Recent reviews by Inqy

It has no business being this good. It's absolutely fantastic,

I'm so, so glad this came out on PC. Feels just like the original ones, but modern. I wish it was longer!

Phenomenal!

A 2020 release of a 1998 game that somehow feels more 98 than modern.

It might not look it, but this is the spiritual (haha) successor to Stardew Valley. Great game!

I... wow. I played it knowing something will be up and yet I wasn't ready for any of it.

It's insulting.

Dishonored was an excellent game. Despite how saturated the genre was, it managed to feel fresh. The storytelling wasn't strong in Dishonored, but it's on a different level in Dishonored 2, and not in a good way.

In the beggining you are presented with a choice to play Emily or Corvo. Unfortunately, I've picked Corvo and I immediately regretted it. Corvo's writing is so horrible it breaks any immersion any time he speaks. Every one of his lines I've heard so far felt incredibly generic and didn't develop his character in the slightest. He usually just states the obvious (mission goals, what just happened, etc.).

The dialogue is even worse. Here's what the dialogue when starting a mission boils down to:
Corvo: I have to go save *character*
NPC Character: Please save *character*, he's my friend and he's very dear to me
*loading screen*
Corvo: Okay, now to save *character* and get rid of *character*.

It makes you wish Corvo was mute. I'm aware, that the line at the beginning of the missions could serve as a reminder to players that put the game down for a bit and came back. It still sounds very forced. There's surely a better way to frame this information.

Gameplay-wise the game feels like Dishonored. They are four years apart, so that's rather underwhelming as well. In the *first* mission I've played, I've jumped over a fence into a bush and got stuck. I spent the next 5 seconds mashing space and the WASD keys trying to get Corvo to jump out. I've managed to free myself, but the engine lacks the delicacy and precision of a modern engine.

World design is excellent. Moody and elaborate.

Disclaimer: the opinion is typed as I finished the 4th mission. I'll finish the game despite my criticism to see if it gets any better and redeems itself. I'll update the opinion if it does, so If you're reading this, it probably didn't.

I think this game truly deserves the "Best of Bag Throwing Simulation" prize in the Steam Awards. A combination of publisher greediness, annoying objectives and an environment full of bugs makes this a horrifying experience.
Jk.
I love it anyway.

One of the most legendary multiplayer shooter game series strikes again. This time with Counter-Strike:Global Offensive, and oh boy, this is a home run.

I will to a large extent skip other aspects of the game, and focus on gameplay, because this is what this game is all about. It was not meant to make you breathless with its graphics or to blow your mind with the plot-twist at the end of the story(which this game obviously lacks). All it was made for, was for you to crave the sweet victory and feel the familiar feeling of pride as you place another headshot.

The gameplay is amazing. The responsiveness of this game is unlike any other. There are no delays in any of the animations but reload and crouch(for balance issues after you crouch several times next one will not be instant). Even jumps are made for you to be able to steer in mid-air, which contributes to the incredible feeling of freedom while moving and shooting. This game features shooting system which differs much from other games, as it doesn't involve intial bullet scatter, but most weapons hit the exact point you are aiming at with your first shot, provided you are not moving. With further shots, extensive recoil kicks in, which, what is important, is to a very high degree controlable. These factors contribute to the fact, that Counter-Strike:Global Offensive is now one of the most popular eSport games. It highly rewards skill, and you can't claim your enemy "was just lucky". There are some voices claiming that server tickrates(the rate at which server updates player positions) are too low. I've played on both 64 and 128 tick servers, and for me (I am currently Master Guardian Elite, 6th from top out of 18 ranks. I'd claim that is above average but nothing spectacular) the difference is fairly negligible.

The game features a fair amount of maps, and you can play on any community servers with custom maps freely. There are some expanions packs, which essentialy act as DLC called operations. They cost a few dollars and feature a variety of maps, along with the possibility to drop this operation's "case". They are not invasive any way and they usually pay back, because you can sell the cases you dropped on market for a few dollars :) Speaking of which, the game's drop system allows you to drop up to 4(I think) items and cases per week which are purely aesthetic and in no way alter the gameplay. It is your choice whether you think that this differently colored rifle is worth your money, or not.

The game can be fairly difficult at the beggining and requires fair amount of time to get used to, especially if you're coming from a different fps, but it definitely feels rewarding once you get used to it. The game's ranking system alllows you to play against equal enemies with a fair degree of accuracy. Competitive matches are played in 5 v 5 format, best of 30 rounds, which, as the even round number suggest, can end in a draw. A ranked match takes from 30 to 70 minutes on average. At this point I'd like to recommend you buying this game along with friends, as random teammates are usually not as good as playing with your own team. Of course, the game is completely playable without that AND that is only my opinion, but I find the game far more enjoyable this way. The only bad side of the ranking system are smurfs and hackers, with the latter being far worse. I like to think of smurfs as of a challenge and an opportunity to improve, while cheaters are straight unplayable against and ruin the experience. Valve's work on the case is somewhat controversial, but I've seen enough people banned to confirm this is at least worked on.

Biggest downsides?
The fact, that this game requires a lot of work to be put into and regular playing, for your skill to stay on the same level or improve. If you stop playing your muscle memory will start to fade, or at least weaken, and you will see that after coming back to playing you will drop a few ranks. That might be annoying for some. Other than that? Cheaters, maybe, but that is not developers fault. The fact that if you want to join a friends casual match(available for joining at any time) it says the server is full even though it isn't? These are rather small flaws.

In it's genre, I rate the game 10 out of 10. This is a masterpiece of online shooting.