I got this game for free on giveaway and I still regret downloading it. Controls terribly, feels like moving and fighting through molasses. Can't even see what I'm doing half of the time due to the camera, which is also sluggish and unresponsive. If I had to say something nice about it, I like the interconnectedness of the levels, the way they loop back on themselves and open up shortcuts to previous areas. Though, while I may have been missing something, even that is dampened by the fact that wall-humping seems to be the only way to find secrets. Runs fine on Linux but I still strongly recommend against playing it.
Hearts of Stone is exactly what a DLC should be: It keeps what was good about the base game & expands upon it in its own (relatively) self-contained package. The story & characters are phenomenal. HoS's tale is the pinnacle of the folk horror of the Witcher, with characters like the Caretaker and the antagonists pushing the bounds of what the player may have previously thought possible in this world. The primary antagonists - Olgierd Von Everec and Gaunter O'Dimm - are leagues more interesting than Eredin or the Wild Hunt. Olgierd is clearly a very flawed individual, but he is also well-spoken, principled, & charismatic. I understand his motivations and decisions, flawed as they may be, understand how he became what he is, and sympathize with his loss and regret. O'Dimm, on the other hand, is a terrifying, supernatural force of nature wearing the thin veil of an unassuming merchant of mirrors. He is dark & mysterious, evil in the truest sense of the word, & the unknown only leaves one in doubt as to what the limit of his power may be - if it even exists. If I had to make one critique, the new upgrade system is a bit borked from a balance perspective - by the time you can afford the good Runes, you don't have much game left to use them in.
There's little I could say about Witcher 3 that hasn't already been covered in exhaustive detail elsewhere, but for what it's worth, here's my 2 cents: It's not perfect. Balance is a little wonky sometimes, especially with equipment, & it's difficult from a pure numbers perspective (vs skill) to fight above your level. Geralt's animation is smooth but his movement can be janky & unpredictable. I got very little mileage out of bombs or bows except in the instances specifically intended for their use - I'd never waste an upgrade on them. The Sign tree provides by far the most fun, variety, & combat effectiveness, IMO. Combat is distant 2nd, but the upgrades typically do little to change your playstyle. Alchemy is last: tho the upgrades can be interesting, most make you tankier vs deal more damage, which goes against my preference for glass-cannon combat with quick and intense duels. The environment in general is pretty & spectacular, but not usually individually memorable - as a counter-example, I could draw a map of F:NV's Mojave from memory, even though it's a much less technically impressive map. The main antagonists are certainly intimidating, but a total bore from a story perspective - tho they do get a little bit of interesting backstory later on. The DLC's villains (especially HoS) are MUCH better. Exploration can get repetitive, with a multitude of places that do little more than add an empty checkbox to the map that provides only middling loot. But it's a good game. I like it, it's impressive both in worldbuilding and scale, and it prob deserves its spots in many a Top Of All Time list. There is a TON of content. The story takes a lot of twists & turns, & involves many characters with their own motivations & flaws. Your decisions do matter, tho they can sometimes feel arbitrarily limited or have unpredictable results (realistic perhaps, but irritating as a game mechanic). The DLC is awesome, better than the main game in a lot of ways. Team Triss for life.
Tron 2.0 is alright, but I'd say it's aged poorly. Never played before so no nostalgia, tho I am a Tron fan, esp Legacy which I saw day 1 in IMAX 3D & LOVED. 2.0's an FPS - not an RPG, as others have said, as there's no RP, only shallow upgrade & dialog systems. The story can twist a bit but is ultimately still predictable & safe. The environments & sound have actually aged quite well due to simple, clean, futuristic aesthetic, tho it can border on feeling empty. Thorne's server in particular was a highlight, with spooky design suiting well the heart of the Corruption. The gameplay itself drags it down tho. Enemies can spot you at nearly any distance & immediately sound the alarm/attack, so stealth is only good for picking off 1 or 2 before open combat starts. Their attacks are fast - difficult/impossible to dodge, only some can be reflected, & they throw off your aim on hit. Didn't play on Hard so they don't do a ton of damage, but it makes combat irritating to constantly be taking those hits. Most weapons are also pretty unsatisfying. Got the most mileage out of Disc and LOL due to their accuracy & hi damage. Enemies aren't super spongy, so combat can be quick & exciting if you land your shots. Except bosses. Oops. Most mission objectives boil down to finding/breaking the MacGuffin of the hour, little more than glorified key/switch hunting, tho there are occasional puzzles sprinkled about. The final nail in the coffin is the WAITING. Download, Port, Defrag, Disinfect - it takes no effort, doesn't test or reward the player, doesn't even require input, & all it does for pacing is bring it to a screeching halt. 2/5 upgrade options are solely for reducing this padding which shouldn't be there to begin with, killing 2 mechanics with 1 poor decision. A simple puzzle would have fulfilled the same purpose in a more engaging way. It's just bad design. Buy on sale if you're a huge fan of Tron & old FPSs, but there are prob other titles out there more worth your time.
Narita Boy takes the neon, CRT 80's cyber aesthetic & turns it into a myth. In this world, a beige CRT monitor can be both cutting edge tech & a holy shrine. Johnny Heat the Trichroma Dude and The Evil Sorceror HIM are equally at place, here. A fantasy tale of knights & wizards mixes with Eastern ideas on consciousness & balance, in a world of hackers & floppy disks & the Power Glove. The atmosphere is great — the art, music, & sound come together to create a beautiful world that can be both awesome & silly in how excessively cool it is. Little details sell it for me: his little song & dance when entering a new area, the incomprehensible techno-religious prose spoken by every NPC, the way they wiggle all over the place in their animations. I got the game on giveaway and knew nothing going in, but as soon as the music kicked in I knew I'd have a good time. Some hopefully constructive criticism: I couldn't get the key bindings, and they can't be rebound. I had to use a controller, which helped, but it did nothing for the input delay, which was a constant source of frustration really hurting the game feel for me. 2nd, the game isn't a true Metroidvania: you can't return to previous areas with new abilities to unlock new areas. If you missed a secret the first time around, you're shit outta luck. 3rd issue was lack of feedback. Some boss fights drag on a bit too long, & with a beating heart as the only indicator it's hard to feel like I'm even making progress. It's also hard to tell how much damage power moves do and therefore judge when it's best to use them. Red Beard was a particular annoyance. Due to his position, he's immune to everything but basic aerial hits, & combined with the lack of feedback, it felt like chipping away at an invisible wall with a toothpick. His & his parrot's attacks don't sync up, so I found avoiding both to be inconsistent and frustrating. Still, Narita Boy is great and you should definitely play it. Glad a random promo introduced us.
Synthetik is a new favorite of mine. Simple in concept, but the games' systems all have their little quirks that interact with each other in sometimes surprising but logical ways, giving it a lot of depth. I went in blind, which I think is the way to go, because half of the fun for me was figuring out the mechanics and experimenting to find effective and interesting strategies. All the way to beating the final boss — and even after(!) — Synthetik would continue to deliver new surprises, both big and small. The music is sick, the visuals and sound design is SO unbelievably clean and tight, every click on every robotic cranium is exciting and cool. It has just enough story to set the stage, put you in the right mood, and hint at greater things that could come in the future. Synthetik is clearly a game made by a small team, but I mean that in the best possible way. It's full of weird, interesting little details that you just wouldn't find in a game designed by committee, and feels like something the devs made because it was what they wanted to play. I doubt I'll ever 100% it — I'm not skilled enough and don't have the time to commit, but I got more than my money's worth out of it, and Synthetik is ABSOLUTELY worth picking up, even when it isn't on sale.
