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Lifeless Planet has a lot of issues and the few positives it has can’t come close to make it a worthwhile experience. The major issue is that the performance is terrible and the graphics are not very good. Even for a game from 2014 they’re sub par in most areas. The object detail; shadows; lighting; and physics are all sub par to bad. Now given what I just said imagine a game where even on lowest settings I only hit 60 FPS twice; spent most of my time between 30-40 FPS and if I put the settings on highest I drop to 20-30 FPS. Even on highest settings the graphics quality are bad enough that any system that is above onboard graphics should be slicing through this game with ease. There was also a fair bit of pop in regardless of settings. The story started off well enough and had me interested but I wasn’t overly on board with where it went near the end. That’s more a subjective opinion but still. I also think there were several little plot points that needed more work. I liked finding the past reports as a way to shed light on past events. The voice acting was well done. The game play itself was overall pretty decent. Platforming was, for the most part, fun but it could get a little clunky at times. The clunkiness was mostly in the jet pack being pretty finicky in my view. I understand the idea between timing your jumps at the right time but sometimes it just felt all over the place. The puzzles were a mixed bag. Some were very easy, some annoying. They did get a bit repetitive as there are about five kinds of puzzles but two of them made up the majority of puzzles. There were also times where you couldn’t go certain places and the game would kill you for trying. Literally killing you with an invisible wall at times. Fall damage was also all over the place. Sometimes a short fall could kill me; a long fall wouldn’t; and everything in between. I never could get used to the fall damage levels.
Thimbleweed Park goes off the rails a bit near the end but it’s still a good game and has a lot of positives. The game has a great setting in the town; great characters; great dialogue; and great humour. The puzzles are a bit of a mixed bag. One thing the game didn’t do was make me go around trying random objects together in order to see what works which I applaud. The puzzles at least follow logic and reason, usually. Some were better than others but none made me filled with rage which a lot of games in this genre do. I do wish that you could have moved the characters as a group as sometimes moving all four to the same location takes more time than it would if you could do so. I also wish that I didn’t have to click “use” every time to open a door and could just click on the door. I also wish I could skip the audio of dialogues because sometimes if I accidentally clicked on a person I would have to hear things I had already heard and it was annoying. The map being able to fast travel was a god send. The game also does a good job of having their to do lists is you have a good idea of what you have to do although they could have done a better job giving hints as to where certain things were. There is an in game hint system where you can call a number in game for hints. I thought this was a fantastic idea but found the few times I used it that the hints didn’t help at all. Still the game did a fantastic job of recreating tropes from old school adventure games. What I mean in my original statement about the game going off the rails is that I didn’t like where the plot went in the last bit of the game. I wasn’t overly happy with many of the resolutions of the characters or with the general direction the story took. It made sense given the clues, I just wasn’t a huge fan I guess. The graphics of the game are what they are. As far as pixel games go things at least looked distinct and could be told apart. The voice acting was well done.
Singularity isn’t a game that blew my mind by introducing a new feature or idea but it was very polished and was enjoyable. The weapons all felt fun to use and there was a good amount of upgrades to get for them. The TMD device was alright to use but I didn’t find a real reason to use it and would have preferred having the knife for a melee option as it didn’t need ammo to use and it got replaced by the TMD whether you like it or not. There were some decent environmental combat options such as cryo tanks and explosive barrels. The story itself was decent but got a little convoluted near the end. I will say that I was surprised to have three options to fork the story at the end, especially one of the options that didn’t think it would let me do. I also liked finding audio recordings and secret messages on the walls to add back story and expand on plot points. The graphics are much like the game play in that nothing wowed me for the time period it was released at but nothing was below average or an eye sore either. It was all simply good and serviceable. One part I did really like was the weapon damage on enemies, I thought the bullet impacts were very well done. The game wasn’t overly difficult on normal outside of one fight. The hard option may have been more of a challenge but I have a rule against picking the hardest difficulty if you can’t move it down during the game. I played Singularity on Linux using Wine and DXVK. It never crashed and I didn’t notice any bugs or glitches. There are four graphics options and a v-sync toggle. Alt-Tab works. The game uses checkpoint saves, they’re pretty well spaced. One thing I didn’t like was that in order to quit the game you must quit to the main menu; back out to the first screen; choose quit and confirm it. I didn’t try to Alt-F4 so that may have been a quicker option but regardless it’s a convoluted process to exit the game. I couldn’t measure the frame rate while I played but I didn’t feel any lag spikes at all.
The First Tree doesn’t have a ton of game play to it but it makes up for it with a fantastic story and voice acting. The game play it does have is good for what it is as well but on it’s own would be a bit disappointing to some. You play as a fox looking for her cubs. You engage in some light platforming and very light problem solving to navigate the levels. While this goes on you listen to the main character tell childhood stories to his wife. As the fox you can also optionally find mementos from the man’s childhood and collect stars which do serve a slight purpose later on but are still optional. The game works by combing these as on it’s own the great story that gets revealed as you are the fox would just be an audio book on it’s own and without the great story the platforming would just be a very simple game. Together they work better than alone. I do wish that more was revealed about the middle portion of the main character’s life. We learn a lot about their childhood and some of their adult life but not much for the gap in between. The graphics take two forms. While you’re the fox it is almost a cell shaded type world that while not overly detailed has a good style to it and is full of colour. As the man it is a more realistic style. That world is a little less impressive because it relies more on technical detail. It wasn’t an eye sore but at the same time won’t wow you. The music was also superb. I will also say that the few hints the game gives were well done. They didn’t spell things out so much as provide a drawing of what you needed to do which I thought was a nice touch. I am also happy to say that the keyboard and mouse worked just fine which isn’t always the case with some games with platforming sections. My Score: 7/10 My System: AMD FX-9590 | 16GB DDR3-2133 | XFX RX 590 8GB Fat Boy | Mesa 22.1.7 | Samsung 870 QVO 1TB | Garuda | Mate 1.26.0 | Kernel 5.19.8-zen1-zen | AOC G2460P 1920*1080 @ 144hz
There was a good amount of improvement to Ignorance is Strength over the original Orwell but there was a few instances where it took a step back as well. One thing I thought Orwell lacked that the sequel fixed was voice acting for the phone calls. It was not only a nice feature to add but the voice acting was well done. You can also now influence social media by finding data chunks that fit a certain narrative. The feature itself was decent but it kind of tied into one thing I didn’t like about Ignorance is Strength and that was the perspective. In the original you were doing ethically dubious deeds but were at least trying to find a bomber. In the sequel your objective felt far less worth the effort after the first chapter or so. One thing I will say is that I fully believe many governments would take part in the kind of petty actions that happen in this game. While I was a bit disappointed in where the story went I at least enjoyed the characters and the twists and turns they took as well as how the sequel tied into the original. It takes place at the same time as the original with you working on a totally separate case although it does overlap slightly. One more issue I had was that once again I found that the game didn’t stay true to what it asks of you. Your boss says to leave out data that doesn’t matter but at least a couple times I had to add, what I deem to be, subjective data chunks that were more opinion than fact in order to progress. I played Ignorance is Strength on Linux. It never crashed and I didn’t notice any bugs or spelling mistakes. There are no graphics options. Alt-Tab didn’t work. The game saves on exit but there is just one save file so it always gets overwritten. The game is capped at 60 FPS. My System: Intel i7-6700 | 16GB DDR4-3000 CL15 | Intel HD 530 | Mesa 21.2.6 | Trisquel 10.0.1 | Mate 1.24.0 | Kernel 5.18.5-gnu
Synergia has some of the best overall presentation and atmosphere of any visual novel I have played. Everything from the opening video; to the menus; to the music; to the art are all top notch. It all ties together to just ooze cyberpunk out of every crevice. The story itself isn’t bad but it gets really rushed near the end and the ending just feels abrupt. The romantic relationship between Mara and Cila also feels a little forced and rushed. They go from cold and awkward to saying how they love each other within a matter of days with nothing in between. There is also a ton of story dumped on the reader in the last half hour or so which makes keeping track of new developments and characters an issue only for the game to abruptly end anyway. The endings were another issue of mine. The store page lists “multiple endings” but in truth there are only two. Now two is more than one so they’re not lying exactly but when I see “multiple endings” I expect several different ones. Even worse is that to access the epilogue you need to have completed both endings. My real issue with that is that there is a single epilogue, which means that regardless of which ending you get the epilogue doesn’t change at all. Overall the game just lacks choices and branching. It’s not a kinetic novel but it also isn’t really choice driven. It’s stuck in an uncomfortable no man’s land. I really wished that the game had developed the character “Rat” more as well as had more of Darla. GPU Usage: 0-43 % VRAM Usage: 425-741 MB CPU Usage: 1-5 % RAM Usage: 2.2-2.8 GB My System: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | 16GB DDR4-3000 CL15 | MSI RX 580 8GB Gaming X | Mesa 22.1.1 | Garuda Soaring White-tailed-eagle | Mate 1.26.0 | Kernel 5.18.1-zen1-1-zen My Score: 6.5/10
The second season of the Walking Dead series by Tell Tale in some ways improved over the original but in some ways was a step back. Overall it was not worse and is worth playing. On the positive side I really liked how there was room to make a much more hardened version of Clementine than I thought we would be allowed. Usually I would have been put off having to play as a kid but she was no damsel that’s for sure. I also really liked the character of Jane and was glad she got a decent amount of screen time. The voice acting overall was good but I want to signal out Michael Madsen who did a really good job voicing Carver. Once again I really liked some of the darker choices you could make that was riding the line between good and evil. On the negative side I would say that this season basically made the DLC episode of 400 Days from season one pointless. It introduced characters you would meet at Carver’s camp but then, aside from one, did nothing with them outside of a minute or two screen time each. I would also say that near the end of the season it seemed to lack direction a bit, almost feeling like the writers were struggling to figure out where they wanted to go with things and were just throwing out random ideas. The music was very well done. The graphics were the usual Tell tale fare which I enjoy and if you do as well then you know what to expect. I played Season Two on Linux using Wine and DXVK. It never crashed. There was an issue where some of the shadows would flicker and when they weren’t flickering they looked kind of boxy and lacking detail. I’m not sure if this was an issue Windows users faced as well or if it was a Wine issue. There was one graphics setting; an AA toggle and your resolution selection. Alt-Tab worked. The game saves at checkpoints which are usually not too poorly spaced out but a manual save system would have been preferred. You can pause cut scenes but not skip them.
400 Days is a short game but manages to do something that the first season couldn’t which was make me care about most of the characters. Outside of Lee and Clementine I didn’t care for much of the cast but with 400 Days I could have easily gotten into a full season of this cast. I also liked how many morally dubious choices you were presented with. The game had some nice tie ins to the first season but ultimately could be played on it’s own without any prior knowledge and still be enjoyed. I liked how the stories had some over arching bits but wished that had have been explored more such as giving Nate more time. The voice acting was good but I will say I started to see a little much of familiar voices being recycled from other Tell Tale games. The graphics were typical Tell Tale style and I liked it as I usually do. I played 400 days on Linux using Wine. It never crashed and I didn’t notice any bugs or glitches. There were four graphics settings; an AA toggle and a resolution option. The game did have some times where I noticed a bit of lag but in this type of game it wasn’t a big deal and for a majority of it felt smooth. Alt-Tab worked. The game saves at checkpoints which are usually not too poorly spaced out but a manual save system would have been preferred. You can pause cut scenes but not skip them. Graphics Settings: Highest; 1920x1080; AA on GPU Usage: 12-34 % VRAM Usage: 734-1068 MB CPU Usage: 9-17 % RAM Usage: 2.3-2.8 GB I really recommend 400 Days. One could easily say it would benefit from more depth but it is a DLC episode not a full season so in that context I think it did well. It had great choices and characters with an interesting overarching story that I would liked to see explored. I finished it in one hour and twenty seven minutes and felt it is easily worth it’s current price tag of $5.49 CAD. AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | 16GB DDR4 | RX 580 8GB | Mesa 22.1.0 | Garuda | Mate 1.26 | Kernel 5.17.9 | AOC G2460P 1920*1080 | Wine 7.7 | DXVK v1.10L
I have enjoyed every Tell Tale game I have played thus far but even by that standard The Wolf Among Us is easily my second favourite and a fantastic game. I absolutely love the gritty world it has created taking well known characters from fables and giving them circumstances and lives in our world that is anything from ideal and is very relatable in many cases. The story was extremely well done and I loved many of the choices you could make and ways you could branch things. I didn’t always like the choice options I had but that is actually a good thing as sometimes you don’t have options that are perfect or good so what I loved was how some of them could make me conflicted. The characters are all pretty well explored and I enjoyed them although I would have loved if Bloody Mary had more time in game. I liked how you could be a more brutal Bigby or show restraint or somewhere in the middle. The graphics are similar to other Tell Tale games which is to save a well done comic style. The voice acting was superb across the board with no characters who I would say was voiced poorly. The music was great and the intro credits to each episode really had a good noir feel to it. I played The Wolf Among Us on Linux using Wine and DXVK. It crashed once to the desktop but other than that ran great with no other bugs or glitches that I noticed. There are two graphics settings; an AA toggle; and a resolution option. Alt-Tab works. The game manually saves at checkpoints. The spacing on them were alright but it makes trying out different choices a pain sometimes. I would have preferred a manual save system. You can pause cut scenes but not skip them. I couldn’t measure the frame rate but I didn’t notice any lag. AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | 16GB DDR4-3000 CL15 | MSI RX 580 8GB Gaming X | Mesa 22.0.1 | Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB | Garuda Soaring White-tailed-eagle | Mate 1.26.0 | Kernel 5.17.1-zen1-1-zen | AOC G2460P 1920*1080 @ 144hz | Wine 7.5 | DXVK v1.10L
Stranglehold is a game with a singular purpose: to recreate a John Woo movie in video game form and it does this very well. It has also aged really well in the last decade and a bit since it’s initial release. The game play itself is still very fun. You have a variety of weapons to wield each with their own strengths and weaknesses. You can utilize a bunch of different environmental triggers in levels to kill enemies such as propane tanks; signs; etc. There are also a few special moves you can do such as precision aim, where you can zoom in to shoot your pistol in slow motion, or barrage where you go into a slow motion god mode where you can’t take damage and have infinite ammo. These abilities come into play mainly in boss or mini boss fights where the enemies have much more health than normal although I found precision aim useful against snipers as well. One thing I will mention about the weapons is that the shotgun is limited to 12 shells which is strangely low. I can have over a hundred rounds for the carbine; 200 rounds for the SMG; and over a hundred for the pistol; etc. I want to complain about the health of the bosses for a second here. I understand that boss fights are supposed to be more difficult but to see the only difference between them and a normal enemy be their massive health bar and doing more damage to you seems lazy. So many games do this as they also make the only difference in difficulty levels be health and damage. I wish more games would make enemies smarter not just bullet sponges. The graphics have held up pretty well as I mentioned. The object detail is pretty poor but the clothing and facial detail are both very good even after all these years. AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | 16GB DDR4-3000 CL15 | MSI RX 580 8GB Gaming X | Mesa 21.2.6 | Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB || Linux Mint 20.3 | Mate 1.26.0 | Kernel 5.4.0-100-generic | AOC G2460P 1920*1080 @ 144hz | Wine 7.3 | DXVK v1.9.4L-2