Recent reviews by Mild Blobfish

This game features many different aspects:

Survival: An aspect of the game includes feeding you and your fellow stalkers by rationing portions of food off.

Crafting: To build your base and survive, you follow an easy to follow UI to cook up food and other medicine.

Management: You are tasked with assigning jobs to your teammates during the mission loadout to help accomplish more over the course of the game.

Building Sim: Using material you find, you build different components inside your Refugee base.

Shooter: You can't hipfire, and only shoot once by holding down right mouse, then pressing left. It is only ADS shooting.

Exploration: The areas are small, and while you are free to explore what you want, radiation hot zones railroad an experience for you to play though. You can however choose what mission to do when, whenever you want.

Music: Great, really on the right path for what is expected in this survival game.

Voice Acting: Only in Russian, that isn't the problem the problem is the quality of it, there doesn't seem to be tension during the dialogue parts, and sounds like people reading a script.

Dialogue: Branching, maybe? The multiple roads all seem to end at the same outcome.

Movement: It felt very chunky

Optimization: Running the game on low settings, i maxed out at 7fps in a majority of parts, making the game unplayable, despite meeting all the system requirements above minimum.

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Edit for Developer Response 17 Oct:
@Legileg I ran it on Low Settings on the following hardware:
GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 970 STRIX
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 Haswell Quad-Core 3.2
Ram: 24GB (2x8GB | 2x4GB) DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
where the minimum requirements were
GPU: Geforce GTX 760 / GTX 1050
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K CPU
Memory: 8 GB RAM

I was unable to complete the Moscow Eye mission to due to frame dropping down to 7 during the majority of exploration. The lowest I dropped was during the Moscow Eye mission, inside the room with the projector, and the area around it, where they dropped to the point where the game was unplayable (5fps). I tried to exit the area, but the chugging continued to follow me. Even during the CNPP initial raid, i was getting around 10fps-15fps. I managed to get above 90fps inside the refuge map area and while inside the "portal dimension"

When i mentioned the movement felt chunky, I meant that when I move the mouse, the player tends to float with momentum, it feels that the turning follows behind the mouse itself and is slightly delayed when not aiming down sights and not a 1:1 movement ratio.

My second biggest issue was the fact you can't hipfire, which felt like a nitpicky problem, especially in tense situations, when i had a shadow after me, It killed the atmosphere having to stop, aim, then as the creature attacked me, continue to aim then fire. A tense atmosphere would have been kept if i was able to hipfire while backing up without aiming down sights with a major accuracy decrease.

While this game is a unique and hopeful experience, I had to return it because in its current state, and use the money for a different game, due to the fps drop making it unplayable for me. I hope as updates come out that issue will be fixed, and I will purchase and try again.

Short and sweet, ill say that.

After finishing this DLC which ran me maybe 2 hours max, my playthrough was on normal, I went for the achievements of collectables and not using health packs, which if you play smart, isn't hard at all.

The story fits in well with the Metro Universe, it fills in the lore blanks of Novosibirsk, and the cutscene transitions make everything flow smoothly in a flashback sense to the point that if you wanted to, you could play both simultaneously during the main story. It follows the original linear Metro games, where the last part of the story has arrows for you to follow. Despite knowing how it ends, because I played the original game, it still made me tear up due to the sacrifices made by all parties for what they believe true.

The music is the same from the main story such as "Race Against Fate", no noticeable new additions to it. I would have liked some new additions to the OST, so for that, I'm giving it a 4.

The gameplay adds the new weapon of the Flamethrower. In the middle of the DLC, you are swapped to an AK and Ashot, which breaks the monotony but then given back the flameyboy at the end to toast some critters. It has new upgrades but follows pneumatic weaponry train of pumping. It leaves out a lot of things from the original game, such as having to change filters, checking stealth levels, throwables such as grenades, etc, the entire backpack mechanic is removed, making the only things craftable at a workbench being health kits and ammo.

The graphics are the same as the original game, no change there.

Story - 4/5
Music - 4/5
Gameplay - 3/5
Graphics - 5/5
Overall - 8/10

Metro Exodus review
"Sams Story" Review

The Lightbearer DLC is very well written and enjoyable to play through. It is however very very short, and more of a walking simulator then a what people may expect coming from a We Happy Few DLC. While I recommend eventually getting this DLC, I don't think it is worth full asking price of 10.99CDN.

The DLC follows Night Lightbearer through a drug-infused story of character development after a not so forgettable night becomes forgotten. You play through trying to recall the previous nights' actions, ending in a fun plot twist, boss battle, and very tiny people running at you with normal-sized cleavers.

The game features a groovy new combat mechanic with an entertaining, well written and thought out story. The cutscenes are unique and you can really put your shoes into a drug-infused rockstar from the '60s. The music is immersive and adds to the We Happy Few feeling throughout while keeping distinctive from the previous DLC. Unfortunately, the map is small, you only ever cover the same hotel and city block, with police blocking groupies making your path linear and objective always easy to get to.

We Happy Few Review
What Came from Below Review
We All Fall Down Review

Now, This review is very similar to my New Order Review with some tweaks, that is because the games are very similar. Read to find out more:

Wolfenstein 2, New Colossus is also a pretty okay game. It is simple in the sense that you simply run and gun like the first, but the length of the game never made the running and gunning feel tedious. The main campaign can be finished in 10 hours if you play strictly story and don't hunt for collectables etc, which is my gripe for it. My second gripe is that the ending is lackluster and I thought to me self "oh, alright then".

With that being said: I recommend this game with at least 50% off. Unlike the first game, note that you can keep playing after the final act/post credits which is a plus in my books.

It has moments of optional stealth, by optional stealth, I mean to sneak in and kill the two captains before they can raise the alarm then gun down the rest of the enemies in the area. At harder difficulties, stealth seems like a must, for you tend to get widdled down on health relatively quickly.

NC's plot isn't anything to go home about once again. It is a continuation from the first. Again, you are BJ, the American soldier, Nazi-killing master, and after Nazis do more bad things, it's up to you to kill the head Nazi while a helping a growing resistance turn the tides by gathering more resistance members. Decent, never dull, average and predictable.

The game is different in the sense you explore Nazi North America this time, unlike the first game you explored Nazi Europe. I enjoyed the ability to see Manhatten after the Nazis dropped the nuke on the city which is why they are in power. The radioactive wasteland was a pretty cool change of scenery. Nothing fancy, just shades of brown, but an awesome lore filler and very well executed in game.

The characters in this game developed way further than in New Order, are dynamic and change over time, each facing their own hardships and battles to overcome.

You may ask: Do I have to play N.O to enjoy the story for this? I would say yes. To fully understand the grasp of the Nazis, who the characters are, and the bond connected to the choices made in the second game, I wouldn't play New Colossus without it.

The music is great, a combination of hard-hitting rock with moments of emotional acoustic guitar, additionally it has its points of New Orleans blues unlike the first.

The gameplay is smooth, I played it on the hardest difficulty first time through and only came across more sections in the whole campaign then the first. It is more difficult than the first and makes running and gunning come to a stop when you have to think of who to mow down with bullets first.

The graphics are nothing to complain about, if you have a weak stomach some scenes may not be for you is all I have to say about that. It is by far more gruesome than the first when it comes to death scenes.

Story - 4/5
Music - 3/5
Gameplay - 3/5
Graphics - 3/5
Overall - 7/10

Ori and the Blind Forest is a great exploration platformer with enough challenge to keep yourself frustrated to the point of wanting to progress further.

Ori's story isn't anything special, and the way it is delivered is rather slow. Bad things happened in the forest and it is up to you to set them straight, and the kind-hearted Ori is the one who is tasked to do so. It is a linear story, with no player decisions, however, this does fit this style of the platformer game.

Ori's music diversely covers both whimsical exploration and heightened battles which definitely make this soundtrack worth saving on Spotify.

The gameplay can be frustrating at times. Ori is a game where you can get lost very easily if you don't keep track of your current objective. Much of the game is upgrading yourself to be able to open the next door or to reach the keystones to open said doors which require new upgrades. While each area of the map is very rich in experiences adding new challenges from enemies to game mechanics, as you upgrade you are able to picture previous challenges which stopped you from progressing which creates a desire to go back and explore with new found powers.

The upgrades which Ori unlocks work in a very natural and fluid path, and at no point to me become over-cumbersome or bulky to play. There are moments where attacking enemies becomes a button mashing experience , but you can purchase upgrades with experience points to make those battles easier.

The graphics are great, they reminisce on a hand-drawn style with each area of the map different and always gives the player something to look at. Each area seems to have time and attention put into the scapes, never making it seem as if they just copy-pasted a new area into the game to give the player something to do. Despite each area full of features in the, I never found myself confused on what objects were background or foreground specific and I never asked myself "can I climb that", it was always very clear and concise.

Story - 3/5
Music - 4/5
Gameplay - 4/5
Graphics - 5/5
Overall - 8/10

This DLC is pretty great. Its a nice side story in the lore of the We Happy Few Universe.

Short and sweet, this DLC is a run and gun style storyline. You don't have to play We Happy Few to understand what is going on in this story, it only adds depth to an already interesting trio of characters.

If you didn't enjoy the fighting mechanic in We Happy Few, then this DLC may feel more like a chore. It does change up how it plays with the addition of a ray gun which you upgrade over time, however, to recharge you need to go back to whacking them with a stick to assist in charging your gun faster.

The music fits with the game the entire way through, with a beautiful 70's sci-fi twist, it doesn't seem out of place at all.

As I always play on the hardest difficulty, and with that being said, at no points did I feel over-encumbered with enemies or that the battles were unfair. It was always a decent challenge which never droned on for too long.

A great first step for We Happy Few DLC.

We Happy Few Review
Lightbearer Review
We All Fall Down Review

Now, This review is very similar to my New Colossus review with some tweaks, that is because the games are very similar. Read to find out more:

Wolfenstein New Order is a pretty good game. It is simple in the sense that you simply run and gun, but the length of the game never made the running and gunning feel tedious. It has moments of optional stealth, by optional stealth, I mean sneak in and kill the two captains before they can raise the alarm then gun down the rest of the enemies in the area. This game by far has the best segue sequences to connect two parts of the story at two different moments in time.

New Orders plot isn't anything to go home about, You are BJ, the American soldier, Nazi-killing master, and after Nazis do more bad things, it's up to you to kill the head Nazi while a helping a growing resistance turn the tides. Decent, never dull, average and predictable.

The music is great, a combination of hard-hitting rock with moments of emotional acoustic guitar, for me it was a Spotify save that is great to work out to.

The gameplay is smooth, I played it on the hardest difficulty first time through and only came across about 3 frustrating sections in the whole campaign. This makes me think however that anything easier then Uber would make this game not challenging in any way and more of a stress relief for psychopaths.

The graphics are nothing to complain about, if you have a weak stomach some scenes may not be for you is all I have to say about that.

Overall, the game is average. In my opinion not worth the full Triple-A price. I picked up both New Order and the prequel to it, Old Blood for $20 CAD, which seems the perfect price for this experience.

A side note, if you played Return to Castle Wolfenstein, then I 100% recommend purchasing "The Old Blood" for some nostalgic feelings in the stand-alone prequel to New Order. Not necessary to understand the story, but a very fun and worthwhile lead up to New Order.


Story - 3/5
Music - 3/5
Gameplay - 3/5
Graphics - 3/5
Overall - 6/10

This will be a short and to the point review on my gripes to this game.

The controls are slow and cumbersome, it feels like the player has a 40-ton weight on their back when you attempt to pick up a torch, it feels slow and tedious, to sprint feels weighed down and with this being a walking simulator game, makes it almost unplayable. The game also is way too dark to see anything, even with the brightness turned up, additionally the first cutscene i encountered, there were missed lines of voice acting. This game feels like it needs another year in development, along with a round of playtesting before a full-on release candidate even should be considered.

I got this game at 65% off, and even if I were offered this for free, probably wouldn't play it due to how unenjoyable the game is in its current state.

I'm pleasantly surprised by this game. It isn't a horror game, but many times I expected something to appear behind me with the atmosphere this game created.

The story is basic but intriguing. You are a building inspector tasked with inspecting the water tunnels of Stalburg, however during the inspection, you begin to uncover the lore of the city, how a steel company screwed over its workers, a coverup attempt and what the people did to revolt. As I play, I continue to question and wonder what I stumbled upon as Mark the building inspector. I feel the more I uncover and the deeper I go, in the end, Mark doesn't get paid enough for what he endures during this game.

The music is very good, a mixture of tense orchestral at points, with mystical synth tones during exploration. I get strong waves of Half-Life meets Portal with a hint of outlast from time to time.

The gameplay is a puzzle walking simulator. Some puzzles are tense and timed, others make you have to read notes to understand what levers to flip and what wheels to turn, and others are "find the conduits to place into the sockets". While the types of puzzles are repetitive, I never felt bored with solving them, and always felt smart after solving them. With the exploration narrative, I have found out that there are multiple ways to get to the same end zone per level, sometimes finding a hidden key in zone 1 will make something easier in zone 4, but if you didn't find that key, you will still have an equally good time in zone 4, maybe spending a little more time going the long way around. You have a flashlight and a camera, and while the battery in both of them tends to run down rather fast, I never felt deprived of refills.

Graphics are good, It reminds me a lot of source engine half life 2, however, the NPC human characters are in the uncanny valley area of being creepy flesh covered robots. It covers a wide variety of urban office space, the overgrown last of us city feel, and cavernous underground caves.

An overall great game at which I recommend getting at least 45% off.

Story - 3/5
Music - 4/5
Gameplay - 3/5
Graphics - 4/5
Overall - 7/10

First off, i'm not going to be a baby about the whole Epic vs Steam, this is a review for the game not the company behind it:

Lore Preface:
The game takes place after Glukhovsky's Metro 2035 Book (Summed up below)
The book sums up to Artyom's adventure in destroying the jammers ends up with finding out that Hanza, the reds, the Reich and even pPolis are part of a metaphoric hydra to where many heads but one puppeteer. They kept the jammers up because they worried that outside threats would nuke Moscow if they found life remained. Artyom was classified as a schizo and saboteur to make sure the secret didn't get out. Hanza and Miller continued to fund the reds on their fight with the Reich to keep everyone busy. After escaping capture from Polis for being called a traitor and saboteur he was told by a friend that people don't want to be told life out there exists and that people need hope to live down here and that the adventures of Artyom are to be written as a legend, that a normal citizen like them can prosper and do anything with perseverance. Artyom made his way to Exhibition to where Anna was and told them that he is being hunted by Hanza and that life exists elsewhere, trying to rally people to go only Anna said she would hey headed to the surface and took a suped up car with 3 cans of diesel and decided to drive east following the highway between Moscow and Vladivostok. When Artyom asked where they were going and Anna said: "I want to go to my home, see the ocean, Vladivostok." As they left, from atop a tower Spartans of the Order radioed Miller that they were leaving and wondered if they wanted them executed, to which Miller responded ♥♥♥♥ them

End of the book in relation to the start of the game:
Regarding the game, it explains why Hanza is the starting enemies. However I the game tweaked the ending of the book to which I assume that Anna and Artyom saw the train, took it, then Miller changed his mind and instead of saying "♥♥♥♥ them" at the end of the book, the Spartans ambushed and rescued Anna and Artyom and decided to head west.

Story
The overall story of Metro Exodus is by far one of the most gripping experiences I have had in a while. Each larger section of the game is comprised of smaller good and bad endings which overall adds up to a good or bad ending. Receiving the good ending however, is not as complicated as it was in the first game, and in this, you only need to not be an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. After reading both the 3 Books, extended lore books and played the 3 games, I will say that the developers behind Exodus have done just to Glukhovskys universe and developed a captivating plot twist of events which had me shed tears at the end.

Music
Oleksii Omelchuk has created a suspenseful and dramatic score which helps set the Exodus game in motion. From what I can tell he has inspiration for the soundtrack from orchestral score artists such as John Murphy. He also touched down on Russian roots using a Balalaika to create what I like to call the Exodus Overture rift which can be heard throughout different songs pulling everything together.

Gameplay
The beginning of Metro Exodus plays like a large open world sandbox allowing the player to explore where they want when they want hiding upgrades and story around each map. As you continue to play through however each location becomes more and more narrow lessening the players experience to free roam and becomes more of the classic Metro experience from the first two games. The levels introduce vehicles, weapon upgrades and attachments, deep character building interaction lastly stealth and combat gameplay opportunities.

Graphics
The graphics are great, there are actually 5 setting options, Low, Medium, High, Ultra and Extreme allowing for maximum customization. One thing that really ticks me off is no windowed/windowed borderless mode. The enemies from the previous Metro experiences have also been overhauled to create a spooky atmosphere and diverse selection of mutants.

Overall the game to me is definitely GOTY. The new Ranger update has me pulling my hair out with the Iron Man mode, which disables quick saving and checkpoints and only allows saving between levels. Some very unique experiences to the game update as well yields: Full immersion : the time in game can reflect IRL time. 1 day = 1 day IRL as opposed to 1 day = 2 hours IRL. All enemies gain +1 armour level, harder creatures, enemies use grenades more often, limited backpack option means crafting at benches and not on the fly, and lastly different weapon modes such as 1 weapon slot, no weapon slots, previous weapon slots or start with the crossbow (which you get at the second to last level of the game).

Story - 5/5
Music - 5/5
Gameplay - 5/5
Graphics - 5/5
Overall - 10/10

DLC Reviews
"The Two Colonels" Review
"Sams Story" Review