Recent reviews by Wormerine

I am not blown away just yet, but one has to acknowledge it is an extremely good EA release.

Hades2 feels to me like what Diablo2 was to Diablo1. Pretty much the same thing but more and bigger. If you played the original the structure will feel very, very similar. Nothing have fundamentally changed yet, but there seem to be more to almost everything. The game launched with an impressive amount content compared to the original - you can do what seems like a full run of a base dungeon, like in the first game, but there is still more to discover - both big and small.

So why reservation? Well using Diablo analogy - I never cared for core gameplay loop of Diablo, and so I never got too deep into Diablo2 either. While I liked Hades1 a lot, I liked it in spite of not being compelled by its rogue-lite side. With little variation run to run, heavy reliance on grin and progression rather than depth and the player skill if not for the great narrative content I would have probably bounced off Hades1 quite quickly. Hades2 so far hasn't changed much. There is more, but it's hasn't become more engaging to play. It is still series of rooms, with a limited pool of enemies and bosses, and boons that mostly tend to do the same thing in a slightly different way. There are small improvements, but no major overhauls so far. And with it being their 2nd go at the genre their narrative design doesn't feel quite as fresh and inspired (though it is still very strong) and progression is even less welcome 2nd time around.

Still, impressive first release and am looking forward to seeing where Supergiant will take this game. With a solid, familiar foundation in place, I do hope the game will expand in depth as well, not in scale only.

Those are essentially fancied up escalations, with a bit more design put into it an unique assets. While their quality vary, they run into the same issue as normal escalations run into: they are just not terribly interesting.

Yes, the port is still pretty bad, and would advise waiting for deep, deep discount just on account of that. Even running on high framerate the game doesn't play smoothly, but even ignoring techical issues, it is not a title that I can wholeheartedly recommend.

For context - in spite of its faults, I really liked Fallen Order. I think youtuber, Monty Zander got it right calling it "Lipstick on a Pig". As a game, it was very flawed, but its Star Wars paint and story was done very well.

The sequel is very much the same - but more. And while Lipstick can be still pretty darn good, I also feel there isn't enough of it, to cover a pig that's grew to be much, much bigger. That, as well the law of diminishing returns, made it much harder to look past game's poor aspects.

So allegories aside: combat is still pretty ♥♥♥♥. There are more stances, but combat is far too shallow to make those meaningful. Combat feels imprecise, unresponsive and it is just not very interesting. Platforming is still very stilted and scripted - it's a bigger problem this time around, as it made more open level design felt inorganic. There were a lot of jumps I felt I should be able to make, but was welcomed with invisible walls, odd resets to jump point, or Cal not interacting with wall or ledge. I also found environment very difficult to read, and found myself relying on map a lot - that has been rather detrimental to the experience as most of the side content revolves around collecting things. Having to rely on map to see where you can go, and later on where collectables are (really some of them blend so much with the environment, even knowing something is there, I struggled to locate it) just doesn't make for a rewarding gameplay loop. The game in general felt more janky than FO.

Fortunately, story is still alright. Character writing and interactions are a highlight but while story/plot eventually get good it takes a long time and a lot of padding to get there. I also felt the game came near finding an interesting second arc for Cal, but I don't think it quite got there. Too much time gets wasted on chasing McGuffins and underdeveloped antagonists, to make enough space for actually good stuff that comes later. Action setpieces also felt more vapid this time around.

What one can say. Ow1 was pretty great, and balance patch that is Ow2 was a welcome one. The downside is: it also came with a switch to a highly predatory business model that uses frustration to push players to spend obscene amounts of money. I found my brief time with Ow2 to be infuriating, and deeply unsatisfying. Don't pay, and be faced with a prospect of an unpleasant grind forcing you to play the game in the way you don't enjoy, just to keep up with core content updates. Pay, and you still need to do the same grind or you risk missing out on cosmetic stuff that you paid for. Even after that, the game will taunt you by locking best stuff behind a ridiculously high paywall. Like a full game's worth high paywall.

I won't even mention the broken promise of story mode, as frankly, what is in the game, is more worrying, that what isn't in it.

No thank you Blizz. I would rather spend my time and money on companies that don't take the piss.

If screenshots didn't make it abundantly clear, Solasta is a very modest budget title. If you are looking for a sprawling RPG adventure with strong narrative, choices and reactivity than keep looking. Solasta does one thing, but does it well - translation of D&D 5e.

The campaign is linear, and while it has stuff one wants from an RPG (story, light puzzles, skill checks, exploration) those are just pacing mechanism between encounters. One wouldn't be wrong to point out that this stuff is pretty bad, but it also doesn't get in the way. Solasta's knows its strenths and weaknesses and doesn't try to be something it isn't.

Fortunately, it is probably best adaptation of D&D into a game I have played It's very faithful to the source material, and instead of shying from underlying mechanics, it spotlights them - every attack comes with a quick dice roll, and if successful it is followed by damage dies and bonuses. Animation is quick enough to not be a bother, but it does wonder to make systems clear and engaging. I initially dismissed this success as result of 5e simplicity, but other titles (cough BG3 cough) show how messy and convoluted a game basing itself on 5e can be. It must be the first D&D game where I feel no look up the ruleset online, or deep dive into combat log.

More of a mixed opinion. Main reason for giving it still thumbs up is a price point - there is enough good in here, to justify the purchase and playtime but be prepared for a very messy adventure.

I thought Solasta's original campaign linear design was a good choice - it is clearly a title with limited budget and I would rather see the devs invest in making more robust dungeons that trying to make a game beyond their scope. Lost Valley only reinforced this belief.

Good things first:
What Solasta did well, LV still does well and even better. Encounters a much more varied and interesting and there are few decent dungeons in here. Spellcasters are more utilised and in general encounters are more engaging. In general there just seem to be more stuff in here. The game still has all the janky charm of the base game.

The more open ended nature is where I find more faults with it. You end up doing quests for different factions, but as narrative side of the game is still not very strong, it was difficult to care what I am doing and for who and why. Doing quests felt more like ticking off checklist, and without clear forward momentum the campaign struggled to keep my interest.

Unfortunately, the game also doesn't handle well reactivity or doing things out of intended order. By the end of the game it felt like the adventure is about to implode - my characters spoke of things they didn't encounter yet, I finished what turned out to be a final dungeon early and ended up babysitting a critical NPC for couple hours of game time as I kept wrapping up remaining quests, Three seperate factions ended up sending me to the same secret final locations, without my party (or the NPC) acknowledging the "I have been there, done that" situation.

The ending was very anticlimactic, and it felt like the DLC run out of steam, rather than finishing. It didn't help that ending slide didn't even get my choices right, no doubt thanks to me completing too many faction quests.

Still, do you want more Solasta?

It must be the first genuinely good detective game I played. Actual deducing is required!
You get to relieve memories of the crew of a ship Obra Dimm, and you need to identify identity and fate (and possible a killer!) of each of the crew members. You won’t know if you are right until you successfully fill 3 entries, meaning that cheesing the game would be difficult.

Nitpick – near the end of the game, one needs to “abuse” confirmation system. There are some character’s whose exact identity (or so I think) is impossible to nail down, and one need to pencil in potential names until the game confirm those as correct ones. However, as to get to this point one still needs to do a decent amount of guess work, it is a minor nitpick. The game is “gamey” to begin with so it hardly harms an “immersion”.

[Edit] After watching some videos, it became clear that I missed at least some clues, so it is possible that every identity IS indentifiable, and I just ended up brute forcing my way through some of the final fates[/edit]

A thing that actually disappointed me was the final chapter, unlockable after solving all possible fates. A rather poor reward for our fine detective work – but perhaps, if it had any kind of meaningful revelation it might feel that our detectiving was for naught.

It is a nice, family friendly action adventure, with puzzles, platforming, combat and story. It takes some hints from modern trends (control scheme is very Dark Souls-esk) but reminds me of a kind of game Ubisoft used to make before Assassin's Creed template dominated their output. We don't get games like that anymore so it has been a joy to play a compact and finite experience.

Really, all elements are put together really well, but lacking this final "wow" factor. Platforming feels a bit stilted, combat could use some animation cancelling, action cuing and more options while in the air, and puzzles are a bit too basic and repetitious, but it is still lots of fun and a great first release for the studio.

My only dislike is how... disingenuous the title feels. "Pixar meets Ghibli" would be the easiest way to describe the vibe, but there is an unavoidable conflict of a central powerfantasy of running around and smacking monsters with a stick, and a more gentle tearjerker story of moving on after a loss. The game also lacks emotional depth of either Pixar or Ghibli (or even classic PoP: Sands of Time. The main protagonist lacks any meaningful characterisation. I had a feeling that the game tries to be charming and touching, instead of being charming and touching.

Yayy! Didn't expect another DLC for CotN, and I never expected that multiplayer would be that fun!

A fun and original puzzle/checklist simulator. The gameplay loop is enjoyable. I would definitely encourage to give it a go, but would recommend to wait for sale or try it on GamePass, as unfortunately the game has little substance. Overall, finished campaign took me under 15 hours to complete, that said I knew what I was doing by that point due to my time in EA - your first run might take longer. There is a lot of repetition in those 15 hours. I wish there were more "ships" to solve, more interesting hazards to interact with and more tools to use.

My only disappointment is that after playing a bit with Early Access 1.0 failed to impress with anything new. It feels like the game didn't really grow beyond what was on offer in original unfinished release. Here is my lists of minuses:

1) The gameplay loop is enjoayble, but it doesn't really grow. There are only few tools to unlock and the later one are only occasionally useful. While there are couple hazards to watch out for, your interactions with them are mostly the same - what it means that the game doesn't increase in complexity that much. Once you know the basic, then that's all there is to know: removing fuel tank does much differ from electricity hazard, radiation, or cryo. Pressure can be fun and chaotic though - physics of it can be rather wonky.

2) Most interesting thing happen when new ship types are introduced but there are few of them. It is exciting to get a new ship to dissect but there are only 4 of them. There are variations of each ship, but it doesn't really have an impact on how they are salvaged.

3) It seems like the biggest addition since I played the game in EA is the addition of the story. It being banal and predictable is somewhat disappointing - I feel it undermines a neat, grounded but satirical atmosphere that the game originally had. But the bigger issue is that it is poorly integrated with the story - or for the most part isn't. Outside one instance gameplay and story are seperate and it boggles my mind that the story mostly happens in-between missions in the HUB rather then while you are working the yard - it unnecessarily slows down the pace.

Still, you will get solid couple hours of fun that you can't get anywhere else. Check it out when you get a chance.