Recent reviews by daemonsadiavlo

A twist on the survivor formula. It will be immediately familiar to fans of similar games but has such a distinct art style that I think it will stand out. The Diablo 1/2 aesthetic does a ton for it, but I also think the game is helped with a more thoughtful progression of upgrades and story. If you are a fan of the genre, or looking for a great game on the Steam deck its worth checking out.

I wish I had a bag of holding.

A fantastic follow up to Expeditions Viking.

Great setting with a fairly solid narrative and crew of characters to recruit and interact with.

The combat and the army management system both can get a little dull (and sometimes lack clarity) but had their shining moments.

Assassins Creed Origins

A departure from the previous games in the series, the sprawling dunes of Egypt offer more than a unique geographic setting from the sprawling urban settlements of Europe, changing up a great deal of how things work in the Assassins Creed franchise. Previously, I had found myself bouncing off most of the later titles in the series, finding even the well received Black Flag to just not really suit me.

Origins, however, is a different story. Gone are the frustrating tailing missions or halfhearted attempts at stealth missions, instead replaced with a loot and rpg system that feels both more intuitive, but also slightly outdated. While the games combat takes a great leap forward with these changes, moving away from a one hit kill counter system from the previous games. the games emphasis on stealth is gone as well. Many of the map markers and missions afford you ample ways to tackle the objectives in a stealthy fashion, but even playing the game on hard planing and stealth never felt necessary and always seemed to fall to the back burner.

Stylistically, the game nails the experience of ancient Egypt. Whether it is the arid and windy desserts that evoke both solemnity and power or the tower obelisks of the pyramids, Origins is full of beautiful landmarks and lush settings that truly stand out and set it apart from some of the more mundane open world games from recent years.

It is a shame then that the game fails to find ways and reasons for Bayek, our titular character, to explore these settings. While much of the main story holds up, almost all of the side content is weak. Exploring the map you will come across countless people begging for poor Bayeks help. Most of these quests amount to little more than 'go to place A and do thing B'. While that is mostly the same for the main quests as well, the narrative logic there is often strong and more compelling, Bayeks quest for vengeance one we are only to eager to help him along.

The most distinct impressions that this game and its DLC left upon was the hankering for the teams at Ubisoft to depart from their mainline series and to venture into a game that is truly rooted in fantasy. The Curse of the Pharaoh dlc stood out especially in this regard, offering some immersive fantasy elements and distinct settings that energized my play through as I found myself flagging near the end. A game that embraces the fantastic, instead of finding ways to ignore these elements, I think would truly stand out. That, and perhaps a focus on offering a better and more varied selection of quest content to explore.

Overall, I would say Assassins Creed Origins offers a great launching off point for fans new to the series, with both the main quest and 2 story DLCs being worth the time and money.

3 out of 5 stars.

It's hard to recommend Thief in an era where Dishonored reigns supreme in the stealth/exploration genre. In many ways this game feels like a Dishonored light, perhaps because Dishonored built upon the foundation that the earlier Thief trilogy laid. Coming from someone who never played the original Thief games, I can only rate this game on its merit alone, not with with the legacy or the previous iterations in mind.

In terms of gameplay, it feels like your standard first person stealth game. I rather like the emphasis on avoiding combat, making Gerret somewhat weak when it comes to hand to hand struggles. Combat again multiple opponents at once is nearly a guaranteed death sentence on hard difficulties, posing a real challenge to the player on when its best to fight and when best to flee. Gerret mostly survives on the skill of sneaking and his trusty bow. Normally, this would hold a great appeal to me, but I felt that both the stealth mechanics and bow in this game were very weak.

None of the levels felt overly well designed, often just being linear paths through a level with a few slightly differing routes. Do you use the access tunnel below or maybe climb into the rafters? Either way, you are channeled into several choke points where options are limited. This of course only applies to the main missions, of which there are 8. When you are not on a mission, you use the main city as a kind of hub.

And boy what a dreadful experience it is in the city. You are constantly barraged by weird loading screens on the map, forced to slam 'e' on the keyboard to try and ram open a window or force a beam out of the way. Need to go back that way? be prepared to force the same window open and beam out of the way. The city is full of these events, making traveling to and from the array of bland and boring side quests a real chore. While the city itself looks pretty good form a game that came out in 2014, the color palette is so washed out and bland it is hard to get excited by anything.

The story itself is generic and feels so very out place. Gerrett waking up after losing a year of his life following a botched job. You are paraded around a series of generic and by the book npcs, forced to try and care about a character you have hardly ever met.

Overall, I would say Dishonored isn't really worth your time unless you are a die-hard fan of the genre who has beaten the other greater names in the field. Otherwise, buy yourself a copy of Dishonored and play through a better planned, developed and executed title.

1.5/4 Stars

Great.

Double Great.