uiruki
I ended up really enjoying this, even though you can feel the budget a lot and the engine runs really poorly on PC. The combat is as fun as it’s ever been and since you can basically fly, exploration is fun in a way that I haven’t experienced in other games.
Weirdly, the game’s best parts are kind of opposed: the exploration and combat really excel in the game’s wide open spaces as you fly and dash around but the plot really gets good in the back end as you end up on ships and high tech installations. There are some well-done Star Trek style ship combat cutscenes where everything plays out on the bridge because there’s no budget to show actual ship combat.
I do hope Tri-Ace get another one of these as they’re definitely on the right path with this series.
Steam Deck report: Steam says this is not compatible but I played a fair amount of it. The problem is performance: there are areas which just hobble the frame rate for seemingly no reason and in some areas the Deck will be in the high teens without actually showing anything interesting. There’s a room in a town full of crystals which maxed out my 3080 to the point where it dropped to 45fps, just with some crystals. Weird stuff.
As a more general PC port point the game tries to pre-compile shaders with varying levels of success as the game will still stutter on quite a lot of effects. Weirdly the downloadable shaders on the Deck don’t seem to stick either which made the first run through in some cutscenes genuinely painful with multiple-second pauses.
Weirdly, the game’s best parts are kind of opposed: the exploration and combat really excel in the game’s wide open spaces as you fly and dash around but the plot really gets good in the back end as you end up on ships and high tech installations. There are some well-done Star Trek style ship combat cutscenes where everything plays out on the bridge because there’s no budget to show actual ship combat.
I do hope Tri-Ace get another one of these as they’re definitely on the right path with this series.
Steam Deck report: Steam says this is not compatible but I played a fair amount of it. The problem is performance: there are areas which just hobble the frame rate for seemingly no reason and in some areas the Deck will be in the high teens without actually showing anything interesting. There’s a room in a town full of crystals which maxed out my 3080 to the point where it dropped to 45fps, just with some crystals. Weird stuff.
As a more general PC port point the game tries to pre-compile shaders with varying levels of success as the game will still stutter on quite a lot of effects. Weirdly the downloadable shaders on the Deck don’t seem to stick either which made the first run through in some cutscenes genuinely painful with multiple-second pauses.
2022
I think this is basically what Falcom would have ended up making by Ys 8 if they had carried on with the side scrolling games after 3.
The game is a bit rough and ready as you’d expect for something a guy put together in his spare time, especially graphically, but the fundamental combat is so much fun it carries you through. The story ended up getting me as well - especially in the extra chapter added for Revision which had me completely gripped in a situation where they could have had me drop completely off.
I can’t recommend this enough; there’s a good sized demo available which shows both low and high level combat and it runs on absolutely anything.
Steam Deck report: faultless, except for some slightly scratchy sound occasionally. Expect 4 hours on battery.
The game is a bit rough and ready as you’d expect for something a guy put together in his spare time, especially graphically, but the fundamental combat is so much fun it carries you through. The story ended up getting me as well - especially in the extra chapter added for Revision which had me completely gripped in a situation where they could have had me drop completely off.
I can’t recommend this enough; there’s a good sized demo available which shows both low and high level combat and it runs on absolutely anything.
Steam Deck report: faultless, except for some slightly scratchy sound occasionally. Expect 4 hours on battery.
2021
Finished episode 3 and this really goes places. After a couple of relatively formulaic retro FPS episodes with a lot of 80s Eastern Bloc flavour and some surprising enemies, the game really leans into its setting for Episode 3 with some really entertaining levels and ideas which give the game such a great sense of place while also being a technically solid shooter.
Well worth playing. But not on Steam Deck - there’s something with the engine which means it tops out at maybe 20fps.
Well worth playing. But not on Steam Deck - there’s something with the engine which means it tops out at maybe 20fps.
2023
Funny one, this. I loved the beta and stress test builds, and then rushed through the whole game in a week or so but then just kind of dropped off. Compared to early Diablo 3 it’s much much better but when I think of the absolute carnage of later D3 it feels a little empty at times. That’s not to say it doesn’t advance the game - I think this is a more successful attempt at the MMO-style overworld in this kind of game than, say, Lost Ark, and the story and especially the (unfortunately few and far between) cinematics are absolutely classic Blizzard.
Season 1 was a complete disaster and I didn’t touch it but I did come back and played through the scenario bits for two characters in Season 2. I’d have gone for a 3 after S1 but I think they’ve righted the boat with this one, especially with higher mob density.
Steam Deck report: after a little bit of a fiddle getting the Bnet launcher running with Lutris, the game itself runs really well. A bit blurry with a low/medium mix and FSR2, but aside from some stutter in towns as it loads player characters it is surprisingly close to 60fps a lot of the time. I even played on a 4K TV and it looked surprisingly good - it scales down really well.
Season 1 was a complete disaster and I didn’t touch it but I did come back and played through the scenario bits for two characters in Season 2. I’d have gone for a 3 after S1 but I think they’ve righted the boat with this one, especially with higher mob density.
Steam Deck report: after a little bit of a fiddle getting the Bnet launcher running with Lutris, the game itself runs really well. A bit blurry with a low/medium mix and FSR2, but aside from some stutter in towns as it loads player characters it is surprisingly close to 60fps a lot of the time. I even played on a 4K TV and it looked surprisingly good - it scales down really well.
I enjoyed this a lot but in the end it didn’t reach the heights of BOTW for me. The end section in particular felt like a step too far and almost balanced with the expectation that you’d be duplicating materials for rupees and upgrades.
The final area ended up bringing the whole thing down for me as a result and the mushy combat didn’t help.
The final area ended up bringing the whole thing down for me as a result and the mushy combat didn’t help.
2023
Excellent stuff. Feels like a mix of Final Fantasy and SaGa as you go through a non-linear quest with free form character advancement, an amazing soundtrack and an extremely fun game system. One of those games where changing your tactics can completely make or break an encounter, and for the most part if you’re stuck you can just go and come back.
Steam Deck report: almost flawless 60fps. Set the game’s frame limiter to 120 as the UE limiter has bad frame pacing. Basically looks as good as it can be with around 3 hours of battery; the only issue is some slightly odd looking text scaling from time to time in Japanese.
Steam Deck report: almost flawless 60fps. Set the game’s frame limiter to 120 as the UE limiter has bad frame pacing. Basically looks as good as it can be with around 3 hours of battery; the only issue is some slightly odd looking text scaling from time to time in Japanese.
2019
I was initially put off this game by a description of it being a rogue like; it isn’t that at all, but it is an FPS with procedurally generated levels and weapons. Just clear about 80 of them and you’re done!
Loads of weapon variety, with the later level 3 weapons being completely ridiculous and a lot of fun. Maybe not the most technically proficient in terms of design, and it made my 3900X processor suffer later on, but it’s so easy to get caught up in the blasting as the enemies and gunfire increase.
Loads of weapon variety, with the later level 3 weapons being completely ridiculous and a lot of fun. Maybe not the most technically proficient in terms of design, and it made my 3900X processor suffer later on, but it’s so easy to get caught up in the blasting as the enemies and gunfire increase.
A much better game than originally suggested by the reveal and demo. The combat is fast and responsive, with loads of jobs and skills to explore - the way the game basically takes you through all the classic FF jobs as you go through levels based on old FF games with a great soundtrack is great FF fan service while also being a great introduction to this style of game. I think it does a better job of being an introductory game than Wo Long does.
The only issue I really have is that the DLC’s balance is completely different to that of the main game. Looking it up, you’re almost expected to basically make yourself invulnerable until you push through a wall of stats, as even the simplest enemies become damage sponges that can flatten you in a couple of hits.
The only issue I really have is that the DLC’s balance is completely different to that of the main game. Looking it up, you’re almost expected to basically make yourself invulnerable until you push through a wall of stats, as even the simplest enemies become damage sponges that can flatten you in a couple of hits.
2023
This really hit the spot. Loads of action, lots of guns and great visuals.
Steam Deck report: I didn’t play much but I can see this running just fine at 40 in lower detail.
Steam Deck report: I didn’t play much but I can see this running just fine at 40 in lower detail.
2022
After enjoying Evil West this felt like a real let down. Short, unsatisfying, and feels unfinished. They seem to have been influenced by Doom Eternal but the game lacks the flow of Doom. A disappointment.
A bit of a disappointment, this one. I really liked the setting and the way that the plot linked in with the classic Three Kingdoms story. I got a kick out of seeing the characters I'd spent hours with since the PS2 and how they twist the story a little bit to fit in the new plot: similar to how I enjoyed Nioh's take on the Warring States period in Japan. It did end a bit quickly though, and I'd have liked to see more of the story represented. Still, this leaves plenty of material for future games.
The game itself feels underbaked in comparison. There are some weird difficulty spikes and the odd level that seems to have missed a balance phase entirely. The fighting is very simple in a way that seems deliberate to reduce mechanical complexity but there's still a lot of numbers in the background that overcomplicate things for little gain in a game that's much shorter than either Nioh title. I'm hopeful for a sequel which either moves things forward or actually goes fully in on the simpler gameplay as it feels like it's falling between two stools at this point.
After finishing the game I went back to Nioh 2 and immediately started having much more fun because you have so much more to do, compared to Wo Long where there are only really two fun buttons: parry and stealth/stun attack. Multiple stances for each weapon, more moves and combos, more interesting magic and usable items and, weirdly, some quality of life stuff that really should have been in this. The way the item menu sorts in Wo Long is never good, and the fact that rest points don't restock arrows etc from your stash (indeed, you can't even do it manually unless you leave the mission) is pointlessly over-complicating things.
On a side note, the KTGL/Katana engine used by Koei Tecmo's games is getting worse and worse as they bolt more modern features to it. In the year 2023, having an engine that uses frame skip when running at less than the frame rate cap to maintain game speed is embarrassing. It did the same thing on Series X when I played it there too, so it's not just the PC port at fault here. Team Ninja clearly have a talented programming team because of how much better their games run than Omega Force or Gust efforts, but even then they're really starting to struggle.
Steam Deck report: Don't bother. I played the demo and had difficulty maintaining 30fps in low detail, never mind the later areas which cause the frame rate to get really unstable even on a larger PC because of the inefficient renderer. It ran even worse on a friend's 6800U handheld.
The game itself feels underbaked in comparison. There are some weird difficulty spikes and the odd level that seems to have missed a balance phase entirely. The fighting is very simple in a way that seems deliberate to reduce mechanical complexity but there's still a lot of numbers in the background that overcomplicate things for little gain in a game that's much shorter than either Nioh title. I'm hopeful for a sequel which either moves things forward or actually goes fully in on the simpler gameplay as it feels like it's falling between two stools at this point.
After finishing the game I went back to Nioh 2 and immediately started having much more fun because you have so much more to do, compared to Wo Long where there are only really two fun buttons: parry and stealth/stun attack. Multiple stances for each weapon, more moves and combos, more interesting magic and usable items and, weirdly, some quality of life stuff that really should have been in this. The way the item menu sorts in Wo Long is never good, and the fact that rest points don't restock arrows etc from your stash (indeed, you can't even do it manually unless you leave the mission) is pointlessly over-complicating things.
On a side note, the KTGL/Katana engine used by Koei Tecmo's games is getting worse and worse as they bolt more modern features to it. In the year 2023, having an engine that uses frame skip when running at less than the frame rate cap to maintain game speed is embarrassing. It did the same thing on Series X when I played it there too, so it's not just the PC port at fault here. Team Ninja clearly have a talented programming team because of how much better their games run than Omega Force or Gust efforts, but even then they're really starting to struggle.
Steam Deck report: Don't bother. I played the demo and had difficulty maintaining 30fps in low detail, never mind the later areas which cause the frame rate to get really unstable even on a larger PC because of the inefficient renderer. It ran even worse on a friend's 6800U handheld.
A decent remake of a good game, if on the older side. I really lliked how they put the story together using other characters from the series as 'actors' like they did in Kenzan, but to a much more effective extent because of the larger cast at that point. As a result, and with even more of the cast being previous game characters, going through the story is a fun mix of enjoying the story for what it is and anticipating who the next guest will be. Combat remains fun but a bit unbalanced due to the large difference between styles and the addition of the warrior cards outside of the dungeons. Overall though the game, while it mostly holds up, does feel like the older title it is with a lot of little pauses and animations that slow things down and make it a little clunky. Slowly picking up things from the floor after hours of Lost Judgment in particular can get quite irritating.
Steam Deck report: I first played this when it came out in 2014 and it has been gratifying to see the promise of the Vita app finally completed, where the whole game can be played on a portable system. The move to Unreal has caused performance to dip though: in crowded areas the load on the CPU will cause the frame rate to dip to the low 40s and there's nothing you can do about it. Otherwise, it's like Lost Judgment in that you can set it to 60 if you're not moving around too fast.
Steam Deck report: I first played this when it came out in 2014 and it has been gratifying to see the promise of the Vita app finally completed, where the whole game can be played on a portable system. The move to Unreal has caused performance to dip though: in crowded areas the load on the CPU will cause the frame rate to dip to the low 40s and there's nothing you can do about it. Otherwise, it's like Lost Judgment in that you can set it to 60 if you're not moving around too fast.
2023
What a lovely surprise this game is. I wasn't sure about it at all given the initial presentation but in truth the game barely puts a foot wrong even though it could have gone badly in so many ways.
The action is extremely fun, especially once you unlock all the basic abililties, the whole game's style is amazing and though the licensed soundtrack's a bit old they do a great job of actually getting you into the rhythm. Both in terms of the fighting system and the amazing visuals and fantastic animation, the game commits to its style completely and with great success. From the aimless, sloppy, stodgy feeling of Ghostwire, this is focused, system-driven action which totally satisfies. My only real complaint, aside from an aspect ratio bug in cutscenes which squashes cut-in still images, is that I wish there was more fighting!
Steam Deck report: Exceptional, close to perfect. It sometimes has a bit of difficulty delivering frames consistently but for the most part you're looking at a solid 60fps in Medium detail with Quality XeSS giving an extremely smooth, bold and vibrant image. Cutscenes are perfect. It even loads quickly from SD card - to the point where I didn't even realise I'd installed it there and assumed it was on the SSD. An excellent example of how smoothly a UE4 game can run and the highest praise is due to the programming team.
The action is extremely fun, especially once you unlock all the basic abililties, the whole game's style is amazing and though the licensed soundtrack's a bit old they do a great job of actually getting you into the rhythm. Both in terms of the fighting system and the amazing visuals and fantastic animation, the game commits to its style completely and with great success. From the aimless, sloppy, stodgy feeling of Ghostwire, this is focused, system-driven action which totally satisfies. My only real complaint, aside from an aspect ratio bug in cutscenes which squashes cut-in still images, is that I wish there was more fighting!
Steam Deck report: Exceptional, close to perfect. It sometimes has a bit of difficulty delivering frames consistently but for the most part you're looking at a solid 60fps in Medium detail with Quality XeSS giving an extremely smooth, bold and vibrant image. Cutscenes are perfect. It even loads quickly from SD card - to the point where I didn't even realise I'd installed it there and assumed it was on the SSD. An excellent example of how smoothly a UE4 game can run and the highest praise is due to the programming team.
2023
One of those remakes which do a great job of being like how you remember something was rather than just being the same thing with a polish-up. Some great visuals and atmosphere (the HDR in particular excels with the moody, misty visual style), excellent sound and it felt so good to get back to that unique Dead Space combat. Combined with the new visuals, using something like the Force Gun ended up feeling like a new level of violence, cutting pieces off enemies is still as satisfying as ever, and the stomp remains a perfectly realised mechanic. My only real complaint, aside from some wobbly performance at times, as the final boss requiring me to go back a bit and grab some plasma cutter ammo as the weapons I'd been favouring in the back half of the game couldn't hit it at all.
Technically it's a bit shaky on PC which was a shame, but since they improved it a couple of times while I was playing through, I can see them getting to a good place in a few months.
Steam Deck report: It went from literally unplayable on release (it'd crash if you brought up the map!) to very playable at 40hz by the end. On the one hand you lose the impact of the visuals (though it does look very good) but on the other you can really crank the sound on headphones. Well worth a go; my main problem in the end was the fact that the mouse input wasn't very good so I couldn't bind good gyro controls for the aiming.
Technically it's a bit shaky on PC which was a shame, but since they improved it a couple of times while I was playing through, I can see them getting to a good place in a few months.
Steam Deck report: It went from literally unplayable on release (it'd crash if you brought up the map!) to very playable at 40hz by the end. On the one hand you lose the impact of the visuals (though it does look very good) but on the other you can really crank the sound on headphones. Well worth a go; my main problem in the end was the fact that the mouse input wasn't very good so I couldn't bind good gyro controls for the aiming.
2022
A really decent old-school action game. The fighting's put together with a real panache considering it's the team's first such game, and it does a good job of having a balance where you're either dying very quickly or completely unstoppable which feels 100% down to your skill level. You get so many tools to take down the enemies it's actually easy to forget some of them sometimes. Don't be fooled by it looking old-fashioned - for me, it was well worth the time and effort.
Steam Deck report: Not only does it look reminiscent of a UE3 game, but it kind of runs like one too - with a bit of FSR I got a very good 60fps out of it. Well worth a go.
Steam Deck report: Not only does it look reminiscent of a UE3 game, but it kind of runs like one too - with a bit of FSR I got a very good 60fps out of it. Well worth a go.