Video Game Blog
A window into my thoughts and feelings on a variety of games I've played.
The Outer Worlds
The Outer Worlds is Obsidians venture into their own exciting new franchise, inspired heavily by their previous works on RPGs like New Vegas and KOTOR 2. TOW excels in being a true-to-form RPG, prioritising player choice and freedom above all else. Every quest has multiple choices for whatever character you might be playing as; a quick-witted gunslinger, a nimble-fingered thief, a lackwit whose ability to put one foot in front of the other is a miracle in itself, the choice is entirely yours and the game makes sure to cater to whatever YOU might want to play as.
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In my opinion, there's really little to critique in this game. The few problems primarily came in the form of animations and general gameplay. Weapon animations are rather primitive and could feel better, though it wasn't something that bothered me too greatly as the focus of the overall game is more so placed on the narrative. TOW was surprisingly bug free for the most part, which did make the game flow incredibly well without being drawn out of it frequently, as was the case in previous Obsidian RPGs like New Vegas (though these were likely due to that games aging engine, even back in 2010). To summarise though, there was very little that I took issue with, and that which I did was small enough that it was easy to get used to.
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TOW has a beautiful art style complemented by high quality visuals and gorgeous sky boxes. Strolling around towns and looking up to skies littered with stars and nearby planets engulfing the view was a sight that never grew old. Facial animations do their job well enough, but the games AA label does mean they're not perfect or ultra realistic like some other titles these days. I found this charming in a sense, and found each NPCs unique facial quirks interesting enough to keep dialogue flowing realistically.
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To conclude, TOW is an incredible RPG that really emphasises role playing, something that has become admittedly rarer and rarer as many games labelling themselves as such actually end up being large open worlds filled with small amounts of actually meaningful content that rarely puts you in control. The games incredible writing is enough to make up for the somewhat lacking gameplay, and so I have no doubt anyone could easily pick up TOW and find themselves immersed in a world that feels real and lived in. Far too few RPG games actually put the ROLE PLAYING in their games, and so to have one that truly gives you a range of choices to cater to nearly any kind of character is a blessing.
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Metal Gear Rising: Revengence
It took me way too long to get around to playing Metal Gear Rising, but I can safely say it was worth it. To put it plainly, MGR blends a smooth and enjoyable hack-and-slash experience with a completely non-sensical yet hilarious narrative centred around the economy and the senator of Colorado. Sounds insane right? It is. But I would be lying if it wasn't one of the most entertaining stories I've experienced in a while.
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There are some issues however with the gameplay, mainly the frequent jank of the combat. For example, wiggling the left stick to escape stuns or the grip of an enemy just doesn't register most of the time, which is frustrating as it happens so often. The game also does a very poor job of explaining how to actually play it, like the parry system which is explained in a way that makes it hard to pull off without googling a tutorial to find out actually how to do it. Or the fact the game has a lock-on system for enemies that I only found out existed half way into the game after a frustrating tangle with a boss where the camera repeatedly betrayed me.
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However, the shortcomings don't outweigh how fun MGR is overall. The gameplay (when it works right) is extremely satisfying and fun, with loads of upgrades and tools at your disposal to unlock. The bosses were also a great challenge and all unique with their own moves and amazing soundtracks. The games music makes combat and boss encounters a blast, though on hard mode (which is what I chose to play on) gameplay can be incredibly tough at times and requires you to really master the combat loop of balancing attacks and parries.
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Overall, I really enjoyed MGR and would highly recommend experiencing it at least once. The story isn't the longest, nor does it make much sense, but it's a complete joy with all it's camp dialogue and wacky characters. And when the combat heats up and the awesome sound track kicks in, you're left with an amazingly fun hack-and-slash that brought back fond memories of Devil May Cry for me.
Horizon Zero Dawn
I was admittedly late to the party with Horizon Zero Dawn, and after my 25 hour playthrough I can undoubtedly say that I should've played it much sooner. HZD takes players through a post-apocalyptic America, a world ravaged by sentient robot dinosaurs that feed off of organic matter. A thousand years after almost all life was wiped out, all that remains of civilisation are scattered tribes dotted across the globe. The mix of aesthetics between sci-fi and tribalism present an incredibly unique world and narrative experience found nowhere else.
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This world is presented through Aloy, a huntress sent to uncover the mystery behind her origins. I quickly became attached to Aloy as the game opened up and I was let loose on a huge world filled with fun side quests, engaging challenges and a main narrative that left just enough crumbs to keep me chasing answers. HZD does a great job blending it's seamless open world with it's well-crafted narrative and never leaves you with nothing to do.
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Gameplay wise, HZD's combat provides a tough challenge as you gain experience in taking down it's vast array of robo-dinos. The enemy variety is one of this games crowning achievements, with each one having it's own distinct move set, characteristics and weak points that come together to create a fleshed out and constantly engaging experience.
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I found little to criticise across my adventure, the only noticeable issues being occasional performance hitches and an immersion breaking bug here or there, but nothing that completely interrupted the overall flow of the game. I also found some of the gadgets a little tedious and cumbersome at times, often making me feel more at risk than I would be simply dodging and rolling around. Hopefully with Forbidden West the team find a way to increase mobility whilst using these items mid-combat to balance the flow a little better.
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Overall, HZD was a real treat to me. The blend of open world game design, consistently well-written and hard-hitting writing and an incredibly unique atmosphere made for an awesome time that leaves me incredibly excited for the upcoming PS5 sequel.
Resident Evil Village
Resident Evil 7 gave the RE series a much needed fresh coat of paint, bringing the franchise all the way back to it's true survival horror routes. Resident Evil 8 had a lot to live up to after it's incredibly successful predecessor, and I can whole heartedly say it 100% lived up to my expectations, and even managed to surpass them in some ways.
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RE8 does little to hide it's clear inspiration from RE4; from it's setting, trading and weapon mechanics to it's large variety of crazy and creepy enemy design, it truly feels like a spiritual successor not only to RE7 but to RE4. And, as a diehard fan of those games, I can't help but fall in love with this one too.
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The experience oozes atmosphere from beginning to end. The gothic horror nature of the village and Castle Dimitrescu were definitely the highlights of the game for me, bringing back the feeling from classic entries like the original Resident Evil as you desperately search beautifully crafted areas whilst solving a plethora of wonderfully fun puzzles and evading unique and terrifying (or attractive, depending on your preference) enemies throughout. This game unashamedly takes great ideas from the past and reinvigorates them in so many awesome ways.
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Ethan, trained under Chris after the events of RE7, is now significantly more experienced in weaponry and combat. And so he should be. Village expands heavily on the action side of RE7, with so many new weapons and enemy variety that you'll almost certainly be needing everything you can get your hands on. Despite leaning into this action aspect more than previously, the game doesn't forget it's horror routes and is packed to the brim with some genuinely terrifying enemies and areas. One area, without spoiling anything, contains the scariest experience I've ever had in a videogame, hands down. I adored it, as it really set the bar for the kind of pure horror experiences the Capcom team are capable of putting together.
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I had very few gripes with Village. The primary one I saw others also show concern over was a level later in the game. Without spoiling anything, it's primary issue is that it overstays it's welcome quite a bit and becomes rather tedious, though admittedly this isn't as noticeable on your first run as there's more than enough tension to keep you too focused on the game to realise (at least that was the case for me). This level also takes a turn away from the gothic horror tone that persists throughout most of the game up until this point, which I did also find a little disappointing.
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Overall, RE8 is an astounding success in my opinion. If you're going into this game as a new player I'd definitely recommend checking out RE7 first as that game is also stellar and knowledge of it's events is fairly integral to the plot of Village (though there is a recap included if you're desperate to play this game). I really can't fully express how much I appreciated so much of what RE8 does, especially it's huge inspiration from RE4. It expands on so many elements of RE7 and feels like a true successor with all of it's changes, all of which elevate the experience meaningfully.
The Evil Within 2
The Evil Within 2 is a worthy sequel to the original 2014 survival horror title. It successfully refines the gameplay from the first game whilst taking players on a new and original journey that feels distinctly different to it's predecessor. The game utilises small open-world environments for players to traverse, as opposed to the linear RE4 style of gameplay we saw before. This expanded world allows for room to add new characters and side quests, rewarding players with vital equipment and new weapons to add to their arsenal.
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Personally, I feel as though this game takes a step down in terms of horror compared to the original, adopting more of a survival element. This derives considerably from it's clear inspiration from The Last of Us, where gameplay involves stealth, consideration of how to get past/take down enemies, and looting tools and other goodies to upgrade Sebastian in a variety of ways. Whilst all this was fun (and, mind you, the game definitely still has some terrifying moments and uniquely horrific enemy design), it didn't get my heart racing with fear the same way the first game did.
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Narratively speaking, The Evil Within 2 doesn't necessarily require playing the first game (though the experience is enhanced somewhat if you do with various references and characters). The relatively self-contained story takes detective Sebastian Castellanos on a journey to save his daughter he thought he'd lost. From there, you'll traverse a world filled with creatively-creepy enemies and strangely motivated villains, all wrapped within a psychological horror experience that'll have you scratching your head a fair few times (in a good way).
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Overall, I think The Evil Within 2 is an excellent twist on the survival horror experience that has really been overlooked by the gaming scene. I can't help but feel some sadness knowing that the fate of this series is so up in the air; games with so much potential like The Evil Within deserve more attention from the survival horror crowd, and I dearly hope this isn't the last we see of this universe. What I can say, however, is that The Evil Within 2 (as well as it's 2014 predecessor) definitely deserve your attention.
Wasteland 3
Wasteland 3 takes the RPG genre to another level when it comes to meaningful choices, consequences aplenty and excellent turn-based combat that never feels unnecessarily punishing nor trivially easy. On normal difficulty the gameplay felt very balanced, being challenging in the places it needed to be whilst not taking it to the extreme (unless you want that, in which case the brutal higher difficulties are for you).
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Every character I met had their own interesting and unique personalities, quirks and skills, many of which could also be recruited into my team thus changing the way the game plays drastically. The characters you choose to tag along with your ranger squad have their own questlines and unique dialogue, changing the way you interact with main quests and side content. This takes replayability to an all new level, allowing for different dialogue, choices and gameplay each time you play.
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The game's narrative is incredibly enthralling, taking you across a world filled with a vast array of factions and characters, all of which are widely unique and creative and backed by their own motives and goals. Practically everything you do in Wasteland 3 is a choice with a direct consequence that might come and bite you or aid you later, and many of the choices you make come into play later in the game. The choices you make are rarely black and white, many of them requiring you to make hard decisions that are rarely good for everyone. Its this kind of writing that makes the games story and large amount of side content so engaging, putting you into a world that feels as complicated as a ruined post-apocalyptic world would be.
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Overall, Wasteland 3 feels like a true successor to its routes, breathing new life into the CRPG genre that prides itself on incredible writing and deeply engaging gameplay. For Fallout fans in particular, especially those with a love for the original games (originally inspired by the first Wasteland game), this game is a no-brainer to play.
Resident Evil 3
As a long time RE fan, especially the recent RE2 remake, I went into RE3 with the same anticipation and enthusiasm as I usually do with this series. And, whilst shorter than it should've been, I came out on the other side mostly happy with my 6 hour playthrough.
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From a visual standpoint, the game is a real spectacle; bright neon lights shine vibrantly onto cold burning alleys and streets, Jill's torch creates a tunnel of vision in pitch black sewers and dimly lit buildings to create an atmosphere packed with fear and tension. Along with the impressive visuals comes expertly crafted sound design that never falters in giving the game world a feeling of necessary realism to match the mood and feeling of Jill's surroundings. Distant groans of the undead or the pulse pounding footsteps of Nemesis come together to elevate the realism of the environment.
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The game's narrative fit the standard for a typical RE game, not really doing anything too unique, though the overall focus is around survival horror/action so this doesn't harm the experience. The main gripe people have with this game is it's short length in comparison to RE2, giving the RE3 remake a feeling more akin to an expansion as opposed to a fully fledged title. The in-game store unlocked after beating the game's main story does add a lot to the replayability factor of the game, allowing access to new weapons, items available earlier than usual, or straight up cheat items, all of which are sure to add a few extra hours onto your all round game time.
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Overall, the RE3 remake doesn't push the bounds of an RE game like the RE2 remake or RE7 managed to do, but does provide a smaller scale story experience that is worth a play through if you're a fan of the series (though I'd definitely wait for a sale to avoid buying at full price).
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Ori and the Will of the Wisps manages to perfectly balance buttery smooth platforming, intense combat and a heart-warming yet beautifully tragic story to create one of the most impactful experiences in not just the action platformer genre, but games as a medium. Moon Studios clearly put an immense amount of time into lovingly crafting gorgeous animations, a visually stunning art style, and blending all that with gameplay that never fails once throughout the entire experience to satisfy the player. The emotional rollercoaster of a narrative takes the main protagonist Ori through a gut wrenching tale of loss, love and life, delivering a final message that will hit everyone differently with every individual who experiences this triumph in story telling. The consistency in quality throughout all elements of Ori and the Will of the Wisps, from gameplay to the plot, makes for an entrancing, almost hypnotising, journey that begs to be fully explored and mastered. This game easily sets itself apart from those it competes against as a shining example of a masterclass in game design and story telling from beginning to end.
Cyberpunk 2077
There was no way this game was every going to live up to whatever ridiculous expectations were brewed between rabid fans and a developer keen to get on the good side of consumers. Cyberpunk 2077 is by no means a bad game at it's core. It fills it's insanely detailed and meticulously crafted world with an enormous amount of well written characters, fun and interesting quests, all wrapped within arguably the most believable city every created in a game.
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The game does suffer from a large amount of technical issues. Performance wise I was met with a decent experience. The RTX 2060 I used to play was able to make excellent use of Nvidia's DLSS technology for a fairly stable 60FPS the majority of the time. However, the more inescapable technical issues come in the form of a ridiculous amount of bugs. It's a frequent occurrence in the game to be heavily invested in the current narrative you're playing through, only to be quickly taken out of the immersion by an NPC t-posing, or a car glitching into the floor. The game also suffers from a distinct lack of AI. Many players note the NCPD and their ability to spawn behind you no matter where you are so long as you have a warrant out for you. Or the fact that cars on the road are completely inept of any sort of driver capability except from going forward. When compared to games like GTA, it's pretty obnoxious.
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The game does nail it's writing, characters and story however. As you'd expect from a CDPR game, no expense has been spared in creating a huge amount of diverse and interesting character narratives to explore and uncover across the city. The story itself is noticeably shorter than the Witcher 3, though not necessarily to it's detriment. It clearly tells the story it wants to tell and doesn't go to frustrating lengths to pad out the the narrative in the name of more game time (*cough cough* Assassin's Creed *cough cough*). One thing that doesn't seem to be talked about as much is the game's lacking RPG elements. This isn't to say the game doesn't have choice, it absolutely does, however I feel as though many of the choices you're presented with are considerably less impactful or at all meaningful as the team originally would've had you believe during the game's marketing cycle. Choices fall much more in line with that of Fallout 4 than they do of the kind of in depth RPG this game was seemingly showcased as. Choices seem to follow the route of "would you like to perform this action now, or ask the person you're talking to some more questions before doing that action", or giving you the option to do something that would come off as important (for example killing someone) but has basically no impact in whatever quest you're doing going forward. The "go to the marker, do X, then go to the next marker" style of open world RPG seems to take centre stage here, which is rather a disappointment. However, the choices in the game that are in fact meaningful definitely shine bright in the game, and are some of the highlights of the experience. All this being said, from a purely story perspective, the game rarely drops the ball, being an experience that kept me craving more all the way to the end. This goes just as much for the main story as it does the huge amount of side quests available.
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Gameplay wise, the game delivers a pretty standard experience. There's a large array of weapons to use, but the overall feeling of combat is quite flat and nothing too special. Being a heavy story centred RPG, I never went into this game expecting a hugely deep combat experience, and the one the game provides feels more or less fine. The large amount of weapons and variants of said weapons gives enough to bolster the narrative experience, but never goes out of it's way to take away from that. This is a truly a game about narrative at it's core.
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Overall, CP2077 was never going to live up to the insane amounts of hype it had around it, thanks to the fan expectations and excitement as well as CDPR's huge amounts of marketing and hyping up of a lot of aspects of the game that never really shone too bright upon actually playing. Cyberpunk 2077 isn't a bad game at all, I'd say it's easily one of the most unique and memorable game experiences I've ever had supplemented by an incredibly detailed and masterfully crafted open world that tops most attempts at open and believable environments by a country mile. With some big updates to fix a lot of the games glaring technical issues I'm sure this game will rise up and come significantly closer to the game many were expecting, but the surprising lack of RPG elements and the now notorious release will forever remain a huge internet controversy and only harm CDPR in the future going forward.
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
As someone who grew up with the AC franchise, I fell off around 2014 after Unity, and rarely paid attention to the series since. However, after picking up Odyssey on a whim, I can't help but feel like I've been missing out with the last two entries. Some fiercely oppose the new RPG style of game that Ubisoft has gone with, but I can't help but love it. Odyssey still suffers from some of that Ubisoft bloat that tends to come with their games; things like bandit/enemy camps for example litter the map and feel more like mindless busy work than anything else. But putting that aside, there is a genuinely great game here that, whilst not really being relevant to previous games in any way, still brings a great story RPG experience with more than enough to do. There were times where I did feel the story dragged a little too much, and the levelling system sometimes got in the way of my progression at moments in the story where I just wanted to see what was next, however some of the side content was more than entertaining enough to fill those gaps. The characters are one of the highlights of my experience here, with a vast array of diverse and interesting personalities to meet and interact with, often having their own questlines to partake in. All of it comes together to create an experience that definitely isn't an Assassin's Creed game, but much more akin to the Witcher 3 (which in my opinion is a great thing).
Fallout 76
76 released in an unacceptable state, but I can't help but commend BGS Austin for what they've done with this game. Products released in the state this did at launch are all too frequently abandoned, but the devs stuck with it and today I feel good saying that this is a game worth people's time. The completely free story expansions add so much to the game, with arguably better RPG mechanics than Fallout 4. There's plenty to do, tons of new content to keep you busy and interested with, and a developer behind it that promises continued support for the foreseeable future (and keeps on proving that). This game is still shaking off the backlash it (rightfully) received back in 2018, but two years on and it's awesome what this game has become.
Dead Space
As someone who loves Resident Evil games, especially those with an over-the-shoulder camera view, Dead Space hit all the right notes for me. One of my favourite parts of the game is the UI, or rather lack thereof, which makes for an incredibly immersive experience that focuses your attention more on what's going on around you as opposed to lots of visual clutter surrounding your view. The claustrophobic level design, expertly crafted ambience and slower paced movement make the entire experience a survival horror masterclass worth anyone's time, especially those who enjoy other games of a vain type like Resident Evil.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
The combat of Sekiro is easily my favourite of all the FromSoftware Soulsbourne titles so far. The super fast pace, the need for super precise timing along side the classic FromSoftware feeling makes this one of my favourite games of the PS4/Xbox One generation. Whilst it may take some time to get accustomed too, anyone with enough will power to keep themselves motivated to pursue each challenge that comes their way (and there will be a lot of them) will be gifted huge satisfaction with each hurdle they pass.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light
The Beyond Light expansion is probably my favourite of the 3 Destiny 2 expansions so far. The addition of a new subclass, a fairly interesting story and lots of new items and activities to play I think gives enough content to make this expansion worth the investment and 30 or so hours I've put into it thus far.