Recent reviews by YuukaW

Okay, I got to give it to Bethesda, they somehow have a way with words. They fooled me into buying something expensive again. Do I regret it? Nope, but at the same time, I also feel kind of upset with it. It's a good game, yet I cannot say for certain that I can be happy entirely with what I have.

First, I really want to say that the team at Virtuos did a very good job with making the remake of this game. The graphics are stellar, a lot of quality of life changes that are definitely apparent, a lot of the good stuff from Skyrim was also added, and a hell of a lot of issues were fixed in the original game. In fact, they made the game look quite great. Now my Dark Elf is not seeking his wife's boyfriend. He's now seeking skooma.

But now, I want to get on to the bad. First, you might need to update your drivers for this game to run a *slight* bit better. The framerate is difficult to like, especially because this is now an UE5 game. Sure, it all looks great, but, will it run great, if at all? Another gripe were some bugs that I happen to find. First, I ended up dropping everything I touched in my inventory. I tried to equip a ring, and ended up dropping it. 1.1k ring disappearing on a floor with ring motives. Brilliant. I also tried to equip my sword, and yet it would fall in front of me in the middle of combat.

The biggest thing I have noticed however are the OBLIVION GATES OPEN EVERYWHERE! Look, I get it, you like banking on the return of the OG people who likes Oblivion, and want to share some love to the Skyrim crowd, but I'm pretty sure only we know how to close a gate without instruction or following the main quest. We totally know about the fact that you have to climb up the tower in the middle of the plane of oblivion, kill the daedra who get in your way, use the sigil stone, and then get magically kicked out and forced in the rain.

As for some other small things I found a little dumb, how about the chapels? I went to Bruma, saw that Stendarr staring right at me in the centre. In the original game, Oblivion would have different glass windows displayed in the center, based on who the chapel was dedicated to.

Aside from that, I am not too disappointed with the game. The combat has especially gotten the biggest glow up, and the dungeons never looked (and at times) felt better.

7.5/10 don't ever force me to close an oblivion gate before I want to start the main quest. I didn't even deliver the amulet yet >:(

EDIT: Originally, my greatest issue was the oblivion gates popping up everywhere. Well, now there aren't any. And the game has decided to perform signifcantly faster now, so to rewrite it, I'm going to give this game a 9.5/10. There were still some bugs, some were game breaking, but for the most part, this is an absolutely incredible experience that I wish I could recommend everyone to play right this instant. Sure, €55 is a steep asking price, but this time, we can appreciate an Elder Scrolls for real. It may be janky, it may have some outdated rpg elements, but this is a game with soul. A game that bridges the old and the new and combines it perfectly.

With the coming of Space Engineers 2, I am tempted to write a review of a game I have played for a long while. This is Spaceship the Game. To quote one old review I found many years ago, it's practically: "Build something for several hours, maybe even days, and then watch it all get destroyed within the next 10 seconds. Then, you do it all again!" And this was before the game had features that would let you save your ships, let alone copy and paste them everywhere.

If you've ever played Minecraft in your life, you'd find this game to be relatively reminiscent, except your blocks are a moving platform. The construction is similar to that as well, where you lay down blocks on top of one another, and you can practically make shapes. But that's just your armor. Eventually, you'll get into more advanced things, like conveyors, engine power, storage, rotors and gyroscopes.

Creativity in this game is practically endless. You can build massive spaceships that have an absurd amount of layers to it's armor, miniature planets with the Spherical Gravity Generator, oxygen farms, a hybrid aircraft that is able to take you to space and back to a planet's atmospheric surface, and so much more. I remember fondly the moments where I would make large ballistic missiles in the game, but I always end up having trouble with turrets being far better shots with point defense than a person ever will. So, the solution? Create artificial fragmentation! Use the magic of gravity to force debris your target's way, and then simply plow through with your ballistic missiles.

Essentially, when you start getting the hang of this long game, you will create so many wonderful little experiments and things that you will enjoy. 6 years well spent in development, I'd say, and onto the next adventure that is Space Engineers 2. 10/10 good luck, KSH! Hope you'll give us all the cool stuff in the next game :)

I find it hard to describe this game properly. You cannot call it a dungeon crawler, as it doesn't have elements of one, yet the game is for a majority of a time in a dungeon. Better yet, you can even pick the dungeons you want to face later on. Still, the core of a dungeon crawler isn't there. But don't let that deter you from playing it!

It has a pretty unique card mechanic, and after a while, you will also see that it has roguelike elements to it. The first couple of rounds, you won't really succeed or go too far, but with each failure, you get stronger stuff, you upgrade by investing in yourself more, and you of course train your close friend.

One of the key highlights I found in the game is the very unique art. There were days where I would browse the Internet, looking for anything interesting, and this art is a bit reminiscent to the doujins I used to read. Of course, those were very sultry and indecent, but I enjoy reading them.

Another highlight are some of the card mechanics. Ultimates are incredibly good things, where if the target's health is divisible by the number on the ultimate card, you will deal a substantial amount of health on them. I love math in games like this! Although the charge card is a bit more situational (seeing as when your partner is afflicted with a status ailment, she won't be able to cast anything), it is still exceptional when the card has a very high value, like 7.

And of course, because this is a hentai game, you also get to fool around with Nao. Overall, I think it is actually well done, with loads of scenes that are put into play, and you get to decide how sex will end based on your final choice, I find it very good. Her details change as well based on how "trained" she is in the areas you decide to get intimate with. Very cute!

I have, however, several complaints. First, the price is exceptionally steep for what this game has to offer. For approximately 2-4 hours of content, it is quite pricey. However, it's also the quality of the content that matters, and... well, I would say I can justify it somewhat, but only barely.

Second complaint to go for is the repetitive gameplay mechanics. While the combat will start off relatively refreshing and fun, I got bored of it after quite sometime of having to go through the same enemies each time. Granted, at the later stages of the game, I could crush them completely, but with the next general unpleasantness that I had experienced in my next issue, it becomes a relatively large drag, especially when a whole lot of enemies are a bit same-y.

Third complaint is not letting us simply choose at which floor we started in. I get that there may be some limiting factors, and traversing the explored floors at double speed is still a good thing in cutting the floor in half, the enemies will still generally show up and ruin that alacrity.

Fourth and final complaint isn't really a complaint but more or less just me asking for more from this developer. I see loads of potential here and they may be onto something here with how it all looks. I'll be sure to wait for more when the time arrives.

STILL, despite all the excitement I have for another story with the somewhat same look and design as this one, I can't overlook the other three problems I found in game. I give it a 6.5/10. It's not bad, with awesome art and some relatively cool looking UI, I cannot overlook some of the repetitive gameplay. It's still a game, after all.

This game says it the first time you start the game: War is NOT fair. It is NOT easy. You will experience scenarios where the odds are going to be against you, and so, don't expect the game to hold your hand. But, keep in mind, it goes two ways. Sometimes the enemy will also face nigh unbeatable odds. Maybe your soldiers will be the creme of the crop, able to gun down anyone in an instant.

I remember playing this game series as far back as 2010, I think? When the game was around on Kongregate. Mud and Blood 2 was a game about UNFAIR RANDOM BRUTALITY, or URB, which is also the first three letters of the creator of the game, UrbanProphet. You are in charge of starting out with 4 regular army grunts, and the objective was to hold off the German counterattack during Operation Lüttich. IRL, the Germans would fail, but it cost several thousand lives. You were supposed to hold them off for as long as you can, until the US base could move their HQ, I think? But, truthfully, the Germans will always overrun you, because after several waves, they will send the worst of the worst towards you, like a Tiger 1 tank to face off against your small defence force. And those things were near indestructible.

Now, why do I tell all this? Because, the Steam version has that happen to you, in classic mode. Pretty much the same premise, but you have way more options and weaponry than the standard American weapons. And you've got plenty of ground to cover as well before the Germans reach the end. Set up a defensive chokepoint at the front and watch as the germans try everything in their power to get through. Timeless, with certain adjustments.

This time, you also have Campaign mode. Lead the revered 29th division and Spend 333 to go through hell and high water as you make your march towards Berlin, commanding a small squad of 6 soldiers, who will all die. Watch them grow, become total badasses as they kill all the Germans they can see. But, here's my warning to you: Don't get excited for your troops levelling upwards. War is bad for your health, and it's very likely that your soldiers will die. The amount of time that I lost a man to a single headshot was staggeringly high. I had to redo my army 9 times in St. Lo because they all got 1 shot by a random vet from the eastern front.

On my second replay of the campaign (I reset it because I couldn't bear to see all my good men die anymore), everything was going well. The OG six soldiers were there, alive and well, and I called in a B-17. It turned everything to hell, yes. But the second I walked past a hedgerow, a German flamethrower BBQ'd 5 of my 6 soldiers in an instant. There was no saving them, as I had left behind the fire extinguisher for a panzerfaust. I then rage quit the game and reset the campaign. That all happened 30 minutes ago.

An excellence in brutality with video games, where the only difficulty to play is hard, or baby pink training mode. 10/10

Be wary of the spoilers ahead, as it goes on with my experiences as well, how the story started and how it eventually ended.

If you intend on playing this DLC, be prepared to go on quite the journey to get there, as it's one you'll get to by the near end of the game's main storyline. You do get the option to skip all the way to Phantom Liberty, though. Do I recommend it? Only if you finished the game as a whole. In my case, I decided to play through the whole game, from start to finish. During the start, you will get a quest that simply tells you to progress through your life at Night City. Until when, I don't quite know.

Anyhow, you may notice that the area known as Dogtown is completely separated from Pacifica. It's basically military enclave owned by Colonel Kurt Hansen. And the story of Phantom Liberty plays a major part in that area, as you would go on to save the president of the NUSA from the top dog that is Kurt. Despite it being a total trainwreck, and a relatively small area, it had a hell of a lot of content in a small decrepit corner in Night City. It's overgrown, kind of tough to navigate with some vehicles, you know, the works. If you're wondering what happened to Pacifica's Mr. Hands, you'll also find him here eventually.

You can also do some gigs for him, and these are by far the most detailed and exciting gigs in the game. They are twice as long and definitely have a lot more story to it compared to all the other gigs in Night City. In one, you get to Find out about the underground child sport academy, where 10-13 year olds are trained to become the best sports players in history, all while getting some extreme cybernetics. They're still kids, and they're getting chrome! It was honestly a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up gig the more I think about it.

Aside from that, all the characters didn't feel shallow at all, perfectly written. Characters like Solomon Reed, for instance, felt exceptionally human. He had fears, things he wanted to protect, things he cherish, and he felt responsible for the things that wronged her. Songbird, as well, had her reasons for bringing down the presidential space plane, as all she wanted was to survive after some relic and Blackwall biz. She also yearned to survive. One thing I am upset about is with how Alex got rudely tossed aside after killing Kurt Hansen, if you decided to side with Songbird. It's like that character just disappears from the face of the planet after that mission.

One other thing that I truly enjoyed as well is the whole spy story we got going on. You sneak into heavily secured buildings, and you got to help secret agents, as well as swear an oath to the NUSA, which I would proceed to break after deciding to side with So Mi (Songbird).

The end, I can't help but feel exceptionally satisfied with it. At the end of it all, after going through TNA, breaking into Orbital Air's Tycho Terminal, you realize they knew you were there. President Myers and Solomon Reed all came for you, but they didn't know Songbird was with you as well. So, after a massive shootout against the black ops soldiers, and being surrounded, you were forced to use some magical Blackwall daemons, in which you can disintegrate everything in your way, including the chopper. You make it to the end, where Songbird reveals that she was doing it to save herself, knowing full well that the cure was a one time thing for one person. Still, selflessly, you marched on to the spaceship, and one final encounter with Solomon Reed, who still wants her back for the NUSA. Naturally, I said no and shot him dead on the spot. I hadn't wanted to kill him, but it seemed like the only choice in the matter. It wasn't even a long boss fight or anything like that. Just one shot to the temple, and it was over. Plug Song for a wild space ride, and watch as you're now just back to square one.

A beautiful DLC that was worth every penny, yet some minor mistakes here and there does reduce the score only a slight bit, as well as the fact I don't get to keep the power to kill everyone using magical Blackwall lightning. 9¾/10.

The story of Sam and Max trying to hunt down the man who's name literally translates to "Ugly Scrotum", except this time, Sam and Max's personalities got the Freaky Friday treatment.

I have been left with a relatively mixed feeling with this game. The tuning your car to be a death machine that breaks down after a few nudges from other opponents, the repetitive side content and the relatively uninspiring combat. Although I found it enjoyable, I did have to force myself to like the game and to finish the things that I wanted to finish. Liberating areas is slow and tiring, and like I just said, your magnum opus isn't really as impressive as you think.

The story follows Max as he tries to find the plains of silence, only for him to be sidetracked by Scrotus taking what he loves and holds dear, and giving you a tool named Chumbucket. He's a very useful tool, in the fact that he can make more stuff for you, shoot a harpoon to destroy tires, and be a plot point somewhere down the line.

Some upgrades could definitely have been received earlier for the car, like the faster repair speed. Honestly, I really wouldn't want to spend 20 hours not having super fast repair speed again :/

Aside from that, I really enjoyed the story and some aspects of the gameplay. But when it comes to those bases, I ended up steering clear from them more often than not because I can't be bothered blowing up 10 transfer tanks with explosives, or to kill all of Stank Gum's Legions. And finally, that ending made me realize something about before and after I finished playing the game. Nothing really changes. Even after killing the big bad, you end up back to where you started.

7/10 it was fun, but I don't think I'll be able to bear trying to 100% this game.

Aura: Hentai Cards is, despite a hentai game, also a card game.

My first complaint with this is the tutorial that takes forever to complete. Good luck with cards that deal 10 damage each against a character with 750 health. Also, the boss
you're fighting against can heal 100 hp. Albeit it being rare, I wish the tutorial was quicker.

Secondly, the combat ai is relatively unfair. I get that you want us to have a challenge in fight, but I don't think I'm able to take on a boss that stunlocks me by constantly
shielding itself every time I take off that damage shield. Even worse, I gotta beat these opponents if I want to get other cards.

The tutorial also doesn't really cover some other important mechanics, like levelling up. I had to find that on my own by seeing the skills button on the top bar, that also
lists my stats. Better yet, after the combat tutorial, you pretty much get thrown into the deep end, to learn the game on your own. Already, I feel lost and confused.

And then there's the whole visual novel aspect that's disappointing. You're telling me I have to click on the text to continue instead of anywhere on the screen?

And now we go over the aesthetics of the game. Admittedly, it leaves much to be desired. The general artstyle tends to be inconsistent, and the voice acting could use plenty of work as well.

I get that it's your first game ever. And despite all my points of criticisms, I see a pretty decent card game, despite your opponent's tendency to be indestructible and the gameplay being egregiously slow. 4/10 it's okay, but it really needs a lot of work, and as of now, I cannot recommend this.

What superlatives can describe a game like Balatro? Some might say most addicting, some say the strangest, but to me, it's the best game to come out this very year.

Now, I'm an avid poker player myself, so I know most of the things you can do. Well, this game takes some of the things you know, add up a few more, and then you get to score pretty damn high. Of course, at the start, you'll be pretty new, still learning what everything does, and that is completely fair.

There are many cards that you can buy to enhance your deck of 52 cards, that you can customize in your own way whenever you want to. You can set fire to your cards with the Hanged Man tarot card, or change them all into a single suit at the cost of -1 hand size. The choices you can make is infinite.

Then there are the jokers. Goodness me, 150 jokers that all do different effects. Some are just insane, but the best are the legendary ones that you have to find a very special card for to unlock. Also, here's a little tip that you would want. Buy the Gros Michel. It's so good, because by the time you kill it, eventually you may come up to the Cavendish. Beautiful banana that is superior to it in every way.

The vouchers as well are an interesting one. You can buy vouchers as a way to permanently upgrade your hand, discard size, and even add a joker slot! How do you do it? Well, lets just say you gotta pay $10 for nothing.

Overall, a masterpiece in simplicity in a very addicting package. 10/10 absolute perfection.

Don't think I need to explain how I know all of this without having to play more than 5 minutes of the game.

Whenever I look for these sort of games, there's one thing to keep in mind: I love a good story. Many times I look into these sort of games and I find the story to be coming up short. I mean, lets be real, most people who come to buy this game were only interested in the numerous amounts of H scenes. And visual novels are a bit like comics, so I get why some people don't like them.

Really well made adult visual novels tend to be a rarity. And with many good games in that genre coming out (i.e Kaiju Princess or even Take Me to the Dungeon!!, both of which I really enjoyed playing), I find it difficult at times to justify buying any sort of games like that. There's lots of options available, and not all of them feature things.

Life With a College Girl was definitely a game that came up short in features, don't get me wrong. Day after day it felt endlessly repetitive: Wake up, go watch tv or chat with Snow (The girl), get money by working, drink tea, or chat with Snow (Also, you can start doing things with her), and then at night again, sleep early or chat or have more sex, this time with different options. Day after day, grinding that money to buy items for her to view different cutscenes. Then, Sunday arrives and you get to take her out on a date! Though, it might just be that these interactions will lead you to the good or bad ending, the pacing felt a bit too rigid. It felt like I was going to get her approval whether I want to or not.

You would also expect more interactions based on how she felt about you, from "strange" to "in love". While it adds a few more interactions, it doesn't really affect H scenes, or how she speaks to you in general.

But, like I said, the thing I absolutely love was a good romance story. If you're a sucker for such stories, this is definitely the visual novel for you. I absolutely enjoyed the story, the events that followed, learning about another character's backstory as well as get to know the protagonist as well. The ending (I got the good one) made me simply smile and glad that Snow's Father was very understanding and even got to shed some light as to why he was so overprotective towards Snow. And then to watch the both Snow and the protagonist get married made me so happy. BUT! At that point, I felt like I hit a wall. Literally. I couldn't progress any further into the game. Anymore interaction was just gone. You could click as much as you like, but nothing would happen. You were stuck watching The protagonist and Snow kissing.

Overall, I was very satisfied with how the story ended, but I felt frustrated at how the game ended. I really would have loved an endless day mode, where we could just see further, or even be able to unlock all of the cutscenes to see what our choices could have led to. I guess we'll never know. 7/10 I am glad I got to enjoy an excellent story... if not for some technicalities I found upsetting. Still, great story, let me know when the dev makes a new game :)

Edited for improved readability.

For those who want to avoid spoilers, you can rest easy knowing that spoilers have been censored.

Right, so, I came into the expansion excited as everyone. They had learned their lessons from the beginning of Endwalker and solved the congestion problems. Well, the first entrants did of course fill up to the brim with thousands of people in the queue, but I got in relatively quickly! And, despite everything... the first part really was a challenge to go through. Not in difficulty, mind you, but in how slow it all was.

I get it, we're basically having a soft-reboot and we need to really get into wordlbuilding, but... it's been 40 main quests, and nothing much has happened! Most of what we did was fight the small mobs and have to rely on the omnipresent being known as Wuk Lamat. She's everywhere, even when I sleep now! Each time I close my eyes, I see Wuk Lamat. Just her. To be fair, it is her story for this expansion, so I can understand if we're a bit of a sideshow in this whole situation. But I digress. Her presence in the entire expansion is overwhelming.

SPOILERS FOR LVL 95+:
After The cooking challenge, which was arguably the most boring part for me. It was literally no fighting, just listening again about how that chad king Gulool Ja Ja united people with food.. But, after that part, the expansion finally shook things up We would go on to be in The wild west areas of the map, and follow a somewhat mediocre story of a corrupt deputy smuggling riches into Tuliyollal. I do say mediocre, but it was an enjoyable idea, until the town over would completely detonate inside a sphere and give everyone in that one a time skip of 30 years. So then, after all that is said and done, we were graced by truly some of the most fascinating storytelling I've had in a long time.

SPOILERS FOR LVL 97+:
Solution Nine was probably the best city in the game for the longest time! Everything was beautiful, the Neon lighting and futuristic decor were all incredible. And although many would argue that the setting wouldn't make any sense with the setting of the game, I find that it was a completely welcome but sensible change of pace.

SPOILERS FOR LVL 99+:
Finally, the part that I found most incredible was the last area. We would indeed find the city of gold, but it was at times very disturbing. It was practically heaven, people were able to live life and enjoy everything, but they required aether to survive, and that already was in a dire state. It was a truly beautiful sight, with the nostalgic and sorrowful background music. They were all memories of a person given life and conciousness, yet it felt like we were killing them. They were granted an eternal heaven, but it felt bitter pulling the plug on them.

At that point, it became clear that Dawntrail's story was not just the beginning of a new adventure, but it was also a story about letting go. We would say goodbye to those we had only just met, and watching Krile reunite briefly with her mother and father, as well as Erenville getting to spend time with his until we bravely said goodbye, choosing to let go of the past and moving on. the story truly finished on a perfect high note that I was truly able to enjoy. The city we left behind after we were done was a husk of what it originally was. All greyed out, lifeless, with only the sky and no lights from any of the buildings to greet us. It was sorrowful and quite the tearjerker. And yet, it was a truly beautiful ending.

As for the other content, like the dungeons, trials, and the future raids, I held myself to a high expectation, and that one was truly innovative. I had A LOT of fun playing this expansion, and the design in these dungeons were utterly beautiful, with the looks and adventures we got to enjoy absolutely brilliant.

The story: 7/10 (The buildup was some of the most boring moments I've had, but that truly powerful ending... I feel I can be pleased with what it had achieved and how it was written.)

The dungeons and trials: 10/10 (Easily the coolest part about this expansion. Each dungeon was absolutely phenomenal with the boss mechanics, and the trials had some of the coolest boss moves I've ever seen. Truly different and innovative to the very end.)

Overall, a respectable 8.5/10. It was an excellent expansion that I managed to thoroughly enjoy. I return to the game happy and excited for what else there is to come.