Recent reviews by CinnamonSpit

I wish there was a "it was ok" option and not just recommend or not recommend.

I grew up with Harry Potter so being immersed in that world is always lovely. Fight and control mechanics are decent, and there are some interesting storylines. Here's what I don't like:
- Some of the mini games are awful, like unlocking doors. It doesn't add anything to the game and its boring
- I hate how lazy they were with the backstory of your character "random new kid" that somehow is special just seems lazy. They could have unraveled that story a bit more and it would have added a good element of immersion
- Even if you do a decent amount of side quests, you will "end" the main story and have the final end of year quest left that is a way higher level than you, so if you don't want to grind all these random quests you are left with an "unfinished" ending
- While there is some "choice" available in dialogue and storylines, you don't get to see the consequences of your actions and you usually only have 2 dialogue options

Even now that this game is a bit older and there is a sequel, I would say it's still worth playing. The game play is enjoying with an interesting mixture of combat styles and a good level of challenge. I find it relaxing to kill orcs, and the story unfolds at a good pace. Would recommend! Especially if you're a Tolkien fan.

While I wouldn't put on the level of the Witcher, Mass Effect or Dragon Age, if you like story driven RPGs this one is worth playing. Especially now that many of the bugs that made it almost unplayable have been cleaned up.

It has the right combo of fun customizable combat + choices matter + beautiful environment to make it a pretty rich game. I have some gripes and the story could be better (or more!) but it's certainly an iconic game of our time

Take this with a grain of salt - I've always hated isometric RPGs like Diablo so some of this could just come down to my preferences in games. I did not like this game and couldn't get through even a few hours of playing it. I picked it up because I usually like "choices matter" games where the story changes based on your choices. However, there is a difference between your choices mattering in a way you CARE about, and when there are choices for the sake of choices.

Here are my high-level points of why this one is a "no":
- I couldn't get myself to care about the choices I was making. Since you have to make a choice between the factions every five minutes and the weight of these choices seems boring and negligible, I was more annoyed by them than anything.
- The menus and interface is very difficult to use. Some games the interface "melts away" while you're playing, this game is not like that. The inventory menu is tiny, so things like switching out weapons is weirdly small.
- The combat is a lovely combination of yawn-worthy and frustratingly hard. I hate how slow attacking is, and on top of that it has a pause mechanic and multiple character tactics like Dragon Age Origins (which I loved in that game) BUT why do you even need to pause when each attach takes several seconds? It's like micromanaging 100 year old turtles biting each other.
- The dialogue is stupid, over-flowery and trite. The main factions fighting with each other have these dumb dialogues where the one "twirls his green staff with a devilish smile". To me, this doesn't match the darkness of the story and pulls me out of any sort of flow in the game.
- While it's an interesting concept, I didn't like the "dual-class" option. I made the mistake of choosing daggers and magic. What happens is that suddenly half the abilities in your bar are for one or the other, and also combos with the companions that you can't actually use are there. Maybe when you get really into the game there are some great ways to be prepared for anything, but I just found it annoying.

So I will not be forcing myself to play any more of this game. I think something about the trailer and other marketing materials made me think it was going to be more like Frostpunk or even Overlord, I missed that it would be an isometric game. So if you didn't like Diablo you probably won't like this one.

The only miss in a company that always slam dunks, DA2 is easily Bioware's worst game. Especially when compared to DAO, which at the time was a masterpiece of a game. DA2 is rushed and they made simplification choices that hurt the game instead of improving playability. Compared to the freedom of character choice you get in DAO or Inquisition, you are railed into playing a human and the customization options are weak. There are a total of like three different maps for dungeons and encounters, and the depth of the dialogue is lacking compared to their other games.

I also find that unlike the other two games where you have a host of companions that all are amazingly developed characters, I hated my companions. Varric and Anders are the only likable characters and Anders is actually from Dragon Age Origins. I hate the pirate lady, it seems very off brand for Bioware to create such a sexualized character. She literally doesn't wear pants, like why? When you see the women characters in the other games, it's just a weird contrast that I couldn't get over.

The reason I still recommend DA2 despite it being the weak link is that just like sex or pizza, even when it's bad, it's still good. If you loved the other Dragon Age games for their stories, it's fun to see how they link in both directions (DAO and Inquisition) and some of the story elements are still enjoyable and interesting. It seems like Bioware learned from their mistakes because Inquisition was great, and I'm looking forward to any other games in this universe that they create.

An interesting spin on an RTS style game with great graphics and story.

I ate this game up! The mechanics are fun and challenging with a lot to balance, a truly satisfying strategy experience. The only slightly negative comment I have is that I want more! I finished the main storyline and the other side scenarios and the open mode just didn't hold my attention beyond a certain point.

The pinnacle of survival games

The Long Dark is stunning, addicting and challenging. A truly refreshing and great execution of the survival genre, with a good balance of survival requirements. The art style is very pretty and you can find yourself staring out at beautiful views (when you aren't freezing or starving to death). The different game modes give it a lot of re-playability. The story is interesting but incomplete. The company did a rework of the story recently, which significantly changed especially the second episode. Overall I would say that the story-mode is my least favorite of the three modes (survival, story and challenge).

If you like survival games this is a must have. I look forward to seeing them (hopefully) finish the story and add more content in the future.

If you liked Left 4 Dead then you'll probably like this game. It's so nice to get to play another co-op fps, there really aren't enough following in L4D's footsteps. However, I would say that L4D is still a better game overall, even as it ages compared to vermintide. Here are my thoughts.

Good: You get to kill naked mole rats. The bow system is satisfying to use, and the melee combat is also viscerally satisfying. Perhaps better than L4D in its hack and slash fun. The graphics are nice, and it gets you into those good panic moments as L4D did. The game is challenging and the levels are dark and gory. Some good old dark fantasy. The conversations and banter between characters is sometimes funny, although much more limited than L4D.

Bad: The out-of-game stuff is what lacks polish. The anti-cheat software bug is something that the developers should be a tad embarrassed about. Also every time I launch the game it does so in a windowed screen instead of full screen. The menus and the items/post game credits open too slow, the animation is just a little cumbersome to watch. The same with the chest opening. It just could have been polished a bit more in that regard. I would say that overall the replayability is a bit less than L4D.

All that being said, it is a pretty fun game. I'm still learning all the nuances and it certainly requires skill to learn your preferred character and gear them right, etc. I wish that the online community was a bit more collaborative/chatty in-game when you're grouping with randoms. I would recommend playing this despite some of its flaws.

The story of Darksiders games are pretty cool, I'm always a sucker for any story involving the Four Horsemen. However, the controls on PC don't make this game even close to playable. It was a really lazy port to PC for the developers. Some of the controls are incredibly awkward and the interface for mapping special abilities/etc was clearly not adapted from the console version. It makes gameplay awkward and hard to master the quick movements required. For example like why TF would you activate special abilities by holding down capslock + hitting a number at the same time? It's awful. I wanted to replay this game since the new one is coming out some point in the near future but I just watched a recap video instead.

I would recommend playing this game on console. I don't usually recommend console over PC but there ya go. If the developers don't take the time to think about the ease of gameplay on PC these kinds of issues come up.

Aaaand they do it again. Rise of the Tomb Raider is so polished. The combat is heart pounding, varied and sometimes devilishly hard. The sneaking aspects are so fun I almost want a whole game where you hide in trees and kill enemies. I think the controls for PC are perhaps as bit more refined than the first Tomb Raider. The views in the game are gorgeous and the graphics are A+

The story was pretty good, I didn't want to step aside and to the optional missions and tombs because I really wanted to find out how it would end. I think at some points maybe the pacing could have indicated some more points where you were encouraged to explore, but that could have just been me being too excited about the game.

Anyways, I would absoultely recommend this game to anyone who likes action/shooters. It also makes me want to learn how to shoot an arrow and do parkour in real life :P