Twenty-five years ago, Sanitarium was an amazing game. Unprecedented atmosphere of horror and confusion, detailed graphics, fully voiced dialogues. For years, I cherished memories of the first chapter in the game - the patients' scribbles, the fire alarm, the guy determinedly banging his head against the wall amidst the surrounding chaos. Back then, I couldn't finish playing it to the end. A quarter of a century later, I got the chance to play it again. Has it aged like fine wine? Or has it turned into vinegar? Unfortunately, a bit of both. While the story continues to be interesting, it's no longer something unique - in fact, without giving away too much, it turns out to be something we've seen dozens of times in movies, books, and games. The atmosphere is still good, at the beginning. Probably, the creators of Sanitarium were pressed for tight deadlines, as each subsequent chapter is less polished, shorter, and... well, familiar. The graphics, though visibly aged, still hold up decently. Of course, on an ultra-wide monitor, you'll enjoy pixels the size of cats, but otherwise, it carries some aesthetic pleasure. The voice acting is strange. There are artists who do brilliantly, but most of them voice secondary NPCs. The main characters sound extremely artificial and devoid of emotion. The puzzles, because puzzles are the main thing in a game of this type, are excellent. They make you think, make an effort to find the answer, without being insanely difficult or illogical. The pathfinding is terrible. In other words, Sanitarium is a classic in the genre, and it's worth playing even in 2024. Just don't expect too much.
While Land Warrior is clearly superrior compared to the previous DF games, it didn't age well. That being said, if you want some old-school, politically incorect FPS fun, give it a go!
Black Legend is not a bad game, however it's not good either. The idea, combat, class system, story, "bloodborne" style - this was promising. Then we got the PS2 era visuals, bland quest, repetitive combat... The game is short and all bosses are actually easyer than most of the common enemies. Sorry, can't recommend
To begin with, this is hardly a game - you are just walking really slowly, listening to stories and there are maybe three really easy puzzles in the whole game. Maybe i would really still recomend it, as a visual novel (it's simply not a game) if it was on 50% of the prise (without discounts) - otherwise just skip it
I had Banner Saga siting in my library for few years, but only found time for it now. It's a great game - pleasant animation, good if not really innovative combat system, majestic music. The only minus i can find is that the game is a bit short - managed to finish it on normal for about 10 hours without skiping any battles.
I do like the game and i just played it again, some 20 years after the release.
Fun for the first 10 or so hours, boring and repetative after that. Can't recommend
Ok, let's start with this - i am a huge RPG fan, both for western and japanese ones, so i am always pushing for at least 10 hours before deleting a game - unfortunatelly Agarest: Generations of War is really slow, boring and repetative. If you add the bland story and generic fight mechanics, there is really nothing in this game worthy of my time. Also, based on the reviews, i really think that i will skip the rest of the Agarest games...
15 years ago when i played the game for first time, it was a blast! So many quests, so many options in the character development, so much difference which clan you have chosen (and you must try Malkavian playthrough) Now...in 2020 the game still looks nice enough, the quests and story are still good, but we have seen a lot better of both. Anyway, i would still recomend the game to anyone who loves RPG or is willing to learn more about the "World of Darkness" before Bloodlines 2 hit the stores Prost: - Good story - Graphich are good (for 2004 game) - Great music and sound effects - Enough reasons to play the game two or three times Cons: - Ranged combat is really strange, most guns are weak. Also good luck hitting something with the sniper rifle. Compared to them, melee weapons are OP - A bit buggy, crashed few times on Win 10. Also i had few FPS drops even if i am using 2080 - It seems (as all Troika games) that the developers have rushed the release. This is clearly visible in the end of the game, last two or three battles are unbalanced, the last quests are kinda bland - Some of the voice actors aren't really good
When the game came out back in 2020 i tried it, but didn't spend too much time - i was 14 years old and the lack of proper tutorial kinda ruined the experience for me So 20 years later i bought the game from GOG and gave it a try. It's a nice action RPG with interesting (even if plain) story, good combat system and nice setting (never tried the board game, but really like Bloodlines). The game is good, but have a lot of flaws. Pros: - the graphics were great for it's time - good story - good even if limited sound and music design. The voice actiong is also great (for a game from 2020) - nice combat system - almost unlimited choise of blood disciplines (compared to Bloodlines) - a bit of humor in the dialogue Cons: - bad camera - some bugs, too often one or more members of my coterie were not able to go through certain doors without manual help. I also ended freezed in a wall few times in my play - short, took me 20 hours to finish it with a lot of restarts and just wandering around to find some doors/switches (so it could be a lot less if walkthrough is used) - extremelly linear, no side-quests - most of the many blood disciplines are useless, two or three of them are overpowered (even the last boss is helpless against prison of ice) - poor choise of weapons. After you find the only magic sword in the game, you won't use anything else, and this is hapening at 1/3 of the story - some of the stats your characters can raise during the level up are useless, in fact you really need like 3 out of 9 (4 if you want to cheese the game and have unlimited money)
