Recent reviews by Dr. Dijon

Sleeping Dogs combines excellent world-building and gameplay mechanics with a compelling and believable story. Wei Shen is not without his flaws, and that's what makes him so real as a character. He has his own personal motivations, while juggling between his different loyalties. Being from two different cultures, and trying to find a sense of self identity, the player gets to experience how he navigates these worlds as two different worlds and the way the missions rewards you is subtle in reminding you that while you are an undercover cop with different rules, you are still an officer of the law.

For instance, running down innocent pedestrians during a car chase decreases your "cop score" while ramming and shooting the car increases your "triad" score - with both of these granting different benefits. The progression system is thoughtful and well-designed. You never feel like you're "behind" nor do you feel like you're overpowered.

One of Sleeping Dog's strongest points is it's story narrative. It blends just the right amount of open world elements with a tight narrative so you never feel that the story loses urgency or importance. Think about an open world game in recent times where a village is being raided and you need to "be there immediately" only to spend 10 hours on side missions.

I first finished this game in 2014 when it first came out and it's remarkable how well it's aged over the years.

10/10 would recommend

I was one of the few early backers of this game. Understand that this purchase is not just getting you a decent game, which at the very heart, offers a good foundation for what is can become. This purchase is about believing in a team that will make these things happen. I believe in the potential this game has. That being said, there's still a long road ahead to deliver what was promised. It is up to you to make that decision on whether or not the price point is justified at this very early stage of development.

10/10 Best Steam Summer Sale purchase in 2018

TL/DR: Great story, well-developed characters, and smart level design.

Beautifully-atmospheric, thoughtfully written dialog and well-structured level design makes Firewatch one of the best story-driven games I've played in a long time. Firewatch is a refreshing departure from the usual non-linear, open-world type games we've come to expect. The more structured approach to story gives a greater investment into the player's actions, with different choices highlighting the different facets of Henry and Delilah's personality, and continues to develop and shape their relationship.

The character you play, Henry, isn't a mute protagonist where a player needs to envision a backstory for. He feels and acts like a real person, with wants and needs, fears and desires, character quirks and flaws. All this and a meaningful backstory gives weight to the character. The dialog options you make, whether you decide to make them or not, showcases this and his own self-perception continuously shapes how he reacts to his job and his conversations with Delilah.

What I really enjoyed were moments shared between Henry and Delilah about certain topics, and later on becoming a sort of in-joke between them. It made conversation choices seem more weighted and carried a real sense of character progression, not usually found in a lot of games these days.

I find that the game's length adequate, given the pace of the story. By the end, I felt that the story was answered enough questions for me to reasonably have a sense of closure.

the story manage to answer enough questions to give a sense of closure, while leaving just enough ambiguity for the player to use their own imagination to come up with their own conclusion.

Zombie killing co-op action!

It's a hat sim with some shooting