Recently Completed Games

Yeah, I certainly don't criticise it too much for being a sequel to a game of a certain type and retaining all the baggage of that type of game. It's literally what the fans wanted, after all.

The visuals were OK, but come on dude. They weren't top-notch even by the standards of last-gen releases, much less the cross-gen ones. I loved the style, the vibe, the aesthetic, but on a technical level it wasn't always top notch.

Finished Impostor Factory (PC), the sequel-of-sorts to To the Moon and Finding Paradise, both of which I enjoyed immensely.


Still trying to formulate my thoughts really; must go and read some reviews now.

That’s just crazy.  Odyssey is blurry and fairly pixelated by comparison.  It also has low detail and textures.  The only thing it had going for it was bright colours.

Can I just check, you do have eyes don’t you?

disclaimer: I do own a switch and mario odyssey.  I think it’s the most overrated mainline mario game in history.

I thought odyssey looked good in that typical Nintendo way.

Didn't run the best but looked decent.

Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze (Switch)

Everything about it is first rate. Gameplay, visuals, sound, all outstanding. Every level feels unique and memorable. Even the collectables are well done - puzzle pieces and KONG letters - either being tricky to get or just well hidden and actually fun to find. The solution to getting one of the jigsaw pieces on Busted Bayou is so nifty. Speaking of



The soundtrack is also excellent. Some tracks only appear once and must have been specifically made for those levels. The production values are amazing. There's so many little details to notice in the presentation, at no point did I feel like I'd seen everything and was always looking forward to seeing what they were going to do next. The minecart stages are still great and are a treat, along with the new rocket levels. Sometimes you get to have a go on a rhino too. They play around with perspective at times and it's just stunning to see

I'm not really a completionist so I was planning to move onto something else after beating the final boss and then come back for the collectables but I'm going to carry on to find them and any secret stages I've missed - I want to see what they've done with them and the collectables are fun to find and actually add extra challenge and a good excuse to replay stages

The game is pretty hard which might put some people off, but lives are so easy to come by, it's not a problem. Even though I died really quite a lot, I still finished with 75 lives. There are even some secret secret stages that are nails hard and have to be completed without any checkpoints. Only managed to complete one so far - makes me laugh just how mean they are. I think there is an easy mode which tones down the challenge considerably but I haven't tried it myself (weirdly it's selected by default). So still worth playing if difficulty is something that puts you off

Blade of Darkness (PC)

The new version came out just a few days ago. It's more a compatibility patch than a remaster, there's basically nothing new except for a FOV option and widescreen support. Also it crashes less than before. I won't say it never crashes anymore because it happened twice, but it was definitely far less of an issue compared to the original release.

The game is still the same as it always was, basically a sort of Souls prototype, eight years before Demon's Souls even. Most of the elements are there: high difficulty, even basic mooks can fuck you up if you aren't careful on the defense, focus on duels with intelligent enemies, expansive levels that rely on exploration, abundant traps, a stamina bar, etc. The combat is jankier than I'd like, but it works well enough. There are also a few interesting differences, for example using a potion during combat will have your character hurriedly drinking while holding his shield up for defense. Enemies can also carry potions, and they can even use them during combat - and if that happens, they won't drop it for you. So you have to play defensively, but also know when to rush in (if you are fast enough, an enemy interrupted while drinking will drop the potion, and can't pick it up again).

Where it does differ is in structure. You can save anywhere, so that supposedly takes some of the sting out of the difficulty (but saving fewer times will net you a higher rating at the end). On the flipside, you can only carry very few potions around, and there's no farming them either. Replaying previous areas to grind levels is impossible as well. And dying is game over and back to the last save. So it's well possible to put yourself in a very difficult situation, if you waste your potions and try to avoid combat.

It's fairly long, it took me about 15 hours and I guess a new player would take even more. It suffers from a relative lack of variety (there's many weapons, but few enemy types). Later levels are definitely not as good as the early ones too. Despite this, it has a similar Souls-like quality in that you just want to keep playing.

8/10

It's a free update if you already owned the game on GOG, so that's appreciated too.

Aunt Alison It's games like that that make me wish I had a more recent Ninty console. I love DKC2 on the SNES, Tropical Freeze sounds incredible, though bastard hard. 

On another note, here's a game I finished earlier to add to the thread

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

I caved and bought this. I thought it was fantastic. Fun gameplay, a nice world, tone and a subject matter I liked, though probably could have been explored a bit better. 
I can see the criticism that it's bit derivative gameplay wise, what's there isn't really anything too new, but it still plays very well and does have some very nice ideas of its own. I'm a fan of a lot of the game design here. It reminded me of older PS2-era action/adventure titles, in a good way.

For instance, rather than a bloated open world, It's a sort of a linear open world, which feels tightly designed and connected. There's obvious thought that's gone into the areas (which are basically levels) and how you traverse them, and I really appreciate that. It makes the world feel more convincing rather than a mass of areas jumbled together as you cross off objectives.

Had a lot of fun with the combat too. There's some nice tools at your disposal and a surprising amount enemy of variety to keep things feeling stale. It's far from a breeze, there are tough moments and the boss fights in particular are highlights. Both melee and ranged combat are fun, with the rot adding variety on how you approach an encounter and there are meaningful upgrades as you progress. New tools brings new enemies to fight throughout, giving the game a good sense of progression.

As for criticisms, it is quite short, and I think the setup for the objectives could have had a bit more thought put into it, since it's just "find relics and bring them back for a boss fight" x3. The final 3rd could have been handled better from a narrative standpoint, since some elements just don't really get explored at all. Kena herself is a character you barely learn much about. 
A lot of the collectibles are also a bit frivolous, the currency you get can only be spent on buying different hats (another collectible) for the little rots, but it's hard to fault it too much because you can just ignore them entirely and not miss out on anything. I personally enjoyed tracking them down in the world though, even if they didn't have much use. 

I had a great time with it overall and thoroughly admired a lot of what it does, top stuff

Alan Wake Remastered

I'm very glad I bought this. I recall wanting to like the original a lot more than I did, but it suffered greatly against my expectations, which were for quite a different game than I ended up playing. This time, armed with the full knowledge of what I was getting myself into, and with a new found love of Remedy due to how much I liked Control, I was better prepared. I absolutely loved it. Even the combat worked a lot better for me this time (although I would say it's still not exactly the highlight of the game).

Just going on to do the 2 DLCs now which I don't think I did all those years ago.

Treat it more like a large DLC or Subnautica 1.5 rather than a full blown sequel.

I think I had a gap of a few months in between playing the 2 and that helped as well. You aren't constantly comparing while the first is still fresh in your memory.

And make sure you build the Jukebox straight away, there's some absolute bangers you can find out and about.

Metroid: Zero Mission

Replayed this for the first time since the original release, and although it's still really good - and great as remake of the original Metroid - it feels a bit too straightforward and simplistic nowadays. It's also inferior to Super Metroid simply because it lacks the moody atmosphere and soundtrack of that game - this one is far too bright and cartoony for a Metroid game. Plus, the final section felt like a nice bonus back in the day, but now it feels like a chore and out of place compared to the rest of the game.

Still, the controls are as tight as ever and there's very little fat to it (can be completed in 4-5 hours), which perhaps makes it the ideal starting Metroidvania.

8/10