There's an in-game bookstore in The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa which predictably sells books which Ringo can read. They all have slightly parodic, possibly copyright dodging titles but are all clearly based on existing words of literature e.g Odysseus - > Ulysses, Brothers -> Brothers Karamazov etc.

Reading each of them involves figuring out the slightly obtuse method of finding a bench and using the right shoulder button and letting the slow progress bar fill up. If you've read the speed reading books in the school library you can speed the process up but it will take a significant amount of ingame time to read through the longer novels like Ulysses and Anna Karenina. There is basically 0 mechanical benefit in doing so, negative, if you factor in opportunity cost. Well, there is one female friend of Ringo's who has unique dialogue if you've read any of the russian novels but other than that (and the achievement for reading them all I suppose) like in real life you basically have to read for shock horror its own sake.

It is perhaps silly, but The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa's particular roleplaying, simulation charm had such a grip on me on replay that I sat on a bench in the park on a sunday and would periodically pause reading The Brothers Karamazov to light up a cigarette and continue where I left of, then stopping to put it out. I can't even really put my finger on why, perhaps its because for all the maturity of the subject matter and perceived adult-ness (which is even addressed in one of the conversations with Ringo's bookworm friend declaring that Adults didnt watch anime) its the kind of thing that taps into that dormant desire to make up stories of our toys of childhood; when play and learning went hand in hand.

Its also because smoking in a game is as close as I'll hopefully ever get to it IRL after giving it up a few years ago. Reading whilst smoking brings a nostalgia for one of the worst years of my life when I was 18 and had just started university in a different country.

I don't smoke anymore, but I've been getting back into reading. Reading Rumble Fish recently it was hard not to notice the influence in Ringo's story, a tale of a troubled teen gang leader's deep existential emptiness and misplaced idealism about the "rules" of chivalry supposedly involved. Even the scene in RI of Goro staring off into the lit up city across the river wondering if there's anything greater out there, a naïve hope of escaping the ennui of their hometown into a mythical "other place" smacks of a particular chapter in Rumble Fish; seemingly the only time at which the main character is comfortable is when drunk and surrounded by the pretty lights and party atmosphere of the city, shortly before being mugged.

I'm currently reading through Winesburg Ohio, I suppose I could have waited until i read through all of the books to come back and replay Ringo and do some kind of overlong comparative analysis of the influences, but I can't be assed right now. Maybe I will do that in the future. In replaying Ringo there was the unfortunate realization that the combat is kinda shit compared to Fading Afternoon and a few bugs got a bit annoying, as well as the confirmation that the pacing of the final few weeks was as weird as I remembered it, but everything else about the game was stellar, and I think I enjoyed it even more than last time. Ringo is a bit like Paprika and other works I love to revisit in that it feels like you're finding something new every time. For as obtuse and even abrasive as the design philosphy of Yeo's games can be, they are equally mesmerising.

For example, I discovered upon replay that you can squat to recover health. I also learned that story events do not trigger if you have your gang with you, which is both useful in setting the terms of the progression but thematically appropriate: Ringo's friends are coming apart, him seemingly the last one to realize this, and his various activities calling upon him to be alone and not keeping the gang together accelerates the process. That ending still hits fucking hard man. God. Y'know what? Fuck it, for all its faults, this is a 5 star game for me now. I don't think it will be most people's cup of tea but I humbly ask for everyone to play it at some point, even if just for a few hours

Animal Well is a game that has been developed by a single person for almost 7 years and a tremendous job has been done. The game, which is basically a Metroidvania genre but based on puzzles rather than combat, offers a great experience with many different and creative puzzle sequences and sometimes scary parts. It offers you an experience that you cannot see in other metroidvanias, with cleverly designed shortcuts, puzzles and many different and wonderfully thought-out equipment that you will use. From its Zelda-like Equipment window to its CRT-style scanlines, it successfully gives you the feeling of playing an NES game. Some effects (such as explosions, smoke or firecrackers) are designed in a more realistic way compared to the pixelart style of the game, which gives the impression of playing a NES game blended with the new generation and definitely adds a unique atmosphere to the game. There are 5 bosses you will encounter in the game and you need to use different types of tactics to defeat them all. It also has a very large map and you need to collect all the collectible eggs to reach the real end of the game. A great job has been done with the music as well, and there are many styles of music for many levels. As a result, Animal Well has accomplished a lot with the limited equipment and mechanics in the game and has become a great metroidvania puzzle game. It will definitely be a strong candidate for the best indie games of this year. If you are on Playstation, you can play from Plus right now. I definitely recommend you try it.

It is easy to be dismissive. Be it art, people, food, events, the rapid, continual pace of consumption necessitates the compartmentalisation and categorisation of happenings. One can be dismissive in the positive and in the negative. The complex emotions elicited through our lives fade as quickly as they arise. Perhaps it is a consequence of language, an inability to express the phenomenon of experience. A meal's interplay of tantalising nostalgic aroma and comforting warmth in the belly is, for most of our lives, recalled as good - if it is remembered at all. A film is so bad it's good, some self-fulfilling label that sets expectations and ebbs the need for analysis of artistic merit and failure. A book is well-written. Your ex is a bitch. Last Christmas was good.

In the new hyperactive mode, wherein consumption happens largely for the sake of consumption, categorisation happens more readily, more aggressively, less critically. A director is washed. Your favourite is 🐐-ed. Films are kino or coal. Aesthetics are reduced to haphazard strictures, art pinned as frutiger aero, frasurbane, girlypunk neo-Y2K vectorheart nu-brute. Games are flavour of the month, kusoge, kamige, kiige, bakage, normiecore. Bring something up, and everyone has an opinion, a rote repetition of regurgitated refuse. Exhibit passion for that outside the zeitgeist, and be lambasted. Convey discontent with the beloved, be accused of poor media literacy. Are we even partaking of that which we parade around, or are we playing an elaborate game of telephone?

Even Burger King Orientation CD-i Training cannot escape unharmed. A wave of ironic praise and genuine befuddlement at why this exists, why it is revisited. One must be seeking attention for having such a quirky thing on their profile. It is impossible that it is enjoyed on a deeper level, as a response to a wider fascination, as a dive into historical (non-)import. The new hyperactive mode intentionally seeks signifiers which mark the self as interesting. An intentional facade which begs it won't be scrutinised.

But just because you have constructed this mask does not mean we all wear it. And perhaps I am being dismissive of your own thoughts. The truth of the matter is you don't care what I think, or why I feel a certain way. And to be fair, I feel the same animosity towards you. We are strangers at the conflux of comparison of preference.

I am filled with a genuine glee when I 'play' Burger King Orientation CD-i Training, but maybe it is best I keep the reasons to myself, as with so much else.

After all, you care not for what I think, so what is the difference if those thoughts are no longer laid bare.

While it hadn’t gotten as much love as other Nintendo franchises at this point, like with Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and others, the Metroid series was still considered to be one of their big IPs at the time, and had a bit of a reputation at that point. The original Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus, despite not reaching the same level of quality as future titles in the series, were still good games in their own right, and were a pretty good launch point for this series as a whole. Not to mention, they were pretty successful, selling 2.7 million copies and 1.7 million copies respectively, so naturally, a sequel was going to be made… but not right away. There would be somewhat of a gap in between releases, primarily because the devs were waiting for just the right time, the perfect time, to bring Samus back into the limelight once again. This perfect time would come in 1994, and with the help of Intelligent Systems, who had developed plenty of games with Nintendo before (including the original Metroid), they would then release the long-awaited next chapter in the Metroid saga, Super Metroid.

Unfortunately, it wouldn’t go onto sell as well as its predecessors, but it would go onto garner universal praise from fans, die-hard or otherwise, and critics alike, with it now considered to be not only one of, if not THE best Metroid game of all time, but also one of the greatest video games ever made. Many have sung its praises over the years in many ways, it would get plenty of mods later down the road supporting replayability, it would become a favorite amongst speedrunners, and it would help go onto establishing an entire sub-genre of video games as a whole. As for myself though, I wouldn’t jump onto the Super Metroid bandwagon for quite some time, despite watching plenty of videos about it that would praise the game and go into great detail about why it was considered a masterpiece. When I eventually did decide to give the game a fair shot, I immediately understood why, as it is an incredible game, and absolutely deserves the reputation it has garnered over the years. While it may not be my personal favorite Metroid game, it is clear when playing the game that the devs put plenty of love, detail, and care into this game, making it one of the best games you could ever play not only from this era, but from any era.

The story continues on from where Metroid II ended off, where Samus Aran, now with a baby Metroid in her possession, brings it to a team of scientists at the Ceres research station to conduct further study on the specimen, but shortly after she leaves, the station is attacked by Ridley, back in the flesh after his defeat in the original game, killing everyone inside and stealing the baby Metroid, and fleeing back to the planet Zebes, so it is up to Samus to travel to Zebes once again, get back the baby Metroid, and uncover what is really going on here. It is a fairly simple premise, one that is easy to understand for new players, but also complex enough to create intrigue for those that are wanting to learn more about this game and its universe, making it very pleasing to experience and ponder about.

The graphics are absolutely phenomenal, not only bringing Samus to the 16-bit era in the perfect way, but also creating plenty of iconic locations, enemy designs, and atmosphere that still holds up tremendously well almost 30 years later, the music is wonderful, creating a perfect balance of being moody, setting the tone for many of the environments you travel in, yet still being filled with plenty of life, while also being tense and action–packed when it needs to, the control is perfect, feeling like the perfect evolution for how Samus should control in one of these games, while giving plenty of new things to mess around with right from the get-go that give you more versatility than ever, and the gameplay is pretty similar to the last two titles in the series, but now it has been made to be a lot more exciting, approachable, and memorable.

The game is a 2D action-adventure game, where you take control of Samus Aran once again, go through the depths of the planet Zebes once again, this time with much more detail, life, and secrets to find, defeat plenty of creatures, big or small, that inhabit the planet and want you dead as you go deeper and deeper into the planet, gather plenty of upgrades to Samus’s arsenal to make her into the ultimate warrior, such as with health upgrades, beam power ups, or regular power ups that give you new abilities, and take on plenty of bosses, both new and old, that will provide a challenge to those unprepared for what is to come. It has all the same elements that the previous two games had, not really introducing anything that majorly different for the series at the time, but there is one thing that it does manage to do above all else: perfect the formula.

As I mentioned earlier, Samus is now more capable then she has ever been before, not only having the same basic abilities and powers that she could get from the previous game, but she is now also able to aim in eight separate directions, she can crouch, and she even now has a wall jump, where you can continuously scale up a wall if you press the right sequence of buttons, allowing you to ultimately make the game YOUR BITCH. It is the perfect way to naturally evolve not just Samus and her capabilities, but also how the game plays, because when compared to the original game and Metroid II, this is just perfect in every way. Not only that, but the arsenal of weapons that she can acquire throughout the game is just as helpful as before, with classics like the Missiles, the Morph Ball, the Hi-Jump boots, the Screw Attack, and the various beam powers making a return, and each of them are incredibly helpful in plenty of situations.

Not only that, but there is also a good amount of new power ups for you to mess around with in the game as you go about finding them. There’s the Speed Booster, which allows Samus to run extremely fast and make her an unstoppable bullet train, the Shine Spark, which allows you to fire yourself through hard structures while using the Speed Booster, the Grapple Beam, which can be used to latch onto certain surfaces and swing around all over the place to reach new areas or more goodies, and the X-Ray Scope, which allows you to scan nearby areas to see if you can find any hidden passageways, power ups, or otherwise. Most of these new additions would become staples in the series in the coming years, and all of them are extremely useful and wonderful to test out in plenty of locations… with the exception of the X-Ray Scope, which I barely used at all, but hey, it is there for newcomers, so that is good.

And speaking of newcomers, like I mentioned before, this game is much more approachable when compared to the previous two titles, not just in terms of what it provides the player, but also in terms of design. In the first two Metroid games, there was always the possibility of getting lost or confused while traveling through these corridors, because not only did you not have any way to track where you were in the game, but also because a lot of the hallways look almost identical to each other, meaning you could think you are in a whole new area, but instead are stuck back-tracking when you didn’t want to so that.

Thankfully, with Super Metroid, not only do you now have a map which can track where you have been, making it a lot easier to decide where you want to go next, but every single area in the game, big or small, now has a distinct look and design to it, making it so that you will always have new things to discover, and even if you haven’t fully explored one area due to a lack of tools needed to do so, you can always find your way back in order to do so later. With that being said though, even though you do have a map, it doesn’t automatically point out every single thing to you, encouraging you to explore around more and see where more items and secrets can be hidden, which is always a great thing to have when it comes to any video game.

One last admirable quality about Super Metroid that I really admire, especially when it comes to video games of this era, is in terms of its storytelling. Most games around this time either don’t give you too much story at all, or they are all saved for cutscenes and the instruction manual, which is fine on its own, but it doesn’t give you much opportunity to really connect with the game’s world as a whole. Super Metroid, however, manages to do this flawlessly, starting off with an intro sequence that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know, or about what happened in the previous two games, but they tell you enough to where you get ready to go and want to learn more. Even when you land on the planet of Zebes, you can tell that it’s gone through plenty of changes, with the first areas looking all desolate and destroyed, no doubt a result of your actions from the original game. However, after you get the Morph Ball, this beam of light shines on you from the corner of the room, and suddenly, all kinds of baddies are up and at 'em, ready to take you down, which is a really nice detail.

Everything else remains relatively normal and simple from there on out, until you end up fighting Ridley, where after you defeat him, you end up finding the capsule that the baby Metroid was sealed in… but it is now shattered, and the baby Metroid is gone. You have no clue what could’ve happened, so you end up going about the rest of your business, getting more items, fighting more guys, and breaking the game to your heart’s content, until you reach the final area of the game, where you descend down further into the core of Zebes, and that’s when the final events of the game start to kick off. Oh, and by the way, spoilers for the final act of the game are coming up, so if you haven’t played or seen through that part of the game yet (even though you have had 30 years to do so), then just skip to the final paragraph of the review.

As you enter this area, you notice that it is surprisingly… quiet. There isn’t that much going in with the environment, and the only enemies that you find in this place are Metroids and those weird ring things that shoot out from the walls. Eventually, you find more enemies later on, but they appear to be… drained of their life, disintegrating upon contact, leading you to suspect that something weird is going on here. You then find another one of these enemies, alive and well, seemingly impossible to kill as you try every single weapon on it, but nothing works. Before you can think of what to do next, all of a sudden, this GIGANTIC Metroid comes out of NOWHERE, and latches itself onto that creature, draining it of its energy, and probably scaring the shit out of whoever is playing the game at that point.

After it finishes off this creature, it then heads straight for you, starting to completely drain you of all your energy as well, with you being able to do anything about it, as you fidget around in an utter panic. However, before your health bar drops to zero, all of a sudden… it stops. It stops draining your health, and it detaches itself from you, letting out some cries, until ultimately fleeing the scene. It is then you realize that this giant Metroid that almost killed you was the baby Metroid that you got from SR388, and it had one HUGE growth spurt, but even after becoming the ruthless killer that all Metroids naturally are, it still cares deeply about Samus, and wishes to bring no more harm to her.

Once that is all over with, you once again go through the game like normal, finally reaching Mother Brain, back once again from the original game, right alongside a fight that seems like it was ripped straight from that game, with you needing to defeat her in the exact same way. However, when it seems like she is destroyed, she then rises up from her defeat once again, now rocking this brand new body. Naturally, you start to throw everything at her, but it doesn’t seem like anything is really doing all that much to her, as she fights back and then starts to charge up something. This then leads to her firing this gigantic rainbow laser beam of death at you several times, which not only starts draining away all of your health like crazy, but it also takes away all of your missiles and bombs too!

At this point, you are now stuck, unable to move, and getting continuously beat up by Mother Brain, wondering how the hell you are going to get out of this one. However, before Mother Brain can land the final blow with one more laser beam attack, the full-grown baby Metroid then suddenly barges in and starts draining Mother Brain of all her energy, causing her to start to stagger and cry out in a panic, until she is left petrified for a brief moment. The Metroid then goes towards you, latching onto you once again, but instead of draining your health again, it then starts to… heal you? No clue how the hell they are supposed to be doing that, but at this point, you’ll take it. But then, while the Metroid is starting to heal you, Mother Brain gets back up.

It then starts to fully attack the Metroid non-stop, causing it to grow weaker and changing to a much weaker shade of purple and yellow, until the Metroid then unlatches itself from you, and then goes in for one final attack. Unfortunately though, before it can land that final blow, Mother Brain gets the upper hand, killing the Metroid, and causing it to explode into dust. You may not have known him for long, but you are probably feeling pretty saddened and angry about Mother Brain killing your baby, but fear not, because from the ashes of the Metroid, you gain one final upgrade to your beam that is capable of killing Mother Brain: the Hyper Beam.

You then unload plenty of shots from your own rainbow laser, right into Mother Brain’s dumbass face, until it ultimately crumbles to the ground, ending your mission, and leading you to quickly escaping from the planet. This entire sequence of events, from where you find the destroyed capsule all the way up to when you kill Mother Brain, is executed flawlessly. It is such a simple sequence of events, but they are presented to the player so naturally, without any real pauses in the gameplay, allowing you to fully get absorbed in these moments, which make them all the more surprising, jarring, heart-breaking, and satisfying. Of course, you probably already knew about all this, and you may not think it is such a big deal, as did I when I went into this game, but even when I knew all of what was going to happen, it still made it so that those emotions were rushing through me by the end, and if a game manages to do that even when you already knew it was coming, then that deserves only the highest regards.

Overall, while it still isn’t my favorite game in the entire series, or even my favorite 2D Metroid for that matter, I can’t help but fully admit that Super Metroid, on its own, is almost completely flawless, giving a natural evolution for this series that excels it to new heights, and providing so much fun throughout all that it offers, whether it be through gameplay, presentation, story, or otherwise. I absolutely recommend it for anyone, those who are big fans of the Metroid series, or if you are someone that is wanting to get into the series yourself, because it is not only a perfect starting point for newcomers, but also a title that has held up masterfully after all this time, and it is clear why it is still so prevalent in plenty of gaming communities to this day. Although, I will say one thing, for those of you who are planning on playing this at some point… make sure to save the aliens. You may not know what I am talking about, but trust me, you will want to remember that, so that you won’t get shunned by your peers for doing something wrong.

Game #492

In a FAQ on Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. It was revealed that "The Vision of Kain'' was conceived to be a game which adults would want to play. The character Kain was modeled in part after Clint Eastwood's character in the movie "Unforgiven". In this movie, there were no "good" or "evil" characters, they were all "gray". The vision of Kain was to create a game where the player is put in the position where everyone believes you are evil, perhaps even yourself. We wanted to ask the question "What is evil? Perhaps it is merely a perspective."

The notion of evil has long been exercised for, against, and studied at length for varying degrees across countless years before the release of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Most often against the opposite side of ‘good,’ yet intensely analyzed with a fine pen from the schools of philosophy and psychology. Yet, here the concept is used in a uniquely interesting manner compared to all the other titles in the PSX library I’ve played thus far. Since released back in 1996. Offering a nuanced dark story, featuring an unconventional ‘hero’ protagonist. Where you play as the aforementioned character. A recently slain petty noble turned vampire on his quest for revenge and cure for his vampirism status. His quest is fraught with peril at every turn. He’s weak and isn’t a badass for one turned into a dark creature of the night. Hasn’t adjusted well to his transformation thus his monologues both external and internal display a cynically arrogant personality throughout. A type I vehemently abhor in video games. Yet I cannot help but become allured to his actions throughout as he marches across the lands of Nosgoth.

A medieval fantasy land full of vampires, humans, and other manner of terrifying supernatural creatures prowling the night and day. And before I entered the game, I checked the world map to see what the world is like from a geographical perspective. Nosgoth is filled with large swathes of diverse terrain. Mountainous regions, lush forests, spots of bustling towns, and fortified cities lie amidst the gentle rivers and calm lakes. Most eye-catching of all is the unusually large architectures: big skull, floating island, tall fortress near flowing lava, nine giant pillars, some kinda frozen water temple? A haunting mansion, and one colossal knight statue similar to the Argonath from Lord of the Rings. There’s more I could list but hopefully you get the picture. Jutting out with varied names attached related to the Circle of Nine. Nine powerful sorcerers who protect the pillars of Nosgoth. These pillars reflect the health of the lands. And I was struck with a burning wanderlust to travel to each exotic location and see what each experience has to offer me.

A clear strength at the forefront to lure me like bait on a hook for subtle worldbuilding. Sure it’s not as rich and dense as the Forgotten Realms universe or how nuanced the deep characters of the Witcher are in complexity. Nor does it boast the rich history from Fallout or the sinister and epic clashes from the Diablo games spilling into the world of man. Nay, Nosgoth’s light world-building is steeped in the powerful echelon of the circle, the unholy might of vampires grip onto fearful mortals, breeding suspicion, fear, and all manners of dark monsters waiting, watching to grab innocents and thus bring them closer to death's embrace. Oh yes, right off the bat the unforgiving tone and presentation caught me unawares to the point my wonder was viscerally torn at how brutal events play out here. Evil thrives in all forms and I am here for it.

Despite the malevolent atmosphere, I had plenty of fun here with some caveats I’ll talk about later. For now, I’ll reminisce on the good memories. My first impressions as several hours passed shocked me. To find the gameplay remarkably similar to the Legend of Zelda (LoZ) formula except twisted in a Vampire’s tale filled with a darker domain and dubious individuals at nearly every turn. Short to medium-length dungeons with multiple rooms and puzzles. Seen from a top-down perspective. Linear with non-linear segments for optional items or for the most studious in exploring to be richly rewarded in permanent upgrades to health and magic capacities. Different weapons, armor, spells, and transformations can be found and earned in optional caverns and cleverly tucked away basements in mausoleums or normal houses. Not a wide selection, but useful nonetheless in overcoming multiple obstacles in your path. Use a mace to break stone formations, and axes to chop trees blocking your way. Turn into a wolf to leap across great distances, a bat to fast travel and so much more. Hell, spells are useful when you’re in a pickle like summoning a lightning bolt to activate a switch from a fair distance. A light spell to illuminate your surroundings, and my favorite mind control. Oh, man! You can assume control of any enemy except bosses to reach inaccessible areas, activate a mechanism on the wall, procure consumable items, and even kill enemies! Seriously, I'm amazed at how versatile his powers are in both equipment and utility. I used them habitually time and time again as I progressed further into my quest. Removing anyone and anything from my path.

Vae Victus

In the opening FMV, those lines were uttered by Kain as he suffers with a big sword lodged through his chest and again used during combat as a battle cry. The iconic line and more is profoundly voiced by Simon Templeman. A man who eloquently becomes the aforementioned character to deliver rich monologues both external and internal. His many years of theatre experience provide such a dash of realism to the protagonist to the point I am instantly captivated by his voice just as any time Morgan Freeman talks. And this without a shadow of a doubt is one of the game's strongest points. “Where the entire story is conveyed through voice-over and first-person narrative.” told by Denis Dyack, who created the original concept of Kain. & director. I was engrossed any time Templeman spoke, and beyond the cutscenes lies numerous mystical signs littering the grounds of Nosgoth where he would speak. Of his internal thoughts. The Shakespearean-like voiced lines provide a fascinating look into the thought process, habits, personality, beliefs, values, history, relationships and so much more. Through Kain’s eyes, we see the story in a personal nature arise and combine with the mature plot. Complementing the FMV and plot beats in tandem with the excellent voice acting. In layman’s terms think of our central figure commentating aloud on the previous events, of goals in mind, self-doubts, and ruminations. It is here I felt the voiced narrative intertwine with the inhabitants ranging from all kinds of human hierarchy. Commoners, beggars, nobles, knights, guards, kings, and of course the nine sorcerers who become major subjects of interest to our 'hero' within thirty minutes of starting the game. Their voices contribute a stark contrast to the audacious personality our titular character conveys. Mortanius the necromancer, speaks to the newly turned vampire via telepathy. Supporting him with new goals. Vorador the elder vampire, a mighty being who without remorse advocates embracing blacker-than-night tendencies. Ariel, the balance of the circle, offers our main character an unusual proposal to cure his sickness. Common folks are not spared either. Granting hints via gossip on unnatural events occurring nearby. Spells, weapons, armor, and items are also given fair treatment. Our key player will briefly talk about the item at hand, any relevant history, and their purpose during battle. Never was tiring hearing these precious lines or other beings like foes. Administering an immersive quality and thus bringing liveliness and deadliness as we journey onward.

His journey, for a closer inspection underneath the surface, upholds a somewhat deadly, but mostly fair design in how dungeons, puzzles to a certain extent, and boss fights are constructed. Tying to the fun gameplay I mentioned earlier. The adequate Legend of Zelda-esque dungeon designs are designed with a mix of traps, like spikes coming from walls and floors. While pesky enemies like skeletons, wraiths, ghosts, murderous humans, etc litter rooms. Thankfully, the game employs a lot of enemy variety so we're not bored seeing mob #1 to mob #2. Switches and levers on walls to open a passageway, sometimes big puzzles requiring more than simply hitting a switch reside. Tingling the brain to use other means within your arsenal. Traveling to another location in a specific path, do so wrongly and I am teleported back to the beginning, one had me teleporting to different places, so backtracking may be needed to remember paths, some walkways may seem insurmountable, but using a handy spell or transformation will make the march trivial. There’s more I could list, but hopefully, you get the picture. To contend with these endeavors in dungeons lies a dungeon boss. Most bosses can be eliminated by any means of weaponry or ability at your disposal. The hard part is getting close to them. Usually, they’ll have a gimmick or two involved making any movement closer hastily punishing. For example, bullet hells. Illusion of death, oh you thought this would be a fair fight man vs. man, bouts of strength and attrition, etc. Overall I would say most of the encounters with each big baddie were decent to very satisfying. Some worrying signals to know though.

And this is where I'll talk about my mixed feelings. Not a positive or a negative. Simply some concerns I found that may prove troublesome for others in varying degrees. For me, all of these points brought the all-embracing experience a tad. Yet doesn’t detract too much from the positives the game entails.

First, every time you re-enter a room or corridor all enemies will re-spawn. In spite of already defeating them into oblivion. This wouldn’t be so egregious if we could gain a reward like extra items to replenish our vitality. Yet some adversaries are troublesome to defeat since they will always be without end once your character moves closer to them. Become public enemy #1 where you cannot escape until you run a sufficient amount of distance. Distance from what I experimented with leads from afar. You go into another room. And two. Run a decent amount so they cannot catch up to you. Both parts aren't really helpful in the long run if I need to go back to a previous room. Driving the knife deeper are several enemies like wraiths shooting magical bolts dealing a decent amount of damage and flinging you to one side. The game loves to slap several of these infuriating dudes in a room and have us try to kill or evade them. Imagine killing the insufferable apparitions only to forget there was a spare hidden path tucked cleverly. Oh, I should head back. OH, MAN. You guys again f%^ my life. For what it’s worth, these occurrences didn’t happen often, merely uncommon to rare times. Doesn’t help that we can't suck the essence out of foolish enemies to recover our strength. And more often than not I faced scores of foes where I cannot possibly suck their juice. Thereby taking my enjoyment a bit at times in a minor form.

Second, speaking of opponents. I think the game needs to lessen the attackers' devastation in the middle to late game. Enemies hit hard, so you’ll need to be careful of wasting precious items and spells. Dying here and using up your remaining heart of darkness(these are the only consumables to automatically restore you to life with 1/7 of your max health) sucks. I think more enemies chained on walls to freely replenish our vigor would’ve helped and a decrease in overall damage from 10-25% towards endgame would’ve helped smoothen my slight frustration. He doesn’t have a lot of health in the beginning. Regardless of the player exploring thoroughly to upgrade their total HP supply. Therefore, my endgame suffered a bit until I decided to use cheats the game employs. Starting from the halfway mark. Think button commands ala Grand Theft Auto III to restore health. Only used the commands as a last resort to recover my magic/health. And only when I had less than three hearts of darkness in my pockets. Die without any of the hearts and goodbye save file. Hello, game over screen and back to your last known save location. I should confess to prevent any misconceptions. I explored thoroughly to grab as many health and magic upgrades. To the point I was still struggling somewhat with this amount of health and magic Yet I still suffered through bloodshed. Even when I ran away most of the time. I barely used any blood spells which according to the spell description can restore your health from enemies. Using the heart as a consumable might also mitigate loss in endurance due to restoring a decent amount of health instead of dying and reviving. So maybe my playstyle suffered more because of this. Thus, your mileage may vary.

Third, both qualities of constant re-spawning of enemies as we re-enter rooms and high damage output from assailants lead me to believe the Silicon knights(the developers who created Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain) perhaps had trouble configuring the right balance of enemy placement and harmful properties. The fact there are cheats available leads me to believe that the devs saw this as a temporary bandaid to solve possible frustrations from lack of healing/revival items. I suspect perhaps if I were more vigilant and prepared properly with some tips and hints then maybe I wouldn’t have any issues. However, one other factor that may cause further difficulty is how the save system is implemented. Innately players cannot save manually anytime. They have to approach a blood shrine to activate. I found these shrines constantly in caverns, mausoleums, castles, towns, cities, and homes where a multiple-floor level resides. The problem is that they only appear at the start. So if you die mid-way through a dungeon. Welp, my dude back to square one. Only if you have no heart of darkness. If you do, you can come back alive. Thankfully before hitting a major boss, the devs saw fit to include another shrine before a bossfight. A large sigh of relief overcame my being once I saw this implemented again and again, yet this doesn’t remove the underlying dilemma. Progress lost is still progress lost. Losing minutes to half an hour can be morale-inducing to my detriment. So beware of each shrine location and how far you are from one. Still, the aspect isn’t a major negative in my books, since I was able to complete the game using the titular mechanic constantly. Merely a warning for those curious about how to save properly.

That’s it for my mixed feelings. Honestly quite a lot of my troubles I feel were attributed to my negligence to seek help in favor of a blind playthrough. I don’t regret it. But a lingering doubt in my head feels like it could’ve been better to smoothen out my overall experience. Nevertheless, the sheer strengths Silicon Knights employed back in 1996 deserve special praise to this day. The music hits the orchestral high notes while giving off epic drums and beats to intensify our moods into mythical dimensions. Complementing well with Templeman’s impeccable voice acting among others. Luring me like a helpless slave to their magnificent voices. Reminiscent of Louis de Pointe du Lac detailing his past stories as a vampire to a reporter in the film Interview with a Vampire(1994). And similar, but different in some respects to Sang-hyun. A priest who turns into a vampire. From the Korean film Thirst(2009).

In the end. The dark fantasy & bloodthirsty LoZ-like formula works almost perfectly, the solid arsenal and wicked powers our titular character can utilize are maximized to a degree, I didn’t have trouble figuring out the right solution to solve the puzzles. Sufficient amount of paths to back-track for the curious fella in need of any upgrades to become stronger. A large and dense world to traverse while listening to Kain’s constant monologues is alluring, if not horrifying to witness. As a consequence, we are treated to a captivating nuanced character development take, of a 'hero' into something else. A remarkable campaign experience from the good old days and most certainly punches above its weight class for the grayish gothic story-telling. Delving without excess on what shapes evil, different forms that come to be, why the notion exists, and for what purpose does evil maintain in a world against a different ‘evil.’ And ultimately what is the result of our malicious acts? Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain asks these mature questions without forgiveness. Through his eyes and actions, the unmaking of the human soul surges. Blackened with dark tapestry and removed of all sensible feeling. Hmmm… I wonder what awaits me plus others, as the saga moves forward to Soul Reaver. And what fate ultimately lies to Kain in the end.

Vae Victus. Suffering to the conquered.

7.7/10

References & Additional Material:
FAQ on Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. - Frequently Asked Questions on BO:LoK. Inspirations, original concept, creator etc.
Evil. Origins and all forms from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - More reading material on Evil.
Nosgoth world map - Lord of the Rings Argonath - Picture example
Playing Catch-Up - A conversation with Denis Dyack, founder of Silicon knights and creator of the original concept of Kain
Interview with Denis Dyack - On Simon Templeman who voices Kain
2nd interview with Denis Dyack - on Silicon Knights and what they tried to achieve with the first entry of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain “Where the entire story is conveyed through voice-over and first person narrative.” and more like Too Human and guild philosophy.
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain cheats - Cheats if you need it. Think of button commands like GTA III cheats
Example of my endgame health and magic - Disregard the subtitle
Youtube example of slow load times on PS1 - Compared to fast loading speed on PC -
Simon Templeman - who voices Kain in every game.
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain on Mobygames - Interesting to see the narrative in the genre section is horror. When wikipedia classifies the game as dark fantasy.
Plot Guide to the whole series - For all games + observations after the ending
Highly Recommend installing fan-patch on PC - Verok's GL wrapper & patch should be enough. Was easy to add after first installing the GOG version. Game is super cheap when on sale at less than 2 bucks.
Essential tips on for newcomers to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain - Previously prior to this review. There was no section for BO:LoK. On the Before I play website. So I contacted the owner and sent him my tips! Hope this helps newcomers!

Its the first Supergiant game Ive sort of enjoyed. Its combat is similar to Bastion but a lot more satisfying and readable. Nevertheless, the action does tend to get lost in the billowing dust cloud of combat which turns into a goddamned bullet hell by some of the later chambers.

Its focus on greek myth and dialogue is admirable and I can see how the two phases of the game are appealing to a lot of people but I quickly found it tiresome. My eyes just sort of glazed over and I sighed as a new wave of monsters showed up. It just gets boring because the random elements dont really change the gameplay significantly. It becomes tiresome to die just at the end of a long run and have to do it all again. And yeah, that is the point of the narrative but Id rather play a game that didnt play out like this.

I admit I have never liked roguelikes, and hades not changing my mind on this is unsurprising, but I am glad for the "god mode" I swiftly turned on after a few runs and I can safely say that was the right call. Essentially after every loss your damage reduction gets increased by 2% up to a total of 80%. That got me enough of an advantage to eventually beat an escape attempt.

Spoilers, I guess.
That doesnt actually end the game, in fact it takes 10 whole successful runs for the game to actually, properly "end". And quite frankly, fuck that.

Oh and also I found the stock sound effects really distracting, might just be a me thing but still.

"Even in times of peace, one is not spared from the cruelty of man.”

Every time I play a game I always ask myself if this game is the one that will wow and impress me. And most of the time I'm usually left with good, great, all right, meh and other regular platitudes to describe my experience after the end of a game. Chained Echoes is none of that. The game strives to become something bold and new all while standing tall on its own and merely showing what it has to offer. Matthias Linda who created the game and Eddie Marianukroh who composed the soundtrack have remarkably impressed me to a degree I haven’t seen since I played Omori. So yes this is one hell of a bar they raised.

The game doesn’t boast to wear its proud laurels touting the best of the best jrpgs of the past. Instead, the game simply describes itself as a “16-bit SNES style RPG set in a fantasy world where you follow a group of heroes traveling around the continent of Valandis to bring an end to the war between its three kingdoms.”

Not the most exciting catch to pull every consumer, but I feel it gets the job done. Because right off the bat, it is not saying they’re going to be the next classic since the time of Chrono Trigger or whatever RPG that is simply the best. Nor are they comparing their game to the JRPGs of old like other games on Steam. The devs are merely detailing what their game is going to be about. And that’s it. The game will show what it has to offer through the gameplay, story, music, characters, and more. And so the question remains. Does the game deliver? And is there a lot of content?

Chained Echoes does have a lot to offer. You have mecha gameplay. A big colorful cast of party members. The gorgeous visual style and soundtrack are worth listening to. An engrossing story, with a plot that is grounded and paced well. And scenes that left me shocked and unpredictable throughout. All of these hit me in such a way, I couldn’t stop myself from seeing one more scene, one more battle, and one more secret to find. I lost myself in the game and was chained, not willing to let me go.

Before I start, I need to preface this with some critique of the game. While excellent and remarkable in its own right, I feel the game could’ve used a bit more scenes to flesh out the characters. Not bad mind you. About three moments in the game, I feel could’ve transitioned better. Possibly, been padded a bit more to allow players to digest what happened from moment to moment between party members. It wasn’t jarring or abrupt. I just felt some scenes needed a bit more oomph in a way to let players digest a bit more context and exposition. Although, I find myself battling this point because if there is too much or too little it could break the pacing or remove the player from being immersive in the game. I equate this to deleted scenes in movies. While not strictly necessary, some additional scenes could've explained or refocused the scene differently.

Secondly, several villains except for some since they’re brilliant. Could’ve been fleshed out a bit more to make them more compelling. I noticed in their dialogue they would be in their role to be evil and explain motives and more etc. Except, during their final moments. Their character shifts in a way that is acceptable and decent, but I feel can be perceived as a tad abrupt. Not horrendous or bad. But my mind couldn’t help but consider alternatives if the scenes were rewritten or tweaked a bit. It's not a knock on the character as a whole since they performed as expected and in some cases unexpectedly, but the dialogue felt off and forced in a way. So more scenes to flesh them out really.

That’s all I can name off the top of my head.

Now let's dig into the real good stuff.

The story, caught me off-guard because I expected a standard JRPG trope affair full of references non-stop along the lines of Ready Player One. Instead, I got something the likes of Xenogears except much more grounded and taking me on a roller coaster ride. As if Chrono Trigger devs blessed the team to perfect the formula of introducing scenes to intrigue players, quick meaningful battles, excellent usage, and placement of antagonists scenes with well-placed humor sprinkled here and there that is fun and not forced.

The gameplay is fun and fresh and not all that complicated. Get into overdrive and stay there. Don’t overheat. And as I continued to gather more party members and when the game introduced mech gameplay, oh boy my grin was ear to ear. Plenty of bosses and unique enemies to fight, along with encountering a host of different creatures and beasts and humanoids here. Whereas, other games would usually change the color of an enemy and call it a day. None of that lazy stuff is in Chained Echoes. Each enemy fits their environment. Hell, there is a reward board ala FF12 style. So you can complete tasks while out on the field and get rewarded for doing so. None of the simple fetch quest and kill ‘x’ creatures stuff here. You have sidequests, buried treasure, hidden caves, unique requirements to finish off a group of enemies, defeating unique monsters, and more. Heck, the game doesn’t even have a level system so you don’t need to grind!

The game felt balanced since there are options to manage skills and upgrade them. And options to reduce enemy health and aggressiveness if you so desire. Overall, I didn’t feel tired from the combat system since the whole package of the game from reward boards, mecha gameplay, and unique enemies and bosses made the experience all the more satisfying to complete.

Visually the game is stunning and the art style works to its favor, a great deal. I was constantly impressed not seeing copy-paste areas and looking for templates where Mathias cut corners and I could not find one! Every environment is unique with a gimmick to earn your way out through small puzzles or clever switches and hidden areas to traverse. And these puzzles are implemented in such a way I wasn't truly frustrated. A nice change of pace and a breather from the regular travel and battle. Enemy design is terrifying and cute in some ways. The scenes throughout the game felt natural with animations not too sudden or too rigid. Smooth is key here and I can’t for the life of me recall a bad scene or egregious bugs.

On the soundtrack, I am just in awe of Eddie's work. It’s not the greatest thing since Mitsuda or Okabe. But holy hell does Eddie demonstrate MAXIMUM EFFORT here. I felt so much passion and emotion in Eddie’s soundtrack. Field themes that left me breathless and where all I wanted was to listen to the track on a loop. Catchy battle themes I never got tired of listening to these. Feeling pumped and invigorated to hear this again and again. And appropriate themes in cutscenes leave me shifting my mood to what is currently happening in the game. Serious scene. Cue slow track. Sad scene. Cue sad track. Funny moment. Cue funny track, and so on. And these cases were placed with such care I couldn’t predict what was coming next. Yet, transitioned well to match what is shown on the screen. Brilliant synergy to know what scene and track to use and display that to the player enhances their experience. Excuse me as I go back to listening to Iron Scraps for Breakfast and Flower Fields of Perpetua and so much more on repeat.

It is this pacing I want to talk about next. There is a great deal of freedom given to the player in the middle of the game that doesn’t ruin the pacing of the game at all. I feel Mathias managed to balance player freedom with nudges here and there on the main plot to give you just enough to be satisfied with your optional content and then focus back on the real task at hand. And this is exemplified again and again when I was played like a damn fiddle. Since I wasn’t exposed to constant exposition or repeated reminders of what to do, nor were there scenes where villains regurgitated lines they said previously. Character development was the answer here. Nothing too crazy and none too ambiguous or slow to manifest. Instead, used in such a way I found myself nodding. The cast struggles and learns, fails, succeeds, tries to learn to be better, fails again, and yet keeps trying is admirable and moving. It's not exactly what happens in the game, but just a rough estimate. Other elements can be injected of course like other cast members' motivations, feelings, history, and current relationships can tip the scales quite a bit to create drama or more. Keeping you the player invested in what happens next.

And this is what Chained Echoes demonstrates to an excellent degree. The pacing coupled with character development balanced it with optional content.

Before I forget, I have to give praise to the characters. Since, I doubted every single one of them and by the end of the game came away very impressed by how far each has come. Some more so than others, but for the most part, I felt attached to my characters. I hated one character quite a bit for a good chunk of the game. And yet by the end after seeing said character's struggles and scenes I couldn’t help but begrudgingly admit how hard they suffered and what they had to go through to see what becomes of them in the end. And this extends to my other party members who more or less undergo remarkable development throughout. In a manner, I found realistic without taking my suspension of disbelief to a whirlpool and flushing it down the ocean. There is a heartwarming amount of care Mathias has done to create characters with feelings that are so human and in the opposite spectrum create characters, so twisted and disgusting I can’t help but feel conniptions towards them.

Still what remains is a loveable cast of quirky characters and antagonists who are more than a simple villain here and there. A riveting story the likes I haven’t seen since Chrono Trigger and Xenogears and other wonderful JRPGs of old. Very fun and satisfying gameplay loop taking me over 40+ hours to 100% the game without being tired. Visuals aesthetically pleasing with no copy-paste artwork and unique enemies/characters/environments everywhere. The soundtrack is very satisfying to listen to, taking my breath away every time I listen to the main theme and more. Pacing and character development are balanced and excelled with nothing coming to my mind that felt forced or unnatural. And while it could’ve been improved on some villains and moment-to-moment scenes, I can forgive that since the game as a whole more than makes up for those very minor critiques.

Chained Echoes isn’t trying to become good nor does it profess to become one of the greats as classic well regarded JRPGs have done in the past of which we hold them fondly as favorites and more. Chained Echoes is one man’s vision with the help of a fantastic composer to bring to life an indie RPG with a story they want others to experience.

It’s a humbling, heartwarming game in homage to old JRPGs of the past. With enough content to stand tall with the greats. If you love JRPGs, Indie RPGs, or have a desire for a starter in the genre. And wish to be wowed like I did, to a point where you hold your favorite games close to your heart. Perhaps Chained Echoes will be that one game to impress you just as it had with me.

spoilers!

If I had to name my favorite dungeon tropes in games, I think the 'multi-floor world-dungeon' would be one of them: where the space that you traverse downwards (or upwards) is tied to the story that's being told. Nepheshel and its descent into the abyss is a particularly breathtaking example, as is the indie game Slimes and its frightening slime-horror-cave. ... Usually this trope is within the turn-based RPG genre. Now in those two games cases, they're relatively short.

But in other cases - like dungeon crawlers like Etrian Odyssey, Undernauts, Nemuru Mayu, Labyrinth of Galleria, SMT Strange Journey etc, the games are very long! And at least in Undernauts/SMT (I haven't played much EO, Nemuru Mayu, or Galleria), things get more involved the farther you go in. You really have to love the time-consuming dungeon crawl to enjoy the 'spatial story'.

Well, that is to say, I really liked Light Crusader trying to marry action elements to the dungeon crawl RPG. If I'm being honest its actual action and puzzles are maybe a 3/5 at best, but the whole world set-up - explore 6 floors underneath a castle, each its own huge dungeon - was a lot of fun. Each floor reveals some new secrets and twists, and although the game's narrative never reaches exciting territory, it was still such a memorable and fun structure. Also there were great tunes and Treasure's pixel art is amazing!

(Yes, the same studio that made Ikaruga made this!)

The action, like other games of the era, suffer from enemies having poor tells for ridiculously fast attacks. This game is isometric fake-3D, meaning it's hard to line up or dodge or jump over things. Your attack hitbox is really small, too.

There's a real 'small-team' feel to the game. Little one-off jokes here and there which I won't spoil. The way the late game floor has you warp off into 8 different zones with completely different genre settings - Japanese rooms, warzones, future, etc - was surprising. Unfortunately I wish they had done something more interesting with that other than just let you visit briefly! But it was still a fun surprise.

The way everyone talks is brief and almost stilted, but in a way that suits the tone - it's a small, scary medieval town and everyone's getting kidnapped. Things seem to be in a panic..

Well, also, it's just a short game. I finished in like 4-5 hours! I miss that length. The game is just trying so much, and using all these fun ideas, that it's hard to not give it a 5. It's a game with very good Spirit.

really enjoyed this! i've been a massive kaiju fan pretty much my entire life and NGE means the world to me so when jacob geller talked about this game i knew i had to check it out. set pieces are beautiful (and evangelion inspired) and the whole aesthetic of the game is just so cool. only downside was how much time i spent wandering around the level looking for the objectives. taking cool pictures is so much fun and then once i've taken like 50 i have to spend another 15 minutes wandering around aimlessly :(. this might just be a me thing tho cause im not the most observant person and also have literally never played a photography game before, though i will have to check some more out after this one.

“It’s often written about how Final Fantasy VII changed the fate of Japanese RPGs upon its release in 1997. Much less is written about how, one year later, Baldur’s Gate revitalized the CRPG genre. After the genre tapered off during the mid-90s, losing its appeal to “Doom clones”, RTS games, and the rising popularity of consoles, some CRPG developers were left wondering if they had coded themselves into a corner. Baldur’s Gate, though, managed to bring them back to the spotlight, selling two million copies worldwide and forever elevating the recently founded BioWare into a household name for CRPGs. It’s not that it was the only CRPG around. The revered Fallout series began a year before, to similar critical acclaim – but only a tiny fraction of the sales.” - Felipe Pepe, The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games

As someone who didn’t grow up with Fallout or Baldur’s Gate. Two franchises continued to surprise me to no end during my ventures playing their older catalog over recent years. Fallout 2, being the last old CRPG I beat, I figured it was high time to see how much BG1 holds up, so I can familiarize myself with the universe before eventually starting BG3 down the road. First, I must confess to completing both the base game and Siege of Dragonspear with mods. I say this earlier on to not confuse my experience of a modded playthrough against a non-mod experience. As a consequence, I’ve gone the extra mile to play my switch copy to see how vanilla is to compare the two. Not to completion, but enough to grant me a fair grasp. I’ll discuss this in detail later, but I figure a warning would suffice early on to prevent any misconceptions between vanilla and modded content. I’ll talk about mods later and if I don’t discuss it, please assume I’m discussing vanilla.

Orphaned at a young age. Unknowing of their parentage. Adopted by the kindness of a stranger. Grew up sharing a loving childhood along a playful lass. Taught discipline and care by your father. Lived safely in the confines of the library fortress of Candlekeep for many years. What more could they want? Well… Such halcyon days must come to an end when suddenly you’re attacked by mysterious assassins! Questioning them leads to no answers. So we ask our stepfather later on for any information, However, he evades your queries in favor of leaving the bastion of respite and comfort you’ve known for twenty years. In search of finding answers to these unprovoked attacks in the Sword Coast of the Forgotten Realms. A campaign setting inside Dungeon and Dragons.

I adore the slow story approach to gently albeit dangerously letting the player go off to the coast and encounter whatever lurks behind the shadows, paved roads, and unbeaten paths. The unrestricted freedom is a major plus and to my delight, I found worthwhile discoveries across my travels alongside my horrible luck being attacked by foolish bandits or powerful creatures. Early on, I was scared yet excited. I came across another kind soul offering tips and directions. Yet unknowingly I wonder if such a person may have a hidden motive to backstab me. Anxiety, dread, and vigilance were my constant internal ruminations once I saw unfamiliar creatures patrolling. Even neutral bears are no exception. Capable of dealing massive damage to my comrades should I provoke one half-heartedly. Beyond the regular horrors of animals and insects, I was able to fight different manners of goblins, ogres, variants of ghouls, ghosts, etc. No shortage of interesting enemies to fight. And my axe cleaved through them viscerally. A dangerous yet fine balance emerges. Granting parties a fighting chance, and safety and instilling a sense of vigilance. I could’ve bumped the difficulty lower time, but I kept the normal difficulty throughout to give me a sense of challenge and excitement. I deeply appreciate the open freedom whilst encountering dangers and opportunities wherever I tread, reminding me heavily of roaming the Wastelands in Fallout 1 and 2.

Enjoyable isometric RPG gameplay. Dialogue choices do a good job of giving you a variety of options to be witty, sarcastic, no-nonsense, blunt, dismissive, etc. In effect, they augment conversations. A visit to the tavern to buy alcohol teases points of interest to travel and investigate. Conversing with the common folk results in similar outcomes. Innocent conversations may lead to potential side quests and multichain ones providing increased incentive to witness the outcome of an ailing NPC. Forget the conversations? Simply scrolling up on the text box reveals past lines said. A handy journal is equipped too which is interesting and provides the player character(PC) monologues of his/her/their internal thoughts about the quest or information sought. Therefore, depth to the world of Forgotten Realms is an alluring prospect. A search function is included too! I habitually checked my journal constantly to read my inner PC’s thoughts on a quest or journal entry. Occasionally to my amusement my dialogue choices can be quite witty, sarcastic, brisk, blunt, or gentle and helpful. The internal monologues are shared without remorse. And I welcome these thoughts and relish the lines.

For those not inclined to the hustle and bustle of speaking. One can dive deep into combat. No, not turn-based. No need to grind to level 100 like a JRPG. BG1 uses advanced dungeons and dragons 2nd edition(2E ADND) ruleset. This means you start at a measly level one, working your way to ten. Utilizing real-time action with pause fights they’re the main meat of the fighting aspect. Mouse over an enemy, click, and bam! Your whole party will auto-attack the individual. You can also initiate battles whenever you please. So attacking a shopkeeper or nearby civilian who’s off doing their errands is not exempt from your blade or spells. Hell, the AI will work its magic! No input is required! If the AI isn’t up to snuff. Tinker their script and check each unit’s actions. An aspect that surprised me greatly and the innate options to change their AI to your preference is excellent. Though to be fair I didn’t tinker too much! The default settings are adequate to suit my fighting playstyle. To BG1’s credit, plenty of customization options are at your disposal. Aside from the regular equipment, you can outfit each member: equip two rings, cloaks, amulets, belts, and extra weapon slots! Changeable in the heat of battle. I’m astounded by the sheer options at your disposal in 1998! Making build variety worth experimenting like a madman. Min-maxers will find no shortage to increase their stats or change spells in their spellbook to suit any occasion.

I felt super joy in clearing the nearby lands of evil and helping poor souls along the way. Despite ironically being an allegedly evil paladin. Builds and classes are plentiful and deep. I could assign any of my members in dual classes(within reason), learn spells for my mages, or slot any manner of weaponry as long as the class allows them to. Use ranged weaponry, a sling to hit enemies, and casting spells using wands. By the last chapter, I was running a six-man crew consisting of A Blackguard who is an evil paladin, a thief who is a ranger, and my childhood friend. A vengeful half-orcish Blackguard, A red wizard who begrudgingly joins our motley crew, a neutral evil drow cleric, and an unlucky wild mage who can’t control her powers. A dysfunctional group, full of uneasy alliances and explosive personalities, stayed together through thick and thin. Many fights ensued and yet. We. Did. Not Falter. Okay I must admit we did fail a lot in the final boss… but that’s a story for another day

Companions are plentiful. Twenty-four plus allies you can recruit and four exclusive ones in the enhanced edition. My feelings of satisfaction permeated once I saw a potentially new member along the horizon. Asking for genuine assistance. By random chance in a building. Stumble on unique encounters. Where any battle may ensue or a unique script may play. Choose to help, attack, or run away. These instances never rinse and repeat in a tiring formula. Instead, they felt natural. Moving on the question may arise to utilize canon units before importing to the following expansions/sequels. According to my CRPG veteran friend of mine. The individuals or other party members you choose are “subjective and a pretty fine line. I think if you're uncertain, go for the canon. If you like your setup already, keep it. A little better, but not something you should go out of your way to meet.” Upon completing the plot and seeing the difference between my non-canon friends and my switch version, I'm rolling alongside the canon company. Ultimately, I agree with their statement. Only adding follow your heart to suit your desire. Although, you should keep Dorn as a prospective acquaintance to recruit mhhm.

The Sword Coast is full of danger, excitement, and surprises. Gentle worldbuilding and clean-to-deep lore work wonders. Boosting the writing to levels near engrossing to read. I love it! Reminding me heavily of Lord of the Rings except if the fellowship decided to go off the beaten path and help those in need. Forget the ring! Anyway… a wealth of books you can buy in taverns, and shops presenting interesting backgrounds on religion, history, past historical events, legends, myths, etc. Never hurts reading! Connecting nicely in minor ways to my allies, citizens, and villains! Not pages of exposition. Mostly a couple of paragraphs or extra if you get a heavier tome. Granting informative knowledge on the races, items, and locales. Subtly nudging me to go deeper beyond the surface level “Oh that’s just an elf. Meh, a dwarf, bah a human?” Nay my marvelous friends! They’re more than meets the eye. For the elf could be a half-elf or a drow! Dwarves mistaken for gnomes! And humans themselves can prove resilient. though still squishy… And relations between people are not the norm such as jolly and peaceful. Reminds me of X-Men/Mutant/Brotherhood relationships with the common folk except fantasied. Racism, class hierarchy, and hidden factions are abundant. And I, the poor unlucky son of a gun, have to find answers?! Gimme a break. I’m only level one…

Sidequests feel natural and written well. I like how little down-to-earth they are and deal in relatable matters. One has you stop a man about to jump off a cliff! Search for a cloak to return to a dismayed individual. Clean a house of spiders for the owner to take up residence. May seem mundane and not offer much. Nevertheless, I appreciate the slightly monotonous tasks to slowly build up my user and partners' strengths. Sooner or later I was rolling level 3s party and higher. I was able to partake in extensively intricate activities. A certain thief's quest to pass a test. Passing judgment on a man brainwashed. Aiding or killing a crook who seeks to take advantage of innocent individuals and return a chicken to human life. I kid you not I’m in disbelief on the chicken side mission. A bit of RNG is involved. Incredible to see a quest fail by chance. Hell, you can sell the guy to a vendor and forget him. It wasn’t worth it. The vendor didn’t reward me enough gold… I enjoyed the progression of slowly increasing the complex quests as my friends grew stronger since they offer a realistic fantasy take in mixing inspiration from our lived experiences into a videogame and to the developer's credit I feel it works wonderfully. My members were rugged and dirty as I completed all objectives until my journal entries were tidy. The physical rewards were sufficient and lore-wise adequate. Mods restoring cut content I highly suggest checking out. I found their inclusion to not be out of place and fit superbly adding depth and giving life to the areas you visit.

In the interest of not gushing further, I must talk about my mixed feelings now. Not a positive or a negative, but for the sake of transparency I'm noting them down.

The base game without mods is a bit lifeless compared to my modded playthrough. Certainly there are moments NPC’s are designated, but the world feels sparse, has tiny reactivity, and is slightly oppressive. The absence of considerable mini/side quests and NPCs at intervals loses my interest in keeping going. I cannot send my companions to a specific place. The banter in my cabal is nearly non-existent. And reactions to story beats are missing. Voiced NPC lines are likewise gone. Identifying can be a pain. You’ll come across a sizable amount of magical items/equipment on your adventures. In demand of identifying either by a spell or by heading to a temple and having the priest identify the item to fully see their properties. Not a pain if we are given loads of unidentifiable equipment, and to BG1’s credit, a sufficient amount to tide us over. Not over-gorging amidst decision paralysis. The tediousness comes in the constant back and forth to towns to identify and sell stuff you accrue to offload the heavyweight. Being encumbered sucks. Different members can hold different amounts of carry load so it is kinda not a wonderful idea to make an associate of low weight capacity. The absence of a book bag is puzzling to a degree since decent materials are available to read and not having an ease of access hurts a bit. Sure a handful of items exist in the form of ‘bags of holdings’ to slot gems, potions, and scrolls. Their weight is not endless. Exacerbated by a considerably slow movement speed which boggles my mind as to why no movement speed slider is in the options to make our traversal faster.

THAC0 & Armor Class minus '-' numbers values can be fairly confusing for newbies. How I usually play is seeing numbers of ‘plus’ meaning ‘good’ and ‘minus’ equalling ‘bad.’ Math is different in BG1. The rest is fine as far as I know. You’ll usually see if it is beneficial to apply if the numbers are highlighted in green for favorable/better and red being bad/underperforming. So equipping a weapon displaying a green highlight is best. If it's red don’t equip or else you’ll perform in a minor capacity. Furthermore, pixel squinting in a handful of sections may be necessary. One in a pretty big optional dungeon, a main plot segment, and to a lesser extent upon exploring multiple floors in buildings. Honestly, you probably will squint maybe 5-10%. To my absolute delight, a zoom function, and a highlight everything option exists. Doesn’t alleviate the squinting issue entirely, but a cool option to use. Interacting with objects in a room to solve puzzles or clicking a secret stash can be a bit troublesome without looking carefully at your surroundings.

Can be overwhelming to understand the 2E ADND ruleset for newbies of what you can and cannot do and how values are applied during clashes. At least it's not Pathfinder homework My friends who played alongside me reported similar confusion. I feel reading the manual can help in a certain way to receive a better understanding of the mechanics. Bit lengthy at a hundred-fifty pages plus, but the combat portion is the most important to remember in my opinion. So no obligation to read all of it. Lots of tutors in Candlekeep explain the most important things: Mechanics, features, tips, explanations, etc. Before venturing off, best to chat near cohorts. Thereby gaining a better comprehension of various obscure topics.

In effect, A dangerous, rigid, unforgiving land emerges. Creating a fascinating contrast from my original modded playthrough. The benefits inside the console port I appreciate. A big green outline to all accessible buildings makes access easier, decreasing squinting. Primarily used the controller due to being so comfortable than using a keyboard and mouse(KB+M). Plenty of options in the settings to tweak to your liking. The new CG replaces the old FMV, though I much prefer the original version compared to the new one. Heavier in visceral atmosphere, conveys a darker tone, and has longer scenes compared to Beamdog’s version. As a result, I feel without mods BG1 creates a partially slower, but acceptable version to play for newcomers and veterans alike.

Base game with mods is a completely different ballpark. Much of my mixed feelings are thrown out the window. Containing quality of life features across the board. The commitment to identify is gone. The default movement speed is tweaked to be faster to my preference. NPC banter is awesome, narrative beats hit a big splash, and interactivity feels very fitting and not out of place at all in my honest opinion. The cut content is a welcome addition to augment life in Sword Coast’s areas providing I would say 50-75% additional activities to do. Mini/side quests are not exempt. And subsequently not too out of place. UI tweaks make quick looting not a chore and display data during info/shop menus are very welcome. A tweaks anthology module goes above the heavens to tweak nearly every aspect. My buddy and I strictly kept our list small and light to enhance vanilla, keeping the balance as close as possible to the original. As long as it's fun, but fair then by all means mod away! Consequently, my modded playthrough experience became fun, exciting, and very enjoyable. I extremely recommend installing mods on PC if you can.

Before I forget, my thoughts on Siege of Dragonspear the expansion to BG1. Solid stuff and a prelude to BG2. We start weeks after the events of the first title. Caelar Argent and her army arrived near Baldur’s Gate quickly. For what purpose? No clue man. But I spend the rest of my questing life confronting her forces in skirmishes and dastardly deeds. She has the gall to send assassins to me!? Yeah, I’m done lady on the assassination attempts. So now you and your comrades set off to investigate her motives, her reasons for sending agents and why the bloody hell does she need an army!? Doesn’t take long to complete. You can finish it quickly according to HLTB in 18 hours or less. For me, I did all the sidequests clocking in under twenty-five hours. Bit of a step down in quality compared to the previous entry, in terms of dialogue and non-fighting. Most if not all of them consist of fighting. These are the moments, the expansion shines a great deal. Epic battles opposing Caelar’s forces. Imagine army vs. army. Defending our position against waves of enemies, infiltrating enemy camps, finding clues to unlock an alternate path, etc. I love it! Smaller maps and favoring a linear approach dressing down the large dungeons in favor of bite-sized portions alongside their puzzle segments. Super appreciate the change of pace from a grand scale in the first, to enhanced closer encounters to test our mettle. Companions chatter at various points to talk about their gripes, goals, or on their new adventures. So they’re not left in the dust for development. Heck, the new units are a treat too! Music again hits all the right notes. No major complaints to say, despite a wish for a sprinkle of nuance in the writing giving a heavier expanse to the world. And it does so to a certain extent. I would’ve liked a bit of extra lore-building to devour. I also wish one member had received extended screen time to develop. Still, Dragonspear is a solid one and I recommend it for those who want worthwhile content and can’t get enough of the Forgotten Realms universe.

One last thing before I head out. Special thanks to the following people who played beside me. Kairoch for completing a modded playthrough. Mango and Jag for finishing the Switch version and granting me an interesting insight into their experiences and finally Donkeyworld for clarifying and providing awesome CRPG insight. This review would not be possible without their thoughts, company and countless laughter sharing our experiences. I also apologize for this long review. It has been in the works for weeks and I’ve nearly gone crazy about whether to publish this longer or shorter. Ultimately cut pages as a result. Nevertheless, I'll allocate them in a Pastebin link below for those curious.

And so after defeating the final boss, seeing the end credits, and doing everything possible plus completing Siege of Dragonspear over the course of my seventy-five hour journey. I can only say Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition is a refreshing CRPG to try out. Despite some hurdles and bumps on the road during my travels, I believe BG1EE is a fine entrypoint. An above-average effort to keep the game modernized enough for consumers today. Hold’s up nicely. Consequently, I believe the Switch copy and by extension console ports is a serviceable version to play if you don’t desire to tinker around on PC. 98% of my hours were conducted blindly. Meaning no walkthrough was used. The normal difficulty was fine for me. No story points caused me to slam my head on the wall repeatedly. I never got tired of exploring uncharted areas to fulfill my cartographer’s wish to map every nook and cranny. Sure I died. And yes I will admit to reloading countlessly. The save and loading times are fast and I didn’t mind retrying again and again until I advanced further. The fantasy setting is rich, full of wonder, chaos, order, and plenty of world-building to devour. Writing is flavorful. Full of seriousness and humorous lines. Stabilized to not throw my suspension of disbelief into a state of confusion. I completed every side quest and didn’t tire, so I can say they’re pretty satisfying and worth investing your effort in. Because you’ll require the experience to level up. I admire the slow-burn narrative approach to losing newcomers to Sword Coast, embracing their inner curiosity to explore, fight, and discover secrets. Satisfying gameplay loop in not just the combat, but in the dialogue. Installing mods fixed most of my mixed feelings to a certain extent. A likable large cast of companions to recruit and the sheer customization at my fingertips to outfit as we see fit is splendid. Graphics, music, and improvements the remaster tries to implement are commendable of Beamdogs' attempt. I applaud 90s Bioware in creating an incredible CRPG. It is a titan of role-playing and fantasy. Full of nearly everything I thirst for. An easy recommendation for any newcomer or veteran in the genre to sink their teeth. And one I can safely say shot up to my top ten Western RPGs. Can’t wait to start BG2! After a CRPG break…

Base game without mods: 7.7/10
Base game with mods: 8/10

Additional Material:
BG1EE Mods list used & Proper Mod list order
Adventurer’s guide AKA Manual on BG1EE
BG1:EE Before I play Tips
Kairoch’s Extra tips for BG1
My Cut pages from review, Final thoughts on the ending, Durlag’s tower. - Cut pages are fine to read for any newcomer and spoiler free. My thoughts on the ending, final boss, Durlag's tower - should only be read by those who finished the game.
CRPG Book Project - Felipe Pepe made the book free to download. But if you want to support them buy a copy of the book!

I’m impressed by how Lunacid captured me. Not entirely, but the sheer passion created by Kira and others is worthy of note. For a dark fantasy first-person dungeon crawler. Inspired heavily by FromSoftware’s Kingsfield and Shadow Tower IPs. While I haven’t played those games in particular, I know the style and gameplay enough from videos I’ve seen. Other influences I feel worth mentioning are Zelda, Castlevania and another franchise I love, but I can't say or else it'll spoil a major thing. I'll give you a hint though. The person most famous for creating this IP is from Square Enix. Even those with no experience may find something worthy of note to be found. Bonus points for those who love/like Souls entries I would say it's enough to tickle your soul's interest into overdrive. I know it did for me.

Nonetheless, the dark fantasy tag is apt, but I want to highlight one element here and that is horror. And though I have limited experience in the genre, I feel there was enough stuff here to warrant it because I had plenty of spine-chilling moments crawling up my back. Facing off close to a dozen truly nightmarish creatures I wish I didn’t have to face since I was constantly yelling “Nope! nope! nope!” Slowly making my way through grayish stygian corridors with none other than my handy torch or ghostlight magic to illuminate my surroundings during my inkiest of days. While fearfully at times investigating corners or empty rooms for any hidden surprises. Phew… Be that as it may. Lunacid doesn’t boast a must-play in the story-telling department nor does it captivate me with thrilling combat mechanics. Instead, the music captured my heart, and the dungeon exploring fueled my sense of curiosity like a cat where I could not stop delving deeper into the Great Well. A fresh and diverse chunk of enemy variety, spells, weapons, and level design consistently kept my fun factor decently high against several heart-pumping segments and concerns I found. I'll talk about the enjoyable parts first and discuss several alarm bells later.

Story-wise, a short exposition begins detailing how a great beast brought an age of death and how the inhabitants throw the wretched, criminals, and ill into the Great Well. And you, the main player character are one of those unfortunate souls thrown in. Escape, fight, learn, what lies beneath. That’s the main gist to get started. And after completing everything in the game in eighteen hours I can only say the narrative isn’t the strongest to entice players. Instead, the freedom to explore, level up, and find what lurks in the shadows and caves! And more kept my intrigue! The fascinating NPCs you encounter every time during Wing’s Rest(the main hub) were enough of a reason for me to come back. Listening to new stories I didn’t expect would be delightful. Imagine sitting on a campfire listening to the storyteller. Kinda feels like that. Except in reality, I'm listening to a forgetful skeleton by the name of Clive casually drinking HP potions like no tomorrow. I’m still in disbelief where it all goes…

Moreover, the gameplay loop of exploring, fighting, and healing is a formula I found oddly satisfying. Though, I admit early on about 30 minutes in I was not particularly enthused. Only took an hour plus before I slightly became enthralled. I cautiously explored the first area to find another entrance to a dimmer zone called the temple of silence. From here, I was hooked. This lightless section filled with mummies and a haunting atmosphere sped up my heartbeat beyond the average. I found myself beset with anxiety, fear and reckless courage to brave gloomy corridors. A trusty sword, torch, and my low levels kept me slowly progressing until I achieved victory by finding a crystal shard. Shards can become sites of rest to heal, teleport you to past crystal locations, and most importantly level up your stats. These can range from increasing health, mana, melee & spell damage. Most unique in these stats is the inclusion of jump and running speed which are essential for newcomers. Don’t doubt the speed at which you run. By upgrading the stat value you can run away from enemies and whittle down their vitality until their demise. By the same token adding points to your jump stat allows you to jump across obstacles you wouldn’t otherwise reach. Both horizontally and vertically. Ties well enough into the level design. So the gameplay loop of fighting enemies, gaining enough experience, leveling up, completing sidequests, and healing, returning to new grounds is a fun cycle.

The world of Lunacid is as free as you can muster. And as deep as you can bravely master. Don’t see constant boring walking simulators here. Levels are intricate and provide multiple pathways through interconnectivity. I almost hesitate to say this is a Metroidvania except I'm not forced to have essential abilities to progress. Certainly, several keys are needed to progress, but for the most part, the varied amount of dungeons are carefully constructed to induce a wide spread of biomes to venture. With enough secrets, clever wall positioning for hidden valuables, verticality for platforming(not a lot, but a decent number), and multiple zones within. I saw filthy sewers, stood in awe of a red sea, held my controller tightly upon entering a deep tomb, and became mesmerized finding greenery! As if Nintendo decided to swing by and whisper in Kira’s ear “Hey! We want a forest dimension!” And voila there it is. I gorged the countless books in the library archives, tackled the looming castle, and sought the throne within. Even undertook the challenging abyssal tower for the greatest of all treasures shining under the pale moonlight. Yes, my wanderlust was satiated. Conversely, more than half a dozen, I dreaded due to the enemies I found to be horrifying, but regardless of the nightmarish creatures, I breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing each locale I visited. I think we're carefully balanced not to the brim filled with mobs of baddies. The placement of each of them throughout my playthrough felt balanced and not too sparse. I even found kawaii inhabitants in the most uncommon of sectors. To embrace or for those with murderous tendencies, you can eliminate them if you wish.

Simplicity in mechanics is a core focus. I didn’t find anything complex in the systems. And I would say it is a strength to keep it simple. Jump, attack, guard, use spell 1, spell 2, activate item 1, item 2, etc. These are all you need while paying attention to your health, mana, and charge gauge(This determines how hard to hit opponents). Aside from the easy-to-learn stats. You can equip any weapon without any stat requirement. The rule applies to magic as well. However, you can only have two slots to equip. And both of these categories have a great wealth of equipment and arcane to discover. Use ranged weaponry like a bow and arrow or any manner of swords to the smallest of daggers and unconventional arms like clubs or hammers and lance. Additionally, quite a decent sum of these melee armaments can be upgraded once you accrue enough experience for the equipped arm! Great way to evolve a weapon granting better stats, and a new look, and perhaps may give you the edge unexpectedly. I found a broken hilt and turned it into a fire-sword! Not gonna lie, it looks like a fantasy red lightsaber. No need to use a torch anymore in shadowy regions heh. Doesn’t take all that long to fill up the experience bar. Although, a decent chunk of endgame weapons can take a bit. Do yourself a favor and wack breakable objects or cheese the method by whacking a dead enemy, raising the values faster than you can ordinarily fight mobs. Sadly spells can’t be upgraded, but there’s a plethora to choose from. My favorites were healing magic, a god-tier moonbeam, lightning, and summoning a classic companion from the good old days. Won’t say the name, but if you played any of the franchises I mentioned above you’re in for a good time, not a bad time. Naturally defensive, utility, and support are available. Move faster, barrier, create coffins, rockbridges, fire, dark, light, wind, ice, and blood elements are at your disposal. Go mad you crazy wizard. Weaponry can be found in various ways through NPC’s, enemy drops, and by mere searching on the path ahead. A good incentive to explore every inch. Hell, you may come across a hidden door revealing good loot or a new shortcut.

The soundwork is stunning. I felt a wide range of feelings upon hearing the music. I felt the sorrow and hatred of realms giving off plenty of melancholy and sadness. I nodded vigorously upon hearing uplifting instruments turning my sad soul into one of light. Full of brightness and joy. I have to hand it to Kira, ThorHighHeels, and others. Holy. Black Magic! They manage to keep me invested. Notwithstanding becoming unsettling, yet oddly enough some tracks were atmospheric and tranquil. Also, super love how entering a new location will show the track name listed in the bottom left corner. With author credit on who composed it. Wish more devs included the feature. Thereby, we can properly credit the composer/s and see what track occurs when entering a new zone. Seriously underrated aspect, while I listened to pleasant sounds! Soft instrumentals like pianos and percussions are used to great effect to give off peaceful melodies. Accompanied by a diverse amount of tracks to hit specific spectrums like anxiety when you’re lurking in a dim tomb or inside a desolate area full of forgotten criminals. Even sewers are given lots of love to be eerie and kinda desolate. By far my favorite is Serence which is the main hub theme you go back to. Much like Firelink Shrine from Dark Souls. A place of rest and quiet comfort amid constant fighting. I was lured by the gentle sounds and stayed in it for countless hours. It’s not as heavenly to the Nier lengths of a certain franchise. For what it's worth, the ambiance and soothing rhythm beats while trekking, battling, and healing left me with a feeling of contentment.

Despite all the praise I’ve been sprouting I have to talk about my mixed feelings. Not a positive or a negative, just stuff I felt during my playthrough that could be improved or tweaked.

First, my biggest disgruntlement is the lack of a lore archive or database. As a lore-nut I always wish games had a menu option, you can constantly reference and go back to the documents you found or significant objects during your travels. Especially for those who like to litter the ground with papers of scattered entries. A prudent feature, you don’t need to reference user print screen images or steam’s handy screenshot key like I did where I stored countless notes I found during my ventures into the deep. Providing a reference point or allowing the player to go “Hmmm I see” like a smart fella where you can see all the cards falling into place. Connecting pieces of documents by process of elimination and linking them to the worldbuilding if I see a common pattern or core thread to tie knots. Here my knots are fraying at the seams at the frustration I have since there isn’t enough of a focus to properly identify half of the notes I found to a person. The papers I found only give a quote that ties into the locale, but the missing person’s identity leaves me befuddled at the meaning beyond a random person’s woes to give off a false illusion of being careful of what lies ahead. Thankfully, not all the notes are like this. More often than not the books I found say who wrote the message like Sir Garrat, Bonnard(random tangent, but I'm speechless at what this guy did), Jusztina, & Ophelia. Everything else? Nothing, I can’t connect the person to the vicinity or race, only allocate their message to the residing location where I found the quote. Still not a big deal, since my boney dude Clive was lore dripping me with lore stories. They more than makeup for this transgression. Highly recommend checking them out. Always love what they have to say to me every time I return to the main hub.

Second, the alchemy system feels underutilized due to the pitiful volume of drops you may gain from random chance and perhaps no materials at all. Making the early to mid part of my playthrough somewhat of a struggle for resources. But not necessary to scavenge. For example, I didn't have enough of the exact materials to create a mana potion, I had to rely on destructible objects and be careful of how many health potions I had on hand. There is a shop, but you can only gain money from destroying objects and defeating enemies. You don’t gain a lot during your playthrough. This becomes hampered by a plethora of usable items that the game teases you often by showing the formulas but doesn’t fully express itself to the fullest extent by again a lack of materials. Maybe I played in a weird format and that’s why the required ingredients didn’t show. But I thoroughly explored every inch and crevice, and something clearly went awry. I think giving more monsters and flora you find of the common ingredients would be a better alternative. Additionally, instead of dropping one measly morsel per enemy death. Or none at all. Make it double or triple if it's a common rarity we need for consumables. Thankfully, you don’t need to use the alchemy system, I only used it after the final boss to see what recipes I was missing. Feels like a supplementary system attached to give players extra breathing room.

Third, a multitude of factors: more bosses. I can count on one hand, the exact number including to a lesser extent mini-bosses. I get it’s not supposed to be souls-like and more of a Kingsfield-like. However, I feel it's a missed opportunity since there were plenty of open spaces in various biomes I visited that could’ve been used to test the player. Granted, less than a handful of major bosses do a great job of testing me to my limit. And the sick art models and artificial intelligence made fights visually interesting. Kinda weird to expect more, when there isn’t. Additionally, I abhor the fact there is an enemy in the game that steals your money. I lost over 500 bucks. I was devastated. Needed the money to buy a very expensive weapon. And I’ve been saving in bulk since the start only to lose it all in the 80% mark. Couldn’t regain my wallet after defeating them either. So beware! Happens when you’re in a sandy region. Keep an eye on your vitality. And don’t get hit. I paid dearly for it. Don’t be a fool like me! I was arrogant to think I could defeat this dastardly foe. Furthermore, there is a bit of obscurity in certain areas like not knowing how to use elemental spells to open doors and how to achieve one of the endings clearly. Consequently, I highly recommend looking up a guide for those. I’ll post links below to help players in case they're in a slump. No shame in finding the solution instead of spending 'x' hours struggling. I used them only when I combed every new field blind and then checked a map guide to see if I missed any.

Finally, I think more NPCs could’ve been added to make a handful of spaces filled with more life in spite of the apparent and purposeful design to keep it somewhat sparse. Inducing a sense of anxiety and fear ramping up. Certainly, there are NPCs in various sectors, but these are only used more than a handful of times and don’t offer much besides several sidequests. I’m not asking for a new person per new biome. Feel it is a 50/50 chance of there being one and perhaps gives me something to do other than finding/fighting new enemies and discovering new loot. Along with the occasional minor puzzle here and there by pulling or destroying mechanisms. The game does a good enough job with the existing characters inside that you can help each of them during a level to complete their side quest. So extra individuals to spice up locations. A tiny bundle would suffice. Doesn’t even have to be friendly… Could be a rival or murderous individual who hates us. I think that would’ve been a nice twist.

Overall, there’s a decent sum I appreciate from trying my first-person dungeon crawler. With no bugs, crashes, or major framerate dips encountered to my utter relief. Took me over a week to consolidate my final thoughts. Nevertheless, my mixed feelings don’t affect the overall game too much. The biggest hurdle I think is the fact the beginning may not be the most enticing and it takes a decent effort to sift through beyond the mundanity, yet for those patient enough. For an indie-Kingsfield-like, Lunacid shines once you familiarize yourself with the simplistic core mechanics and express courage and genuine interest into crawling into the unknown. The accompanying sound work deserves special praise, and I cannot for the life of me wait until the soundtrack is available to purchase. It is not the next must-hear for unheard composers, but for an indie, I am awe-inspired at the sheer quality of most music tracks. The nuance in level structure by not adhering to a copy-paste in every single pathway kept things fresh and new throughout my eighteen hours. Becoming more complex as you progress further with no big difficulty spikes. A nice way to raise the challenge once I reach the endgame. Not too insurmountable while taking a fine line to be not a cakewalk even for my level 92 cleric. Ok, maybe I was too over-leveled… Well... it's okay. Going overpowered is good in my books hah! In the end, I hesitate to say this is a must-play to try for newcomers in the genre due to its shortcomings. Rather it is merely a valid choice to consider. So if you’re interested in this type of game I would suggest checking videos of the gameplay and reviews to get a broader idea of what you’re looking into. For fourteen USD I think it's a fair price for what you’re getting. Better on a sale. Anyway! Excuse me while I fill up my backlog on dungeon crawler games I missed out on! While keeping a close eye on whatever else Kira is cooking up.

7.5/10

Additional Material:
Adventurer’s Guide & Before I play - All around guide and other helpful tips to keep in mind.
100% checklist - To help those trying for 100%
Maps, Secrets, Items - Need a map?
WIP Alchemy list - Alchemy recipes
Other reviews on Lunacid - Other reviews to read
Curse’s review - touches on a lot of points I like. Not to discourage others, but to give a circumspect view.