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The story itself is interesting, but it is told in a static way, with all missions basically following the same pattern. Visually, it looks good, but apart from the hotspots, the environment feels strangely ‘empty’ because the protagonist is the only one without a voice, meaning there is no one to observe the details and talk about them. This means that an essential element is missing that would actually give the protagonist – and thus also the story – ‘character’. Apart from that, I find the much-praised music strangely uninteresting and inappropriate. Nevertheless, I played the game through to the end, but even the option of choosing a different beginning does not tempt me to do so again.
Hob’s Barrow is a short mystical tale for in between. The characters and dialogues are convincing, and the distinctive dialect is a pleasure to listen to. The locations are charming, and the puzzles are logical and not difficult. In my opinion, the story itself is told a little too indirectly. The protagonist’s journal entries give too much of the story away, giving the impression that you are following a predetermined path, which takes away from the feeling of actually being on a mystical journey of discovery. That aside, the story is moving enough to linger in your mind for a while, and I enjoyed playing through Hob’s Barrow.
A little sparkling gem of a fairy tale. King Callash must defeat the evil wizard before he himself needs to be rescued. It's quite entertaining, even if it plays out rather slowly— both because of the measured language and the fact that the king basically only walks and never runs (but it looks extremely cute when he scrambles up mountains or trudges through the desert sand). Although the speech is very slow, it is a pleasant surprise that there is speech at all – and that it is constant. The music is also tolerable, and if not, you can always turn it down. The puzzles are logical, but it's not always easy to find objects due to the “pixelation” of the image. All in all, you get the impression that you're being read a fairy tale, and that's not the worst thing. I definitely liked it.
I don't want to be unfair, not every game is for everyone, but without subjectivity there is no opinion. The Witness looks beautiful, the parallels to Myst are obvious, and anyone who loved Myst will feel right at home here. My only problem is that I'm unable to solve the puzzles. It's fine at the beginning, but as soon as the rules get more complicated, I feel like I'm back in math class as a teenager: I just don't get it. Because I found the island so beautiful, I followed a walkthrough, and of course that worked – until you come across a puzzle that can only be solved if you actually understand the rules, and that was the end of it for me. I'll never know if the ending of The Witness reveals a significant story after all, which is a real shame. Conclusion: You should only pay the high price if you're sure that the game is really for you. Otherwise, you'll end up really annoyed.
This is absolutely not what I normally play, but apparently even I, who prefer to wield a sword and search caves for monsters, occasionally get in the mood to enjoy a clever variation on an ancient fairy tale. It's well told, visually wonderfully kitschy, and in the end you feel like you've read a solid comic book. If you're in the mood for sophisticated romance, Cinders is the answer.
One of those games where I thought, let's give it a try, and then ended up spending hours and hours playing it. Just right if you need something that also challenges your brain without having to study a tutorial for three hours first. Really, really good.
I'm not particularly good at tactical games, and I don't really like turn-based combat. Nevertheless, I had fun with XCOM. There are lots of interesting things to do and decide, and after a while, you really grow fond of your squad. If you take the time to read the tactics guide, as I did, you'll eventually get to grips with the problems of everything constantly being missing everywhere and the whole planet panicking. And every victory over the aliens is extremely satisfying. Not necessarily “my game,” but I liked it a lot.
Nicely done, really good looking. Still a game from the 1990s with the typically non logic puzzles which drive you nuts. A little fiddling with the controls here and there, but not too much. Apart from that a cinematic delight full of humor and dramatic events. I didn’t play it back in the day, but I did play other games of this kind, and Full Throttle Remastered is the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in the spirit of 1990s gaming, when tiny pixels first began to convey really big ideas.
Simply fantastic and exactly what gamers want: characters with depth and useful combat skills, believable dialogues, unobtrusive Star Wars background music, exciting environments, challenging battles, a solid basic story, interesting side quests, versatile equipment, a good crafting system with useful results, impressive cutscenes, a good mix of full control and “sudden events” that never leave you completely in the lurch. Loved it. The only downside: if a quest is incompatible with the chosen light or dark path, it should simply be marked as “failed” instead of misleading the player in the journal. But that’s just »peanuts«.
Beautiful graphics, really inspiring battle music, good story, interesting environments. They really tried to make som annoying things better than others: You have one inventory for all, where you can compare your stuff easily, even while buying and selling. You can sell your stuff everywhere (but not buy everything everywhere), and get much fairer prices as from the stingy merchants in Baldur’s Gate or Skyrim. Crafting gives you things which are more useful than what you find, and things you find have actually names which give you a clue what they will do. I had loved to have more sidequests, but after all this is a »little« game, so this wasn’t that terrible either. How one can finish »everything« in 21 hours eludes me. It took me 58 hours, but that’s mostly because I love to fiddle with the inventory and because I’m such a slow player. Anyway, I loved it and had a really good time.