บทวิจารณ์ล่าสุดโดย Cinetyk

Truly an incredible game.

Probably I'm not even halfway through (is my feeling, I'm not even sure), but the sheer amount of intriguing writing and mechanics on display here is nothing short of staggering. At first glance it plays like a "simple" point and click adventure detective, but it's actually the deepest RPG game you've experienced, only the RPG elements are for the whole spectrum of human knowledge and feelings, and you handle them in all the choices - including talking to yourself from many perspectives.

It also tugs at every little element of human cultural, societal, political, philosophical, historical happenings from the last 100+ years. Truly, I'm from Portugal, but I feel all the french hints and MULTIPLE hints of contacts throughout the European graphical and historical neighboring...

I thought the sheer depth at display here could only be achieved in multiple masterpiece novels/books from accumulated centuries past of human learning - I guess them "petty" videogames proved it all wrong yet again :)

PS/EDIT: put in lots more hours, the stuff just keeps getting more and more interesting. Sure, you could argue it's relatively "slow" paced, but the depth on display here rewards you for your time. I've been repeatedly impressed by the various "inner monologue" monologue moments the game has where your character's "aspects" argue with one another concerning stuff you're experience then and there in the game. It's really cool and deep.

It's hard for me not to recommend this, but I truly have to join in with the so many other reviews out there, if I'm being rational and honest - please read me out on why and how you can still enjoy this game.

For context, I played the original Homeworld and Homeworld 2 close to release in the late 90s early 00s and they blew me away then. The very realistic 3D space environments, the absolutely emotional and intense survival story mixing elements of sci-fi and mystery, the novelty that it was having your fleet carry over from mission to mission giving you a true feeling of taking care of your people and fleet... (in retrospect, that was kind of army-scale of XCOM feeling?)

Lots of that is still carried over here, but I fear it doesn't hit as big as then. The new characters are story don't feel as honest and impactful, and some of the new developments in gameplay, namely the "cover" aspects, aren't allowed to be as impactful as I would hope - just keep your squad compositions in good proportions and you'll do fine, kind of thing.

If you are a fan of the OGs, like me, it's still worthwhile to play this game, you'll get some of the feeling and some good nostalgia. It's still awesome to witness the majestic and precious aspect of the Mothership together with the aspect sthat you need to manage your capital ships and fighters smartly.

One other thing for me is: I don't care that much about the war games and PVP battles modes to keep me engaged in them. Homeworld has always truly been for me as that awesome heartfelt and tense campaign where you were trying to lead your people through impossible odds in the vastness of space. You have some of that here, but it doesn't feel as deeply explored as in the past.

So I'm left with the sad situation where it's not really my jam to enjoy the sandbox and PVP modes - it's ok, but it doesn't tap into what the full potential of a Homeworld campaign reached for the stars, in my view, back in the day. I wonder if lots of dev time was spent there rather than on the campaign... I am old, I favour the campaign stuff, but would these new "war games" or PVP modes ever stand a chance in today's competitive world?

I hope this is not the end of the franchise, that would kill me, but I have to be rational and honest with fellow people here: this feels a little short. But at the same time, I really hope the franchise continues. This was one the most difficult reviews for me to write over the years.

Again, Homeworld has been very special for me, and even Deserts of Kharak no matter how different it was, iot kept the feeling and was interesting. I feel like this franchise has lots going for it and many possibilities for creators to delve into the vastness of space and find that true feeling that binds us together.

Don't dismiss this game since you can enjoy it after the remasters and hopefully in few years time we can all be enjoying the next installment together.

My advice for future projects around this space: make a game feel like kind of 4X space stuff but feels like your individual people matter like in an XCOM game, and impactul personal story stuff - also with some of the best tactics stuff allowed between the genre - you'll have a winner that people enjoy. Possibly too tall an order? Am I dreaming? I'm just a customer, you're suppose to show me and make me go "TAKE ALL MY MONEY!" ;)

I've been playing WRC games for like 15+ years. More "recently", with Dirt Rally (1.0) and also Dirt 3 I made the switch to playing with a controller, before I was 100% keyboard since it was all I got. Then Dirt Rally 2.0 got around and rightfully was lauded as the best Rally experience at the time.

This game is pretty damn good when you're thinking about having the feeling of the car on all the different stages. WRC 9 I felt was already very good, this one is basically that but makes improvements across the board in all aspects. I truly appreciate the different locations around the world, the climate and weather and the difference between clear and rainy weather on the stages.

This is really saying something on the different locations, the road characteristics are so detailed between rallies, it's very good. You'd think "gravel" rallies or "tarmac" rallies would be very close in feeling but they're actually not - gravel in Portugal is different than in Greece or Italy, and Spain and Italy feel so different too.

Truly, going out on a stage, particularly the LONGER ones, like 14 Km+ (some even 22!) is truly spectacular and a test to your ability to stay focused in high intensity for like 8+ minutes. I cannot forget going over some stages in Argentina where every second of like a 10 minute stage felt truly life or death. By the end I wasn't caring about my time, I was caring that the car and the tyres were reasonably alive - and this is my with my controller, I can't even begin to describe how people with full wheel and pedal setups feel like. But I can feel all the car handling on my controller, up to the point where just tweaking the balance on the throttle between front and back axis or the ride height or the compression on the springs feels different and meaningful.

The only thing I can criticize in this game is that you can feel that they didn't have the time to polish 100% of it, like in the career aspect there's activities like training and crew build that are not very developed. Also managing your team composition and fatigue is not that deep. Still, actually playing the rallies with the different weather conditions: this is what really is about - and they nailed it there. Also, playing long rally events where you need to consider your tyre choice and health, taking into account the weather forecasts, and managing car your car health and service times, that's well done, I can feel the tension there, it's not just the one stage.

In conclusion: this is truly rally, even if at times you could wish for even more. Some aspects could be polished more but this is also a very niche game: how many customers are really out there living it for the realest rally experience? One or two particular stages in my career felt like it was the death test for me - and I passed it, my car and tyres survived with just minimal damage - in retrospect that felt amazing. Then you have all the bonus experiences where you got so many DLC cars from the 70s, 80s, 90s up to present day. The cars do feel different and you can lose yourself on those stages in a particular car. I'm just a generalist enjoyer - rally always felt like the best way to bring your car around, in any car, any surface.

Different surfaces as well. Do you think you like Monte Carlo, it's pretty iconic! but then you're facing snow patches on your limited tyre allotment and you feel the death driver all over again. THIS GAME HAS THAT on multiple stages on different locales.

Sometimes I just do a quick solo stand on my many different options on the quick solo stages since I bought them. 80s, 90s, 00s so many different cars - it's awesome. Eff, if I am ever going to master any OF IT. But this game has all the depth you could wish for, I feel. It's been years since Dirt Rally 2.0, but I feel all the improvements on my skin here. Even if I know they don't have the full polish time of a major publisher. It's truly sad about that. always like like money people don't have a clue about what life feels and you keep wishing these awesome dev people keep beeing there for you like your co-pilot in Argentina did on that stage where you were feeling you were going to die, but you didn't, you brought the car around, because of his pacenotes reading and your skill - EFF YEAH!

TLDR: actually best WRC game over my years of WRC games even if it's not 100% perfect. It's sad this genre is a niche money doesn't flow as much to the devs as I could wish for.I can see losing my life over this game, IF ONLY I HAD THE TIME!

I've loved it. I feel I've lived rally. All the different stages and conditions? Truly life experience stuff to be had here. I'm glad to be alive and writing this. CHEERS!

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 :)

EDIT: just finished the game... WHAT A JOURNEY!! Up to act 3, it was already amazing, it kept getting better and better, but then in act 3 the sheer quality of the encounters and all the interactions with characters and also the consequences and pay offs of every relationships and decisions you've made prior...

This was truly not a game, this a world I lived in. I'm 40y old, been gaming since I was about 5y old, this probably will be regarded one of the best videogames ever for decades on end.

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.