A lot of people I think think this is Scholar of the First Sin, this is the original release of Dark Souls 2 that featured completely different enemy placements. Scholar of the First Sin is really what redeems this game, the original version of this game is entirely a mess. Most of the areas in the game were made with very little regard to the player, with enemies thrown haphazardly and packed into small areas, making most of the combat encounters a slow paced drag where you spend more time just staying away from the mob rather than actually fighting. The bosses also certainly do not make up for it, being the weakest in the series and also including a lot of mob encounters AS bosses.

Scholar of the First Sin + the other DLCs greatly improved on these issues and made this game a decent entry, but the original release was a very mediocre game.

Screw this game man. Screw breakable weapons. Screw going 30 mins out of your way to collect your mount, only to immediately ride up on the edge of a cliff and have to leave it behind. Screw waiting for the rain to pass so that you can climb a hill. Screw waiting for your stamina to replenish every three seconds as you run across endless plains. Screw detouring for an entire play session only to stumble upon a completely empty environment. Screw the repetitious shrine design.

There are, obviously, glimmers of greatness to be had here. And the discovery factor in its opening hours is entirely mystifying.

But screw this game.

This was my first Nintendo DS game and my parents got it for me (I had never seen the movie). I remember when I first played this and I put the cartridge in and couldn't figure out how to get it out so I thought I had gotten it stuck so I told my mom that the case didn't have a game in it because I didn't want to tell her I broke my Nintendo DS and she took me to Walmart and told the guy that there was no game in the case and the guy was really confused and gave me another one (Probably because he didn't get paid enough for this BS and didn't really care) so I get home and I now have 2 copies of this game and I fucking hate this game.

There once was a time, back in the early 2000’s, where first-person shooters were breaking ground and shaking the industry. Deus Ex, Half-Life, Unreal Tournament, Quake, and various other franchises were considered the “Golden Era” of FPS. The Chronicles of Riddick was one of my favorite movies growing up as a kid. Vin Diesel was a mysterious, sinister badass and the movie was oozing with character, atmosphere, and insane dieselpunk sci-fi goodness. When Butcher Bay was released I remember the movie including the Xbox demo from Blockbuster Video and I was so mad I didn’t have an Xbox or PC at the time.

Fast forward 14 years and I have finally experienced this masterpiece from two console generations ago. Riddick was a serious industry shaker at the time not only for its graphical fidelity, but for the rich atmosphere, mature content, and Vin-freakin’-Diesel. The story isn’t exactly fantastic, and it’s a short game, but the experience itself is pretty incredible and there’s no other game like it (except its sequel of course).

You play as John Riddick himself who is captured by bounty hunter Johns and taken to Butcher Bay maximum prison which is on another planet. Hoxxie, the prison warden, is the bad guy here along with creepy creatures and the guards themselves. I love the opening of this game as you are in the max-pop area and get to talk to other prisoners and complete side quests to earn currency for weapons and cigarette packs which unlock concept art. The atmosphere is amazing with dieselpunk structures, dirt, vomit, grime, and nastiness everywhere and the entire complex is dark, looming, claustrophobic, and morbid.

Don’t get too excited about hearing “side-quests” as the area is very small and it’s nothing more than talk to this guy to get that thing and bring it back to that guy so he will talk to you now to give you that thing to bring back to the last guy. There are only two areas where you can do this and it feels a bit off and forced and kind of unnecessary. There’s no character building and none of the prisoners are really fleshed out. I would rather have just walked around, talked to people, and moved on, it really just felt like extra game time tacked on, and not to mention that the quests are kind of tedious.

Once you move past the first area you go around sneaking up to guards, breaking necks, and getting into a lot of shootouts. For someone who likes the dark so much there is a lot of shooting sections and only a few sneaking areas, but those give way to problems as well. The AI can see you no matter how far away they are and it makes learning guard patrols and sneaking around successfully a pain. A lot of time I had to just shoot everyone or run away and come back. The last third of the game you don’t even get weapons and only a tranq gun that stuns guards with a slow reload animation, so this makes sneaking even more difficult.

The game is also ridiculously hard, I died more time than I can count and a lot of it was because of the clumsy shooting and fighting mechanics. Sure, they work and the three guns are cool and have personality, but they are so inaccurate that I had to unload a whole clip per enemy because the spread was so wide. Fighting also poses problems as you can’t really do combos and the AI’s punches are so random and doing parries is hit or miss. It all works and looks good, but it could have been cleaner and tighter.

The story isn’t really all that detailed, and Riddick’s character is barely talked about here. You learn where he gets his night vision and honestly, the whole story is really anticlimactic. There aren’t many cutscenes and I wanted more screen time with Riddick, Johns, and Hoxxie because their characters are great. Even Abbot, voiced by rapper Xzibit, is an awesome character and we stop seeing him about 1/4 through the game.

The game also looks great, and the lighting effects were unreal back in the day. I played the version on Assault on Dark Athena, so it was upgraded to that engine, but the original version needed a beefy PC and pushed the Xbox to its limits. The music kind of sucks and sounds really generic, but the sounds are awesome with fantastic voice acting and ambiance.

Overall, Escape from Butcher Bay is an FPS classic that everyone should play. The game is dark, crude, mature, and oozing with character, but it’s just sad we only get morsels for the story and on-screen time with some great characters.

this is a weird one because there's lots of really cool things this game does:

a pretty large world that's mostly interconnected and wraps around on itself in some cool ways, like legit has a few "oh i was here an hour ago and didn't know what this part of the level was for, it's really sick that i ended up back here" moments

honestly really well done voice performances with really funny dialogue, vin diesel is so good and massive props to whoever wrote his stuff for this game because its perfect and hilarious and awesome

sick atmosphere with some neat setpieces and fun little exploration puzzles that are fun to figure out about 80% of the time

HOWEVER. god it feels really bad to play sometimes. there's some stealth sections that are laid out really well, but enemies will rapidly switch between "i don't notice a grate being kicked out directly in front of my face" and "i saw a pixel of riddick's arm from 100 feet away through a crack in a wall and now the entire level is shooting at you insantly'" without any warning or consistency, and it ends up turning those 'good' stealth sections into just "follow this exact path you've minmaxed over and over until the game works and enemy detection doesnt break"

and the gunplay is kind of horrible, with the exception of the few times that enemies are spread out 1 at a time, and you can crawl through areas and pop them with a quick headshot. that feels good. but the rest of the time, they have crazy good aim and your gun will shoot literally everywhere except the reticle unless you are directly on top of them with a shotgun

oh, and there was also like 4 or 5 times where i'd make it through some wild scenario with 1 hp left and get to the place i thought i was supposed to be going, only for the button prompt or cutscene to just decide not to load this time, and have to just die and do it again before it worked

so... yeah. its weird. very neat little game with some really cool ideas that is just kinda painful to actually play a lot of the time and frequently feels like you're playing it wrong. but i still had fun? really makes you think

I had this on my PC for ages, launched it a few years ago and played 7 minutes until I dropped it. Now that the remake is only a few month away, I thought to myself that I should probably give this another try before the remake releases. And overall I really enjoyed it.

I'm not a big fan of EA for obvious reasons. But Dead Space is an exception. The atmosphere is great, the weapons are really unique and the creature design is awesome. I like that there is no HUD, everything you need to know you can see on Isaacs spacesuit and that really helps you immerse yourself into game. The only thing what pulled me out of it was that Isaac is completely silent, that felt kinda awkward. The encounters with the creatures are rather predictable, after a while you know when and where a monster drops from the ceiling or stands behind the corner and every few chapters there is this hentai noodle which graps you, so you have to shoot its weak point. The problem is that the controls are terrible on pc. The PC port in general seems terrible from what I've heard but I never played the console version. So I can't compare it.

But if you like atmospheric horror or sci-fi shooter you should give this a try. Let's hope the remake keeps the good parts and fixes the flaws

When I think of Dark Souls, the first thing that comes to mind is NOT a sleepy coastal town with a gorgeous amber sunset. But it works.

From the Ico style windmill tower of Earthen Peak to the evil horrible sickening bioluminescent poison tunnels of the Black Gulch, I think Too Dark Souls might have the best aesthetic of the three Dark Souls games. It at the very least has my favorite structure design (the aforementioned Earthen Peak).

Unfortunately it also has a few areas I would consider extremely tedious. As I killed the millionth generic knight in the Bowser’s Castle area, I would think “How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?” Luckily, like in Elden Ring, I could just leave and come back later.

Getting gud is no longer as much of an issue (this is my fourth FromSoft game this year and in general), but getting patient was more important than ever. No matter how hard the game would try to beat me down with a boring section, it would surprise me with some incredible new area, interesting surprise encounter, or some kind of gross frog skeleton boss.

Now, I’ve heard some trash talk about this game, and I get it. I’d say it’s probably my least favorite FromSoft game in terms of pure gameplay and actual map layout. Not a huge fan of the hollowing system. Every enemy is a knight. Different director. The community messages were at an all time low in terms of helpfulness. Invasions kinda just make me roll my eyes.

But I’m all about vibes, and this game has vibes in spades. The part where they zoom in when you cross that bridge? Amazing. Getting rekt by weird little badgers in the hub area? Incredible. All I want are those delicious idiosyncrasies. I literally laughed out loud when the only way out of that one bonfire was through a pool of poison. Unforgettable experience.

I have now completed the Dark Souls trilogy. Time for Sekiro.

It's difficult to let go. Afraid of leaving loved ones behind, unsure of personal legacy, stumbling blindfolded with one hand out, dreading the sensation of fingertips first brushing against the veil, of falling slowly out of control and into the esoteric Aether - sometimes a push is needed. Letting go is difficult, but inevitable.

In Death's Door, the player embodies this push. A literal reaper that ushers bloated, fearful souls into the afterlife, the Crow protagonist travels through a fairytale world by solving puzzles, obtaining upgrades, and kicking ass. The combat in Death's Door draws from both Zelda and Dark Souls for inspiration - though a more apt comparison might be a more streamlined and balanced version of Hyper Light Drifter. Movement is responsive and smooth, allowing for full control during fights and puzzles, as well as pleasant world traversal. Backtracking is mostly optional in Death's Door, but necessary in order to upgrade spells and unlock secrets, so having excellent controls is a big win.

Encounter design is also fantastic and manages to find a balance between challenging combat and fairness - I never once felt as if a death came from something unavoidable, but rather my mistakes that I could then use to improve. The dodge has generous i-frames from the beginning and gains more as it is upgraded, which makes solving the puzzles of boss movesets fairly forgiving. In addition, Death's Door encourages using the entire arsenal of tools available by making ranged attacks refill through melee hits and providing certain enemies with resistances and weaknesses to specific damage types. Of the five melee weapons available none play drastically different, but the general pace and variety of combat are enough to keep it fresh still. Boss fights also do a fantastic job of evolving and adapting as combat unfolds, providing new challenge as you get closer and closer to victory. Failing to defeat a boss just means another chance to solve the puzzle, and checkpoints exist directly outside of the arenas to stave off frustration.

Each bosses design oozes with the same charm that typifies the art direction of Death's Door. Areas exist as their own biome while being linked together through the central area of the cemetery, and though they are all unique, the world still feels consistent. Part of this consistency is achieved through the enchanting score and sound design. While the visuals are cute, and movement through the world feels smooth, the score takes it to another level and breathes life into the levels. Similarly, small touches like the sound of little crows' feet on the different surfaces in the game add to the immersion and charm. These touches, when combined with puzzles that utilize your spells and test your creativity, make each level fun to explore. Rarely do I wish that a game was longer, but I do actually think Death's Door would be well-served with one more area and boss to explore and defeat.

All of these artistic choices serve to support the narrative and characters of Death's Door. Though the story is quite simple, the presentation of the game's overall aesthetic causes each character to exist as simultaneously humorous and tragic, with a gravitas that wouldn't be achievable if played in a more realistic setting. The conclusion of the narrative is surprisingly poignant and touching in a greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts way. Though Death's Door does have a focus on combat, there is no malice involved; it's simply a means to help your adversaries do what they cannot bear to do themselves - let go.