I absolutely adore Slipways. I was always drawn to space 4X games, with their endless possibility for energent storytelling, intriguing races with different strategies, technologies and quirks. But considering that a single 4X campaign can last anywhere from 10 to 30 hours, I could never explore them to the fullest. Slipways feels lage a game tailor-made for me, cutting all the chaff, and leaving all the excitment I was looking for in 4X games thanks to it razor-sharp design. Hightly reccomended.
I really like the first The Surge, but I didn't love it - it was hampered by a some small but very annoying design decisions (like having enemies deal way too much damage, there were so many one-hit kills in TS1 it's not even funny). The Surge 2 is everything I wanted from a sequel. The combat system feels way more polished - I especially like the parry system. Dodging in the first game felt clunky (you travel a bit too far, with very little animation and a very fast startup), and it still feels weird here, so I love that the game doesn't force me to use it too much. Big clear indicators make it way easier to use than in Soulsborne games, where I never feel like it's worth the trouble. The implant system is expanded further, with armor sets nicely synergizing with it, it feels really good come up with some crazy combinations later in the game. Locations also feel more distinct. It's nothing to write home about, but a big step up from the first game. Bosses also feel more involved and way, WAY less cheap. To the point when some of them feel undertuned, I wouldn't mind dying to a chapter boss a couple of times, but I cleared some of them on the first try. But if I had to choose between those two options, I'd choose TS2 boss difficulty any day. Enemy variety is still the weakest part of the series. I understand that the limb targeting system requires humanoid enemies, but the nanite monsters from the end of the first game showed that you can do some really creative things with the same framework. I like how the developers managed to give enemies more character (there are enemies that fight with shields you need to break, enemies that create turrets and exploding drones, cloaking hunters etc.) but I loved every time I had to fight a hulking giant or a multi-limbed cyber monstrosity. For me, this detail is what would earn The Surge 2 the fifth star. Overall, a great addition to the soulslike genre.
This game is so close to being amazing. The core care mechanics are really good, and the game adds new card to the end, which makes tinkerin with builds fun. All characters are fun to use, their dialogue and designs are iconic and charming. There are some cards that are visibly too weak for how much they cost, but it's no big deal. HOWEVER. The game has really, REALLY low enemy variety. After the first 5 or so hours, you've seen every enemy in the game, and there's still 10-13 hours to go. They get recoulors, but no or very few new skills. Even bosses get reused like crazy - exept the final boss every boss is used at least twice, and some are used 3 to 5 times times, often with no or very little changes to their moveset. It's such a weird problem for a card game. I wouldn't mind reused models and effects, if they acted differently and required different strategies. But they don't so the game gets pretty boring. Also, the game's animations are too slow. I've played the whole game holding the fast forward button, and some fights still took me up to 25 minutes. I guess they wanted to make each card use feeel satysfying, but multiplayed by up to 10 cards ber turn, it adds up too much. Shaving half a second here and there would help the game flow better.
Since Dark Souls exploded in popularity, many developers tried to replicate it's magic, most with little succes. Most of them make the same mistakes. Immortal Planet makes all of them, and adds one of it's own creation. Those mistakes are: 1) Too little health. In most bad soulslikes you die in 2-3 hits. Did you guys play Dark Souls at all? Yes, some combos can destroy you. But not ALL of them should. 2) Too little anticipaion in attack animations. Immortal Planet goes all the way with having no visible anticipation at all. 3) Too little stamina. You can make 1-2 light attacks and 2 dodges before your stamina bar runs out. Stop it, this is not fun. And Immortal Planet adds another mistake, this one is kind of insane: 4) When you dodge into an enemy, you get stunned for THREE WHOLE SECONDS. Which usuall means instant death. In summary: I love soulslikes, beat all of them, and I'm rage quitting Immortal Planet. The annoyances just pile on and on. And it's a shame, because the combat in the game is fun (exept the above) and the lore is also intriguing. I might try to mod the above values myself, the game is so close to being somethig really fun.
I'd like to start by saying I have very little nostalgia towards MDK. I played the game for about 10 minutes when it originally came out, but that's it. Having said that, I find this little gem absolutelly brilliant. Controls require some tweaking (i believe they were originally set up to be played exclusively on keyboards, and mouse conrols are truly bizzare, with Y axis controlling the forward movement) but other than that, the game is amazing. It still looks great thanks to some truly excellent art direction (something that in my opinion have been lost in the sequel), plays great thanks to suprising diversity in gameplay (and I say that in 2018, it must have been absolutely mindboggingly awesome back in 1997), frantic pacing and nicely balanced challenge. I've hear that originally the game had no saving whatsoever, which must have been pretty brutal, but now it supports quicksaving and quicloading, so the problem no longer exists. I can't reccoment MDK enough, it's truly a classic in my book, I've beaten it 3 times so far.
