Recent reviews by blake++

Cruelty Squad first presents itself as a wacky, cheap, and difficult Hitman-style game; the visuals are amateurish, the sounds are meh, the soundtrack sounds okay at best and bad at worst. You'll likely die about 8 times trying to complete the first mission. But then you learn that things you do in levels is actually permanent; when you come back, enemies & weapons respawn and enemies reappear, but your money, arsenal, and equipment persist throughout missions. With a unique death system of scaling difficulty and options per death, Cruelty Squad manages to make levels extremely multifaceted, requiring multiple playthroughs to fully explore the level and discover all its secrets. This creates unique decisions that the player has to make on how to best earn cash and build up their arsenal. As you make these decisions, you unintentionally read into the lore, and discover how all the seemingly unexplained gameplay mechanics actually fit together quite nicely. And then you realize that you actually really like the visuals, the sounds, and the soundtrack.

Cruelty Squad is a lot of things, but I will say that it is FUN. Figuring out how to properly play this game is probably most of the fun any casual enjoyer is going to have. You will likely die a lot, but it manages to not be frustrating. Until the last level of the first ending anyway.

Speaking of endings, Cruelty Squad has a lot of depth underneath the surface. There is a lot to uncover and a lot to do. If you find yourself enthralled by the world, the characters, and the general strangeness that is Cruelty Squad, I recommend you to continue looking deeper and trying to figure out all Cruelty Squad has to offer. As for me though, Cruelty Squad did not grab me enough for me to spend the amount of time necessary to legitimately discover all the oddities the game has to offer.

• Some menus hurt to look at
  
• One level, Fatberg Casino, arbitrarily has invisible walls. Why?
  
• Kaizos are still kaizos. Dumb unpredictable traps that the game pulls often. It's not clever, it's cheap.
  
• Weapon and equipment choices reset every time you launch the game

Despite my lack of interest beyond the first ending, I can wholeheartedly recommend Cruelty Squad. It's not a must-play, but I do think it's definitely a game avid gamers should pick up.

I took 6.3 hours to reach the First Ending.

I really did try to like this series. I played 2033 Redux all the way through, and upon playing an hour of this game, I am calling it quits.

Exodus begins with some light linear exploration leading into a boring typical action QTE and heavy action cutscenes which I am left out of. It follows up with some incredibly contrived dialog with admittedly stunning environments. And then I get shot trying to save an old lady and her grandson from dying, but I don't die surprisingly (this is important later). Then I get up, get handheld through some basic tutorial stuff with LOTS of transitional cutscenes and incredibly boring gameplay, and I don't really get to do anything interesting until I kick down the door to the base commander's office.

This ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ captured my wife and gave the orders to kill two innocent people (and many more confirmed through dialog). But I don't kill him (it's a cutscene), just knock him out. I say hi to my wife, revealing that my dead friend's dogtags stopped the bullet that would've killed me earlier!! (The game expects me to have this emotional reaction like "oh he's watching over me" but it feels entirely undeserved and extremely cheesy. Immersion breaking.) But wait, the commander we thought we knocked out is actually still awake and starts fighting me for my gun! I end up accidentally firing, destroying the important looking electronics next to me, and then my wife knocks him away. He explains the basic gist of what's going on, and then attempts to alert his comrades before my wife actually knocks him out. And then after that?

WE DON'T KILL HIM. I get forced out of the room by a cutscene, and I do not get to put a bullet in his brain. We then head into the next area in which we get to kill all of his goons instead. (?????)
If you're new to this series, this may seem like a strange point to highlight, but I have killed so many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ people in Metro 2033. The fact that we don't kill this man who is very blatantly EVIL is so astonishing to me that I have to quit, uninstall the game, and leave a negative review.

I gave Metro my best shot, and really tried to like it, but I just can't. There's much better material out there.

• Played on Realistic
  
• Initially played with real body; turned off much later due to awkward interactions
  
• Seated mode (standing can be very taxing since a mission takes HOURS (in a good way))
  
• Virtual stock (Aim is incredibly shakey without it; still not great but)
  
• On Valve Index

• Exposition is heavy handed and really linear at first, but it quickly goes away
  
• Lots of cool features like your safe zone actually being a safe zone and properly persisting every item between loads
  
• Staying calm under pressure is very rewarded especially with how scary even basic combat can be
  
• The potential here is phenomenal; good takes on STALKER's base ideas with enemy design and atmosphere

• Gun cleaning is super cool but putting it into the vice to clean it is extremely wonky
  
• Index controls aren't spectacular and require a bit of getting used to, but ultimately I think they're pretty decent for what they are
  
• Zero human presence; there are pseudohumans, but they don't fill the same niche that other stalkers do in STALKER. World feels super empty, and I can't care for the lore because of it
  
• Managing items is a bit weird with the backpack system. Makes it hard to actually grab things unless you stay super organized and be very careful, which makes sense, but it becomes that much more of a chore.
  
• Opening drawers and cabinets is incredibly unintuitive and feels awful
  
• Dropping things can fall into the world if dropped at certain spots
  
• If your head turns, your body turns. This results in me looking where my gun is to grab my gun, but not grabbing it because my body turns with my head turning. This would be okay if the grab region was large, but it isn't, so there's a lot of moments where the immersion is ruined because you get surprised by an enemy but you cant grab your gun because you simply don't remember exactly where you need to grab to grab the gun.
  
• In seated mode, if you play in a chair with armrests (aka most computer chairs), accessing your pistol and your map is troubling, since the armrests block where you need to grab them from.

At a certain point, I just got tired of the game's annoying issues with VR that impact my experience. There's a sequel coming out in 2024, and I think everyone who was interested in this game should check that out instead.

• Played on Survival + Ranger Hardcore
  
• Crosshair off
  
• Hints off
  
• Max graphics; advanced PhysX

I was expecting a linear STALKER with how major fans talk up this game and talk about its similarity to STALKER. I expected that I would be missing some information about how the game is played due to turning off hints, but I was recommended the above settings by the accompanying Metro Discord community.

• Environments are delightfully interactable and fully featured. lots of little cool details; lots of it occurs via voice acting, which can be hit or miss
  
• There's a ton of little conversations here and there between characters that you can easily miss (that are actually interesting and not pointless drivel like other games)
  
• Visuals are fantastic
  
• Actual human vs human combat is pretty solid and reminiscent of STALKER in how dangerous it can be.
  
• Silhouettes, anomalies, etc are really reminiscent of STALKER
  
• Neat details of looting, like pushing corpses over to get access to pockets
  
• The later parts of the game where you are no longer handheld are pretty good. A bit tough to handle due to the sheer amount of enemies, but handleable and fun. Very linear though
  
• Scorpions are cool as ♥♥♥♥ and a super smart use of the flashlight

• QOL/Bugs
  
  • Boot up sequence takes you a full minute to get to the main menu. I'm not exaggerating.
    
  • Intro/end cutscene is 30 fps
    
  • There's the normal difficulty selection when you start a new game, but there's also Normal and Hardcore in the options. There is no explanation for this; I had to ask in the Discord
    
  • Subtitles are extremely large for no reason
    
  • In the mission where you get to the library, there is a trap that has an invisible trigger. It's debris falling from the library. There is no hint/signal anywhere that this is a trap, just kinda happens.
    
  • If you shoot lurkers as they come out of the tunnel and kill them instantly, they finish the animation of exiting the tunnel and THEN die. Lurkers also have issues with frequent random clipping into the ground, making them invincible when they approach you as your bullets don't hit them.
  
  
• AI & NPCs
  
  • Friendly NPCs dont walk/run as fast as you
    
  • NPC dialogue (so far) is tending to be on the CoD side of trying to be badass over realistic (STALKER does this too)
    
  • The voice acting is really bad at times (STALKER does this too)
    
  • Khan's (a friendly NPC in the game) mysterious shtick is just honestly really annoying lol
    
  • Often enemies will only attack you and not friendly AI, even when said friendlies are in the way between the monster and you
  
  
• Game & Enemy Design
  
  • Game begins with an intro where you climb up a rusty ladder which breaks and barely get caught in time. Not a good first impression unless you're trying to set the tone for a generic linear shooter (this is 5D foreshadowing rofl)
    
  • You are handheld by AI for almost every encounter in the first 3-4 hours of the game.
    
  • Red flashing constantly when you are immensely hurt. It doesn't stop until you get health. WHY?
    
  • This game is not immersive. Running from 15+ cops firing assault weapons at me and magically dodging them all as well as watching a friendly jump-stab a Nazi (that he could've shot) who was about to execute me is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Call of Duty tier ♥♥♥♥, not an "immersive shooter". It's about as immersive as Wolfenstein.
    
  • Melee hitreg is awful. Speaking of melee combat, if you sneak up on someone and try to backstab, it'll do the animation even though the regular melee is an instant kill. This can cause scenarios where the animation is screwing you over because it gives enemies too much time to potentially see you and blow your cover.
    
  • STEALTH: Not Good. The stealth AI is awful, and they're terrible at clearing a room; they seem to not be able to see you if you aren't in the path of their searchlight, which is serviceable if your stealth sequences are at night, but one stealth sequence was at sunset, and they definitely should've seen me but didn't. Also, there is a three minute (at best) uninterrupted stealth sequence where you have to sneak through the Communists' side of a warzone and then the Nazis' side of the warzone. It's awful and I had to exploit dumb AI in order to do it. There is no checkpoint for a very long time (much longer than what is normal for the game). Suppressors also don't make a noticeable difference on your ability to be stealthy (hello???).
    
  • The Librarians are cool in concept, but the effect it has of you having to memorize where the holes and doors are while one slowly stalks you and the other is flanking you is awful.

My difficulty options, while more immersive, did actually end up affecting my experience of the game. Here are some of the various issues I encountered that I am certain or at least believe stem from my setting selection.

• No UI showing for QTEs. i just had to spam M1, W, and E and guess one of them will do the trick lol
  
• I've had to look up multiple times how to do basic things like how to select my throwing knives. Can't do it though cuz no weapon wheel.
  
• You cannot aim down sights with the shotgun. This is only bad because you don't have a crosshair.
  
• Looting consists of mashing E everywhere; ammo and other resources don't stand out enough to be selective about where you press E.
  
• Friendly NPCs (whom you fight with a LOT) do not do as much damage as you (they do more like a quarter of the damage you do); it's generally a good idea to let them do most of the fighting (which isn't immersive) and stay a distance away to avoid wasting ammo, only using it to help yourself. This is most important in the end-game after you leave for the library due to there not being another ammo shop past this point. Had some pretty major close calls with ammo.
  
• Hold M and then press right click to bring up your HUD and ammo counts. I did not know this was a thing at all until the very end of the game.
  
• You can charge your flashlight by holding F and then clicking mouse 1. I didn't know this was a thing until I accidentally held F for too long.
  
• You cannot carry a third weapon. It says you can in the binds, but you can't due to the Ranger Hardcore difficulty.
  
• It appears that there's some sort of moral system in place; this is not made obvious to you if you are not familiar with the game already. I noticed it due to musical cues, but it's very easy to miss.

Metro 2033 is not STALKER. I'd say it's not even close enough comparatively for fans of STALKER's gameplay to enjoy it. What I will say is that it fills a middle ground if someone was put off by STALKER's sheer difficulty and slower-paced gameplay, but wanted to experience the atmosphere and ideas. I don't hate Metro 2033, but I definitely don't love it. If I want COD, I'd play COD. If I want STALKER, I'm playing STALKER.
People say that Metro: Last Light is just 2033 with a new story, so I think I'll be avoiding it and just moving onto Exodus.

Outcore initially shows promise as a "meta-game" of sorts where the game is based around your operating system instead of a world or level. Lumi is the main character, and you're supposed to assist her with unlocking her memories. I anticipated some sort of corruption plot to unfold due to hints from the trailer, but as far as I got, I only got hints of this.

Instead, the game quickly turns into a boring and floaty 2D platformer that makes many attempts at humor to engage the player (which usually aren't funny). Then it turns into some sort of pseudo-coding challenge (that feels weird and out-of-place) where you write a script for a bot to follow so it can accomplish a task. It's called an idle game, but if you actually try to idle to accomplish the optional bonus content, it caps out at 2000 coins (not enough lol; I idled for 9.5 hours so that's why my playtime is so high). Then it's back to platforming again, this time in a more open larger level where you talk to NPCs. It does a LOT of Undertale parodying, but none of it is done well.

I will say that some of the jokes are very funny and the star throwing teleport mechanic is interesting.

Ultimately, Outcore has a lot of ideas and most of them just aren't developed well enough. I'd recommend playing other games that will offer much more rewarding experiences.

Followed this guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=732999296
Copied over music as well
Played on Hard skill

• Difficult; miniboss enemies are especially brutal and unforgiving
  
• Rewarded for playing a slow and methodical playstyle
  
• SFX from some enemies like the Undead can get repetitive
  
• Levels are intuitive to navigate
  
• Challenges usually tend to be interesting
  
• Regular guns (that have super variants) seem useless compared to their super counterparts? there's no point in equipping the regular shotgun or the regular nailgun once you have the upgraded version; EDIT: I later found on reddit that the original versions have no use or niche use, depending on who you ask. Some say that the originals are better suited for the audience back then, when everyone still aimed with keyboard, so weapons like the Super Nailgun that chew through ammo if you're not careful make the Nailgun a viable option.
  
• Shamblers have insane amounts of HP and a brutal instant ranged attack. i dont really know how to deal with them; edit, idk how the ♥♥♥♥ i was supposed to figure out that the shambler takes half damage from explosives. wtf. EDIT EDIT: I later found the lightning gun, making fights with them trivial. Fighting them without that weapon is a nightmare though
  
• Secrets can be hidden really well and often require unique parkour challenges to get to them
  
• The autosaves aren't actually saves? i quit the game and i just had zero saves. had to just manually load back into the level. just lost like 2.7 hours of progress i think lmao

Shortly after these notes, I stopped playing and returned after a week, continuing where I left off. After a couple of levels, I ended up discovering that I wasn't really having fun.

• I often felt like I had too many tools in my toolbag; Though I have 8 weapons, a few of them could be totally removed. The regular versions should upgrade into their Super versions, simply removing the regular versions entirely. The Axe is useless.
  
• I quickly found that it wasn't the combat I enjoyed, but the movement and the environments. Trying to speedrun a level by bunnyhopping while dodging enemies was probably the most fun I had playing.
  
• The save system is incredibly flawed and counterintuitive, although this could be due to the mod I installed.

While I did not enjoy my short time with Quake, I did enjoy a lot of its aspects. The environments, levels, and enemies are crafted wonderfully and with care, and I can see how each enemy plays a relatively unique role in a fight. The movement and movement options you have are flawless. The weapon designs for the Rocket Launcher, Grenade Launcher, Super Shotgun, Super Nailgun are spectacular.

However, speaking from a perspective of someone who wasn't even alive when Quake came out, I think the ultimate recommendation I can give to those who want to enjoy Quake is to enjoy what Quake spawned and appreciate its legacy. The combat just doesn't grab me like other shooter titles do (eg DOOM Eternal, ULTRAKILL). While I think some aspects of the combat are flawed, I think the combat as a whole is good; it's just not really my style.

If you want to know more about my perspective and what my favorite games are, I have plenty of reviews on my profile.

Very solid mod loader, a bit annoying that you have to slowly load mods one by one, but I guess that's just the best way they've found how to do it so far.

Since I don't have much to say about tModLoader, I will instead use this review to trash talk bad mods as I play them.

Oh my god, it's so ass. Do not even TRY to play this in multiplayer. Moon Lord is literally unbeatable as of this patch. There is also no wiki content for this, so good luck figuring some ♥♥♥♥ out.

I sincerely doubt this game will resolve any of the issues I had with TNO. From looking at the difficulty settings, it seems like it's just a DLC package for TNO.
As such, I will link my review for TNO here. Just pretend it applies to this game as well. I wont be playing Wolfenstein II.

• Played on Difficult
  
• Launch Options (Recommended): -noforcemparms -noforcemspd -noforcemaccel

The game has mouse accel by default and you cannot disable it without the above commands in your launch options.

---

• Intriguing and terrifying enemy designs
  
• Mostly consistent environment design
  
• Game is jam-packed with atmosphere
  
• Good scares, jumpscares are earned (mostly)
  
• Game gives you time to breathe between intense sections
  
• Variety of tools for combat; you have a lot of agency which isn't often seen in other horror games
  
• You can sometimes run past enemies

Note that a few of these cons might be engine limitations. Regardless, it is still part of the end product and they still chose to use the GoldSRC engine for this game.
There are a lot of cons despite my short playtime, so I will group them up.

• Takes forever to load when booting up despite being on an SSD; crashed once while launching the game. Takes around 30 seconds.
  
• Cutscenes are amateurish and poor. Lines said by the main character will sometimes not be said.
  
• Cutscenes detract from the horror. Most cutscenes should've been just events happening in-game
  
• Basic sound effects like footsteps, trying to switch to an empty quick slot, and the sprint start sound are poorly designed. The first two listed are way too intense and loud, and the third one has you strongly inhale and exhale every time you press shift.
  
• Cannot disable mouse acceleration via options. I had to look up how to disable it
  
• Melee combat is lacking in options and quickly feels obsolete
  
• Gun combat feels poor
  
• Guns do random amounts of damage or have extremely poor accuracy (despite being still, being within 3ft of your target, and firing slowly while crouched); I have thoroughly tested this
  
• Headshots do nothing despite design on some enemies (spike arms lady) implying that there are zones that are better to hit than others
  
• Cannot pick up enemy weapons
  
• No way to skip cutscenes you've already seen. This can be really tedious if you're dying a lot right before a cutscene
  
• Menus are incredibly amateurish and poor in general. Opening combination locks, exiting out of menus, the inventory menu, etc.
  
• Cutscene ladders (this is the GoldSRC engine, just use Half-Life style ladders please it's literally the same engine)
  
• Enemies can phase through objects to get to you
  
• Enemies can be magic by busting open doors 6 feet in front of you but spawning 3 feet behind you
  
• Suicide influencer enemies will die but often not do their dying animation/pose, so it's hard to tell if they're actually dead
  
• Enemy placements can be extraordinarily bad. They put two suicide influencers into a pitch-dark room, but when they influence you, you put away your flashlight and can't see that you're trying to kill yourself
  
• ADSing feels utterly useless; headshots do no extra damage despite their difficulty to hit and importance in games like these
  
• It is a coin toss on whether it's better to have your knife out vs when to have your gun out. Dual-wielding is a thing, but you need your phone light 75% of the time because everything is incredibly dark. When enemies that require the pistol to fight without losing all your HP show up, you don't really have enough time to draw your pistol to fight without taking significant damage
  
• First boss; every time I died to him, I had to rewatch the cutscene. He was also easier than every common enemy I fought up until that point
  
• Pick-uppable items on the ground don't have a strong enough highlight
  
• Voice acting for the Doctor is horrid
  
• When you aim down sights with the glock and try to fire, 25% of the time it will not fire
  
• Ammo in magazines being lost is only okay when you are able to a) keep the magazine you took out if it has bullets in it and b) combine bullets from to half-full magazines into one full magazine
  
• One section I didn't know how to get out of because it wanted me to break an iron grate with a knife. This iron grate had the same texture and model as other iron grates I was not able to break open
  
• The game does not teach you about dual wielding
  
• Lot of empty hallways with no purpose. Like, not even blocked doors or fake doors or anything. Just a totally barren hallway.
  
• Door opening system where each door is a new zone is lame but I understand it; but it also comes with many caveats that are not accounted for; like if I'm not prepared for an encounter I will go back in the door, get ready, then come back in.
  
• Some rooms are like 4 square feet of movable space but have enemies in them that immediately attack you. You had no way of knowing, so if you went in with a knife, you had to immediately leave, and then come back with your glock out and immediately start firing

Stopped at the contruction site once you got the shotgun.

Game's just not good. I respect the passion and the heart that went into this, but it just feels totally wasted in the face of all the issues.

Settings:
-Dot reticle
-Played on Very High graphics preset with 90 FOV
-Played on Normal Difficulty

---

• One of if not the best environments in gaming; Wonderfully interconnected and whole and LIVING. Open world as well. There's a surprising amount of variance in looks and structure within the space station, which is impressive
  
• Really strong introduction sequence; total ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (also neat intro credits); the tutorial is excellent and I didn't even notice it was a tutorial until I watched Joseph Anderson's review and he pointed it out
  
• Interesting and thrilling story
  
• As you get better, you have access to new places inside old areas; Gives you reasons to revisit
  
• Fully rewarded for exploring
  
• Prop hunt: Looting is tied to a source of danger, so searching rooms gets even more interesting
  
• All weapons are useful in certain scenarios. The upgrade system gives weapons that may not be too useful an incredible amount of versatility
  
• Enemies are interesting to fight and the game stays surprisingly difficult but fair for Normal; Combat is alright, but isn't the best
  
• Neuromod system is super interesting
  
• Developers accounted for a ton of paths and choices. Really impressive. So much content you just may never experience
  
• Game knows how to have fun, how to scare you, how to build ambience, and how to be campy. There's a lot of variance

• Moving and fighting in space is clunky and unfun even after getting used to space movement; fighting enemies in space (vs inside the station) is generally much harder to do
  
• Difficult to understand which difficulty is the right one for you (it's usually normal)
  
• The prop hunt mechanic is pretty much destroyed later on in the game by an upgrade. It ran its course, but I wish there was more to this
  
• The vignette when you crouch is annoying and lame
  
• Some areas have dialog triggers right next to encounters with enemies, and most live conversations aren't saved as audio logs, which is really lame. I missed a few pieces of dialogue due to this
  
• The Nightmare is a fantastic concept but ends up being really poorly done. Nearly every time I interacted with the Nightmare it somehow glitched out in a very noticeable way. It also doesn't hunt well enough. It also just straight up disappears when the timer ends.
  
• There's a bug with a golden gun you can obtain via a sidequest where it shows the wrong damage numbers, which makes it look worse than the default pistol.
  
• Another bug where the fire in the shuttle bay was invisible, with only the light surrounding it informing you where the fire is generally
  
• Some side quests are just lame (DnD one; it ends with you guessing passcode combinations (there are 24))
  
• PONR without directly spelling it out to the player which locks you out of sidequests is lame and no amount of muh immersion cope will ever fix it
  
• Sometimes objective complete notifications or calls will interrupt serious or scary moments, breaking the tension
  
• Hacking is far too simple and overstays its welcome. It's not horrible, it's just not fun the 80th time you do it. Also the time allotted for level 3 and 4 hacking is too much. Level 2 is actually the hardest, so poor balancing as well
  
• Notification system is lame and overbearing at times. Sometimes it needlessly holds your hand as well, but that's an incredibly difficult thing to balance. I personally would wait before entering combat or entering a zone for notifications and story beats to fully play out so I didn't miss anything. Sometimes if you move into an area with a dialogue trigger it would overwrite previous dialogue that was queued up to play.
  
• Suit and scope chipsets are mostly underwhelming due to a few chipsets that are much better than the rest
  
• The actions your parents take is not nearly explored enough
  
• NPC interactions are poorly done; talking to others face to face is reminiscient of older games where merely walking by an NPC will cause them to regurgitate the same dialog at you; they're also kinda glitchy
  
• End cutscene and credits are weirdly low quality; like 720p
  
• Some audio logs won't play automatically when you pick them up when they should

• Crosshair is noticeably low; it ends up working out fine but just kinda odd.

---

• 24h30m
  
• Good Ending
  
• Rescued 17 humans
  
• Killed 2 humans
  
• Installed 218 neuromods
  
• Acquired 52 human abilities
  
• Acquired zero typhon abilities

Mooncrash doesn't really interest me so I won't be playing it. I played this game by painstakingly searching every single room, so trying to do that with a timelimit would break me.

Overall, Prey is a fantastic sci-fi immersive sim with some minor shortcomings that will leave you feeling totally satisfied. It's a blast from front to back, and one I will remember fondly. Goes on sale regularly, so wait for sale.[isthereanydeal.com]