Recent reviews by Mayonnaise!

The industry standard must have hit an all-time low for this game to be sitting at “Overwhelmingly Positive.”

To me, this is yet another example of Capcom’s ongoing identity crisis when it comes to storytelling, game design, and artistic direction as a whole.

It feels like the studio has been recycling its 20+ year-old franchises for decades now, relying almost entirely on them for success (aside from technical achievements like the RE Engine). But when it comes to creating something truly fresh or original, they seem unable to move forward without leaning on nostalgia bait or stretching a franchise for as long as it remains profitable.

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Hype over substance

We’re living in a clickbait, TikTok-driven era where content is judged less on depth and more on hype — and RE9 is a perfect example of that formula. Even before release, the marketing machine was already in full motion, largely driven by content creators. Many made it seem like we were about to witness the game of the decade. Reaction videos flooded social media for months, especially around Leon, while Grace was barely highlighted.

“We’re back in Raccoon City? We’re so back.”
“Porsche & Hamilton collab? So much aura.”
“Leon kicking the ♥♥♥♥ out of zombies? I can’t wait.”

And just like that, the hype built itself.

Result: : fastest-selling Resident Evil title in history, over 350k concurrent players on PC at launch, and 6 million copies sold within a week. The shareholders must be thrilled. But longtime fans? They paid $70 for roughly 9 hours of gameplay. Sadly, the FOV slider wasn’t even included in the deluxe edition — might have to wait for a DLC. s/

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Safe, scripted, recycled

The game takes no risks. Capcom is playing it as safe as possible. It’s overly scripted, constantly holds your hand, and once again falls back on the same formula: narrow corridors, puzzle backtracking (“oh no, the power is out again”), and of course the usual stalker-type enemies.

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Grace arc — good idea, bad execution

Ironically, despite being almost absent from the promotional material, Grace ends up carrying the first half of the game pretty much on her own. But that doesn’t necessarily make her section enjoyable.

The voice acting is decent, but the constant stuttering feels overdone and immersion-breaking (“W-w-w-what t-t-the hell is happening?”). The game director mentioned he wanted players to be scared during her sequences, and that Grace was designed to reflect us, the player. Because she isn’t special, she isn’t trained in combat or gunfights — she’s just a random person, just like most of us (though she's FBI).
She is supposed to mirror our real-time emotions, but in reality, the devs end up taking away the freedom of feeling fear by forcing you into what is supposed to be scary and how you should react. It feels like the game is trying to be a movie rather than an actual game.

As a result, Grace comes off as this clumsy character who constantly panics, stumbles, and falls during chase sequences.
I’m not gonna lie — when I fell twice in the span of 4 seconds while running away from "The Girl" trying to reach the safe room, I just alt-F4’d the game on my first playthrough and went to sleep.

Level design doesn’t help either. The care center feels like a reused and glorified RPD: a big reception hall as a safe hub, with side corridors leading to key items needed to progress. Doesn’t ring a bell? Because that’s basically the RE2R layout.

Lastly, Emily. At first, I thought she would be a key player in this new storyline, tying the plot together as the mysteries unraveled. But to my disappointment, she was nothing more than a vessel for dramatic and emotional impact to deepen Grace’s character. After her “death,” the cracks really started to show.

Honestly, this feels like the point where Capcom abandoned their original idea for RE9. Grace and Victor weren’t enough to sell the game, so they brought Leon and Raccoon City back (just my theory). The whole post-apocalyptic Raccoon City honestly feels like it came from a canceled project that got repurposed here. And remember, this game was in development for 7 years.

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Leon arc — mixed bag at best

As much as I like Nick Apostolides as our new "Leon", his performance here just doesn’t hit. He lowers his voice way too much, to the point where it sounds forced — like a Discord mod trying too hard to sound cool. Capcom wants him ultra serious, but also forces him to drop cringe one-liners every 5 minutes because people need their new “bingo” quotes.

His early scenes — chasing Victor, meeting Grace — are actually great. He feels mature, grounded, professional. But once the “I’m not on the menu” type lines start, it’s over. From that point on, it’s constant one-liners until the credits roll.

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Marketing gimmicks… that go nowhere

You can’t even drive the Porsche. The Hamilton watch? Barely used outside of a single scene. It could have been a great way to display health or interact with the world. Or wouldn’t it have been cool if we actually had to drive our way to Raccoon City?
Instead, it’s just branding. Zero gameplay impact.

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Raccoon City — empty in the worst way

Once we arrive in Raccoon City, it feels… empty. As it should — but also empty from a game design perspective. There is no ambience, no real soundtrack, no memorable audio or SFX. The buildings, colors, and lighting are bleak, but they don’t deliver that emotional “we’re back where it all started” feeling. Leon’s voice delivery doesn’t help either — it just adds to the already sterile environment

Enemy variety is a joke. Whereas the care center staff each had their own personality, textures, and behavior, in Raccoon City we literally have two enemy types (three if you count the spider): dust zombies and BSAA zombies (plus the chainsaw guy, I guess).

Cherry on top : the BSAA soldiers all have the exact same face and hair. Every single one. In 2026.
That’s not artistic choice Capcom — that’s asset reuse.

After collecting the detonator parts (which was already a chore), you suddenly get a motorbike section, infinite ammo, wolves chasing you, and you’re shooting Victor Gideon in the ass. RE: Vendetta called, they want their plot back.
I thought we were in a grounded, emotional story. Guess not.

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Villains and plot — completely lost

It’s official — Capcom cannot make villains anymore. And that's concerning for the future titles.
Not only do they jeopardize already existing ones (Salazar and Saddler in RE4 Remake, Spencer…), they also clearly can’t come up with any decent replacement for Wesker since RE5 — hence Zeno. Zeno is the perfect example of Capcom’s inability to create anything unique without reusing what made their franchises successful in the first place. And the worst part is: we know just as little about Zeno at the end of the game as we did when he was first introduced. By the time the credits roll, nothing meaningful has been revealed or developed about him.

Victor Gideon actually had potential, but gets sidelined for this deus ex machina character. His voice actor is probably the best in the game too, which makes it even worse.

As for the plot… what happened?

Emily not being dead feels like a last-minute asspull. The Elpis storyline had real potential (government conspiracy, erased evidence, cure for bioweapons), but it goes nowhere.

And where are the OG characters? Claire, Jill, Ada, Carlos… nobody shows up or even matters.

It could have led to something interesting — like the original cast going rogue with the cure.

Instead, Leon just hands it over… and that’s it.

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TL;DR

Nostalgia bait, hype-driven game that plays it safe, reuses old ideas, and delivers a short, forgettable experience. At least in runs well, and looks decent.

Wait for a discount.

One of the best purchase you can get yourself on Steam.
Skyrim, Helldivers 2, Warhammer 3, World of Warcraft... finally I can play all these games with a high refresh rate with little to no downsides.
It even allows me to play Monster Hunter Wilds at a better framerate than native frame gen, and I have a 4080.

A case study should be made about Arrowhead and Helldivers 2, as the most blatant self sabotage in the video game history.

Literally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Signs of incompetence were starting to show after the first major patch, but it kept going downhill ever since to the point you start to question the mental sanity of the people in charge in AH, because no rational human being would be trying actively to destroy its own playerbase/game like this.

It was all too perfect. An indie studio, good price tag, next gen gameplay, no invasive monetary practices...The game that was supposed to show the example in the industry and prioritize fun to microtransactions is now the laughing stock of the neighborhood and achieved the opposite goal through sheer (in)voluntary incompetence.

It almost feels as if a whole different team was developing HD2 for 8 years and then left it to be managed by absolute incompetent and sadistic clowns after release. Cherry on top, the outrageous PR from the community managers with pilestedt as the CEO leading the charge with his 'game vision'.

This game vision of his, mind you, consists of nerfing anything that has a higher pick rate of 30% in their excel sheets, all the while half of the players are crashing to desktop, can't finish missions due to game breaking bugs and have lost about 40% of the FPS compared to launch with no reason. But worry not, the game is now harder, and you WILL like it.

You want a transmog system? Tsk tsk, no no son, doesn't fit AH's game vision of realism (aka they have no idea how to code it because it will break their spaghetti code even more to the point of no return).
Half of the stratagems and weapons are utterly useless and enemies are getting buffed each patch? We heard you divers, we are nerfing the last viable guns to put everything on par with the rest of the F-tier options.

Words cannot express how much this studio is out of touch with reality, and the so called big Escalation of Freedom update just confirmed that this game has no positive future for at least a good year from now (Aug 2024).

For those who didn't buy the game yet, keep your money for something like Deep Rock Galactic instead.

Tldr: Incompetence

Couldn't bring myself to finish the game, and that really says something.
I initially played the Shadow of the Tomb Raider first, which wasn't that amazing but I still had a good time, and I loved the Mayan archaeologist vibe it tried to sell. I remember reading many comments stating how Rise was a better game if not the best in the trilogy, so I said to myself yah let's give it a try, it might be fun.
Man I don't even know where to start.

Never have I ever played a game that is so limiting in terms of gameplay and so shallow in terms of creativity.

You cannot do anything on your own unless the game specifically allowed you to do so. You want to sneak? No, you will sneak only in specific moments randomly when the scenario has decided you will be sneaky. You want to do smart parkour to gain time? No, you will have to grab every single ledge that is painted in white for you, in the specific order the devs coded it, otherwise you will fall, die and will have to repeat the sequence. You want to loot post battle? No, in comes the forced cinematic that you didn't even trigger that will sometimes even teleport you out to another zone. You want to solve different puzzles by thinking of a solution on your own? No, you will have to listen to Lara give you hints every 2 seconds.
You want to explore the cave in your current zone? No, the entry is blocked and you will have to come back 5h later after you have acquired the right equipment (not by exploring, but by advancing in the main quest), only to find a couple of mushrooms and some other useless collectibles.

Really Square Enix?

Lastly, the story is lackluster to say the least, and the characters have questionable behaviors/actions. Lara is looking for an artifact that should grant immortality, but I don't really see why she would need it because she's already been gifted with eternal life thanks to the plot armor of Square Enix. Every single cutscene or action sequence puts Lara through multiple lethal falls/injuries to the point it's actually laughable. After a few seconds of loud gasping and coughing, Lara is back on track and is ready to take on an armored chopper with her bow. Sequences like these break any sense of immersion that would make us care about the character.
The whole Siberian mountains/post Sovietic gulags setting feels kinda off with Lara Croft, would much rather fit a franchise like Far Cry. The map is composed of empty snowy areas full of random ziplines, structures, placed very conveniently for your traversal.

If this game has any positive reviews whatsoever it's mainly because of the graphics and artistic direction which I have to admit is pretty good. Performance is excellent as well, it needs to be said, though I was playing on a 2020 hardware for a game that came out in 2016.


Rise of the Tomb Raider is just not worth anyone's time. The game treats you like an idiot from the start to the very end, and there is nothing you can do about it.

*PLAYED DURING FREE WEEKEND*

A refreshing game with unique elements for sure, but surprisingly falls short on content real quick.

Once you've played a few hours in solo, you have basically discovered all the game has to offer, and that is where the flaws start to become more obvious.
The AI is either dumb or overpowered, the mechanics are shallow at best (no real diplomacy, strategy dependent on RNG and limited combat).

As someone else said, Northgard plays more like a very casual mobile game. You play for an hour, you either win or lose and then you close it.

Shame.

After roughly 80h of Valheim, I can definitely say I do recommend this game. It's worth its current price tag and has its unique charm that many people couldn't find in other similar survival games.
I think there is no need at this point to list the positive aspects, that is why I'd like to point out a few things that made the game a bit tedious for me and my friends towards the mid-late game; points that I think should be discussed a bit more as the game is still in early access.

Stamina and Carry-weight : although there are direct ways of upgrading both as you progress throughout the game, I think they remain just too frustrating even at the late game stage. Unless you are level 100 in every combat skill and running, you will almost always be out of stamina even in meaningless combat against greydwarves. Everything costs stamina, and bad weather will make sure to even make things worse (You are Wet, You are Cold).
The game allows you to purchase a belt that increases the max weight you can transport in your inventory, but there is nothing else to INCREASE the number of slots of your inventory. So not only armor and weapons don't have their separate interface (they take up space in your pouch), there are also a lot more objects you will have to carry with you from the mid game to be able to play (potions, torchlight, tools etc.). There is a serious need of introducing a backpack or at least make the armor and weapons have a different UI system.

The game lacks automation: You will get familiar with the crafting and building system quite easily. Building your first base/village is really fun and gives many opportunities for unique creations. As you progress in the biomes and boss hunting, you will discover new kinds of metal and recipes to upgrade your base, and therefore upgrade your gear. A few buildings and structures like the smelter or the windmill will give you valuable resources, HOWEVER , the process of fabrication and the time spent on the labor DO NOT IMPROVE over time in the game. You will have to repeat the same tedious chores for the same amount time whether you are in early, mid or late game. I enjoyed the manual work at first, but after the 200th ingot of iron, I wish there was something or someone who could do this work while I am away exploring or doing other meaningful things. Maybe a villager system? Or some kind of machinery that could do multiple tasks in a smaller time-frame? Let me have an enhanced furnace where I can either put 100 ores for melting, or a furnace that gives me 2x more ingots. The current enhanced furnace only allows you to melt black metal .

The Loot & Exploration : It's a shame a game rich with mythology doesn't have much to offer in terms of unique items or even items customization (except shields). Bosses do not have any special loot drops, as any other monster characters in the game. Once you have unlocked the crafting recipes, you know exactly what weapons or gear awaits you, how it's gonna look and what the stats are going to be. This indirectly impacts the exploration. The world is too big for what the current game has to offer, and is generated gradually and randomly just like Minecraft. As a result, locations that seem unique like a top of a tremendous mountain, are in reality nothing else than actually tops of mountains. No hidden chest, no mysterious encounters, no rare materials. Maybe introducing 3 star monsters (a few in each biome) as a sort of mini-bosses dropping rare loot would help the world to feel less repetitive. These rare materials could be used for instance to enhance your buildings or gear? Or maybe to make a backpack even ;-) ?

Lastly, the performance : I am playing on a RTX 3070 with an i5-8600k, and I can't get a smooth and stable performance when in meadows or just in the base. Yes, the more you build and terraform, the less FPS you will get as the lighting effects and objects rendering will simply destroy your performance. Yesterday I have reached, listen up, 18 FPS in my friend's base (which is a little village in fact). Meanwhile I roam in cities full of NPCs in ultra on AC Valhalla at around 70 FPS. Hello optimization? It's fun to have a game with less than 1GB, but at this cost?


Yes the game is in early access, but I hardly doubt any of us that have beaten the game already will find anything meaningful to do even after a few updates and patches (I hope I am wrong). If anything, I hope the players who will start playing when the final version is going to be released will have more available features and content thanks to the given feedback.

Graphics surpassing most AAA titles of 2020. Beautiful visuals, great soundtracks and acting,
Alas the game's extremely short, and doesn't really make you wanna replay it on any other difficulty due to it's repetitive combat system,

It is worth its price, whether it is on sales or not!