DARK SOULS™: Prepare To Die™ Edition
Short version :
One of the best RPG games EVER made, that’s coming from a gamer who’s played over a hundred RPG titles in his life.
Dark Souls - 9.5/10
_Long Version :
Darks Souls….. so much to say about this game.
The game throws the player in a very difficult world, not just by gameplay standards, but plotwise as well. The story / lore is depicted in such a way that it’s never speaking to the player directly, but rather to your character, it never breaks the 4th wall by directly telling the player what to do and how to do it, only the basic attack move buttons are given to you at the beginning, and from then on, you’re completely on your own for the rest of the 50+ hour journey. Unless you get a co-op partner that is._
– Real player with 254.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Souls-like Dark Fantasy Games.
TLDR: Yes.
Dark Souls has issues.
While most entertainment experiences go out of their way to encourage your interest, it feigns indifference to your attention.
Introducing itself via bizarre and meaningless cut scenes you find your protagonist in a pretty dull dungeon. “Oh look, a man with a sword viewed from third person” you observe with a mounting sense of déjà vu. “No doubt I have a healing potion and a sense of manifest destiny somewhere in my bag too” and reach for the reset button/cyanide pill. But Dark Souls IS different - not that it is keen to show off. Like Usain Bolt winning the Dad’s race on sport day mumbling something about how he probably jumped the gun, Dark Souls’ initial coyness infuriates and astounds with equal measure.
– Real player with 242.8 hrs in game
DARK SOULS™ II
Everything is fair
– Real player with 236.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Souls-like Dark Fantasy Games.
The souls series is one of my favorite series ever, and this game is no different. ignore the hate for this game, its a good game, its just a 9 in a series of straight 11’s, one of the games has to be at the bottom and it just so happens to be this one, but that does not make it a bad game. I would recommend this game to all, including souls vets who have never played it and anyone new trying to get into the series.
– Real player with 182.3 hrs in game
The Surge 2
The Surge 2 is nearly a universal improvement from the first game. It’s still far from perfect, but it’s clear the game was created with massive amounts of fan feedback. Deck 13 has shown they are determined not to just make a Souls clone, as this game innovates even further and brings the combat complexity and combo potential far above any Souls-like, including Nioh.
Gameplay:
This is the main selling point of The Surge 2. The gameplay is so full of nuance and complexity, while still being even more approachable than any other Souls. All your attacks can be cancelled into dodges or parries, allowing you to deal with large packs of enemies without needing to worry about getting caught in slow move, watching your character slowly swing into their certain death. Your basic 2 or 3 hit R1/R2 combo is replaced with at least 4 hits per attack, but mixing the two creates alternate unique combos with new moves (R1 R2 R2 for example.) With the new cancelling system, you can really go crazy with huge combos, then instantly switch to defense when you see an incoming blow. It’s a fantastic design shift that lets you always keep up the pressure.
– Real player with 93.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Souls-like Difficult Games.
Despite the fact that it took me exactly two month waiting for dev to fix some issues so I can finally play the game smoothly, The Surge 2 successfully brought back my joy to the first game with improved system, upgraded arsenal, and story sequence to the ending of first game.
Things I like about The Surge 2:
1. Improved Energy System
The Surge 2 turns the energy system into vital combat element. In the first game, the usage of energy is limited to drone attacks and excecutions. Besides finishing weakened enemies, the energy is useless in combat. The Surge 2 recognizes this problem and reworks the system to something revolutionary. Instead of drones, energy system now ties with your healing injectables. This decision is bold and greatly enhances the battle intensity. If you want to heal, you need to be aggressive, frequently attack your enemies to gain energy in order to produce healing injectables. Turtling is ill-adviced and can often expose yourself in situations you wish you had full health to deal with.
– Real player with 69.6 hrs in game
Death’s Gambit: Afterlife
The Afterlife expansion has revived this game from mediocre into an amazing experience, and I still cant believe its all for FREE for previous owners of the original:
-The gameplay is smoother
-Build/weapon diversity is wider
-World is larger and features much more exploration and secrets
-Fantastic Musical score
-Old boss revamps and balancing was very welcome, and the all new ones were great too (except for one, screw that bird boi)
-The new endings make the end feel much better than before.
If you’re a fan of metroidvania’s, this one now stands up there with the best ones such as blasphemous and hollow knight. Check it out!
– Real player with 52.2 hrs in game
I think playing this game 3 times for me is enough. I wanted to see all the endings - I did, I wanted to visit whole map - I did. I wanted to kill all he bosses in heroic mode - well not really, but even if I’m achievements hunter I knew I won’t “kill the game” in speed run without dying so I won’t have 100% here anyway haha. Why I’m writing this like that? Well, I didn’t think I will actually finish this game multiple times, but because you start new game as a NG+ killing bosses again is faster with already upgraded stats and eq so game itself is later faster. Story was very interesting, voice acting on very high level (Hi Matthew Mercer :D ), music is really beautiful and I have weakness for pixel art so of course I love that one too. Game really worth playing!
– Real player with 51.9 hrs in game
Story
Really interesting project, even if you just walk for the most of the time, the number of endings is quite impressing, but i can’t find out how i should get this many endings. It’s kinda weird the interaction with the objects, you can just watch them so it’s hard to tell if something changes when you “use” them. I’m waiting the update that should be released in these days.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Good visuals if you remove the gray filters that make it hard to make out objects, more obstacles in the infinitely long pathways and also the controls are very bad also cinematic mode is weird also the skeleton looks funny running and also the enemies die in 1 hit and also the skeleton bowl doesnt accept my ball so i have to rule the tomb until judgement day
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
Ashen
This game deserves way more love!
I hardly ever see anyone talking about it, and I really don’t know why it’s so under the radar…
It has almost everything I seek in a Souls-like:
-
Very good combat and animations;
-
Incredible athmosfere;
-
A lot of exploration.
I must say this review will seem quite negative, but that’s simply because I tend to remember things I dislike way more than things I like in pretty much everything I consume. But that doesn’t necessarily mean my overall opinion is bad… ¯_(ツ)_/¯
– Real player with 57.4 hrs in game
Tl;dr after finishing the game (and the DLC), including the Children of Sissna mode. Steam really needs a yellow sideways thumb, but since there isn’t one, this goes into the not recommended bargain bin if you want to check it when it’s on sale. Greatly unepic after shedding the mantle of Epic exclusivity. It earns enormous merits in art, visuals, sound direction and world building. But it’s marred by iffy, erratic and sluggish combat, janky hitboxes, mostly terrible AI companions, unrewarding exploration and levelling, overabundance of weapons that don’t make much difference, an atrocious final boss and something called the Children of Sissna mode, which is anything but a fair game. It boggles me that anyone thought that would make for a fun experience. And all of this, somewhat miraculously, still makes it an okish game inspired by a long line of soulslikes. But not a great recommendation.
– Real player with 48.3 hrs in game
DARK SOULS™ II: Scholar of the First Sin
I am kind of surprised that I have not reviewed this game yet, Surprise! It’s my favorite of the series. I played DS2 twice as much as I did DS and DS3 combined. DS2 really hit the mark as slower pace, tactical, and methodical combat. I love the variety of viable builds in the game. I love the fashion in the this game compared to the others. I love the community that still plays this game and there are fair number of people on my friends list that I have met through this game.
I’m a a Sunbro at heart and the thing that I love the most about this game is the “Frigid Outskirts”. Growing up in Minnesota, it really made feel like home. I spent a good deal of time throwing my summons sign next to Vengarl of Forossa’s sign in the hopes that the host would choose us both of which they very often did. I would stick to Vengarl’s side like glue and watch his back and he would watch mine. It would be me, Vengarl, the host, and maybe another summons going across the frozen waste. Me trying to keep the host from going the wrong direction or running when the blizzard hits. As long as Vengarl was alive, I would be alive and as long as I was alive, Vengarl would be alive except for the times that he got donkey kicked off of the cliff.
– Real player with 598.4 hrs in game
After doing this game 100% I can safely say this game is an unfair piece of trash game that just wants you to suffer. The bosses are not the issue I did not find them to be unfair for the most part, yet they definitely are not good, the problem lies in the level design where the developers just decided to spam the same enemies over and over and over to just gank you as much as possible, so you suffer as much as they feasibly could make you because their goal was not to make a game like Dark Souls 1 where the player is supposed to overcome the challenges, the goal of the developers was to make a difficult game completely ignoring the vision of 1 where the difficulty is not the focus heck, even the intro tells you how many times you will die.
– Real player with 144.3 hrs in game
ELDEN RING
THE NEW FANTASY ACTION RPG.
Rise, Tarnished, and be guided by grace to brandish the power of the Elden Ring and become an Elden Lord in the Lands Between.
• A Vast World Full of Excitement
A vast world where open fields with a variety of situations and huge dungeons with complex and three-dimensional designs are seamlessly connected. As you explore, the joy of discovering unknown and overwhelming threats await you, leading to a high sense of accomplishment.
• Create your Own Character
In addition to customizing the appearance of your character, you can freely combine the weapons, armor, and magic that you equip. You can develop your character according to your play style, such as increasing your muscle strength to become a strong warrior, or mastering magic.
• An Epic Drama Born from a Myth
A multilayered story told in fragments. An epic drama in which the various thoughts of the characters intersect in the Lands Between.
• Unique Online Play that Loosely Connects You to Others
In addition to multiplayer, where you can directly connect with other players and travel together, the game supports a unique asynchronous online element that allows you to feel the presence of others.
Lords Of The Fallen™
I decided to write a review of this game because most of the recent reviews are from people who have barely played the game (some haven’t even completed the game) with very little achievement progress. I have spent almost 200 hours playing this game, and have earned every achievement. This may go without “saying”, but I’ll “say” it anyway: I’m going to attempt to chronicle my way through this game and the process I used to learn about the mechanics and what I found frustrating. I used an XBox 1 controller, so button references will be made accordingly.
– Real player with 199.5 hrs in game
This is a hard review to write. In many ways, I REALLY like the game. In other ways, I’m very frustrated with and dislike it.
The graphics are excellent, even today. On the other hand, the gameplay is extremely frustrating. I’ve gotten to the Labryinth and have “hit a wall” when it comes to patience.
Here’s what I mean:
1. There is no way to adjust the difficulty if it is above your abilities. Yes, I admit I’m not a great gamer. I’ll never compete.
I play games recreationally to blow off steam and relax. No relaxation here. When I first started with the game I died about 20 times (killed or game crashes (see below)) trying to get past the 2nd boss (the Commander). WAY too difficult for the reasons I want to play games.
– Real player with 72.1 hrs in game
Mithos
The last moon needs you
Mithos is a semi-open world fantasy Filipino 2D ARPG featuring a vast world of pre-colonial Philippines with historical polities, traditions, architectures and brutal weapons of war set in late 1400s. Join Bughaw as he fight ferocious mythological beasts and monsters in a Real-Time combat system to save the last moon against the Great Four Moon Eaters.
Hirangbanwa, A Medieval-Themed Philippines
Explore the archipelago of Hirangbanwa where multiple polities like Tondun, Kaboloan, Sibung and Butawan rule over the islands. Discover the culture and livelihood of multiple polities, from the way they live, The gods they worship, and political conflicts.
Coexist with malevolent creatures
The world is filled with dangerous and evil creatures that has been told by the ancestors of the land for centuries. From the impish Duwendes, Blood thirsty Sigbin even the larger Juggernauts like the Ikugan (Filipino Bigfoot) and Bungisngis, the giggling cyclops are there just waiting for you to make the wrong move.
A very simple Action RPG game
Improve your reflex skills by reading each monster’s unique attack pattern and skills. Discover which type of weapon works better for a specific monster and how would they react on those specific weapons.