the original system shock is one of my absolute favorite things of all time in the entirety of art. some things just transcend the medium they're made in. i love john woo's the killer as if it was my son, there isn't a day where i'll get tired of boris's flood, and 1994's system shock is a game i will always look at with the rosiest of tinted glasses. then there's also the fact that system shock is one of the most important games made. so much of its design echoes today. the silly 451 code number now overdone for no reason, the abundant audio logs to tell the game's story that so many games now replicate, and the foundation it laid for future imsims and other genres to build upon. oh and theres also how system shock is weirdly a pseudo metroidvania before castlevania symphony of the night released to define that genre. so when i decided to go against my value of never preordering games with the system shock remake, i prayed that i would see it released in a good state. by all means nightdive has stuck their landing.

system shock '23 is good. pretty damn good most of the time. the new bells and whistles made possible from newer technology are mostly good. obviously turn off most processing with bloom and motion blur, but the volumetric lighting is pretty nice and the shadows just add so much despair to the dark corners of the station. however, the beauty of the system shock remake's presentation is mostly from nightdive recreating every room to a damn T. fuck it, not even a T. they built a cross with how faithful their replication of citadel station is (minus the bridge from what i remember of the original). medical is just as coldly blue, storage is just as chaotic, security still has its looming height. it looks like system shock in terms of architecture, but it has more of a darker atmosphere than the cornea-burning bright hodgepodge of colors that made the original. from the 2 hours ive played of system shock 2, it feels like nightdive's crew loved SS2 more than SS1 and wanted to incorporate elements from the sequel into this remake. its more horror focused is what im saying and i welcome it but also sadly miss the constant overstimulation from the visuals and almost blaring music, fueling the confusion born from the labyrinth. the music mostly plays during combat. it's not a recreation of the original soundtrack. the original was hectic, whirring, thrilling. this remake is a synthwave combat track but that doesnt mean to make them bad, it's just different and doesnt evoke the same stress from the original's admittedly janky sound from its low fidelity. the ambient tracks are pretty nice too, they remind me a lot of prey 2017 which is what i think the nightdive team was also pulling a lot from because of the addition of recycling machines and junk.

the execution is alright. i like how it puts greater value onto inventory space, like in survival horror games a la resident evil, but it was also quite annoying if i wanted to fully take advantage of the tokens and recycling. it's not needed to complete the game, so its not that big of a deal but its also like a weird feature to add. its like nightdive wasnt satisfied enough with the modernization of the game so they added recycling, akin to the crafting systems that are almost always hamfisted or superfluously added in many games today. i mean fine, add recycling but did you have to take away one of the original's unique qualities with its overwhelming HUD/UI and control scheme? sure some gamers are already very squeamish about controls or gamepads even though lots of people will rebind keys to weird-ass alternatives like using the control key for interacting with things. cruelty squad taught me that games need to get back into using the control scheme to evoke discomfort or anxiety in players, and system shock '94 did so wonderfully in tandem with its HUD/UI where you swap between a cursor and mouselook. system shock '23 however doesnt have this even as an option, making it so routine in what ive played. it feels like prey 2017, deep rock galactic, basically any first-person game made in the past 10 years. this is nice for making the game more accessible to new players, but it tragically takes away a special bit of magic that makes up the gestalt of what it's remaking. at least with its modernization it brings satisfying gunplay. melee is a bit awkward but the guns are so nice to shoot and reload with their animations and enemy feedback. the peekaboo paranoia is still present too! leaning around walls to get the drop on a cyborg or mutant always felt great, making me feel defiant in this steel dungeon. enemies are genuinely terrifying not just from their grotesque designs but also the walloping strengths of their attacks. youre gonna want to find the shield augment as fast as possible and always look for upgrades and health kits. even the cyberspace is pretty good from a gameplay perspective. aside from a vaporwave-esque or synthwavey design that ive been so done with since 2019, system shock '23 makes me want to play descent more now. the six degrees of freedom is so smooth, confusing, and thrilling. the new enemies also make it so much more exciting but admittedly more annoying. sometimes the cyberspace projectiles you shoot feel too slow or too small or maybe enemies have too much health at times, there was just a bit of tedium felt at times that i couldnt pinpoint. i think it was mostly healthwise, so many cyberspace enemies are tanky. honestly i applaud this cyberspace for how nice it is with me never begrudgingly going "oh gotta do this one too? cmon." but i suspect nightdive were maybe not proud enough of their hacking or too proud to the point of thinking "lets spice up the final boss cyberspace encounter by having it be just a weak ass FPS section but with the cyberspace enemies!! (insane wow)" seriously i felt so blue balled in terms of gameplay at the end. reminds me of control (2019) where it had a bombastic build up to an admittedly lame final bit of gameplay.

system shock '23 though is still for the most part system shock. it's about shodan, citadel station, and the hacker rollerblading down halls with a laser rapier in hand. but its not as schizophrenic, paranoiac, and overstimulating of a dungeon as the original. it's just as free and emergent in terms of gameplay with the weapons and exploration, but it's not as unique or anxious because of the modern control scheme. an amazing remake, but it's personally not my system shock. i think i'll definitely return to this and the original, plus i dont regret preordering this, nightdive did a lovely job. it's just that if i had to choose on whether i wanted this remake to exist, im sure i would say yes but only because of the hope that some may check out the original. as much as remakes are hated (rightfully so most of the time), i welcome a lot of them because the originals still exist. to me, a remake can never be a total replacement or a superior product. it'll always be just an alternative.

ive never really been into nu metal or that 2000s angst that pervaded a lot of the internet at that time, but honestly that shit rocks more as ive grown older. it's not that i yearn for the early internet or a time that i wasn't consciously alive, 2002 baby over here, it's more of the endearing attitude that it gives off. slayers x doesnt give two shits about how aged it is and by being so non-apologetic in its early 2000s anachronisms it only goes to show how much heart is put into it. theres poop and fart jokes, the unironic usage of the words hackblood and noobblood, a fantastic soundtrack that has me googling limp bizkit and linkin park. it's all quality and no fat, the presentation alone is staggering with its dense style and playfulness. the gameplay is still just as good with tightly creative and tense arenas that continuously step one another up. the game starts strong but only got better, ending in a bombastic boss fight that genuinely had me fighting tooth and nail. a short game but it never overextends its welcome while teasing at an equally as ridiculous sequel. fun ass game, i need to play hypnospace outlaw lol

max payne holds up remarkably well to this day. the combat is still cathartic, the story is still as engaging as it is ridiculous, and the visuals hold up in a weird half-realistic, half-low-res-impressionistic sort of way. while the combat isnt as visually explosive as say f.e.a.r. or later entries in the series, except for the later half or quarter of the game, the gunfights are still a ballet of hellfire and brass. it's good fun that anybody who loves action and adores hong kong blood operas will enjoy. im so happy remedy entertainment exists as a company, even if they made that one tv show pretending to be a game. i really hope the remake does the game justice and will be a great companion piece to the original. even if a remake is mostly unnecessary because of fan patches, fixes, etc.

puts max payne to shame with how explosive 9mm bullets are in this game. bullets leave craters in walls, bodies turn into red mist, the least powerful electronics burst into miniature lightning storms. that's f.e.a.r. for you, baby, slow-mo destructive theatrics accompanied by some fantastic horror atmosphere. for a game with such a reputation, what else can i say about its cathartically obliterating combat and the gorgeous lighting? as many a f.e.a.r. fan will tell you: the lighting still holds up. it's better indoors, where it can showcase great dramatic shadows to not only make rooms visually impressive but also heighten tension. outdoors the lighting can be pretty flat, f.e.a.r.'s engine wasn't made for large outdoor environments. the other selling point of the lighting is how dynamic it is. there are so many hanging lights in this game that the room will turn into a dance floor when they get shot or shaken by explosions. the hanging lights become strobe lights with how they flicker from combat, making the scenes more hectic. one of my favorite instances of the lighting was a working projector that would have the image it's projecting move if you slapped the thing. replaying f.e.a.r. had me thinking about one thing: how the hell do AAA games today not manage to have good lighting? somehow the industry nailed good lighting already with f.e.a.r., obviously, and doom 3. the only recent AAA game i can think of where the lighting was insanely good (and wasnt some rtx gimmick farce) was alien isolation.

tangent aside: it's f.e.a.r. it's awesome. it's REALLY awesome. go play it if you havent and if youre into fps games, especially ones that are similar to half-life.

this game is some shit i wished i made. i enjoyed just about every bit of this trip and all the lil freaks i had to meet along the way. i really enjoyed the puzzles, i thought they were decent challenges and were better than the combat. the combat is alright, the worst part of it is how the levels seemed to be designed before the combat was implemented or even considered to be added. i wished the marketing for this game was better so that it didn't get the flak that it got, big mistake to make it seem like it had more action than it really did. It's not for everybody, but i definitely fit into the niche it's going for.

i saw some people compare the early game to myst so now i know i have to get to those games sooner

didnt find moonlight greatsword, but i got the ending where i fought a big-ass robot so i cant complain much. armored core, at its core (punned), is about private companies using gun-for-hire mecha pilots to fuel their desires for power. but its also about playing dress up with your robot, customizing the parts and weapons to your hearts content. it's janky, it's primitive at times, but it's above all captivating with its premise and palm-sweating combat. genuinely excited to get into the expansions and, eventually, the sequels.

i would put more words into this but ive already been working on a script for a video review for months so yea lol.

re4make has surprised me in that ive seen a lot of flack coming at it. i mean i expected it to receive negativities because it's a remake, something i think i can say that we're all tired of, but seeing how re2make went i had high hopes. suffice it to say, my hopes weren't squandered (for the most part), and its even got some neat surprises bundled in it.

gameplay is where re4make shines. the shooting packs a punch from tyson, blood explodes and flesh flays as you tear into ganados. it's extremely violent, it's sickening to see the parasites squirm from the stumps of necks and limbs. one complaint i remember seeing a lot about re4make is how slow leon is. he isn't slow. i mean he may feel slow but its because of his animations, they've animated him into a mountain of meat and bone. he's no longer that himbo twink from RPD, he's a certified himbo hunk. his kicking animations are noticeably slower, though, but their i-frames make up for it. sadly, the suplex is limited to helmeted enemies from what i can tell. gone are the days when you can suplex a farmer. the parry is a very welcomed addition. it adds another layer to the combat, allowing for more aggressive play but not being too broken due to the knife's durability, and not every attack can be parried. if there's one thing i took from re4make, it's way more hectic than the original. sometimes too hectic but i love the heightened chaos, giving me the anxiety of a ganado grabbing me from behind so their friend can stick a pitchfork in me. the inventory is back, but regrettably not as beautiful as the original. re4make keeps up the minimalistic ui since re7 but admittedly has more flair than re8 so that's an improvement. it's the same inventory management. not sure what else i can say about it besides it's neat pseudo tetris minigame. bosses are vastly improved. im not sure if its because ive played the original so much but holy shit ramon is a full on boss now. saddler was tuned a bit more to be longer and tenser due to managing the novistadors, same with the big cheese being a bit longer and more involved than just shooting a bunch of bullets. verdugo and el lago remain virtually the same though. if there was one complaint i had about the gameplay, it'd be that hardcore is no fucking joke. like it said to play hardcore if youre familiar with the original and then the game spits in your face for thinking youre tough shit. having completed hardcore as my first playthrough, it was fun but sometimes damn near tedious in how weak i felt early in the game. not enough to make me stop playing but i remember feeling frustration just a fewww times.

graphically re4make is great. since re2make the games were gonna keep getting better and better. it's not as monotone as the original, but got damn does it get pretty and dreadful when it wants to. i'll always prefer the stylization in the original over the photo-reality of the remakes, but re4make shines when it wants to. the music is pretty standard, nothing bad and atrocious but nothing memorable like the original's pounding bass or save theme. re4make does recapture the save theme song, but it doesnt beat the original (which is a nigh possible feat). voice acting is good for the most part. i actually like the recast merchant, i want to kiss luis, and ashley is wonderful. leon has some misses but overall keeps up the dumb charm albeit he is considerably more dramatic than the original. ada though should have redone a decent amount of lines, sometimes it feels like she's saying a thought out loud or talking to a wall. ramon is still evil but something's off about him, probably his new visuals putting me off but he's pretty cool. saddler is not as creepy as his original but he gets the job done. if anything, krauser's job shouldve been to remind leon that he wasn't being silly enough to hopefully then get leon to tell krauser to wake up from his cinematic facade.

my biggest complaint with the remakes, which is more of a gripey nitpick than anything, is that they tend to get a bit TOO dramatic and cinematic. i get that its modernizing an old game series but resident evil is built upon its camp. the new games and remakes keep some of that b-movie charm but the trend of movie-fication smothers most of the camp away. leon in re4make gets on a soapbox at one point to tell ashley everything will be alright. this is a fine scene, it's a bit cheesey, it's cool. even better, leon and luis link up but luis wants to bring the cheesiness up a notch but leon playfully tells luis to focus on the mission. great interactions. then boom leon puts on his serious face and has to complete the mission when the game feels like it, some hollywood shit where he doesnt get a joke in about a dude's hand coming off or throwing a knife mid conversation. just leon saying something akin to "you bastard!" and yelling empties. it's not that the story's bad, it's pretty much the same albeit paced differently to make the game a bit longer, but the tone and dialogue seem to have been hampered by the focus of cinematic storytelling.

anyways this game is pretty baller, i enjoyed it. if anything, the original is better as a whole but re4make by itself is a competent AAA game that i dont regret putting time into. oh yea, mercenaries is also pretty fun but honestly not as rewarding as the original (plus only three maps... WTF?!?!?). im gonna be replaying the hell out of this like i did the original, 100%ing because dudes be gaming.

also yes. i would still like to fuck leon kennedy NOW

cultic is a fantastic retreading of the boomer shooter formula. many a 90s FPS fan will take one look at cultic and instantly think of blood (1997). they wouldn't be wrong, but blood is just a small influence on its enemies, combat, and arsenal. I mean, it's got cultists and napalm. what cultic takes more inspiration from is the explosive nature of the build engine, yet streamlines the interactivity of the famous games made on that engine. it's still quite interactive, but most of the time, you'll only interact with readable notes and doors (thankfully, you can flush the toilets). however, if anything, resident evil 4 is cultic's biggest inspiration. from the absurdity to the stylish combat to the uncomfortably heat-inducing horror, cultic is taking resident evil 4 into the boomer shooter formula. you can shoot axes out of the air, throw dynamite and shoot it, grab an enemy's dynamite to throw back, and combo weapon swapping with slow-mo into a tornado of hellfire, all while offering intricate arenas to maneuver and explore. for the billions of retro 90s throwback shooters saturating the market these days, cultic is a phenomenal execution of the genre's pioneers while also offering cathartic modern twists. sucks that it's unfinished. very eager to play the next game or episode or whatever the weird release structure is called.

played on and off with some friends for a bit, but now that i havent returned to it for a while, i gotta say that it's both fun and disappointing. the ai companions are a neat idea, but i never really got much use for them. coop definitely hampered that, but even when kelvin was still alive he was mostly there to jumpscare my friends and i (which i missed after he died). paranoia is still very good. besides the survival mechanics, paranoia is what this game continues to do good from its predecessor. the woods feel alive, the wind is ominous, the night darkness is an engulfing evil to be avoided. the one improvement i like the most is the building system, it feels very intuitive and promotes curiosity in what can be achieved through it. it's very formatted. the building is almost like rust's walls and foundation system, but it's more intricate in that you can carve out windows and doorframes or build ramps versus stairs instead of walls, and more. so aside from being more of the forest and a more fun building system, the biggest downsides are progression pacing and the fact that the game's still unfinished. back when i played, it felt like there were some missing things like animal head trophies. they added these back in though so eh, but i felt like i had seen pretty much all that was added. i think in my very first play session i had already gotten my hands on the pistol which was insane because in the forest i hadnt even ever gotten the crossbow. granted i never finished that game, but it felt cryptic and rewarding to find any new equipment in the first game! here, the pistol is just laying out in the open in a raft offshore instead of a hidden cave or buried box. its obviously unfinished, but since i enjoyed the first forest and i like this new building system i just hope that it can leave early access in a good state. really only get this game if you LOVE the first game and crave anything like it.