Cyberpunk 2077

I spent a whole day trying to type a coherent review but I seem not to be able to convey what I have in mind. I wanted to write a review that shows that the game is not bad after reading many negative reviews and people talking how much trash this game is. The game itself is not bad if you are fine with following a linear main story and several side quests. In terms of a rating I'd give it a 7 out of 10 even though I enjoy the game way more than I expected. I was hooked from the beginning and after I changed my perspective about the game and not expect an RPG game but instead a story-driven immersion I enjoyed it even more. After 60 hours or so though the negatives started surfacing. What I just ignored at first started to be a nuisance. On the other hand you don't really need to put up much with the bad things - that can be a bad thing too because it is an indicator that these could have been created or balanced better. When nearing 100 hours though I started to enjoy all the bugs and could laugh when the game saved in a middle of a jump that would kill me no matter what.

At first I ran the game on a computer with slightly higher specs than the recommended ones. I had troubles even running the game. I downloaded it on a computer I use for VR which showed similar problems. After tweaking my Nvidia settings (using help of some rtx 2060 users complaining about not being able to run the game too) I managed to run it on both computers but stuck to the VR one that can run the game with ultra settings on.

The story is about V, a mercenary who for some unknown reason wants to become a legend in Night City. V by a series of misfortunes ends up with a biochip implanted in their head. It cannot be taken out and contains a copy of Johnny Silverhand's psyche which slowly eats V's psyche away. Johnny is a rockerboy who decided to fight against a megacorporation and blast it away 50 years ago.

V may come from different backgrounds (you choose at the beginning) but will still turn into the same person and personality. All you can do is stick with it and there is no way to deviate unless you commit a suicide along the way. Johnny is a total prick but if you befriend him, he'll gain more wisdom.

I enjoyed all the endings to some extent even though I felt pretty bad when going through some. I missed something in those endings though. I didn't feel like it had some kind of a meaning. Many games question humanity and what the future might be. You get to see what makes someone or something a human being and what the society can turn into. Here you are someone with predefined view on things and you can either just stay that way or betray your principle and join the 'bad guys'. And even if you'd logically chose this option deliberately, you probably wouldn't have chosen everything that comes with this outcome. This was a huge let down for me and I spent quite a while contemplating if this could have been done in a better way. I always liked cyberpunk settings but what I also liked about the dystopian future is that it showed where our culture and society can end up. In this kind of future though there were always people present that had still valued human values and virtue and tried to fight the megacorporations. Here gangs fight among each other and we don't see much of politics among the corporations, in fact there is only one megacorporation that is the center of this story - Arasaka.

What I think the game does well though is asking you how you value life and what makes you want to live and how and what would make you want to end your life and why. This is something people should give a thought and some of the decisions and what comes after will make the players think about this and that I find is a good thing as that will help the players understand other people's thought that might be either terminally ill or suicidal.

The Night City is a breathtaking world and I can't describe it with words. The lights, lighting and reflections are beautiful. Walking around and taking pictures is something I truly enjoyed. Exploring the city is great. If you want to do more than that though, you'll be disappointed. I expected to be able to talk to some NPCs but soon found out that it's totally useless to even try. They are pretty dumb, they have preset movements so they either walk their path, cover their head on the ground or run away from the scene disappearing after few meters into nothingness. Their clothes are mostly the same you can get yourself and it is often painful to look at them. You can have sex with a joytoy but the cutscene that follows could be better. I don't even mean in showing more of the actual sex but could be done in a way that makes you want to enjoy watching it.

Since the City was supposed to be alive I expected that if you become wanted you'd be wanted for the rest of the game. Just going inside a building ends this status. Not to mention that NCPD just shows up next to you out of thin air when you do an illegal activity which you can often do by accident. They will also just shoot you if you stand by them for a while for no reason?

One would also expect stealing would be a crime but no, you just loot anywhere under any NPC's nose and don't get noticed for it.

The game features vehicles, cars and bikes that you can acquire. You are also forced to drive them in jobs and that is were the game fails as well. Driving the car is bad and it is very easy to miss your turn since you can't even see it on the mini map in the upper right corner. The traffic is weird at best. If you get close to another car it will just stop and won't ever start again. Even if you hit a hydrant you'll be stopped dead in your track. I tried my best but I failed all the driving jobs (not really but it was rather frustrating). Since you get so many vehicles at your disposal, you could possibly customize them? It would be a nice feature. Games usually offer this kind of a thing, why Cyberpunk 2077 does not when it is a big part of the game? The cars you can purchase behave differently so you can find a car that will suit you. I prefer to ride the city in Johnny's car while I use a Nomad car in the Badlands.

The reason why I mentioned 'several side quest' is because there are series of quests that affect how the the game will end. Those are long quests and they also allow you to start a romance depending on the person's sexuality. I enjoyed these a lot and maybe even more than the main story. They are about forming a relationship be it a friendship or romance and the stories are deep.

The combat is something I shouldn't omit since it is a big part of the game. You can finish most of the game by sneaking past enemies and hacking but the easiest way is to blast your way through. There are many ways how to fight. You can use your own fists, mantis blades (cyberware), melee weapons or ranged weapons. You have quite a choice from different groups of weapons and I stuck to tech precision rifles. The animations and sounds of the weapons and combat are nice and satisfying. Shooting is ok even without aiming, I didn't really aim at all at first until I started using a sniper rifle which needs more precision when shooting someone very far away.

The leveling system is nice but is rather boring. You have 5 attributes - Body, Reflexes, Tech, Calm and Intelligence. Each attribute might be actually doing something and getting you better stats but I didn't see much difference. Under each of these attributes you have several perk trees. They are mostly combat related with the exception of crafting and hacking. Crafting can be used to create anything if you have a blueprint and components for it. Both can be bought or looted. Components can also be acquired through disassembling items. Quickhacking can be used to distract enemies, unhostile them, make them commit suicide etc. but it can also turn off cameras or turrets.

I ended up putting most points into tech which led me to having a character with 1399 armor and 400 DPS weapon since level 17 or so. Even on hard my character suddenly felt invincible and I did not even spend all my points. I usually look forward to leveling in games because you get new abilities that are impactful. In this game though I think I'd finish the whole game without spending a point. There was only one point in the game that I felt that I either totally missed something (it was this) or my damage input had to be insane - when fighting Matilda, one of the bosses in the game. I dealt roughly 12k damage unloading one whole magazine into her head and this did not bring her down.

Cyberware mostly gives you higher stats. But there is cyberware that allows to slow down time which can help in combat. Berserk cyberware can also make you stronger in fight but you won't be able to hack. If you take a hacking route getting a good cyberdeck is needed. Augmenting legs is probably the only thing I felt was 'special' since you can jump higher or double jump.

The game is full of bugs. I play VR games and I got used to clipping, various kinds of visual bugs and movement not working as intended. Falling through a floor is something that won't surprise me in a VR game but in Cyberpunk 2077 I got surprised. In a non-VR game though these kind of things shouldn't be happening. Since everything is scripted in a way you shouldn't deviate from that and thus should avoid bugs. Still it happens. You just walk through the Night City to suddenly slip on a bag of trash flatlining. You headshot an enemy, their head exploding but the body still walking around and talking. Clipping, NPC's t-posing, really? That's not all. While these are mostly 'visual' bugs and break the immersion there are also bugs that break the game in a way. I couldn't loot for quite some time and I couldn't see the location of the loots. When I finally could pick up items they were all above my level. My bought perks didn't work. There were jobs that I couldn't finish. I had to restart even the main story several times because either one of the NPCs got stuck or because the next step simply didn't trigger. Not only I lost some legendaries I got on my way, but I had to restart a relatively long job again.

Verdict:
If you play this game without any kind of expectations and will accept an immersive cyberpunk story that you can't control you will enjoy this game. Just note that the Hard setting that is highlighted by default is still very easy. The story and the characters in it are well written. They are well voiced and acted. The graphics is nice even though I wouldn't call it next gen, it would have been 8 years ago. Sound is great, both the music and sound effects. There are many side missions that you can complete and some are really good, some are just fun and some are repetitive. The game play itself is good even though if you are more of a hardcore gamer you will find it lacking in many aspects especially since the game doesn't bring anything new and no matter what play style you will choose it will feel lacking. You might even question why there is the possibility to mod weapons when it practically does nothing? That goes to perks and leveling in too. Currently the game is buggy but many things got fixed already. Some bugs will make it impossible for you to proceed in the game and you might need to replay and see if it lets you continue the next time. The game seems to have performance issues and the recommended specs are far from being 'recommended'.

I've played beta versions of games in better condition than this one, but that still doesn't change the fact that the game is worth playing if your computer can run it on higher settings than low because that's where the game loses its magic. It might be worth waiting till CDProjectRed fixes all the issues and maybe even adds some content.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)

Pistol Whip

Pistol Whip is a game that caught my eye quite some time ago but 25 price tag was something I wasn't willing to pay for it. While browsing Oculus store though I noticed I could download the game for free and try it out. 5 minutes in I was sure I'd actually snap buy this game.

No description of the game can actually prepare you for how cool the game actually is. You might read reviews that state this is Beat Saber and Superhot combined. I couldn't imagine how these two games would actually create a different game but after putting some thought in it and actually experiencing the game I came to the same conclusion. (my view on Beat Saber and Superhot is different than what you'll probably read in reviews so I had to change my point of view quite a lot)

Pistol Whip is a first person shooter with a twist or two. It's an FPS game in terms of you actually shooting enemies but it's nothing like Counter Strike. You 'fly' through a level automatically and dodge enemy shots and shoot at enemies that fired those. The first (Beat Saber-ish) twist is that in order to get a good score you actually need to shoot on beat. For those that are used to shoot on sight this is something that may take a while getting used to. You need to shoot at a specific moment that you can hear unless you are rhythm deaf like me. The second (Superhot-ish) twist is avoiding bullets. In this game the bullets shot at you do not travel fast. They travel rather slowly and you have a lot of time to spot them and dodge them. This can result in very Matrix-like motion and actually it feels that great too. Your body might not be accustomed to these movements so it's pretty much guaranteed that you'll feel sore the next day wondering what muscles you used to play this game.

If you wonder why this game is named Pistol Whip, you can actual pistol whip your enemies when they are close which nets you the maximum points for the kill. This is rarely used though with the exception of one level/map.

There are several songs you can play each having 3 difficulties - easy, normal, hard. With each difficulty the number of enemies gets higher which means more shooting and more avoiding bullets. If playing on hard is too easy you can turn on some mods that will make the game more difficult and it will provide you harder or different challenge (there are mods that can make it easier as well).

Recently, a cinematic campaign was added for free and I have to say that this content is really great. It takes 25 minutes to go through, has a story and a nice boss fight in the last stage. It shows the true potential of the game and I hope more content like this whether free or paid will follow.

Verdict: Pistol Whip is a good combination of shooting and a rhythm-based game. The content was rather limited at launch but several songs and a cinematic campaign were added, all for free, which now makes it worth the 25 bucks I paid for it. The music genre I'd probably describe as EDM. All the songs sound very similar to me. If you like playing rhythm games to enjoy the music you should probably check out the music. first. Getting good at Pistol Whip means playing over and over the several limited number of tracks, not liking the music may make the experience not that great.

I'd say that this is a perfect game for parties and introducing people to VR because the game is easy to play (thanks to assisted aiming anyone can hit) and probably won't cause much motion sickness since there is no locomotion involved.

It's a fun game, nice workout and it takes a while to master if that's what you want.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)

Westworld Awakening

I've read mixed reviews about this game and wasn't really sure if paying 30 for this game would be worth it because as it seems this game is hit or miss.

Nonetheless I was still too curious to not to try it. I love Westworld (even though I'm not really a fan of the last season). On the other hand I don't seek out horror games and especially don't look for stealth games. I'm really bad at those. I expected a game I wouldn't like. I was wrong though.

Westworld Awakening is a story-driven game and it is about the experience rather than game play mechanics. The game is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is more of an introduction and there is not that much of interaction. On the other hand it shows pretty much what to expect from the game. In the second chapter you can explore and 'interact' with the world. After that comes the first real stealth part which may be long if you are afraid or pretty short if you just go and do what needs to be done. Honestly I spent 20 minutes cowering in fear under the table (the next time I played it, I spent 5 minutes there).

Visually the game is atmospheric and was stunning to me. The sound effects, voice acting, animation/acting and facial expressions are really great. The way the story is told is also great. There are many references around and you can enjoy walking around in places you saw on the show. The game is a bit dark though and that is how I missed a corridor or collided with some objects while trying to run away from Hank.

The gameplay can get repetitive. You get exploration part and stealth part which practically means you need to hide behind or under something. It is not difficult though. Hank is pretty dense, same goes to the soldiers. Don't take me wrong I don't want to complain about the difficulty. I was glad about how easy it was because otherwise I'd become frustrated.

What you get is a simple story of Kate, a host that was playing a murder victim for years, who becomes aware and tries to escape into the human world. First you see through her eyes in the park, later you woke up aware in Delos. You are not the only one who woke up and among those people there is Hank, the host programmed to hunt your family and kill you all - you as Kate being the last one. You try to escape and you are helped by others that give you instructions what to do.

There are probably many things that people may not like. First of all, the game is not really realistic. It doesn't follow much logic.

The default locomotion is terrible from my point of view. Holding two buttons while swinging arms is pretty bad while you also want to use your tablet. Fortunately you can switch the locomotion type in the settings.

Hank apart from saying the same phrases over and over is rather dense. You can often just run in front of him and hide under a table and he suddenly stops seeing you. In general the places you can hide are in plain sight etc. You can hide in a corner of a room for example and not be spotted. Honestly I was glad it was this way otherwise I'm not sure if I could play the game.

You are being given instructions all the time. If you don't figure something out in time, someone will tell you what to do or the game will show it in blinding light. This was a bit annoying when I wanted to just look around.

You can only interact with key items and some other items. You can't interact with drawers for example or tables or anything. Most objects are simply static.

Verdict:
Westworld Awakening is a relatively short (several hours) well done story-driven game with simple and rather repetitive gameplay. It offers an atmospheric experience from the Westworld setting which can be fully appreciated only after watching the first 2 seasons of Westworld series.

The locomotion choices are good even though it does not offer teleportation. I think this would make the whole experience worse as this allows for being more immersed in a 'survival horror' story.

One of the reasons why people may not be interested in playing this game is the survival horror aspect. The game though is not difficult, no need to be an expert in stealth so I found it well-balanced.

I'd recommend this game for people who like Westworld and like story-driven games or experiences and don't mind being killed with an axe and hiding under the table for few minutes during each chapter.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)

I also recorded the game, so if you want to check it out here's Chapter 2 - the chapter I spent most time under the table because I was afraid.

Here is a bonus video (for those who can listen to someone not being able to play the piano). After hearing the main theme over and over I decided to see if I can play it on the piano. If I give it more time it might actually sound the way it should.

Kingdom of Titania

Kingdom of Titania is a new world made by FlowerRite. I've seen trailers for this world around the web and I liked it from what I've seen so I decided to visit it one day. I wasn't ready for how huge the world actually is and how many nice places there are to visit! You can literally spend hours in it by just exploring. If you haven't been there yet I can highly recommend it. I went there with Aurora and Infinite we spent quite some time exploring the world. We went to a farm nearby since that is the first stop by the train. We looked inside and on our way back we took a picture in a cauldron with Aurora because why not?

Then we proceeded to the city where we got lost enjoying the map wondering how each part of the city is connected. While walking around we discovered that we can use gondolas to travel around, not just the city. We discovered that not all water is solid so we can end up underwater which got a bit frustrating because it was not clear if we could get out of it (without the need to respawn). We found out that we can climb on rooftops and take some neat pictures and that even getting on top of a tower was possible. There's even a hidden theatre which is a cool place to hangout (location is shown in the video below). You can watch videos there with friends or perform.

Eventually we arrived to a lighthouse where we found a spirit. The spirit was happy to find people that can see it and it asked us for help with finding a core for a boat.

If you accept the quest the spirit will take you to a library in the city and there you should look for some books. After you check all the locations you will find a secret door that will reveal a zodiac sign spinning wheel. Since neither you nor the spirit don't know what to do with it you will be sent to the city to look for clues. We tried to look for clues running around like crazy for several hours but couldn't find anything. We were tooo focused on finding the clue somewhere ont he higher floors rather than on the ground floor and near the library. We eventually gave up.

The next day I decided to give it another go and instead of running around randomly I went from room to room until I found the clue. The spirit took the bottle with it to the library. It was sure that it would help me find solution for the zodiac signs. There it told me to drink some of it and I saw a spatial puzzle in front of me for a limited amount of time.

When I looked at it I figured that it would show some zodiac signs if I'd look at it from the correct angle. So I tried running around the library and looked at the signs but it still didn't make sense to me. Until I realized that the symbols I see are different kind of symbols that I didn't expect. I googled the signs and learned what four signs I was supposed to enter. I pressed them and another secret door opened showing a key and a map. It was time to find a place somewhere in the middle of the island depicted. Easy!

To my surprise I really found the place easily. There again I had to figure out what to do next without getting drunk. After staring at a beam of light for a bit I looked around more closely and did what was expected of me. That revealed the core itself. The spirit told me to bring it to its grandfather's farm where the boat should be located. So I took the train there and reached the boat. It was still there. I inserted the core and it turned transparent. The spirit left the boat to me as a reward for the help. I discovered that it's actually a flying gondola! I hopped in and tried to operate it while making myself seriously sick. So I just crashed into nearby trees and called it a day. It was a nice quest and the reward is cool if you don't get easily motion sick.

If you'd like you can watch a recording of me trying to walkthrough the quest. I wasn't really sure how to setup everything and how it would end up looking.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)

Shadowrun Returns

After a very long break I started playing computer games again and I didn't know where to start and what to play. One of the games I was recommended was Shadowrun Returns - Dead Man's Switch. It is an RPG game with turn-based squad tactical combat (see xcom) in a cyberpunk meets fantasy setting.

All I knew was that it is an isometric RPG in the Shadowrun setting which alone was enough for me to want to play the game. I love Shadowrun and I certainly had a lot of fun play the pen and paper RPG. I wondered how good the game would be and reminisced about games like Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment. Since I never heard of this game before I wondered how good the game would be.

The game starts with you receiving a message from Sam Watts, your fellow friend. Sam died and before he died he recorded this video so that you could track down his killer and get a reward if you find them and bring them to justice. A detective story unfolds as you are trying to find out who killed him and why. I was bit let down at this point because you don't actually need to solve anything and the game is very linear. You just follow the story. On the other hand the game will just immerse you in the story which is very well written and is also lots of fun (with lot of references to previous games and lore).

After you find the killer and find out why Sam was killed you will also uncover a horrific fact about a cult that wants to bring extraplanar creatures into the realm that would most probably just devastate it. The problem? These creatures are pretty much immortal unless you get your hands on a special prototype weapon that can kill these spirits. The final fight is probably the biggest downside of the game. You need too kill the creature with conventional weapons first (or Magic or spirits). Next round it will turn into a spirit that is immune to all this but the prototype weapon. You've got that one round to hit it 3 times in order to kill it and you've got max. 80% chance of actually hitting if you are standing close enough. You've got two shots before you need to reload and have 2 (max. 3) characters with this weapon. If you don't succeed it will turn into a physical creature again and you gotta try again.

As for the graphics. I like the hand painted graphics but the 3d models felt bit bland. In overall the graphics creates a good and fitting atmosphere for the game.

Music and sound effects is another story. This might be just me but I have to say that both were rather jarring. I wanted to play the game with sound on but I have to say that during the whole game I constantly thought about turning it off. While the sound effects are ok in terms of not sounding totally out of place they still didn't sound quite right for my ears. The music I didn't enjoy at all. There is no voice acting (I'm not sure how common this was around 2013 when the game came out).

There are two parts to gameplay. The game is story driven so mostly you will be reading dialogues and descriptions of scenes or characters. Depending on how your character is build (which skills it has) you might be able to choose different answer or actions. My character turned out to be charismatic Decker specialized in melee combat (totally not me, or my choice of a shadowrunner). The reason was that thanks to high Charisma I got to talk my way through dialogues, being a hacker allowed me to do some necessary running around Matrix safely. Being ok in combat is probably a necessity since you will go on runs that will sooner or later end up being pure tactical turn-based combat. You will have 1-4 characters to your disposal. Each character has action points that you can spend each turn to either move (and attack), move, attack, use magic, summon spirits, use items. You can hide behind object to make it harder for your enemies to shoot you. You also need a good line of sight and distance to actually hit. Flanking is also something to consider. If all your squad will end up in one place you are certainly going to get hit by a grenade.

The game on the default difficulty is very easy so you don't need to worry about spending karma (the points that are spent to level up your skills) in a wrong way. The HUD is very basic but shows well your equipment and skills. You have a limited number of slots for everything, if you have more items they will go to your stash. You can either get items from your stash by physically going there or enter it when buying/selling stuff. At the beginning of each part of the story you will be allowed to change the stuff in your inventory so you don't need to go back in between chapters.

Verdict
Shadowrun Returns is well polished game for a kickstarted funded game and it did the original p&p Shadowrun justice. It has a nice and well written story that has a twist that some may not enjoy that much. It has certain but limited amount of RPG elements, you can choose your class, learn skills and develop them. You can buy equipment, spells etc. The combat is tactical and turn-based, a pretty much a copy of X-com combat system. One of the things I enjoyed is walking in the Matrix - uses the same combat system.

The not so good things about the game is that the story is very linear and the world is not really open. You can walk around a bit but you can't interact much outside of the main story. You also hire runners for each run and you can't change equipment or develop their skills.

In general, this game is a relatively short adventure game that introduces one to the world of Shadowrun, tactical combat and some RPG elements.

I'm not entirely sure to whom I'd recommend the game. I'd say that players like me who spent hours and hours playing Shadowrun in the past will enjoy this game. I'd also probably recommend this game to players that don't have much experience with gaming or are looking for an easy game to play.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)

The Devouring VR

Few days ago I was invited to play The Devouring. I heard about this horror world thanks to reddit but I didn't know why it was so popular. It was a mistake on my part not to visit because not only the world is breathtaking, it is a full fledged game. And a way better one than many free VR titles on Steam. It was created by LakuzaVR, LegendsVR, jendaviswilson, CyanLaser. These people created a world which allows you to experience a survival horror escape room. Or at least that is how I would describe it. 1 to 4 people can play the game at once. Scarlett told me that it could take 2 hours so I told her that I have all night for it if needed. At that time, I didn't know that it would indeed take me the WHOLE night playing this game.

What follows is my first experience from the world. I was rather lost because I had no idea what I ventured in and still couldn't believe it 5 hours in. I was in awe how well everything was done and at certain places I really wanted to cry because I knew that without help I simply wouldn't get through - at least not that night.

After entering the world I received a message and then I hopped into a car and watched the scenery while being in the back seat, since Scarlett was the one starting the ride. Then suddenly things got dark, got scary and some strange shade made the driver crash the car. A very nice beginning.

I woke up in a very nice guest room. I looked around and tried to go outside. Well, I was eaten by some black smoke with white eyes. I tried again and the same creature ate me again. I guess it was time to slow down and see what this was all about. I collected a journal note and then went to read the entry after Scarlett showed me where I can read them. She also showed me a book warning about the Lurker that killed me already few times. She told me that all I need is to wait for it to go lurking elsewhere and that I should notice it when it comes closer because it's going to be producing weird sounds. With more information about how this place worked I ventured into the mansion looking for clues and key items while Scarlett was giving me more information about the game.

While I was enjoying the mansion, taking some pictures and getting killed again Scarlett finished the first part of the game. I collected some journal entries and was asked if I want to play a piano. I got my hopes up for some tune playing but unfortunately it's not Half-Life: Alyx like piano which means I couldn't play a nice tune on it. Nevertheless I liked the task at hand so I tried to play the three notes. Thanks to my tracking not fully cooperating with me I played F, Cis, A instead of Fis, Cis, A and unsurprisingly I died hearing Scarlett's voice getting more distant while saying 'you died'.

I came back to the room and played the 3 notes again and then I saw Scarlett running right at me with a blue crystal gem in her hand. Later I found out that we'd need few more to open a door probably leading outside the mansion.

We ventured deeper into the mansion and while I was trying to figure out what we have to do Scarlett ran away. So I collected journal entries and tried to find more clues about opening doors upstairs, one that required 5 letter blocks and the second one that required a lighter. I already knew the word for the first door since Scarlett spoiled it but I didn't realized that we'd have to drag the letter blocks to the door at that point. I found some of them but was eaten leaving the blocks behind. For next time I knew I couldn't drop objects without remembering where they were. I had no idea how to get back to where I was so I was roaming the place again, searching for the letter blocks.

When I met Scarlett again she said she was trying to go through the basement. I went there as well and died pretty soon after entering the first water area. I died but I wasn't sure why.

When I saw Scarlett jumping around the wooden stuff in water I wondered how she could move so fast. I hardly could catch up on a normal floor. Nonetheless I followed and it took me a little while to figure out how to actually keep moving correctly. The blue targeting arrow showing up in water was a no go because my avatar would leave the path and it wouldn't want to jump back up. After I figured that I need to point at specific places and a certain pace I was finally able to move around more effectively. Nonetheless, this cost me several deaths and I finally realized what killed me. It wasn't a lurker but rather some creepy monster in the water. When I made it past the first door and closed it behind me I thought I was safe but that wasn't the case. It tore through the door and ate me while I was trying to take a picture of the basement. Note to self don't take photos in a horror game!

I got to move some levers and ran some generators in the basement and then I went back up. I looked for a lighter for the second door that was still locked and couldn't find it anywhere. I was running around the mansion like crazy, even though this time in more organized manner so I'd know where I searched and where not. Obviously I started searching at the wrong end because Scarlett came with the lighter in hand and I was like 'Where was it?'. I didn't learn the location but we could move on.

We grabbed the light and started discovering the area behind the door. Obviously we had to open all doors before moving the light from one place to another. At one point we got stuck and didn't know how to proceed because we obviously missed a green ward lever in the basement.

I knew where it was but was unable to get there again and then Scarlett had to go to sleep since there are also people that work during the day while I had a day off that day.

I went back to the basement and tried not to die that much reaching the green ward generator. At this point I knew I'd need help because I just couldn't get there even though I already knew how to move around. I asked Aurora to help me.

We almost got eaten while we were standing next to the generator clueless of what to do since the generator was already running. We went over the notes again and then later I finally spotted the green ward lever. I pulled it down (or up?) and it was time to commit a suicide because I was too stupid to go to the menu and hit Respawn.

Then it was time to figure out what to do with the light. For a while I was running around there like crazy and couldn't come up what to do. Until I noticed a pink light in one of the black clouds. After few more attempts of placing the light I found the correct stand for it to show the stand that was hidden in the black smoke. I stared at it and was like... 'they want me to grab the light, ran to the other stand and place it there before the darkness devours me?'. I was 100% certain I'd be devoured. I grabbed the light, ran, saw the darkness closing in and wishing for the light to get on the stand. It did and the darkness perished. Unfortunately while trying to do the same with the following stand I died. I respawned in the guest room and wondered if I'd have to do this again. I was like 'no way I'm going to do that again!'. Fortunately for me, I didn't need that and could directly reach the last stand. After few more frustrating runs with the light I reached the next emblem and eye.

I felt relieved for a bit and I felt that I finally managed to progress a bit in the game. Well, it was time for the blue door. My feeling of accomplishment vanished pretty much instantly. I followed some stick figure into a room with wardrobes and other cabinets and few more of these wooden creatures. I tried my best to avoid them but well died a painful death each time. I got desperate and called Aurora for help.

I watched Aurora gracefully pass by all those creatures to get into a room full of still wooden creatures. Aurora ventured one way and died. We tried few more times dying each time. Until we gave up and watched a speedrun walkthrough which didn't make me feel better because this was somewhere around the 40th minute and there was still like 30 minutes to go in the speed run. I might have been on hour number 6 at that point. But I really wanted to finish the game since Scarlett did a lot and I hardly did anything.

After even more frustration Aurora managed to get through and get another eye. It was time for yet another basement venture and I started pondering about what was actually worse - what was behind the blue door or the basement part leading to the pink door?

After many more deaths we got to the end. We opened the grand door with 4 pony heads and learned about what probably happened and what happened to the other guests in the mansion. I won't spoil the ending here but I'll say that I really liked the conclusion of everything. Endings of games can be often disappointing but that's not the case with The Devouring. I enjoyed it a lot.

Seeing the Congratulations screen was very comforting. It was dawn outside and I was glad I could go to sleep. I wondered if I'd dream about the lurker. After this the creators thought of everything and let us take a picture with some of the stats.

I have to thank Scarlett for showing me the world because I'd probably never ventured there on my own. I have to thank Aurora for saving my butt and helping me with the parts I was too clumsy to walk through. And then, I have to give really big thanks to the creators. They created an awesome VR game that I'd pay for if I could. They put tons of work into this world and I'm very glad I got to play it and actually survive. Even though without Scarlett and Aurora I'd probably still be roaming the mansion now.

Thank you for reading, I recommend The Devouring to anyone who doesn't mind little bit of horror and dying over and over again (don't mind my 106 deaths, you probably won't die that many times!). If you like puzzles and good atmospheric games like me, this is a game for you. Note that some parts may be a bit frustrating if you are as clumsy as I am in anything that requires running and jumping over blocks.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)

Keep Talking and Nobody Dies

Keep talking and nobody dies is a unique assymetric cooperative game that is best suited for casual fun. A cooperative multiplayer game that alone is very rare.

The game needs to be played with two people minimum. One player is locked in a room with a bomb and has to defuse it. They alone can't do it though because they do not know how. The other player or players are outside and have access to a manual how to defuse it but can't see it. Thus they have to give instructions to the player in the room with the bomb. Sounds easy, right? The players can be physically in the same room or anywhere around the world since the game can be played remotely via Steam. Only one player needs to own the game and it is the defuser that needs to control it. Others can talk via Steam voice chat or any other voice chat service. The experts will have to either print the manual out or search in it on the web (or pdf file).

I bought the game on Steam and tried running it because I wasn't really sure how this would all work. I knew that remote play existed since Steam sometimes asked me if I want to remotely play a game, stream it or just play it and it always confused me because I just simply wanted to play the game. Never tried remote play though so I didn't know if there would be two screens or the experts would simply have to print the manual. It was clear that one player would be able to see the bomb. I launched the game in VR and my friend was able to access the manual on the screen while I saw the 'game' in VR. So we just decided to play. Neither of us read the manual beforehand which made it way more interesting for both of us and we almost didn't make it the first time. It was close, we had 1.21 second remaining while my friend Vevvy finished the bomb almost before the timer started (you can actually start defusing before the timer starts).

You have (most of the time, can be 3 or 8) 5 minutes to defuse a bomb. A bomb has a certain number of modules that each contain a 'puzzle' that needs to be solved. The defuser has to describe what it is and based on that description the expert (the one with the manual) has to find the steps how to solve it. The manual itself is quite confusing so it's not easy to memorize. The experts will probably ask more questions because there are many conditions. Apart from the timer ticking down there are other outside effects that can make it harder to solve the puzzles (lights suddenly going out or some terrible nerve wrecking sounds). There can also be modules that need attention from time to time (intervals of 30 to 45 seconds). If those modules don't get it, you'll explode. Multitasking three such modules while still trying to solve other modules is no easy task because you still need to communicate and also use your memory.

The story mode has 7 chapters each having several bombs that have a certain time limit and number of strikes. When the players finish this mode they can still free play - get a random bomb. There are many iterations. There is 11 different modules not including the needy ones and maximum of 11 slots occupied.

Is the game worth trying?
My review might be boring but the game certainly is not. The game is obviously meant for parties. You don't necessarily neeed to play it an actual party, but the more people play the more fun it can be. Anyone can play the game if they can read a manual and aren't colorblind for example since colors matter in this game. I am rhythm deaf and I just found out that morse code is something I can't do (yes, you read that right, one of the modules involves morse code!) which also makes me a bad defuser when this module shows up.

If you have have friends or you are capable of bringing several people together I highly recommend this game. It will test your communication skills, attention to detail, memory and patience.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)

Belko VR: An Escape Room Experiment

Escape room? Count me in.

You are locked in your office and told to solve a challenge in order to stay alive and not be replaced by someone more competent. You have 15 minutes to solve it and then you are told that there is a stage 2. The decision is yours to make and that also is probably the reason why you might want to replay this once or twice since there are different outcomes.

I couldn't start the game with the controllers showing up but then I decided to run the game right from the place I'd actually play it and then everything was fine. The game expects you to have 360 degrees tracking including tracking on the floor level which is not something I'd expect from a game. Honestly from ANY game.

Graphics could be better but considering the game being very short and actually being an ad for a movie I can understand it. While the quality of the graphics is not high the room is coherently done. It's nothing awesome but it's good enough not to feel distracting and it sets you well in the story.

The controls are something you'd expect so it's fine. The interactions with the environment are ok-ish. You've got plenty of time to toss the place and discover some things you'd probably not expect - an adult magazine, a hiding tarantula and a mouse/rat which are actually nice touches to the room.

The puzzles while not great are still more than just find an item and put it somewhere which is good. Nothing too difficult if your tracking works.

The game tries to put you under pressure with loud ticking that gets faster and you will also hear a coworker going crazy in another office somewhere. He will probably yell at you for being useless at some point. If you will be progressing fast enough you'll be saved of these though. I honestly had enough time to think what I needed to do before he started telling me what to do. (What I got stuck on, he didn't even comment). If you get stuck he'll probably tell you what to do.

In overall I liked the experience and found it better than some other free games I tried so far.

I can recommend this game if

• you have 360 degrees tracking and tracking at floor level
• you are capable of ignoring one serious jerk constantly yelling at you
• you don't mind heads being blown of or have fear of virtual spiders

I'd rate this 5 out of 10 because I think the developers should have thought about what kind of tracking people usually have if they wanted to show this movie advertisement to as many people as possible. The annoying guy is well really annoying and no one wants to be berated like this. The animations of the objects fitting somewhere should have been fast and not slow like this. It gives an impression that something went wrong.

5 points for a good concept, not so great execution and the fun it provides.

Here's a playthrough that includes constant struggle with tracking. Played with Oculus Rift CV1.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)

TapSonic World Champion VR

I was browsing VR games on Steam and no names seemed familiar except one game - TapSonic. That made me check if I really see search results for VR since I know this game as a mobile game. It was indeed a VR title so I decided to give this game a try. In worst case scenario I would just listen to some Korean tracks and flail my hands around.

The game is in Early Access so I expected an unfinished game (even though when DJ MAX was in Early Access on Steam the game was already finished more or less and pretty awesome). Unfortunately I didn't check the release date. I'd know then that the game is pretty much dead and we won't be seeing the game finished.

When I launched the game and was told to enter a very small play area I wasn't sure if I'd like the game. I looked around and saw a song list in front of me, leaderboard on the right side, options on the left and 'how to play' behind me. Apart from that we could see black transparent plane including the bright blue area I was standing in, black void and some particle smoke, white dots around me and some sound controlled 2d lines in front of me. It reminded me of one of my VRChat visits. I entered a world featuring a similar rhythm game. The VRChat world was actually more polished than this TapSonic game.

Game play is simple. From further away from you notes will be approaching you following lines. When the notes reach you you have to touch them. There are 4 different kinds, normal notes that you just have to touch, slides that you have to touch first and then follow them, mini notes that just need to hit your hand. There are also cymbals that you need to press corresponding trigger when the orange circle reaches the target. The game is combo based, the higher combo you have the higher score multiplier will be used.

There are three difficulties - Basic, Pro and Legend. There is not much interesting going on in the higher difficulty charts (just density) so the game doesn't incite you to learn.

Game play itself is ok even though the timing windows are huge. Like I have the feeling it's over 60ms for Perfect+. I hardly hit any Perfects or Goods while streaming the play through and that lagged considerably. The different kind of notes don't seem to make much difference because pretty much all you need to do is touch them. The cymbals add a little complexity to the game but they are not used that much in order to show the real potential.

Song list is good or rather I can't complain about it (I'd expect Tok! Tok! Tok! to be in there though). You get 11 songs which may not feel much. I completed them all on all difficulties in an hour and half (see video below). It is a free game after all. If you played other games from Neowiz you'll know the songs.

Is the game worth playing? There are many rhythm games that come and go and this unfortunately is one of them. The game probably ended its development very soon. It is playable though and if you like the songs you might have fun playing this game for a little while. Unfortunately you need to keep your head in a rather limited area which makes dancing around a bit difficult. When in VRChat I tried rhythm games using Touch controllers and I have to say that accuracy based games weren't that great and if someone wants to create a good VR rhythm game they should bring up a game mechanic that is good in VR environment and not one that's good for any kind of button mashing or finger tapping/swiping in real life. That might be the reason why the judgment windows are that big. The notes are difficult to hit because it's not clear where they actually are. This can get frustrating for the player. It saddens me but I have to give this game from Neowiz a thumbs down. I'll hapilly go play other of their games though because they certainly know how to create a good game in 2d. This game was a step in a wrong direction.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)

Superhot VR

When I got my hands on Oculus Rift I wondered what games should I buy or try. Except for knowing that I really wanted to play Half-Life: Alyx I had no idea what else I could possibly play. So instead of blindly trying games I decided to do a little research on what the best VR games. One of the games that I saw pretty much in all the lists I went through was Superhot VR.

The description seemed interesting but I never really grasped how the game could actually work. So months later I finally decided to give that game a try and few levels in I fell in love with it.

So what makes the game so good? I suppose that all of you have seen The Matrix (or at least a trailer for it). You probably remember the scenes where Neo dodges bullets and you can all see that in slow motion. It's not the only movie (or game) that uses that (see Max Payne) and there were attempts at recreating this as a game mechanic but it never really worked out that well. Even in Pistol Whip where you can avoid bullets in this kind of fashion it doesn't feel that awesome. The thing is, in Superhot, when you do not move everything is at a standstill. The moment you start moving everything will start to move as well. How fast you move is how fast everything else moves.

During your mission to destroy the pyramid you are attacked by red men that want to punch you, stab you or shoot you and what you need to do is (most of the time) get rid of them by pretty much the same actions but first you need to assess the situation grab a gun or anything you can use to kill them. All this requires movement at certain speed and that is the speed at which the enemies move and shoot. When you press the trigger on a gun or throw an object the time moves pretty fast for a short moment and you suddenly see how fast a bullet can reach you. The first few times the bullet will most likely hit you.

At first if you are not sure what to do or where your enemies are, it's good to move slowly and do not accelerate much. For example it's good to shoot after you actually see that someone fired so you already see the trajectory the bullet will follow. After you replay a part of a level several times you'll find out that you can clear that part in a lightning speed since you already know what will most likely happen.

Finishing a level is very rewarding no matter how you finish it. Each level consists of several parts. If you die you'll start over at the beginning of the level and need to go through all the parts again. Dying a lot though means that you get better fast and that you often finish the parts of levels in a spectacular fashion. It gives you the feeling of being a real action movie star. I have to say I was surprised how fast I could go through some parts. This game can be finished in 7 minutes if you speedrun it but you'll probably take much more time the first time you play it. The game can be finished in one hour even if you die a lot.

The enemies die after one hit no matter what hit them - be it a mug or a shotgun shot. The weapons in the game have limited number of rounds which is really nice. If you miss too much you'll have to use your fists or other items that are laying around. If there are none you are pretty much screwed. Bullets can also be stopped by items, guns or bullets but it's usually better to simply dodge. Friendly fire in the enemy ranks is actually something that happens too and you can use that to your advantage.

What I like about this game is that you actually need to shoot at the place the enemy will move into, not where the enemy is when you fire the shot (unless it's at a really short distance). Also you should use both hands to deal with your enemies and that is really cool. I don't like it when you have to use just one hand and this allowed me to freely use both hands and it felt pretty natural.

The game can be finished in one go and will make your brain think hard. You'll also move quite a lot.

Since I spoke about movement maybe I should note something. The game doesn't show Room-scale play area or a warning that it needs a lot of room but I have to say that after the initial scene in which I couldn't even reach the glass enemy I'd say it does require more room than a game that just shows 'Standing' (note my play area is small). When I was playing the game I actually moved quite a lot and punched furniture around me, the window and even my monitor. I literally walked out of the tracking area few times. Being able to freely move on a bigger play area actually feels great so I recommend having enough room around you.

As for the graphics I'm not entirely sure what to say. I like the concept, white environment that's not distracting and red enemies making them very easy to spot and you stay alert at all times. Stuff you can use to kill your enemies is black which is also easy to spot. Graphically it may look strange on screenshots but this simplicity allows you to concentrate on the game. It's actually great when you play.

The game is simple to grasp with great and unique play mechanic and is very fluid. While the game can seem repetitive you can always strive for more coolness or speed and it's always rewarding when you reach your goal. The game is short, can be finished in about an hour the first time you play it, which may be a negative aspect for some people since this game also costs 25 USD. The game has a good replayability though in my opinion. After you finish the game for the first time you can replay it to get better and learn how to speed run it or you can try some of the challenges that get unlocked. It is a game I'd highly recommend.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)

FORM

I was browsing list of games on Steam again and came across FORM which had a teaser that caught my eye: "Enter a surreal adventure where puzzles are built from dreams and memories. Solve the mystery behind an ancient artifact. Advance through a world that transforms around you. Transcend this existence."

A few minutes later I was standing in the middle of the night, trees around me, feeling chilly and staring at the game's menu. I created a new game and appeared in front of Dr. Eli's workspace. Dr. Eli is examining an ancient artifact and is on the bring of a discovery. You as Dr. Eli manage to somehow synchronize with the artifact and you wake up in your own mind where ideas can be read. Here you solve puzzles and eventually meet another sentient being.

The game is beautiful. The visuals are simply mesmerizing. The objects you manipulate are very well crafted and feel very solid even though you can't really touch them. As a player you can't walk around, you just appear in front of your puzzle and what you need you can reach (or bring it to yourself). After each step of a puzzle is complete the environment changes a bit and new part of the object/puzzle is shown to you. All the animations showing new stuff are pretty neat. They are visually pleasing and the sound that accompanies it is great. The soundtrack made me feel a bit strange though.

As for the story, I wouldn't even call it a story. It doesn't really have an ending or any kind of resolution. We don't learn anything about Dr. Eli, nor his wife. While the voice acting and intro are good the rest simply doesn't exist. I wish I would have found out more about Dr. Eli, his past or his personality. We don't even know what the artifact is, where it came from and who the unknown beings are. This way all I can say is that I was very disappointed because I expected at least some kind of a basic story.

Game play seemed to me similarly lacking. The puzzles are mostly of one kind and that is match two objects together. The puzzles become rather repetitive. They are not hard but it still takes time to manipulate everything. Sometimes you have to look through a blue ball to see more information but that's about it. In the second room you have to play certain melodies. Be it either by sound or color which was even less entertaining even though it sounded cool. If this game was supposed to be a puzzle game I'd expect a certain variety of puzzles and something that actually requires you to think a little (sometimes).

The game is short. I finished it in 77 minutes which included me staring at the different environments and doing some nonsense with objects producing light. While I enjoyed doing that it was the only thing I could do, since you can't walk around. To sum it up, the game is visually breathtaking. It's a bit dark and blurry but atmosphere is great. The soundtrack and sound effects are great and make you feel more otherworldly. Animations are great to look at and while the game gives you all the time in the universe to solve a puzzle there is some kind of a fast paced flow to how everything moves shifts around. I liked that. Story is nowhere to be found. Game play is simple, tedious and repetitive. Nothing to actually enjoy.

I would recommend this game to someone who wants to see what is possible in VR when it comes to abstract things but only if they just want to try to manipulate some objects and enjoy what they do under their hands (meaning have no expectations of game content). Otherwise I'd say this game is not worth its full price and I wouldn't recommend it.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)