Dan legutóbbi értékelései

(I would like to thank the great and generous people of the TalePlay community for enabling me to win this game in their November 2022 giveaway. Please look up their Discord or YT if you have time! It is a small and very friendly gaming community where new members are always welcome.
I was required to play the game as part of the giveaway conditions, but this review is of my own volition. Feel free to leave a comment!)

An excellent sequel to a classic that delivers what you'd expect on most fronts, exceeds some and doesn't overstay its welcome, God of War (2018) is a solid all-round RPG for beginners and veterans alike, whether they've played the original or not.

The overall gameplay offers a variation of interactive puzzles that regularly invites different approaches to problem solving while keeping complexity at a low level where the basic rules are easily understood, as well as a fairly wide open-world map with a single central hub and enclosed regions to explore for a selection of goals and collectibles. The latter are lightly gated through central parts of main story progression, meaning that it takes a while before optional areas can be efficiently completed until you have access to the right tools. In terms of progression, most of the raw combat power is unlocked through better equipment, while experience gained from battle and exploration is used for unlocking and upgrading skills. Thus, engaging in optional content effectively lowers the difficulty of later content by relatively strengthening your character. It is also possible to complete the main story with the bare minimum of exploration and save it for the post-game free roam, which is specifically friendly for achievement hunters. Whilst there are very few exceptions of areas that will be permanently locked off after the story, none of them are required for 100% achievement completion.

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned combat yet, for a reason. While in theory the wide skill tree, equipment upgrades and customisable runic weapon ability system ensures a thorough personal combat style, the experience of combat itself is severely hampered by camera angle, input lag and mediocre PC controls. Of these three, the camera is perhaps the most easily forgiven as you are supposed to use audio cues and visual aids, aiding to realism as you cannot magically know what is happening beyond your character's vision. The controls, on the other hand, seem thoughtlessly designed. Having only played on PC, I am going with the benefit of the doubt that they worked well enough for controllers on consoles, but the PC mapping is painful - and no, I have not nor should I be expected to spend time figuring out how to reconfigure it.
Specifically, combat segments often require button presses that cannot be efficiently handled by the left hand while your right is stuck on the mouse - you need to alternate between Q and Space for timing Block/Dodge while occasionally triggering ranged with Ctrl or even quick-looting health with E while constantly assigning targets with F (without a reticle to boost) while maintaining standard WASD movement. Since all skill combos are based off a primary weapon and a ton of combinations that are mostly left- and right-clicking, sometimes with Ctrl, movement or Block added, it is incredibly easy to accidentally trigger a wrong animation. Neither animation or input can be cancelled once triggered which often means that you are taking critical hits before you regain responsiveness. Playing through the entire game in story-mode (easiest) difficulty, I still found myself challenged by the controls all the way to the end, especially when fighting tough bosses that will punish every 'mistake' made with the above. In addition, wearing the wrong/right equipment can make you go from getting destroyed in two hits to being near indestructible against the exact same enemy, which also seems like a strange way of balancing the game.

Ending off on a positive note, the fast travel system is cleverly designed for non-trivial gameplay as it still takes some effort to get from A to B, though the additional system to travel across realms seems a little overly convoluted at times given the limited size of the extra zones. In terms of travel in general, the game is also very good at allowing you to backtrack almost everywhere at almost any time, mostly avoiding the infamous 'door locked behind you' trope.

You may have noticed that this game has won the 2022 Steam Awards for story, which should be taken with a heavy grain of salt just like every other Steam Award nominee and winner since they are mostly based on the most popular games with the most hype. The story is probably fine amongst its competitors (I have not played most of the other nominees), which happen to all be within the same genre (first-person RPG). Being an avid player of both good and bad indie games and visual novels with plenty of impact, I am very cautious about 'good enough' designs that tend to sate the average AAA audience.

With that said, the story definitely holds up on its own just fine. It took me a bit longer than it should to realize that this was a sequel, not the original (having never played the original, but knowing the setting was completely off), though this did not cause any harm at all (seriously though, the practice with reusing the exact same game titles should really stop). Growing up with plenty of Scandinavian mythology myself, it was quite a treat to see the free-form interpretation of well-known locations and deities mingled with the GoW universe and the extent of research that is shown in the final work, as well as plot points and twists that were easier to see coming yet felt fresh enough to be exciting and entertaining. The main story itself hit way too close to home and unfolds a beautiful journey through the universe while providing believable character flaws, motivations and ultimately growth for most of the cast. Side stories for optional locations are also interesting enough to serve as additional lore and reward for the exploratory player and tie the setting together. Of note is the cleverly designed storytelling mechanism during fast travel, keeping the player occupied while preserving realism of time.

See first comment (review too long)
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See third comment (review too long)


Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10
Media: 8/10

Overall: 8/10

A groundbreaking and dedicated MMO in VR being in active development for the past several years that I've been following and participating in since late 2020, Zenith: TLC is a passion project with amazing potential by a group of talented and transparent indie developers committed to expanding and evolving the game over the next decade with ample funding from big investors. Did I mention it's also guaranteed to be forever free from P2W?
The game is designed from the ground up with the VR medium in mind and therefore won't support desktop play for a while to come. This allows it to offer an unique take on traditional MMO design.

The gameplay can be generally described as a foundation based on a mix of classic MMO features reimagined to work well for VR devices and interfaces. The developers have been inspired by a wide variety of game titles such as EverQuest, Final Fantasy, WoW, animes and books like SAO and Ready Player One, in order to create a balanced fantasy/cyberpunk themed game world with its own deep lore.

In practice, the game currently supports two classes - Essence Mage and Blade Master - with each class having three subclasses based on the traditional holy trinity of DPS/Support/Tank specialisation. Future classes will be designed in the same way. This ensures that each class can always serve each role, which can be changed freely outside combat (with a slight cooldown) and has its own level progression. A character is locked to one main class at character creation so it is necessary to create multiple characters for more main classes (unlike FFXIV for example). A third class is already in the works and will arrive within roughly a year as per the current roadmap. Currently each class has some differences in main stats and core skills which reflects their playstyle adequately, and in the long term the developers have promised that each subclass will be as complex as a traditional MMO main class, arguing that essentially there will be six distinct playstyles. The developers have also promised a complex skill system beyond anything seen before, which currently amounts to a humble selection of skill loadouts that can be upgraded through variations obtained as item drops that will level up along with the character, adding random traits to selected core skills.

Combat is executed using the basic weapon type of the selected class (currently there is no weapon variation so each main class uses exclusively one weapon type) combined with set gestures to trigger specific skills for the chosen loadout as described in the previous paragraph. Each main class has an unique way to fight: The Essence Mage weaves in shots from their rechargable projectile launcher in-between spells while managing their regenerating mana resource and dodging attacks, while the Blade Master triggers skills through their blades while performing rhythmic strikes, generating their rage resource in combat while potentially blocking enemy basic attacks by intercepting with their blade(s).

Movement consists of not only regular walking, sprinting and jumping, but also the ability to climb any solid surface without exception and gliding from any airborne position similar to games like Population: One or Genshin Impact (all of these options are balanced by consuming stamina except for sprinting outside combat as well as regular walking). The gliding mechanic specifically offers a lot of customisation that allows you control of finer momentum in the air to do basic acrobatics, occasionally aided by updrafts placed in static areas of the overworld.
For mobility and turning, the game offers a variety of classic VR options including customisable comfort settings like snap turn and out-of-body movement with sensitivity sliders, although the smooth turning feature is currently locked to a very slow speed.

Controls in general are decently mapped but can be finicky and there are still common issues with accidentally casting spells when performing other actions due to the gesture-based mappings, as well as grabbing items and weapons near waist level often conflicts because too many things are in the same trigger zone. Control settings also seem biased towards the widely popular Quest controllers even though there is official support for Index, Vive, PSVR and others, and many binds are not remappable. These issues will likely be slowly rectified after release.

Players communicate with each other through the core proximity voice chat system or two private chat channels for party and guild, respectively. Currently the latter option prohibits people from participating in "global" chat because a player can only be in one chat channel at a time, which is a limitation that is being worked on.

The world map covers a region estimated to be roughly 7x7 square kilometres (often compared to the size of the island in GTA V) and takes roughly half an hour to traverse from one end to another at a regular pace, including more than a dozen distinct zones of relative size considering the VR medium. The pathing is reasonably linear and there isn't huge room for exploration compared to desktop games, but there is decent verticality and small easter eggs and rewards hidden about (as well as in plain sight). Examples of exploration rewards are collectibles used for upgrading maximum stamina, lore stones and loot chests containing materials and XP. Each zone is well designed and generally the themes cross over nicely. Expect a ton of glitched surfaces as you get closer to the bounds of the game world at any location, though.

Progression is mainly done through quests and public events for experience and levels with item drops and materials sprinkled in between for use with the synthesis and enhancement stations. Whereas items exist in at least the classic five tiers of MMO rarity (common/uncommon/rare/epic/legendary) and have a slight random quality modifier (regular/superior/flawless) expect even the very best items to drop frequently and consistently after a short while of gameplay and/or be easily synthesised, leaving little room for long-term progression other than re-rolling random substats and upgrading equipment to +10 (the current maximum). The same flaw is present in the levelling system that is currently capped at around level 40 for the first taste of end-game content, but which can be achieved within a few days of hardcore gameplay, leaving many options locked for future content design.

(Continued in comments)


Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 7/10
Graphics: 9/10
Media: 9/10

Overall: 8/10

All the known pre-release costume codes!

ALWAYS STICK IT IN CRAZY (Zoey, Scarehoe)
CAFFEINE QUEEN (Lola, Afrikini)
CHECKING HER OUT TWICE (Jessie, Naughty List)
EXCUSE ME ITS SIR (Polly, Tuxedo)
LICK OR EAT SMELL HER FEET (Lillian, Candy Corn)
SISTERS IN LEGS (Ashley, Clamouflage)
YELLOW TUBERCULOSIS (Lailani, Koimono)
MOOOOOOOOOOOOO (Sarah, Cow Girl)

EDIT: Added post-release codes from yesterday

FROM C TO SHINING DD (Brooke, Stars & Stripes)
IN A HOLE (Candace, Onahole)
SEX BADGE EARNED (Nora, Spiral Scout)
CHERRY ON TOP (Abia, Morning Delight)

Code in caps (unlock description in parantheses). Redeem from main menu Code screen.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.