Month: February 2025

Solasta 2 – Demo Impressions

Tactical Adventures recently released a demo for Solasta 2, and being a fan of their first game, Solasta: Crown of the Magister, I couldn’t help but throw myself over the demo. But before eagerly diving in, I had some concerns since its announcement, seeing as they now have ditched the game engine Unity for Unreal, starting development fresh from scratch. To my surprise and delight, I didn’t have to worry. Solasta 2 looks absolutely phenomenal, and it runs well too – considering the engine. 

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Sniper Elite: Resistance – Déjà vu Edition

Brush up your French, monsieur, because we are going back to France. However, this time we are ditching the mass-murdering expert sharpshooter Karl Fairburne, for the new and somewhat unfortunate looking British fella Harry Hawker. It’s not that it matters much, as they could be the same person, with the only difference being the accent. Sniper Elite: Resistance follows the exact same gameplay formula that was set by the earlier titles. I must say, though, it’s getting a bit long in the tooth, even if I like the premise. There is just so little added in mechanics, and the story remains as unengaging as ever.

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Command & Conquer 4 – What the hell?

Having never played the final game in the Command & Conquer series before, I thought it was about time. To finally experience the ending for myself, and see how the legacy of Kane finishes. I know about the controversy, of course. How disappointed fans were of this release – but, really, how bad can it truly be? Well, as I soon learned, very bad indeed. The suffering starts even way before actually playing the game. To play Command & Conquer 4 you must first login to their servers, and nine times out of ten, the EA servers just refuse to connect. Luckily, or should I say, unluckily, I managed to log on…

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[Book Tip] Deus Ex: Black Light by James Swallow

In my review of the novel Deus Ex: Icarus Effect by the same author. I wrote that Icarus Effect was almost required reading to understand Deus: Ex: Human Revolution – at least when it comes to the finer details, and the antagonists. Well, in contrast, Black Light is mandatory reading. It’s amazing how many important plot points this book sets up for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. When I played Deus Ex: Mankind Divided back in the day, it left me utterly confused why I was in Prague, what actually happened after the Panchaea incident, and the general state of the world. Black Light explains everything, while also being a good book to boot. Minor beginning spoilers incoming.

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Kingdom Come 2 – Boring Beginnings

I decided to give Kingdom Come 2 a go, since I liked certain parts of the first outing. Specifically, the sandbox nature of the game that reminded me of such classics like Gothic & Risen. What I didn’t enjoy that much, like many of Vavra’s (the game director) games, is the cinematic approach to storytelling. You are constantly being railroaded, with long segments of endless cutscenes with varying quality of dialogue. You might think you are given a choice, but narratively, the story and the protagonist (Henry) is set in stone. For example, going on a full murder spree on some poor village folk, has a clear disconnect from the narrative. Henry, as he is realized in the first game, is a good boy, and wouldn’t do these things. Kingdom Come is not my favorite game or anything, but it was okay for one playthrough thanks to the unique setting, which the sequel now no longer can lean on.

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