Recent reviews by Skaggs

If you played Crusader Kings 2, this release brings all the things you loved about it but in a more streamlined, easy to play way. There are too many quality of life improvements to list, but it makes for a significantly more enjoyable experience overall.

If you never played, this is an extremely complex game that can take a bit to get a hang off. However, CK3 is significantly easier to get your bearings on than its predecessor was. And once you've got the hang of it, it is an absolutely unending roleplaying story generator. You can quite easily pump hundreds of hours into it and still have so much more to see and do and experience. If you aren't scared off by the shock of all the menus and options (and the devs did their very best to guide you through them all), this game is great.

It has a great atmosphere and the choices you make really do matter. As soon as I finished the game I wanted to dive back in and make different choices to see how it changes things. It has a reputation for being difficult, which is earned, but it's important to master what they call the "hobo economy" - trading with NPC's and using the different trade priorities of different types of NPCs against each other. Also, this game expects you to die. It's not the end of the game when it happens. Overall, the atmosphere and feel of the game as well as the unique setting and story makes me recommend this game.

I urge you in the strongest possible terms to get this game if it even remotely sounds like you might like it. There's so much in this game to find and explore. It's the complete inverse of No Man's Sky. Whereas NMS is a vast ocean of places to visit and nothing to do once you get there, this has only a handful of planets but so much amazing stuff to find. If you found yourself excited by the promise of No Man's Sky but disappointed with the result, this is the game for you.

It's not a particularly long game (took me 9 hours to get through it and I didn't exactly rush), but I enjoyed it. It's quite scary at times. If you enjoy survival horror games like Amnesia, I think you'll like this game. Others have said there's technical problems with the game but I didn't have any trouble with it. The ambiance in the game is excellent. I'd definitely recommend playing it in a dark room with headphones on. If you're interested in a game that's light on story, but high on ambiance and tension I think you'll enjoy this game.

This game is completely overwhelming at first. In fact, the biggest knock on the game is that many people will give up on it before they understand how to play it. I very nearly did, in fact. There are just so many options that it pararlyzes a person.

This game is supposed to be a dynasty rule simulator in the Middle Ages. What decisions would you make? How would you expand your sphere of influence?

I had to play through the tutorial campaign twice as well as watch a few Lets Plays to understand how the game world works, but once it started to click I had a blast. This game has a knack at creating great stories. You will dramatically reverse your position in a war for your land by strategically adopting an alliance with a foreign nation. You'll plot to assassinate a baby because you'll inherit their lands.

If you can stand to put in the time it takes to learn how to actually play the game, you'll have a blast.

Le'ts get this out of the way first: this is a walking simulator. If you don't like those games, move along. Firewatch has a really interesting art style and a lot of really cool set pieces. Its strong points are its voice acting and certain suspenseful parts of the story. The second act of the game is incredibly strong and will leave you wondering what is going on and what is going to happen next. The ending is a bit disappointing but only mildly so. It's a worthwhile use of a couple of hours of interactive story.

I really enjoyed Prey. It's very much in the same vein as Bioshock. I went in with very little knowledge of the game but on the recommendation of people I trust and if you can, do the same. The first act of this game is absolutely fantastic. The big downsides of the game are that it doesn't sufficiently teach you (IMO) to make sure you know how you are going to kill enemies before you engage them. If you just try to gun your way through everything like I did, you're going to run out of ammo fast. Other than that, near the end it kind of drags as you wind up moving back through areas you've already been and it can be a bit tedious. However, the game has strong combat and stealth mechanics and the story overall makes it worth a playthrough. If you liked Bioshock or Dishonored, I think you'll like this game.

The Stanley Parable doesn't have a lot of gameplay elements. You mostly walk around and sometimes interact with things. The Stanley Parable is a game about games, but it did it before that genre was trite. It's undoubtedly funny. You can play through it multiple different times to see the different endings and infuriate the narrator. I definitely think it's worth a couple of bucks. Every once in a while I like to boot it up just to walk through the game one more time.

This game had a rocky start, to say the least. It's been patched and most of the bugs have been ironed out, so let's talk about the game.

You are really going to enjoy this game for about two hours. Discovering things feels fresh and fun, the mysteries are seemingly endless, and the sense of scale in this game is incredible. But then you will start to notice that many of the planets look the same. You'll realize that you're basically teleporting from one cluster of similar planets to another. You'll realize most of the buildings you find on planets are identical. You'll start to be annoyed by how clunky the flight is and how terrible the space battles are.

From there, you'll start to realize how many things they promised would be in this game that simply aren't. You'll watch promotional videos that are still being used to sell this game which show things that simply aren't in the game. You'll listen to Sean Murray talk about how it gets weirder the closer you get to the center of the galaxy (it doesn't) and how the real mystery is what is at the center of the galaxy. But there's nothing there. Seriously, you can look videos up on YouTube. You just zoom back out and start over on another random planet.

For all these reasons, I can't recommend this game. ESPECIALLY not at $60.

I really enjoyed this game. Bought it on sale for $1.50, but it'd be worth the retail price of $5. It's about a 3 hour puzzle game, but it's one of the best puzzle games I've played. It grabbed me immediately and gave me an imaginative and immersive 3-hour experience. Totally worth the price, in my opinion.