Recent reviews by Mr. Sophistication

A completely bizarre mix of mechanics (management sim, open world driving/racing game, collectathon) and genres (comedy and crime drama) on paper that fits together perfectly in practice. This is a pretty relaxed go-at-your-own-pace open world game with very strong atmosphere and hilarious writing,

The mystery and drama are not going to blow you away, but the comedy is top-notch, and the game is just fun to play and keep playing until you realize you have been playing it for hours. Besides, what other game will let you use an indestructible kei truck to grind a rail like a skateboard to achieve incredible speeds before taking off on glider wings?

"Not enough of them" is the answer, it turns out.

I feel like there isn't a lot I could say about this game that hasn't been said a lot already. Despite a couple segments of the game that are a little weak in comparison to the rest, this entry really dragged the series out of the rut by refocusing on a smaller scale and more frights with the perspective shift to first person. Even eight years later, it's still a thrill to play.

I went into this game feeling a little skeptical, because I enjoyed the original quite a bit and felt like it concluded nicely. It's always a little risky to follow up something like that with a sequel. Fortunately, both narratively and mechanically, this game feels like both a natural extension and refinement of the original.

It isn't that much longer than the first game, but the variety and quality of puzzle mechanics are better, and the story expands on the ideas of the previous game in interesting and unexpected ways. I don't want to spoil much of anything, but I found myself pretty gripped by it. The thesis of the game is pretty unambiguous and unsubtle, but to me it was a hopeful and moving one.

If you enjoyed the first game, I think there's a good chance you will love this one.

It's a cute little game, very relaxing with just enough strategy in the beetle battles to keep it interesting past the brief runtime to hit the credits. If you like bugs or just want a chill little creature collector, I can recommend this one.

This game wears its inspiration on its sleeve - If you are a fan of the classic Paper Mario games and wished Nintendo had made more of those, then this is a game made by and for people like you. The visuals did turn me off a little bit at first, but the style grew on me the more that I played.

I don't think leaving it at that would really do this game justice, however. The heart this game has elevates it beyond being a mere imitator. There is a large cast of fun and memorable characters to meet, a combat system that is easy to approach and rewarding to master, and a fun and lively world with an adventure that has plenty of twists and turns.

And, at least for me, this game does the thing that any truly great piece of family-friendly media does: It is appropriate and approachable for a younger audience, but has depth and approaches some more mature themes in a way that will keep older players engaged.

I keep thinking about it and keep wanting to come back and play more of it. I won't say the game is criminally underrated, since you can see the steam reviews here for yourself, but it definitely deserves a lot more exposure than it has gotten. Easy to recommend, one of my favorite games of all time.

This is a pretty hard game to recommend in many ways. If you look through the other reviews here, or the critic reviews, you will know that this is a game that launched with a lot of bugs, lackluster performance, and other issues. Several patches later, it is much improved, but still has many issues waiting to be resolved.

But still, I couldn't stop playing for long, and after nearly 100 hours I finished my first playthrough having left many things still unseen. Normally, a game being this long would be a downside for me, but I never lost my interest here. There are dangers and secrets hidden all around for the diligent explorer, and the story is shockingly well-produced compared to previous games and will keep you wondering into the final hours.

I'm not one for exhaustive steam reviews, so I will just leave it by saying that if you liked this series and wanted a true successor, then you will find it here, jank and all. Realistically, you will probably be better off waiting for additional patches and updates to play this, but when it came to decide whether to recommend it or not, my heart and my actions both said yes.

I have played many many hours of this game. I 100%ed it a couple years ago, soon after I played it for the first time. I've played it at least yearly since there. It's still been pretty challenging to write a review for this game and describe exactly why I think it was worth so much of my time.

The basic gameplay is exploring around, taking photographs of damage and documents, and solving puzzles, but that doesn't really explain what made the game compelling to me. The adventure, the puzzles, and the plot (which begins in the most mundane manner possible, but gradually becomes a solid mystery with its own twists and turns) are all well and good, but for me it is the gradual unfolding of the world the game takes place in that made this a worthy game.

It's maybe fitting that a game about the crumbling infrastructure of a city would make the city itself into a character, but there are layers to Stalburg that I never would have expected, with rich detail to the unusual life of the city placed around every corner in the construction of the environment itself. You'll walk through the industrial bones of Stalburg and find what has moved in to the carcasses of tunnels and factories that have been all but forgotten.

There is a rabbit hole to go down here, if you want to. There are multiple plotlines that develop in parallel over the course of the game, numerous secrets, and even some hidden collectibles. If you play the game more than once, there will be details you didn't notice the first time or that are re-contextualized by understanding what comes later.

All of this is done with a healthy injection of humor, often from the strange (and occasionally somewhat absurd) things you will find as you explore, but for me this only served to enhance the atmosphere.

If you are on the fence about trying this game out, I would easily recommend that you give it a try, especially if you are looking at it during a steam sale, when it is certainly available for a cheap price.

Another indie FPS, this one is like a little bit of Half-Life science disaster meets some HROT Soviet-era Czech Nonsense. The gameplay left me fairly unimpressed at first, with a pretty basic arsenal, limited enemy variety that is not especially smart, and a first episode of a lot of samey corridors. Some of those never quite go away, but you can tell this game went through early access because all aspects do get more polished with more interesting elements to each level the further you get into the game.

There is not really a narrative in the usual sense, but something I did find especially good was a strong sense of humor that is used to flesh out the setting through documents, workplace posters, and employee orientation videos used in between the chapters.

Overall I think it is worthwhile, especially since it takes only 5-6 hours to play. If you are on the fence about it, I would say wait for a sale sometime.

Generally liked this game since launch, but it had some issues they they said they would address and I didn't really grasp the game too well, so I waited. The current version has some pretty significant improvements over launch, and now that the gameplay has clicked with me I'm pretty hooked. The combination of building a faction and picking new tomes throughout the game leaves you a lot of options and flexibility for how you build up, and the tactical battles are not the most complex but have enough room for skilled play to feel satisfying.

Like many 4X games it will probably only get better with age as more adjustments, improvements, and fixes come into the game alongside DLC releases, but I'm enjoying myself right now already. If you enjoy other 4X games and/or games like HOMM, there's a good chance you will enjoy this one too.

On its surface, this looks like an homage to the classic shooter Blood. It is that, but it's also more than that, by mixing an already excellent retro throwback shooter with more modern elements and some well-handled genre shifting between and within levels. A unique color palette and a combination of excellent sprites and modern lighting and physics effects give the game a good and memorable look, while your character has good mobility and a varied arsenal to help put hundreds of cultists six feet under.

Right now there's only the first Episode, but for ten bucks it feels like a steal for the level of quality here for a 5-ish hour game (I played on Hard without too much difficulty, so YMMV). There's secrets to go hunt for and a survival mode to give a little extra longevity to the game while we wait for the next part.

Definite thumbs up from me, and there's a demo so you can try it out for yourself, so there's really nothing to lose.