Recent reviews by Replica

I have over 400 hours between PC and console. I think spending present money I got from Christmas on skins is worth when such a great game was provided. It's a few extra skins so obviously, unless you're obsessed with this game like me and just want everything 'I want the phsyical Solas dagger prop and want EA to sell them separately, hint, hint', don't buy this upgrade and then get upset it's just a few extra skins.

Devs, please make extra cute outfits for my Rooks, please and thank you.

A technical masterpiece with all the DLAA and options you could want to choose from, and then there's a game and story in Dragon Age: Veilguard I've just started because of PC settings and character creator goodness, but it's so beautiful and emotionally drawing from the opening beats to the point if you're letting some "plays clickbait and drama farming" stop you from playing this Dragon Age instalment, especially if you're a long term fan- you're the one missing out because you let other people decide how you feel.

Update: I have now finished the game and if you know me, playing an entire RPG in less than a month isn't something I've done since Mass Effect 2. I only play games this fast when I really love them. I'll stand by technical masterpiece- I mess around with a CPU bottlenecking max FOV, DLAA and RT but the game needs a population slider for people without a high end CPU like mine. Also- Frostbite continues to be CPU intensive and reviewers show they barely do surface passes. Max 1080p is beyond 8 GB VRAM cards.

I played as an elf Veil Jumper and I was drawn into the story, drawn into this amazing breathtaking epic where you shape whether even a god can or deserves to be saved. You can screw up or defy those who call themselves your gods for a future without them. Your team aren't allies alone but friends. You trust them and they look out for you and with literal gods tempting the world, that's who you want by your side.

The gameplay, I loved but then I used to do endgame SWTOR... certain fights are too overtuned for your normal difficulty compared to even the last battle and when faction score is tied to narrative possibility, no boss should be harder on the baseline than non skippable ones.

Dragon Age is still dark fantasy and the lore fills in so many gaps while leaving space were the story to continue, it's great. I loved seeing my Inquisitor again but Dragon Age is served by rotating protagonists, each being a chapter in a neverending story. It's an RPG where they give you everything while leaving room for your voice without having the main character be too quiet or overwrite you. This is your chapter, your Rook. I found this game very inspiring, creatively with amazing art direction, design and acting.

Replica's score: 9.5/10 as a Dragon Age game, 9.8/10 as its own even newcomers can jump into.

This game might be buggy but this was my childhood. This was a little kid!Replica's first experience with loving a game and hating that she only got a fifteen minute session. Fast forward decades and my much older self has bought a copy that works post Windows XP and can play whenever she wants.

9999 Logical Journey of the Zoombinis out of 10000 Logical Journey of the Zoombinis and this review is in no way objective, since this Millennial's nostalgia goggles are firmly in place.

We want Day and Date, Sony. Guerrilla and Nixxes deserve their full moment here on PC (Nixxes delivers with the port- I'm not very far but it's already much better than Zero Dawn at launch.)
The amount of PC players who will buy your console and this game on PS are smaller than the global launch numbers for PC you'd get for day and date release.

Now my day and date spiel is over, this game is so pretty! So, so damn pretty.

This is Bethesda's space RPG where literally they fix the tech side and there's a frelling great game. I can't remember the last time I actually put up with poor optimisation and compromised just play, I don't even want to bench this for patches. I'll have a longer review later but they addressed my issues with Fallout 4 and Skyrim and made a better RPG. The shooter aspects feel fluid and all I want to do is meander across the galaxy once I get through this next main quest bit. "Starfield", making 2023 burst at the seams.

Cyberpunk 2077 was a gutted trainwreck and without heart- there's a heart and a shiny as frell game underneath the Bugthesda launch issues.

Remake Resident Evil: Code Veronica

I am still playing through Resident Evil 4 and like it. Code Veronica has key character development and interaction between Chris and Wesker that is absolutely essential for that final confrontation in RE 5 and we need Code Veronica first. This was a major Claire game, reunited Claire and Chris... a real review will follow but please Capcom. I'm so desperate, I'm shilling in a Steam review.

#CodeVeronicaRemake

Disclaimer: Obsidian and Microsoft are not at fault for this. This is a Private Division move and outsourcing it to Virtuos, the geniuses behind several famously broken port launches, including Horizon Zero Dawn. Obsidian and MS are hard at work at the sequel which they won't charge us for patches with and had no influence over this... atrocity.

I don't think I'll be playing any more of this scam/patch until they patch it. Who wants the power bill when suddenly your card is vamping to its power limits- the stutters when an area loaded were unholy. Then you have the fact you are granted the game as a DLC upgrade but the license for said game doesn't get added (console is even worse, the game is only installable/downloadable from the store page begrudgingly with you own this with a button next to it on XBOX that says buy to own where it isn't added to your library) so massive red flag in how they're handling 'upgrades'.

Between that and them not paying my power bills to beta test their unfinished scam patch- do not recommend a purchase at this time.

I'll review this from the story perspective for those uninterested in anything else. The story DLC alone, 'Shadows of Rose' is worth it as it acts as a genuine expansion into the story- finally filling in what elevates Rose from uncertain into a worthy character in the Resident Evil universe. We see her personality on display and she gets two main areas, filler and a final boss stage. Those main areas are quite well done and have a definitively different tone as the same areas become wholly different and not to spoil but a certain House enters pure horror territory in a way any horror or Resident Evil fan will love despite a sudden fear of glowing eyes I've developed. The nuance and character building allows it all to blossom elegantly to the point I was enjoying a different perspective and a story that show us we can't always see the results of a sacrifice but when we do it for someone we love- they don't always just take it- sometimes they dive back into that hell to save us too.

Worth a buy as a fan of Village's story- there are games listed on Steam for the same price or higher that are shorter than this DLC and with less content and this story DLC is an example of revisiting an area and bringing a new life to it.

Replica recommends this DLC.

Resident Evil Village or RE VIII is the next chapter in the Resident Evil series and simply amazing, the lore building that brings old threads to bear might stumble at times, but still forms a coherent whole in a universe where biological transformation is a part of the natural world and people can commit horrors and evil with that natural power. I don't want to spoil the story but it's truly captivating and as always captures the wretched tragedy these beings came from humans and the fear and incredible tale woven here is amazing. Ethan is both the faceless player character and his own personal and its the nearly seamless implementation which draws you into this village of horrors, ruled by the four lords and Mother Miranda as he fights to save his daughter. The village is as the devs describe, a character unto itself. The graphics are great, the optimisation in the sweet spot and the game is quite the varied experience.

I loved this game so much it almost got a ten. There's now story DLC which compliments and completes perfectly and the only thing losing the 10 now is Denuvo which continues to be the occasional thorn for some in a great game and I will revise score to a 10 when this is removed. Most don't have issues with it and Capcom have done a very good job at handling it in game, it's just still that thing.


Replica Velocity's score: 9.9/10

The Mass Effect trilogy is to quote a favourite show, all the best feelings rolled into one and makes you feel more than you ever believed possible about a game. It makes you care. There are a thousand reasons to leave the past behind.
However, these are the games you take with you and should do it again. The scary moments where a galaxy rests on your shoulder, to laughter and seashell studies.

It had to be the Mass Effect trilogy, another game might have gotten it wrong.

A technical issue warning though, porting the games seems to have granted it a lot of issues, original bugs- some from pre patch versions of the games and new ones. Granted the games are still worth it if you don't own any but I'd hold off on some patch cycles before dropping the cash if you do because they're in quite a raw state.

Technical review to follow alongside score.