Recent reviews by Dr. Yazman

A classic, oldschool Ultima style RPG with modern quality of life features and interface. This is probably game of the year 2024 for me, as it was the total package!

The storyline is interesting and kept me invested the entire way through. Every town has a situation and story that you want to learn more about, and the worldbuilding itself is just fascinating.

IF you're in it for the combat - there's plenty to enjoy here. You can play this simply and straightforward if you like, but if you're more into the character building, optimising, strategic gameplay - the game lets you go plenty deep into that too.

If you like RPGs of any kind, even if you've never played this sort of RPG before, do yourself a favor and get this! You'll love it!

I thought this was a brilliant game. Outcore has a cute story about a girl who finds herself in your computer and doesn't know where she is. I won't say much more than that, but it's a heartwarming tale in the end, even though it has its horrifying moments.

Gameplay wise it's really inventive and doesn't fit into any neat genre boxes. It has point & click adventure game elements, but it also has platform game sections, and it even has an idle game minigame where you write some really basic computer code in order to solve the puzzles in each level (although the game gives you the commands). I found the variety great.

The most interesting part of the game is the way it interacts with your actual desktop environment. A lot of the game takes place just on your normal desktop, and you can even be doing other tasks while playing. It's really unique and I love what the developer did here.

Overall, this is a unique game with several gameplay elements. For the most part if you find something too hard you can easily skip it, and the puzzle solving parts of the game I generally didn't find too arcane. They were all pretty logical.

Definitely check this out!

This is a hell of an addictive game, and has a lot more depth than you probably think it does. This is a version of Snake, but what it really is, is a creative arena type roguelike with lots of different options and strategies available as you progress through the game. Really enjoyable!

I absolutely loved this game.

Yet another highly imaginative game from The Brotherhood, we have a far future, post-apocalyptic South Africa. There is a deep integration of local South African cultural ideas and aesthetics, which give this game a unique flavor that I haven't seen captured anywhere else.

Additionally, the characters, societies, technology and more that accompany the setting are all brilliantly creative themselves. The party members you get are all likeable and have their own problems and issues that you can respond to in different ways. I think this game has some good replay value, especially with some of the different decisions you can make, and the attitudes you can have when talking to others.

Visually this game looks great - fitting in well with modern takes on the isometric RPG. There is no combat, of course, meaning it does play like a point & click adventure game - so if you expect lots of combat like in Fallout, Baldur's Gate, etc - you won't find that here. Additionally, the game has a good soundtrack to go along with its nice visuals.

The only cons I can think of that are that the interface, while simple and easy to understand, could be a bit quicker to use in places like the main menus, but this is never a major problem. There were also a few puzzles that took me a while to figure out, but that's just how it is with RPGs and adventure games sometimes.

Overall an excellent game that I highly recommend - a fascinating setting with a good story and characters. If you enjoy story-oriented games, you'll like this for sure.

This expansion pack is such a major addition to the game, with so much content, that I really can't imagine playing without it. A must buy if you own Football: Tactics & Glory, in my opinion.

This was a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awesome game.

The art was nice, the music was always well-suited and added greatly to the atmosphere.

There was an array of characters that I quickly got invested in and cared about all the way through to the end. Some great twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat.

I also learnt a lot about English history playing this and there was a nice realistic feel of a similar sort to Kingdom Come: Deliverance where the portrayal of life is grounded more in portraying aspects of life that medieval stories normally don't show - i.e. fulling, milling, monastic life. A lot of fascinating stuff in there.

By the end, I was amazed at how far everyone had come. It was a great story, and one that I will definitely revisit in the future. Don't miss this!

A pretty cool point & click adventure game set in a 1920s style/prohibition-era fantasy world. You play as a dwarven hero from the middle ages who fought against a powerful magical foe and saved the world so to speak, but then went into retirement shortly after and have been a hermit ever since. Now your axe is stolen and you have to go back out into the world to find it, witnessing the industrial revolution and how much the world left you behind.

Don't listen to all the people ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Maybe this game doesn't run too well on last gen consoles, but on my PC I've had solid performance and generally few bugs - no more than one would expect from any AAA RPG on release (some, but nothing gamebreaking or killer).

THINGS YOU MIGHT LIKE:

-It has a fantastic setting with lots of places to see - just walking around and exploring this game is fun if you're the kind of person who likes to do that.

-It has a great soundtrack with everything from black metal to hip hop.

-The story is good, with some interesting & likeable characters, as well as a lot of really fun sidequests.

-Gameplay is fun, with missions - especially sidequests - generally giving you lots of options for stealth, routes in & out, and different styles of combat choices available if you prefer to charge in screaming.

-Kind of relating to the first good point I highlighted, the game is really immersive. I spent the first hour of the game not even leaving the first room because I was browsing the in-game internet. I suddenly stopped mid-conversation because I heard an interesting news report come up on a TV in the same room, so I ran away to watch it, then went back to browsing the web in-game. Absolutely great stuff. There's a lot of storytelling that goes on through visual aspects throughout the gameworld, from tourist NPCs ridiculing manic street preachers and forcing them to take selfies with them, to little notes and chat logs throughout the game world, and many other little things.

-One thing I also love is a little thing, but the dialogue system isn't linked to your character movement. As long as you're in the same room or a resonable distance as a character, you can be doing stuff, walking around, looking around, etc while holding a conversation with someone. It's a great touch.

-I love the way the hacking system is integrated. It's basically an overlay you can bring up at any time to scan things, see information about them, and then ♥♥♥♥ with things/people/etc. The scanning also has the added fun factor of, you can scan every person in the game and see a little information about them. You can also scan vehicles, objects, machines, etc and get some information about them too. If you scan a person and they've committed crimes before that have been reported to the police, you can see what they've been accused of or done as well.

THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE:

-If you're looking for a big open world action game like GTA, Sleeping Dogs, or Saints Row, this is not the game for you. CD Projekt games have always been linear RPGs. "But Yazman, there's an open world I can run around!" you might say. Don't be fooled by the guns & cars - this game is in the style of games like The Witcher 3 or Dragon Age Inquisition: meaning it's a linear RPG that *looks and feels* like an open world game. Just like those games, if you're not doing the main quest then the only thing you'll be doing is side quests. And that's fine. because the content is great! But if you're expecting something like GTA/Saints Row/etc you'll be sorely disappointed because this just isn't that sort of game.

-Somewhat relating to the above, this game is more of an immersive sim in the vein of Deus Ex, Prey (2017), System Shock, etc - don't go in expecting an RPG like Disco Elysium, Fallout 2, or Planescape: Torment. That means it's fairly light on dialogue outside of the main quest & side quests. Dialogue trees generally are not broad or very deep, and while there are instances of player choice, choice in this game is more about your approach to gameplay and problem solving than it is about flexibility in the story itself. It is, again, a good CD Projekt game. Don't expect something like what another developer might make.

-If you're on a low-spec PC or a mid-range PC then you'll probably want to consider waiting until a few patches are out, unless you're willing to turn the graphics details down a lot. I have awesome performance, but I also have a very high spec PC

OVERALL:

Be aware of the caveats I noted above before buying this. Otherwise, if you love games like Thief, System Shock, Prey (2017), Deus Ex, etc - you're going to absolutely love this. If you're a fan of CD Projekt's previous games then I'm sure you'll also love this. It's a great game with a cyberpunk setting that has clear influences from classic stuff like Blade Runner and others, and if you're into that you'll also like this game.

As a huge fan of the original game, I think this is well worth playing. It's an excellent continuation!

-The story is good. It's fun to return to Union City and see how it has changed over time. If you haven't played the original I think you'll find it to be a fun and interesting setting.

-The art is well made. It does a Telltale-like visual style combined with obvious comic book influences.

-Gameplay is pretty simple and the puzzles are generally not that hard to figure out. It doesn't have the issue that some adventure games have of weird, bizarre solutions to things. And the hacking mechanic is pretty fun. I really enjoyed running around wreaking havoc with my hacker device.

If you didn't play the original - which a lot of people these days probably haven't - then don't worry. The important parts of the plot of the first game are summarised in the intro to this and any other necessary stuff explained through, but you don't need to have played the first one at all. For those who did there's some fun little references sprinkled throughout the game.

IF YOU:

-Like Telltale-style adventure games, or
-Played Beneath A Steel Sky

THEN GET THIS!

PROS:

-A unique take on the cyberpunk genre that focuses around virtual reality and augmented reality.
-A completely awesome soundtrack by Master Boot Record
-Nice art!
-Classic point & click adventure. I love that style of game and if you do too you'll love this.

CONS:

-The puzzles were sometimes a little hard for me.