Now Playing: The Lake House (DLC)

The Lake House is the second DLC expansion for Alan Wake 2 following Night Springs. When I reviewed Night Springs I concluded by saying that I hoped The Lake House would offer a more substantial and original piece of content. So did I get what I hoped for? Well . . .

I’m pleased to say that The Lake House does offer far more original content than Night Springs. You play as Agent Estevez of the Federal Bureau of Control sent to investigate a possible containment issue at their Cauldron Lake research facility.

Aside from the initial opening in the familiar woods of Alan Wake 2, The Lake House DLC is set within a new, entirely original location. You get a new enemy type to fight, and a new weapon. If you’re a fan of Control then you’re in for a treat because The Lake House feels more like a Control DLC episode than it does for Alan Wake 2.

As someone who loved the lore and setting of Control more so than the story, it was fun to explore a Control-like environment again, discovering the secrets of the facility and its reality bending experiments. There’s a lot of documents and audio recordings to sift through that tell the story of The Lake House and how things went so wrong.

As Estevez, your goal isn’t just to discover what happened, but to stop it from spreading. And as a self-contained little tale, I’d say The Lake House is pretty good. But if you’re looking for something that connects more directly or advances the Alan Wake 2 narrative in some way, that’s not what this DLC is and you might be disappointed.

And whilst The Lake House does offer a more original piece of content than the largely recycled content of Night Springs, it doesn’t quite offer the more substantial piece content that I was hoping for. I completed The Lake House in about 90 minutes, and if I hadn’t stopped to read every document or listen to every recording I’d probably have cleared it in under an hour.

The facility has 5 small levels to explore with only a handful of combat encounters. I certainly enjoyed playing through it, and there’s some genuinely tense moments, but I can’t help but be disappointed by how short it is. The DLC ends quite suddenly with a rather bad ‘boss’ fight and then the credits roll.

I can’t say I came away from The Lake House feeling entirely satisfied, but I can say I did like it more than Night Springs. It’s a solid, but very short piece of content that’s a perfectly fine addition to Alan Wake 2 and certainly worth playing if you already own the expansion pass or if you see it on sale.

7/10

Blade & Sorcery: Crystal Hunt Update (VR)

I first covered Blade & Sorcery back in January 2020 and it’s kind of amazing to look back at that post and see how much the game has expanded, improved, and refined in the years since. In July 2020 I talked about the Sorcery Update, which was where the magic system in the game really started to come together, and then in December 2021 I wrote about the Dungeons Update which served as the foundation to the update I’m writing about today – Crystal Hunt.

In that 2021 post I said – ‘There’s now scope to expand the game with some kind of structured progression. I’m not expecting a massively in-depth, narrative driven campaign, but some kind of level system in which you unlock new weapons and spells as you progress through increasingly complex and difficult randomised dungeons, maybe with a ‘boss’ enemy to fight at the end of each?’

And what I expected back in 2021 is pretty much exactly what we got today – a structured ‘campaign’ of sorts in which you fight your way through randomised dungeons, earn money to buy new equipment and collect crystals to unlock and level up your magic.

You begin with nothing more than a rusty old sword but once you clear your first dungeon, you’ll have some loot and a crystal or two to start building your arsenal and expanding your skills. There’s a shop you can travel to where you can purchase new gear – weapons, armour and health items. And there is a story of sorts, told through written texts you can find – although it’s not something you’ll likely care too much about.

Each dungeon has a difficulty rating and different enemy types, but they all utilise a limited pool of hand crafted ‘rooms’ that are then randomly connected to create a ‘new’ layout. It works quite well – but it’s also undeniably repetitive once you’ve worked your way through a dungeon type more than once.

It’s also feels like a bit of a grind. Ideally you want the player to find enough crystals on each run to unlock a new skill, but that’s not always the case. You may need two or even three runs to find enough crystals you need – and difficulty doesn’t seem to increase the loot or crystals you can find. At least, it didn’t seem to for me?

I really think that needs to be tweaked, because given it can take 15-20 minutes to get through a dungeon, it’s not very satisfying to come out of one with just a handful of loot items and a single crystal. There’s also no checkpoints or save system in a dungeon, so you need to finish it in one go. As someone who struggles to find time to play in VR uninterrupted of late, that’s kind of annoying as I’ve already had to cut short some runs and lost all my loot and progress.

There is, however, still a ‘sandbox’ mode in which you can access everything in the game for free with a fantastic selection of customisation options and honestly, that’s probably where I still see myself putting most of my time into Blade & Sorcery. Because as impressive as Crystal Hunt is, it’s not quite as much fun as I had hoped it would be due to the repetition and grind and it’s not really easy to play with my current interruption problems.

That said, I hope to find more time to sink into it in the future, hopefully after a few balancing patches to adust the rate of player progression and ideally some kind of save/checkpoint system. And, overall, Blade & Sorcery remains a must-have VR game in my view, even if just for the sandbox mode.

Now Playing: Dragon Age: The Veilguard

I didn’t really know what to expect from Dragon Age: The Veilguard because as a series, Dragon Age has never really been consistent with either its quality or its style of play – although I suppose continually reinventing itself is a consistency of a sort.

That’s why I find the ‘DA:TV doesn’t feel like a DA game’ takes I’ve seen expressed online so strange. What does a DA game ‘feel’ like? Dragon Age 2 is nothing like Dragon Age: Origins, and Dragon Age: Inquisition is nothing like Dragon Age 2. And Dragon Age: TV? If anything, it reminds me more of another BioWare series – Mass Effect. In fact, I think that’s the best way to describe DA:TV – as Mass Effect 2: Dragon Age Edition.

In DA:TV you play as ‘Rook’ who is, more or less, the Dragon Age equivalent of Commander Shepard. Rook is their own character, but one shaped by the actions and dialogue choices of the player and they are, unfortunately, one of the weakest aspects of the game.

I’ll never be a fan of the dialogue wheel – I always prefer to know precisely what my character will say. But I can live with it – if there’s a consistent logic to it. DA:TV typically gives you three dialogue options best described as Nice, Funny or Blunt – but sometimes it feels like Rook’s response is practically the same regardless of what you pick, and what you pick doesn’t always give you what you think you’re going to get.

Rook is, I’m sorry to say, rather flat as a character. I understand not wanting Rook to have too strong of a personality – because you want the player to feel that Rook is ‘their’ character in the same way they felt that Commander Shepard was. But Shephard had more than just dialogue choices, they also had the Paragon and Renegade system for both dialogue and action prompts.

Rook has no such system that leans to the more extreme ends of Nice & Blunt, so no matter what you pick, every response feels kind of the same, just a little nicer one way, and a little less nice the other. Rook, like Shepard, is a hero so I wasn’t expecting ‘evil’ options as such, but the Paragon/Renegade system of Mass Effect gave the series some nice replay value in terms of creating a somewhat ‘different’ Shepard from one playthrough to the next.

But with no such equivalent system in DA:TV, Rook is always the same Rook and Rook is kind of bland. I still like the character, but they’re no Commander Shepard. But whilst Rook may be a weak link, I’m pleased to say that DA:TV has one of the best rosters of companions I’ve seen in a BioWare game. There are seven companions and I enjoyed spending time with and getting to know all of them – although Davrin and Emmrich were probably my favourites.

Like Mass Effect 2, DA:TV is as much about getting to know your companions, building their trust and gaining their loyalty as it is the central plot. It’s about the team you build to face down an apocalyptic threat. Whereas in ME2 each companion only had a single ‘loyalty’ mission, in DA:TV each companion has a unique quest chain to follow. It’s entirely optional, of course – in fact, much of the content in DA:TV is optional.

But like ME2, building your team, earning their trust and completing side content in the world puts you in a much stronger position when starting the final battle which is, once again, very much like ME2. It’s essentially the Dragon Age equivalent of the ME2 ‘Suicide Mission’ in which every character (including Rook) can die if you haven’t gathered enough resources (Mass Effect had ship upgrades, Dragon Age has faction strength) secured the loyalty of your companions or make bad choices when assigning said companions to particular tasks – but let’s be honest, the game makes it quite clear who the right people to pick are.

It’s a long, slightly more elaborate version of the Suicide Mission although there is one completely unavoidable character death that might annoy people. In some ways, because of how faction strength plays a role, it also feels closer to what I wanted from the ending of Mass Effect 3 rather than what we got. But let’s not get me started on that one, eh?

Factions in DA:TV, like companions, have their own multi-part missions that unfold over the course of the game, in addition to several single shot side quests. Although like the companion missions, these quest chains don’t always stick the landing. Too many of them end on a weak note, in a rather abrupt and unsatisfying way.

Speaking of unsatisfying I also need to mention the romance aspect which isn’t something I’m particularly fussed about but if you are, you might be pretty disappointed at how few unique scenes or interactions there are for your chosen romance. Maybe some of the others are better, but the two I tried didn’t give me much.

The main story of DA:TV is decent and works well enough as a stand-alone entry in the DA series but I think the big question is – is it a good ending to the DA series as it has existed up until now? Because that’s kind of what DA:TV is – a conclusion to lots of plot threads that came before it. And in that sense, in answer to that question, I’d probably have to say no.

I’m not massively into DA lore so I’m probably not the best person to judge but I feel like if you really wanted to wrap up this stuff in a way that’s satisfying for fans of all the previous games, DA:TV really needed to feature or at least cameo more characters from those games. It does bring in a few – but so many more simply aren’t mentioned at all.

And this is a story where there’s a lot happening off screen – so if you’re heavily invested in the fate of other, previously featured regions of the Dragon Age world, you might be disappointed not to see or experience those events yourself. That said, the previous DA games were also all very disconnected from one another, so whilst it may be disappointing, it’s also not really a surprise.

But I do think if you judge DA:TV as its own thing, it more than holds its own and delivers a pretty exciting and engaging final battle and conclusion thanks to some strong characters and even stronger combat. Because just like ME2, DA:TV streamlines the RPG aspects of the series and goes full action-RPG.

Combat is easily one of the best aspects of DA:TV. There are three classes to choose from – Warrior, Mage and Rogue – each with three sub-classes and two weapon sets that can be switched between on the fly. I played as a Warrior for my first run, and a mage for my second. Both classes offered a very enjoyable and engaging experience, but also a very different experience.

As a Warrior I focused primarily on using a weapon and shield rather than the alternative two-handed weapon – but it was always fun when I did switch my set just to mix (and smash) things up. It took a little time to wrap my head around the combat and how to most effectively utilise my abilities and those of my companions but once I had, I was really having a blast – drop kicking enemies off a ledge never got old.

Enemies may be vulnerable to particular attacks or damage types. They may have magical barriers or armour – or both. Knowing what kinds of attacks to use against what enemy is key. You can also apply various ‘afflictions’ to weaken or slow enemies, and even stack those afflictions for increased effect. It’s also important to look at your companion abilities – are they useful against single targets, or groups? And do their abilities create combo ‘detonations’ with your skills or with your other companions? And how can you effectively maximise the frequency of those detonations?

Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be popping off detonations left and right and enemies will barely get a lick in before they explode. Does it get a little repetitive by the end if you do absolutely everything? Sure, but that’s not unlike most action games once you find an effective pattern.

Whereas the Warrior is all about getting up close and personal with your opponent, the Mage . . . also offers the option of getting up close and personal. The Mage class in DA:TV plays very differently than you might expect. There is a more typical ‘ranged’ type play style that sees you sit back and pop off spells at a distance, but even then, there are moments when it’s beneficial to charge in and unleash an acrobatic magical attack as close to your opponents as possible.

Even playing as the Mage in DA:TV is a very active, engaged and action focused experience, and as someone who primarily played as a mage in all the previous DA games, I kind of loved it, even more so than the Warrior. By carefully picking my active abilities, gear and skills, I created a build that let me not only stack afflictions upon the enemy, but also advantages (buffs) upon myself, whilst increasing my damage by 10% for every additional advantage which also included an enhanced damage buff . . . and once the build came together I’m pretty sure I broke the game.

Battles can be challenging, but once you get the hang of things, it might be worth knocking it one above the default. There’s a satisfying flow to fights that I never really tired of because there’s so many options and ways to build your character through their skill tree, sub class, weapon sets and gear types.

And you can refund and respec whenever you please so there’s no reason not to experiment and mix things up if you feel your routine is getting a little stale. What can get a little stale though are the enemy types – you’ll have seen everything DA:TV can throw at you long before the end, and the game relies a little too much on simply multiplying their numbers to test you, rather than providing more cleverly crafted encounters.

DA:TV features several open ‘zones’ that you can travel to and explore as you please although all of these are quest and progression gated in various ways. One of my favourite areas was The Crossroads which you can entirely ignore if you wish, but you really shouldn’t because it’s full of secrets to find and some fun, challenging boss fights. The game also has quite a lot of unique locations you’ll visit only once for various companion or main quests.

It also does a great job of pacing its content and your progression through the game. Whilst it could perhaps lose a few of the side quests, this isn’t another Inquisition situation where the game is bloated to a tedious degree. You’ll unlock plenty of content as you go, but not enough to overwhelm you or drag you away for too long from the main quest.

The only time the game’s pacing really drops off is when a lot of the companion quests come to an end as they all do so roughly at the same point and you have to take some time out to complete them all before the point of no return – if you choose to, that is.

The game gives you a lot of gear options but I’m not a big fan of how the item rarity works. In order to increase an item’s rarity you need to find or purchase a duplicate, but if there’s a specific item you like, you’re not guaranteed to find or be able to buy the duplicate you need, so you might be waiting a long time before you can upgrade. It’s an odd kind of system and I think I’d have preferred to just find items with a set rarity as I progressed.

Visually, DA:TV looks fantastic and the game is incredibly polished. I played on all Ultra settings at a locked 90FPS – and I could have locked it even higher, but that was pushing my CPU temp more than I liked. The stylised character style won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I thought it looked fine for the most part.

Overall, DA:TV is a great action-RPG with strong combat, excellent exploration and level design, fun characters and a decent plot. I can’t say it’s a great conclusion to Dragon Age as a series up until now, but as its own thing, DA:TV offers a lot to new and old DA players alike.

8/10

Gallery: Shattered Space

Now Playing: The Invincible

The Invincible is a sci-fi narrative adventure game (AKA walking simulator) based on the 1964 Stanisław Lem novel of the same name – which I’m ashamed to say I’d never actually heard of despite liking my classic sci-fi.

I wouldn’t say the game is a direct adaptation (at least it doesn’t appear to be based on the novel’s Wikipedia summary) more ‘inspired by’ as it utilises the same location and premise, but with entirely different characters and potential endings.

You play as Yasna, an astrobiologist who awakes on the planet of Regis III with a bad case of short term amnesia – yep, that old trope. She doesn’t know how she ended up there or what happened to the rest of her crew. That becomes your first mission – figuring out where you are and what the hell you were supposed to be doing there.

It quickly becomes clear that Regis III isn’t all it seems and Yasna soon learns that a rival faction – The Alliance – is also interested in the mysterious planet. Can she find her missing crew? Can she discover the secret of Regis III? And can she escape the planet alive?

I won’t say anything more specific about the story because the story is the primary draw of a game like this. It is very much a ‘walking simulator’ in terms of gameplay and if that’s not your jam, The Invincible won’t win you over. Yasna can (thankfully) sprint so it’s not always just ‘walking’ and there are sections you get to drive a cool little rover.

But ultimately, the gameplay remains the same – move along a linear path and watch as the story unfolds. There’s no combat or puzzles. You do, however, get various dialogue options. The majority of these are just to provide a little more flavour to your experience, but there are those that do shape how the game and story progresses as you press on.

The different narrative paths aren’t particularly substantial, not really until the very end where the game does feature a handful of different endings. Although the branching narrative isn’t anything amazing, it does at least give the game some degree of replay value.

Because overall, the story of The Invincible is good enough to carry you through and make you want to see what you can change. But is it good enough to warrant an entire second or even third run? Probably not. You’ll probably be content to watch the alternative endings on YouTube.

And that’s because the game is pretty slow. Even with the sprint and vehicle sections, The Invincible is a game that never really picks up pace, even when it feels like it should. Whenever you do get a sense of urgency within the narrative, the gameplay never really reflects that. It’s just more trudging along, occasionally interacting with a button or switch.

Like I said, it’s a walking simulator and if that’s not your thing, this won’t change your mind. It’s not really my thing, to be honest, not unless the story and characters can totally win me over. I’d say they take a good stab at it, but don’t quite succeed. I do really like the general premise and how the secret of the planet is slowly revealed and what it turns out to be. It’s all cool stuff.

But the game’s pacing is a little off and Yasna can be a tad irritating to play sometimes. I get the situation may seem bleak but she sure does complain a lot. I just found it hard to fully invest in her journey.

The endings of the game are a little abrupt which makes them all feel a bit disappointing . . . or maybe dissatisfying is the better word to use. It’s one of those game when the credits start to roll and you say ‘wait, that’s it?’

It took me about 6 hours to complete The Invincible but honestly, it probably could and should have been shorter. There’s a fair bit of padding to get through, mostly as Yasna travels slowly from A to B. I replayed some sections for achievements and to see the other endings, but aside from that, I don’t ever see myself replaying The Invincible.

It’s a solid and interesting sci-fi adventure and if you like your classic sci-fi with cool retro designs and an intriguing story and don’t mind some slow paced walking and talking then I’d say The Invincible is most certainly worth giving a spin – on sale, at least.

6/10

Meta Quest 3 VR

Way back in October 2019 I shared my first impressions of the HTC VIVE, which at the time felt like something of a gamble given the cost because I had no way of knowing if I’d like VR or not. Turns out, I did like it. And with more than a thousand hours now clocked in Steam VR, I decided the time had finally come to upgrade.

But which of the new generation of VR headsets did I want to go for? And was it worth waiting to see if Valve revealed an Index 2? But waiting for Valve is never a good idea and odds are, if the Index 2 ever comes, it will likely be a quality but very expensive piece of kit.

So I opted for the most popular and price friendly option – the Meta Quest 3 – which was nearly half the price I paid for my VIVE back in the day once you factor in accessories like the VIVE pro strap and lighthouse tracking mounts.

What struck me about the Quest 3 upon arrival was how light it felt compared to the VIVE. I’d say it feels about 3 times lighter in hand which also makes it quite a lot easier to wear. The included strap is basic, like the default VIVE strap. However, because of how light the unit is, I’d say the default strap is just fine – if a little fiddly to adjust.

I’m also pleased to say that the default sound quality on the Quest 3 is surprisingly good. The VIVE, on the other hand, really required that pro strap to accommodate the extra weight and for the included earphones.

The face pad on the Quest 3 feels like another improvement. The fit isn’t quite as snug as the VIVE but light bleed is minimal and the material doesn’t result in you starting to sweat after 30 minutes or so of use.

The controllers are f**king tiny, so they’re going to take some getting used to, but they have all the buttons you’d need and also don’t need thanks to the impressive hand tracking built into the Quest 3. Seriously, I thought the finger tracking on the Index controllers was impressive, but this is a massive step up. Being able to type on virtual keyboards and drag virtual screens around using my fingers in VR is kind of nuts.

Speaking of tracking, whereas the VIVE required the use of two lighthouse units for room scale VR, the Quest 3 has entirely internal tracking. No, it doesn’t offer quite the same degree of accuracy as the full 360 degree lighthouse trackers, but it’s good enough that it’s very nice not having to spend a few minutes plugging in the trackers and spinning them up every time I want to play something.

It’s also really nice not having to plug a very long lead from the headset into my PC – a lead you’re always aware of and at risk of tripping on. Because the Quest 3 is entirely self-contained, no PC required. Of course, that’s not how I intend to use it.

And this is where Steam Link comes into play as it allows you to wirelessly connect the Quest 3 with Steam running on your PC and then stream your games directly to the headset. I did try the alternative (free) option – Meta’s own Airlink – but found it more clunky and slow to use. It’s important to note that you will need to have your PC on a wired connection to your router for this to work, which isn’t going to be suitable for everyone.

And I suppose that’s what I like most about the Quest 3 compared to my old VIVE – the ease of use. Because as much as I do like VR, the VIVE could prove tedious to set up and play at times. You’d get the trackers switched on, clear the play area, connect the headset cable and then carefully run it in such a way that you won’t get tangled or trip. You’d then pull on the headset and adjust the strap so the weight wouldn’t strain your neck. But the Quest 3? You just slip it on and press the power button and you’re good to go.

I tested the Quest 3 by running Phasmophobia, Blade & Sorcery and Half Life: Alyx via wireless Steam Link and they all ran smoothly and without issue and looked, quite frankly, much sharper and clean than they did on my wired VIVE. Obviously, the higher resolution lenses of the Quest 3 help a lot, as do my updated prescription lens inserts.

But I expected there to be some degradation in quality when streaming and honestly, I’m not seeing anything, even on the default Steam Link settings. Everything I’ve tried runs smoothly and looks better than it did on my wired VIVE.

There’s no noticeable ‘screen door’ effect like with the VIVE, not unless you really stare hard to see it and this also helps make colours really pop compared to the VIVE. The field of view is also greatly improved. When I went back to the VIVE to compare, it’s shocking how narrow it felt and how washed out everything looked visually.

Passthrough is a fantastic feature and yes, it can be fuzzy depending upon local lighting, but it’s so fast to switch to and makes moving around the real world so much easier. The mixed reality game I tried was also super fun and impressive with how it scanned my local surroundings and incorporated everything into the game.

The big downside to the Quest 3 is the battery life, which only gives you around 2 hours of play depending upon your activity. There are ways to improve the battery life – such as turning off things when you don’t need them – and there are battery packs you can buy to connect and extend your play sessions. But honestly, a few hours in VR at a time is usually enough for me anyway, so taking a break and recharging the headset isn’t really a problem.

Overall, I’m very pleased with my Quest 3 purchase. It’s an upgrade in pretty much every way over the VIVE from a hardware perspective, but also and perhaps more importantly, for ease of use. All we need now is for Valve to finally release a new VR game because Alyx remains the bar and I don’t see anyone else clearing it unless Valve steps up themselves.