Recent reviews by nWg. SC[m]STR

DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.

Super unethical, greed driven, extremely abusive, sexist studio heads at ZA/UM.

The game itself is one of the best, with S-Tier writing. But, ethics and social contract dictates a responsibility to do what we can to not further enrich the studio heads.

I wish I could refund this game. I would absolutely refund this if I could. I did not know about any of the offenses, nor their depths at the time of purchasing. I had played it on a friend's computer a year ago, bought it a few months ago on a good sale, and only looked at the other reviews yesterday, which made me aware something was up. I looked into it, and lo and behold, it looks like the heads were abusive and sexist throughout development, and after the game got famous, laid off their abused creatives, many of which were both critical and key great people in the creation of this game, AND reliant on visa sponsorship from the company, of whom, leadership has known and convicted fraudsters.

from VideoGames.SI.Com: "

Tuulik also referenced Tõnis Haavel’s background, saying it was “important to keep in mind that Tõnis Haavel is a convicted financial criminal. Inside the company he goes by Denis Havel to presumably make googling him less convenient to those around him.”

Haavel was sentenced to be guilty of investment fraud by an Estonian court in 2014. ZA/UM’s original writing team, which was accused of abusive behavior towards other employees and forced out from the studio in 2022, suspected that Kompus and Haavel used illegal means to gain control of the company, though they ultimately refrained from bringing the case to a court hearing.

Dora Klindžić broadly echoed Tuulik’s sentiment: “I've seen good work done at ZA/UM. I've also seen management and production staff terrorizing creatives, lying, playing power games, turning people against each other, destroying relationships and people's self-esteem. For this, there have been no repercussions.”

She also emphasized that some workers would not only lose their jobs, but would have to upend their whole lives as a result of the layoffs: “As a reward for our hard work, some of us are even slated to lose our immigration status in the UK and will have to evacuate the country. We will be gone by next week, but those who remain are grappling with a place irrevocably changed.

“The mask has slipped from the face of capital. What remains at ZA/UM is a cold, careless company where managers wage war against their own creatives, where artistry is second to property, and where corporate strategy is formed by an arrogant disdain for their own audience.”

" from VideoGames.SI.Com, Updated: Feb 19, 2024 4:41 AM EST, Original: Feb 16, 2024

If you have an ounce of spine in your body or soul...

I repeat:

DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.

my rambling, long review:

this game could just be a non-vr linear story fps if not for a few mechanics. I finished the story, i liked it.

you will scrounging constantly for guns and ammo from the time you start, all the way to the end of the game. there are maybe six or seven pistols, and four or five long guns that go on your back, and "upgraded" versions of each that you see later in the game, or a few earlier if you really scrounge (there are also like three or four unique weapons, some you can holster, and at least one you cant). you get two leg holsters for smaller guns, one big on your back, and one inventory "slot" per hand to hold a food or an item like a grenade. vertigo games seems to be iterating on their mechanics in all of their games, which is good.

so, like i said, it plays like a full game, complete with narrative and ups and downs, which is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ REFRESHING to see in a vr-only game. if you play on easy and dont do simulation reloading and stuff, you can probably finish it in maybe 12 hours. I did almost all of it solo, with simulation reloading and movement on i think difficulty setting 2 of 5? so fairly easy, and felt balanced.

I highly praise this game, and if you like standing or sitting and shooting stuff in an adventure story game (like half life) that you can ALSO play co-op story, then I put a maximum price on this game of like.... 35, maayyyyybe 40 usd? I dont remember how much i paid for it, but after putting 25 hours into it, i feel like it actually has replayability to play with a friend, so 30 bucks is absolutely worth it, not like a lot vr games, no offense, other devs.

my main issues with the game are based around how grabbing stuff in vr works and targeting what you're grabbing. its not a huge issue, but its definitely a glaring flaw.

if you do play this, i suggest trying to play on sim reloading for as long as you can - learn the guns, their reload cycles, damage rate, etc, because thought HAS gone into them, and when you switch to arcade-style reloading, it'll really unbalance the game in your favor, and encouraged me to burn through ammo much faster...

which brings me to my second issue: ammo. pistol ammo max is 150, rifle 200, and shotgun 30 (there are others, but unimportant to this point). while those may seem like large numbers, they are absolutely not. there arent a *ton* of zombies that come at you most of the time, but there are times when they really come at you, and you have to manage your ammo for those times a bit by not just shooting indiscriminately. which.... sure, its a story game about a zombie apocalypse and you're survivor, but its still a *game*. 99% of the time its fine and fun, but if you start using full auto or rapid fire at all, you're going to absolutely chew through ammo.

which brings me to the second part of my second issue: scrounging for ammo. at first, sure, its fun. you open doors and trunks and specific crates and find ammo. but... then it never stops. it's absolutely well built into the game design and programmatically, but i think what i really craved while playing was just bigger ammo pool sizes, bigger magazines, more zombies at once, more creativity from weapons over time, and more enemy variety. dont get me wrong, i had fun and will be playing more of this. but, to my own relief, there were no zombie animals, crawlers, or even really bosses (which maybe was another one of my bigger disappointments).

all in all, absolutely worth a play, or even two. if you liked games like half life or cod or whatever, where you go forwards in a story and shoot stuff and do (very basic) puzzles and spring traps along the way, then this is for you. if you can pick it up for under 25 bucks, you'll be absolutely getting your money's worth, save for who-knows-how-good-vr-will-get-in-the-future - BUT FOR NOW mid-2025, its a pretty good experience, if you're into what i've described.

for understanding my taste, other vr games that I like are "down the rabbit hole", "half life alyx", "propagation", and valve's "the lab".

im currently thinking about buying: "subside"(ooooo, its like real swimming. waiting for a sale, not sure about deep water or amount/progression of content), "into the radius 2"(looks fun but are enemies all the same soulless things? also looks pretty limited/short as early access), "bone lab"(ive wanted to play this studio's stuff for a decade now, dont know why i havent, maybe i dont know what the *game* part of the bone games are?), "iron rebellion"(why is it a competitive pvp and not a co-op adventure with a sprawling world?!), "the midnight walk"(need to look at it more but looks scary), "toy trains"(could be fun and chill but not sure how much content there is), "kayak vr: mirage"(i like kayaking, but could be very overpriced), "the room vr"(not sure i have the physical space needed), the "moss" games(when i feel like playing more of this type of game i might get them both, or a good sale), "pools"(too scary for me), and a handful of others.

damn. this was a really fun little game. its quite short, but felt like time crisis and house of the dead arcade games, but in vr. for a game where you never move, i was pretty impressed with how fun it was. ive played some other shooter vr games now, and it seems like the belly-ammo + hips/back guns mechanic is pretty common, but it was really fun. the whole game took me apparently 41 minutes (on easy i think), but it was a really good 41 minutes. dont skimp the reload mechanics, it's very much part of the experience and balance.

definitely recommended if you like cheesey zombie rail shooters (you never actually move in this game). i played it seated and it was just fine.

this game is not at all what i thought it was, but that may have been flawed by my cynical expectations of streamer games. it's better than that. its basically a physics sandbox version of old climbing maps a la counterstrike kz/xc, but all done with QWOP controls and physics puzzles. Played through the main game in (apparently) about 17 hours, but some of that was afk with game running while eating dinner elsewhere. It was fun, and parts of it were quite challenging. I think the puzzles could have continued to become more complex and hardcore, but they kept them pretty simple, which is unfortunate, as i really was enjoying how hard it threatened to get. there's some workshop content, but i havent played it yet, and all the categories are clogged with what seems like chinese spam character "skins". would definitely recommend if you've enjoyed climbing maps or stupid physics puzzles and want them put together with a group of a**hole friends (or randoms!) getting in each others' ways. the current $6 2025 summer steam sale price is a steal, but the normal $20 price may be too much unless the workshop content proves to draw back to the game. would be a *great* lan/party game with everybody coming in at equal levels of "wtf is this", as the discovery phases are always hilarious and fun. max value: $12, even if played alone. is great, but short and a little repetitive and easy after a while. could really use a challenge pack that is given lots of love and complexity of puzzles. also the camera in this game is F-tier.

Overall: SS

This game has constantly impressed me over the past 10 years I've been playing it. Call it a social experiment or a love letter to people who care to think - whatever you can call it, this game stands in the top tier of gaming, period.

While this IS a puzzle game, and a great one at that, this is not just another portal clone; it's not just another puzzle game.

However, due to the nature of life and death and the ability to think for yourself, all I can do is give it a high praise and recommendation - you'll have to play it for yourself - live your own life, your own way. Many won't, and that's okay. But, it's their loss.

The graphics are fantastic for 2014. This game still runs on their proprietary, in-house engine (the Serious Sam engine), and looks just as good as it should. No ray-tracing, but this game absolutely doesn't need it: when your game is hand made by extremely passionate people, no amount of automatic light will surpass the creativity of artists will full control.

The audio is very good, but not without very minor flaws (I'm really picky). The soundtrack isn't as good as the sequel (The Talos Principle 2 has a STELLAR soundtrack), but they're different enough games, and the soundtrack and sfx are every bit as satisfying and appropriate as needed.

The puzzles in this game get actually hard. Not impossible, but an appropriate level of challenge and satisfaction. The sequel (Talos 2) is disappointingly easy where I'm at (~30% in), and to some that's a dealbreaker, but I enjoy the thoughts and questions presented in the sequel, as well as how pretty it is (and did I mention the soundtrack??!). The puzzle difficulty ramps up appropriately, too, which is nice.

The movement engine is a little oversimplified for what's basically an FPS. There is no crouching, and the jumping and air-control (no air strafing) still moves like 2001. But, the game is designed, such that the jumping is automated in places (where you look, sometimes a jump-helper appears, and when you hit jump again, your player will jump there).

The story is what this game's best foot forward. Do not play the sequel first, play through all of this game until completion, first. Take your time, there is no rush, it'll be here. This is not a summer-hype COD8 game that if you wait you'll miss out, obviously - I am, after all, putting this recommendation out for a 10-year-old game at this point (game released December 2014, and writing this in November 2024).

The themes in the story are thought provoking and philosophical, as well as technology and blur the lines between science fiction and reality a little bit.

There are secrets in this game. Croteam, the makers of the 2001 game Serious Sam: The First Encounter (still a fantastic boomer shooter LAN/Co-Op game), are well known for doing things the old way: handmade, secrets, jokes, thoughtfulness, and integrity. These are games, meant to be played, by people. Which brings me to my next point...

There are no micro-transactions in this game. As of 2024, there is a DLC expansion that came out years later. But, this is not a way for them to get your money - this game is meant to be something for you, a living, human person, to do, to experience and to play.

And that being said:

-----------> DO NOT LOOK STUFF UP ABOUT THIS GAME!!!!

I'm serious. Go in blind, and remain that way the entire time. The game is not meant for you to cheat.

It took me ten years to finish, and was well worth it. I got stuck several times and life happens. That's okay. I was drawn back, maybe you won't be. But after ten years, I can say right now, that this game was game of that year. You know what else came out that year? Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Nighogg, Titanfall 1, Mario Kart 8, Elite: Dangerous, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Divinity: Original Sin, Dark Souls II, Transistor, MGS5, SSM WiiU, and a handful of other good and great games.

But let me tell you... If you like puzzle games at all AND can ask yourself some hard questions:

This was the game of the year, 2014.

This game is nearly a 10/10.

The only shortfalls are very, very minor. The sequel does fix them, but introduces other, bigger issues. Neither are perfect...

...but then again, what is?

Overall: SS
Video: AA
Audio: A
Story: SSS
Engine/logistics of play in 2024: A
Puzzles: AA
Secrets: S
Coherence: SS+

You should play The Talos Principle if:
- You can handle PUZZLE games at all
- You can handle FPS games/controls
- You appreciate ATTENTION TO DETAIL and HANDMADE things

this game is minecraft for vehicles. You start out with a basic vehicle, and explore until you find (essentially) a cube in the world. Your goal is to somehow bring it back to a respawn point. You can build whatever vehicle you want, within your material limit and with the special parts you've unlocked. When you unlock that part, you can use it. There are islands, caves, poles, jumps, cliffs, underwater cliffs, underwater caves, secrets, mountains, and sky islands! All the normal mobility styles are here, cars, trucks, bikes, boats, planes, jets, submarines, hover stuff, and if you're really clever with some of the later parts, drones and helicopters. There are moveable parts like powered hinges, rotors, engines, and more.

Seriously addicting and challenging. Literally, the sky is the limit.

Unfortunately, the devs focused more on colors and decals rather than on more parts and more and more challenging unlockables. In the non-story maps, theres races of a few different types, arenas, drag strips, and a top speed donut.

I have a waterjet powered speedboat that has an articulating tail with a fin that can jet around on water or dive down and go under water. Remember, the goal of this is to explore and find the parts, and grab them somehow and bring them back to a respawn point. Sometimes, the parts are underwater in narrow caves on top of a platform, and you have to navigate from land down there, then grab it somehow, then navigate back out onto the island, and drop the piece into the respawn zone. Very challenging stuff sometimes, and VERY fulfilling.

With the expansion (high seas), apparently the dev made a new map thats the biggest one yet, and has a bunch of extreme weather and new terrain......buuuuut didnt make the player unlock anything. So you aren't really motivated intrinsically by any puzzles other than just to explore. A lot of people didnt like it (See reviews on that dlc) because it felt like a half-assed empty/dead/pointless world. It really is disappointing that they couldnt even develop puzzles to unlock a few new parts or even just have you start from scratch again, which would have been fine. Disappointing, but I'd still 100% buy an expansion from them if they figure out that THAT is what people want.

If this sounds like a fun physics game to you, I highly recommend it (the physics arent that realistic or perfect, but its still super fun). If you're one of those people that really like to build and tweak stuff and try it out, and/or you have an interest in suspension and geometry and can handle (basically) only right angles, then this game is probably worth a full 30-60$ usd. If you didnt play with legos or if you played minecraft and never thought "this game should have vehicles or howls castle", then this game probably isnt for you. But who knows, maybe this could be the engineering spark that starts it all.

2016 Doom is awesome. At about 60% of the game it gets a bit too gameified with repetitive weird sidequest arenas and feels-out-of-place grind mechanics.

BUT - probably the most groundbreaking and iconic soundtrack of any game ever. Mick Gordon NAILED it and Bethesda showed their inferiority by letting a gaming rockstar like him go.

There's a lot to love about this game. Unfortunately, it has very very low replayability. The mechanics, menus, soundtrack and sound design, programming, graphics, style, and story are all top tier, with the soundtrack and sound design coming in at truly stars-align level. Genre defining.

Highly recommend it. If you could play one singleplayer fps between 2010-2022, play this. Though, as time goes on, i'm sure this will only feel more and more derivative as games (and other things, weirdly) take the best parts of this game from it. Maybe, or maybe studios wont figure it out.

Don't waste your money. Bungie's business model is to remove content. Currently (10/2/2022) the only content is PVP and the latest 3 expansions. The previous expansions went free to play and then eventually deleted. TO BE CLEAR: There is no way to play the campaign in this game anymore. Again, the base game has been deleted - it doesn't matter if you're free to play or buy the game and expansions, the main story before the currently for-sale DLCs has been REMOVED.

Why? Because: BUY OUR DLCS THEYRE THE BEST.

Unfortunately, this business model devalues the DLCs, as they will only be playable AT ALL for a few years after release, until Bungie declares them *too old* or something. So, while the gunplay is actually really good, the art is nice, and the game generally looks good, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY paying for anything in this - just don't even support this sort of practice - vote with your wallet and tell Bungie that this isn't acceptable.

Edit 10/31/2022: bought dlc 4-7 for relatively cheap because i heard bungie said they wont delete content anymore. I did more digging, it seems like the base game and the following 2 expansions have been removed, along with a LOT of planets. When you play now, it's as if your character only just now appeared and missed all that previous story from destiny1+2. The furthest back content you can play, to my knowledge, is Forsaken (the third expansion and year 4 content, to my understanding). I have not yet played any of this content yet, but because the core gameplay loop of shooting stuff is fun, the devs actually do add in secrets and jumping puzzles and other puzzles and neat stuff that I like, I will give it a shot. Bungie's business model is still bad (over-monetizing) and their business ethics are very concerning. Will report later on whether or not that content is actually worth paying for and, ultimately, if the game is worth vesting time/interest into.

Edit 11/14/2022: played a bunch more. figuring out content and what you need is still super difficult and requires TONS of googling and third party web tools like Destiny Item Manager (or "DIM", which frankly is amazing but is 100% fans doing the developer's job with a 3rd party kludge). I just tried playing, and was a little ways into a solo dungeon (apparently you have to buy the dungeons separately, each for 20$, suuuper ♥♥♥♥♥♥) and got kicked from the game because I use the windows program "NetLimiter". I've had this program since the early 2000s, its a bandwidth limiting program/firewall, look it up. Apparently people use this to lag in PvP and so is blacklisted. The other issue here is, I've been playing now for over a hundred hours and ONLY NOW did I find out that this is an issue. I tried killing the anti-cheat software to do this, and it straight up killed the destiny2 process instantly. I tried some other stuff to try to get it to stop scanning my entire computer or limit it, and I guess it fought back, refusing to be killed in task manager, nearly freezing my computer for almost 5 minutes. Super intrusive stuff, highly inappropriate stuff I wouldn't tolerate from anything besides maybe a manual antivirus full-computer scan or windows updates. At this time, I still cannot recommend buying this game. It is seriously over-monitized, poorly programmed with low efficiency, hard-stuck at 75 vert FOV (the absolute maximum), the UI is insanely console bound, and the new player experience is mindbogglingly bad in a way that I can only describe as "intentionally and predatorally obscured, hiding its little to no substance and repeated game-breaking retcons to further extreme overmonitization and predatory loyal playerbase addiction." In short, Bungie has chosen over and over again to get as much possible money from their abused fanbase, with each design choice further damaging their game to the point of unrepairability. Do not buy this game, do not support this sort of behavior.

------tl;dr----------
if you have it, try it, if it's $1.99 or under, sure, waste an hour or two mindlessly driving it around though its probably not worth the wait installing it.

first impression:
ohhhh.... man. what is this game even. so ♥♥♥♥♥♥. wait, how is this fun? what a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ piece of ♥♥♥♥ how is this even fun i dont understand.

ok let me start with the game itself:
its kind of a sandbox i think where you can reset your jet powered, afterburner, flying, destructable, super-unstable car once it's destroyed because you've driven it around in a gigantic outdoor racetrack and take it on near impossible loops and jumps while trying not to destroy it.

now how it plays:
this game is absolute trash circa 1998 sandbox racing destructo simulator thing. that being said, it absolutely brings back memories of stuff like that and is somehow fun. think: "oh wow theres a mountain over there, outside of the track, and its really really tall and i want to climb it this time without flying off and exploding for the fifth time."

how much its worth:
i have no idea how it got in my steam list, but i wouldn't pay more than a couple dollars. its such a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ over the top taste with a vastly underwhelming development, that I feel like it's ACTUALLY abandonware from the early 2000s or late 90s.

if you liked source you probably wont like this. its like 1.6 in the source engine. everything is random, the art style is mud washed out ass, and the interface is bloated and ♥♥♥♥.

go play anything else besides this game, its a piece of ♥♥♥♥ shell of what it used to be. its the gta4 of counterstrike. they try to incorporate longstanding community mods into the main game, but cant even call them by their original names.

dont like it, dont buy it, dont play it, give me my money back because i dont want it.

cant turn bloom off, cant turn hdr off, ♥♥♥♥ this game.