Recent reviews by LenaO'H

since no one reads these I'm just gonna say that I heard Corvo say 'that's my girl' in the tutorial and got wet

It's important for me to preface this review with the following;
I do not play a lot of horror games. I had not played, let alone finished, many horror games before this. Mostly, this comes down to me being a very naturally anxious person who is stupidly easy to scare, thus I struggle to stomach them, so until this the only horror games I had completed were 'Omori', 'i live under your house', 'System Shock 2' and a few 'Five Nights at Freddy's' games. With this qualifier presented, I can say with confidence that Frictional Game's 'Amnesia: The Dark Descent' is easily the scariest game I've ever encountered, and in spite of some tiny flaws elicited such a strong emotional reaction from me that it would be remiss for me to not consider it among the medium's finest.

At first, the prospect of a 'sanity' metre—an idea found immeditley quaint for lovecraftian games soon after the admittedly novel antics of 'Eternal Darkness' found their way dancing atop the GameCube—and the titular trope making pose as the story hook had me worrying a potential glaze over was inbound, a worry quickly sedated by a realisation I had early in the game that even with all the red pus germinating in the walls, 'The Dark Descent' had been able to demonstrate a shocking level of restraint in the way it chose to unnerve me thus far. While worry would not be truly cured until later, Frictional's dedication to pacing had me intrigued enough to fully immerse myself in both the excellent atmosphere and writing. The technical quality of the writing found in the notes is quite the admirable one, since the game would have done perfectly fine narratively without it, hooking players into what is presently the story of a man going nuts in the dark trying to set his bad deeds right. The added digresional textures of colonial guilt and characterisation were certainly elevatory when they could easily have been detrimental, leaving me satisifed with their inclusion.

'Amnesia' is also quite effectivley dreary, with fantastic lighting and crestfallen texture work adorning it's traumatisied and despotic halls. Structures held a balance between intimidation and the alien tipping on both ends against the players comfort. Rooms can be tight and dark, spotted with brief drips of light which can become a pool only at the daring cost of the player's resources, or they can be looming, oversized and intimidating. This atmosphere of oppresion is essential to a horror experience, and well adjusted here.

The alleviation of my minor irritation at the value of a 'sanity' mechanic came with my introduction to the monsters of Brennenburg. Now, this doesn't happen until a few hours in due to the commitment to narrative pacing present in 'The Dark Descent' but they add a lot to the game. First, they give the "sanity" mechanic a purpose beyond the superficial; as maxing out the metre renders the game unplayable, the sheer act of looking at the monsters will raise the gameplay into a horrid state, meaning the player is forced to keep their eyes off them! This is genius because it allows the player's imagination to do a lot of work for Frictional, having me wholeheartedly afraid of them from entry to exit. While the bugs-crawling-across-the-monitor illusion and other more superfluous consequences of loosing 'sanity' are silly, this contextualisation of the mechanic with a core player struggle was too complimentary to the rest of the game for me to dislike the feature. Wish they'd call it 'stress' or something though because 'sanity' still sounds mega silly.

Some puzzles are a little dense, but all are ultimately satisfying, there's even some instances of emergent gameplay, which is always welcome! Really I have nothing to complain about here. Frictional have delivered a subperb, clever, and hauntingly beautiful horror masterpiece here which still holds up well over a decade later! This, my friends—let us waggle our judging fingers at Bloober team as they piss all over team silent's legacy—is the key to a memorable and powerful horror experience, subtlety and considered, oppresive mechanics! Nothing short of excellent.

For 22 Minutes...
'Outer Wilds' is, by its nature, a very hard game to sell you. That is assuming that my job as someone writing a review is to do that, but it's the wrong attitude. So, screw it, I'm not going to sell you this game, I'll offer only promises, wax on my experience, because to pigeon-hole Mobius Digital's astounding work here would not only spoil it, but also fail to deliver justice to what has been done. I had been advised to play this by people I trust and went in completely blind, knowing only what I saw on the cover art and that it would apparently 'change my life.' I came out the other end eyes wide open. The nature that 'Outer Wilds' possesses that makes it hard to sell you is that it is through and through a game about 'discovery', in all senses of the word. I can't give you a tangible example of an instance where exploration in this game 'clicked' for me because it would spoil it, I can't tell you how this game's utterly profound conclusion made me feel so human again, I can't tell you any of this because it would ruin it for you. I doubt many people who played this expected it to, well, explode the way that it did, because you wont fully understand how Mobius' ludic magic has worked on you until it really has. To attempt to summarise what makes this game such an incredible achievement, know that 'Outer Wilds' excels in two specific broad accomplishments that stuck out to me, for one, it successfully de-gameifies the concept of discovery. It becomes the artifice of the experience, it is free form, it is unbound by any systematic chains or intrinsic player ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, it exists in a form so pure here that the player becomes forced to engage, and to stop thinking about it as a game. It is the true beauty of game design, right here, all the justifications for systems here simply wash away before you, allowing you to sink into the contemplative reality of what you are uncovering. As for the second, it greatly breaks ground in the space of ludonarrative theory. Mobius' work here has become the ultimate modern exemplar in what makes this medium special and worth being a critic or an analyst for. I have gone blue in the face perpetuating my theory on the future of design as an art, I shout to this medium: free yourself of your chains; of the imperatives of all other art forms and their conventions, let the 'cinematic' be what it is away from you! Recognise your beauty, your artistic oneness! Let ludic wings bring you to heights that we have never seen before. 'Outer Wilds' has done so with elegance. To the theory-preacher of the common idiot, that still believes 'gameplay' and 'story' are concepts that should remain sharply divorced, give your time to this experience and see just what can be done when one allows them to embrace. 'Outer Wilds' is one of the most profoundly human works I have played in a good while, and again, I cannot sell its magic to you, because you deserve to know it for yourself. Know only this, on the passionate word of a stranger, if you love video games—and I truly mean love—then you must play this. If you love them such as I do, if the future of ludonarrative is something you value, if you want to see the ground broken in a medium where industrialisation has hit the hardest, for the sake of everything, play this game. A flurry of tear-jerking, elegant existentialist grandstanding, a cohesive form in a demonstration of unity between all facets of design, 'Outer Wilds' is the best piece of science fiction work I have digested since reading 'The Sirens of Titan' for the first time. So, I can now certainly confirm that you should really listen to those people who keep saying "ohhh you just gotta play it I cant tell you anything about it." Bravo, Mobius Digital.
Thank you for reading :)

'Overcooked 2' is the sort of co-op joy that needn't extensive writing, myself and three other friends blasted through this with quite an energy which can only be derived with consistent quality design work. The predecessor saw Ghost Town deliver a uniquely frantic cooperative experience, easy to pick up with simple mechanics, and stimulating in how tension had the potential to emerge in moments of more hectic communication. The sequel here is exactly what was needed to bring the gameplay loop further to life, more elaborate and exciting levels with unique mechanics to certain stages making themselves known with frequency in the second half. There is simply not a shred of poor work here, every single level is enjoyable and some are certainly challenging. If there were any faults worth harping on, it is that three staring some levels felt a bit too easy, my chums and I made sure to three star every level we played, refusing to move on otherwise, and while this occasionally brought out the high intensity teamwork struggle we were hoping for, there were other moments where we'd receive our maximum star prestige a little anticlimactically. This is a small potato, however, as the post-ending save gives access to the challenge of four starring levels, the difficulty of which is certainly formidable! What we have here is an incredibly charming, tense, finely tuned and thought out co-op game, there's pretty much no game like it and I'd highly recommend if you're looking for a new game to mess around with your pals in! Excellently designed, charismatic, unique, just plain, well cooked fun! Great work!

I find myself in the odd position of struggling to write about 'Deus Ex'. The game felt longer than it actually was, engrossing in a way I haven't really experienced. I'd consider myself a good fan of immersive sims, and it isn't hard to see why this is considered as essential as it is.

'Deus Ex' is by far the most accessible of its peers, where games like 'System Shock 2' or 'Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines' had great diversity in buildcrafting and emergent gameplay, there was always an almost cruel sense that there was a specific—comically unspecified—character that a large chunk of the games were designed for. Perhaps the absence of this ill balancing alone is what made 'Deus Ex' more popular than its contemporaries, but such an assessment perhaps fails to do justice to the feats of design that elevates it so much higher.

'Deus Ex' doesn't have even close to the same sense of aesthetics of other role-playing games of its era. A rather unremarkable soundtrack with no astounding moments of art direction to really speak of, there is great detail in its real estate but other than that, one could not find the common constituents of 'game atmosphere' to draw in through naturalistic ways. So why then, is 'Deus Ex' so deeply immersive? Dynamism. Never before has a world felt as reactive as this, there is only one true instance where the world is not completely open ended to you, where the 'game of the year' version has made progressing to the level 2 labs of VersaLife impossible to do before returning to Tong. Other than that, every area puts the ball in your court, if you can dream up a solution, chances are it can be done. NPCs, objectives, access to areas all remains seamless and alters accordingly. Pick up a key before talking to an NPC who tells you to go get it? Its not just that Denton will be quick to mention this, its the fact that you could potentially just walk past the NPC entirely and get the move on. There's no disconnect in decision making, you'll feel connected to Denton the way you should playing a game like this.

Level design is the biggest earner of Ion Storm's superb emergent design, legitimately there is not a single level which drops the ball here. Every mission is lengthy, intricate, and just as open ended as the last. You could spend upwards of hours on a singular level in 'Deus Ex', finding unique ways to solve problems and unraveling the nuance in the locales, never-mind the objectives. Exploration is rewarded at every corner, and getting stuck is almost blissful in that it begets opportunity to dissect optional objectives and go walkabouts to find more resources.

There's a coldness to the world, an endless sense of unease among the streets and in the steadfastness of your tasks. The constant disassembly of linear gameplay becomes constantly besieged by the rug being pulled from under, over and over, the mystery and political espionage running deeper, building this cosmic upsettance, the fear of not fully comprehending who benefits from your actions, what your own fate will be, or the fate of everyone else. Your final choice is packed with too many caveats on all sides to have any decision be one of comfort. 'Deus Ex' remains truly prophetic, confounding, and ponderous after so many years. One would be hard pressed to not be gripped.

So, the essential immersive sim. With the technical issues aside, this still holds up. If you are yet to play it, this is a must try.

So! My review was too long for steam apparently so read it here instead!

https://www.backloggd.com/u/LenaCat/review/658303/

Ok so yeah pretty good game play it with the unofficial patch cya
https://www.moddb.com/mods/vtmb-unofficial-patch

'System Shock 2' is a rare experience, and one worth savouring. it's a game known as a revered classic which plays a hugely influential role in the history of the medium, but also one that people struggle to finish, and after multiple playthroughs that latter sentiment is simply mystifying to me. The experience of playing this game is nothing short of excellent, with expert pacing, variety, and intuitive design throughout.

The game starts without pretensions, a brief recap of it's predecessor and then boom, you get to playing straight away. This begins a confident stride to the experience, the character creation is given cute narrative texture, but doesn't overstay its welcome—*cough* *cough* 'Fallout 3.' You're placed on board the Von Braun star-ship within minutes, where you'll spend the rest of your time. The ship has six levels, all distinct and layered, which open up to you gradually, and this is where 'Shock 2' gets to show off on the front of living up to it's prestige as an 'immersive sim classic.' While successors such as Ion Storm's 'Deus Ex' and Arkane's recent 2017 love letter 'Prey' may have surpassed it in terms of the width in their usage of similar emergent gameplay techniques, the Von Braun still has some quality RPG gaming on hand here. The systems at work in terms of buildcrafting make a difference in play-style have a substantial impact on how one proceeds through the game, and 'System Shock 2' still finds some ways to reward creative problem solving or digressions, even in it's first moments. It's the immediacy of these potential variations that makes 'Shock 2' remain a competitor in it's field after all the years.

If there's anything that may get in the way of some engaging with these things, it will be the game's sense of difficulty. 'System Shock 2' is steeped in the attitudes of it's era, unflinching depth through consequence and cost. You can save at any time and use that to your advantage in tough areas, but save-scumming will seldom protect you from the high pressure resource management, and it will only cut the time spent on a challenge down, it doesn't make combat explicitly easier or less costly. There's an insidious tension to 'Shock 2' that you don't find in other titles—even ones of it's time—that comes from the fact that essentially every action you take will have a price to it. Limited supply of cyber-modules for levelling, sturdy nanite costs for upgrades and items, as well as steadfast weapon degradation and hard-pressed ammunition all work together to send a clear message; this is not a first person shooter. This is a survival horror immersive sim. Someone who lacks experience or literacy in these fields will likely be turned off by it's unflinching and sometimes cruel direction in these areas, which is why it is worthy to warn that if you are one of these people, 'System Shock 2' will require a shift in attitude and a willingness to leave ones comfort zone.

Discomfort is the word of the day with this RPG, as the aforementioned tension in mechanics and systems dance with the game's oppressive tone. Despite holding the 'horror' label with pride, 'Shock 2' isn't constantly trying to scare you, there are several parts where you engaging in cooool tactical combat against mutant monsters with late 90s IDM jamming in the background, which makes the game feel far more at home in the 'science-fiction action RPG' suite. But then there's all the other parts. A lot of people think keeping the game's music on is a mistake, since it can be responsible for the more chaotic atmosphere the previously mentioned combat sequences occasionally exist in, but what these people forget is that this is not the bulk of the game. When the electronic bangers quiet down, when the eerie ambient tracks build up, when you're sneaking through the cold ship, peeking around every corner for fear of enemies or security cameras; this is where the true horror of 'System Shock 2' gets to rear it's head. The underlying dread, the awareness of your own isolation creeping up on you, the brief gazes out into the endless black through the star-ship windows as you remember that you are truly alone, and no one is coming to save you. The layout of areas features stomach churning juxtaposition, with clean, sanitary corporate halls, untouched by the alien infestation, only for the next door down to be stricken with gore and gunk. Truly the TriOptimum way! The sickening body horror present in the creatures coming to get you subsumes their ageing polygon count, all of this uplifted by some of the best sound design in any game ever created.

The quivering call of a tortured cyborg nurse searching for you as you've hidden behind a table, croaking "come out, c-come out" or the inhuman technical garble of a lumbering Triop machine stomping in your direction, the unsettling ambient tracks are only broken by more fearful sounds like these. It is well known that this is a game where you will hear your enemies well before you see them, and this creates an almost necessary sonic reliance for the player, which does a lot to immerse them in the setting. The voice acting is really the only remotely inconsistent part in terms of 'quality.' To be blunt, yeah, some of the audio logs sound like they were voiced by random people off the street. It adds to the 90s charm of the game but it can stick out pretty badly to some people, because there are certain vocal performances which are nothing short of astounding. Terri Brosius' work as SHODAN is the most iconic for good reason, but special mention must be given to Ian Vogel as Korenchkin and Esra Gaffin as Dr Polito. Many roles were cleverly double cast, but the latter mentioned in my praise lent her voice as well to the communications of The Many, accompanying Stephen Russell to work together in creating a truly terrifying sound for the cosmic biomass.

The plot of 'System Shock 2' on paper doesn't sound too conceptually complex, which may as well be the case but that isn't a criticism. The only major flaw I think is worth bringing up on the front of storytelling would be that much like the similarly titled 'spiritual successor', Bioshock, it has a painfully obvious twist. Still, the lack of obfuscation for this turn doesn't take too much away from the overcoat of mystery the game wears, and this unsettling atmosphere and manner of which you uncover it means the narrative can remain compelling even if not thrilling on paper. Because that's the thing, this isn't paper, this is a video game. And one that knows how to leverage the mediums strengths, no less! The senses of immersion, discovery and involvement are forced upon you by how the player must engage with the Von Braun itself simply to survive. You cannot talk about why the storytelling experience of 'System Shock 2' is excellent separate from it's gameplay because you cannot separate the experience itself. They are one in the same, and that is the hallmark of a truly excellent video game.

I've now played through this game more times than I've played through most, it is a reminder for what I love so dearly about this medium, and if anything I've written here has felt inspiring in any capacity then I implore you to give this classic a spin. Only 'Deus Ex', 'Thief II: The Metal Age' and 'Prey (2017)' have either matched or surpassed it in depth of gameplay since. These games are few and far between, so savour them. If you can make it out of Med/Sci, then you can make it to the end. My only wish is that co-op wasn't a load of hot sticky bollocks, but hey fairs fair, its a bonus of the steam version and I can imagine it would have been hotter and stickier bollocks to implement to begin with. Regardless, this is one of my favourite games of all time and I can't recommend it enough!

Probably the best expansion for this game to date, while the core game itself is riddled with problems, the content here is pretty good. The two strikes are some of the best Bungie have put out, the campaign is actually pretty great on hard mode, the new destination has a lot of great vistas and the quests in the dlc do a pretty good job at getting you around the place. Oh, and of course, the raid is stellar as usual, I feel like I don't even need to mention that, you already knew it was gonna be good. My concerns for this package don't come from the quality of the content but rather the amount of it, 'Destiny' is a game that has been around for almost a decade at this point and—even in spite of how much the release of the sequel set the studio back—I think that it is in Bungie's best interests to use their now significantly larger staff to make these 60 dollar releases even larger, to keep up with the competition that now actually exists. I've seen a lot of reductive "criticisms" thrown at this dlc, and given how mantra-esque and borderline irrelevant to the content at hand that they are, I think that's born out of discontent players who are fed up with the state of the base game rather than people who actually have a valuable or nuanced statement about the constituents of the expansion. If you're looking for a hundred to a couple of hundred-ish hours of, well, Destiny to play, then there's a lot of worthwhile stuff here.

This is a game that needs little introduction. If you somehow have never heard of it, FromSoftware's Dark Souls trilogy are some of the best games ever made. This first instalment—as well as it's niche precursor, 2009's 'Demon's Souls'—is this studios line in the sand. The definitive project, the contextual crown of their body of work. Outside of being one of the most inventive and influential games of its generation, 'Dark Souls' is a surprisingly well aged piece. There are many who will cite the unfinished endgame areas, terrible difficulty balancing, unfair forced damage, and "jankier-than-it's-successors" combat as cases against that point, however its the blatant unfairness that makes this game strangely refreshing in a modern gaming lens, in the same way that it was in 2011. The world changed around 'Dark Souls' in a specific way, they took elements, but few have pursued depth with such endearingly haphazard madness since it. Though my past self may be cursing me presently, the sheer brutality and blatant disregard for what is deemed conventionally fair is what will always make this game appealing to me. Few experiences I have had in games have been nearly as crushing, as weighty, as invigorating and enthralling as this one, its strong thematic rope which ties everything within the experience is only strengthened but its harshness.

The abstraction of which the story of 'Dark Souls' sits behind allows the broad strokes of its ideas to ring out in a way that is natural, this is a story that is only possible to tell in this medium not because of inherent interactive componentry—which does exists—but moreover a commitment from its developers to allow a tale to be experienced rather than told. It is elusive, for some to a frustrating fault, but the feelings and themes conveyed are so well touched together with the crushing nature of the gameplay. The game's ideas about death, humanism and our spiritual perseverance inherent to our condition may be simple, but it is cathartic, dramatic and so well tied to the mechanical aspects of the game to a point at which it may enamour the player.

The presentation is also stellar. Oppressive, mystifying, awe-inspiring and even at times fear inducing, the atmosphere of 'Dark Souls' is another pillar contributing to this thematic poignancy, truly creative dark-fantasy horror and awe, beautifully conveyed.

On a design front, this game is hard to approach. Its achievements here are some of the most powerful in all of gaming history, the first half of 'Dark Souls' is mind blowing in its creativity and fluidity. There is too much that it does well in this department that I simply haven't the time to write on it, but in short, this is a good contender for one of the best, most intelligently crafted combat systems in any action game, the first half of the game has some of the best level design in any video game and the mechanics which surround all of this—such as the marvellous estus flask—enrich and complement beautifully. However, the aforementioned unfinished nature of this game's second half makes it terribly difficult to recommend. The level, enemy and mechanical design falls completely through the floor, and is a reason as to why I may never return to this game.

Lastly, there is one more disappointing thing to note about the game.
As you can see this is a review for, specifically 'DARK SOULS: REMASTERED', not the original Prepare to Die PC release. In 2018, with the release of this "remaster" Bandai Namco and FromSoftware removed the original port of 'Dark Souls' from Steam. To further elucidate the egregiousness of this action, you may have noticed I put "remaster" in quotation marks, VERY deliberately, because simply put this is NOT a remaster, this is an update. This is a full price game—at least over here in Australia—that almost never goes on sale, yet, its is quite literally the same 2011 game but now at 60fps [something that was already possible on the original version of the game with a mod that came out literal hours after the steam release.] This is already poor enough behaviour, but in recent times there's been yet another point of controversy. After 290 days of the online functionality of both 'Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition' and 'Dark Souls: Remastered' being unavailable, only the remaster was bought back online, leaving valuable parts of the experience no longer available to long term fans who—understandably, given the nature of the remaster—didn't fork up money for the game they already owned. I know that this is old wounds to most now, and there's really nothing wrong with the PC version of this game if you just run off the idea that the "remaster" is more of a port than its namesake suggests, but I still believe this practice to be poor form.

At any rate, FromSoftware's 'Dark Souls' is a rightfully revered classic, and if you're STILL yet to play it, this version is more than worth the money.

get on soundodger 2