Recent reviews by The Prophet Obadiah

It's pretty good if you have a specific kind of brain injury/neurodivergence/pain kink.
Unfortunately I do.
If you bounce off it please for the love of god save yourself

First of all, this game is not the second coming of The Witcher III as CDPR seems to have advertised. It's more like an immersive sim, along the lines of Dishonored, Prey or Deus Ex. While there are role-playing elements involved, it would be a stretch to call this a full-blown RPG. With these caveats in mind:

> This games looks fantastic.... if you have the hardware to run it. I had a hard time hitting playable framerates on 1440p until I made some changes to a config file and to the actual hex values of the executable. While that's something I think CDPR should've done already, it's not too much of a hassle to fix. However, once all is said and done, it's undeniable that this is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. I'm already excited to play through again once I've upgraded my PC!
> The gunplay is really fun. Even though the variety of guns is low compared to most first-person shooters, they still each manage to have their own identity in terms of recoil patterns, bullet trajectories, handling etc. In fact, it is the perks that make the guns feel same-ish over time - when all your guns reload at light speed and have little-to-no recoil they lose their identity. Thankfully, you can't take all the perks in every tree in a single playthrough, but it's still something to be mindful of.
> The verticality of the city is praiseworthy. If you're skilled enough, you can climb practically anything! This especially helps stealth builds, but it's very fun to monkey about on ledges and rooftops regardless.

Some of the design decisions in the game are absolutely baffling. The floaty traction of vehicles is frustratingly difficult to compensate for, and the police system with their supernatural powers of teleportation, are two complaints that have already been raised. But there are even more teething issues that are rather puzzling.
> The way quests are marked active is annoying, in that it requires two separate inputs in separate locations in the Journals tab. This is just plain bad UX, at least on controller.
> Navigation to sub-tabs on controller also needs an overhaul. The Witcher III already allowed this sort of navigation with triggers, so it's confusing to see it gone.
> The default controller sensitivities and processing are horrendously slow. I can only imagine what console players are experiencing.

No amount of fanboying can excuse the fact that this game is stuffed to the gills with bugs. I've not experienced a lot of game-breaking bugs, but even cursory Google searches reveal that they very much exist. Besides that, I personally have documented a tonne of bugs that still plague the game, even if they don't completely interrupt gameplay:
> Boss health bars remain on screen after they've been beaten (usually for Brawler bosses that are taken down non-lethally) (Fixed on reload save)
> The slightly opaque box behind the "Upload" dialogue box doesn't fade away with the rest of the graphic (Fixed on reload save)
> Persistent audio crackling that seems to have fixed itself (though others have noted that lowering sound quality can help).
> NPCs will T-pose for no reason, especially if they are outside normal view distance (even if you zoom in with optics).
> The "Combat" marker on the minimap will often persist even if you've killed everyone in the area. I've driven miles away from the mission only to still have the visual persist.
> The netrunning is extremely buggy. Enemies killed by quickhacks will often just.... ignore that they're dead and continue to go about their day, unless they take an iota of damage from anywhere else, in which case they remember their lack of HP and ragdoll. The "Camera Shutdown" daemon in Breach Protocol just doesn't work - it prevents you from hacking the cameras because they're ostensibly offline, but it doesn't stop them from identifying you. I'm especially sensitive to these bugs as my build is based on quickhacks and stealth.
These sorts of bugs, combined with the generally buggy physics interactions of the world, seems to suggest fundamental engine problems, which honestly makes me rather pessimistic about their chances of being fixed.

While Cyberpunk came close to fulfilling my expectations of it, there was also a disappointingly large number of ways in which it failed to live up to its own promises. I'm of the opinion that a lot of the heartbreak over this game is because of how heavily it was hyped, for which CDPR certainly shares blame. That said, it still truly is a very fun game to play, which is why I recommend it. Just not at full price. Wait for a sale, or for the first DLC that has been promised, because in its current state it's not worth $60.

This is, quite literally, one of the best games ever made.
You can expect to laugh in delight at the combat, sob out loud at some of the heart-wrenching story threads, and sometimes just quietly bask in a peculiar nostalgia for a world you know isn't real. CDPR took Andrzej Sapkowski's literary mastery and translated it into a medium where it has somehow surpassed its original beauty.
Play this game. You deserve it.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is a wonderful DLC. It is not, however, a wonderful game, simply because it isn't long or complex enough to warrant such a label.
The game essentially recycles maps, assets and AI from Dishonored 2, and packages it all in a very streamlined, self-contained version of the first two games.
The chaos system which made its predecessors so artistic is gone, in order to fit the focused narrative that is the essence of the game. It is exactly for this narrative that Dishonored: Death of the Outsider comes highly recommended from me. It is an absolute gold mine of lore, story and creative genius packaged in Arkane Studios' excellent whalepunk narrative vehicle.
Gameplay has been reworked to exclude mana potions, thereby rewarding a planned approach to the environment and its opportunities. The voice acting leaves something to be desired, especially after Steven Russel's excellent turn as Corvo in the previous game.
The real reason anyone should buy this game is that they fell in love with Dunwall, Karnaca and the Kingdom of the Isles. If all you expect is a wonderfully deep dive into a richly imagined universe, this game is for you.

Arkham Knight improved on nearly every aspect of its predecessor, Arkham City (Arkham Origins does not exist/is not canon as far as I'm concerned), be it the FreeFlow combat system, crime scene investigations, traversal mechanics, or simply the expansive and inclusive Rogues Gallery. However, it lost a bit of the self contained feeling that Arkham City provided, leaving the player feeling as though something is missing.

Despite what seems like a slump in terms of verve, Arkham Knight is a visual treat - but only if you have the settings turned up to max. Bear in mind that without a vastly overpowered setup, this game will be graphically underwhelming, and you will almost certainly experience horrific stuttering. When it works, though, the game really pushes the boundaries of immersive gaming. Just the rain on the cape is to die for.

Combat is really improved, but any muscle memory you've built up from Arkham City will still serve you well. Counter mechanics have been revamped, so you can trigger special animations based on counter timings. The number of special moves that open Batman up to attack is lower, and you can basically interrupt any move to counter more effectively than in Arkham City.

My favourite part of the entire game is predator encounters. These have become seamless and fluid, especially with the introduction of the FEAR multi-takedown (Basically Batman daisy-chains upto five thugs into a single takedown combo). Sadly, double takedowns also consume your FEAR ability, which is a little disheartening.

The Batmobile is just awesome.... but only for traversal and crowd control. The tank battles that have been so highly decried aren't bad, honestly - they're just monotonous as hell. The first few feel amazing. The rest feel like a chore.
The lack of boss fights is also a pity. I was hoping to see a new, improved Mister Freeze style boss battle a la Arkham City. Instead, I got really. Big. Tanks. Tip: If you're having trouble taking out the Cobra tanks, try and lure them into the tunnels, and outmanoeuvre them inside. Works like a charm.

This game is a solid 7.5/10 - higher if you have a high octane PC, or the patience to collect ALL the Riddler trophies. If you're a Batman fan, get this on sale. If you're not a Batman fan, maybe re-examine your life choices, and still get it on sale ;)