Tag: videogames
-
[Cleaning the Backlog] Anvil of Dawn
![[Cleaning the Backlog] Anvil of Dawn](https://bezdarbor.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/anvod.png?w=1024)
Anvil of Dawn is perhaps not the best dungeon crawler ever made, but it’s undoubtedly one of the most streamlined and accessible. As one of the evolutional peaks of the genre, the game optimizes its essential aspects while filtering out everything unnecessary, excessive, and burdensome. Additionally, Anvil of Dawn is one of the most beautiful,…
-
[Cleaning the Backlog] The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
![[Cleaning the Backlog] The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind](https://bezdarbor.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/morr.png?w=1024)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is one of those Leviathan games that change a whole biosphere with a single breath; it’s Bethesda’s most impactful game and the inter-generational beacon of RPG design; it’s a game that came closest to being the only eternal game to end all games; it’s a monstrous behemoth of gaming software;…
-
[Cleaning the Backlog] Abzu
![[Cleaning the Backlog] Abzu](https://bezdarbor.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/abzu.png?w=1024)
Of course, the audio-visual ensemble is what actually matters in this game. But one can wonder—how far can we go with amplifying the audio-visual component while weakening the gameplay and storytelling aspects and still consider an overall experience a game? Where is the line between a game and a spectacle? Well, this is it. Abzu…
-
[Cleaning the Backlog] Blackguards
![[Cleaning the Backlog] Blackguards](https://bezdarbor.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/blackgrds.png?w=1024)
Blackguards is a good game. But in order to enjoy it, you have to curb your expectations—it’s not a walk in the park that modern game design has made everybody accustomed to.
-
[Cleaning the Backlog] A Plague Tale: Innocence
![[Cleaning the Backlog] A Plague Tale: Innocence](https://bezdarbor.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/apltalin.png?w=1024)
A Plague Tale: Innocence is an excellent example of the schematic simplicity of decent storytelling in a videogame. You need a central theme enforced by plot and mechanics and an overall focus on this theme. The rest is a technical matter. Of course, the devil lies in the details, and additional layers are necessary to…
-
[Cleaning the Backlog] BattleTech
![[Cleaning the Backlog] BattleTech](https://bezdarbor.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/battletech.png?w=1024)
BattleTech is a turn-based tactical strategy game in a style known as XCOM-like¹. It has a campaign with a story, an overarching macro-strategic layer with base management and upgrading, complicated tactical mechanics, etc. I won’t talk about all that stuff—it’s all well done and gratuitously playable. The thing that makes BattleTech a god-tier game for…
-
[Cleaning the Backlog] The Banner Saga Trilogy
![[Cleaning the Backlog] The Banner Saga Trilogy](https://bezdarbor.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/bannersaga.png?w=1024)
I doubt my screenwriting teacher ever played The Banner Saga, but he would definitely like it. He always said that the best scripts don’t pity their heroes—the best drama happens when you put characters in horrible need and then make it even worse. The Banner Saga agrees with this wholeheartedly—initially grimdark setting gets darker with…
-
Let’s Celebrate Some Demos!
Today’s the third day of the recent Steam Next Fest, and I’m having a blast sorting through delicious demos of highly promising (and not-so-promising) games. Here are six titles that deserve to keep an eye on in the future. I’m sure that at least one of them is destined to become the next indie darling,…
-
Little Big Adventure: Return to the Planet Twinsun
Earlier this year, I noticed something had changed in my GOG collection. Actually, it changed over a year ago, and I missed it completely. Little Big Adventure games received a “Classic version” addendum to their title, along with several technical modernizations, like controller support. Fate was calling me back to the planet Twinsun, and I…
-
The Magic of Cartography
Maps are awesome. They are useful, informative, and often gorgeous. Maps in computer games are especially useful, informative, and almost always gorgeous. No matter which genre of computer games we pick, maps take an inherent part in the design.
Boris Bezdar 