Recent reviews by bijou

This is not a game. It's a cheap Indian B-movie filled with nonsense and unnecessary drama.

The plot is non-existent. The characters can be used as an illustration on Wikipedia for the article about the uncanny valley effect. And why — WHY?! — make a great deal of cinematics if you suck both in writing and art? No idea.

https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3411947726
So, what the game is all about? A mother is trying to save her really ugly child which was kidnapped by some evil guy Darkarta who wants to use an innocent soul to bring his beloved (who sacrificed herself to grant him immortality) back from the dead. Although she's not dead. What? Yes. And while he can use any innocent soul, he waits for centuries to get this particular child because the protagonist is the reincarnation of the woman who betrayed him. He really needed to close that gestalt, I reckon.

But once the child is kidnapped, the evil guy disappears. Instead, there's an evil woman trying to prevent your rescue mission. I guess she's mother of the evil guy but I am not sure as she looks completely different in cinematics. Also, she should be dead as a doornail as she committed suicide by falling from a cliff — again, centuries ago. Whatever. Anyways, she's a mage and can obviously zap you into oblivion but prefer to make stupid walls or destroy bridges on your way which can be surpassed within a minute because puzzles in the game are easy and not very challenging. Maybe she's just not a very competent villain but lets cut her some slack, she makes way more trouble than any regular dead woman.

There are other characters, by the way. But since I have no idea who are they and what their purpose for the story, let's just say there are an old Hindu guy who disappears with your wounded husband, some kind of shaman dressed as a circus freak and a chained maid punished by her mistress, the ought-to-be-dead evil woman, for some role she played in the story which happened thousand years ago. And I wonder, o mighty Vishnu, how many more people were bestowed with immortality for no reason? More importantly, why? The gal is useless for the story and was needed just to give you a pendant which leads you to an awful but unique cinematic.

https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3411949002
A unique cinematic? Yes, because most of cinematics are basically the same. It's either an ugly crying Chucky-like girl saying 'Mommy, where are you?' or the protagonist falling from every cliff she finds, stupidly wavering with her hands. And all of these happens to distract you from really uninspiring puzzles with unclear goals and abysmal connection between them. Not to mention that sometimes you just get a whole new useless location with another er... character? A f★cking tree which attacks you for no reason and then let you go for no reason. I am pretty sure this is some kind of Harry Potter game because they got their own Whomping Willow and some writings on the wall are made with HARRY POTTER FONT, damn it! Tell me about immersion.

https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3411938463
And the ending... You find the 'dead' girl, the one Darkarta wants to resurrect, in some kind of a fish tank. To learn that the girl is pretty much alive and can even speak. Then the evil b★tch shows up and almost throw the protagonist off another cliff but she is saved by Darkarta himself. And his 'dead' beloved casts a spell which destroys the witch. So, the child is saved with no help from the protagonist but the evil guy all of a sudden turns out to be a schizophrenic, changing his mind completely within seconds from 'I'm gonna kill the girl' to 'No, I can't do that'. Why the hell did you lure them back to India and kidnapped the child, damn it? Why helped the mother? He cries, 'How can I save my beloved now?' Save from what? She's not dead! But the protagonist be like: 'There's only way to stop the curse, I have to die. Yes, I am abandoning my child, also she should watch my death'. And then you get the luxury to see another cinematic of that stupid b★tch falling from the cliff. The evil guy's beloved SOMEHOW is freed by that act of stupidity, and they tell the little girl that her mother is not dead as there's a bonus chapter. Which I refuse to play because I had enough.

Honestly, I love these kind of puzzle games, I really do. But this game fails both as a game and a technical product because there's no way you can take these stupid facial animations and scary moving faces on trees made with twisted PNGs serious. Thus, if you want a quality, go play Artifex Mundi's games. And if you crave some Indian vibes, 'Seeta and Geeta' is available on YouTube.

This is a nice little game to play during Winter holidays. Hopefully, your enthusiasm will be just enough to finish it within a couple of days as it gets boring pretty soon.

Feel the Snow could benefit a lot from more content and QoL updates but unfortunately this won't happen, so we are stuck with vast and empty territories, useless monsters and lack of interesting recipes.

Still, delivers fun time for a few evenings.

https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3371423007
I've been playing Sapiens since Steam Next Fest demo back in June 2022. I did like the game, so I bought it instantly when it went into Early Access a month and a half after. Now I am coming back to the game for the fifth time. But the problem is, while it is still good for a few evenings, it didn't change much since the demo.

Of course, the dev has added some interesting features like composting and mulching, stone chiseling and bronze, windstorms, herbs and medicine. And now we got multiplayer, though I don't understand why this game needs one, especially in its current state. Maybe I'm just not that type of player but I truly believe this game would benefit more from the content update as a friend in multiplayer can't change the lack of it. Not to mention its flaws.

Windstorms. Happens once in a few years, a wind blows strong for a day, doesn't really do much but may damage your buildings a bit and scatter some of your stored items. Is it that bad that you have to be prepared for it? Not really. And what about people who can be hurt with a flying debris? You can heal them with medicine, right? RIGHT?!

Well, to be able to make medicine, you have to get the herbs. But that's the trick, most of them are nowhere near your spawn point. And as you can't move your camera far from your sapiens, you have to travel really far, constantly looking for the special plants. And while exploration sounds fun, it is really not because when you find a single wretched Echinacea five or even eight days from your home, you have to deliver it back before it rots, while the rest of the party are yet looking for Aloe and Marigold Flower. And as the home pretty far and conditions are raw, sapiens can become extremely unhappy and leave the tribe in the middle of the delivery, taking these stupid herbs with them. Now that's downright irritating.

To sum it up, it is very tedious and unrewarding to put that much effort and micromanagement into obtaining new resources. Sapiens almost never die from illness or injuries, so no matter how bad the situation is, you won't lose everyone. And when the stakes are that low, I don't think I care. Even if everything really goes south, you will end up with a lot of people tied to their beds — and while it is pretty irritating to have half a tribe sick with no means to cure them, it's no big deal. At the same time the fact that every medicine requires three different ingredients, and you can't investigate anything if something's missing, drives you up the wall. You have the whole plantation of garlic and turmeric root but ginger is just not there. You are welcome.

https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3371416779
Trade is also about micromanagement. You have to go pretty far to meet another tribe, and then you have to win them over by delivering resources. But it's much easier to make another camp near than to deliver items when you are 2-3 days away from the base. And when you proved your friendship, you can ask for resources which you won't probably need. Unrewarding. But the biggest joke is, you have to deliver these resources back to your base. Yes, by yourself. Making more camps and stops on the way.

But there's one useful thing with these villages, though. If you play in harsh conditions like I am, on their territory you can find some plants you don't have anywhere around like orange trees, birches or aspens. These seeds you also have to deliver to the base, of course. But at least there's a reward. I guess. It would definitely work if my sapiens had some bonuses based on the amount of different food, plants and inventions available. But there's nothing to sweet the extra effort you put to bring oranges from the far away land to your camp.

Another thing, the sapiens' AI. It was upgraded but they are still make stupid things like lying on the snow naked with developed hypothermia while woolskins are basically at their feet, but when you give the command to pick it up, they are 'too tired'. At the same time, they are not too tired to make a trip to the nearest camp (which is pretty far) naked. Also, they can fake their routes, pretending to carry the precious Marigold flower from point A to point B but they actually running with empty hands. At first I even thought the precious herbs simply disappeared. That was something. Also, sometimes AI brakes for some reason, and a sapien is standing in one place as he can't decide what to do next.

Building is not satisfying as well. There are some interesting ideas for materials but some important pieces are missing like an inverted triangle piece to make a nice roof without holes. And you can't actually make a complex roof that easy. In order to do that, you need to place fake additional walls inside the house because roof angle does not connect to the existing roof one level below. Thus, you're either stuck with small houses if you are looking for something but a thatch roof or additional and unsatisfying micromanagement, again. Placing beds in a straight line is also a very hard work. And don't even get me started about roads which your stupid folks will probably ignore anyway.

Moreover, I wanted to build a live fence to avoid mammoths, so I have planted a great deal of apple trees, placing 5-7 trees in every octagon. There's no way a mammoth could go through that. But mammoths ignore them. I was very disappointed. But didn't give up. And built a big wall two levels high to secure the perimeter. And you know what? Mammoths ignore it, too.

https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3371599169
And what happened to the game's colors? It used to be contrast and it was awesome, now they are dull and wash out, and the new texture looks like it's an oil painting. It's really hard to distinct rock from blue sandstone. I simply hate it.

But the biggest problem is, the game was in development for 7 years before it hit Early Access as the dev works alone, probably in his free time. It's been two years since the release, and so far it looks like Dave will probably need another 7 years to develop new mechanics, recipes and items which will allow you to stay in the game for more than a few evenings. That's a shame because that means the diamond will remain rough.

UPD: Right now I am trying entertain myself with Amazons tribe, no men allowed. So I simply ignore other tribes who wants to join if there're men there. But my girl who were born in the tribe just got pregnant somehow. Either she was seduced by an old man who was passing through with his old wife or this game desperately needs the concept of religion. Thank God, the baby is a girl.

The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the wh♥️res and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"

...and I'll whisper, "No."

---

This is embarrassing.

Playing that i-am-ashamed-to-call-this-a-game to get a $0.03 AI-created image to sell on the Steam market.

And what about all these articles claiming gamers hate NFTs? Well, maybe they do but 3 cents are 3 cents. I'd say "cheap". You say "BANANA." Damn, who knew these play-to-earn games could be so fun?!

Now the overheated and crisis-ridden market will gradually become saturated with numerous similar free-to-play 'non-games' as they require little time, money, or effort to create while talented developers will be forced to accept the new rules because Steam obviously doesn't care about anything as long as it has its cut from every deal on the market.

And if one day this or any other kind of scum games take over, you might feel sorry for not giving Epic Games a chance.

Day 1. I woke up on the road. What am I doing here? I don't have much clothes on me and it's cold. I better go find a shelter. Snow is knee deep. And the wind is unforgiving. I am roaming like this for almost an hour. The cold is piercing me. My fingers got numb.

I got lucky. Found some church ruins to cover myself from the wind. Found a matchbox. Fortunately, matches are not wet. Managed to gather some wood and start a fire. Damn, that feels good. There's nothing to eat, though, but I saw some berries out there. I just hope they are not poisonous. Better pick them up fast, looks like the blizzard is coming.

Day 2. Managed to survive the night. But I have to move on. Is it a lighthouse over there? I got there but damn that is cold. Thank God the door isn't locked. It's nice to finally have a roof. Unfortunately, there's almost nothing inside. Some junk food and a baseball cap. Well, better than nothing.

Day 4. Found an old warehouse. A big place. Took me a day to explore it. Found some tools and decent clothes. At least, now I won't freeze instantly. I believe this place can become my base camp. There are wolves around, though, I have to be careful. Barely managed to escape them once.

Day 6. I am getting a hang of it! Made a few runs around the base, found a mine to explore, got me a pistol and 14 bullets. I am a God d★mn survivor! Best of the best!

Day 8. Went to church ruins again but got lost on my way home. It's getting dark. And this damned fog is so thick I can barely see anything! Oh wait, there's the road. What a relief. Almost home.

I thought I heard some kind of mooing from the left. Can't see what it is. Damn! A big shadow appeared out of nowhere and hit me like a bus. A moose! And a big one! But I will teach this bully a lesson. I am the one with the gun after all!

Shot him four times before he hit me again. F★ck, I've never thought these animals are so tough. But I will get him. Another round of shots and another hit from the moose. My leg hurts like hell. I think I am bleeding.

Moron. Thought the gun makes me a big shot. But it looks like that damn thing doesn't do any damage to that giant! Now he is just pissed.

The big shadow is running towards me, again. Shots do not do any difference, again. I got hit and lying on the ground, again. This is the end of me. Another hit, and I am done. There are only two bullets left in my pistol, but they won't change anything. The damn thing didn't care for the twelve others! Still I am desperately aiming at the fog, saying goodbyes to my friends and family, praying. My hands are shaking. I hear the hooves. There he is! I pull the trigger twice...

And that f★cking moose is suddenly falling down right in front of me. My heart is racing. I look at my right leg. It is bleeding. Shocked, I am tearing my t-shirt to dress the wound. I am dizzy. Can't run, too. But I am alive, God d★mn it! And think of all the meat I can use! I need to get at least something. There's no food home.

I spent an hour but it was worth it. And the fog has disappeared. Now let's go to the warehouse, slowly. The night is almost here. But I am almost home. There's the car at the entrance. Now just a few more steps...

A damned wolf is here! Probably smelled the blood — God knows, there's almost nothing left in me. I have to reach the door before he attacks. I won't survive it. I am slowly backing away. 'Good doggy'. He's crawling after me. His eyes are glowing. And he is getting closer. He will attack any second! I have to run to the door, it's round the corner, I can make it! Almost there...

Another wolf was waiting for me at the door. 'Welcome home, boy', he said silently. 'I see you brought us meat'.

An interesting concept, but god knows, this game is flawed in so many ways.

First of all, game designers didn't know where to stop, adding too many mechanics. The tutorial is overwhelming. But even if you figure everything out, some of them doesn't have much sense, narrative- or gameplay-wise.

First of all, the thing with relationship between the survivors. Most of the dialogues are just don't make sense at all and totally unpredictable. Also, I don't think it matters if you a communist or a monarchist when you are freezing in the middle of Siberian taiga. I used to live north from the Arctic Circle, I know. Even in Moscow, when there's wind and frost, and you are wearing decent warm clothes, you are not going to waste your time if you are cold. And these spoiled characters are not fond of working together because they don't know each other too well or do not like one another. That's preposterous! At the same time, it doesn't look like the camp morale is actually affects something.

Second, when you are making a makeshift thing, the other survivors hate you. I guess, they believe it is better to freeze to death than to make a temporary shelter when you don't have enough materials. And that's lead us to another game design flaw.

You can't use different kinds of the same material to build. Let's say, you need to build a simple cover. For that, you need 8+8 wood, 12 needles and 3 structure. Sticks, branches, split wood, needles and logs provide wood. But you can't mix them. Thus, if you have 7 wood total for each of the material, you won't be able to build the cover. It is even worse with cooking. You have four mushrooms to make a soup but these mushrooms of the same type are split to 2+2 stacks because they have different expiration date and you can't cook them. The funny thing, if you exit the menu for cooking and try that again, they can be available as a stack of 4 mushrooms and this time you can use them.

Another thing to mention is random, and for a strategy game it's a very big flaw. You can't make plans because everything is unpredictable. For example, you need a coal to make an upgraded water filter which is the key to survival. You can find a coal near the train, and it make sense. And usually it's there. But sometimes you can search every cell with the train (and it's 7 cells!), and there's nothing. You are screwed. You have wasted 6 out of 12 points (if you are lucky) almost for nothing. The same goes for the rest of resources. And it doesn't matter what difficulty level you are on. Even the passenger level will drive you up the wall.

Upgrades of the camp are also stupid. You can make a Fence and upgrade it to get Snares and Marked Path. Snares will provide small animals you can cook. Marked Path unlocks an option of gathering brushwood. The problem is, snares can be empty for days. Even if you upgrade them for Advanced Traps to increase the chance. I needed meat to make a bear trap, and I couldn't get it for a week or so. As for Marked Path, usually you need sticks to build something useful, but characters will be bringing moss, cones, bark and other useless sh★t. Do not forget, every action uses at least 1 point out of 12.

Another thing with the points. The balance is awful. You can have up to 3 points for each character. If your characters are thirsty, hungry, freezing, injured or tired, their action points will decrease, and that's a big problem. For example, to build something solo a character should use all his points, 3 out of 3. And some of them has a Lone Wolf Trait. Thus, you can build something for 3 points to get the bonus morale from the trait or spent two points total and lose a lot of morale if you are building with someone. On the top of that, some characters can have Incompetent trait, and they could fail any action, losing points for nothing.

Of course, you can use characters who are getting along pretty well with each other but that's rare. Though you can improve their relationship using Fraternization at the camp. The problem is, this action requires 2 points total. Do you think you are going to waste valuable points to make friends when you are in need of resources? Also, some characters can have traits like Distrustful, Braggart or Humbug, and it is almost impossible to be friends with them, especially if there are two characters like that in your camp.

The art of the game is decent but cinematics are just plain awful. That's not a big deal at all but it feels like devs didn't care at all about these things. That's an amateur level at the very best.

The last but not least. I don't know about the other languages but Russian localization is horrid. For example, your character is bleeding, and the game says to dress the wound. You do that, and nothing happens. You switch to English to learn that you actually need to make a bandage to fix that, and these are two different actions, though I don't believe there's a lot of difference.

To sum it up, this game feels strange but okay the first two runs. But every other try you will get irritated due to the random or the balance.

Disappointed.

I was charmed by the game's visuals. But it is just not enough to have a beautiful art direction when the game is that boring.

It is remarkably scarce in terms of good puzzles, all of them are relatively simple and uninspiring. Mostly, it is the same routine: explore the scene to find clues and turn some switches / buttons / something else on and off to get access to the next chapter. Repeat. Basically, it is a walking simulator. And a very bad one. Your character is really slow even with SHIFT, and that's a problem when approximately 80-85% of the game is about moving from point A to point B. Fascinating.

This could be neglected with a great story. Unfortunately, that's not the case. It feels like the story was written by a teenage girl who just recently read 'The best of Lovecraft' and decided to mix her romantic expectations about true love with a newfound concept of mystic and horror. The protagonist is flat and not convincing. 'We decided to tell only truth to each other, no matter how bad it is'. I am sorry, Norah, are you 13?! Needless to say, the final twist is soap-opera cheap. And it harshly violates the basic narrative rule. Show, do not tell.

A few things to mention. You can't change controls for keyboard for some reason. That's irritating. Mouse sensitivity is also weird but that's bearable.

Also, I have to mention that publisher's logo placed on the stone elevator in Chapter 2 is just cringe. It is not even stylized to match other murals on the island. Why, Raw Fury? Do you really believe it is a good Easter egg? It is not.

By the way, I've managed to complete the game twice to see both endings but didn't get the achievement because you have to see the last small cutscene after the credits. And when you are skipping the credits, you are also skipping the cutscene. That's just stupid.

Sadly, I didn't enjoy the game at all. And I am very surprised with 90% of positive reviews.

I would put this review as neutral but since it is impossible I go with thumbs down. Mind you, it is not a bad game. It is very beautiful visual-wise. Voice acting is really good. You probably won't be disappointed if you decide to give it a go, especially if you purchased the game with a huge discount. But there are a few important flaws to mention.

The beginning was... abysmal. Not because of the way they did it but because of the writing. It is not just the story but also the way you tell it that matters. The writer did the job very sloppy at the very best. Thus, the whole backstory of the protagonist feels just... meh. You can't establish an emotional connection with the guy nor feel his frustration.

Overall, the game feels pretty boring in the beginning. Almost Dear Esther boring. But what do you expect of a walking simulator? Fortunately, it gets better as the story evolves. Much better. Still, it is far from being great.

The story feels like devs had to cut a few chapters out to fit into the budget. I do understand the idea: you are completely alone for weeks and the only connection with human being you actually have is a voice on the radio. It is really easy to like Delilah. Still, this love story just doesn't work for me because it feels completely out of the blue. I was looking for more to establish a strong emotional connection. A few more chapters/days could probably fill the gap but we have what we have.

And the ending could be disappointing. You realize that some things make no sense and were made just to get you believe that there's something strange going on. For example, why the guy thrashed girls' camp for no reason? Also, there are even more questions. Why he tried to kill you in the cave? Yes, you were close to find Brian's body but the guy actually helped you to find the keys to the cave. It looks like a deliberate attempt to lure you into the cave to end your life, so he's probably a murderer who killed his son. But why he didn't kill you in the very first time when he had the chance?

The rest is pretty predictable. You will never see Delilah. Though, that's a good way to finish this flawed love story. Still, in the end, it doesn't feel like you've wasted a few hours for nothing. So give it a go and decide for yourself.

I used to play this game back in 2006 but never finished it. And here I am, many years later, trying to beat its Anniversary Edition. I am in the end of Immortal Throne expansion now and I am wondering if I have enough dedication to finish it because I AM SO BORED.

At the beginning, I was positively surprised by the look of the game. It doesn't feel like another clumsy remaster, the devs behind the game really did the job. I was thinking I am going to enjoy my time with this title once again but unfortunately the gameplay behind this picture is just meh.

First of all, the decision to put a number of your skill points into mastery level to discover other possibilities is just plain awful. You don't feel you are getting stronger because you just don't. There is no progress, it feels like you wasted a number of levels for nothing. And that happens since the very beginning, when your bonds with the game are still weak. That's what you call 'bad game design'.

The same thing with items. You don't expect to get some ultra gear in normal mode but you expect to get something, at least. But 95% of drop are weapons, that is a strange RNG. I didn't manage to get even a decent gear after more than 100 hours of farm. Preposterous. And during the whole Immortal Throne expansion it feels like you had no progress for years with barely enough powers to go on. Like driving an old car which can't go faster than 20mph despite the fact you put the pedal to the metal.

I play as Haruspex and I was told that his Phantom Strike ability is overpowered. It allows you to become invisible and go towards your enemy to hit him as well as two more opponents in a small area. And it looks rather stupid.

Basically, the hero is invisible even for the player, and you can learn that something happens only due to the fact that camera is moving. And since you don't gain any additional speed nor teleport to the enemy instantly, it is really slow and annoying. And you lose aggro as soon as you become invisible.

Why that's a big problem? Let say you gathered a big pack of mobs and pressed Phantom Strike. If you are not really close to your target's hitbox (and I mean really close), mobs are losing aggro and running back to their original positions. And, since you have no additional speed, you are chasing your enemy to the point and probably gonna hit just him, no additional targets, not to mention you have to gather the rest once again. Sometimes that could be funny as hell. There was a wonderful moment when some scripted elite mob lured me into a cave — he was at the entrance and run in as I tried to get closer. But since I used Phantom Strike, I just followed him to the end of the cave for like 20 seconds completely ignoring all the other mobs there due to invisibility.

On the top of that, sometimes Phantom Strike doesn't work at all or doesn't hit additional targets, though they are in the range. It took a lot of time to figure out how Herbal Remedy skill can be used — you have to place your mouse cursor over your hero — as it is not described anywhere. I used to think that I can get this buff with some luck, only if the moon in the proper position. There are even more small but annoying things like you hero stops to attack enemies if you use Call of the Hunt or other skills during its cooldown period — and you have to click attack again.

Another thing is f★cking archers. And also enemy mages and other ranged enemies. They are always scattered around while attacking you, so you have to kill them one by one. That's really fascinating and not boring at all to waste so many time on these pesky folks. And on top of that, they are trying to avoid you, running from you to shoot you from the distance while you chasing them with a spear like a complete moron wasting big Call of the Hunt cooldown for nothing.

I don't want to force myself to do things I don't like. Games should be fun and enjoyable. It is all about the essence of the game, its gameplay, its routine. And there's no fun and no joy in killing monsters in Titan Quest. It feels like an awful boring job.

Many people say that this game gets really interesting when you reach Legendary but how one can force himself to finish the game three times when it's really difficult to beat it even once, I'll never know.

UPD: I've managed to finish Immortal Throne and Ragnarök DLC is much more enjoyable. You kinda get used to all the queers of the game but archers are still a pain the a★se but — oh well — you can't always get what you want.

What can possibly go wrong if you hand Gothic series to the devs who never ever created even a smallest RPG? Well, if you are going to purchase Arcania, you'll definitely learn. And despite the fact that its description (which I am going to quote a few times) promise a lot, it's all lies. Don't be fooled. There's no cake.

The game is awful from the start. You are playing as Rhobar III, the guy used to known as the Nameless Hero. You are running through a seemingly endless and empty cave with some monsters appearing out of nowhere. It's really boring but if you managed to finish it, you'll learn that this was just a dream of some nameless (of course) shepherd who's going to be the new protagonist. Once you finish a pretty big tutorial, Rhobar III, who is possessed by some evil power, will destroy your village. And you are going to avenge him.

A deep, strong story embedded in the successful Gothic universe franchise accompanied by highly diversified side quests. And most can be solved in different ways.

I am not gonna tell you how the story evolves because it's hardly a story. Even compared to simple plots from the original Gothic series created by game designers without a proper story writer, it's abysmal. There's no antagonist, just a bunch of dull villains you will never remember, there're no even slightly interesting twists, no logic and motivations, just a number of simple fetch and kill quests.

As for solving quests with different ways, there are a few times in the main story where you can choose which fetch or kill quest to solve or which way to reach your destination point (via teleport or through a teeny tiny dungeon). How's that for diversity? Don't be fooled, you can't even choose different answers in dialogues, the hero will gladly agree to every fetch quest without any reason.

Dialogues overall are horrid, depressing and redundant. Especially with the ones you know from the original series: Diego, Milten, Gorn, Lester and a bunch of other characters like Lord Hagen. I've really tried to read everything but in the end I was just skipping this nonsense once I realized this is just a verbiage and graphomania. Believe me, fetch and kill quests can be solved without these instructions.

A COMPLETELY OPEN WORLD: Enjoy the complete freedom & the almost unlimited options known from the Gothic series.

What a bold claim for a bunch of passages. It was written on purpose because 'open world' label is definitely selling the game much better than 'we were going to make an open world but ended up with hallways from rail shooters'. To be frank, it's slightly better than that, especially in the beginning, but in the end it feels like The Witcher 2.

Freedom, my a★se. In this poorly executed console-ish game you can't even get off a cliff because invisible walls are everywhere, even in the very unexpected places. Not to mention that our nameless hero, who grew up on a small island, can't swim. If you managed to avoid invisible walls and jump into a lake, he literally dies on the smooth surface of water. There is also a great deal of doors which can't be opened and a few stone walls like that as well: you can interact with them and nothing happens or you get a message like 'you can't do that now'. Some of them do open and break when the time is right and you picked up the right quest, some don't. There's also a big city called Setarrif on the edge of the world but you can't enter it. Fascinating.

Level design is amateur at the very best. It's sloppy. It lacks ideas. It's repetitive. If you like to explore game's world thoroughly like me, leaving no stone unturned, it's almost a waste of time: there's no environment storytelling and no rewarding for your curiosity but some chests awkwardly hidden among redundant assets. That makes exploration really boring. I am also wondering what genius decided that you need a special repulsive camera for looting dead enemies. I was forced to press 'E' very quickly to loot everything instantly just to skip it.

When the hero jumps, it feels like he's walking on the moon because gravity in the game's world is both strange and discouraging. There are also a few animations for interacting with some objects in the game like stirring something in a big pot, sawing wood and other options which remind you of original Gothic. The problem is, some important mechanics are missing. Your hero can't sleep. You can lie on the bed but you can't really use it to rest a bit. So, if you wish to skip a rainy night which prevents you from exploring, you just can't. Deal with it.

The combat system is really simple. Just click your left mouse button and dodge hits you can't block or interrupt in any way or level up your hero as a mage with items for mana and mana regeneration and easily kill even the most deadly enemies from a distance using thunderbolt which stuns for 4 seconds everyone but two or three bosses—this is way more satisfying than sword fights.

To sum it up, if you are looking for a Gothic kind of game, Arcania is definitely fail to satisfy your desire. The whole game feels like a weird flawed MMORPG with 3rd person camera but with all these exclamation points above quest givers, quest items and enemies you ought to kill for a quest one can get a feeling it ought to be isometric.

There's no living and breathing atmospheric world, no NPCs with daily schedules, no ambient dialogues (just a few stupid barks) and no teachers to learn something from them. No hidden places with loot but a few boring secrets and no rewarding for exploration. Everything is plain and simple. The game is bad even as a standalone title. And more than awful as Gothic series successor.

Still, it can be a pretty good time killer if you are desperate for an RPG game.

P.S. This game was divided in two parts (you can finally enter Setarrif in the second game which approximately has only 4 hours to beat) due to the greed and agony of its publisher JoWood struggling to survive after a number of incompetent moves since the release of Gothic 3. They been bleeding a popular series dry with no luck and were officially filed for bankruptcy. Good riddance to them, I'd say, but these beautiful people now working in THQ Nordic and recently announced a Gothic remake with Gothic Playable Teaser, giving the series into the hands of inexperienced developers once again (as it also was with Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods) forcing them to make a Gothic game over the one they had in mind. So don't put too much hope on it. Probably, another Arcania is on the way with a taste of YOBA sweetened by familiar places and story.