If you have fantasized about hunkering down with a beautiful woman in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse and have a lot of sex, then this game may be for you. I say maybe because Zombie's Retreat is also a nice entry in this sub-genre. Seed of the Dead is more action focused. The action plays to Seed's favor. I recommend playing on the hard difficulty. The adrenalin rush coupled with the slight horror atmosphere induces greater urge to procreate. The word pregnancy is thrown around a lot in the game. I think by design. Alas, the game doesn't have the scope or sophistication to actually include pregnancy or babies. Probably for the best. Make no mistake. This is not a rudimentary shooter with a bit of naughtiness. This is a hardcore porn game with rudimentary but intense shooting. Some of the game over scenes where your female companion gets raped to death are quite disturbing, if imaginative. Fortunately, it's easy to avoid those scenes. I didn't even know they existed until I beat the game and the gallery unlocked. The sex scenes during gameplay are pretty ok, emphasizing bonding instead violence. It's a happy ending, except Act 8. You might consider skipping that. There are 8 acts, each with a shooting part and a 3D sex part, connected by visual novel story telling. GManLives actually did a review of this. It's worth watching if you are considering this game. It's like what other reviewers have said here, but in a fun, professional video. I'll lay out some of the good. All the dialogues except yours are voice acted, and it is good enough to help you connect with the girls, to the extent possible in a game like this. The sub is well done. The shooting parts all have unique little gimmicks. Not a lot, but enough to keep things fresh for a few hours. The first-person camera during the 3D sex scenes needs just a little zooming to work surprisingly well. The story is actually suspense for the first half of the game (but drops off to banality toward the end).
Not this DLC by itself, of course, unless you already have PoE and see this on sale for cheaper than the definitive edition of PoE. I had the great fortune of not realizing how to trigger Zahua's companion quest until I finished the White March, Part I. So I went through all of Zahua's conversation in one sitting by the fire in the inn. It had a big emotional impact on me. Zahua alone is the worth the time and money I put in. The best I can say without spoiling the experience is Zahua's story both fits and makes sense of the monk's mechanic of "wounds." To the extend any philosophical discussion can make sense in a video game. Worry not, the conversaion is still rooted in Zahua's personal, physical experience. I also greatly appreciated the Devil of Caroc's ending slides. I was crying on the inside. For all the content in the DLC, there are great reviews out there.
If you like the overall feel of Deadfire, with emphasis on characters and environment over combat, then you will like this DLC. It's pretty short: you will emplore one small village hub, a "dungeon" of 3-4 areas, then 3-4 other self-contained areas from Eora's past. This last section makes this DLC worth your time. You get to visit a remembered slice of ancient Engwith, Ukaizo at the precipice, and the bridge where Waidwen died (be sure to bring Eder). I brought Ydwin and Vatnir (a sidekick introduced by the DLC), as well as Aloth, Xoti, and Tekehu for certain parts. All of them had meaningful dialogue that made me appreciate them more. These memories of the past also have unique mechanics to them, be it dialogue checks, switch puzzles, or some light time travel. The combat was decent, except the very first fight that I feel was misplaced, but more on this later. I started the DLC after Poko Kohara, with character at levels 12-14. On normal difficulty, the battles felt just the right amount of challenging, a welcome break from the core game that had become too easy. The downside was some fights started to drag with my trying to burn down towering enemies with too much HP. Luckily, there weren't too many fights like POE 1's White March had, so I was not burned out. The biggest issue with this DLC is the first fight. You have to fight the boss of the DLC almost immediately after starting, and it was by far the hardest for my non-Shred Cipher focused team. You can't avoid the fight. After spending hours on her, I almost gave up. I feel for the casual players who do give up because the rest of the DLC, including the big auroch at the end, felt much more manageable. I get that this boss, and this DLC generally, teaches interruption/concentration, but it could have been paced better. Oh, yeah, you also get some unique gear but nothing like Modwyr. I like this short and sweet DLC. I just wish it weren't so hard to chew at the beginning.
I spent hundreds of hours in PoE 1 and PoE 2, and not until the last 10 minutes of PoE 2 did I finally find the same spark of magic that made me fall in love with Obsidian at the end of KOTOR 2. An even more brilliant spark, perhaps. Whereas the end of KOTOR 2 merely affirmed a belief I already held about the balance of light and dark sides of the Force, the ending of Deadfire opened my eyes to a whole new perspective: on the value of ancient religions like the Greek pantheon vs. modern religions like Christianity. But let's speak of practical matters first: the recommendation. Do not bother to play Deadfire unless you (1) played through PoE 1 and want more of it or (2) like to try out new and complex CRPG game mechanics. Deadfire is an improvement over PoE 1 in all the big ways. The graphics are better and the world looks more lively. All the dialogue and even some narrations are fully voice acted, and acted well. The story is more thought-provoking, at least if you play all the way to the end and do not resist the game's themes. The quests are more complex and intertwined. The RPG system is bigger with subclasses and dual classes, deeper with a lot of interconnected mechanics, but also easier to navigate with a fully visible progression tree. However, the barrier to entry is high. The story makes less sense and the main plot and some key character interactions have far less impact if you didn't fully experience PoE 1. The RPG system is a pain for casual players like me to fully grasp, even with my experience in PoE 1, and there is no auto leveling to help you. There is still no cool villian, or any villian really, to motivate the story. The main conflict is philosophical. There are also small annoyances like an inventory system even worse than PoE 1 and the inexplicable removal of the keyboard shortcut to follow your party. All that felt trivial at the end, when I understood the game's theme. It made the experience worth my while. It won't appeal to everyone.
Like War and Peace, regardless of how much critical praise it garners, many people who pick it up will never finish. Unlike War and Peace, whose required dedication is known beforehand, most players do not appreciate the time Pillars of Eternity asks of them. There are fewer people who finished PoE on GOG than the number of Kickstarter backers who redeemed the game here. Length is my only major complaint about the game. Yes, there are issues with inventory management, with ease of progression, with some missing quality of life features, and a narrative that at times gets lost in the woods. However, Obsidian set out to create their first original, truly fleshed out world. On top of that, they were also creating a workable, partially original RPG system. Obsidian did its best to make the two parts complete but fell short when making them lean. "If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter." True of us all. I disagree with the reviewers who say PoE is not excessively long because the core plot is of average length with a lot of time taken up by side quests. All great Obsidian games have been built on the strength of their side quests and side characters. I say without hyperbole that Eder is like a brother. I am sorry for the way things turned out between me and Pallegina. And I miss my companions who did not make to the Deadfire. On the other hand, I do not recall a single Obsidian antagonist who was epic enough to utter the line, "You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it." PoE is no exception. The big events of PoE feel petty the way big events in the real world feel petty. I have always appreciated that about Obsidian, but perhaps it is time for a game with larger than life characters and struggles. For most, Pillars of Eternity is not the game to make you fall in love with Obsidian. If you already love Obsidian, however, and have a lot of time for games, you won't be disappointed at the end.
Weird. I only played Duke Nukem 3D and no other Build engine games before Shadow Warrior. Yet, Shadow Warrior somehow made me feel like I was reliving fond memories of simpler, happier times. I confess. I started to play because I have fond memories of booties in Duke Nukem 3D and I knew there are some in Shadow Warrior. There are a few girl npc in the game, fully voiced even, though entirely for minor comical effect. What got me hooked on the game turned out to be the grenade launcher. Despite being one of the easiest weapons to kill yourself with and one of the harder ones to use on enemies, I found a lot of fun, natural ways to use the grenade launcher. This is the strength of Shadow Warrior: how well the levels are put together. Even in modern day AAA games, grenades often feel like an afterthought, with limited opportunities to use them naturally. There are so many places in Shadow Warrior that make you think, "I need to lob some grenades!" Into windows. Around corners. Over obstacles. In the ugly face of cheap-ass, fireball-firing, insta-kill, cloaked ninjas. Between grenade fun, there are eight other weapons to play around with. A sword that slice enemy into meat chunks like that guy in Resident Evil 1 movie. Dual wielding Uzis that gave me a Neo vibe. A rocket launcher that can fire a nuclear missile. An orc head that can unlease different patterns of burning depending on which of three holes in the back of its skull you stick your finger into. Yeah. In addition to killing the shit out of the baddies, you will spend a lot of time looking for secrets, solving intuitive puzzles, swimming, platforming, avoiding volcanic rocks and sumo farts. They are diverse and fun. Even the platforming is fun, and I don't like platforming in any game. And everything feels so smooth, including quick saving and loading which are instantaneous. So why buy this version when there is a free version? The remastered visuals appeal to modern aesthetics.
(+1 star for personal prejudice) I believe single player FPS games fall on a spectrum. On one end sit classic Doom/Wolfenstein. On the other sits Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (the original). I must confess at the outset that I find classic Doom/Wolfenstein utterly boring but love MW2. With its many questionable cinematics, new players like me might mistake NecroVisioN for a cinematic experience with a touch of gunplay. It's not. As early as Chapter 2, I began to encounter many more gun fights and boss battles than I was comfortable with. By the end of Chapter 2, I had enough. So why 4 stars? Two reasons. First: this game was Doom (2016) before there was Doom (2016). True, the gameplay is a lot more janky and everything is so dark, but the reward-driven combo-based in-your-face combat is still creative. Your many different weapons, when used in combination with your kick and basic melee attack, have different effects. You might trigger a lightning attack that jumps to all surrounding enemies. You might knock them all down. You might heal yourself. A lot of the effects seemed to be the same, but it was still fun trying them out. What is not creative is the the enemy design. Through two chapters and a bit of the third, I could only remember fighting enemy soldiers that run at me. There were a few bigger dudes with bigger guns and a few bosses. Oh yeah, and dogs. But there was none of thrill of gradually learning to kill an exciting new enemy. Maybe I just hadn't reached them. The second reason is simpler. By Chapter 3, I had seen a fire-breathing dragon. This game is crazy. Again, misleading due to the WW1 setting. The game is definitely not about WW1. I may love CoD, but I appreciate craziness in games. If this game were more polished, it could have been a cult classic. Maybe it is. As it stands, you have to be willing to go on a janky rumble fueled, LSD induced vision trip to enjoy it. Words can't quite capture it. MandaloreGaming's review is spot on for me.
Despite simple tactical maps, there is a good amount of strategy and tactics to be had in KB, thanks to skills in three different character classes that let you approach battles differently, 5-6 distinctive races with some very creative unit abilities, a large number of spells that draw on mana, a separate set of spells that draw on a different resource called rage, and items you equip that alters certain game mechanics. Here are a couple of simple examples. I adopted a strategy where through the patient use of just a couple of spells and units, I frequently ended a battle with more units than I started. When faced with some really tough enemies highly resistent to most of my spells, I found I could place a trap that normally only damages them when they walk on that hex, and drag them onto that hex with my dragon. As the initial novelty wears off, you may feel your tactical play falls into a rut in the mid game. Rest assured that there is a major difficulty spike about 2/3 way through the game, involving dragons and demons and single stacks of sometimes a thousand enemy units. It was initimating. Then I realized I could, through a combination of predicting how the AI acts, spells I didn't use before, and some new units' special abilities, fight battles better than I did before, with more predictable control of the battlefield. No longer was I just nuking clumps of enemies with fireball. Overcoming that difficulty spike was a very rewarding experience. King's Bounty's tactical battles compliment its charming presentation for a engaging and fun experience. The only downside worth mentioning in this limited review is the game could be too long. Some tactical battles feel repetitive. That's not unique to this game, but some games do better. Blackguards, for instance.
(+1 star for the Russian and German versions) One part of Star Wolves plays like a CRPG. You build up a party of up to 6 characters over the course of the single player story. They level up from completing quests (maybe killing things, I am unsure) and can learn unique, starship piloting related skills. You earn money to buy better parts for your starships, both a capital ship and snub fighters. or just loot parts from destroyed enemies, or even rob them from merchant transports. This part will be instantly familiar to CRPG players. What sets Star Wolves apart is that the CRPG progression is coupled to a squad based, tactical space sim similar to the first few missions of Homeworld. The scale is always restricted to at most one capital ship and six fighters under your direct command. You will frequenly need to manage your individual ships much like in a real-time-with-pause CRPG. However, the skills you need to learn are unique to space sims. How do you launch a frontal attack on a group of enemy fighters or a couple of capital ships without one of yours getting blown up? Which way should your fighter turn after killing an enemy to get back into the fight quickly? These skills are the staple of space flight sims, but usually only for your ship when in single player. In a strategy game like Homeworld, these squad level tactics are usually too low level to be observed. Star Wolves actually fills a relatively unexplore space sim/tactics niche even without the CRPG component. I had two issues with the English version. One, there was no voice acting in story dialogue, and what little English voices existed elsewhere were mostly dreadful. However, the Russian and German versions are fully voiced, and it's easy to use those voices in the English version. Two, the game feels sluggish even though the FPS counters says 70+. It's playable but still annoying. These are not core defects though. If what I described interests you, you should definitely check out Star Wolves.
(+1 star for what the game tries to do) UFO: Afterlight is not dependent upon UFO: Aftershock lore-wise. In fact, you might find it more interesting to be introduced to the player faction in Aftershock during your time in Afterlight, then decide to check out the story on the other side of the radio. Then if you are really into the series, you can go back to Aftermath, to the beginning. Anyway, I only played a few missions in Aftershock and I found one bug that I couldn't get over. I couldn't get the keyboard shortcut key for opening the equipment window to work. All three UFO games rely heavily on inventory management, especially in the early game. You don't want to waste ammo when you can stab unconscious aliens to death with your knife. Having to switch weapons every time by clicking that small GUI button annoyed me to no end, especially since I already played 50 hours of Afterlight without this irritation. That said, if you enjoyed Afterlight and want to know the story on Earth at roughly the same time, you want to give Aftershock a try. From the little I have seen, Aftershock tries hard to present a more complicated story and a more diverse caste of characters and factions than classic X-COM or XCOM 1 or UFO Aftermath, and a richer strategic layer that is more than just the backend of the tactical game. If you can get over some jank (maybe a lot of jank), then this is a good UFO game, indeed a favorite of many UFO fans.
