Recent reviews by Zrehyl

Will write a more in-depth review later, but so far I'm really glad to be back in the Zone!

Currently still suffering from some visual glitches, but haven't encountered any game-breaking bugs 4 hours in so far.

EDIT : There was a small hotfix after I ended my game-session yesterday, started it up again earlier, seems like it's fixed (?) no textures glitching out today, so that's nice!

The Key-Mapping is a bit odd, but I'm getting used to it.

The only thing that really bothers me a bit more is the lighting...yes it looks amazing when it's daytime and not raining, but when it's night or raining (or worse BOTH) it feels like I'm having trouble focussing my eyes on screen and the flimsy flashlight Skif has doesn't help at all, it makes the problem even worse. I assume it could be due to the fact that you can't fully turn off Depth of Field effects (?) as of yet (there was mentions that you can't turn off motion blur in some reviews, but that has been patched so we'll wait and see I guess).

Overall I'm having a good time with Stalker 2 so far, but I'd probably wait a few more days (If you can) so the devs can patch the game a bit more!

EDIT 2 :

With now over 40 hours into the game the reviews remains positive, the overall atmosphere it builds is still unmatched. However there are some serious flaws that really need adressing (not just in this review but also through Patches by the Developers).

1) They are still working on Balancing, which is a good thing in my opinion since some mutants are a bit too powerful, which also is part of complaint number 2.

2) Enemy spawning is completely wack at the moment. As I'm editing this review I've just been to a place near Duga, fought 2 Groups of Bloodsuckers (2 in the town and 3 again exiting the town), go to Duga, do a main quest, walk back get attacked by Bloodsucker again...once you learned how to deal with them (Shotgun works best for me) they become a bit of an annoyance since you encounter them so frequently...

The same with bandits literally spawning out of thin air just meters away from you. I understand the game wants to give you a bit of a challenge, but it's just done in such a bad way that completely takes me out of the immersion of the Zone. Hopefully they'll work on this with future patches.

3) As much as I hate "Game Journalist" mode (you can turn the yellow paint highlighting btw, thank you for that!) and babying the players, there are moments in the game where I feel completely lost and don't know what to do or where to go. The Markers on the Map aren't exactly helpful sometimes. There was a certain occasion where I had to talk with someone near Rostok in a factory building and I probably walked the perimiter for a good 10 minutes without realizing there was a broken piece of brick wall to enter the building.

Did I feel extremely stupid? Yes, absolutely! Could the game do a better job at describing things? Maybe!

4) Quest Structuring / Quality of Life Features, this will go in one point since they interlock with each other. The game sets you on a path, there'll be things to look at, things to collect, stashes, etc. , etc. which is super fun if you're easily distracted (Like me). What the game doesn't provide enough is a chance to sell/store/repair things along your path. The Personal Stash is amazing, I just wish the game would utilize it a bit more, especially if you're doing Main Quests and can't (or don't feel like) just walk 1-2 kilometers to store or repair your gear.

5) a positive note regarding the ingame-music, I was very pleased to find a lot of ukrainian artists featured in this (some like SadSvit that I already listened to prior to the game's release). Just wish we could listen to music on the go through the PDA , but I'll leave that one to the modders to figure out :D

Overall this game remains to have amazing potential and keeps entertaining and mesmerizing me with it's depiction of the Exclusion Zone, but is lacking in other areas that hopefully will get adressed with the next patches (3 Patches already out as I'm editing this review, good!)


EDIT 3 :

Patch 1.0.3 installed, about ~50 hours in, the game now keeps crashing randomly. FPS keep dropping too so idk what they did that might've fixed other peoples problems maybe, for me it certainly has made the game worse..

Nachdem das Spiel bei mir seit 2017 in der Bibliothek vor sich hinverstaubte, habe ich mit Release der Remaster Version des ersten Teils vor kurzem mal wieder richtig Lust auf ein Point and Click Adventure bekommen. Aber es sollte halt nicht irgendeins sein und nicht auch schon tausendmal durchgespielt sein, daher wurde es Zeit endlich mal Teil 5 der legendären Baphomet's Fluch Reihe zumindest mal anzuspielen! Und es hat sich doch gelohnt finde ich!

Sehr gefallen hat mir der Mix aus 3D Charakteren und 2D Hintergründen, ebenso der Comic-Artige Untertitel Stil.

Ebenso die (wie immer) fantastische deutsche Synchronisation mit dem altbekannten Alexander Schottky der seit jeher George seine Stimme leiht. Auch die neue Stimme von Nico gefiel mir sehr gut, zwar merkt man an einigen Stellen dass sie leider nicht mehr von Franziska Pigulla († 2019) gesprochen wird, aber doch sehr stark an das Original herankommt. Es gab auch einen kleinen "Moment mal...die Stimme kenn ich doch?" Moment als das erste mal Medovsky's Stimme zu hören ist, das ist niemand anderes als Holger Mahlich, noch besser bekannt als der gute alte Inspektor Cotta von den drei ??? :D

Da es ein Point-And-Click Adventure ist brauch man zur Steurung eigentlich nicht viel erwähen, aber teilweise reagierten George oder Nico nicht immer sofort auf Klicks, zudem ist es manchmal Schwierig wenn Links oder Rechts der Hintergrund noch weitergeht da den Cursor Millimeter genau zu platzieren weil er sonst auf dem anderen Bildschirmen landet bei mir. Aber das ist wirklich kleinkariertes Rumgemacker, da gibt's schlimmeres.

Allgemein hatte das Spiel einen guten Schwierigkeitsgrad finde ich, da es doch einige Stellen gab wo ich mir den Kopf dran zerbrochen habe (bin jetzt auch nicht die hellste Kerze auf der Torte manchmal...) Zum Glück gab es aber ein wirklich gut gemachtes Tipp System das einem nicht sofort die Lösung verrät sondern erstmal nochmal einen Denkanstoß gibt den man eventuell übersehen hat.

Was ich allerdings wirklich ein bisschen "Schade" finde so merkwürdig das klingen mag : George & Nico sind unsterblich, egal wie dumm man sich anstellt. Beim ersten Baphomet's Fluch hatte ich teilweise noch wirklich Angst als man damals aus dem Hotel Ubu flüchten musste und tatsächlich sterben konnte...gut da war ich auch erst 9 oder 10 und habe das "heimlich" auf dem PC meines Bruder gespielt aber trotztem gab das dem ganzen nochmal einen extra Kick. Gab einige Situationen in Teil 5 wo ich dachte "Na, kann man eventuell doch sterben?" aber nie was dergleichen passiert, "schade"!

Alles in allem kann sich Teil 5 jedoch fast schon in die "Klassiker" 1 und 2 (und natürlich 2.5) einreihen. Teil 3 gefiel mir auch noch ganz okay, aber die 3D Grafik ist halt echt nicht schön gealtert im Vergleich zum 1. und 2. Teil. Teil 4 habe ich ehrlich gesagt nie gespielt, habe aber auch nicht wirklich viel positives darüber gehört, daher war ich umso glücklicher dass Teil 5 dann doch so viel Spaß gemacht hat mit ca. 17h Spielzeit (mit Pausen).

TLDR; Kann man machen wenn man Baphomet's Fluch mag! :D

Kinda like X-Files, but you only do the "boring" computer work while the Agents are out there in the field.
That's exactly what I hoped this game would be though!

Loving the 90s retro vibes as well.
Only 2,5 h in currently but if we're already this deep on day Three, oh boy I can't wait to finish this game as soon as possible!

For ~12-13€ you can't go wrong with this if you enjoy these kind of investigation games (I do, a lot actually!).
If this game doesn't hook you in the first two hours like it hooked me, you can always refund it. Give it a shot! :)

EDIT : Completed the game after ~4.5 Hours, after a huge ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ twist near the end. I kinda wish this game was a bit longer, but I got an achiement for watching the Credits that reads "There's more to it than meets the eye" ?? Potentially some more clues for a new playthrough I missed?? We'll see!

Awesome Demo! Didn't even have this game on my radar, super excited for the full version now!
Loving the whole 90s/early 2000s aesthetics, music is amazing as well.
Tons of Customization options as well, this ticks off a LOT of boxes for me what I want from a (somewhat) casual racing game.

Gonna head over to their Kickstarter page and fund this :D

I don't like MMO's, but I love this game!

I've played since Launch on and off and since it's on Steam now as well I'm getting back into it after finally finding my login information again :D

I can do everything I ever wanted from a Star Wars game :

- Be a Sith
- Be cruel to people for the sake of it
- Duel Wield a Yellow and a Red Lightsaber (it looks cool, shut up!)
- Have a fun time playing alone with the OPTION to engage in multiplayer stuff

Besides all that, the story has been very enjoyable on every character I've played so far.

Don't know how much more content they can squeeze out of this thing but there's another update just around the corner at the point of writing this review.

This is already too many words for a Free-to-Play game, give it a shot if you like Star Wars I guess lol

Fantastic story game that I somehow must've missed on the Steam Store so far (I've heard of it and remember glancing over it's Store page at some point but never got it actively recommended).

I'm usually not a huge fan of Stealth games, but this one has a somewhat easy difficulty so you don't have to plan like 15 steps ahead to make it past some guards.
The game however fails at certain points to clarify what exactly you have to do, especially towards the end of the game there's a lot of hints and explanations missing that can get frustrating quickly. Having bought the two Plague Tale games in a bundle I'm hoping this is something they have improved on.

The first installment of "A Plague Tale" is also very decent looking given it's almost 5 years old at the time of this review and I've definitely seen worse. They also did a fine job with all the characters you meet along your journey as well as the main characters. I also like the occasional puzzle elements where you have to clear a path through the Rats, not overly challenging but still fun.


Where the game loses some massive points though is the Game Engine, yes it is pretty! But even a 2019 game should not be running on an engine where certain elements break or straight up not work without certain graphic tweaks. Once you come along the Lights you can turn left and right you will notice that you can only turn them in one direction until you get stuck. This problem was resolved by enabling Vsync..fair enough, I would've overlooked that issue but then I reached the "Blood Ties" chapter and the game engine completely ♥♥♥♥ itself. Had to put it in Borderless Windowed and Vsync to be able to pass a certain point in that chapter. That is NOT okay and should've been fixed by Patches after all these years now.

It is still enjoyable despite it's technical issues though, so I'd give it a 8/10 since it did entertain me for around 12 hours but those engine related problems really shouldn't be a thing these days.

Overall I have to say they did a great job porting the feeling of the original games to a new era!
It's essentially what I expected from THPS 1 & 2 with modern graphics.

I saw a lot of people mention that they also added a few new songs but once I saw Destroy Boys, FIDLAR and the Viagra Boys appear in the bottom right corner I knew they did a good job with the selection. Fantastic Skate music imo so I don't mind this at all!

Can get quite frustrating sometimes but I'll blame that on my ancient XBOX Controller that I'm using for this game.

Just make sure you get it on Sale, don't buy full-price that's just too expensive for this game.

Where to start with this....It's not SUPER bad, but in the current Early Access state it is in right now it's just not good either.

Once the game is more fleshed out I'm willing to give it another shot for sure. But currently it just feels like yet another generic UE5 Zombie-Survival Game. There's nothing I can think of that makes this game "unique" other than the clunkyness of movement (especially melee combat feel super janky).

The game overall just has that "bought Unreal Assets" stink to it, especially the UI and Inventory are extremely generic.

The graphics are kinda pretty atleast, but that's mostly thanks to UE5 so I can't really even give 'em that point...


If I had spend more than 10€ for this I probably would've refunded this, but as I said, maybe I'll check it out again in a year or so.

Just save your money if you consider purchasing this.

Get a Pirated Copy instead and you'll never have to worry about Bethesda updating a 10+ year old game to make a few cents on the side with their paid mod garbage NOBODY wants (they still didn't get the memo).

Literally broke the entire game for anyone who played with mods for no reason other than greed.

After having a lot of fun with this (AWESOME) blast from the past in just a couple of hours I gotta give a positive review here.
I already own this for the PS4 but since I rarely play games on it I was more than happy to see this coming to PC as well.

Game looks pretty good, runs very smooth (FPS unlocked/Vsync off). No issues with SLI either as far as I can tell.
This is a game you wanna use a Gamepad for though...seriously. It works fine with a mouse and keyboard but just hasn't the same feel to it. I use an XBOX Controller (a game that was a PlayStation exclusive back then, remastered for PC..played with an XBOX Controller, what a clusterf**k) and that works good enough for me.

I was gonna give this a negative until a few minutes ago for this reason :

I could play Crash Bandicoot 3 : Warped just fine until I reached LVL 15 ("Double Headed"). The game would load and bring up only a black screen. The game could still be paused, I could even quit back to the warp screen. Did some research on Steam discussions and tried out a few things, nothing worked and I got quit angry since I was enjoying this game a lot until I ran into this problem that kept me from progressing.

If you have the same issue with levels not loading and giving you a black screen :

Verify your game files, my game loaded another 850 MB and that fixed it for me!

With that being said, I will most likely be enjoying the rest of these 3 fantastic games I grew up with and a lot of others seem to think likewise :)