Recent reviews by Hezus

TLDR: Abiotic Factor is freaking awesome.

It's been a while since I've been into a game like I've been into AbioFac (is that the correct abreviation?). I've lived through the rise of 3D first person shooters in the 1990's so the artstyle really appealed to me. Being a massive Half-Life fan, seeing the scientist and the underground facility combined with Minecraft-like crafting elements just scratched an itch I never knew I had.

But saying that Half-Life + Minecraft = Abiotic Factor is really selling it short. AbioFac has so much more of its own personality that it really stands out in both gameplay and story. Technically, crafting items and accessing new areas progresses the story but from a more personal standpoint it's the story and the lore that progressed the game. The more you dive into the holo-logs and terminal messages, the deeper you become involved in the world. The story is such a good mix of the serious and the silly that it's always appealing. You'll get invested in the characters and seeing them move with you through the story was just cool. Better than just having NPCs pass-by without significance.

I've been making maps for various games for nearly 25 years so I know good map design when I see it. The layout of maps is so well done with areas becoming available by player effort is just great. It nearly always pays off to go back to older areas to see what you can unlock now you've crafted better items.

Once I finished the main story, I had about 70 hours on record and 90% of the achievements but still hadn't seen all the content the game has to offer. There is just so much stuff you can craft and I still haven't made every single device or item. During my playthrough I only made the most essential stuff to progress the story so things like fishing and cooking I've hardly explored. I'm still catching (no pun intended) up on those.

What I really enjoy is that you can set your own pace and the game never gets too grindy. There were only a few stats in which I reached a level beyond 10 but that was totally fine to complete the game. I never had the feeling I had to farm XP for hours and hours just to get ahead. There is already way too much of that in the current gaming landscape. Thank GabeN that AbioFac tries to mimick the best of 90's gaming.

Sadly, I haven't been able to play it in co-op. I'm grateful to have been a teenager in the 90's to witness the rise of these type of games but that also means that I'm old now and have less time on my hands for playing games and even fewer remaining friends that are still into gaming. Maybe when we all retire in 2050 or so...

So is there nothing wrong with Abiotic Factor? Well, there is the occasional 'jankiness' of the physics. Some of the enemy AI could use some work as they don't make the most clever tactical decisions. Some soldiers seem to be able to shoot at you through their own bodies. My PC has reasonable specs but in some areas I do get stutters, especially when moving between areas and new zones get loaded in. You can even see them pop into existence in some cases which I'd chalk up to sloppy design. There are also a few areas that have recieved so little love in design that I would have cut them from the game in this state, such as the World in the Mirror and the Pool area (red chair). Especially the pool area is a travesty that ticks all the boxes of stuff you should never do as a map designer.

But all of this is just minor stuff to the absolute awesomenesss that is Abiotic Factor. The only thing this game now seriously lacks is an SDK so I can make my own maps for it. For Science!

In short: If you loved Life is Strange, then you surely have to play this expansion. It's fun on it's own and second, it offers more insight in the overall story of Arcadia Bay. Reason enough to pick it up, especially if it's on sale, which I did about 6 months after its release. However, as my longer review will cover, the expansion is quite different (and darker) in approach, which has some consequences.

So now for my lenghty review / opinion:
The original Life is Strange (LiS) is an awesome game if you like to delve into a gripping story. Before the Storm (BtS) has a good story too. However, many people claim that this expansion isn't as good as the original, and I'm inclined to agree with them on some level. Here's why:

BtS puts you in the shoes of Chloe Price and here is where the trouble starts. Chloe isn't the most likable character. She's a stubborn out of control teen, with a 'yeah, whatev' attitude. I'm in my 30s and I deal with teenagers a lot in my line of work, so these types are like allergy to me. With the original LiS I was used to be emotionally invested into the main character (Max), since she shares my values but Chloe is quite the opposite. That makes it hard for me to actually play her and be invested in her story. As a player, you want to fix things, make things better and pretty much everything Chloe does, makes a turn for the worse.

So, at some point I really had to chose wheter to play the game like I would act myself or try to be the bad kid and play her like she actually would be like. I chose the latter for a while and always picked the worst possible option. I only managed to keep this up for a while, since it just felt wrong. However, you rarely get the chance to really pick a 'good' outcome. This bothered me. It's like trying to steer a car heading for the cliffs but it keeps slipping whichever way you try to turn the wheel.

Then I just stopped trying to change the outcome and just go for the ride towards the inevitable. It does make playing Chloe easier, and she does seem to get less ♥♥♥♥♥♥ near the end of the story, so I enjoyed the game more. But that also takes a lot away from proclaimed 'Choices Matter' in the expansion. It felt more like an interactive movie than a game. This was flawed from the beginning since, it begin a prequel, you already know where the story will end.

This is also reinforced with the (lack of) gameplay elements. In LiS, Max' abilities really made for interesting gameplay but the 'talk back contest' element isn't really doing much in and is not challenging at all. Rarely, exploring will give you some more comebacks or dialogue options, but this could have been expanded. Furthermore, you hardly do any puzzles and if they are there, they are really easy.

The story, however, is really good and worth your time if you enjoy the LiS universe. Especially the short bonus episode, where you get to play Max again. The bonus episode has the right mix between happiness and hardship for me. The story of BtS is a lot darker and bleaker but still holds up. I think if you want to appreciate it, you'd have to play the bonus episode first, since it explains better why Chloe is the way she is now and what she used to be.

So, as a final verdict, I think BtS is fun to play and a must-have if you love the LiS universe. However, don't expect it to be more of the same LiS. Deck Nine went for a way darker approach, with an unlikely and unlikable hero. A bold move, and it caused me to feel less invested in the experience, but it might be different for you.

If there is ever a new LiS expansion, I'd hope they make a sequel where your choices matter even more. In LiS you always get a somewhat good ending and in BtS a somewhat bad ending. In a new game, you should have 2 or 3 completely different outcomes, so there'd be a lot of replay value.

Great experience for a small team MOD! It's quite lenghty compared to other mods and will keep you busy for a few hours, especially played on HARD mode. Hard difficulty in this MOD is quite harder than you remember from HL2.

Many HL2 features and puzzles can be found in this game and often with a new twist. The MOD's strongest point is the enemy placement. Monsters will often pop up behind you or flank you. Often the rooms are designed to bring out the best in combat. The walking flashlight was quite cool, but maybe a bit too long. Depending quite a lot on AI can cause problems, which it did in a few cases during my playthrough.

Storywise it's a nice twist as well, playing on the Combine end of the story. Many cutscenes and information on screen (or written on walls) mix this chapter into the HL2 storyline.

Where this MOD could use some improvement is in it's visuals. Some areas are really well done, while others are quite bland. Overall, I would recommend an overhaul of the lighting for all areas. Often lights are overbright and areas are so dark you are forced to use the nightvision 95% of the time. The nightvision creates a grainy overlay which makes the game look less good and it gives me headaches after longer periods of time.

In the start the item placement could be better too. I kept getting stuck in or behind props. This was less of an issue later on.

I encoutered a few small bugs during the game and some bigger ones towards the end which made me noclip to the next area one or two times.

All in all, really fun MOD to play. Could be ever better with new lighting and gameplay tweaks, but really recommend this one if you are looking for a challenge!

I've been playing CRPGs for years and I consider Planescape: Torment as one of the best games ever created. Therefore I can't say my review will be completly unbiased but let's give it a shot.

Tides of Numenera (ToN) breaks with a few RPG conventions in the way it is set up. While there are levels, spells and skills, characters rely on 3 different stats: Strength, Speed and Intellect. These can be used in combat but also (more often) in dialogues. Dialogues choices also determine your alignment and is used to create your character at the start.

Diving into the game it is confusing at first. The world you're in is full of random objects, buildings and artifacts (supposedly left behind by an unknown ancient civilisation). It's an original thought but it doesn't bring cohesion to the game. Futher on in the game you kind of accept that 'thats just the way it is' but it doesn't help building a believable world to delve further into. Speaking to its inhabitants increases this feeling. The game is EXTREMELY lore-heavy and most of it is just background info (even on various worlds and places you will never even travel). While I enjoy reading and discovering things, I found myself scanning or even skipping dialogues after a while, since it felt all that information wasn't going to add to my game experience anyhow. And mostly it didn't afterwards. Especially if you don't play on a regular basis, you won't remember most of that info, anyhow.

On the other hand, the strange world gave the developers the chance to think up new and innovating things. Occasionally I was suprised by the amount of thought and detail that went into creating these objects and places, even stretching my own imagination of time and space.

The same goes for the main story (which I won't spoil too much): very innovating and well written! It's just a bummer that it takes so long to get into it. Only half way the game (when you get to the Bloom) I managed to get into the story (after filtering all that extra lore) and the more exciting stuff started to happen.

Having a good story is one thing but every RPG needs some action! Here is where ToN pulls the short straw. First off, it's all turn-based. Mostly I won't even touch turn-based games but nonetheless I gave it a try. Because of each monster taking its individual turn, the combat is quite slow. And, once you figure out how the system works, the difficulty level is quite low. Many encounters can be solved by dialogues or use of objects (especially if you have a lot of points in Intellect). The game features 'power items', of which I NEVER had to use any in the game. Compared to the battles of Baldurs Gate or Planescape Torment, this is a walk in the park. While I find many RPG's too combat-heavy, ToN could really use some more of it.

Tides of Numenera is not a bad game. If you liked Planescape Torment, chances are you'll enjoy this too. However, it's not as good as its predecessor. I would probably not give ToN another playthrough to see if the game is really different if I made different choices, while I've completed Planescape Torment at least 5 times. If you don't like reading, stay clear of this, but hey.. you probably wouldn't have read this entire review then, right? ;)

Pro's:
- Great back story and interesting characters
- Innovate gameplay ideas
- Nice visuals and sounds

Cons:
- Very lore heavy (lots of 'unnecessay' reading)
- Hard to get immersed into (feels too random/alien at times)
- Combat is not challenging (and turn-based)

Very well done MOD, both visually and gameplay wise! It's pretty unique to start off right in the vehicle and there is also a lot of open space to explore (compared to the original HL2 campaign). The creator really gives players enough freedom to engage problems in several ways or visit certain locations in different orders. Very non-linear, and thus good!

I expected it to be short, but I hoped it would at least last till the end of the story line. Now it feels more like a preview than an actual release. But surely a lot of work has gone into making these maps, so I don't blame the author for this. Let's hope there will be more chapters in the future!