Recent reviews by ColdWolf

Two Point Museum is, without a doubt, one of the best management games I've ever played.
It is not only the best Two Point Studios game, but easily one of my favourite games ever.
Accessible and intuitive, funny and engaging, addictive and constantly surprising in depth.

It might do less in certain areas than some of its contemporaries, but what it does, it does perfectly.
Planet Zoo for instance has a better capacity for decoration, but in a far less intuitive way.
Getting everything 'just so' can see you spending hours on a single enclosure, to the detriment of all else.
Two Point, meanwhile, can see you banging out great looking exhibits in minutes, and tinkering over time;
you can easily juggle multiple facets of design and management while still keeping your creative flair.
The iterative process is fluid and the capabilities are obvious, with unexpected levels of intricacy.

The various collections of items are extensive, the introduction of new mechanics is engaging.
At several points I was streaming the game for a friend and found myself saying 'oh I wish it had X from Y',
only to discover minutes later that it infact DOES have that mechanic and I simply hadn't reached it yet.
The different exhibit types and the nature of their mechanical implementation are wildly varied,
and after expecting 'dinosaur bones, but a science theme' I was constantly kept on my toes.

Museums start out simple and effectively end up overlapping in fascinating ways.
Experts in one field will inevitably be needed to help in others, so your museums might start out separate
but they'll inevitably merge into larger, mixed theme setups with huge overlaps and interactivity.
The themes mesh together masterfully, some serious work went into making Space and Prehistory merge.
I'd assumed I'd quickly find a favourite theme to focus on, and instead discovered I love the all equally.

I ran into a few bugs during the early access period, and the developers have been nothing but helpful.
Fast and transparent communication, offers to fix save files, day one mod support with guides.
I'm looking forward to seeing more content and expansions, they can't come fast enough.

Overall? Nine Cheesy Gubbins out of Nine.
Classy and communicative developers, and a solid and addictive game at a ludicrously low price for 2025.
A great starting point in the genre for anyone interested, and a must play for fans.

An uninspired cash-grab with shorter missions, less enemies and more bugs.
At the price-point this game is being sold for, Rebellion should be ashamed.
Being almost entirely comprised of reused assets from SE5, this game should be sparkling
with the amount of budget and manpower left over to polish it, but the opposite is true.

Every bug from Sniper Elite 5 is present and in worse condition.
Most stairs are unclimbable while crouched, and many ladders can't be exited from the top.
Worse AI, with enemies running halfway across the second map town looking for cover.
Many enemies are either unaware of shots, or capable of hearing them over sound-masks.

Lighting and obvious aliasing issues from the SE5 Target Fuhrer mission, but worse.
Character models are a significant downgrade. Most buildings can't be entered anymore.
Animation issues behind cover or when walking on uneven terrain. The list goes on and on.

Mechanics from SE5 such as taking ammo from enemy weapons are bugged or removed outright, making the game not only a visuals and polish downgrade, but also mechanical.
Weapon challenges are not updating correctly for the over-priced, SE5-flipped DLC weapons.
Cover mechanics are even more inconsistent and frustrating than before, with the character refusing to press against many flat walls to aid with takedowns and instead being spotted.

Overall? A disgraceful lack of care and attention for an overpriced, shorter spin-off.
The Sniper Elite quality is almost entirely absent and the game is a huge disappointment.

Half Life, Prey, Project Zomboid and SCP had some kind of science-experiment lovechild;
that lovechild turned out to be a wunderkind in every single way I could have imagined.

Level design is superb, with a mish-mash of classic tropes and modern thinking:
Secrets hide around every corner and over every ceiling, crying out to be found.
The expansive locations are often initially overwhelming, and every new area
is a joy to explore and get comfortable with - the enemies aren't taking prisoners!

Survival elements are not only well balanced, but also tweakable in the settings.
I can't remember the last time a survival game did hunger and thirst in a way that is so
unintrusive, yet also so impactful to overall exploration gameplay without being a chore.
Cooking is fun to experiment with, crafting recipes are clearly well thought out and the
progression is masterfully done; every time I was thinking 'x is becoming a chore', a new
technology would come along to help me deal with it in a more efficient manner.

The atmosphere, soundtrack and lore all work together to create a surprisingly tense,
but simultaneously lovably-goofy backdrop with just enough horror elements in tow.
Make no mistake; this game has horror elements, and they will catch you out at times.
The 'SCP' elements could have easily been lazily dropped in and left to do their own heavy
lifting, but instead every single aspect has deep lore, including audio logs, explaining them;
there are pieces of furniture in this game scarier than some of the monsters in 'AAA' horror.

Bugs are being rapidly addressed, the initial release has dozens of hours of potential content,
and the post-release roadmap is quite frankly absurd in terms of how packed with content it is.
Quality is outstanding across the board, and you can see how every element has been designed with love and care for their proper implementation; this is a true labour of love.

GOTY contender for 2024 for certain; there's a timeless classic in the making, here!

Larian's crowning achievement; phenomenal from start to finish, and a genuine evolution of the genre.
A must-play RPG - whether you're a fan of them or not, this is worth every moment of your time.

Unplayable without an overhaul mod, constant crashing with the mod with no fix available.
It'll work, right up until it doesn't. Even at €6 for the entire package, I feel like I was robbed.

Choppy gameplay, and constant 3-5 minute freezes during gameplay due to 100% GPU usage.
When it freezes like this during a car chase, you're restarting the mission... no thank you!
Low, High... it makes no difference, this game eats VRAM faster than Salieri's crew eat lead.

I'm a huge fan of the original, and the spirit of it is most definitely present in this remake.
I was excited even during the relatively slow-paced prologue due to how authentic it all feels.
Unfortunately, technical issues leave it a completely unplayable mess for me, just like Mafia 3.

One of the most charming and addictive building games ever, with a ton of content to boot.
I'd never played a Dragon Quest game before this one, and even without 'getting it' I still
became completely addicted... my current 72hr playtime is from just over a single week!
I'm now most certainly a new convert to DQ, but Builders 2 ticks all of my boxes.

Almost every aspect of it is polished, well thought-out and rewarding or fun.
Building is fun, exploring is interesting, the story is predictable but full of charm.
I laughed out loud at some of the subtle jokes clearly intended for older audiences,
and could feel the huge love that the developers have for their craft throughout.

It feels like the best of Zelda, Minecraft and a far less complex Rimworld combined.
If you're a fan of building or have any minute interest in JRPGs, try the enormous demo!

Neverwinter Nights is the beating heart of every Bioware or Obsidian RPG that came after it.

While more of a platform than a game originally, it achieves what games like Sword Coast Legends failed to do.
By providing a robust toolset to the community, it allowed modders, designers and DMs to hand-craft their own campaigns, episodes and adventures for the entire player base to consume at will, while providing a dearth of singleplayer content which, while arguably mediocre compared to its contemporaries, is still very entertaining and provides a clear understanding of what the entire toolset is capable of providing to a dedicated developer.

The Enhanced Edition provides all of the content from the base game, as well as some crucial updates for modern systems that keep the engine and toolset breathing over 16 years later, as well as some more modern 'Premium Modules', extra, expansive content for playing in single and multiplayer without going searching the internet for community-made campaigns. There's hundreds of hours of content in this package, and most of it is wonderful.
The original campaign is inarguably the weakest of the lot, but still worth playing despite showing its age. The other modules, however, are more daring and creative than most of the 'AAA' RPGs you've seen before or since.

While a graphical update is supposedly in the works in the long term, Neverwinter Nights was never as much about visuals as it was allowing your imagination to fill in the gaps. Such an update would be greatly appreciated and would probably bring new blood into the community, but is ultimately not required for the game to shine as a platform for D&D players; the gameplay, mechanics and party adventuring is the core of the experience, and all of that is stronger for having been updated to work in the modern day. Any improvements to the UI in the future will utterly transform the game on a mechanical level in terms of intuitive control and readability, no mean feat considering the original release suffered quite heavily from a complicated interface with unintuitive interactions on first view.

I've heard comments that Beamdog is supposedly 'cash-grabbing' with this re-release, but from what I've seen so far nothing could be further from the truth. The CEO of Beamdog, Trent Oster, was the producer and project director on the original release; this is absolutely a labour of love. Heavy work appears to be going into re-writing the rendering engine in order to accommodate the new visuals that are in the works, and considering the game is receiving fixes and updates over 15 years after its original release, I couldn't be happier with the work Beamdog are doing to keep one of the greatest RPG platforms alive. You're getting a hell of a package already at the price it's selling for; any updates to visuals, improvements to the engine or extra modules are just the gold-standard icing on an already magnificent cake.

If you've played it before, you probably already own it. If you haven't, you should.
It's the RPG of a generation; lacking the sparkle of other games visually, but wholly destroying them mechanically.

Planet Zoo takes all of the great mechanics from Planet Coaster, expands upon them, and gives park building a whole new depth with the most in-depth animal care mechanics ever seen in a Tycoon-style game.

Deep building mechanics, (which thanks to the addition of animals that climb can have consequences due to poor placement) allowing you to build the park in any way you see fit.
Detailed animal welfare systems, covering everything from temperature to entertainment.
Extensive but not overwhelming tutorial missions, to give you the basics but still not spoon-feed you the advanced knowledge that should and does in this case come from experience gathered by playing the game. Beautiful, stylish visuals. Multiple, varied game modes with extensive replayability.

Any concerns I had about features from Planet Coaster not making the transition to a new game were allayed, and I simply cannot wait to see how much any potential future updates could flesh out the already packed-full game that is Planet Zoo. If the updates are anything remotely alike the ones we got for Planet Coaster, this game will go from an incredible, must-have 'Tycoon' game to a genre-defining masterpiece.

Whether you're a hardcore mil-sim player or a more relaxed player who enjoys solid combat, realistic exploration and attention to detail, there's something for everyone here. You owe it to yourself to experience Arma 3!

Want some deep tactical co-op gameplay?
Launch a multiplayer Apex campaign with customisable HUD elements turned off.

Prefer some fast-paced action with a plethora of options?
Launch some of the fantastic Workshop missions, such as Dynamic Combat/Recon Ops, and get stuck in to a dynamic instant scenario that adjusts to your preferences.

Fancy a persistent campaign where you build bases and expand your territory? DUWS/Antistasi have your back.

An incredible level of modding support, over three years of deep platform expansion after release and constant attention from the developers make this game worth buying at more than full price; on sale, it's an absolute steal.