Recent reviews by PaperThick

I'm having a hard time understanding what's up with what feels like half the gamers out there these days. Do people seriously want every game they buy to be an everlasting universe where they can live out their virtual wet dreams without ever running out of ♥♥♥♥ to do? Should developers even cater to those who practically set up camp in their games only to start whining a week later (after clocking 100 hours) that it isn't stimulating enough? I'm having a lot of fun with Diablo 4 and expect it'll remain that way for longer than it takes for my attention to get pulled to the next thing. It's a very well crafted world with satisfying combat and character progression. One thing that did concern me was the always online and shared world design (I don't play games to feel socially connected these days) but I worked that up to be a bigger deal in my head than it actually seems to be so far. Given the gigantic map and limited nature of how many people are in "your" world you rarely encounter other players. I've probably only knowingly seen 3 so far, and as such they haven't been an impediment to my immersion or progress. Perhaps this changes dramatically once you venture out of Fractured Peaks and if so I'll come back to edit this and possibly stop playing - but I doubt it.

Hogwarts Legacy is a great game overall, so I would like to instead discuss its PC performance in this review because so many people seem to be complaining about it. To give a frame of reference, my machine is almost 10 years old except for the graphics card and gaming drives. It features a 5930k processor, 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM, and an RTX 3080 12GB video card.

The game runs smoothly with a locked framerate of 60fps at ultra settings and 4K resolution with DLSS enabled at quality. However, in certain areas, such as Hogsmeade, the GPU usage and framerate drop, despite the CPU having extra power. To address this, I experimented with various settings and found that adding r.AsyncCompute=1 and r.HZBOcclusion=2 to the gameusersettings.ini file made the biggest improvement.

Additionally, ensuring the CPU cache speed was prioritized when overclocking and not sacrificed simply to attain the highest possible clock speed also had a noticable impact. My testing is not exhaustive, but the initial results are positive. These findings suggest that the specific type of performance issues noted here are more complex than just a matter of specifications and will require optimization patches or brute force to overcome.

All that said, I'm off to continue happily chooching around in the wonderful Wizarding World that Avalanche has done a superb job of bringing to life.

Since I'm only 7 hours in and still uncovering mechanisms obviously this is simply an immediate impression (from someone who's first exposure to Midnight Suns came a few hours before launch.) The things that drew my attention to it were the card based battle system, the overall flow/bombastic feel of combat which the superhero IP provides, and Firaxis' overall pedigree.

Elephant in the room: XCOM. Its very existence is probably a contributor as to why this game is currently sitting at a mixed rating. In Midnight Suns you are dealing with a very different emphasis in battles. You'll always be tactically shifting gears to maximize a fluid action pool instead of strategically jockeying for position and min-maxing odds. This game will waste no time in helping you discover which method of play is your preference.

That said things aren't entirely black and white because there's a nice wrinkle provided with environmental and very powerful AOE attacks which both serve to elevate your chances of winning AND the feeling that you're an ultimate badass. Choosing to position yourself efficiently here will lead to some very satisfyingly combo-tastic turns.

The deck building and power progression is about as deep as you'd want it in an integration like this, don't go in expecting deep pools of cards. In fact your deck needs to adhere to some pretty stringent rules. As for the world and character building, they blatantly copied Persona's homework here to the point that it makes for a very odd combination.

If you happen to like the style of both the major systems in Midnight Suns you're in for a real treat, but unfortunately there are a lot of people that either only like peanut butter and/or pickles on their own and aren't adventurous enough to want to try them together in a sandwich. Live a little, you just might like it.

Disclaimer: I'm not the biggest follower of the Marvel Universe so characters acting cringy or out of character doesn't phase me in the slightest. Am pretty sure a purist wouldn't be able to stomach the world building in this game.

Maybe one day I'll learn that giving too much credence to salty reviewers or nostalgia laden nitpickers is keeping great games out of my hands. Wouldn't have paid full price for this, but definitely should have jumped on it a bit sooner. RE3 owns.

I really like how Monster Train doesn't dangle the carrot so far in front of your face that you can't even see it. Was able to successfully complete a run on my second go. Am not sure if that'll bode well for my long term enjoyment, but it certainly feels even more fulfilling in the short term than Slay the Spire has at any point for me. I just don't have the patience for games that feel knowledge-gated to the point you have to bash your head against it and completely pick things apart in order to succeed.

A very pleasant surprise but is not likely ever to finish being developed, apparently. That's a shame. With a game that has an uncertain future because there's nobody buying it and there's nobody buying it because it has an uncertain future it's too bad there just isn't enough traction to pull this one back from the brink. It certainly deserves to have a full release. If you aren't a completionist and won't get hung up on what you don't get instead of what you DO, definitely give the free to play content a whirl.

This game starts too strongly for its own good but is somehow able to keep its momentum through the entire first half of the game.. The second half definitely feels more phoned in when doing a direct comparison but still presents an enjoyable overall experience, especially if you are a fan of action. The mixture of survival/action/horror/characterization in this installment of RE is definitely the most potent recipe for me so far in the series. If you delight in a game that constantly has you on the edge of your seat where you are always slowly inching your character forward with fear this isn't the one for you. Conversely if you only begrudgingly play games that fit that description you'll probably find yourself enjoying this Resident Evil Village more than expected. Don't get me wrong, you'll still be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥...just more gently (mostly.)

Cool little game. Pretty harshly reviewed. The core mechanics are very sound, but it could use a little more development time dedicated to quality of life improvements. Giving a hearty recommendation in hopes others check it out so it will in turn potentially get some of the minor polish it could use to really shine.

My main two nitpicks right now would be that the game both tells and expects you to experiment perhaps to a fault. This means that unless outside of game research is undertaken, a few bonehead mistakes that couldn't have predicted are bound to happen (ie: placing a useless district tower in BFE, or building things in a way that they won't benefit from buffs and/or be exposed to debuffs.) This isn't the end of the world but may result in wanting to restart the game early on in order to take advantage of new knowledge rather than just rolling with it.

Also, parsing information such as which what locations are usable by which dice and provide which resource can become difficult since when buildings start to get cluttered they occlude the view. Understanding area boundaries outside of your very obvious territory border is also a bit difficult at times.

To end off I'd like to provide some commentary towards points brought up by others. Pausing and thinking is permitted in the standard difficulty. One can pause the game and take all the time needed to ask the questions "which dice in my hand do I want to hold on to, which ones do I want to re-roll, and which ones do I want to put to work and where" and then unpause to carry out the plan. The various colors of dice serve a very obvious purpose in that their faces have different probabilities and thus strengths and use cases compared to each other, not to mention their specialties.

Dice Legacy very much feels like a digital homage/evolution of a tabletop game called Era: Medieval Age which was designed by someone that knows a thing or two about crafting a cohesive and engaging experience by tinkering with numbers and probabilities.

Cookie Clicker provides a better dopamine hit than being outraged on social media. Let's mandate playing it.

It's been 7 years already? Time has been very kind to Bioshock Infinite. This romp through the world of Columbia has been even more enjoyable than the first. There's probably something to be said about playing certain games well outside the media circus created in the wake of their development and launch.