Recent reviews by Tasi

Hard to review a game you're supposed to say very little about because going in blind is the whole experience, but it has been a long time since I felt genuine child-like wonder while exploring in a game, and I think that's pretty special.

This is more a review on how Early Access feels to play rather than the game itself.

I very much disagree with the way changes are happening, the campaign is LONG and it is a significant time investment to get through it. That in itself isn't necessarily a problem just yet since leagues aren't a thing, but GGG has been extremely trigger-happy to push hotfixes that just instantly brick your entire build.

I wake up on a random thursday morning to find my build that I spent all my resources and like 30+ hours on to not just be nerfed, but to be made entirely unplayable.. Okay, it is early access so changes are expected, but my major issue stems from the fact that re-speccing costs a SCALING amount of gold meaning that I cannot fix my deleted build. This would mean that my only options are to A) grind gold with a build that does not function any longer or B) completely start over with a new character and no guarantee that the exact same thing won't happen to the new build.

Meanwhile a lot of the QoL issues take so much longer to get any attention, it makes for a fairly frustrating experience, in my opinion re-speccing should be totally free in early access so you can adapt to these rapid-fire, extreme changes, because I personally can't be bothered to play more if every character I pump time and effort into is at risk of being disabled while I'm given absolutely no tools to recover.

I'll change this review later as these are the very early days of course, but this is disheartening.

I've never needed a hug this much after finishing a videogame.

Genuinely don't know what to say, if this genre and setting interest you pick it up.

A difficult game to summarize for a review, there were parts I didn't really care for, and then there were parts I absolutely loved.

First of all, the map in absolutely incredible, I've been to Tokyo myself a few times and the environment here feels very authentic, I passed by buildings I've seen in real life, it's one of the most detailed open worlds I've ever experienced.

The overall gameplay is a little flawed, many objectives feel repetitive and combat is quickly trivialized after just a few levels, but on the contrary some of the random side objectives you stumble across are super interesting and captivating, so in a way you have to go looking for the fun if you don't just follow the main story. Speaking of story, it didn't really grab me in the first few chapters though as I got closer to the end it really drew me in, without giving too much away, I watched the credits roll with goosebumps.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a flawed but unique game with clear passion behind it, I think an interest in Japanese culture and folklore are kind of necessary to get into it, so it's not for everyone, but it definitely was for me.

I really like half life mods, it pained me to see Hunt Down the Freeman take a dump on the modding scene as a whole and charge you for the displeasure, so I cannot praise this mod enough.

How this is free is absolutely beyond me, if you enjoy anything Half Life related, give this one a try, it's free and has a whole lot of passion in it.

Normally I don't get political, but I felt like I needed to chime in as a counter balance towards all the misguided, negative reviews.

A message that should be universal, no to war, and a charity campaign to aid the Ukrainian red cross somehow invokes the wrath of countless misguided individuals, somehow helping victims of a pointless war is a controversial statement. If you can, support the devs in this effort, it's not a pleasant game, but an important one. Slava Ukraini.

It hurts in a good way

I've never played a Final Fantasy game before, nor had I even played a MMORPG before, so getting into FF: XIV was a daunting endeavour to me, and I would never have even tried it if some friends hadn't pushed me.

The game was surprisingly fun even if I lacked knowledge about both the universe and general MMO gameplay, it didn't blow my mind but it was fun even if the story didn't grab me completely, that was until I got into Shadowbringers, which is without hesitation one of the best stories I've experienced in a game. Massive stakes, fights that send chills down your spine, an amazing band of companions and villains, a narrative that foregoes the binary 'good vs evil' and a soundtrack that elevates it all to the nth degree.. I never expected this out of a genre I generally avoid, but I'm so incredibly happy I took the plunge.

If you're on the fence, take it from me as a total newcomer to Final Fantasy and MMOs, Shadowbringers absolutely worth your time.

Extremely satisfying content for anyone who enjoyed the base game, feels like a proper expansion DLC rather than something that should have been in the game to begin with.

Often I feel like DLCs like this which pick up after a full fledged campaign lack the momentum you had in the base game, or take a long time to get to similar heights, but Ancient Gods throws you head first into even more demons than the end of the base game, and I really appreciate that.

In short, it's all I really want from an expansion to Eternal, more demons, more levels, more DOOM, and that's exactly what you get.

Serious Sam 4 tries to do many different things, some of it sticks and some of it doesn't, and I completely understand if the cons weigh heavier for some than for others, for me personally the high points of the game more than compensate for the lows.

I played my first Serious Sam game around 2006 and ever since then I've came back every year or so play them again, as generic the gameplay can seem at first glance, there's nothing quite like it, admittedly that feeling was missing for me at the start of Serious Sam 4, I was slightly worried when I got treated to objective markers and cutscenes, skillpoints and A.I. companions.

A few levels in though, my worries started to fade as the game picks up the pace and begins to scratch that Serious Sam itch I have very well, hundreds of enemies swarming your screen with a banging soundtrack and (in my opinion) great backdrops to it all, finished off with more ridiculous weapons than ever.

It stumbles here and there, a lot of the jokes and dialogue doesn't quite land, some boss fights feel a bit stale and you're tailed by A.I. who spout cheesy one-liners a bit more than I'd like, but there's great new additions too, alternate firing modes and dual wielding are incredibly fun to toy around with, all of which makes the times where the game is firing on full cylinders while giving you the freedom to play around that much more satisfying.

If I had to summarize, the game stumbles here and there, but when it picks up the momentum and lets you go nuts, it feels like a fantastic Serious Sam game on a grand scale, and that far outweighs some of the blunders for me.