andreichirita1 Reviews

Elden Ring (2022 Video Game)

Elden Boring

[5/10 · 12 October 2022]

When I first saw the trailer for Elden Ring, I thought an open world Dark Souls wasn't exactly a good idea, because Dark Souls games tend to become tedious in the later areas. Now, after spending 153 hours with the game, I still think it has been a bad idea.

All games are Skinner boxes. What makes From Software games special is that they rely on a variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement, while most games rely on a fixed-ratio schedule. Technical jargon aside, your typical game rewards the player (more or less) on a regular basis, while From Software games reward players now and then. This is what makes the games so addictive and that's the main reason people keep getting drawn to them, since a variable-ratio schedule tends to reinforce behavior the best (i.e., it's the most addictive). That works very well for a linear game of around 50 hours, but Elden Ring takes it a bit too far, almost extinguishing behavior at times (i.e., it can be quite boring).

It doesn't help, either, that graphics are severely outdated, while having the performance of something like Cyberpunk 2077 with RT on. Most of the time the game looks like The Elder Scrolls Online, with very low-resolution textures and 20 years-old vegetation. The animations are also outdated and controlling your character doesn't feel so good, making the combat slow and clunky. On the plus side, the art style is great, with masterful use of color and some of the best, most majestic, architecture ever seen in a game. Also, for the first time, we get to see dynamic weather and a day-night cycle in a From Software game.

There are numerous additions to the Souls formula, which make the gameplay more pleasant and more welcoming to new players. Out in the open, you benefit from having a mount, which allows you to escape dangerous situations, and I haven't encountered any mandatory boss in the open world (can't say if there is one), all can be skipped by moving along. Sneaking also makes some encounters less difficult, while exploration, especially in dungeons, benefits tremendously from jumping. Likewise, stamina doesn't get depleted while exploring the open world and defeating small groups of enemies replenishes your flasks. In the beginning, you can level up quite easily with the help of the new herb-picking mechanic. You can make a lot of runes by selling weeds and mushrooms. Also, you can now craft things on the go, but you will have to find tomes with recipes in the world. On the other hand, you can hardly find smithing stones for upgrading your weapons. These can be found only in caves initially and you have to go through a lot of enemies to get them.

As usual, the lore and plot are cryptic (though less so than in the other games), which would be great if they were just a bit interesting. They are not. They tried to make it appear more interesting by associating with G. R. R. Martin's name, but, if you've played the other Souls games, you can easily notice the huge amount of copy/paste, with some changed labels. There are some interesting characters, though. Good luck not missing their quests in this vast open world with no markers!

The combat is moderately satisfying for the most part, if you can ignore the aforementioned clunkiness. It doesn't help that a lot of bosses are fast like those in Sekiro, while you are slow like in... well, Dark Souls. What does help is the enormous variety of weapons, spells, and incantations, as well as a lot of buffing items. You also have summons with you all the time, but you can't activate them in all areas. Still, you can activate them when it matters. Weapons are infused with special attacks ("ashes of war") that can be changed at the bonfires ("sites of grace"), and these are the best-looking animations of the combat. Needless to say, they can be of great help, too. All Souls game had a lot of replay value, but the enormous weapons and accessories variety offers Elden Ring more than any other so far.

The best areas in the game are the so-called legacy dungeons. They have some of the best level design From Software has ever made and the best bosses in the game. Often, their graphical design is also beautiful, especially when contrasting it with the blandness of the open world. I would have enjoyed the game a lot more if it was just Dark Souls IV, with these dungeons connected by a hub, as per tradition.

As it is, the enjoyable moments in the game are few and far between. For all the additions to the formula, for all the complexity of the combat system, for all the weapon and enemy variety, it remains a sophisticated exercise in ennui.

Horizon Forbidden West (2022 Video Game)

One of the best epic sci-fi series, continued

[10/10 · 1 August 2022]

Waiting five long years to roam again with Aloy in one of the most original post-apocalyptic worlds ever created was certainly worth it. Just about everything is now better, and, while it was obvious that nothing could compare with Aloy's anagnorisis from the first game, the story is still a delight for the sci-fi fan.

The world is bigger and extremely beautiful. Every time you look up, you'll see a breathtaking landscape and the new traversal options allow you to behold even more impressive scenery. The level of detail is incredible. Guerrilla have not reached exactly Rockstar's level, but the world they have created is probably the most detailed since Red Dead Redemption 2.

Combat has been improved, with a lot more options, and it generally feels more satisfying. That is, ranged combat. Melee combat... well, not so much. It is somewhat improved, but the combos are some of the worst out there. Still, taking down machines with ranged combat and traps is some massively cool action, especially since there are a ton of new machines. There are also many additions to general gameplay, most of them worthy. Climbing is still very clunky, though. "Strike" is a tabletop mini-game introduced in Forbidden West, but I don't have any opinion about it, since I haven't played it (never played Gwent or others, either, they don't have any appeal to me).

In the Forbidden West, Aloy encounters new tribes that dwell in some fascinating places, which feel much more lived-in compared to the ones in the previous game. Like the Eastern tribes, these new ones have cultures shaped not only by geography and climate, but also (mostly) by remnants of the old world. Doing side quests for the people of these tribes is always a little adventure, with some of the most intense battles. Their stories are not as interesting as the sci-fi backbone of the game, but they could make an average little science fantasy game by themselves.

The game introduces new characters that are generally more interesting or likable than those in the first game. I found myself liking some of Aloy's new friends after just a few dialogues, something that didn't happen in Zero Dawn. Also, some of Aloy's old friends are back and they are developed further, becoming slightly more interesting themselves.

Unsurprisingly, the characters who steal the show are again Aloy and Sylens. Like many characters in high-concept sci-fi, they represent ideas, which is not to say they don't feel like real people, too, because they certainly do. Both are driven by a desire for knowledge and will go to any lengths to preserve life on earth. But they also represent opposite versions of the same archetype, namely "hero scientist." Sylens is essentially a psychopath (which determines his teleological approach to saving the world), while Aloy is essentially an empath (therefore, having a deontological approach). Sylens is considerably more arrogant and unpleasant than Aloy, who has been often accused of being a Mary Sue type of character. Just like in Zero Dawn, they need each other, but stay away from each other (which is largely Sylens' fault), unless working together is the only way to achieve their goals. The contrast and dynamic between them makes this duo one of the best in gaming and sci-fi in general. If you read sci-fi, you know that characterization isn't usually its strong suit. It is, however, one of the best aspects of the Horizon series.

Another great narrative aspect is the ability of the writers at Guerrilla to add emotional depth to most scientific concepts. Sci-fi works throw mind-blowing concepts at the audience, very often in a sterile manner, devoid of emotion. Here, the story combines scientific concepts and subjective emotional experiences in a way that few other have ever managed. For instance, possibly the most emotional scene in Forbidden West is fundamentally a thought experiment on the nature vs. Nurture debate, but played out with such unexpected compassion that it had me in tears.

On the downside, we have the villains, who are not nearly as interesting in Forbidden West. They are pretty basic scum, a rather surprising fact, considering what they've been through and the resources they possess. Or maybe that's how people like them would turn out, who's to say. The fate of one villain is pretty interesting to discover, but that's about it. A significant downside, to be sure, but not one that is capable of ruining the story.

An extraordinary overall experience, Horizon Forbidden West is a fantastic second part of one of the best epic sci-fi series. The big open world is unique, extremely beautiful and extremely detailed. The combat is exhilarating, one of the best in an open world game. Not many things in life are better than going on this adventure with Aloy.

Unbound: Worlds Apart (2021 Video Game)

Probably the best Romanian game ever made

[8/10 · 1 August 2022]

The highly popular "little kid in an oppressive environment" trope has given Alien Pixel Studios the perfect excuse to create another platformer where said kid suffers extreme ordeals in order to save, this time around, the titular worlds. The kid is basically Red Riding Hood, with a candle twist.

He also happens to be a gifted mage who can open portals to other worlds, this being the game's distinctive mechanic. He wasn't always in an oppressive environment. In the beginning, we find him in a nice village that is in the middle of a celebratory event. Then some demon invades and the village will never be cheerful again. Demon invasions tend to do that.

All our hero has to do in order to save the worlds is to jump around, sometimes with help of his portals. He can only do a few extra things (double jump, wall jump, double dash), but there are many types of portals to help him along the way. He encounters a lot of NPCs and a decent variety of enemies (including cool bosses). Most of his journey is not particularly hard, but there are difficulty spikes here and there, and the last world he visits is very challenging.

The worlds themselves are beautifully hand drawn and the excellent soundtrack adds to their particular feel.

It was never going to be anyone's favorite game, but Unbound: Worlds Apart is a charming, fun and somewhat challenging platformer.

Less.

The Surge 2 (2019 Video Game)

Bit of a letdown

[7/10 · 8 May 2022]

The first game was pretty much the best Soulslike, with a lot of interesting ideas, fun combat and setting, short duration, and a medbay ("bonfire") song that got stuck in your head.

The Surge 2 makes significant improvements to the combat. It was already good, but it adds more things to it. I would dare to say that this is the best combat system in a Soulslike game. On top of that, the game adds a lot of QoL improvement that make the entire gameplay quite pleasant.

The confined spaces of the CREO complex are now changed with the open spaces of the city of Jericho. The level design is as convoluted and trypophobia-inducing as in the first game, but there are more visual cues and the environments look more distinct, so, overall, navigating is less frustrating. Here, again, we have perhaps the best level design in a Soulslike. Later in the game, you also get hooks that help you traverse larger distances and a fast travel system that comes a bit too late. However, the main reason for backtracking in the first game was to get lower lever items to craft and upgrade your gear, but that problem has been solved with the ability to downgrade higher level items.

Not so good is visual performance. I haven't seen a game so far that so badly needed RT. The lighting is just so bad. Also, it uses Vulkan and it has a lot of stability issues. It should be fine, though, if you cap the FPS at the level your graphics card can handle.

For some reason, the devs thought it was a great idea to abandon Warren and to let you create your own character instead. That would have been indeed a great idea if there were any PvE/PvP in the game, or, at least, if there were builds... but no, there's just a character creator for no reason and Warren has become a banal side quest.

The story wasn't exactly great in the first game, but at least it was hard sci-fi. Now you have human bosses that can fly instead of industrial machinery. They thought they ought to just imitate From Software instead of being original, I guess.

Disappointing in many aspects compared to its predecessor, The Surge 2 is still one of the best Soulslikes, if not the best Soulslike out there. It adds a lot of good stuff in terms of gameplay, but there are also some baffling changes. We were so close to having the perfect sci-fi Soulslike, but it wasn't meant to be.

The Surge (2017 Video Game)

I was born in a prison...

[10/10 · 18 April 2022]

...no hope for escape.

That's what From Software could never do, get a song stuck into your head.

Other than that, I really liked it, but I don't know about die-hard From Software fans. The bosses are only a few and quite easy, but the rest is probably harder than Souls games.

There's not as much enemy variety, but there are some new gameplay elements. There is the possibility to bank your currency at medbays ("bonfires"), you can cut off body parts from enemies (and these are required for crafting new armor), and there are sets bonuses. There's a lot to learn even if you played Souls games.

The level design is not as masterfully crafted, but it's good. Often, frustrating. The second area was basically impossible for me to learn.

The combat is simply great, it can be fast, slow or in-between, there are combos and finishing moves, and plenty of weapons to go around.

The atmosphere is great, managing to capture the Soulslike feeling in a sci-fi, industrial environment. There's also a story told mainly by NPCs, not as cryptic as Souls games, but not great, either.

It's the best Soulslike, if you ask me, adding plenty of innovations to the formula, most of which are really good.

Code Vein (2019 Video Game)

Nice anime soulslike

[8/10 · 18 April 2022]

It is always nice to see the Souls formula in a different setting, with a totally different aesthetics. The game is not particularly hard (by far, the hardest part is finding your way around the Cathedral of Sacred Blood), the enemy variety is limited, and the fan service is quite distracting, but it offers a good deal of nice things, big and small. Changing builds on the fly is the best addition to the Souls formula Code Vein implements and it's quite welcome. The story is very anime, so don't expect much, but expect to be sucked in.

BioShock Infinite (2013 Video Game)

Multiversally great

[10/10 · 18 April 2022]

There are many things that can be, and indeed have been, criticized about BioShock: Infinite. However, no reasonable person would ever say (at least) three things: 1) "This is a bad example of using the Many-Worlds interpretation in a sci-fi narrative"; 2) "R. Lutece is such an uninteresting character"; 3) "I just can't like Liz".

Life Is Strange: True Colors (2021 Video Game)

Color me impressed

[8/10 · 18 April 2022]

As always, the latest LiS game takes place in a cozy little town. As far as Everytown, America go, this one could be the most inviting ever made. You'll really want to live there. That's because of the very effective use of colors and topography. The sights are breathtaking and the decent amount of bloom effect adds to the warmth of the place.

The characters inhabiting this town aren't the most interesting bunch, however, they don't necessarily need to be, because the place feels amazing nevertheless. One thing that's quite bothering, though, is the cringeworthy remarks the protagonist, Alex, often makes in her head. Her monologues at the end are in stark contrast with the laconic, vacuous thoughts she has throughout the game.

But that's alright, since the story she's the hero of will make you like her, and probably even remember her for many years, anyway. It is your typical story of Everytown, America, but with its own color to be remembered by.

Of course, a LiS game has to use superpowers as a plot device and game mechanic. For the most part, Alex's "telempathy" doesn't seem particularly relevant as a plot device and, as a game mechanic, it only implies pushing one or two buttons. Like her psychiatrist, you even doubt her power is real, as it's not much better than your regular cold reading done by charlatans. However, in the last chapter, it is made pretty clear that the power is real.

This last chapter, while asking a lot of your suspension of disbelief, draws everything together, so that, by the end, it becomes a really good story filled with tragedy, courage, and the greatly satisfying feeling of belonging there, in that most pleasant small town.

The Last of Us (2013 Video Game)

Great science fiction story...

[10/10 · 18 April 2022]

...said no one ever.

But it is. The entire story is based on scientific speculation. What if the cordyceps fungus mutated and started infecting people? What if there was one immune girl and what if the only way to produce a vaccine was to kill her? This kind of questions are not common in your typical zombie apocalypse fiction. Even the sequel abandons any scientific concept, for that matter. I Am Legend, the book that started the modern zombie apocalypse subgenre, had a protagonist who was trying to find the cause for the outbreak. Most of these stories, though, simply say it's "some virus" that caused it, if they mention anything at all. Therefore, TLoU is a great sci-fi story.

In Sound Mind (2021 Video Game)

Sound game

[8/10 · 18 April 2022]

Playing the game for the first time, it might seem to you that it's a walking simulator, but as it goes on, you'll be surprised at the amount of gameplay it offers. In many ways, it is similar to the latest Resident Evil games.

The game puts you in the shoes of a clinical psychologist, Desmond, who (what do you know) has amnesia. Sure, we have seen that countless times, but it's what comes next that matters, right? At first, it does give you an Amnesia: The Dark Descent feeling, but as you explore the first area, which serves as the hub, you realize it's more Resident Evil than Amnesia.

There are four other areas in the game, each one representing the memories of one of Desmond's clients. They each have their distinctive design and feeling, heavily influenced by games like Alan Wake and Half-Life (and probably others I couldn't figure out). In each level, there is a nemesis that can't be brought down by conventional weapons, and this is where the game offers its biggest innovation. Instead of guns, you'll have to use a mirror shard, flares, pills, and a radio to defeat the nemeses in each level. These newly acquired weapons are used to unlock other areas in the hub or the other levels.

The rest of the gameplay consists of sporadic shooting of regular enemies (of which there are two types), collecting items to improve stats as well as optional items, and a good deal of puzzles. The puzzles aren't particularly hard, but they can be obtuse at times, and they vary from simple to complex. There's a cat in the game who tells you to git gud, and it doesn't make much sense when she does, but you'll see what she meant later on, as the difficulty increases in the later levels. You might die a few times to the final boss.

Sound is very good, blending well with the idiosyncrasies of each level. The music is usually minimalistic, but evocative. There also vinyl collectibles, which contain songs of different genres, with very meaningful lyrics relating to the situations of the clients, Desmond, and one other character. A great touch.

Graphics, physics and mechanics are nothing to write home about. Quite outdated.

For me, the greatest feeling a story can offer is when the big reveal makes you see the series of previous events from an entirely different perspective. Alas, that doesn't happen here. The big reveal is based on Jungian mumbo-jumbo combined with CIB (the game's CIA) secret experiments, which our protagonist counters with positive psychology mumbo-jumbo. It's darkness vs. The light, psychobabble version. However, the game is also about dealing with the loss of a cat, which is the much better theme.

In Sound Mind is a pretty sound game, offering a good deal of survival horror, puzzles, action sequences, and atmosphere. The underwhelming story is counterbalanced by the original weapons you get to use and the distinct levels, each with their own well made design. I hadn't heard of this game before it was offered for free on EGS, which is a bit surprising. It's no masterpiece, but I definitely don't feel I've wasted my time on it.

Gothic (2001 Video Game)

When Piranha Bytes was amazing

[10/10 · 18 April 2022]

I first saw the game in an Internet cafe, back when that was the only way for me to play online games. I had only noticed the player character had a funny jump. I then got my hands on a pirated copy and that was it, no more social life for a couple of weeks. It was the first time I got really immersed in a video game. For the first time, I was able to explore a pretty big world, I had to figure out what to do next and to git gud, because you start out really underpowered. (Of course, this was nothing compared to Gothic II, which had a bigger world and improved graphics and mechanics; Gothic III continued the trend, but it was pretty much the only game I wasn't able to finish because of bugs.) Immersion in video games has advanced tremendously, but in 2001, you could hardly do better than Gothic.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (2021 Video Game)

Good scut

[9/10 · 18 April 2022]

In the opening scene, you're listening to Star-Lord, a fictional hard rock (more like speed metal) band, whose album you've presumably just bought. Peter Quill is now a fan of hard rock and metal. That was right up my alley. I spent about 20 minutes listening to the songs of the band, looking around, and thinking how great the game was going to be since they've created a band just for Peter's backstory! And it was.

Characters are the main focus here, the events mainly serving the function of consolidating the bonds between the crew members. Almost everything the Guardians do is for a fellow Guardian or someone they care about. This makes the external threats feel less serious than they ought to be, but that is not a big problem, it's not that kind of game. As the story progresses, the player gets to witness the Guardians become a stronger team by learning to accept each other, with their weaknesses and quirks. Understanding and acceptance make up the underlying theme of the game.

The banter between the Guardians is probably the best in recent years, reminiscent of Bioware's good days. It is supported by decent voice acting, although it would have been nice to hear some more original interpretations. As expected, a lot of the banter is funny, though at times you feel like rolling your eyes rather than chuckling. Very frustrating, however, is that, on many occasions, the dialogues are overlapping or are cut off abruptly by a cutscene or another dialogue. It is not something we haven't seen in many other games, too bad it's still an issue.

Visually, the game is stunning. The environments are simply gorgeous. The heavy use of vibrant colors is evident even from the poster. There's nothing dark or gritty here, and it dovetails the nature of the story and the gang.

The combat is fun, but I found myself wishing there was less of it. Some fights drag on forever without any reason. It feels good to use your abilities and those of your teammates to clear a path or to reach something shiny and, likewise, this is what shines in battle. The melee combat feels pretty satisfying, too. The abilities look pretty good and there are also some nice finishing moves. There are two or three space battles, too, but they're not metal, to put it mildly.

You can encounter quite a few annoying bugs and, apparently, they aren't doing anything to fix them. I had to reload a few times, because the game had gotten stuck. The most annoying bug happened at some point when you could talk to Drax on your ship (to get some backstory from him), but the game became unresponsive after you did. Reloading only made it unresponsive before talking. Also, on PC, the wireless Xbox controllers are not detected and playing with mouse and keyboard is not that good. Works just fine if you plug the controller, though.

Space opera, especially the Marvel kind, is the perfect subgenre for teambuilding and beautiful friendships. That's what the game offers and that's what it does best. The story, the dialogue, the gameplay, pretty much everything, is built around the constantly growing beautiful friendships. And it's good, no doubt about it.

FAR: Changing Tides (2022 Video Game)

Zen and the art of submarine maintenance

[10/10 · 18 April 2022]

"Little kid in an oppressive environment" has become quite the trope for highly atmospheric and minimalistic puzzle platformers. While in games like Little Nightmares and Limbo, there's a stressful feeling of danger, the FAR games are very cathartic. You can't die, there are no monsters out to get you and the game is completely devoid of violence. Think about that, a game in which you don't kill a single creature.

But there are not many creatures to begin with. The world is almost devoid of life. There are a few animals, fish and birds, but you don't find another living anthropoid being. Until the end, that is. The palette for this world is equally desolate, with a lot of grey and black industrial steel, rust or wintery white. There's no explanation for what happened, we can only infer, through environmental storytelling, that a sort of advanced steampunk-ish society has collapsed for some reason.

While the world is bleak, the interior of your submarine (well, it's not exactly a submarine from the start, you have to upgrade it) feels very cozy, much like the train in the first game.

The gameplay consists of controlling and maintaining this submarine and solving environmental puzzles to allow the machine to sail further. Most of the puzzles are fairly easy, but I had trouble with a couple of them. The alternation of puzzles and sailing keeps you playing the game or coming back to it, It's fantastic that a game with literally no action is not boring at all.

Some high notes produced by strings, accordions, or even a soprano, accompany success to some of the more difficult puzzles, further reinforcing your sense of achievement by adding a bit of emotion to the otherwise desolate game. After some of these puzzles, there are long periods of sailing without anything else happening. Still, there is something very soothing about these, so not much of a problem and I never felt bored. It would be great, though, had the game allowed you to save and not go through these again if you quit. I suspect a lot of people will finish the game in one or two sessions, so not a problem for them. Also, as another somewhat negative point, the controls can be a bit overlapping when controlling and maintaining the vehicle.

The ending was a bit surprising and highly emotional. It is quite an achievement, considering no words are ever uttered in the game. But you need to have played the first game for it to have a full impact.

I've played the game on Game Pass, and I don't see any reason to not try it out if you are subscribed. If you ask me, you have to play it even if you don't have Game Pass.

Bloodborne (2015 Video Game)

Git gud, it's actually worth it this time

[10/10 · 18 April 2022]

It feels quite embarrassing to write something about Bloodborne when there are dozens of YT videos attempting to explain the lore and even a book about it. But, anyway, here it goes.

You notice the Souls-specific shortcomings from the start, but you also notice (how could you miss it?) that church bell ringing in the distance, somewhere. You do notice a gloomy atmosphere which you crave for but rarely get in a triple A game. Alas, you sadly notice you're not gud and, should you wish the night to unfurl, you need to... well, git gud.

At the heart of Lovecraft's work lies the idea that you cannot handle the truth, it will make you insane, it is sometimes incomprehensible, but always frenzy-inducing. You are helpless against this "cosmic horror", which often includes aesthetically unappealing beings of a higher plane of existence. Bloodborne progresses from your friendly gothic horror to the heart of cosmic horror as you gain Insight. Really, you're better off not knowing what's really going on, but you'll inevitably find out.

You will also find out about the people who inhabit this funereal place. They are, very likely, the saddest bunch you've ever known. This is one of the strongest elements of the game's narrative. Each character has a depressing backstory. Often, even as you slay one of those bosses who killed you 9131231231 times, you can still feel empathy for her or him. It's not their fault. They're not the enemy. They're just the unfortunate victims of some cosmic horror. Same goes for your "friends", too.

As the player gains insight into the story (usually with the help of YT), she will find not horror, but a piece of digital narrative.

Horizon Zero Dawn (2017 Video Game)

One of the best sci-fi stories I know

[10/10 · 18 April 2022]

One might go into HZD with post-apocalyptic fatigue, but try the game nonetheless because of the hype. One might roll one's eyes at first, but one might still be intrigued by the cognitive estrangement the world presents and might be determined to discover why is that world the way it is. Surely, without any high expectations. The main character, Aloy, has, coincidentally, the same task, although she has a more personal motive. You follow her since she is little, and she happens to develop into a sassy, skeptical, curios and compassionate woman. Which could make one really, really like her and not want to be separated ever again. But I digress. In any case, at the end of the story, one might realize the post-apocalyptic genre still managed to produce something new and relevant. Some might even go as far as to consider it one of the best sci-fi stories they know (yes, talking about myself).