Recent reviews by Faust

Ever since I was a child I had an interest in horror- or occult-stories, books and movies. I think most of you would agree if I say that’s typical for a young human being that widens its horizon every day but can’t figure out why darkness is so much more uncomfortable yet exciting than daylight. Even now as a grown up I love Lovecraft and Poe, but also modern representatives of this genre, for example Hohlbein, and it still catches me when there is something you try to imagine but you can’t figure out what it looks like. As the famous H.P.Lovecraft said:

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

So, enough of an introduction, let’s have a look at the game you came to read about here.

The Last Door is a Point-and-Click Adventure that is set in the 1890s in Victorian England, a time when science was already established but ancient beliefs and a secret organisations such as the freemasons were well known among the people. You get in touch with Jeremiah Devitt, a man in the mid-thirties who received a strange letter from his childhood friend Alexander Beechworth. Not knowing how to deal with this, Jeremiah decides to visit Alexander, unraveling the mysteries about his whereabouts and his family. But that may be only the start for a journey that will lead you to places of Jeremiah’s childhood and past that have been forgotten for some reason. It seems like an ancient evil is making its way back into your life..

I can’t write any further without spoiling but you should already feel how this story will suck you in, not releasing you until finished. A man gets snatched from his everyday life right into a victorian nightmare, how much more lovecraftian could it be? This game relies solely on its mysterious plot and manages this with two main attributes: Sound and Style. When I first saw some screenshots of this game before playing the first Episode “The Letter”, I couldn’t imagine how this pixelated art would manage to give me the creeps or offer details I need to make myself comfortable. But this game did not only manage to revive my passion for retro-styled games, it simply worked out what my introductive quote should show - that fear of the unknown is the strongest one. It feels like the devs from The Game Kitchen simply built a framework from what a scene could look like and relied on the player’s imagination to make it a truly living and frightening place. Colours are not mixed up, no they are shaded differently to create a certain mood like the warmth of a living hall.

Carlos Viola. After listening to “Crows over the City”, which is the main theme of The Last Door, you will likely want to know what the composer’s name is. Don’t thank me for that, thank him for creating this game’s amazing classical music. Every aspect of this game gets pushed by its clever and well written tones and also sound effects, whether its the creeping dark or a simple wave along the old English coast.

Owning a mouse is key for this game since you don’t need any other instruments. You have an inventory at the bottom screen, containing everything you will find and need to interact with other objects. The puzzles are logic-based, really challenging sometimes and it gets tough if you haven’t found the right object yet. This didn’t happen often to me but it might also happen to you so I should mention that. There is no hint system and no button press will highlight any useful items but your cursor will switch from a cross to a lens if you can look, or a hand if you can take or interact with something.


Pro:

• Interesting setting of Victorian England
  
• Story is heavily influenced by the work of Lovecraft and Poe
  
• Pixel Art activates and stimulates the player’s imagination
  
• One of the best soundtracks I have ever listened to
  
• Puzzles are challenging, some are really unique (just wait for chapter 3 and you’ll see) and also well implemented without letting you feel that this is only a game
  
• Well dosed scares mixed with an ubiquitous sense of fear and evil
  
• Collector’s Edition contains Bonus Scenes that aren’t available on Game Kitchens Website, providing you with even more background knowledge

Con:

• Love it or hate it - Pixel Art
  
• Puzzles start to get annoying if you can’t find the right object to interact with
  
• Paying 9,99 may sound expensive compared to how much you will pay on Game Kitchens website, just for getting the small extra scenes + achievements + Trading-Cards

You might have already recognised that I love this game. But besides my own opinion you can’t really go wrong with The Last Door. Its graphics and sound make up for a great journey into a story that even Lovecraft himself would call a masterpiece. If you are not sure about it, enter http://thelastdoor.com and check out the first episode “The Letter” for free. If you liked it, do yourself a favor and enjoy the enhanced textures, sounds and bonus content of the Collector`s Edition on Steam.

Simply put: Borderlands meets MOBA, but in a good and satisfying way. Choose your Gladiator and protect a Missile Silo from outlaws. Survive the wave and crush their village. Sounds fun? Read further my friend.

I have tried to play MOBAs - but either I am too bad or i don’t like the fact that beginners get many beatings. Most of them occur in the chat, written by pros not wanting to share their wisdom. Back to Bloodsports. I had wishlisted this game when i first saw it. I liked the look, I liked the action. Most of all I liked the fact that it is totally PvE. Their is no PvP yet but the developers already mentioned if the community really wants it, Player Vs Player will make its appearance too.

Starting the game you’ll find yourself having the choice between 4 classes having 2 different heroes each. Not much at all, yet they differ a lot. Tank, Healer, Crowd Control and pure Melee DD. Playing some matches you’ll soon realize that everybody has their own strength and mixing classes is the key to winning. 5 players are the maximum per match and the difficulty of the monsters scales with the number of players. Haven’t got a healer? Tank gets wasted. Haven’t got a CC? Happy Bosses will use their abilities to pound your party into dust. So what is the aim of every match? You and your teammates must protect a missile silo I already mentioned above. Defensive towers and small turrets are there to aid your crew but do not rely too much on them. Wave after wave mobs will get stronger, some special waves will "introduce" some badass bosses, willing to crush your crew and your missile silo. Killing mobs rewards you with gold. Be happy about that, you’ll need it to buy special items at the local shop, boosting your abilities or granting you new ones. MOBA-veterans already know that stuff.

So..no other team? Beware, the AI is hard. The first match seems to be easy but after boosting the difficulty you’ll find yourself wasted more than once. It’s really rewarding and after finishing a 10-wave-match, which takes around 30 mins in pro league, you get that "victory-feeling" you might only know from PvP games. After the match is before the match..wait what? There is something really special, called "The Path to Glory". It’s like a skill tree with special passive bonuses getting unlocked forever, like heroes start with more gold, bruisers have more health or get better healing, DDs boost their crits etc. You have to perform certain actions to unlock those perks like revive 25 fallen heroes, get attacked 5000 times, survive the 10th wave in Pro-League and so on. Besides that there is not much left at the moment. 8 Maps, a bunch of difficulties, choice between waves or endless mode. Host your own server, play with friends or join another match, it’s up to you.


Pro:

• Great Steampunk Setting
  
• Nice soundtrack and ingame narrator
  
• Different classes - choice matters
  
• Unique heroes - choice matters, again
  
• Huge amount of special items, weird names, funny games
  
• Unlocking perks motivates for future matches, allowing you to boost the difficulty
  
• Smart AI, expect to be challenged
  
• Play with friends or play alone
  
• Teamwork is rewarded!

Con:

• Although PvE is very very challenging - no PvP.
  
• Small amount of maps, only wave - or endless-mode available until now
  
• Bosses will start to get repetitive after doing some matches in a row
  
• Lobby needs more players (go buy this game now^^)
  
• Not a real con, but you’ll be forced to play a class sometimes you may not like that much. But having 5 DDs or tanks (Bruisers) will lead to a fail
  
• Item-list might look overwhelming at the start (you will get used to it)

Check it out, this game will cost you 9,99. It delivers hours of team and class-based fun with some fresh heroes, items and black humour. I know that the amount of maps could be bigger right now but i am sure that this game will get bigger the more support it gets. Those of you still thinking that only PvP can be a real challenge - we will meet in Apocalymptics Mode. Enough said. Get this game, add me to your friendlist and let’s crush some outsiders together.
9/10, more content would make it full score.

..or: How will I die this run? And why do I restart every time? But first let’s take a look at this gem which keeps me nailed to the screen for hours. DotE is the third "Endless" Installment from Amplitude. You don’t need to know the other 2 and you don’t need to have played them. The story is simple: A Prison Space Ship crashes into an unknown planet, releasing its "cargo", prisoners and guards. Here they are, our newborn heroes. We should call them anti-heroes, because they are all pretty messed up, brutal, sociopath, misanthropic but at the same time, funny. If your humor is coloured black as mine is you will laugh a dozen times. Every hero has it’s own background, special abilities and some of them have a special connection, which you, the player, shall unfold. The game delivers everything in wonderful pixel-art, combined with a chilling, sci-fi soundtrack, so...

How to play?

This is the core of this game. It is a mixture of tower-defense, rogue-like, dungeon crawling and RPG. These 4 components fit together in a very unique, yet pretty awesome way, I would call it "easy to learn, nearly impossible to master!”. Your task is to protect an energy-producing crystal, starting in a random stage, trying to get it to the exit. While this sounds simple on paper it gets pretty hard in reality. You start with 2 heroes, whom you pick just before entering the dungeon. Getting deeper into the dungeon you may or may not meet other heroes. First thoughts: Which one should I pick before entering? A Melee with good attack and defense? A ranged one? Or an intelligent contender, caring for your modules, producing more resources. Speaking of resources and modules. You are crawling through the dungeon, room by room. Every opened door rewards with ressources: Wisdom, Industry, Food and Dust. Industry is used for building stuff, wisdom to research new modules, food to heal or level-up your heroes. Dust is special. Your crystal needs it to produce more energy, because every room needs energy if you want to install modules or turrets. And you will need turrets. Not only resources but monsters will await behind every opened door. And to make it even harder, every room not getting energy from your crystal will possibly spawn new mobs. And they all know one target: the crystal! Mobs differ from stage to stage, forcing you to adapt and rethink strategies. Research is important to utilize your defense with different turrets, answering the mixture of monsters.


Pro:

• Different heroes to choose from and unlock
  
• Multiple turrets + modules to strategize with
  
• Heroes can be equipped with different (funny) weapons, armours and gadgets
  
• Randomized game + unlockable modes guarantee hours of re-playabilty
  
• Great (but unforgiving) AI
  
• Pixel-art (if you like it)

Con:

• It is very difficult, sometimes the first stage will be your last
  
• You will die a lot. Although this is not really a con this game doesn’t suit everyone.
  
• Story is fun but don’t expect too much of it.
  
• Level-design gets repetitive sometimes.
  
• Some heroes simply seem to be underpowered compared to others.

Dungeon of the Endless is one of my all-time favourites already. It mixes different genres and what comes out is a brutally hard, yet unbelievably satisfying pixel-art gem. Although the background story could be better explained I like the way some heroes react and team-up with each other. There are some hidden stories I’ll let you find for yourself.
You don’t care about dying a hundred times? You want to laugh about stupid item-names and weird dialogues? You want to build your turrets, equip your heroes and defend that shiny crystal? Hesitate no more, go get it. 9/10

Honestly..when i first saw that game, i wasn`t very impressed. I read some other reviews, watched the vids, looked at the pics. Then it got into Sale on Humble and i just couldnt deny that it had something special i can`t really explain. Like a mixture of Baldurs Gate and Diablo with an unique yet strange Story. I bought it. I played it for about 45 mins. I left it unplayed for around 4 weeks. Maybe it was the wrong time at that day, maybe i couldn`t focus strong enough. I just didn`t get into it.
I started the game 4 weeks later and..well. I got soaked into this. You really have to take your time to read everything carefully, listen to that beautifull soundtrack while heading trough the city and get an impression of what this game might even be, if it gets out of its Early Acces-State.

Graphics aren`t perfect yet, but the mixture of day and night with usage of your flash does look pretty good already. Sound feels amusing sometimes but if you get into the sewers for the first time, shoot and reload you might get the feeling i got. I was amazed of how well they managed to make it feel that realitic. And besides that you will be rewarded with an amazing soundtrack which fits perfect into this lonely, broken world.

The Atmosphere is brilliant. While reading books or quest-lines you feel like a little part of that society, struggling for survival alongside other human beings who died or are still fighting. Get yourself a gun, a pipe or simply use your fists to fight against zombies and other mutations.

RPG? Yes! Raise your stats, get specialzed or be an allrounder. Fight with teammates, lvl them, command them. Find loot, repair stuff, modify your weapons. Your choice will majorly influcence your character and how he will survive. If you are at least a bit interested, give it a shot. It`s rewarding, it`s fun, it`s emotional.

You will love it. You will hate it. You will hate that ypu love it. I screamed a lot, i cried a lot, i recommend this game to all who like to laugh about their own stupid fears :) 10/10

Ich sah das Spiel für 5 Euro, schaute auf die Meta-Score und dachte mir: Da kannst du wohl nichts verkehrt machen^^ Allerdings ruhte das Juwel dann doch eine Zeit in der Bibliothek, bis ich mich entschloß einen Blick zu riskieren.
Ich fange einfach kurz mit ein paar Kritikpunkten an, damit diese recht schnell abgearbeitet sind ;-)

Viele NPCs ähneln sich doch stark, nicht nur das Aussehen sondern auch die Stimme. Ausserdem erlebt man Momente in denen man denkt "Stand der Typ nicht vorhin in schwarz vor mir?" Die Stadt wirkt etwas leb- und trostlos, kann aber dennoch einen gewissen Charme versprühen, der sich gut in das Setting des Spiels einfügt. Häufig besuche ich die gleichen Orte mehrmals, da der eigene Pfadfinderdrang des öfteren Räume öffnet, die später noch durch die Story besucht werden. Das ist vll kein wirkliches Manko und erzeugt ein gewisses Gefühl von Open World, wirkt aber manchmal dennoch befremdlich. (Ein Zimmer bei dem die Tür geöffnet ist und drinnen wartet der Story-NPC und verzieht darüber keine Miene^^)

Was gefällt mir wirklich gut an diesem Spiel? Mit Außnahme der oben genannten Punkte Alles.
Die Story packt...fesselt...zieht den Spieler in seinen Bann. Von Beginn an wird ein so engmaschiges Netz geflochten, dass man nie das Gefühl hat, man verstehe die Situation nicht. Icht werde nicht spoilern aber es ist schon genial, wenn man zufällig Gespräche auf der Straße mitbekommt, die wiederrum mit Vorfällen einhergehen, über die man in Mails, PDAs, Zeitungen gelesen hat oder aus dem Augenwinkel bei Picus-TV aufschnappt. Alle 5-10 Minuten entseht so ein toller Aha-Effekt, der mich motiviert mehr zu erfahren, tiefer zu schürfen und somit weiterzuspielen.

Wie ich all das löse bleibt mir überlassen. Betäuben, Hau-Drauf oder töten, schleichen, hacken oder doch nen PDA klauen um in einer enthaltenen Mail ein Passwort zu ergaunern..all das steht mir frei. Allerdings belohnt das Spiel eine Vorgehensweise, die nicht an einen Schießwütigen Texashelden erinnert, mit Extra-Ep.

Das Setting ist unerhört glaubwürdig und nachvollziehbar. Das Aufrüsten der eigenen Augmentationen (Cyber-Implantate zum Verbessern von Laufen, Springen, durch Wände schauen, hacken und und und...)wird durch medizinisch abgerundete Texte erklärt und lässt den eigenen Hauptcharakter glaubwürdig erscheinen.

Was mich besonders fasziniert: Die Ethischen Fragen, mit denen das Spiel den Alter Ego an jeder Ecke konfrontiert. Sollten Augmentierungen erlaubt sein? Wie viel Wert hat der biologisch reine Mensch in einer augmentierten Welt? Olympische Spiele für Cyber-Menschen? Und wie geht es den Menschen, die durch einen Unfall eine Zwangsaugmentierung erhalten haben? Wie den Armen, die sich nicht das benötigte Mittel leisten können, um den Körper davon abzuhalten die eigenen Implantate wieder abzustßen?

Wer auf reines Geballere steht sollte lieber einen Bogen um dieses Spiel machen. Allen anderen wünsche ich viel Spaß beim Eintauchen in Detroits Schattenwelt.
10/10

Ein großartiges Spiel. Die Stimmung ist intensiv, die Moral steht (wie dein Squad) ständig unter Beschuss und nie hat man das Gefühl, dass simple Rambo-Cod-Manier das Ziel näherbringt. Die Grafik ist für manche vielleicht angestaubt, aber in Verbindung mit Sound und Setting wird ein erschreckend realistisches Bild erzeugt. Mehr als einmal saß ich bisher vor dem Schirm und konnte nicht ganz glauben, welche Auswirkungen mein eigenes Handeln nach sich zog. Wer sparen möchte, sollte nun noch rasch bei Humble-Bundle reinschauen und ein Schnäppchen erster Güte einkaufen.

Ich kann dieses Spiel jedem empfehlen, der Shooter mit ein wenig Abwechslung gern den Vorzug gibt. Schiessen, hacken, metzeln, Herzen fressen..so schnetzelt man sich durch die Level. Je nach gewähltem Schwierigkeitsgrad muss dieses kombiniert werden, um nicht allzu schnell vom coolen Antiheld zum toten Mafiosi zu mutieren. Der Skilltree ist eine nette Erweiterung, auch wenn ich manche Perks eher als sinnfrei empfunden habe. Trotzdem sollte man sich einmal den Anblick des schwarzen Loches in einer Gegnerhorde gönnen ;-) Heute durchgespielt, werde ich mir noch die Nebenversionen der Blutrache angucken und mich weiter an den ungewöhnlichen Kampfstilen erfreuen.

Hier regen sich viele über die Geschnittene Version auf - dazu kann ich leider nichts sagen, da mein über Humble-Bundle enthaltener Key eindeutig keine Cut-Version beinhaltet, obwohl man das Spiel über Steam lädt.