So, this one has been in the slow cooker - first hinted at seven years ago and undergoing at least one entire rebuild, this title is a faithful remake of the 1994 classic. 2023 will probably go down - for better or for worse - as the year of the remake and System Shock thankfully joins Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 as quality remakes that honour the originals while bringing something new to the table. Let me be clear: much as Ion Fury brought a classic FPS engine into the modern era kicking and screaming so too does System Shock do with the cyberpunk RPG. There is a lot of neon, the maps are borderline claustrophobic mazes, the enemies can be either braindead or spec-ops snipers depending on their mood and the graphics may not be everyone's cup of tea. If you can get past that, then System Shock is an excellent title. Unlike most remakes which seek to streamline areas or add to them to add complexity to the world, System Shock pulls a nearly 1:1 map layout and updates it with true 3D geometry. (The cyberscape sequences have been thankfully renovated.) The gunplay has been thankfully upgraded with proper models, easier ammo switching and the removal of redundant weapons from the roster (sorry, dart launcher). The graphics follow the retro-modern ideology - using modern technology to create something that looks like it came out of the 1990s. It makes sense - the cyberpunk genre tends to create a futuristic world using technology we would consider quaint so using the Unreal engine to generate semi-blurry texures with amazing lighting and particle effects seems somehow appropriate. (Without spoiling System Shock 2, there is a new throwaway log on Research deck that retcons that game's setting!) This title is stable on launch (which is saying something in 2023!), sells for a reasonable price and features one of the best antagonists that gaming has ever produced. Obey, in-in-insectttt, and give this title a shot.
To anyone who has played it before, Potion Craft is essentially the brewing minigame found in Kingdom Come: Deliverance but with the added challenge of trying to maintain a storefront. To anyone who doesn't know what I just described, the alchemy minigame in KC:D required the player to mix together a batch of herbs to a liquid base and mix for a pre-determined length of time before decanting the solution (which hopefully won't kill you when consumed). Potion Craft does not attempt to go as in-depth as the previously mentioned title but it does bring something new to the mix (pun absolutely intended). Potions require a combination of ingredients, liquid base, proper stirring and flame to get a potion to come out the other end. This is done through a rather novel 'alchemical map' for lack of a better term. Each ingredient will guide the brewer in a general direction and it is up to the brewer to steer towards the desired outcome. (Watch out for the vortex and bone traps - they can ruin a potion!) On top of this, the brewer is also a shopkeeper! Various villagers will stop by and request a potion to suit their needs - something to cure a hangover, a concotion to start a fire, something to drive away vermin, or even something a little darker...In any case, it's up to you to brew the potion to suit their needs - or drive them away empty-handed. Add in trevelling merhcants who can sell ingredients and tools to make brewing easier...and by now you might think that this is overwhelming. It is far from that. This is a wonderful time sink. Never did I feel overwhelmed; if anything, I bumped up the difficulty to make things a little more interesting. Potion Craft is a title suitable for kids and adults alike. This experience is wrapped in an artstyle copied from medieval textbooks. It's gorgeous beyond words and easy on the system resources. Potion Craft is an amazing experience. A true palette cleanser from the games of today, I cannot recommend it enough.
I'll keep this simple: despite the haters out there, a game that is able to be sold a full decade after its initial release must be a title worth having. Skyrim is worth having. Now, if you'll excuse me, my modded Dovabear is looking to raid the Honningbrew Brewery...and who am I to say no?
With a title like that I'm sure not to attract too much unwarranted hate, right? In all seriousness though, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is, on the surface, Cyberpunk 2077 made four years earlier. And that is part of what makes it so good - it met or exceeded the goals of CP2077 long before that title got it's legendary (and some would say overhyped) E3 2018 trailer. DE:MD features many of the same base gameplay loops as Cyberpunk: Augments, hub world featuring many branching paths with fixed main missions, and a world that branches out from ours about sometime in the 1990s. That's where the similarities stop. Deus Ex has always been a slow-burn detective game that incorporates conspiracy theories into the narrative and that trend does not stop here. The language feels more...mature in the Deus Ex series; not relying on too much in-game neo-speak or expletives to convey an alien society that feels too much like our own. The world has moved on from the Aug Incident - a mass broadcast signal that caused most - if not all - augmented people to go insane and commit wanton acts of violence to anyone near. Society has thus largely rejected mechanical augmentation technology - and those who still carry it. Make no mistake; you are not the hotshot able to roam around Prague with those around you envying your augments. You are shunned by almost every civilian, the police will give you a hard time and, yes, you have to ride in the back of the train. Why did society rapidly reject augmentation when it was on the verge of making such procedures as common as dental checkups? How are the pro-aug terrorists able to carry out their terrible acts? Who is pulling the strings? Can you ride the front car without that f***ing kid staring at you? I'm not trying to bash CP2077 too hard in my review; it's a fine game as long as you go in knowing what it is. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, however, is best WITHOUT such caveats. It is an excellent title whose only crime is it's abrupt end.
I'm glad I waited until now to finally give this game a try. It was worth the discount price but, even in it's updated state is not worth the full asking price. The mechanics are nothing new, the combat is nothing new, the driving is nothing new...so why play this game? It has nothing to do with FOMO; in fact, I would argue that anyone on the fence should definitely watch gameplay videos post-patch 1.5 to make up their own minds. The game is no longer the bug-laden mess that it once was (but some bugs do still exist). The storyline has been patched and re-worked slightly so that it makes more sense (but will still not meet the lofty gold standard of Fallout: New Vegas). The gunplay has been re-worked so guns actually feel less like peashooters (but still in some cases do not have the requisite punch that one would expect). Despite all of this - the game is good. It has very fun gameplay loops and moral questions abound (Do Taxis Dream of Silicon Highways? lol); with a bit of modding here and there (the tram and terminal auto shops come to mind) CP2077 can feel like a modern take on a classic formula. That last line is really the ultimate praise and detriment of this title; CDPR promised the moon and shot the fans of the cyberpunk genre clear into it. It doesn't reinvent the wheel nor should it be forgiven for past sins - if a potential player is able to put that aside and buy this on the cheap then they can be entertained for a considerable time. Until some daring modder can work a patch/mod that funamentally alters the game for the better then this might be the best praise the game can ever have.
When most people think of 'retro-modern boomer shooters' they think of the Neo Trinity: Ion Fury, Amid Evil, and Dusk. Dusk is not my favourite of the three (that honour goes to Ion Fury) but, admittedly, only because I played Ion Fury first. (Trivial, I know.) Of the Trinity I would say that Dusk is the hardest but it is the only one that offers multiplayer support. It has the visuals of someone trying to code Quake using a modern PC. While some may find the visual styling to be...unique, it does help to call back to Quake and Quake-like titles and how they played. Circle-strafing, bunny-hopping, in-fighting and rapid weapon switching are the norm for Dusk much as they were for it's ancestor/donor titles. The enemies run the gambit from soldiers to cultists to cyborgs...and even cryptids! The enemies demand respect - to do otherwise will have you staring at the 'Game Over' screen. Story? Okay...you are a treasure hunter who was captured by evil forces while rummaging around the town of Dusk. They pinned you to a pair of meat hooks to die but you instead pull yourself free and use said hooks to kill your captors. What comes next is a 10-hour blood-fueled, acid-tripped, extra-dimensional revenge epic. All of this is held together with a soundtrack that, in my opinion, turned Andrew Hulschult from a known quality producer to a name on every gamer's tongue that played this game. (The soundtrack is so good that I purchased it from Bandcamp!) This along with the Amid Evil Soundtrack is probably why Hulschult was chosen by id to compose the Doom Eternal DLC soundtracks. I cannot recommend this game enough to FPS veterans looking for a blast from the past without the technical headaches. An excellent FPS made by a studio that started a trend in shooters that continues on.
If anyone has played Aliens Vs. Predator: Gold, then Alien Isolation is that...except that you DON'T have a pulse rifle. If not, then this game plays on the same formula as games like SOMA and Amnesia; discovering the story through in-environment clues and AV logs. This one, however, plays on the nostalgia for an excellent sci-fi horror film. In Aliens, Ellen Ripley is told (I'll place a SPOILER here, though it's fair to say the majority of people interested in this game have seen the film) that her daughter lived a full life and is dead. But why would Amanda give up on her mother? This game tells the story of the last leg in a journey to find out just what happened to the crew of the Nostromo after that fateful distress call. Make no mistake; the xenomorph is not something that can be taken out with a burst of 10 mm caseless armour-piercing rounds from a M1A Pulse Rifle; that tech is decades away. Running, hiding and confusion are your only allies to surviving. Besides the delapitated Sevastapol Station to deal with, knock-off Weyland-Yutani androids patrol the halls. They might kill you on sight or they may just give a simple hello; their unpredictability adds another layer of tension. Do you deal with the android or let it go? Will the xenomorph hear you? Can you somehow play them off of one another? The visuals are nothing if not faithful to the 1979 film asthetic. Worn foam-lined walls, florescent lighting and utilitarian architecture mesh to create a universe that feels lived-in and somehow futuristic. The sound design is also well-done; the Alien's mere footsteps convey power while its tone and pitch of hiss can easily give away its current state (hunting, searching ,idle, etc.). Even the guns feel right; powerful enough to take out most organics but feeling puny enough to make one consider using them on the Alien. If you're looking for a truly pulse-pounding game that rewards patience and careful strategy, Alien: Isolation is for you.
