Recent reviews by Meep

Headshot simulator.

It's the most innovative shooter I've played in years.

Firewatch is a game with an original and intriguing story, beautiful environments and high quality voice acting. Unfortunately, its ending is abrupt and some walking segments feel empty and lengthy.

Before the real "game" starts you get to put together the story of who you are, the girl you fell in love with and married, job happenings, and finally how the relationship becomes strained. The next part starts with you, a 30 year old man with this history, starting work as a Firewatch - watching over a large forested park grounds from a high tower.

http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=620863106
You get to know your higher-up, a woman named Delilah, over walkie talkie communication. Through an intriguing story and beautiful environments, a memorable experience is weaved... as you explore this wide ranging environment of forests, caves and open fields, all the way she is there to guide you, laugh with you and talk about the places and things you find.

The story is of an original and intriguing mystery, and the voice acting is top notch and believable - a rarity!

http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=620861959
Two downsides: I would have liked to be able to strike up a convo on the radio at random points, outside of reporting about particular items. There are some empty "walking sim" traversal parts where that would have been welcome. Another is the ending feels rushed compared to the rest of the game. Especially with the build-up being done so well, it felt unusually abrupt.

Overall, Firewatch is a worthy and memorable experience that will keep you gripped for the 5 or so hours it takes to uncover its mysteries, and is well worth checking out.

Remember Me is an underappreciated story-driven game with stunning visuals and concept, but repetitive combat.

In the futuristic setting of Neo-Paris, memories are digitized commodities. You are Nilin, a memory hunter with the rare ability to enter and alter people's memories - a threat. You start the game after having been imprisoned where you've had nearly all your memories wiped, and it's from here you must escape and uncover the full story of who you were.

http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=354996476
Visually the game is so covered in detail I found it hard not to take screenshots of every little thing. Environments are meticulously crafted to a point of complexity rarely seen in other titles. You'll find there is a real sense of scale and grandness to the world, and with the nuanced detail given to its citizens and random tidbits you overhear it begins to feel alive. You can tell a lot of work went into the concept and design of each area.

http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=353700779
As you plunge through levels of society including the homes of the rich elite and the slums where memory junkies have become mutated forms of themselves, it only gets darker as you uncover the full truth. Each chapter ends with a cutscene where Nilin ruminates on the dystopian society she is newly discovering and tries to see her place in it. While being a bit overly melodramatic in these, Nilin's character is written in such a way as to be insightful and emotive. It was a controversial choice by Dontnod to have a female lead character but they were adamant - and I think her genuine nature is one to be praised.

Unfortunately there are some drawbacks to the gameplay. Where you may wish the game was more open world to explore, it's not. Instead of having any semblance of freedom you're led along a linear path with not-so-dynamic parkour and climbing where your only choice is to jump from convenient ledge to convenient ledge to reach the next objective, usually an uninspired mob fight. Combat also quickly becomes repetitive, relying on pressing a sequence of buttons to do moves and receive chain bonuses - without much degree of variance. There's not much to it, though special abilities try to keep things interesting.

Alternately, its most creative and compelling implementation is "memory remixing" where you can use your ability to enter people's memories and manipulate events within them. Here you can rewind in a scene to make a subtle change, often only slightly moving a minor object, and watch how new events unfold. Each time is meaningful and fascinating, and in my opinion it wasn't used nearly enough. It emphasizes the idea that altering a single event, or the memory of it, can change a whole life's trajectory.

http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=356298129
Altogether, Remember Me is a game to admire for its visuals, storytelling and dystopian setting, and for a small studio it's absolutely impressive. Don't miss checking out the excellent soundtrack too. You'll have to deal with lacklustre combat and linear progression, but ultimately it's the elaborate presentation of the world and its background that make it worthwhile.

Adorable and with a beautiful art style, Lili: Child of Geos is a refreshing and imaginative game packed with fun humor, quirky characters and wonderfully crafted areas to explore.

Gameplay is simple: you're Lili, a young student visiting the island picking flowers for a school project. As you stroll around collecting, you'll bump into lots of interesting folks with fun things to say, little quests for you to do and treasure to find.

http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=343844996
http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=343845084
The game has no combat involved. Instead, you encounter evil spirits to be purged by picking flowers from their backs. It's a mini game that was intended for tablets and phones, but still translates decently to mouse controls and is easy to pick up. Various challenges are thrown in when picking the flowers, like prickly thorns to avoid and timed bombs to fling off. It can be a bit repetitive though as it's the same minigame for each spirit.

All in all, Lili is a charming adventure in a beautiful and creative world. Great for kids, casual gamers, and anyone needing a nice dose of childlike wonder and joy.

Condemned is a deeply atmospheric and violent horror game.

You're a crime scene investigator: you start off by visiting a crime scene and use forensic tools to determine what happened there. After the initial investigation you find out the suspect is still in the building and go to corner him, but in a turn of events he manages to grab your pistol and you get conked out. You wake up to find you're wanted for two murders you didn't commit and must now clear your name by tracking down this maniac killer through some of the eeriest parts of the city.

Condemned is a standout game when it comes to horror because of its immersive level design. Environments are extremely well fleshed out and thick with atmosphere. The gritty realistic detail in textures is particularly impressive, especially for a 2005 game, and because the horror and scares are subtle and more psychological in nature there is a genuine tenseness when exploring a new area. Not to mention that most of the derelict places you wander through are so dark you're forced to go in with just a flashlight to light your way... it definitely recalls some of my creepier urban exploration adventures!

http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271182752
http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271142655
Besides having an immersive horror atmosphere, Condemned shines in its brutal melee combat. It's especially impressive how realistic the enemies movements to your blows are. The most unique part of the combat is you can pull your weapon arsenal right from the environment: pry out a rebar pipe, rip the door from a locker, snatch a metal sign to get bloodied up - every location has its own host of makeshift weapons to put to good use. Oh, and I like that the enemy AI will fight each other if one of them accidentally hits the other - nice touch.

Admittedly the gameplay when it comes to the forensic stuff is forcibly linear. They shoehorn you into only being able to use one type of scanner or tool when you have an array at your disposal and you are basically only doing it to move the story along. It's still fairly interesting and interactive though, and the findings you report will give you clues into what's really going on and what to do next.

http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=250811336
All in all, I recommend checking this out if you're looking to explore a genuinely tense game spiced up with savage melee encounters and an engaging story. If you've played FEAR you know these guys will deliver on a solid horror game.

A late recommendation but - beautiful, brilliant game. Boss battles are the only sour note in an otherwise fantastic campaign. All-stealth run highly recommended! And definitely pick up The Missing Link DLC for more delicious Jensen action.

Dat soundtrack!

Receiver is an experiment with realistic gun handling in a game setting that hasn't really been done before (to my knowledge). It gives you full control over weapon operations - you can release the magazine, insert/remove bullets, release the slide lock, toggle the safety, and even use full auto - and it lets you see real gun mechanics at work. It may seem mundane to some but you'll soon find that reloading and operating a virtual firearm becomes mechanical as you play through and is quite satisfying - and it's a lot more interesting than simply pressing R to reload.

The game itself is surprisingly tense and suspenseful. Because your opposition (turrets and flying stun-drones) can kill you in one hit, you are forced to be practical and careful in your movements and actions. And, as you DO have a task in the game - of collecting 11 cassette tapes that are lying around in various places in the randomly generated world - it's a lot more challenging than you might think!

All in all - it's an interesting experiment in realism and definitely worth checking out.