Recent reviews by Sturm

Short, stylish, intense, and challenging. I really enjoyed this one.

I'm about to finish this game. I give this a cautious thumbs up. This is the third Metro game I've played and I generally like them. Great atmosphere, cool setting (based on the book), solid gunplay, nice tension and mostly good stealth. The remake is very pretty (even years later) and performs super well on the Steam Deck.

Still, there are some things I find lacking. The game falls into this trap of "worldbuilding tourism." It feels like you have to stop by every single entity in the world every time. Captured by Nazis? Check. What about the Communists? Also. There are far too many spots where you'll wander around for 15 minutes until you find the exact vent, or wind tunnel that is where you go next. There needs to be more signposting as to where to go, or better level design. The story plays fast and loose with some supernatural elements that seem to be introduced a bit late in the game and are supremely load bearing, which felt cheap. It feels like *everyone* betrays you in this game. I also don't care for the studio's super heavy handed "moralism." They really don't want you to kill anyone, but they also don't give you great tools to be non-violent. Yes, you can sneak around and knock everyone out, and I did that (or just avoided people occasionally), but the gun play is quite good and by the end I just started firing - ending be damned - because I was getting bored of the knock outs. If you insist on a non-violent path, you have to give the player equally cool non-violent tools (looking at Dishonored 2, which did this well).

Ultimately, the game is about 9-10 hours and is pretty fun. It has issues, not really due to its age, but just sorta questionable narrative choices and overall creative direction for how they want violence and combat to exist.

Phenomenal puzzle game. Unlike any I've played before. Really clever, with a high ceiling for skill, but not too punishing for idiots to complete missions (me). Great mix of stealth, espionage, and a little bit of "timing" gameplay. Very very good design.

Amazing game. Truly fantastic. Excellent story that takes a few individual stories - with unique characters, flaws, play styles - and wraps them into a deeply satisfying revenge epic. Like a western but with Mesoamerican folks. I liked the combat mechanism at first, but evolved to love by the end. The combinations, the challenge, the character builds. Man, deeply satisfying. The world is full of small secrets and tiny choices. I don't have time to replay this, but I do think for those who like to really dig and find everything, there are reasons to return. Great great game.

This is now a favorite. I loved Drova and I'm glad I kicked off 2025 with it. This is a focused, indie, old school "open world" RPG that I love. I'm 20+ hours into it and towards the end. It'll likely be one of my top games of 2025. I've played it entirely on the deck and love how little it eats the battery. Some notes.

The open world is small with a few distinct areas. This makes it fun to explore and learn its enemies and find secrets. You'll be going back and forth a bit, which means you keep finding new things you missed before. The game doesn't have a UI map or waypoints. Instead, you need to buy, earn, or find maps and mark them up with ink. I love this and find it works well for a world of this size and complexity.

Combat is tight and focused. You have an attack, dodge, and various side weapons. As you hit your enemy (and avoid being hit), you build focus (aka physical attack mana), which you can use on special attacks. You also gain passive boosts and techniques (like blocking). You cannot be stupid, but this isn't a Souls-like. It's the right challenge in my opinion.

Learning skills, crafting recipes, etc. is all based on finding the person to do so. You need to earn this, pay them, or trade them. Many are rewarded for quests. I really enjoyed how they did this and liked the potency of the abilities. I focused on Sword + Shield and Axe. But, there is also spear, sling shot, bow, daggers, and in late chapter 3, you get access to magic (previously you only get one-use spells). Magic is VERY fun, really changes combat, and makes a big difference. While it's odd to have to wait, I loved the mid-game shift that really kept the end-game fresh.

Gear progression really matters. You slowly increase your power, but you can also go after stronger enemies before you are "ready." I took out a bear in Act 1 and got an achievement for it.

Key to Note: You spend a lot of time in Act 1 and there isn't much story or driver at this point. It can feel sluggish. The reason is, you are dropped into the middle of the world with two rival factions. You must join one of them to get to Act 2, and both factions have a wide variety of requests before you can do so. You can focus on one to expedite things. I did all of one faction's (that I joined), and a lot of the other (to see stuff) and enjoyed that. Once Act 2 begins, the game begins moving at a much more rapid clip with more focused missions. Note that you shouldn't play this if you want a Witcher 3 quality story, but there are some neat moments.

This game is really a sweet spot for me. Everything is focused. It has an old school origin, but in no way feels dated or clunky. It reminds me a lot of Signalis in that sense (a favorite game of mine from two years ago)

I only paid $2.49 but I am really enjoying this game. It is just a nice single player focused ARPG with some neat classes. I’m playing demolitionist, so I am heaving grenades and shooting fire through my guns. Combat is slightly involved so you can hit the zone but not be bored. Action controls feel solid on the Deck. Menu controls are struggling a bit, but I’m dealing with it. As it is old I like how it doesn’t tax the battery.

The perfect game to end the year for me.

Phenomenal experience. One of the best games I played in 2024. I loved the mechanisms. Incredibly clever, great, touching story. Really cool interactive novel and puzzle. Played very well on both the Steam Deck and PC. Loved this. Recommended if you enjoy light puzzles and interactive stories built around the notion of dialogue based puzzles.

This game is quite good. I've seen others say this and agree: It takes the "watch scenes play out" mechanism from Tacoma, but mixes it with other experiences. Manipulating the timeline with choices is very cool and it is fun to poke around and try to unlock alternative events by considering the consequences of your choices. Like all puzzle games, there are a few choices and connections that aren't the most intuitive, but overall you can just check a guide if you want. Really enjoyed the normal, human stories throughout. Didn't quite think the ending fully paid off, and I'm a little confused by the twist, but this was a good game and I recommend it! Note that I played it exclusively on the Steam Deck and was a *little* annoyed it didn't support cloud saves.

This was wonderful. I loved how inventive every ounce of the experience was. It was beautiful, immersive, and relaxing. I also loved that it didn’t have combat. Just a great puzzle and exploration game.

I love this game. The mechanisms make sense, the tuning and pacing is very solid, the world is beautiful, and the combat is very satisfying. I like experimenting with spells and learning to use the different powers and weapons. I appreciate the focus on combat (which is a nice way to stand out versus other survival games). I think the blood mechanism is very clever and rewards you for exploring and paying attention in fights (beyond just killing everyone). I wish there was more weapon variety, though I've only finished Act 1 and there will likely be more breadth later on. I've only played Solo and on Steam Deck and have zero complaints. Very fun game that is hard to put down.