It took me 19 days to beat this 3-hour Portal mod.

Rexaura is a pretty well-known mod in the Portal community, so I decided to try it out after beating the other big mods like Portal Stories: Mel and Portal Revolution since I was still eager to play more of the same. Unlike the two mods listed above, Rexaura is a Portal 1 mod and focuses exclusively on the energy ball mechanic from that game and adds new elements like reactive gates to introduce new ways to utilise these energy balls. Now, as you could possibly guess, relying on the same mechanic for the entirety of your mod grows a little stale after a while. This is one of the main reasons why I felt so demotivated to finish Rexaura - I didn't have anything to look forward, since I'd just get more energy ball chambers. The puzzles themselves aren't even bad and I found them to be quite fun overall. That's where it stops though, the story is pretty underwhelming for a Portal game and the ending felt rushed. Especially the dialogue is nothing noteworthy and I couldn't even name you a line which especially stood out to me, which is also saddening since I'm a big fan of the passive commentary in other (fan)games of the Portal universe.

But as I said before, the puzzles in Rexaura are enjoyable enough to be worth your time, so check it out if you're still looking for more Portal. It wouldn't be my first choice because of the aforementioned criticisms, yet I had my fair share of fun and am satisfied with what it had to offer. Now that this game is finally out of the way, I can dedicate my time to games I actually want to play properly without Rexaura haunting my thoughts. Thanks for reading.

Thinking with portals is crazy, dude.

I don't recall ever thinking that Portal was a hard puzzle game whatsoever and that hasn't particularly changed on this long overdue replay. However, the escalation of complexity, especially towards the later half of the game still feels like a stroke of genius on Valve's part. Hand in hand with GLaDOS' narration the game just gives up on guiding you (at least THAT overtly, the blood smeared exit signs are a bit much) and lets you figure things out for yourself.

My gut feeling tells me I'm always gonna be more likely to replay this very short and dense brain buster over the more bloated, if still very enjoyable, sequel in the future.

remedy by way of ubisoft lol,, rlly just very dry and boring in a way remedy never is,, idk if a studio like that should have a budget like this. feels so modern triple a game core fucking bloated game w like infamous games tier combat which who was rlly clamoring for that to come back in style,, lame confusing interconnected map. idk missing all the style and swag that prev remedy games had esp in regards to its main character, max and alan instantly recognizable and at least partially sympathetic,, they seem real and human even w tech that was obv more limited. but jesse never once felt human to me,, feels like modern superhero movie quippy girl and that’s just so boring to me. and why is she a girl what specifically about her is so diff from max or alan or rlly any video game character that is oh so sad oh so tragic,, blank slate ahhh character..idk shit is boring I bounced off after five hours. remedy asleep at the wheel frfr and house of leaves seems like infinite jest for ppl that suck even more somehow. on that pseud type shit. zzzzzzzzz

It's Star Wars-flavoured Dark Souls, essentially.

A pretty simple "go here to get this thing" story, with a cast of interesting characters and fun set-pieces. Weirdly, even as someone who has played all of the Soulsborne games I really struggled with the combat at points. Still, it's a fun ride, Merrin is a cutie and the final chapter is a blast.

I've heard that Survivor improves on this in every way so I'm looking forward to playing that (now that they've fixed the bugs).

i’ve always been scared of big empty areas. they’re always a little unnerving, and i find my mind often filling up the empty unknown with all sorts of awful things.

nier automata builds this atmosphere of sheer peace and tranquility. throughout the game you’re met with tragedy and drama through every new area you visit, but while you run around the soft, empty fields and buildings and absorb the beautiful music you can’t help but look around and think that maybe things would be okay. maybe if the world were to halt for the rest of time.. it’d be okay. the grass feels almost angelic to look at, and the buildings feel soft and serene. the roots of overgrown trees line the buildings to the point where you can scale up and down to your heart’s content.
idk i have more to say but i forgot