Recent reviews by Potato PC

Transparent Black is OKish RPGMaker game to pass some time. Just like Confess My Love, it has multiple endings where it may be tricky to find how to unlock different endings without a guide. The translation is rough, although it's good enough to understand it. But on some occasions, a few characters of the text got cropped which is annoying.

This is an informative review, where I chose positive due to its low base price. If you decide to buy this game, make sure to buy the DLC since it complements the base game's story.

This DLC is an important complement to the base's game story, where I find the story is more interesting than the base game itself. Just beware this DLC contains more intense mature content.

Note: This is a review for Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition. Steam shows my gameplay duration for the regular edition.

The story is awesome. Unlike previous games, you actually can get to know members of Rangers if you're willing to walk around Aurora (the train) and hear what they say or watch the interaction between other characters. It's nothing groundbreaking, but did a great job of emphasizing the vibe of voyaging across Russian wasteland.

The visual is simply eye-catching in maximum quality. While I feel immersed in the atmosphere of the hostile world, I don't really feel horror in dark/cramped areas. The English VA (Voice Acting) is passable, but Russian VA is definitely better with more consistent performance.

Metro Exodus brings 2 major changes to the gameplay: crafting and semi open-world areas. If you bother to explore most areas and loot almost everything, you'll have an abundance of materials for crafting which could make the gameplay much easier. The semi open-world levels are decent, where my only complaint is I got lost a few times and walked a long way since I misunderstood the map. Other than those, the gameplay feels same with previous Metro games.

Unlike regular edition, there's no native SteamOS/Linux version for Enhanced Edition. But using Steam Proton, it runs mostly well on my Linux device. I experienced a few lags, despite my PC specification is above requirements shown on Metro's website. However, I don't know whether it's due to poor optimization or limitation of Steam Proton.

I also experienced a few bugs regarding mismatch between the enemy's animation and action. For example, I took ranged damage even though the enemy had crouching/hiding animation. In addition, the enemy may stuck on the floor or wall where I couldn't damage them and had to either ignore them or wait for a bit until they're no longer stuck.

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Metro Exodus is my favorite one among the Metro trilogy (I never play VR ones). On top of that, it's extremely cheap if you're willing to wait for a discount. So unless you hate the semi open-world approach, it's a treat for FPS campaign enjoyer.

Wildermyth's produceral RPG campaign is somewhat interesting and I bet some fans of role-playing (RP) or D&D would love this game. I had some fun playing it twice (1 single-player and 1 multi-player campaign), but it turns out I strongly prefer a hand-crafted story campaign since I feel it's more polished and deeper than produceral ones.

But the UI/UX on multiplayer is rather poor. The main reason is anyone can take action and make choices without waiting for approval from another players, where there's little/no info on who did what. Some window/pop-up also seems to be shown to all players, where it got changed/closed when someone click certain buttons. I would recommend you avoid multiplayer unless you play in same (physical) room or your party can decide on someone who chooses shared action, choice or button in advance only after clear communication.

P.S. This is an informative/neutral review. Steam doesn't provide such an option, so I chose "Negative" instead due to poor multiplayer experience.

I had a better time than I initially expected. The storytelling approach is definitely unique and experimental and I felt hooked with the story until I unlocked about 75% of the clips. I said that since few clips are either too short or contain unexpected keyword(s)/tag(s), where I used guides to unlock the rest of it. BTW, the story may contain content that you find disturbing.

I had mostly good experience and I would recommend Her Story if you're a fan of games with an investigation/mystery theme or with a unique storytelling approach.

Outlast 2 is a big downgrade from its prequel. I don't enjoy and wouldn't recommend this game primarily due to these reasons.
1. The overall feeling of being scared, a sense of dread and malaise is lesser compared to when I played Outlast 1.
2. I got lost frequently, where I quickly no longer cared if I died one more time and later decided to use YouTube walkthrough.
3. Perplexing and uninteresting story. Some speculation on the internet says the entire story is about everyone else getting brainwashed, but you probably wouldn't realize it unless you thoroughly explore and read most in-game notes (MAJOR SPOILER).

I also find the content warning provided isn't enough and I would also mention these points.
1. Sexual Violence.
2. Photosensitive seizure warning.
3. May trigger religious trauma.

On the good side, the graphic is amazing and it's a treat for those who use a monitor with OLED or VA panel. Although I would suggest you consider playing Outlast 1 or Alien: Isolation instead.

Nice OST. We get MP3 and WAV files, although without any metadata and cover image.

Moonless Moon allowed me to wound down for a few hours while serving lightweight and whimsical philosophy. Its vibe mildly reminds me of Girls Last Tour (Manga by Tsukumizu). It has some flaws, but I can easily recommend it when it's on sale.

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Here are few a points I'd like to mention,
1. I enjoyed all the MVs (Music Video). But I also feel somewhat disappointed since none of them have English subtitles.
2. The overall translation quality is great. I only noticed a few typos and sentences that feel rigid/formal.
3. The OST did an amazing job of emphasizing the chill atmosphere.
4. The visual is fairly good. But it's low on quantity, as each character only has 1 pose image and not too many background images.
5. It runs well on my Linux device without any tinkering.
6. The game has a 1920x1080 window, where I noticed the blurry text when I tried full-screen mode with a 1440p monitor. So I decided to play in windowed mode.

TLDR: Your choices matter with varied endings. But it has poor story writing along with awkward control and questionable mechanics intuivity.

The story is rather bad. Initially, it has a good and intriguing start, but later on the plot hole and inconsistency become very apperaent. I decided not to take the story seriously after about 2 hours of gameplay. The unexpected plot twist can't salvage the story either, since it also reveals more plot holes.

I don't feel any attachment to any of the characters either. Ethan's blackout, Madison's insomnia and Jayden's drug addiction are never explorered, even though they're 3 out of 4 main/key characters. So it makes me feel weird that Madison doesn't seem to experience Insomnia ever again at ending where She and Shaun live and none of the endings shows Ethan having trouble due to blackout.

Heavy Rain has multiple endings. Some webpages claim it has 11, 17 or different number of endings. But in reality, the endings show some possible outcomes for the 4 key characters.

The control feels awkward. I tried on both controller and keyboard/mouse, where I found using keyboard/mouse is more bearable. I can understand with some reviewers who left negative solely due to control issues. The gameplay mechanics is very simple. It mainly consists of,
1. Walking and interacting with objects/people.
2. Quick Time Event (QTE).
3. Button prompts. Basically, it's like QTE without a time limit or doesn't have to be pressed within a few seconds after it appears.

While it's simple, sometimes I feel it's not intuitive enough. On some occasions there's a time limit that is never mentioned either explicitly or implicitly, where a character died because I didn't realize it. In addition, some button prompts do different things than I expected. For example, during Trapped chapter, I interacted with right car window while wrongly assuming it meant Scott only break the window. But what happened was Scott also left the car immediately while leaving Lauren drowning.

The game doesn't let you control the camera perspective, where you only can choose between a few pre-defined perspective on each area. It feels clunky and it made me miss objects and walk around in narrow/dark areas a few times.

The visual is great, although not outstanding by 2025 (or even 2020) standard. It has some detailed faces, although sometimes I feel the character doesn't have enough facial expressions or performs action with awkward animation. The voice acting has mixed-bags quality, ranging from just okay to outstanding ones.

This game runs well on my Linux device without any tinkering.

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Heavy Rain may be been a great game in 2010, but it's clear that time is cruel against it. In 2025, there are so many similar games that are more polished with better story. If you haven't played any game from Quantic Dream, you should consider playing Detroit, Become Human since it's more polished. But if you've played lots of games where choices matter with multiple endings and can overlook story loopholes, I could recommend this game only at a huge discount (it has 90% discount when I write this review).

I have unlocked 3/5 endings with 97% completions. But despite having intricate and interesting gameplay mechanics, few aspects make me feel frustrated where I have a love/hate relationship with Hollow Knight. Although I would rather give "Neutral" or "Informative" over "Negative" if Steam bother to provide such an option.

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The story is fairly good, with interesting and fairly deep lore. It has a good artstyle with distinct color palette in each area and a decent soundtrack. Hollow Knight also offers native Linux and Mac versions. The native Linux version runs well on my device, with these minor issues:
1. I must plug in the controller before running this game, otherwise it doesn't detect the controller.
2. In very few areas, enemy music/theme is being played even though I've beat them.
3. On very rare occasions, there's weird a texture/image that covers the entire screen after entering a new area.

Charms is the primary reason why Hollow Knight gameplay is interesting. It allows various styles of gameplay whether during platforming or combat. Few charms are amazing or terrible, but I find almost all of them are helpful.

There are few gameplay aspects that may ruin your enjoyment,
1. Farming Geo (currency) and Essence (a type of energy) can't be avoided unless you're a very skilled player. I find it tedious, so I cheated amount of those.
2. If you die, your characters return to the last bench you sat on. That means you're forced to walk again for a few minutes before you can attempt fighting boss or passing the platforming challenge again.
3. There's no easy difficulty or assist mode. So if you're just like me who's not good at metroidvania, your only choices are either using guides or collecting all charms/upgrades you can find.
4. Hollow Knights areas are very big and distinct. But it also means you could easily get lost or not sure where to go in order to progress.

The game also moves your character with full HP to the last bench you sat on when you exit to the main menu/desktop, but it's not exactly downside since it could be abused to prevent death and some backtracking.

I actually enjoy the platforming despite dying many times. But few aspects make the platforming feel tedious rather than challenging.
- Nail-jumping (a.k.a. pogo) continuously is required in several areas.
- In some cases, the game intentionally doesn't return you to the previous/nearest safe standing area after taking environmental damage.
- Micro-timing/precision is needed on a few occasions. For example, you need to dash in a very specific position in order not to land on a trap.

White Palace area is the worst offender since it combines all aspects I mentioned above on many occasions, where I almost rage quit and didn't even feel rewarded after finishing it.

I find the combat is better than the platforming aspect. I bothered to unlock all charms and almost all upgrades, so most enemies I required to beat in order to see the endings can be beaten without dying too many times. I didn't bother to play Godmaster (required to unlock ending 4 and 5) content though. BTW, Mantis Lords is my favorite boss fight.

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Are you looking for a complex and difficult metroidvania game?
Do you tolerate some micro-timing/precision?
Are you looking for pain and suffering?

If you answer yes to all of them, then you'll love this game. Otherwise, I only can suggest you read more positive and negative reviews.