Severren
36 reviews liked by Severren
The Forgotten City
2021
"The enemy of this place is not the Golden Rule, but human failings"
I first heard of this game when it got released as there was a positive word of mouth spreading around it but I was very surprised to find out it had in fact started out as a Skyrim mod before expanding into a game in it's own right. Even with the positive reviews around it I still hesitated due to my dislike of the Elder Scrolls games but fortunately due to a user here duhnunuh and his perpetual steam giveaway I was given the chance to try this out. Having finished it 100% in two days my reservations were extremely unfounded. It's fantastic. I found myself absolutely engrossed in the city and story around it's Groundhog day time loop premise.
The Forgotten City is a hard game to actually discuss though as much of the joy of playing it is making the discoveries as the narrative unfolds. A couple of parts really made me go "well dam!" as I played through it. The short spoiler free version is that you wake up next to a river in modern times before stumbling into an underground Roman ruin whilst searching for a man who had entered it prior to you. Once in there you realise it's a one way entrance and you are now stuck inside except for a portal that takes you back 2000 years before when the city was still a vibrant community. To get out you need to find out why it became the ruin it was in your time and prevent it from happening.
Though it does have plenty of options, branches and endings the game is actually more linear than it appears overall with talking to all the residents of this ancient Roman city to unlock more information, items and quests to constantly progress with loop shortcuts built in once enough progress is made. It's a clever little game but the cast of characters and usage of history and myths is what really makes it such a winner for me. I love historical settings and though Rome is often used in large scale war games and gladiator titles it rarely gets as intimate a background as this. Conversations of normal people of the period, gods and politics all mixed in but each conversation actually serving a purpose to push the story along towards it's conclusion. The characters all have their own lives and backgrounds and although some are more important to the overall narrative than others they all feel like people rather than background models in the world. The small setting allows for the characters to each have their own personality, worries, history and flaws.
Outside of the dialogue and conversations you will spend your time exploring the location. The game is called the Forgotten City but it's more a small village or town than a city. There is still plenty to explore and see however with temples, markets, forums, caves and secrets. There is some occasional basic combat in first person which is kind of weak though extremely limited with only one section really requiring it as the main point is the mystery. If I'm really nit-picking flaws, some of the animations for their faces and how characters stand can pull you out of the immersion a little as they stare at you cross eyed. The thing is I actually do think it's a fantastic looking and sounding title overall. It has great art design, vistas, music and voice acting to pull it all together cohesively, especially for a game made by a core group of only 3 people from scratch off the back of a mod idea.
Overall I think this is a game that will stay with me for a long time that occasionally I will just think about. Whilst I like a great many games in a variety of genres there are only a few for their story that really stand out to me for the overall experience. Games like Soma, Mass Effect, 13 Sentinels and now, The Forgotten City. "The many shall suffer for the sins of the one?" No, no, no. The many shall enjoy due to the work of a few.
Recommended.
+ Great historical references, narrative and characters.
+ Gorgeous art design.
+ Just an engrossing experience.
- Combat though limited isn't that fun.
I first heard of this game when it got released as there was a positive word of mouth spreading around it but I was very surprised to find out it had in fact started out as a Skyrim mod before expanding into a game in it's own right. Even with the positive reviews around it I still hesitated due to my dislike of the Elder Scrolls games but fortunately due to a user here duhnunuh and his perpetual steam giveaway I was given the chance to try this out. Having finished it 100% in two days my reservations were extremely unfounded. It's fantastic. I found myself absolutely engrossed in the city and story around it's Groundhog day time loop premise.
The Forgotten City is a hard game to actually discuss though as much of the joy of playing it is making the discoveries as the narrative unfolds. A couple of parts really made me go "well dam!" as I played through it. The short spoiler free version is that you wake up next to a river in modern times before stumbling into an underground Roman ruin whilst searching for a man who had entered it prior to you. Once in there you realise it's a one way entrance and you are now stuck inside except for a portal that takes you back 2000 years before when the city was still a vibrant community. To get out you need to find out why it became the ruin it was in your time and prevent it from happening.
Though it does have plenty of options, branches and endings the game is actually more linear than it appears overall with talking to all the residents of this ancient Roman city to unlock more information, items and quests to constantly progress with loop shortcuts built in once enough progress is made. It's a clever little game but the cast of characters and usage of history and myths is what really makes it such a winner for me. I love historical settings and though Rome is often used in large scale war games and gladiator titles it rarely gets as intimate a background as this. Conversations of normal people of the period, gods and politics all mixed in but each conversation actually serving a purpose to push the story along towards it's conclusion. The characters all have their own lives and backgrounds and although some are more important to the overall narrative than others they all feel like people rather than background models in the world. The small setting allows for the characters to each have their own personality, worries, history and flaws.
Outside of the dialogue and conversations you will spend your time exploring the location. The game is called the Forgotten City but it's more a small village or town than a city. There is still plenty to explore and see however with temples, markets, forums, caves and secrets. There is some occasional basic combat in first person which is kind of weak though extremely limited with only one section really requiring it as the main point is the mystery. If I'm really nit-picking flaws, some of the animations for their faces and how characters stand can pull you out of the immersion a little as they stare at you cross eyed. The thing is I actually do think it's a fantastic looking and sounding title overall. It has great art design, vistas, music and voice acting to pull it all together cohesively, especially for a game made by a core group of only 3 people from scratch off the back of a mod idea.
Overall I think this is a game that will stay with me for a long time that occasionally I will just think about. Whilst I like a great many games in a variety of genres there are only a few for their story that really stand out to me for the overall experience. Games like Soma, Mass Effect, 13 Sentinels and now, The Forgotten City. "The many shall suffer for the sins of the one?" No, no, no. The many shall enjoy due to the work of a few.
Recommended.
+ Great historical references, narrative and characters.
+ Gorgeous art design.
+ Just an engrossing experience.
- Combat though limited isn't that fun.
The Forgotten City
2021
A perfect example of the deduction style genre that became popular since Obra Dinn. Without spoiling too much you're playing as a guy that gets trapped in a ancient Roman city that is somehow stuck in a time loop. Your goal is to uncover the mystery behind the loop and find a way to stop it. So basically Outer Wilds with more narrative.
Just like OW the first one-two hours are a bit disorienting since you are not sure what to do and how to do it. But after a while you get the gist of it. You have to speak with the city's residents to learn who they are, their problems and relationships and slowly piece together the lore and unravel the mystery. There's a fair amount of exploration, but the city is pretty small (basically a hub sized area) so don't expect something in the same scope as OW.
The writing is fantastic with a tremendous attention to historical accuracy. The characters are all unique and you get to sympathise with them after many loops.
The game is a bit more linear than OW, but you still need to deduct and make connections in order to finish it. There are 4 endings, the first two can be reached fairly easy, but I highly recommend to try for the main ending. Figuring the whole mystery and closing all the threads feels so satisfying.
There are only a few negative things I could say about it. Sometimes a big attempt to a mystery leads to a "ok you win" response or some characters react a bit nonchalant to a guy that tells them "I relive the same day so do that! trust me on this". But in the end it's a game, big deal. The performance on ps4 is rough with a framerate around 25 fps and bad loading times. There's also a combat section which feels bad, you can tell this one is inspired by Skyrim.
In the end this was a phenomenal game that I would recommend to anyone. If you like Outer Wilds or various deduction games like Obra Dinn or Golden Idol then the game is a must. If you fancy a nice story with well written characters then its a must as well.
Just like OW the first one-two hours are a bit disorienting since you are not sure what to do and how to do it. But after a while you get the gist of it. You have to speak with the city's residents to learn who they are, their problems and relationships and slowly piece together the lore and unravel the mystery. There's a fair amount of exploration, but the city is pretty small (basically a hub sized area) so don't expect something in the same scope as OW.
The writing is fantastic with a tremendous attention to historical accuracy. The characters are all unique and you get to sympathise with them after many loops.
The game is a bit more linear than OW, but you still need to deduct and make connections in order to finish it. There are 4 endings, the first two can be reached fairly easy, but I highly recommend to try for the main ending. Figuring the whole mystery and closing all the threads feels so satisfying.
There are only a few negative things I could say about it. Sometimes a big attempt to a mystery leads to a "ok you win" response or some characters react a bit nonchalant to a guy that tells them "I relive the same day so do that! trust me on this". But in the end it's a game, big deal. The performance on ps4 is rough with a framerate around 25 fps and bad loading times. There's also a combat section which feels bad, you can tell this one is inspired by Skyrim.
In the end this was a phenomenal game that I would recommend to anyone. If you like Outer Wilds or various deduction games like Obra Dinn or Golden Idol then the game is a must. If you fancy a nice story with well written characters then its a must as well.
Persona 5 Royal
2019
God, what an experience.
I’ve been wanting to play Persona 5 for a LONG time now. I first became interested in the game from Joker being added to Smash Ultimate and being mesmerised by the game’s artstyle and music. Only problem was that P5 was a Playstation exclusive and I only had a Switch back then. Few years later, it’s announced that the modern Persona trilogy would be re-releasing on all modern platforms. I went ahead and wishlisted all the games on Steam as I thought that if I enjoyed P5, I would probably play the other games to. And that leads us to today, after I played Persona 3 and 4 earlier this year and finally played Persona 5 Royal after waiting all these years. And it was incredible.
First, I would like to go through all of my negatives with this game as I’d rather end this review on a positive note than a negative one. First issue I have is the cast of characters. This is by far the weakest cast of any of the Persona games I’ve played. This isn’t me saying they’re bad characters but they feel a lot more one-note than previous casts and they don’t really bounce off with each other like previous casts as well. It feels less like a friend group and more a group of people who happen to know each other through the MC. My other negative is that, just like Persona 4 Golden, it is painfully obvious when the original game was supposed to end and where the new content was added. I would’ve much preferred if the new content was more smoothly transitioned to from the main game.
And thats it. Those are pretty much all my negatives for this game. Onto the positives.
The story this game presents you with is incredible. There’s so many twists and turns and, despite having probably one of the biggest cast of main characters in a Persona game, each one get their own time to shine and go through their own arcs. The gameplay is the smoothest and cleanest the series has ever been, bringing back the series’s staple mechanics like the One More system and weaknesses to adding in completely new mechanics that add more strategy to the gameplay like Baton Passes, Negotiations, Gun damage, etc. This is also by far the most stylish Persona game with it’s UI. Everything pops with the game’s gorgeous artstyle with loads of detail being put into every part of the UI that makes the game a joy to look at. I also love the addition of the Phantom Thieves suits/costumes, it helps make each character that more unique and really helps exemplify their personalities. Another great thing about this game is the personalised dungeons (now named Palaces) return from Persona 4 but are even better now with them being fully designed dungeons that you actually can truly explore instead of randomly generated rooms each floor. The Palaces themselves are a treat to explore (except Okumura’s), with each having vivid imagery that gives you a great look into a character’s personality.
Persona 5 is one of the best games I’ve ever played. I would highly recommend it to anyone that is even the slightest bit interested as it is one of the best gaming experiences you can ever have.
I’ve been wanting to play Persona 5 for a LONG time now. I first became interested in the game from Joker being added to Smash Ultimate and being mesmerised by the game’s artstyle and music. Only problem was that P5 was a Playstation exclusive and I only had a Switch back then. Few years later, it’s announced that the modern Persona trilogy would be re-releasing on all modern platforms. I went ahead and wishlisted all the games on Steam as I thought that if I enjoyed P5, I would probably play the other games to. And that leads us to today, after I played Persona 3 and 4 earlier this year and finally played Persona 5 Royal after waiting all these years. And it was incredible.
First, I would like to go through all of my negatives with this game as I’d rather end this review on a positive note than a negative one. First issue I have is the cast of characters. This is by far the weakest cast of any of the Persona games I’ve played. This isn’t me saying they’re bad characters but they feel a lot more one-note than previous casts and they don’t really bounce off with each other like previous casts as well. It feels less like a friend group and more a group of people who happen to know each other through the MC. My other negative is that, just like Persona 4 Golden, it is painfully obvious when the original game was supposed to end and where the new content was added. I would’ve much preferred if the new content was more smoothly transitioned to from the main game.
And thats it. Those are pretty much all my negatives for this game. Onto the positives.
The story this game presents you with is incredible. There’s so many twists and turns and, despite having probably one of the biggest cast of main characters in a Persona game, each one get their own time to shine and go through their own arcs. The gameplay is the smoothest and cleanest the series has ever been, bringing back the series’s staple mechanics like the One More system and weaknesses to adding in completely new mechanics that add more strategy to the gameplay like Baton Passes, Negotiations, Gun damage, etc. This is also by far the most stylish Persona game with it’s UI. Everything pops with the game’s gorgeous artstyle with loads of detail being put into every part of the UI that makes the game a joy to look at. I also love the addition of the Phantom Thieves suits/costumes, it helps make each character that more unique and really helps exemplify their personalities. Another great thing about this game is the personalised dungeons (now named Palaces) return from Persona 4 but are even better now with them being fully designed dungeons that you actually can truly explore instead of randomly generated rooms each floor. The Palaces themselves are a treat to explore (except Okumura’s), with each having vivid imagery that gives you a great look into a character’s personality.
Persona 5 is one of the best games I’ve ever played. I would highly recommend it to anyone that is even the slightest bit interested as it is one of the best gaming experiences you can ever have.
Pretty good Metroidvania. While I'm not a fan of the new character designs and would have preferred the classic Sands of Time cast, it's still a fun game. I encountered quite a lot of bugs but nothing game breaking thankfully. Would recommend this, especially to newcomers of the genre.
Cyberpunk 2077
2020
In the state it is now it has a lot of variety, an interesting and immersive story, the world and general aesthetic is really well crafted and detailed. I keep coming back to play bits and pieces and side missions
It's a solid game, from the manner the open-world gameplay is handled, to the combat, which (most of the time), works.
The game does follow the Ubisoft tower conquering systems, but this time with fun encounters and decent stealth, making it less tedious, but somewhat repetitive.
Ghost of tsushima delivers, with a great samurai story about honor, a great soundtrack and beautiful graphics.
The game does follow the Ubisoft tower conquering systems, but this time with fun encounters and decent stealth, making it less tedious, but somewhat repetitive.
Ghost of tsushima delivers, with a great samurai story about honor, a great soundtrack and beautiful graphics.
therefore I AM very lost and confused
The art design is just beautifull,cutscenes are very good.The story is good ,very emotional at times.
The platforming sections are fun.
The combat can be a bit clunky at times,with the camera not helping,the bosses are bit on a hard side,but pretty rewarding to beat
The platforming sections are fun.
The combat can be a bit clunky at times,with the camera not helping,the bosses are bit on a hard side,but pretty rewarding to beat
Road 96
2021
Magnifique experience de jeu narrative ! Mention speciale pour la bande son !
Devil May Cry
2001
dante you’re gonna fill my what⁉️
-good ass combat
-soundtrack still slaps
-camera angles are the hardest enemy in the game
-nelo angelo 2 on dmd stole my lunch money
-ifrit my beloved
very good game and it still mostly holds up
didyaknowthisgamewassupposedtobeRE4
-good ass combat
-soundtrack still slaps
-camera angles are the hardest enemy in the game
-nelo angelo 2 on dmd stole my lunch money
-ifrit my beloved
very good game and it still mostly holds up
didyaknowthisgamewassupposedtobeRE4