tryagainlater
These mythological segments in Assassin's Creed can be entertaining even if I'm never entirely sure what is actually happening in the story while we're seeing all this mythical stuff. Interacting with the Greek gods is fun and I particularly enjoyed Hades' performance. We get to dive into three realms: Elysium, a paradise filled with lush fields; Underworld, a dreary hellscape of death and brimstone; and Atlantis, a gorgeous high-tech city. I appreciate the variety they went for with the realms even if the Underworld was a bit overbearing. That is, of course, the point of that region but it did make it a bit dull to explore. The large urban environment of Atlantis was a large reminder that the current parkour system isn't really built for navigating a city despite it being the foundation that the series was built upon. My favourite part of Odyssey was making builds and this DLC gives us some progression in the form of enhancing abilities in the skill tree. I wasn't going to use all these unlocks for the build I was working on but it was fun to have new things to work towards. I really liked the ability that made a double of your character to do a quick assassination of an enemy you're aiming at from a distance. It reminded me of ordering your assassins in the Ezio days. Although I was starting to feel some fatigue after all the many hours of Odyssey I've played up to this point, I did enjoy the DLC and a good continuation of the main game.
Similar to the first game, Darksiders 2 can be seen as pretty derivative but it's put together in such an entertaining package that I don't view it as a negative. The first game had puzzles and dungeons seen in Zelda games with God of War combat and a bit of Portal thrown in for good measure. All that is here in the sequel too with a couple of new additions. There's a bit more platforming here which is fairly reminiscent of Prince of Persia which I'm happy to see since that was one of my favourite game series that has been dead for over a decade now. It also added loot and gear of levels and coloured tiers which was before every game had it (like the aforementioned God of War which did this in its 2018 release) so maybe it was ahead of the curve in that regard. At the time, it was probably compared to Diablo and the like and I don't believe it was people liked it as a feature. The loot doesn't really take away anything from the game but it doesn't add anything to it either. It's mostly just there. It can be kind of fun to work on a build but it's not particularly deep.
Everything else works really well. The puzzles and dungeons may not be overly complex but they're fun to work through and feel like you're delving deep into some lost place. The combat is enjoyable and has a skill tree that allows you to focus on direct attacks with Death's scythes or his summoning abilities. The boss fights are pretty good with a mix of ones where you're solving a puzzle to beat them or the active combat. The platforming is fairly simple but still pretty satisfying and mixed in with puzzle solving, navigating these spaces ends up being pretty fun. It's not open world but the areas are fairly big with some secrets to find. It is nice to find a smaller dungeon when you're out exploring although the side quests will point you to pretty much everything there is to see. It's also got the Metroidvania aspects where finding new items allows to to access new areas which will never not be gratifying. There's three DLC episodes to play which are solid although one has a game breaking bug in it which is pretty disappointing for a definitive edition even if they spell it different.
The story is mostly fine. The universe is reasonably interesting. It would have been easy to make Death an absolute edgelord which maybe he is to a degree but he has some guilt and pathos to deal with. I suppose the main thing to talk about with the story is the fact that it is a prequel. I didn't play these games when they came out so I wasn't invested in them but even I picked up how much people hated the direction this game took after the first one ened on such a cliffhanger. Personally, I actually really like that the series wants to give each of the Horsemen their own game before following up on their team-up. I don't even think the ending of the original game is that interesting without us seeing the rest of them first which I guess we have now if Genesis counts as Stryfe's game. Perhaps that is the last decade plus of Marvel films infecting my brain.
Although I may not seem overly thrilled with the game with the way I've described it, I really do rate it highly because all its myriad of influences appeal to me. As a complete experience, it's very well put together and I had a great time doing everything the game had to offer. It really is an interesting series and it's a shame that its continuation has constantly seemed up in the air since this one's original release.
Everything else works really well. The puzzles and dungeons may not be overly complex but they're fun to work through and feel like you're delving deep into some lost place. The combat is enjoyable and has a skill tree that allows you to focus on direct attacks with Death's scythes or his summoning abilities. The boss fights are pretty good with a mix of ones where you're solving a puzzle to beat them or the active combat. The platforming is fairly simple but still pretty satisfying and mixed in with puzzle solving, navigating these spaces ends up being pretty fun. It's not open world but the areas are fairly big with some secrets to find. It is nice to find a smaller dungeon when you're out exploring although the side quests will point you to pretty much everything there is to see. It's also got the Metroidvania aspects where finding new items allows to to access new areas which will never not be gratifying. There's three DLC episodes to play which are solid although one has a game breaking bug in it which is pretty disappointing for a definitive edition even if they spell it different.
The story is mostly fine. The universe is reasonably interesting. It would have been easy to make Death an absolute edgelord which maybe he is to a degree but he has some guilt and pathos to deal with. I suppose the main thing to talk about with the story is the fact that it is a prequel. I didn't play these games when they came out so I wasn't invested in them but even I picked up how much people hated the direction this game took after the first one ened on such a cliffhanger. Personally, I actually really like that the series wants to give each of the Horsemen their own game before following up on their team-up. I don't even think the ending of the original game is that interesting without us seeing the rest of them first which I guess we have now if Genesis counts as Stryfe's game. Perhaps that is the last decade plus of Marvel films infecting my brain.
Although I may not seem overly thrilled with the game with the way I've described it, I really do rate it highly because all its myriad of influences appeal to me. As a complete experience, it's very well put together and I had a great time doing everything the game had to offer. It really is an interesting series and it's a shame that its continuation has constantly seemed up in the air since this one's original release.
Uncharted 3 had the incredibly difficult task of having to follow Uncharted 2. Although it absoultely could not match that high bar, it's still a pretty damn good game. All the strengths of the series are still there. You've got these charming and well realized characters and some amazing setpieces. Perhaps there was some diminishing returns with the setpieces as collapsing structures can begin to feel a bit repetitive. The highlights are really great with the burning manor, the sinking ship, the plane crash and horse/convoy chase. You can really feel some of the story justification for some of these setpieces, mainly the ship section, being very loose though. The story is a fairly typical Uncharted episode but it gives us a lot more Sully and no one can complain about that. It is a very fun third person shooter although I do remember some controversy on the original release with the aiming controls which were patched. The game is gorgeous even to this day with a nice variety of locales. I did remember thinking that the game felt a little short when it first came out but I've begun to appreciate a shorter playtime when revisting these games with 2 and especially 4 being a tad too long. It's a great game and worth playing in this remaster.
2014
I absolutely love stealth games and I feel it's a genre that has not been well served for quite some time. We mostly get action games that have some stealth in it that generally don't give you anything more interesting than hiding in tall grass and whistling people over. For that reason, I'm kinder to modern releases that are pure stealth games; if a game from nine years ago can still be considered modern.
Thief is an OK game that I actually had a pretty good time with. Level design is the most important thing in stealth games and the actual levels are pretty decent. There's nothing as good as what you'd see in Dishonored or Hitman but I certainly enjoyed sneaking my way through them. The tradition of Thief games having at least one creepy level is upheld here and it does a pretty good job at being unsettling. Unfortunately, these levels are split up by a hub overworld. Hubs are hard to do in stealth games because returning to the same place to sneak past the same guards can get very tedious. The City in Thief is just bad and is filled with awkward loading zones. The game would be better without it but maybe they were worried the game would be too short with it gone. Maybe they wanted a hub to ground you in the world and have you meeting characters but the writing is completely awful. I did not care at all about any of the characters or the world. The cutscene at the end of the prologue that kickstarts the plot is incredibly stupid and nonscensical and it doesn't get much better from there.
Mechanically, I think the game is satisfying enough. I do like that you can actually move fairly fast through a level once you've worked out a good route. I'm not sure what the swoop move is actually doing but I did like doing it. The addition of focus which is this game detective vision which also serves as an upgradeable set of abilities does very much feel like a checklist for any modern game but I didn't dislike it. The games is definitely lacking the immersive sim aspects of the original games. Mantling is pretty limited, there's no different types of flooring that generate more or less volume (beyond a few patches of broken glass) and the rope arrows can only be used in select areas.
Im probably rating this game higher than it deserves but how many games like this are there left. I'll take what I can get and I do think it's good. Comparisons to a classic series will always be unflattering though.
Thief is an OK game that I actually had a pretty good time with. Level design is the most important thing in stealth games and the actual levels are pretty decent. There's nothing as good as what you'd see in Dishonored or Hitman but I certainly enjoyed sneaking my way through them. The tradition of Thief games having at least one creepy level is upheld here and it does a pretty good job at being unsettling. Unfortunately, these levels are split up by a hub overworld. Hubs are hard to do in stealth games because returning to the same place to sneak past the same guards can get very tedious. The City in Thief is just bad and is filled with awkward loading zones. The game would be better without it but maybe they were worried the game would be too short with it gone. Maybe they wanted a hub to ground you in the world and have you meeting characters but the writing is completely awful. I did not care at all about any of the characters or the world. The cutscene at the end of the prologue that kickstarts the plot is incredibly stupid and nonscensical and it doesn't get much better from there.
Mechanically, I think the game is satisfying enough. I do like that you can actually move fairly fast through a level once you've worked out a good route. I'm not sure what the swoop move is actually doing but I did like doing it. The addition of focus which is this game detective vision which also serves as an upgradeable set of abilities does very much feel like a checklist for any modern game but I didn't dislike it. The games is definitely lacking the immersive sim aspects of the original games. Mantling is pretty limited, there's no different types of flooring that generate more or less volume (beyond a few patches of broken glass) and the rope arrows can only be used in select areas.
Im probably rating this game higher than it deserves but how many games like this are there left. I'll take what I can get and I do think it's good. Comparisons to a classic series will always be unflattering though.
Sniper Elite V2 is a pretty simple game but it does its main draw pretty well, i.e. the sniping. Getting headshots feels good, especially when you time it to a loud sound. And even better than that when you nail a shot on a moving target. I do wish there were more ways to stay in stealth for the entirety of missions but some of the more active sniping battles can also be fun. The campaign is fairly short with a co-op mode and a handful of DLC levels included in this remaster which are mostly decent. It's nothing special but it did convince me to check out some more games from the series.
Uncharted was one of my favourite series while it was running but all things should come to an end. How defintive an end Uncharted 4 is can be up for debate considering they had a large enough DLC that was basically a full length game a year afterwards and Sony may want to reboot the series at some point considering its popularity. Still, it is an end to Nathan Drake's journey and I think they did a pretty damn good job at that.
The game plays fantastically. It has some of the finest third person shooting in my opinion. The series has always been good (with maybe the exception of the first game) at giving you plenty of options to move around levels while you're fighting which the climbing really enhances and that is on full display here. The flow between melee combat and shooting feels really great. You do have the ability to stealth entire areas which is a nice option although I am left dissatisifed with stealth mechanics in modern games starting and ending with hiding in tall grass. The platforming is fun but the lack of challenge does make the the lengthier climbing segments feel a bit tiresome. The new rope and piton do make these segments feel a little more engaging. Puzzles are still way too easy though. The set pieces often end up being the star of the show with Uncharted and this one is no slouch in that regard. 4 doesn't have anything as inherently dramatic as the capsizing ship or crashing plane from 3 but their still very exciting. The convoy chase switching seemlessly to driving a jeep to being dragged on a rope by a truck to jumping from vehicle to vehicle while still feeling very interactive is something only Naughty Dog seem to be able to do. Their visuals and animations are some of the best in the business. As far as remasters go, this one doesn't really add much to it but playing in 60fps is nice I guess.
The story is good and serves as an appropriate end to Nathan Drake's adventures. The Sam character does feel a little forced but Nate's relationship with his wife and his relationship to his treasure hunting life is explored really well. The historical figure whose path they're chasing is the pirate Henry Avery and his mythical pirate haven of Libertalia. They're mirror Avery's story as presented in the game quite well with Nate's journey. It feels they carried over some of the lessons they learned writing The Last of Us without being as depressing as that game.
All in all, this is a fantastic game and worth playing if you're into third person shooters. I wouldn't want a series I like so much to be run into the ground but replaying this with the remaster did make me think I could go for another one of these games right now. At least The Lost Legacy that followed was also great.
The game plays fantastically. It has some of the finest third person shooting in my opinion. The series has always been good (with maybe the exception of the first game) at giving you plenty of options to move around levels while you're fighting which the climbing really enhances and that is on full display here. The flow between melee combat and shooting feels really great. You do have the ability to stealth entire areas which is a nice option although I am left dissatisifed with stealth mechanics in modern games starting and ending with hiding in tall grass. The platforming is fun but the lack of challenge does make the the lengthier climbing segments feel a bit tiresome. The new rope and piton do make these segments feel a little more engaging. Puzzles are still way too easy though. The set pieces often end up being the star of the show with Uncharted and this one is no slouch in that regard. 4 doesn't have anything as inherently dramatic as the capsizing ship or crashing plane from 3 but their still very exciting. The convoy chase switching seemlessly to driving a jeep to being dragged on a rope by a truck to jumping from vehicle to vehicle while still feeling very interactive is something only Naughty Dog seem to be able to do. Their visuals and animations are some of the best in the business. As far as remasters go, this one doesn't really add much to it but playing in 60fps is nice I guess.
The story is good and serves as an appropriate end to Nathan Drake's adventures. The Sam character does feel a little forced but Nate's relationship with his wife and his relationship to his treasure hunting life is explored really well. The historical figure whose path they're chasing is the pirate Henry Avery and his mythical pirate haven of Libertalia. They're mirror Avery's story as presented in the game quite well with Nate's journey. It feels they carried over some of the lessons they learned writing The Last of Us without being as depressing as that game.
All in all, this is a fantastic game and worth playing if you're into third person shooters. I wouldn't want a series I like so much to be run into the ground but replaying this with the remaster did make me think I could go for another one of these games right now. At least The Lost Legacy that followed was also great.
It was quite a surprise to get a game this extensive and good just a year after Uncharted 4. It didn't launch at full price but it really is a full game. In terms of length, it's longer than the first Uncharted game. The strengths of Uncharted 4 are all there. It's got great gunplay with plenty of traversal options, good characters and storytelling, fantastic visuals and jaw-dropping set pieces. The Lost Legacy does offer a pretty big 'wide-linear' area that gives you options on which order to tackle the main objective and even presenting you with a side quest which is new for this series. I really enjoyed exploring this area. Chloe is a very entertaining character and they do a great job at showing her growth in this game over her more selfish persona in Uncharted 2. She still shows selfish tendencies in this game but she's clearly growing as a person. Nadine is less interesting but the budding friendship between the two is nice. Getting to the fabled lost city so early did feel a little ungratifying to me since it feels like something you always have to really work towards but I know some prople do appreciate the tighter experience Lost Legacy offers compared to Uncharted 4. That final set peice though really is something. It feels like a celebration of Uncharted giving a mix of the convoy chase from most of the games with the jeep chase from 4 and the train segment of 2. If this is last thing to happen in Uncharted and it will be for the foreseeable future if Sony ever reboot the series, it is a hell of note to go out on. It's absolutely worth playing for yourself.
1999
Not playing this game was a mark of great shame for me. I mean, shame is overly dramatic because we're just taling about video games here but I really did want to finish this game for many years. I love stealth games and often complain how there aren't that many good options for the genre these days so not having played the cornerstone of the genre that is Thief was something I had to rectify. I had started it many times but usually gave up in the second level once the zombies showed up. I always suspoected that Thief 2 would be the game I would enjoy much more (which as of writing this, I have yet to play) but I didn't want to touch the sequel until I got through Thief Gold. I was very determined to get through it this time.
Having finally finished it, I can now say that the game is good. The inspiration for future stealth games is clearly evident and there's a lot of fun mechanics that makes sneaking through these levels satisfying. I'm not totally in love with it though because I didn't enjoy the more supernatural levels. Sneaking past zombies and monsters just didn't interest me that much and I feel it takes up the majority of the game. The good levels are absolute bangers though. Song of the Caverns (opera house level) was my favourite. The level design is wonderful with interesting secret routes. Assassins is also great which starts as a tailing mission leading you to breaking into a house. Undercover was also fun allowing you to infiltrate in a temple with a disguise. I like the prison section of Break from Cragsleft Prison although it is marred by a boring section at the beginning and zombies. Of the supernatural levels, I actually did quite enjoy the Down in the Bonehoard level where you descend into a tomb. The Sword where you infiltrate a crazy manor does seem like the fan favourite but I didn't like it that much despite admiring the design. I've seen people say that it requires more than one playthrough to appreciate so that may be the problem. The main thing I was impressed by with all the levels is that they all managed to feel like real spaces. Even when they were fantastical and weird, the buildings still looked to serve their purpose and you could see where people worked, slept and ate.
I'm glad to have finally gotten through this game and it wasn't the struggle I was sort of always expecting it to be. Sure, there were a number of levels I did not like but the levels I did like really have left an impression on me. I'm excited to move onto Thief 2.
Having finally finished it, I can now say that the game is good. The inspiration for future stealth games is clearly evident and there's a lot of fun mechanics that makes sneaking through these levels satisfying. I'm not totally in love with it though because I didn't enjoy the more supernatural levels. Sneaking past zombies and monsters just didn't interest me that much and I feel it takes up the majority of the game. The good levels are absolute bangers though. Song of the Caverns (opera house level) was my favourite. The level design is wonderful with interesting secret routes. Assassins is also great which starts as a tailing mission leading you to breaking into a house. Undercover was also fun allowing you to infiltrate in a temple with a disguise. I like the prison section of Break from Cragsleft Prison although it is marred by a boring section at the beginning and zombies. Of the supernatural levels, I actually did quite enjoy the Down in the Bonehoard level where you descend into a tomb. The Sword where you infiltrate a crazy manor does seem like the fan favourite but I didn't like it that much despite admiring the design. I've seen people say that it requires more than one playthrough to appreciate so that may be the problem. The main thing I was impressed by with all the levels is that they all managed to feel like real spaces. Even when they were fantastical and weird, the buildings still looked to serve their purpose and you could see where people worked, slept and ate.
I'm glad to have finally gotten through this game and it wasn't the struggle I was sort of always expecting it to be. Sure, there were a number of levels I did not like but the levels I did like really have left an impression on me. I'm excited to move onto Thief 2.
I haven't been the biggest fan of these new Tomb Raider games (or the original series if I'm being honest) but Rise of the Tomb Raider was pretty good. I'm not sure what they were going for in Shadow but it did not do much for me. The things I had heard about this game did make me think I was going to like it more than I did. People had said there was less of a focus on combat and more on working your way through. Although there were a few good tombs, I didn't find them that interesting. I didn't mind there being less combat but it's really odd how there is so much crafting, upgrades and skills dedicated to combat that you barely get to use. The game does give you some decent stealth options but none of the encounters are designed to provide a satisfying stealth experience. Even on the highest difficulty, it's probably just easier to shoot everyone in the head as they run towards you. This game has some hubs with NPCs and side quests which I don't think added anything to game with the largest hub just being a pain to navigate. I did not care about anything happening in the story or any of the characters even Jonah being fairly likeable in the past games. It's such a weird game with a lot of questionable descisions made by the developers.
Tamriel is an interesting place and I always want to explore a new area (or revisit an old one) in that world as well as the culture and customs of the people who live there. This has always been the exciting thing a new Elder Scrolls game even if I fully admit that I didn't like IV or V that much. An MMO with a regular release of new expansions is a good means of exploring this instead of waiting many years between mainline entries even if these DLCs will never be as deep as a full game. In this regard, I think Orsinium is quite successful. The Orsimer were never an Elder Scrolls race I was particularly interested in but I've come out the other side of this expansion feeling differently. I might play as an Orc in VI if it ever comes out. The story is pretty good even if the basic plot is fairly familiar with stuff you've seen in the base game. Kingmaking and an evil cult. There's so many evil cults in Elder Scrolls Online. Still, I enjoyed playing through and was interested in the characters. The new zone, Wrothgar is fun to explore and I liked the city of Orsinium itself. The base game cities could be pretty boring so the DLCs have stepped up in that regard. There isn't anything new with the gameplay but I did enjoy the solo Maelstrom Arena. It's nice to have solo content that's actually pretty challenging and it gave you new weapons that are still very useful for builds 8 years later. Definitely worth playing through if you enjoy the main game.
Styx: Master of Shadows is a decent stealth game and I'd rather be playing a decent stealth game than a decent game of any other genre. I did enjoy the sequel a bit more but I definitely did enjoy this one. I remember playing this about a year after it came out and dropped it pretty early and could not remember why. I had been meaning to go back to after liking the sequel and playing it again, I remember why I dropped it. The load times are atrocious. This has been alleviated a bit playing on the PS5's SSD but they're still not great and they were awful on the PS4. This is particularly annoying because I reload a lot in stealth games. It wasn't overly detrimental playing on PS5 but it was a stark reminder of my initial playthrough.
The level design is good, sometimes great, with a number of routes that makes finding optimal ways to stay in stealth feel satisfying. I had fun going for the speedrun insignia on the second playthrough of the levels having learnt the layout. The problem with the levels though is the amount of backtracking. You'll see some of the levels a couple of times. I would have taken a shorter game rather than that. I suppose different enemy placements can change a level but it didn't feel that significant. Even some of the collectibles were in the same place. I liked the traversal options even if the jumping can feel pretty inaccurate at times. The invisibility and cloning mechanics aren't complex but they're pretty fun to use at the right moments. Even with its problems, I do like this game and I would play a third one since they already improved with the second game.
The level design is good, sometimes great, with a number of routes that makes finding optimal ways to stay in stealth feel satisfying. I had fun going for the speedrun insignia on the second playthrough of the levels having learnt the layout. The problem with the levels though is the amount of backtracking. You'll see some of the levels a couple of times. I would have taken a shorter game rather than that. I suppose different enemy placements can change a level but it didn't feel that significant. Even some of the collectibles were in the same place. I liked the traversal options even if the jumping can feel pretty inaccurate at times. The invisibility and cloning mechanics aren't complex but they're pretty fun to use at the right moments. Even with its problems, I do like this game and I would play a third one since they already improved with the second game.
2014
It was hard to not be a little excited for this game after watching the gameplay demo at Ubisoft's conference in 2012. It really looked like something special but we all should have seen through the deception. The way NPCs reacted in that demo was never going to work outside of this incredibly scripted scenario. Still, playing this game many years later, I think it's not bad. It even shines in some cases. It is very much a Ubisoft open world game which were already fairly routine back in 2014. I do enjoy these types of games although with regards to Ubisoft's franchises specifically, I favour Assassin's Creed because I enjoy the settings more than what Watch Dogs or Far Cry have to offer.
Hacking is Watch Dogs main theme and it's heavily simplified. Sometimes it only comes down to pressing the hack button when you're prompted to. I do understand the compulsion to make this easy because you'd never use the hacking in more frantic situations like shootouts and car chases if it was difficult to access. It does end up just being uninteresting when the most complex thing you do are some easy Pipe Mania puzzles. Combining the hacking with stealth can be very fun though. Completing an objective without being seen by using distractions or creating routes using the hacking can be very gratifying. Sometimes you don't even have to enter an area to get the job done by bouncing between cameras to find a hacking point. Surveying guards using the cameras is also more interesting to me here than using a drone (or eagle) that sees everything from an aerial view.
The game is filled with activities that are fairly typical of the genre. Although you're not actually climbing towers to unlock the map, there are two layers of "towers" that you need to do get icons to appear on the map. The first one, which allows you full hacking access to an area, where you have to reach a hacking point surrounded by guards was actually pretty enjoyable because I liked the stealth. The second layer which puts the icons on the map were navigation puzzles which ranged from decent to tedious. There's gang areas where you have to take out the leader, convoy targets, perspective puzzles and a host of collectibles. There's some story attached to the collectibles but they all lead to uninteresting endings. There's nothing amazing in there but there's some fun to be had unless you are completely bored by the same old open world activities. There's also these privacy invasions which I thought were weird. You hack in and watch some random person's private life. They were probably going for some fun or interesting vignettes but it just made Aiden come off like an absolute creeper. Speaking of Aiden, he is as dull as dishwater in what is already a fairly boring story. If it wasn't for his iconic hat, I don't think I could describe a single feature about his character model. I did have a good time with this game but it's certainly not going to sell anyone who is sick of Ubisoft's formula.
Hacking is Watch Dogs main theme and it's heavily simplified. Sometimes it only comes down to pressing the hack button when you're prompted to. I do understand the compulsion to make this easy because you'd never use the hacking in more frantic situations like shootouts and car chases if it was difficult to access. It does end up just being uninteresting when the most complex thing you do are some easy Pipe Mania puzzles. Combining the hacking with stealth can be very fun though. Completing an objective without being seen by using distractions or creating routes using the hacking can be very gratifying. Sometimes you don't even have to enter an area to get the job done by bouncing between cameras to find a hacking point. Surveying guards using the cameras is also more interesting to me here than using a drone (or eagle) that sees everything from an aerial view.
The game is filled with activities that are fairly typical of the genre. Although you're not actually climbing towers to unlock the map, there are two layers of "towers" that you need to do get icons to appear on the map. The first one, which allows you full hacking access to an area, where you have to reach a hacking point surrounded by guards was actually pretty enjoyable because I liked the stealth. The second layer which puts the icons on the map were navigation puzzles which ranged from decent to tedious. There's gang areas where you have to take out the leader, convoy targets, perspective puzzles and a host of collectibles. There's some story attached to the collectibles but they all lead to uninteresting endings. There's nothing amazing in there but there's some fun to be had unless you are completely bored by the same old open world activities. There's also these privacy invasions which I thought were weird. You hack in and watch some random person's private life. They were probably going for some fun or interesting vignettes but it just made Aiden come off like an absolute creeper. Speaking of Aiden, he is as dull as dishwater in what is already a fairly boring story. If it wasn't for his iconic hat, I don't think I could describe a single feature about his character model. I did have a good time with this game but it's certainly not going to sell anyone who is sick of Ubisoft's formula.
After playing Breath of the Wild, I thought that a sequel could be the greatest game ever made. I didn't love BOTW as much as the rest of the world but it had elements that could be greatly improved upon in a sequel. Unfortunately, I don't think Tears of the Kingdom is the amazing sequel I wanted. It certainly improves upon the previous games in certain ways but I probably enjoyed it less than BOTW.
The game is still great though. There is an amazing display of creativity that very few developers are capable of. The four new abilities that you get access to early in the game are fantastic and feel they make BOTW's abilities a bit boring in comparison. There's Ultrahand which allows you to manipulate and attach objects. This is the main one people are talking about. It certainly is imaginative and it can be very entertaining to create some horrible monstrosity that still manages to perform the task you wanted it to. It can be tedious to use and I did often just find myself making the same few things which is probably more my fault than anything. Fuse is another imaginative ability that allows you to combine almost any object in the game to your sword, shield or arrows. There's a lot to explore with Fuse although similarly to Ultrahand, I mostly made the same combinations. Recall allows you to rewind the motion of an object. It has an infinite range as long as something is visible on screen. It was one I often forgot to use but it certainly is a lot of fun and made for some decent puzzles. Lastly, there's Ascend which allows you to jump upwards and move through ceilings. In concept, this is probably the least interesting but it's the one I probably liked the most. It's the ability I wish I had when I was playing other games. Despite there being a height limit for how high Link will jump, there is no limit for the actual ascension through objects. You will literally never stop till you reach a surface. This is something that I feel would make a game crumble at the seams. It's incredibly impressive how few bugs this game has (I honestly can't remember experiencing any) and Ascend feels like the true test of that to me.
Exploration was the heart and soul of Breath of the Wild. Tear of the Kingdom uses the same map which takes a lot of the intrigue out of the world. There are two major things added to the map however. There are the sky islands which I found pretty disappointing. The first one which is the tutorial area is fantastic but the rest are pretty small and similar to eachother. You see everything they have to offer pretty quickly. The other major addition to the map are the Depths which I just find boring. It's a massive area but there's not much there and I don't enjoy navigating it. There is a host of new shrines to discover but the shrines are probably my main problem with the new Zelda games. All the exploration feels tuned towards them and they're the main source of puzzles. I really don't like that shrines are these seperate areas from the rest of the game. It takes you out of the world and it would be much better if the puzzles were integrated into the map better. I do prefer the aesthetic of the Zonai shrines over the Shiekah's at least. The caves are also a new addition which I did enjoy until it's either really small or there's just another shrine in there. Sometimes you wander into a cave and there's a genuinely new puzzle in there and those moments are magical. Those moments are few and far between though.
The dungeons are quite an improvement over BOTW. The Divine Beasts were pretty lame with the exception of the elephant one and the bosses were all the same. TOTK's dungeons are still far from the quality of some the best from the series but they're not bad. They do share the same formula of activating five triggers to reveal the boss but they're visually distinct and the bosses are unique. The boss fights are actually pretty great. The build up to the dungeons are pretty good too. They involve some navigation and puzzles that are not tied to shrines. These made me appreciate Skyward Sword more since that entire game is build ups to dungeons and then the dungeons themselves which were amazing in that game. The story is fairly good punctuated with decent setpieces although I was bothered by a lot of characters forgetting Link between games which is more a problem for the side quests.
I do not begrudge Nintendo shaking up the series' formula with Breath of the Wild even if I strongly prefer the older games. It clearly was the right choice considering how many people absolutely adore the new games. While Tears of the Kingdom improves on the previous game in significant ways, the reuse of the map diminishes its main strength, i.e. the exploration. It is not one of the greatest games ever made as I was hoping an improvement of Breath of the Wild could have been but a lot of people seem to think it is. It's clearly an amazing achievement regardless of how I feel about it.
The game is still great though. There is an amazing display of creativity that very few developers are capable of. The four new abilities that you get access to early in the game are fantastic and feel they make BOTW's abilities a bit boring in comparison. There's Ultrahand which allows you to manipulate and attach objects. This is the main one people are talking about. It certainly is imaginative and it can be very entertaining to create some horrible monstrosity that still manages to perform the task you wanted it to. It can be tedious to use and I did often just find myself making the same few things which is probably more my fault than anything. Fuse is another imaginative ability that allows you to combine almost any object in the game to your sword, shield or arrows. There's a lot to explore with Fuse although similarly to Ultrahand, I mostly made the same combinations. Recall allows you to rewind the motion of an object. It has an infinite range as long as something is visible on screen. It was one I often forgot to use but it certainly is a lot of fun and made for some decent puzzles. Lastly, there's Ascend which allows you to jump upwards and move through ceilings. In concept, this is probably the least interesting but it's the one I probably liked the most. It's the ability I wish I had when I was playing other games. Despite there being a height limit for how high Link will jump, there is no limit for the actual ascension through objects. You will literally never stop till you reach a surface. This is something that I feel would make a game crumble at the seams. It's incredibly impressive how few bugs this game has (I honestly can't remember experiencing any) and Ascend feels like the true test of that to me.
Exploration was the heart and soul of Breath of the Wild. Tear of the Kingdom uses the same map which takes a lot of the intrigue out of the world. There are two major things added to the map however. There are the sky islands which I found pretty disappointing. The first one which is the tutorial area is fantastic but the rest are pretty small and similar to eachother. You see everything they have to offer pretty quickly. The other major addition to the map are the Depths which I just find boring. It's a massive area but there's not much there and I don't enjoy navigating it. There is a host of new shrines to discover but the shrines are probably my main problem with the new Zelda games. All the exploration feels tuned towards them and they're the main source of puzzles. I really don't like that shrines are these seperate areas from the rest of the game. It takes you out of the world and it would be much better if the puzzles were integrated into the map better. I do prefer the aesthetic of the Zonai shrines over the Shiekah's at least. The caves are also a new addition which I did enjoy until it's either really small or there's just another shrine in there. Sometimes you wander into a cave and there's a genuinely new puzzle in there and those moments are magical. Those moments are few and far between though.
The dungeons are quite an improvement over BOTW. The Divine Beasts were pretty lame with the exception of the elephant one and the bosses were all the same. TOTK's dungeons are still far from the quality of some the best from the series but they're not bad. They do share the same formula of activating five triggers to reveal the boss but they're visually distinct and the bosses are unique. The boss fights are actually pretty great. The build up to the dungeons are pretty good too. They involve some navigation and puzzles that are not tied to shrines. These made me appreciate Skyward Sword more since that entire game is build ups to dungeons and then the dungeons themselves which were amazing in that game. The story is fairly good punctuated with decent setpieces although I was bothered by a lot of characters forgetting Link between games which is more a problem for the side quests.
I do not begrudge Nintendo shaking up the series' formula with Breath of the Wild even if I strongly prefer the older games. It clearly was the right choice considering how many people absolutely adore the new games. While Tears of the Kingdom improves on the previous game in significant ways, the reuse of the map diminishes its main strength, i.e. the exploration. It is not one of the greatest games ever made as I was hoping an improvement of Breath of the Wild could have been but a lot of people seem to think it is. It's clearly an amazing achievement regardless of how I feel about it.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a cute Metroidvania with nice music. It doesn't do anything noteworthy for the genre but being able to paint anywhere on the screen is pretty novel. I can see some people liking the artstyle but I found the white and extreme colours a bit hard on the eyes. The abilities you unlock throughout the game are not the most exciting but I did enjoy swimming in the paint. The puzzles are fairly simple but still satisfying. The story is a fairly standard "rid of the world of corruption" plot but I did like the charming characters. It's a decent game.
Ghost of Tsushima can feel a bit generic if you'vve played an open world game in the past ten years or so but it's pretty good. I'll admit I didn't like it as much replaying it recently than I did when I played it a few years ago. Sucker Punch are very technically proficient that makes it worth playing through.
Set in 1274 during the Mongol Invasions of Japan; I'll always appreciate a historical settings in video games. You'll find yourself fighting a lot of Mongols throughout the game so it's a good thing the combat is so good. Just swinging the sword feels great and using the ghost weapons like kukuri or sticky bombs during combat works well. The bow also feels great to use. On the other hand, the stealth is not very good and I would much rather play it as a stealth game. There's a few stealth options but the level design is not there to support it. Most of the areas just give you some wires to walk along or tall grass to hide in. The interiors to infiltrate are even worse as there is only a handful of different building designs. The island of Tsushima itself is beautiful and they do a decent job of giving some environmental variety throughout. That said, I just didn't enjoy exploring it that much. It's a very checklist game and I do enjoy games like that but it did make me ignore the world around me and just run from icon to icon. I appreciate the attempt to not use a minimap with GPS markers allowing you to follow wind or animals but I mostly just kept spamming wind until I knew what direction to go.
This is not to say that you're not rewarded well for following the various icons. The progression system in the game is fantastic. PLaying on the highest difficulty, I valued every single upgrade I could get. There are a lot of cosmetics to unlock but everything else gave you more health, more resolves, more technique points, more reputation, new abilities, new charms, new armour and a host of resources to upgrade gear and weapons. It's a very satisfying loop. Even after having a set of armour and charms I was sticking with, I still wanted any other upgrade I could get. The activities to get these upgrades are fairly standard for the genre. There's camps to clear, climbing challenges and just following icons. I did quite enjoy the bamboo slicing which is a button memorisation minigame. You'll probably get sick of most of them after a while but they're mostly fine. There's a series of side quests that are written to be interesting but they all follow a pretty rigid structure.
The story is decent although you'll never want to hear the word "Mongols" ever again. The writing is perhaps overly dreary. It's not like I expect an upbeat tale of people suffering an invasion but it really got overbearing at times when we have a tale dealing with Alzheimer's. Jin falling away from his noble Samurai code and embracing his Ghost persona didn't entirely work for me which makes up the thrust of his character arc. The Iki Island DLC included in this Director's Cut does offer a bit more insight to Jin's relationship with his parents and has to reckon with his father's past deeds. I probably enjoyed the writing more there. The DLC also continues the best part of the game, i.e. the progression with new armours and techniques to unlock. You even get a charm that extends your chain attack with a kurai throw which I loved. Everything carries back into the main game which is always my favourite type of DLC.
It's a good game if lacking in a number of areas. It doesn't do anything particularly interesting in the well worn open world mold. A fun progression system and great combat does go a long way though. As much as I said I didn't enjoy it as much on my replay, I am still interested in a sequel. Hopefully Sucker Punch will improve the stealth which could really elevate it to greatness in my eyes.
Set in 1274 during the Mongol Invasions of Japan; I'll always appreciate a historical settings in video games. You'll find yourself fighting a lot of Mongols throughout the game so it's a good thing the combat is so good. Just swinging the sword feels great and using the ghost weapons like kukuri or sticky bombs during combat works well. The bow also feels great to use. On the other hand, the stealth is not very good and I would much rather play it as a stealth game. There's a few stealth options but the level design is not there to support it. Most of the areas just give you some wires to walk along or tall grass to hide in. The interiors to infiltrate are even worse as there is only a handful of different building designs. The island of Tsushima itself is beautiful and they do a decent job of giving some environmental variety throughout. That said, I just didn't enjoy exploring it that much. It's a very checklist game and I do enjoy games like that but it did make me ignore the world around me and just run from icon to icon. I appreciate the attempt to not use a minimap with GPS markers allowing you to follow wind or animals but I mostly just kept spamming wind until I knew what direction to go.
This is not to say that you're not rewarded well for following the various icons. The progression system in the game is fantastic. PLaying on the highest difficulty, I valued every single upgrade I could get. There are a lot of cosmetics to unlock but everything else gave you more health, more resolves, more technique points, more reputation, new abilities, new charms, new armour and a host of resources to upgrade gear and weapons. It's a very satisfying loop. Even after having a set of armour and charms I was sticking with, I still wanted any other upgrade I could get. The activities to get these upgrades are fairly standard for the genre. There's camps to clear, climbing challenges and just following icons. I did quite enjoy the bamboo slicing which is a button memorisation minigame. You'll probably get sick of most of them after a while but they're mostly fine. There's a series of side quests that are written to be interesting but they all follow a pretty rigid structure.
The story is decent although you'll never want to hear the word "Mongols" ever again. The writing is perhaps overly dreary. It's not like I expect an upbeat tale of people suffering an invasion but it really got overbearing at times when we have a tale dealing with Alzheimer's. Jin falling away from his noble Samurai code and embracing his Ghost persona didn't entirely work for me which makes up the thrust of his character arc. The Iki Island DLC included in this Director's Cut does offer a bit more insight to Jin's relationship with his parents and has to reckon with his father's past deeds. I probably enjoyed the writing more there. The DLC also continues the best part of the game, i.e. the progression with new armours and techniques to unlock. You even get a charm that extends your chain attack with a kurai throw which I loved. Everything carries back into the main game which is always my favourite type of DLC.
It's a good game if lacking in a number of areas. It doesn't do anything particularly interesting in the well worn open world mold. A fun progression system and great combat does go a long way though. As much as I said I didn't enjoy it as much on my replay, I am still interested in a sequel. Hopefully Sucker Punch will improve the stealth which could really elevate it to greatness in my eyes.