Recent reviews by Geekydeval

Final Fantasy XVI finally made its way to the PC platform with all the content and patches, a game that was overall praised when it originally released on the PlayStation 5 but was also a bit divisive due its pace and mission structure so I thought this was the perfect moment to make yet another lengthy review after all this time so let’s see if it was worth the time.

Valisthea is a vast but convulsive land due endless conflicts between nations as resources are getting scarce as the blight, a lifeless effect wave related to world elements, continues claiming more territories. We are Clive Rosfield, member of the Rosfield house and shield of our brother Joshua, the powerful Phoenix, Eikon of fire, and the dominant of the house Rosfield. As we get ready for Joshua’s ritual, our house gets attacked from both the inside and the outside and as we try to protect Joshua something happens after a mysterious figure appears, an unknown Eikon destroys everything and Joshua perishses after a strong battle.

Years have passed since Clive fights alongside the imperial forces but soon reunites with Jill, a childhood friend and Shiva’s dominant, and joins Cid and his people’s cause in an effort to liberate bearers (people who can dominate aether) while he pursues revenge against that unknown figure who might be the unknown’s Eikon dominant. As the story proceeds we will discover not only that the world, the crystals and Eikons might not be what they look like but also that something ancient awakened.

The Story is really good, interesting and I really enjoyed it. The world building is, in my opinion, extremely solid too. There are a lot of characters, a lot of nations with their main houses and smaller entities, the world’s lore is rich and shares a lot of common points with the rest of the saga such as the power of mothercrystals, the ecology and even the technology. The game does a great job offering tools to read and discover, at any moment, about each character, how they connect with eachother and even how the world evolved since the first chapter, this detail makes it feel more immersive as there’s a lot of detail that might get under the radar otherwise.

Something that I feel could have been better was pacing as there are some moments in which the game slows down a bit too much, for example, the errand boy missions do not really offer that much at a narrative level but once it speeds up, it continues going up until the very end.

Character wise I think they did a great job with most of them. Jill, Cid, Gav and so on are well written and the side quests go deeper on them and their individual stories. I think it's well worth it doing them because there are quite a lot of them that are really good and maybe even emotional if the characters resonated well with you.

You can really see the main influences for the game’s story and character building and background and while it’s considered an “adult experience” I don’t think it’s more adult than other previous entries just because it shows more visual violence or sexual scenes, the topics of this game can be found elsewhere in previous entries of the saga to be honest.

Visually, the team really wanted to make this a showcase for the next generation on PlayStation and it shows because the game has absolutely stunning moments, specially on cinematic scenes in which the vfx goes the extra mile (personally, the scenes where Bahamut or Odin show up, they are a blast, really!). Character models (specially the main ones) do look great and the world also looks fantastic.

World building is also something I think they did really great and it shows when you explore the different Valisthea regions. The world follows a medieval-like look mixed with ancient technology based on magic and the final result is something that pursues realism with a touch of fantasy that works great with villages built inside ancient ship ruins or geological elements that highlight like the mothercrystals, which are extremely beautiful and they way they are integrated with the main cities is really interesting.

The Eikon and monster designs are superb too. We all know Ifrit, or Phoenix, or Bahamut but each entry has its own take on them and XVI sure does have some of the coolests for some of them as they follow a very clear design guideline but the integration in this world was amazing. Chocobos and other creatures had the same treatment and while it pursues a more realistic approach, the way they are integrated is solid.

Artistic direction here is great and while visuals might be a bit unbalanced depending on where you look at sometimes, the final result shows a really strong visual and artistic product.

When it comes to music, the main scores and themes are strong and memorable. In general there seems to be a general consensus that music in this game is great and I fully agree, there’s little I can add in this regard so yeah, it’s good heh. Well, a small comment is that voice acting is really well done too, both English and Japanese.

Lastly, gameplay, what can I say about this other than it was extremely fun and dynamic. Let’s be honest here, it wasn’t a challenging nor strategic approach for the game but it’s such a good looking combat system and plays extremely great. The combats weren’t particularly difficult outside, perhaps, out-of-level enemies if you decided to go against them but every single one of them ended up being a visual banger thanks to movement, effects and dynamism that allows combining different Eikon abilities and approach the situation as it fits best. I should mention I encourage you to do the hunting missions too as there are some really intense combats that are well worthy.

Would I say it was one of the game’s highlights? Actually, I think it was. It has nothing to do with previous entries and it feels like a hack & slash rather than a JRPG because, let’s be honest, gear does very little and in the end, you can exploit the gameplay loop quite a bit so it makes things easier but at the same time more visually spectacular but you know what? After 50+ hours I ended up enjoying it way more than I expected so there’s that.

I have talked about everything except performance and optimization. Final Fantasy XVI is a very demanding title and while there’s room for optimization the title runs well. In my case I was running the game on a 12700k/3080/32GB ram and everything set on High (have been playing with this preset since forever, never actually try Ultra myself) at 1440p and DLSS set on quality the game was running constantly over 60fps except some very specific sections or loading moments (this was noticeable specially inside the Eikon trials) but overall I’m happy with the final result. I do not recommend playing this on a handheld though, if your only option is a Steam Deck or similar, go ahead but I would recommend playing this on a desktop.

One thing I recommend you do is download the XVI mod for cinematics, I was running into some stutters inside the cinematics and that mod fixed it completely. It's quite a famous one so it’s easy to find.

In conclusion, Final Fantasy XVI might not be a personal favorite but I enjoyed it A LOT and I really think they did a great job. Final Fantasy might need to find a more solid identity that makes the IP stronger given the current status of the saga in terms of sales and engagement but I can safely recommend this game. I liked it enough to complete all the side quests, the hunt missions and the best gear of the game and I’m sure I will do the DLC as soon as I can so yes, this is a recommended for me and I hope this review helps you a bit deciding if you want to jump in or not.

Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone, God of War, Spider-Man and now Uncharted, isn’t that amazing? If you think about it, you would have probably not believed this in 2019, in just 3 years the industry changed so much that it’s almost unbelievable.

Some of you are already familiar with this saga but for those who are about to jump in for the first time let me tell you that this is a great moment to do so. You will miss some of the references but I think you will enjoy the adventures by themselves even if you don’t get the full punch of some scenes and moments by missing the previous games. Let’s see if Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Lost Legacy are worth your time.

Let’s start with Uncharted 4.

Nathan Drake has long left behind the adventures in order to settle with Elena and live an ordinary life together, however, the past catches us all sooner or later and a new adventure is about to start. Nathan and his, until this moment unknown, brother Sam will sail on a race against time in order to beat an old partner and, perhaps, something Sam is hiding, the goal of this race? The biggest and most legendary of all pirate treasures, Henry Every’s fortune and the lost pirate nation of Libertalia.

A Thief’s End sets a very different tone for the story, while bombastic and spectacular at moments, it’s far more personal and deeper than previous entries, there’s a huge emphasis on how characters are living this adventure, for example, Nathan’s struggle between his desire of keeping a more calmed lifestyle with Elena and the pure desire of returning to the adventure of the unknown, which ends up happening, but the way he’s facing it is completely different to previous expeditions. All characters have enough time to develop themselves within the game thanks to an incredible narrative and performances, the scenes do really help building the characters, here’s my favorite example by the end of the game, Nathan’s performance on Every’s mansion, that scene alone creates a moment in which we can see a level of affection they have to each other, simply wonderful.

When it comes to Libertalia things are a bit different than previous games, while Shangri-La or Ubar had a supernatural element behind them, Libertalia feels like something more coherent for the story Naughty Dog wanted to tell here. The more we explore and learn about the city, the more detailed everything becomes, the conflict that happened, how the most prolific pirates of the era ended up building this place, etc. There's a huge narrative element about this place and its previous owners that is absolutely fascinating, probably my favorite of this saga.

What about Lost Legacy?

We will be following the steps of Nadine from Uncharted 4 and Chloe from Uncharted 2, this adventure will place us on the edge of a civil conflict in India caused by Asav, a nostalgic and ruthless warlord that wants to obtain an ancient object from the Indian culture, the Tusk of Ganesh. We will have to find it before Asav does in order to save the ancient object and perhaps stop his madness.

I would say that Lost Legacy story is a bit simpler than A Thief’s End because it feels more like a classic Uncharted game but at the same time you can feel how the team behind learned a lot from the main game. Lost Legacy was supposed to be a DLC for the main game but got too big and became its own thing and the final result is a mix between the old concepts and the new concepts in terms of scale and pace. I’m glad to see Chloe back as she was a character that had a lot of potential and I think this game truly gives her the attention she deserves. Nadine is also a very interesting one as we saw her as one of the villains from the previous game but here we can actually learn a lot from her, giving enough time and depth to all characters in order to really shine. Asav however, I think it’s a good villain but felt somewhat disconnected from the story most of the time. While it had some potential, it ended up being a flatter character than expected.

The story is good, India was an unknown place for the saga up to this day and there was so much potential, not only it has a very rich and interesting culture, but also had a lot of background that truly highlights thanks to the amazing locations we can see in this game, the temples, the jungles, it feels similar to A Thief’s End but in a more ancient scenography.

There’s absolutely no doubt that A Thief’s End and Lost Legacy are stunning games so I think it’s about time we jump into the visuals because trust me, it’s worth it.

Both Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy are the type of games in which you will most likely take a few seconds taking a picture every few minutes because every environment is stunning. In the case of Uncharted 4, each area of the game is distinctive from each other, we go from urban areas to dense jungles and tropical islands with coral reefs. It’s no secret that Naughty Dog is top tier when it comes to visuals but the amount of detail and care they put into building something that feels natural but at the same time functional is stunning.There’s also an open area for the first time in the saga, Madagascar, and while it’s a good idea in concept, it doesn’t work especially well in this entry given that it has a different pace than the rest of the game but fortunately the concept evolved and Lost Legacy was built around this kind of world structure.

When it comes to Lost Legacy, visuals aren’t less impressive, on the contrary, while there’s less variety of biomes as the story takes place in a very specific part of India, which has a lot of vegetation and forests, we find here something that we don’t see in Uncharted 4, impossibly big structures, which, at a personal level, gives this games a lot of positive points.

What about gameplay?

U4/LL’s gameplay loop is the same as in previous entries of the saga, however the number of possibilities and animations have been vastly improved over the previous generation of games, not only animations feel more natural but also the addition of the grappling hook has improved both exploration and combat by adding a certain amount of verticality to the areas without being exclusively climbing dependant.

Gunplay is still something that I do not really like, it’s not about how it works but how it feels and I have always had this problem with ND games, that’s why I’m not saying it’s a problem but a personal perception of it, however, while the gunplay isn’t something that I like, the combats became more exciting by letting you approach it from different angles and using different approaches; Stealth, direct combat, jumping, climbing, using covers, etc… There’s a certain combat in U4 (ship graveyard, you will know the one) that sure is intensive, damn!

KB+M control is ok, weird at first but you will get used to it.

Story, visuals and gameplay have been discussed, I think it’s time to talk about sound and music. Music ain’t nothing special, sadly it doesn’t really shine as we would all have hoped, there are great tracks but overall it’s not something that stands up. Voice acting and surrounding sound design is good, the cast did an amazing job with their performances.

As for PC performance, aside from the Shader compilation process (keep that one in mind in case your temps go crazy with such processes) the PC conversion seems to be great. Steady performance and great visuals. While the game is demanding, I didn’t have problems with my rig but please keep in mind that your experience can be different.

In conclusion for this review, I’m extremely happy to see that Uncharted came to Steam. After revisiting this title for its PC debut I realized that this is in fact my favorite entry of the saga and Lost Legacy is a very worthy product too. I think you will enjoy this one a lot as a newcomer to the franchise, here’s hope to see the previous ones coming at some point too but don’t miss this packaging.

I never thought I would be writing a Steam review for a Shin Chan game and not just another game but a “boku on natsuyasumi” spin-off made by the same team and with the same “perfect summer memory” feeling than the main series had but set in the Shin Chan universe. Before we get started, please let me tell you a few things.

Firstly, I have watched Shin Chan’s TV Show since I was a kid, so I will likely share some impressions that might have been influenced by my own memories and nostalgia from that time. I will do my best to really share my thoughts and see if this game is worth it for you or not.

That being said, let’s get this thing started!

Our story begins with the Nohara family traveling to Assou, a small village in the Kumamoto’s countryside, to visit a Misae’s childhood friend, Yoyoko. However, something strange happens at the station and the Nohara family meets a peculiar scientist who took a picture of the family and gifted Shinnosuke the strange camera that turns every picture into drawings. Once they arrive at Assou, strange things will start happening like dinosaurs appearing and, WAIT A SECOND, Shin-Chan and his family getting trapped into a time loop that will make them repeat this summer week over and over again?!? How will we break the loop? Why did the mad scientist do that? That’s something we will have to discover while we enjoy our lovely summer week.

The story is extremely simple but that’s expected as the game is mostly oriented towards the smaller players of the house, and while the tone is mostly childish, I think it was highly enjoyable. There’s a great number of characters that help us to get engaged with the game and there are multiple micro storylines to follow, and while some are better than others, overall they all share a cozy feeling that helps create a nostalgic and wholesome atmosphere that will make us feel extremely happy while playing. The Hinoyama family, The Aoyama family, Yoshiko, Yamada, etc…

We will have to talk with all of them (and please, don’t forget to talk twice to each one hehe) to know them better and get new missions.Sadly, I must say most of them are extremely flat, which might be expected for a game oriented towards children, but still disappointing as there’s a lot of wasted potential in here. Make no mistake tho, there are certain moments that are truly touching (I felt they were) and were extremely worthy, without spoiling anything, there’s a certain interaction between Hata Aoyama and Shinnosuke that is truly touching, small moments that makes this experience a really wholesome one.

The Kasukabe defense force is here as well, sort of, Kazama, Nene, Masao and Bo chan aren’t here but we have a different version of them as Kazuma, Kine, Masaya and Bu chan, which are the Assou defense force. Let me tell you, they feel like background characters and it’s the saddest part of the game as you cannot interact with them in a meaningful way, there was potential here to create some character dynamics but that’s non-existent here.

I think it’s a good moment to jump straight into the gameplay mechanics of the game as they are extremely linked to all the narrative elements of the game.

Gameplay loop is formed by multiple Summer related activities such as going fishing, going bug hunting, doing some errands, taking pictures and playing games with your friends. Each activity is connected to a “sort of” narrative arc that will let you progress in the story but you will be the one who decides what you do next. Let me describe them real quick.

Fishing and collecting plants will let you complete errands not only for Yoyoko but also for Mott and Shinobu. By completing errands not only you will be filling your fish catalog but also getting some money which will come in handy to buy some of the materials you need to complete those same errands. Sooner rather than later you will notice that money won’t be a problem as it is extremely easy to get and buying stuff at the local shop will save you some time to complete other objectives during the day like hunting some bugs to complete your album or play with Assou’s defense force.

You will also be able to create “stories” by taking pictures (this is done automatically) after you reach specific key moments or complete objectives, then you can choose the description of each picture and go talk to Capi at the newspaper’s HQ to make it bigger by publishing them as the main reporter of the kid’s column.

Lastly, Dinosaur battles with Assou’s defense force kids. It’s a system I don’t really like as it’s mostly random and the result isn’t easy to predict as there are no indications of the potential move, nor visual nor by sound. There are some “predictable” possibilities by character but again, not a well structured system. You can get special cards to upgrade your team by eating cookies and all but not worthy, I will skip this one next time I play the game.

At the end of the day this is like Animal Crossing or any other “Slice of life” game, there are a ton of subsystems but all of them are simple enough to not make the experience a complex one and let you have a good and relaxing time. All characters will tell you everything you need to do as you progress in the story. Can’t find a specific fish? Can’t reach a specific place? Don’t have enough pictures? Fear nothing, it might appear later in the story and as long as you check your journal, you will see hints or directions to new places (there’s also a new game + for a second run). While activities might feel repetitive, they are meant to feel like those activities you might have enjoyed as a kid when even the simpler stuff felt exciting.

Assou is not just a place full of activities but also one that looks and sounds GREAT.

When it comes to visuals, this game has a lovely and charming feeling all around. The map is divided in small sections with a fixed camera position as every scene is composed from a static background and animated elements, it looks good and in combination with the rural Japanese style of the village it creates a wonderful place where nature and urbanity fuse and if you are into this style, you will enjoy it for sure.

Character models are also good. You can easily identify all characters and the cell-shading was a good choice because it will remain visually on-point for longer. It sure made me remember the tv show and of course they do not share the same style but developers did a good job portraying all the characters in 3D.

In a similar way I can safely say that the soundtrack was great. Few tracks but all of them have their own style and fit great in different moments, the main theme is absolutely fantastic. The introduction sequence and the in-game’s night before last night event were truly touching, perhaps it was the tone of the songs or that I knew that the journey started and was about to end at that moment.

Something I want to highlight is the Spanish sub. Look, there were some weird mistakes but the level of localization was extremely fun to see, certain elements were included to make this one a funnier text and they did it, from “Vendemos mas que el Marca y el As juntos” (two Spanish sportive newspapers) to “Soy muy fan de Chicho Terremoto” (Dash Kappei Spanish name). I LOVED IT.

Performance-wise? I played the game on the Steam Deck and let me tell you, it ran flawlessly. It’s not a very demanding game and compatibility was great from start to finish.

I think that’s about it.

As you can see Shin Chan came at the perfect, I was looking for a relaxing and cozy experience and the unexpected Steam release of this game came in handy.

It’s not a very deep game and some things could have been better. However, if you are looking for a small experience set in the Shin Chan world, this might be a really solid option. It was extremely worthy for me and I’m thankful the team ported it to the PC.

PlayStation announcing a new PC port while still surprising, it is becoming something more frequent but that doesn’t mean it can’t surprise us with unexpected PC ports such as Spider-Man, a fan favorite that plenty wished it made its way. Remember the Nvidia leak that featured quite a number of Sony games? Well, this wasn’t part of that one so people didn’t expect Peter Parker to land on the PC but it happened, Marvel’s Spider-Man is available now on Steam so let’s see if it’s worth your time and money.

Little can be said about the story that hasn’t been said already. We are Peter Parker but this isn’t an origin story, Spider-Man knows how to deal with villains already, a somewhat more experienced superhero with a double life, the hero that protects the city and the folk that helps others at FEAST and Octavius Industries, but new enemies lurk in the shadows waiting for the perfect time to strike again. Old well-known villains and new ones too, this is an adventure Peter Parker won’t forget.

The story is cool, there are tons of well-known characters (even if they are new from game’s perspective) and it has a quite impressive villain roster such as the six sinisters, shockwave or tombstone. They managed to pack all those characters in a very good way, some will be part of the main quest while some others like Tombstone will be featured in side-quests. There’s also quite a lot of time for characters to develop, MJ and Miles have their own character arcs and less first-line characters such as Aunt May will also have their own space.

Overall I must say that I’m not a fan of this super-hero but I really like their villains (specially if they are wearing their mechanized outfits like in this game or some other adventures) and yet, I was able to enjoy the story way more than expected, perhaps because it featured characters I enjoy (Dr. Octopus in particular, which is my favorite villain by design) or maybe because, narratively speaking, the main story line is well written and it doesn’t take a long time to develop. If you ask me, even as a non Spider-Man fan like myself, the narrative side of the game is really well done and on-par with what you would expect from a Marvel story, if I had to compare it with another game it would be Guardians of the Galaxy in which the story exceeded my expectations.

Something I liked a lot was the visual designs in general. Both Spider-Man and Villains looked the way I like the most. When it comes to Spider-Man there are tons of options to choose from, from original design for this game to classic outfits from multiple animated shows and comics but when it comes to villains they went with the more modern mechanized style which is something I really appreciate, their designs are something incredible and I loved them.

Production values for the most cinematic moments are also really espectacular. Seriously, they managed to make a very fulfilling story with amazing moments that are truly worthy.

But visuals do not stop there, even though action happens in the city of New York, the team made sure to recreate it extremely well and it’s kind of amazing to see how the city changes as you progress the story. Weather elements, the details of the streets, they did a great job here and let’s be honest, the game is a looker. When you swing around the city, everything flows and at moments it might look like a movie, it might be a personal perception but I got a bit mind-blown here in particular.

In general this game has top notch visuals and while it might not look as exciting as playing in completely imaginated places, they put a lot of care into creating both a realistic New York but set into the fiction of Spider-Man and, if you ask me, they did a solid job here.

However, where the game excels is within the gameplay. In my honest opinion, I don’t think there’s another Spider-Man game in which there’s such a fun way of swinging the city to move from one point to the other. It feels smooth, it feels quick and most important, it’s extremely fun to connect one movement with the next one. Even though there’s a quick travel option, I don’t think you are going to use it that much.

What about combat? Well, it is true that we do have here a similar combat system that the one that we find at Batman Arkham games. That’s not a bad thing at all, at first it might look slow or not feel as powerful as it should but that quickly changes as you progress in the story and you get new gear and enhance your abilities. At some point you will reach a certain level that will make the combat feel extremely dynamic by mixing close-body combat, your new abilities and your enhanced inventions.

It feels familiar and it’s engaging, I’m pretty sure that, while it doesn’t want to be something new, they nailed the feeling of Spider-Man’s dynamism and combat abilities. And that takes me to the most negative point of this game for me.

Upgrading yourself has a price and that price is endless meaningless activities through the city. Oscorp stations, Catwoman cats, Backpacks, random crimes and a long etc…

This game didn’t need this at all, I understand that Spider-Man is “your friend and neighbor” which means taking care of smaller crimes and more mundane stuff, but it really felt exhausting. The fact that the whole map was filled with icons wasn’t pleasant for me and it reminded me of the old open-world design in which burning hours with activities was the norm. I really hope the next installment of the saga addresses this with less “empty content” that is not worth your time at all (except if you are an extremely passionate Spider-Man fan, in that case, there are tons of references and potentially good stuff for you).

Sound and music were great. Recognizable scores and voice actors did a great interpretation of their characters. Can’t really say something bad about this, it gets the job done.

And just like that we are reaching the end of this review. Real quick, in terms of performance it ran smoothly and really well. It’s a demanding game, that’s for sure, but Nixxes did a great job, a mix of RTX and DLSS is the way to go in my opinion. My experience was a great one but as I said, keep in mind that it is a demanding game.

Spider-Man is a character I never really liked and while I watched the movies and played some of the games, it never really changed my mind and this game is no exception, however, it gave me more perspective about it and I really think it such a solid game that even as a non-fan you will end up enjoying it. I’m happy to see that this beloved game by the community reached the PC platform and it makes me happy to see that people are enjoying it.

It is worth your time and money if you know what you are up to. Here’s hope you enjoy it and to see more games from Playstation coming to the platform (Ratchet & Clank anyone? hehe) so I will totally say it’s recommended. Solid product.

The story of Stray as a project is a fairly interesting one. The project was presented as “Project HK” back in 2015 with a few pictures and tweets, the most interesting part was that they also had a few pipe UE4 blueprint videos for the game, which at the time already had the current elements of what would become STRAY. 5 years later, Annapurna Interactive took the project to publish it - It’s now 2022, 7 years after the initial picture of Project HK we got the game, STRAY is finally here. Is it worth your time? Did it deliver a good experience? Let’s find out.

Rusty pipes, cracked concrete and wild vegetation. This is the first thing we see through the eyes of our feline protagonist, perhaps an abandoned structure? We don’t care because we are a wild cat with our pack until one day, exploring the decaying structure we fall into a dark pit.

Defendless, scared but still curious we wake up inside the structure, a dead city. No one to be found but we follow the signals that ask for our help, is somebody there? It won’t take long before we encounter strange life forms on those empty streets and a few disconnected robots but soon we discover who is asking for help, B12, a sentient AI that will need your help and will go with you in this adventure. This is an unknown world with tons of secrets to discover like what happened, what’s going on and most importantly, how do we return with our pack.

Make no mistake, there’s a story behind this game. While it might seem that the narrative aspect of the game is merely formulaic, it presents a very interesting premise in which AI and their robotic bodies started evolving by creating a language, imitating human life and even started to have feelings and emotions. I won’t spoil the story because I consider it an important part of the game but sooner rather than later we will find out we are in the distant future in which, apparently, there are no longer human beings in this city but instead there are quite a few charismatic robots that will open new branches of this enigmatic place. If there’s a topic from the game I want to share with you is that our planet is precious and we should take care of it, it’s our home.

Remember when I said “our feline protagonist” well, I made that distinction because I consider B12 as “our robotic protagonist”. Both characters do have an important role together in this story, kitty serves as a transport and as a way of keep going through the story while B12 is the narrative element of our duo, the one that will open fractions of the past and present and the one that will help kitty to get to the surface. In this case I think it’s fair to say that this ain’t a story about a cat, it is a story about a cat and an AI. The more you traverse these streets and the further you go, the more you will learn about your companion.

There are quite a few more characters during this adventure like Momo and the rest of The Outsiders, the Slums and midtown people and while it’s interesting to talk with them (sometimes they share some cool tidbits about the world) they lack depth, which isn’t bad per say, it’s just that they merely have a narrative purpose and that’s it, they are not meant to be extremely detailed.

When it comes to details I think about the world and its visuals.

STRAY is absolutely gorgeous. The game’s city is based on the walled city of Kowloon, a piece of land in Hong Kong where jurisdiction was under a different administration and as so, buildings were able to be built in ways that were impossible to do under regulated areas, the result? A big city in which buildings were built one above the other and it has served as inspiration for countless fictional products like STRAY.

You will notice that there’s a decaying cyberpunk feeling on the streets. Dark corners, water drops everywhere and neon lights, tons of neon light. Buildings are extremely detailed, you can see how nature is reclaiming the space it lost and how the parasitic creatures are spreading, there’s beauty in all scenarios waiting to be explored. At a graphical level STRAY sometimes looks like an animation movie.

Kitty is extremely well done, robots have a lot of personality and a really cool design. In general there has been a lot of effort into making this a really meaningful visual experience.

Something I wanted to mention before I jump into the gameplay loop. The more you look at the game, the smaller it seems to be and that’s right, STRAY is quite contained but at the same time it feels enormous thanks to the small size of our feline character. The size illusion makes it look like the city is huge while in reality it is us who are small. This is actually really clever and the fact that the city is so detailed (as said previously) makes it even more impressive because it lets you explore quite a lot of it.

And here comes the gameplay part which is extremely simple but surprisingly engaging. There are a few basic actions, jump, run and talk (exactly, meow!) but the fun part begins here. The way you traverse the multiple levels of the city is by acting like a real cat jumping from roof to roof, throwing some things or interacting with objects to see the reaction. Do not expect combats nor deep interactions, it’s simple but effective. Thanks to this combatless or, let’s say, liviane situations you can do funny things with kitty.

Movement feels natural most of the time and interactions are well done, while sometimes it might do some weird things, the overall experience is delightful. It is lovely how they portrayed this cat’s behaviour to feel so natural, like for example, putting a paper bag in your head or scratching a surface, the results are hilarious.

They also did a great job with music and sound effects. In general, there isn’t a lot of music, however, it has this semi-chip effect that makes it sound futuristic while at the same time it feels intriguing. It helps a lot building an atmosphere in which you feel immersed.

There’s also this guitar folk at the slums, you might want to give him the music sheets, some pieces are really cool.

Finally I think it is time to talk about performance. Much like in my latest review, I played this game entirely on my Steam Deck and performance was good, extremely good I would say. It’s already verified so there’s no point talking about which Proton version I did use, however, I must say that I have been playing with medium settings at 60% resolution scale at 800p and the visual quality was impressive at the 7inch screen.

There were performance dips at each new level but once it loaded the section, it didn’t stutter nor drop in performance, overall I would say that pre-cached shaders did a really great job, so there’s that.

And that’s it, STRAY delivered exactly what I expected, a great cat experience exploring an unknown city and surprised me with a story I wasn’t expecting at all with sci-fi touches that weren’t shown previously. If you are looking for a visually appealing experience, a relaxing walking game or a cat and robot adventure, I think you will likely enjoy the game. It took me around 7 hours to finish by doing most of the side stuff (I’m going to 100% it) so keep that in mind but I think it was well worth the money they ask for.

In general Annapurna published titles doesn’t disappoint me and this wasn’t the exception, STRAY was a really great game and easy to recommend, I thought it was an engaging little adventure and sometimes that’s exactly what you need, an adventure.

I hope you all enjoy STRAY as much as I did. Have fun and congrats for the developers for the successful release.

It’s been a long time since the last time I played this saga, probably somewhat around 20 years ago but I always wanted to return to both Phantomile and Lunatea, something got stuck in my head and those were lovely memories from easier and past times. Now let’s jump to the year 2022, the impossible happened, Klonoa is coming back with a remastered version of the main two games, Door to Phantomile and Lunatea’s Veil, with this Phantasy Reverie collection. Is it worth your time? Do they still hold up for modern standards? Let’s find out.

Let’s start talking about both stories with Door to Phantomile which is the beginning of our story. We are Klonoa, a young boy from Breezegale, a small village from Phantomile. One day we experience a strange dream in which a strange ring drops from the sky and a strange entity appears, Huepow. To your surprise it seems that it wasn’t a dream and it really happened but things are about to start now, a strange aircraft crashes near your village, once you go inspect the incident you discover a strange figure and its minion are kidnapping a little girl, our mission will be saving her as we discover the truth of what’s going on.

We don’t know what happened after our adventures in Phantomile, however, we are about to start a new adventure in a new land, Lunatea. We wake up in this world without knowing what happened but we (as players) know we are being observed by someone. Almost immediately after you wake up, both Lolo and Popka, our new friends in this adventure, will tell us where we are, who we need to talk with and what they think it’s going on. What started as a small adventure will lead into a much bigger one sooner rather than later.

Both stories are quite liviane, keep in mind both games were designed with younger audiences in mind, however, I find both quite enjoyable no matter your age. In both cases there’s a great setup with their own rules, Phantomile and Lunatea have different sets of rules however, by the own nature of this saga, you will soon find shared elements between both places, it works as a bigger picture than their respective worlds. Characters are also extremely enjoyable in both cases.

Huepow, Lolo, Popka, even villains like Joka or Tat (which, for some reason, I always loved the way she talked) are all not that deep but deep enough to enjoy their presence. Main characters do have enough presence to know them better and some side-ones too.

Make no mistake, while both games were created with younger audiences in mind, that doesn’t mean they are exclusively for kids, in both cases there are dramatic moments, some extremely iconic nowadays as they were completely unexpected.

There’s little more I can say about the narrative side without spoiling things but, What about visuals in both cases?

Well, you see, Klonoa Door to Phantomile was a PSX game with a very peculiar but rather amazing visual style with 2D sprites and a somewhat 3D look, however, it got a remake treatment for the Wii which redo all the assets from the ground (likely got some inspiration from PS2 Lunatea’s Veil) and this remaster surprisingly drops in the middle of those two.

Phantasy Reverie’s version is clearly redone, it’s clean but at the same time tries to emulate the original more than the Wii version. Klonoa’s character looks more like the original, backgrounds are less detailed than on the Wii and I think the reason for this is that they want to go after the original visual feeling. It’s more colorful and has a pixel filter that is great and confusing at the same time. I used it for a few levels but ended up using the vanilla visuals.

When it comes to Lunatea’s Veil, you will immediately notice that it doesn’t look like the original, that’s correct. While no assets seem to be different, the visual filter changed to make it more streamline with the Door of Phantomile, that’s a good way of not making a huge difference between the two in the same collection. Lunatea’s Veil also has more details, more effects and in general it feels like a natural evolution for a game that came out 5 years after the original and on a completely different platform, If you ask me, Lunatea’s Veil is extremely beautiful at times, I might be biased given how I remember it when I was a kid and what I experienced but in general it is a great step up.

Both games hold really well today and their level design is still extremely engaging. The way it moves as a 2D platformer but in a 3D environment makes it an extremely compelling experience, I don’t think there’s anything else like Klonoa right now and that’s something to consider as an achievement.

Music is also a great part of the game and I’m happy to say that it sounds as good as the original movie sequences, there are great themes in both games, they too hold really well.

I could say the same about the gameplay loop. There are two main actions to consider in this game: grab and hold an enemy to use it and jump/ hold in the air. As you can see it’s really basic but the way they designed the levels makes it an extremely engaging experience, sometimes there’s no room for a mistake, you do it or you don’t.

You will notice this a lot if you try completing these games at 100%, mostly trying to get all the gems per level, you need to focus and jump correctly, run at the requested speed and not get hit during the process, and there’s also the side levels which are meant to be beaten only by those who are used with the controls and the movement, they are challenging but really gratifying once you beat them. Going after the 100% sure is an experience.

I think it’s a good moment to talk about performance. I completed both of them on the Steam Deck, do not worry, they run perfectly out of the box, as a matter of fact, thanks to the pre-compiling shaders I think it eliminates some little stutters present on the windows version of the game. Battery held really well, performance was steady at 60fps with all settings at max and in general I would say I enjoyed it more playing them on a handheld than on my main computer, I guess they are that kind of game that for some reason I tend to enjoy more on a smaller screen due to memories.

And I think that’s about it, Klonoa Phantasy Reverie collection was all I wanted for a proper comeback. Visuals are great, gameplay is still engaging and it transported me to my childhood playing them on the Playstation. Usually I would say “it’s not a game for everyone” but f*** it, I will say this is a great game for everyone, for those who want to revisit this old saga, for newcomers, for kids and for adults.

Klonoa is back and for that I’m thankful, from the deepest part of my heart, thanks Bandai Namco for bringing back this old friend from past days, I’m glad to say that the final result is well worth your money and your time, heck, I went after all the achievements and the 100%, that shows you how much I loved this.

I hope you enjoy it at least half of how much I enjoyed it, my best wishes to all of you.

Thanks.

I remember quite well the announcement trailer from 2019, it was this strange thing that came out of nowhere and hyped quite a lot of us. Time passed and people from the team left and no word about the game was said until the very first gameplay showcase happened in mid 2020, that’s when this game got divisive, some were intrigued about this gameplay loop while some others rejected it. It’s 2022 and Ghostwire Tokyo has finally released, is it worth your time? Has it reached my expectations? Let’s find out.

People are mysteriously vanishing from Shibuya’s district and we don’t know what is going on. We wake up as Akito, our protagonist, who just had a very serious accident in the middle of Shibuya, when he wakes up he finds out that he has been possessed by an entity who identifies as KK. Strange creatures from the Japanese folklore attack us and a mysterious mist blocks our way to the hospital where Akito’s sister is in, that’s where we discover an unknown masked man and his group are trying to do something and all the weird stuff that has been happening in the area is related to them, your sister and now, you and your new companion KK.

Let me say this straight, Ghostwire Tokyo’s story is a mess. It’s not a bad story, in fact it has a lot of potential to become something really interesting once you dig enough and discover the truth but it is told in a very chaotic and not so engaging way, for what is worth, there’s a prequel in the form of visual novel, however, I don’t think this is the best way of telling the story as it might seem like they are patching plot holes with an additional product even if this one is free. In addition to this, the game's open-world nature goes against the plot of the game itself as it will open for you a good number of side activities while at the same time it will remind you how quickly things are happening and you should hurry up to stop the villain but I will talk more about this in the world segment.

You can see all the elements are in place to tell you an engaging and interesting story but at the end of the day it feels underwhelming and not that interesting which is, in my opinion, the worst case scenario for a game as you already have all the necessary to shine but you weren’t able to. I feel like this game is having an identity problem, at times it wants to be one thing and at times it wants to be a completely different one. Good news is that I do sincerely think there’s a good base to expand this universe into something more memorable, character backgrounds are interesting, the world we have here is interesting and in general there’s a lot of hidden potential to create something bigger and better.

The world on the other hand is extremely well done and if you ask me, I think it’s the main reason why I have played this game so much.

I’m going to be very clear in this aspect, Tango Gameworks did an exceptional job recreating the Shibuya district area. It’s faithful, deep and interesting to explore, we have seen previous attempts of recreating certain areas from real places, Tokyo included, such as Yakuza with Kamurocho’s district but Ghostwire’s Shibuya is a completely new level when it comes to this translation from real place to digital place.

The size of the map is huge however, I didn’t feel like I needed a fast travel system as there’s something engaging hidden in this place. Its uncanny feeling, the fuse between modernity and the folklorical elements of their culture. Everything has been carefully crafted to create a twisted and darker version of this real place that invites you to explore it as deeply as possible.

Visually speaking, the game doesn’t particularly excel in any aspect but it sure achieves a good level of fidelity. The best way to describe the visual aspect of Ghostwire Tokyo would be “it’s a mixed bag of average technical aspects but with an extraordinarily good art direction” and I don’t consider this a negative thing by any means.

Let me explain myself, what makes Ghostwire Tokyo excel is the amount of small details that you don’t perceive at first for example, rain drops aren’t water drops but “Rain” kanjis, road lines weaving like pieces of thin paper because there’s a monster nearby or the use of light to create phantasmagorical images on the walls. In general the visuals get enhanced by these small details that do add something different to this realistic approach of a real city such as Tokyo. Our own magical powers are also visually interesting as they represent the main natural elements and it fuses well with the kind of story we have here.

Now that I have mentioned the special abilities Akito and KK will share through this adventure, I think it is time to talk a bit about the gameplay loop and game’s structure.

Gameplay loop can be described as a shooter without guns, our magical powers represent sort of mainstream weapons such as shotgun or grenades. Thanks to the skill tree, the more you progress in your abilities the more dynamic the combat becomes, although it won’t change that much, the main gameplay is based on “Detected, slowly follow back your steps while facing the enemies and shoot until they are dead” it won’t offer a challenge but the more you progress, the cooler it becomes.

Sadly, world structure isn’t much more exciting, it’s a gigantic map full of marks everywhere for collectibles, missions and very little to do outside its own boundaries, it’s the most “Open-World” game you can imagine in the very sense of classic world design, well crafted and invites you to explore but you won’t get rewarded that often although it’s fun to navigate so I bet you will likely enjoy moving around.

Performance wise it’s a demanding game and you might experience some stuttering here and there but overall my experience was a good one and I didn’t have any big problems. My computer was able to handle it but be warned about this.

And I think that’s about it, Ghostwire: Tokyo is a game that had a lot of wasted potential which is sad as its foundations are solid and really good for a new franchise. I can’t say I didn’t like it because I sure did but it’s difficult to recommend this game for everyone, if you are looking for a classic open-world game which will let you explore freely a really impressive recreation of Tokyo with magical powers to beat Yokais and Japanese demons then you will likely enjoy it. However, if you are looking for a well structured story and a deep conclusion, then I’m afraid you won’t find it here, here’s hope they keep exploring this IP and solve these problems in the future, as for right now I can only tell that I sure hope you like it and enjoy what Ghostwire offers, might not be perfect but it had great things.

Probably not my best review but it was difficult to really share my thoughts with this one, a love/hate situation in which I love a few things from the game but at the same time I hate a few others.

Moon first released in 1997 for the original Playstation but unfortunately never made its way outside Japan and never got officially located until 2020 when a worldwide Switch re-release of this lovely game happened, it wouldn’t be until 2021 when this adventure would arrive to PC but here we are, let me go straight to the point, Moon was a very special, weird and lovely adventure and while I will recommend it for everyone, I know for sure not everyone will enjoy this game due to its weirdness and perhaps structure but if you are a bit interested, I invite you to keep reading this review and find out if it’s the game you want to play or, more importantly, the game you need to play right now.

We are a kid who’s playing his RPG “Moon” on the Gamestation when all the sudden gets transported into the game’s world, Love-de-Gard, as a nameless entity referred as kid or your nickname, sooner rather than later you will realise that you are inside the game and you will follow the storyline but with a catch, instead of the merciless Hero you came here to spread love among all living things and change the destiny of the creatures of this world. Saving the strange animals of this world, helping their inhabitants and most importantly, changing the fate of this world by spreading love, not violence.

As you can see, the story of this game seems to be very RPG standard, you know, be the hero, save the kidnapped princess, slay the dragon and while that’s true, that’s NOT our story, we follow the same path as the hero but our objective is completely different, our presence in this world brings joy and hope for those who get slayed and kicked by the hero, who is a dumbass and a merciless vile character, in this world our objective won’t be kill the monsters but help them, chat and learn about the people who live in this world, explore the different places of this lovely place and of course, end the story in a different way.

You will find this place both interesting and eccentric at times, there are countless references to the real world of the late 90’s - very early 00’s (trends that peaked in this era that started in the 90’s) and even some philosophy and metacommentary about you and the meaning of what you are doing, the further you go into this adventure, the clearer the picture becomes, this was a very special journey in which you will be able to see through the eyes of different inhabitants and that’s really special, in general I thought this approach of getting love by doing good actions for others was probably what I needed the most at the moment of this review after all what’s happening and happened to the world in the last few years, who would have guessed an old classic could give me a positivity boost just by giving me the option of making love and not war.

Let’s talk about this world, Love-de-Gard is similar to an island in which all biomes fuse to create a colourful and varied place to explore and live, world is size limited though but please remember this is a 1997 game so it’s completely normal and yet, it feels big, condensed and deep.

Castle Town, Mushroom forest, Technopolis or the Tropical fields are just a few examples of places you will find and explore during the adventure and you will see how each place feels different from others, every place has a distinctive style, type of characters and most importantly, new ways of getting love and spreading your good actions.

Even though the game’s world is not really big, there a one-direction fast travel to a few locations of the map that will make your walks shorter, however, you won’t be able to return via the same method, you will have to go back in a normal way but the way is integrated it makes complete sense why and it’s very…. “Moon-y” hehe.

When it comes to visuals, you can expect a PSX game with sharper details given the different panels we have nowadays but overall the visual aspect hasn’t been changed and, to be honest, I don’t think it needs to change anything, it’s a product of its moment, game is 25 years old and as so it’s being shown, however, the art style and the imaginary put in this game is lovely and mind blowing.

Animals, characters and locations do have a peculiar and distinctive aspect, I think they even used real clay models for the monsters back in the day and you can see how they look in here, a real world touch in a game that talks about the thin boundary of reality and fakeness? Amazing touch here.

What you can see in the screenshots it’s what you will find in the game, I found it to be very pleasant and I enjoyed the visual style of the game.

Sound and music is another aspect I liked, character voices are non-real language gibberish, quite common in RPGs as you know, and that was fun but the cool aspect of this segment is music, all music was composed back in the day by independent musicians and you can see the vast variety of styles and themes, I think they nailed it, if I had to name my favourite track right now, I think I would go with “Kera Ma-Go” which is very cheerful.

Gameplay has a few things to keep in mind, first of all, even though it’s called Moon RPG it’s NOT a JRPG, it is an adventure that refers to itself as RPG as a metacommentary from what happens inside the game, so if you came here expecting levelling up by fighting and getting new gear, forget about it, you level up by completing tasks and saving animals.

Saving animal souls is easy, read the description of each body you find (some are really hidden, in case you want to complete all of them) and learn what are the requirements to make the souls appear, once the animal soul is accessible, just hug it, easy, right? One button. Completing tasks is something a bit more tricky, it requires objects, reading the details of the conversations and thinking a bit about the clues, but they are quite simple mechanically speaking, it’s always hugging, getting an object, stocking an object or using music, simple as that.

The clock, you must keep in consideration the red arrow as it marks the moment you won’t be able to continue if you don’t sleep to change the day, as you will be really tired, or by eating to extend the limit a bit to reach your bed on time before you collapse and game over reaches you.

As I mentioned before, there’s also a fast travel option that works in one direction, you see those spiral roots? Well, keep those in mind.

Gameplay loop is simple but there are tons of hidden interactions that you will appreciate and of course I didn’t mention a few things.
When it comes to performance I played this game on Steam Deck and it’s officially “unsupported” . How so? Well, let me tell you that, like Valve said, Unsupported doesn’t mean the game doesn’t run on Deck, it means it might have a problem or two and well, they are right, it took me 15 hours to reach the ending and I only got 1 problem, on a very specific cinematic event game crashed but once I re-entered the game this didn’t happen and I continued perfectly fine.

Playing process was painless and the experience was console-like, I installed it, the controller profile got configured automatically and deck did some background translation for some Windows processes, once the first boot was done, everything ran perfectly fine with no errors at all aside from that specific one, which I think might have to do with some codec translation in the background but I can’t be sure, this problem is likely not present on the regular windows version so rest assured this game will run well on your machine, it doesn’t consume that many resources.

And that’s about it, Moon was exactly the game I needed right now and it delivered a wholesome experience that I won’t forget, I can’t recommend it enough to all of you even though I know this game is not for some of you, the very least I can do is to encourage you to play it and see if you like it, a timeless classic.

Great job, Onion Games, you made it.

Damn! It really is happening, isn’t it? Kratos is finally on Steam, and even though more Sony games are coming at a slow but sure pace, I can’t stop feeling that this is kind of crazy, I’m not going to talk too much about this because I’m sure I will mention this again once Uncharted is out but, this feels almost unbelievable,anyway, let’s talk about God of War (2018) and why it’s a big deal for me, it’s worth your time and money? Let's find out.

I must start saying I was not a big fan of the Greek saga, it never “clicked” on me and that’s why I never cared about it, however, when this was announced I saw enough changes to make me feel interested on the project but unfortunately I never jumped into it on console for one reason or another, but here we are and now I can finally say what I think about this half-sequel and half-reboot so let’s get this thing started.

Many years have passed since Kratos killed all the Olympians and arrived to northern lands where he formed a new family and started a new peaceful life, however our story begins when his wife dies and Kratos and his son, Atreus, must start a journey to fulfil a promise, however, this journey won’t be easy and they will face perils that will, once again, test Kratos but this time will also test his son, a journey through the nordic realms has started.

While this game makes direct references to the Greek saga, you don’t have to play those in order to enjoy this game as it’s both a direct sequel but also a soft-reboot that is pointing in a new direction for this specific saga, that being said, is the story worth your time?

Story is fundamentally similar to what happened in the Greek saga, Kratos will end up fighting gods and creatures from said mythology, however, this time we will find an older Kratos that acts completely different when facing conflict, a Kratos that wants to teach his son and strengthen their bound, which is the main topic in this adventure. Game is long but that’s something understandable for two reasons, first of all, the journey itself and all that throws at you: new mythology, characters. In general there’s a lot of new stuff to explore and it sure has the time needed to properly do it. Secondly, Kratos and Atreus, SSM made sure both characters had enough depth to build a more familiar narrative inside the main story which is a very interesting perspective as it’s the foundation for what it’s about to come in the future. Is Atreus ready to be a god? Is Kratos ready to talk about his past? Game will explore all these things and give us answers to those questions . One thing I like a lot is that this game has really heartwarming scenes like the wine one. It's comforting to see a more human Kratos after knowing all his past and where things are going.

At the end of the experience I thought pacing was good and all characters had what they deserved, main and secondary characters, all of them had their respective screen time and most importantly, from a personal point of view, the story is very appealing and makes this entry something completely different than its predecessors, where they failed, this one succeeded.

SSM not only nailed it with the story but also with visuals, it’s just STUNNING! A lot of people consider this as one of the best looking games from the PS4 catalog and trust me, this isn’t different on PC, it’s impressive and truly shows how far gaming has gone in terms of visuals.

God of War 2018 is easily one of the most ambitious games they have done, much like Naughty Dog, SSM has always been a top tier studio with their products. Environments, combats and set-pieces that are mind blowing and GOW '18 is no exception.

From Midgard to Jötunheim, we will visit both decadent but beautiful and vibrant Nordic realms, from a colourful and full of life forest to rusty and decaying structures, detritus from a past era. The level of detail is absolutely spectacular too. In general I would say that, if you like Norsen style, this game will be delightful for you at a visual level, it’s impressive.

Another amazing aspect of this game is the set-pieces and there are quite a few in here. I LOVE them because they usually are the most impressive moments. Sure they aren’t that interactive but in combination with the situation in place, well, truly jaw-dropping moments and very spectacular.

You know what’s also impressive? Music and sound design, so let’s talk about that one because there’s quite a lot to discuss in here too.

One of my favourite things from this title is the soundtrack. It makes you feel that something big is really happening around us with entities that are superior beings. McCreary has a very distinctive touch for this kind of scale of things and the orchestral choices are absolutely sublime for this action, let’s take “The Stranger” theme, starts slow and becomes something massive overtime, HOW AMAZING!

Chorus and orchestra are something that I always appreciate in products like this, nothing like kicking a god’s ass while a whole orchestra in crescendo is accompanying the moment.

But of course Soundtrack isn’t all here, sound design is something that I really love when done correctly and GOW sure does have some stunning moments, as a practical example we have Jörmungandr, the world serpent, his voice echoes like a mountain because he’s the size of a few mountains together, the sound of the beasts is something absolutely fantastic, perhaps this is my inner love for strong sounds in big creatures so it’s delightful to experience it on any game and this one is no exception.

That being said I think it’s about time we jump straight into the most important element of God of War, gameplay loop. It's something that was controversial when it was shown at first but as you will see, doubts quickly disappeared because this system is very interesting and deep.

Firstly, Game was played with KB+M and it was really nice.

Something that might surprise you is that Kratos can no longer jump, that’s right, all actions like jumping or climbing are semi-automatic and camera position is different compared to the original games, however, while at first you will probably think it’s slower and less exciting let me tell you that things get interesting overtime, once you unlock the blades of Chaos, numberless runes and get used to the combat system you will find it very satisfactory.

Upgrading your gear is important as it will unlock movements and that means creating better and more devastating combos, switching weapons from one to another in the middle of a combat will become more and more common and runes applied to those will help you facing different situations as you can change those runes whenever you want, this process might be tedious at first and there are so many potential combinations that it overwhelming and might end up saturating you, however, if you are going to explore how deep is the gameplay loop, this system will be your best ally in the long term.

Let’s not forget about Atreus as it will become more helpful the more we upgrade him too, his arrows can come in handy in certain tricky situations, it won’t win the battles by himself, Atreus is more like a companion turret that will stun enemies and inflict damage to them. By using Kratos combos in combination with Atreus some very spectacular combats might happen, which at the end of the day shows that God of War 2018 is still as brutal and not that different to the original saga in terms of combat and gameplay.

That’s about it, God of War 2018 is worth every penny and every second of your time in my most honest opinion. SSM did an stunning job here and they nailed it with the changes they did, I sure hope you give it a chance and enjoy it as much as I did, even if you are a big fan of the originals or a newcomer I don’t think you will find difficult to enjoy it so here’s hope you have an amazing experience.

Like many of you, I didn’t know what to expect with this game at all after the disappointment that was The Avenger’s game so, at first, I didn’t really care about it but slowly the community began to share their impressions and to my surprise, they were good and positive so I jumped in and yes, I can safely say that Guardians of the Galaxy is one of those games that fly under your radar and end up surprising you in a very positive way once you notice them. Great story and really well developed characters are the main reasons to enjoy this adventure so, after this unusually positive introduction for one of my reviews, Is Guardians of the Galaxy a game you will enjoy? Well, let’s find out.

The Story begins in what appears to be a normal job for this team in the Quarantine zone, at some point something happens in this mission an unknown entity is liberated although they team runs and doesn’t look back, after getting arrested by the Nova corps and keep doing their low profile jobs, things are gradually starting getting weird as a mysterious church starts gaining power at a very alarming rate and the destiny of the galaxy is in the hands of this crazy but surprisingly competent team, it is time for the Guardians of the Galaxy to prove themselves worthy to carry that name or we will all be flackerd!

Eidos did a really great job with the writing of this story. I'm not only talking about the situations or pace but also how the characters interact and develop through the entire story from start to finish, that being said, that doesn’t mean the story is bad, on the contrary, the story is legit good.

The story is completely original for this game, while it will use a lot of already existing elements from both comics and the movies, what we will find here is a story that goes from low profile space pirates to big space opera epic adventure and that’s really cool because, we will notice how gradually the story changes and expands to become something memorable. While there’s a big focus on the main narrative, as you could expect from this team, there are tons of dialogs and documents that expand the narrative at a more ground level, additionally there are certain moments in which we will be able to interact as Quill in 2 types of conversations, the first type will make a difference in your potential final outcome in this story, the other will make bounds of the crew stronger and let you learn from characters, totally worth checking them.

What really shines in here though is how the team behind the game represented all the characters.

I would say the way they represent this peculiar team is superb, there’s a lot of time for all of them to develop and interact with other characters creating very cool dynamics in the dialogs, there are also situations in which you can interact face to face with some of them and oh dear, some of those are particularly well done, in fact I would say some of those moments are the best writing of the game. If you like the MCU versions I think you will enjoy them even more here as they have an absurd amount of time to really expand their backgrounds and personalities. The relation between characters is a very important part of this game and when I say important I mean the relation between them is key, from motivations to their own interactions when facing some situations. An important element I would like to introduce for this part is the Milano, our ship, because if you explored well enough each level you might find objects that once in the ship will unlock special conversations with specific characters, they are completely optional but if you want to get some more depth about them, I totally recommend to not only find all those special hidden objects but also to listen those dialogs once you are in the Milano.

Now that we have talked about the story, the narrative and the characters I think it’s a good moment to straight jump into the visuals because, let me tell you this, Guardians of the Galaxy sure is a looker.

Let’s start by saying that this game is graphically impressive, in general it has a similar level as games like Deus Ex and is more cohesive than Avengers. Effects, environments and set pieces, it’s the type of game in which you will likely stop every few seconds to take some pictures because what you see amazes you.
If there’s something great about this adventure is that we will visit quite a lot of places, from the Quarantine Zone to Seknarf-9, all this places have their unique style and distinctive visual language, artistically speaking this game is top notch and you can really see how varied and cool this universe is, while it’s not the only game that will make us visit very different places but as this is the open space, they can go crazy with the designs and they sure went crazy, when it comes to the art aspect, it’s jaw dropping.

If visuals are good I don’t think I have to say that music ROCKS!

Let’s start with what I think it’s a really cool addition to the game. The team decided to create a fictional rock band and let me tell you, original tracks for this game are really good.

But of course the licensed stuff is what steals the show, a lot of beloved artists in here such as Iron Maiden or Blondie, yeah, this is an absolutely amazing 80’s festival that you will be able to enjoy in the Milano whenever you want to enjoy the music.

Surprisingly there’s something potentially divisive in this game, gameplay.

Look, I liked it and I enjoyed it, quite a lot in fact but I know for sure it is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Game has a very familiar gameplay loop at first, it is a third person adventure game with shooting mechanics, this time with 4 characters even though only Quill is playable, however, it quickly introduces the command system which is the cherry top of this game’s gameplay loop. At first it might look like it’s tedious, difficult to master and in general chaotic to command 4 independent characters in the battlefield, however, in my own experience, this was not the case and once I got used to it the results were quite amazing and dynamic.

Let’s face it, every single combat is the same from start to finish in this adventure which might end up being repetitive but I can’t say I got tired of it, I tried new combos, I “mastered” the system and experimented with the upgraded characters and at the end of the day I ended up enjoying this fighting elements, I seriously hope you do too because I found it to be very entertaining.

Let’s also not forget about the huddle up motivational boost that happens from time to time, if you answer correctly to this piece of changing dialog you will get a really cool unlimited boost for abilities for a period of time.

Speaking of upgradable characters, your characters will be upgradable but in different ways, to upgrade your set of movements for the command system you will have to level up in combat by getting better scores for as long as possible, that way the game will grant you with level points that you can trade in the menu for new special movements but when it comes to Quill, in addition to his special movements there are the benchbanks in which you will have to find energy bars and spheres to exchange with Rocket for upgrades like shield, health and boots upgrades, do not forget to explore all places in order to find those hidden objects that will come in handy and do not worry if you end up with more than you need, I’m not the only one that finished the game with more elements than required for all upgrades.

That’s about it, as you can see I thought this game was not only amazing but also one of the best adventures of this year, sadly it didn’t get the recognition I think it deserved but things are getting better for the game slowly but steady thanks to the community, I really hope this review helps you deciding if you want to jump in or not and hope that, if you end up playing it, enjoy it as much as I enjoyed it.