While the 1st of the latest trilogy is the worse TR ever, this 3rd one may just be the best one ever. Finally plenty of tombs, ruins and ancient machinery, and Mayan and Inca at that! Beautiful setting, with a breathtaking jungle, lots of swimming (beautiful and very well executed) , and very limited Rambo scenes compared to the 2 predecessors. I would have easily given it 5 stars, if it weren't that 60% of time I started the game it either crashed, or had such a bad input lag that it had to be killed. This is even on a new high-end machine, and turning down a lot of the expensive graphics settings. Same settings, widely different experience at every restart... Now, Microsoft may have vibecoded some problems into their OS, but it may be also the game so 4 stars it is
Now, this is more like it.. there are actual dungeons and contraptions, and "tombs" are a bit more tombs and less broom closets. Still way more green beret than badass archeologist, but I guess that appeals to a lot of kids or people from warmongering societies.. Still way too crumbling/explosive all around our heroin, but overalll the game is pleasant and well executed.
If you like spending hours wondering if the button you are pushing is actually doing anything, while a teen girl bleeds, whines and either falls few hundreds meters at the time or leaves a wake of explosions, then by all means buy this... what I described is 80% of the game, the remainder being a Rambo simulator... Where are the tombs?? (and no, broom rooms with a few candles and a chest are not TR-grade tombs!)
If you ever liked Final Fantasy you will adore this. Even if JRPG are not really my favourite genre, this game really is what can only be described as a piece of Art. A very dark piece of art, in hindsight.. The plot is interesting, even if it takes a while to make sense of it, but stick with it and you won't regret it. Won't spoil the ending, but I must say the narrative choice there is very bold, love it. About the fight mechanics, the dodge/parry/counter system makes enemy turns very engaging, and the usual animations that make some JRPG a wait-fest here are instead refreshingly fast but still beautiful. If I had to complain about something, I would say that it is really unfortunate that the world really opens up only after the second-last main fight: the result is that the mentioned fight feels epic, then you grind a lot, and arrive at the last fight so buffed that it feels like an anticlimatic breeze... All in all, however, the praise this game gets is well deserved.
I think KCD I and II are a must for anyone who loves an immersive persona experience. Not sure if it just clicked with me, but I don't think I have ever felt such a strong feeling of identification with an RPG main character. The second game does everything the first did, just better, it features an amazing scenery, amazing story, lots of fun moments, some heart-wreanching moments, a merry band of criminals and nobles.. For a game that is first person, and where you mainly act alone, it does an excellent job at creating those NPC relationships that many people love in games where you control a party. By the end, our boy Henry has grown up so much from being a simple peasant, and being in the driving seat of such a beutiful personal growth is a priviledge I will always cherish. Audentes Fortuna Iuvat!!
I dislike first person games, so got this on high discount as a fix for lack of RPGness.. Oh boy, am I glad I did! Story, immersion, music, voices.. so many things are way above what you get on average from many AAA games. There is plenty of bugs, and weird mechanics that can get on your nerves, but they are all immediately forgiven the moment the game drags you into being Henry and makes you live his journey. Bad: limited saves, characters get stuck walking, sometimes unclear what to do, quest breaking bugs. Mixed Feelings: Combat - you can be easily outnumbered and killed, no matter how good you get. Good: Lots of interesting interactions, realism (history, no magic). atmosphere, story, immersion, music
Arcanum is beautiful, engaging, has a nice story, beautiful lore, well-acted few dialogues, and strikes a nice balance between steampunk and classic fantasy. It belongs to an era where these things mattered more than fluid combat and shiny renderings, so if you are the kind of person that favors combat encounters this may not be for you. But if you are there to play adventurer, discover locations/people with their unique character and politics, uncover mysteries from the past, then do not hesitate to buy this gem.
The world of the game is really interesting: the mysterious island vibe mixes well with the strong personalities of the colonizing factions, and the "Avatar" vibes are really nice. The game is fully voiced, which is always nice, has a well executed levelling system, the armors and weapons are elegant.. It really ticks a lot of boxes for an RPG fan. On the minus side, it is a bit heavy on walking around already-explored areas for my taste (the quick-travel hubs can be very far from the objectives), and it tends to spoil the plot twists a bit. It lacks that I-want-to-spend-every-second-available-on-it effect, but it is nonetheless a very enjoyable game, well worth the 44h I spent on it.
Dunno why I have waited so long to play this masterpiece, perhaps I was afraid it was one of those games for people who like punishing meaningless fights; well, I was wrong, and right at the same time: you see, people like that would have the option to get their buttocks kicked to their heart's desires, while people like me that likes stories and amazing companions will also be fully satisfied, while skipping the optional annoying areas. Developing a relationship with my boy Atreus feels amazing, the Norse setting is a thing of beauty, levelling up feels as natural as upgrading your gear (the two are in fact strictly related), the fights... oooh the fights.. The acting is fantastic, the interaction with the environment is great. Seriously the only thing I could complain about is fast-travel not being that fast (you need to walk for a bit in a transition area). Other than that I would 100% recommend this to any fellow gamers, with the exception of the impatient ones that get annoyed by the smallest amount of cutscenes (this is clearly not for you)
The game is a pleasure to play and drags you in with a well characterized world with its quirks. Something mysterious has happened, involving some technology from an obscure civilization: great! It is very unfortunate, in my opinion, that through the game you do not learn anything at all about why and how the main events get put into motion. Leaving a bit of mystery is usually ok, but here it feels a bit like the main story is some undefined background noise. I would still recommend the game when discounted.
