Recent reviews by RussianManSMWC

Rune Factory 4 Special is my favorite game of all time. I have yet to find a game that surpasses this one in terms of sheer fun factor. It takes the same gameplay formula of Rune Factory 3, and refines it. It’s as fast paced as ever, quick farming, quick combat, quick menu navigation, quick dialogue, it’s fast and snappy. The movement does not feel as slippery, and has analogue support. Dashing is now a separate button. You can now craft in bulk. Better item sorting and more inventory space in general. A lot of changes are small, but improve the overall experience. You can also now play as a female protagonist and romance cute guys. There’s a lot of depth beneath the surface, the game keeps surprising me when I discover something new. A LOT more content, the game that will last you a while. It certainly did for me across three different platforms (3DS, Switch and PC).

The story is good, and it’s quite tragic, exploring themes of friendship and sacrifice. The relationship between Ventuswill, protagonist and the guardians is nice, and there are good emotional moments. After replaying the game, I think it’s better than I remember. The dialogue in general is quite fun, and usually funny. The characters are not as zany as those in Rune Factory 3, but still fun in their own right.

Be warned. This PC version is not amazing, as there are some issues that weren’t present in the Switch and 3DS versions. Of all things you could mess up, the sound engineering is all over the place. Some sounds have wrong pitches, for example, the money ding when buying items now sounds like metal clanking, air magic attacks that reflect off walls also sound metallic for some reason. There’s also some instances where sound effects cut off abruptly. Most noticeable is during a drumroll for festival results. Instead of a prolonged drumroll, it ends midway through, which is laughably bad. Did you know that NPCs that sell items are supposed to play voice lines when you shop? You wouldn’t know that if you played this version, because these voice lines straight up don’t play. The music transitions are only half-functional. Instead of fading the previous track out and fading in a new one when e.g. entering a new area, the current track simply stops, fading in the new track afterwards. There’s also a rare glitch when a sound effect may repeat itself over and over. I am not sure if it’s a new bug or it was in the Switch original, and it IS rare, I only got it twice. Lastly. Changing audio output device, like plugging in a headphone in the middle of the game causes the sound to get all glitchy, and can cause the game to crash.

Aside from the sound, another issue I noticed is that randomized dungeons (seed dungeons, Sharance maze dungeons) do not display areas you’ve been to on the mini-map, which means you can get lost if you have to backtrack. Again, this wasn’t present in the originals. There’s a memory leak issue of some sort, I noticed that zooming in character stat profiles got slower the longer my session was, as well as navigating inventory. I don’t recall having that issue in the switch or 3DS versions. Last and least, the game crashed occasionally when trying to quit to the main menu through the save screen, which is when I was trying to save scum or quit the game. Which is to say, it’s minor. I have not encountered any other major issues or crashes during the gameplay part of the game. But, yeah, I don’t know how this port passed QA (and it seems like there were a lot of QA testers, which is hard to believe). This version is still playable and you could still have fun with it, but if you want to have a definitive experience, I’d recommend getting the Nintendo Switch version. I cannot comment about PS4/Xbox One versions, but I’d imagine they have similar issues as they all released at about the same time. The only upside of this PC port is that there are mods for it. I’m happy to know that there are dedicated fans that make mods for this game and other Rune Factory games.

You may be wondering, what’s so special about Rune Factory 4 Special? Let me walk you through a list of changes from the 3DS original (not comprehensive ofc):
-“Improved” visuals. I think the character portraits have been properly updated and they look nice. Otherwise… yeah, “AI” upscaled textures and sprites. It’s like one of those filters you can find in an SNES emulator. I originally thought that these were kinda good, with some ugly textures and sprites, but after playing Rune Factory 5… yeah, the visuals are just okay. However, I can confidently say that if you can look past the visuals, there’s a genuinely fun game to be had here. Don’t judge a book by its cover as they say.
-Rock solid 60FPS. The original 3DS version did have some dips in areas with many NPCs/action-heavy scenarios.
-Hell difficulty. If you thought hard isn’t hard enough, you can go even further beyond! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
-Escape spell is now a separate button, ZR/Right Trigger. This is a nice QOL feature that frees an ability/magic slot (you could still use switch’s touch screen and click on it on PC, but why would you?)
-According to many reports, the RNG for the third act of the story has been fixed. The game has an infamous RNG system for events, usually short and quirky stories involving other townsfolk. And the devs decided to tie a major story element to that. I didn’t have to wait for long before triggering arc 3, but I also don’t remember waiting long in 3DS original (European region). Must have been luck.
-Newlywed mode. You unlock one for the character you have married, but you can spend prince/princess points to unlock the rest of them. These are essentially the main game with objectives tacked on for story purposes that ends when you fulfill all of them. Most of them are pretty simple. You start with no skills at a specific level, with some things unlocked and some good gear. My favorite is Vishnal’s, it has an OPTIONAL challenge to beat a tough boss for a crystal skull item. You could just walk into a cutscene and move on, but it was fun to get it legit, on a time limit no less. I think that’s how I’d like to have these stories. Straightforward, but challenging if you so choose. Unfortunately, Rune Factory 3 Special’s stories usually ended in tedium, because of challenges that weren’t optional (like fishing a rare Sunsquid). The protagonist and marriage candidates use Live 2D sprites, and I’ll be honest, I don’t think they’re very good. I think it’s in part due to them being uncanny. I’m so used to the static sprites and now they move! The animations are pretty awkward. I’m not a fan of them here and neither in Rune Factory 3 Special.
-Another Episode mode, narrated episodes of protagonist x spouse with cute artwork. Venti is in there, they are clearly teasing us with a dragon waifu.
-Autumn Road/Winter Field music has been changed for some reason. Apparently the new song choice is from Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny. I personally think the 3DS version fits the mood better. Even without knowing the Tides of Destiny origin, the new song sounds too “breezy” for autumn/winter.
-You can choose between English VO and Japanese VO, if you were ever curious how Japanese people sound (apparently they sound louder than English ones).
-A new artwork after beating the third act and interacting with “Beat the Game” trophy. It’s pretty cute.
-Updated intro cinematic.
-More than 3 save slots.

Overall, Rune Factory 4 Special is plain fun. Lot’s of things to do, it’s quick and snappy, a lot of mechanical depth, fun and memorable characters, good story and funny moments. The Special moniker is fitting if you’re a Rune Factory fan, waiting for the return of the beloved series after original developer’s bankruptcy, but it is applicable to the game as a whole. Rune Factory 4 truly is a special game, therefor it’s Rune Factory 4 Special.

After checking out Soulslinger, my curiosity peaked and I decided to check another game from Nether Lamp, Forest of Strays. It looked the most interesting to me and it’s the most recent game, which means my review will be more valuable than ever. So, how is it?

Forest of Strays is a pretty standard 2D platformer. It’s a two-button game - jump and sword slash, and that’s it. You cannot kill enemies by jumping on them, you will simply bounce off, or die if they are spiky. In stage 6, you acquire the aforementioned sword, which is used to defeat enemies and activate those pesky bear traps. The way enemies fly forward and the SFX make me think we’re hitting them with a bat instead of slashing, which is kind of amusing. The game is responsive enough, and rarely did I feel like my deaths were the fault of the game.

The game is not very fast paced, and the levels are become longer the further you’re in, which means having to retread your steps after dying can be frustrating. Think of it as a series of mini-gauntlets, with the exception of boss levels and the hidden one, there are no checkpoints, if you make one mistake, you’ll have to start from the beginning. The game advertises itself as “hardcore”, which I personally think is a little exaggerated – it’s definitely not on the same level as Celeste or Airscape: The Fall of Gravity. That said, it IS a hard game, I did die a number of times, so if you’re expecting challenge, you’ll get some.

One thing the game does right is variety. Even in challenge levels, the game keeps introducing new obstacles, and each set of levels has unique enemies as well. However, the level design… it’s fine, but for the most part feels uninspired. I counted at least 6 times where you had two extending spike blocks without iterating on that obstacle, which can feel a little repetitive. There’s also the double jump. After you collect all hidden flowers, you unlock the double jump. After collecting all maple leaves and beating normal mode levels, you unlock challenge levels. They are essentially the same as normal levels, but with more hazards. However, they don’t feel like they utilize the double jump properly. It’s as if the double jump is not there to be explored as a mechanic, but something secondary, not being used in levels specifically designed for this ability. The only real utilization is to collect some tricky green leaves, which are optional. There IS a secret level that actually fits the bill – an appropriately tough level, with tricky jumps, the double jump is absolutely necessary. It even combines enemies from different level sets, resulting in a fun and satisfying challenge. If there were more levels like this, I’d be more satisfied.

There are a few issues I have with the game. In the boss battle in challenge mode, I wish there was a warning about paws coming from the ground and killing you, I died because I didn’t know that would happen. In the normal mode boss battle, you can jump behind the witch and slash her while she’s shooting forward, which in my opinion trivializes the first phase, may as well not have it if it’s this easy. Also, I am annoyed by the fact that you can both kill and be killed by the same enemy on the same frame. I feel like there should be a priority – either have enemies react first and kill you on the same frame or go the other way around and have the player take priority.

The visuals are nice overall. I like how defeated enemies typically display a sad expression, it’s a cute little detail. However, a big issue I have with the aesthetics is that the visual variety is lacking. The game trapped itself by its title – Forest of Strays. All you see is forest times 33. The only thing that changes between level sets is palette, and maybe a few new tiles are added like floating islands with vines in Enchanted Woods. But it doesn’t have to look so repetitive. There are different kinds of forests and forest trees. Maybe have some pine trees. Maybe some birch trees. Maybe even add something fantastical. How about a forest of cherry blossoms because why not? Or add mushrooms, maybe even giant ones, there are mushrooms in forests. Giant flowers? I think having some variety in the tilesets and backgrounds would elevate the visuals further. Somewhat related, but the dark forest is VERY dark. Obviously you’re supposed to get the lamp. But one of the pillar hints require you to beat all 4 levels without it. If you can’t adjust your brightness or have a dim monitor, it may be impossible to do that. Maybe implement a brightness option? This idea is fr- wait, I already used that joke. Uh, this idea is… priceless!

Here are a couple of visual nitpicks - I think the girl (protagonist) is oddly animated – her head and legs are facing forward, but the body looks like it’s facing the camera, and the arms are flailing, it looks a little silly. And in the ending picture after beating all normal levels, the girl doesn’t look like she’s holding the sword – it looks like she is clenching her hand but the sword is somewhere behind it. Again, these are just nitpicks.

The music is a Stray CatJam (translation: very good). Having a talented bro has its perks, doesn’t it? When playing through challenge levels, the tracks are the same but with slightly altered instrumentation, similar to how the level design itself is similar but altered in some ways. Some may call this lazy, but I don’t really mind – the underlying songs are as enjoyable to listen as ever. Once again, there is no in-game story or lore to speak of. I think it’s kinda odd that the witch and the girl became friends at the end of challenge levels after beating up own cat for misbehaving, but whatever. I am more of a gameplay focused nerd than story, so it doesn’t bother me too much.

To make a more definitive review, I checked the behind the scenes video. Just like with Soulslinger, Forest of Strays began life as a game jam entry at itch.io. I won’t be talking about it much, I’d rather leave a comment on it on itch, but you can see an evolution in visuals – a bit rougher in 2020 original, and it’s just a single level, because of the game jam’s gimmick. I liked the idea of the sword spreading love instead of harming, turning hostile enemies into opposite. If that idea was kept, the game would’ve been much more unique and interesting. But yeah, the video was interesting and insightful once again. That’s how I learned about the secret level, which I had to beat to get a third hidden ending.

Just like with Soulslinger, I am leaning towards recommending it than not. On its own, Forest of Strays doesn’t do anything wrong. It controls well, the level design is fine, and does offer some challenge, the visuals are pleasing though lacking variety, and the music is quite good. However, if I had to compare Forest of Strays and Soulslinger, I think I like the latter a little more, if only because it’s a unique take on the autorunner genre. Forest of Strays by comparison feels like it plays it safe, and as a result, doesn’t have anything to stand out. That said, it’s far from a bad game. If you’re looking for a platformer quick fix… I mean, there are so many good platformers out there, but Forest of Strays is not a bad pick. Just don’t expect it to blow you away.

Death Count = 218

This game once popped up through a daily deal on Steam’s front page, maybe you saw it too. Seeing as the game didn’t have many reviews, it seemed pretty obscure… and maybe underrated? Let’s find out.

The gameplay is pretty straightforward – you run for a while, and various obstacles and enemies pop up as you’re running, you can swing your scythe to destroy obstacles or hurt enemies, and use a gun to one-shot enemies, though ammo is limited. It does regenerate after a while and also refills when you kill an enemy with a scythe. The goal is to get 100% progression in any given level to proceed to a boss fight. You passively get progress, but you get more of it by breaking obstacles and killing enemies. The gameplay also speeds up a bit the further you progress, making it slightly harder.

Occasionally, you can find pies, which give a buff depending on flavor, like how a strawberry pie gives health regeneration, acting as temporary power-ups. There are also buffs that are more permanent, lasting for the duration of the story mode or endless mode. These are various blessings that give you boosts, like making bullets pierce obstacles, or healing when killing an enemy with a scythe attack. After beating a boss/endless section, one such blessing can be picked up, or missed out on. In story mode, after beating a boss, you’re given an option to go one of the two paths. It’s typically between a shrine or a cursed shrine. There are curses, which give you a boost and a detriment at the same time and you have to sacrifice a little bit of health to get one. Lastly, there are shops, you can use currency to restore ammo, health, get a pie or buy a blessing. Or you can ignore these and proceed to the next level.

Soulslinger does not explicitly advertise itself as a “rougelike”, itch.io page for this game does say it has “rougelike” elements, and the developer doesn’t consider it a rougelike either, in his own words, it’s a “rougelike-like”. If I were to criticize it as rougelike however, I would bring up a couple of points:
1) The variety and replay value are lacking. If you were expecting a rougelike with lots of things, something like Enter the Gungeon, you’ll be disappointed. There are only a handful of blessings, 6 curses, 5 levels, all the bosses are the same each run. If you have beaten the game once, you’ve seen pretty much everything there is, which is a shame.
2) Not much in terms of tracking progress and improving upon on subsequent playthroughs. As an example, I have Roboquest. You gain wrenches after each run to unlock new perks, and you can find many secrets and keys to new areas, and unlock new classes and so on. Every run should be a contributing factor, which I think is the point of any good rougelike. The problem is that there’s not much to contribute TO. A few soulblasters, which alter shooting mechanics, a blessing card from a witch and hats, because why not. That’s pretty much it. After you get all that, it’s playing for the sake of playing.

About that “challenge” part. It’s very easy to trivialize the game by stacking blessings, which means choosing between a curse and a blessing is a choice without a choice. The intent behind curses that the developer gives is that they are supposed to be more powerful than blessings, but have a tradeoff. In my opinion, this doesn’t work – there are only two curses that I think are DECENT, but blessings are so much better in comparison – almost no downsides and they are free. The only reason you would want to pick a curse is for a self-imposed challenge or for an achievement. For the record, I mostly played on normal difficulty with permadeath, but I did play hard difficulty four times, one for an achievement and the rest for hat money and fun. Enemies take more hits to down, and that’s all I noticed in terms of changes, blessing stacking still applies. Maybe have the player donate for blessings? That way it would be similar to curses, offering a trade, and it would be slightly more balanced that way. Or you know, make curses more appealing. This idea is free of charge.

The bosses are also pretty basic, they don’t have much in terms of interesting and challenging patterns to learn, and die pretty easily if you shoot them a bunch of times. The final boss is especially underwhelming in that regard.

Obviously, I can’t speak for everyone. I found the game to be moderately difficult, not too hard but not a piewalk either, but someone with lower skill may find it challenging, as advertised. The game even has a checkpoint setting instead of permadeath and easy difficulty, ensuring that anyone can play it. I think this game is a perfect pick and play sort. If you want to play something quick, Soulslinger is a good choice, and the endless mode is there if you want to brag about how long you can endure it and how high you can get your score. There’s also achievements to get, boosting play value and challenge. For how cheap the game is, I definitely got my money’s worth (I got it on sale…).

The visuals are pleasing, but the music is unremarkable. I straight up disabled it after a couple of rounds and started blaring music from other games. There’s also no story or lore, none that are in the game. Steam’s description is basically all there is. Sorry for the five of you who care about lore. Wouldn’t it have been cool if there were log entries, fleshing out the world, enemies and characters and you had to spend money to unlock them/found them randomly? More replay value, and people who are into that sorta thing would be satisfied. This idea is free of charge.

To make a more definitive review, I went an extra mile and played an older version of the game, available under betas, version 1.1. More developers should give you an option to play older builds for historic purposes. I can definitely see why the game wasn’t initially very well received. The game played at the same speed, making the game feel monotonous, increasing the speed slightly as you progress is a good change. There were also a handful of bugs, likes bosses not freezing when pausing the game (which could result in unfair damage) and endless mode was broken. Less content, no new guns, no witch card shop. Which is to say, the original was very mid, so the latest update is a bit of a redemption. On the other hand, ammo didn’t recharge passively in the original. This meant that it was a more valuable resource that you had to work for and shooting was a risk vs. reward opportunity. Regenerating ammo also devalues ammo purchase in the shop. Why spend a few coins restocking ammo when you can just regenerate it in the level for free?

I also watched the behind the scenes. It was insightful, and also revealed a some neat details. Soulslinger is a successor to Soulful, essentially a prototype of sorts, made for game jam on itch dot io. I played it too! I do like the idea of soulless enemies damaging you, discouraging reckless scything. Damaging on breaking obstacles, not so much. I think taking good ideas from these old versions (soulless, no ammo regeneration) could make the game even more interesting. Maybe even implement a hardcore difficulty with no ammo regeneration and no blessings for the ultimate test. This idea is free of charge.

I know this is not the most inspiring review of the game, but I am leaning towards recommending it than not. I had a decent time with it. It kind of fails at being a good rougelike, but it does succeed at being a unique autorunner, I mean have you seen an autorunner that has roguelike elements in this manner? It may not be “challenging” as advertised, but if you look at it the other way, it’s chill enough, and that’s not to say it doesn’t have challenge at all, and there is a little bit of replay value. So, yeah, Soulslinger is a fine game. It’s also really cheap, especially on sale, so you aren’t losing much by checking it out.

I Wanna Be A Game Dev!, contrary to it’s name, is not a balls to the walls platformer ala I Wanna Be The Guy. Notice how it’s A Game Dev, not THE Game Dev. Important distinction. This game is a visual novel with light simulation mechanics.

You can explore some 3D areas, though they’re quite limited, and there are mini-games tied to raising your stats related to gamedeving (as well as other mini-games that you’ll encounter in the story that can affect other people’s perception of you). There are also regular questions from the teach, as well as events like quizzes that can be a good way of making friends, as well as having a smile when you hear a non-copyright-infringing rendition of the moon theme from DuckTales. There’s a lot of non-copyright-infringing material references, which is neat. You can interact with NPCs for their stories, invite them to movies, park, etc. to raise relationship with them to unlock more stories. I said at the beginning that the simulation mechanics are light. There’s no strategy to raising your skills or pursuing one character like in standard dating sims or raising sims or other kinds of sims. That’s in part due to the game not being that long, it’s only one act, with a big "To be continued". But also because you’re given specific goals to achieve related to game dev (though as far as I can tell the only reward is character friendship raising if they like what they see… maybe the ending changes if you get everything right or fail everything right, I don’t know).

Speaking of stories, the writing in general is quite good. The characters are nice and memorable, and there’s plenty of humorous dialogue, I was entertained through and through. The writing is grounded in reality, so you can believe the struggles of the group trying to get their game together, and other moments like thinking about future life and career. It’s pretty deep stuff. The only thing that I was a little bit disappointed by is the ending. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to be that kind of game with a plot twist (Doki Doki Literature Club!, How to Date a Magical Girl!, if you know, you know), but I was too absorbed by the game. And it was pretty normal for the most part. I do hope that the ending is just a bad dream and act 2 starts like that (but continues after the climax), I think the game worked the best when it was grounded in real life, without having the “plot twist”… I hope… right? RIGHT?! Is this game all in le head??

The visuals are pretty nice. I don’t know why, but the low res visuals combined with pretty lighting look quite appealing. The character designs are also quite good. The music is nice.

If I were to criticize stuff, there are a few things I would point out:
-The game crashed a couple of three times, though the developers seem to be aware of that. I don’t know if it’s a memory leak or something, I did have an extended play session both times (scratch that, the game crashed a third time with not much playtime).
-Next, the questions you get in school. They’re technical stuff that the game doesn’t teach you about. If you don’t know jack about music, you have to guess. And, there is a proper exam in the game, it feels bad to flub the questions without having a chance to understand what you’re even being asked. I wish the game had proper study sessions for normies who aren’t into technical mumbo jumbo. You can search that stuff online, of course, but that feels cheatsy. I think there’s an opportunity to have normal study sessions with characters bouncing off each other with proper dialogue and hilarity, which would make these learning sessions more entertaining. Or, you know, you could just dump that knowledge in the game itself, like a notes book, and have the player memorize that. I only knew a few of the questions because I just so happened to have programming knowledge, for instance, “Which programming language is considered the closest to computers?” or something like that.
-I wish there was a way to make screenshots in the game, because any button I press causes the game to advance dialogue. I did notice that clicking on a sweat drop that sometimes appears on characters didn’t advance dialogue… for some reason. Bug? Feature? I could’ve mapped steam’s screenshot key to a mouse click and clicked on the drop, and thus not advance dialogue, but that’s too galaxy brained and complicated.
-I think the game could’ve done a better job at tutorializing the mini-games. Have a preview screen with the rules before starting them, because how it’s done in the game, you’re just dumped into the action and have to spend precious time trying to understand what the heck is going on. Also, not a fan of the “rhythm” mini-game, but that might be skill issue. I was only good at Love Live! School Idol Festival with the slowest note speed, so maybe there should be an accessibility feature for that?

Overall, I do like I Wanna Be A Game Dev!. Fun writing, good characters and nice aesthetics. I wish the devs good luck with Act 2. This game is free, so I’d say, check it out if you can and if you value good writing. If you’re not convinced, I’ll lay it on you in simpler terms. This game is a riot and totally poggers! The developers are gigachads! LOOOOOOOL! I hope I did this right.

Here's my sloppy review of Fields of Mistria because I wanted to finish the last task of The Steam Awards 2024, which is to review or update a review of a game I nominated. Can't fault me for being honest at least.

If you couldn't tell from (as of writing this review) overwhelmingly positive review score, Fields of Mistria is a good game. Which is an understatement. It's a fantastic game. Here's why:
->The characters are fun and memorable, I like how the characters react to your deeds, commenting on items you donate to museum, progression quests, heart events and so on. There are also dedicated Fridays at the Inn events that gathers all NPCs and have fun interactions. The writing is pretty good, and there's a great amount of unique dialogue to have.
->The visuals and music are pretty good. Not much to say tbh.
->You can pet a dog. What else can I say?
->There's a chill dragon statue you can talk to. What else can I say?
->Last but definitely not least, the gameplay is pretty engaging. Make up your mind about what you're gonna do for the day, be it farming, mining, fishing, etc. It's hard to describe how exactly the game is engaging, if you've played other farming sims and wasn't bored by them, you'll know exactly what I mean. Doing day-to-day activies is satisfying, and making tangible progression. At a certain point you unlock the ability to gain new perks, which uses its own currency to unlock them. Which means, anything you do is beneficial in general. For instance, chopping wood and then unlocking a perk for fishing. There's also magic spells that you unlock at certain points in the story (mainly for diving in the mines), which are benefitial. Conjure rain if you dont feel like watering crops, make crops grow instantly into produce, or, if you're exhausted but want to keep on going, magically refill stamina. The mana is slow to recover, one full point takes a few days, though there are mana potions to be found. I think it's a nice addition. Also, there's a magical horse you can ride, a nice reward for those complaining about movement speed, though you'll have to play a bit to unlock it (this was added in first major update).

For an early access game, the game has a fair amount of content, and it had its first major update recently, adding more of it. Even when it just released in early access, it felt like a polished and well designed product that would give you hours of enjoyment. And it keeps getting better. I should mention that I didn't experience all of it, I haven't gone through all new heart events. I did expand my house to the max, get to the lowest possible floor in the mines and did max a few skills, like smithing. I have played a bit and I like what I experienced.

Of course, since it's an early access game, it does have flaws, including those from the technical standpoint. Or it did. I had a few crashes here and there. The only notable bug I had was with the sound, the music would frequently malfunction, playing in distorted fashion, or layering extra music on top of one another, or just stop playing altogether. It was pretty funny, not gonna lie. I say "had" because these issues were fixed since at least the first major update. I haven't noticed anything else that I would consider major. Of course, since its an early access, there bound to be more bugs to squash with upcoming updates.

From the gameplay standpoint, I don't really have any complaints. The only one I have is that woodworking is a boring skill - it has little practical use, and it's slow to level up. It's mostly for crafting decorative stuff for sell, or, well... decorating. And I will admit I'm not really into prettyfying places (I'll get to sorting my messy house full of chests, i swear!!), but even then, it's just not very satisfying. I think the developers should boost the EXP gain for Woodworking, especially for harder/expensive recepies, because it doesnt feel rewarding. I do like how there are requests that ask you to craft items using that skill, I think that's a step in the right direction, though they appeared quite late for me. Of course, this statement may age because you know... early access.

The only other criticism I can dish out is not with the game's contents, but with the announcement of updates. NPC Studio decided to post about upcoming updates anywhere but on Steam. On Steam, where your core audience is. It just doesn't make sense to leave your consumers in the dark like that, you have to follow them on their website or Xitter or Bluesky or whatever. Also, they don't specify the exact time at which they drop the update, which generated some discussion. I think the developers should improve in regards of communication (note that the game didn't have proper road map dates when it launched, all major updates' dates were TBA... and it still doesn't as of writing this).

Oh yeah, one more thing, I do like the developers highlighting changes based on community feedback with a flower emoji in update changelogs. I think that's nice, it's basically giving the community shout outs for contributing.

So... yeah... it's a great game. If you're a fan of cozy games, farming sims. or even if you're just getting into them, Fields of Mistria is easy to recommend. It has become one of my new favorite games with engaging gameplay and fun writing, nice visuals and music.

Also, notice how I didn't mention Stardew Valley in this review, it's possible to judge a farming sim on its own merits... except I just did. Oops.

A Void Hope is not your typical platformer. If you came here expecting challenging and/or satisfying platforming, you may be left disappointed. The platforming is serviceable but doesn’t evolve that much throughout the game. So… that must mean the game is mediocre, right? Well, not exactly. A Void Hope is something else, and shouldn’t be treated like your typical video game.

In my opinion, the biggest draw this game has is it’s story and atmosphere. I’m one of those kinds of gamers who views stories as something secondary and values gameplay highly (unless it’s a visual novel, where essentially the story IS gameplay). However, a good story is always a nice thing to have, as some players may need a certain motivation to keep playing besides “this game is good”. And the game definitely delivers. Now, I’m not going to spoil the plot, so I’ll talk about it in a vague sorta way. It opens up with a sort of mystery element, learning about the in-game situation, then go gather some memories, which keeps you wondering what’s going to happen next as you uncover more. It’s certainly engaging, even on a repeat playthrough, and can be treated as an episodic series, with each episode revealing a bit more. Unfortunately, the story does lose it’s luster after about half-way through, where after there’s not much in terms of story telling, and the goal becomes clear. Still, I was motivated enough to see it to the end, and the ending definitely pays off (though I have to say, I still don’t like that long ending walk sequence….).

Story is just a part of it. As I said before, there are also atmosphere and music. The music in this game is fantastic, and one of the things that kept me going forward, because I wanted to hear more of it. In fact, I think the overall aesthetics are simply superb. The sound design is great, contributing to the moody ambiance. The art is also quite good, the characters are well animated, the environments are also rich in detail, and it’s complimented by the lighting system, where there are some light sources, and everything outside of them take darker colors, as you’d expect the light to work. It’s very high level science, I know.

The story, atmosphere, incredible music and overall mysterious vibes easily overshadow the game’s arguably weak aspects – the gameplay. And if I want to be honest and for my review to be complete (or perhaps add padding, depending on who you ask), I will talk about it. It’s not bad, but I won’t pretend like the gameplay is better than it is. The platforming might be enjoyable in a mindless sort of way, especially if you're absorbed in the game's ambiance and mystery, but if you really think about it, it’s just okay. The physics are good and don’t hamper the platforming experience – the controls work just as they should. The puzzles are fairly basic, if you can even call them that. There are boxes that can be used to jump onto higher areas, or to unblock a ladder, and stuff, just push them. There are mechanical seals that can be unlocked by pressing a button or shooting a mechanism – find that and use the respective action. The only things that require some thought are the computers that you’ll have to find to beat the game – you play something like a Snake, though your tail doesn’t move with the head. Basically, you have to navigate mazes, collect all the dots while you keep filling the space, so you have to plan around that.

Of course, if it just had simple platforming challenges and “puzzles”, it would be even more underwhelming that it already sounds. Of course, there is more to it. There are actual enemies in the game. Some people are infected and turn into abominations that are insta-kills on contact, so the encounters are about evasion than actual combat. The very first encounter is the most memorable – you have to push a crate out of the way while completely defenseless as the threat approaches from behind, which adds tension. The tension does fizzle a bit after you obtain a (flare?) gun, that can be used to temporarily stun enemies, as well as more open level layouts. The only complaint I have is that you have to move the slow reticle and lock it onto them for the shot to actually do damage, a stray bullet will just pass through. Otherwise, avoiding enemies is not super difficult, the normal human-shaped ones are fairly slow, the animal-like ones are faster, but also smaller, so you can jump over, and bird-like ones are the most threatening, as they swoop at you, if you’re far enough, they’ll do so with great speed, and they’re hard to aim at, so they can be a bit more of a challenge. Still, I didn’t feel like I struggled too much, the challenge level is relatively low throughout. Though that could be a positive if you're really invested in the story and don't care much for difficulty.

Lastly, this isn’t just a generic platformer – it’s sort of a metroidvania, or at least it has secrets to find, it’s certainly no Alwa’s Awakening or its sequel when it comes to the open-ness, and the game is divided into multiple stages, as opposed to one big world. The progression is linear at first – you’re uncovering memories and as you do, find various items like a gun or a crowbar that open more avenues for exploration, so you can return back to previous levels. And it’s actually required to do so if you want to simply beat the game, like how you’ll have to find the aforementioned computers. There are traditional, optional secrets as well, like finding radios or smashing TVs, only needed for respective achievements. I think the exploration is done well, there are some well hidden secrets. Do note that I didn’t find the burned lab or the secret achievement requirement, but otherwise I found all the secrets, and I enjoyed them a decent bit. Unfortunately, the items aren’t like in Metroid games in that they’re useful to the player outside of essentially being keys. The only item that is useful outside of unlocking paths is the gun, as I mentioned before, it can stun enemies. And not all items are created equal, there’s a gas canister you find fairly late into the game, and it’s only really used once (I could be wrong though, again, I did not find the burned lab so maybe it’s used more in there?).

Overall, A Void Hope is a unique game. I can’t stress it enough, the story, ambiance and overall aesthetics are excellent, the story and mysteries keep you going until you reach the ultimate conclusion. And despite me pointing out it's simple mechanics, they’re not the focus, the focus is on the overall experience, and that’s ultimately what the developers were trying to achieve. As I said at the beginning, it shouldn't be treated like typical videogame, in fact A Void Hope may not be a great game based on it's gameplay and probably won't crank one's top 10 in that regard, but it is a great experience, and as an experience, I highly recommend it.

Death Count = 15

Marsupilami: Hoobadventure is a surprisingly great 2.5D platformer, clearly inspired by Donkey Kong Country series. I’ve only played 3 DKC-like games (Kaze and the Wild Masks, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair and this one) and the fact that they’re all at least good, is… well, good!

Marsupilami: Hoobadventure is a tightly constructed platforming adventure. You play as titular Marsupilami, of which there are three different characters. The difference is purely cosmetic, which I don’t think is a problem – if they had unique abilities, then the level design would have to be compromised and balanced around said abilities, without them, it keeps laser focus on its design without any restrictions or accommodations. The central gimmick of this game is rings that Marsupilamis can latch onto with their long tails, which is iterated upon as the game progresses, like how there are temporary rings that only make you bounce after latching on, and respawn after a few seconds. The game features an auto-lock system for grabbing these rings, and I rarely felt like it didn’t work correctly and it didn’t aim at the ring I wanted to latch onto. You can also roll indefinitely on the ground, which is good for gaining speed and destroying enemies. And yes, you can roll off a ledge and jump off afterward like in any of Donkey Kong Country games. Actually, the game features a bit of a coyote jump, so you don’t have to roll off to jump after, which can be useful for saving yourself from doom. Walljumping is also introduced, which is a classic platforming ability that isn’t in DKCs. Lastly, you can perform a spin attack, which really is just your standard groundpound, which can be used for combat, as well as destroying obstacles or obtaining bonuses.

While there are a few elements borrowed from Donkey Kong Country games, like barrel cannons, which are now birds, this game does have a bit of its own identity, thanks to the ring mechanics and more emphasis on speed. The game also doesn’t rely heavily on gimmicks. Generally, the game will introduce something new in the next level, but that something may get reused in future levels and iterated upon. There are only a few traditional gimmicks, like darkness with limited visibility, or timed spikes that retract into background. While I do like me some variety and gimmicks, the levels are well designed, challenging and fun. Speaking of challenge, if you think this game is baby easy, well… unless you actually play on Easy difficulty, which basically makes you invincible to all damage, the game can be challenging, with some tricky platforming and ring grabbing, especially towards the end. I did play on Hard difficulty, which reduces the amount of health from 3 to 2, I don’t think it changes anything else but I did die a number of times. Don't get me wrong, it IS much easier than your average Donkey Kong Country, but I wouldn't exactly call it a cakewalk. The game doesn’t have traditional boss battles, acting more like autoscroller challenges. While I wish it did have standard boss bashing, these levels themselves are pretty solid and there’s little wrong with this approach.

Graphically, the game looks quite good, I also like how the game takes on an abstract aesthetic during bonus challenges, which is really cool. The music is decent, I'll admit there are only a few tracks that I could recall, but I do like it's Mexican or Latin sort of vibe for the base game - The Hidden World has a different vibe fitting the theme, and I think it's actually more memorable and enjoying to listen to, even if it's not as "unique".

The common criticism that was leveled against the game is that it was REALLY short. It’s true that the main game only has 3 worlds, with a total of 26 levels, which you can be beaten in about 2 to 3 hours, we can add an extra hour for time trial challenges if you play well. The developers have heard you (or themselves), and made a brand new world with 10 more levels, centered around dinosaurs. This world is generally an improvement over the base game. For example, of the complaints I have with the base game is bonus/optional challenges where you have to jump through rings. The level layouts were lacking variety, so you could find yourself jumping through hoops in one and the same layout a few times. The Hidden World addresses that by making each bonus challenge unique – not only the layout but the objective as well, like destroying enemies/containers or collecting fruit. Otherwise, it’s more of a good thing – new interesting mechanics and good level design. After beating this world, the volcano erupts, unlocking Cataclysm Mode for each level of this world, which alters/remixes the level design to be far more challenging and tight, so it could be argued these are like new levels. Also, keep in mind that this new world is a FREE update. Think about it for a moment, what licensed game would get a FREE update, a year after its release, with brand new assets, music, etc? This is not an indie game like Stardew Valley or Minecraft that still receive new content updates, this is a silly licensed game, seemingly made to grab some cash. I think the developers were genuinely passionate about this game/Marsupilami IP, which is commendable.

I think the only criticism I have is that the game retains a standard life system. It’s really easy to max it out, the fruit is everywhere! It just feels like a pointless inclusion, and some of the bonuses that house fruit could’ve had some other type of reward to make exploration more rewarding. But otherwise, I genuinely think this is a great platformer. It has fun and engaging level design, great aesthetics and tight controls for some good platforming experience. I do wish it was a bit longer, but it can be argued that that's a good indicator of quality. Wow, a great licensed game? What a novel concept. And I should know that, because I’ve played a lot of them recently. I’ve seen some truly bad stuff. I don’t think this game is a cheap cashgrab, I don’t think most of you even know what Marsupilami even is. If you like Donkey Kong Country games or challenging platformers in general, (even if it's on an easier side), this would be a good pick.

Death Count = 135

Rune Factory 3 Special is a remake/enhanced port/what have you of Rune Factory 3 for Nintendo DS. It’s a farming sim RPG, where you farm, combat, and converse with unique residents of Sharance village.

I want to mostly focus this review on how well it does as a subsequent significant rerelease of the original DS game. Which, in summary, good enough but could’ve been better.

-The game performs better than the DS original, which is an obvious improvement. That version struggled to maintain a consistent framerate around other entities. Modern PCs and Nintendo Switch are up to the task.
-The graphics are also obviously improved. And unlike Rune Factory 4 Special, they are better on a technical side AND artistically. I think the devs took the criticism of simple upscales to heart and made an effort to make them more appealing (granted, upscaling DS assets wouldn’t cut it as much as 3DS ones). The item sprites are redrawn or at least updated enough to be more recognizable and actually look quite good. The models are also greatly improved, the human characters look nice, and monsters, I think for the most part they use the same designs as those from Rune Factory 5. Only backgrounds seem to remain AI upscaled. Still, I applaud the effort.
-You can skip crafting animations, which greatly speeds up the process (especially if you’re someone who tries to brute force a 10% chance item).
-The dashing is now mapped to a separate button instead of requiring to double-tap a direction, which is far more convenient.
-Upgraded material box and fridge have greatly expanded storage capacity. Great for item hoarders.
-You can change language options (text/voice acting) in case you are curious how original Japanese VO sounds like, a feature since Rune Factory 4 Special.
-All additions from the previous “Special” re-release: Newlywed Mode, Another Episode DLC, Hell difficulty, more than 2 save slots.

-The English script and voice acting have been completely redone, which is understandable, since the original was published by Natsume and that original work is likely in their basement somewhere, restrained by copyright issues. I heard that that script did have some issues/mistranslations, so this new translation is probably more accurate (they did keep all the old character names like how Chocolat is now Colette). As for the voice acting itself, I honestly think that some of the new voice lines tend to lack exaggerated emotion compared to the originals… but maybe I’m just being nostalgic and find the old VO charming. Of course, you can just change it to Japanese if you wanted. Or don’t. It’s your choice.

-This game does NOT include analog control. You’re stuck with d-pad movement even when using a stick, it sounds like a no-brainer change, it’s baffling why it’s not present. The thing is, the original DID have analog control… if you used the touch screen. Highly doubt you did, but it was always there, in the dark corner, saying nothing. They could’ve mapped that analog movement onto a stick, but they didn’t. But even if the original didn’t have it… c’mon, it’s such an obvious missed opportunity.
-This game does NOT fix clunky movement that was in the original. You have a slight slip to your movement, like you carry enough forward momentum instead of stopping dead in the tracks, which can make the controls frustrating early on (I had to re-learn this after not playing original game for a long while).
-The game does NOT include multiplayer functionality from the original (going through Sharance Mazes (randomized dungeons) with other players). Personally I don't think it's that big a deal, but it would've been neat to try it out with others over the internet, at least for the novelty of it.
-The game does NOT adjust stat displays. In the game, stats like vitality, inteligence, etc. are capped at 999... but only visually, they keep progressing beyond that number up to a maximum of unsigned integer - 65 535. Another basic adjustement that this re-release utterly misses.
-The game does NOT include more quality of life changes, mostly from the future entries. This is a “brand new” game, released after Rune Factory 4 Special and Rune Factory 5, available on the same platforms, and is a mechanical step backwards. Makes sense if you’re playing originals back to back, not so much here. Some of these include Escape spell being a separate button like in Rune Factory 4 Special, better item storage (stashing an item makes it take its own slot instead of adding it on top of an existing one, e.g. you stash 2 iron and there’s already a 7 iron stack. Instead of adding on top of that stack, the 2 iron will take its own slot) and “Shipped” indicator for those looking for 100% ship all the items.
-Digital Deluxe Edition is legitimately overpriced (it can be argued the base game is overpriced in itself). You pay 10 extra dollars for……………….. a swimsuit toggle. How is this enticing? Sure, it’s a very fan-service-y DLC, however, you didn’t have to pay extra for it when pre-ordering Rune Factory 4 Special on Nintendo Switch. That’s right, it was just a small bonus, for fans that haven’t been served in years. It was a nice little bonus, and now it’s whopping TEN DOLLARS??? Are you really going to pay for that? Freak.
-Credits don’t include original DS staff, which is really lame. Shouldn’t it be standard to include original credits? They worked hard on the original, y’know. This game isn’t even developed by Hakama, the new crew behind Rune Factory 4 Special and Rune Factory 5 which includes some of the original staff, like the series director, Yoshifumi Hashimoto. It’s by… Three Rings Inc. (and I saw some IREM in there). I think they were handed a checklist of how to make a “Special” re-release, which could explain it’s faithfulness… but I dunno. Just food for thought.

Overall, I think this is a solid way to experience the original. It’s accessible, has some new content, great new visuals and a few improvements, but I can’t help but feel disappointed by the missed opportunities for even more improvement, I think it could've been better, as it is, it's faithful to a fault. Of course, it also could’ve been worse, it could’ve been riddled with issues that weren’t there before (say hello to Half-Life: Source). That being said... PLEASE, I hope the pontential Rune Factory 2 Special and Rune Factory Special and those two non-numbered entries almost no one talks about will have better mechanical treatments, or they'll end up being underwhelming re-releases.

But, alright, what if you have never played a single Rune Factory game and this is going to be your first? How is it on its own? It’s… pretty good! It’s the first (numbered) entry to introduce fast paced gameplay, and it’s great. The characters are very unique and fun, the writing is, in my opinion, the funniest out of all entries, which makes this game stand out. The music is great, it has some of the most memorable tunes that I remember for a long while after putting the game off. It’s a little lacking in terms of content and its story is short compared to its successors, but it’s still a quality game with a decent about of things to do. Like most fans, I would still recommend Rune Factory 4 Special since that game offers much more, but you can’t go wrong with this one. It’s simply a great game.

(Edited after 100% completion, added a couple more negative points and edited some other parts)

Minecraft meets Terraria meets Top-Down perspective meets Furries (if you consider Kemonomimi to be basically the same). The result is LandTraveller: A top down RPG, where you mine, craft, fight monsters, build and everything in-between.

Considering that this is a struggling early access game, it’s a bit rough around edges. For instance, I found an easy way to crash the game pretty consistently. Load your game, then exit to the title screen, then load the game again, then try and bring up the map, and the game will likely crash. However, outside of that, the game is pretty stable in that regard – I can only recall one crash during the gameplay, right after I beat Frostbite boss, got an achievement, and the game crashed. And since the cutscene didn’t get the chance to finish, I had to fight the boss again, which was a bit frustrating. Aside from that, there aren’t really any major issues I noticed, mostly minor jank, like how dialogue options don’t properly wrap-around (when visually it should be at end, it shows something else). I did notice that the performance isn’t that great. I like to think that my laptop is… pretty good. Not the best, but it can play games like Doom 2016 or Slime Rancher at max settings with little to no issues. Mind you, I was playing with light quality at medium, setting it to high tanks the performance further, which is kind of shocking, at a glance this doesn’t appear to be that complex a game from the technical standpoint.

The controls are also a bit unwieldy at first. The game recommends either controller only or keyboard only (so, no mouse), and I think keyboard-only works fine enough, try remapping the keys to find the ideal control scheme.

If you can get past those hurdles, the game is actually pretty fun. The mechanics are what you’d expect. You’re able to craft tools to extract resources, like dig dirt with a shovel, chop wood with an axe or mine ore or stone with pickaxe. There are also enemies to contend with, try poking them with a spear, or bash them with a hammer or mace, or go standard hero route and try out a sword. Or use the power of GUN. Or everything, why limit yourself to one weapon? The RPG mechanics are quite solid – first, the animal choice you make at the beginning is going to affect your starting attributes. Do you want to be a quick and nimble mouseman, or a tough bear? Are you going to enchant your sword to be of ice element, and axe of flux? Same for the abilities. As you hone your skills, you’ll be able to unlock various abilities. There are five basic ones but you can choose only 3. A choice between power, agility, endurance, will or skill, which give you different benefits. And so on. There’s great potential for how you can build your own character.

The enemy variety is decent, like how there are electric ones that will stun you if you try to attack them at close range, you’ll either need a weapon with an upgrade that allows you to strike electrified enemies, or try to deal with them at the distance, or enemies that use ballistic type of attacks, which you can protect yourself from with special armor. And of course, a staple of any good RPG, status effects. There are typical ones like burn/poison/corrosion, which deal damage over time, or you can get a little too frosty, which slows you down, but there are also a few creative ones. For example, fog. There are certain areas which slowly increases fog meter. However, these areas also spawn ghost-type enemies. Defeating them decreases said fog meter, or you can use a special consumable to manually decrease it. If it reaches maximum, you’ll receive fear status effect, which basically makes you lose control of your character and run from enemies. If you’re smart enough, you may think to yourself that you can negate its effect with one of the game’s abilities, Brave, which, well, makes you brave and negates fear. Well, you’re not out of the woods yet, as this effect also significantly decreases your minimum damage output, so the damage you deal can be largely inconsistent. Even though your character no longer runs around coping and seething, it’s still a good idea to maintain the fog level so you can always deal the most damage.

The game features story mode, which is what the game recommends for new players – it makes it easier to get used to the gameplay mechanics with the safety of NPC settlements and other safe structures, and, well… it has story to follow through. To be honest, I didn’t find it all too impressive until mid-ish point, where you become a hybrid, mixing your starting animal breed with a different one. I went with an obvious mouse-cat dynamic. The hybrid is an overall improvement, but there are tradeoffs depending on the breed. I like how the game also portrays the generational progression. You basically start as a caveman reading ancient tablets to unlock lost knowledge, before you learn how to process iron, build complex stuff like steam engines, and so on. Explore mode is just a sandbox type of thing. It allows you to build your own settlement for NPCs to move in, and you’re just free to do whatever you please with little restriction.

The game has modding support. Heck, I made a mod myself! It’s always a nice extra to have, and can add more replayability. Unfortunately, as of writing this, the modding API is very limited. Basically, all you can do is display text, affect damage calculation, and modify/place existing props/blocks. You can’t do stuff like adding new weapons, new enemies, new gameplay mechanics, or changing existing items or other game systems. So basically, you can’t make anything impressive… I mean, maybe you can do something impressive with text display, but that’s a bit of a stretch.

Now, I did start this review with pointing out a few issues, but there are a few more I can list. These are basically exploits. Returning to title screen is kind of OP. What I mean is that after you reload the save, you’ll be placed at the last checkpoint, which can be used to avoid death or just return back to the base after you’ve done enough exploration and want a quick way to get back (that’s also how I discovered that easy crash method). Your inventory will be saved as well. This one exploit basically makes Egress item, which “allows you to return to the last place you rested at” pointless. You can also attack enemies through a one-block wall (or several if you use e.g. Spark Orb special attack), which is pretty cheesy. I also noticed that the last boss of the story mode, Piezo, is kind of broken. A couple of times I fought it, it basically just ran into a corner and just sat there (or bounced up and down), while the rotating crystals would shoot at me when I was in their line of fire. Taking it out with a ranged weapon like a crossbow was trivial. The top-down perspective can be a confusing at times, it seems it’s hard to nail it down in terms of readability. There’s also some repetition to be had when you explore cave or fortress dungeons, because they’re basically the same. They’re completely optional, but also an easy source of EXP I think there could’ve been more variety for these structures? I dunno.

Despite having some rough edges, I consider LandTraveller to be a surprisingly fun experience. If you can get past certain flaws, I would recommend checking it out as a decent alternative to the games I mentioned at the very beginning. And it became free since earlier this year. I admit I had this game on my wishlist for a while, it was kind of surprising when it became free to play. If the dev ever considers an optional support pack DLC, I would probably pay for it. I wish the dev all the luck with this project, as I said it seems to struggle quite a bit, seeing as it’s been early access for almost 7 years at this point. It has potential to be a pretty solid experience. It's engaging and has good ideas. A good, if flawed, sandbox RPG.

This is an unpopular opinion I believe, but I don't think Half-Life is that good. I just don't see it as a masterpiece everyone claims it to be. I beat it for the first time earlier this year and I wasn't impressed. I played it again for 25th anniversary, and my opinion hasn't changed very much.

I think it's consistently frustrating - there's a lot of poor enemy placements, like headcrabs in vents early on. Are they supposed to be scary? I found them more annoying than anything. Or when you see a medical terminal[i.imgur.com], and then an enemy[i.imgur.com] spawns behind you. Or cheap moments like this sniper[i.imgur.com] that isn't very obvious. The game baits you with a health pickup, only to deliver a middle finger. Or or this normal looking cracked wall texture[i.imgur.com]? Except it's not and will rain you with bricks[i.imgur.com] (doesn't do a lot of damage, but still kind of annoying). Or this structure[i.imgur.com] full of teleports? They may teleport you forward, or towards bonuses... or straight up cheap death. How generous.

I could go on, but I hope I won't have to list more examples. I just don't think Half-Life holds up all that well. Even physics aren't very good, when you have a bunch of platforming and you're awfully slippery, falling to your death is not uncommon. Air mobility is poor, and ladders are janky as hell. You have to realize that the game may not be so kind to first time players... or even second time players in my case.

So... why recommend anyway, despite it supposedly not being all that great? Well, it IS one of THE games of all time. You should check it out and make your own judgement. You may find this game to hold up just fine, or find it to be an infuriating piece of garbage. And it's not without merit - it's immersive, while there are some pacing issues, it's mostly pretty good - there are almost no cutscenes to stop you and you can ignore NPCs if you know what to do already. Everything happens in real time. The gunplay is also decent. There must be a reason why it's so beloved. It may not be my cup of tea, but it's still an interesting piece of gaming history. Half-Life 2 is way better though, haha.