Recent reviews by Cinetyk

I'm over 160h in, I'm in the final act (#3) and I still haven't finished it. Over the years I've felt that a lot of games are just too long, unnecessarily long. At 160h+ you'd think I felt the same here, right? But NO!

The sheer amount of endless possibilities, the minute detail where in every corner something unexpected may happen, together with throughout the all game your companions react to stuff and their journeys are just as rich as your own.

I just had the most intense unexpected mission that I will not spoil, but just finally made me take a time to write this, however haphazardly it is.

It's one game, but it feels like each act is the size of one typical game, only you get 3 with your purchase.

Truly the depth and versatility here is astounding in so many dimensions. It's not just the story and quests and diversity of encounters: you can fine tune your characters and abilities in combat very strategically as well. Also, LOTS OF TIMES you may find yourself thinking "hmm, I wonder if I can do this..." - most of the times, that's a viable approach that works! And then the graphics look beautiful, the characters animate so well it truly feels like they're live people... Dialogues are particularly nice since the characters are so expressive in their facial and body movements.

Even though I was born in 1984, I never got 'round to DnD, it wasn't a thing where I grew up. But many years later, after many videogames inspired by the DnD mechanics, coming to BG3 it's like "oh yeah, I get it!". These mechanics may be too wide and deep, but it's the bible of all RPGs, much like LOTR is the bible as well. It's not just the interactions with other characters and NPCs (you sometimes can get away with awesome stuff if you are smart), you can also leverage combat to your will if you are smart tactically.

This is truly one of the best videogames of all time. I've been playing on and off, sometimes something happens in my live I end up stopping for 1 or 2 months, but then I come back and it fascinates me all over again.

If you have any interest in the letters "RPG" you owe it to yourself to immersive yourself in this game.

It's also such a fresh game to experience where the AAA industry seems to have gotten so stale and formulaic over the past years, due to the staggering costs of production. This one keeps everything unexpected over dozens and dozens AND DOZENS of hours :)

Only barely scratched the surface on this one, but I can already tell it's a very interesting and unique game. This will not be for people who are looking for a "typical" game, rather for people interested in a unique story/narrative based game: you play as a russian nun in an alternate XIX universe after all... Are you ready to go on a simple journey that touches on all the religious stuff?

It's 3D and 3rd person and mostly involves the traversal and puzzle elements, whilst having dialogue and narration infusing the negative space with thought provoking mostly religious stuff. You see, Indika is a "troubled (no spoilers here...)" nun and the game absolutely lets you live that. And also the game has some "gamified" elements which makes it weird and clashing with the other stuff, but strangely it works and it gets more intriguing because of that? Definitely intriguing.

The graphics are quite good for a seemingly AA game: quite good lighting in particular and no major issues other than some AA jank with animations - this is not a AAAA polished game, but totally nice looking, not that demanding on your system (btw nice settings menu), and bug free at launch (omg, that's a miracle right there on this day and age).

In particular, I'm struck with the simply "standing" animations for the main character: she looks down and fidgets with her hands and fingernails and rosemary in a very expressive way. They capture that very well for a kind of an AA game, and the visual character design and also voice acting performance supports that all the way. Again, for an AA type game, I'm impressed with the result of bringing the character to life.

I'm so glad stuff like this is still possible: unique games that go shoulder to shoulder with the usual commercial stuff. Even if the polish isn't quite to the same AAA-console level, the originality alone brings life to the player.

(TLDR close to end)

Just finished Tomb Raider I on this remaster and played through Lara's Home on TR2, so yes I still haven't played TR2 and TR3 on this remaster.

But as a player of the original games back in the day, I can tell what this is. It's very faithful to the originals, making it a preservation dream, since now it now features crisp textures, improved lighting and resolutions and framerates as far as you can imagine.

True to the originals, this is about the level design and traversing through the levels with a mix of jumping/navigation skills and spacial awareness, occasionally with some enemies along the way.

I played with the original tank controls from the original 90's releases. Nowadays, they feel completely backwards, but the truth is all the games were originally designed with that in mind - you cannot really enjoy these without taking into account the time period.

That said, of course it's sad the modern controls are giving many people grief from what I can see online, but I really don't see a way they could have made it better. These games originally are like a 3D version of the original Prince of Persia in DOS - the controls are tightly knit into the "grid" design of the game and if you just put the modern fine-tuned and very flexible 3D controls into it, all the level design just feels boring.

Also, this is a time where the production values are nowhere near what we see nowadays. The game is so quiet and the cutscenes so non-detailed (compared to what we see usually today) it's so interesting how much stuff a player made in their own mind to fill all that whilst playing.

With all these honest "cons" for it, I cannot but feel reunited with the feeling of true exploration and being immersed in these locales, just as I did originally. Usually it's very quiet and you are focused on the minute actions you need to do the platforming and being quick on the reactions when enemies pop-up. And if, like originally, you let your mind fill the "make belief" on locations you are on - the ancient Greece one tickled my fancy - it's no wonder you can understand the allure of the original games.

It can also be an exercise in delving through the history of gaming, and I wholeheartedly encourage people to find and watch the many documentaries about the original franchise on YT and the likes, and then play the actual thing presented here with modern accouterments. Just going from TR1 to TR2 and then TR3, the jumps in features are obvious and very interesting in what games can make available to players.

So, TLDR:
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if you are far removed from this era, I fear it's going to be hard to get into the mindspace of the level design for these games, no matter how nice the graphics and performance are improved - since they are very tied to the original tank controls. If you are an existing fan or if you've lived through the era and never played the originals, this is the perfect release for an historical expedition. BTW as an experienced player (this is like my 4th TR2 playthrough, I think) this is now my favourite podcast game

PS: I hope that people buying this signals and enables a new modern entry in the series. The "newer" Tomb Raider trilogy (started in 2013) is impressive and imho totally deserves continuation. And amidst the Embracer group woes, I truly fear the franchise is in series risk of being lost, never for the likes of an intrepid adventurer such as Lara to unearth it ever again :(

I recommend this game, but with a few considerations before hand, let me explain.

TLDR:
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Not the deepest combat system you've seen (but still nice) and some technical limitations with the engine, but the enjoyable combat, environments and different characters makes it worthwhile. More enjoyment is to be felt if you like anime and in particular if you're familiar with the "Fate" series.
Very decent and easy to enjoy title in the series.

More depth:
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First of all, you probably need to enjoy anime. Second, I truly feel you need to have watched something (anime, manga, videogame) concerning the "Fate" series beforehand. I'm only an explorer of it on and off, I can feel it goes way deep, you don't need to know all that was made before, but if you come into this without any clue this will probably feel confusing. Just watch one anime in the series and - especially Fate/Stay Night - and you'll be fine.

Very basically and without spoilers, it goes something like this: periodically on Earth the "holy grail" appears - where different "Masters" (magically attuned real-world people) are paired with Servants (embodiments of historic heroic figures) to have a mega duel to the death where last Master standing is granted one wish that will actually come true do to the mystical powers of the "Holy Grail". Different Masters come from different backgrounds and have their own personal interests and you'll find all this along the journey.

This time, it happens in Tokyo closely after the Sengoku Jidai era as the "Waxing Moon Ritual" and your main character is one the Masters that gets all this thrown on his lap involuntarily.

The gameplay is not the most deep you'll find out there, but if you're OK with that you'll get an enjoyable action packed experience that is not simply a "button masher", it has some depth, but it's not the most complex either. You have some different stances and can make combos of N light attacks finished by a heavy attack. There's no parry, there is a dodge - which if you time perfectly you can do a riposte leaving enemies staggered. Then, you have some magical attacks. The different stances focus on different types of combos so you'll be switching it up on the fly.

Also, you can take control of your Servant and allied Servants making use of their character for a limited time - which is very powerful and fun as they have their unique combos. As you control the main character you can also do a "pair move" with your servant that is very impactful. Both of these are on a sort of "cooldown" gauges that fill up as you do your attacks with the main character.

It's more "reigned in" compared to the typical "Samurai Warriors" style of combat, but still not as "personal" or "engaged" as something like a From Software game or "For Honor".

If these caveats are OK with you I feel you will get a good experience with this. Currently I'm about 24h in (which is quite a lot for a gamer who has a full time job) and I feel things are going at a nice pace: I wish it could be faster but also I'm enjoying the combat.

Other than that, the story leans a lot on some anime tropes, but all the characters (including Masters and Servants) have their own personality traits, motivations and backstories, and things move along at a good pace: not too fast, not too slow - with varied and unique combat encounters along the way.

Visually it's barely above a PS3 gen game, but different times of day and more modern coloring and lightning makes it fun to go along the different Japanese environments.

The graphics engine unfortunately does not support VRR (freesync, g-sync) or upscaling (DLSS, FSR) and it doesn't seem to handle refresh rates other than 60Hz or 120Hz well. If you try to set a framerate cap different than that you will get poor frame pacing, which is immediately apparent by just turning the camera with a controller. To get around this, in my case I set my monitor refresh rate to 120Hz and a framerate cap of 120 FPS (since my GPU can 99% handle that FPS) and only by doing this I could get the fluidity you'd expect of a locked frame rate with smooth frame pacing at that refresh rate.

If you're going for 120 FPS there's a multitude of graphics settings you can lower in order to achieve that. Of course going for locked 60 FPS is probably much easier for many GPUs (i have an RTX 3080 Ti, playing at 1440p)

TDLR:
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In the end, this game is about realizing an immersive and personal experience depicting an epic, emotional and harrowing journey. The mental health issues are depicted beautifully, interwoven seamlessly with the graphics and audio presentation in a way that I think is truly unique and impactful and engrossing to the player.

The only gripes one can have with this game is if you have no patience for slower, pensive, segments of gameplay, or you absolutely need an open-world, tons of loot, gear, etc etc.

No: this is the journey of Senua, an 8h game, quality over quantity, but rewarding to the max in terms of a well crafted, unique, experience at any dimension you can thing of.

Highly recommended and cannot wait for the next game - Hellblade: Senua's Saga.


Detailed review:
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What an amazing, emotional and harrowing experience this game is.

Without spoiling the setup and story, the game is deeply rooted in Norse Mythology, you play as Senua, a warrior from the northern british isles who is trying to cross into Norse hel to reclaim the soul of her lover.

The thing is, apparently all her life she has "seen" and herd things differently than everyone: some sort of "seer" powers or was it actually mental health issues? This aspect is beautifull represented in the game, particularly where she constantly hears voices in her head, which can be helpful in the combat encounters, but their constant prattle amongst themselves not only make you wonder what is actually the truth and what is going on, also makes you wonder their motive, etc. Another great thing is the visual effects depicting illusions (or delusions?), visualizations of fears, dreams, etc, in a gorgeous way.

And that's not all, the game uses this kind of thing to constantly explore fears people may have in their minds, like fear of fire, of darkness, fear of doubting yourself, etc, etc, and during many points of the whole game this works as imersive and intense as the best horror game or movie you've experienced, thought it's not exactly the main focus of it.

Gameplay wise, it's mainly a 3rd person action game, but the combat system is more simplified than many other games: it's slower paced than like GoW, for instance, there's no HUD, no skill trees, no gear, etc - just you and your sword. You have light and heavy attacks, dodge and block/parry, and you have to use them well for the different enemy types: which there are like under 10 different types.

This may seem simple in theory, but it actually provides for very engrossing, intimate and tense combat situations - which is helped by the very good character and enemy animations which make you feel each blow and parry and kill. And when things get hard you feel the tension and the need to really perform so you don't get killed.

Apart from the regular enemies there are also 4 or 5 boss fights that are quite spectacular and epic.

The other part of the gameplay consists of traversing the environment and also solving some puzzles. This is the slower part of the game, and you'll have some long stretches of walking and figuring the puzzles which is where the whole "voices in your head" truly shines making it not boring but always pensieve and giving you glimples of lore and storytelling for you to work out in your head.

During the game you will uncover bits of pieces from her life that will paint the full picture in such a cinematic, poetic way. The games uses lots of moments where they mix in-engine 3D rendering with live action performance in such an engaging and visually striking way. It's hard to write about, best experienced. And all the performances from the actors are spectacular, no wonder in particular Melina Jurguens (main character) won the award for best performance in 2017.

Then, although the game was originally released in 2017, it has received an enhanced upgrade in 2021 and now features higher graphics fidelity options, RayTracing and DLSS. It looks absolutely gorgeous with everything set on high (including RT) on my 3080 Ti at 1440p around 100fps with DLSS quality. It rivals graphics from current games, honestly, and enhances the norse mythology and "mental" / supernatural elements.

Gorgeous, wonderful game, akin to Journey & Gris.

You play a boy coming out of a desert and climbing up a rock formation that feels like an endless natural tower. At the start you don't know what's going on and slowly you find out what happened to the place by the places you discover and the little writings left behind. You also get an inkling of your role in all of it, all the way to the emotional ending.

The visuals look outstanding: at first glance you may notice the "lack of textures" (compared to many a AAA game), but global illumination sets it apart and the insanely high draw distance provides a true sense of scale that lots of times you don't get from games.

The climbing mechanics and physics involved - the main game play element - are really well done, together with the controls. I pretty much know nothing about climbing but looking at the holds in the walls you totally feel like intuitively you know where you want to put your hands one by one and progress. Also, you can rappel up and down and wall run to make some pretty cool traversal. All this acts as a bit of puzzle sections, ever changing and with just the right length and challenge. It gets pretty immersive going through the game and even relaxing just climbing and listening to the ambient sounds like the wind and rocks moving and birds, etc.

Then, the minimalist music is also quite nice and lends to the experience with just the right amount of presence in the right moments.

By the end the game provides an excellent experience, an emotional emergent story that you discover on your own, and with just the right pacing. I wouldn't say no to like 1 more hour of game length, but then again I missed some of the collectibles, so that's probably it.

Don't Nod have made many a memorable experience for me in their past games, this one is up there with all the others, an in such an original game, no less. I highly recommend it to pretty much about anyone, unless you absolutely need frenetic action at all times in your games.

PS: Really, the climbing mechanics are so good I can easily this template as a possibility for spin-offs or incorporation into other games for more climbing. I'm a big fan of the Tomb Raider series, for instance, and bolstering the climbing sections with stuff like this would be a dream.

I was born in 1984 and have always enjoyed gameplay focused games. But you know what, in the last years, I've also enjoyed these kind of story-driven, choice-driven games, more akin to FMV games, like I remember the original "Night Trap" was. I think it started with the first Telltale "The Walking Dead Game". Anyway, I've tried a few of these for their lower price and promise that you can have a good experience in fewer hours than those increasingly grindy AAA games I supposedly love so much but keep finding I have less and less time for. All told, this one doesn't disappoint.

Yes, you can argue it's short, yes you can argue the footage could have been higher quality, like 4K crisper quality, but you know what? The premise is nice, the tension is there, the main characters magic is there (not telling anything specific for spoiler protection), so in the end, after 3 play sessions I find it very enjoyable even if some stuff could be better - especially on replaying, it would be nice to be able to get to a certain point instead of going all the way back to the beginning.

Still, this was very enjoyable as it is gripping and tense. For an FMV choice based game, can you really ask for more than for it to be engaging and keep you interested? I don't know you can in the face of so many other stuff on movies and TV that is just "droll, all that AGAIN!" that you've seen before. Sure, this feels like somewhat of a budget production, but it punches above its weight and the dynamic between the main characters together with the London "high stakes heist" made it very enjoyable to me - so I recommend it.

Feels like these are people trying to make something out of the movie business and learning in the process but they manage quite an engaging enjoyable project here, totally worth my time. In fact, I still could not manage my desired ending, so I'm going again for I REALLY WANT both main characters to have the perfect ending! (any movie that makes me care so much for the characters means it's good, right?) :)

Summary: very good chemistry between the main characters, made me totally feel like I was out for the mos insane journey, felt like I was less than half percentage smart as they were, stll very enjoyable.

Just finished it so this is a hot take, but, this is clearly the best game in this series so far. Supermassive has improved in every aspect along the series. Man of Medan I felt was nice particularly because it was scary and mysterious, Little Hope was probably a little smaller in scale but very interesting, and now with House of Ashes, the scale is just so impressively blown away (scope and characters), and the controls took a huge bump in playability (still a little clunky here and there), this was just epic over and over again.

The setting and characters are great and original: end of 2003 war of Iraq where the US are looking for WMD, but melded with ancient history and also some other stuff later on that I can't spoil. Took about 7h on my first playthrough so this is probably the longest and deepest in the series - and the rewards are well worth it.

Let's get down to some facts: it's very impressive graphically and also with all the character facial animations. The game plays as a mix of characters interacting with each other while going along the "story", and the player has a lot of choices to make either in the QTE and combat sections or the "dramatic" character interaction sections - all of which can veer the outcome/success of the endeavour. It's true that sometimes the controls are a bit clunky, but overall they've improved along the series. But this setting melding the recent history elements and the old history elements (and something more), is just so original, and they keep it engaging and fresh hour after hour... - this was an amazing experience.

Also, the game looks stunning in all the locations it presents, which lends a lot to the feeling that you're living trough an excellent movie, only longer. The graphics, the lighting, even the character movement animations - like when I'm controlling Jason I feel like a f*** marine. Also, they way some interactions play out between Jason and Salim packs a huge punch emotionally, for me.

Honestly, Supermassive outdid themselves with this one. Original setting, excellent graphics and character performance, interesting story and progression of events, Interactions between characters that bring them to live even when they are the most cliché and prosaic, constant "on the tip of your seat" tension - all this while melding in the "historic" setting and something more I can't spoil - man, one of the most solid and tight experiences I had in gaming (7h first playthrough - bang for the buck through the max).

Only criticism or "cons" you can level at this kind of game is that the gameplay basically relies on QTEs. If you absolutely hate them, I can understand not being able to overcome that. But if you're anything from tolerant to better than that you'll have a blast with this I'm sure.

PS: also, all this for a fraction of a full-priced release, even with no discount - 30 usd/eur for a super excellent and impactful experience rather than a 70 usd/eur release with bloated gameplay that after like 100h of game time only leads to boredom and frustration? I'm in for House of Ashes - excellent quality, excellent price, solid game play time that doesn't outstay it's welcome, quite the contrary. I'm truly impressed with this tile. @Supermassive: well done, keep it coming, you captivated me with "Until Dawn" and kept my interested game after game.

Just adding my own experience of the game at launch - from a technical perspective and focusing on the port.


I'm running a Ryzen 7 3700X and a 2080 Super, 16 GB DDR4 3800MHz, FCLK = 1900MHz - with a 144Hz 1440p monitor.

The game does not have an in-game FPS cap and it is true that the game "speeds up" above 60 FPS - the animations on menus and character and enemy movement is increased over 60 FPS. Given this, It is baffling that there is no 60 FPS cap within the game menu, but if you have other ways to limit the framerate (I use the Nvidia Control Panel) this problem is fixed.

At 1440p max settings and locking to 60 FPS I get around 15% CPU utilization and 40% GPU utilization maximum, even with lots of action in the first boss (past the initial tutorial). Everything runs fine, game feels smooth, framepacing feels good. So, the game doesn't feel heavy or poorly optimized at all, in fact "out of the box" it feels better than NieR Automata.
There's a "performance mode" toggle in the settings, which purportedly lowers the in-game resolution to keep FPS high in taxing portions of the game - I haven't tested nor needed that.

Btw, toggling the AA on or off I don't see a difference, maybe that setting isn't working, but the aliasing is not bad.

The game does not support my PS4 controller (which I connect via bluetooth) natively, but enabling PS4 controller support on the Steam settings makes it so the controller works - though you get xbox button prompts. (you can also use other 3rd party solutions, like Input Mapper [beta.inputmapper.com]).

I've seen comments about how you can't get the mouse cursor away from the center of the screen. In my experience (playing with the PS4 controller), the cursor only pops up in the center of the screen if I use the keyboard, and the game then switches to KB+M input. But then if you click the controller again it switches back to controller input and then you can move the mouse cursor to the side. So, for people using controllers (which in a game of this kind, designed for it, I guess that's the sensible way to go), I don't think you will have a problem.

TLDR: To the general person, I cannot recommend this game. Even though this remaster is very well done with beautiful graphics, high framerates and resolutions and somewhat modernized controls, the interface, controls and inventory system are still clunky and awkward which means that playing this to the end is more of a slog of an experience: trying to cope with awkward camera angles and the inventory system, rather than enjoying the horror, story, iconic locations and characters. There are multiple newer horror games on Steam that provide a good experience without the awkwardness – including Resident Evil 2 Remake and 3 Remake which I think are much more accessible ways to get that original Resident Evil feel but with modern 3rd person shooter controls.

Conclusion: This Resident Evil Zero Remaster is an excellent effort in bringing the original to the modern age though I fear it is only interesting to existing fans and people really wanting to check this historic franchise – just be aware you’ll have to be very tolerant to awkward controls and very patient with frustrating inventory management.

More detail:
I was born in '84 and was around when these games originally came out, with the original tank controls and all that. And this remaster is very well done preserving the original but modernizing graphics and the controls somewhat (free move with the analogue sticks).

However, all this can't make go away the fact that the controls and interface are still awkward and frustrating, and the overall design is just antiquated. You will spend lots of time going back and forth carrying items, weapons and ammo due to the limited inventory. I understand the limited inventory is a way to heighten the dread, but when you open a door and suddenly face a tough enemy or a boss and you don’t have everything with you because you’re saving slots because you may run into a key, a card or something like that, and end up dying, it’s more frustrating and tedious to repeat that section… Also, of course the fixed camera angles makes it so that sometimes you can’t even see what the enemies are, making combat not a very enjoyable affair.
It’s a pity, because I feel the background story is interesting and the different locations very iconic as well. Also you can separate the two main characters which is necessary to complete some puzzles – there are sections where story events even force that – which I found make it a nice twist (though if you get caught with the wrong equipment you might have to reload to a previous save).