout tunes here alongside usual remixes of FF7 music like you'd expect.

This is a far better PC port than Final Fantasy 7 remake. On my PC the game ran at basically a flawless 120fps at 4K all the way. The graphics options are about as barebones as FF7R but at least it runs well... I've seen some users report stuttering but I didn't really notice any myself. Even if there were stutters, it was masked well enough due to the games slightly slower pace and tendency to put loading screens at every area transition (another remnant of the PSP versions quirks, I guess). Extensive keyboard and mouse control remapping is present too, another nice touch.

Overall, this game is a fantastic addition to Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 Compilation. Issues like the outdated mission structure and stilted dialog hold it back but it remains a good game despite that. If you loved Final Fantasy 7, you'll love this.

Haven't seen any 2022 AAA game run this badly on my PC until now. 4 crashes within 13 minutes, stutterfest at any resolution (1080p, 1440p, 4k) running on a 3080 + i9 10850k.

Avoid until this gets fixed.

A really nice little game made with lots of heart. It's funny, wholesome, and joyful. I liked the story a lot, it goes in some interesting directions and in typical Frog Detective fashion, it's filled with quirky characters and a very unique brand of humor.

You don't really need to have played the first two games, although that would certainly enhance your enjoyment.

Bravely Default II is a well-made JRPG that feels like it was plucked straight from an alternate timeline where Square only kept releasing refinements to the Final Fantasy 3 and 5 formula. It may not be for everyone, but those who love retro turn-based 'classic' JRPGs will feel right at home.

But the game is far more than just another JRPG cashing in on nostalgia. BD2 improves a lot upon the classic turn-based battles seen in older final fantasies and introduces some welcome modern twists and quality-of-life changes. The core of the gameplay is the job system: as you gather jobs you learn more and more abilities that you can use to augment many, many aspects of the gameplay. Eventually you can mix and match the best aspects of each job to create some utterly ridiculous builds which is part of the fun in this game. To match that there are some truly challenging boss fights, especially the optional ones, that require you to know the ins and outs of this system. Alongside all that, there's a nice little collectible card game here which is surprisingly very fun. The minigame reminded me a bit of Triple Triad from Final Fantasy 8, but it's different enough to be its own thing.

The game also looks quite nice: towns are beautiful prerendered diorama like structures you explore, enemies all have a distinct visual style and the multiple costumes you unlock for each job are fun to collect and discover. Musically it's pretty standard fare except the various battle themes which sound really, really good.

I quite enjoyed the story here. It seems rather simplistic at first but it goes in some darker directions and has a bit of a meta-commentary thing going on too, which was nice. Plus the vast majority of side quests fleshed out the world and characters much more than I expected.

The PC port is fine enough. It runs at high refresh rates and supports high resolutions properly. It runs without any stuttering or loading hitches. One of my original issues with the game was the initial lack of cloud save support but that seems to have been fixed now, which is great!

A very fun game that toys with retrospective ideas while being modern enough, I can wholeheartedly recommend this game to JRPG fans.

Ever since I first played the original Persona 5 on my PS4 back in 2019, it has been one of my favorite JRPGs right alongside classics like Chrono Trigger and FF7. I consider it to be one of the finest games of this genre ever made. From the incredible music and presentation to the captivating story and characters, nearly every aspect of the game is flawless. Persona 5 Royal adds extra content and polishing over the base game and makes the whole deal sweeter by also including all DLCs released. It's almost a miracle to experience it on PC now away from the shackles of a single platform.

On a more technical side, the PC port is excellent. Runs at a flawless 120fps at 4K and the KB+M controls are well thought out. Not much more I could ask from Atlus really.

If you're a JRPG fan, you'll absolutely love Persona 5. If you're not, this just might be the game to convert you.

A refreshingly adorable logic puzzle game. I'm surprised just how good this is, almost every aspect of the game is top-notch. From the puzzles themselves which perfectly ramp up in their difficulty, to the music, overall visual aesthetic, and even the narration accompanying every puzzle: all of them are great. There's a fair bit of challenge involved in solving the most intricate puzzles which is nice. The puzzles don't lack in quantity either; there's enough content here to fully explore the concept.

This is an easy recommendation for anyone looking for fun logic puzzles. Just be warned that the game will make you hungry!

What an amazing game! One of the best narrative-driven games I've ever played; it accomplishes so many things successfully in its short playtime, with so few flaws. The writing and narration is top-notch, the central mystery and the story accompanying it is intriguing, and the ending is sublime.

I dislike the term "walking simulator" but the core gameplay here is essentially that, plus something extra. Not going to spoil what that 'extra' encompasses, as that would be spoiling the game. The same goes for the story, the less you know about it going in, the better. You start the game as Edith Finch, who arrives at her old family home and starts to explore it to learn more about her family members. Discovering the mysteries of that family tree is the bulk of the game. Let's just say that it has some fascinating twists and turns, some of which were so interesting that I even replayed some bits. It's an entirely linear experience, not unlike watching a movie with a bit more interactivity, but that's completely fine. And like I mentioned before, the ending is nearly perfect in its execution, and the final moments of the game left me crying. It's best to finish the game in one go, so you get the full impact of the story.

It's one of the games that will stay in your mind long after you finish it. If you are the slightest bit interested in the game, give it a try. What Remains of Edith Finch is absolutely worth it.