Recent reviews by DS

I was highly skeptical after the first trailers of the game but I'm happy to say Bloober really turned it around and made this a worthy remake experience.
There are some changes here and there and area's have been expanded upon but none so far that really bothered me.
The combat feels good and visceral, James' agressive yells as he beats up the monsters really makes you feel James' desperation.
Everything looks visually amazing. I keep being blown away by small details, or details we couldn't read or see before. The otherworld segments look and feel incredible.
This for me really is a return to Silent Hill. Now I hope we can continue this trend and make an original new title. Don't let Silent Hill die again!

After 23+ years System Shock is finally back!
Suprisingly solid launch. Those extra delays really helped smooth out the experience. (Take note gamedev publishers)

The main creative team behind this game has been fired from the company and are currently in a dispute with the company owners. I would read up on this and consider it before purchasing this game. Or find alternative means to play this game.

This is it. This is the one.
Once in every few years a game will come along that completely surprises, innovates, and pushes the boundaries of storytelling in interactive media. And this is it.

Disco Elysium is a game set in a fictional almost dystopian or alternative earth type setting with a rich history and compelling characters.
It feels real. It feels rough. It’s bizarre yet completely believable.
Like Tolkien would write the world of Middle earth first and then set a story in it, this too feels like the world was created first, and then a story was settled within it.
It’s hard to explain Disco Elysium itself. It’s a videogame but at the same time it’s more than that.
It talks about socio-economics, it talks about politics, it talks about failure and the nature of humanity. It goes deep sometimes. Sometimes confusingly deep that you have no idea what dark well you jumped into this time.
In the core essence however, it’s a detective game. You are a detective sent out to solve a murder investigation. Your main job is to figure out who did it, how it was done, why it was done. Alongside with you is Kim Kitsuragi, your partner, someone you’ve never met before.
It might be good to mention you have Amnesia. Another cliché trope in videogame narrative but executed very well within Disco Elysium. It’s an important part of the entire game as you struggle to figure out the sense of everything around you.
You progress your investigation with the help of your attributes which are subdivided with skills you can level up. You level up, you put your skillpoints in the skills. The skills however are something completely different than what you’re used to. Some are familiar, others seem completely bizarre. A personal favorite of mine is the “Inland Empire”, which checks your inner thoughtspace and questions the bizarre and dreamlike feelings you might have.
A lot of this doesn’t make sense when explaining it. It’s one of those “You have to play it to get it” cases.
You meet a lot of characters along the way, some grow on you depending on your actions, some don’t. Some are rude, some are too nice. It’s up to you to figure out who might be connected to the case or not. Either way it might not even matter, maybe there’s a bigger point to it all.

As I mentioned before failure, is a part of this game. You will fail checks, regularly. This is ok. The game will in most cases even the most desperate cases continue even after you fail. Failing is part of life and thus part of you. Learn to accept it if you can. Failing a check also doesn’t mean you cannot try again. White checks allow you to try again later or when you’ve placed a new skillpoint in the skill being checked.

To put Disco Elysium into words it feels like a dark black ocean.
It pulls you under, down the black waves. There’s despair there but also hope and at the very bottom a twisting vortex.
It lets you go to momentarily catch your breath but then quickly pulls you down again.
The vortex at the bottom beckons. Is it absolution? The end? Or a completely new beginning?
You’ll find out.

Absolutely amazing. The game I've been waiting for for 20+ years. It nails the thief vibe, even with the guns you're still not too overpowered. It's like thief, a systematic disabling of guards while exploring all the tiny nook and crannies to find any and all hidden pathways and secrets. The level design is fantastic. So is the atmosphere and the whole victorian horror style.
There's a few minor bugs and kinks to work out but it's early access for a reason.
If you're a thief fan you'd be a taffer to let this one slip by.

I really tried to like this game, I'm a big fan of the entire Oddworld series and also enjoyed New 'n Tasty quite a bit. But this one is just a glitchy mess, even so long after release.
I had sligs just walking mid-air shooting me or rescued mudokens forcing me to restart, I had grenades/mines get stuck. Mudokens who ran off in a completely different direction after calling them. Sligs dying after depossessing them (using the passive knockout way).
The game is also missing a lot of the atmosphere from the originals. Gone is the unique music, traded for a more generic track. The item crafting system just makes things more frustrating then uniquely fun and it isn't even really used that much in solving puzzles. They could've done much more interesting things with it.
Then there's the "Quarma" system, where your karma gets measured by your good vs bad deeds. It was always kind of in oddworld, the choice of rescueing mudokens or not. But they also punish you now for killing sligs. I get the story they're trying to tell with this but the passive knockout techniques with all the glitching and bugging out causing slig deaths or mudoken deaths just made it incredibly frustrating.

If there's one good thing to say about this game is that it has really nicely done cutscenes. But you could just as well watch that all on youtube to avoid the frustrating buggy mess this game is.

Again, a bit sad because I've really enjoyed all the Oddworld games so far and Exodus was one of my favourites. To see it end up like this without being patched is disheartening. Hope the next Oddworld game (or a munch remake) will turn out better.

It's Quake

Also it's updated with a whole new episode that's pushing the engine to its limits.
There's no reason to not pick this up if you're an FPS fan.

Fantastic stylistic oldschool shooter build within the Doom engine.
There's definately some classic inspirations here like Hexen or Unreal. They even managed to score some special tracks from the composer Alexander Brandon! (composer for Unreal, Deus ex, Jazz Jackrabbit)
Recently it got updated with a whole new chapter, I've only played through the first one which already was about a 6-8 hour length (taking your time).
The gameplay itself feels smooth and impactful. Mowing down enemies has a nice punch to it, your axe feels like a proper chopping tool as enemies gib into a million pieces.
The story itself is pretty straightforward but interesting enough to keep the attention.
There are some times when it can get a little tough to find a certain item you need to progress, similar to Hexen 2, personally I had no issue with it too much as I end up using a guide if I really cannot find a specific key item.

I think this one can stand on its own amongst the great new generation of fps games like Dusk, Amid Evil, Hrot etc.
Definately a recommend :)

Beautiful, Breathtaking, Incredible detail and most authentic ancient egyptian recreation.
Ruined by a boring 2-dimensional character. One of the most predictable plots in all AC games.
Terrible character development, where other characters you meet for 5minutes suddenly die and Bayek cries over for much longer then we even knew these characters. Zero setup for why the player should care.

Overall a 6/10 for me. Mostly because of the historic tour that was included that kept my interest way more than the game itself.
By the time I got to the dlc I was already pretty done with the game and just wanted to finish it already.
While the final DLC does try to do something more interesting with the supernatural it all comes down to a few bossfights which are mechanically set-up in such a way that it's just slash'n dodge until you win, which made me sigh more in annoyance than with the joy of winning a tough battle.

Wish I could put it on mixed recommendation.
Buy on sale, but expect repitition and if you're not interested in ancient egypt there's little to hold you there.

System Shock 2 is a classic game released back in 1999.
Though dont let the old age turn you away. This game was way ahead of its time.
Following the "Immersive sim" genre that had been established with the original system shock (which is currently being remade) it inspired many games in the years after.
Games such as Bioshock, Dishonored and Prey all lend elements from this game or improved upon it.

The game itself is set aboard the Von Braun. A starship capable of faster than light travel for the first time.
It's mission is to explore the galaxy and possibly make alien contact.
You are a nameless person onboard the ship, the only thing that's made known to you is that you volunteered for some experimental cybernetics that have been implanted into you. As such you now wake with a memory loss and a ship that seems completely devoid of human life.
Corpses are everywhere and an alien force has hijacked the ship.
It's up to the player to sneak, shoot, hack, and psi their way through tough situations. All while building your character in a direction using cybernetic module points. Weither you'll become a super hacker, a tough heavy weapons fighter, or a psionic amplified magician the choice comes down to your preferred playstyle.
The story itself is explained with the game's few characters and the bulk of it through audio logs you can find all around the ship.

Aside from this there are several mods made by the community to really improve upon the game.
With HD textures, improved models, weapons, as well as random assets this game is still supported by a modding community.
I would highly recommend getting the graphical upgrades as they do not break away from the original vision of the game.

Enjoy this classic before the remake of SS1 as well the upcoming sequel SS3 :)