Recent reviews by mankell

Flashy and fun, yet frustrating and brain-dead.

This game could have been excellent but it is unfortunately let down by poor design decisions and pointless writing that still manages takes up too much time. Mirror's Edge and Hotline Miami runs in this game's DNA, and there truly is a really cool fusion to be made there, but Ghostrunner ends up proving how hard those titles are to pull off without excessive player frustration.

The levels look and feel game-y while still not giving the player room to have much momentum or room to experiment. There's both a skill tree and a perk allocation system even though the main mechanics boil down to running and hitting enemies with your sword (what on earth does 'makes deflections slightly easier' mean?), which simply muddles the waters in as to what the level designers can get away with. This system might as well have been ripped out and replaced with linear progression, to allow the developers to focus on better things.
As it stands you have very little awareness of the character's actual body size as there are no visible legs, yet a lot of levels require precision jumps and dodges that will punish you with instant death. Thankfully the reloads are quick. In fact the whole game runs surprisingly great. However, both your run time and death amount is measured at the end of each level, which is then compared to your friends, which encourages 'perfect runs'. This sounds great on paper, but then you find out that the cutscenes aren't skippable while rarely adding anything worthwhile. "Ghostrunner. You need to run to the end of the level. It's here."
In fact the general writing is rarely much above this. The characters blab in your ear about inconsequential and uninspired Cyberpunk-y lore and the main character suffers from amnesia. I have yet to finish the story, but if it doesn't end up with explaining that you have been the bad guy all along I will be very surprised. And if it doesn't I will simply be disappointed.

I hope that the sequel ends up addressing some of these criticisms, as they seem rather common judging by my angry googling, but I suspect that it will simply wallow in past non-decisions, yet with a higher production value.

If you disliked either Mirror's Edge or Hotline Miami there is very little for you here. Get it on a sale if you have to.

I cannot believe that I hadn't reviewed this game earlier.

This is hands down my favourite Frictional game, and that is by no means an easy pick.
If you're in to transhumanism, philosophical science fiction and body horror: this is the game for you.

SOMA is simply the best exploration of the 'swamp man thought' experiment that I have ever seen (look it up! also, if you know of other examples please let me know at: idontgiveacrap@fartmail.com).

SOMA elegantly explores the themes of what it means to be human in an utmost unique scenario, while still being grounded upon some very human characters with solid writing and featuring some of the best VO performances in the biz.

Unfortunately though, the gameplay isn't the best. A lot of the puzzles feel rather simplistic and rarely require much forethought. The same thing goes for the monsters. They simply show up at *convenient* locations and kill you, and then you go back to 30 seconds earlier without any more consequences or room for preparation. It's just very frustrating at times, and this game very much gained something from adding a safe mode.
As a safe mode has been added, this shortcoming should definitely not prevent you from buying this game. It didn't need combat to work as the game is largely carried by story and atmosphere.


This is a game that I can warmly recommend to any sci-fi horror fan, with the caveat that the 'Safe mode' might be required. Buy it. Play it. Share it!

Stellar!

Continuing on the more philosophical note of SOMA, Amnesia: Rebirth is less about jump scares and monsters, and more about leaving a horrifying mark on you and your own sense of right and wrong, by using overarching themes of morality, motherhood and sacrifice.
But there are monsters too, of course. And Lovecraftian entities from beyond time and space(!!)

The gameplay manages to hit a sweet spot that sits perfectly in-between Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA, as it manages to have *just* the right amount of exploration, puzzles and enemies. However, unlike both of the comparisons, Rebirth *finally* manages to make player death mean something WITHOUT getting outright frustrating. I wish I could delve deeper into this, but it is more worth exploring on your own.

Coming back to the themes and story then; as I'm not a mother I cannot identify as well with the main character of Amnesia: Rebirth, as I could with the guy from SOMA- but! This turned out to be one of the strengths of the game's story! I'm sure there are other games that explore the nerve-wracking sensation of expecting a child, but *I* sure do not know of any, and I doubt that they are as well written. All I know is that I have gained a lot of sympathy for expecting a child, as well as motherhood as a whole.

Now for the parts that I did not like.
Some puzzles will force you to perform immoral things, and then punish you for them without really presenting that you ever had a choice. This *can* be effective, (see Spec-Ops) but in Rebirth, I mostly felt like the game was waving at me with a wide grin going "heyy don't you want to play me again to get all of the endings??". No, Rebirth. I will need months of recovery before I can even launch you again.
Also, the technical graphics are fairly... plain. It feels and looks like an AA game from five years ago. That being said, it is a remarkable step up from SOMA which had the same problem, except 5 years earlier.

In conclusion: I can give Amnesia: Rebirth a warm recommendation for all you horror fans longing for something truly mature.
If you're in the mood for some spooks, ancient curses, and early 20th-century exploration, I cannot recommend this game enough. But perhaps hold off on this one if you're expecting a 'family addition' any time soon.

In this moment, I am a grown-up. Not because of any phony birth certificate. But because, I am enlightened by my trucking.

It's my favourite video game, I primarily use it as a substitute for c*ck and ball-torture

It's as if Hotline Miami got fused into Ghost in the Shell. If you like either of them, there is something in here for you.

Ruiner features an absolutely phenomenal cyberpunk presentation and fairly good gameplay.
One of my bigger problems with the is that it doesn't quite know how to marry story and gameplay together; you mostly run around starkly lit megafactories bashing heads in, but every now and then you're drawn back to the city hub to do various menial sidequests of the 'fetching' variety. It's nice to have some room to breathe between the hectic missions, but it feels like a very jarring tonal shift. These sections do however make a splendid job at world-building.
The storyline of Ruiner feels appropriate for this type of game, as it mostly takes the back seat, and it also has some nice twists and turns to it - however it still remains mostly forgettable. I think that part of the reason is that 99% of the dialogue is text-based which is at odds with the general fast pace and eye-catching presentation.
It's been a year and some since my last full playthrough and all I remember is blood on gunmetal, questioning everyone's identity, and the sense of having had a rather good time - take from that what you will.

+ Atmosphere
+ Music
+ Art direction
+ Gameplay
+ World-building
- Story
- Noticeable budget constraints
- Fairly repetitive environments

Clunky and unpolished, but one of the most impressively written sci-fi space operas within the genre of video games.

The highlight is the writing; including characters, lore and story. It has both the grounded and optimistic feel of Star Trek, complete with the ethical and philosophical conundrums, as well as the fun and exciting feel of Star Wars.

I'd recommend this in the same way that I would recommend The Witcher 1 in that:
-You have to be ready to spend 20-50 hours
-You'll have to get used to a bunch of jank and half-hearted RPG elements
-You'll have to use your imagination to get the full experience

The combat is also not very fun... When you're finally over powered enough that you can take down a Geth Prime in ten seconds it does feel quite cathartic, but that's about as much as I'm willing to give it credit for.

But even with those caveats in mind I came to love this almost as much as I did now 2020 as I did back in my first playthrough back in ~2012.

If you love heady sci-fi and have plenty of alone-time you will not regret giving this a try.

Scratched a weird itch that I didn't know that I had. I'm not much for visual novels at all, but the cyberpunk aesthetic and the grounded writing style (for being anime-esq) kept me hooked.

-Good world-building
-Interesting characters and well-written, grounded, dialogue
-Nice presentation
-Cozy dystopian cyberpunk(??)
-Noob friendly(???)

So get yourself a nice big glass of Piledriver on a rainy evening, launch the game, and get ready to mix drinks and change lives!

Not very innovative, but a solid title in its own right. Plays a lot like Deus Ex: Human Revolution but with smoother gameplay and some interesting hubworlds, looks pretty great too.
Some people think the game's too short - I got 45 hours out of my first decently paced playthrough so I disagree, the story feels anticlimactic though.

If you like games like Euro Truck Simulator and science-fiction, then this game might be for you. Even if you don't like Euro Truck Simulator you might enjoy this, but it's certainly not for everyone.
You need to create your own context for a lot of this and definitely not just play it for just getting the best ship or reaching Elite status, roleplaying to at least a certain extent is vital, especially as the game is now.
You can certainly criticize E:D for its repetitive gameplay and grindy missions, but there's still a lot in it to enjoy even if it's agreeably far from easy to get in to and to like.

Before you buy it, watch some longer gameplay clips of it on YouTube, here are a few recommendations:
Elite: Dangerous - Slave Revolution In Sorbago by Scott Manley
Elite: Dangerous Horizons - Tour of The Sol System (Home of Earth) with Landings by ObsidianAnt
Let's Drown Out... Elite Dangerous by Yahtzee19
Most of these videos are a bit older so they're not completely representative, but they'll give you some insight in what the game is all about, how it looks and how it plays. Make an informed purchase.

This review sums the game up fairly well, if a bit fluffy