Recent reviews by ❖Carnage

UPDATE: does NOT work well on linux/proton, it crashes too frequently at any loading screen + some effects in dungeons and fights are missing

i recommend either running it in fullscreen or borderless windowed with vsync enabled

some caveats:
- alt tabbing when the game is in fullscreen leads to it freezing when you try to focus it again
- using borderless windowed without vsync leads to poor performance & freezing in the menus especially options
- the game occasionally freezes on startup, just reboot it and you should be able to get in
- game uses denuvo drm so be mindful of the 5 computer/day limit for activations (using a different proton prefix counts as 1)

as for the pros:
- its another great jrpg by atlus

also ringo

Upgrades are generally unfulfilling with a few exceptions, and the swordplay is seriously downgraded from the previous entries. I'm personally not a fan of the direction they took the gameplay (it plays nothing like the past 2 games, which also had vastly different gameplay from each other but were more fun IMO) but YMMV.

The story is... alright to say the least, around on par with Shadow Warrior 2 but neither come anywhere close to matching the first installment, and some of the returning characters don't feel the same. There's virtually no serious moments in the story unlike the prior games, so expect a constant jokefest as you play.

Music in the game is a huge letdown, especially when Shadow Warrior 1 had such an iconic theme and 2 had a banger remix of it. 3 falls flat in this regard and the music is nothing to write home about.

As for bugs, I did encounter a bug where after beating the final boss, I didn't get the achievement for completing the last mission, and there was a parkour segment with a tunnel that I could never reach until after dozens of tries. For compatibility, it runs well on Linux with Proton with minor issues with cutscenes where the video may be black (while audio may be heard) before suddenly appearing.

In short: decent gameplay, lackluster story, and a rather short length with no replayability at all offered. A disappointment compared to the previous 2 entries in the franchise. As such, I cannot recommend the game unless it's on a 50% sale due to the price.

I left a GRE Quarantine building and there was a volatile waiting for me at the exit
10/10 would ♥♥♥♥ my pants again

It's Halo.
I've waited more than a decade for this. How could I possibly not recommend it?

Relaxing, calm, beautiful low-poly graphics and easily understandable interfaces, need I say more?

This is a must buy if you're a fan of survival games or terraforming, you can literally shape the planet you're on like Play-Doh, and that's not mentioning that you can build your own bases on multiple planets!

Gameplay: 9
Story: N/A
Content: 8
Level Design: 9
Sound Design: 10

9

So, DMC is finally back (and not in the form the crappy reboot was), how does it fare, putting aside nostalgia goggles to see the game finally return to its roots?

Well, gameplay is nothing short of fantastic akin to previous DMC titles, but I personally felt that the story was lackluster, falling flat and felt fan-fiction-y/B-movie-ish at times. I'm glad we get to see Dante and our fan-favourite characters make a return, but the character motivations, and the main antagonist's personality really threw me off, because of contradictions with what was established in the previous games. Nero's portion in the game, in particular, felt akin to his story in DMC 4. The game's story has more comedic moments and less of a serious tone compared to the previous titles as well. I'm disappointed the game's story didn't have any moments akin to the tone of the fights in DMC 3 (namely Dante/Vergil or Lady's), with the weight of the characters' motivations, together with the amazing music.

Story aside, majority of the bosses' personalities felt shallow and unmemorable, plot-wise, compared to the bosses from previous titles, which felt more interesting as characters and some of them (aside from the main cast) had background and were developed as a character before a fight. Development and personality aside, the boss fights in DMC 5 had some of the best gameplay compared to the previous titles.

Level design was decent, but some stages did feel repetitive. However, it definitely was a step up from their entire second half of DMC 4, and characters switching/dropping in felt seamless and natural. The "multiplayer" feature was also a nice addition, and I would have loved to see a bigger variety of skins for the characters that weren't just reskins.

There are plenty of weapons to choose from in the game, and plenty of skills to upgrade as well, with each individual character having their own unique weapons and skillset, together with gameplay. Playing as all 3 of the main characters was extremely enjoyable, with each's gameplay requiring different tactics and strategies to fight the enemies.

Port-wise, performance was perfect and there are a wide variety of graphical options. Most people should be able to play it without issue. PC controls were also decent, but I'd highly recommend a controller for any of the games in the DMC franchise if you intend to achieve high skill ranks without AUTO mode.

Gameplay: 10
Story: 6.5
Content: 8
Level Design: 8
Sound Design 7.5

8

Summary:
The Evil Within 2's story takes place after the events of the first game, and we play as the same main character from the previous game, Sebastian. However, unlike the first game, The Evil Within 2's story seems much more streamlined, understandable and easy to pick up on. In addition, there are plenty of notes/files and side-missions across the game to help better understand the story (and learn more about it). In my opinion, the game improves over its' predecessor in nearly every aspect, from gameplay, which is now much smoother, enemies, level design and more.

The "hub world" in this game is extremely well designed, nearly every house is enterable, and enemies and items have been carefully placed around the world. You can see the interior of each house, regardless of whether it's relevant to the main mission or not, has been carefully crafted. The graphics in this game are also beautiful, they aren't the best, but they definitely are decent, and playing on near-max settings, the environments look extremely detailed.

Moreover, the game is well optimized, and the black bars from the previous game have finally been removed, however, you can turn them on if you'd like to. Sebastian also now has multiple unlockable outfits, there is a shooting range with a bunch of minigames to hone your aiming, a wide variety of new enemy types which are faster than ever, a new pistol and a lot more. Not only that, but the length of the story has drastically been increased as well. I'm only 9-ish hours or so in at the time of writing this review, and I'm only at Chapter 6 (there are 17 chapters in total), bearing in mind I didn't do all the side-missions, and am playing on casual (the medium difficulty, Survival, was already a huge challenge, so the difficulty of this game will no doubt prove challenging to most people).

Verdict:
Overall, I highly recommend anyone who was a fan of the first game, or the survival horror genre to pick this game up, you will love it. To me, The Evil Within 2 is the best third-person survival horror game of 2017, in conjunction with Resident Evil 7 being the best first-person survival horror game of 2017. Pick it up whenever you can, you won't regret it.

10/10

Overview:
Emily is Away Too is a solid instant messager-style game where you talk with two girls whom are both friends of yours. It's a truly immersive game and often links back to what we use now, like YouTube, FaceBook, and everything. The girls talk about their interests, link you stuff, heck, even send you downloadable images. I've never seen this much "fourth-wall breaking" in a game, and the choices truly have an effect on the story (looking at you, TellTale). Everything just...falls into place perfectly and it all slowly builds up to an ending that is affected by your choices since the start of the game.

The people you talk to feel genuine and real, and as a result, after beating this game, I feel empty, like there's a void in me, wanting more. I haven't felt this way since I beat Life is Strange, and it's a feeling that stuck with me for months, and it's really amazing how a 2D instant messager game could replicate that, all within the 2 hours it took for me to beat the game, I didn't even notice time go by! Moreover, this game doesn't tell the usual cliche story, and it will take many surprising twists and turns that you won't expect.

Verdict:
If you haven't played Emily is Away Too already, you should totally give this a shot without a doubt. For $5 this is a steal, it's a life-changing experience that will change your perspective forever. It's almost like a story that teaches you about the importance of having good morales. Buy it within a heartbeat, I definitely recommend it, Emily is Away was pretty good, but this just takes the cake for me. By far one of the best and most emotional games I've played in a long time.

Score: 10/10

best game ever

pros:
- intuitive level design
- advanced AI
- extremely good soundtrack
- you can hide in a fridge to survive a nuclear explosion

cons:
- developer is hardworking

would play again for the rest of my life steam please nominate this game for E3

Overview:
Resident Evil 7 is a great survival horror game which returns to its' roots of what made Resident Evil scary. It is packed with frightening and tenseful moments, together with sufficient action. It's more of a horror game than a survival horror game, and often you will find yourself feeling stressed due to the narrow corridors, huge map, and threatening enemies. In fact, you will want less enemies than more, as ammo is limited. The environments vary a lot and are different enough to keep the game unpredictable. I've never been more tense when playing a game in my entire life, and always checking corners for monsters.

Resident Evil 7 also features inventory management once again, but unlike other Resident Evil games, it is more akin to 4's where your inventory space is limited, and you have to manually reposition items and/or discard them to make space. There is a good variety of weapons in Resident Evil 7 which you can use to protect yourself from the enemies and stun the recurring bosses, ranging from melee weapons to long-ranged weapons. Moreover, there is now a crafting menu in the inventory, where you can craft herbs, ammo, and a bunch of other stuff which I won't spoil.

The boss fights in Resident Evil 7 are not monotonous, and are the thing you will dread the most, due to how terrifying some of them can be. They are generally all set in different and unique environments, and on harder difficulties they can be excruciatingly frustrating. Resident Evil 7 also features an auto-save and savepoint system, together with cassete type/ink ribbon style saving if you're playing on a harder difficulty. The story is a mystery, but you gradually discover what happened to the Bakers, and the conclusion is extremely satisfying and well done. There are notes and collectibles around, for story and achievement's sake, and there is also loot scattered around the environments, some of which are cleverly hidden. On the hardest difficulty, many of the known loot places and bosses are changed and moved, making it an unfamilar and difficult experience even for those who have beaten the game.

Beating the game and/or complete several challenges gives you access to some neat unlockables which can help on a second playthrough. The game's story, while linear (as it's a story-based game), is highly replayable due to the random behaviour of the enemies and secrets.

Verdict:
Overall, the game is extremely fun and tense, and has to be one of the scariest and frightening games I've ever played. Given that I'm generally afraid of playing horror games, moreover beating them, Resident Evil 7 managed to keep me addicted to the extent where I overcame my fears just to beat the game. There were several terrifying moments where I had to sit down and take a break, and unlike other games, the game does not use cheap jumpscares to scare you, and instead takes advantage of the atmosphere and the unknown. On my first playthrough, I didn't know what to expect, and that's where Resident Evil 7 succeeded in, creating a tense atmosphere where the player is always looking around and expecting something, or someone. The game has a branching story and even multiple endings, based on your choice.

The enemies in the game are great and intelligent and will give you nightmares, the inventory management is challenging, crafting is a breeze, story is extremely well-written, and the overall mechanics and gameplay feel are simple to understand and use. Looting in the game works fantastically as well, and the game had me on the edge of my seat every second. Last but not least, the graphics in the game are top-notch and are some of the best I've seen, especially for a first-person horror game. Resident Evil 7 is the definitive horror experience that all other horror games should follow, as even with combat, it's still equally terrifying, knowing that you are helpless to some extent. It is the scariest game I've ever played, and I highly recommend it to any Resident Evil and/or Horror fan. Even if you're not a fan of either, you should give the demo a try, as that's how the game generally plays, with the exception of combat, story and a wide range of environments.

Score:
(It's not 10/10 because of PC stuttering issues, which have yet to be fixed, but aside from that, it's the best horror game I've ever played, and I intend to play it more.)