Recent reviews by Lanzagranadas

I'd probably land a job at the NASA before I understand how to get this thing working.

Yeah, don't take this review seriously. I actually appreciate this stuff, but everything seems unnecessarily convoluted and counter-intuitive to set up.

First emulator I wanted to try wasn't even included in the app. Finally learned how to manually add the Core, and for some reason I have less settings available when launching the thing from Retroarch than if I just use the standalone emulator (can't even rebind the keys)

I'll change my review if I eventually understand what's the point of using this and how it works, but currently I can't recommend it. It feels like I just wasted time trying to configure and use this, when the standalone emu gave me better results and took less than a minute to configure.

The definitive version and best way to play these three classic games.

- The three full games, plus their respective expansions not previously available on Steam or any console. All included in one launcher.
- Huge graphic overhaul that improves all textures, lightning/FX, and even straight updates 3D models for all characters, items, and some scenario elements. All while staying reasonably faithful to the originals' aesthetic and keeping all scenario structure intact in order to not compromise gameplay.
- New Game Plus: An additional much harder difficulty that makes enemies and traps more deadly, while limiting healing resources and also bringing back the Save Crystals feature from PS1 TR1 and 3.
- Added replay value with achievements encouraging different kinds of playthroughs.
- A few new moves added from later TR games to make the gameplay more fluent. Now you can mid-air and underwater roll in TR1, and TR3 got two new moves to make crawling sections faster.
- You can switch between remastered and original graphics anytime to compare how the visuals changed.
- QoL such as Photo mode (which can be also used as a scouting tool if you wish) and modern controls as an alternative for those not very fond of the original tank controls.

- No graphics customization settings. The games use your monitor resolution, but if you want to change things for whatever reason, it's not possible at least from inside the game.
- Original graphics are capped at 30 FPS, so not very pleasant if you actually want to play that way.
- The games were designed to work with tank controls, and it shows. If you're a newcomer expecting modern controls to make your life much easier, well, think twice. I personally use tank controls, but from what people say modern controls are far from working perfectly with these games.

This review is based on the current build of the game as of May 15th (Patch 2, updated a month ago on April 11th), so I won't mention certain issues from the previous builds that have already been fixed or improved.

Bought this game because I watched someone playing it Youtube. It looked interesting, and was very cheap. But honestly, I can't recommend Project Blari in its current state.

The idea of semi-open world Survival Horror and having choices/side-quests that can determine which ending you get and which NPCs survive is great. Sadly this game executes that, and all of its mechanics, in an awfully boring and lackluster way, when games from the PS1 era it tries to hommage handled those things much better.

The few side quests given by NPCs are basically just "bring me X item from Y place" with practically nothing in the way that could challenge you to get said item. The multiple "different" endings are more or less all the same, essentially there are two endings, and the others are just practically insignificant variations of those two and a different text over black screen at the end.

And good luck if you want to get all endings anyway, because what you have to do to get each of them is not intuitive at all, so you'll need a guide, and the couple of guides that exist are in French. And speaking about French, the game doesn't actually have full English translation despite what the store page says, files and certain other texts remain in French.

The enemies are just:
-Black tentacles stationed around specific walls/doors
-Zombies that are stupidly easy to just walk past because they have almost zero detection range unless you're running.
-An invincible enemy that you have to spam a key to run away if it spots you.

So whether or not you get the only weapon in the game (a handgun) makes virtually no difference since it can only kill the zombies which are practically harmless unless you're playing dumb anyway.

There are also basic QoL missing such as Y axis invert.

Being an indie game doesn't justify bland gameplay that has almost nothing interesting to offer and gets boring extremely quick, not when there are amazing old school horror-themed games like Signalis, Tormented Souls, and Song of Horror out there.

PS: This game is very short, but if you want to get all endings for the sake of getting 100% completion, I recommend manually doing save backups so you don't have to start from the beginning everytime (game uses auto saves). The save files are located inside AppData\Local\projet_BLARI\Saved\SaveGames\BLARI_1.1

The developers here really understood what makes Survival Horror great and how to create a great game experience from it, while also adding their own ideas and twists to make it stand out.

Must recommend for classic Survival Horror fans who enjoy a well-balanced mix of resource management, planning, exploration, limited combat, and puzzles in a metroidvania-style horror setting.

There are enemies and weapons but (at least in the hard difficulty) you have to plan your actions accordingly and consider whether you should fight or avoid combat; be smart when managing resources and approaching combat situations to prevent wasting health and resources unnecessarily.

The maps are interesting, with plenty of rooms to explore, and the puzzles are very well designed, varied and clever without being overly obtuse to figure out.

The plot is bizarre and confusing as hell. I didn't understand a lot of it, so can't really say much about whether the story is good or not. Would probably need a second playthrough to put everything together and understand it better.

Warning: Keep in mind that the game doesn't end when it seems like it. There's a "fake ending" at some point, but the game continues after that.

I'm a bit disappointed because I was expecting a more grounded, crime solving detective story, as Her Story or Contradiction; or in fact as Immortality itself looks like when you start playing it.

But turns out it's not. There isn't really much genuine detective play to do here, because the explanation for some things involve supernatural forces pulling the strings behind the scenes that transgress our "real world" laws and logic (won't say more because of spoilers)

I still recommend it because the story is very intriguing and fun to unfold, because there is actually an explanation for everything that "makes sense" (within the game's own rules), and the actors' performances are also great. I still enjoyed it for what it is, even if it's not quite what I was expecting.

Fantastic platformer and arguably the best Crash Bandicoot game in terms of game mechanics and level design all-around, but unfortunately a complete torture to complete.

Totally recommended if you just want a great platformer to play through, enjoy all the levels, new mechanics and ideas. Crash Bandicoot 4 has more, longer and more varied levels than any other game in the series. But if you're one of those players who allways want to go for max completion, prepare yourself to give up your fingers, probably a few gamepads, and your sanity in the process, because they turned an aspect that was a lot more fun and reasonable in the N. Sane Trilogy into a frustrating nightmare.

This review encompasses both Batman, and Batman: The Enemy Within seasons, because there isn't really much to say about each game individually.

I'm not Telltale style games' biggest fan, but as a Batman fan these turned out to be a fantastic experience. A well written and intriguing story with great character development.

As it happens in these kind of games, there isn't much gameplay, it's mostly an interactive movie that you play mainly for its story and characters. There are a lot of interesting choice and consequence moments that, although they might not be as meaningful to the story outcome as they'd seem, they do affect Batman's relationships with the other characters and add plenty of interesting variations to the plot.

Batman Telltale series feels actually more like a Bruce Wayne story than a Batman story (and it might be likely one of the best Bruce Wayne stories ever written). So don't expect a 'superhero' story (Batman isn't meant to be a superhero anyway), it's more like a dark crime/drama with a lot of conflict and moral dilemmas in which things aren't as simple as being the masked hero who stops the bad guy from doing bad things and saves the day.

These games do a great job at making players question their moral values and choices, and live with the consequences. A must-play series if you want to explore the human aspect of Bruce Wayne/Batman, feel the dark side and implications of being the masked vigilante, and realize that you just can't be a perfect Batman.

An excelent tribute to classic Survival Horror gameplay, with fixed camera angles, tense/horror atmosphere, good Metroidvania-style maps with clever design, and a big focus on exploration, route planning, and puzzle solving.

If you like these classic games that made you think instead of holding your hand and telling you what to do as if you were stupid, if you like resource management, finding items and solving puzzles, this is a must-play, because not only it brings back those elements, it actually improves them in certain ways.

It's essentially a big escaping puzzle with a great level design, where you'll have to use your brain to figure out what to do and how. You'll get hints but not on-the-nose, so don't expect a few basic puzzles here and there that you can easily solve by reading colored words in a file, because in Tormented Souls it's not that simple. You'll have to explore, pay attention to hints, and think things through to progress through the game. It's easy to get lost and struggle trying to figure out what to do at certain points.

There is combat, guns, and enemies you can fight back. Ammo is limited but not really scarce, so most of the time it's best to eliminate enemies, especially since there's plenty of backtracking in the game and you might likely have to return to those areas later, so it's better to clean the path and save you potential troubles in the future. You can fight, but combat isn't the main focus of the game, it's rather clunky (as it used to be in this kind of games) and it's not where the main challenge comes from.

Definitely recommended for classic Survival Horror fans. If you prefer a more streamlined Survival Horror take, with a bigger focus on combat/shooting, less puzzles, easier navigation, and a more newcomer-friendly experience overall, then this is probably not what you're looking for. Be aware that in your first playthrough there are a good number of puzzles that you might get stuck at and moments where you may get lost.

As other players have mentioned, map-checking could use some improvement. Opening the inventory Files, opening the map, then picking the corresponding tab to check the floor you're at can get annoying. I don't think an icon showing the character's position is necessary, but at least a shortcut key to open the map for your current area would be appreciated.

End of Eternity / Resonance of Fate has a unique gameplay that takes its time to learn, but once you figure how things work it can be an extremely fun game that definitely rewards the player for knowing what they're doing.

From combat system, to world navigation, to weapon customization, many features and mechanics in EoE/RoF are difficult to learn, puzzling, and not newcomer-friendly, so if you feel lost in the early game, don't worry, that's normal. Take your time to figure things out, play the tutorials (which are optional, but make sure you don't skip them), experiment and understand what you're doing, practice in the Arena if you need. Once you know how things work, that's where the real fun begins.

Combat is the greatest aspect of the game, and where most of the fun comes from. It's hard to even describe how it works... think of it as something that looks like a turn-based combat RPG at its core, but where you actually move and attack enemies (and so do they) in real time, making real time action, reaction and timing key aspects of the gameplay, as your characters and the enemies won't have to just stand still waiting in place to be attacked.

If you played Valkyria Chronicles, you might get a better idea of what I mean, but still EoE/RoF does it in a different way (similar concept, different execution, with more focus on the action component). It's a unique combat system, which whether you understand its mechanics or not will make a huge difference in your chances of success.

Learning to properly customize your weapons, and how to activate and connect the different world terminals to give you advantages in the long run can also be a huge help.

The story is interesting, but not told in a very compelling way. The narrative is very cryptic and, especially in your first playthrough, you might miss a lot of details and not understand the plot very well, or even lost interest in it at some point. So, definitely not a game you should play for the story.

Excelent game in almost everything, and an awesome tribute to classic horror games. Highly recommended for horror fans, especially old school ones, and those who like or don't mind slow-paced gameplay and plenty of exploration.


Beware though, that if you don't like the idea of dying and losing some characters due to failing at QTEs this game may not be for you. I don't recommend playing on the highest difficulty (H.P. Lovecraft) now for that reason: QTEs are more abundant and harder in that mode, which can turn these scary moments into something rather annoying and frustrating. Supposedly "E.A. Poe" is the intended experience, so I'd recommend playing on that difficulty instead.

The positive:
-Amazingly crafted locations, with excelent atmosphere, a lot of detail and work put into each of them.
-Great map design, with many locations to explore and plenty of stuff to do in each of them in order to survive. The game doesn't hold your hand so it's easy to get lost if you can't figure out what to do.
-Great and smart puzzles that require brain... although a couple of them can be way too cryptic to the point of getting frustrating. I believe at least one or two have been recently patched with more/better hints.
-Intriguing story, lore, and progression.
-Different characters to play as, each with their (slightly) different stats and personal item, adding more variety to the experience. Depending on their stats, characters can be more/less likely to face dangers, have a harder/easier time dealing with some them, etc.
-Permadeath mechanic: If a character dies, they're out of the story for your current playthrough. If you don't like this, there's a difficulty setting with no permadeath as well.
-Many of the Presence events and scares are randomized, meaning that you'll never know exactly which events you'll experience, when, or where, while replaying the game, adding more tension and unpredictability.

The negative:
-QTEs.
-QTEs.
-Seriously, QTEs.

Awesome game overall. Would have been more awesome though, had the Presence interactions been handled in more interesting and engaging ways than QTEs and crazy button mashing moments.