Never played the original, I've seen some gameplay of it though, and this is more or less a 1 to 1 remake of the original, generally the same game with better graphics and smoother gameplay. (Make sure to set the control setting to modern in options so you can move independently of aiming/shooting, I didn't realize the default mode was classic controls, so I mostly just used the mouse to do everything my first playthrough, although it did get the job done.) This game is pretty linear, even for a rail shooter, but what's there is good. I still think Star Fox 64 is the prime example of how to do a 3D schmup/rail shooter, what with branching paths and all, as well as some other elements. PD came out quite a while before SF64 so I'll definitely cut it some slack for being a bit basic, it's still a fun game.
More Cat Quest 1, now with Co-Op and a lot of other new stuff. Fun semi-casual ARPG with overwhelming cuteness and puns.
The plot reminds me of Unepic and Black Knight. Where the protagonist gets sent back in time to a medieval setting, and shenanigans ensue. The game is a bit more action than RPG, it's not terribly similar to Diablo, you get way less abilities too. You can pick from 3 classes (Warrior, Conjurer, Wizard), I picked warrior, and 2 out of the 5 warrior abilities are borderline useless (Tread Lightly and Eye of the Wolf) As a warrior, you melee most enemies, occasionally blocking, and then use shurikens to deal with the real dangerous stuff. About 80% of the game is relatively easy, then there's about 15% of the game where you have to avoid fairly deadly traps and fight enemies that hit like a brick. Then the last 5% of it is the game literally trolling you, at least, in my experience. The wizard's tower was bs at times with mages 1 or 2 shotting me, as well as spells that drop your weapon/shield gets incredibly annoying fast. Then there's that last bit at the end where you chase Hecubah through a cave of about 5000 enemies, and is about 90% luck dependent on making it to the door, and if you do, you get stunlocked by a cutscene for a moment, giving you about a 40% chance of not getting mauled by the enemies that followed you. When in doubt, God Mode. (F1, enter racoiaws, then enter set god (unset god to disable it) The dungeon crawling is usually good, a good amount of secrets to be found too. Like some other RPGs, merchants overcharge out the ass for most things, and also repairs become way too expensive by the end of the game. The game didn't really need a durability system. It's a decent game, but I got way too frustrated by the end of it to even consider playing as the other 2 classes.
It's more Postal 2. Except for Paradise Lost, which is literally more Postal 2. Postal 4 is the true sequel to Postal 2, and not that one number that happens between 2 and 4, which is also the number that Valve refuses to acknowledge.
Wasteland 2 was the turn based successor to Fallout, when Fallout stopped being turn based with 3 and was turned into an FPS RPG. This is more of Wasteland 2, along with overhauls to some things, such as UI, and dumbing down a few things, such as having a shared inventory and having no weight limit, but replacing that limitation with limited quick slots per character instead. If you liked Wasteland 2, chances are you'll like 3. Similar to W2, 3 also has some technical issues, (2 generally ran like garbage, even on minimum settings with a perfectly capable PC.) 3 seems more optimized in a general sense, except for when the memory leaks happen (after a few hours of play usually), causing the game to run terribly until rebooted. Then there was this terrible glitch that started happening in the last 30% of the game, I think it has a chance of happening after battle, not sure. It was like the game thought I was holding right click or something, and wouldn't let go, I could even move into dark areas (with fog of war) and it would stay dark, if I tried reloading, it would load infinitely. Again, only rebooting the game fixed it. Really nasty bug. Unity isn't a particularly terrible engine by default (I guess), but it is if you're careless with optimization. I've played at least a few Unity games that ran well (Oddworld remake, Outcast remake) I dunno, maybe inXile would utilize Unreal 4/5 better with their next game. I just have a feeling if they use Unity again, similar technical problems will happen again. And it's going to suck. Again.
Still at least decent, but crippled by it's short length (5-6 hours) and incredibly dumbed down level design (it's about 95% linear, with the occasional slightly out of the way secret, it's a bunch of platforming/parkour sections, then combat arenas, rinse and repeat.) It kind of just feels like an extended finale of Shadow Warrior 2, you're mostly in this same gigantic locale, just hunting down the dragon and killing a bunch of dudes on the way there. And there's only 2 bosses, and not many weapons, compared to 2's dozens of weapons. Definitely not worth the launch price of 50$, but at least I got Shadow Warrior 2 for free back in 2018, so I'm a bit more okay with it, I'm just gonna pretend I spent like 35$ on Shadow Warrior 2, and 15$ on 3. Wait for a sale, don't spend more than 20$ on this. Here's a random idea: It would be potentially pretty rad if Flying Wild Hog did a remake of Daikatana, since they have a good synergy with first person sword combat, and gunplay. That is, if they gave it the same care as Shadow Warrior 1 and 2, and not whatever 3 is.
As opposed to a half-assed, buggy, hollow remake. I consider XIII to be a cousin of sorts, to the likes of Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Time Splitters, etc. Neat little cel-shaded + comic book stylized objective/level based FPS. The gameplay isn't always the smoothest (some funky stealth sections, checkpoints AKA no quick saving, lack of checkpoints at times) but other than that, still a good game. Would be rad if they made a sequel, not just because of the cliff hanger ending, but because more XIII (and done better) would be neato. I first played this on the Gamecube eons ago, back when it was given away for free at a GameCrazy for some reason (probably for buying a bunch of used games or something) Didn't know what to expect before playing it, then I eventually ended up loving most of it. Definitely get this, and *DO NOT* touch the GARBAGE remake. Unless they end up pulling a No Man's Sky or something and end up infinitely improving it.
If you're a fan of Max Payne, this one's a no brainer. Make sure to get the FOV fix from PCGamingWiki, unless you want to vomit from such a low, unchangeable FOV. Seriously GoG, you need to start including shit like this as optional downloads under the main installer files.
The game is kind of like SCP meets X-Files (and perhaps a bit of X-COM), or something to that extent with all these weird, anomalous objects. Speaking of anomalies, it reminds me a bit of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. artifacts, how normal objects are transformed into something supernatural from this otherwordly force. Similar to Alan Wake, you have a bunch of dudes possessed by an otherwordly force, and you must shoot them in the face, but not with just any gun, but a strange, magnetic based firearm that can change form to change it's weapon behavior. And for some reason, the gun also gives the protagonist jedi force powers. Jesse essentially has the gravity gun from Half-Life 2 built into the palm of her hand, much like that one early HL2 mod with the Ocarina of Time looking fairies. Flinging objects works a bit less well in third person, but thankfully there's an auto aim that works well about 85% of the time. The levels consist of big, labyrinthian office/industrial/complex/etc maze areas, and also the map doesn't always make sense, one time the objective marker even broke, pointing me in the completely wrong direction for about 10 minutes, causing me to wander like an idiot. Thankfully there is fast travel for this massive underground complex. If there ever is a Control 2, it would be neat if they incorporated actual Metroidvania elements into it, and not just vaguely tease those elements. We could call this subgenre Shootvania. That difficulty spike at the very end kind of sucked, so I just said f*** it and turned on "F*** You, I'm God" mode and blasted everything in one hit. Remedy has been kind of obsessed with superpowered protagonists in their games lately (If you think about it, Max Payne even had the super power of Bullet Time) It wouldn't surprise me if Alan starts firing out Iron Man esque beams of light out of his hands in Alan Wake 2. Overall, pretty decent schut. I give it a "Sometimes this map makes no f***ing sense, but the combat is kind of neat" out of 10
The first game was inspired by 2 different things, Roadside Picnic, and the Stalker film from 1979. It almost had more delays than Duke Nukem Forever. The developers are fans of Half-life (You can find a dead bootleg Gordon Freeman in a parking lot tunnel near a Desert Eagle) Excellent atmosphere, rich, immersive world. Lovable fellow STALKERS, and even lovable enemy STALKERS (those bandits are very silly and charming, BANDIT RADIO!) Relatively realistic weapon handling (I used to think how often they jam was a little bs, then me and my bro was firing his handgun at targets, and it jammed literally every other shot. I then appreciated STALKER's weapon system even more. The jam RNG can be a little stupid though. Like X-COM RNG stupid. It's a little janky at times, might want to get a mod or two. Also, check out S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly on Moddb. A really substantial mod that combines the 3 games' maps, has a new quest, and then some.
