Recent reviews by Mallikeet

This was a fantastic game, definitely a rare treat nowadays to have an extremely immersive yet also fairly chill single player, linear experience.
There's not a lot I can say that other reviews haven't said, but a particular detail I wish to call attention to is the beautiful cyberpunk world that the designers have managed to craft. It is easily one of the most (if not the most) lovingly detailed and engrossing cyberpunk worlds that has been put in a game in a very long time. One of the only criticisms of it is that some faster sections of the game don't give enough time to just admire and take it all in!
While some of the detractors are correct that it is a fairly short game, at 5 hours if you play it straight or 8 hours if you explore thoroughly to find all of the secrets and side tasks. But I would say that even though it is short, it is certainly an incredible 5-8 hours, and I would consider it worth every penny.

So if you are really hungry for an immersive single player experience with a gorgeous world, I'd say definitely pick it up. If you are a bit more uncertain of the price, it wouldn't hurt to wait for a sale then pick it up.

It's come a long way since the initial release, but it's still got a looooong way to go before it can be considered in its prime. So far all of the polish seems to be put in the (very beautiful) wave algorithms and gorgeous visuals, but everything else seems to be extraordinarily unpolished.

Key issues;
-Oddly small world, it definitely seems like there should be a much more vast world with way more islands and variety.
-Inventory system; Very clunky, especially unloading items to load new ones when capacity is reached. There's nothing wrong with item capacity limits, but the ways to swap items that are held could use a bit of work for sure. It definitely does have the issue of looking and feeling like a console port, without much care put in to optimizing the inventory system for PC.
-Loading times; For sections of the map being so small, loading times in to the game or from one area to another (if sunk, or glitched) are frustratingly high, even off of an NVME SSD.
-Balancing; Being put up against far more experienced crews and raided constantly is not a recipe for practice with the mechanics, it's only a recipe for frustration. Of course, with the PvE elements of the game being quite lackluster and repetitive after a short time, it's no surprise that most endgame players seek their fun and progression through PvP of less experienced players specifically.
-FOV: A maximum field of view of 90 is rather disconcerting, and makes it quite uncomfortable to play on a big screen (or any screen). Now I don't particularly suffer from motion sickness, but the narrow FOV is not a good combination with the expected movements among the seas.
-NPC's: Non-player enemies are more of a nuisance than a challenge or an interesting event, seeming to serve mostly as just something to smack with the sword a few times and pay no mind to.
-Performance; This seems to be a heavy YMMV, as I was suffering inexplicably poor performance in the game, getting about 40-70 FPS at 1080p on a 7700K and 3080, while a friend with a Ryzen was getting much higher performance. It's unlikely that this CPU should be bottlenecking, so again, this is a YMMV. But I figured it was worth mentioning here.

Despite these issues, the potential for a fantastic game are definitely here. While it would be ideal that the potential would have been reached by now after years of continued development, it seems that the fruits of those efforts are just not here yet (unless it REALLY was in a terrible state when it first launched, and took this much time to at least get this far). Perhaps a key goal to wait for reaching would be if custom/private servers become an actually released thing (not just for content creators), allowing for crafting more interesting or enjoyable experiences than what the general servers allow for.

I do hope that it will get to the point where I can give it a strong recommendation, but so far it just does not seem to be there yet. But as mentioned before, the potential and the signs of a truly great game are there; it's just going to take a bit more effort on the developer's part to reach it.

Bit of background to this review; I'm quite familiar with Frictional's lineup of horror, ranging from the original Penumbra tech demo all the way through SOMA. So I had very high expectations going in to Amnesia: Rebirth. It is definitely worth a play, but I wouldn't say it manages to do anything superior to its predecessors.

Most importantly, horror-wise it is definitely scarier than both SOMA and AMFP, but does fall short of the high bar set by TDD. It's closer to SOMA in terms of how horror and narrative are balanced. It definitely is a heck of a lot better than most horror these days. Sadly, it is muddled by more uncalledfor and irritating jumpscares this time around, that given the context of them the game would have probably been MORE immersive and tense without. If you want a good horror narrative experience this is definitely a game for you, just have your expectations set reasonably, you're not getting another TDD but you are getting a game that delivered more effective scares and tense moments than most other modern attempts at horrors.

What it does do best of all is definitely visuals. The visuals are top notch, far beyond anything we've seen Frictional produce before, even stunning at various times especially when it comes to scenery. There is definitely some gorgeous direction at play here, at least given the available resources, and it's fantastic to see the new engine really get to flex its muscles where it can.

Story-wise, it falls far short of the sheer level of masterpiece that SOMA was, but to be fair VERY FEW games come anywhere near that. But it also falls short of TDD in terms of sense of unravelling a disturbing mystery, and AMFP in terms of philosophy and meaning. What it does have that is very neat is a very cool setting establishment, but sadly it doesn't seem to take enough time to be able to properly explore the setting it establishes in breadth or depth, leaving a strong sense of wanting much more to that. But it is still worth experiencing at least, being a bit more of an emotionally driven story than prior games, and I admit I actually liked the speaking protagonist, I think it was a nice change (though I do still miss the right-click thought option from Penumbra most of all, which was probably the best of both worlds of character intrigue and immersion).

Though atmospheric and it does its job, the soundtrack is sadly not memorable this time around, and unfortunately probably the first Frictional game where I can't clearly remember any of the songs I heard in game. Just none of them stood out this time around.

So do I recommend it?
If you are a fan of Frictional's previous games: Definitely, I'd go for it! Just have your expectations set right.
If you're just a fan of horror in general: I'd say it's worth a play, but maybe after a price drop if you're not necessarily die-hard for Frictional's prior games.

For fans of Dreamfall & The Longest Journey, it's definitely worth a play. However, you'll definitely need to have played both prior games in order to understand the plot, so if you haven't played those, I highly recommend playing them in order and then playing this. If you are a fan of story-based adventure games, definitely pick those up first, and then pick up this to finish the saga.

However, it is important to keep ones expectations where they should be. This trilogy finale is unfortunately overshadowed by its predecessors in terms of story depth, visuals/artistic direction, soundtrack, and the worlds presented. That's not to say it's not a satisfying conclusion; it definitely is a satisfying conclusion to the series. It's just that it could have been much more, but it definitely did have a much more difficult time getting made to begin with in an era that has much less respect and focus on simple immersive single-player linear experiences. The difficulty encountered in making it definitely shows.

That said, if you do enjoy single-player story-based linear adventure experiences, definitely pick it up regardless of its issues (if you have played and enjoyed its two predecessors). If you are not a fan of this genre, then this game will likely not appeal to you.

Wait,
I haven't reviewed this yet?

I have 604 hours on this at the moment. That should indicate my recommendation!

Okay, a bit more in depth. This is probably the game that ultimately embodies roguelike perfection, at least at the time of this review. While at the surface from the trailers the game may look somewhat dull, the real powerful feeling is definitely the sense of an adventure every time you play through; you don't know what you're going to get. On top of that is how every single item you pick up has the potential to change the gameplay and experience as you play through, and the unlocking of every new item adding to the potential mix.

I would honestly recommend this game to anyone. The ESRB M rating is a bit heavy handed, as the game does employ a bit of shock humor but no cursing or sexuality. While there is blood and gore, it is all cartoonish. Though it does use religious imagery, it never really does anything offensive with it, it's all just kind of used for what it is. References to gaming culture overall are abound too.

Naturally it doesn't have particularly stringent hardware requirements, making it a good game to take with you on the go on a laptop, even a low end one.

I'd say it was definitely good! A game that felt like I got my money's worth.

I enjoyed the first game, and I definitely recommend this to those who enjoyed the first game too. It is a bit different, with a more narrative focused pacing, and less combat but more focus on exploration of a quasi-open (sub) worlds.

I'd call the rather smaller number of enemies to fight, and fewer sensations of big 'events' in the game (such as boss battles, large encounters) compared to the first game one of the only negatives.

After about a month of severe issues on PC (I was unable to play it properly until recently due to an issue with no sound, with no working solutions) it appears to have been fully fixed. Optimization seems to be pretty good, visuals are great thanks to Id Tech as usual, and I was able to run it at a pretty consistent 60 FPS in 4K on a 1080Ti with just some settings (AA, AO, SSR) off. Interestingly, according to the ingame performance metrics, it may be more CPU heavy than GPU heavy, which could be concerning for some users of old i3 or other dual core (including Mobile non-i7 U) CPU's, but you can always try and see if you are unsure.

Overall, I'd give it a strong 8/10.
If you have played the first game and enjoyed it, I'd say definitely pick this one up.
If you have not played the first game, go pick up the first game for cheap, and if you enjoy it get this one.

System Requirements to play as a masochistic scrub like me:
-See store page.

System requirements to play as a pro:
-Advanced mouse capable of recoil macroes (A fine import the Counter Strike community brought with them)
-A secondary PC running an ESP Packet Sniffer. Yes, they STILL have supposedly not fixed this.
-A copypasta of "lol git gud"
-A router or modem capable of artificial ping inflation - As long as it's constant through the match. The game favors high ping, and as of a recent patch, makes headshots easier for high ping.
Don't worry. The community has your back! As long as you're not from China, you're never a cheater! Pros get far in this game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw97-m14YNY

tldr; Just get a different game. One where being good at it isn't defined by how well you can hide your cheats and let the community brush it off when you're called out for them being blatant.

It's a shame, because this is a game I WANTED to become great. I wanted for them to fix the performance issues, and they did that at least. I wanted it to become balanced, but it's always been one step forward then one step back. I wanted it to be cleaned of cheaters... Well, the developers are not going to swallow their pride enough to permaban streamers.

Shadow Warrior is an amazing game that excels in pretty much every regard. However, I wish to talk about a specific part that makes it stand out above most other games released nowadays, for you will be able to see info of its other fantastic elements in other reviews.

One area where Shadow Warrior excels is in its graphical department, but in a way that few do. Typically, graphical fidelity seems to become a triangle of Optimization, Detail, and Artistry, and in the case of most modern games, whether Indie or AAA, pick 1 (or even none). Shadow Warrior is one of the very rare cases of a game which excels in all 3 areas. The engine it uses has some of the most amazing optimization I have ever seen in any game, running at a smooth 60 at high resolutions with even lesser hardware than the top end today, and completely free of any stuttering whatsoever, a feat that not even any Source or Unreal game that comes to mind of the past 10 years can boast. The graphics are beautifully detailed, crafting a world that is wholly immersive and provides a sense of suspension of disbelief that even games with higher polygon counts and texture dimensions struggle to do, and though it is not the most photorealistic of games that aim for it partly due to its age, it certainly does well regardless without having to resort to alternative art styles. Most importantly of all, Shadow Warrior features absolutely gorgeous art direction, with strong uses of color throughout, gorgeous locales that both encourage exploration and provide even a sense of wonder at times, truly taking you in to its world.

In the age of poorly optimized PC ports that stutter and crash and drop their framerates seemingly inexplicably no matter what you do to fix it, and/or look real but otherwise uninteresting and uninspired, come check out Shadow Warrior for one of the rare example of how good visuals can be done RIGHT.

Of course, it excels in the other areas of gun and swordplay, exploration, sound design, etc. But I think everybody else giving a positive review has summed those up quite well!

It is a magnificent single player experience that does not try to squeeze in multiplayer where it is unnecessary and does not try to squeeze in ridiculous microtransactions or even DLC. It goes on sale very frequently.

Rating: 9.5/10
Verdict: BUY IT! It goes on sale quite frequently both on Steam and on bundle sites.

So, funny story, a dead body was found in this vent once. Mmkay, so, not that funny but it's a story!

It has been many years since I had my phase of Bejeweled 3 addiction, and those are fond memories indeed.

I'll review Bejeweled 3 here as I remember it.

Bejeweled 3 is the amazing sequel and massive improvement to Bejeweled 2 that none of us would have seen coming. Bringing with it surprising, positive innovations while still preserving the option of the great core gameplay of Bejeweled that we have always known and loved. There's not really much to be said about the gameplay other than it's Bejeweled, but better and expanded, taken in brilliant new directions while preserving the old.

The presentation of it all brings the experience as a whole to such a greater level than we'd have ever imagined. The new visual splendor is exciting, pumping, and filled with eye-candy while at the same time being beautiful and serene, and most importantly, still conveys the gameplay without obstruction or serious distraction.

It is accompanied by magnificent audio design, with the sound effects adding that satisfying edge to each and every move, while being clear and distinctive to give more feedback as to the state of the game and our actions within. with more skilled matches giving more and more satisfying and exciting audio responses. The soundtrack is simply phenomenal, a beautiful collection of tracks by demoscene composer Peter Hajba that both serve to immerse you in the experience of the game while also conveying the mood, ranging from blissful in the Zen soundtracks to heart-racing in the Ice and Lightning modes.

Bejeweled 3 is an incredible example of taking a simple, previously lighthearted and arcadey 2D puzzle game with no story, no defined world, no characters, and all that and turning it in to a wholly immersive experience, bringing with it a sense of awe and so many different feelings of either bliss, rage, rage, or hecticness all based around the core swapping-gems gameplay.

The only shortcomings that come to mind are generally in regards to aging. The visuals can feel a bit low res now on a big screen or high res display. But that's reallly the only possible criticism here.

It was the real Popcap's last game before their tragic acquisition and subsequent adulteration. And what a magnificent note to go out on it was!
Rest in peace Popcap Games: 2000 - 2011.

Verdict: BUY IT - even at its non-sale price, it will provide massive amounts of value and fun. It makes an excellent addition to every Steam library.