Recent reviews by Julianne Stingray

translation so bad they can't get the description on the steam page to look normal

Twelve M(id)nutes

TL;DR This game looks great, plays fine, but is an above-mid experience. Not great, not awful, but the gameplay struggles to keep things interesting.

I'm not the biggest Remedy guy, but I really want to give them a shot. I really want to explore more of the Remedy connected universe, and was initially excited to hop into this game. I've heard great things from a few friends, and from some of the game I've seen, it fairly exciting.

I hopped into Control with no expectations, and was initially impressed with the combat and the environments. This game is GORGEOUS! But upon delving deeper into the bureau, the more bored and exhausted I became, for two reasons; The repetitive environments of the bureau, in combination with the combat.

The bureau looks great, it's really cool like I said, but... It looks very samey. Of course there's a reason for this, but sometimes the navigation through the bureau can get you lost easy, thankfully having a map and fast travel, but even that can get confusing at times. I HAVE NOT finished the game, but from what I've experienced, you'll see a lot of the same.

The combat in the beginning starts rather plain, but escalates as you gain more abilities and weapons. But once you unlock the core combat mechanics? It starts to get rather dull. It suffers from the same problem as the first Alan Wake, where each encounter begins to feel the same, with the only real difference being the quantity and spread of enemy types. I began to dread combat every time it came up. Some of the enemies can also take an annoying amount of damage, though that may just be the difficulty + setup of skills I have.

One thing I found peculiar about this game is the radiant events that will pop up around the bureau. To me, these felt out of place, and pulled away from the story at hand. We're trying to stop the Hiss, and we've got a clear objective, but now I'm being pulled somewhere that may have enemies way above my level? It isn't awful, it's a way to get more perks and crafting materials for progression, but it feels weird to have it in a singleplayer story game.

The story so far is fairly interesting. I like the Oldest House and all its quirks, along with the characters. Though I find a lot of the delivery in the voice acting/cutscenes to be dry. It's not as if emotion isn't being conveyed, but none of it seems to be convincing, save a few performances. The main protagonist sounds boring in every encounter, but that doesn't mean she's a bad character.

On a side note, this is one of the few games I tried to read collectible notes/etc for. I found it to be cool, especially in the Dead Letters department of this game, how well everything ties in and helps build the setting. This is Remedy we're talking about, so the mixed medium aspect is here, and it's great. Dr. Darling is charming, and Threshold Kids is a fun (especially if you know how it came about) addition to add needed flavor to the setting. The radio broadcasts return from Remedy's other games, but they're never interesting enough for me to stick around. I don't like sitting in the open world listening to a radio, it's a tad dull.

This is a game I really want to finish, but every time I think of playing it, or I'm bored of other titles, I hesitate to launch it. I know I'm going to hop in, navigate the winding and restricting corridors of the Oldest House for an hour or two, getting into repetitive fights, then logging off to do something else. I still have more to go of course, and I'm hoping this game will turn my opinion around, but so far it doesn't do much for me.

Overall, this game has an interesting setting, story, characters and world building, dragged down by combat and progression that gets old fast. 6/10

mmmm pistachio

Fun game, unfortunately littered with the biggest babies imaginable and some game breaking bugs that appear out of nowhere. Needs a little more tweaking, but it's an otherwise solid product and I'm excited to see where they take it.

Sure, you can scramble out of a pod nearly naked into the cold, and struggle to survive.

Or, you can make a dog man fear for his life before you pummel him to death and use his body as a coat and stay warm until the summer and beyond.

Ever wanted a game where you can commune with tribal indians AND get cybernetic implants? How about toxic valleys that give you game ending diseases?

Enjoy the dystopian survival game you've been waiting for.

Really want to like this game but the AI (enemies+teammates) is top tier steaming ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

pandora's box

TL;DR Repetitive, boring combat but good story. Remedy pulled another kino game

Playing this in 2023 is a slog. I've played the Max Payne games (1/2/3) and couldn't believe these were the same guys. The gunplay in this game is ok, but the overall combat SUCKS. After the first 2 chapters I was getting bored of it. The combat got so boring I quit mid-fight on one of the Special Feature chapters. It doesn't help that the dodge mechanic only works when it wants to. It also doesn't help that Alan controls like a house, and his "sprint" can't get away from basic enemies. What's the point of having it, just to cross the map faster? Combat boils down to shine flashlight on enemies, then kill them, or use one of the flares/flash grenades to kill. Once you've done one fight with each type of enemy, you've done them all.

The story this game has is... Ok? Shame on me for not reading too many of the manuscripts, but when some of them are just foreshadowing, I don't care to spoil the story. Outside of that, the story and cutscenes didn't do much to pull me in, even ignoring the jank face tracking. That being said, there wasn't a character in the story I didn't like. Barry, Old Gods of Asgard, the Sheriff, and Cynthia were all a treat. Remedy's characters are fun, and got me through the main 6 chapters of the game. The TV segments were great!

EDIT: The more I think about this game, the more I realize the story was actually really smart with how it handled things, turning that side of my opinion around completely. The gameplay is still hot dogwater.

7/10 Gameplay is awful, story is good. Better as a YouTube watch probably. But if you can stick through the game play, you may find a good time

Only 7 hours in, but game plays similar to the typical Roblox tycoon game; Only with a tad more strategy and nuance. You can gamble your money on blackjack and CSGO skins, as well as drug running via your gas station. Buy products for sale, manage services and employees, and manage your, albeit limited, family life. In short, gather your money whatever way you seem fit, and buy upgrades to increase profit and efficiency. With the right strategy, you'll be making thousands a day with little input.

Although, there are some bugs I've personally encountered; Sometimes the employees will function oddly (cleaner will stop cleaning at certain points, pumper will stop pumping. Sometimes firing the pumper, and them not getting removed somehow, fixes it? Sometimes it actually fires them. And 1 star cleaner is just amazing? weird).

If you pick up this game, see spoiler for a helpful tip:
First thing you should do is upgrade your gas pump(s) and buy the hand car wash. These will significantly boost your profit potential and protect you from poverty. Make sure that gas tank is full and/or upgraded!