Recent reviews by to_my_oldself

One of the most simple, yet relaxing sims I've ever experienced. I love driving in real life, and ATS makes it just as satisfying.
Each DLC adds so much more content and is well worth the price. I love this game, and it's clear the devs do too.

Harder than my actual driving test

The game itself is pretty great. It's fun to play and satisfying to master.
However, it was kind of doomed from the start with loot box-like mechanics. It's especially tedious grinding for the coins, just so you can get the same common car to scrap for gears (which are used to upgrade your cars). The season pass/battle pass made that problem obsolete, but you have to spend additional money to access the pass.
Speaking of upgrading cars, though... In an effort to balance the game and make every car viable, some "upgrades" don't make sense since they'll reduce your boost (sometimes by a lot). It doesn't make sense to upgrade quite a few cars because of this.
Another big issue is the multiplayer, and how players will sit idly at the starting line to earn coins while others finish the race. This ties back to the whole "it's too grindy to earn coins," since this happens directly because of it. Players aren't kicked from the lobby, so they just take up space and pose as another obstacle.
Besides that, the customization for your cars (and the ability to share with other players) is amazing. The track builder feature is also really neat, and some of the creations other players have made blow my mind. The down-side to this is that you cannot currently search for the tracks, and can only play them if they're voted for online multiplayer or if you choose to do time trials.
I know I've talked negatively about this game quite a bit, but at the end of the day, it's a great game that you can sink 25+ hours into and still have fun, and I hope the developers will work on tweaking some of those gripes we collectively have. If you're thinking of buying this for your kids or as a gift for younger family members, they'll enjoy it plenty. If you grew up playing with Hotwheels or playing the other games, you'll also enjoy it.

I really wanted to like this game... I really did. But the more and more I play it, the less I can find anything positive to say about it.

It's hard to imagine that just a few years ago, Codemasters was on the top, with titles like Dirt 3. Grid 2, some solid F1 games. The Dirt franchise itself has shifted gears entirely. For starters, there is not a single rally in this game; not one. It's all closed course offroad arcade racing, but without any sense of speed at all. I read someone else's review where they said it feels like you have a balloon tied to your car, and that hits the nail on the head. You feel so heavy and slow, but then your vehicle feels like it's on a damn slip-'n-slide. The racing is just not fun, no matter how vibrant they try to make it look.

This is one of the VERY few games I've ever preordered, and I was so hopeful to see the franchise make a comeback, but the initial release was terrible, and each update that gets released every couple months is worse and worse. I've "completed" this game three times now, but then the next update comes out with 5 more achievements, some "new" events, and a new car or two. But it's all the same ♥♥♥♥. The events are on the same tracks, and it feels like such a chore to complete them all. The cars feel the same as all the others, and the only reason you should bother driving them is for their specific achievements. And the achievements themselves are the exact same every time around: "Win X event and X event," "Drive 30 miles in the newly released vehicle," "Collect all the stamps for this series." They call this content, but it's the same rehashed garbage you finished last time. It's boring, and every time I have to come back to get everything done again, I feel like my intelligence is being mocked for having paid money for this in the first place.

Maybe I'm asking for too much when I say that I want something closer to Dirt 2 or 3 (at this point, I'd even take another Dirt 4), but somehow, somewhere Codemasters lost their direction and started pumping out uninspired racing experiences. This is one of them.

Yeah, it's as bad as everybody says it is.

As a huge fan of the Forza franchise in general, I've always loved the Horizon series. I was really glad this game finally made its way over to Steam, but it's not without its flaws.
This game crashes. A lot. Every time, there's a different error, so I'm not really sure what the issue is, or how to fix it. Some days it'll be fine and I can play for hours with no problems, but other days it will crash repeatedly over the course of an hour. So buyer be warned.
Now that that's out of the way; the game itself is awesome. It's very similar to The Crew (although The Crew technically took Horizon's formula), but with a slightly more simulation-oriented approach. If you want even more of a sim, you can always pump up the difficulty and grind more xp too. But it's arcade-y enough to sink plenty of hours into, especially with its numerous races and classes, and even changing seasons with new objectives. Did I mention this is also a better rally sim than Dirt 5? Because it is.
There are also "drivatars" which are essentially player ghosts that will compete with you, and are a ton of fun to play against and pose a real challenge (I love playing co-op events and competing against them with other players on my team). Another feature is that you can link your Microsoft account to get achievements and progress for both Steam and the Microsoft companion app. I personally like that feature, as I used to be very focused on achievement hunting back in my Xbox 360 days, but I can also see why some people might not like that. Speaking of Microsoft though... at the time of this writing, it's currently the Autumn season in-game, and one of the events is called "The Pillar of Autumn," and you're tasked with racing a Warthog as Master Chief while maneuvering around obstacles from Halo as you follow a Pelican and avoid Banshees. Pretty cool.
Each Horizon game takes place in a different location on the globe, and this one was the UK. It's cool to see landmarks and race across the British countryside (of course not entirely accurate), but honestly the British accents got old quick. Sometimes the characters try too hard to be relevant in the dialogue, but that's just me. It is still interesting to see though, and I like that you get to work with Top Gear BBC, explore monuments, and race around a new environment.
Overall I have been really enjoying this game. I think it was added to Steam much too late (it was originally released in 2017), but I'm glad it's finally here. That being said, I don't think it's worth the full price tag. I'd wait until it's at least on sale for $30 or less.

Let me preface this by saying I do not play free games. I have a big back catalogue and have always thought to play something I've actually spent money on before anything else. That said, I LOVED SKYE! It's a super relaxing mellow flight sim, capable of completion within an hour. You fly around and complete simple tasks for townsfolk, or you can participate in the two easy time trial races. Aside from that, there are some looking glasses to find and targets to shoot scattered all over the tiny world. There are some guides for the collectibles, but I didn't even need them; it was fun to explore and find them on my own. The art style is magnificent, feeling like you're soaring through a painting. SKYE's soundtrack is also brilliant, bringing a soothing melody that sounds like something between Minecraft and the music from Little Bear (remember that show?).The controls are fun and comfortable, but I recommend using a controller.
The one and only flaw with this game is the map. You can make a custom checkpoint, but can never erase it. And as I played, more and more checkpoints would not disappear from the map, making it pretty cluttered and just a little more difficult to find the objectives. Besides that, SKYE is a wonderful little gem that's deserving of your time (especially because it's free), even if it is just one hour.

If you liked the 2016 Doom, you'll love this. It's even more fast-paced but overall the same feel.

I'm a few years late to this one, but better late than never I guess.
Coming first from Call of Duty and later really diving into Overwatch as my first team-based shooter, Siege has been something totally new to me. The way the maps are so dynamic and destructible is awesome, and it provides for a steep learning curve in both map awareness and finding those tricky angles (playing vertical is key). Spacial awareness is also very important, and you'll want to turn your headphones up so you're able to hear every movement and give proper callouts and pings.
The ADS/spray pattern is much different than most shooters here, feeling like a combo of CS:GO and Battlefield, with a HUGE emphasis on headshots, as those are always one-shot-kills. With the addition of new optics/sights, it's been more manageable to land your shots, especially as a defender (I love the x2 sight so much).
As for the operators, you've got quite a few to choose from, however a couple of them feel identical and it just comes down to which weapon you prefer. You have your trap operators, cams, soft and hard breachers, and more team-oriented characters, too. If you're new, I highly recommend trappers like Frost and Kapkhan for defense and maybe some soft breachers for offense, ie: Ash, Zofia, Buck (team play is vital so maybe someone like Doki or Ying if you don't want a breacher).
Keep that learning curve in mind as you're getting your ass handed to you; 100 hours in and I'm finally really learning the right angles, how to use each operator correctly, and how to keep my shots accurate and consistent with each weapon (screw the Scorpion tho lol). Find friends to play with and learn from because no matter how new you are, someone will cry about how "you should have had that shot, you must be throwing." I don't think the toxicity is as bad as they say it is, but I also mute anyone who drops the n-bomb right away. Stay patient and have fun as you learn!

This is a really cute puzzle. It looks easy on paper, but man does it get confusing. Luckily there's a wonderful guide if you get stuck, or if you just want to breeze through for another 100% game. Uber relaxing puzzle nonetheless. Wait for it to go on sale.