Recent reviews by Fritz Faust

Nothing like making a good game, and then hoodwinking your paying customers nearly three months later with mandatory PSN account sync after nobody can request a refund. What a shame because there's a good game somewhere under all of this.

For those who can get their system to run Dragon's Dogma 2, it's a real treat. This game had the task of carrying the torch of the original and fully realizing its vision, which it seemingly rises to the occasion to accomplish just that. The dynamic encounter system encourages preparation for your treks into the wilderness, and the limited fast travel system gives you reason to hoof it on foot. This is the closest video game experience I've had that captured the feeling the Fellowship of the Ring.

Now the obvious elephant in the room is the performance, which is far worse than you would expect of a game of this caliber. I'm primarily speaking for my own experience, and have been able to get a stable 60 outside of cities, and some dips into the lower 50s in the main city with DLSS set to quality. This hasn't so much been an issue for me, but I can understand the sentiment surrounding this particular pain-point for many others.

Don't be in any hurry to purchase this game if you don't think your system could reasonably run it, since as of review I have an RTX 2080ti, and an Intel Core i9-12900K. You will have nothing to lose by waiting, because that gives other player's pawns a chance to collect knowledge about the world and become more useful to you in your run.

An incredible solo project, this game deserves the lightning-in-a-bottle it captured. The mechanics are fresh, and the mystique around the corporation and the destinations you are landing leaves a lot to speculate about. By all means try it, but you stand to benefit more by going in blind and with friends.

After purchasing this game nearly three years ago back in Early Access to support the game's lofty ambitions, I can safely say this game has made up for its excruciating wait to see it's vision manifest.

The game does an excellent job converting tabletop Dungeons & Dragons into a CRPG format that incentivizes engagement with it's more role-playing aspects, balancing people with a silver tongue and the most brawny of fighters to be equally as important.

The character dialogue is great, and makes you think before committing to an answer as to not bark up the wrong tree, or to demand what you want from somebody. You will only waste what the developers put in front of you so you choose to save-scum your way through the game.

I will update the review as needed, but I am more than impressed what I've seen so far.

While this game practically rips the Vampire Survivors formula, it does so with consideration and a new approach more akin to the first two Diablo games. It provides at launch with 7 characters and 3 stages with different mobs, with the full breadth of content promised in 6 short months.

It's also been a hidden gem for a while, finally getting noticed when it had a pretty quiet launch about two months ago. Goes to show you how a great game will advertise on its merits rather than a big budget.

Damn, they really went and trashed on this game. Patching out story details and becoming more prudish than a Catholic nun. Do yourself a favor and skip this one so you don't have features retroactively removed after your purchase.

Despite this game's Hulu-esque interface, I don't really have too many qualms with this game. Infinity Ward has made another great title to follow up 2019's Modern Warfare. The gun-play is un-matched. Each gun feels genuine and tactile where you feel like you're lugging the weight of a .50 BMG rifle, or proficiently handling a 9mm handgun. The story however does kind of feel low-stakes but it has great moments with the iconic characters. The levels are not afraid of trying new things.

And Warzone... Is Warzone. I do quite like DMZ though, I feel they do need to support it more but it has far more promise than Battlefield 2042's Hazard Zone.

Elden Ring is genuinely a fantastic game. A passion project that was years in the making and could not have been possible unless each release before it wasn't meticulously crafted and built on-top of. Every aspect of this game is carefully designed to reward curiosity, creativity and skill. Never a dull moment when plunging into the depths of crystal caves, crossing a bridge only to be pursued by a night rider, or even sharpening your wits against a particularly tough boss.

This game doesn't just ask you to be invested into its sprawling and complex open world; it demands it. Somehow every expectation I had for this game was exceeded by a considerable margin. Absolutely buy this game, Miyazaki is a savant of his craft, making his debut into the open world sub genre outshining even some of its toughest competition.

When you decide to remove global chat to appease a vocal minority of users. I'd recommend against buying it since it makes it unclear what else they'll choose to remove down the line.

An excellent experimental title that makes repetitive cyclical gameplay into an enjoyable aspect. Not a game you can dump hundreds of hours into but it's got a lot of style and is refreshing.