tim_theuknown
BACKER
2023
Damn it! I would have loved to put this game up on my hidden gem list and scream into the world, that everyone should play this game. But after finishing it, This Bed We Made is neat and clever, but is the obvious result of limited resources.
The game takes place in a hotel in the 1950s and we embody the maid Sophie. Instead of „just“ cleaning up the rooms, we are very interested in snooping around, peeking into the personal belongings of the guests to discover secrets and get some new input for the daily hallway gossip. But one day, we discover that another guest is spying on other guests and even on us, taking photos. The detective snooping marathon begins ..
We are not alone on this journey: in the first few minutes, we can choose between one of two receptionists, which from there one is our partner in crime. Crime because the game kicks off on a police station during an interrogation, so we know that something is going to get wrong down the road.
The interactive repertoire is quite basic, feeling like a 3D point and click adventure. We can only stroll through the notes and belongings of a few guests, step by step, piecing together a little mystery. But it does not evolve above this neatness. It’s easy to read, good to pick up, but is not utterly engaging as the writing is flat and the characters are kind of superficial and one-dimensional.
I can not shake the feeling of being restricted in this game. Most of it takes place only in the lobby, the basement and one floor. But we can not freely roam and sneak around as we would like to, so we have to railroad from room to room, from clue to clue. And to me, there is often no clear connection between action and consequence, even until the very end. Because: nobody shows up. Ever. There is no sense of pressure or anxiety of being caught. No time-limit to keep us up our toes. We only have to decide, which clues we keep or put back to their original spot, because it effects the outcome of the interrogation in the end of the game.
But the game seems to sail only on the surface, playing it safe and not risking too much. Yes, it’s a small canadian studio, but that does not count as an excuse for lazy and foreseeable writing, slow gameplay and zero sense of reward. It just feels like a well-crafted prototype.
I still enjoyed my time with it, but it’s a pity, I feel disappointed after finishing it and not excited to recommend it. The best word to describe it, would be limitation . And that is the opposite of what I am hoping for in a mystery adventure.
The game takes place in a hotel in the 1950s and we embody the maid Sophie. Instead of „just“ cleaning up the rooms, we are very interested in snooping around, peeking into the personal belongings of the guests to discover secrets and get some new input for the daily hallway gossip. But one day, we discover that another guest is spying on other guests and even on us, taking photos. The detective snooping marathon begins ..
We are not alone on this journey: in the first few minutes, we can choose between one of two receptionists, which from there one is our partner in crime. Crime because the game kicks off on a police station during an interrogation, so we know that something is going to get wrong down the road.
The interactive repertoire is quite basic, feeling like a 3D point and click adventure. We can only stroll through the notes and belongings of a few guests, step by step, piecing together a little mystery. But it does not evolve above this neatness. It’s easy to read, good to pick up, but is not utterly engaging as the writing is flat and the characters are kind of superficial and one-dimensional.
I can not shake the feeling of being restricted in this game. Most of it takes place only in the lobby, the basement and one floor. But we can not freely roam and sneak around as we would like to, so we have to railroad from room to room, from clue to clue. And to me, there is often no clear connection between action and consequence, even until the very end. Because: nobody shows up. Ever. There is no sense of pressure or anxiety of being caught. No time-limit to keep us up our toes. We only have to decide, which clues we keep or put back to their original spot, because it effects the outcome of the interrogation in the end of the game.
But the game seems to sail only on the surface, playing it safe and not risking too much. Yes, it’s a small canadian studio, but that does not count as an excuse for lazy and foreseeable writing, slow gameplay and zero sense of reward. It just feels like a well-crafted prototype.
I still enjoyed my time with it, but it’s a pity, I feel disappointed after finishing it and not excited to recommend it. The best word to describe it, would be limitation . And that is the opposite of what I am hoping for in a mystery adventure.
2023
This review contains spoilers
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. SO PLEASE ENJOY THE GAME FIRST ON YOUR OWN BEFORE READING THIS REVIEW
With Alan Wake II Remedy created an outstanding story-telling masterclass, with dense, finger-nail biting atmosphere, that keeps you on the edge of your seat, all the time, stumbling only, if one our protagonists gets a gun in their hands.
Before I dive into elaborating on the things, that this game does differently, I have to speak about a comparison, I felt nearly my whole playthrough: This game reminds me a lot of The Last of Us: Part II. The whole world building from setting to set-design, the lighting, either tone, mood and color or the extensive use of the flashlight. The HUD-design (fonts, structure, menu). Or the sheer fact of making use of two protagonists, even if Alan Wake II, does go down a totally different path in exploring a multi-linear approach on this. For me, it is so obviously inspired, that I could not stop noticing similarities. But in fact, that did not make me feel like playing a highly polished copy-cat of a three year-old title. No. These similarities come in somewhat natural, as Remedy and Naughty Dog are both the top-contenders in the triple AAA - story focused action-adventure segment. And I am totally fine with that, as Naughty Dog knows how to design stylish, smoothly animated big budget bangers. And Remedy knows how to implement all the good stuff and sparkle in so much uniqueness, to make it their own.
I never played the original Alan Wake. I was thinking to play the remastered version prior to the second installment, but in the end, I did not to avoid potential major disappointment. And you can still sense, that the cliché Stephen King-like horror author stuck in its own story is a 2000/10 plot device to tell a gripping story. So the challenging task for the writers was, to honor the first installment and satisfy the old fans and expand the fan base, by thinking bigger and out-of-the-box. So what did they do exactly? They added a strong, well written female co-protagonist (not a sidekick!), that gets the job of being the heroine by helping Alan Wake escape the Dark Place - where he has been trapped for thirteen years now. They play both with Wake’s and the players mind by alternating prior events and make use of Wake’s ability to rewrite reality. And they make extensive use of humor and self-referentiality, that helps breaking with the monotonous seriousness this genre of gritty, dark and brutal action-adventures mostly suffer from.
This complete narrative overhall elevates Alan Wake II to such an enjoyable journey: It is structured and written like a gripping and unpredictable series, that at first establishes all the important locations like Cauldron Lake and Bright Falls and gives the new protagonist Saga Anderson, an FBI-agent, the job to investigate a cult murder. To suddenly crank up the weirdness meter and pacing, by re-writing her whole past, which endangers her family. Furthermore it stars brilliantly written side-characters, like Ahti, the reality-traveling janitor with his unique finnish quirkiness or the Koskelas brothers, which appear in absurd TV ads, that add vividness and credibility to the places, we visit. Spiced up with some supernatural abilities - like Wake’s written skill to rewrite reality and Saga’s power to use her own so-called mind place to store clues and magically profile characters.
But other than in a tv series, where you just sit and watch and enjoy, you are thrown into an interactive medium, where you are in control and play. Where you stand within the experience, where you have to collect the missing information, where you can investigate, where you can speak with the characters and where you can decide in which order you face things. Don’t get me wrong: Alan Wake II is a quite linear game, when following either Wake’s or Saga’s path, and you can not alternate the ending nor major plot points. But through the clever implementation of a so-called „reality-shifting puddle“, you can decide with whom you like to push further, deeper into the brain-twisting and foggy future of Saga and Wake’s destiny. And here collide light and darkness: The use of seamless real-time transition is key to its outstanding quality. The fact, that you can change whole level settings within a blink of an eye or switch between Saga in the game world or in her mind room is just so good and satisfying and creates the effect of never breaking the flow or atmosphere of your play session.
But the ambivalence come up, when diving underneath the surface of the puddle: I just loved playing Saga. She is such a cool-headed, down-to-earth character, who does her job good without any kind of selfish or asshole attitude. She simply collects all the needed clues, never making stupid decisions or endanger herself. Plain and simple: She is not acting out like a hero. And that’s what sets her apart from Wake. Of course, I do not know how my psyche would look like after trying for more than a decade to get out of the looping prison, that is the dark place. But he is such a drama-queen, trapped in the „damsel in distress“ - trope to still rescue his wife Alice. Of course, he is drowning in doubts, questioning himself and mistrusting his senses, but what makes it so annoying, is the fact, that he does not change. He does not grow as a character, as a man, as husband - he is the emblematic stupid horror character, repeating his own mistakes over and over again. And that is partly the legacy of the source material and partly a plot decision to outbalance Wake’s psychic instability with Saga’s toughness. But still: you HAVE to play both characters and if I have to be honest, I would love to stick with Saga and leave Wake rot in the lonesome dark place.
What both storylines unites, is the remarkable and cohesive atmosphere and tension, it succeeds to create. Either with the fact, that most of the game is set in darkness - to make use of the flash-light as a weapon against the shadow creatures, but also to implement gorgeous neon-lighting or elevate the atmospheric flickering of a lamppost. And boy, the sound. The soundscape of this game is just splendid. If you choose to play this with headphones, goosebumps are subscripted. The doubting whispers in Wake’s mind - somewhat reminiscent of Senua’s voices in Hellblade - mixed with the excellent use of sound-hinting to tease an upcoming danger or signaling a hidden collectible. The execution is simply top-notch and adds up to the immersive strength and the lynchian mystery of this game.
Back to one of the greatest weaknesses in the game: the combat. In nearly fifty percent of the time, you are encrypting the intertwined destiny of Alan and Saga. It’s a detective-game with puzzles, interrogations and interesting dialogue. In these moments, it shines with clever puzzle design, phenomenal environmental story-telling and sharp and funny writing. And then you get a pistol, a crossbow or a shotgun and the game shrinks from a monolith to a mediocre third-person shooter. The enemy design is pretty one-dimensional - except the damned, scary wolves! - and once you get hold of the pattern to defeat them, blend them with light and blast them bullets, it SHOULD work like a walk in the park. BUT the game is a survival (horror) game, reminiscent of the latest Resident Evil games, where you do not have infinite bullets in your pockets. You have to snoop around the area to gather beacons, batteries or bullets. And this ressource-managment mechanic is boring, tedious and feels outdated and uninspired in comparison to the presentation and narrative quality of the game. In these segments, Remedy falls back to conventions and well known gameplay territory, of course to secure the action and to still collect the shooter fans. But why not alternate these conventions too? Make it more unique and appealing? And rewarding! Most of the time, it induced stress to face enemies and the game forces you to face them, not giving you a bigger chance to make use of the dark and move into sneaky stealth mode. This design choice weights so heavy, as it takes half of the time spend in this world and is not only a short bummer in between, but a huge missed chance on elevating the genre.
A field in which Remedy undeniably manifested their creativity and quality is the use of live-action footage. They already experimented with it further in their last installment (Control), but now they perfected the seamless blend of gameplay and live-action. A great help to secure the natural implementation of this feature, is the imaginative use of intertwining different sorts of media: Wake staring in a late night-show as a guest, his appearance in the brilliant Herald of Darkness music video level. The existence of a band called Old Gods of Asgard, which consists of Saga’s grandfather and his brother or the already mentioned cringy TV ads by the Koskela brothers. Or the fact that Saga’s partner is the star of Wake’s books and the film adaption of it, with simultaneously being the body model of the creative director of the game. All these things are just head-shaking hilarious and represent only a friction of detailed and unconventional story-telling, that offers such a wide playground for both writers and players a like and creates the unique flavor, that makes this game distinctively Remedy.
Alan Wake II had big footsteps to follow, with its predecessor being praised for elevating the serious story-telling in games. Now nearly fifteen years has passed, so it had a lot of potential to fail brutally. But Remedy managed to stay calm, elaborate on the source-material, expand it on the right ends and make use of their gained expertise in edgy, clever and mysterious story-telling throughout the last decade. You can see and feel the love, fun, creativity and dedication that was poured non-stop into this marvelous game, in every jump-scare, every acted scene and every written word. Though it is far from being a perfect game: the repetitive combat really lies heavy on the overall experience. The pacing of the story really looses in the last third - somewhat exemplified in the song It Loops Forever. And unfortunately I faced more than a dozen game-ending crashes on my Series S, which not only abruptly threw me out of my flow state, but cost me in its entirety certainly nearly one-two hours of unsaved playtime.
There is still a lot more to praise (skill system) or mourn (boss design) about in Alan Wake II, but all in all, it is a recommendable and refreshing entry in a field of often dull and receptive story-games. Even if it does not invent all its mechanical wheels from the ground-up, the team definitely ran the extra mile to make it special and it sets a lot of benchmarks (atmosphere, polishness, writing), which a lot of studios will strive for in the future. I just hope, that after reports claim, the game financially did not perform as good as expected yet, the already announced DLC is not only boosting the sales of the main game to secure the future of Remedy and auteur games, but fills in some blanks and loose ends of the open ending. I can not wait to return to Bright Falls!
With Alan Wake II Remedy created an outstanding story-telling masterclass, with dense, finger-nail biting atmosphere, that keeps you on the edge of your seat, all the time, stumbling only, if one our protagonists gets a gun in their hands.
Before I dive into elaborating on the things, that this game does differently, I have to speak about a comparison, I felt nearly my whole playthrough: This game reminds me a lot of The Last of Us: Part II. The whole world building from setting to set-design, the lighting, either tone, mood and color or the extensive use of the flashlight. The HUD-design (fonts, structure, menu). Or the sheer fact of making use of two protagonists, even if Alan Wake II, does go down a totally different path in exploring a multi-linear approach on this. For me, it is so obviously inspired, that I could not stop noticing similarities. But in fact, that did not make me feel like playing a highly polished copy-cat of a three year-old title. No. These similarities come in somewhat natural, as Remedy and Naughty Dog are both the top-contenders in the triple AAA - story focused action-adventure segment. And I am totally fine with that, as Naughty Dog knows how to design stylish, smoothly animated big budget bangers. And Remedy knows how to implement all the good stuff and sparkle in so much uniqueness, to make it their own.
I never played the original Alan Wake. I was thinking to play the remastered version prior to the second installment, but in the end, I did not to avoid potential major disappointment. And you can still sense, that the cliché Stephen King-like horror author stuck in its own story is a 2000/10 plot device to tell a gripping story. So the challenging task for the writers was, to honor the first installment and satisfy the old fans and expand the fan base, by thinking bigger and out-of-the-box. So what did they do exactly? They added a strong, well written female co-protagonist (not a sidekick!), that gets the job of being the heroine by helping Alan Wake escape the Dark Place - where he has been trapped for thirteen years now. They play both with Wake’s and the players mind by alternating prior events and make use of Wake’s ability to rewrite reality. And they make extensive use of humor and self-referentiality, that helps breaking with the monotonous seriousness this genre of gritty, dark and brutal action-adventures mostly suffer from.
This complete narrative overhall elevates Alan Wake II to such an enjoyable journey: It is structured and written like a gripping and unpredictable series, that at first establishes all the important locations like Cauldron Lake and Bright Falls and gives the new protagonist Saga Anderson, an FBI-agent, the job to investigate a cult murder. To suddenly crank up the weirdness meter and pacing, by re-writing her whole past, which endangers her family. Furthermore it stars brilliantly written side-characters, like Ahti, the reality-traveling janitor with his unique finnish quirkiness or the Koskelas brothers, which appear in absurd TV ads, that add vividness and credibility to the places, we visit. Spiced up with some supernatural abilities - like Wake’s written skill to rewrite reality and Saga’s power to use her own so-called mind place to store clues and magically profile characters.
But other than in a tv series, where you just sit and watch and enjoy, you are thrown into an interactive medium, where you are in control and play. Where you stand within the experience, where you have to collect the missing information, where you can investigate, where you can speak with the characters and where you can decide in which order you face things. Don’t get me wrong: Alan Wake II is a quite linear game, when following either Wake’s or Saga’s path, and you can not alternate the ending nor major plot points. But through the clever implementation of a so-called „reality-shifting puddle“, you can decide with whom you like to push further, deeper into the brain-twisting and foggy future of Saga and Wake’s destiny. And here collide light and darkness: The use of seamless real-time transition is key to its outstanding quality. The fact, that you can change whole level settings within a blink of an eye or switch between Saga in the game world or in her mind room is just so good and satisfying and creates the effect of never breaking the flow or atmosphere of your play session.
But the ambivalence come up, when diving underneath the surface of the puddle: I just loved playing Saga. She is such a cool-headed, down-to-earth character, who does her job good without any kind of selfish or asshole attitude. She simply collects all the needed clues, never making stupid decisions or endanger herself. Plain and simple: She is not acting out like a hero. And that’s what sets her apart from Wake. Of course, I do not know how my psyche would look like after trying for more than a decade to get out of the looping prison, that is the dark place. But he is such a drama-queen, trapped in the „damsel in distress“ - trope to still rescue his wife Alice. Of course, he is drowning in doubts, questioning himself and mistrusting his senses, but what makes it so annoying, is the fact, that he does not change. He does not grow as a character, as a man, as husband - he is the emblematic stupid horror character, repeating his own mistakes over and over again. And that is partly the legacy of the source material and partly a plot decision to outbalance Wake’s psychic instability with Saga’s toughness. But still: you HAVE to play both characters and if I have to be honest, I would love to stick with Saga and leave Wake rot in the lonesome dark place.
What both storylines unites, is the remarkable and cohesive atmosphere and tension, it succeeds to create. Either with the fact, that most of the game is set in darkness - to make use of the flash-light as a weapon against the shadow creatures, but also to implement gorgeous neon-lighting or elevate the atmospheric flickering of a lamppost. And boy, the sound. The soundscape of this game is just splendid. If you choose to play this with headphones, goosebumps are subscripted. The doubting whispers in Wake’s mind - somewhat reminiscent of Senua’s voices in Hellblade - mixed with the excellent use of sound-hinting to tease an upcoming danger or signaling a hidden collectible. The execution is simply top-notch and adds up to the immersive strength and the lynchian mystery of this game.
Back to one of the greatest weaknesses in the game: the combat. In nearly fifty percent of the time, you are encrypting the intertwined destiny of Alan and Saga. It’s a detective-game with puzzles, interrogations and interesting dialogue. In these moments, it shines with clever puzzle design, phenomenal environmental story-telling and sharp and funny writing. And then you get a pistol, a crossbow or a shotgun and the game shrinks from a monolith to a mediocre third-person shooter. The enemy design is pretty one-dimensional - except the damned, scary wolves! - and once you get hold of the pattern to defeat them, blend them with light and blast them bullets, it SHOULD work like a walk in the park. BUT the game is a survival (horror) game, reminiscent of the latest Resident Evil games, where you do not have infinite bullets in your pockets. You have to snoop around the area to gather beacons, batteries or bullets. And this ressource-managment mechanic is boring, tedious and feels outdated and uninspired in comparison to the presentation and narrative quality of the game. In these segments, Remedy falls back to conventions and well known gameplay territory, of course to secure the action and to still collect the shooter fans. But why not alternate these conventions too? Make it more unique and appealing? And rewarding! Most of the time, it induced stress to face enemies and the game forces you to face them, not giving you a bigger chance to make use of the dark and move into sneaky stealth mode. This design choice weights so heavy, as it takes half of the time spend in this world and is not only a short bummer in between, but a huge missed chance on elevating the genre.
A field in which Remedy undeniably manifested their creativity and quality is the use of live-action footage. They already experimented with it further in their last installment (Control), but now they perfected the seamless blend of gameplay and live-action. A great help to secure the natural implementation of this feature, is the imaginative use of intertwining different sorts of media: Wake staring in a late night-show as a guest, his appearance in the brilliant Herald of Darkness music video level. The existence of a band called Old Gods of Asgard, which consists of Saga’s grandfather and his brother or the already mentioned cringy TV ads by the Koskela brothers. Or the fact that Saga’s partner is the star of Wake’s books and the film adaption of it, with simultaneously being the body model of the creative director of the game. All these things are just head-shaking hilarious and represent only a friction of detailed and unconventional story-telling, that offers such a wide playground for both writers and players a like and creates the unique flavor, that makes this game distinctively Remedy.
Alan Wake II had big footsteps to follow, with its predecessor being praised for elevating the serious story-telling in games. Now nearly fifteen years has passed, so it had a lot of potential to fail brutally. But Remedy managed to stay calm, elaborate on the source-material, expand it on the right ends and make use of their gained expertise in edgy, clever and mysterious story-telling throughout the last decade. You can see and feel the love, fun, creativity and dedication that was poured non-stop into this marvelous game, in every jump-scare, every acted scene and every written word. Though it is far from being a perfect game: the repetitive combat really lies heavy on the overall experience. The pacing of the story really looses in the last third - somewhat exemplified in the song It Loops Forever. And unfortunately I faced more than a dozen game-ending crashes on my Series S, which not only abruptly threw me out of my flow state, but cost me in its entirety certainly nearly one-two hours of unsaved playtime.
There is still a lot more to praise (skill system) or mourn (boss design) about in Alan Wake II, but all in all, it is a recommendable and refreshing entry in a field of often dull and receptive story-games. Even if it does not invent all its mechanical wheels from the ground-up, the team definitely ran the extra mile to make it special and it sets a lot of benchmarks (atmosphere, polishness, writing), which a lot of studios will strive for in the future. I just hope, that after reports claim, the game financially did not perform as good as expected yet, the already announced DLC is not only boosting the sales of the main game to secure the future of Remedy and auteur games, but fills in some blanks and loose ends of the open ending. I can not wait to return to Bright Falls!
2019
Sometimes it is utterly difficult to find a game within the overwhelmingly confusing and over-loaded store-fronts, that is brave and humble at the same time. Creature in the Well is such a rare hidden gem, that is clever, unique and anything but arbitrary.
CitW mashes a pinball game with a third-person, isometric hack-and-dash dungeon crawler - and bold and smart move. Instead of slaying through never-ending procedurally generated waves of enemies, you dash and splice your way through abandoned laboratories, on your mission to reactivate the weather systems to stop the endless sandstorm, that has washed away nearly all civilization. There is no one left, but you, a frog janitor named Roger and a three-eyed crocodile selling upgrades to your gear. And the creature of course - a mysterious long-armed, faceless something lurking in the shadows, trying to break your will to complete your goal. The story aspect is mostly a little background humming, on the same frequency as the minimalistic ambient soundscape, that sounds out of this world and yet familiar and calming - thanks Jim Fowler! Mostly you rush and dash from room to room, in which you have to accurately aim and hit panels to gain little energy bulbs, which function as a currency and a key for new areas at the same time.
The magic of CitW comes from the reactive and smooth movement, which embraces the flow state and is makes it brilliantly easy to pick up and just get going. The difficulty curve is well paced, but sometimes the different levels kind of lack of variety and creativity. It really does not over-exaggerate on the diversity of the pinball mechanics, but this is forgivable, as the atmosphere in the dark and edgy caves is dense and rush-inducing.
Not mind-boggling nor ground-breaking, but down-to-earth exceptional and incomparable - that’s what Creature in the Well is to me, even after beating it twice. With about five hours a snackable little experience, that you will not regret. Watch out for Flight School Studio, they have some real creativity up their sleeves. And now: Go and dive deep into the well!
Ps. Besides Animal Well already the second well-type game of the month. Let’s see what June has to over on that front.
CitW mashes a pinball game with a third-person, isometric hack-and-dash dungeon crawler - and bold and smart move. Instead of slaying through never-ending procedurally generated waves of enemies, you dash and splice your way through abandoned laboratories, on your mission to reactivate the weather systems to stop the endless sandstorm, that has washed away nearly all civilization. There is no one left, but you, a frog janitor named Roger and a three-eyed crocodile selling upgrades to your gear. And the creature of course - a mysterious long-armed, faceless something lurking in the shadows, trying to break your will to complete your goal. The story aspect is mostly a little background humming, on the same frequency as the minimalistic ambient soundscape, that sounds out of this world and yet familiar and calming - thanks Jim Fowler! Mostly you rush and dash from room to room, in which you have to accurately aim and hit panels to gain little energy bulbs, which function as a currency and a key for new areas at the same time.
The magic of CitW comes from the reactive and smooth movement, which embraces the flow state and is makes it brilliantly easy to pick up and just get going. The difficulty curve is well paced, but sometimes the different levels kind of lack of variety and creativity. It really does not over-exaggerate on the diversity of the pinball mechanics, but this is forgivable, as the atmosphere in the dark and edgy caves is dense and rush-inducing.
Not mind-boggling nor ground-breaking, but down-to-earth exceptional and incomparable - that’s what Creature in the Well is to me, even after beating it twice. With about five hours a snackable little experience, that you will not regret. Watch out for Flight School Studio, they have some real creativity up their sleeves. And now: Go and dive deep into the well!
Ps. Besides Animal Well already the second well-type game of the month. Let’s see what June has to over on that front.
2009
The one word I associated with this game was desperation. After my replay it will be - hilarious.
Resident Evil 5 is a coop-game through and through. Just don’t even try to play it alone!
I asked my old friend Nick, with whom I finished this game more than 10 years ago in sheer endless night sessions. And he agreed to be in for this adventure!
RE5 is a drama queen: Overacting voice actors, over-the-top, unrealistic action and head-shaking dialogue. It is loaded with what the fuck - moments and you can not stop to giggle and burst out laughing. But you just can not deny, that it is flawed to its core. And not only, because it is 15 years old, using outdated mechanics like rail-roaded level design, cannon fodder boss battles and stupid quick time events. No, it is simply frustrating and unfair, because it is hard to read and unpredictable: The hitboxes of the enemies vary and are always designed in your disadvantage. The placement of ammo drops is so unpredictable, as you are sometimes shit-loaded with shots and sometimes cornered with only a knife as your last chance for survival. The weapons are so badly balanced, that you always go for the grenade launcher and the shotgun. And it happens far more than once, that you feel stuck and stupid, as the solution to a puzzle or the weak spot of an enemy is so hidden, you just don’t get it.
That is why you need a coop-buddy: To cope this frustration-enducing and flawed design and turn it upside down by tag-team roundhouse kicking the shit out of a chainsaw-swinging zombie. Or solving puzzles in an indiana jones-like crypt filled with mutated naked mole rats. Resident Evil 5 is packed with moments like this, where you can goof around and escape just a breath away from the next Game Over.
What I was surprised of, was the difficulty, because in our first playthrough, we were frequently rage-quitting and now, we were stunned, whenever a battle-winning cut-scene was triggered earlier than expected. I can not pinpoint it, if this is based on a noticeable re-work of the controls in the remastered version, we played. The growth of skill in the last ten years of both our gaming careers. Or the sheer growth patience based on adulthood and trained frustration tolerance. Likely a mixture of all of this factors, which ultimately result in the updated conclusion: hilarious!
It is for sure, that if Resident Evil 5 would launch today, it would be crushed by fans and press alike and simply vanish. But this game was released a while ago now and still holds a rare and memorable coop-campaign within a c-movie zombie/virus-scenario. It is a hybrid that is hilariously bad and good at the same time.
RE5 is a drama queen: Overacting voice actors, over-the-top, unrealistic action and head-shaking dialogue. It is loaded with what the fuck - moments and you can not stop to giggle and burst out laughing. But you just can not deny, that it is flawed to its core. And not only, because it is 15 years old, using outdated mechanics like rail-roaded level design, cannon fodder boss battles and stupid quick time events. No, it is simply frustrating and unfair, because it is hard to read and unpredictable: The hitboxes of the enemies vary and are always designed in your disadvantage. The placement of ammo drops is so unpredictable, as you are sometimes shit-loaded with shots and sometimes cornered with only a knife as your last chance for survival. The weapons are so badly balanced, that you always go for the grenade launcher and the shotgun. And it happens far more than once, that you feel stuck and stupid, as the solution to a puzzle or the weak spot of an enemy is so hidden, you just don’t get it.
That is why you need a coop-buddy: To cope this frustration-enducing and flawed design and turn it upside down by tag-team roundhouse kicking the shit out of a chainsaw-swinging zombie. Or solving puzzles in an indiana jones-like crypt filled with mutated naked mole rats. Resident Evil 5 is packed with moments like this, where you can goof around and escape just a breath away from the next Game Over.
What I was surprised of, was the difficulty, because in our first playthrough, we were frequently rage-quitting and now, we were stunned, whenever a battle-winning cut-scene was triggered earlier than expected. I can not pinpoint it, if this is based on a noticeable re-work of the controls in the remastered version, we played. The growth of skill in the last ten years of both our gaming careers. Or the sheer growth patience based on adulthood and trained frustration tolerance. Likely a mixture of all of this factors, which ultimately result in the updated conclusion: hilarious!
It is for sure, that if Resident Evil 5 would launch today, it would be crushed by fans and press alike and simply vanish. But this game was released a while ago now and still holds a rare and memorable coop-campaign within a c-movie zombie/virus-scenario. It is a hybrid that is hilariously bad and good at the same time.
2019
Even if my body is not formed like a square, I have so much in common with Wilmot.
Coming from Richard Hogg and Ricky Haggett, founder of the wonderful Hollow Ponds, this game promises to be quirky, small, independent and - different: You play as Wilmot, a logistic worker, who works his ass off, in favor of his ungrateful boss CJ, who treats him like shit. This premise could suggest, this game is a third-person, narrative heavy adventure. But it is a repetitive, minimalistic top-down puzzler, in which you have to optimize your tile-matching skills and your short-term memory to the max.
Yes, I call this game repetitive and usually, when this adjective drops, it is meant in a negative way. But in Wilmot’s, the repetition is the core of the gameplay loop AND the core of the fun. Or who would accuse Tetris of being boring and one-dimensional?
You are starting small, with only a handful of little boxes, which you have to organize in your warehouse. Every few minutes you get a delivery of new items, you have to keep track off and deliver to some small-town folks waiting at the delivery window. That’s it. You are „trapped“ within the four walls of this building, switching back and forth between organizing and delivering, with nearly always the clock ticking in your back.
To a lot of people this might sound like stress and work, a reenactment of the world outside, you try to escape while playing games. And I respect that. But for me, this loop ticks all the boxes to get addicted and get into the desirable flow condition, we all strive for. It has the right amount of randomization: you never know, what is coming and you have to strategize within seconds. The right balance of reward: for fast deliveries you receive little starts, you can use for useful upgrades, like a dash, an upgrade of your carrying capacities or even a little robot friend called Borky, who automatically delivers the items to similar ones. And the right dose of self-referential humor: for every quarterly target you hit, instead of getting a raise, you get a motivational poster, that teaches you, how to improve yourself even more.
Another reasons it clicks, is, that the stress and challenge is smoothen by the simplistic, yet colorful aesthetics mixed with a chilled and minimal soundtrack / sound design delivered by the amazing Eli Rainsberry.
And plain and simple: I love to organize and arrange stuff, in the way I want to. And this game is a paradise to do so. It is a game, that works like a clockwork, giving you a little rush of accomplishment on a minute-base and improves your decisiveness in a playful way. I can only say: Give it a try and see, if it clicks for you!
Coming from Richard Hogg and Ricky Haggett, founder of the wonderful Hollow Ponds, this game promises to be quirky, small, independent and - different: You play as Wilmot, a logistic worker, who works his ass off, in favor of his ungrateful boss CJ, who treats him like shit. This premise could suggest, this game is a third-person, narrative heavy adventure. But it is a repetitive, minimalistic top-down puzzler, in which you have to optimize your tile-matching skills and your short-term memory to the max.
Yes, I call this game repetitive and usually, when this adjective drops, it is meant in a negative way. But in Wilmot’s, the repetition is the core of the gameplay loop AND the core of the fun. Or who would accuse Tetris of being boring and one-dimensional?
You are starting small, with only a handful of little boxes, which you have to organize in your warehouse. Every few minutes you get a delivery of new items, you have to keep track off and deliver to some small-town folks waiting at the delivery window. That’s it. You are „trapped“ within the four walls of this building, switching back and forth between organizing and delivering, with nearly always the clock ticking in your back.
To a lot of people this might sound like stress and work, a reenactment of the world outside, you try to escape while playing games. And I respect that. But for me, this loop ticks all the boxes to get addicted and get into the desirable flow condition, we all strive for. It has the right amount of randomization: you never know, what is coming and you have to strategize within seconds. The right balance of reward: for fast deliveries you receive little starts, you can use for useful upgrades, like a dash, an upgrade of your carrying capacities or even a little robot friend called Borky, who automatically delivers the items to similar ones. And the right dose of self-referential humor: for every quarterly target you hit, instead of getting a raise, you get a motivational poster, that teaches you, how to improve yourself even more.
Another reasons it clicks, is, that the stress and challenge is smoothen by the simplistic, yet colorful aesthetics mixed with a chilled and minimal soundtrack / sound design delivered by the amazing Eli Rainsberry.
And plain and simple: I love to organize and arrange stuff, in the way I want to. And this game is a paradise to do so. It is a game, that works like a clockwork, giving you a little rush of accomplishment on a minute-base and improves your decisiveness in a playful way. I can only say: Give it a try and see, if it clicks for you!
2020
I took a sneak peak into this rabbit - hole of a game, playing the demo for two hours on the Switch and what can I say, but: I think, I saved myself.
After struggling with the controls for a while, I realized my own stupidity and optimized my play-style, as well as my small factory. And that is, what this game is all about: optimize into infinity.
I totally get, why people spend thousands of hours into this type of game, that looks and feels to me like a weird hybrid of Into the Breach, Frostpunk and Minecraft. It's the type of drug, I know, I would extremely enjoy, but just this bit too much. So for now, I stick to watching other people taking it.
I say for now, as I was not brave enough to abandoned this game, because a small, devilish part of my subconsciousness still hopes for a point of weakness and the sudden access to unlimited free-time.
After struggling with the controls for a while, I realized my own stupidity and optimized my play-style, as well as my small factory. And that is, what this game is all about: optimize into infinity.
I totally get, why people spend thousands of hours into this type of game, that looks and feels to me like a weird hybrid of Into the Breach, Frostpunk and Minecraft. It's the type of drug, I know, I would extremely enjoy, but just this bit too much. So for now, I stick to watching other people taking it.
I say for now, as I was not brave enough to abandoned this game, because a small, devilish part of my subconsciousness still hopes for a point of weakness and the sudden access to unlimited free-time.
2019
If you are on the hunt for a wholesome, chilled and rewarding little adventure, you are right here.
You will embody the little flappy bird Claire on her journey up to Hawk Peak to grab some cellphone reception to receive an important phone call. Along your way you socialize, engage with the islanders and get sugarcoated by a delightful soundtrack.
The game feels just so well paced, as you decide, what activities you want to engage with, which path you choose and where to stop and simply enjoy the view. A Short Hike contains what the title promises on its cover: Animal Crossing-Cozyness with some dope-ass flying system, you improve with every step taken.
This game proves, it does not always have to be a mind-bending, epic meta-story. Sometimes a simplistic yet straight-forward adventure is enough, to put a smile on your face after a rainy day.
You will embody the little flappy bird Claire on her journey up to Hawk Peak to grab some cellphone reception to receive an important phone call. Along your way you socialize, engage with the islanders and get sugarcoated by a delightful soundtrack.
The game feels just so well paced, as you decide, what activities you want to engage with, which path you choose and where to stop and simply enjoy the view. A Short Hike contains what the title promises on its cover: Animal Crossing-Cozyness with some dope-ass flying system, you improve with every step taken.
This game proves, it does not always have to be a mind-bending, epic meta-story. Sometimes a simplistic yet straight-forward adventure is enough, to put a smile on your face after a rainy day.
2011
I recently rediscovered my deep love for first person puzzle games and played through a bunch of them (partially again), like Superliminal, Viewfinder or Stanley Parable, before revisiting the one-and-only Portal 2. Last year I played Portal 1 and after replaying part two, part one feels like a toddler to me, especially in terms of complexity, content and puzzle variety. Expanding the repertoire of elements with the gels and transportation beams just exploded the set of possibilities and Valve used their potential.
But in my mind, what really sets Portal 2 apart and makes it feel so fun and outstanding, is it’s sense of verticality. You have to make use of your environment in every possible directions. And you know that feeling in your gut, when you lift off in a rollercoaster, just for a second or two? That’s the excitement you feel while jumping of a cliff in Lonely Mountains Downhill, that’s the rush you feel in Neon White and that’s the feeling that Portal 2 use as an attraction to keep going. And it is not just a gimmick, the full-dimensional traversal IS the mean guideline in level and puzzle design. It is a brilliant example of how few things a game needs to succeed, to be creative, and hit the sweet spot in-between guiding and experimenting by making use of the lateral thinking approach.
I noticed one small thing, while replaying: There is a lot of talking in Portal 2, as you are accompanied or supervised nearly through your entire journey. The writing is bursting with self-reflective irony and meta-jokes, yet it is simply A LOT. But that is the only real „flaw“ I could name and this is no sugarcoating.
Portal 2 is one of those rare, what I would call cinematic puzzlers, with lots of effects and drama and meta-humor, but yet feels so humble, simplistic and straight forward. It’s the perfect sandbox, where Valve only decided to pick the best parts and merged it to the iconic and timeless game, that even 13 years after it’s release, is unique and joyful.
But in my mind, what really sets Portal 2 apart and makes it feel so fun and outstanding, is it’s sense of verticality. You have to make use of your environment in every possible directions. And you know that feeling in your gut, when you lift off in a rollercoaster, just for a second or two? That’s the excitement you feel while jumping of a cliff in Lonely Mountains Downhill, that’s the rush you feel in Neon White and that’s the feeling that Portal 2 use as an attraction to keep going. And it is not just a gimmick, the full-dimensional traversal IS the mean guideline in level and puzzle design. It is a brilliant example of how few things a game needs to succeed, to be creative, and hit the sweet spot in-between guiding and experimenting by making use of the lateral thinking approach.
I noticed one small thing, while replaying: There is a lot of talking in Portal 2, as you are accompanied or supervised nearly through your entire journey. The writing is bursting with self-reflective irony and meta-jokes, yet it is simply A LOT. But that is the only real „flaw“ I could name and this is no sugarcoating.
Portal 2 is one of those rare, what I would call cinematic puzzlers, with lots of effects and drama and meta-humor, but yet feels so humble, simplistic and straight forward. It’s the perfect sandbox, where Valve only decided to pick the best parts and merged it to the iconic and timeless game, that even 13 years after it’s release, is unique and joyful.
2023
What can I say: I had a blast. It was my game of March and even if it is loaded with flaws, Dead Island 2 just was another perfect example of „the right game at the right time“.
First of all: Dead Island 2 entitles itself completely to explicity in terms of blood, splatter and flying body parts. So if you are not into extended violence in games, you are wrong here.
After a failed escape from yet another zombie-apocalypse taking place in Hell-A (renamed Los Angeles) and the miraculous survival of a plane crash, we can choose from a cast of six slayers with a different set of stats before jumping into our gore-drenched adventure. I chose Dani, a badass woman, which turned out to be a brilliant choice, as her irish crudeness, just hit the right tone of what I was hoping for playing this game.
The main attraction of DI2 is the combat. It is clear, that Dambaster Studios wanted to make the zombie-slaughtering fun and diverse and I can only say, they succeed. We can choose from a wide variety of melee weapons ranging from pick axes to crowbars, machetes to bo-sticks, all which we can modify with stat-boots or elemental damage. And this crafting system is important, as where are constantly collecting crafting elements to repair or upgrade our gear. And here the two biggest flaws show up: the crafting and the loot-system, both which go hand-in-hand. Or to be more precise: fail to.
DI2 decided to go for quantity instead of quality in terms of weaponry. You can find a countless number of weapons in the game, either while exploring abandoned mansions, the dark sewers of LA or simply by popping up undead corpses as the zombies seem to enjoy sword-swallowing as much as hunting for brains. This weapon inflation feels like a mixture of Diablo, where you are always on the hunt for a better weapon to drop and Breath of the Wild, where you don’t get used to a certain weapon, as wears off over time and breaks eventually. And for me, this system is a two doubled-edged sword, as it motivates me, to try out different weapons and synergies, but it reduces my actual engagement in combat, as I quickly loose track of my favorite weapons. Important note: In DI2, even if your weapon breaks, you can always repair it at a workbench, so it can not vanish forever. You can actually find a few legendary items, which own unique perks and abilities, but they appear so late in the game, that they can’t show their full potential.
The difficulty feels very unbalanced. In the first third, you need to get used to the melee, but after about 10 hours, it gets more and more difficult for you to die in this game. And even if you do, it has NO consequences, as you just spawn seconds before you died, without losing either equipment or life-time. It avoids frustration, but it works against the promising skill system, which is based on skill cards, you earn for finishing quests or find while exploring L.A. They unlock powerful abilities and are completely flexible in use, which results in a refreshing alternative to the often stale and rigid skill-tree system. But I did not make extensive use of this system, as I never felt the urgency or need to do it, due to the easy difficulty, especially in the „end-game“.
The enemy variety is pretty limited too. Even if they sprinkle in new so-called apex variation until the very end, these are mostly just recycled, re-named or elemental mutated versions of already known species in the zombie-universe.
To sum it up, you could say, you can put in the same amount of brain-function into playing the game as the zombies do and still get through it.
So why did this game made me having so much fun then, if it sounds so one-dimensional and generic? Because it is a game, where you leave your brain at the counter, kick in the doors and jump into such a rush of blood, that you totally forget about time and space in front of the screen. DI2 is a game, that embraces the flow. The setting of quirky, over-the-top and sunburnt L.A, the set of characters consisting of alcoholic, self-absorbed surfer-dudes and actresses and the flat and fore-seeable plot and humor merged into a joy-inducing experience. It clearly differs from its closest „competitor“ Dying Light, which is miles ahead in movement, but feels heavy, serious and slow-paced on the narrative side of things. DI2 is light, shiny, stylish, superficial and goofy and for me, these attributes are all an advantage, if you want to have a good time.
It’s a comfort game through and through and it's locations and mechanics reminded me of the Tony Hawk-series, a series, in which you can escape, loose yourself in and hit a few high-scores - or rage-quit, because your combo breaks seconds before nailing it in your 280th try, as I did a couple of times in Underground 2. You can have a ton of fun with a solid set of skill and it is definitely no game, which you have to master entirely to make you feel powerful. In DI2 you feel powerful from the get-go.
Plus: The soundtrack is undeniably a banger supporting the sense of flow and the sound design is both crisp and splashy ensuring this hack-and-slay adventure its triple AAA-quality.
I can understand, if you feel repellent by this game, either by its excessive violent nature or it’s flat storyline. But I had a constant smile on my face, while crushing skulls and kneecaps. And I personally feel very happy for Dambuster, that they delivered on the heavy legacy and hype this game produced way back after it’s announcement in 2014 (!).
First of all: Dead Island 2 entitles itself completely to explicity in terms of blood, splatter and flying body parts. So if you are not into extended violence in games, you are wrong here.
After a failed escape from yet another zombie-apocalypse taking place in Hell-A (renamed Los Angeles) and the miraculous survival of a plane crash, we can choose from a cast of six slayers with a different set of stats before jumping into our gore-drenched adventure. I chose Dani, a badass woman, which turned out to be a brilliant choice, as her irish crudeness, just hit the right tone of what I was hoping for playing this game.
The main attraction of DI2 is the combat. It is clear, that Dambaster Studios wanted to make the zombie-slaughtering fun and diverse and I can only say, they succeed. We can choose from a wide variety of melee weapons ranging from pick axes to crowbars, machetes to bo-sticks, all which we can modify with stat-boots or elemental damage. And this crafting system is important, as where are constantly collecting crafting elements to repair or upgrade our gear. And here the two biggest flaws show up: the crafting and the loot-system, both which go hand-in-hand. Or to be more precise: fail to.
DI2 decided to go for quantity instead of quality in terms of weaponry. You can find a countless number of weapons in the game, either while exploring abandoned mansions, the dark sewers of LA or simply by popping up undead corpses as the zombies seem to enjoy sword-swallowing as much as hunting for brains. This weapon inflation feels like a mixture of Diablo, where you are always on the hunt for a better weapon to drop and Breath of the Wild, where you don’t get used to a certain weapon, as wears off over time and breaks eventually. And for me, this system is a two doubled-edged sword, as it motivates me, to try out different weapons and synergies, but it reduces my actual engagement in combat, as I quickly loose track of my favorite weapons. Important note: In DI2, even if your weapon breaks, you can always repair it at a workbench, so it can not vanish forever. You can actually find a few legendary items, which own unique perks and abilities, but they appear so late in the game, that they can’t show their full potential.
The difficulty feels very unbalanced. In the first third, you need to get used to the melee, but after about 10 hours, it gets more and more difficult for you to die in this game. And even if you do, it has NO consequences, as you just spawn seconds before you died, without losing either equipment or life-time. It avoids frustration, but it works against the promising skill system, which is based on skill cards, you earn for finishing quests or find while exploring L.A. They unlock powerful abilities and are completely flexible in use, which results in a refreshing alternative to the often stale and rigid skill-tree system. But I did not make extensive use of this system, as I never felt the urgency or need to do it, due to the easy difficulty, especially in the „end-game“.
The enemy variety is pretty limited too. Even if they sprinkle in new so-called apex variation until the very end, these are mostly just recycled, re-named or elemental mutated versions of already known species in the zombie-universe.
To sum it up, you could say, you can put in the same amount of brain-function into playing the game as the zombies do and still get through it.
So why did this game made me having so much fun then, if it sounds so one-dimensional and generic? Because it is a game, where you leave your brain at the counter, kick in the doors and jump into such a rush of blood, that you totally forget about time and space in front of the screen. DI2 is a game, that embraces the flow. The setting of quirky, over-the-top and sunburnt L.A, the set of characters consisting of alcoholic, self-absorbed surfer-dudes and actresses and the flat and fore-seeable plot and humor merged into a joy-inducing experience. It clearly differs from its closest „competitor“ Dying Light, which is miles ahead in movement, but feels heavy, serious and slow-paced on the narrative side of things. DI2 is light, shiny, stylish, superficial and goofy and for me, these attributes are all an advantage, if you want to have a good time.
It’s a comfort game through and through and it's locations and mechanics reminded me of the Tony Hawk-series, a series, in which you can escape, loose yourself in and hit a few high-scores - or rage-quit, because your combo breaks seconds before nailing it in your 280th try, as I did a couple of times in Underground 2. You can have a ton of fun with a solid set of skill and it is definitely no game, which you have to master entirely to make you feel powerful. In DI2 you feel powerful from the get-go.
Plus: The soundtrack is undeniably a banger supporting the sense of flow and the sound design is both crisp and splashy ensuring this hack-and-slay adventure its triple AAA-quality.
I can understand, if you feel repellent by this game, either by its excessive violent nature or it’s flat storyline. But I had a constant smile on my face, while crushing skulls and kneecaps. And I personally feel very happy for Dambuster, that they delivered on the heavy legacy and hype this game produced way back after it’s announcement in 2014 (!).
2002
Super Mario Sunshine might be one of the hardest souls-likes ever made.
After I had such a blast with Super Mario Odyssey, for a long time I was thinking to fill my gaps in the 3D-Mario space. Now I finally got my hands on the 3D-All Stars Selection and I wanted to slowly work my way through it. I started with Sunshine, which I have a really strong connection to and which is the only one of the three, I played so far. And I was excited and frightened at the same time to explore the dark and shiny spots of that connection.
And nostalgia hit hard. When I booted up the game and listend to the first notes of the Isle-Delfino theme I felt right teleported to the 8-10year old me, sitting in front of the GameCube with shrine-shiny eyes ready to roll. But after landing with Peach on the Island and the game starting to unfold, the trauma kicked back in. You see, when I scrambled through my memory, I did not found any prove of finishing this game. I remember pouring tons of hours into it, only to fight my way through a few levels. I remember certain activities like throwing fruit at the islanders, mud looking like chocolate spread across the island and a level with a huge rollercoaster park. What I do remember for certain is the cocktail of feelings always oscillating in-between fun and frustration.
And this second word starting with F came back already on the airstrip 5 minutes into the game. The camera (non-)movement in Sunshine is one of the worst I have ever seen and this game is a 3D plattformer, so you have to know where you are heading, but this is just not the case. The camera feels like an untrained puppy pulling the leash into the opposite direction of where you want to go. And the frustration doubles with the knowledge, that I am playing this game as a remastered version. A version in which Nintendo is yet again so lazy and only upscales the graphics of the vanilla-version of the game and does not touch a single thing aspect - even re-using the GameCube button layout, lol. This game-design idleness haunted me through my entire short re-visit. It sucks out the fun, nearly completely. The fun of being accompanied by one of the most iconic non-human companions of gaming history: FLUDD. FLUDD is a rechargeable water-based tool, that can be used to spray enemies and goop, hover or launch through the air, and dash to high speeds. It is the main mechanical attraction and it is so cool. Or it should feel like it. But the whacky and inaccurate controls, the movements latency and the stubborn camera throw you off, minute by minute, jump by jump. And this is what weights the heaviest: Due to the inconsistent controls you are unable to grow in skill, to overcome obstacles and to feel real accomplishment. And this feeling of literally „not being in full control“ is bad for nearly every game experience. I was surprised how masochistic the levels felt, especially the platforming sections, where Shadow Mario steals FLUDD and you are left with only your jumping „skills“. And this type of design is not a relict of old times, as these levels recur in Odyssey and throughout the whole Super Mario-Series, but I could not help myself, but to feel robbed and put on trial - feeling like Mario being put on trial, accused of being a graffiti artist, haha. I was only able to finish the first major level (Monte Bianco), collecting 9 of 120 shine sprites. And this left me and collector-heart heart-broken. But yet, I simply could not force myself to collect the small moments of joy and embrace them, as they share the destiny of the shines being spread across the island. I love the sound, the atmosphere and the locations of this title, but for the sake of my mental health, I have to pull the plug. For now. A few days ago, I was sure to add this game to the „abondaned“-section and leave it for good. But I can not help, but to wonder, what comes next, what lies beneath all the pain? Am I the one being to weak? That is why I shelf this game and see if there will come a time, when I am ready to fight my way through. But first I am looking forward to play Galaxy and 64 without the constant whisper of nostalgia in my ear.
After I had such a blast with Super Mario Odyssey, for a long time I was thinking to fill my gaps in the 3D-Mario space. Now I finally got my hands on the 3D-All Stars Selection and I wanted to slowly work my way through it. I started with Sunshine, which I have a really strong connection to and which is the only one of the three, I played so far. And I was excited and frightened at the same time to explore the dark and shiny spots of that connection.
And nostalgia hit hard. When I booted up the game and listend to the first notes of the Isle-Delfino theme I felt right teleported to the 8-10year old me, sitting in front of the GameCube with shrine-shiny eyes ready to roll. But after landing with Peach on the Island and the game starting to unfold, the trauma kicked back in. You see, when I scrambled through my memory, I did not found any prove of finishing this game. I remember pouring tons of hours into it, only to fight my way through a few levels. I remember certain activities like throwing fruit at the islanders, mud looking like chocolate spread across the island and a level with a huge rollercoaster park. What I do remember for certain is the cocktail of feelings always oscillating in-between fun and frustration.
And this second word starting with F came back already on the airstrip 5 minutes into the game. The camera (non-)movement in Sunshine is one of the worst I have ever seen and this game is a 3D plattformer, so you have to know where you are heading, but this is just not the case. The camera feels like an untrained puppy pulling the leash into the opposite direction of where you want to go. And the frustration doubles with the knowledge, that I am playing this game as a remastered version. A version in which Nintendo is yet again so lazy and only upscales the graphics of the vanilla-version of the game and does not touch a single thing aspect - even re-using the GameCube button layout, lol. This game-design idleness haunted me through my entire short re-visit. It sucks out the fun, nearly completely. The fun of being accompanied by one of the most iconic non-human companions of gaming history: FLUDD. FLUDD is a rechargeable water-based tool, that can be used to spray enemies and goop, hover or launch through the air, and dash to high speeds. It is the main mechanical attraction and it is so cool. Or it should feel like it. But the whacky and inaccurate controls, the movements latency and the stubborn camera throw you off, minute by minute, jump by jump. And this is what weights the heaviest: Due to the inconsistent controls you are unable to grow in skill, to overcome obstacles and to feel real accomplishment. And this feeling of literally „not being in full control“ is bad for nearly every game experience. I was surprised how masochistic the levels felt, especially the platforming sections, where Shadow Mario steals FLUDD and you are left with only your jumping „skills“. And this type of design is not a relict of old times, as these levels recur in Odyssey and throughout the whole Super Mario-Series, but I could not help myself, but to feel robbed and put on trial - feeling like Mario being put on trial, accused of being a graffiti artist, haha. I was only able to finish the first major level (Monte Bianco), collecting 9 of 120 shine sprites. And this left me and collector-heart heart-broken. But yet, I simply could not force myself to collect the small moments of joy and embrace them, as they share the destiny of the shines being spread across the island. I love the sound, the atmosphere and the locations of this title, but for the sake of my mental health, I have to pull the plug. For now. A few days ago, I was sure to add this game to the „abondaned“-section and leave it for good. But I can not help, but to wonder, what comes next, what lies beneath all the pain? Am I the one being to weak? That is why I shelf this game and see if there will come a time, when I am ready to fight my way through. But first I am looking forward to play Galaxy and 64 without the constant whisper of nostalgia in my ear.
What can I say, but: Cats don't safe a game from being boring. The writing was surprisingly sharp, ironic and funny for that kind of game. Yet it did not safe the game from feeling hollow and superficial. Throwing you into the story of moving to a foreign forest village with your dad, I found it impossible to connect with the other characters. The art-style is handsome and cute and reminded me of the puzzle adventure Carto. But seriously, this is a bummer through and through, that I had to jump off.
2023
Marie Kondo once said „keep the things close, that spark joy“ and oh boy, does Chants of Sennaar is a firework of joy.
This game surprised me to the bones. I was expecting a sweet little puzzle adventure, but eventually ended up adoring every aspect of it, falling in love with the fascinating journey of deciphering foreign languages, hunting for the significance of symbols and reliving one of the most iconic biblical stories without being bound to religious ideology.
You play as a name- and faceless human waking up without any clue, where and when. You quickly encounter a person guiding you out of your current misery. At first, we don’t understand this person, but slowly, slowly through care- and thoughtful interaction with our environment, we learn and grow, until the point, where we can even decrypt full sentences.
We mostly fill in the role of a silent observer, interacting with various people needing help or just expressing their feelings. Instead of gunslinging or slaying the great evil on top of the tower, we just make use of our eyes, ears and brain to make sense of the dots, lines and circles, we collect in our notebook. The notebook becomes the key and central feature of this game, as the character uses it, to keep track of all the words we encounter. In it, the character draws little pencil sketches of scenes, actions or things, which gives us the possibility to assign the symbols found to a specific meaning. Very clever and powerful is the possibility to note down associations, even if we are not yet 100% sure.
The feeling of success strongly reminds me of the masterpiece that is Return of the Obra Dinn as the game only certifies the correctness of your translation, if we have found all right words on a page. This leads to an increased awareness of your surroundings, because every conversation, every written symbol we investigate, could hold the solution to a much needed vocab.
The art style reminds me of Manifold Garden or Sable with its mixture of a color- and playful, adventurous atmosphere and sharp black edges. The music is cozy and charming and the sound hinting, which signals very clearly, when you found a solution to a puzzle, is fulfilling and well placed.
There is lot of backtracking in the end and a few moments, where I felt lost or stuck. But you are alone on this journey and the game is brutally strict with the hints and help it gives you on the way. As well they made use of some stealthing, which felt sort of dissonant and could have been striped out, in my opinion.
All in all it embraces the puzzling nature of language, especially the fascination of languages, that are sign-based and does not have their roots in the latin alphabet. This joy of learning semantics is tremendous for me personally, as I love to play with linguistics and words and meanings. And to be send on this treasure hunt with words and vocabulary being the treasure, is unique and satisfying. It ticks all the boxes, what I hope for in a compelling and thoughtful game: A driving mechanic, that needs me as a player and is interwoven with the world. And the ability to grow, within the logic of the game-world, and leave somewhat smarter as I entered. Without any pathos and a clever mechanic, Chants of Senior thoughtfully brings to life the tale of the linguistic aberration at the Tower of Babylon. Do yourself a favor and try this one out, it is marvelous!
This game surprised me to the bones. I was expecting a sweet little puzzle adventure, but eventually ended up adoring every aspect of it, falling in love with the fascinating journey of deciphering foreign languages, hunting for the significance of symbols and reliving one of the most iconic biblical stories without being bound to religious ideology.
You play as a name- and faceless human waking up without any clue, where and when. You quickly encounter a person guiding you out of your current misery. At first, we don’t understand this person, but slowly, slowly through care- and thoughtful interaction with our environment, we learn and grow, until the point, where we can even decrypt full sentences.
We mostly fill in the role of a silent observer, interacting with various people needing help or just expressing their feelings. Instead of gunslinging or slaying the great evil on top of the tower, we just make use of our eyes, ears and brain to make sense of the dots, lines and circles, we collect in our notebook. The notebook becomes the key and central feature of this game, as the character uses it, to keep track of all the words we encounter. In it, the character draws little pencil sketches of scenes, actions or things, which gives us the possibility to assign the symbols found to a specific meaning. Very clever and powerful is the possibility to note down associations, even if we are not yet 100% sure.
The feeling of success strongly reminds me of the masterpiece that is Return of the Obra Dinn as the game only certifies the correctness of your translation, if we have found all right words on a page. This leads to an increased awareness of your surroundings, because every conversation, every written symbol we investigate, could hold the solution to a much needed vocab.
The art style reminds me of Manifold Garden or Sable with its mixture of a color- and playful, adventurous atmosphere and sharp black edges. The music is cozy and charming and the sound hinting, which signals very clearly, when you found a solution to a puzzle, is fulfilling and well placed.
There is lot of backtracking in the end and a few moments, where I felt lost or stuck. But you are alone on this journey and the game is brutally strict with the hints and help it gives you on the way. As well they made use of some stealthing, which felt sort of dissonant and could have been striped out, in my opinion.
All in all it embraces the puzzling nature of language, especially the fascination of languages, that are sign-based and does not have their roots in the latin alphabet. This joy of learning semantics is tremendous for me personally, as I love to play with linguistics and words and meanings. And to be send on this treasure hunt with words and vocabulary being the treasure, is unique and satisfying. It ticks all the boxes, what I hope for in a compelling and thoughtful game: A driving mechanic, that needs me as a player and is interwoven with the world. And the ability to grow, within the logic of the game-world, and leave somewhat smarter as I entered. Without any pathos and a clever mechanic, Chants of Senior thoughtfully brings to life the tale of the linguistic aberration at the Tower of Babylon. Do yourself a favor and try this one out, it is marvelous!
I am a rookie concerning 2D-Super Mario titles, and yet, I was hoping for something like I felt playing through the marvelous Super Mario Odyssey: the sense of wonder. I could sense little sparks of it, but they vanished as fast, as the signature snapping-sound of the system, this game runs on.
You can’t deny that this game oozes of creativity. The new enemies are fun to face, the movement is slick and especially the musical levels make you giggle like a child. But especially in the first third, I could not help but wonder, how fast these levels end. At times they feel hilariously linear and like a chain of tutorial levels. Sometimes I thought, I was playing Before Your Eyes, because every time I blinked, I finished yet another course. That is a strength and a weakness at the same time, as the levels are snackable in size, but feel so easy to beat. And i was honestly confused, by the extended use of „filler“-levels, like the break-levels, the battle arenas or the riddle ones. Normally Nintendo is known for their holistic creativity, that wanders into every last digital corner of their games. In this one, they seemed lazy.
Yet, I finished 99% of the game, collecting all purple coins, wonder seeds and all flags. Don’t get me started on the last level, it is just incomprehensibly difficult. The badges are a cool feature, but not implemented too deeply. The elephant feels powerful - a bit overpowered even - the drill is cool, but I avoided Bubble Mario, as he felt sort of useless. The soundtrack is undeniably mesmerizing, playful and sets the pace for a wonderful adventure.
In the end, I made peace with the game. As I collected all the missing coins and wonder seeds before finishing up the „plot“, I found joy in the simplicity and clarity of design that Wonder prescribed itself too. I realized, my expectations were simply too high and the wish to squeeze the explorative nature of Odyssey into the two-dimensional space was plain and simply unfulfillable. It could have elaborated on it’s tools more, be more brave, cheeky and edgy and more importantly: be more memorable. The wonder flower levels felt like a psychedelic trip, that is funny and adrenaline invoking, once you are in, but fades away, as soon as it ends. What will stay for sure, is the memory of the cringy, cheesy, yet charming talking flowers.
You can’t deny that this game oozes of creativity. The new enemies are fun to face, the movement is slick and especially the musical levels make you giggle like a child. But especially in the first third, I could not help but wonder, how fast these levels end. At times they feel hilariously linear and like a chain of tutorial levels. Sometimes I thought, I was playing Before Your Eyes, because every time I blinked, I finished yet another course. That is a strength and a weakness at the same time, as the levels are snackable in size, but feel so easy to beat. And i was honestly confused, by the extended use of „filler“-levels, like the break-levels, the battle arenas or the riddle ones. Normally Nintendo is known for their holistic creativity, that wanders into every last digital corner of their games. In this one, they seemed lazy.
Yet, I finished 99% of the game, collecting all purple coins, wonder seeds and all flags. Don’t get me started on the last level, it is just incomprehensibly difficult. The badges are a cool feature, but not implemented too deeply. The elephant feels powerful - a bit overpowered even - the drill is cool, but I avoided Bubble Mario, as he felt sort of useless. The soundtrack is undeniably mesmerizing, playful and sets the pace for a wonderful adventure.
In the end, I made peace with the game. As I collected all the missing coins and wonder seeds before finishing up the „plot“, I found joy in the simplicity and clarity of design that Wonder prescribed itself too. I realized, my expectations were simply too high and the wish to squeeze the explorative nature of Odyssey into the two-dimensional space was plain and simply unfulfillable. It could have elaborated on it’s tools more, be more brave, cheeky and edgy and more importantly: be more memorable. The wonder flower levels felt like a psychedelic trip, that is funny and adrenaline invoking, once you are in, but fades away, as soon as it ends. What will stay for sure, is the memory of the cringy, cheesy, yet charming talking flowers.
2021
In Maquette, a promising concept is stretched into eternal, multi-layered stupidity.
In defense of this game, I was not in my most patient shape while playing this game. But yet, it really tests you throughout the full playthrough. The main focus is to solve recursive puzzles, by experimenting with changing the size and the original use of objects, which sounds cool on paper, but was not well executed.
I felt stupid, while playing the game and that is a feeling you should strictly try avoiding to invoke your players. I found myself cursing over and over again about plot, mechanics and movement, because the console controls are laggy and tedious, the puzzle solutions are mostly counter-intuitive and the plot is the pinnacle of head-scratching, lazy storytelling.
The underlying story, told in text fragments and audio snippets, is a pain in the ass. It retells the dysfunctional love story of Kenzie and Michael, which are complete idiots, when it comes to communicating properly and at least try to live in a healthy, respectful and open minded relationship. Their interpersonal inability is just painful to watch and listen to and to be honest, I am tired, bored and annoyed to get served with these copy-and-paste, expired, so-called love stories, that still try to manifest that this is the circle of life and love is equal to pain and ignorance. Either grow out of your ego-mania or go to (couple) therapy!
On the one hand, I feel sorry, to be this rude, but on the other, this game made me feel gut wrenching miserable and repelled me from minute one till the very end.
Why do I still rate this game a 2.5 or even finished it, when it hurt so much? One thing that really stood out and frequently saved me from quitting, is the splendid selection of tunes, that really hit the right note every time. If you have a weakness for kitschy indie, soft-rock music, the tracks will produce a regular dose of goosebumps. They finally made my head nod in emotional response and not in endless desperation.
In defense of this game, I was not in my most patient shape while playing this game. But yet, it really tests you throughout the full playthrough. The main focus is to solve recursive puzzles, by experimenting with changing the size and the original use of objects, which sounds cool on paper, but was not well executed.
I felt stupid, while playing the game and that is a feeling you should strictly try avoiding to invoke your players. I found myself cursing over and over again about plot, mechanics and movement, because the console controls are laggy and tedious, the puzzle solutions are mostly counter-intuitive and the plot is the pinnacle of head-scratching, lazy storytelling.
The underlying story, told in text fragments and audio snippets, is a pain in the ass. It retells the dysfunctional love story of Kenzie and Michael, which are complete idiots, when it comes to communicating properly and at least try to live in a healthy, respectful and open minded relationship. Their interpersonal inability is just painful to watch and listen to and to be honest, I am tired, bored and annoyed to get served with these copy-and-paste, expired, so-called love stories, that still try to manifest that this is the circle of life and love is equal to pain and ignorance. Either grow out of your ego-mania or go to (couple) therapy!
On the one hand, I feel sorry, to be this rude, but on the other, this game made me feel gut wrenching miserable and repelled me from minute one till the very end.
Why do I still rate this game a 2.5 or even finished it, when it hurt so much? One thing that really stood out and frequently saved me from quitting, is the splendid selection of tunes, that really hit the right note every time. If you have a weakness for kitschy indie, soft-rock music, the tracks will produce a regular dose of goosebumps. They finally made my head nod in emotional response and not in endless desperation.
2017
12 years ago, I LOVED this game.
12 years later, as I anxiously revisit this detective-adventure game, I struggle badly to pinpoint anything positive about the game, because story- and gameplaywise, it aged very, very poorly.
You play as Cole Phelps a Marine Corps lieutenant, just returning from the Second World War, so we are in the late 40s, a time-frame very rarely picked. Our goal is to climb up the career ladder at the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) starting at the patrol service. Even if this environment is already suggesting another Hero’s Journey, this premise COULD have led to an interesting story. But it just did not deliver.
L.A. Noire is a power fantasy through and through. You speak the language of violence and war, screaming at suspects, pointing a gun at them or even shooting them in the back as they are running away from you. The developers at Rockstar are not well known for very sensitive or self-reflexive characters or stories, but with L.A. Noire they reached their pinnacle of ignorance. This game is dripping of problematic tropes: It is full of antisemitism, racism, sexism and unconcealed patriotism. And it is not only the „bad“ guys, who embody this way of thinking, it is you and the structure of police, that is based on violence, discrimination and corruption. It hurts to the bone to get to a crime scene over and over again, to see another femicide, or a raped body or a beaten up immigrant. Most of the cases are build like that. Yes, I can imagine the streets of L.A. in the late 40s, were not the safest place for liberal women or people of color, but to use this „historical truth“, to rebuild and reenact this brutal way of interacting is just not my type.
The L.A. we drive through is a vivid place, atmospherical and you can really feel the will to „build something“, but besides the feel of it, the glimpse, you just can’t do anything in this world - besides a bit of sightseeing. You are limited to your duty, driving from crime scene to crime scene, cutting blocks and avoid another car crash, due to the whacky car controls. The intention is clear, that Rockstar did not want to create another open-world gangster-adventure but quite the opposite. And this would be understandable, IF the gameplay of being a cop thriving for justice and recognition would be interesting and thrilling. But it simply isn’t.
The gameplay loop is boring and hilariously linear. You arrive at a crime scene, investigating it, searching for clues or evidence, waiting for the fulfilling melody to signal you the completion of the scene. Sidenote: This melody is the only thing in the game, that led to a warm nostalgic feeling in my playthrough. After that, you interrogate a witness and this part was sold as the main attraction back in the day with ground-breaking facial motion capture, making it easy to immediately recognize a liar. But this gimmick is just dated and the expressions are not that clearly readable, leading to frustration or the feel of a multiple-choice test. Because the other two options besides accusing someone, are to play the „good cop“ or the the „bad cop“. This means either calmly assume someone is lying or openly yelling or threating them, how they will rod in jail, if they are not cooperating. Then you drive to the next location, either searching for clues, repeating the next inhuman interrogation or chasing a suspect either by foot or by car.
The investigation part is the „best“ as you just shut up and try to do your job for a moment, like you should. But this promising mechanic is just torn down, by the incomprehensible need for action, spectacle and heroism, which leads to a dumb, rail-roaded and tedious experience.
In some cases, you will find newspapers, reporting about the psychologist Dr. Harlan Fontaine, a shady man willing to cure all men from their post-war traumata, a story told in little cut-scenes. The same happens to the backstory of Cole, as we experience little flashbacks of his time in war. These parts are the most promising and intriguing, as we get a glimpse of this collective trauma a war can cause. But the result of this trauma is displayed exclusively in beating your wife, becoming a murderer, an alcoholic or being abused by a narcissistic psychologist.
After replaying eleven cases, I have heard and seen enough. A part of me is sad about the failed replay of one of my favorite games. As a teen, I played this with my sister and I remember, that we enjoyed it. But I grew up and the game did not. And that is why the other part of me is grateful to went through this again. To realize that this type of game and especially the content and values it transfers, does not represent my understanding of the world nor a compelling character, I want to embody. And that does not imply, I only want to play as successful, soft and sensitive characters, which try to „make the world a better place“. Take Disco Elysium as a great example of a game that did it just right: A struggling cop, unable to remember his own name, known as a loser, a tramp, an asshole, but someone who is trying, or to be more accurate: a character thrown into a game that gives you freedom of choice and a feel of consequences and not only the outdated repetition of the binary idea of good and evil.
12 years later, as I anxiously revisit this detective-adventure game, I struggle badly to pinpoint anything positive about the game, because story- and gameplaywise, it aged very, very poorly.
You play as Cole Phelps a Marine Corps lieutenant, just returning from the Second World War, so we are in the late 40s, a time-frame very rarely picked. Our goal is to climb up the career ladder at the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) starting at the patrol service. Even if this environment is already suggesting another Hero’s Journey, this premise COULD have led to an interesting story. But it just did not deliver.
L.A. Noire is a power fantasy through and through. You speak the language of violence and war, screaming at suspects, pointing a gun at them or even shooting them in the back as they are running away from you. The developers at Rockstar are not well known for very sensitive or self-reflexive characters or stories, but with L.A. Noire they reached their pinnacle of ignorance. This game is dripping of problematic tropes: It is full of antisemitism, racism, sexism and unconcealed patriotism. And it is not only the „bad“ guys, who embody this way of thinking, it is you and the structure of police, that is based on violence, discrimination and corruption. It hurts to the bone to get to a crime scene over and over again, to see another femicide, or a raped body or a beaten up immigrant. Most of the cases are build like that. Yes, I can imagine the streets of L.A. in the late 40s, were not the safest place for liberal women or people of color, but to use this „historical truth“, to rebuild and reenact this brutal way of interacting is just not my type.
The L.A. we drive through is a vivid place, atmospherical and you can really feel the will to „build something“, but besides the feel of it, the glimpse, you just can’t do anything in this world - besides a bit of sightseeing. You are limited to your duty, driving from crime scene to crime scene, cutting blocks and avoid another car crash, due to the whacky car controls. The intention is clear, that Rockstar did not want to create another open-world gangster-adventure but quite the opposite. And this would be understandable, IF the gameplay of being a cop thriving for justice and recognition would be interesting and thrilling. But it simply isn’t.
The gameplay loop is boring and hilariously linear. You arrive at a crime scene, investigating it, searching for clues or evidence, waiting for the fulfilling melody to signal you the completion of the scene. Sidenote: This melody is the only thing in the game, that led to a warm nostalgic feeling in my playthrough. After that, you interrogate a witness and this part was sold as the main attraction back in the day with ground-breaking facial motion capture, making it easy to immediately recognize a liar. But this gimmick is just dated and the expressions are not that clearly readable, leading to frustration or the feel of a multiple-choice test. Because the other two options besides accusing someone, are to play the „good cop“ or the the „bad cop“. This means either calmly assume someone is lying or openly yelling or threating them, how they will rod in jail, if they are not cooperating. Then you drive to the next location, either searching for clues, repeating the next inhuman interrogation or chasing a suspect either by foot or by car.
The investigation part is the „best“ as you just shut up and try to do your job for a moment, like you should. But this promising mechanic is just torn down, by the incomprehensible need for action, spectacle and heroism, which leads to a dumb, rail-roaded and tedious experience.
In some cases, you will find newspapers, reporting about the psychologist Dr. Harlan Fontaine, a shady man willing to cure all men from their post-war traumata, a story told in little cut-scenes. The same happens to the backstory of Cole, as we experience little flashbacks of his time in war. These parts are the most promising and intriguing, as we get a glimpse of this collective trauma a war can cause. But the result of this trauma is displayed exclusively in beating your wife, becoming a murderer, an alcoholic or being abused by a narcissistic psychologist.
After replaying eleven cases, I have heard and seen enough. A part of me is sad about the failed replay of one of my favorite games. As a teen, I played this with my sister and I remember, that we enjoyed it. But I grew up and the game did not. And that is why the other part of me is grateful to went through this again. To realize that this type of game and especially the content and values it transfers, does not represent my understanding of the world nor a compelling character, I want to embody. And that does not imply, I only want to play as successful, soft and sensitive characters, which try to „make the world a better place“. Take Disco Elysium as a great example of a game that did it just right: A struggling cop, unable to remember his own name, known as a loser, a tramp, an asshole, but someone who is trying, or to be more accurate: a character thrown into a game that gives you freedom of choice and a feel of consequences and not only the outdated repetition of the binary idea of good and evil.