The fantasy genre is always one of nostalgia for a world long gone, the vague, wistful ancestral memory of weary travelers and simple taverns, of brooding castles and dark-blooded wars. But also nostalgia for a real-life youth spent whispering about orcs at the back of geography class. Somehow, Pillars of Eternity captures this personal emotion with flair and empathy.
I'm still far from the end. I will check in with further thoughts as I progress, but at this point I can unhesitatingly recommend the Witcher III as yet another on the crammed top shelf of excellent RPGs we've seen in the past 18 months. Buy it, buy it, buy it.
Just as in the previous story, Dragonfall consumed my imagination for the whole time I was playing it. When it was done, I missed the characters and wanted it to continue. That is perhaps the ultimate sign of a well-told story. As a game, it's pretty good – balanced, challenging combat that calls for a variety of tactics to respond to different situations; viable paths for combat fans, mages and even charisma-junkies; plenty of relevant activities to keep the player engaged during non-combat 'downtime'. But as a story – a piece of interactive fiction that takes a substantial corpus of existing source material and spins an engrossing yarn about power, betrayal, revenge, duty, family and loyalty – it is a supreme work.
But such trifling concerns really don't deserve your attention. This is a modern RPG classic that screams for your attention if you have even a passing interest in the genre. Clever, in-depth, engrossing and just utterly wonderful.
Colossal Order's stated goal is 'to let you build the city of your dreams', with the emphasis on everyone having unique needs and interests. Of course, their covert goal was to topple SimCity. In both cases, they've succeeded gloriously.
The things that upset me about the game stem from the exact reason I love it - I disagree with Paradox's description of the Centurion-class Battleships, for instance, but only because I'm a huge nerd, and therefore perfect for this game. It's definitely a "your mileage may vary", but I feel comfortable in saying, entrance to the grand strategy rabbit hole has never been easier. But be warned - it's still a deep rabbit hole.
Once you understand that, however, I've not got much bad to say. Time will tell if it hits the market with the impact that Planescape: Torment had. I would guess not, just due to the games industry being a different beast these days. But in quality of writing, and in its ability to make you care about characters and force you kicking and screaming to actually think about things like good and evil, and the value of life, Tides of Numenera is every bit on a par with its illustrious ancestor.
Steel Division: Normandy '44 really is my game of the year so far. As a realistic wargame based in a familiar setting with nods to all of the tactics and considerations a real-life battlefield commander needs to keep in mind, from supply to morale, it is second to none.
I lapped up all the skulking, whispering skullduggery and a few of the plot twists caught me by surprise. I can't wait for more.
Pillars of Eternity, for me, is the best D&D series there never was.
I lapped up all the skulking, whispering skullduggery and a few of the plot twists caught me by surprise. I can't wait for more.
I loved it, though I barely understood much of it. It's a wild ride despite being mostly walls of text.
I might have mentioned that Crusader Kings 2 was one of my favorite games. All I really want out of a game - any game - is to lose myself in a good story. Crusader Kings gives me that, fresh, every time I sit down to play. Crusader Kings 3 is at the start of its own story - I'm estimating we're going to see around 300 DLCs for this beast before it's all said and done - and already through its clarity of interface and intelligent design decisions I can see years of amazing "OH MY GOD, you'll never guess what happened in CK3" moments clogging up Felix's email inbox as I continue on my own journey with this wonderful, wonderful game.
It's not a perfect game, and there are a couple of small issues. But they really are small. I had two CTDs, and a few instances of Sniper Elite 3 freezing up for about fifteen seconds during the bullet cam. Once, I seemed to be unable to relocate, with the attention marker stuck on my player, despite the fact that I fled into a series of empty underground tunnels. The game relies perhaps a little too heavily on the 'OMG' tactic of dropping a tank into a level as a mandatory boss fight. But for everything that Rebellion has got right here, these are minor flaws. Sniper Elite III is so enjoyable because it's a stealth game done right.
Just like the previous two games, Shadowrun: Hong Kong has stayed with me when I'm not playing it. The flawed, moody characters and the clever use of Asian magical traditions got into my head, and when it finished, I missed all of the main characters. It takes a pretty cool game to do that. For that intensity and depth to be maintained over a series of three games is pretty remarkable.
Civ is a game that almost defies a straightforward 1-10 scoring system. It's a way of life. A serious undertaking which can't be quantified with a simple number. Suffice to say, this is a feature-rich and immersive iteration where attention to detail in design is apparent from the first turn and systems you didn't even realise could be significantly improved have been infused with a spark of genius. True, the AI is a woeful mess and it's lacking a few tooltips but there is none of the hollowness that Civ V had on release. Could this be a worthy successor to the majesty and awe of Civilization IV? Well, ask me again when I top the 300 hour mark. But at the moment, all signs point very clearly to yes.
It's remarkable how effective a game Playdead have created from a few static backgrounds and a bunch of playforms and ladders. I suppose it goes to show that games as art are as good as the emotional investment of the designers. Good for you, Playdead. I'll be interested to see where you go next.
Tyranny weighs in at significantly fewer hours than Pillars. But a lot of this is replayable in ways that are interesting and thought-provoking. The potential to do some seriously messed-up stuff abounds, and so does the option to play in a subversive and morally-ambiguous way as well. There are few fights that seem 'just for the hell of it', which might drive down the overall number of hours. But you know what? We only have so many hours of gaming time. Wouldn't you rather spend it ruling the world in a fun and interesting way?
To be honest, Waking the Dragon is worth it for the National Focus trees, new general mechanics and decision system alone. If you have the slightest interest in the Chinese theatre during World War 2 and have any intention of playing one of the nations or warlords, you'll be missing out on so much colour and richness by not having this DLC it'd be a real loss. If, like me, you have little to no real knowledge of what the heck was happening over there during the war, Waking the Dragon will school you real quick and in that beautiful, delicious way that only Hearts of Iron IV can.
I sort of have to criticise, you know? It's the job. Truth is, though, I've really enjoyed every minute I've spent with Dirt Rally 2.0, just as I did with 1.0 before it. The handling is gorgeous, the routes are truly beautiful to look at, and the management is ...manageable. The cars all have tons of individual character, the rallycross feels scrappy and frenetic and everything just comes together wonderfully. Codemasters, eh? They really have the hang of this thing.