Recent reviews by Gurn

I appreciate this childhood favourite being made available on modern hardware but it's too clunky a port for me to enjoy.

The good:
- It loads quickly and runs smoothly.
- Although you can't generate monsters from your physical CD collection anymore, the in-game CD database is a nice way to replicate the experience of popping in your favourite album and seeing what monster comes out of it.

The so-so:
- As far as I can tell, the visual assets are exactly as they were presented in the original games and have not been rebuilt or remastered in any way. This isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but they were designed to be viewed on a CRT at lower resolutions and to be honest they don't look great on a modern display.
- The remastered soundtrack is pretty cool, though I'm not sure what the need for it was - you can turn the original back on in the options menu and it sounds great.

The bad:
- The game doesn't control very well on mouse and keyboard at all. You can technically do everything with just the mouse but nothing about this feels intuitive and battles are downright clumsy.
- The new UI elements were clearly designed for touch controls, which makes this PC version feel a bit like a mobile port.
- You can turn the sound master ON of OFF but you can't adjust the volume of individual aspects and you can't turn music off while leaving SFX on. Either you have the music on full blast or you play the game on mute.

All in all, a bit disappointing. They've made it run on PC but they haven't made it click. I wonder if it feels any better on Nintendo Switch?

In short, an excellent coda to the base game and a balm for those who were left wanting more.

Simply put, an excellent survival / exploration game. The core gameplay loop is nothing new (gather materials to build new items that you can use to explore new areas to gather new materials...) but fantastic environmental design and a surprising element of storytelling intrigue make Subnautica a noteworthy experience.

A gorgeous and expansive depiction of ancient Greece is too soon made boring by repetitive gameplay and an obtuse loot system designed to frustrate players into buying xp/item boosters with real money. The scope and historical detail of the open world is a huge achievement, and I enjoyed inhabiting it for so many hours, but after a while it becomes apparent that the game is wasting your time on purpose.

Novel combat and ambitious storytelling intent make this a game worth checking out, especially if you've got a rig that can handle the fancier graphics settings. The story (which is very much at the forefront of the experience) takes a while to get going, is revealed to the player slowly, and is sometimes at odds with the pacy action gameplay. However, the late-game features some exceptional moments of narrative/gameplay cohesion that elevate Control beyond what might otherwise have been an engaging but forgettable ten hours.

A very peaceful movement/exploration sandbox with plenty to do and collect. Delivers more of what made its predecessor so pleasing and adds some new mechanics that are fun to play around with. I think the more open-world nature of this sequel makes for a slightly less succinct experience, so I'd recommend the original (Grow Home) to newcomers, but the bottom line is both games are fantastic and it was a joy getting to explore a brand new planet as B.U.D. again.

A traditional FPS with a focus on gameplay rather than cinematics. It gets a little repetitive towards the end but is, for the most part, a varied and enjoyable experience. Satisfying gunplay. A few good scares, though unfortunately the best one happens quite early during the game.