Story, visuals and music are as good as in the base game but those puzzles... I think devs wanted to make a more challenging playthrough, but they did it in a wrong way. Puzzles use the same mechanics as the base game, but are very convoluted and often frustrating to complete. They take much, much more time to do, even if you figure out the solution. And I think some of them expect you to have specific "optional" updates, or at least I don't know how I would have solved them without some optional skills. I was very close to giving up. The story is ok, but if I knew about those puzzles before, I would have check it out on youtube.
After a rather not good Trine 3 the team decided to go back to the roots of the series. That turned out to be a great decision. Trine 4 brings back what was great about 1 & 2: fun, often challenging puzzles solved with most (all?) of the familiar mechanics. All this in a much better looking visuals yet in the same charming, fairy tale like setting. Sound design is great as usual and the cast made the story come to life once more. The game does not add that much new to the series, but if you liked 1 & 2, you should enjoy this part as well.
The idea of adding a 3rd dimention was good in theory, but the team didn't manage to do it in a satisfying way. At best the platforming and puzzles are playable, at worst they're so, so annoying. Too bad, because everything else is as good as in previous two games. We have a great voice acting, charming world desing and music, and traditionally fun, fairy tale of a story. Unfortunatelly that story ends on a clifhanger and it doesn't appear we will ever get a proper closure.
Sure, the graphics is dated. Sure, the story can be cheesy. And sure, the gameplay is mechanically simple. But all this doesn't matter much, because this is still a fun game. If you haven't tried it yet and are looking for something from those "good old days", try it. It's not a masterpiece, a must play or anything like that. But coming with right expectations, I think it will safisfy those who would like to go back in time a little bit.
The setting is very uncommon, both the historical era as well as geographically. And developers did a very good job recreating the vibe of the time and place (at least that's what it looks like to a laymen eye). This alone should interest some players as there are not that many games set in similar environment. On top of that backdrop there is a similarly fresh-feeling fantasy world. Both take center stage in the plot of the game. The setting is populated with many great characters, on both on "the good" and "the bad" side. And it's very unclear at times which side is which, great stuff. Also the protagonist can be very different based on how we want to play and which choices we make. The story has several endings, some distinguished in only details but others being completely different. There is a great replay value here, and even if played once, the game will still take a good amount of time. Music and sound design is very fitting, if not especially memorable. I have some small complaint to the Polish dubbing: at times it sounds too clean, as if the proper context was lost on performers. It's fine most of the time though. Graphically the game is nice, but it's not a looker in compared to other new titles. And here we start getting into some (small!) annoyances. I think the optimization could be better: even on a strong PC there are small stutters here and there. It's not a big problem in a title like this, and locking the frame rate made it less visible. Slightly bigger issue is the combat: while fun all the way to the end in my opinion, if you do most of the side quests you can end up quite overpowered and the combat can become repetitive (though I still had a good time and never shied away from it). But then, depending on your choices, you can end up in a boss battle so much more difficult that after several attempts I caved and lowered the difficulty. All in all this is a very good game, easy to recommend to any RPG player.
The sentence "they don't make them like they used to" is very fitting here. This game is pure, no-nonsense fun. You're dropped in the middle of an alien invasion, pick up a bunch of heavy weapons and mow down everything that opposes you. There is not much to look for on maps (or rather elongated arenas), other than ammo and weapon change/upgrade points. Hidden audio logs are completely optional. The story is simple but competent. I'm not familiar with Warhammer 40k lore, but I know someone who is and he told me this is it, this is the game to start with, if you want to dive into that franchise. But it does not matter that much because the most important part is the gameplay and that is still great, even after over a decade. So why such a low score? Two reasons. The first one is that the game is too short, I wanted more. You can replay it again on a higher difficulty. But there were moments, where I struggled on normal, I do not want to challenge myself that much. Because there are no story choices and gameplay variety isn't great, I feel it would get stale quickly. I picked this up because I want to play that new sequel and that is what I'm going to do next. Too bad SM2 is not available on GOG. The second, much bigger problem: game crashes often on modern machines. Internet says it's because modern CPUs have too many cores. A solution that worked for me: assign a few cores (I went with 4) to the game process in Windows Task Manager. This should have been patched in.
The story mode is very short, but it works as a folloup to the original Alan Wake. It expands a little on the world and some character's fate after the fist game. Main "story vehicle" may feel a little overplayed now, but I think it works very well in here. Oh, and it's definitely worth looking for all the pages and to watch all TVs. The gameplay is a little simplistic and easier than in the first game, at least on normal, but I played for the story so I didn't mind. The game should be darker. As it is now, if feels too bright in compare to first Alan Wake so you don't have the same "dread" when in fights compared to the first Alan Wake.
I start by saying that 4 stars is a stretch here. But I also think 3 starts is not enough. I bought this game because I really like Mutant: Year Zero from the same developer. I hoped to get something like that and Miasma delivered... almost. Miasma Chronicles has a story just as weird and crazy as Year Zero. It has very similar, all be it updated gameplay. It is bigger and looks better, so I suspect the budget was slightly higher here. I think that characters are a little more fleshed out, but then they are not as charming. There are a few more similarities, Year Zero players will quickly recognize the handiwork. Over all, it has a very similar vibe to their previous game... but not quite. Something is missing, something small, but significant, something that I can't quite figure out. Still, I had a lot of fun with this one. If you like Year Zero I think this game will also be worth your time and money. What if you didn't play Mutant: Year Zero? Well, go and play it :). But also play this one, if you like tactics games and/or weird and crazy stories with weird and crazy characters.
I played this game a while ago, so this is not a fresh review. That said, even after so much time I still remember this game well. It doesn't happen too often with those smaller titles. I think that is a recommendation in and of itself. It took me by surprise just how fun I had playing this game. The awesome looking duck and boar draw me in. The weird story and simple, but very fun gameplay kept me engaged to the end.
I start by stating that I never read the book on which this story is based on, so I came here with no idea of what to expect beyond what I saw in trailers. Before I bought this title I wasn't sure if an RPG and action game player like myself would enjoy a "walking sim" like this. But since I'm also a huge fan of anything sci-fi and fantasy I decided to try this and I was quickly blown away by how much I sunk into this game. This story is one of the best thing of sci-fi genre I know. It's well put together, perfectly voice acted and just so damn interesting. And the retro-futuristic setting, taken straight from 1960' pop culture visions of the future, gives the game this amazing vibe. It doesn't hurt it also looks very good. The music blended perfectly with events and made an already great thing even better. The game has several choices that lead to radically different endings so there is some value in replaying it. One thing that bugged me sometimes were invisible walls. In games that look so realistic I prefer either some clear way of marking the path (even if it breaks the so called immersion) or be able to basically go anywhere. I got the game on a slight discount but with what I know now I would have bought it with its current full price.
