Recent reviews by Revy

This expansion builds on the solid base of the original Alien Swarm which unfortunately was limited by a lack of content and long term support. Reactive Drop adds extra content, gamemodes and workshop support, giving the game much more staying power.

Campaign content has been greatly expanded with additional campagins available by default with additional community campaigns from the workshop. The included new campaigns are high quality and fit well with the original theme and atmosphere.

Not everything is quite as polished as the core game such as the PvP, which is limited to a deathmatch arena with weapons spawning on the ground. This is unfortunate as Alien Swarm is a perfect fit for a tactical top-down shooter with its unique classes and assortment of weapons.

Reactive Drop is an update that allows a well crafted yet neglected game to live on through its community. I wouldn't be playing this again after six years if it wasn't a fantastic game providing a great co-op experience in a genre that is rare to find today.

Rivals of Aether is a Smash clone that accurately replicates its core mechanics while making some alterations that still sets it apart from its predecessors. This review covers the game from the perspective of a semi-competent Smash player.

Movement is integral to any fighting game and Rivals has been able to take what made Melee's movement great and use it for itself. It's fluid and responsive and retains tech like dash-dancing and wavedashing which increase the skill ceiling. It gives the player snappy control over their character and doesn't have an excess of turn animations like Smash 4 which give the movement a sluggish feel at times. Those who enjoy Melee's movement should find Rivals to be to their tastes.

Combat at its core is the same as Smash aside from two main changes: the replacement of shields with a parry and the removal of the ledge mechanic. These changes are not necessarily bad but simply alter how the game is played. The roster while small is varied and each has their own playstyle with some familiar moves returning from Smash. The character balance is well done with no character feeling unviable unlike what often occurs in Smash titles. This is due to each character having a balanced kit with none having a crippling weakness such as being completely outclassed in frame data or range. Perhaps an advantage of a small roster is that there is enough space to have different feeling characters without resorting to gimmicks to differentiate new characters.

The game's singleplayer content features an arcade mode style story which is I believe is fine considering most players will be looking for a competitive experience rather than story. It also features Abyss mode which pits the player against waves of weak enemies. More importantly, the game includes a tutorial that will teach players important tech skill in the game. Despite Smash's reputation as a casual game that is easy to pick up, many players are actually unaware of its deeper mechanics. The game features remappable controls along with other general quality of life features such as forcing results screen skip. Bots are available to the player at various levels of competency, however like most games, these bots don't play like humans do and are prone to taking unrealistic actions which can lead to developing bad habits which only work against bots and not human players.

The game supports up to four players but only in specific configurations online due to how the P2P connection works only allowing communication between two systems. Full four player FFA and teams works offline as expected but online is either 1v1 or 2v2 with two players at each system. Finally, online matchmaking. I live in Australia and have never connected with someone that has less than 250ms ping making matchmaking practically impossible. If you live in a low population area, be prepared to drag your friends over into the game if you don't want to be stuck playing against bots.

Rivals of Aether is a great option for someone looking for a competitive Smash experience but cannot or doesn't want to play Smash for any reason. The game is well polished and plays excellently. Just keep in mind that this is a still a small game with a limited playerbase.

Just a note for this review: I have barely spent any time playing in vanilla. I am aware the some would say that a game that requires mods to be good is a bad game, however I have spent most my playtime with mods, and so I will be evaluating the game from my experience playing with mods. Most of my time playing has been using 100+ mods mostly for quality of life and immersion with some graphical and new content as well.

Skyrim is an open world RPG that features rich environments within a beautiful and varied game world. From the moment you are thrown into the open world the game fills you with a sense of amazement. There has obviously been a lot of working in creating the look and feel of Skyrim and it is a game with great ambition and scale. A word of warning here, one thing Bethesda is notoriously poor at is releasing their game with bugs. I say this now for there are simply too many to cover in this review even though the unofficial patches literally address thousands of them.

Skyrim’s ability to deliver an enriching open world experience set in a beautiful world is owed to how great the environment looks. The density of detail is fantastic and while playing with an ENB and other graphical enhancements I would often find myself stopping simply to admire the scenery and take screenshots. The architecture of ruins and buildings bring a cohesive feel to the game’s aesthetic while each city has a unique style to keep the areas feeling fresh. Interiors and dungeons are full of minute detail and when paired with lighting mods that remove the artificial illumination, can create some very atmospheric underground adventures.

More importantly though, the world itself feels alive. Each NPC has a daily routine as they chop wood or stroll the city. They acknowledge your presence and show meaningful interactions with other NPCs. Even the scripted events allow you freedom to interact or simply walk away. One of the most popular mods, Wet and Cold adds intelligent behaviour for NPCs according to weather in addition to a slew of other small effects. The systems here create the illusion that the world doesn’t revolve around you, that you are simply a traveller in a much larger world.

Adding to the immersion is the phenomenal soundtrack by Jeremy Soule, which perfectly encapsulates the feeling of traversing this large yet intimate world. From climbing the highest peaks to strolling through a starry night, the music leaves you with a lasting impression that vastly enhances any adventure.

The game has a wealth of content, with the Radiant AI continuously padding out content as to not let you feel like the game was running out of steam too early. Unfortunately, the quest system itself is lacking, using waypoint arrows instead of giving you clues as to where to go and is compounded by the linear dungeon design and simple puzzles. The only time I really got lost in a dungeon was in the ruins of the Dwemer cities. Some of this can be remedied using mods, but it is still something to keep in mind.

Unfortunately, the main story was a letdown for some, and while not a particularly a problem for me, is understandable that more would be expected from the main questline. Otherwise, plenty more content in including new lands can be found in the DLC and mods with their own rich story as well. Much of the lore is scattered around many books that litter dungeons and homes, often giving much contextual information on the area or quest you have embarked on. Otherwise, the NPCs are always there for a chat.

Finally, the combat is simply adequate. With a lack of any advanced mechanics you are left just to walk around their opponent and continually throw out attacks. The perks are unbalanced with some trees being vastly more useful than others and stealth is Bethesda’s non-cheat god-mode, allowing for you to walk up and kill almost anything in a few hits without even being seen. Skyrim makes use of crafting systems in its alchemy, cooking and smithing systems etc to aid you in combat but the game played on standard difficulty barely requires you to make anything yourself yet harder difficulties make some playstyles almost impossible. Mods like Perkus Maximus offer overhauls of the perk system with others also altering combat to fix these issues, although I personally did not use a combat overhaul mod as I found the combat to be good enough.

Skyrim as a base is a game which has the heart and soul of an Elder Scrolls game in its massive yet involving world. As millions have shown on console, this game was still great without mods. However, I have found that mods can offer a unique rewarding experience as you personalise the game to your own standards. Skyrim is a canvas and you can paint over it in broad strokes or take a small brush and work in the details that weren’t there before. The game is masterpiece in open world design and brings a truly immersive experience where you create the adventures.

All this being said, modding isn’t for everyone. Much time may be spent in finding the right mods to tailor your gameplay experience and even with guides, working out which files to overwrite for which mod can become quite a hassle. Documentation isn’t always available so some decisions have to be made on experience and intuition. I have broken various save files by installing and removing mods so as always, mod at your own risk.

This isn't even a game but it was free to play.

Jokes aside, this was a good documentary from Valve about the lives of three Dota 2 players and their rise to fame. A good watch for both people who are into esports and outsiders to the scene.