Recent reviews by allwrong

"Divinity: original sin" enhanced edition is more what I would have expected from the enhanced edition of the original Baldur's Gate. As much as I like the original Baldur's Gate, Divinity beats its immersion easily. Great game, great sound, nice graphics, fantastic gameplay.

This is one of these cases why I (and it seems I'm not alone) would appreciate somewhat more resolution in the scoring system, or at least a "neutral" scoring option. The game certainly isn't terrible, and the amount of work that went into creating a game as huge as this one, in particular in comparison to its predecessor, is reason alone for giving Almost Human some credit.

This being said, while I initially enjoyed it, I had to force myself to continue and to finish it and I simply cannot recommend a game that feels like a chore. Still, I did finish it, and I am, as such, expecting the occasional moronic comment saying "So you give a thumbs down to a game you have spent more than 100 hours playing, lol?". Just as I would expect a movie critic to watch the whole movie before reviewing it, I cannot understand why this should be any different for a video game. I have bought the game and I am entitled to play it to the end and still have an opinion about it that might deviate from yours. Still, it is, obviously, my personal opinion that has been shaped by the copy of Eye of the Beholder II, which I got in 1993 and which is, arguably, one of the greatest grid-based dungeon crawlers of all time. This experience has set me on a quest for a similar experience, which I was unable to obtain up to now.

So, here we have it, the good, the meh, and the ugly.

The good:
- The graphics are very good and the surroundings are diverse, especially in comparison to LoG1.
- The music is immersive and very suited for the type of game.
- Some of the puzzles are rather inventive and puzzles are certainly not repetitive.
- The bestiarium is varied.
- At least there is some story, in LoG1 there was none at all. In the beginning of LoG2, the game feels driven by a bit of mystery ("Where am I?", "Why am I here?", "Who is doing this and why?"). However, it wears off pretty quickly (see below).
- The game world is huge.
- The idea of the farmer class and its leveling is really inventive.

The meh:
- While the game world is huge, it also is very connected. An item in area 1 could be a key item you'd need in area 2 on the other end of the map, sometimes without a clear hint.
- The amount of puzzles is so high that you might wonder whether Almost Human really wanted to create a Dungeon Master kind of game or rather something like Myst. While I was able to solve most of the puzzles independently, for some of the puzzles, the hints were really way too vague.
- While there is a considerable amount of spells that can be learnt, they are all pretty much the same in the end.
- The firearms skill turns out to be a major letdown.

The ugly:
- It feels very strange that attributes (strength, dexterity, vitality, willpower) are raised much more during the course of the game than skills. E.g., while my minotaur barely managed to maximize three skills (15 skill points in total) by the end of the game, his strength went up from 25 to 65.
- Still no NPCs, which also implies that the party you start out with is up to 4 characters and cannot be extended, nor changed during the course of the game.
- Almost all monsters, from the beginning of the game to the end, have a ridiculous amount of hit points and really do tons of damage. Even your level 15 party can be brought down by just a few of the earlier monsters surrounding you.
- As the story really never develops, it blands out very quickly and the interaction between the party and the main antagonist is mostly limited to taunting notes that are left behind by the latter, revealing no plot at all.

After more than 15 years, this game certainly can hold its own against a great number of much more recent titles without looking outdated. The atmosphere, the storyline, the gameplay is nothing less than sublime. Even after all these years, entering Ravenholm still can send chills down one's spine. The gravity gun still creates a feeling of power, even more so towards the end of the game. The levels are varied, balanced and very, very immersive.

As such, also in view of the excellent episodes that were released later on, although not technically DLC, I do believe that this game deserves the 2021 Steam award for Labor of Love and hope that many more will agree with this point of view!

If you're talking value for money, this game still is one of the best you can do... ever. To me, the game doesn't have a lot of replay value, but... who cares, you don't need any, as you simply can go on and on and on... The landscapes are beatiful, the storyline has been carefully considered, the quests are exciting, combat is intuitive and fun...

On the downside, the (graphical) improvements of the "Special Edition" with respect to the original are barely noticeable and some of the character interactions are a bit annoying. This is similar to previous TES chapters, e.g. little things such as imperial soldiers telling you that they are "keeping an eye on you", which is not the way a soldier would address an imperial legate, but also some repetitive stuff, such as the infamous "but then I took an arrow to the knee". Nevertheless, these are all just minor flaws in an otherwise incredible game.

Best game in the Hitman franchise, as far as I am concerned. There is such an incredible variety of ways to complete your mission and, more importantly, it is actually fun to replay a certain level multiple times! On the other hand, many of the weapons seem to be in the game simply for the sake of having a lot of weapons available. Nevertheless, this is a winner!!!