Amazing sci-fi horror game with plenty to keep you engaged. You play engineer Isaac Clarke as he works his way through various sections of the mining spaceship Ishimura on what starts out as a repair mission, but turns into a mission for survival as he battles deadly Necromorphs that have invaded the ship. The immersion is high given that most HUD elements are removed, so there are no distractions from the eerie atmosphere of the environments, including fantastic sound design. There are plenty of jump scares, so be prepared! There are some frustrating sections that may require multiple attempts to get through, but persevere and learn the tactics and timing that will obliterate your enemies and you will be rewarded.
This is a point & click adventure game from 1997 based on the original Blade Runner film. In the game you visit many of the locations from the film, and encounter many of the same characters, but the story is unique. Some procedural generation is involved, so every playthrough can be different. The choices you make along the way can lead to one of multiple endings.
Beneath a Steel Sky is a point-and-click adventure from 1994, so don't expect modern graphics or gameplay, but do expect a deep and enjoyable story set in a dystopian future. I loved the artwork, which came out of a collaboration between game director Charles Cecil and comic book artist Dave Gibbons. The puzzles can be difficult to solve, so you'll probably need to consult a walkthrough to get past some of them.
Not as good as Shadow of Chernobyl or Call of Pripyat, but still worth playing if you are a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fan. It's actually prequel to the first game in the series, Shadow of Chernobyl, so if you've played that game the environment will be very familiar to you. Everyone talks about the broken faction warfare and the unfair enemy AI (grenades!), but these things are fixable with mods in order to improve the game experience and level the playing field. It's eminently skippable though, so you could go straight from Shadow of Chernobyl to Call of Pripyat (which is a much better game) and not really miss out on anything.
I'm not a huge fan of card games, but thought I would try this as it's set in The Witcher universe, and I'd read good things about the story, voice acting and music. I was not disappointed, and would thoroughly recommend this to anyone that's a fan of The Witcher games, books or TV show. I'd not played The Witcher 3 before going into this, but had played some Gwent, so knew a little about the mechanics of the card game that's used to play out the battles in the story. The regular battles typically last just one round with a deck of your choosing, while the puzzle battles require you to find a solution with a predefined deck. Both can be somewhat frustrating at times, so I'd recommend playing on the difficulty level that allows you to skip battles and continue with the story, which is superb! The only real criticism I have is that it went on a little too long, and the battles became somewhat samey. However, the story is so good that I pushed on to the end and completed the game. I didn't mess with my deck too much, settling on a set of cards that I liked and could win most battles with. However, some battles do require you to adjust the deck, so if things get tough you should consult a walkthrough or just skip the battle.
The Curse of Monkey Island hasn't had the remaster treatment of its two predecessors in the series, but it doesn't really need it, as it stands up very well today. The characters and writing are amazing and the ever-present humour makes playing through this classic a very enjoyable experience.
The Thief series is one of my all-time favourites. If I have the choice, I love to play stealth, so these games provide all the ingredients of a very enjoyable and memorable experience. The game is built around sound: what you can hear and what can hear you! Everything you walk on generates a different sound: walking on carpet is near-silent, but be careful if you see a marble floor in front of you, as your footsteps could easily alert a nearby guard! Stay in the shadows, as although that guard can't hear you, he could easily see you in the full glare of that torch! A meter on the HUD gives you a visual indication of how hidden you are. There are usually multiple ways that you can achieve your objectives on each level, and avoiding combat is key, as although you're armed, a guard will quickly dispatch you if you're discovered! In Deadly Shadows, Garrett is back for more sneaky missions in the City, which you can now walk around, making it a little more like an open world game. Between missions, Garrett can steal from passersby, spy on the townspeople's daily lives and search for side quests. Beware the Shalebridge Cradle, which is one of the scariest levels I've played on any video game. To really heighten the experience, I'd suggest playing at night with lights off and headphones on! This entry in the series was the first for consoles (Xbox) as well as PC, so had to live within the limits of that platform. However, you can install mods (see below) for lifting those restrictions and providing a much improved experience. Make sure to install the Sneaky Upgrade mod to make this old game run much better on modern hardware. As well as graphical improvements and fixes, this mod allows you to move around levels without loading screens, which greatly improves the immersion.
If, like me, you enjoyed Amnesia: The Dark Descent and want to see what Frictional Games produced before that, then the Penumbra games are definitely worth a look. You can clearly see the DNA of Ammesia in these games, which are first-person survival horror games where avoiding confrontation is key to surviving. In Penumbra: Black Plague, the story continues from the previous episode, Penumbra: Overture, showing the protagonist Philip moving away from the abandoned mine setting of the original to explore an underground research base. In Penumbra: Requiem, the story continues, but the focus is all on puzzles. There are no enemies. Like Anmesia, this is a game best played at night, with the lights off and headphones on!
This is a classic point and click adventure game with great writing and characters. If you've played the more recent Dreamfall games and want to discover April Ryan's backstory, you should start here. Some of the puzzles are particularly obtuse, so don't feel bad consulting a walkthough, otherwise you will get very frustrated!
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine is a classic adventure game set after WWII, so the enemies are now the Russians, rather than the Nazis! This is not a point-and-click adventure like Last Crusade and Fate of Atlantis, but is more of a platform and puzzle-solving game, similar to the early Tomb Raider games. It's a lengthy game that takes you to many spectacular locations around the world, and if you can live with the somewhat awkward controls and camera, it's well worth your time. Definitely recommended!
