Recent reviews by Zanmor

Heard of ludo-narrative dissonance? Where game play and the story are at odds with each other? Firewatch is the total opposite of that. A tight well-crafted story that's deeply enhanced by the mechanics. Think of this as a highly interactive novel or movie. Take 3 to 4 hours to play right through and let it take you on a ride. It's worth the journey.

Skyrim itself is fun, but this is not an acceptable VR product from a studio like Bethesda. If Half Life: Alyx is the filet mignon of VR games, Skyrim VR is week old pizza. And like even week old pizza isn't the worst, but it's certainly not acceptable at full price.

The game misses some VR basics I fully expect from a product of this scope and level of development, like hand and weapon collision, a rendered body when you look down, and updated graphics. Luckily mods exist that rectify these issues--SkyUI VR, VRIK Player Avatar, HIGGS Enhanced VR Interaction, VR FPS Stabilizer, and Vampire Lord and Werewolf Body mods to name just those I consider essential--but it's unforgivable that Bethesda didn't do at least a first pass on a number of these.

The other thing is that either by virtue of how buggy the base game can be and/or adding mods to make it function, it crashes somewhat frequently and quests often bug out entirely. I've had to use console commands to progress certain quests. Often just setting the quest stage is all that's needed, but sometimes I've had to do some pretty extreme console commands (like starting the Dark Brotherhood quest line where the first three quests are all bugged and won't progress). The worst part is that these are bugs that have existed since the release of Skyrim Special Edition (if not since the original Skyrim release) and which the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition patch apparently isn't always successful at fixing. In more than 8 years they've done nothing to better support this mess.

Look for a sale and be prepared to do some work modding before you even start playing. Mod Organizer is a godsend for easily installing most of the mods I mentioned. And were it not for mods I never would have opened this game again after stumbling around in opening dungeon for a few minutes.

Fun, cute, casual, and yet a bit strategic. This is an unsung little gem that's great for a quick play.

If you enjoyed Slime Rancher then you'll like this too! This game is cute and fun, nothing too hard but quite engaging all the same. I actually would have enjoyed more of a challenge but I ended up doing a full 100% run including a lot of extras you don't need for achievements and that provided some solid challenges. You can have a much easier time and enjoy this game, not that my run was incredibly difficult.

The characters and writing are also a joy. Dialogue is pretty short and simple but they make it count. I felt connected and was often laughing watching characters interact. This is just a nice hidden gem and I hope we see a sequel some day.

The negative reviews perhaps miss that this was an April Fools' Day release. And for this genre of game it's a great little fools' day parody.

The biggest issue I think is that if you play these sorts of games you are probably used to trying to do them without hints. That's a huge mistake. Instead you should be tapping the H button for the directional hint to zero in on locations. Done that way it plays out in a similar time frame to other games like this.

Biggest plust is that I really enjoy the art from this series of games and I commissioned some invisible people 0 also enjoys that sort of fantasy comic art.

For a free game this is a nice little joke for those of us who like hidden object games. If you haven't played many hidden object games then start with something else.

This is a very chill game to occupy your hands while listening to a podcast.

Note that there's easily over 100 hours of coloring time with just the free stuff, without having to buy any DLC. Also note that if you're trying to 100% achievements on games, this one regularly adds new DLC with achievements so that goalpost is constantly moving away from you.

I also think the DLC collectively is overpriced. I wouldn't buy any unless they're doing a seasonal sale, and even then I've stayed away from it so far. I think you should be able to spend $10 or so on a bundle to get all the DLC currently released. The best price I've seen is around $40 I think which is absurd. Spend that money on a 'real' game.

Also for accessibility and Steam Deck compatibility they should really add a button to let you toggle coloring on/off. Playing this on deck is a hassle right now when it could be a fun finger painting app. Using a mouse on PC can definitely lead to hand cramps. There's no reason either of these things need to be the case.

If you've never played Red Alert 2 before or no longer have access to it (my CDs are corrupted it seems) then this might be worth picking up. The actual game of RA2 is very good and I think still holds up well. It's just fun and I still enjoy the campy overly acted mission videos.

Unfortunately they've done very little, perhaps nothing to actually support this release. There is no support for online play beyond what the game had originally, meaning you'll have to use third party resources and probably troubleshoot with some guides if you want to play with friends or strangers. Additionally you might run into display issues you'll have to troubleshoot to get a resolution you want and have the game actually show everything properly on your screen. I saw reports that alt+tabbing can cause issues for some players to. I haven't had display issues in that respect, but the one time I did it the screen was locked auto scrolling up and right when I came back and restarting the game was the only way I could correct that. So I assume the alt+tab messed up cursor detection in game.

Point being that while I still really adore this game, this release is an afterthought for a few bucks that doesn't match the remastered release of the original Red Alert and Command and Conquer last year. That product is the standard for this sort of re-release and it wasn't even attempted here.

This is one of the best hidden objects/cats games there is. Building the orchestra is unique and fun, the levels are all beautifully illustrated, and the additional puzzle element on each level is an interesting and natural addition.

Edit: Has since been patched and color selection and achievements now work. The next bit remains relevant from my original review:

Beyond that there's a bigger issue for me: the illustrations just aren't all that fun or charming. There's a bit of it but mostly they feel big and empty. These sorts of games are really made by hiding things in an image that's fun to look at while you look for the actual objective. On that front the images are just boring.

The good:
The classic Stronghold experience
Some quality of life improvements such as improved keyboard binding and auto trading
Graphics update
Additional missions/content that are solid game play
Post-release dev support and promise of additional content being developed
Native Steam multiplayer

The bad:
The worst part is the multiplayer is currently almost unusable
Some old glitches/bugs and most annoyingly just some bad AI path finding persist

The biggest issue for me is the multiplayer. That's the main reason I purchased this so for it to not function it's almost enough for me not to recommend it. If the solo play and other improvements weren't so good compared to the older version of the game I wouldn't be able to rec it. Luckily the good is really good for me.