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These are a few words that describe my feelings while embarking on my journey into the astonishing world of Scorn - a "game" where the path is the goal. If you don't feel awe and intrigue looking at Scorn's scenery and design, you probably will not enjoy playing it much. But if you do, you're in for a treat.

Scorn takes the art of Giger that we know (and love?) from the Alien movies and brings it to another level - a world of horror, cast into a cold, cruel, enormous factory of some sort where you will never be the hero, the warrior, the savior, but just a lost soul doomed to wander its vast, depressing caverns without direction, aim or clue. You're at the mercy of this facility, you have no idea what or where you are or where you're going. Things around you are often not functional, yet they feel relevant for some reason that you cannot understand.

This design philosophy means you get no quests, no instructions, no map. Nothing is provided to ease or facilitate your progress to an end and a fate you have no control over, like a rat running through a horror maze with no salvation at the end. Thus Scorn offers an alternative to traditional game tropes. It is more of an experience than a game, it lets you feel rather than do. Yes there are a few puzzles, yes there are enemies, but they are not at the core of Scorn.

All in all, a play-through is short - it took me under 10 hours, and I spent some time admiring the scenery around me. Sound design is superb - for the most part, you are surrounded by silence or muffled noises, while the sporadic moments of grandiose orchestral soundscapes underline the art surrounding you.

I personally think Scorn is a masterpiece, but I totally understand other opinions that don't think so, based on the lack of interactivity of the world presented here, or agency the player has. My suggestion: Look at the artwork and a few trailers or videos, and if they intrigue you, go for it!

I found this game pretty dull and unappealing. The line-drawn images do nothing for me, they come across as juvenile, like something you'd find in the back pages of a young student's copybook. Everything is very static and lacks meaningful animation. This is just not good enough to make me want to play.

Yes I get it, the drawings and lack of animation plus the sounds and graphic effects are meant to be the unique art style, but even then I don't feel it's been well done. It's just infantile and crude. Whatever the "vibe" was supposed to be, I didn't feel it.

The puzzles here are totally random and solutions completely arbitrary. You run around endlessly, trying items in your inventory on all sorts of things on your screen, while having no idea what to do next. There are no clues. Items that were previously part of the scenery suddenly become active and actionable when revisiting a screen for the umpteenth time, but you wouldn't know because how would you know? By accidentally hovering over the particular pixel?

I'm sorry but my gaming time is too precious for endless, tedious backtracking through the same old screens over and over again to figure out what pixel to finally click on for the elusive tidbit needed at that moment. Even with a guide open, I only managed to get to about half-way through one play-through before giving up. Some suggested solutions in the guide just did not work or items mentioned were not present.

I play games to have fun, and this just isn't fun - at all. It's a frustrating mess designed to suck the will to live out of me, and I prefer games to be inspiring and thrilling. Sorry, but this is a definite thumbs-down from me!

It took me 4.4 hours to play this through - I didn't get all the achievements. As others have mentioned, this is a walking simulator without any form of interactivity. You cannot interact with anything, pick anything up, use anything or even jump. You just walk along and look around, and occasionally, if you happen upon certain locations, they trigger some sort of narration.

I live in Ireland, and close to the coast at that, so the scenery in Dear Esther wasn't exceptional to me (except of course the cave sections). Maybe it's because of this that I didn't find this experience all that special. Don't get me wrong, I love game sightseeing, looking around and taking cool screenshots, but here I felt I just stumbled over yet another rock, stared at yet another cryptic rock painting or scribbling that I didn't get. The narrator's monologues were also hard to comprehend; they talk about events from different time periods without any background, explanation or correlation. In the end, I simply gave up understanding anything and just walked on to get it over with.

If you're the artsy type who gets metaphors and lyrical waxing you might get something out of Dear Esther. But me? There's just too many open threads for me to link up. What's the connection between Wolverhampton and Damascus, a motorway and an antenna? Don't ask me, I'm none the wiser after over 4 hours of stumbling around.

Really fun little gem! This isn't an expensive game anyway, but if you're buying this in a sale for under €4 as right now, it's a steal. You don't get a lot of hours out of it - it took me about 5 hours to finish and get all achievements - but its clever art style and sound design totally make up for this. In that respect, it's similar to other Amanita Design games, which I have a soft spot for anyway.

The puzzles had me scratching my head occasionally, but nothing was too hard to crack - like true nightmares, they often defy logic and boil down to trial & error, but this goes hand in hand with the game's premise. The gruesome or scary bits are nothing to freak out over, I could happily laugh about them, but they are well implemented and simply fun.

TL;DR: I had tons of fun with this title, and to me, that's what matters.

I just finished the game and enjoyed myself a lot. Hunting achievements and doing all side quests was just as much fun as following the main storyline. At times, there is a quirky kind of humour in the dialogues which I liked. I have a lot of hours in the game but for maybe 10-15 hours the game was idling while I was doing something else. If you're more of a streamlined gamer (unlike me) you'll finish it probably in 40 hours or less.

This is no doubt a really good game. It is not without its flaws, but it does most things really well:

Pros:
+ Very cool visuals - great artwork with attention to detail, all aspects of the game have polished visuals.
+ Nice level designs and layouts. The areas are varied and lend themselves to intricate turn-based battles.
+ Sound design is one of the strongest parts of Miasma Chronicles. The voices are well spoken and relatable, dynamic music and sounds are spot-on and atmospheric. It all sets the mood nicely.
+ Kills and hits in battle scenes are often animated from the shooter's perspective, which helps immersion nicely.
+ Apart from one area where there is a known bug issue (see forums), the game runs pretty flawlessly.
+ Combat mechanics are pretty solid - you can easily tell how much damage you will make unless your hit chance is low. Positioning is everything here.

Cons:
- The game seems to have resource-hungry spikes that make some of the activities on-screen stutter or lag at times. This happens mostly during combat, in particular when the game engine tries to play out the action in first-person view.
- The user interface could be more intuitive and logical. A lot of aspects of party and inventory management are quite clunky. For instance, if you want to customise weapons, you can't do this from the inventory screen, but only in the party screen, and when said weapon is equipped. This could have been implemented better. Likewise, when accessing the backpack in fights, you need to scroll through all the consumables with the Q and E keys, which is cumbersome. There is more but these are just 2 examples.
- While the voice acting is pretty darn good, the dialogues can be corny and "too much" at times. I hated it at first, but when you get to know the main characters it isn't that abrasive any more.

All in all I can confidently recommend Miasma Chronicles for any fan of story-rich games with turn-based combat.

This is a fun game - seriously.

If you like your sci-fi laced with a massive dose of humour then JTTSP is definitely for you. Corny jokes, potty humour, silly and whimsical animations and sounds and garish colours make for a wholesome, satisfying and above all entertaining experience. Common sci-fi tropes from all franchises are blended masterfully and crafted to perfection. If you like the Guardians of the Galaxy type humour, you'll fell right at home here.

Yet the game brings a deceptive depth to the table. You're always encouraged to find more of the myriad of secrets hidden throughout the compact but intricate zones. Those hidden items help you level up and craft better items. Platforming takes a front seat, reminiscing of GuildWars' jumping puzzles. I suck at platformers, and I had my fair share of frustrations, but as you upgrade your gear and abilities it gets gradually easier and at the same time more fun. The game mechanics are wonderful, you end up leaping through the air above endless abysses or bubbling lava to get that precious alien goo or alloy with which you can progress further.

The monsters are another highlight. Animations are great, the challenges are sizeable but fair. Yes you might die at times and you need to regain your loot from the vicinity, but eventually you get over the hurdle. I'm no good at shooting or dodging, I have slow reaction speed and reflexes, but in the end even I could progress. I can't judge the controls via a controller but with a little reconfiguration I found playing with keyboard and mouse fine.

I got this game in a bundle somewhere (Humble or Fanatic, can't remember) and for the €3-4 I paid it's an absolute steal. I'm about 50% done with the main game (got the DLC too) and I play quite slow compared to others at 33h. It's such a blast and I can't wait to see the rest! I haven't tried the co-op mode but I bet it must be even more fun! Get it if you can!

I didn't think I would enjoy this little gem as much as I do! If you like Chess or at least know how the pieces move and like a mental (in all senses of the word) challenge you're in for a treat. The retro styling is charming and very well done - part of me felt teleported back to the age of Commodore 64s and Ataris.

But make no mistake: the game is neither simplistic nor flimsical. It poses a real challenge which keeps me coming back for another try to do better. Controls are easy and you get the hang of everything in a short while, and the mechanics with cards to choose from every round is quite clever.

If you like to work your brain but also enjoy blowing things to pieces with a shotgun, you're in the right place.

I have plenty more hours in Pinball FX2, and this is just a graphics and features update to the earlier version. The tables did port from FX2 to FX3, which I was very pleased with. Overall, a very well-designed, slick pinball simulation with some very cool tables. Great for a few games here and there - love it!

This is a game like no other: you'll spend most of your time under water. It literally throws you into the deep end but doesn't leave you drowning - yet it doesn't hold your hand either. It's a fine balancing act that is rarely crafted as eloquently as here. Once you find yourself getting more comfortable in this environment, you'll be spoiled by the sheer sense of wonder - just to see what else is out there. Subnautica offers the quintessence of playing: to go on because it's fun and engaging, teasing you with yet more fantastic discoveries just around the next reef.

I normally don't like survival games much as I prefer relaxing with more casual, less challenging game types. After a few initial hiccups and finding a crucial option in the settings (see below), I started enjoying this a LOT. I'm a sucker for beautiful graphics and this game offers simply incredible vistas that ooze character and style and will leave you stunned. Combine that with the atmospheric, haunting, even euphoric soundscape and you'll dive into a real feast for the senses.

If you're just starting out new, I recommend switching off time elapsing when you're in the PDA to see your inventory, studying crafting recipes (Blueprints) or reading the in-game encyclopedia that you are building yourself (the Databank). Go to Options, Accessibility and select PDA pause. I found this immensely useful when new to the game, so you don't develop serious hunger or thirst while checking details on your PDA - like how to get food and water! This option is by default disabled. I got completely stressed out at first until I read this helpful hint!

Very endearing puzzler game. A lot of love and heart has been poured into this little gem, it's full of character and spirit, and the art style is without doubt nothing but wonderful. But what does it play like?

The puzzles start easy enough but get more involved and tricky soon. One by one, you're being introduced to the many play elements to get your tiny tinners from their starting point to their goal safely. While the game mechanics are very solid, the controls can be a bit finicky at times, but they're serviceable and once you're used to them, they pose no obstacle to getting the job done. You're not being rushed anyway and can pause the relentless march of your little soldiers anytime (or even rewind time), so any misplaced element can be sorted out.

What you get out of the game really depends on your expectations. Adrenaline junkies will know better than picking this up, but if you're anything like me and on occasion like to take a break from slaying monsters or sniping the enemy, this game is perfect to wind away a few minutes or hours. It's great for achievement hunters too, as there are many hidden around the levels. I'm not far into the game but already know I'm picking it up every so often and will complete it - eventually - between more hectic gaming sessions.

For the price tag, it is definitely worth it - even more so if you find it on sale. Do yourself a favour, pour yourself your favourite tipple and ponder over these puzzles!