Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
The narrative of this game is absolutely frightening. When I first played it some years ago, I was blown away by the attention to detail and twists and turns of the story. When I replayed it more recently, I instead felt that I was looking out my bedroom window, as though the writers had seen the future. I don’t know where Warren Spector is hiding his time machine, but I’d love to have a chat with him about it.
As for the game itself: if you’re willing to deal with some truly awful gunplay and some questionable controls, this is easily one of the greatest games ever made. It’s extremely difficult for me to describe the amazing feeling that comes from playing a good immersive sim; being able to hack specific ATM accounts because you read someone’s personal notes, reading newspaper articles that describe and flesh out the world just like a good book, the choices you have when it comes to conversations and interactions with both main characters and side characters; it all feels so real. I’ve truly never felt anything like it. I realize how cheesy that sounds, but I simply don’t have the talent for putting into words how incredible this game is underneath the dated exterior.
– Real player with 37.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cyberpunk Stealth Games.
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– Real player with 36.6 hrs in game
System Shock 2
The cult classic sci-fi horror FPS-RPG has returned.
System Shock 2 is an interesting game to review in 2014. When it first came out in 1999, it was met with a lot of praise from the gaming press, winning over a dozen awards, including several “Game of the Year” titles, and since then it has appeared on several “Greatest Games of All Time” lists. However despite the praise, not many people actually bought and played it.
It feels like System Shock 2 has been granted a second chance though. The success Irrational Games has had with BioShock and BioShock: Infinite has interested people enough to want to check out System Shock 2, which was the first game Irrational created. This is great news, because while you might not expect it, I feel that System Shock 2 is the best of all the “Shock” games. It makes you realize that for all of the steps forward we have taken in terms of technology, in a lot of ways modern gameplay has taken a few steps backwards.
– Real player with 161.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cyberpunk Horror Games.
System Shock 2 is a first-person science-fiction exploration-based action-adventure horror game with RPG mechanics developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios using the Dark Engine. Taking place after the first System Shock, the player-character awakes aboard the “Von Braun”, an empty starship devastated by a biological mass commanding an egregoric hive mind.
Whereas System Shock 1’s intimidating, obscure control scheme and sheer age would unappealingly cling to it as the years went on, its sequel’s reputation is of a kinder, more accessible game for modern audiences. System Shock 2 is often played as a standalone title, which its story and presentation gracefully allows, and historically this is often viewed as the preferable option. Yet in a number of significant ways, System Shock 2 can be as esoteric and uninviting as its predecessor. The start of the campaign, for instance, is marked by a pronounced learning curve, albeit mitigated by a tutorial, and there’s an unflattering chunkiness to the visuals, intensified by jerky, stretchy 3D animations. Oftentimes the presentation requires the player to mentally fill in the gaps themselves, projecting detail and significance where there is none. Much of the gameplay’s mechanics are abstrusely informed to the player, requiring uncomfortable guesswork or guide-consulting. Before even beginning the adventure, for instance, the player is forced to choose between multiple progressive tiers of precious skill points before knowing any details about what they do. In-game, multi-part objectives are often dumped onto the player all at once and out of order, creating an alienating sense of halted progression. This isn’t to say the comparison to System Shock 1 is unfounded. On multiple levels, System Shock 2 actively strives to be more inviting, understandable and instructive than its precursor. In other ways, the sheer gap of time and innovation between the two titles solidifies it as having more modern sensibilities. Unmissable tools exist to helpfully identify collected items, and there’s no shortage of exposition to elucidate details of the environment. An objectives tracker mercifully updates itself, keeping the player up-to-date on what they still need to do. The music and sound design are of a standard which is more refined, effective and deliberate than the first game’s implementation of the same, and the progression of the story is more carefully directed than would be achieved in any first-person action games from the prior title’s era. And it goes without saying that the control scheme supports mouselook for aiming and shooting, aiming generally to put the player’s attention on the gameworld itself, rather than the HUD.
– Real player with 69.3 hrs in game
System Shock: Enhanced Edition
System Shock: Enhanced Edition is a first-person science-fiction exploration-based action-adventure game developed by Looking Glass Studios for the unnamed System Shock engine, and re-released by Night Dive Studios via the KEX Engine. Set in the year 2072, the player takes control of an unnamed hacker who awakes from a six-month long medical coma on board a desolate space-station overrun by the biomechanical creations of the AI SHODAN.
Few games in 1994 were as forward-looking as Looking Glass Studios' System Shock, with regards to both its cyberpunk narrative and its game design sensibilities. Playing through the 10-14 hour long campaign, now easier than ever, unleashes an unprecedented presentation of considered design, creative scenarios and thoughtful storytelling. The techniques and technical details almost feel anachronistic with their modern standards for guiding and challenging the player. The moody worldbuilding of Citadel (System Shock’s space station) is still captivating, still authentically lived-in and narratively grounded as the end result of the engagingly told backstory. Amidst vocal email messages and scattered audiologs, the title features genuinely compelling vocal performances, with a pace of storytelling and presentation which gradually reveals an engaging, complex and startlingly fluid and confident story which sticks the landing by the end. The level design, while dense and mazelike, is kept navigable through aesthetic variety and recognizable landmarks. Meanwhile, the gradual escalation of stakes in both the gameplay and plot is masterful; SHODAN, who’s menacing personality and imposing power wouldn’t be replicated again, presents a dungeon-master-like sadism, and the cat-and-mouse progression of the player’s rivalry with her is a real delight.
– Real player with 52.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cyberpunk Immersive Sim Games.
I am a huge fan of System Shock 2 and consider it to be one of my personal favourite games ever. So you can imagine my delight when I was finally able to get my hands on and play the original System Shock here on steam. And whilst I still think SS2 is a much better game, I sincerely enjoyed playing this.
System Shock is an oldschool FPS in which you play as a hacker who must stop a rogue AI who has taken over the Citadel space station from taking over/destroying the Earth. Seems straightforward enough, but what I really like about the story is how it always feels like it’s moving forward. You wake up and find everything’s gone to hell. You desperately try and figure out what’s going on and how to stop it. And every time it seems like you’ve foiled SHODAN’s plans, she’s still one step ahead of you, so it’s up to you to keep up and try and save the Earth. I really like this as it seriously draws you in. You want to keep playing to find out what happens next and to get the last laugh in. Even though the graphics and controls haven’t aged well, I find System Shock to be a deeply immersive game.
– Real player with 47.9 hrs in game
Anachronox
Final score: 8/10
Pros: story; dialogue; music; combat; puzzle design
Cons: several major bugs; little to no explanation for certain game/combat mechanics; narrow windows for a handful of side quests and character upgrades
PC: 64-bit Windows 7, Intel i7. Ran smoothly from point of sale, no need for workarounds or additional patches.
Review: I have more to say about this game than I can type here or that most people would read. My first exposure to Anachronox was playing the demo included on a PCGamer disc back in my middle and high school years. It only included a small snippet of the game - the Sly Boots murder investigation in Whitendon. I was intrigued by nearly everything about the game design, and playing it in full almost two decades later I was not disappointed.
– Real player with 54.1 hrs in game
When I started playing this game I had no idea what to expect. I was initially struggling to get two other games set up and ready to stream (Jade Empire and Thief Gold) and so I was looking for a back-up game to stream instead and saw the name, remembered I got it years ago (most likely during a sale) and I gave the store a quick look just to get the genre correct for my organisation with how I name/organise my streams by game genre, ect. That said, what came next I was not prepared for!
My first stream of the game and my legitimate first-hand experience of this game: https://youtu.be/7r1T3DFndcs
– Real player with 53.8 hrs in game
Crime Cities
One of the forgotten ‘hidden gems’ from the 2000s.
It’s a fun, atmospheric, dystopian cyberpunk game of very high quality.
I’d say open-world. Somehow reminds me of GTA2 with 3 large maps with missions and some freedom for exploring. But the action itself is something like Descent or Forsaken, with the auto-leveling feature if you not the biggest fan of orienting in all the axis of 3D space.
I recommend checking it out if you like classic games.
It also works out-of-the-box on modern systems, and it’s OpenGL :)
– Real player with 27.2 hrs in game
Only if you like pointlessly difficult games. The factions are built up as tough guys and that’s just what they are. The story is a bit non existent though. Good for a bit of fun but gameplay isn’t so deep, buy weapons and shields, kill other flying cars, repeat. Oh, and at least a handful of missions you can’t complete, they either have no end or you always fail no matter what…that sucks.
A mission where you are on a scientific expedition, you are locked without an objective and have to quit or reload.
– Real player with 9.2 hrs in game
SiN Episodes: Emergence
After rushing 24 hours total with this. I´m done. I´ve played all the maps(story i mean), fanmade, Sin 1 Source maps, EVERYTHING. (those all i could find and download). I examined every place in all maps totally. So the fun would not end.
Positive things about this game:
-AI, so much better than in any other source game, enemies can get wounded, and can´t move, just noticed that in last map i played, they kick things at you, shoots exploding barrels (and maybe kick them towards you after that), they can melee better, using head example, they throw your grenades back to you(i think, i´m not sure about this one) and they can get health from healthstations example. So it´s more challangening to fight them.
– Real player with 24.4 hrs in game
A wise woman once said “born to stink, forced to smell”. In an age where the games industry was still finding its footing, smaller studios that once battled the giants for a foothold in the mainstream had to resort to workflows and content delivery methods that were less than conventional in an attempt to secure funding. Ritual Entertainment, one such company, found themselves in this precise predicament after their generally unrewarded work on SiN and Counter-Strike left them seeking a new source of income.
– Real player with 12.3 hrs in game
BloodNet
Don’t mind the hours spent in the game. After refunding it, I ended up buying it on GOG to give it another try.
I first want to preface this review by saying I went in totally blind. I have no nostalgia attached to it, and I come from a background of loving point-and-clicks. I also seek out any game of the cyberpunk genre I can get my hands on.
That said, I wanted to like this game, but it felt impossible to. I saw it and I thought it was some kind of miracle I hadn’t played it already. Even its subtitle “The Cyberpunk Vampire Game” seemed perfect (as well as amazingly corny) to me. The screenshots made it look fantastic in that old time-y gritty moody kind of way. I felt like whatever its cons were, I wouldn’t let it keep me from enjoying a game that looked like I would love. But despite playing for long enough to get a handle on it, it still didn’t work for me.
– Real player with 22.1 hrs in game
I’ll start just by saying that it is my favourite adventure (although it is much more) game. Bloodnet mixes elements of adventure and rpg. Among solving puzzles you command your small squad of friends and mercenaries in fights. There’s a lot of character statistics influencing combat, decking (travelling through cyberspace), crafting etc… Bloodnet tells a story of Ransom Stark, who is trying to lift a curse of vampirism. It is dark, mature and really sucks in. Ransom will meet a lot of interesting and well written characters. While combat sequences are not of best quality, great atmosphere makes up for it. Important element of Bloodnet is decking. Improving cyberdeck will help to experience it. It is not a point and click game (you won’t make a helicopter combining shoelaces and washing machine). Puzzles are interesting and logical. It is more of unraveling the story. If you like cyberpunk it is a must have. If you like vampires it is a must have.
– Real player with 12.6 hrs in game
Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death
If I went by the reviews I’d not have gotten this game nor wasted any time playing it. I got it on a Steam sale and it is worth full price.
Sure there are flaws, acknowledged. One of the levels stopped giving me hints and I got stuck. Exiting the game and reloading (not reinstalling) it brought back that levels hints so I could proceed. BTW that particular map was a little different that it required some thought to figure out how to defeat the judge.
But the game is FUN, not frustrating and I kept going even after sometimes dying a lot.
– Real player with 14.6 hrs in game
“Attention, patrons. There is a Dark Judge loose within the Smokatorium. Smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em.”
I don’t know how to go about calling this a “good game”. Which implies I’m under some sort of obligation to do so when I’m really not. And yet, with thirteen hours on Steam and umpteen more on console way back, I feel like I ought to. The truth is that Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death is a sloppy, mediocre mess – the very definition of a sub-par game – which by all conventional standards belongs in the bargain bin.
– Real player with 13.6 hrs in game
Omikron: The Nomad Soul
Omikron: The Nomad Soul has a very in-depth plot and constantly tries to break the fourth wall (whether it works or not) in order to convince you that your soul has been trapped inside the world of Omikron and that your soul and very existence outside the game is at stake in regards to the antagonist, the demon known as Astaroth. The characters you interact with in the main story are fleshed out in their own rights, some more than others. The player is able to interact with certain people at certain parts of the game and depending on what you say will determine what the character will reply with.
– Real player with 71.5 hrs in game
English Version
(Sorry, nie będzie polskiej wersji, nie mieści się. Chciałem umieścić w komentarzach ale jest limit 1000 znaków)
Omikron: The Nomad Soul is the first game of the Quantic Dream studio. It might as well be considered three games in one. For the major part of the gameplay it remains a TPP adventure game relying on the usual stuff: talking with NPCs and using items. Occasionally it switches to FPP shooter or hand to hand 1 on 1 brawler kind of similar to early instalments of the Tekken or Virtua Fighter series. It is worth mentioning that all of these are made pretty solid and none of them feels like it was forced into the gameplay without a reason (well, maybe with the exception of swimming, but it occurs 2 or 3 times in the entire game, which is acceptable).
– Real player with 21.4 hrs in game
Slave Zero
Slave Zero is a Underrated Third-Person Shooter.
I’ve decided to rewrite this review because my old one was kind of crap but also it’s this game’s 20th Anniversary which is actually “October 31st, 1999”, and also I love this game.
Slave Zero is Fu*king Awesome, an example of an Underrated Classic that needs to be Revived or Remastered. In this game you play as a giant robot called Slave Zero, smashing up cars, buildings, and destroying other robots. This is one of the first games that has came up with this concept and it still works great today.
– Real player with 34.0 hrs in game
It is hard for me to write about this game since I undoubtedly view it through nostalgia goggles, but I believe it still holds up quite well today. The game is very fun to play with great controls, a great variety of enemies, and beautifully designed futuristic areas.
I’ve noticed a lot of people comment on the story. The story is there purely for story’s sake — it is the glue that ties all the missions together. Don’t expect any intricate character development, or any sort of interaction among the characters whatsoever. Most of the exposition is presented at the very start of the game in the opening sequence and that’s that. The hero of the game, Ch’an, doesn’t communicate much with the rest of the cast - he merely executes Guardians' (the rebels) orders. This can be either good or bad depending on your preferences. If you’re the kind of player that likes to assume the role of the protagonist - then this is the game for you - but on the other hand, it is hard to have some clear idea in terms of what Ch’an is like. The intro states that “Ch’an must permanently merge with the Slave,” meaning he’s doomed to stay inside the robot for all eternity Neon Genesis Evangelion style. It would be interesting to read about his backstory, but the game is so fast paced and focused on bringing down Sovkhan that there’s never really any time to address that. It is only near the end of the game, during the final mission, when Sovkhan reveals (spoiler alert!) that he murdered Ch’an’s father which possibly explains Ch’an’s decision to permanently merge with the robot. Unfortunately, since the plot never really makes you feel invested in the characters, this grand revelation felt very underwhelming and anticlimatic. But you don’t play Slave Zero for the story! It is the fast-paced action packed gameplay, one of a kind atmosphere, amazingly intricate boss fights, and great atmospheric music that makes the game what it is. All in all, It is a great cyberpunk adventure that is still very fun to play now.
– Real player with 16.6 hrs in game