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Felvidek is a bizarre and yet oddly enticing retro RPG set in 1500s Bohemia, in which you control a love-jaded boozehound knight called Pavel and his unfortunate holy man tag-along Matiej, as they uncover a cultist plot that threatens the land.

The gameplay is straightforward, as much as you’d expect for an RPG maker style game. There really isn’t anything in this regard that makes it stand out particularly. That said, in this game, you don’t actually level up. So many of the fights rely on strategic thinking as opposed to grinding and overpowering. Sometimes it’s an obvious solution, but other times fighting directly isn’t the answer. This isn’t a downside perse, as it gives finding new equipment and exploring for items a much bigger payoff. The fighting animations and enemy pixel art are good.

Graphically, the game takes on an aesthetic reminisce of an old Gameboy game, using a very minimal colour pallete consisting of washed out yellows, browns and purples. While this might not seem exciting, I feel it suits the time period the game is set. There’s even a few cinematics thrown in at points in the storyline, which perfectly suited the rest of the games theme.

The music track really is quite wonderful, at first I was a bit unsure, but it grew on me very quickly. It’s very lo-fi / funky / electronic at times, but some tracks are so catchy I listened to them outside of the game entirely as they were stuck in my head, which can’t be a bad sign!

Overall, I’d highly recommend this to any RPG fan, or any fan of those strange little gaming gems that come around from time to time, like Felvidek. It’s a crazy adventure bordering on the absurd at times, striking a likeness to games like Hylics with a bit of Monty Python style humour for good measure. The game practically oozes soul and the characters are so well written, foibles and all. Great work Jozef and Vlado!

Pros
-Excellent soundtrack, some really memorable tunes that perfectly hit the crazy adventures the protagonists are on.
-Fantastic ye olde style writing that captures the absurdity of their adventures. The comedic parts genuinely made me laugh out loud.
-Likeable characters all around, even the antagonists.
-Awesome side content that rewards exploration.

Cons
- Combat can be a little heavy on requiring certain tactics and items to win, so some trial and error is required. You can save whenever you like, so take advantage of this!
- Unfortunately I encountered a couple of crashes in my playthrough. Nothing too major though.

It’s been a very very long time since the original came out, so an old beloved series like this was always going to present a challenge. But considering the difficulty in obtaining a copy legitimately or even having the knowhow to emulate it properly, it was in danger of falling further into obscurity, and more recent projects either being either lackluster or outright cancelled (P.T on the PS3), the idea of a Silent Hill remake was always going to ruffle some feathers.

I was introduced to the series with Silent Hill 1 through a Playstation demo disk, which I was blatantly too young to understand, and it terrified me. But it stuck in my head for a long time which made me come back to the series to overcome it – and it quickly became one of my favourite series in gaming. I must have done around 10 playthroughs of SH2 alone – and I can fully vouch for this remake.

I was apprehensive going in, but Bloober has done a fantastic job bringing the series to life again to allow a new crowd of fans to see the atmosphere, tone and horror of Silent Hill. These aspects have been nailed, and while the game is significantly different in terms of its map design, the original content has clearly been respected and considered. New things have been tried, but all are in keeping with the gameplay loop you’d expect from a Silent Hill game.

To touch on differences between the OG game and the remake – firstly the controls have been massively modernised, which presents the first minor issue with the game – James is very agile and enemy attack patterns can be learned, which can make combat feel less about survival than the original. It feels as though you’re expected to rise to the challenge of the combat and running away seems a lot harder – considering enemies can follow you to different rooms now, and the corridors feel like they have less space. Enemies are also much more agile and even react to you in unexpected ways, like running, hiding and setting up ambushes. I don’t dislike this though, it’s just different.

The controls are more akin to something like Callisto protocol or the RE4 remake, over the shoulder reactive shooting with a dedicated melee and dedicated firearm button essentially. All modern day QoL improvements which some may feel take away some of the feeling of helplessness that added to the horror elements of the original game, whether it was intended or not!

The visuals are gorgeous. The trademark fog of Silent Hill drifts and billows in the rustic dilapidated streets, looming around every corner and obscuring the shifting shapes of enemies staggering around. Massive creepy looking makeshift walls blocking off the exits, layers of corroded metal. There’s some really cool graphical features too like leaves and discarded trash floating around in the streets, and fabrics blowing in the wind. A lot of attention to detail has been made in the games design, and it shows, it really is quite beautiful in its own oppressive way.

The characters and writing, in my opinion, have been improved somewhat. There are slight things that are worse in the remake, but I think it boils down to preference. The acting/writing wasn’t great in the original, and even worse in the HD collection. But the uncanny voice acting added to the otherworldly feel, so it’s hard to say whether this was intentional or not. A lot of that is gone in the remake, but it sounds more natural now. The additional characters are more empathetic in some ways, but overall again Bloober did a good job. You’ll hear a lot of arguments regarding the characters, specifically Maria and Angela, but a lot of them are bad faith arguments either from people more invested in the culture wars than Silent Hill as an IP, or the sort of people where nothing would ever impress them over the originals. My own personal negative of the new characters was that Maria seemed a bit too human considering the dubious nature of her existence. In the OG game she seemed like a demon/snake wearing human skin, and this came across in the way she spoke. Angela seems better though, sorry to those who disagree, but in this she actually seems like a 19 year old and not the 40 year old I thought she was meant to be in the original.

With all that said, Silent Hill 2 is a great remake and I highly recommend it. I’d love to see SH1, 3 and even The Room remade in this same way, and I never thought I’d say it, but it’s clear Bloober have respected the IP, respected the fans and did a good job making this a reality. Cheers!

Pros:
Gorgeous world design that considers multiple previous entries in SH.
Perfect sound design made by the OG Akira Yamaoka, and radio / menu sounds fitting of the original games and decent voice acting. (Also I’m pretty sure they used the radio sound from P.T which is awesome)
New content for returning fans of the OG with lots of nods and easter eggs to older games.
Very respectful to the original game.
Good gameplay, though there’s clearly more focus on facing enemies rather than running from them.
Enemies now have variants which is a much needed element to the game.

Cons:
The odd janky animation sometimes, when James picks up items etc.
Maria seems more human and less demon this time around.
Some traversal microstutter. Unfortunately a fairly common UE5 issue. There are some minor fixes you can find in the guides section on Steam.

Space Marine 2 is an excellent sequel to the original, improving on the original game in almost every aspect. As it currently stands, I think it's a great game and represents the 40K universe very well, capturing grand scale combat zones on gorgeous alien planets. That said, it can certainly do with some quality of life improvements, which is to be expected of most new games out the gate. Hopefully they will address certain issues quite quickly, though most of these didn't affect the game in a negative way. More details on that below.

The game itself follows the story from the first game, which was a fairly basic story about the discovery of a relic which brings about nothing but trouble for the protagonist, Titus. Essentially, he is paying penance for his "crime" in the last game, which consists of him not dying. As a result of this, he has grown distrustful of his fellow brothers, which in turn makes his brothers not trust him - along with the obvious fact that he mysteriously vanished for the last couple of centuries. The campaign takes place over 3 planets, while certain storyline events take place concurrently with the Operations game mode, which is essentially another 6 missions in co-op mode, where you can play as a custom Space Marine.

The gameplay is pretty basic. It's very similar to Gears of War without the cover system, instead relying on stunning and executing enemies to restore your overshields. You'll be mixing up melee and gun play mopping up large numbers of basic enemies while eliminating the larger threats, which mostly consist of two large factions each with around 6-7 enemy types each, and some boss type enemies too.

Overall, I do recommend this game, however I do feel that the amount of content itself is a little bit lacking. Saber have made a very good game platform for more content to be added, and I can imagine different scenarios and missions could easily be added to objective mode. Having completed the campaign, it definitely feels as though it's meant to be played co-op too, especially with all the cool cosmetics you can unlock in the multiplayer modes. These additions I feel like would be low effort for the developer, so maybe they will consider it in the future.

Other than the small quality of life improvements and a bit of tweaking on some of the multiplayer classes, I think Saber did an excellent job, and I look forward to more content. The storyline is gripping, the visuals are amazing, and it's the sort of fun gory gameplay that we used to get a lot of in gaming, so it's nice to have a callback to that.

Pros:
- Excellent visuals that brings the 40K universe to life in an authentic way.
- Captures the essence of the Space Marines in all their glory (though on harder difficulties you won't feel very powerful at all)
- Impressive horde mechanics, particularly in their movement. Climbing up walls and scrambling over each other suits the tyranids amazingly.
- Combat is fairly basic but fun, and glory killing enemies never seems to get old.

Cons:
- Gaining multiplayer XP is incredibly slow, given that you'll be repeating online content a fair bit. This is exacerbated by the fact that cosmetics use the same currency as productive upgrades such as perk points. I feel like the two should have been separated so you can work towards your favorite chapter AND progress in abilities so you can pull your weight better in teams.
- Melee in particular needs some buffs, as it tends to do little damage compared to firearms.
- Harder difficulties are quite overtuned at the moment. This is especially apparent against ranged enemies, who always seem to have a clear line of sight to your team and make extremely quick work of you while in combat.
- Missing some obvious and easy to implement quality of life improvements, such as a co-op campaign mode, customisable campaign armor sets using cosmetics from the multiplayer, and weapons carrying over from certain chapters. I noticed in the campaign, Titus regularly has his default armor and weapons, which is understandable in CGI cutscenes, but not in the in-game ones. Also, I would have preferred to have the helmets on the team for the custscenes too. There is an option for this, but it only affects gameplay moments.

Still Wakes the Deep is a great entry into the horror genre, more specifically centered around themes such as body horror, Lovecraftian elements, claustrophobia and thalassophobia. You play a character down on his luck working on an oil rig off the coast of Scotland, before the rigs drill hits an unknown entity that sets off a chain of horrific events that results in both the crew mutating, as well as the oil rig itself distorting. While being set in an environment as industrial and bleak as an oil rig, some of the cosmic horror elements in the form of the entity itself bring a slew of strangely visually pleasing aesthetics to the game, despite being hostile and quite frankly disgusting.

The story elements are well done, as is the voice acting; it’s fairly uncommon to hear British and Scottish voice actors in a game, but in a strange way it adds a level of authenticity to the games storyline in my opinion. The main character is likeable and the writing is very authentic to the Scottish. You’ll hear a lot of swearing and banter between the crew, and a lot of colloquialism that I personally really enjoy in a game.

The horror elements are great, the body horror specifically is quite magnificently gross, yet you can’t help but take a look and really examine the brutal transformations that the entity causes on board. I found myself going out of my way to find most of the dead (or not dead) crew members to see their fates. Most of these dead crew members are essentially either set pieces or hazards, but there are a few notable enemies that force stealth sections. I didn’t mind them too much but some areas did get frustrating, as the enemies movements are actually very hard to predict as they moved around the areas like giant legged spiders almost.

In terms of the gameplay, we’re really looking at loop that incorporates walking simulator elements, light parkour and a few stealth sections between, with some very minor puzzle elements of remedial tasks like turning switches off or moving carts out of the way of your path. At its core, it’s a pretty basic game and mostly an enjoyable horror experience, but due to this I can’t really imagine doing multiple playthroughs. Despite that, I would 100% recommend this game but only perhaps during a sale and not for full price – it’s a short experience but a good one nonetheless.

Pros
Excellent voice acting
Original concept and setting
Great visuals and weather effects

Cons
Not much replayability
A little on the short side

Having played the original trilogy when it first released almost 20 years ago, I had forgotten just how great this series is. Filled with amazing imagery, solid writing / voice acting and immersive gameplay that really makes you feel like a badass flying through space saving the galaxy. For me it feels a bit like a spiritual successor to the Knights of the Old Republic games in many ways, tying space sim elements to a story-deep action RPG. As the series progresses, so does the quality of life changes and positive changes to some of the weaker elements of the first game. Visually, the whole thing is stunning and still manages to hold up today - though I would recommend installing a couple of mods just to make your experience that much greater. I used the ALOT and ALOV mods which feature upscaled textures and videos.

For those completely new to the series, essentially this is a third person action RPG, using a cover system. The game tends to split between exploration, gunplay and the story-driven narrative, employing a morality system that lets you determine what kind of galactic saviour you are. You might be a paragon of hope, making decisions to be kind and benevolent, or a renegade who takes any action available to them to get the job done. Of course, many difficult decisions are present in this series, ones that will certainly carry over even from the first game to the third. That renegade decision might ultimately be the right move for example - or it might just be funny or cool!

The first game of this series released in 2007 - and it mostly holds up very well. That said, some of the controls and gunplay feel a little restrictive, and I would have liked to see more features such as FOV control or shoulder cam switching. That said, the second game vastly improves on the shooting elements. The other thing I feel I should mention is the awful EA launcher that tries forcing you to launch after you install. I highly recommend looking up the 'F@@@ EA guide' which gives you a very useful way of avoiding it altogether. Of course, there was some controversy with how the last game ended back in the day, and this ended up with a lot of drama unfortunately. Without giving too many spoilers regarding that, I'll just say the ending felt quite rushed. There are a lot of mods and a patch that Bioware released, though I never tried it myself as this is the first time I've replayed the series since completing it all those years ago.

On a final note, as anyone who is a fan of Star Trek or similar, RPGs or Sci-Fi stories, this collection is a must-have, and probably for me one of the best game series of all time.

Recommended mods:
For the entire trilogy, I recommend ALOT (Texture improvements), ALOV (AI upscaled videos) and Lighting Restoration. These mods are available for each game as packs and make a lot of improvements that bring the ME series almost to the current gen in a lot of ways.

To vastly improve the ending of ME3, I highly, highly recommend getting CEM (Citadel Epilogue Mod). This basically places one of ME3s DLCs at the end of the game, which basically acts as a heart warming goodbye to all the characters in the game. It just fits so well, especially since the DLC contrasted with the grim narrative of the final game.

Lastly, for ME3, make sure to get EGM (Expanded Galaxy Mod). This adds a huge bunch of new quests and truly difficult decisions that effect your final army for the last fight, in a totally meaningful way. It adds so much more immersion to the game - I mean a LOT. The maker of the mod deserves so much credit. There is one scene that allows you to call in the final battle near the end of the game that is genuinely one of the most kino moments in gaming I've experienced.

Pros:
Immersive and gripping storyline.
Incredible soundtrack.
Great writing and decent voice acting.
Graphics that hold up well today.

Cons:
EA Launcher (can be fixed with guide)
The ending was definitely rushed.
A small bit of clunkiness in the first game.

I've tried to play this a couple of times, but ultimately I have to just put my hands up and say it's rubbish.

It's glitchy, the pacing is terrible and even basic functions like being able to change your keys seem nigh impossible. I changed the interact button from the default 'F' to a mouse thumb button, and lo and behold I can't interact with anything anymore, even after setting back the default controls, rending the game unplayable. On a high end system, the game seems poorly optimised and stutters occasionally too. The few games I was actually able to play (I was following around another player, since I can't interact with anything) had us running around empty spaces looking for random items, artificially lengthening the already tiresome gameplay. The fact this somehow has positive reviews is astounding. Personally I think this 'game' should be removed from Steam since it barely works.

This title started off as a ground-up remake of the original Half-Life 1, arguably one of the progenitors of PC gaming as we know it today, and a fond memory for long time gamers such as myself. Completely fan-made, one wouldn’t always expect greatness from a title paying homage to another, but this game always first comes to mind when I talk with anyone about quality remakes of games.

Black Mesa is fantastic, solidly loyal to the original material of the first game while bringing in new elements, upgraded visuals and engaging gameplay. For those who haven’t played the original, you play as Gordon Freeman, scientist at a top secret underground laboratory in the desert. It starts off as a normal day, until a massive rift opens up and aliens start pouring through – not the best start to the working day! The labs are quickly compromised, and you essentially work your way through the labs looking for a way to escape and saving as many colleagues as you can.

The game is an FPS with a subtle blend of action, horror and platforming with a few puzzle elements thrown in, and is pretty linear in its progression through Black Mesa. Segments of the game are clearly separated depending on what the objective is – you’re met with dark atmospheres and tense echoing silence during horror sections, head nodding techno mixes during gunfights and science fiction synth as you take in sprawling new areas.

This games big moment for me, without spoiling anything, is when you get to the end of the labs. There’s a bit of a debate whether the new version of this section is better or not, but I personally think the remake did an incredible job reimagining this section of the game, though I will agree that a particular area of this dragged on a little too long (the conveyor belt section). That said, the parts leading up to that were so intensely atmospheric, engaging and otherworldly compared to the original, I can’t consider it a detriment to the game at all.

A must buy for any fan of Half Life or story-driven FPS games in general, and an absolute steal during sales. I think I purchased for around $5 which is insane value for money!

Pros:
A remake so good, that I consider it the definitive experience.
Great soundtrack.
Fantastic blend of gameplay styles that keep things interesting.

Cons:
It can sometimes be a little easy to get lost.
The later parts of Xen can drag on a little bit.

Stray is a wonderful mix of great visuals, compelling storytelling and endearing progression. It’s a fairly short but sweet story set in a dystopian future where humanity is missing with its legacy left behind, which you explore as a little orange cat who has been separated from its family. I am already biased with regards to this being a huge cat lover, so my heartstrings were well and truly tugged with every obstacle this little cat faced throughout the game. It’s really clear that the developers know cats well, as you can do all manner of cat behaviours, such as tearing up carpets, yowling and climbing effortlessly.

It’s a real joy to play, the movement feels good and tight and emulates the agility you would expect from playing as a cat. The storytelling is wholly told through exposition, until you reach the first hub of the game. The atmosphere is great, with neon signage and plant-life breaking through the industrial subterranean setting.

The only major negative I feel like I should bring up are the Zurks. Essentially they act as the main antagonist in the game, though they act without reason or malice – they’re basically evolved bacteria that I assume want to eat you. The problem lies in the fact that whenever they appear in the game, the chilled out aspect quickly changes to you rushing through those sections and sometimes getting overwhelmed – but it can get quite frustrating sometimes. Overall I think this detracts from the overall positive feeling of the game, and I feel as though the game would be better without those sections altogether.

There are also stealth sections which can get annoying; I’m no stranger to games like Metal Gear, but when it hit the fan at least in games like that you have the backup plan of going in guns blazing – instead you just have to try again.

Pros:
Excellent gameplay.
Simple at its core.
Heartfelt storyline; haven’t rooted for a protagonists success as much as this for a while.
Loveable characters.
Storyline isn’t in your face.

Cons:
The ending is a bit too abrupt for my liking.
Game is a little on the short side.
Enemy based sections can be quite frustrating.

Atomic Heart is essentially a story-driven atmospheric FPS game set in an alternate timeline within the Soviet Union. It’s a pretty solid game, with lots of interesting visuals and smooth gameplay with a few innovative things thrown in. I really enjoyed my time with this game, it feels very similar to games like Bioshock, Half Life and Prey. There are some aspects the game falls short on, but others it does very well in too.

The story itself is rather cut and dry, relying on exposition and audio logs to tell the full story of what’s going on. You play as Agent P3 – a right hand man to the big boss responsible for the technological uprising. Unfortunately, this presents one of the few aspects of the game I did not enjoy – the character himself. While the game has some excellent voice acting, perhaps the most important character of all, the protagonist, is very annoying. Sounding like a hyperactive happy go lucky American, it didn’t take me long to consider switching the voice acting language altogether. It wouldn’t be that bad, but the character speaks so much as well and isn’t generally that likeable. The second voice you’ll hear a lot is the protagonists nano glove, who acts as a foil and an advisor throughout the game.

The gameplay itself does vary and keeps things interesting. The controls are fluid; you can slide off things, climb, combat roll etc. There’s a lot of attention to detail for movement in general. You have your typical arsenal ranging from the kind of weapons you expect, then a slew of powers enacted through the nano-glove, essentially acting like plasmids from Bioshock. The world is a strange mix of linear pathing in industrial complexes, but then opens up into a hybrid open world, including points of interest that reward the player with upgrades as you make your way to through the story objectives. Occasionally you’ll also solve various puzzles more akin to games like Half-Life.

Overall this is a great game of its genre, and I would definitely recommend it. The visuals are great, the soundtrack is banging and the few negatives are nowhere near enough to detract from the overall experience, although I’d recommend changing the voicovers personally. I had it set to Russian voices simply for a more engaging experience.

Pros:
Solid gameplay.
Great soundtrack.
Decent amount of content.
Interesting exposition and visuals.
Robot ballerina twins.

Cons:
Main protagonist isn’t very likeable.
Flying robots get annoying at times in the open world.

Enigma bad.