Recent reviews by DarkEco

Recommended, but with the caveat that you're a big fan of the series and it's on sale, because this thing is ROUGH.

Cool new things: the gunplay is maybe the best it's ever been. I'm glad to see secondary fire options like the multirockets and death ray, the ability to dual wield anything you want (double miniguns will never get old). Gadgets were also a nice addition. The ability to ride werebulls and khnum. Enemies also have weakpoints for critical damage. The carnage probably hasn't been this good before.

Downsides: the level design is abysmal. Huge sprawling areas of nothingness, heaps of wasted time running to places just in case there's a secret of some kind. The environments look identical throughout, and it gets really old, really fast. What happened to the creativity seen in SS2 and Next Encounter? Even SS3, which was only set in Egpyt, managed to feel more environmentally diverse, and somehow the graphics look newer in that game too. I also felt the encounters were paced very weirdly, leaving stretches of time where you see nothing happening or just pockets of very few enemies.

Overall i came out feeling like i had a good time, but very meh at the same time. I don't think i'd replay it, but i hear Siberian Mayhem makes up for a lot of SS$'s shortcomings.

Wow, this game seems to have really flown under the radar, which is such a shame! Playtonic have knocked it out the park this time and created a thoroughly enjoyable and challenging platformer. There is clear inspiration from Donkey Kong Country as many others have pointed out, but this game is so much more than just some rehash and adds a lot of unique things. The overworld for example, acts as your hub to reach levels but is also a sprawling level of its own full of puzzles and secrets. Easily one of my favourite parts of the game. Here you can also change levels into different versions of themselves (flooded, frozen etc), which are very different to their vanilla counterparts. One of the most interesting things, however, is the ability to challenge the final level of the game from the very beginning (it is damn near impossible mind you). I grabbed the demo for the game when i was bored one day and was so pleasantly surprised. If you even have the smallest interest then i'd urge you to try the VERY GENEROUS demo that gives you access to the first 4 levels, including the overworld and modified levels along the way. I'd like to see Playtonic have another crack at the 3D formula next but without the gigantic maps that made the collecting a chore.

Everyone: "X GONNA GIVE IT TO..."

Nemesis: "Hold my beer!"

I am emotionally destroyed.

I wouldn't call this a racing game. Sure it revolves around time challenges and you can race others for the best time online, but i don't believe that's what Distance is trying to be. To me, Distance is aiming to be an incredible sensory experience that tests player's twitch reflexes and it absolutely nails it. The music and visuals work so seamlessly that i can't say i've experienced anything like it before. It has some of the most creative track design i've seen since the last F-Zero game and it's really scratched that high octane itch i've been feeling for a while now.

High quality waifu creator!

...with monster battles or something.

The 8 year old in me can't believe what he's seeing.

If you're looking for a power fantasy CoD experience, then this game will be wasted on you. However, if you're looking for a medium paced game that rewards exploration and creativity highly then you'll appreciate absolutely everything that Prey does. Half-Life, Bioshock and System Shock players, this is a must buy.

The world building in this game is fantastic, as every person (deceased) in the environment feels like they have a history and a home. Snooping into their lives almost always leads you to greater finds. I don't think i've ever played a non-open world game that rewards exploration so highly. The areas are very open ended and offer multiple ways to complete certain objectives, whether it be taking out or avoiding enemies, or simply trying to get into a locked room that's teasing you with a pile of loot. The game always felt like it was tossing me new surprises along the way and a lot of them could easily have been missed, but thanks to the lack of hand holding and rewarding nature of the game you feel incredibly satisfied when you stumble upon loot, lore and side objectives that other people could have easily missed. There appears to be a great amount of multiple playthrough potential also. I've already found some unobvious scenarios where, had i acted differently, could have completely changed the games story progression from about 1/3rd of the way in. I look forward to finding out if my hunches are correct.

On my first playthrough i felt very compelled to always use the environment to my advantage so i could save ammo. This could involve setting up traps with turrets or placing explosive canisters, or using the ingenius GLOO gun to block enemies while they stand in a stream of fire spurting from a pipe i punctured. This is where Prey shines for me, trying to take out the enemies using as little ammo as possible. Ammo isn't too scarce on normal difficulty if you play this way, but i'm looking forward to the much harder difficulties that offer things like weapon degredation. Enemies are extremely fast and rather tough to take down, so planning ahead instead of guns blazing is always beneficial.

I can't fault what i've played of this game so far, i really can't. It's a breath of fresh air in so many ways. It's been a long time since i've played Bioshock, and i can't remember everything about the game so it's difficult to draw an objective comparison. However, I do remember feeling fatigued with the game quite regularly. This hasn't happened with Prey. Every time i start playing i'm completely absorbed in the world, the rewards and the tension. If i was to criticise one thing it would be that the sound implementation is...less than stellar. The sound DESIGN is brilliant, especially the enemies (Typhon) that sound absolutely terrifying and unique, but the implementation such as sound spacialisation and triggers seem to be a bit half-assed. Common examples being sounds cutting off as they increase in distance rather than fading naturally, and sometimes sounds like doors closing not playing at all. Directionality is off in a lot of cases and character voices are very loud with very little attenuation as you move away from them. I'm not really sure what went wrong here but it does create occassional moments that pull you out of the game. The music is very well done, jumping on the synthwave bandwagon that's gaining a lot of popularity and will probably explode when Cyberpunk 2077 releases. Everything should have synthwave! I want to see synthwave in the charts! This is not how i expected to end this review! Viva la Résistance!

SHOVEL KNIGHTS EVIL TWIN!

I'm absolutely blown away by just how good this game is. It's surpassed all expectations i had.

At no point do the multiple characters feel like a tacked on gimmick. They all have a lot of uses and i found myself experimenting with their various abilities to overcome challenges. For example, as of about 5mins before writing this i discovered that my alchemist could freeze river rapids that would otherwise push you back as well as contain submerged enemies. I would say that the starting character was my most unused as he had nothing particularly unique about him apart from a faster attack speed and what seemed like more damage than the other characters. This is mitigated by his short reach though. EDIT: Upon playing further into the game i've discovered this character has far more gameplay depth to him than meets the eye.

The levels feel very nicely designed and encourage exploration throguh your characters abilities, as well as multiple playthroughs. And from what i can tell, the multiple playthroughs seem worthwhile, as the second difficulty level you unlock not only acts as a continuation of the story but also changes bosses attack patterns and abilities. I'm currently halfway through this playthrough and look forward to seeing what else is different. The boss battles themselves feel very well designed and fun to experience. I was honestly expecting them to be quite dull given the games NES-like restrictions. If you're going for a single playthrough then the game may feel quite short with its 8 levels (i felt this was a comfortable amount), but i think you'll naturally want to replay this gem. The difficulty feels incredibly well balanced, and any point i felt like a challenge was "unfair" it wasn't long before i discovered a character ability that could overcome it.

The music compliments the game very nicely, though i would say i'm not hearing a lot of memorable themes in comparison to the Castlevania scores.

Overall this has my very excited for Ritual of the Night. ABSOLUTELY PLAY THIS GAME.

'Spacebar > RMB > LMB > RMB > LMB > RMB > LMB > RMB > LMB > RMB > LMB: The Game'