Recent reviews by ShelLuser

Ever played with miniature trains as a kid? Do you sometimes miss setting up your tracks and then driving various trains around? If the answer is yes then you're going to love this game, that's simply a fact!

There is just so much you get to do here... this game allows you to truly emerge within the world of trains; you can play pre-made scenarios where you'll need to drive your train towards stations to pick up people (or goods). Pay close attention to all the signs along the way.. And you can do this either in a 3rd person perspective which makes it really feel as if you're playing "with" the train. But you can also hop into 1st person mode and that will make you feel like a real train driver.


What truly amazes me about this game and which is my absolute favorite feature: the editor. I think it's an utter shame that none of the pictures on the store page show any of that because you need to keep one thing in mind: editing consists of both laying out the tracks, and building up a bit of a terrain. This may be something to get used to because most of the movies and images you see is you playing in a virtual landscape that looks pretty realistic.

Yah... about that? When you start in the editor you'll be placed in something that could be described as a 2D version of one of Star Trek's New Generation holodecks, while it's turned off ;) It takes getting used to when you get started I think, but then you should think back about the time when you played with trains in your youth. I mean.. most people used a table, how's that for "realistic terrain"? ;)

It may take some time to build both a nice track and a nice terrain, but trust me: it'll be worth the effort.


Also interesting to know is that there's a huge modding community out there. Meaning that you don't necessarily have to purchase all kinds of different trains and such: a lot of stuff can be downloaded, either for free or for a small fee (depending on where you get it) and trust me when I say that some of the "amateur mods" easily look way better (and more detailed!) than what you can officially buy. Of course... not always, and don't get me wrong here: I'm not trying to imply that it isn't worth to buy any DLC because it most certainly is!


One thing you really need to keep in mind, and this is the main caveat of this game, is that its data storage can get to excessive sizes. And it's not stored in the game folder itself. And this holds especially true when you also start using mods. Game data that also won't get removed should you decide to uninstall this game.... I'm talking about "%localappdata%\n3v" (on Windows obviously) which can easily contain 70Gb worth of data!

So keep this well in mind, because if you somehow seem to be running out of free space on your Windows drive then... this might be useful to look info.


In my opinion this is by far one of the best train simulator games which you can buy. Beautiful looking sceneries, awesome looking train models, a very active community and of course: that awesome editor!

Thanks for reading!

I grew up with the classics and wrestlers like Macho & Warrior were my childhood heroes. And honestly? Seeing Warrior run down to the ring and blasting that iconic entry music over my speakers? Goosebumps!.

But then again... why do we get the classic 80's Macho Man yet Miss Elisabeth is no where to be found? Or Sherri Martel for that matter... it also doesn't help that the entrances are pretty static: the commentators will always say the exact same things, the wrestlers will always make their exact same walk towards the ring (no variations at all...).

So yah, this is kinda fun, but also leaves a lot to desire.

In conclusion...

I'm going with a "yah" recommendation because... this can honestly can bring back nostalgia, which is a good thing. But it's not perfect, personally I'd recommend not buying this individually but instead grab the season pass or a 2k22 version which already includes this DLC.

Thanks for reading!

I really don't recommend buying this DLC separately, IMO it's not worth it at all. And that's coming from an actual Taker fan!

See, the problem with this thing is that most content is meant to be used in the "MyFaction" gamemode which I consider to be the worst part of the game. MyFaction is basically a glorified "search for more money" modus: you need to collect wrestler cards to build up your "faction" and how do you get those? Duh: purchasing card packs of course! Ergo: we're now entering "pay to win" territory and that can never be a good thing.

In fact, I think it's kinda insulting that you can play with pretty much every wrestler (assuming you unlocked all those) but once you get into this modus.... get ready to buy 'm all over again!

No. thank. you. Greedy (self-censored)....

So a bit of context: I grew up with WWF (now WWE); Hogan, Macho Man & Warrior were some of my childhood heroes. I did watch some WCW in the later years but shows weren't often broadcasted and well, the Internet wasn't what it is today. When I got myself a PS3 I also grabbed some wrestling games: Smackdown vs. Raw (2009, '10 and '11) as well as Road to Wrestlemenia. It was fun, but also declining; my gf and me never understood why intergender matches had to disappear all of a sudden because we loved playing those together (sometimes we still do).

Well, after the trainwreck that was WWE 2k20 (I tried, but requested a refund within the hour) I'm happy to report that this game really managed to turn things around. It's a lot of fun and can really brings back some of those nostalgic moments. The atmosphere is definitely there, I was actually rooting & shaking when I saw Warrior's entrance for the first time, OMG the energy!

Unfortunately though this game is far from perfect, and you'll quickly notice things falling apart a bit as you continue playing. For starters... they added a lot of the classic wrestlers like Jake Roberts, Hulk Hogan, Macho Man.... and as I mentioned some entrances really gave me goosebumps. But speaking of Macho: where's Miss Elisabeth?! Or 'Sensational' Sherri Martel?


My main gripe with the game is that there's near to none variation with anything. Commentators for example will always say the exact same things during a specific entrance. nWo? You'll always get the same comments about the "dominating force" and the iconic "3rd man". Shouldn't commentators... I dunno, talk about the upcoming match? Maybe talk a bit about their view on the chances of the wrestlers? You know... if Sami Zayn is scheduled to take on the whole nWo (Hogan with Hall & Nash) in a handicap match... wouldn't that be a road to doom or something like that? Well, the commentators are completely oblibious to any of this. See, an "other game" I picked up last year (about American Football) actually surprised me with how accurate the commentators were. If they can do that....

And then we also get to the entrances... always the same moves and the same routines. It gets boring over time, especially when you suddenly notice that if Kevin Nash comes out with his 2 "managers" the entrance will always be the default nWo entrance: fully focussed on Hogan, despite the fact it's Nash who's supposed to wrestle. It even gets ridiculous if you see Nash being mentioned as the competitor while constantly seeing Hogan doing his thing. And the reason why I think this is stupid is because my ancient SvR games did apply that bit of variation.


In all fairness they improved a lot in the matches when compared to WWE 2k20, credit where credits due. It may take some time to get used to the controls but once you get the basics in order it's really fun to be in the match. However... it gets a bit dumb again when you realize that your wrestler often doesn't seem to realize where his opponent is at and they will have no problems with punching air. Sometimes that gets really stupid or frustrating. This holds especially true when you're fighting a smaller wrestler with a bigger one (like mentioned earlier: Sammi vs. Nash for example).

Endless energy?

Something which I also question are the stamina controls during the match. If a giant like Nash pretty much destroys a smaller opponent (ergo: near to none energy left and pretty much fully red (so: severely injured)) then don't be surprised if they somehow still manage to get up again and (re)start a massive offense without pause. You won't see an AI digging inside to find that little bit of energy to, say, start by blocking and evading attacks. Naaah, they go straight onto the offense and go all out as if nothing has happened. Sometimes it makes sense but more than often.... it's just dumb. Taking 3 finishers and still being able to get up "just like that" after a brief moment? I think not!


In the overall I am really quite happy with this game, it's definitely a keeper and I enjoy it a lot. But at the same time it also leaves a lot to desire. For example... you can customize your referee and pick a specific person from a specific era or brand. Which is actually pretty cool. But... why can't we set up guest referees? You know, really mess things up and, for example, get Syxx to referee a match between the nWo and some poor loser?

Or let's talk managers. I am actually very happy to see 'The Brain' getting the respect he deserves. But... managers just stand around the ring and don't really "do" anything. Surely they should be able to distract the referee a few times? Especially when their protege gets into trouble... Or in case of wrestler "managers": beat someone up when they're outside the ring?

Then what about wrestlers? Each to their own but I actually enjoyed the old Brock Lesnar a lot more than the current one. Or take Asuka (pretty much the only female wrestler who's matches I actually enjoy): while I kinda like her heel persona I think she looked much better when she was a face with her normal makeup. Yet you can't customize your wrestlers.

Not to mention... considering the massive roster... why can't you set up a favorites list of wrestlers? Finding the wrestler you want to play with can sometimes actually become very frustrating because it will always be a large list to go through.

As mentioned: once you start playing more you'll soon notice how static and/or limited some things are. For example.... when a match is over then that's it: it's over. But why can't the nWo decide to do some more damage to a defeated opponent and give them a really solid beatdown? Also if you take into consideration that you can sometimes actually do this before a match: sneak in and beat the living daylights out of your opponent long before the match has officially started!


Don't take my criticism in the wrong way please.. in the end this is a very solid game and I am convinced that you're going to enjoy yourselves, especially if you're a wrestling fan. But please do keep in mind that this game is far from perfect.

Steel cage tag match anyone? Don't be surprised if you see one of you opponents climb out of the cage and then start celebrating as if they won the match: completely oblivious to the fact that they also had a tag partner which they now fully abandoned.

But then you get other things that are really solid again.. how about dragging your opponent out of the ring to the backstage area to do some more damage over there? Or, as mentioned earlier, having the option to sneak into the ring before the match started to get some extra damage in?

In the overall this is really a fun and awesome game I think. But at the same time I also kinda expected more here and there.

Thanks for reading!

Skyrim will always be one of "those" games for me: all time special. This game amazed me when I first started playing it on PS3, now many years ago, and this game was still special to me when I started playing it again on PC (but this time also heavily backed by the modding community). When I had a nice stable setup I decided to "freeze" my game and I was happy.

As mentioned I swore I'd never buy into this because why would I buy the same game for the 3rd time in a row?

It's actually not that bad... sorta....

Now, on the bad side this update will break your mods. Don't be too upset because it's nothing new. I'm also a die-hard Minecraft player, and also use tons of mods there, and "over there" this kind of thing would happen every single year. Also don't underestimate the modding community either because several mods have already been upgraded, so that's a thing too.

On the good side... I have to give credit where credits due because at first I believed that we were basically buying into a mod pack. Guess what? We're not. "sorta". See, Skyrim (SE or AU) provides in-game support for 2 kinds of expansions... there's your classic mod section, this works as one could expect: select (well known) mods, check your load order and you're good to go.

But they also have their own "creation club" in which you can grab several expansions which will then be added to the game (just like mods) but they don't get treated like mods. So... your achievements still work (these get disabled when using mods). Of course there's a commercial aspect here: these expansions usually don't come for free, but I cannot help compliment the underlying mechanic either because... it works.

And honestly... the mods section is also pretty solid. The only reason I don't like it is because I prefer to get my mods "elsewhere", but that doesn't change the fact that if you want your game fixed (there are still plenty of bugs in the game) then you can grab the unofficial patch "just like that". Want some better followers? I can highly recommend Sofia, she's also present in the in-game mod section.


To recommend or not.... One one hand I don't like the idea of Bethesda more or less milking the whole franchise. On the other hand I also cannot deny the fact that they've actually added new stuff which can be quite enjoyable.

So I'll have to go with a "yah", but do with that as you deem fit.

Normally I wouldn't review a game with only a few hours into it, unless it really amazed me and/or unless I think that a review could actually help others out a bit. Considering the fact that the Mass Effect series is well over 10 years old and highly popular I don't think that I can add things which haven't already been said, which brings us to...

This game, which consists of the entire trilogy is simply outstanding! It's actually hard to imagine that the original game dates all the way back to 2007, it's easy to see why it became so popular.


So, this game is basically an action-RPG. It has several (very much in-depth) RPG elements while it also provides plenty of shooting, coming close to being an FPS were it not from the fact that you're playing in 3rd person (but sometimes it's easy to overlook that when you're focussing on the enemies). When your team is at full strength then it'll be you (= Commander Shepard) as well as 2 other team members. Controls are straight forward: w,s,a,d to move and you use your mouse to look around and shoot.

But then... You come up on an open area and there are walls around which can provide cover. The idea is to secure the area but at the same time this looks like the perfect ambush in the making. Now what? No doubt that if you go there then you can only hope that your team members will be around to help you fight, right? I mean... that's how most shooters do that: it's often the luck of the draw (or better: the AI).

Yah, so now you walk up towards the area and by using q (= command team member 1) and e (= command team member 2) you can actually instruct your team members to take up a specific position in order to back you up! Well, in this case it's backup, you can of course also use this mechanic for offensive actions as well. THIS IS AMAZING!

See, now I walk onto the area while my 2 team members literally have my back. And trust me when I say that this mechanic works like a charm (and better!) because I have actually been in situations where my team managed to spot enemies BEFORE I did (still being new to the game and all....)!

This is truly one of those games where it all makes sense... this game having been awarded numerous of times? Yah, I can easily see why.


Being new and all I can't go into full detail but... Humanity has reached out into the stars and we actually formed alliances with other alien species. Most of our technology relies on findings from other (long past) alien civilizations and so far this works great for us. Until a new discovery is made, a strange alien artifact, and suddenly all hell breaks loose and the science facility gets overrun by alien invaders who slaughter the whole population. And that's where you and your team come in....


The Mass Effect series is a trilogy which gives us the story about Commander Shepard and how he or she managed to save the galaxy from a new alien oppression. And this title gives you all three games neatly rolled up into one title, and with all DLC too of course. Yah, that wasn't fully clear to me at first while checking out the store page...

One of the main advantages here is that your character (and the way he or she looks) will remain consistent throughout the entire trilogy, which is of course an important aspect for 3rd person based games.


Mind blown.

This game is truly special in its own right, and it shows! From that amazing way to actually command your team (and also important: the way your teams AI works: they're actually helping you) but also everything around it.

The atmosphere is truly something else....

Another example then: setting up your team members with new weapons and equipment. Yah, forget about mucking around in menus and such. Nah, when you head up to the armory of your ship then you'll find a merchant who is conveniently standing next to the lockers of your team. So if you want to set up your team you can grab equipment from him, and then put those into the locker(s) of your team, who will then pick that up and use it in the next mission.

That my friends is how you set up a believable environment.

And just when you think that you're going from one battle straight into the next you're suddenly talking to politicians, helping local law enforcement settle small disputes, helping civilians with their problems and yah... doing RPG things ;)

Truly something else, 2 thumbs up. I can highly recommend this title!

This game, omg this game.. it truly represents everything that was right (and wrong!) with gaming in the 80's. Yes, yes, I know it got out in '95 (I can read, and now I want to speak to your manager! (omg, don't mind me!)), don't bother me with facts: this is about the impressions.

All fun put aside here: I am seriousy impressed how well this game managed to uphold itself on Windows 10 thanks to Steam and DOSBOX (in case you don't know: DOSBOX is an open source project trying to keep DOS ("Disk Operating System") alive for all of us.

I hope I can be forgiven but.. Sometimes games had a better intro than their gameplay and that was honestly almost the case here as well, from my perspective, but ... although it it repeative where corridors and such are concerned this game also manages to irk quite some suspense as well, if you're open to it. Yes, the animations look dumb, I agree, but move yourself past all that and try to absorb this game...

I honestly was just as much blown away now as I was 20 or so years ago. Though I cannot deny that part of that was from the realisation that this still runs today ;)


Ok, ok... you are in a maze of corridors. You need to find the planetary artifacts and then defeat Khul-Khuum (aka: the Sun) and free both Stonekeep and yourself. Sounds shallow? That's because it is! I hope you enjoy walking into tight corridors ;)

But at the same time... this game was a classic of its own, I have this on CD somewhere in a movement box but now.. I can actually play it again without digging up my storage compartment in the basement ;)

If you feel appealed to the screenshots then this is for you, if the screenshots make you wonder "eew?" then don't bother.

OMG, Stonekeep on Steam?! :)

Thanks for reading!

Now, before I go on I need to stress out that I'm not claiming that this is a bad game. In fact, quite the opposite because this can definitely be a very awesome experience in its own right. However, having said that I am saying that I'm actually having a lot more fun with the previous Bus SImulator 18 title and when comparing those two my suggestion would honestly be to get the other one instead!


So, I have a rather modern setup which easily surpasses the recommended specifications by far. And yet the game runs plain out sluggish at times. That's to say, not so much the game itself (the cars and other things in the environment move pretty smoothly) but the way the passangers walk and move and behave... is sometimes stupidly bad.

I don't mind that an AI sometimes goes for the right side of the entrance, then 'decides' it needs to buy a ticket and thus moves over to the left side in a rather articifical way. That's not what I'm complaining about, in fact: this also happens with the previous title and... meh, I don't mind at all. But what I am talking about is how characters suddenly go from walking to running (?) while the animation never seems to change. Or how a whole 'group' suddenly decides to walk and run or... the way some passengers walk into the backdoor of the bus is hilariously bad at times!

Something is not going right when a person in a wheelchair gets into the bus in a rather unnatural way, even though this looked pretty realistic in the previous title.

Now, normally this wouldn't be much of an issue but considering that you're often working with passengers.

And it happens all over the place. I managed to kill several pedastrians because they decided to walk into my bus while I was already half-way across the street crossing. There was a huge distance between them and the crossing while I was driving at a certain speed which made it tedious to come to a complete stop. So I continue driving and low and behold: they suddenly speed up their pace and walk straight into my bus.

That's just stupid 🙄


This is my main gripe with the game: it looks amazing, it really does. When I compare this title to the previous simulator 18 then it's fair to say that you'll get a lot more satisfaction out of your first routes from the amazing looks of the sceneries alone. But the problem there should be obbious: after doing some routes a few times you will no longer pay that much attention anymore to the scenery but your direct surroundings, like the passengers and the way they behave. And then... some things fall apart again, at least that's how I fared.

I'd rather have a less realistically looking environment if this would mean that we also got a more fluently moving setup.


Once again: this isn't a bad game. I honestly think that it definitely has the potential to give you an awesome experience as a bus driver. Being able to set up routes in a big(ger) city which provides some really good looking sceneries will definitely help there. I also think the DLC is kinda fair, considering that you can pick up a game version where the most important DLC is already included.

But having said all that I also need to point out once again that I'm actually enjoying my experiences in Bus Simulator 18 a lot more than that of 22. And it is for that reason why I don't recommend this title.

Thanks for reading!

Living in the Netherlands ("Europe") I use public transportation a lot. The quality is quite good and being able to listen to music and reading a book (or messing on your phone) instead of having to pay close attention to the road all the time is more than often a lot more relaxing.

Well, this allows you to experience the bus drives from the other side of the fence so to speak ;)


You're a young entrepreneur who got approached by a local town and given the opportunity to set up their own public transportation company, and offer you obviously accept. And so... you're given a route, a bus and then it's up to you to run it. From the income you'll make you can then buy extra (or other) busses, hire employees and set up new routes to help the people get to their destinations.

Because you're closely working with the city they provide you with the bus stops that you can use and they hand out permits that allow you to drive in certain areas of the city. As you progres into the game you're given more options to expand your network and hopefully by doing so will also earn more money which you can then invest in other things.


I love this game so much that I was way ahead of the semi-tutorial and had already divided the first area into 2 sections where both a hired colleague (with a bus of his own) and me were doing our routes. That first time when you suddenly see your bus and other colleague coming towards you in the opposite direction and then greeting you with a flash of the lights... increadible!

This game does a really good job in finding a nice mixture between realism and casual gameplay, and I love it. Be sure you know how to use your turn signals, otherwise....

And man, I laughed so hard when I accidentally speeded, "FLASH" and then an older lady behind me suddenly says: "Oh dear, that's going to be expensive!". It's small things like that which can set such a great atmosphere.


Then this is the game to get. I'm going to be blunt here: I'm honestly having more fun with this title than the more modern Bus Simulator 21 which is also currently available. I'm not saying that 21 is a bad game, but I am saying that I'm having a lot more fun with this one.

Thanks for reading!

I'm going to be very blunt with you guys: in my opinion this game sits at the same level as all-time classics such as Skyrim and Fallout 3 (even NV)! In fact, I cannot help but be convinced that if you enjoy(ed) playing those mighty adventures then you're going to love this one as well!

Easy to get into the story and the main character

What I enjoy so much about this game is that it looked carefully at some classics from the past (at least that's my impression) and allowed itself to be influenced by those yet without making it look as if it blantantly "borrowed" several of the same ideas. Sure the influence is there, easily spotted, but at the same time the developers quickly made sure to give it their own twist as well.

You play the role of Aloy, a young girl who's guardian and herself are considered outcasts from the main civilisation in the land. By law no one is allowed to speak to them and should consider them shunned: completely unworthy of their presence. When the game starts you're but a baby, ready to receive your blessings from the gods. I love this approach because it allows you to experience the things the main protagonist went through during her childhood and thus know the influenzes that may still be driving her today.

After the ritual (no spoilers in my review thank you very much!) you skip 6 years ahead and now you'll get a good impression of the world you live in. Because your world consists of the elements of old... earth, wind, water. ... and steel!? Strange mechanical beast-like creatures roam the land and no one really knows where they came from or what they're doing here. In fact.. technology is something despised by most people because it reminds them of the old days: the faithless and forgotten ones.

So yeah, needless to say that you'll find yourself in a world where ancient arts (shooting a bow, herblism, hunting) somehow go hand in hand with the presense of rather modern and strange technology.


Now, do bear in mind that I've only played for roughly 6 hours so far.

Still, if you've played as many games as I did (uh oh, now I suddenly feel old 😁) and you also paid attention to what you played then you will easily start to recognize specific elements in certain games. I mean, how many times haven't we seen it in both games and movies where a main protagonist suddenly finds themselves abandoned by their parents or guardians and thus needs to fend for themselves? Or how about a situation where the protagonist suddenly has to "prove" themselves, for whatever reason in the game?

Yah, you won't really find those things in here. Some influences, yes, but at the same time also with a bit of a modern twist. While I did predict a certain happening it still managed to surprise me in its execution, and that is courtesy of clever storytelling.

No immediate right or wrong

So you've been an outcast for reasons which are unknown to you. People shun you or plain out ignore you and refuse to acknowledge your existence. You... a young child. So how do you react to all this? Yah, that's what I enjoy so much: that's for you to decide. You can easily take a passive, offensive or other approach to this situation. And I really enjoyed this myself because games like Skyrim show you that it's very easy to steer a player into a certain role even if you didn't really intend for it (do you really think I'd side with the Empire if they tried to execute me on false terms, merely for trespassing into their lands?). This isn't about Skyrim so I'm not going to spend too much time on that, but... it's easier to hate the Empire for that stunt.

Horizons though obviously tries to avoid all this and while you do have some dark moments it doesn't have to weigh in all that heavily. Also because there's much more on your mind right now.


As mentioned above it's easily a classic in the making. From the natural look of movement of the characters, the way they survive in the wilds, the amazing looking sceneries, the awesome voice acting and most of all: me being in control over what I want to do and what I decide is best.

Somehow this title really manages to mix high tech with ancient rituals and believes and actually makes this situation somewhat believable as well!

I started playing with an open mind, and before I knew I was 5+ hours into the game! In one session! Yah, they're doing something right for that to happen ;)

An easy two thumbs up. This is the kind of game that will easily get you through the Holiday season, and beyond :)