Recent reviews by Distanced

Of the 30 hours on my record at time of writing, 13 of those were spent beating the secret boss in Chapter 3. There is absolutely no other game that I not only love but respect enough to spend so much time torturing myself, but that's what DELTARUNE does to you. It's a gripping story, the gameplay is fun, and it makes you want to do your best to give the characters the best possible outcome, even if there is only one ending. The price tag would be worth one chapter, let alone four. I can't wait for the rest.

Keeps crashing

I had to wait four years before I had a chance to play Alyx and by god it was worth it. No other VR game I've ever played has ever come close to this level of not just gameplay but immersiveness as a whole. You really do feel like you're right there in the Half-Life universe, and I can't wait to upgrade my computer so I can play it again in even higher fidelity.

Gorgeous artstyle with a captivating story and really good sound design. Many other reviews call out the narrative-centric aspect of Somerville or call it a walking simulator as if those are negative things, but I found the linearity through most of the game very refreshing and the story itself interesting and original despite the clear influence of War of the Worlds. I had a great time and definitely recommend.

I finished SOMA over a week ago and I still can't get it off my mind. The worldbuilding in this game is astonishing, and despite the complex topics it covers the story handles them so well. I don't play horror games and I didn't know SOMA was horror when I got it - I went in blind after being recommended by a friend (and if you still can, you should too!) - but I will never regret the experience I had with the game.

This is a really charming little title, with great visuals and even better music. I thought the writing was a little too observational at first, but I think it really took hold in the latter two thirds of the game and I had a lot of fun playing through it -- my biggest criticism is that I wish there was more! The comparisons to The Stanley Parable are definitely warranted, it's in that same vein of meta first-person adventure games, but it's still a completely original story that is presented and executed very well. Looking forward to more releases from Devbeef!

When C:S II first released I had enjoyed the features it included, but was disappointed in those it was lacking. In the dozens of hours I've sunk into the game since then, the game has grown on me substantially, as has the game itself. C:S II is a worthy sequel to the original, and very clearly builds and improves on what had made the first game so much fun. The game feels very nicely balanced, the simulation is more realistic, and the tools themselves are much nicer to use. I was also pleasantly surprised by how well the Paradox Mods integration works, and in classic Cities: Skylines fashion it's already full of incredibly useful community-made mods. There are definitely still things missing, bikes and custom assets probably the most notable, but what the game already does have certainly makes up for that temporary absence. If you've been waiting to make the switch from C:S 1, or are even just looking at getting into city sims for the first time, I think that C:S II is worth a try.

INFRA is by far the most unique first-person game I've ever played, and the first time I've played a game who's world felt so detailed and real. It picked its niche and fully settled into it, and while its gameplay might not be for everyone, those looking for an immersive and relaxing adventure game will definitely find that within INFRA.

I didn't go into this mod with many expectations, and while I can't say it proved me wrong, I do want to talk about some of the things I actually liked before everything else. Something that really stood out to me was the music - it's not the most groundbreaking soundtrack out there, but most of it was pretty good quality and nice to have in the background. Beyond that there's little bits of creativity that really shine through, like the vistas in the finale and some of the BTS sections, as well as some interesting concepts like the fizzler and time guns.

Unfortunately, that's where most of the positives end. My understanding is that this mod was developed by one person, and although I think that is hugely impressive, it isn't an excuse for how unplayable the game is. I think perhaps my biggest criticism is that it is clear - beyond a shadow of a doubt - that there wasn't any playtesting done. If there was then the dev must have been instructing the playtester along every step of the way, because so many of the issues that this game has could and should have been caught by testing it beforehand. The puzzles are chaotic and directionless, often either broken or (as far as I can tell) not solvable to begin with unless using noclip. Even barring that, none of the new mechanics are properly taught to the player. They stick around for so little that by the time you've finally figured it out you're thrown into something completely different, and all that time you just spent is now pointless. Portal and Portal 2 are both very careful to introduce new elements, teaching you the basic mechanics before slowly ramping up the difficulty, but PFTT opts to just throw random ideas at you without any coherence.

Up until now, I've never had to actually use noclip to solve a Portal mod. At first it was because some maps seemed genuinely broken, but later it was just out of frustration. And that's where I think this mod really misunderstood what made the Portal games so fun: the enjoyment didn't come from the difficulty of the puzzles or the amount of elements, it was from being able to solve them in an interesting and satisfying manner. But PFTT instead insists on tedious tasks with convoluted solutions, only made worse by constantly having to get used to a new primary weapon; when even your own character calls out a puzzle as being "irritating", I think it would be wise to step back and ask if that's a good thing. It should then also go without saying that having to implement an actual skip button for practically an entire map is not only embarrassing (both for the dev for needing to implement it, and the player for needing to use it) but is also completely erroneous, like building a wooden bridge over a pit of fire. I almost wish there were more skip buttons throughout the game, because despite it only taking ~3 hours for me to get through it all, some maps felt like they took years off my lifespan.

I think that the level where you have to find the CD is a great example here. Even putting aside that you have to solve a literal maze, there's a giant spiral staircase you need to climb afterwards to get to the room you put the CD in. Why? Why does there need to be this huge set of stairs? It serves no purpose, there's no character dialogue or interesting environment here, so why make the player do this when putting the door on ground level would have accomplished the same thing? It's one example, but I found that this sort of tedium was all too common.

Subjectively, I think this is a fascinating game. It's all over the place but it sure as hell isn't boring, and as a long-time Portal fan it was really interesting to play something so different. I really admire the vision and the effort that was put in, and especially the willingness for others to use the weapons in their own maps (which I really hope people do!) but, objectively, I can't say I'd recommend the mod. The maps are tedious and convoluted as is the story, the visuals are largely unremarkable, and much of the game feels broken to begin with.

To Q15 - I hope that I was at least a little constructive, and that you can use this feedback for something even better in the future! A lot of these reviews are way too harsh or just unsubstantial, so don't take them too personally. You've clearly got a lot of potential, and I'm really looking forward to playing more of your games someday!

Portal Reloaded sticks to one new mechanic, but gets all it can out of it and does it well. What it lacks in story it makes up for in new and challenging puzzles, with a very well-executed portrayal of time travel. If you liked the Portal games and are looking for something new, I'd give Portal Reloaded a try.