Hawke64

Fear Effect: Sedna Completed the second mission, started the third. Got stuck at a rhythm mini-game. Solas and the White Winter Completed the game (puzzle-adventure). There was only one progress=stopping bug (switches in the third temple didn't work, restarting the game fixed it) and I completely missed the story (was the kid a ghost?). The controls were imprecise and unrebindable.

Devil May Cry 2 Completed the game as Lucia. It was slightly more entertaining, than Dante's campaign (excluding the underwater missions). The plot seemed more intense and there were less secret missions. Out of curiosity, how the player was supposed to find them in DMC2 without a guide? By interacting with all walls on their way?

Echo The game started as a walking simulator and went to horror pretty fast - the locations looked very similar and there was no map. Echoes (enemies) were respawning too often and running past them was not a good idea, but it worked for the second chapter. Movement felt very limited - the avatar kept switching to walking randomly and sprinting was consuming HP. Ironically, the game supported 5-button mice and had correct on-screen prompts for custom key bindings. I can't refund the game and unlikely to complete it.

Not exactly news, but the article seems relevant, considering the recent 5.0 update for PoEII: https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-pressure-to-constantly-update-games-is-pushing-the-industry-to-a-breaking-point/ It's disheartening to see comments like "this game is dead" (not talking about PoEII here; Devil May Cry V might serve as an example), when the developers announce that the game is complete.

Death's Gambit Completed the game. It has an impressive amount of player-determined events for an action game and an engaging story.

I don't care about children, but developing games around microtransactions seems wrong (haven't played Warframe). Middle-earth: Shadow of War proved that loot boxes affect design and balance, so whatever forces publishers to focus on quality of their products (or artworks, if games are considered art), instead of MT, has to be good.

Death's Gambit

Death's Gambit It's an amazing 2D Souls-like. The most notable difference is the ability to use your healing items to increase damage (1 Estus for +10% DMG). The only issue for me is uncompressed screenshots - they are saved in \username\AppData\ and auto-removed, if you launch the game again.

Thank you for supporting the game. Mixed feelings about content changes - it reminds about the game-as-a-service model and makes the original version somehow less. But GOG allows to switch between versions, so it's good, I guess. By the way, any chance of removing RNG elements from "The Courier's Calling" quest resolution?

It's still a DMC game. Not as good as DMC3/4/5, but not too bad. And I need to complete (or, at least, start) Lucia's campaign. Someday.

Devil May Cry 2 Completed the game as Dante. Not sure, if I'm going to try Lucia's campaign.

Yuppie Psycho Completed the game. I liked the design and graphic style (pixel art), boss battles and puzzles were engaging and made sense. I guess, it was a bit linear (some events by the end were unavoidable), but still quite charming.

Devil May Cry 1 (HD Collection) Completed Mission 20 and realized that there are more (all other DMC games I've played had only 20). Mixed feelings on the game, not including the quality of the port (PS button prompts, a separate program to configure keybindings, occasional FPS drops). So far the most difficult things were the last encounter with Nelo Angelo and 30 degree jumps. Fortunately, it's possible to fly in DT, so the latter are mostly avoidable. Edit. Completed the game and it threw me into NG+. I guess, DMC1 is important as a historical artifact (one of the first genre-defining 3D hack'n'slash games), but it did not age well and the port could be better.

Devil May Cry 3 (HD Collection) Cleared Mission 15. Reread the in-game information on enemies. The writing style gave that odd feeling of machine translation. I don't remember, if it was the same in the original game (it probably was, but I cared less). Also the difference in level design approach in DMC3-4 and DMCV became very noticeable - the former had maps and levels were open to explore (and it was possible to get lost), the latter has more points-of-no-return, no puzzles, almost no key items or traps. Not saying that it's a bad thing, just different. Edit. Completed the game. Funny to think that the ending of DMCV is pretty much what I wanted when I played DMC3 for the first time. Yuppie Psycho Somehow reminded me of my first attempt to find a job. So far so good.

The Turing Test It's a decent first-person puzzle game, unless you try to follow its plot or seek challenging puzzles. But I got all achievements, so it's something. Devil May Cry 3 (HD Collection) Started another DMC3 playthrough. PS gamepad prompts are irritating (and show the quality of port), but the game runs well and just as hard as I remember.

Devil May Cry V Completed the Bloody Palace as Nero for the second time.

Finished my last PT in January. There were few bugs, but nothing progress-stopping. It's probably better now.

Devil May Cry V Bloody Palace

I'd add that the optimal (I've done it and my kingdom didn't crumble) course of actions is if the main quest region is possible to claim and explore and the main quest there haven't started yet, it should be claimed and explored first. And companion quests should be completed as soon as possible, because they are timed and Also recruiting artisans early provides fairly good and stable income, which can be spent on BP and scrolls of Mass Heal. The game does require some meta-gaming and planning to get the best (max kingdom stats, all upgrades, good outcomes for side quests and NPCs) ending, but it is possible.

Devil May Cry V Completed the last mission on DMD without taking damage. Seven: The Days Long Gone Reached the ending, realized that all available outcomes weren't good and the best possible one requires to complete several side quests. I like the general idea of STDLG (a stealth-action game with RPG elements and functioning open world), but some aspects (crafting, dialogues, bugs) are somehow lacking. Also I strongly dislike small towns (unless they burn down in the prologue/tutorial), which are numerous among the available locations (ironically the tutorial chapter took place in a city), the rest of the locations are mountains, military bases and swamps. Also one submarine (DLC) and a temple.

Seven: The Days Long Gone Found out that I can choke out opponents non-lethally and had my first unavoidable combat encounter. Considering that all previous missions I played as a proper thief (no kills and no detection, if possible), my equipment and build weren't exactly right for the situation. But I had some healing items and damage boosts and managed to stun lock the boss (pretty sure that it was a boss battle), so it ended well.

Devil May Cry V Completed the Bloody Palace with V. Spent 3 days (5-6 hours) on the last floor. The battle was ridiculously easy with Nero and extremely hard with V (couldn't stagger the boss reliably, the familiars were getting KO'ed too often), but now V can damage things with the cane (the reward for completing the mode).

Seven: The Days Long Gone Discovered a working crafting station in an abandoned safehouse and realized that I was supposed to collect and dismantle all the trash loot I've found. Crafted several small healing items and moved forward. Reached the 4th zone. Devil May Cry V Cleared the 70th floor as Dante by dropping a meteor on the furies (ninja-lizards). Not my most honorable battle. Edit. Cleared the Bloody Palace as Dante. Only one character to go.

The Witness is free on Epic Games Store and it runs without EGS.

Seven: The Days Long Gone Feels like "Gothic meets Thief", but isometric. There's a prison island, a pre-defined protagonist, a lot of skills (which I haven't figured out how to activate) and a lot of loot. Also it's possible to climb almost everything. Currently trying to find a merchant with more than 30 [local currency] to sell them the equipment I acquired from bandits. Started the Bloody Palace with Dante in Devil May Cry V. Reached the 17th floor. The enemies so far seem the same as in Nero's version.