Recent reviews by Malefication

"No sun to worship
In the absence of light
All beliefs converge
In abyssal conclusions"

No Sun To Worship is what the description says. It is a short, minimalist stealth-action game. The game has some really solid mechanics and nice chunky graphics. It's not very long, but you'll likely get more hours out of it than the "short" description makes you think. I'm not great at stealth games but it took me about four hours to complete the campaign on normal (with parts of that time being on the menu screen chatting about the game). I've spent some time playing levels on hard as well but haven't completed the game on that difficulty yet. Your time on a mission is also tracked so people who enjoy optimizing that can get a lot more mileage from it as well, perhaps do some speedrunning.

Now, to the game itself. It has most of what you would expect from a stealth-action game, the minimalist part of the description doesn't mean it is lacking in mechanics. You can lean, shoot light sources and so on, but you have limited ammunition and need to consider what you want to do. The game is quite hard with an unique stealth mechanic that takes some time to get used to. I found the game much easier to manage once I started utilizing the silencing of footsteps at the cost of health and highly recommend you don't ignore that ability. The game still hands me my ass on hard, though.

The game isn't perfect of course. I haven't seen a keybind menu (though I have no complaints about the bindings on a QWERTY keyboard) and while I appreciate the tutorial doesn't hold your hand completely, it is perhaps a little bit too easy to miss parts of it which could cause frustrations from having missed a mechanic. What's on on offer though is an atmospheric and enjoyable stealth-action game with great gameplay that doesn't outstay its welcome but still offers you a lot of value for the asking price.

I'd easily recommend this to people who enjoy the genre for a fun and challenging romp that doesn't demand too much time from your life. Unless you want it to.

An absolutely stunning game. Great and evocative art and sound that accompanies you on a near wordless journey. While there isn't complexity to the gameplay, the immersion and feelings playing through the game brings makes it a wonderful experience.

The game is short enough to easily play through it in one sitting if you dedicate an evening to it, which I wholeheartedly recommend you do so you can be fully immersed in what Gris has to offer you. You won't regret it.

Short and sweet, beat it on Normal in I think a little over 5 hours. There's also a NG+ mode to enjoy, and more challenging difficulties than Normal.

A part of me wishes the game was longer so I could develop my character more, but again, there's NG+ for that.

Elderborn is a first person melee combat game, think Dark Messiah but with fewer traps and no magic. Some very, very lite souls-like mechanics in you gaining essence from kills, losing them on death (but you're able to regain them if you reach your point of death). Gameplay has a great feel to it, I specced into speed to move quicker and exploring the areas were just a treat, jumping and climbing around rock formations, buildings etc. trying to find secrets and collectibles. Probably the best first person melee combat I've ever experienced as well. Haven't played Vermintide in so long I can't compare them, but disregarding Vermintide, Elderborn definitely takes the #1 spot in that compartment.

Enemies are somewhat varied, but the weapons you pick up are really, really varied. They have different strengths and weaknesses, just like the enemies you face, which prompts you to swap between them instead of just finding one main weapon you stick with for the entirety of the game. In all the hours I spent killing enemies, I never got bored. Not for a moment. Both combat and moving around was just so fun and satisfying.

If you're in the mood for some great first person melee combat, I HIGHLY recommend Elderborn. The story also gets quite wild nearing the end. No spoilers, though.

Genre defining FPS. Just as good now as it was back when it was new. Or even better. Awesome level design and gameplay with vanilla doom as well as the ability to download and install loads of WADs, mods and anything you could wish for. An absolute classic and a must-play for any FPS fan.

(Tip: Use a sourceport like GZDoom or many others)