E-Book Release: The Thief, The Mother & The Empress

Jing is a thief, but she doesn’t steal crowns – she steals code. Living in the Mire, the industrial heartland of the City of Moreau, Jing and her best friend Guz accept a contract from a local broker to harvest code from a corporate archive, but things don’t quite go to plan.

Jing and Guz retrieve the code, but find themselves on the run, hunted not only by local enforcement, but by the Black Hearts – the secret police of Jacalyn Adelise Volais, Empress of the Thirteen Worlds. The situation becomes more complex with the arrival of the Daughters, a group of neural terrorists led by the mysterious Mother.

The stolen code isn’t what Jing expected – it appears to be a memory. In a world where memories are a commodity to be bought and sold, the question is – a memory of what? Or who? And more importantly, will Jing and Guz ever get paid?

Bannerlord: First Impressions

Mount & Blade: Warband is one of the first games I ever wrote about on this blog. It was a little rough around the edges, but a game I thoroughly enjoyed to play. And I guess I can now say the same about its sequel (which is actually a prequel, chronologically speaking) – Mount & Blade: Bannerlord – which, after eight or so years of development, has finally released, albeit in Early Access.

The Early Access release had me a little concerned. The last thing I wanted was another DayZ situation, in which a game that’s gone through various stages of development hell is dumped on Steam using the EA tag in order to excuse the shoddy state of the product. Thankfully, that doesn’t appear to be the case with Bannerlord.

The game certainly isn’t finished, and it certainly has its fair share of bugs and issues, but the majority of the planned content is already available and the game, even in this early state, is very fun to play. And in a very positive sign for the future of Bannerlord, patches have been released nearly every day since launch which have already fixed or begun to fix the most pressing issues.

I can only talk about my experience with Bannerlord, but player experience will vary. I’ve not had a single crash in 40 hours of play, but I’ve seen other players report frequent crashes. I’ve also seen people report issues of save corruption but, once again, it’s not an issue I’ve encountered. That’s something to keep in mind – my experience, as far as performance and technical stability goes – has been pretty positive, but that’s not been the case for every player and it may not be for you.

Bannerlord begins with a decent (as far as options go) character creator, although it’s hard not to create a character who doesn’t look like a walking corpse with dead eyes – they really do need to work on those faces. Once you’ve chosen a ‘history’ for your character (that determines your initial player stats) you’re put into a short tutorial section that will introduce you to the basics of combat, recruitment and movement on the world map.

It’s short and it’s limited, but it’s good enough to get you started. That said, Bannerlord is in desperate need of more tutorial systems. It doesn’t necessarily need more tutorial quests or dialogue – a comprehensive set of UI tool tips would be most welcome, for example, because even after 40 hours of play, I’m still figuring out and learning about various aspects of character skills, settlement management and battle tactics that the game just doesn’t explain or reveal.

Visually, Bannerlord looks pretty good. I mean, it’s not exactly on par with other recent games, but it’s good enough and some of the battle animation quality is great. The battle audio is also fantastic and where the game really shines. The battles are wonderfully immersive and, with the option to support up to 1000 models per battle, can be incredibly tense, thrilling and chaotic to experience when two equally sized and equipped armies clash on the field.

Troop AI can be a little dodgy. Enemy armies don’t always play to the strengths of their troop types or the local terrain. And if you ever fall during battle, the odds are that your soldiers will begin behaving like complete idiots and turn what should have been an easy victory into a very costly one. I guess the loss of a commander would naturally result in a loss of troop cohesion, but it’s like they totally forget how to fight at all.

Sieges in Bannerlord are great – when they work properly, that is. They’ve had a pretty major overhaul compared to Warband, with new battering rams, towers and field artillery all constructed on the campaign map prior to the siege and usable once it begins. Storming a castle or a town has never been so much fun – although after 40 hours of play I’ve never been in a position where I’ve gotten to defend a settlement, which is a little disappointing.

The main problem with sieges in Bannerlord is that they’re one of, if not the most, buggy and inconsistent part of the game in its current state. Sometimes troops just get stuck on ladders, unable to climb up or down. Sometimes they’ll wheel a siege tower up to a wall, but then forget how to use it. The performance on some siege maps gets pretty choppy, to say the least. The AI also has problems with the narrow walls and I’ve seen dozens of troops fall to their death because they all got stuck trying to squeeze along a small walkway.

The campaign side of the game plays pretty much just like Warband did – you recruit your troops, level them up and you can choose to join an existing faction or break off and create your own. There’s more options with regard to settlement management and internal faction politics, but a lot of these systems still clearly need work. I’d love to be able to transfer troops between garrisons, for example, without having to manually go and ‘collect’ them myself.

The thing I want more than anything though, is a proper notifications system. Right now, the game does a terrible job of conveying important world events to the player – if a faction declares war, or signs a peace agreement, for example. Or, even more importantly, if one of your towns or castles comes under siege.

The ‘event log’ in the game does inform you of various things, but it moves pretty rapidly and doesn’t always highlight the key information you need. They do seem to be improving this – I’ve seen more ‘pop up’ type notifications appear after recent patches – but it’s something they need to keep working on.

Overall, Bannerlord has been great fun to play, even in this Early Access state. The patches seem to be coming quickly and making real fixes and improvements to the game, but there’s still quite a long way to go. If you’re a fan of Warband I’d say it’s worth picking up right now, but be aware that you may encounter issues and that the game is still a little rough around the edges. Then again, if you’re a fan of Warband, you’re probably going to be okay with that.

Now Playing: Half-Life: Alyx (VR)

I’ve seen some VR reviews where they talk about a game being ‘good for VR’ almost like a backhanded compliment – as if VR games shouldn’t be judged to the same standard. I totally disagree with this approach and I’ve always rated VR games on the same scale as I rate everything else.

Certainly, VR games should always strive to play to the strengths of the platform and that’s something that should factor into any review, but as a whole, they should always be judged like any other game. So when I say that Half-Life: Alyx isn’t just the best game on the VR platform I’ve played, but one of the best games I’ve played ever, you know I’m not just playing the ‘good for VR’ card.

Half-Life: Alyx is a prequel to Half-Life 2 in which you play as a young Alyx Vance in City 17. You’re a part of the human resistance fighting against the Combine forces that have invaded and enslaved our world. Your initial assignment of reconnaissance rapidly becomes one of rescue as your father is taken prisoner and you set out on a journey across City 17 to save him.

 

I don’t want to spoil any of the plot here, but it’s something I can say I enjoyed, despite seeing the ‘twist’ coming from a mile away. If I had any criticisms of the story or how it progresses, it would be that the NPC interaction is minimal – this is very much a solo adventure for Alyx – and I would have liked a few more occasions when I could speak or interact with people face to face. A few actions scenes with some friendly resistance NPCS would also have been most welcome.

In total, it took me about 11 hours to complete Alyx on Hard – and I’m glad I played on the hardest setting, because it offered a very enjoyable (and fair) challenge. It’s the setting I’d recommend to anyone more familiar with VR, although new players may want to begin on Normal.

I always felt like I had just enough ammo to get through each encounter. I didn’t have to make every shot count, but enough. The game is very clever with its placement of ammo and supplies – you always have enough to see you through, but not enough to waste. It’s a delicate balance between forcing the player to be cautious, but not cautious enough that they can’t enjoy themselves and need to worry about saving/reloading if they miss several shots.

In fact, that delicate balance and clever design applies to Half-Life: Alyx as a whole. Every aspect of it from combat, puzzles, enemy encounters and environmental design feels polished and balanced to near perfection. Every chapter, every new mechanic, all of it has been placed with the utmost care and consideration to deliver a masterclass of game design. It’s the kind of game that other developers – VR developers in particular – need to learn from.

 

The game is always adding new layers of complexity, chapter by chapter. Puzzles begin simply enough, but as you progress, they gain additional, more challenging stages. Combat, initially, is kept simple, with a single enemy or two to deal with, but by the end of the game you’ll be tangling with multiple enemies in open arenas.

And whilst the game (as a prequel) does use many familiar foes from Half-Life 2, it introduces some new and memorable enemies of its own, one of whom serves as the foundation for the entire chapter in which it appears. I won’t spoilt it, but it’s a wonderful change of pace a little over half way into the game.

And that’s why Half-Life: Alyx is so damn good. The variety if offers, both in terms of environments, combat encounters and level design. The perfect pacing in which you never feel like you’re stuck in an area for longer than you want to be. Like I said, it’s all delicately balanced. Every time you feel like you’ve seen every trick up its sleeve, it pulls out something new.

 

There’s a pleasant (or should I say unpleasant) surprise in Half-Life: Alyx waiting for you on each new level. It’s constantly engaging. You just want to keep playing, keeping moving forward to see what it’s going to do next. It’s the kind of game you don’t want to end because when it does, you know it’s going to be hard to top an experience of this kind.

If you already own a VR system then it’s a must buy – it’s a new standard by which all VR games will be compared. But if you don’t own a VR device yet, would I say to pick one up just for Alyx? That’s a tricky one to answer, but I think I’d have to say no, not unless you’ve got money to burn.

However, if there are other VR games you want to play in addition to Alyx, then now is a great time to jump on the VR train – just be aware that Alyx is the new bar by which VR games will be judged, and it may be a long time before we see another game compare.

Overall, Half-Life: Alyx is an excellent game, an excellent prequel to Half-Life 2, and an excellent set up to Half-Life 3 which, given the post credit scene, now feels like the inevitable next step, VR or not.

9/10

Gallery: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Half-Life: Alyx: First Impressions (VR)

I’m just over four hours into Half-Life: Alyx so I figured I’d post some initial impressions of the game. I guess it won’t come as a great surprise to know that Half-Life: Alyx, at least so far, has been excellent. It’s shaping up to not only be the best game I’ve played on the VR platform, but a serious contender for my GOTY.

Everything about Alyx is so polished, carefully considered and meticulously designed – visuals, sound, environmental design, pacing and gameplay mechanics. It’s a game that plays perfectly to the strength of the immersive and interactive nature of the VR platform. And it’s a game that’s very aware of its own role and responsibility in opening up the world of VR to new players.

Make no mistake, Half-Life: Alyx is a VR system seller. For many players, it will be their first VR game and the range of player accessibility options reflects this. The game caters not only to a range of player movement and comfort options, but also to the full range of VR hardware.

 

I was a little concerned about playing Alyx using my somewhat basic (compared to the Index) VIVE wands, but I shouldn’t have worried – the game plays perfectly with them. It’s clear that Valve wanted every player, regardless of their VR hardware, or preference of movement / control options to have a great experience.

Half-Life: Alyx begins quite slowly, which feels like a concession to players new or unfamiliar with VR to help them acclimatise to the platform. But it’s also a gentle and important reintroduction of the Half-Life world to new and old players alike. It should be noted, however, that Alyx does assume the player has a decent knowledge of the previous Half-Life games, so I’d certainly recommend at least playing Half-Life 2 and its episodes before playing Alyx.

Progression may seem slow during the first two chapters, but the game continually builds upon the experience, adding new layers to the combat, puzzles, enemies and environmental complexity as you go. Just when you think you’ve seen all the tricks Alyx has up its sleeve, it introduces something you’ve not encountered before, or a new twist on a familiar mechanic.

Visually, Half-Life: Alyx is stunning. It’s one of the best looking games I’ve played – VR or no VR. And I’m not just talking about texture quality, but art direction and world design. Alyx is, more or less, a game of linear corridors, but you never feel those restrictions as you progress. Each area is logically chained to the next – you can always see where you’re going, even if you can’t quite reach it yet.

 

Sound design and music is also excellent, the combat tracks in particular ramping up at just the right moments. And I’m pleased how Alyx doesn’t shy away from the horror aspect of Half-Life – if anything, it embraces the horror elements of its setting even more so than any of the previous Half-Life games.

When I first ran Alyx, it defaulted me to ‘Low’ settings, but I cranked it up to Ultra anyway and I’ve not noticed any issues with performance. But honestly, even on Low, Alyx looks great. It’s clear, once again, that Valve wanted Alyx to be as accessible and enjoyable to everyone regardless of hardware.

Overall, Half-Life: Alyx is, at lest so far, really pretty great and it only seems to keep getting better. It’s also a game I’m reluctant to play too much of because I don’t want to finish it too soon. I have the feeling we’re not going to see another game like Alyx on the VR platform for a long time – if at all.

Now Playing: I Expect You To Die (VR)

I must admit, I’m kind of disappointed by I Expect You To Die. It’s a VR puzzle game with a spoof James Bond twist. It’s a seated experience in which you must complete various missions, each in a unique location with its own unique objectives and puzzle to solve. They are, to a degree, virtual escape rooms – you have to figure out the correct order of actions in order to complete your objective and escape with your life.

The ‘I Expect You To Die’ title is entirely appropriate given that you’ll likely die several times on each mission before you discover the correct solution. There’s no checkpoints, so every death will result in a complete reset. This may be understandable given how short each mission is – 5-15 minutes on your first play, including the time wasted on death related restarts. 

On one hand, this approach makes sense within the context of the game’s design and setting, but it can also be incredibly frustrating and actually discourage the exploration and experimentation that would make a virtual escape room puzzle fun to solve. In I Expect You To Die, any ‘wrong’ action nearly always results in an unavoidable player death, forcing a mission reset and restart. This, initially, is somewhat amusing, as you see all of the various ways in which each puzzle is designed to kill you, but it does become rather irritating as you try to progress.

 

As I said, it feels counter-intuitive to the design of a virtual escape room puzzle because any attempt to deviate from the ‘correct’ solution nearly always results in a death and restart. Yes, an escape room will typically only have a single solution, but there may be multiple ways in which a player can discover that solution. In I Expect You To Die, however, there’s really only one correct order of actions the player must take to complete the mission.

This turns the game into what can be a rather tedious system of trial and error as you continually die and restart each mission until you figure out what the correct order of actions may be. There’s little to no scope for player creativity. If anything, the game actively discourages it. You’re expected to die and restart as many times as necessary until you figure out the correct order of actions to complete the mission. 

The game does give you little hints and clues and obviously, common sense is going to be a factor, but there’s a lot of random and unavoidable deaths that trigger simply as you explore and attempt to interact with various objects within each mission. There’s no warning or obvious indications that your interaction will trigger a failure state. It just triggers and you have to die and restart, now aware of what not to press or do.

 

I don’t want to exaggerate the issue – like I said, each mission, even with several deaths and restarts, only takes 5-15 minutes to complete. I’m just disappointed by how linear each mission is. It was rare that I felt like I’d really figured something out and solved the puzzle in my own way. Instead, it was more like I was just testing different combinations of actions until I struck upon the correct order required to progress. To me, that’s not a sign of a good puzzle game – when the solutions are obtained not through your own ingenuity, but instead by exhausting all the incorrect solutions until you find the correct one.

Visually, I Expect You To Die looks pretty decent. The presentation is very good, with each mission accessed via your virtual spy office in which you can collect various ‘souvenirs’ from each location. These souvenirs are kind of like mini-objectives on each mission (including a speed run) and do give I Expect You Die some replay value – but not much.

I wasn’t expecting a substantial VR experience, but when you can clear all of the missions (7 in total) in under two hours, that’s not exactly great value, not when you factor in the asking price. I picked up I Expect You To Die in a sale and I’m glad I did because if I’d paid any more I think I would have probably refunded it.

 

I don’t want to be too hard on I Expect You To Die. The presentation, music and VA are all very good. It certainly doesn’t feel like a ‘cheap’ VR experience. The problem is, whilst everything surrounding the core of the game is pretty good, the core itself – the puzzles – are rather weak and disappointing. I still had fun playing through I Expect You To Die, but I felt like I was desperately trying to dredge what enjoyment I could out of it, rather than letting the game entertain me.

I’ve written a longer review of I Expect You To Die than I do for far more substantial games and experiences, but I guess that gives you a sense of how disappointed I am by it. I really like the concept of VR escape room style puzzles. One of my favourite VR experiences was the Belko Experiment VR promotional game. Despite being a free download created primarily to advertise a movie, it offered a more elaborate and substantial puzzle to explore than any of the missions in I Expect You To Die.

It didn’t rely on cheap ‘die and restart’ tricks. It didn’t rely on trial and error gameplay to progress. It let the player explore at their own pace, be creative and figure out how to proceed and survive on their own. That’s what I Expect You To Die is lacking and that’s why I can’t really recommend it. If you see it on sale, I’d still say it might be worth a punt. You’ll get at least two hours of mild entertainment out of it. But that’s about all.

5/10