Recent reviews by Snobby Hobo

I used to love Fallout 1 and 2, but nowadays I can't stand either of them. Some games aged quite well to me, particularly the arena shooters - but Fallout isn't among them. Incredibly, and I can't overstate this, *incredibly* bad UX across the board, janky controls, extremely poor pacing (you missed, you missed, you missed, you missed), wonky AI and charming but monotonous visuals. If you can forgive its many flaws for a hit of nostalgia then it's there, but if you want to actually play a good game then this is not it. Not anymore.

The real selling point in Fallout 2 is the world building. It's quite a zanier than the later Fallout 3 and offers a better role playing experience.

Lies of P might be the only game I know of that has the balls to directly compare itself to a Fromsoft game and actually pull it off to deliver similar quality. It is without a doubt one of the most remarkable games released last year.

To me the soulsbornes are very much a circus ride and have always been; you don't really go in expecting a particularly well designed game. You expect the same, dated formula with new gimmicks and new cinematic encounters. Out of all games in the series the main driving force for me has always been just what a grand adventure they all convey - even if the notorious difficulty the game achieves feels cheap and unearned. Lies of P does not innovate much; if anything it takes a slight permutation of their favorite entries. As such it is not a game I consider anywhere near a masterpiece like some people do: reading arbitrary animation frames to then "parry" during the few active frames is a crude, ill-defined and, in my personal opinion, thoroughly unrewarding experience.

Those that do see the appeal in it will enjoy Lies of P. Parrying allows players to take some control of the pace even when hopelessly overwhelmed; allowing you to break the enemy's stance for a powerful follow up or, in specific situations, even break their weapon to reduce their damage output (which is a very strange reward considering this will usually be the reward for reading an opponent perfectly - implying you aren't getting hit to begin with).

Quality control is extraordinary. I would not say it can tip any recent Fromsoft game in terms of scale, but despite its comparatively limited scope I was thoroughly impressed from start to end. Beautiful animation work. Beautiful environmental design. A passable story (mostly held back by the generic characters) and great sound design across the board. Lies of P is quite special, even if it doesn't feel like it most of the time.

Full review at https://piepscave.com.

Another one of those titles that stands as an argument for the sorely lacking "sideways thumb".

A very inconsistent game. I ultimately decided not to recommend because I think it's a bit on the pricier side for how bland it truly is. Ereban: Shadow Legacy is one of those games designed entirely around its one gimmick - and everything else seems to suffer for it. The first few levels are, for all intents and purposes, a boilerplate stealth game from 15 years ago (and not a good one; just a barely passable attempt). The platforming feels weightless, the enemies pose no threat whatsoever, AI is non-existent, the maps feel confused in being overly large but offering no meaningful interaction.

There is no doubt a lot of passion went into this project and you could purchase it for that alone. It has a terrible yet somewhat endearing story that likes to pretend it's much more profound than it really is, underlined with equally awful dialogue produced by someone that watched a Marvel movie too many. The game looks pretty good in its own incoherent way. The gimmick is nice, when it decides to actually work.

Unfortunately it's all just really bland gameplay wise. An okay-ish commercial debut title.

Infuriating, is the first word I would think of describing Godsworn in its current state. This is going to be a very short review for the simple fact that singleplayer is a large part of the premise and the reason I cannot recommend Godsworn until some patches are applied.

Godsworn is a campaign driven RTS with gameplay reminiscent of Warcraft. During the story you play as one of two available pagan gods while the other is controlled by the computer (NPC allies). Unfortunately the AI is beyond atrocious. It's bad to the point it barely even exists. To illustrate this example: during the second campaign mission you are to siege a rather large fort protected by a sturdy outer wall. Upon attacking my NPC ally, constituting approximately half the army got stuck at the wall - trying to methodically break down every single segment of wall rather than attacking anything else (i.e. they got stuck autoattacking the nearest enemy, which happened to be wall segments). For over 10 minutes the NPCs got stuck deconstructing walls, effectively forcing me to wait until they were done.

I'm sorry, but I can't recommend the game if 50% of my armies are going to be controlled by an NPC I cannot interact with sporting the brain capacity of your average League of Legends player. It effectively makes playing solo almost impossible.

A great idea executed terribly.

Acolyte of the Altar implements an idea I have had in the back of my head for a while, and demonstrates that this concept does indeed work. It effectively places itself between derivative deckbuilder titles (9/10 copying Slay the Spire, let's be honest here) and a more traditional CCG format (i.e. Gwent, Hearthstone, Magic the Gathering etc); monsters do not rely on one or two gimmicks, but rather a small expanding set of abilities that gradually open over time. These effects synergize with one another in some way and need to be controlled by the player, lest they want to get overwhelmed. It allows for way more expressive enemies than e.g. Slay the Spire and more of a "puzzle" oriented approach.

Unfortunately the game does not seem to recognize that if you design your enemies around some synergy the player is supposed to disrupt, you also need to give them the tools to do so. As a consequence Acolyte of the Altar is a hilariously flawed game, bordering on unplayable. The player will very frequently find themselves deadlocked because they simply do not have the cards to deal with the puzzle at hand. Other bosses are completely pointless due to how vulnerable they are to everything; essentially emulating playing aggro in any other CCG (put card on board, press face. Repeat 6x).

This is a consequence of the way the game has progression laid out, and a primary reason I think it would be awful to listen to the other reviews claiming "we need meta progression1!". The whole premise of the game does not cater towards it; it needs to facilitate immediate options for the player to get access to the tools they need. The progression during the runs is way too limited to guarantee players do not get deadlocked.

Even though a good amount of love was put into the game, with lovely artwork, a unique aesthetic and pretty good sound design across the board it unfortunately failed the moment the developers did not understand their own game. Acolyte of the Altar does not need "more content", it needs to actually function as a concept to begin with.

Full review at: https://piepscave.com

GRIME is a game oozing with as much passion as it does other unidentified fluids. With its body-horror inspired aesthetic it is not a look you will forget any time soon. Unfortunately the game fails to innovate much on genres it takes inspiration from, instead opting to blatantly copy many of their flaws. On the flip-side GRIME knows its niche, and when it does take responsibility it reaches surprising heights.

Glued together with excellent sound design across the board, an enthralling story and unique world building GRIME stands as a truly unforgettable experience - even if flawed.

Uses GameGuard.

Full review at https://piepscave.com.

One of the most underrated titles of 2023. Sands of Aura is an incredible ARPG that does not just have good ideas, it also implements them well.

Some of the best dungeon/level design I've ever seen. Responsive, snappy combat and clearly and concisely defined mechanics. An incredible amount of content with just the campaign lasting over 14 hours. Combat achieves the flow state effortlessly if you give it time to explain itself.

Only slightly held back by falling to inconsistency and lacking production quality. Sands of Aura is not immune to occasional jank and the sound design is unimpressive at best.

Very good, but I'd rather this be a visual novel or animation than a game. Being a game it has to justify the medium, and Pentiment does not do that very well. Most of the things "game"-y felt like arbitrary filler rather than contribute to the concept. Pentiment is a murder mystery and as such the player may or may not interact with all sources of evidence to come to any sound conclusion - but this too this hardly works in the game's favor as all it achieves is poor pacing.

The writing in Pentiment is REALLY good. It is probably one of the strongest literary pieces I've seen expressed outside books, being up there with games like Disco Elysium. It is also rather pretentious, as most literary work is - but not to jarring degrees. Occasionally the game will expose you to rather disconnected historical tangents just to "impress" (especially the first dialogue scene with the Baron is quite painful), but most of the time it flows rather naturally. I would say the game is most enjoyable for those at least vaguely familiar with the late roman empire as it will frequently refer to prominent historic events. Characters are believable and act naturally, as opposed to caricatural and quirky. The role of the protagonist is a bit bland (another historical novel with a journeyman artist in the lead) but allows for a good medium to express "intended" dialogue through. The game clearly expects a more progressive mind to take the center stage here as a juxtaposition, which will most likely succeed considering I don't think anyone born in the early 16th century would play this game. You don't agree, but you want to understand.

Worth playing if you're in the mood to read a book. As a game Pentiment achieves rather poor, at times even obnoxious pacing.

More reviews at https://piepscave.com.

"no it's a soulsborne. We don't do game design here. U need to git gud xd"-the game. Copies its inspiration almost 1 to 1 while waiving any design responsibilities under the guise of "but the original didn't either!". What roguelites are to crappy indie startups is what soulsbornes are to B production studios. What an absolutely embarrassing game.

For the uninitiated, which I expect there to be very few of around here, the Soulsbornes are a series of spectacular renown featuring an extremely punishing yet comparatively simple combat flow. One of the games' staples is being way more obtuse than any other game could get away with; barely explaining anything about anything - including its story. Yet due to their unparalleled and unique atmosphere, enemy design and overall production quality more people are exposed to them every year. It's no surprise the games have spawned their entire subculture of wannabe games, which Thymesia proudly counts itself among.

The problem is that if you insist on stealing practically the entire repertoire of tricks, down to the most minute details like UI sound design, you should probably also take even the tiniest bit of time to reflect upon it. Do you really want your game to be deliberately obtuse? Do you think you can match its quality? Can you improve on the formula somehow? Infuse your own personality into it?

Thymesia does none of that. Just crudely trace the lines of the original work, slap a vaguely different color palette on it, adds terrible writing and viola: a masterpiece. Wait, why didn't mom hang it on the fridge?

Visual communication: non existent. Tutorialization? Practically non existent. Combat? Despite adding two gimmicks the flow of combat is identical to any soulsborne, while taking a tiny bit of Sekiro inspiration in enemies being able to regain some of their health upon the player acting too passively. The soulreaving weapons is cool, but barely explained and adds no depth to the game whatsoever. Animation transitions are awful. Movement feels finicky. Combat feels arbitrary as none if it explained; how does staggering work? How do enemy counter attacks work? Why does my feather work only half the time? It's just another Souls game but worse in every conceivable way. Why? Why does this game exist?

More reviews at https://piepscave.com.