Recent reviews by Mathog

Very good DLC that plays competely different from the main game, for some maybe even better. You have much more control over your movement due to having a much higher jump and a dash with very high reach, so you can blast like crazy through the levels as well as during combat. You also have a passive skill that blocks 1 hit for you as long as you keep killing enemies, which all combined makes you feel OP while simultaneously not being a cakewalk, a perfect combination.

I'm impressed with the overall design. Level traversal is very intuitive, combat encounters let you approach from different angles, gimmick elements are introduced but never forced on you, audio is perfectly synced with your movements (i.e. when a character is describing something you're about to reach), upgrade system has a decent amount of options without being overwhelming. It's all just so smoothly done it's unreal.
It's the first game that catches up to Furi in terms of speed, intensity, and fairness in the fights. Just like in Furi, beginning a new playthrough in hard mode shows you just how much your skill increased and it feels incredibly rewarding.
9.5/10

Scholar is a straight-up downgrade compared to the vanilla Dark Souls 2. The vanilla version is not perfect by any means, but changes brought in Scholar make the overall experience much much worse.

This game is just fantastic.

The player character has just as much arsenal as the bosses; all attacks are useful in some ways and it's up to you to figure out the best strategy; aside from the tutorial boss there is no "one-way to do it" approach in any fight, so you are free to explore every tactic. The combat is so quick and the controls are so responsive that sometimes when I got into the flow, my brain couldn't keep up with what was going and I had to rely purely on muscle memory to react. The camera works very well, maybe aside from some bullet hell phases, but it's something one can get used to.

Between each fight there is some lore exposition for a boss you're about to fight next. No fighting there; you just walk (or auto-walk) and listen to the guy that knows everything. It was a good idea to do it this way, because the adrenaline levels get pretty high during each fight and these sections give you some time for much needed rest.

Music. It's majestic. Each track is very different from one another and each creates a different atmosphere for the fight. The title screen itself gives you all the feels you need.

Give Furi a try. If you don't like what you see in the tutorial boss, you can always refund. But bloody hell, please do not miss out on this game.

There is no weight to any attacks or movement. Controls are janky and not rebindable.The game just doesn't feel finished.

I assure you this game is not worth your time. If you're looking for a souls-like, this isn't it. This game is what happens when somebody likes Souls games, wants to create their own but has no bloody idea what makes Souls good.
Many enemies have a built-in counter to getting staggered. Most bosses have only one or two attacks. The final boss has one attack. ONE.
Healing potions restore on each checkpoint... but not all of them. You can exploing the challenge realms by going in and out of them to reload the map and make each checkpoint give you another round of potions.
I don't generally care about asthetics, but this world is really bland and uninteresting. Everything blends together and it's very easy to get lost. My character's playtime is 07:39. I assure you an hour of it is just me trying to figure out where the hell I'm supposed to be going.
If you REALLY want give this game a try, then buy it and use the 2 hour window that Steam gives you for a refund. After you defeat the first boss, you'll have a decent idea of what this game is like. If you don't like anything up to this point (and I guarantee you will not like the bossfight), then refund ASAP and play something else.

Definitely worth playing if you like Gunpoint and Mark of the NInja. I even got some Half Life 2 vibe from the soundtrack.

My main gripes with the game are:
- you can't jump through enemies. You'll always stun them and be slowed down yourself, which makes some deaths unavoidable if RNG is not in your favor.
- the marker showing where you'll land does not always tell the truth, which is even acknowledged in the game tips. It's pretty annoying to think that you can successfully jump over an obstacle only to hit it mid-air and have your tactic completely destroyed, forcing you to restart.
- when flying into an enemy who's group will certainly spot you, there is a split second before the turn-based combat mode starts, during which you can kill off the closest enemy. This means you have to spam the button for stopping time until you get a prompt allowing you to kill that enemy. If this is by design, then it's an annoying design.

15 killed
137 deaths
02:26:59

I like the concept. I like most bosses. What I don't like is no mouse support in a game where precise aiming is the key to succeeding. Many bosses don't have any wind-up to their attacks whatsoever. Open world means you have to run back to the boss from a checkpoint after each death, which takes way too much time that I can accept.

Devs, please. If you don't want to fully support keyboard & mouse, then don't support it at all. At least then I wouldn't have a subpar experience.

This is as relaxing as video games can be, I think. I completed first 3 sets of puzzles and decided to buy it on Google Play, since it's a game perfectly suited for touch screens.

60 fps, smooth minimalistic visuals, soothing audio. 2.99€ is a steal.

I bought Episode 1 when it was in Humble Bundle. I played through it and thought it was very nice, but still wasn't sure about buying the season pass. I eventually bought it, started Episode 2 and got immediately hooked, to a level I don't even remember in any other game. Finished it and had to go to sleep.

The whole next day all I could think about was this game. Finally came back from work and went through Episode 3. While watching the final cutscene I decided I should put the game off until tomorrow since it was a day off. Then I saw the final scene. I wasn't ready for this. It took me a while to get asleep because my mind didn't want to give up thinking about what it just experienced. When I finally woke up I went through Episode 4 and 5 in one sitting.

And then it ended. I don't think I've ever felt so empty before. I cried. And I never cry. That was it. No more Max. No more Chloe. Only memories and choices I've made.

That was three days ago. I'm still a bit hollow.

Life is Strange is definitely my favorite game of 2015 and one of my favorite games of all time. I don't even know how to explain it. I liked all characters in the game. I met ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ in my life and was one myself once or twice, so I could really empathize with and understand people I met in this game.

I understand why people like to make fun of Life is Strange because of its use of slang. English is not my native language, so I suppose it didn't have as much of an effect on me as on other people. I too smiled a few times because of how ridiculous some things sounded, but in the end it only added to the experience and personalities of the characters. Tell me that you or people around you have never had vocal tics or used words that others would find weird. Or don't, I won't believe you anyway.

No game is flawless and Life is Strange is no exception, however my only concerns were three or four sections/puzzles I didn't feel were executed well, as well as a few plots not being expanded enough, even if they did get the reaction developers clearly wanted me to have.

Playing it again right now, because I really don't feel like playing anything else.

Edit:
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I cried again.

Goodbye, LiS. I'll never forget you.