Faris_V5 Reviews

  Newest of the Fallen, take up your sword and fight From the creator of Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion, Lunacid is a dungeon crawler very deliberately evoking King's Field and Shadow Tower. With a close to identical combat system, PSX style graphics, a dark moody atmosphere reminiscent of Fromsoftware games and an experience focused around exploration and discovery. It's also one of my new favourite games of all time, but more on that in a moment. Just know that I recommend this game as enthusiastically as I could ever recommend a game. And if you wish to have the best possible experience untainted. Stop reading here, and play it yourself, I guarantee you won't regret it, no matter who you are. Since Lunacid is such an easy game to recommend, for that reason I will keep detailed analysis of it's systems and design light. It takes direct and visible influence from a multitude of games, not just King's Field but even La-Mulana or Morrowind. But the thing that makes i...

Now 80% 'guide dang it' free! An early entry from the legendary Looking Glass Studios team. Ultima Underworld is a classic dungeon crawler and landmark title in 3d first person gaming. Like many games I've reviewed before, it's influences are vast and mostly unknown to me. So we'll be narrowing down on "how well does this hold up?" Gameplay wise, if you've played any Immersive sim or dungeon crawl in the grander Legend of Grimrock, Deus Ex, or even Elder Scrolls vein, you'll have a decent idea what to expect. Combat has a grand total of 3 melee attacks shared between ever melee weapon. Some ranged options, and spells using a rune system that itself has been copied and/or iterated on by other RPGs since. I would call it simple, but that's to the games benefit. Like many Immersive sims, there are multiple solutions to any given problem. Many including clever use of spells or items to skip over the 'intended' routes. I don't know how s...

  Interesting is better than boring Perhaps a prime example of why remasters don't need to be limited to critical darlings or cult classics. Star Wars Bounty Hunter is a PS2 era action platformer in such a stereotypical mold that I'm going to cover much of the nuts and bolts of the gameplay by repeating the phrase "PS2 era action platformer" while nodding knowingly. If you don't get it, go play Ratchet & Clank. The core selling point of the game is, of course, playing as the titular bounty hunter Jango Fett. Crossing the galaxy seeking your next payday via the seedy underbelly and scum of the land. While the story is no epic nor any kind of true crime drama. I will say it does a good job with it's use of the star wars IP and setting to create a very convincing aesthetic. It says something that I encountered a few genuine mandalorian fans in my streams of the game. I would very easily recommend it to anyone with a fondness for the grander star wars setting....

  The closest thing to drugs that isn't drugs Trepang² insert joke about sea cucumbers here is a fast paced first person shooter brought to us from Trepang studio. I don't know what they did beforehand, but apparently they made a game jam version of Trepang, and like Mario chasing around mips the rest of the game is basically build around the core gameplay. In fact, lets get literally every single other detail out of the way first. The story is fun, the level design is solid, the graphics are the perfect combination of feeling like they're using all the existing unreal engine effects to their fullest, the weapon unlocking and upgrade system is barebones but a fun motivator and the horde mode and various secrets and sandboxes allow for tons of fiddling around and replay value. But none of that matters because at the core of this entire game is one of the best combat systems I've ever played in my life. Taking inspiration from too many sources to list and boiling it all d...

  I'm not sure what just happened So I started playing Torchlight about 3 days ago, I hadn't played an ARPG in ages and had only ever beaten the 2nd game, so I figure why not let's knock this thing out real quick. I have done nothing but play Torchlight for 3 days. This isn't going to be much of a review. My build was shoddy, the character I picked was weak, Torchlight 2 is better and the ARPG style of game goes way deeper than I'll be getting in to here. But as I barrelled through the ember mine, slamming spell after spell into hordes of foes. Instantly trashing 99% of the loot I came across to the instant vendor pet dog. Spotify blaring some random metal song in the background, more than anything else, I felt nostalgic for something I never personally did. Diablo 2 is perhaps the most iconic example of the genre, but what always struck me as odd was the idea that some people can just play through the entire game without even realizing. With the same energy as bing...

One Step from Heaven Furi is a mixture of Sekiro esque parrying and bullet hell mechanics. A game distilled down to a select few boss fights and literally nothing else. It has a reasonably forgiving health and lives system as well as a pace that encourages risk taking for speeds sake without punishing you for playing it safe. It's unique fighting game round esque health bar system means that you essentially get 2-3 shots at each phase of a boss fight, which allows for memorization without being tedious. The fights themselves are gorgeous and memorable and every attack is telegraphed so that it never feels like you couldn't predict them in advance. So why isn't it resonating with me all that well. Well, that's a misleading question. I think I know, and it boils down to about three things. Firstly, and most importantly. The dodge. This is your main method of survival, the core of your entire moveset and the basis for 90% of the patterns you'll need to get through in o...

Don't bother asking me if it's too difficult Curse of the Moon 2 is, unbelievably, a near identical followup to Curse of the Moon 1. Which is, equally shockingly from a Bloodstained series title, a near identical successor to a retro Castlevania title. In this case, the delightfully devilishly hard Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse. It plays exactly like you'd imagine a modern followup made by Inti Creates would. With pretty much flawless controls, clever design, and a good understanding of what made the difference between a "hard" NES game and a "bullshit" NES game. But I'll be real with you, I've got nothing else to say but "Go play Castlevania because it's an icon of video gaming and an early example of extremely tight, structured game design. If you're reading my reviews and find them at all useful or informative you'll find a lot to appreciate about the game. If you liked it, play Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse, if you ...