Pillars of Eternity pays a worthy tribute to all-time Infinity Engine RPG Classics like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. Exceptional amount of great writing and gameplay reminiscent of all-time favorite RPG's. Base building is a welcome addition that brings additional depth to an already stellar RPG. Party members have vivid and expressive characters, and villains are written so well, you can't wait to get your hands on them by the end of the game. However even they are motivated enough, that some might listen to their reasoning in before making a final decision. Get ready for 30-40 hour long adventure, if you're only invested into main story, and up to 80, if you want to explore everything.
Torchlight is extremely well done, although short, Diablo clone. Holds up incredibly well even today, in 2017. Warcraft-like graphics didn't age a bit, combat is satisfying and punchy, and plenty of loot to navigate through. The story is a bit lackluster, but who cares about the story anyway. Sleep tight, Runic games, we'll miss you.
Amazing metrdoivania with tons of exploration. If you're a fan of Salt & Sanctuary, Castlevania and Metroid titles, do yourself a favour and buy this game. It's a bit short (I finished the campaign in around 10 hours) and the combat is a bit clunky (due to stiff animations), but visually and fun-wise - one of the best indie games in my library.
As I'm writing this review, I've beaten main storyline and most of the side quests of the vanilla game. Also finished Hearts of Stone. Still have Blood and Wine left. However, I feel the urgency to express my feelings on this artform of a game. Ever since the beginning of my gaming experience (early 00's) nothing came close to the feeling Gothic series used to give me when I was a kid. Vast environments, a sense of freedom and an illusion of real and breathing world topped with sensitive RPG mechanics. Elder Scrolls were never my cup of tea, as it gave freedom, but never had enough rationale to use it. Until Witcher 3 came along. It's everything and more one could wish from a game. Emotional rollercoaster instead of a main plot, dozens of hours of well-written side stories, dialogues that don't feel like boring randlomly generated chunks of quests. Lore as deep as an ocean. And a vast open world that doesn't feel boring for a second. Hearts of Stone just emphasizes the brilliance of W3 with its dark and emotional story that takes you for a roughly 10-15 hour thrill ride of joy, fear and sadness. The world of Witcher 3 is so realistic you can almost smell the ozone in the air when it rains. And it's the first game after Gothic, that gave me that feeling of something familiar. Something that feels like home. It took that feeling and multiplied it with excellent execution. Witcher 3 is the best game I've played in my life.
Truly a beautiful roleplaying game with high replayability (Chapter 2 is different based on choices you make). Graphics still stand strong, even in 2017. The story is unbeatable with so many neaty-gritty details on political frictions inside of the kingdom, I found myself stopping for some extra side-questing to catch a break. There's no good or bad choices in Witcher 2. Actually, let me rephrase that. There's no good choices in Witcher 2. There's lesser evils without any absolutes. And this approach is a faithful representation of Geralt's mindset established in Sapkowski's books. A word of advice, do spend time to finish Witcher 1 and import saves into Witcher 2, as the universe that's based on them becomes way more personal and story becomes easier to understand.
Banner Saga 2 is not bad at all. It stands pretty much as good as Banner Saga 1 did. But that's the problem. Lack of innovation and too long of a development cycle between the parts. Even beautiful graphics, gorgeous music and great story couldn't keep me from snoozing closer to the end. Although the game wasn't bad at all, I'm not sure I'll wait for Part 3.
