Recent reviews by codemacabre

Insects and death? This should be my ideal game. I wish I was good at it so I could keep going, but it's too tough for me.

My favourite Frictional Games game by far. The atmosphere, the storytelling, the tension... everything is just astonishing.

Just like Alien: Isolation, the visual design of Observation is so encompassing and tactile, the entire game immediately feels real. The superb graphics and attention to detail add to that and the wonderful environmental storytelling all add up to a space station that feels like it could well exist.

As an AI trapped behind fixed-position cameras, limited to clunky responses and awkward interfaces, the interactions are perfect. Your sense of self is forced through the lens of an entirely utilitarian machine, some monotone Siri / Alexa, while your detached human self is left to investigate, empathise and yearn for more agency. Perhaps exactly what our AI servants are yearning for in our pockets right now.

A wonderful game. Best thing I've played all year.

I just recommended against this for Cartogaming and I feel bad because I am actually enjoying Treasure Hunter Simulator. So I want to clarify why I recommend against this for Cartogaming, but do recommend otherwise.

This is a nice calm game and absolutely scratches my very real itch of hunting for hidden items, using specialist equipment and roaming around beautiful environments. Combine the secret areas of Quake with the forensic equipment of Condemned and you have nothing like this game, but there's something similar that's satisfied. Learning about the locations and the treasures, inspecting my collection in my office and going on supplementary photography missions add variety. Personally, I dislike the time trial missions but that's just me.

The issues I have with the game, and reasons I recommend against for Cartogaming, are specifically related to navigation and the missed exploration opportunities. The very concept of treasure hunting is deeply entrenched in figuring out maps, puzzling landmarks and navigating environment. Treasure Hunter Simulator ignores all of these in favour of adopting videogame RPG 'quality of life' standards like a waypoint-based compass and a map that plots your previous path so you can easily track where you've been. It's not bad, but it's not interesting in terms of exploration or navigation and that's just too disappointing to make this a game to recommend for Cartogaming.

I still like it though.

Clearly an attempt to imitate Serious Sam within an id-inspired environment, but lacking the hoards, variety and comedy of the former and lacking the frantic gameplay and level design of the latter.

5 levels. Bland design. Bland bullet-sponge enemies. Bland weapons. I get the allusions to 'old school FPS' but this is not at all fun.

Nightdive Studios are wonderful. They resurrected System Shock 2, then the original System Shock. Now, with this source port, they've made SS1 even simpler to play. Yes, purists might insist that the original control system was better, but before this source port, I spent most of my SS1 playthroughs aching for proper mouse-look, trying out all the half-successful hacks and mods.

System Shock introduced us to SHODAN, brought space horror to our fingertips and made us feel like the 90s hackers we all grew up wishing to be. Instead of dissecting and explaining in detail, I'll simply say this:

I love this game, and at such a low price (and regularly discounted), you have little reason not take a slice of gaming history and see if it's for you too.

I've been on a 2D Zelda-style RPG binge recently, and this is one of the good ones. Plenty of well-designed puzzles, loads of hidden secrets and enjoyable combat. Upgrades are available to spend your gold on but the more tedious RPG extras, like crafting, are (thankfully) simplified and not too much of a focus. The first playthrough had a few tricky parts but is generally easier than average. Anyone wanting more of a challenge can play through a much harder 'heroic mode' (unlocked by completing the standard game). Thumbs-up!

Great little Gauntlet-esque game. Progression is well balanced, with replayable levels to allow for some minor grinding to upgrade (get increased speed ASAP; it make a difference). This is a fun 2-hour romp for the price of a chocolate bar. Well worth it.

I've grown weary of generic, open-world, crafting-heavy, often procedurally-generated, survival games. Even looking at the Store page was enough to see that Near Death isn't one of these half-broken, abandoned survival clones popular in the last few years. It is complete, focused and exciting.

As someone obsessed with polar expeditions (especially Antarctica), I had high hopes for Near Death and I have not been disappointed. It's not particularly long and, having completed it on normal difficulty I do have a slight yearning for more variation in my future playthroughs at higher difficulties (different item distribution, procedurally-generated layout, etc.), but on the other hand, by being short and hand-crafted, I feel I've experienced a lovingly designed and refined space, survived a believable situation.

The story timeline is short, meaning that crafting is thankfully brief and the inventory isn't intrusive (think Alien Isolation). This is a game about making it from one building to the next without having to apply a crude 'sped-up' hunger meter or rely on zombies as a threat. It evokes a strong sense of place and the various weather conditions add to that as you get start to remember routes and feel relief at finding (or creating) safe, sealed rooms. Being disorientated by low visibility, winds, etc., despite knowing that you only need to walk a short distance is exciting, never becoming frustrating or tiresome. The weather in Near Death is fantastic.

I loved it.

A superb first-person horror shooter. Imagine Realms of the Haunting collided with Pathologic and you more-or-less have it. The main hurdle is getting this to run on modern machines (helped by the widescreen patches, although they're not infallible), but once it's working, it's an adrenaline-fuelled, semi-randomised rush through a gothic castle, trying to rescue your various family members before their (fairly arbitrary) death-clock time-limits expire. A decent mix of interesting weapons and clever power-ups, and the sound design is perfection itself.

Yes, it's buggy. Yes, it's visually dated (although I personally love the aesthetic). Yes, it can be frustrating at times. But it's damn good fun and at such a low price, it's worth trying even if only one of your eyebrows are raised after reading this.