Recent reviews by karnage

There is already ample evidence that Inside is well worth the time and money, multiple times over. Inside is very much Limbo 2, but not in the usual sense of sequels, where the narrative follows a continuous line, while graphics, gameplay, controls, etc. are upgraded. Inside is a successor to Limbo in its essence.

The core gameplay is perfectly intact:

• Identical controls (and the same tightness).
  
• The fact that every single interactable object WILL be required to be interacted with.
  
• How the margins are so meticuluosly crafted that during the "figuring out" trials they are perilously close, but on a repeat run, you notice it's quite comfortable.
  
• How the game audio is a critical actor in the scene, playing its part in informing the player of the character's surroundings, and establishing the ambience that fits so well with the overall dark aesthetic.
  
• TFW you realise how simple a solution to a puzzle you were stuck on for a while is.

But Inside isn't just Limbo redux. Playdead has actually made it better:

• The game listens. There is not a single break in the audio, including the puzzles where there is a continuous loop running: the engine literally waits to synchronise player respawn and scene-reset to coincide with the running audio loop.
  
• Inside is also a visual masterpiece: the lighting and shadows are immaculate, the 3D world actually lends the player more agency (you don't need to jump over the interactive box you're pushing, since it's not blocking your path), while simultaneously giving the world literally an entire new dimension to utilise, which both the artists and the level designers have made full use of.
  
• The animations are incredible: to a viewer it won't even look like a player "controlling" a character; it will seem like a scripted sequence.
  
• There are so many new problem spaces that Playdead has built around the same control mechanics that it is intimidating and awe-inducing at the same time.
  
• There are multiple atmospheric/experiential references to Limbo, which will give you goosebumps.

If I am to force a criticism on Inside, it will be this: SPOILER AHEAD


While Limbo had an amazingly elegant, confounding yet simple puzzle as its climax, Inside doesn't feature any such final masterpiece solution.

If you loved the Homeworld series, Deserts of Kharak is totally worth it, and here's why:

First of all, a little backstory: the Homeworld IP was tossed around various companies for almost a decade, before ending in a bid between Blackbird (ex Homeworld devs) and Gearbox, the latter winning the auction. This led to the Remastered edition, on which Blackbird helped Gearbox quite a bit, especially with assets. In the meanwhile, Blackbird was working on Hardware: Shipbreakers, an independent title, designed to be F2P. Gearbox eventually asked them if they'd want to rebrand it as Homeworld, and Blackbird agreed. Why did I waste one paragraph writing this? Because Deserts of Kharak is NOT a well-planned, heavily-financed AAA game. It is a haphazardly put together welcome surprise package, somewhat as a replacement for Cataclysm Remastered, not driven by profit but passion. So, in my opinion, most of the shortcomings mentioned in the other reviews can be forgiven/overlooked.

Deserts of Kharak faithfully reproduces MANY themes in the original saga, such as an expedition to explore the past (immediately followed by total disaster), that determines the future; fleet balancing (that some consider the rock-paper-scissor design, but pretty much all CCGs, MOBAs, Arena Shooters, etc. are identically balanced); stellar, beautiful music; emphasis on micromanagement and rewarding effort; and a gripping, tight back-story that segways neatly into the intro to Homeworld 1. There isn't much you can do with a fixed ending, and Deserts of Kharak sprinkles enough suspense, thrill, even drama, throughout the journey to keep you engaged.

DoH brings terrain-based tactical combat to the table as new gameplay, and while it works, it's not as game-changing as you'd like it to be. If you used 3D space to lay out ambushes in Homeworld, you can totally use sand dunes to achieve the same effect in DoH. Like Catacylsm, you have one very mobile carrier instead of a big mothership, which is now upgradable and quite capable of holding its own in combat, provided you shunt power to the right drives. You do NOT automatically collect resources at the end of missions, which fits the "nomads on the run" motif, IMO. Besides, unlike HW, resources aren't scattered throughout the map, but concentrated inside shipwrecks that you find on the way: the process of shipbreaking and gathering resources is challenging, especially when under constant attack (an example of the "reward effort" mantra).

The game is a bit buggy, camera controls could be improved, cutscenes could be skippable, and a myriad of other minor issues that, in my opinion, have negligible impact on player experience. My harshest criticism against the game would be its pricing: it might have had more success in the $25 range. Deserts of Kharak is a well executed modern RTS (in a world dominated by MOBAs) that you should definitely try.