Recent reviews by Messiah

If you like the first Oxenfree, you're going to enjoy this one too. So far it looks really good and plays really well on a Steam Deck, even though it's not yet verified.

I've bought a PS5 and an OLED TV just to play this game last autumn and now it's finally on Steam! This summer I'll be playing it on the beach with my Steam Deck...

A Plague Tale: Innocence is an action adventure game with a beautiful story developed by Asobo Studio and published by Focus Home Interactive. It's a story about the De Rune siblings, an older teenage sister Amicia and her younger brother Hugo, who have to leave their home after it has been attacked by inquisition who were looking for Hugo. At the same time RATS began attacking people, bringing the plague.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1796501428
You play as Amicia, trying to figure out what the inquisition want from your brother and what is going on with all those rats. As Amicia, you have to protect your brother by avoiding RATS and soldiers or killing them using your sling. The sling will also be used to solve various puzzles in the game using different kinds of ammo to open passages, ignite torches to scare rats, extinguish fire, ...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1796417575
The story is told through 17 chapters and it's amazing. It takes around 10 to 15 hours to complete. In their journey for the truth, Amicia and Hugo will meet some nicely written characters, each with their own story who will help them in their quest. I like the stealth mechanics and puzzles in the game which shouldn't take you too long to figure out how to solve.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1796857142
This game has gorgeous graphics, good voice acting (you can choose English, French, or German voice over), and amazing sound track which really adds to the atmosphere of the game by conveying either the sense of dread or calm or the moments in between.

The game is wonderful and I highly recommend it!

One of the better Sudoku games on Steam. It's inexpensive with pleasant, relaxing music. Paying 50 cents for hours of Sudoku? Yes, please.

I tried to avoid spoilers in this review as much as possible!

Life is Strange is an episodic story based and choice driven adventure game developed by Dontnod Entertainment (Remember Me) and published by Square Enix. In the game you play as an 18 year old girl Maxine (Max) Caulfield, a photography student, who returns after 5 years to her hometown Arcadia Bay to attend Blackwell Academy, a prestigious private school. After witnessing a tragic event in her school, she discovers she has the power to rewind time and prevents it…

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=611334407

Story? Wowsers!

Life is Strange is a coming of age story about a socially awkward teenage girl dealing with some (really!) heavy issues using her newly discovered power. You control Max through 3rd person perspective, interacting with people and objects. The gameplay is similar to other story driven games like the ones from TellTale Games (The Walking Dead, Wolf among us, Tales from the Borderlands,…) but with more freedom when exploring and dealing with choices, since you can rewind any decision if you are not too happy with its (short-term) consequence. Also there are no QTEs in this game. I’d rather not say too much about the story for fear of spoiling too much of it, just that Life is Strange has one of the best stories I’ve ever experienced in a game, TV show, movie or a book!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=609885632

Graphics? Hella nice!

I really love how this game looks! Nice lighting effects, character animation and movement, the beautiful landscape of the Arcadia Bay, the art in pictures and photographs. Even though there are some issues with lip-syncing and in one part of the game my Max didn’t even open her mouth when she spoke (I guess she also had the power of telepathy or maybe she was training to become a ventriloquist) I believe Dontnod did an amazing job here.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=608571202

Voice acting? Amazeballs!

Hannah Telle (voice of Max) and Ashly Burch (voice of Max’s best friend Chloe) were incredible here. You can really feel the characters’ struggle, pain, love through their acting. I really love hearing Max contemplating every choice she makes in her head, makes you truly question if it was the right one. It comes as no surprise to me they won various awards for their performances in LiS. Kudos to other voice actors as well.

Soundtrack? Ready for the mosh pit!

Well… not really.  The original score, composed by Jonathan Morali, consists of mostly soft tunes played by acoustic instruments and it fits this game perfectly with additional songs by Syd Matters, The Foals, Amanda Palmer, Alt-J… Just wow! Be it songs or background music, it’s all so wonderfully integrated into the game and they really help set the mood. I often listen to the LiS soundtrack and even though several months have passed after finishing the game, I still get the feels just by hearing some of these magnificent songs! Ahhh…

Life is Strange will heavily play on your heartstrings and chew up emotions you didn’t even realize you had, but in the end you will be glad you experienced this amazing journey. One of the best games, I’ve ever played!