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Godfall Review: As Close To God of War Combat In A Game Since God of War

Godfall

Godfall is a new ARPG looter slasher developed by Counterplay Games and published by Gearbox Publishing. Godfall takes a fresh approach to looters by only including melee weapons and adding an utterly beautiful artstyle. It does not reinvent the wheel but then again it does not have to as it includes some of the best elements from different games that we love. Here is our review of Godfall.

Godfall Review

Godfall is a looter slasher and not a looter shooter. It only has melee weapons and you need to get up close and personal with enemies in order to kill them and progress. The only piece of gear that you can actually use from afar is your shield. The shield attacks are like any of the other abilities in the game and has a cooldown. But there is much that you can do with it. Apart from blocking and throwing your shield, you can smash it into the ground to stun and damage enemies around you.

Story Lore And Setting Is Mediocre

You play as Orin, one of the few Valorian knights that are left. You have to take on your brother Marcos who has betrayed you and has intentions of ascending to a god. He leaves you for dead but you survive and your goal is to stop Marcos from ending the world.

The lore of the game is there but it is not really in-depth which might be intentional as it allows the player to jump right into the action. During the game, you only talk to two NPCs and what they have to say is pretty straight forward. The game is not lore-rich but and there is some backstory which is a bit cliche and isn’t something that you have not heard or seen before. You are not going to witness any twists that will shock or surprise you.

The story is just a means of justifying why you are doing what you are doing in the game. If you are interested in the lore then there are lore pieces that you can pick up to learn more and I recommend that you check out lore videos from My Name Is Byf that cover the story leading up to the game without any spoilers.

Combat And Gameplay Is Where It Shines Brightest

This is the looter slasher and that is where the game pulls no punches. The melee combat is very fluid and you feel very dominating when taking out waves of enemies. While you do need to get up close and personal with enemies, that does not mean that you have to be on the defensive all the time. You can totally go full-on offensive and that is very rewarding and makes you feel godly.

Enemy waves are rather small and scattered around on the map so they do not get overwhelming like some hacker slashers but note that the enemies are not meat for you to kill in this game. They are very responsive and can dodge and even block your attacks. If you are not careful then even a handful of enemies can kill you.

Low tier enemies are easier to kill and you can even kill them with a single breach attack. The higher level enemies require more skill. Elite enemies have different mechanics and attacks and they will glow red when they use their special attacks.

There are plenty of different weapons in the game and all the different classes of weapons are unique. They offer a different playstyle and they are the best part of the game. They have different moves and playout uniquely. You can only use dual blade special attacks when you are in the heat of battle and landing hits on enemies. The special ability bar is going to diminish over time for the dual blades if you stop attacking enemies.

I can see how this can be challenging and players will take a while to get used to the different weapon types. Finding the weapon type that suits you is going to be the key here. I found that the long sword suited me best. You can have two weapons at the same time and swap between them at any time you want. I used a Polearm as my secondary weapon which proved to be a great combination with the longsword.

In most games, I usually pick a weapon that I like and then stick to it. But the polarity mechanic that does area of effect damage encourages you to have two weapons that you like and switch between them often. This is a cool little feature that encourages you to combo two different weapons which I think is something that players are going to enjoy playing around with.

While this is a hack and slash game, you cannot simply button mash your way to victory. You cannot dodge as many times as you want. The dodge has a minor cooldown and there is no move cancellation either. So the button that you press is locked in. What this means is that you will need a certain degree of skill and planning in order to win in this game.

I was surprised that I was halted from progressing the game very early on and I needed to go back to previous areas in order to progress the game. That being said, the combat is so fluid and feels so good that it is not going to be much of an issue for most people unless you are looking to rush through the game fairly quickly. I would say that the devs have learned from the mistakes of Anthem and have not repeated them or implemented them as poorly. While repetition is there, the implementation and actual gameplay make up for it.

Long story short, this is as close to the combat of God of War that I have seen in a game since God of War.

Skills And Gear

The skill tree is pretty elaborate and you can invest plenty of points in it and get skills that match your playstyle. You get a skill point to invest every time you level up and you can respec any time you want which allows players to try out new builds at any time or respec just before a boss fight. With that in mind, it did not make sense why players need to change the valorplates at the sanctum when they can respec skills at any time and anywhere and the same goes for weapons and other gear.

The valorplates are supposed to be one of the main attractions of the game. At least that is what you think when you look at all the marketing and see how the developers have been teasing them ahead of launch. While they are cool to look at, I think that the variety is just not there and that they are more aesthetic than functional.

Changing your valorplate basically changes the small elemental buff that you get and the element of your ultimate ability, the archon fury. Besides the elemental change, the ultimate either sends out a shockwave that gives you buffs or summons allies to help you in combat in addition to those buffs. You would think that there would be some degree of uniqueness when it comes to the ultimate abilities of the 12 different valorplates but that is just not the case.

If you unlock 3 of these then you have pretty much checked them all out and in most parts of the game, you will not be able to tell the difference between them when it comes to gameplay. That was a major bummer for me as I expected all of them to be unique functionally and that the next one that I unlocked would be much cooler and powerful than the previous. Needless to say, I clocked most of my hours with the default valorplate as I was used to its abilities and I like the Lion look.

It is safe to say that once a player has found that valorplate that matches his or her playstyle they are not going to change back or try new ones as they are functionally similar.

Quick Hunts For Dads, Exploration For Hardcore Players

As I get older I no longer have the time to invest in games that I once used to. I simply cannot keep up with the hardcore grind that some games would have you do in order to keep up with other players. That is where the hunt missions in Godfall come into play. If you have an hour to kill or maybe 30 minutes then you can quickly launch a couple of hunt missions and get the rewards. If you have more time then you can explore the different realms and see what they have to offer.

When you start the game you will play the main story and progress your character. Once you have gone through the main story you will get to the endgame mechanic which is called the Dreamstone. These are missions with a boss at the end which is a bit more challenging. These missions have three phases and have a touch of rogue-like games. The first phase allows you to get buffs that will help you in the other phases. You will also get information regarding the boss. The third phase is where you are going to take on the boss.

The endgame content also includes the ascendant tower of trials. This is similar to endless waves mode in other games. You will go higher in the tower and each level is going to be harder than the previous one. There is no limit to how high you can climb the tower and you will find some of the best gear in the game here.

Dreamstone is much better when it comes to the endgame content. The tower trials can get a bit repetitive and might not be worth the grind for everyone. But if you want to take up the challenge and see how high you can climb then it is a nice challenge to test your skills.

Visuals That Are Truly Next-Gen, Sound Design That Does The Job

I played the game on PC using an RTX 2060 Super with an Intel 9400F and 16GB of RAM. The game ran smoothly at 1440p, 60FPS with very rare dips. The game looks incredible and everything from the art style to effects is what I would call truly next-gen. As soon as I booted the game I could see why it did not release on the Xbox One or PS4. That would just have held the developers and the game back and it was a nice decision by the devs.

Stutters are very rare and often only at the start of the game. Once the game was up and running I did not face any issue what so ever. The game looks very nice even at 1080p. There is no DLSS or ray tracing support but the art style is so incredible that you will not feel the need for ray tracing and I don’t think that reflections would have made a lot of difference. DLSS on the other hand would have been a nice feature to upscale the game to 4K.

The audio and soundtracks are fitting and change according to what happens in the game but it is not something that I would listen to outside of the game. The voice acting is also pretty good and fits the characters that you interact with but as there are only 2 NPC that you can interact with there is not a lot of it which seems like something that could have been improved. Adding a few more lines or a few cutscenes here and there would have made the experience much better. Having a single memorable soundtrack would have also been a major improvement.

Is Godfall Worth The Money?

To answer the question that is on everyone’s mind, I have to say that it depends. The game does not become too repetitive quickly and you can go do those hunt missions over and over to get more loot. I easily clocked 12 hours without feeling the repetitiveness and as I progressed the story I did have a sense of variety but the lack of uniqueness of the valorplates was indeed a bummer for me. Pricing on the Epic Games Store varies according to the region. If you get the game for 31 USD then it makes total sense. But if you have to pay 60 USD then it comes down to how much time you can spend in the game without getting bored.

I think that the major aspect of the game that is going to increase the replayability is the community and whether or not your friends are playing it as well. Cross-play is also going to be a major factor. If the game does support cross-play then that is going to be a major selling point.

For me Godfall was a lot of fun and I even got a personal copy with my own money. The solo experience is worth the 31USD price tag and playing the game with friends is just going to add to the experience and create moments that you are going to remember for the days to come.

Conclusion

Godfall does not reinvent the wheel in any way. It takes elements from different games such as Destiny, other looter shooters and God of War. With that said, what it lacks in fresh mechanics, it makes up with a fresh coat of paint, fluid gameplay and good optimization on PC.

Godfall is not ashamed of taking different mechanics from different games. It does what it does very well. The game does not need any major loot overhauls of rebalancing like other loot games that have released in the past and needed a year to fix or are still being fixed to date. Godfall does not need a redesign. It is fine the way it is. That makes Godfall a uniquely refreshing surprise of 2020.

I did have a lot of fun playing the game and I think that others are going to as well especially when playing with friends. If you are going to play with friends then the 60USD pricing would make sense but if you are going to go through it alone then I would not call it a must-buy game, at least not at launch. You can easily wait for the price to go down until it makes better sense to you.

I can easily give Godfall a 7.5/10. But I do hope that the devs can change things a bit in future updates in order to add variety.

If you are interested in learning more about the game then you can check out our Godfall guides hub.

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Assassin’s Creed Valhalla PC Performance Review – A Step Up In Graphics Performance

With the almost disappointing PC performance of Watch Dogs Legion Ubisoft is back with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. With the launch of AC Origins in 2017, Ubisoft radically changed how Assassin’s Creed games are played along with a huge upgrade to visuals. This also means that AC Origins and Odessey required beefy systems to play them at high FPS. Is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla any different in terms of performance? Let’s find out in our Assassin’s Creed Valhalla PC Performance Review.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla PC Performance

With the launch of AC Origins, Ubisoft significantly upped its game in terms of rendering technology. Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey are one of the best looking games of this generation. But, that in-game beauty required a lot especially when it comes to CPU.

AC Origins and Odyssey don’t particularly run well on a 4 Core/4 Thread CPU. There are multiple factors behind this but the short version is that players need at least a 6 Core/6 Thread CPU to play Origins and Odyssey at an acceptable FPS target.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla isn’t precisely the same as it’s a cross-generation video game, unlike Origins and Odyssey. Does this have any impact on performance? Did the developers optimize the game for PCs? All our questions will be answered in our Assassin’s Creed Valhalla PC Performance Review.

For this PC performance review, I used three different systems. One with a low-end CPU, one with a mid-range GPU, and with a mid-range CPU and a relatively high-end GPU. The following are the system that we used to test the game’s performance.

System 1
Intel Core-i5-9400F 6 Core/6 Thread CPU
Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 AMP Edition 6GB
16GB of DDR4 RAM clocked at 2666 MHz
Windows 10 Pro 64 bit

System 2
Intel Core i5-7600K 4 Core/4 Thread CPU
Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1070 Gaming G1
16GB of DDR4 RAM clocked at 3200 MHz.

System 3
Intel Core-i5-9400F 6 Core/6 Thread CPU
Zotac RTX 2060 Super AMP Extreme
16 GB of DDR4 RAM clocked at 3200 MHz.

Here’s is how I am going to test Assassin’s Creed Valhalla PC performance. I start the benchmark from a relatively big settlement to see how the game performs while the CPU is being utilized for the AI. Then I fast travel to the longboat and sail to start a raid. Starting the raid will also activate a lot of AI routines which will require a lot of CPU. Let’s see how the game performs.

System 1

This PC is a mid-range system with a 6GB GTX 1060 and a Core i5-9400F. While the GTX 1060 is a four-year-old GPU but, it’s still quite capable of running modern games at a respectable FPS at 1080p. Does this GPU combined with Core i5-9400F will be able to run Assassin’s Creed Valhalla? Let’s find out.

Ultra
Let’s start with the Ultra graphics preset at 1080p. As you can see in the video below, the GTX 1060 is handling Assassin’s Creed Vlahalla quite well at Ultra settings. While the game’s FPS is fluctuating between 30-40 but, it’s expected. Players can easily play this game at Ultra setting by capping the game at 30 FPS to achieve a stable experience if they want.

Furthermore, the game is completely GPU bound at the Ultra graphics preset. The CPU usage is not that high especially compared to AC Origins and Odyssey. The game maintains around 34 FPS on average. The CPU is only being used around 60% during the final stretch of the benchmark where the game has a lot of AI routines activated. This clearly shows the devs really put in the effort to optimize the game, unlike Watch Dogs Legion.

Very High
Now let’s drop the graphics preset to Very High and see how the game performs. The benchmark starts off strong with the FPS staying around 50. However, as we move through the settlement, we see the game only managing to run close to 40 FPS.

It’s clear that GTX 1060 is not capable of running Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at a high FPS, which is totally understandable. As you can see in the benchmark, the GPU is being fully utilized while the CPU usage stays around 605 on average.

What I find most interesting about Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is that when the engine is pushed to showcase the game’s draw distance, the FPS increases instead of dropping. Overall the game’s performance is as expected on a GTX 1060 at Very High graphics preset.

High
Things are not that much different at the High graphics preset compared to the Very High. Obviously, the High preset is rendering at a few FPS higher than Very High. Overall, the performance is more or less the same and even these graphics presets are not that much different from one another. Also, the GPU usage is still over 95% percent while the CPU is usage is 60% on average.

Medium
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla running at Medium graphics preset is where things get interesting. The overall FPS is higher compared to the High preset and sticks closer to 60 FPS been during one a lot of AI routines are activated.

What’s odd is that the CPU usage doesn’t change at all as it sticks close to 70% on average and the GPU is still being utilized over 95%. This clearly indicates that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a GPU-bound game. Meaning, the better the GPU the better the FPS will be.

Low
Things don’t change much for the Low graphics preset except that the average FPS is higher than the medium. At low graphics, GTX 1060 manages to render the game much close or 60 FPS and even goes above that.

System 2

As I mentioned above, system 2 is equipped with Intel Core i5-7600K 4 Core/4 Thread CPU, Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1070 Gaming G1 GPU, and 16GB of DDR4 RAM clocked at 3200 MHz. This system is to test the game’s performance on a low-end CPU combined with a relatively powerful GPU, and I have to say the game didn’t disappoint.

Compared to Watch Dogs Legion, which didn’t even manage locked 30 FPS at low graphics running on GTX 1070 and Core i5-7600K, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a big step up.

Also, you’ll notice stuttering in the videos for GTX 1070, that’s due to Shadowplay recording the gameplay. These stutters were not present in-game.

Ultra
At the Ultra graphics preset, the GTX 1070 coupled with a 4 Core/4 Thread Intel Core i5-7600K doesn’t disappoint. The GPU has no trouble rendering the game close to 60 FPS. Although, the game doesn’t drop below 60 FPS and goes as low as 45 FPS.

As for the CPU usage, it’s higher compared to Intel Core-i5-9400F. This is because Intel Core i5-7600K has only 4 Cores while Intel Core i5-7600K has 6 Cores. But still, the CPU usage never sticks to 100% and is mostly hovering around 80%.

Very High
The GTX 1070 has no trouble rendering the game even at the Very High graphics preset. The FPS is closer to 60. The CPU limitation becomes quite apparent at the end of the benchmark where I start a Raid. This triggers a lot of AI routines, and CPU usage skyrockets, and the GPU is bottlenecked by the CPU. Perhaps, lowering the graphics quality further will help with that.

High
Things aren’t much different at the High graphics preset, and while High looks almost the same as Very High in terms of performance, it also performs the same. Also, the GPU becomes bottlenecked again at the end of the benchmark due to the so many AI routines demanding the CPU.

Medium
The GTX 1070 has no trouble running the game above 60 FPS at Medium graphics preset. The GPU easily manages to run Assassin’s Creed Valhalls at above 60 FPS. However, the CPU usage has increased, which is as expected.

However, at the end of the benchmark, the CPU usage goes 100% which causes the FPS to drop, but it stays in the mid-50s. Overall, it’s a great performance. Again, the stutters you are experiencing in the benchmark were due to Shadowplay and were not there in the gameplay.

Low
At low graphics preset, the game has no trouble running at above 60 FPS. However, the CPU usage is 100% all the way through the benchmark, and at the end of it, it becomes clear that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla requires at least a 6 Core/6 Thread CPU with the GTX 1070 to be able to pull off a steady 60 FPS.

System 3

This system is the most powerful of the ones we used to test Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s PC performance. It has an Intel Core-i5-9400F, Zotac RTX 2060 Super 8GB, and 16 GB of DDR4 RAM.

Ultra
Starting with the game’s Ultra graphics preset at 1440p, the game’s performance is not bad. At this resolution and graphics settings, the game is completely GPU-bound as the CPU usage is quite variable and hovers around 80% of the time.

This is what I like about this game, it doesn’t rely on the CPU that much for its graphical settings, which is quite unlike Watch Dogs Legion and previous Assassin’s Creed games.

Interestingly, the CPU usage increases when we start the raid, but the game maintains its FPS.

The game’s average FPS at the Ultra settings running on an RTX 2060 Super is 40. As for GPU usage is almost fully utilized, with the GPU usage staying around 95%. But, can Assassin’s Creed Valhalla run at 60 FPS on an RTX 2060 Super? Let’s find out.

Very High
Now, let’s drop the graphics preset to Very High; things don’t change much. The GPU usage is still above 90%, while the CPU usage is almost the same as the Ultra preset.

Even when we push the game engine by switching to the Raven to see the game’s draw distance, the game doesn’t drop FPS and manages it quite easily. However, when we get back to Eivor, that’s when we see the FPS drop a bit and stay there.

Now, Assassin’s Creed games run a lot of AI routines simultaneously, which requires a lot of CPU. So we tested if it’s the case with Valhalla. We started a raid in a rather big settlement.

This activates a lot of AI routines, and I was pleasantly surprised that Valhalla didn’t drop any FPS even in a crowded raid. The game manages to stay above 40FPS and on average, renders at 45 FPS at the Very High graphics preset.

Medium
Now let’s move to the game’s Medium graphics preset. The benchmark starts strong as the game is rendering over 60 FPS. However, as we move through the settlement, the FPS drops to the mid-50s and drops further when I switched to the raven. As for the CPU usage, it’s around 75% on average. As we switch back to Eivor, the FPS goes up and is quite close to 60 FPS.

Also, during the raid at the end of the benchmark, the game maintains FPS in the mid-50s. However, it’s quite disappointing that even in that medium setting, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla fails to lock at 60 FPS.

Low
Now let’s see how the game performs at the low graphics preset while rendering at 1440p resolution. The benchmark starts strong with the FPS being way over 60 FPS. As I moved through the settlement, the FPS dropped below 60. Overall, RTX 2060 manages to run the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at almost locked 60 FPS at the lowest graphics preset.

It’s kind of disappointing that to run Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at 60 FPS; we have to drop the graphics preset all the way to low on an RTX 2060 Super. Even then, the FPS wasn’t locked at 60. Go get a consistent 60 FPS; you’ll have to drop the resolution to 1080p.

Overall the PC performance of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is surprisingly good. The game is GPU bound for the most part and doesn’t stress the CPU to the point that it doesn’t have the headroom to utilize the GPU.

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Watch Dogs Legion PC Performance Review – 30 FPS Is Good Enough

Ubisoft’s track record hasn’t been really good when it comes to optimizing PC video games. Either Ubisoft’s games rely on single Core performance or they utilize the CPU cores and threads like its free-for-all. Is Watch Dogs Legion any different? This is exactly what we are going to see in our Watch Dogs Legion PC Performance Review.

Watch Dogs Legion PC Performance Review

Ubisoft games are more-or-less CPU bound, especially, the open-world titles like AC Origins and Odyssey partly because of how many AI routines these games run at the same time.

Apparently, Watch Dogs Legion is no exception but there is a catch which we will discuss in-depth in our analysis of the Watch Dogs Legion PC.

For our PC Performance review of Watch Dogs Legion, I’ll be using two different PCs to benchmark it to see how well it runs. System 1, which is also the weakest of three, is equipped with an Intel Core i5-9400F, Zotac GTX 1060 AMP Edition 6GB, 16 GB dual-channel 2666 MHz RAM.

The reason why I chose GTX 1060 is that it’s a very capable GPU that still packs a punch and a significant number of PC players still use it.

System 2 is equipped with a Gigabyte GTX 1070 Gaming G1, 7th-gen Intel Core i5-7600K, 16GB of DDR4 3200 MHz RAM.

As you can see the systems we are using are variable. This is to check how well the game performs on 4 Core CPU and a 6 Core CPU combined with mid-range GPUs. Let’s begin with our Watch Dogs Legion PC Performance Review.

Note: This PC performance review for Watch Dogs Legion is done before the release of Game Ready Drivers as we received a review code from Ubisoft. Also, Ubisoft has noted that a patch will be released for Watch Dogs Legion on October 30th that will fix performance and crashes. If anything changes following the patch, I’ll update the review.

System 1

We will start our analysis with the weakest system. As I mentioned above, this PC is equipped with an Intel Core i5-9400F, Zotac GTX 1060 AMP Edition 6GB, 16 GB dual-channel 2666 MHz RAM.

Let me start by saying this, I am thoroughly disappointed with Watch Dogs Legion’s performance on a GTX 1060 even on the lowest possible settings. Why? Seems like the game reduces the CPU and GPU usage as the graphical settings are lower at an unlocked FPS.

Let’s start with running the game at Very High graphical Settings. You can see the benchmark in the video below. It’s business as usual, the GPU usage is around 90% most of the time, which is expected. Also, the FPS is all over the place which is normal as the GPU is being fully utilized. Meaning GTX 1060 doesn’t have the headroom to output high FPS while also rendering the game at a Very High preset.

However, CPU usage across all cores is around 70% most of the time. Watch Dogs Legion isn’t using the CPU to its fullest which makes sense considering the GPU is being fully utilized already. What I am trying to say, at higher settings the game is supposed to be GPU bound and there is nothing wrong here.

But, as we lower the graphical setting, things become much more interesting. The logic dictates that the lower the graphical settings the more CPU bound the game will be. However, Watch Dogs Legion doesn’t follow this logic.

Let’s take a look at Watch Dogs running at Medium graphics preset with unlocked FPS. As you can see in the video below, the CPU usage is not what it’s supposed to be. Overall the FPS is higher compared to the Very High preset.

As we move ahead in the benchmark, you’ll notice that the CPU usage is still around 70% but, for the third and fourth Core of the CPU, the usage is very around 50 – 60 percent. The GPU usage has also dropped to 80% and drops even lower at some points.

My point is that Watch Dogs Legion is running at an unlocked FPS in this benchmark. It’s supposed to be using both CPU and GPU to their full potential but, it’s not. Not only that, CPU usage is lower compared to the Very High Preset. The game is supposed to be CPU bound at this stage and should be burning the GPU to render FPS as fast and as much as it can.

Considering, the GTX 1060 is a four-year-old GPU and might not be able to handle Watch Dogs Legion even at its Medium preset. In that case, let’s drop the game’s graphics top the lowest possible preset.

While the overall FPS is higher and occasionally goes above 60 FPS but in terms of CPU and GPU utilization, it’s the same story as medium preset. At the lowest graphical settings, Watch Dogs Legion is supposed to be CPU-bound but the CPU usage is hovering around 70% most of the time.

GPU usage is mostly around 60% and even dips to 50%. Meaning the game has resources to use and it refuses to use them to render at a higher FPS.

If I have to guess, the game isn’t optimized to utilize CPU and GPU properly and Ubisoft seems to think that if Watch Dogs Legion runs at 30 FPS on PC, it’s good enough.

I think this is a combination of the issue with Watch Dogs Legion’s game engine combined with poor PC optimization. It’s disappointing to see that the game doesn’t even lock at 60 FPS even though it clearly has the GPU and CPU to achieve that target.

System 2

As I mentioned above System 2 is equipped with a GTX 1070, 7th-gen Core i5, and 32 GB DDR4 RAM. The processor we are using is a 4 Core/4 Thread CPU and Watch Dogs Legion does not like a 4 Core CPU

Let’s start with the game’s High Preset. As you can see in the video below, both CPU and the GPU are being fully utilized. However, the GPU isn’t capable of running the game at 60 FPS even at a high preset.

What’s interesting is that the CPU bottlenecks the GPU causing the GPU usage to drop around 50% and the FPS below 30. It’s quite apparent that the 4 Core/4 Thread CPU isn’t enough for Watch Dogs Legion.

Now Let’s drop the graphics setting to Medium and see how well this PC handles it. The game starts off strong with the GPU and CPU usage being around 80%. But even at the medium preset, the PC is unable to reach 60 FPS.

Again, the GPU is being bottlenecked by the CPU as the game goes below 30 FPS with the GPU usage again dropping to 50%. This is because the game is squeezing the CPU and there isn’t enough headroom for it to utilize the GPU.

Now let’s drop the graphics setting all the way to Low and see how well the game performs. Sadly, even at the low preset, Watch Dogs Legion fails to run at an acceptable FPS target and even drops below 30 FPS.

Clearly, Watch Dogs Legion isn’t designed to scale on a 4 Core/4 Threaded CPU which causes a GPU bottleneck and the FPS drops below 30.

Now I get it that Watch Dogs Legion has a host of AI routines to manage across the game’s map but, the performance is unacceptable. I believe that Ubisoft could have done more to optimize the game further by making it more GPU-bound instead of CPU.

Not to mention, the Watch Dogs Legion has issues with a 6 Core/ 6 Threaded CPU as it failed to fully utilize it and creates an artificial bottleneck on the GPU even at the lowest graphics preset.

Conclusion

It’s clear that Ubisoft has designed Watch Dogs Legion with the mentality that 30 FPS is good enough. Ubisoft doesn’t realize that PC can do more and the developer needs to do more when it comes to optimizing games for PC. Watch Dogs Legion doesn’t scale well across multiple cores and it’s a disappointing release in terms of PC performance.

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Genshin Impact Review: The Chinese Video Game Invasion

Ever since Bungie unveiled Destiny’s Live Service model, almost all major publishers have tried to establish their own mark in a similar style; EA with Anthem, Ubisoft with Tom Clancy’s The Division (1 & 2), and Bethesda with Elder Scroll Online and Fallout 76. And although even Destiny isn’t perfect, none of the other games have come close to it in terms of community strength and player base. Enter miHoYo. A Chinese developer, who had actually announced Genshin Impact back in 2017.

Little was known about it until its early beta came out and some YouTubers got their hands on it. Even at that point, the mainstream media was not really following the small heap of dust and smoke rising because of this game. Little did anyone know that even in beta, its impact was about to take the world by storm (read Renti’s Ultimate).

Genshin Impact launched as a Free-To-Play (F2P) on almost all major platforms. It is available on PC, Major Current Consoles (Most likely will also be released on next-generations as well), and even on Android and iOS devices. Our experience is based on the PC version, however, this article is focused on what Genshin Impact offers, why it might be one of the most important games to come out this year, and what makes it comparable to existing Live Service games, especially Destiny.

The Accessible MMORPG

It’s free, so there is no harm in trying it at least once. All you have to do is download its client from the official website (Yes, it is neither available through Steam nor Epic) and Launch. But once you do, you will realize the extremely easy start of the game. Genshin Impact’s core model is based on three main factors; Unique Characters, Loot, and Finding the best gears for your favorite characters.

The game offers a wide economy, which compels a lot of grind, but with benefits that are nearly equivalent to all the entertainment, it is literally delivering for free. The introductory Prologue mission might seem tedious yet provides exceptional means to introduce players to various aspects and features of this game, something drastically missing even in Destiny, where new players have to rely quite heavily on community support. And it’s quite hard to believe that even in beta, Genshin Impact is an exceptionally polished game.

Genshin Impact core gameplay is hack and slash. Basic Attack. A heavier attack executes when you hold the basic attack. Similarly, a special attack with a simple press of a button, and when the same button is held for a few more seconds, it unleashes a stronger form of special attack. And last but not the least, the Ultimate (or as Destiny Players would put it, Super). Every character introduced has a uniquely special and ultimate. So far the powers introduced are based on the following elements:

Although we control one player at a time, just like switching weapons in a first-person shooter, you are able to swap characters based on the roster of the characters you have unlocked. Your Party can have Four Characters at one time, and your combos highly depend on the characters you choose and how you switch to them during battles, as enemies come with quite a good variety in this game. But there is a catch!

Premium Trap

Note: Being a live service game and also a Beta, everything being mentioned here is subject to change at any stage.

Microtransaction is almost a norm in every game, especially for live service games, and Genshin Impact is not an exception. Although it offers a path to earn everything and achieve unlockables without spending any real money, but in our experience it requires a lot of time and effort, eventually leading to the decision whether you want to spend real money or you want to keep grinding. Following elements of this game are provided under microtransaction:

  • New Characters: Up to Adventure Level 19, you will be able to unlock 5 characters for free without using any additional resources to access them, but if you want to unlock more characters you will need to spend “Fates” at “Wish” and then pray that you get lucky really soon.

  • Battle Pass: It is available for all players, but just like Destiny’s Season Pass, it also offers a second premium layer only available after paying at least 10 US dollars which offers higher quality of rewards after achievement of every level of Battle Pass. The Battle Pass lasts for 30 days only though, so in order to unlock all 50 levels of Battle Pass, you will really need to give the game daily attention. The pass unlocks after you have achieved Adventure Level 20. In addition, you can also buy Battle Pass progress to unlock the items rather quickly, through use of Primogems.

  • Genesis Crystals: Genesis Crystals can be acquired through real-world money (like Silvers in Destiny). This currency can be used to buy either start-up bundles (offering quick leveling for characters) and also can be converted to the game’s main currency Primogems. The game offers various packaged deals to purchase Genesis Crystals, the higher the value, the higher is the number of Genesis Crystals.

  • Primogems: This is the main in-game currency, which can be acquired through almost all game activities, making the grind worth something apart from loot. Primogems are primarily used for procurement of Acquaint Fates or Intertwined Fates, but can also be used to acquire Resins. In case you are getting short of Primogems, which you will, you can always spend Genesis Crystals to acquire them. One Genesis Crystal equals one Primogem, which so far does not feel like a fair deal to us.
  • Resins: Every day, when the server registers another day, you will receive 120 Resins. You will need this currency to acquire loot from “Domains (Genshin Impact’s Dungeons)” and Bosses. This is one of the most annoying bottlenecks of this game, as once you have reached higher levels, you will expend this currency in mere two boss activities and then you will have to wait for these to regenerate. Resins regenerate at the rate of 8 per hour, and that’s real time. You can acquire additional resins through in-game bonuses, or Primogems.
  • Acquaint Fate and Intertwined Fate: There is only one way to unlock new characters, and it’s through “Wish”. It is a gamble. You can actually unlock all characters but will require you to spend lots of Fates. And these Fates are rarely awarded through in-game activities (a few bonuses here and there), but mostly you will have to acquire them through Shop, using Primogems. 160 Primogems equal One type of Fate. Each Fate is used for different types of Wish Banner. And each Wish Banner provides chances to unlock various characters or weapons. You would want to invest in all of them and pray that your luck comes through.

  • Starglitter and Stardust: These are in-game currencies that can be used for a wider variety of items. These not only support in acquiring Fates but also in the acquisition of different resources (which are also available through the in-game grind and crafting.
  • Mora: These are the gold coins and used to purchase the services of vendors found at various points of the map. Mora is acquired through activities and quests performed, and an additional amount can be acquired if you buy the Battle Pass.

Pro Tip: Save Starglitter and Stardust, do not waste them on resources that you can easily earn or craft in-game as well.

Now before these numerous options for microtransaction scare you away, hear us out! The game still offers lots of entertaining means to ensure that you still get to earn enough to unlock and achieve everything which Battle Pass and Characters have to offer.

In our experience, we have not been quite lucky, but we were still able to unlock Venti, a 5-Star character before we had hit 50th Wish. But fear not, as an in-game note does indicate that we will surely get a 5 Star weapon or character by the 80th Wish, if we do not get one before we hit this number. You can actually check history under each Wish Banner, to check how many wishes you have used and what you were able to unlock.

This actually becomes a cycle of hunger, and if you are not able to control your temptation (by just being satisfied with whatever you got), you might get stuck in the vicious cash grab trap. So caution is necessary.

Resource Management

The game’s core progression mechanic heavily relies on finding resources, using vendors to create better items (even weapons and special items), and these resources are not really hard to earn but are still scarce in terms of their utilization at a higher level.

Following are some of the means to acquire resources:

  • Exploration: Explore the map and collect fruits, plants and mine items found in almost all areas. The explorer inside you will always be able to identify such opportunities and a few clicks can do a lot to support your progress.
  • Completing Daily, Weekly and Monthly Activities: During your intro quest (Prologue), you will discover Adventure Book. This book provides necessary activities that you can complete and earn various rewards, including useful resources.
  • Expeditions: This is quite a useful activity, although you don’t really do anything here. You see, once you have a roster of eight or more characters, you won’t be playing with all of them. So the game gives you an option to dispatch a few of them to collect different resources. These can be minerals to food items, depending on what you need.
  • Dismantling Items: You can also earn resources by “deleting” artifacts and weapons, which will in-turn give you resources.

Apart from all these activities, your characters can also cook, and many of them come with added bonuses if you select a certain character for cooking certain recipes (the same concept is also applied on crafting). It is an extremely useful tool and will help you a lot when you face death (which you probably will).

Genshin Impact is a sort of game that will suck your spare time, and if you get addicted to its grind, you may not even want to get into any other game. In such cases, you might find managing resources not a daunting task, at your end.

But for a gamer willing to spend, not more than one or two hours a day on this game, might find resource collection challenging at higher levels. We highly recommend that you take your time, and take things slow. There is a lot to do in this game, lots of side quests and loot to discover, even with slower progression, you will still find the game enjoyable.

Genshin Impact is Simple to Learn, Harder to Master

Genshin Impact’s gameplay starts quite simple, as you start with one character only. As the story progresses and you are able to unlock your first new character, you begin to realize the complexity in its simplicity. Like most hack and slash, you may think that focusing more on weapons carried by your characters will support your progression better, but it is not the case here.

Genshin Impact’s characters come with their own skill sets and powers. And every element has a bonus impact when mixed with another. These can create damage impact, environmental impact or even both. Many enemies require various combo of elements before you can actually take them down, and this technique becomes compulsory to take down bosses. Some combos are as follows:

Light up one of the enemies on fire using a Pyro character, then immediately switch to Ameno Character and use wind to spread the fire to enemies nearby, damaging all of them.
Light up your enemies on fire and then use electro power to overload them, which will weaken them to your attacks.
Use water to wet the enemies, and then switch to Cryo character to freeze them for a limited time, increasing your chances to damage them.

 

The game is filled with combos and combinations which are still being discovered by us. For Example, at one time we had to cater to a mini boss with his minions. So I lit one of them with fire using my Pyro character, switched to Ameno Character and spread the fire to all characters using wind, then used an Electro Character to overload the enemies under fire, creating an opportunity to use my Geo character (with a heavy weapon) to pummel them out of health in a matter of seconds. Trust me, it was glorious, and as the levels get higher, such opportunities become critical for your success.

Another important aspect of Genshin Impact is to create “Your Party”. You may be able to unlock up to twenty characters, but you can only have Four Characters in a party. And every combination of characters brings added bonuses for the party, based on the combination of elemental powers:

Now we do have a slight gripe in this matter, although it is understandable that some quests, areas, or enemies will always require certain combinations to successfully beat them, but due to scarce resources, you cannot invest in all of your characters. We usually prefer the characters we feel comfortable to play with.

But in order to be successful in higher-level quests and domains, you will eventually have to keep at least one elemental character readily available and upgraded, for each type of element. We would always recommend you to keep all four characters with different combos, especially keeping one pyro and one electro in your team.

But that’s not all.

There are many more gameplay elements which make characters and their equipment management, an overwhelming but interesting task. Some of the key items which you must upgrade and invest on for each of your favorite characters are:

  • Character Attributes: Each character’s baseline HP, DEF, ATK, etc. This upgrades through the use of Experience Books, which you will be able to find through game activities.
  • Weapons: There are many weapon types, like Swords, Broad Swords, Maces, Bows, and Magic Books; which can be further enhanced or refined to make them better against higher level enemies. Each weapon can be upgraded, but based on limited resources, you will have to choose carefully which ones you want to upgrade first.
  • Artifacts: These items are used to enhance various characteristics of each character such as Critical Chance, Critical Damage, Energy Recharge Rate, HP, DEF, ATK, etc. Each character can equip up to five of these, and the correct combination can apply additional bonus attributes on that specific character.
  • Constellations: These are additional layers to enhance your character’s elemental powers. So far the only means to unlock these is to acquire the same character from Wish (means instead of a new character, you will be getting one of the unlocked ones, by chance). Your main story character (the traveler) gets upgrades for constellations through questline as well.
  • Talents: All characters are at base level 1 of Talents in the beginning. You get the option to upgrade Talents to Level 2 once you have ascended the character to Ascension Phase 2, and similarly, Talents Level 3 after Ascension Phase 3. The Talents however do not simply unlock, they require lots of material and may easily be considered the actual endgame grind for every character, and requires extraordinary commitment.

These depths in characters make Genshin Impact a masterpiece, waiting to be explored and played. No single experience can ever be the same, every player will earn his own style of play.

Solo or Co-op

The overall progress of the world is based on Adventure Ranks, which is your true objective in terms of progression. While the start of the game is Solo (also some primary game quests cannot be played with friends), but once you have achieved Adventure Rank 15, you will be able to play with your friends as well or any random strangers through matchmaking.

Genshin Impact’s co-op mode is fun to play with friends, especially when you are hunting bosses and conquering domains. But there are some weird aspects which make the experience limited to only boss fights and domains.

When the other players join your world, they can mine items with you, gather fruits and flowers, but they cannot collect treasure from various treasure chests scattered throughout the map, even if they have helped you unlock them. In our opinion, this makes the open exploration in co-op quite dull. Therefore we highly recommend unlocking travel points before going for co-op.

Also, once a player reaches World Level 1 or higher (Achieved at Adventure 20), that player can join players with lower levels but other players can only join his world if their World Levels are same or higher. This measure makes sense, as the enemies do not scale according to you, but rather scale according to the world you are playing in.

Overall, anything is fun when you are playing with friends.

Genshin Impact A Destiny Killer?

Even with all of the above-mentioned grind and microtransaction traps, Genshin Impact is addictive in its gameplay. It offers enough content to keep you busy that the grind becomes fun. And not to mention, the co-op element. You can do all these activities, either in open world or in fixed domains (dungeons) with your friends or random strangers and multiply the fun factor. But its quest design and story does not come close to anything Destiny or even other Live Service games have offered. You will most likely skip through all the dialogues to get back in the game ASAP.

With so much offered as free, a huge map to explore, and developers miHoYo promising free new areas, characters and events for all players irrespective you pay for the game in any form or not, Genshin Impact is a formidable foe for Destiny’s player base.

Destiny was supposed to release its next expansion, Beyond Light in September, but due to pandemic and perhaps also to cater with Next-Gen Consoles, it is now pushed to November, making its current season (Season of Arrival) at least 2 months longer with little to no new activities for old players. Therefore, it is quite likely that people will try this new F2P game in the market.

There are some quite drastic differences between Destiny and Genshin Impact:

  • Destiny is a first-person shooter, whereas Genshin Impact is Hack n’ Slash
  • Destiny offers both PVE and PVP modes, whereas Genshin Impact currently offers only PVE modes
  • Destiny offers a wide variety of areas to explore and it is quite massive in size, Genshin Impact is only just beginning and cannot match that size and scale
  • Destiny offers pinnacle activities such as Raids and Dungeons, whereas Genshin Impact only offers Domains (very short dungeons)

In all honesty, comparing Genshin Impact with Destiny is considerably unfair, but as it offers a F2P model with a huge pile of live service-based activities and content, we believe it will definitely shake up the priorities of gamers investing in live service games. Bungie better keeps an eye over their shoulders.

Also, unlike most live service games offering seasonal events, Genshin Impact has a rather quicker and more interesting take on events, by offering them on a bi-weekly basis. We believe such a quick introduction to new events and quests will keep the player base stronger.

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Hardware Reviews

Yeelight Lightstrip And LED Bulb 1S Razer Chroma Integration Review

Yeelight products now work with Razer Chroma. This means that the lighting of your games can be synced across multiple devices and across your room with the LED bulbs. Our kit included the Yeelight Lightstrip 1S and two of the Color 1S bulbs.

These Yeelight products do what they more premium products do but they are inexpensive and do not require a hub. Some gamers were in favor of the more premium options because they wanted to connect the RGB lighting across their rooms synced with their games and PC components. Yeelight products can do that now with Razer Chroma integration.

Yeelight Razer Chroma Integration Review

The Color Bulb 1S has been around for a while now and multiple outlets have reviewed it. The Lightstrip on the other hand is relatively new. Here we are going to look into the Razer Chroma integration rather than each of these products in depth.

Kit And Setup

Our kit included the Yeelight Lightstrip 1S and two of the Color 1S bulbs. Both come in nice clean packaging with nothing too fancy.

The boxes have everything that you need. The bulbs are in a holder and are covered in a protective cover. The Strip is found in a spiral when you open up the box. The strip itself is on the upper part of the box while the power unit and the button is tucked away under the top partition. The box includes two types of plugs which is very nice.

Both of these work without a hub and you need to install the Yeelight app on your phone in order to set them up. Pairing is pretty easy as well. For the Lightstrip which I installed around my PC desk, all I had to do was plug in the strip and hold down the button, unplug it, plug it in again and release the button, that is it. It showed up on the app and I could take things from there.

Setting up the bulbs is even easier. All you have to do is install them in the holders then turn them on and off 5 times. That will make them cycle through the different colors which means that they are ready to be paired. When that happens you can select them in the Yeelight app and set the different colors that you like.

From the Yeelight app, you can sync the different devices with one another and make rooms. You can turn them on and off and play around with the settings.

There are all kinds of different customization settings that you can use. You can choose from thousands of solid colors or you can choose from one of the presets. You can also make a preset of your own.

The Sunrise setting for example mimics the sunrise and the brightness of the devices is going to increase slowly. Similarly, you have the sunset preset which decreases the brightness of the devices over time until they turn off entirely.

Just like other similar products on the market these devices also work with Alexa, HomeKit, Google Home and SmartThings.

Razer Chroma Integration And Other Sync Options

To sync the Yeelight light strip and bulbs with your games and PC, you will need to download the Razer Synapse software. Note that you do not need to have any Razer products in order for the lighting to work but if you do then that means that you Razer products will sync with the lighting as well and things will look much better.

Download the Razer Synapse software and the Yeelight software on your PC and then you will need to download the Razer connector app in the Yeelight software. Devices on your local network will be detected and added to the list. Make sure that the Yeelight connector is enabled in the Razer Synapse software.

The effects that you will get depend on the game. Some games have some complex lighting effects while others will have rather simple effects. It all comes down to the games that support the feature and how the developers have added the lighting functionality into the game.

In Overwatch, the color is going to change when you change the character on the character selection screen. Other than that the lighting effects for the game are subtle and ambient. In Apex Legends, the lighting is going to change when you heal or take damage. The lighting effects for Apex Legends are much more complex and varied as compared to Overwatch.

Other than that, you can sync the lighting to the color of the tab that you have open. You can sync it to what you are doing on your PC. This means that the lighting is going to change according to the music or video that you are watching.

Conclusion

One of the issues with the devices is that they rely on a network and you will need to have a decent connection in order to make the most of them. The lights only use a 2.4 GHz frequency and not 5GHz. If you have a big home then you might need a Wi-Fi extender. The same goes if you have an older home with thicker walls through which signals cannot pass easily.

Other than that these lighting devices are great and I had a lot of fun with them. I have been testing them for a month and they have been great conversation starters when people came over and saw the changing lighting effects.

I like how these devices do not need a hub to work and how easy it is to play around with them via the app. Also, you do not need any Razer products in order to make them work with Razer Synapse. Note that these do only work with Windows and do not support Mac as of right now.

The Yeelight strip and bulbs do their job and the Razer Chroma integration makes the experience and functionality of these devices much better. They are already cheaper than the competition which is why we do recommend trying them out.

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Reviews

Remnant: From the Ashes Subject 2923 DLC Review

I didn’t get a chance to play Remnant: From the Ashes last year so I immediately jumped at the chance to review its latest DLC. It gave me an opportunity to start from the beginning and see what the fuss is all about. I have to say, Remnant: Remnant From the Ashes doesn’t disappoint. However, its Subject 2923 DLC is somewhat of a different story.  Subject 2923 is the conclusion to Remnant’s Root problem. I won’t be spoiling anything but in terms of story, Subject 2923 doesn’t hit the mark. The plot is interesting enough to keep you going but in the end, it falls flat the rest?

The biggest problem I had with  Remnant: From the Ashes Subject 2923 is its clunky controls which have become somewhat of a staple for this genre. There is a big problem the ADS that jams every chance it gets. What I found interesting is that the ADS jams when it’s most convenient for the enemy.

It is a problem during normal encounters but it cranked up for some reason during boss fights. It happened so conveniently for the enemy that at one point it felt like a deliberate mechanic to make boss fights artificially challenging.

The ADS jamming isn’t the only problem, swapping weapons often fail. The controls need a lot of work and hopefully, developers will smooth things out in a future update. The biggest draw for was the amazing atmosphere that immediately pulls you in.

From the dark, gritty rural farmlands to creepy hallways of Ward Prime, every corner is designed as well as it could be. The atmosphere combined with the game’s audio design creates plenty of bone-chilling moments. The farmland especially reminded me of old school Alone in the Dark and Silent Hill games.

There is plenty of new weapons, and a killer armor set you can work towards. You will need the best gear possible because the enemy AI, on all difficulties, is relentless. Enemy AI is smart, very good at flanking, and keeping you on your toes.

Every engagement feels challenging so you won’t have many dull moments. Most challenging parts of the game are fun but there are sections that are completely frustrating to the point that it made me take a break for an hour. The problem stems from the poor technical state of Subject 2923.

I had problems with changing damage numbers, traits, and stats not having any effect, and after looking around for a bit, it seems I wasn’t the only reviewing facing these issues. The game wouldn’t even save my key-binds, a small yet annoying problem every time I went back into it.

Storywise, Subject 2923 was supposed to be this epic conclusion. While it builds things up nicely, it falls flat on its face in the end. It felt rushed and a lack of attention to detail is apparent. The script is, at the best least, good enough but nothing to write home about. I completed the final boss and credits rolled, the end! All the problems in the world just went away, the game tells you everyone is fine, we won and that’s it. But it still doesn’t feel like the conclusion.

Should You Buy It?

If you loved Remnant: From the Ashes, you won’t hate Subject 2923. For $10 it is not a bad deal and despite its problems, you will have fun with it. However, if you are a new player I suggest getting the Complete Edition. You will get both Subject 2923 and Swamps of Corsus DLCs.

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Reviews

Ori And The Will Of The Wisps Review: Indie Price, AAA Experience

Back in 2015, Moon Studios, a small indie studio under Microsoft Studios, made a Metroidvania style videogame “Ori and the Blind Forest”. The game was critically acclaimed on all platforms and equally loved by fans all over. So, when Microsoft announced Ori and the Will of the Wisps, during E3 2019 conference, the expectations went even beyond the original game.

As in most cases, it is quite hard to surpass an original which is still considered one of the best action platformers ever made, a modern classic. Still, just like the theme behind Ori’s story, I was quite hopeful. Ori and the Will of the Wisps finally released in March 2020, with lots of hope covered in a murky layer of darkness.

Ori And The Will Of The Wisps Review

Without going into spoiler territory, let’s just say the almost heart-warming opening once again leaves us with nothing but a button to jump and sticks to move, but it does not take long for the game to introduce us with our first (of many) offensive abilities. Now if you are one of the many who played the original Ori, you might remember the slow but melodious cycle of upgrades throughout the game.

However, this time around things have gone quite differently. To fight darkness, this time light equips Ori with upgrades in a much faster and polished pace. Honestly, the amount of new content this game comes with in comparison to the Blind Forest, is humongous, with a good length even if you don’t go for all the hidden gems. So I find it much better to address these areas through separate explorations.

Level Design and Tight Corners

Ori has almost double the map size to explore this time around. Apart from some returning concepts, like water that requires purification, and creatures trying to pound our little fella; there are many different challenging areas to explore, and just like most Metroidvania style games, all explorations come with a price and their rewards.

Every area is riddled with numerous upgrades and challenges, which can help Ori in clearing areas that may not be accessible the first time. This actually defines the core gameplay element of this game: You get to a new area, you find a new Ability or weapon, but you can’t access every nook and cranny yet, so you move ahead into the new area, find another ability or new moves, and return to the previously inaccessible area and grab whatever is hidden there.

As new areas open for exploration, you face not just newer enemies but also the map starts to express its own agenda against you, tightening the difficulty repeatedly.

Visuals and Sounds

From afar, you may not discover the visual upgrades offered this time. While the game still looks a lot like original back from 2015, there are however many lighting, particles and animation upgrades which give the game quite a positive boost it definitely needed. And this time around there is a lot more versatility in level design, enemy types and weapon animations than the previous outing, which only had one main weapon type to play around with.

Gareth Coker returns with his fantastic music composition skills, and once again delivers an emotional and adrenaline filled punch, and the soundtrack just keeps getting better as your exploration becomes deeper and wider. Have to mention, just like the original Ori, there are some phenomenal chase sequences only made better with Gareth’s ability to dramatize the moments with his piano strokes. The soundtrack is one of the best to come out since the last Ori.

Gameplay, Customization and Role-Player Ori

In Ori and the Blind Forest, we had three simple upgrade paths, which if we happen to explore and find all the secrets, we could easily get them and enjoy a fully powered up Ori by the end of the game. This led to a lot fewer choices and almost no customization, but it was still a great experience.

However, Ori and the Will of the Wisps takes quite a dynamic approach this time and gives us multiple weapons, abilities, and great upgrade choices, to customize our experience just the way we want it. This leads to one of the most drastic and positive changes in comparison to the original game, and also gives us lots of options to replay the game multiple times (apart from various difficulty levels).

Instead of a shooting star, Ori is equipped with Spirit Edge, a blade made of light and mostly our primary weapon (especially at the beginning of the game). What makes this weapon unique in comparison to previous gameplay style is, it does not auto-aim, in fact, while playing with a controller I significantly noticed that my moves with Spirit Edge were quite controllable with the use of the main button (X in my case) with the movement of the stick, leading to some great epic moments. But that’s not all.

The game also offers a multitude of weapons that even play part in some environmental puzzle-solving as well, such as Spirit Arc, which is a fantastic bow and excellent for long-range combat. And even Spirit Arc comes with its own upgrade options, including increased fire rate and multiple shots capability, a fantastic change of gameplay style in comparison to the original game.

Similarly, we have other options as well such as a light Sentry, and my favorite to do some heavy pounding, Spirit Smash (yup, quite closer to what Hulk Smash would be if it happened to be in Ori’s world). And that’s not even half of your arsenal this time around, leading to gameplay choices and a lot more reason to replay this game.

But with that said, apart from such fantastic additions, at the core, Ori’s gameplay is still the same. It is still all about exploration, dodging and the absolutely necessary timing to keep yourself on toes and moving from one area to another at an almost non-stop pace. The only few occasions you have to catch a break is when you get to interact with many NPCs introduced this time around which were almost extinct in The Blind Forest. Which brings me to another great aspect this time around.

Many of these NPCs not only provide the above-stated upgrades and abilities, but also give optional quests that make the exploration aspect more meaningful than previously, and the game’s economy and use of orbs also reach a whole new meaning because of this.

In many ways, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a radically different experience even though in its presentation it still falls closer to The Blind Forest, and it is all for the good. It is a definitive expansion of the experience with lots of gameplay choices which delivers ten times more the replay value than the Blind Forest. Even if you did not play the first game, you will still enjoy this.

Jump, Dodge and Dash

Ori returns with its signature style action and puzzle set pieces, where you jump and dodge in perfect timing and conquer every challenge that comes your way. This playstyle does leave us with only one choice (my personal opinion only), that you will need to play with a controller.

You can play with a mouse and keyboard but it would put you in a crucial spot in many tight turns this game throws at us, especially during the sand levels. Unlike The Blind Forest, the game has removed manual saving options and it relies on auto checkpoints, which becomes a slightly higher challenge, but throughout my playthrough, I did not face any challenge marred by the placement of these checkpoints.

Nevertheless, you will still feel frustrated and some of the backtrackings might even feel lethargic, but that’s the price we pay to enjoy Metroidvania style videogame.

Conclusion

While the game has expanded in many ways, I did not mention one of the major upgrades, and that is the lore behind the light and darkness, and the universe Ori belongs to. There is a lot deeper story this time around, and the implications of your actions are expressed through a fantastic closure to the second chapter of Ori’s journey.

While I will leave this for you to decide on your own whether the story is now complete or requires more chapters, I can assure you that the experience Ori brings in this sequel is complete and satisfactory by all means.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps comes with a price tag of an indie game but delivers a Triple-A experience. It is struggling with the giants like Doom Eternal and Final Fantasy VII remake, but still does not falter and creates its own unique spot.

I am quite sure just like Ori and The Blind Forest, The Will of the Wisps will also garner a strong following, and might even let Moon Studios push out another chapter, hopefully soon. Do try if you are new to Ori, and you won’t be disappointed.

If you are interested in learning more about the game then you can check out our Ori And The Will Of The Wisp hub.

Categories
Reviews

Division 2 Warlords Of New York Review: Perfect Time To Jump In

Division 2 Warlords Of New York adds new content to the game. Basically you are taking down the new final boss Arron Keener. In order to encounter him, you must take out the 4 warlords that have taken control of New York. This is our review of Division 2 Warlords Of New York.

Division 2 Warlords Of New York Review

If you have played the previous game then you know who Keener is and it is nice to have him back in The Division 2 so that you can finish things off once and for all. In order to reach him, you must first take out his “four horsemen” the warlords of New York. If you have played games like Far Cry 5 or Ghost Recon then you will be familiar with these mechanics.

Division 2 Warlords Of New York is part of the end-game content and the level cap has been increased from 30 to 40. The new Gear 2.0 rehaul also makes things a lot better. The different stats, weapons, gear and talents are much easier to understand. The UI actually helps you to figure out which gear piece or weapon is going to enhance your build. This helps you figure out which items you are going to keep and which ones you are going to discard right away.

The UI makes inventory management a lot simpler and this is one of the best additions to Division 2 Warlords Of New York. You do not even have to own the expansion to take advantage of gear 2.0 or the new UI.

New York Looks Great

The expansion takes you to New York which is beautiful to look at without the snow. While most of the buildings are generic in the open world, the district areas have their own themes and you can see the amount of effort that the developer has put into each section of the game. In the day, you can appreciate how beautiful New York is even if you have played the previous game. There is plenty of loot that you can find on the street. There are mini-puzzles for you to solve in order to access rooms that contain loot.

Warlords Of New York

As mentioned before, there are 4 warlords that you need to deal with in order to take on the final boss. Each warlord has an area of the map which is half the size of the standard game map. In order to get to each boss, there are a couple of objectives that you need to complete.

The actual boss fights are fun and challenging. These are by far some of the best boss fights that I have seen in the game. Each boss is different and the boss fight compliments the character. After you take down the boss you get special skills that compliment the nature of the boss. For example, you get the decoy skill after you have beaten Theo Parnell.

Gear 2.0

All talents are removed from high end and superior items excluding chest pieces, backpacks and weapons. You will instead get rerolls of new talents that are introduced in The Division 2 as part of gear 2.0.

Exotics will have revised talents and the same is the case for named armor pieces. The good news is that named armor pieces will have better rolls than before. Gear sets will now have backpack and chest piece talents as well. These are designed to enhance the four-piece set bonus.

Brand sets have been updated to have set bonuses that go with different playstyles. A major part of gear 2.0 in The Division 2 is the introduction of Core Attributes. These are similar to those of the first game. All gear will roll with one of three core attributes, outside the regular ones that include weapon damage, armor or skill tier. Skill tier has now replaced skill power.

While all these changes are great, the UI is something that I for one liked the most. You see bars that tell you whether you should use a certain weapon or item. It tells you how it is going to improve your stats and whether or not keeping it is worth it. The UI will also tell you whether a roll is a god roll or how close it is to being the perfect roll for that weapon or gear piece. God roll items will have an orange icon on them so that you can spot them easily.

Expansion Of The End-Game

Division 2 Warlords Of New York is an expansion of the end-game. While this is still a looter shooter and the basic dynamics of the game are still the same, you have the new level cap, new boss fights and new weapons to get.

Once you have completed the main story, you will unlock a new progression system called SHD Level. With each level that you earn, you will be able to boost different stats such as weapon damage. This is an interesting alternate character progression system. You also have new challenges such as the legendary and higher difficulty settings for some missions.

A Major Step In The Right Direction

Ubisoft has made plenty of changes to the game with this update. Even if you do not buy the new expansion you can still take advantage of gear 2.0 and all the small changes that the developer has made to the game. In essence, Ubisoft has not reinvented the game but it is much better than it was before. The developer was able to make the game run on all cylinders and simplify the different mechanics without breaking it and that is a lot to ask for. The release of Division 2 Warlords Of New York is the perfect time to get into the action if you have not played the game or get back in if you are already an agent.

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Reviews

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint Review – Is It Really That Bad? Definitely Not

So what’s wrong with Ghost Recon: Breakpoint? Well, by this time you already know what it is.  Aggressive monetization via microtransactions, optimization issues on PC, and somewhat of a step back from Wildlands. Pretty much every review that covers that talks about this so there is no point in us pointing out the same issues so let’s focus on the things that work in favor of Breakpoint. Is this a game worth your money? What’s good about the new Ghost Recon?

One of the things I liked In Ghost Recon is the main storyline. It is exciting to be the one hunting The Punisher. Nomad, our lead character crash lands on the Aurora Island among trained rogue Ghosts who now prefer to be called Wolves. Your missions were to investigate the Island but thanks to an ambush, you’re new objective is to survive.

Fans of Ghost Recon would agree that part of what makes this franchise interesting is the setting. After Wildlands we needed something to push the boundaries of what’s possible with the setting and I am happy to report Aurora doesn’t disappoint. The lush green Island hosts deadly surprises at every turn, plus it feels much the settings feel more intense compared to Bolivia. There are drones, choppers, and enemy soldiers at every corner guarding various areas. If having open areas to explore and lush landscapes are your thing, Breakpoint is your game. Often you end up being lost in the beauty of this gorgeous Island. Without a doubt, Aurora is one of the most beautiful maps you’ll see in any video game.

The landscape is unique which makes tackling various missions much more interesting. Facing enemies on the beach, taking down choppers on the mountains, or storming a compound, every major encounter feels natural and seamless. Ubisoft did well with the game’s map and visuals.

The main storyline, while not something memorable, is still far better than Ghost Recon Wildlands; and all thanks to Jon Bernthal. His character successfully evokes the feeling of intimidation as well as hatred in the player. Cole Walker is a rogue Ghost tired of taking orders, Jon Bernthal steals the show.

The story has a strong opening, the first two hours are intense but after that things slow down until further into the game, you don’t even hear from Jon Bernthal. Still, the story was very well made and keeps you invested. What is tiresome tho is the repetitive side mission design but that’s pretty much expected from every AAA open-world game.

But Ubisoft’s new ultra-realism feature keeps even the most repetitive missions somewhat interesting. Engaging with enemies and trying to complete your mission is still as difficult as the first time, although with time you do master being a tactical killer.

It is a very unique experience to see your character react to the harsh environment.  There is great attention to detail for example, your character will raise his weapon slightly when enemies are nearby and acts more relaxed when there aren’t any around.

Speaking of weapons, developers have done a good job of making each weapon feel different. Recoil and handling of each weapon type are different and when mixed with good sound design, it really adds to the combat experience.

Combat is enhanced when you play with a team. Despite its various issues, Breakpoint is a great team-based game. Executing a sync shot is an intoxicating experience. Ubisoft made improvements to the communications system that allows players to better interact in-game. This makes it easier to be in sync when playing with mic-less strangers. Playing with a team is smooth and seamless, it is clear that Ubisoft designed this game to be played with friends.

Multiplayer is back as well with elimination and sabotage PvP modes. Ghost War PvP has shared progression which means you’ll use the same character from single-player mode. All of your weapons and gear carry over. To make sure matches aren’t dragged developers have introduced a closing circle so Wildlands issue is directly addressed here.

All in all, Ghost Recon Breakpoint is a good game and we do suggest that you give it a try.

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Reviews

Blair Witch Game Review: Mind Tricks Like Nothing Else

Blair Witch was a great movie and introduced a new way of storytelling in the horror genre. You never really saw the protagonist and the vlog-style footage felt very realistic indeed. Not to mention the supernatural forces that were at work. Blair Witch is now back in the form a game. So how does it fair?

Blair Witch has been brought to you by the team that worked on Layers of Fear and is set a few years after the movie. You play as a police officer called Elis, who is trying to find a missing child. He decides to go into the woods alone in order to try and find something that the other police officers might have missed. By his side is Bullet, his trusty K9 friend.

Bullet can be very useful in the game when it comes to locating evidence and tracking scents. There are a couple of commands that you can give bullet and you can even pet him if you want. Elis and Bullet have a very strong connection in the Blair Witch game and you do not want to go away from him for a long duration of time. If Elis is away from Bullet for a long time then he will get panic attacks and blackouts, which is not something that you want when you are already in a haunted forest.

Like in the movie, the Blair Witch game has plenty of paranormal activity and you can hardly tell what is actually going in. The game will take you in circles and make you question your sanity at multiple points in the story. That is what makes this such a great horror game.

You have a mobile phone and radio at your disposal which will allow you to communicate with the Sherif and figure out what is going on. Listening to the radio is not always mandatory, so it is up to the player to decide whether or not he or she wants to learn more about the story and what is going on in the bigger picture.

It is worth mentioning that the Blair Witch game has very impressive graphics. You will be staring at trees and bushes most of the time as you are in a forest but even in such a case, the lighting and the look of the game are very impressive indeed.

Similar trees and surrounding objects might seem like lazy level design and some critics have made an issue out of it but circling around to find yourself in the same spot is what makes this game what it is and it stays true to the movie in a way. Getting lost in the game is very easy and Bullet does not really know where to go, so navigation is not as easy as it might seem.

The game can also feel very claustrophobic, especially at night. When you can only see a few feet ahead of you. It is scary and accurately simulates how much you can see at night in real life. Such little things add up to make Blair Witch a great game to play and a horrifying experience that can be both terrifying and frustrating at the same time.

While getting lost in the forest does have a psychological impact, it becomes mundane when you pass through the same area for the third or fourth time. Better navigation in such situations would have been much better.

All things considered, the Blair Witch game is an excellent psychological horror thriller. It does have some performance issues but it looks great and can get very scary. This game will mess with your head and I mean that in a very good way. If you have seen the movie then you are going to love the game but if you have not then you can have a taste of what Blair Witch has to offer. You might end up liking what you get.

Navigation could have been better but the overall experience is very impressive indeed and we can easily recommend this game to anyone that is looking to play a decent horror game.

If you are interested in learning more about the game or are stuck someone and need help then be sure to check out our guides on  Red tapes and cellphone contacts. You can also check out our guide on how you can Leave the Abandoned Camp.