Recent reviews by =(eGO)=™ MIB2

Firewatch but in a gorgeous hotel in Montana, featuring a very dark and intriguing story and the most unlikeable protagonist I've ever seen in a video game, bar none.

I did actually like the game, though.

Don't commit suicide, kids.

Spoiler-free review. Not because I don't want to spoil it. I can't spoil it. The story went completely over my head. I sit here wondering if I'm profoundly stupid which I don't...think is the case.

Having finished it, things I don't know:
What happened
Who were the characters
How many characters there were
What were their motivations
Why the unknown what was happening
What's the relationship between characters
What did I achieve in the end

Yeah.

That being said, I did have a lot of fun playing it. It's a really solid Clock Tower-like horror-thriller, I really enjoyed the art design, graphics, the slightly "off" animation also adds to the exeprience. Sound design is pretty solid. It's a fun, suspensful game and I recommend it despite truly having no clue what the story was.

I regret buying this on sale. This game has so much love and soul in it.

Every once in a while, you stumble upon a hidden gem that blows you away. This is one of those cases. I'll divide this review into three parts: open info, spoiler info and super-spoilers. Read the spoilers if you want to know a bit more of what's happening. Read the super-spoiler if you've already beaten the game. That being said, I recommend that you stop reading RIGHT NOW and go in blind. Hey, if you hate it, there's a refund button, right? But you won't.

Ok, so let me preface this. I've played a lot of horror games in my life. One of my favorite genres, honestly. This allowed me at a certain point to gain eyesight to differentiate between horror games and horror-themed games. What's a horror game? Think Silent Hill 1-4. What's horror-themed? Think Resident Evil post 3, Killing Floor, Dead by Daylight, Alan Wake. Nothing wrong with that, I do like horror-themed games as much as I like horror games. One aims to scare you, the other puts you in a setting that the character might find unsettling.

I would classify "In Sound Mind" as a Horror-themed Psychological Thriller. Think Eternal Darkness. It's not scary. I mean, I don't know you. It might be scary for you. But if you play a lot of horror games, don't expect to be scared.

This game is about a character finding themselves in an unsettling situation.

So, why is this game Overwhelmingly Positive? For so many good reasons. It's sort of an intersection of many gaming influences. I got strong vibes of Alan Wake, Half-Life 2, Resident Evil 7-ish, Someday You'll Return, The Medium, The Evil Within and I'm sure some other major things I've missed. The developers are clearly very well-versed in gaming culture, or, rather, the cultural and design heritage of gaming, and it shows. They not only understand it, they build upon it.

Broad strokes? You're in a building full of puzzles trying to progress the story. Slight metroidvania vibes par for the course for horror games. I've played on Hard and it's not hard, but I am very experienced, so perhaps you'll have a different experience. The puzzles are great. They are varied, immersive, innovative and fun to solve. It's surprisingly lengthy, but not in the way that overstays its welcome. It's just a quality game with lots of content that is all great and varied. I was excited to do every side activity you could find.

One really smart and welcome gameplay decision: fairly early you get an item that allows you to find collectibles. Thank you, devs!

The music in this game is astonishing. Especially the songs you hear that you get as a reward for doing major things in the story. I often default to gaming while having a video on another monitor, but, credit where it's due, this game had all of my attention all the time. When I got another song to listen to, I was excited to go and listen to it.

Visuals? Technically speaking, it's not that impressive. It's ok, it's not ugly, but nothing to write home about. However, the developers use special effects, shadows, direction to great effect. I've caught myself just basking in the beauty numerous times during my time with this game. There are clearly, no offense, narcissists in the dev team who truly, fully, deeply understand beauty. I was thinking, "I wish I saw this in VR".

I won't touch upon the story in this section, but it's really, really good. Now, characters are all interesting, not deep per se, but well-written and compelling. Good writing, good dialogue. One character stands out: the antagonist. That guy adds so much to the experience. He keeps trolling, mocking, harassing you with phone calls and showing up and I was always looking forward to our next meeting. What a character. So much charisma. They hit the nail on the head there.

But, as any good horror(-themed) games, this one also excels in humour. The see-saw of humour and tension is perfect. On that note, this is one of the few games that got me by jump-scaring me with a still object. And then subverting that jump-scare instantly to the point I felt genuinely impressed and warm inside.

Downsides? The combat isn't anything to write home about. It works, it's not annoying, it's passable. However, the gameplay is stellar. I didn't bring up Half-Life 2 for nothing. There are some seriously talented game designers on the dev team. There are so many creative gaming situation here that don't really repeat or overstay their welcome. It's a REALLY FUN game to play. I felt younger playing In Sound Mind because it made me feel the joy of gaming I usually felt back in my teen years. Valve should really look into hiring these people. They are that good.

I also wish there were Dualshock/Dualsense icon input images, but it's a moot point, I ended up using KB/M for the game anyway.

There is a cat you can pet regularly.

Techincal side of things, no problems. No crashes, no lag, no stutter, nothing. It just runs smoothly.

Spoilers starting. I'm going to describe the gameplay loop and try not to touch too much upon the story.

Ok, so you're in a building, you're a therapist, the kind that talks to people to help them with their issues. You try to get out of your predicament, and certain doors in the building lead to memories of your therapy sessions with your patients and to their past. This allows you to explore additional locations. These locations are varied and offer different vibes, visuals and mechanics. That's the loop, you go in, relive what happened and get a new tool that allows you to access new areas. After that, you get their psych eval and a vinyl with an original song themed around them.

Super-spoilers. Read this only if you have beaten the game:

There is a moment that is heavily telegraphed between the final boss battle and the end, an emotional moment. I've recently went through what the protagonist did in that regard and this game had a therapeutic effect on me. I was finally able to process what happened to him and me after basically ignoring it for a few months (death part, not the other part of it). Thank you, devs.

Do a sequel or make more games! 9.5/10 DESPITE technical issues. Also, the developers really, really respect and love cats. They deserve your money.

Achievements: Easily doable in 15 hours, not sure if there are missables, but you can replay sections. Good achievement design overall.

Edit: This game desrves a BAFTA award. Went straight to my favorites on Steam. Also, if you complete it, there is an amazing animation music video you unlock. This game is so good.

I remember playing a PS1 game called Heart of Darkness when I was much younger. It was unsettling, weird, but also imparted an amazing sense of exploration of a truly alien world. I felt it again playing There is No Light.

This setting is unique. Many call it lovecraftian, but it's more than that. There is quite simply nothing like this. It's cult-based, Metro-2033-esque, lovecraftian utopia-exploring postapoc.

The graphics are great, but the art style is what really makes it stand apart. The music is great.

Gameplay. Imagine Hyper Light Drifter being a 10. This is 8.5. It's smooth, responsive, fun, challenging, but can be slightly more polished and varied. The bosses are very finely balanced, however.

This game is about the sense of exploration and about thinking about utopian projects and how they turn to dystopias. If you played Dragon Age: Origins, it's like The Deep Roads just throughout the entire game. It just goes deeper and deeper. The final area had me floored.

Downsides. There are some bugs and glitches that can, for example, lock you out of an ending. The devs are responsive though and I see them implementing quite a few QoL changes.

A solid 8.9/10, I wish this game had more exposure and I thank the developers for the love and care they put into this game.

Update: I've now 100%ed the game, took me 35 hours. I liked it so much that I immediately went into NG+ after beating it once. NG+ is absolutely brutal, if you like a challenge, this is for you. I almost wish it was available from the start, but in all honesty not having the unlocks would probably make it too much.

I want to once again reiterate how unique this setting is. It's like multiple SCP end of the world scenarios happened at once. There is nothing like this and you are missing out if you don't experience it.

It's flawed, but I love it nonetheless.

Imagine a mix of Furi and NieR:Automata that were to be created by Obsidian. The result would be Anima: Gate of Memories.

The gameplay is fantastic, and that is why I invoke Furi for comparison. The setting is dark and interesting, hence NieR.
Obsidian is the technical side of things.

The writing is flawed, the voice acting is...present, to be as nice as possible, there are tiny little bugs and imperfections. And yet I still wholeheartedly recommend this game. What you get in return is a lovingly crafted piece with exemplary soundtrack, game design and combat system. The pacing is great, the gameplay - rewarding, and the setting - compelling.

Another good thing is that the devs are very active and constantly communicate with the community.

Caveat emptor, the difficulty is pretty brutal. Otherwise, grab it.
There is a lot of joy to be found here.

SOMA is a very special kind of horror. The enjoyment from playing it come form the stellar setting and the ambience that immerse you into the universe. The story is quite good too, even though some plot twists are rather expected. The most peculiar thing about SOMA is that, even though the world around you is cold, unwelcomming and hostile, it still feels alluring in some haunting sort of way.

8.9/10 (but in a good way!)

The idea seems interesting enough, however, the puzzles are wretched. The developer can't make up his mind whether players should disregard the visual representations of the shapes or solve puzzles based on them. Math simply falls through from time to time.

The visuals and the audio are good.

It's a good product, but it's not a good game.

Most of the reviews out there touch upon technical details of the PC port, leaving the substance of the game alone. I aim to fix that.

First off, let me confirm everything you heard so far about the quality of the port itself - it's really the best one by far by Square Enix. It's smooth, it looks better than on consoles, there is a higher variety of visual options. The port includes all DLC and both English and Japanese audio.

Now, let's move on to the reason I even decided to write this in the first place: the game itself.
Is it good? In short: Very.

At this point, I've spent a little more than 6 hours in it, and I already feel like it managed to justify the price.

The story is pretty good so far, that said, it is very important that you play FF XIII and XIII-2 first, otherwise many many things will be lost on you.

The combat system is probably the most dynamic and player-inclusive in the FFXIII trilogy. It feels quite responsive and your own skill matters quite a lot.

The music is very good, unlike XIII-2. I am yet to find a piece that drives me nuts, like Unseen Intruders, which is a good sign.

The world is gigantic in this game, and it's very non-linear at that.

Now, the dreaded time-limit. I understand that many of you hate the very idea of it, and I was one of you, but now that I tried it, I have to say: the feature is solid. The need for time-management grants the gameplay a sense of urgency and pacing that translates to you feeling on the edge. You experience something similar when you have a last sliver of health in games like Dark Souls. The tensions is exquisite. Completing quests in the game actually allows you to postpone the timelimit, which gives you very real insentive to be efficient. Every day at 6 AM (game time) you are returned to the hub area, and you can see your progress. Let me tell you, when you get there and see that all your actions were not in naught, all the tense gameplay of the day pays off tenfold.

So, yes, I do recommend this game, the only caveat being: "If you played XIII and XIII-2 first".

9/10 so far. Will edit if my opinion changes.

Edit #1.

28 hours in. The gameplay is still solid, as is the music, however, I want to add some important things.

1. The side quests are divided into two categories - normal ones that you find in the world and boring fetch quests that you find on special boards. Initially, this was ok, but now it seems somewhat repetitive, as I am running out of quests that don't descend into tedium.

2. The culmination points for each story arc are mostly very good, but the build up to them can be somewhat lacking.

3. The time limit is a joke now. I have 5 days left, and it seems I did most of the content available. This might be because I heavly used the game mechanic allowing you to briefly freeze the clock for special points you get form battles.

4. That said, some of the achievements and many items, and even gameplay mechanichs, seem to only unlock on NG+.

5. I like where the main story arc is going so far.

Rating: 8.5 because I hate fetch quests and pointless grinding.

Will edit again, possibly.

Edit #2
Beat the game. 100% achievements. Took me 51 and a half hours. Final thoughts:

1. The game stability is faulty in a certain large underground story-related location in the Dead Dunes. Aside from that spot, it ran smoothly.

2. The main story arc did not disappoint.

3. The game offers some surprisingly good end-game content, including the superbosses.

4. The time limit IS a joke. I had 4 days with nothing to do towards the end of the game, so I just slept in the in-game inns.

5. NG+ on Hard felt easier than NG on Normal. I'm still glad I picked Normal, it wasn't as hard as people say it is.

Final rating: 8.0-8.5. It was a solid game.

Cross of the Dutchman is a pretty neat little game.

Gameplay-wise, it's a minimalistic Action-RPG. The gameplay itself feels good, but that's not this game's selling point.

What sets it apart is the story, which follows a real historic figure from Frissia, Pier Donia, who happens to be the protagonist. I don't want to spoil anything, but let's just say it gets intense.

One other thing that I really liked was the pacing. The game is not too long and not too short, it's just perfect in that respect.

This game is what Sanctum 2 was to Sanctum 1.

I, for one, welcome the fact that the complicated and interesting spellcasting system is gone.

The game feels more relaxed now, no more of that ecstatic feeling of absolute power, the power rivaling that of ancient gods, all at your fingertips. Who needs that anyway? Who needs fluid and visceral combat when you can have quick magicka slots?

The only downside is that this time around, the game runs more or less stable. But, if you're not dissuaded by this little thing, I suggest you go and buy it right now.