After reading other reviews I have decided to buy this game even if I probably won't be playing it. I already have my handsful with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. However, it is perfectly legitimate to take action to shut the door when countries become bullies. I fully support GSC and their country as well as everyone living there.
The perfect gift for my old i7-970 system. Something halfway between an FPS and immersive sim with low requirements for space and performance. Decent graphics and sounds AND available in a good variety of languages. You're not going to find something super top notch fancy here but hey! Can't complain when it's free!
I play this game on a powerful setup and I'm still asking myself if I made a gift to my PC or if my PC is a gift to this game. Please know I did not play previous releases (Call of Pripyat, Shadow of Chernobyl) before buying this game so I didn't assume or expect anything in particular. IMHO, at this point this is THE immersive sim of all immersive sims and the indicated times to beat - especially if you try to do all the side missions and get all the hidden weapons and armors - is vastly underestimated. Even if there is a main mission and a plethora of side missions the game FEELS as if it is open ended because there is so much to explore compared to all other immersive sims I know of. Taking out Varan and his crew was the most thrilling experience I had in any video game I played in the last 30 years.
I played Riven when it first came out back in the late 90's and had completely forgotten about it. The new version is nothing short of a slow paced feast for the eyes. Please make sure you have a powerful graphics card to enjoy it to the fullest. My own RTX 4070 allowed me to play in 4K with HDR and that made the game a continuous 12 hour wondrous amazement. I purchased the Deluxe edition with the Riven Companion and finished the game in 12 hours. Having this guide made a big difference.
Apparently this game will not work well on some Windows 10 machines so I decided to play it on a later generation Windows 7 PC equipped with an i7-970 6 core CPU, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD and upgraded with an RTX 2060 GPU. Windows 10 will not install on most X58 chipset PCs anyways. GOG allows you to download a DRM free version of the game and install it on many older systems. Crysis is one of those games which happens to benefit the most from this functionality. It was just the right mix of "not too old, not too recent and powerful enough" combination of hardware and OS to get fantastic results. PCs of that era (2011-2016) can now be purchased used for pennies these days. The game will play at more than 60 fps with all the audio and graphics settings set to maximum quality. A far better experience than when I first played the game back in 2008. If you can then do show this amazing game to younger PC gamers so they can see with their own eyes how Crysis altered the PC market when it came out and why for nearly 3 years all computer dealers were being asked all day long "but can it run Crysis ?" !! IMHO, the original version is better than the remastered one because the physics are far more realistic and the graphics are not so dated when you can use the highest possible settings. Play at 1080p for the best experience. Lower resolutions will provide less quality and higher resolutions aren't well supported.
I heard and seen Myst all over the digital sphere for more than 30 years yet I never played it until now. I thought to myself now that the remake of Riven is coming out why not give Myst a try with the best version so far. It was indeed a magnificent experience. I played this on a powerful PC with a good RTX 4070 video card with all graphics settings to the highest and it was so beautiful to navigate through the different 'ages' and solve the puzzles. Only one problem : the HDR mode looks all wrong and hypercontrasted, don't use it. Everything else about this game is essentially perfect. Yes I did look for various sources of 'guidance' on the web because it is almost impossible to complete the game without them.
After completing both Bioshock 1 and 2 remastered and getting hooked on the FPS-RPG combination with management of weapons and resources I went looking for a more complex challenge. System shock was too much for my little head. Prey struck the right balance and brought many elements of added realism. This game allows you to freely wander around a space easily 5 times larger than what you find in Bioshock as well as float around in ... space! Play it in 4K to enjoy to the fullest! Expect to take between 25 to 50 hours to complete. Maybe more if you try to do all the secondary objectives.
I purchased the original game for a friend back in 2008 but didn't play it until recently. Actually, I was a bit afraid to invest myself and had trouble getting familiar with using the controller. I am no good with keyboard and mouse and Bioshock only supports XBox style controllers. Most games I played up until then was with a good old analog joystick. I played the remastered version in full glorious 4K and was instantly hooked. Learning to use the controller was much easier than I expected and the graphics of the remastered version with an RTX video card are magnificent. A variant on the 1st person shooter in a highly detailed decor and intellectual challenge along with an emotionally touching narrative makes this game a mandatory experience of the gaming genre.
