Recent reviews by Snus

When I was playing The Medium, I couldn't help but to think the game was heavily inspired by and very reminiscent of Silent Hill, and given a great track record of Bloober team, they seemed like an ideal candidate to create a SH game. And what do you know, right?

SH2 is not only a faithful remake with countless small details only fans would notice and appreciate, but also a damn great game regardless of its roots! They took the idea of 20+ year old horror, and built a new experience upon it. The game stays true to the original by having the same locations, enemies, weapons, and, of course, the story and main characters, but also improves upon every single aspect of the gameplay. It's not just a SH2 with a better visuals, it's a SH2 with better gameplay too.

No more fixed camera, no more janky controls, no more horrible running sequences: Bloober team managed to modernize the presentation, but underneath it all there's still that feeling of dread and mystery the original SH2 has. Basically, this remake follows the same formula as the Resident Evil remakes: modernize the gameplay and visuals, but leave everything that the players love.

And it shows, as it is probably the best game from Bloober team (and I already loved Observer and The Medium), and one of the best remakes ever made. Whether you are a fan of Silent Hill series or just a horror-adventure aficionado, you should definitely play this game.

P.S. Soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka is amazing. He made the new versions of all the songs we love: Theme of Laura, and Promise sound completely fresh, yet still so familiar and nostalgic. But regardless, even if you didn't play the original, SH2 has probably the best OST in videogames this year.

Many people say that Remnant is Dark Souls with guns, but if I had to compare it to other games, I'd say it's a mix of Gears of War, Destiny, and Darksiders. And Hellgate: London, if you are old enough to remember that title.

Though first and foremost, Remnant 2 is a looter shooter, it's just the loot is not randomly generated, but predefined. However, some items are randomly placed, and you won't be able to get them all in one playthough. And since many locations are randomly generated, the game has a lot of replayability. Not just that, but there are four difficulties, tons of secrets, and several game modes (campaign, adventure which is basically a campaign where you choose a specific location to explore, and boss rush which is self explanatory).

Overall, Remnant 2 is significantly better and more varied than the first game, and has so much content that it will take you at least two playthroughs through the campaign to see it all. And if you want to level all classes/archetypes, you will easily spend over hundred hours. If you like action adventure games and shooters, and just want to play the campaign, the game will easily take you twenty hours (more with DLCs). Definitely a must play, and one of the best games of 2023.

Just play Desperados, Shadow Tactics or Shadow Gambit.

We all know walking simulators, and this is a climbing simulator with mechanics similar to Deliver us Moon/Mars. While the gameplay is rather basic, the game makes up for it with its locations: each of six chapters offers new environments, and the Jusant often looks stunning thanks to its stylized visuals.

Not only that, but the game also has a lot of collectibles, often hidden away from the main path. Looking for them can take you quite some time even with a guide, and doing that is also fun since you get to see more of these beautiful locations.

Overall, totally recommended if you like games where you don't have to kill everything that moves.

The story is good, the characters are fine, and the visuals hold up pretty good even 10 years after the initial release on PS4. If you ignore open world activities (they are super boring and doing them feels like playing a bad MMO), the game is actually fun as a single player linear experience. Except for the ending: the whole chapter 13 is endless corridors, and chapter 14 is mostly boss fights, and they are not great because thye bosses have too much HP (like in all FF games, basically), but otherwise are easy to defeat.

And not just the boss fights, combat gameplay in general is lacking, even for a JRPG. From countless generic encounters to prolonged (10-15 mins) boss fights, it all feels very samey, and aside from the visual presentation, quickly becomes too boring. Besides, you have enough money to buy dozens of healing and revive potions, so even when a boss oneshots your dumb AI-companions, you can easily move on.

Speaking of companions, the dialogues and voice overs are good, and by the end of the game you really become attached to all the characters. Thankfully, there's an additional episode centered around each of the companions, and while they are rather short (1-1.5 hrs each), they do offer new gameplay mechanics and locations. But for some reason the best DLC is sold separately from the main game which is supposed to be a full edition.

Anyway, FF XV is totally worth buying on a sale just for the story and the characters. But don't expect great gameplay or open world exploration: these aspects are rather basic. Thankfully, you don't have to grind side quests to enjoy the story: your characters receive enough experience from the main quests to stay strong until the very end.

This game is from the developers of Curse of the Dead Gods, and it feels very similar.

After playing for just a couple hours, I now remember the main issue I had with CotDG: enemies attack you all the time, and you have very few openings to deal damage. And it's even more prominent here. Coupled with how much HP the enemies have and ticking timer, the gameplay feels extremely unfun. Hades has so much better fight and progression dynamics, I'd rather stick to it.

Moreover, the three heroes I played feel extremely similar. Light attack, heavy attack, aoe attack, defense ability and evade - like we haven't seen that in a million other ARPGs and roguelites. Oh, and an ultimate ability that recharges so long and makes so little impact that it's almost non-existent. Again, compared to what Hades has, this game is very basic and unimaginative. So I guess the only reason to play this is if you don't like Hades or played it too much and look for another roguelite with a similar combat flow. But keep in mind: while it may look similar, the dynamic is very different.

Sifu is the worst kind of game: it has very little content, but artificially prolongs its by increasing the difficulty through the roof. It also has very slow progression (unlocking combos), and you are supposed to play through the game multiple times to get everything.

And here lies the main problem: it's not fun to play. Basically every encounter boils down to the same flow: parry/evade the attacks against you, then chain some strikes against enemies. Whether you are playing the first or the last stage is irrelevant, it's always the same.

Maybe it's fun to go through the game once on the lowest difficulty? No. What this game calls "student" difficulty would be at least hard in other games. Some enemies remove half of your HP with one combo, some attacks remove a quarter of your HP, and the enemies chain them. Again, I am talking about the lowest difficulty. On default Disciple setting Sifu is freakishly hard, and difficulty spike between tutorial and the first stage is ridiculous. And then there's the same difficulty spike in the second location, and so on.

You might argue that you need to git gud, but again, the combat is simply not fun, it's very tedious and repetitive. And you know how else you can spend your time on a tedious and repetitive activity? Go learn real martial arts! Or go to the gym! Or go do the dishes. Everything is more fun and rewarding that this game.

P.S. The camera is absolutely atrocious, and it makes already hard combat just worse.

As I was playing the game, I tried not to think of it as a sequel to Batman Arkham series, and not to compare it to the trilogy by Rocksteady. However, it's really hard to do. The combat system is similar, but worse (I specifically installed Arkham Origins to compare), the world structure is similar, but also worse, the side missions are very-very repetitive (and you have to do some of them to progress the story!), and the story (you guessed it!) is worse. Speaking of the story, it probably feels bad because it doesn't have Batman and Joker, but also because of mediocre writing and a lack of interesting developments (however, there are a couple twists). The final nail in the coffin are the boss fights: they feel very samey, and you mostly just attack and evade in all of them.

There's a saving grace about the game: Gotham City looks gorgeous, and if you are not opposed to participating in repetitive activities such as looking for batarangs or fighting gang members, it offers a lot to do explore. And maybe it is fun to do with friends: after all, the game offers four playable characters and supports coop. Still, I am thinking of it mostly as a singleplayer game, and I just cannot recommend it. Well, maybe with a huge discount or right now when it's a part of the Humble Choice and you can get a bunch of other games for just $12.

And even then, Batman Arkham trilogy (+Origins) is even cheaper right now, and if you want a more modern game, Spider Man 1 and 2 (+Miles Morales) are really good and offer a similar combat system, great story, amazing boss fights, and arguably a better super hero.

TL;DR This game would have been a great adventure or a walking sim, but they decided to add "gameplay", and it's really mediocre even for an AA game. I wish Steam had a mixed opinion as an option. Blacktail is not bad, but I cannot recommend it for its game mechanics.

The visuals are great, the story is ok, but the gameplay is just meh. Half walking sim, half really bad shooter, this game fails to deliver any memorable moments, and essentialy just repeats the same combat encounters recipe over and over again. Besides, difficulty curve is all messed up: it's ridiculously easy at the beginning, but some fights later on are pretty frustrating, mainly because there are some enemies that teleport to you and attack immediately, and you can't do anything.

Also, there are some 2D platforming sequences in the game, and they are extremely bad. Not hard, just bad and boring, and the controls are horrible.

As many other people say, it's an amazing adventure, where you unravel the mystery step by step, and it feels really satisfying. The only downside is probably the ending, which is a bit underwhelming. Still, the game is a must play for everyone.

And in case you are wondering about the DLC, it's also worth playing. It's about two times shorter than the main game, and is probably less interesting because you already know a lot about this world, but it offers some new game mechanics nevertheless. The only out of place thing about the DLC is a couple of stealth sections, which are not bad per se, but don't really fit in this kind of exploration gameplay.

Still, both Outer Wilds and the Eye DLC are amazing games. And if you want more after finishing the story, there are tons of quirky achievements (like flying a small model ship to another celestial body).