Recent reviews by Count_Zero_Interrupt

I was drawn to this game because I'd heard people talk about how hard it is, and how dark/disturbing the story is, and frankly I think it's overrated on both counts.

The difficulty is really just trial and error, memorization and repitition. The game hides an extreme amount of information from you - everything from what skills actually do to how to level up to what basic status icons mean - so a lot of the early difficulty is just figuring out what your options even are. On top of that, enemies are mostly way over-powered relative to your character - unless you know how to fight them. If you know which limbs to hit in which order, when to block, what weapons/items to use, etc. then most enemies actually become incredibly easy. The same goes for the route through the game. You're likely to find it punishingly difficult if you simply explore, but once you know where you're actually supposed to go it's a cakewalk. The biggest way this manifests is in recruiting party members. By far the biggest power boost you can get is adding additional characters - and therefore multiplying your offensive power. But doing so depends on knowing where to find them and when to talk to them to get them to join up. There are also certain monsters that will simply annihilate you, but knowing where they can appear and when means being able to totally avoid them.

All of which by itself isn't neccessarily a dealbreaker, for me. I like exploring, experimenting, and figuring out. It's just that in this game, because of the way saves are so limited, dying alot means replaying the same areas over, and over, and OVER again, which becomes mind-numbing. Even when you've made significant progress, you can't necessarily go back and lock it in with a save, because saves move time forward, and you've got very limited time.

On top of all that, there's some obnoxious RNG at play. Random loot drops have a huge impact on your playthrough - lucky early drops can massively boost your power and the options available to you, while getting unlucky can drag you way down. Chests are a coin-flip between potentially containing great items or being empty. Going back to the limited save aspect, you can randomly find a book that lets you save on the spot, for free, without advancing time. In one playthrough, I found one almost immediately, in an early, safe area. In many subsequent playthroughs, I haven't seen a single one. There's a way to recover dismembered limbs - something that can (literally) cripple a run - but only if you happen to find them book that teaches it to you. Even the basic recipe for combining herbs to make a healing item can simply not drop until well into the game.

All of this combines into the worst kind of difficulty, in my opinion - it's very hard because basic info is hidden from you or because you just randomly have bad luck, and then it becomes almost boringly easy once you have the info or get lucky. There isn't really an aspect of skill or strategic play.

As for the dark and disturbing theme - I like what it's going for, but I don't think it really does anything interesting. Enemy designs are all over the place, and don't feel cohesive at all. Some are gritty and fairly realistic, some are cartoony, while many look like an imitation of Silent Hill or Resident Evil. They kinda feel like a grab bag of creatures just thrown into the game. And I think the "mature" designation largely comes from the fact that some enemies just randomly have their genitals hanging out? Some are even wearing pants, but I guess it's just poking out the fly? Almost like someone tacked them on there to pump the "mature" angle.

It's possible that turn-based RPGs just aren't my thing, I definitely haven't played many recently. BUT I did play Look Outside, and I think that game blows this one out of the water. Despite being more cartoony and less grimdark overall, it's much more effective cosmic horror, with better and more varied mechanics, cooler and more disturbing enemies, and a way more engaging story.

This game illustrates the basic reality that game design is alchemy, and game devs are alchemists. They take base, unremarkable elements of no particular special worth and they transmute them into something that is more than the sum of it's parts. And in certain, exceptional cases, they create something magical. That's Northern Journey. It's hard to review, because any description I come up with just doesn't do it justice. I don't think the trailers even do it justice.

The low fidelity graphics, the music that varies between eerie, odd and outright bizarre, the combat that is superficially simple but deceptively deep, the shockingly vast explorable landscape, and the enormous number and variety of spiders all combine to make this game feel like an unsettling fever dream fairytale of a journey. One of those games that I'll never stop thinking about.

I loved it.

I'll admit I was a little underwhelmed in the first hour or two. The post apocalyptic setting isn't very visually interesting in the early areas - lots of murky grey fog, crumbling concrete and rusting metal. Nicely designed and incredibly detailed, but a little dull. And the enemies are a touch generic. Pulsating walls of flesh and deformed mutants that are warped imitations of humans are pretty old hat in the genre. But the initial plot setup is mysterious, the protagonist is cool, and the music is outstanding, which was enough to hook me and keep me playing. And the more I played, the more I enjoyed it.

It's a lot more "survival horror" than other titles in the genre, especially in the early game. Ammo is very scarce, enemies are fairly resilient, and both inventory space and the amount of crafting supplies you can carry are extremely limited. It starts off VERY slow, and although you become more powerful as you progress - collecting new weapons, unlocking upgrades, and gaining new abilities - the need to plan ahead and fight efficiently remains a thing all the way through to late game.

Exploration is also key. Scavenging all the supplies and upgrade currency you can get your hands on is crucial, and there are MANY nooks and crannies, just off the path, hiding large amounts of pickups. On that note, my one main piece of advice for this game is: once you get the bolt cutters, keep them with you for the rest of the game. You will continue to find uses for them, and they are worth the inventory slot.

The combat is relatively simple, but extremely tightly designed. There's no dodge or parry, so avoiding damage comes down to ideally stopping enemies before they reach you or, failing that, juking around them to buy a few seconds when they whiff their attacks. Charged shots are a brilliant little piece of combat design that both gives you a satisfying, skill-based method of stretching your ammo further while also adding tension as you try to keep the reticle on charging enemies. The flame thrower serves as a powerful panic button, stopping everything around you in it's tracks, but also a strategic tool used to incinerate the many bodies laying around to prevent enemies from absorbing them and becoming stronger. All the weapons feel pretty great, chunky and powerful. And although enemy variety isn't massive, there are enough that different weapons are slightly more or less effective in certain situations.

There is one touch that I particularly liked, which is the integrity scanner. A little green light on your gun that lights up when you point it at a corpse that is ACTUALLY an enemy playing dead. Entering a new room or hallway entails sweeping it with your weapon to ascertain whether there are any sleepers laying in wait, and when you find some you have to decide wither to shoot pre-emptively, getting the drop on them but waking them all up, or try to sneak by and save ammo and resources. Some will leap up to ambush you when you pick up an item or interact with something, others will only attack if you get too close, so choosing whether to try and bypass them is always a nice, tense little risk/reward calculation.

And I think the plot is great. It's not complicated, but it's engaging. I looked forward to finding memos and voice recordings, to gradually fill in my understanding of the events that lead to the apocalypse. And the larger story, including the twist, is also pretty straightforward. I saw some of it coming, some details surprised me. There are lingering questions that the game doesn't fully explain, which I think is a good thing. The writing and voice acting performances of the Traveler and the Warden are spectacular.

This game is a little more quirky in it's mechanics than something more standard like RE or Silent Hill, but I definitely recommend it, without reservation, to any survival horror fan that is game for a slightly tough experience and appreciates it's strange, slightly off-beat vibes.

Cairn is gonna stick with me. Beautiful visuals, simple but addictive gameplay, and a minimalist story that perfectly fits the theme. One of those games that makes you feel as if you've truly undertaken a journey. And a perfect ending.

Don't pick up this game unless you intend to play multiplayer. Singleplayer sucks, including the campaign. It was obviously designed from the ground up to have three human players working together, calling out targets and carrying complementary weapons. I'm constantly getting pelted by ranged units that my AI squadmates mostly ignore, and if I stop to try and focus on distant targets, I start getting swarmed in melee. Meanwhile, my AI squadmates are across the map standing in front of a staggered warrior that they refuse to execute for some reason. Warriors are constantly interrupting my combos when I try to clear out hormogaunts, and hormogaunts are constantly interrupting my parries as I try to deal with warriors. Doing damage to targets doesn't hinder them in any way, so I can be shooting a warrior in the face or wailing on it with my chainsword and it will just continue dishing out damage, unbothered.
Ranged options all feel disapointingly weak, and melee is boring and repetitive.
It feels like this was intended mainly as a multiplayer, live-service, DLC cash cow, with the ability to play solo tacked on as an afterthought, Which maybe is fine with you if multiplayer is what you're after. I was hoping for a cool, cinematic, challenging solo campaign, and did not get it.
The one good thing I'll say, the game looks visually stunning. It really brings the WH40K universe to life, and makes me want to play a better game set in it.

The first Silent Hill thing I've loved since 3. Personally, I think they captured the vibe and essence of SH, while taking it somewhere new and experimenting with the mechanics. Awesome setting, gorgeous visuals, amazing writing. Made me believe great Silent Hill is possible, again.

This is going onto my list of all-time favourites. It's a work of art. Visually, stunning. A mesmerising soundtrack, moody, melancholy, wistful and dark. The world is weird and dreamlike, striking exactly the right balance of creepy, absurd, charming, and sad. I loved every character, and literally every moment of the perfectly written and delivered voice acting. I spent a significant amount of play time just soaking in the ambience, gazing out over the many weird vistas and letting the music wash over me. It's worth taking your time with this one.
The only thing I'll say is that it's fairly light in the gameplay department. The mechanics are quite simple, as are the puzzles, and there's very few moments of actual challenge. It's really more about the journey and the experience. Which I think it pulls off beautifully, I only mention it as a warning to go in with the right expectations.
It's fairly short, but I don't subscribe to the idea that play time correlates to value. I haven't stopped thinking about this game since I finished it, nor have I stopped listening to the soundtrack almost daily. I'm giving it time to breathe, and looking forward to playing it through again.

I love the vibe and style, but the mechanics are spotty. Aiming and shooting is awkward. The camera angle is extremely bad for trying to line up shots. Not being able to run while injured sucks. It slows you to a crawl that's annoying even when you aren't in combat, and basically forces you into using medkits to avoid taking even more damage from reduced mobility. Enemies can easily mob up and trap you, leading to a quick death, and it's also easy to get hung up on environmental objects while trying to evade.
That said, the puzzles are good - I found them to land in a sweet spot of being tricky enough that you feel a little clever when you solve them, but not so hard that they slow down the game. Which is honestly what I want from puzzles in a survival horror. And the story is simple but pretty cool. By the end it answers enough questions to be sastifying, but also preserves some mystery. I won't spoil details, but it's nice to have a survival horror plot that doesn't revolve around some irredeemably insane and/or evil villain trying to rule the world, summon an evil god, or create supersoldiers.
It's a little short, and the structure of the game is built on backtracking back and forth across a pretty small overall area, which wasn't my favorite thing. But it's still a good time and definiitely worth playing if you're a survival horror fan.

I am always on board for a good walking simulator. I have no problem with an interesting narrative dressed up like a game. The thing is, there needs to be a *little* bit of interactivity and freedom, to push the feeling that you are participating in a story, not just watching it happen.
The Invincible is super hardcore linear. As expansive and as beautiful as the alien vistas are (and they are expansive and beautiful), the gameplay area you can actually access feels very much like a straight road. There are a few twists and turns, a few choices between a right turn and a left, but none of it dispels the feeling that you're on a track.
And that extends to the interactions. The game is full of beautifully designed retro-futuristic gear and gadgets and vehicles, and they're all practically bristling with tempting buttons, levers, handles and valves. From time to time you get to actually touch them, and it's a pleasure to listen to the satisfying clicks and kerchunks and hisses of machinery engaging. But the only stuff you get to touch is the stuff the plot specifically needs you to. Everything else is dead scenery. Stacks of crates you can't open. Drawers you can't root through. Lockers you can't snoop in. Doors you can't unlock. Switches you can't throw. This more than anything kills the feeling of inhabiting a world, for me.
You also get a handful of cool gadgets with some interesting functionality. But again, the only time there's any sense in using them is when the plot requires it, and it will directly let you know. There's nothing else to discover. No little side mysteries to come across, or puzzles to solve. You use a gadget when the game tells you to, and you walk forward until you get an interaction prompt. I thought the drone control was a particularly underused feature. They have cameras, and you can fly them around, but you mostly use them to just immediately land them to get their photo records.
I know the focus here is not on mechanics. It's a walking simulator. A graphic novel in game form. And that's totally cool. But I wish the devs had fleshed out the world a bit more, so that it felt less like a static stage. There's one or two random bits of in-universe lore you can find and read - this game needed way more of that. Let me find more notes, photos and reports, hell even the somewhat overplayed audio log would have been a welcome reward for poking around. Let me feel clever by using the Detector and Tracker to find out-of-the-way secrets.
Finally, the story. It starts off super strong. I was engrossed for the first half of my playthrough. But in my opinion in slows down a lot in the second half, and the climax doesn't feel much like a climax. The huge lore dump at the end, where it suddenly just explains in detail exactly what's happening, felt particularly jarring. I kind of wish there was more early game, before things get dire, and a little less late-game, where you spend a lot of time walking between sparse interaction points by yourself, almost certain you aren't going to encounter anyone.
So why the "yes" recommend? It's a beautiful game, and I'm glad I played it just for the retro-futuristic aesthetic. It's very well done, very cohesive with lots of personality. I want to spend more time in this universe. And although I think the plot gets weak in the latter half, the writing overall is extremely good, and the voice acting mostly excellent (another reason I'm sad the cast of characters is so small for most of the game). My main complaint is that I just wanted MORE. So I do recommend, with the understanding that it's a very limited walking simulator. Go into it with that expectation, and maybe grab it on sale, and I'd say it's worth your time.

I think this game is absolutely awesome, up until you reach room 46. But after that, it starts to grow a little tedious and repetitive.

Due to the RNG of drafting rooms and managing resources (steps, keys and gems), you can't always go where you want to go or try what you want to try. Progress often requires certain items, certain rooms, and even certain rooms placed in relation to each other. But in the early hours of the game, this isn't as much of a barrier, as there are so many puzzles to work on and new things to discover that, no matter how the randomness shakes out, you can find something interesting to do every day. And it IS impressive how the game keeps expanding, as you discover more and more rooms, items, secrets and even entire areas.

The problem is that the RNG DOES become a irritant in the late game, when you have less things to do. When you only have a few puzzles going, and you need specific rooms and/or items to show up in order to work on them, it's extremely annoying to go through a day without getting what you need and feeling like your time was wasted. Towards the end of my time with the game, I was sometimes drafting almost a full house and not getting the things I needed.

Add to this that some of the late game puzzles are extremely devious. Which meant that when stumped, I'd spend ages drafting as much of the house as I could, just to re-examine rooms for clues and info I'd missed.

Eventually I was spending so much time making so little progress that I decided to call it. And I'm glad I did, because upon reading spoilers I realised that I probably would have NEVER solved some of the remaining puzzles, despite banging my head against them for hours.

Overall I'd say this game is great, as long as you're willing to put it down once it starts to feel too repetitive and tedious, even if that happens before you've actually finished it. At the very least, I think it's worth completing the initial objective of reaching room 46, and then seeing if any of the loose ends you've go dangling intrigue you enough to keep playing.

What's really needed is some sort of mechanic designed to guarantee certain rooms during a specific run. Let me keep a room in my back pocket, to draft exactly when I need it. That alone would go a long way toward easing the repetitiveness.