PC Game Review: Borderlands - Game Of The Year Edition

Originally published at https://www.vgr.com/borderlands-goty-edition-pc-game-review/

GAME: Borderlands Game Of The Year Edition
RELEASED: 04/03/2019
DEVELOPER: Gearbox Software
PUBLISHER: 2K
AVAILABLE ON: PC (Steam), XBOX One, PS4

The Original Looter Shooter

Gearbox is a developer that most gamers probably have a bit of a love/hate relationship with. When they aren’t busy pissing off the collective Alien and Duke Nukem fandoms, there is one franchise that they seem to put more effort into. And that is of course their very own IP, Borderlands.

If you’ve never heard of Borderlands, you have probably heard of the term looter shooter. It’s a term that gets thrown around quite a bit nowadays, but Borderlands was in many ways the first of its kind. It’s best described as someone at Gearbox having the lovely idea of getting Diablo and Call Of Duty together in a bedroom with some sexy music and letting nature do its thing. What we ended up with was a pretty addictive game that combined FPS combat with hack’n’slash mechanics.

When your co-op partner gets a perfect headshot on the person you’re about to attack. 😛

The original Borderlands was in that regard a very original shooter when it came out in 2009. Being a co-op shooter, it gave you four heroes to choose from. The so-called “vault hunters” who each had a distinct personality and skill sets.

You had Mordecai, the brooding hunter type with his pet bird of prey Bloodwing, with skills that makes him an excellent gunslinger and sniper. You had Brick, a towering mountain of a man capable of wielding rocket launchers with ease and punching enemies into submission. There was Roland, the soldier type more focused on support with his trusty turret. And finally there was Lilith, a siren. Sirens in Borderlands are legendary females with blue tattoos who are gifted with immense powers. Lilith has the power to literally enter another dimension, an ability called phasewalk. She is also more centered around elemental damage than the other hunters and has skills more focused on SMG’s and automatic weapons, as well as crowd control.

The plot in Borderlands is pretty simple. You learn that Patricia Tannis, an archeologist on a planet called Pandora is studying something called Vaults, which she isn’t entirely sure on what is but she seems to have found one on Pandora and intends to find a way to open it. As the four vault hunters, your main task in the game becomes to assist Tannis in her journey towards opening the Vault and finding out what’s on the other side. This of course would be an easy task if Pandora wasn’t also an incredibly harsh environment with not only local wildlife to deal with but also humans that have either turned insane or are there to seize the Vault for themselves.

The Game of the Year Edition of Borderlands adds “heads” which are essentially just accessories to your character.

What Makes It Different?

Being the game’s 10th anniversary, it’s therefore a perfect time to release a remaster of the game. Because while it is a great game, it still suffers from being the first in the series, with a lot of the quality-of-life improvements from Borderlands 2 having always felt absent from it. And therefore I would argue it is the game that has benefited from a remaster the most compared to the games in the Handsome Collection which were essentially just glorified texture packs. The Game of the Year Edition of Borderlands is a far more substantial update of the core game that adds those improvements back into the first game and also updates the visuals by an incredible amount.

The SHiFT system is now in full swing in Borderlands 1, meaning you have access to a golden chest in the game’s many main locations which can be used to get really good loot at your current level.

You now have a minimap in addition to the compass from the first game. An issue in the original game was always navigation since the compass would only give you a vague idea of where something was. With the minimap and the game’s added objective markers, you’re now never stuck being unsure of where something is during one of the game’s many fetch quests. And it also shows enemy locations which helps a lot during combat.

Another issue in the first game was that you had to manually pick up everything, which included stuff like money and ammunition. This is now fixed so that like in Borderlands 2 you automatically suck up consumables, which probably is one of the most welcome fixes to the game.

Inventory has been massively overhauled, with items now being markable as junk or locked so that you can’t accidentally lose them. You can also sell all items marked as junk in any store with a single key press

What Makes It Unique?

Despite the changes that makes Borderlands 1 play more like Borderlands 2, it is still a very different game at its core. The gameplay in general is far slower and more tactical, with more focus on shooting from cover and advantageous locations than running around blasting enemies. The difficulty is generally higher which means that running and gunning is more likely to get you killed faster, even if you have a decent shield. Compared to the sequels which had gameplay that felt much faster paced and twitchy, it definitely makes the game feel unique to play.

There is of course also the lack of the trademark humor from Borderlands 2, since Borderlands 1 in general had a more laid back tone to it. So if you were never a fan of the writing in Borderlands 2, you may still enjoy Borderlands 1. That’s not to say Borderlands 1 isn’t funny at times either, it definitely has some funny references and quirks, but it never reaches the same points that the sequels made.

Boom.

The combat also feels distinctly gorier, with heads actually exploding when you get a perfect headshot, something that was missing in the sequels. And with Borderlands 1 being the only game where you could get snipers and SMG’s with explosive elements, it also has a more diverse feel with the weapons, since the explosive element isn’t exclusive to a single manufacturer like it was in the sequels.

And of course it has to be mentioned that cars are just the most powerful weapon in the game, capable of running over pretty much any enemy and making them explode instantly. Granted this does damage your car a fair bit when running over heavily armored enemies or corrosive element enemies, but it still feels amazingly overpowered. Compared to the sequels where your car dealt more realistic damage to enemies, it feels almost comical in comparison but not lacking in fun factor for sure.

And that’s of course not counting the fact that Borderlands 1 offers unique locations and enemies you likely won’t see in the sequels, such as the Scythids which always felt absent from the sequels. The flying space slugs are probably some of the most annoying enemies in the game though so that may be a reason they decided not to include them in future games.

Well this guy had a nasty surprise.

A Mixed Bag

Visually the Game of the Year edition features some noticable enhancements. Textures are at a much higher resolution, making it actually possible to see fine details on them, as well as a higher shadow resolution. And the game on PC now has an FOV slider, meaning you’re no longer forced to deal with the low fixed FOV of the original game. It does not feature any massive visual enhancements though, the colours still look a bit muted and the lighting still feels very basic and reliant on bloom like most pre-2010 games tended to do. So in a way it does look like a 2009 game still, albeit with higher resolution textures.

That’s sadly not to say the new edition is without its flaws. And most of them come in the audio department. The audio mix is kind of all over the place with gunfire constantly cutting out during heavy combat which makes the game feel oddly quiet despite there being a lot of sound going on. Noises made by enemies and cars feel like they have no distance factor to them, being incredibly loud no matter how far away you are from them which makes combat incredibly disorienting, and other players can be on the other side of the map and still sound like they’re right next to you. And music changes so abruptly you’re almost given sonic whiplash. This is the area where the remaster suffers the most and it’s hard to understand how the audio could get this badly messed up.

It doesn’t stop there either, the audio settings in the menus doesn’t do anything. Changing volume sliders doesn’t actually change any volumes and everything still feels like it’s mixed completely bonkers, with it almost being impossible to hear Echo logs when you pick them up due to them being drowned out by other noise. And that’s not to mention that whenever you start the game, your voice settings are reset to always broadcasting, which means you have to enter the audio settings every time you start the game to toggle them. It gets incredibly frustrating.

Mothrakk is looking pretty awesome.

In Conclusion

Despite the audio issues, I would still recommend getting the GOTY Edition of Borderlands 1. It’s a substantial and welcome overhaul of the game that makes it a lot more fun to play, to the point that I find it very hard to go back to the original. Heck, if you already own Borderlands on Steam, you also own the new version since you get it for free! So hopefully these issues will be addressed in a future patch and we will have the absolute definitive edition of Borderlands 1 to play.

SCORE

STORY: 7/10
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
GRAPHICS: 8/10
SOUND: 5/10

FINAL SCORE: 7/10

PC Game Review: Rage 2

Originally published at https://www.vgr.com/rage-2-pc-game-review/ 

GAME: Rage 2
RELEASED: 14/05/2019
DEVELOPER: id Software, Avalanche Studios
PUBLISHER: Bethesda Softworks
AVAILABLE ON: PC (Steam), PS4, XBOX One

Rage was not a particularly memorable id Software title but it certainly had a lot going for it. Being mostly a showcase for id’s new idTech engine, it showcased a lot of impressive graphical detail for its time and certainly was unique in its approach to things like texture streaming. It gathered mostly average reviews, aside from myself who personally loved the game aside from the lackluster ending. So personally I was actually pretty excited when they revealed that Rage 2 was being made, and even better by the team who made the Mad Max game. So how is Rage 2 compared to the first game, or even other id Software titles? Let’s find out when we take a close look at Rage 2.

STORY

As a whole the tone of the game is very 90’s, and not in the good way. It just feels like the game is trying too hard to be “extreme” in every way possible and gross you out as much as possible. The entire time I was playing this game I just felt like it was trying to be this gritty hardcore wasteland game, but it just ended up making the game feel remarkably difficult to get into.

One fascinating aspect is how Rage 2 simultaneously has a better story yet somehow worse story than Rage 1. The story itself has more of an actual arc to it. The focus is on avenging your adopted mother’s death at the hands of an Authority general known as Cross. Taking down the general proves difficult however, since he has the ability to clone himself. So you have to work with three head figures of the wasteland to take him down. Loosum Hagar from the first game in the town of Wellspring, John Marshall in the town of Gunbarrel, and finally Doctor Kvasir (also from the first game) in his laboratory. Sounds all fine and dandy right?

Well, Rage 2 has some serious issues with its story in all honesty. The most glaring issue is how none of these elements are properly introduced. Instead you’re just kinda thrown into it without given much opportunity to get to know any of the characters you’re supposed to care for. Your mother for instance gets killed in the very first mission you play. Rage 2 completely misses the point of a game, where the story is interactive, to allow the PLAYER to actually feel attached to characters before sacrificing them to the plot gods. It doesn’t help if this is a good driving factor for the main character if we as players have no real attachment. Heck, even if Rage 2 was a movie, having a character die so soon that is integral to the plot would just feel cheap. And that’s how it feels here.

The game also has a serious lack of any likeable characters. Most of them feel like caricatures or one-dimensional gimmicks, lacking any sort of actual personality or likeability. It leads to a situation where you have plenty of characters to talk to and accept quests from. But due to how the game makes no effort to get you to know these characters before helping them, you’re left feeling kind of distanced from everything going on. Not that the main character Walker lacks any eagerness to do all of this but we as players certainly do not share that enthusiasm.

Walker is the main character of the game. Unlike Rage 1 where you played a nameless Ark survivor (Rage Guy if you will), in Rage 2 the main character has a voice and a name. And a gender that is up to the player. Personally I decided to go with female Walker simply because that’s the gender I always pick when I have the option. But it doesn’t seem to matter which Walker you pick since, well, both are equally boring and bland. Walker doesn’t have any discernable personality traits beyond being your basic hero and thus ends up feeling kinda boring for most of the game. You’re not even allowed to make any choices that could affect the story itself. So really you’re just kinda going through the motions as the game strings you along from location to location.

He had a bad hair day.

GAMEPLAY

Which brings us on to the topic of gameplay. Rage 1 was really a very linear game that had the illusion of being open world. But Rage 2 on the other hand is completely an open world game. In fact it’s extremely similar to Mad Max, the game Avalanche Studios were probably most known for prior to Rage 2. The main issue with Rage 2’s gameplay is its repetitive nature. Sure you have a massive world to explore but several locations you visit feel quite literally copied and pasted around with some feeling identical and some quests having you visit old locations again, giving a very intense sensation of deja vu throughout the entire thing.

Aside from the story missions, you have a number of different mission types in Rage 2. Bandit Dens are essentially outposts where the goal is to clear them out. Crusher Nests are dungeons with a boss at the end. Road Chokers are more basic road blocks where the goal is to raise the roadblock and clear out enemies. Authority Sentries are massive turrets that deal a shitload of damage to you, but are worth a fair bit of XP to take out. Mutie Nests are nests of… you guessed it, muties, where the goal is to take out all of their eggs. Pit Stops are places where the goal is to blow up all the gas tanks. Repowering Stations are places where you have to overload some energy Pylons until they overload from waves of enemies.

The main issue with all of these locations is that all of them feel the same. You mostly kill enemies, gather loot and rinse and repeat. And that brings me to my biggest gripe with Rage 2. The loot and how it ties in with your character upgrades. All of your character upgrades are locked behind resources of some kind. And instead of these upgrades being out in the world for you to find, each location only gives you seemingly random resources to spend on these upgrades in the menu. There’s really no rhyme or reason to it and it feels extremely boring to essentially grind resources from location to location, rather than perhaps more locations being built around getting certain upgrades or ability upgrades.

The only locations that offer anything worthwhile are the Arks which offer either a new Nanotrite ability, or weapon. I kind of wish more locations would feel like these ark locations and offer more unique loot rather than just spewing resources at you.

Yay. An Ark chest. Another one.

That being said, what the game does well and what makes the game somewhat fun is the combat. Given all the nanotrite abilites you can find and the various weapons you pick up, it becomes sort of a combat playground where you’re free to approach combat however you want. Your nanotrite abilities allow you to several cool things, including shattering enemies with a kinetic push, slamming down into them, or even creating a vortex that sends them flying into the air.

You also get a fair amount of weapons to play with, including wingsticks from the previous game. All of the weapons are pretty fun to use and all have different tactical uses depending on the type of enemy you’re facing. Another cool addition is the overdrive mode which boosts all your weapons and your strength. Unfortunately even on Hard mode this ability becomes insanely overpowered once you’ve leveled up your abilities, and allows you to pretty much be in Overdrive continuously as long as you have enemies to kill.

The combat is not perfect however. One major issue is that the enemies just kinda blend together in the end. All of them just kinda act the same way in terms of AI with no real threat or challenge once your character is upgraded enough. I played the game on Hard difficulty and after a while it just felt like I was breezing through the game on Very Easy unless the game got cheap and faced me with obstacles that killed me in 2 hits or less. Sure, some enemies charge at you with shields but you can just shatter them or throw grenades at them. And then there’s the issue with the BFG 9000.

The BFG 9000 is a deluxe edition exclusive weapon that is pretty much the game’s kill button. It can take down most bosses in one or two shots and is devastating to the Authority Sentries you meet. Sure, the ammunition for it costs 1000 bucks per plasma cell, but even that is pretty cheap when you consider how easy it is to earn money in the game. It creates a situation where you have this weapon that is ridiculously overpowered, and very easy to get ammo for. The weapon ruins all the challenge in the game and feels like a cheap way for people to just get a pay-to-win weapon.

SPLAT!

The game also has a lot of driving in it, which feels exceptionally clunky and unresponsive. Which is a shame given you have to actually drive some races to progress the story in the game. Unlike the first game the only thing you get from driving are auto parts you can use to upgrade your vehicles. It’s nowhere near as involved as the first game, making racing almost feel like an afterthought in Rage 2. Though given how clunky the driving controls are, it may be a blessing in disguise.

One of the main issues with the car controls is how the turret will lock onto things. Why is this a bad thing? Cause it also locks onto things that aren’t a threat to you! I’m serious, the turret locks onto to empty cars and even loot! WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU HAVE THE TURRET LOCK ONTO THINGS THAT POSE NO THREAT TO YOU?!!! Especially during car combat where you NEED to shoot things that have a higher priority this is infuriating beyond belief! I cannot stress how bad of a game design decision this is!

You also have the Mutant Bash TV arenas making a combat with the incredibly unlikeable Desdemonya as the new host. Her entire personality is that she’s old and gets off on murder. The arenas lack any sort of original gimmicks and feel like complete rehashes of the ones from the first game, making it feel entirely pointless and like the racing it feels like a complete afterthought.

Such a beauty.

And let’s get talking about the controls as a whole. For the most part, the game controls fine on PC and on console I can probably see no issue with it other than the fact you’re playing a FPS with a gamepad which to me just feels weird. But the PC version has some notable missing features, such as being able to bind the mousewheel. By default the mousewheel is bound to up being your next weapon and down being your previous weapon. This is actually the opposite way to how I prefer things. Which drove me absolutely insane at times where I meant to switch to the next weapon, but accidentally picked the previous one.

Oh and despite the game having a ton of pitch black areas, there’s no button for a flashlight. Go figure. I mean when Doom 3 had more features than you, you know you have issues.
And whoever thought it was a good idea to have messages that pop up and cover the screen for every time you complete objectives needs his ass kicked. Especially whoever thought requiring the player to press ENTER to get rid of them was a good idea. Because you may be aware that on a keyboard, Enter is on the right side. Which is very awkward when you have your hand on the left side and your right hand on the mouse, having to move either hand away from those positions to press Enter whenever any message is on the screen.

In all honesty, having popups that pause the gameplay in any game like this is a crime. It baffles me that they still have some instances where all you get is a simple message that shows up on the screen without pausing the gameplay. Why couldn’t the rest of them act this way?

Uhm... that looks kinda threatening.

SOUND AND GRAPHICS

For the most part the game sounds pretty good. You have some really good weapon sounds and crunchy headshot sounds. All good stuff. The voice acting unfortunately is often so boring to listen to that I praised the gods the game had an option to skip dialogue. I mean, it’s not easy to make the dialogue interesting when it’s written like it is to begin with, but the voice acting did not help. I also ran into a pretty annoying bug where voice clips would randomly not play or were playing at such a low volume they were inaudible. This wasn’t even just voice clips from NPC’s, it was all kinds of things. Sounds just not playing for various reasons. And the music is okay. It suits the mood. Nothing memorable, nothing bad. It’s there.

Graphically the game looks as you’d expect. For the most part. They decided to put a very saturated color filter on it that enhanced pink and blue colours, giving the game a very intense neon look that makes it hard to look at at times. Especially during the overdrive mode where everything just looks like you took an overdose of LSD. It has a fair variety of areas to explore but never really looks all that interesting. I did like some of the Authority base interiors though, simply because they really reminded me of Doom 2016.

Oh and the game is extremely prone to crashing for some reason. Not sure how well it plays on consoles, but on my PC system it wasn’t unusual for the game to crash like 3 times in half an hour. Especially near the end of the game or when certain events happened. It was especially common when driving around. That coupled with the game having abysmal performance drops very frequently made it a chore to get through it. I was running the game on low to medium graphics settings and would still get frame dips into the 30’s and even 20’s occasionally. And I have a fairly decent system with a Ryzen 7 1800X CPU.

Character models tend to look… questionable.

SUMMARY
 

All in all, Rage 2 is an extremely underwhelming game. It does some things right but ultimately does a lot of things that just feel like it’s checking things off a checklist. The difficulty for the most part is way too easy once you’ve got some upgrades going. Or too difficult in places where you’re either in a vehicle or faced against a really cheap enemy. But even those fall victim to the BFG 9000 which ruins any challenge the game could pose you. It’s a bug-ridden mess at times too, prone to both crashing and just not working as you’d expect. At times it gets so close to being good. But whether it is the weapons just not feeling strong enough, or the locations not feeling interesting enough, or the story just being both predictable and completely incapable of engrossing the player, there’s always something that ruins the experience.

It also feels like it has no original cell in its code. Everything feels derivative, with the open world feeling literally copied from Mad Max, the suit you have and its abilities feel copied from Doom 2016, and a lot of the elements that were in Rage 1 are also here but feel completely soulless and copied over just to be there. It is a sequel that completely lacks the charm and likeable characters that made Rage 1 fun to play.

That being said if any of this looks like something you’d have fun with, you’ll probably enjoy the game. Because at times, it is enjoyable. But it’s not great. The game is currently available on Steam and from Bethesda. And if the game’s current story is not enough for you, there is more DLC coming in the near future.

Damnit, Willits. Stop putting your sausages in games.

SCORE

STORY: 2/10
GAMEPLAY: 5/10
GRAPHICS: 6/10
SOUND: 5/10
FINAL SCORE: 4/10

PC Game Review: Anthem

GAME: Anthem
RELEASED: 02/22/2019
DEVELOPER: BioWare
PUBLISHER: Electronic Arts
AVAILABLE ON: PC (Origin), XBOX One, PS4

BioWare's Anthem

It's been a while since I was really into a game. And I'm talking beyond just enjoying it. I mean like compulsively obsessed with it. For me, Anthem has been one of those instances where a game has occupied my headspace more than most games I've played. A game that I've not only thoroughly enjoyed, but a game that has really clicked with me. Ever since it released, I've played Anthem almost to a religious degree. Aside from going to work, sleeping, working out and all that important stuff, I've done nothing but play Anthem.

I already knew the game was going to be special when it was first announced at E3 2018. I was a bit shocked to hear about BioWare of all things releasing an online multiplayer shooter. It's not really the first thing that comes to mind when you think of BioWare. The company is probably more famous for their work on games such as Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age and of course Mass Effect. Not only that but we haven't really seen a new IP from BioWare in quite a while. It would seem EA were more than content to delegate BioWare to making Mass Effect sequels.
Then again with Mass Effect Andromeda being rather badly received, it makes sense that EA wanted to give the old BW a chance at something new. And in a way, that does make Anthem a truly special game. A new IP in a new universe, with a whole new style to it.

Anthem lets you customize your Freelancer by choosing your gender and appearance.

In either case, Anthem spoke to me in a way few games have done before. I immediately felt almost drawn to the game, in a way similar to how people in the game itself feel drawn to the Anthem. As soon as I saw those early demos where you could see people in different Javelins flying together, I could already just feel how fun the game looked. And that's something I hadn't really seen from EA in a while. A game that simply looked fun.

Fast forward to late January and I was lucky enough to get invited to the VIP Demo (which you can read my first impressions of here). And while my experience was no doubt buggy, the experience did leave me hungry for more Anthem. After having played the open demo a week later, I knew this was a game I was going to love. And even before the game launched, I saw negative reviews. The game was being absolutely torn apart by critics. I became anxious, if the game I was so hyped for, felt so much attachment to would prove to be a disappointment.

Luckily, when I played the game on its launch day on February 22nd, I felt the entire opposite reaction. I was not only having fun, I absolutely loved it. Yet that makes it even more confusing to me why so many people hate this game. That being said the game is not without its flaws either. So without further ado, let me go into detail about what I love and what I dislike about BioWare's Anthem.

From beginning to end, the world of Anthem is a gorgeous place.

A Different Place, A Different Time

Anthem takes place on an unknown planet in an unknown time, giving it a bit of a Star Wars feeling where it could be the distant past or the distant future. The planet is covered in relics of advanced technology, all harnessing an immense source of power known as the Anthem of Creation. Unfortunately these relics can at times get unstable, doing all sorts of unpredictable stuff. Which includes terraforming, mutations and spawning in hostile creatures. The most unstable artifacts can envelop an entire area in storms, energies and creatures. Known as Cataclysms, you were once sent into one, known as the Heart of Rage. Unfortunately things didn't go as planned and most of your squad were killed, leaving you alone as one of a few survivors. And those who survived were both mentally and physically scarred.

As a Freelancer, whose gender and appearance is left up to the player, it is your job to keep the hostile monsters and factions brought on by the Anthem at bay. You're given a Javelin, a powerful exo suit with flight capabilities, as your main weapon. In addition to flight, the Javelins are also equipped with powerful abilities and weapons that can strike true fear into your enemies. Your main goal becomes to put a stop to the Dominion, a hostile group whose goal is to use the Anthem for their own purposes. In other words, you have to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. Which is easier said than done when you have no way of returning to the Heart of Rage where the Anthem is located. And such it is your job to find a way to return and keep the Dominion from obtaining the Anthem.

Customizing your Javelin with different weapons and abilities becomes necessary to survive.

Fort Tarsis - Where It All Begins

Outside of missions you'll be spending your time in Fort Tarsis, which serves as the game's hub. This is where you'll interact with NPC's who you can have a chat with or get missions from. As a bit of a nod to BioWare's earlier games, chatting with someone will bring up dialogue choices now and then. Unfortunately these are always simple binary choices of mostly a positive and negative response to the NPC. It almost feels superfluous to have choices at all if you're not given a more extensive dialogue tree. Though it is nice to see how your dialogue choices affect the NPC's decisions. I just wish the game allowed for a higher degree of roleplaying and more dialogue options.

That being said, generally the voice acting is great and the writing is really good. And not to mention funny, given how many times I laughed out loud during NPC interactions. And given how quirky and interesting the characters are I always found myself talking to them between missions for no other reason than just the joy of doing so. I just wish the conversations weren't always so binary. But for how engaging the writing is and how much I grew to love the characters, I can forgive it.

NPC's in Anthem definitely have some interesting fashion choices...

Your Javelin

Customization seems to be a huge aspect about Anthem. While I wish the character creation for your Freelancer was more indepth, given how little you actually see of their face it makes sense that you wouldn't need to spend a lot of time on it. The options you get are there to help immerse you into the role. The Freelancer is nameless and fairly bland in terms of personality, making them more of a shell for the player. So customization in that regard is adequate in my opinion. Heck, it's great to see some customization at all given the demo only had a choice between male and female voice for the Freelancer.

Customizing your Javelin becomes almost 50% of what you do in the game as well. Using The Forge you can customize your Javelin's gear and appearance. I was a bit afraid that cosmetic customization would be very restricted, but I am happy to say this isn't the case at all. For one, you can basically choose any colour you want, you can access any part of the Javelin's body you want to paint, and you're even given a bunch of Vinyls to add from the get-go.

And any kind of cosmetics you want to purchase can be purchased using in-game currency. I'm a huge fan of how this game approaches microtransactions since they are entirely optional. And you can easily save up some in-game currency for that item you really want. So far I haven't spent any real money on the game but it is nice knowing I have the option if I absolutely want to.

My absolutely BAMF Storm Javelin that I used for most of the game.

Strong Alone, Stronger Together

As you progress, you can unlock a new Javelin at levels 2, 8, 16 and 26. While you only have four to choose from, you can unlock any of them you want during these moments. The Ranger is the marksman and soldier type, focused on using grenades and artillery to blast enemies into submission. The Interceptor is a smaller and more agile Javelin, focused on melee and agility. The Storm has weak armor but packs the most punch, able to deliver elemental attacks that can set enemies up for combo attacks. And finally, the Colossus is the tank of the group. It's able to shield allies from enemy attacks and draw enemy fire. It also is the only Javelin capable of wielding heavy weapons, at the cost of not being compatible with pistols. You can read a more in-depth look at the Javelins and their capabilities here.

There really isn't any wrong Javelin to choose, each of them support wildly different playstyles. And there is no wrong way to play any of them either. Due to how versatile the Javelins are there are multiple ways to use them. Since all Javelins can use pretty much all weapon groups, with the only exception being the Colossus, you're really not that limited in terms of range either. The combo system allows you to prime enemies using certain attacks. A combo can then be detonated by a different attack. These combos are often related to elements, as using elemental attacks will prime enemies for combos. This allows multiple Javelins to work in sync and time combos, often to devastating results.

Yes, Anthem has warp pipes. Off to minus world!

Iron Man - The Game

The above statement really sums up the experience of playing Anthem. While there is a slight learning curve to the controls of your Javelin, once you get used to them, playing Anthem is almost an intoxicating experience. The moment you realize how quickly you can go from running on the ground to soaring in the air, you really feel like you're Iron Man. Exploring the world in Freeplay mode is really where you get a sense of absolute freedom, exploring the world at your own leisure and casually doing world events with other players. The game almost beckons you to explore every nook and cranny of it, to uncover collectables and bits of lore. A thing I enjoyed in particular was how seamless the transition between water and air was. Essentially when you're under water, you're still flying. So when you exit from a body of water you go straight into flight seamlessly.

As fun as this is though, the core of Anthem's gameplay is still that of doing quests. And similar to older BioWare titles you have "Critical Quests" that are essentially story missions, "Agent Quests" which serve as side missions, and "Contracts" which are basically just shorter "go here do this" missions that serve as more of a way to level up than serving any actual story purpose. And while you can do all this in public matchmaking, and are encouraged to do so in order to have a full squad, I would say I never really enjoyed the game much in this mode.

Nearly all cutscenes in the game are in first person. Luckily the face capture is excellent.

Especially on a first playthrough, playing in public mode pretty much ruins the experience. The issue is that when you're playing with strangers, you really have no idea how they are going to play with others. And sad to say a lot of the time you risk running into people completely ignoring you when you're down and need repairs. Or worse, rushing ahead. And thus forcing you to follow them since the game will automatically respawn you with the group if they advance too far ahead. Granted BioWare did address this issue by making the timer more lenient, but it's still an issue when you're not allowed to play at your own pace.

Thus I highly recommend playing the game in Private Mode on a first playthrough. Even if you're just playing with a single friend, it's totally worth it. This allows you both to enjoy the game at your own pace. As well as listen to the dialogue which in all honesty is far too good to be ignored. Anthem is truly a game that comes alive when you can play with a group of close friends, and all of you can communicate with each other while playing. That's not to say public play doesn't have its place though. During Strongholds and Freeplay, which are essentially public game modes, it's never really much of an issue. Since there isn't really much story to pay attention to and you're just there to earn some XP and loot.

Similar to vistas in Guild Wars 2, the game world is full of spots where you can stop and take in the view. It really lets you appreciate the amount of work that's gone into creating the world of Anthem.

Looter Shooter

Anthem gives loot to the player in mainly two different varieties; crafting materials and items. Crafting materials can be embers, plant material, mineral material or Javelin parts. All are necessary in order to craft your own weapons and gear. You can also craft sigils which are single-use items that grant you certain bonuses for a single mission. Whether you wanna focus on defense or offense, these sigils actually make a fairly significant difference in gameplay. And it's highly recommended to at least use one for each mission.

Items can be anything from weapons to gear for the Javelin you're using. Now here's where a little confusion comes into play. Items have a rarity and a Power level. The rarity doesn't really seem to mean anything as it seems to scale with your level. And since all item drops are client side, if an Epic item drops for you, it doesn't mean it will be available to other players. So the rarity doesn't seem to affect all that much, other than the fact the more rare your item is the better stats it will have.

The power level also doesn't really seem to indicate much, other than how powerful the weapon is. But since weapon stats are completely random, it's possible to have a weapon with a higher power level, but with WORSE stats than a similar weapon with a lower power level. The game also had a bit of an issue of assigning useless bonuses to several items. Though BioWare did thankfully address this in a recent patch. But it seems as a general rule the rarer the item and the higher its power level, the better it is. Just keep an eye on the bonuses and stats as well since it might not always be the case.

People who played the demo might remember the Cataclysm event at the end. A foreshadowing of things to come it would seem.

Not Always Well

Generally I would say Anthem has been an amazing experience for me but that's not to say I didn't run into some issues with it. The menu system is extremely confusing to navigate, with several menu options often being placed at the bottom of the screen in small text. I've had a hard time just finding where things are and I wouldn't exactly call the menus intuitive at all. It took me an entire day to realize where I could claim my pre-order rewards.

And it doesn't exactly help that a loading screen separates you from customizing your Javelin. And you have to wait for it to load every single time you want to customize, which is going to be a lot I promise. Luckily some of this is addressed by the fact you are given the choice of going directly to the Forge screen after a mission. There's even a public lobby option called the Launch Bay where you can access numerous options between missions.

Anthem is simply a fun game to play, no matter how you put it.

And of course, I would be remiss to not mention the numerous bugs that are still in the game. Often it can be very minor things like enemies glitching out, items and quests being wrongly marked as new, the wrong mission being played, or servers failing to connect. Or it can be major things like the game crashing or audio completely cutting out. I wouldn't say these bugs have been severe enough to ruin the game for me though. And they haven't been frequent enough for me to consider them a massive flaw. But it's definitely something to be aware of.

And yeah, the final mission did feel quite anticlimatic. I wouldn't exactly call it bad by any stretch, but it wasn't what I was hoping for either. Calling the puzzles in the game puzzles is also a stretch. I've seen more challenging puzzles in children's puzzle books. And then some missions suddenly throw really obtuse puzzles at you that takes you ages to solve. It's either too easy or going full "what the heck do I do". The game also feels a little barren on content as it is, but given BioWare's plan going forward, I am still looking forward to what's to come for Anthem. Because despite all these issues, I've had an amazing time with Anthem. So far it's been one of the most fun experiences I've had in 2019.

"Yes. It is true. People hate this game."

A Beautiful Anthem

In terms of visuals, Anthem is absolutely gorgeous. And running perfectly smooth on my Ryzen 7 1800X rig with an 8GB RX580. I haven't run into any kind of major performance issues, with the game generally running at a stable framerate, and very rarely dipping below 60 FPS despite pushing my hardware to its limits. Of course, the Frostbyte engine has always been beautiful and Anthem is no exception.

I especially love the animations and motion capture work. It truly feels like a lot of it is acted in front of you, and it helped me get really engaged in the story. I also loved just taking in the gorgeous landscape, and I love the fact the game has a seamless day/night cycle. There's also an incredible attention to detail, with your Javelin looking increasingly damaged as it takes more and more abuse. Stylistically it does look similar to games like Warframe and Destiny, but still stands on its own. It's really hard to compare it to anything in terms of setting, and the world feels like a mix between various cultures. It often clashes but in a beautiful way that almost symbolizes nature's and humanity's diversity.

Underwater segments of the game are particularly noteworthy, showing off some amazing lighting and designs.

I've of course already mentioned the voice acting which I think I have nothing bad to say about. Everyone gives a great performance here. Even the main character I enjoyed who has an almost dry wit to them. Sound effect work is also really good, I especially love the combo sound and the sound work on the attacks and weapons. The weapons just have a really satisfying punch to them, especially the shotguns.

And while I wasn't 100% into the music and I'm still not as orchestral music isn't my cup of tea, it has grown on me considerably and I found myself enjoying it a lot. Even if some of the instrument choices such as using a didgeridoo felt a little weird to me. It still isn't a soundtrack I've enjoyed as much as the original Mass Effect. But it serves its purpose for sure.

A shout out to my co-op buddy Kira who kicked serious ass during our campaign.

A Flawed Masterpiece

To sum it up, Anthem is not a perfect game. It's got its flaws for sure. But it remains one of the absolutely coolest games I've ever played. In some ways it feels like a spiritual successor to Mass Effect, with a similar focus on a mystical energy source, and the threat of the end of the world. And playing this game just makes you feel like the coolest badass that's ever existed. Your Javelin moves with such elegance and flair that you can't help but just grin when playing the game. It just has this indescribably coolness to it that you feel when playing it. And I simply haven't played any other game like this recently. What it lacks in polish, Anthem more than makes up for in charm and I am sad to see so many people just not seeing it.

Anthem does not deserve the hate it gets, nor does it deserve to be called a bad game. To anyone who doesn't like Anthem as much as I do, I completely understand your criticisms for the most part. But saying Anthem is one of the biggest disappointments of 2019 is being way too harsh.

The game does microtransactions perfectly, and since it's co-op there's no way to gain an unfair advantage. It has an amazing cast and story that still grabbed me and it's a game I've simple been unable to put down since it came out. And to me, that's the sign of a good game. So whatever you may think of Anthem, I absolutely love it and I think it deserves to at least be played. So if you find this game on a discount, don't hesitate to pick it up.

SCORE

STORY: 8/10
GAMEPLAY: 7/10
GRAPHICS: 10/10
SOUND: 8/10

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

PC Game Review: The Eternal Castle (Remastered)

 
GAME: The Eternal Castle (Remastered)
RELEASED: 01/05/2019
DEVELOPER: Leonard Menchiari, Daniele Vicinanzo, Giulio Perrone
PUBLISHER: Playsaurus
AVAILABLE ON: PC (Steam)

In the indie game scene, a lot of games take inspiration from the games of the past. Typically this comes in the form of tributes to oldschool consoles like the NES, SNES and Mega Drive. But it’s not often you see games that pay homage to the graphics of old IBM PC’s. The Eternal Castle, a supposed remake of a lost 1987 PC game, is such a game. And much in the vein of the game MURI, it acts as a tribute to old school PC games from the late 80’s and early 90’s. In this review we’ll be taking a look at this game and also discuss its legitimacy as a remaster. So strap in, it’s time to explore the CGA glory of The Eternal Castle.

A lot of levels present traps that need to be avoided. Often you’ll end up learning it the hard way.

In Eternal Castle you can play as either Adam or Eve as you explore their dream on a post-apocalyptic Earth, in which they fight their way towards a malevolent AI. After a brief intro where you crash land into the region of the AI, your ship is damaged and loses its Gliders. In other words, you’re on a big ol’ fetch quest to get the Gliders back and repair your ship into working condition so you can assault the game’s namesake, the Eternal Castle head on. The plot feels strangely reminiscent of id Software’s classic Commander Keen: Marooned On Mars, where you also crash landed on a planet and had to get parts for your ship back. Of course, the plot itself is not terribly original either, but feels suitably cyberpunk for a late 80’s game.

The gliders have ended up in 4 separate locations, all of which serve as levels to explore before the final showdown. Granted while the game only has five levels including the final one, the levels are generally quite large and require a lot of exploration, and not to mention trial and error, before you can get through them. The first location is the one you explore after your ship has crashed. It consists largely of industrial landscapes and serve as a tutorial level to get you familiar with the game’s controls and mechanics. After completing it you have 3 choices of where to go next. The main goal is to gather Gliders for your ship as well as fragments that have scattered across the region.

On your first playthrough, these tablets serve as checkpoints and also refill your health.

The Ancient Ruins is mostly a melee focused level where you’ll be fighting a tribe of hostiles. It’s probably the hardest level in terms of traps and combat but also gives you access to some decent melee weapons. The Forgotten City is more of a ranged combat area where you’ll assist a band of friendlies against hostiles using rifles and shotguns. The Unholy Lab is more of a stealth focused area and unlike what I did in my playthrough, it might be best to save this level for when you have the stealth upgrade that makes you invisible. Otherwise this level is truly a terrifying place and really gives the game some horror vibes, where you’ll be running for your life a lot.

As you explore the levels you’ll not only come across fragments to collect, but also items that give you permanent upgrades. These include a stealth upgrade that allows you to become invisible when crouching, increased health, armor and so forth. While you don’t require all of these items to reach the final level, they do generally help make the adventure less painful. You can carry a maximum of two weapons at any given time. The game takes a bit of a modern approach to weapons though as once they run out of ammo you have to find a replacement, so you’ll be switching out your weapons constantly.

Enemies will always drop their weapon if they are carrying one, which helps give you options. Choosing which weapons to hold on to becomes a tactical choice since they can help you in the levels where they are sparse or non-existent, as each level offers very different gameplay experiences.

The game will offer very different experiences in each level, and also switch between different CGA palettes frequently.

The game plays very much like cinematic platformers of the early 90’s. If you’ve played games like Another World/Out of This World, BlackThorne or Flashback, it should feel pretty familiar. For people more used to Mario or Sonic style platformers, cinematic platformers tend to feel a bit sluggish and unresponsive due to the heavy amount of animation that has to play out for every action. But if you’re like me and grew up with the genre, you probably won’t have much of an issue with it. The trick is mainly to plan your movements in advance, and be aware of how your character moves in kind of blocky increments instead of exact locations. It’s a bit hard to explain but once you get the feel for it, it becomes second nature.

Now to move on to the game’s alleged roots as a 1987 game and it’s so called “remaster” label. It’s all pretty much fake. There is simply no way this game is originally from 1987, nor is there any way it is a remaster. Prince of Persia, the game often touted as the game to popularize this genre didn’t come out until 1989. And games like Another World and Flashback which this game feels extremely derivative of, didn’t come out until 1991 and 1992 respectively. And the game’s startup sequence not only copies lines of text from DOOM, which came out in 1993, it also includes lines of Linux text which would never belong on a DOS system.

Your character will often react to or interact with the environment, often quipping on things like arcade machines.

And of course then there’s the enormous fact the game is not running in a 4:3 ratio. You see, while some games did support video modes that technically were widescreen in the 80’s, most games opted for a 320×200 resolution, which normally would look really stretched on a widescreen 16:9 monitor. Except this game does not. While you could boil this down to the “remaster” bit, there is one massive question on my mind. Why CGA?

In 1987, several video modes were available in fact. 16 colour EGA was most common during this time for PC games, a standard which launched in 1984 already. Heck, VGA which supported 256 colours LAUNCHED IN 1987! And not to mention you had the Tandy standard which also supported 16 colours. Most games of the late 80’s supported multiple modes, and granted CGA was among them. But the way this game utilizes CGA is unlike any of the games from the 80’s. CGA was often utilized with composite monitors in mind where the colours would blend together and create more colours than the 4 colours the CGA cards were capable of. But The Eternal Castle uses CGA more to simulate shapes and lighting in a far more modernized way that simply no games of the era did. The only reason this game would use CGA is for artistic purposes.

And it does not always use its graphics well either. A lot of text is near impossible to read, almost like it’s been poorly scaled down, which I myself have had issues with being a game developer, but if the game was a legitimate product it would not have this issue. They could’ve gone with EGA or VGA and still gotten away with “it’s a 1987” game but for its gameplay style, even that would be a stretch and going for a lost 1991 game would be far more applicable.

The game uses CGA to create really intense contrast, often to great effect in scenes.

Marketing the game as a lost 1987 game feels like a missed opportunity as well. They could’ve gone all the way with this, actually done proper research into DOS games, maybe even developed the game as an actual CGA game on actual DOS hardware. Not saying I blame them for not doing that given the enormous amount of difficulty associated with such a task. But when it’s so easy to tell the game is a modern design, it really feels like they expect their player base to not know better. Instead of just making a game based on a very shallow understanding of PC gaming from the 80’s and 90’s, they could’ve gone the way of MURI, Ion Maiden or DUSK to create a game that could legitimately be a lost game.

The game’s use of bitcrushed sound effects makes it painfully obvious the game has no roots in the 80’s. And it features no option to listen to original PC speaker sound effects. The sound effects aren’t bad but they definitely don’t feel like actual PC sound effects from the era. At least the soundtrack is excellent, featuring everything from ambient noise to driving synthwave beats. While it does not at all feel like an actual product from the 80’s, it does feel like a tribute to them, much like the entire retrowave culture does.

The final boss battle is probably the game’s high point and feels like a well earned climax.

All criticism aside though, this does not at all make The Eternal Castle a bad game, but it does make any claims of it being an actual 1987 PC game remastered complete bullshit. But for what it is, it’s still a really good game with hand crafted animations in a really striking and bold art style that stands out in a sea of Nintendo 8bit clone games.

The CGA style is more used as a filter, and in that regard gives the game a unique style where there is a lot of detail but it’s all hinted at and you’re never quite sure what you’re looking at. It gives the game an eerie alien atmosphere that very much fits its post-apocalyptic feel. At times it feels like you’re exploring an entirely different planet, where things feel familiar yet look completely different. It’s weird how the game completely captures the feeling of playing oldschool PC games without succeeding at itself feeling like one. And you’re not likely to have ever played anything quite like it.

Much like a lot of modern retro games, it’s simply a big tribute to our childhoods. To growing up with games that brought us into another world of archaic graphics and mastery through repetition. It’s definitely worth a grab if anything for capturing some of that essence.

SCORE

STORY: 7/10
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
GRAPHICS: 8/10
SOUND: 7/10

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

Alyxx' Top 10 Games Of 2018

2018 was a year where I sadly wasn't able to play all of the hot new titles. For one, I didn't build my new PC until like October and my old PC was too limited for me to greatly cover new titles. I also don't have the ability to play any console exclusives so games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man or God of War won't be on my list I'm afraid. But here's what I did play in 2018 and what I thought about it. It'll be less of a "these are the best games I played in 2018" and more of a "games from 2018 I wanna talk about" kind of list.



10. FALLOUT 76



For the record while I did really enjoy Fallout 76, it definitely hits the bottom of my list for obvious reasons. Fallout 76 is not a $60 game, neither is it a particularly good game. But it does a lot of things right and credit where credit is due, if you're looking for a co-op Fallout 4 experience, this is pretty much spot on. And exploring West Virginia with its absolutely gorgeous hills and landscape is a real treat. I've been enjoying my time in Fallout 76 this year and definitely will continue to do so in 2019.



9. DESTINY 2



While it technically released in 2017, I started playing Destiny 2 this year when Blizzard decided to make it free in their Battle.net launcher, and I definitely enjoy what I've played so far. Having a still really active playerbase and being pretty much something I've wanted for a long time, being a massive multiplayer online FPS, it's not hard to get into Destiny 2. I had my reservations going into it from people who gave it fairly negative reviews, but so far I definitely think it's a great game and I look forward to continuing playing it. I also enjoy how the story bits makes it feel like a single player game at times, just one you can also play with friends.


It also might be one of the most gorgeous games I've played recently, having a gorgeous colour palette and industrial look at times that I really enjoy. Kind of like Mass Effect it does feel really Star Wars influenced with its humanoid looking aliens and space opera story, so that may explain why I enjoy it so much, being a huge Star Wars fan. I haven't played the expansions yet but definitely will do so eventually.




8. FORSAKEN REMASTERED



A bit of an unexpected but welcome release this year was Forsaken Remastered. I'm admittedly a huge fan of Forsaken and played it a lot in the early 2000's as a free copy of it was bundled with a PC gaming mag my mother subscribed to at the time (though I was the one who probably enjoyed it more). It's a 6DOF shooter ala Descent though with more of a dystopian cyberpunk tone to it.


The remastered edition is definitely worth grabbing as it makes the game more playable on modern PC's and adds a lot of new graphics options, making the game more gorgeous than it's ever been. I'll be covering this game in a review pretty soon but so far this is one hell of a remaster to grab if you're into 90's FPS's.



7. WOLFENSTEIN II: THE NEW COLOSSUS



B.J. Blazkowicz returns in this awesome direct sequel to 2014's "The New Order", the first time the franchise has ever had a direct sequel mind you, this time taking on a Nazi invasion of the USA. Much like The New Order offered a glimpse into an alternate future, Wolfenstein II takes this concept even further by showing a 60's USA that's become tinted through the occupation of Nazis.


It's a dark and at times really disturbing game that also gives a ton of backstory about BJ and why his hatred for Nazis is so strong. While I remain conflicted on whether this is my favourite game in the franchise so far or not, I definitely think it's an amazing game and I've had a blast with it so far. Looking forward to giving it a full (and awfully delayed) review coming 2019.



6. MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA



A game I probably should have reviewed in 2017, Mass Effect Andromeda is a game I've decided to take my time with. Not because I think it's bad, far from it, I am enjoying it a lot to be honest. And I want to be able to give it a proper review from someone who has spent considerable time with it rather than the kneejerk reaction most reviewers tended to give the game when it came out.


The main reason for the delay though is that my previous PC simply struggled a lot with it. With my current PC being able to handle it at max graphics I am finally ready to tackle it all and a full review will be coming in 2019. I've been playing it on and off in 2018 and so far I am really enjoying it. Hopefully I'll be able to complete it pretty soon.



5. RAD RODGERS



Rad Rodgers is one of the latest games from 3D Realms and developer Slipgate Studios (Bombshell, Rise of the Triad), and received numerous updates this year including a port to Nintendo Switch. If you want my complete opinion on the game, make sure to check out my full review of it here. But summarized, it's one of the best platformers I've had the joy of playing recently, helped by its unique off color Rick & Mordy esque humor.



4. DUSK



This game. This game right here. So imagine if someone took Redneck Rampage, Blood, Quake, Half-Life and somehow mixed these things together and made some kind of game that plays and looks and sounds like it somehow was taken out of 1997 and then polished up slightly. That's basically what DUSK is. A pastiche of the best 90's FPS's and as much of a love letter to that era as it could potentially be a product of it. DUSK foregoes almost all modern gaming trends including randomly generated levels and health regen in favour of hand crafted levels with old school armor and health systems. Even its movement feels like it belongs in the Quake engine with its bunny hopping, rocket jumping and insanely fast gameplay. Expect a full review coming very soon. So far this game is a hell of a blast.



3. SHADOW WARRIOR 2



Man 2018 was just my big backlog year. Shadow Warrior 2 for some reason is one of those games that just ended up in my backlog after briefly playing it in 2016. So I jumped into it with a friend and we had a fucking blast with it. This might be one of the best co-op shooters I've played lately and it was surprisingly in-depth with the customization of weapons and abilities. It feels like it focuses more on the guns than the previous game where almost too much focus was put on melee combat. Melee combat gets a lot of focus here too don't get me wrong but it does feel like guns now serve a bigger purpose than in the first game. I'll hopefully get around to giving it a full review soon which is long overdue.



2. CLIVE BARKER'S UNDYING



So for Halloween this year I decided to revisit a game from my childhood. I'd played a short demo of Undying back in the early 2000's but never actually played the full game. So when I saw it was cheap on GOG.com I decided to get it and give it a go. And man is this game just an awesomely dark and disturbing horror shooter. Like with Hellraiser, Clive Barker's story here really delves into themes of a dysfunctional family ruined by a horrible curse. The backstory behind this family is probably the best part of the game and the thing that holds it all together. Like with alot of games on this list I do plan on writing a review of it eventually but for now I'm still playing through it and having a great time. This game at times feels like a first person Resident Evil and it's done wonderfully.


1. DELTARUNE


This game came out of absolutely nowhere this year. After a series of mysterious tweets on Toby Fox' Twitter (seemingly in character as W.D. Gaster from Undertale), he eventually linked to a site containing a "survey program". Later revealed to be the demo for a yet unfinished game named Deltarune (a clever anagram of Undertale), my experience playing through this was one of the most mixed experiences I've ever had. I had no idea what this was going into it since I was one of the earliest people to play it (before everyone knew what it was) and when I played it I wasn't sure what to think. Was it a sequel to Undertale? Was it a prequel? Well apparently, Deltarune is neither and that is what's fascinating about it.


Essentially, it is an alternate reality story, set in a universe of Undertale where the war between monsters and humans never occured, which is just incredibly fascinating to see. It's like looking into what Undertale could've been if it had been developed as a more linear game with less focus on player choice. Because in Deltarune, your choices don't matter. It turns a lot of the ideas from Undertale on their head entirely so whatever this game turns out to be when it gets completed, it will be a totally different experience from Undertale. Regardless, I am incredibly hyped for it and I truly hope it gets made. Because it's easily the most memorable gaming experience from 2018 for me.