Recent reviews by Wolf

I've just played for a few hours for the first time in a few years, and damn, I now need to go do something else for a bit to shake the unease from my soul.

Doom 3 is just as scary and unsettling as it was back in '04. Ignore the graphics (they haven't aged well) and immerse yourself in the terrifying atmosphere and the all-too-believable story of human hubris, corruption, and arrogance dialled up to 11.

And play it with headphones on and the lights off. I dare you.

Probably the most engrossing and satisfying DLC I've played in years. Once I'd made my home in Kuttenberg I completely forgot about the main story because I was enjoying being a blacksmith so much.

It's a bit like Satisfactory, but with exploration and combat. It has beautiful graphics, an addictive gameplay loop, and enough upgrades to chase to keep you unlocking new things until next Christmas, all wrapped up in a decent sci-fi narrative about convicts and forced labour on an alien planet that scorches itself every 20 minutes or so with a huge fire wave (my favourite part, it's genuinely spectacular).

Although in Early Access, the game offers plenty to do, plus it's stable (for me at least, some people on the forums aren't so lucky) and relatively bug-free. Looking forward to seeing it evolve over time.

So far, this is money well spent.

Yes, SpaceVenture is a worthy successor to the Space Quest franchise. It's genuinely funny in places, wears its inspiration on its sleeve, and is a charming throwback to the adventure games of the 90s with a modern lick of paint. If you're the intended audience but you didn't back it on Kickstarter, I can definitely recommend picking it up now.

That said... it's still quite buggy, even at its full release and with the latest patch installed. I encountered several technical issues that had me re-doing portions of the game, with the final sequence being the least polished. Oh and the save system absolutely sucks - the game offers manual saves, but they're really just checkpoints that save at the start of the scene, not exactly where you are when you click Save.

While a definite annoyance, neither the save system nor the bugs stopped me from finishing the game, so this should not stop you from buying it.

Overall, SpaceVenture delivered pretty much what I had hoped for when I backed the project on Kickstarter all the way back in 2012: a point & click adventure game in the same vein as the Space Quest series but with a modern aesthetic. It’s just a pity it took so long to release, but I understand that modern game dev is hard and that even half a million Kickstarter bucks doesn’t go very far.

Glad the game is finally out, glad I finished it, and I hope it sells enough over time to properly reward the people involved.

Damn what a fun game. And the controls are *chef's kiss* - I don't know how you did it but I picked up what I needed to do and how in literal seconds, and I never looked back. LOVE the rope mechanic! Looking forward to playing A LOT more...

I have 1000+ games in my library and this one is more fun, more engaging, and more interesting than many of them. After finishing Oblivion Remastered recently, I thought I'd try Arena since I completely missed it back when it first came out (my first TES game was Daggerfall). I was very pleasantly surprised.

I found that Arena's systems are just complex enough to be interesting and just simple enough to keep me engaged. Loving the dungeon-diving/levelling/looting/identifying/equipping/selling loop, and I was quite surprised to see just how different each dungeon was to the last - a non-trivial detail for a game released in 1994.

I am actually quite sad I missed this back in the day - everything about Arena would have blown my 16-year-old mind had I played it at release. I fired up the original (non-Unity) Daggerfall after starting Arena just for a quick comparison, and I think Daggerfall over-complicated things to the point where I doubt I'll enjoy it as much as I'm loving Arena right now when I inevitably get to playing more of it.

And sure, the graphics are so low-res that my eyes have literally watered several times, but I don't care - the gameplay loop is so much fun that I'm going to keep playing anyway. I don't even want to see it modded for modern controls/visuals etc. - this game is peak 90s roleplaying and I love it.

My love for old games has only grown stronger the longer I've played Arena. That, and the general sh1tsh0w that is modern gaming (corporates are ruining AAA in pursuit of profits IMO) has me giving older games more of a chance these days. Looking forward to finding more hidden gems like Arena in the future.

Brilliant game. Stable, runs like silk, and this Enhanced version just works on modern systems, even at 4K. Some driver-level tweaks are still needed to get rid of jagged edges, but it's by no means a deal-breaker.

The primary appeal here is that the early-2000s design lets me take direct control of my men and any vehicles they occupy, something unique that I don't see many modern RTSes even trying to do. I also appreciate the opportunity to come up with my own tactics to deal with missions, made possible by many small but important touches that expand my options considerably. No grenades or anti-vehicle weapons for my soldiers? Loot bodies and scavenge what you can, just like in actual war. Start the mission with just one tank? Take out others, then use your repair kit to fix them and take them over. It's just bloody brilliant. Soldiers stuck in a building trying to fend off enemies? Blow the wall up behind them with a scavenged explosive and give them an escape route. It's good stuff.

What really blows my mind, though, is how good the destruction engine is for a game made in 2004 - battles leave demolished vehicles, dead bodies, smashed buildings, and explosive craters all over the place, which is really satisfying to see after winning a tough skirmish. I don't know why that pleases me so much, but it really does; I think I just hate it when games make debris and bodies disappear to conserve PC resources.

If you're familiar with the series, I am sure you already know this, and have recommendations for newer games that do these things better. But for a newbie to the franchise, this game is a fantastic first taste, and all of the enhancements make it a real pleasure to play on a modern PC. It might not have the sharpest textures or amazing visual effects or even good lighting, but it really doesn't matter - the moment-to-moment gameplay (and the meaty sound of the frequent explosions and gunfire) is what keeps me playing.

It's also stupidly cheap right now during the 2025 Summer Sale, so you can't go wrong picking it up even if it's just to try it out for an hour or so. If I ever finish it (there's TONS of missions to do), I'll definitely be checking out similar games.

Whenever I play older games like this, I find myself missing the early days of gaming when games were made by passionate nerds, and not soulless corporations looking for ways to commoditise games so they can extract maximum cash for the sake of their shareholder profits.

Every other Just Cause is better than this. I've been playing for more than 12 hours and I still don't know what to do with the map, what the soldiers mean, or how to progress the story. Yes I might be stupid, but the game might also be poorly designed.

Aside from that it looks kind of meh (but it performs well at least), there are TOO MANY ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ENEMIES that constantly overwhelm me while I'm trying to go for an objective, and every time I hijack a helicopter I get taken down by anti-air missiles or other helicopters that spawn out of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nowhere. And those "Defend the Whatever While Something Downloads" missions can get ♥♥♥♥♥♥. This is NOT FUN.

I will keep at it and attempt to git gud because I have enjoyed previous Just Cause games and want to see how this one plays out, but I can't in good conscience recommend this over the previous 3. 1 was janky but fun, 2 was peak Just Cause, 3 was just OK but still somewhat enjoyable, but 4 is complete trash. AVOID.

I ripped and tore until it was done.

I'm doing my part!