RoseTints
BACKER
2020
This review contains spoilers
My first time completing a crpg and I'm glad it was this. Very few rpgs I've played can come close to bg3s level of player freedom and choice. Games that I previously thought were rich in that regard suddenly pale in comparison.
The companions are all well written and have fleshed out storylines that put you front and center in helping them either grow or degrade as their storylines progress, at least the ones that I got to encounter on my playthrough that is.
Combat is pretty fun and while it took some time to get used to I ended up relishing almost every opportunity I got to engage with it. That being said though, due to the nature of the turn based system, many encounters can take many minutes to complete. Even against relatively weak enemies. This makes getting surprised in combat when you're just walking in the world feel like a bit of a chore too. There's no easy way to flee combat either so you're basically stuck in a combat encounter against your will for what could last minutes.
The conclusion of the game was also somewhat underwhelming. The boss fights with Orin and especially Gortash could've much better in my opinion. Both fights lacked any kind of spectacle and granduer which was disappointing since the fight against Ketheric felt like it delivered on that front.
Still, at the end of the day this game was incredible and makes me very excited to see what else this genre has to offer.
The companions are all well written and have fleshed out storylines that put you front and center in helping them either grow or degrade as their storylines progress, at least the ones that I got to encounter on my playthrough that is.
Combat is pretty fun and while it took some time to get used to I ended up relishing almost every opportunity I got to engage with it. That being said though, due to the nature of the turn based system, many encounters can take many minutes to complete. Even against relatively weak enemies. This makes getting surprised in combat when you're just walking in the world feel like a bit of a chore too. There's no easy way to flee combat either so you're basically stuck in a combat encounter against your will for what could last minutes.
The conclusion of the game was also somewhat underwhelming. The boss fights with Orin and especially Gortash could've much better in my opinion. Both fights lacked any kind of spectacle and granduer which was disappointing since the fight against Ketheric felt like it delivered on that front.
Still, at the end of the day this game was incredible and makes me very excited to see what else this genre has to offer.
Just barely better than the original due to the improved swinging and combat but not much else. The open world is the same busy work nonsense you see in most open world games. The writing and characters are saccharine as they always are in modern Insomniac games. Its greatest accomplishment is being the 2nd best game released on Oct 20 of 2023.
2023
After a few light years of its tedious story, side quests, and one dimensional, dull characters, it has the decency to reward you with a boss fight. Which is easily the only thing worth experiencing about this game. The combats fine and all but it's just some watered down dmc goop with a ton of gaudy particle effects and cooldown timers. Without the cooldown moves Clives moveset is pathetic and you can't even do most of them airborne. This game sucks.
2023
This review contains spoilers
I think RE4 remake is an improvement on the original in nearly every way. Pretty much the entire cast is fleshed out and given far more depth than in their original iteration. The relationship between Ashley and Leon was the highlight of this narrative for me. In the original, their relationship felt like purely business. The president tasked Leon to save his daughter and Ashley was there to be saved. There wasn't much else to it than that. But this time around they form a real bond with each other. Leon has some real personal stakes behind saving Ashley. He views her rescue as a chance at redemption after he watched so many die during the events of the Re2 remake. This change to Leon's character adds a new layer to all the snarky one-liners that Leon doles out throughout the game. They don't just feel like smart remarks you'd hear from the arrogant action hero. Now they feel like a coping mechanism for the trauma he's endured at Racoon City, his training with Krauser, and his current situation. Ashley isn't just some completely useless damsel in distress whose sole purpose is to be saved and nothing else. Now she takes a more active role in helping Leon in gameplay and in the narrative. The way they reframed Ashley's sole playable segment from the original perfectly highlights my point. In the original Ashley just finds her way back to Leon after he saves her again. But in the remake, they flipped the script and it's up to Ashley to save Leon instead. Small touches like this go a long way in making their relationship feel far stronger. Similarly, Luis Serra gets a big narrative facelift as well. His motivations mirror that of Leons. He feels guilt for directly contributing to Saddler's plans for world domination and has made it his mission to undermine Saddler. This gives his eventual death far more weight since it's clear that Leon would relate to Luis's quest for redemption.
The gameplay of Resident Evil 4 Remake is another big improvement on the original in my opinion. The general combat loop is far more intense and challenging, exploration has been greatly expanded on, treasure hunting is more satisfying and streamlined, and the amazing pacing remains. My issues are extremely minor, for example I feel they could add some more invincibility frames after some of the contextual animations such as kicks and knife escapes. Some side quests, I think, hurt the pacing slightly. And I think the ranking system is a bit half-baked. End-of-game rankings seem to be solely based on how quickly you beat the game and not other factors like accuracy or death count. I'm alright with time being a factor but the lone factor in determining your ranking seems like a big missed opportunity in my opinion. None of these are dealbreakers of course. They are extremely minor nitpicks at best in what I think is otherwise one of the best games ever created.
There were plenty of things I missed from the original. Some setpieces, jokes, and bosses were sad to see go. But there was always something that replaced them and I think the changes made were typically for the best for this version of the game.
The gameplay of Resident Evil 4 Remake is another big improvement on the original in my opinion. The general combat loop is far more intense and challenging, exploration has been greatly expanded on, treasure hunting is more satisfying and streamlined, and the amazing pacing remains. My issues are extremely minor, for example I feel they could add some more invincibility frames after some of the contextual animations such as kicks and knife escapes. Some side quests, I think, hurt the pacing slightly. And I think the ranking system is a bit half-baked. End-of-game rankings seem to be solely based on how quickly you beat the game and not other factors like accuracy or death count. I'm alright with time being a factor but the lone factor in determining your ranking seems like a big missed opportunity in my opinion. None of these are dealbreakers of course. They are extremely minor nitpicks at best in what I think is otherwise one of the best games ever created.
There were plenty of things I missed from the original. Some setpieces, jokes, and bosses were sad to see go. But there was always something that replaced them and I think the changes made were typically for the best for this version of the game.
2022
Elden Ring is one of the greatest games ever created. An open world that easily outclasses all that have come before due to its incredibly unique topography and world design, breathtakingly beautiful and varied environments, worldbuilding written by the greatest fantasy writer of this generation told by some of the best environmental storytellers in gaming history, and of course, one of the most absurdly massive open worlds that still maintain the tightly crafted level design in its legacy dungeons that From Software has been known for.
A major theme of Elden Ring’s narrative is ambition. But something special about Elden Ring is that the theme of ambition isn’t only felt through its narrative and characters but through you and even From Software. What I mean is that Elden Ring, as a game, is an ambitious undertaking. Creating a game with an open world of this size and scope, all while maintaining many of the aspects that Souls fans have come to know and love, such as the more compact level design of previous outings, would inevitably be From Software’s greatest challenge yet. But even for the player Elden Ring is a massive undertaking. From Software don’t pull their punches when they make games. These games are not user-friendly by design and subvert pretty much every design trope of gaming. For someone stepping into Elden Ring for the first time, it could literally feel like you’re stepping into a new world for the first time. The perseverance you must have in order to get through Elden Ring’s many enemies, bosses, and world to become Elden Lord. The mental fortitude you need to try and piece together as many aspects of the lore and worldbuilding to get as clear a picture of the game’s themes and narrative fit perfectly with that theme of ambition. Matching the experience of the player to the themes of the narrative is something From Software has always done extremely well in their games, especially in Bloodborne. So, it’s great to see them continue to find new ways to recontextualize the narrative and gameplay to match the playing experience so seamlessly. Other major themes of Elden Ring are order and identity. The Elden Ring was shattered and fractured to its core. The very laws and order of The Lands Between are fundamentally broken. It is up to the tarnished to regather, reorganize, and reorder the world in a way that they deem fit. Many characters in The Lands Between have their own ideologies and views on how the world should proceed into the next age. Many characters in Elden Ring have fractured identities or a clear foil to themselves. The lore of Elden Ring is, fittingly, fractured and difficult to decipher. Left up to interpretation. Meant for you, the player, to “solve” or reorder and organize in a way that works best for you. Making for another way that From Software has managed to match the experience of playing the game with the narrative. I think Elden Ring is another example of gaming’s unique storytelling capabilities and FromSoftware's ability to fully utilize the medium.
A major theme of Elden Ring’s narrative is ambition. But something special about Elden Ring is that the theme of ambition isn’t only felt through its narrative and characters but through you and even From Software. What I mean is that Elden Ring, as a game, is an ambitious undertaking. Creating a game with an open world of this size and scope, all while maintaining many of the aspects that Souls fans have come to know and love, such as the more compact level design of previous outings, would inevitably be From Software’s greatest challenge yet. But even for the player Elden Ring is a massive undertaking. From Software don’t pull their punches when they make games. These games are not user-friendly by design and subvert pretty much every design trope of gaming. For someone stepping into Elden Ring for the first time, it could literally feel like you’re stepping into a new world for the first time. The perseverance you must have in order to get through Elden Ring’s many enemies, bosses, and world to become Elden Lord. The mental fortitude you need to try and piece together as many aspects of the lore and worldbuilding to get as clear a picture of the game’s themes and narrative fit perfectly with that theme of ambition. Matching the experience of the player to the themes of the narrative is something From Software has always done extremely well in their games, especially in Bloodborne. So, it’s great to see them continue to find new ways to recontextualize the narrative and gameplay to match the playing experience so seamlessly. Other major themes of Elden Ring are order and identity. The Elden Ring was shattered and fractured to its core. The very laws and order of The Lands Between are fundamentally broken. It is up to the tarnished to regather, reorganize, and reorder the world in a way that they deem fit. Many characters in The Lands Between have their own ideologies and views on how the world should proceed into the next age. Many characters in Elden Ring have fractured identities or a clear foil to themselves. The lore of Elden Ring is, fittingly, fractured and difficult to decipher. Left up to interpretation. Meant for you, the player, to “solve” or reorder and organize in a way that works best for you. Making for another way that From Software has managed to match the experience of playing the game with the narrative. I think Elden Ring is another example of gaming’s unique storytelling capabilities and FromSoftware's ability to fully utilize the medium.
2023
The Dead Space Remake is incredible. True to the original in pretty much every sense while adding or changing things in subtle ways to make it feel like a new standalone product. Being a huge fan of the original I really couldn't be happier with this remake. This isn't a case of a dev team not understanding what made the original amazing and butchering it. It is actually the exact opposite. They went as far as to gather a bunch of die-hard Dead Space fans for this remake to make sure they never strayed too far from the series' roots and it shows because everything here makes perfect sense within the context of the franchise as a whole. I never felt like anything was downgraded at all.
Gameplay was much improved due to the peeling system, the intensity director, the newly interconnected Inshimura, the ds2 kinesis system, the ds2 zero gravity, the new circuit breakers, and the incredible lighting and shadows. Combat felt much less like a flow chart where you just shoot a slashers leg off then finish them off with some shots to the arm. Now, with the ds2 kinesis coupled with the peeling system, you could rip the arm right off a slasher before its even been fully removed and impale them with it. Making shots to the arm far more rewarding and, many times, even more ideal than just shooting the legs. The zero gravity segments and the bosses are vastly improved due to incorporating DS2s zero gravity mechanics. The lighting and circuit breakers in this game make most encounters even more intense than before since many times you'll be in pitch black darkness and need to rely on the amazing audio design and the flashlights from your engineering tools to help. Being forced to choose what to provide power always put me on edge knowing that I'd have to sacrifice something else in return. Exploration is much more rewarding this time around since nodes never need to be wasted on dead cells. New upgrade paths for many weapons and they even added side quests to flesh out the world-building.
The story gets some added content that again helps flesh out the world and characters in some pretty interesting ways. Mercer in particular was way more memorable this time around. This game also does a better job of showing the influence the marker has on the other characters in the game like Hammond and some others. But what's great about the remake is that they all feel true to the series as a whole and are things that clearly aren't done just for the sake of it like some other remakes.
Overall, this remake is incredible and the vast majority of fans of the original should be very happy that Motive has done an amazing job at recreating this horror classic. I'll never forgive EA for what they did to this series but Motive has gained my trust and I'd be happy to play whatever else they do with this series moving forward.
Gameplay was much improved due to the peeling system, the intensity director, the newly interconnected Inshimura, the ds2 kinesis system, the ds2 zero gravity, the new circuit breakers, and the incredible lighting and shadows. Combat felt much less like a flow chart where you just shoot a slashers leg off then finish them off with some shots to the arm. Now, with the ds2 kinesis coupled with the peeling system, you could rip the arm right off a slasher before its even been fully removed and impale them with it. Making shots to the arm far more rewarding and, many times, even more ideal than just shooting the legs. The zero gravity segments and the bosses are vastly improved due to incorporating DS2s zero gravity mechanics. The lighting and circuit breakers in this game make most encounters even more intense than before since many times you'll be in pitch black darkness and need to rely on the amazing audio design and the flashlights from your engineering tools to help. Being forced to choose what to provide power always put me on edge knowing that I'd have to sacrifice something else in return. Exploration is much more rewarding this time around since nodes never need to be wasted on dead cells. New upgrade paths for many weapons and they even added side quests to flesh out the world-building.
The story gets some added content that again helps flesh out the world and characters in some pretty interesting ways. Mercer in particular was way more memorable this time around. This game also does a better job of showing the influence the marker has on the other characters in the game like Hammond and some others. But what's great about the remake is that they all feel true to the series as a whole and are things that clearly aren't done just for the sake of it like some other remakes.
Overall, this remake is incredible and the vast majority of fans of the original should be very happy that Motive has done an amazing job at recreating this horror classic. I'll never forgive EA for what they did to this series but Motive has gained my trust and I'd be happy to play whatever else they do with this series moving forward.