dreadicano
2016
Despite being first in chronological order, I do not recommend Resident Evil 0 to be your first in the franchise even if it is a solid game.
The item management system in the game is different to all other entries in the franchise. Instead of utilizing universal item boxes or briefcases, the player instead must drop items in strategic locations, remember where they left these items, and recover them when needed. Whilst most hate this new mechanic, I personally found it to be a unique challenge that tested players that might be used to how the item management works in the other games.
Tank controls are also incredibly outdated, but in my opinion are a bit of a skill issue. With practice it can be mastered but I do respect it isn't for everyone. There's a few specific areas where it feels hard to progress due to the sudden changes in camera angles, but I don't think it's enough of an issue to deduct from the games overall score.
Resident Evil 0 also brings a partner switching system, that allows the player to control both characters which can lead to some interesting puzzles and puts an even greater emphasis on the inventory management challenges that I mentioned earlier.
The presentation and audio design are phenomenal, especially of the time. Although this is the 2016 port of the 2002 GameCube original, it hasn't changed many of the original assets, instead it highlights the technically fantastic lighting effects, impressive pre-rendered backgrounds, and detailed character models that deserve it's plaudits.
Although the story isn't groundbreaking, and primarily the reason why I would not suggest this to be your first Resident Evil game, it still develops a lot of the beloved early characters of the franchise. It scratched my nerd itch to see the downfall of the S.T.A.R.S Alpha Team through the perspective of it's sole survivor, Rebecca Chambers, a beloved character in the franchise. I appreciate her chemistry with Billy Coen, our other protagonist, and despite the weak narrative, I really felt immersed in their story and the experiences they had.
What Resident Evil 0 does well is it's atmospheric horror. It fits right in with Code Veronica and REmake, and so if you enjoy the experience of either of those titles, I highly recommend checking this game out.
I always work hard towards 100% completing any game I play, and with this new account, I decided RE 0 would be the first game I attempted to complete. It was a grueling process, which took several playthroughs on various difficulties. It really felt like I had to learn the mechanics of this game inside and out, I had item placement, enemy choreography, and map layouts memorised perfectly in my mind by the end of it. These playthroughs included achieving an S-rank, beating the game on hard mode, beating the game in under 3 hours, beating the game without saving, and beating the game without healing once. It was a personal challenge that I really enjoyed achieving.
Resident Evil is also famous for it's unlockable outfits, characters, and secret modes and RE 0 is no different. One such mode is "Wesker Mode" which allows you to play as Albert Wesker, the villain of the franchise, with all of his strengths and abilities, which I found enjoyable. However, the other unlockable mode is leech mode, which I do not recommend playing at all. It is extremely unfun, however, it will provide access to a lot of extra content upon completion, including infinite ammo, for the main game, which comes in handy when attempting subsequent playthroughs. Besides the extra modes, the cosmetic content for Rebecca and Billy are fantastic and I found myself using different costumes on my multiple playthroughs.
Despite it's difficulty and weak narrative story, I really enjoyed Resident Evil. I know I opened this review by stating I wouldn't recommend this game as a starting point, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend the game in general, and I think that playing this game should come later on your Resident Evil journey.
The item management system in the game is different to all other entries in the franchise. Instead of utilizing universal item boxes or briefcases, the player instead must drop items in strategic locations, remember where they left these items, and recover them when needed. Whilst most hate this new mechanic, I personally found it to be a unique challenge that tested players that might be used to how the item management works in the other games.
Tank controls are also incredibly outdated, but in my opinion are a bit of a skill issue. With practice it can be mastered but I do respect it isn't for everyone. There's a few specific areas where it feels hard to progress due to the sudden changes in camera angles, but I don't think it's enough of an issue to deduct from the games overall score.
Resident Evil 0 also brings a partner switching system, that allows the player to control both characters which can lead to some interesting puzzles and puts an even greater emphasis on the inventory management challenges that I mentioned earlier.
The presentation and audio design are phenomenal, especially of the time. Although this is the 2016 port of the 2002 GameCube original, it hasn't changed many of the original assets, instead it highlights the technically fantastic lighting effects, impressive pre-rendered backgrounds, and detailed character models that deserve it's plaudits.
Although the story isn't groundbreaking, and primarily the reason why I would not suggest this to be your first Resident Evil game, it still develops a lot of the beloved early characters of the franchise. It scratched my nerd itch to see the downfall of the S.T.A.R.S Alpha Team through the perspective of it's sole survivor, Rebecca Chambers, a beloved character in the franchise. I appreciate her chemistry with Billy Coen, our other protagonist, and despite the weak narrative, I really felt immersed in their story and the experiences they had.
What Resident Evil 0 does well is it's atmospheric horror. It fits right in with Code Veronica and REmake, and so if you enjoy the experience of either of those titles, I highly recommend checking this game out.
I always work hard towards 100% completing any game I play, and with this new account, I decided RE 0 would be the first game I attempted to complete. It was a grueling process, which took several playthroughs on various difficulties. It really felt like I had to learn the mechanics of this game inside and out, I had item placement, enemy choreography, and map layouts memorised perfectly in my mind by the end of it. These playthroughs included achieving an S-rank, beating the game on hard mode, beating the game in under 3 hours, beating the game without saving, and beating the game without healing once. It was a personal challenge that I really enjoyed achieving.
Resident Evil is also famous for it's unlockable outfits, characters, and secret modes and RE 0 is no different. One such mode is "Wesker Mode" which allows you to play as Albert Wesker, the villain of the franchise, with all of his strengths and abilities, which I found enjoyable. However, the other unlockable mode is leech mode, which I do not recommend playing at all. It is extremely unfun, however, it will provide access to a lot of extra content upon completion, including infinite ammo, for the main game, which comes in handy when attempting subsequent playthroughs. Besides the extra modes, the cosmetic content for Rebecca and Billy are fantastic and I found myself using different costumes on my multiple playthroughs.
Despite it's difficulty and weak narrative story, I really enjoyed Resident Evil. I know I opened this review by stating I wouldn't recommend this game as a starting point, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend the game in general, and I think that playing this game should come later on your Resident Evil journey.
2014
Having played Fable II and Fable III many years ago and loving them, I had never gotten around to playing the original game as I didn't own the original Xbox. However after finding this game on sale, I decided to check it out finally... and I find myself really underwhelmed.
At a glance, Fable Anniversary's combat seems more sophisticated and in depth than the other two in the franchise. You attack with melee weapons, ranged weapons, and willpower (magic). If we look at the will system in Fable Anniversary, we'd see there are 18 different types of spells, which when compared to Fable II's 8 spells, and Fable III's 6 spells, you'd assume would lead to more creativity in combat. However, less is definitely more in this situation. The majority of these spells are relatively useless, and I barely found myself willpower in the slightest. I played the game on the hardest difficulty, and I found that the game became a slog more than a challenge, with no real consistent way to make income until late game.
Comparative to it's successors, Fable also lacks any true meaningful choices, and it's admittedly decent narrative is subverted in it's seriousness by the absolute monstrous character models that look like someone left the heating on in Madame Tussauds.
Although I do tend to lean towards being a "good"-centric moral character when given the choice in video games, a well-designed game will ask the player to make difficult choices by offering them something else that will counter the moral option. Even latter games in this series manage to offer the player wealth and other alluring features in an attempt to sway the player to make a selfish choice. However, in Fable Anniversary the choices seem to be "pick the logical good choice or be evil for the sake of it" and there is no real motivation to pick morally grey options at any point throughout the story. Although I think this is something they improved on for the sequels.
I'm very empathetic to the fact this is a simple remaster of a 2005 Xbox game, but there were plenty of incredible games that had come out around that time, that had more interesting narratives, impactful choices, and a prettier artstyle. They could have rectified these limitations in this version of the game as it had been 4 years since the release of the far superior Fable III when this Anniversary edition was released. Instead, the port is uninspiring and left a lot to be desired from me personally.
Despite my criticisms, I do not think this is a bad game at all. It definitely does have it's charm. For instance, I think the humour in Fable has always been relatively funny and that was consistent throughout this title. The game had some goofy side activities that fits the theme of Fable well. And despite my qualms with the story in regards to it's length and lack of choices, there were still a lot of scenes I enjoyed, such as the prison sequence, arena fights, and undead area. But there were equally as many terrible sequences, and I found myself hating all combat and all scenes where I had to fight Minions. God that enemy is unbearable, and it quickly becomes the common enemy type throughout the main story towards the latter third and I found myself hating that experience.
What I found interesting was the way that the achievements and 100% completion work in this game. Almost every achievement is unlocked in one of two completely different ways which I found really unique and interesting. For example, there is an achievement called 'Get Rich or Die Tryin'' which can be earned by either earning 10,000 gold from property rental in the game, or... dying. Which is a cute way of providing player choice to something as niche as an achievement list. I just wish they added as much care to the choices in how you want to earn the achievements into how these choices may affect your journey.
This game clearly had the right direction of what it wanted to be, but is extremely unpolished, over ambitious, and falls short in a lot of places where you'd expect it to shine. I desperately want a new entry into this franchise, as what was built upon these promising foundations were two genuinely great sequels, and I would love to see the kinds of freedom and fun a new game in the Fable world would bring.
At a glance, Fable Anniversary's combat seems more sophisticated and in depth than the other two in the franchise. You attack with melee weapons, ranged weapons, and willpower (magic). If we look at the will system in Fable Anniversary, we'd see there are 18 different types of spells, which when compared to Fable II's 8 spells, and Fable III's 6 spells, you'd assume would lead to more creativity in combat. However, less is definitely more in this situation. The majority of these spells are relatively useless, and I barely found myself willpower in the slightest. I played the game on the hardest difficulty, and I found that the game became a slog more than a challenge, with no real consistent way to make income until late game.
Comparative to it's successors, Fable also lacks any true meaningful choices, and it's admittedly decent narrative is subverted in it's seriousness by the absolute monstrous character models that look like someone left the heating on in Madame Tussauds.
Although I do tend to lean towards being a "good"-centric moral character when given the choice in video games, a well-designed game will ask the player to make difficult choices by offering them something else that will counter the moral option. Even latter games in this series manage to offer the player wealth and other alluring features in an attempt to sway the player to make a selfish choice. However, in Fable Anniversary the choices seem to be "pick the logical good choice or be evil for the sake of it" and there is no real motivation to pick morally grey options at any point throughout the story. Although I think this is something they improved on for the sequels.
I'm very empathetic to the fact this is a simple remaster of a 2005 Xbox game, but there were plenty of incredible games that had come out around that time, that had more interesting narratives, impactful choices, and a prettier artstyle. They could have rectified these limitations in this version of the game as it had been 4 years since the release of the far superior Fable III when this Anniversary edition was released. Instead, the port is uninspiring and left a lot to be desired from me personally.
Despite my criticisms, I do not think this is a bad game at all. It definitely does have it's charm. For instance, I think the humour in Fable has always been relatively funny and that was consistent throughout this title. The game had some goofy side activities that fits the theme of Fable well. And despite my qualms with the story in regards to it's length and lack of choices, there were still a lot of scenes I enjoyed, such as the prison sequence, arena fights, and undead area. But there were equally as many terrible sequences, and I found myself hating all combat and all scenes where I had to fight Minions. God that enemy is unbearable, and it quickly becomes the common enemy type throughout the main story towards the latter third and I found myself hating that experience.
What I found interesting was the way that the achievements and 100% completion work in this game. Almost every achievement is unlocked in one of two completely different ways which I found really unique and interesting. For example, there is an achievement called 'Get Rich or Die Tryin'' which can be earned by either earning 10,000 gold from property rental in the game, or... dying. Which is a cute way of providing player choice to something as niche as an achievement list. I just wish they added as much care to the choices in how you want to earn the achievements into how these choices may affect your journey.
This game clearly had the right direction of what it wanted to be, but is extremely unpolished, over ambitious, and falls short in a lot of places where you'd expect it to shine. I desperately want a new entry into this franchise, as what was built upon these promising foundations were two genuinely great sequels, and I would love to see the kinds of freedom and fun a new game in the Fable world would bring.
Black Clover is one of my guilty pleasure anime, I am a huge fan of this series, and I genuinely was curious when I heard that there was a team-based multiplayer game aspiring to be MOBA-like in its nature.
However, despite my bias towards this series, I am deeply saddened to report that this game is indeed shit. I will cover the positives first... as there aren't many.
It's really fun that this game offers you a large selection of Black Clover characters to play, each falling into one of four categories, each with their own role in the team, and each character with a unique moveset. There are tonnes of alternative costumes and almost all of the beloved characters are present to play with.
The visual presentation works well in places, I think the 3D models of the characters are fantastic, as are the 2D sprites, and we even occasionally get some animated cutscenes that I'm pretty sure are animated by Studio Pierrot.
Other than that, the game falls flat completely. Firstly, if we treated BCQK as if it was an arc in the manga, it would be filler and terrible, as it is non-canon and extremely uninteresting, the vocal performances are incredible as they are in the show, but the narrative is honestly so boring I wouldn't even recommend sitting through it even if you are a huge fan of BC.
Secondly, the campaigns are repetitive and a cakewalk and I really hated repeating the missions to satisfy the various requirements for the 100% completion. The map variety is weak and bland, and often replayed several times in a row throughout the story.
The multiplayer is completely DEAD. You will never witness another living soul in your games, be prepared to play against broken bots who either run into walls or absolutely obliterate you. I'm honestly surprised the servers are even still running. And attempting to win a game with each of the characters, for the 100% completion, against these bots took me several hours that I'll never get back.
BCQK's combat is absolutely atrocious, sometimes you'll direct attacks that will instant kill an enemy, other times they will sponge these attacks and you will randomly explode from a crossmap longshot from Yuno. I am so disappointed with this game that I feel genuine anger and annoyance when I type this.
It's such a shame that when anime games try to break the mould and experiment with new genres other than generic 2D or 3D fighters they flop hard. I so desperately would love a Fire Emblem styled game with the Black Clover houses and characters. Please hire me Bandai Namco, I have so many good ideas for you properties.
However, despite my bias towards this series, I am deeply saddened to report that this game is indeed shit. I will cover the positives first... as there aren't many.
It's really fun that this game offers you a large selection of Black Clover characters to play, each falling into one of four categories, each with their own role in the team, and each character with a unique moveset. There are tonnes of alternative costumes and almost all of the beloved characters are present to play with.
The visual presentation works well in places, I think the 3D models of the characters are fantastic, as are the 2D sprites, and we even occasionally get some animated cutscenes that I'm pretty sure are animated by Studio Pierrot.
Other than that, the game falls flat completely. Firstly, if we treated BCQK as if it was an arc in the manga, it would be filler and terrible, as it is non-canon and extremely uninteresting, the vocal performances are incredible as they are in the show, but the narrative is honestly so boring I wouldn't even recommend sitting through it even if you are a huge fan of BC.
Secondly, the campaigns are repetitive and a cakewalk and I really hated repeating the missions to satisfy the various requirements for the 100% completion. The map variety is weak and bland, and often replayed several times in a row throughout the story.
The multiplayer is completely DEAD. You will never witness another living soul in your games, be prepared to play against broken bots who either run into walls or absolutely obliterate you. I'm honestly surprised the servers are even still running. And attempting to win a game with each of the characters, for the 100% completion, against these bots took me several hours that I'll never get back.
BCQK's combat is absolutely atrocious, sometimes you'll direct attacks that will instant kill an enemy, other times they will sponge these attacks and you will randomly explode from a crossmap longshot from Yuno. I am so disappointed with this game that I feel genuine anger and annoyance when I type this.
It's such a shame that when anime games try to break the mould and experiment with new genres other than generic 2D or 3D fighters they flop hard. I so desperately would love a Fire Emblem styled game with the Black Clover houses and characters. Please hire me Bandai Namco, I have so many good ideas for you properties.
2018
I picked this game up when I wanted to scratch that classic tycoon/management sim itch I had and this game did not disappoint in that regard. Megaquarium is one of the easiest to grasp simulation games I have ever played, and although the challenge is fun, especially at the beginning, once you have learned how to take advantage of the games mechanics, the game becomes a breeze, and the only thing that will stop your progression is the long time it takes to prestige.
Despite the lack of difficulty the game is still engaging throughout. There is a significant amount of freedom given to the player which allows you to customize your aquarium in whatever fashion you choose. There are several different tanks and decorations that allow you to design your aquarium with a lot of finesse.
There is a lot of educational value from the game, as it provides a good opportunity to pick up some information about the marine life of some of these animals. Each animal will have its own unique needs, and its a challenge to design interesting exhibits for your guests. However, I would describe the amount of animals as moderate, but what makes up for the absence of various fish is the Steam workshop functionality, that allows you to download community made fish for your aquarium, that adds further replayability thanks to the fish nerds ✊🐟.
The game does a great job at making sure the learning curve isn't too steep, the campaign serves as an excellent tutorial, guiding you with various challenges and mechanics over the course of several lengthy levels. At any time, you can also access the sandbox mode, that's fully customisable and comes with various challenges that add even more layers of replayability.
I definitely recommend checking this game out for more casual enjoyers of the genre, although the community content will add more replayability and difficulty would satisfy avid simulation players.
Despite the lack of difficulty the game is still engaging throughout. There is a significant amount of freedom given to the player which allows you to customize your aquarium in whatever fashion you choose. There are several different tanks and decorations that allow you to design your aquarium with a lot of finesse.
There is a lot of educational value from the game, as it provides a good opportunity to pick up some information about the marine life of some of these animals. Each animal will have its own unique needs, and its a challenge to design interesting exhibits for your guests. However, I would describe the amount of animals as moderate, but what makes up for the absence of various fish is the Steam workshop functionality, that allows you to download community made fish for your aquarium, that adds further replayability thanks to the fish nerds ✊🐟.
The game does a great job at making sure the learning curve isn't too steep, the campaign serves as an excellent tutorial, guiding you with various challenges and mechanics over the course of several lengthy levels. At any time, you can also access the sandbox mode, that's fully customisable and comes with various challenges that add even more layers of replayability.
I definitely recommend checking this game out for more casual enjoyers of the genre, although the community content will add more replayability and difficulty would satisfy avid simulation players.
2016
Despite the overwhelming criticism this game receives, I still find myself coming back to this title over and over. To start with, I do have some bias, as a massive fan of the horror genre, this game is my Nicktoons crossover special episode. However, one statement I am confident is true, is that at the time of writing, this is the best asymmetrical multiplayer videogame on the market right now.
Where many games have attempted to ride the wave of Dead By Daylights success, this game remains extremely popular and has a huge playerbase with an overall mixed community. Most clones or similar games make playing survivor feel like a chore, or that you drew the short straw. But DBD makes playing survivor exhilarating, and I oftentimes feel myself prefer to play survivor over killer in most situations.
For as imperfect as the game is, it's gameplay is certainly unique and offers original and gameplay that doesn't get tiring. Each killer encourages a different playstyle entirely to make the use of their unique moveset and abilities. Survivors can also highly customize their skins, perks, and add-ons that allow for various different playstyles and strategies on a game-by-game basis.
The characters available are one of my favourite aspects of DBD, with fantastic character models for original killers and survivors, excellent cosmetic skins, and some of the most iconic licensed killers to have fun with.
DBD will continue to be scary throughout your playime. At first, every map is uncharted and the abilities of every killer are unknown, which leads to definitely the most horrifying atmosphere. Eventually, when you get good at the game, this novelty does wear off, however, as you improve, so does the opposition you play against. This may lead to scenarios where you become outwitted or taken by surprise and has led to me shitting many pairs of pants.
However, the game does receive its fair share of criticism and I do have to agree with a lot of it. Despite Behaviour Interactive's good intentions and regular support and updates of the game, the meta changes fairly often as a result of these changes which frustrate a lot of players who main certain killers or utilize certain survivor perks. This can make the gameplay feel unbalanced to newer players, however, I believe skilled players can find workarounds to these issues by utilising different perks or tactics.
I do think the reliance on DLC content for some of the best builds in the game is a valid criticism too. Although these DLC regularly do go on sale, I don't think there's any valid excuse to paywall content that provides players with advantages.
The community is extremely mixed for both survivors and killers. A killer may assist the last survivor and show them mercy and allow them to escape in one game, yet in the next game, they may get tunneled and rehooked repetitively until death. Despite the occasional unsportsmanlike behaviour, I do find that the community is overall an inclusive and positive space.
There is also an incredibly steep learning curve to the game, and so it is very hard for new players to come into the game blind. There are tonnes of perks to be aware of, killer utility, generator locations, quick time events, looping strategies, learning how to avoid making noise etc.
Connection issues also play a significant role in the enjoyability of the game. Sometimes there is a ping difference between the survivors and killer and so actions that appear to hit will depend on the server latency and individual pings, which can render "certified strategies" mistimed.
Despite the honest criticisms, I still thoroughly enjoy playing the game. I am talking from the perspective of someone who has hundreds of hours however, and thereby I am able to have consistently good games and I recognise my bias, but I still love this game and have always found it fun, despite the hardships.
Where many games have attempted to ride the wave of Dead By Daylights success, this game remains extremely popular and has a huge playerbase with an overall mixed community. Most clones or similar games make playing survivor feel like a chore, or that you drew the short straw. But DBD makes playing survivor exhilarating, and I oftentimes feel myself prefer to play survivor over killer in most situations.
For as imperfect as the game is, it's gameplay is certainly unique and offers original and gameplay that doesn't get tiring. Each killer encourages a different playstyle entirely to make the use of their unique moveset and abilities. Survivors can also highly customize their skins, perks, and add-ons that allow for various different playstyles and strategies on a game-by-game basis.
The characters available are one of my favourite aspects of DBD, with fantastic character models for original killers and survivors, excellent cosmetic skins, and some of the most iconic licensed killers to have fun with.
DBD will continue to be scary throughout your playime. At first, every map is uncharted and the abilities of every killer are unknown, which leads to definitely the most horrifying atmosphere. Eventually, when you get good at the game, this novelty does wear off, however, as you improve, so does the opposition you play against. This may lead to scenarios where you become outwitted or taken by surprise and has led to me shitting many pairs of pants.
However, the game does receive its fair share of criticism and I do have to agree with a lot of it. Despite Behaviour Interactive's good intentions and regular support and updates of the game, the meta changes fairly often as a result of these changes which frustrate a lot of players who main certain killers or utilize certain survivor perks. This can make the gameplay feel unbalanced to newer players, however, I believe skilled players can find workarounds to these issues by utilising different perks or tactics.
I do think the reliance on DLC content for some of the best builds in the game is a valid criticism too. Although these DLC regularly do go on sale, I don't think there's any valid excuse to paywall content that provides players with advantages.
The community is extremely mixed for both survivors and killers. A killer may assist the last survivor and show them mercy and allow them to escape in one game, yet in the next game, they may get tunneled and rehooked repetitively until death. Despite the occasional unsportsmanlike behaviour, I do find that the community is overall an inclusive and positive space.
There is also an incredibly steep learning curve to the game, and so it is very hard for new players to come into the game blind. There are tonnes of perks to be aware of, killer utility, generator locations, quick time events, looping strategies, learning how to avoid making noise etc.
Connection issues also play a significant role in the enjoyability of the game. Sometimes there is a ping difference between the survivors and killer and so actions that appear to hit will depend on the server latency and individual pings, which can render "certified strategies" mistimed.
Despite the honest criticisms, I still thoroughly enjoy playing the game. I am talking from the perspective of someone who has hundreds of hours however, and thereby I am able to have consistently good games and I recognise my bias, but I still love this game and have always found it fun, despite the hardships.
2023
This game is difficult to review as it is unapologetically short, simple, and absurd. It's a bizarre little game that has the player exploring a colourful island, witnessing various events and interacting with objects for achievements. Towards the end of the game, an event happens that changes the atmosphere of the island completely. This is where the game shines, as there are tonnes of morbid details and the game's humour works well to highlight these events. Accompanying the game is the wonderful soundtrack that absolutely is the best feature of the game.
Pineapple on pizza can be beaten in ~5 minutes. Therefore, if you're curious, I don't see the harm in trying it out as it is totally free. It's hard to hold the criticisms I have too harshly against the game because it is self-aware in it's presentation. I personally do not agree with the heavy plaudits this game has received, and I found it to be a mediocre experience at best and not memorable in the slightest. But I recognize I'm in the minority and I encourage you to give it a shot and see what you think.
Pineapple on pizza can be beaten in ~5 minutes. Therefore, if you're curious, I don't see the harm in trying it out as it is totally free. It's hard to hold the criticisms I have too harshly against the game because it is self-aware in it's presentation. I personally do not agree with the heavy plaudits this game has received, and I found it to be a mediocre experience at best and not memorable in the slightest. But I recognize I'm in the minority and I encourage you to give it a shot and see what you think.
2016
Inside is a game I've heard about for quite some time but I hadn't gotten around to playing it until now and I am so shocked by the quality of this game.
Immediately, Inside immerses you into it's dystopian world through it's fantastic qualities. Perfectly crafted audio design coupled with the daunting soundtrack work in tandem to create tension, peace, and horror throughout the game. Visually the game design is simple but timeless and Playdead did a fantastic job of utilizing these features to create one of the best unsettling atmospheres I have ever seen in a videogame.
Inside begins with a cold open, not a single word of dialogue is spoken, yet somehow convinces the player to care deeply about this boy's journey, as you guide him throughout treacherous territory. Challenging puzzles and intense action set-pieces are extremely well done, and I found myself really having to think about my next decision, finding pride in my intuition when I got something right the first time.
Achievements are tied to secret collectibles that can be found throughout the game and most are extremely well hidden and off the beaten path, and I'd recommend using a guide to attain them. There is also an alternate secret ending that you should look up afterwards.
Story-wise, the game is open for interpretation, and you discover more nefarious things happening throughout the plot and this game really gets more dark and twisted as you progress. Several times throughout the game I felt so uncomfortable with what was going on (in a good way), I highly recommend going in blind and allowing Playdead to take you on this journey.
I simply cannot fault the game, it didn't overstay it's welcome, but I didn't crave more once it was over. The stakes were raised with each progression point, and the puzzles coupled with the atmosphere makes this honestly one of my favourite experiences I have had to date with the genre.
Immediately, Inside immerses you into it's dystopian world through it's fantastic qualities. Perfectly crafted audio design coupled with the daunting soundtrack work in tandem to create tension, peace, and horror throughout the game. Visually the game design is simple but timeless and Playdead did a fantastic job of utilizing these features to create one of the best unsettling atmospheres I have ever seen in a videogame.
Inside begins with a cold open, not a single word of dialogue is spoken, yet somehow convinces the player to care deeply about this boy's journey, as you guide him throughout treacherous territory. Challenging puzzles and intense action set-pieces are extremely well done, and I found myself really having to think about my next decision, finding pride in my intuition when I got something right the first time.
Achievements are tied to secret collectibles that can be found throughout the game and most are extremely well hidden and off the beaten path, and I'd recommend using a guide to attain them. There is also an alternate secret ending that you should look up afterwards.
Story-wise, the game is open for interpretation, and you discover more nefarious things happening throughout the plot and this game really gets more dark and twisted as you progress. Several times throughout the game I felt so uncomfortable with what was going on (in a good way), I highly recommend going in blind and allowing Playdead to take you on this journey.
I simply cannot fault the game, it didn't overstay it's welcome, but I didn't crave more once it was over. The stakes were raised with each progression point, and the puzzles coupled with the atmosphere makes this honestly one of my favourite experiences I have had to date with the genre.
1996
Contextualising Resident Evil with other titles released in 1996, it stands out as one of the most prolific of the year. Providing a fantastic start to the world of survival horror, Resident Evil still remains relevant 25 years later. The sheer amount of ports, remakes, and clones of this ground-breaking title should speak for itself. The challenging puzzles, chilling atmosphere, and "charming" characters define Resident Evil as a game that can be enjoyed in its clunky original state.
The original Resident Evil is almost a masterpiece in every offerable asset. For instance, the multi-layered thought process in it's puzzle design. Enemy placement is calculated, demanding the player to consider their ammunition and health resources in an encounter. Players must therefore be conservative of their supplies, or skilled in enemy manipulation and tank control movement in order to circumvent the threats throughout the mansion. Additionally, there are several multi-step puzzles that must be solved, that require thorough planning and excellent inventory management skills. Even the simplest actions like saving your game becomes a resource in Resident Evil, which adds a further layer of complexity, as there are a limited number of these in the game.
You'd think the poor quality voice acting of the original coupled with the relatively simple narrative would render these aspects of the game unenjoyable yet that isn't the case. Resident Evil manages to capture the spirit of a cheap indie B-movie horror flick, and thanks to it's confusing performances and terrible script as a result of poor translations from Japanese, the game somehow oozes charm throughout.
This stands in stark contrast with the foreboding atmosphere the game is able to create, through it's excellent environmental design, iconic soundtrack, and well crafted enemy noises. Resident Evil is a case study of visionary creativity, with every facet thoroughly considered. It is at it's strongest when the game is conveying it's story subtly through the environment and file text.
Going into this game completely blind is an incredibly challenging experience. You will undoubtedly make mistakes, lose progress, run out of healing items, fire your last bullet, but to master a game like this is incredibly rewarding. Resident Evil was designed to be replayed in a variety of ways. Firstly, there are two completely separate campaigns depending on the character you chose, which would change the story, gameplay, and difficulty significantly. Secondly, there are plenty of rewards such as alternate costumes and infinite ammo weaponry which are unlocked after completing various challenge runs, such as beating the game in under 3 hours, or achieving the best ending.
Within the realm of video games, Resident Evil is more than the inception of one of gaming's most iconic franchises, but it is a significant cultural event within the industry. It pioneered a brand new genre, and took advantage of the technology available to drag the rest of the industry forward with it. In my opinion, Resident Evil is the most impactful video game of its generation.
The original Resident Evil is almost a masterpiece in every offerable asset. For instance, the multi-layered thought process in it's puzzle design. Enemy placement is calculated, demanding the player to consider their ammunition and health resources in an encounter. Players must therefore be conservative of their supplies, or skilled in enemy manipulation and tank control movement in order to circumvent the threats throughout the mansion. Additionally, there are several multi-step puzzles that must be solved, that require thorough planning and excellent inventory management skills. Even the simplest actions like saving your game becomes a resource in Resident Evil, which adds a further layer of complexity, as there are a limited number of these in the game.
You'd think the poor quality voice acting of the original coupled with the relatively simple narrative would render these aspects of the game unenjoyable yet that isn't the case. Resident Evil manages to capture the spirit of a cheap indie B-movie horror flick, and thanks to it's confusing performances and terrible script as a result of poor translations from Japanese, the game somehow oozes charm throughout.
This stands in stark contrast with the foreboding atmosphere the game is able to create, through it's excellent environmental design, iconic soundtrack, and well crafted enemy noises. Resident Evil is a case study of visionary creativity, with every facet thoroughly considered. It is at it's strongest when the game is conveying it's story subtly through the environment and file text.
Going into this game completely blind is an incredibly challenging experience. You will undoubtedly make mistakes, lose progress, run out of healing items, fire your last bullet, but to master a game like this is incredibly rewarding. Resident Evil was designed to be replayed in a variety of ways. Firstly, there are two completely separate campaigns depending on the character you chose, which would change the story, gameplay, and difficulty significantly. Secondly, there are plenty of rewards such as alternate costumes and infinite ammo weaponry which are unlocked after completing various challenge runs, such as beating the game in under 3 hours, or achieving the best ending.
Within the realm of video games, Resident Evil is more than the inception of one of gaming's most iconic franchises, but it is a significant cultural event within the industry. It pioneered a brand new genre, and took advantage of the technology available to drag the rest of the industry forward with it. In my opinion, Resident Evil is the most impactful video game of its generation.
Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk is a short interactive experience that intends to capture the emotional suffrage that can accompany someone who suffers with mental illness. We accompany a young girl, and explore the suffocating thought process burdening her as a result of her mental health. Although her particular condition is never revealed to the player, I think the game does a great job of representing how mental health can impact simple tasks, such as going out to buy milk and as someone with anxiety, I do relate to a lot of the thought processes explored.
This game is incredibly short, taking me less than 20m to complete. I found the art direction of the game intriguing, but at times extremely hard to make out what exactly was going on, although I think this was the developers intention, leaving the majority of this game up to the interpretation of the player. Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk was far from a great visual novel game, but it's psychological horror elements coupled with mental health representation make this game memorable despite that. I believe Nikita Kryukov was able to express their vision with more polish and artistically with the sequel which is much better.
This game is incredibly short, taking me less than 20m to complete. I found the art direction of the game intriguing, but at times extremely hard to make out what exactly was going on, although I think this was the developers intention, leaving the majority of this game up to the interpretation of the player. Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk was far from a great visual novel game, but it's psychological horror elements coupled with mental health representation make this game memorable despite that. I believe Nikita Kryukov was able to express their vision with more polish and artistically with the sequel which is much better.
Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk elevates the ingredients that made the first installment so intriguing. This game creates such a stronger atmosphere than the first, escalating it with techniques similar to what we see in analogue horror, with fourth wall breaks and uncanny happenings. An immediate improvement is noticed with the art direction, with some segments receiving animated sequences that look great. The colour palette is fantastic, and visually the game is unique and much clearer than Milk Inside. The soundtrack and sound effects are used sparingly and couple well together to contribute to a higher quality product in every regard.
Narratively, the game continues where Milk Inside left off, and continues the struggle of this young woman with her mental health, trauma, and medication. This serves to explore these ideas and themes that were established with the first game in a much deeper way, now with several endings to achieve, resulting in a different dream sequence depending on our actions within the bedroom.
For all these quality of life improvements, I still think Milk Outside was unable to hit the expectations I had for the game. Although prettier, the game isn't significantly longer than the first, and I still think there is a greater amount of potential that can be told with the ideas here. The story is almost too symbolic with it's messaging, some endings are entirely unclear with what they represent. The significance of her trauma is also a mystery, which I think provides a disservice for this game as there are several factors. However, I do appreciate that the representation of the mental health struggles being generic allows players to project their own experiences onto the game and thereby relate. Her mental health struggles have motifs similar to anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD, autism, schizophrenia, PTSD, etc. The game however, feels a lucid representation of these themes, rather than a striking narrative that would explore these struggles in a more meaningful way.
Narratively, the game continues where Milk Inside left off, and continues the struggle of this young woman with her mental health, trauma, and medication. This serves to explore these ideas and themes that were established with the first game in a much deeper way, now with several endings to achieve, resulting in a different dream sequence depending on our actions within the bedroom.
For all these quality of life improvements, I still think Milk Outside was unable to hit the expectations I had for the game. Although prettier, the game isn't significantly longer than the first, and I still think there is a greater amount of potential that can be told with the ideas here. The story is almost too symbolic with it's messaging, some endings are entirely unclear with what they represent. The significance of her trauma is also a mystery, which I think provides a disservice for this game as there are several factors. However, I do appreciate that the representation of the mental health struggles being generic allows players to project their own experiences onto the game and thereby relate. Her mental health struggles have motifs similar to anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD, autism, schizophrenia, PTSD, etc. The game however, feels a lucid representation of these themes, rather than a striking narrative that would explore these struggles in a more meaningful way.
2019
Unheard's gameplay is a novel concept which I have never seen utilized before in any form of media. Oftentimes, video games will explore narratives and experiences alike traditional forms of story telling with order, sequence, and crafted story whereby the mystery unravels in a predetermined order.
Unheard takes advantage of the freedom of video game design, allowing players to experience an intricate story with several plot threads, characters, and events occurring simultaneously in front of them. By manipulating time and the position you're listening from, you must solve the mystery behind various crime scenes using nothing but your ears and your brain. This allows you to fastforward, rewind, reset, and skip through the footage accordingly, in order to piece together the story.
Although there are only five cases, with an additional free DLC case (which is fantastic), there is still a great value for money here. Each crime scene increases in difficulty and scale as you progress through the game, offering challenging puzzles that demand careful deductions and active listening. I found myself several times taking notes on pen and paper so I was able to attach the particular voices to their appropriate names and create timelines that allowed me to solve each of the crime scenes. This was incredibly rewarding, I've played plenty of difficult puzzle games before, but none have required me to write things down and evaluate and compare my findings. This is the closest I've felt to what we think detectives do on a daily basis in fiction, and it was truly an unforgettable game.
The Final Script crime scene which is a free DLC case that you can install, is by far my favourite, taking several hours for me to solve. As you'd expect from a game designed around listening, you can expect solid vocal performances throughout. However, I do have criticisms with the general overarching story. Although the narrative of each of the individual cases is fantastic, I personally found a lot of the added context between the cases that attempted to connect them and explain how this was happening was unnecessary. I sincerely hope that NEXT Studios are working on a sequel, with more crime scenes, because this game was a delight from start to finish.
Unheard takes advantage of the freedom of video game design, allowing players to experience an intricate story with several plot threads, characters, and events occurring simultaneously in front of them. By manipulating time and the position you're listening from, you must solve the mystery behind various crime scenes using nothing but your ears and your brain. This allows you to fastforward, rewind, reset, and skip through the footage accordingly, in order to piece together the story.
Although there are only five cases, with an additional free DLC case (which is fantastic), there is still a great value for money here. Each crime scene increases in difficulty and scale as you progress through the game, offering challenging puzzles that demand careful deductions and active listening. I found myself several times taking notes on pen and paper so I was able to attach the particular voices to their appropriate names and create timelines that allowed me to solve each of the crime scenes. This was incredibly rewarding, I've played plenty of difficult puzzle games before, but none have required me to write things down and evaluate and compare my findings. This is the closest I've felt to what we think detectives do on a daily basis in fiction, and it was truly an unforgettable game.
The Final Script crime scene which is a free DLC case that you can install, is by far my favourite, taking several hours for me to solve. As you'd expect from a game designed around listening, you can expect solid vocal performances throughout. However, I do have criticisms with the general overarching story. Although the narrative of each of the individual cases is fantastic, I personally found a lot of the added context between the cases that attempted to connect them and explain how this was happening was unnecessary. I sincerely hope that NEXT Studios are working on a sequel, with more crime scenes, because this game was a delight from start to finish.
Last year I embarked on a journey, to beat every single SpongeBob SquarePants video game ever made. I started in chronological order and that brought me to this monstrosity of a videogame which immediately made me cancel my journey and go on a SpongeBob sabbatical retreat to rethink my life and the decisions I had made.
Narratively, the game is simple, SpongeBob essentially goes on a fetch quest to collect oven knobs across Bikini Bottom. This allows him to access the Flying Dutchman's lair, retrieve the golden spatula and become the Master Fry Cook.
Legend of the Lost Spatula is a platformer in all of the wrong ways. SpongeBob is floaty to control, the tiny Game Boy screen obscures the distance of your vision, which prevents you from making accurate jumps, leading to you taking leaps of faith. More often than not, levels are vertical, so you can spend upwards of 10 minutes climbing a level, just to miss a jump, sending your square ass plummeting back down to the depths below.
The game is open world but is unclear in what it exactly wants you to do. Although the open world nature seems like a positive, it can actually lead you to feeling confused as to why this is relevant to the plot, and can lead you to enter areas that are tougher immediately from the beginning which would lead to a highly frustrating time as you familiarize yourself with the dogshit controls.
Enemies are designed in the most punishing fashion. Their placement happens to always be in unforeseen areas and near safe spots when platforming, which if you happen to unfortunately leap into an enemy when traversing between platforms can send you all the way to the beginning of a level. Trust me, you will be undoubtedly hit by enemies over and over again, this game requires you to memorize upcoming platform sections, where the enemies spawn, and their movements.
On top of their placement issues, the weaponry available to SpongeBob is awful. The bubble blower has an attack pattern like a knight from chess, the net launcher only works on certain enemies, the hitbox from the net is inconsistent.
In order to refill these weapons, you'll have to collect treasure chests, which can contain pants (health) and ammunition. Or just randomly provide the phrase "April Fools" before disappearing??? Such a weird writing choice for a SpongeBob game, and further proof to my theory that this game was made by sadists who wanted to troll any and every unlucky soul who considered playing this game.
There's also an item that allows you to see inside of treasure chests, which is by far one of the most useless items in any game I have ever seen because it is necessary to open pretty much every chest you come across, and it saves you a lot of time to just open them rather than navigating through menus to equip and unequip the glasses prior to opening?
The ONLY positives of Legend of the Lost Spatula are the accurate and well-crafted artwork, and some of the music being decent at best. Everything else besides presentation is absolutely horrendous. This game, if not already, should be notorious for it's ruthless game design and is a contender for the most frustrating Game Boy Colour game of all-time.
Narratively, the game is simple, SpongeBob essentially goes on a fetch quest to collect oven knobs across Bikini Bottom. This allows him to access the Flying Dutchman's lair, retrieve the golden spatula and become the Master Fry Cook.
Legend of the Lost Spatula is a platformer in all of the wrong ways. SpongeBob is floaty to control, the tiny Game Boy screen obscures the distance of your vision, which prevents you from making accurate jumps, leading to you taking leaps of faith. More often than not, levels are vertical, so you can spend upwards of 10 minutes climbing a level, just to miss a jump, sending your square ass plummeting back down to the depths below.
The game is open world but is unclear in what it exactly wants you to do. Although the open world nature seems like a positive, it can actually lead you to feeling confused as to why this is relevant to the plot, and can lead you to enter areas that are tougher immediately from the beginning which would lead to a highly frustrating time as you familiarize yourself with the dogshit controls.
Enemies are designed in the most punishing fashion. Their placement happens to always be in unforeseen areas and near safe spots when platforming, which if you happen to unfortunately leap into an enemy when traversing between platforms can send you all the way to the beginning of a level. Trust me, you will be undoubtedly hit by enemies over and over again, this game requires you to memorize upcoming platform sections, where the enemies spawn, and their movements.
On top of their placement issues, the weaponry available to SpongeBob is awful. The bubble blower has an attack pattern like a knight from chess, the net launcher only works on certain enemies, the hitbox from the net is inconsistent.
In order to refill these weapons, you'll have to collect treasure chests, which can contain pants (health) and ammunition. Or just randomly provide the phrase "April Fools" before disappearing??? Such a weird writing choice for a SpongeBob game, and further proof to my theory that this game was made by sadists who wanted to troll any and every unlucky soul who considered playing this game.
There's also an item that allows you to see inside of treasure chests, which is by far one of the most useless items in any game I have ever seen because it is necessary to open pretty much every chest you come across, and it saves you a lot of time to just open them rather than navigating through menus to equip and unequip the glasses prior to opening?
The ONLY positives of Legend of the Lost Spatula are the accurate and well-crafted artwork, and some of the music being decent at best. Everything else besides presentation is absolutely horrendous. This game, if not already, should be notorious for it's ruthless game design and is a contender for the most frustrating Game Boy Colour game of all-time.
2019
Last Year can be summarised quite simply as a game with intention but no direction. Taking clear inspiration from Dead By Daylight, Last Year tries to develop the asymmetrical horror video game genre. I understand this game went through development hell, and has been released on various different platforms at different price points. However, at the time of writing, Last Year was recently released for free on Steam. I decided to give it a try given the small bump in playerbase and I found it to be a real mixed bag.
Environments are visually fantastic and combined with some of the gameplay mechanics, such as traps and spiders, it establishes an atmosphere that makes it uncomfortable to explore.
The fiends are fun to play, but visually the design leaves a lot to be desired, and doesn't quite scratch the itch of other competitor games in the industry. Additionally, the roster is really small, with 4 fiends at the time of releasing. One advantage the fiends have over the classmates is that their cosmetics are much better, with the survivors mostly possessing simple recolours most of the time.
Fiends are able to disappear and reappear when out of the line of sight of other players, allowing you to place traps in key areas, reposition, and set up ambushes. The time to kill in Last Year is extremely fast, with some fiends being particularly strong in combination with traps. Interestingly, survivors possess ways of fighting back, which is a nice idea but mostly futile, and you'll find yourself dying over and over again in order to whittle down the killer's health, or keep him distracted so that your teammates can complete objectives.
This leads to combat, which is extremely floaty and imprecise for both sides, hits never felt satisfying to land, but the execution animations are gnarly. Gameplay involves a lot of scavenging and crafting too, leading to better equipment and skills necessary to put up a stronger fight against the killer. I find the gameplay way more fun from the side of the fiends, but quite a slog from the perspective of the survivors. Survivors have to complete all of the objectives in 15 minutes, able to respawn upon death in "Left 4 Dead"-like rooms, and have different classes which provide the character with inherent skills and different craftables. The base design of the survivors is actually pretty good, but like I alluded to earlier, the available cosmetics are nowhere near good enough to warrant spending the time or money to earn.
The audio design is also extremely polished, things crunch, they pop, they gurgle, and it all serves to add flavourings to the game. Although there is nothing wrong with the voice acting, the script at times is corny, with lines such as "um guys.. i really don't think this is a good idea o.o". I assume the intention was to capture the often goofy and plastic nature of horror characters though which I can excuse.
I do not in any way think Last Year is a bad game conceptually, however during my time with the game, it definitely feels as if something is missing from the experience that doesn't quite give me the hope that this game will live on beyond this initial resuscitation period it's experiencing. The game needs more variety across the board, from cosmetics, to fiends, to survivors, maps and most importantly progression. There are some good ideas here, and I hope the developers continue to work on this game, adding new content throughout and polishing some of the gameplay issues. Free to Play was definitely the correct decision in this case, but without a steady content roadmap, it will stagnate, and I may revisit after a period of time to evaluate the changes.
Environments are visually fantastic and combined with some of the gameplay mechanics, such as traps and spiders, it establishes an atmosphere that makes it uncomfortable to explore.
The fiends are fun to play, but visually the design leaves a lot to be desired, and doesn't quite scratch the itch of other competitor games in the industry. Additionally, the roster is really small, with 4 fiends at the time of releasing. One advantage the fiends have over the classmates is that their cosmetics are much better, with the survivors mostly possessing simple recolours most of the time.
Fiends are able to disappear and reappear when out of the line of sight of other players, allowing you to place traps in key areas, reposition, and set up ambushes. The time to kill in Last Year is extremely fast, with some fiends being particularly strong in combination with traps. Interestingly, survivors possess ways of fighting back, which is a nice idea but mostly futile, and you'll find yourself dying over and over again in order to whittle down the killer's health, or keep him distracted so that your teammates can complete objectives.
This leads to combat, which is extremely floaty and imprecise for both sides, hits never felt satisfying to land, but the execution animations are gnarly. Gameplay involves a lot of scavenging and crafting too, leading to better equipment and skills necessary to put up a stronger fight against the killer. I find the gameplay way more fun from the side of the fiends, but quite a slog from the perspective of the survivors. Survivors have to complete all of the objectives in 15 minutes, able to respawn upon death in "Left 4 Dead"-like rooms, and have different classes which provide the character with inherent skills and different craftables. The base design of the survivors is actually pretty good, but like I alluded to earlier, the available cosmetics are nowhere near good enough to warrant spending the time or money to earn.
The audio design is also extremely polished, things crunch, they pop, they gurgle, and it all serves to add flavourings to the game. Although there is nothing wrong with the voice acting, the script at times is corny, with lines such as "um guys.. i really don't think this is a good idea o.o". I assume the intention was to capture the often goofy and plastic nature of horror characters though which I can excuse.
I do not in any way think Last Year is a bad game conceptually, however during my time with the game, it definitely feels as if something is missing from the experience that doesn't quite give me the hope that this game will live on beyond this initial resuscitation period it's experiencing. The game needs more variety across the board, from cosmetics, to fiends, to survivors, maps and most importantly progression. There are some good ideas here, and I hope the developers continue to work on this game, adding new content throughout and polishing some of the gameplay issues. Free to Play was definitely the correct decision in this case, but without a steady content roadmap, it will stagnate, and I may revisit after a period of time to evaluate the changes.
2006
Hitman: Blood Money stands out in my mind as one of the most fun experiences I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing in the medium. Despite being released in 2006, Blood Money's sandbox level design is unmatched, to a point where it has aged perfectly and still stands out as one of the most fun experiences within the genre even though it's almost two decades old.
Blood Money provides you with a plethora of extremely fun scenarios, offers ideas, but ultimately allows the player to utilise their creativity and make their own decisions as to how they'd like to complete the missions. Every single mission breathes personality and style, allowing the player to perform assassinations at an opera theatre, casino, Mississippi wedding, a wine vinyard, and a suburban neighbourhood, to name a few of the locales. I cannot overstate how incredible these missions are. Each mission is meticulous in it's design, offering several solutions to the player, and through a combination of stealth and brutality, players must overcome these challenges and successfully take out their targets through whatever means.
The player's actions are monitored throughout the game and are evaluated to the player via a results screen at the end of each level, but also narratively in the form of newspaper articles. These articles highlight the number of casualties that occurred, if the player is loud and obvious in their assassination you may develop notoriety between missions, which can affect your ability to perform stealthily in subsequent stages. Security may also gain an understanding of how Agent 47 looks, and so will be more aware of you approaching them as they will be on the lookout for you. This adds a level of complexity of player consequence, and is extremely intuitive for the time.
Although I appreciate the level and audio design, the character design in Blood Money is downright awful. I also had some technical issues replaying this game on modern hardware, cutscenes lacked audio at times, and I found the control scheme a little dated. However, none of these issues are anywhere near significant enough to take away from the plethora of praises I have for this title.
Blood Money's combat is also a little clunky, but I find that necessary. The game after all wants you to have consideration in when you decide to go loud or kill a non-target. The stealth mechanics work fantastically, the AI isn't particularly attentive, but I personally love that it is forgiving and almost cartoonish in it's approach for stealth. For example, being able to throw coins down hallways to lure guards is just fun to pull off. Even routes the game wants you to avoid taking may be circumvented by learning the game's mechanics and exploiting that.
My favourite mechanic is definitely the ability to incapacitate people of interest, and wearing their attire to disguise as them. This allows you to freely access certain areas, e.g. dressing as a chef to freely walk the kitchen and catering area, or dressing as a security guard to close the gap between you and your target.
Of course, for loud approaches there are several firearms that you can use, such as snipers, shotguns, SMGs, and the famous Silverballers pistols. But my favourite arsenal is that of your stealth equipment. Fiber wire to take out your target up close or even sedative and poison syringes to be used on people directly, or indirectly through food and water.
There of course are narrative reasons for each of the assassinations, and a fairly decent plot to connect the threads together. However, I found the story supplementary, it was not an important selling aspect to the game for me at all. That's the beauty of this wonderful medium, some games weave interesting tales with overarching plot threads that surprise you in ways that no other medium could. However, some games, like Hitman: Blood Money are purely and simply fun to play, and it's these innovative games that become timeless.
Blood Money provides you with a plethora of extremely fun scenarios, offers ideas, but ultimately allows the player to utilise their creativity and make their own decisions as to how they'd like to complete the missions. Every single mission breathes personality and style, allowing the player to perform assassinations at an opera theatre, casino, Mississippi wedding, a wine vinyard, and a suburban neighbourhood, to name a few of the locales. I cannot overstate how incredible these missions are. Each mission is meticulous in it's design, offering several solutions to the player, and through a combination of stealth and brutality, players must overcome these challenges and successfully take out their targets through whatever means.
The player's actions are monitored throughout the game and are evaluated to the player via a results screen at the end of each level, but also narratively in the form of newspaper articles. These articles highlight the number of casualties that occurred, if the player is loud and obvious in their assassination you may develop notoriety between missions, which can affect your ability to perform stealthily in subsequent stages. Security may also gain an understanding of how Agent 47 looks, and so will be more aware of you approaching them as they will be on the lookout for you. This adds a level of complexity of player consequence, and is extremely intuitive for the time.
Although I appreciate the level and audio design, the character design in Blood Money is downright awful. I also had some technical issues replaying this game on modern hardware, cutscenes lacked audio at times, and I found the control scheme a little dated. However, none of these issues are anywhere near significant enough to take away from the plethora of praises I have for this title.
Blood Money's combat is also a little clunky, but I find that necessary. The game after all wants you to have consideration in when you decide to go loud or kill a non-target. The stealth mechanics work fantastically, the AI isn't particularly attentive, but I personally love that it is forgiving and almost cartoonish in it's approach for stealth. For example, being able to throw coins down hallways to lure guards is just fun to pull off. Even routes the game wants you to avoid taking may be circumvented by learning the game's mechanics and exploiting that.
My favourite mechanic is definitely the ability to incapacitate people of interest, and wearing their attire to disguise as them. This allows you to freely access certain areas, e.g. dressing as a chef to freely walk the kitchen and catering area, or dressing as a security guard to close the gap between you and your target.
Of course, for loud approaches there are several firearms that you can use, such as snipers, shotguns, SMGs, and the famous Silverballers pistols. But my favourite arsenal is that of your stealth equipment. Fiber wire to take out your target up close or even sedative and poison syringes to be used on people directly, or indirectly through food and water.
There of course are narrative reasons for each of the assassinations, and a fairly decent plot to connect the threads together. However, I found the story supplementary, it was not an important selling aspect to the game for me at all. That's the beauty of this wonderful medium, some games weave interesting tales with overarching plot threads that surprise you in ways that no other medium could. However, some games, like Hitman: Blood Money are purely and simply fun to play, and it's these innovative games that become timeless.
2015
Power Drill Massacre is Puppet Combo's first fully original video game and with all due respect to the studio, it sure does feel like it. It feels more like a concept demo than a full fledged video game and can be beaten in less than 30 minutes.
Plaudits have to be given to the atmosphere. Power Drill Massacre was released in 2015, and attempts to bring back the retro horror feeling that was associated with 90s horror VHS tapes and early survival horror titles. This style would become synonymous with Puppet Combo. Whether he was responsible for the reintroduction of this style is not within my knowledge but he is certainly the most renowned developer with this approach to horror titles. It's nice to see that he had a clear vision as a horror game developer from the very beginning, and have only continued to build upon that in subsequent titles.
The premise of Power Drill Massacre is simple, you and your friend get into a car accident and must seek help. In doing so, you become locked in this facility, stalked by a maddened murderer wielding a power drill as a weapon. Finicky controls coupled with genuinely terrifying enemy encounters brings out feelings of hopelessness and dread which serve to deliver the intended experience well. Part of the reason why these encounters are terrifying however, is that they almost feel bullshit. It's hard to see exactly what is causing the threat, and encounters usually end within a few seconds.
There's no combat, just a light exploration within a daunting environment with a few scripted encounters scattered within. There is no voice acting, which would later become an appealing and charming aspect to Puppet Combo titles. After mulling over how I felt about the narrative, I really have mixed feelings surrounding it. It is 100% cliche but the lore is incredibly disturbing when fully understood. A nice touch was the inclusion of multiple endings, this trend would continue throughout Puppet Combo's future library. There are two endings in the game, which involve triggering different set pieces within the facility. They divide into a fairly obvious good and bad ending, with the bad ending in particular being incredibly off-putting to experience.
The game also can't decide whether it wants to give the player camera freedom or fixed camera angles and so allows both, which I think hinders the experience. Horror games that use fixed camera angles correctly will craft every room and experience with a great amount of detail. Each angle carefully provides the player with enough information to entice you to keep going forward, but also hides enough to make the player wary of progressing. The ability to switch the camera in these moments allows the player to circumvent the intended fear that fixed camera angles create, and I would have loved if the game decided on one particular camera style and stuck with it.
Power Drill Massacre can be described as a fine game. It does nothing abhorrent but nothing spectacular. The only thing truly memorable about the experience is the absolutely terrifying jumpscares, whose noise is piercing and can lead to you involuntarily releasing your hand from the keyboard out of shock. It's legacy would be that it proved there was a market for this style of game, that Puppet Combo would later evolve this primordial title into more special experiences.
Plaudits have to be given to the atmosphere. Power Drill Massacre was released in 2015, and attempts to bring back the retro horror feeling that was associated with 90s horror VHS tapes and early survival horror titles. This style would become synonymous with Puppet Combo. Whether he was responsible for the reintroduction of this style is not within my knowledge but he is certainly the most renowned developer with this approach to horror titles. It's nice to see that he had a clear vision as a horror game developer from the very beginning, and have only continued to build upon that in subsequent titles.
The premise of Power Drill Massacre is simple, you and your friend get into a car accident and must seek help. In doing so, you become locked in this facility, stalked by a maddened murderer wielding a power drill as a weapon. Finicky controls coupled with genuinely terrifying enemy encounters brings out feelings of hopelessness and dread which serve to deliver the intended experience well. Part of the reason why these encounters are terrifying however, is that they almost feel bullshit. It's hard to see exactly what is causing the threat, and encounters usually end within a few seconds.
There's no combat, just a light exploration within a daunting environment with a few scripted encounters scattered within. There is no voice acting, which would later become an appealing and charming aspect to Puppet Combo titles. After mulling over how I felt about the narrative, I really have mixed feelings surrounding it. It is 100% cliche but the lore is incredibly disturbing when fully understood. A nice touch was the inclusion of multiple endings, this trend would continue throughout Puppet Combo's future library. There are two endings in the game, which involve triggering different set pieces within the facility. They divide into a fairly obvious good and bad ending, with the bad ending in particular being incredibly off-putting to experience.
The game also can't decide whether it wants to give the player camera freedom or fixed camera angles and so allows both, which I think hinders the experience. Horror games that use fixed camera angles correctly will craft every room and experience with a great amount of detail. Each angle carefully provides the player with enough information to entice you to keep going forward, but also hides enough to make the player wary of progressing. The ability to switch the camera in these moments allows the player to circumvent the intended fear that fixed camera angles create, and I would have loved if the game decided on one particular camera style and stuck with it.
Power Drill Massacre can be described as a fine game. It does nothing abhorrent but nothing spectacular. The only thing truly memorable about the experience is the absolutely terrifying jumpscares, whose noise is piercing and can lead to you involuntarily releasing your hand from the keyboard out of shock. It's legacy would be that it proved there was a market for this style of game, that Puppet Combo would later evolve this primordial title into more special experiences.