Recent reviews by puddingtopf

I was a bit worried that The Talos Principle 2 wouldn't be able to live up to its great predecessor, or that Croteam may have issues using Unreal Engine 5 after stepping away from their Serious Engine. Luckily, after reaching 100% completion, I'm happy to say that this game is really good. The puzzles are fun, the graphics and music are beautiful, the writing and worldbuilding are engaging, the voice actors are good, and it's overall a very enjoyable game.
Is it better than Talos 1? I don't think there is an objective answer to that. The story plays a more central role in this sequel, and it also presents you with some very different circumstances compared to the first game, so the pacing and atmosphere are not the same. I think I personally prefer the original's lonely, more meditative feeling, but other people may disagree. Both games are certainly very good.

I played the original PC version of Shadow Man in 2004, but didn't get very far. Now, 19 years later, I've finally reached 100% completion (except for The Horror difficulty) in this remaster. Night Dive have really done a great job enhancing the graphics, bringing back a lot of cut content, and adding some new things. The game looks and sounds good, runs well, and feels nice to play.
I had some issues with the confusing level design and used some guides due to the long, winding hallways, large areas with multiple branching paths, backtracking with new items and abilities, and scattered collectibles. However, I'm not holding this against the game since that's the whole point of this adventure, and it was definitely fun and engaging. My last save file says it took me just under 19 hours to complete everything, but my actual play time is 10 hours longer because I was constantly loading my save files (e.g. when I got lost or fell off a ledge) or pausing the game to look at guides. I recommend Shadow Man Remastered if a complex game like this sounds interesting and entertaining to you.

I'm not really into "boomer shooters" since I tend to find their gameplay bland and their maps tedious, but Quake is pretty fun and holds up surprisingly well for being the first FPS of its kind, with complex, highly vertical level structures, unlocked vertical view axis, and fully rendered 3D models for enemies and items. The music in the original campaign is creepy and atmospheric while the music in the expansions is a bit more fast-paced.
The remaster also looks and feels good and adds some nice improvements, like enhanced models and interpolated animations.
The expansions are fun and give the game a ton of content. It took me about 33 hours to beat everything on Nightmare difficulty and unlock all the achievements.

Mirror's Edge is one of my favorite games. I originally played it on PS3 and got 100% (all trophies), then I got it for free on PC (Origin) and kept playing it there, later completed it twice on my brother's Xbox Series S, and now I bought it on Steam to avoid EA's dumb launcher.
The dynamic parkour gameplay, amazing graphics with bold colors and baked lighting, great music and sound design, and really cool PhysX elements combine into a very unique experience. It is beautiful, atmospheric, intense, and fun.
An update with achievements, and technical improvements (unlocked frame rate, FOV settings, cloud saves) would be really nice - maybe even a remaster/remake with real-time ray tracing. But either way, this game is a must-play.

I came for the RTX, I stayed for the Sweeper.
The ray tracing support in this game is pretty pointless since you can barely see the environments, and my game's performance is surprisingly bad with RT (there is no DLSS). It's also buggy, supposedly due to low specs. The dev replies to forum posts and says he's still working on an update.
The game itself is just Minesweeper. It's fun and has a bunch of achievements that give you an additional incentive to play the game. I just unlocked my last one.
Honestly, ignore the "RTX" part of the title and play the game if you like Minesweeper, even if you don't have an RTX card. It's fun and free.

BABBDI is deceptively short, especially if you know what to do, but I jumped into the game without any prior knowledge and it was a pretty interesting experience.
You can freely explore a small town with Brutalist skyscrapers in order to find a ticket that lets you take a train out of there. The atmosphere is depressing due to the dark and lifeless design of the town and certain events in the story, but also bizarre since the characters barely look or behave like humans and because the game uses many AI generated textures and presumably some music. The baked lighting and volumetric effects are also fairly good-looking in contrast to the environment and characters.
What makes everything even weirder are the tools you can use to move around, like a pickaxe that lets you climb walls and a propeller that lets you fly all over the map. It's a very strange and short, but interesting game.

Walking simulators are usually not my cup of tea, but this one is well-made and free. The graphics look pretty convincing thanks to Lumen and VHS-style effects, the sound design is atmospheric, and the environments are cool.
Keep in mind that the game is fairly demanding, so cap your frame rate and maybe lower the resolution.

F***ing trash. Unbearable in every way.
The "smooth" combat mechanics feel awkward and the story and presentation are embarassing. The graphics can sometimes look fine for 2012, but they often look several years older with their terribly muddy textures. The whole game tries hard to be cool and stylish, but it falls flat and is just a chore to play through. The constant gameplay interruptions and the main villains of each campaign who "die" 20 times and "surprisingly" still keep coming back are annoying and frustrating. I've completed the whole story on Professional and hated most of my time with it.

RE5 is certainly a step down from RE4 in terms of presentation and atmosphere, but it's still pretty fun to play. Unlocking all the weapons, upgrades, figurines, etc. is also satisfying. I don't have the DLC since I got this game in the RE 4/5/6 bundle, but I completed the base game 100% in about 35 hours.

I used to play RE4 on the PS2, but I mostly watched my brother play it, and he never even finished it. Now I've finally completed the game on Normal difficulty with the "re4_tweaks" mod (highly recommended) and really enjoyed it. The graphics and sound design are dated, but still do their job pretty well. The default controls suck, but the mod drastically improves them so it kind of feels like a cheat.
I've also beaten the bonus campaigns Assignment Ada and Separate Ways, and my total playtime is currently standing at 30 hours, which is quite impressive for a linear story-driven game. Now I still have Professional difficulty (my only missing achievement) and The Mercenaries to go.

Edit: 100% after about 53 hours.