I want to start this blog post with what I believe is a somewhat controversial statement: I prefer Assassin’s Creed Shadows over Black Flag.

Now, before you pick up your pitchforks and torches and start searching for me, I’d like to kindly and slightly afraid remind you that this behavior belongs in Geralt’s world, not the seven seas.

(Awkward silence. Crickets chirping.)

So, how did I come to this conclusion, given that I didn’t exactly rave about AC Shadows? Stay a while and listen.

(Wait, also wrong universe.)

Edward’s piradventure was bombarded from several sides. Some have been plaguing the Assassin’s Creed series for a while now, including Shadows, and others that I didn’t encounter in Shadows.

My first version of this script consisted of an about one-thousand-word rant about some technical aspects of the game. And by that, I don’t mean graphics, performance, and stuff like that. That was flawless. What I’m talking about are the supporting systems like the HUD, controls, and camera, and I will complain about some of it. They were a part of my experience after all. On the other hand, everyone perceives this differently, and I wanted to focus on more important topics.

I also have a German version of this video.

Read More »

Back in March, I looked at the REPLACED demo and concluded the analysis with the following statement.

“But I can’t deny that I’m a bit worried. The game has been in development for five years, and I wonder what all that time was spent on. I hope it’s the story, writing, and level design, because the gameplay doesn’t seem to be it, judging by the available key bindings.”

Little did I know that the studio was originally based in Belarus and had relocated to Cyprus due to Russia’s war against Ukraine (Source: Wikipedia). Who am I to criticize that when living in my ignorant German bubble?

Now that I’ve finished the game, I can put past-me’s mind at ease. REPLACED has the perfect length, the right amount of mechanics, and a strong story that is as much science fiction as it is quite relevant in today’s AI-crazy, capitalist world.

I also have a German version of this video.

Read More »

I don’t even really know where to start with this one. My intention is not to write a classic review (for a classic RPG) that covers the individual aspects of the game. You know, story, characters, progression, combat, all that juicy stuff. I’ve shifted away from this format in an attempt to focus on how a game affects me, how it makes me feel. Take Wall World, for example. This little indie gem got its hooks into me so hard that I couldn’t stop playing – a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a long while. But how do you do that for a game so expansive and so beloved as Baldur’s Gate 3? Because I do have feelings, though a hot take they might be and very different from Wall World, and I don’t just want to blurt them out. I’d like to weave a narrative, encase you in a web of connected threads. Threads that convey my feelings, my experience, starting with the honeymoon phase, covering the disagreements and fights between me and the game, and, finally, the reunion.

Thing is: I’m not much of an author, so… I’ll have to wing it. I just hope you fail a perception check and actually come out convinced of the opposite.

I also have a German version of this video.

Read More »

The gamer thought he knew what to expect. After all, he had watched a playthrough of the Xbox 360 version so many years ago. In truth, he had no idea.

Alan Wake had been a successful game. It sold over three million copies. Critics loved it. Players loved it. There was a huge fanbase around it. Still, the remastered version was slightly less well-received. It was a technological overhaul, more suitable for modern systems, while the gameplay was still the same old same old.

As the gamer fought his first battles, a realization set in. The controls were clunky, even odd at times. He had to retrain his brain to make things work. Dodging and sprinting were activated by the same key. „Why would the game do such a thing?“, the gamer wondered. The way he controlled Alan was unlike anything he had ever played. Alan was a writer, not a superhero. He was less athletic than a boulder chasing a famous fictional adventurer through narrow caves. Running was a futile endeavor. Any such attempt was quickly responded with heavy panting by the protagonist, Alan Wake.

The game did not want to be fast-paced, did not want to be a shooter. It was a supernatural mystery thriller with action elements. The beam of Alan’s flashlight was the game’s version of a reticle. The gamer thought this was a clever idea. He also didn’t like it as it made him feel vulnerable, not always in control. That’s what the game wanted him to feel.

Not in control.

Helpless.

The game’s story evoked similar feelings on an intellectual level. It was deliberately convoluted. It contained a meta narrative that foretold the story while the gamer experienced it on screen. He was dreading the moments of instense combat the game foretold. But how much of it was real? Was any of it real? This was unlike anything the gamer has seen before. He was wondering how the pieces fit together, how it all made sense. Would there be a happy ending?

Not in the know.

Clueless.

Read More »