Heroes of Might and Magic 5 was my first entry in the entire Might and Magic franchise after I found a physical copy at a garage sale years ago. At the time, I knew nothing of the franchise. I only knew that the Might and Magic series was pretty famous. Thankfully, that blind purchase turned out very well. HoMM5, like all of the HoMM titles, brilliantly combines turn-based strategy gameplay with some RPG mechanics and light managerial sim gameplay. However, unlike previous games which I found somewhat difficult to delve into, this one is a lot more friendly toward beginners. You get a solid tutorial that is just enough to get you going. After that, you're given free reign to play through the story however you want. I'm not typically a fan of turn-based games (excluding 4X, which almost never works with realtime unless it's Stellaris) but this game does it very well. The combat feels truly tactical, with placement and smart use of your units' abilities making for really enjoyable strategic gameplay. On top of that, the story -- while not anything particularly outstanding -- is long and split into different campaigns, each of which almost feels like a game of its own. My personal favorite is, funnily enough, the first campaign where you play as the newly-married Queen Isabel after an incident that led to her wedding celebrations being cut short as her new husband's kingdom is plunged into disarray. She's a great combination of femininity and strong leadership, which are the types of female characters I find most compelling. To tie everything together, the game has a really gorgeous art style along with a whimsical soundtrack, both of which come together to fill the player with a sense of wonder as they explore the world. I always feel outright HAPPY when I play this game and a major part of that are the visuals and audio. Altogether, if you enjoy RPGs and strategy games, this is a great place to try out the HoMM series!
Star Wars already brings childhood nostalgia to me all the time but when you combine it with Lego, that nostalgia factor is turned up to 11. I played the original Lego Star Wars (which only included the prequel trilogy) on my Gamecube when I was in elementary school and it was always one of my favorites. That's why I knew I needed to grab this on GOG. As the name implies, you get the opportunity to play through all six of the George Lucas-era films in this game but this series has always been a slightly parody-driven series. The story isn't taken seriously and there's a lot more humor, expressed through animation rather than dialogue. However, this makes the game full of an indisputable sense of fun. You can't help but have a smile on your face when you play this. That said, the gameplay and level design are equally grand. Each character plays slightly differently, each level has varying layers of depth with sections that can only be accessed by certain character types and so forth. My favorite characters always were General Grievous and Yoda because of how easy it was to absolutely ruin everyone's day with them. However, all of the characters are enjoyable to experiment with and I highly recommend doing so! All in all, if you love Star Wars or if you just want to get away from the monotonies and platitudes of adult life, this game is a great option. I'd say it's worth the $20 price but I bought it on sale, it's entirely up to you what you decide a game like this would be worth. Either way, you will almost certainly have a blast playing this!
Thank you, GOG, for the giveaway because I only had the game on Steam before. Now, I actually OWN the game! Shadowrun Returns is a rather linear experience for an RPG, to be honest. However, "linear" isn't always a bad thing. In the case of Shadowrun Returns, it's not. This game has some of the most compelling cyberpunk atmosphere out there and its story, while not particularly outstanding, is told in such an immersive way. Whether you're running down the streets of Seattle to get to an objective or you're taking your time exploring the mission area, you always feel like you're part of the unique, magic-infused cyberpunk world of Shadowrun. The graphics, while not incredible, absolutely get the job done and make you feel like you're in a believable world. The game has turn-based combat that feels quite similar to old school Fallout. I'm not usually a fan of turn-based combat but this game does it well. Not Divinity: Original Sin well, but it's still rather good. It never feels frustratingly long or cheap due to absurdly high dice rolls from enemies. It does, however, encourage you to use a bit of strategy when you fight and that's always a good thing when it comes to turn-based combat. I mentioned that the story of this game is told in a very immersive way and what I mean by that is that it feels personal. Maybe it's because the character's best friend's name is Sam (I have a good friend with that same name) but I always felt like the story I was playing through was truly MY story. Adding the impeccable cyberpunk atmosphere and the cool twist on the genre with the return of magic and fantasy creatures and it just creates this story that somehow captures both the adventure of fantasy and the deep, morally ambiguous storytelling present in the cyberpunk genre. If you go into this with the knowledge that it's not open world or sandbox in any way, you may just come out of it with a great sense of satisfaction because Shadowrun Returns is an absolute blast!
