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I’ll freely admit it, the original Destroy All Humans! is one of my all time guilty pleasures. There’s something cathartic in embodying a 1950’s stereotype of alien invader and laying waste to puny humans without a care in the world. Imagine my surprise (and joy) when I heard that THQ Nordic was going to publish a faithful remake of this Pandemic Studios classic this year. I HAD to get my hands on the game, and that’s why here I am, letting you know what I thought about this Black Forest Games/THQ Nordic collaboration.

The first thing that hit me when I fired up the game was how much prettier everything looked. The original game wasn’t exactly cutting edge, but it worked well anyway, because it wasn’t the kind of title that takes itself seriously, so the somewhat dated graphics were more charming than anything else (think Deadly Premonition, but running at playable frame-rates and with far less bugs). This remake, however, looks a lot more like a current generation release, and if that wasn’t enough, the team at Black Forest Games chose a genuinely excellent art style that perfectly fits the 1950’s B-movie feeling of the game.

So, what else is new? Besides a very noticeable new coat of paint, this remake features a bunch of quality of life enhancements designed to bring a 2005 game up to 2020 standards (mostly). This means that, while the basic flow of the game remains unchanged, the controls have been updated, and our character can now use different abilities at the same time he’s firing his weapon, something that you’ll agree with me that it’s a very important update, if you played the original. Oh, and there’s a brand new mission that was cut from the 2005 release.

Speaking of abilities, all the favorites return, and look and feel better than ever. Our hero Crypto can use telekinesis to move objects with his mind, Holobob to become a facsimile of a human in order to infiltrate highly guarded areas without raising suspicion, mind-wipe guards, force humans to follow him and do his bidding, and other niceties (such as popping out their brains and scooping them up to upgrade our arsenal). Playing with all of these abilities never gets old, and as I’ve said before, it’s a lot easier to manage than it ever was in the original game.

If mind powers aren’t your game, then you’ll be happy to learn that Crypto’s superior Furon technology is as good as you might have remembered. Our little grey man can jetpack around the place, zap people with an electric ray, turn them into dust with a disintegrator ray, anal probe them, and blow them up with a big Ion Detonator. Doesn’t sound like much? I’d disagree, but if that’s your line, then I’d also like to point out that our little Furon’s arsenal can be upgraded with all sorts of interesting perks (even letting us surf around the place with the jetpack, for instance). Believe me when I say that by the end of the game, my Crypto was a veritable force of nature, spitting out rays, evading rockets, sending them back the way they came, and transmogrifying tanks into ammunition for his Ion Detonator.

Of course, a big arsenal is nice, but doesn’t mean much if we don’t get a chance to use it. Thankfully, Destroy All Humans! is all about using our weapons and abilities, and while the mission design often leaves a lot to be desired (it’s one of the few parts of the game that weren’t updated in this remake), I can’t say that I didn’t have fun blowing up helpless humans and moving from set piece to set piece. Most missions involve a relatively short stealth sequence, followed by skirmishes with the local humans, short platforming segments, or all out chases. From time to time, the game breaks out the big guns and lets us control Crypto’s flying saucer, blowing up houses like there’s no tomorrow, and generally being a nuisance for the poor Army boys that want nothing more than to bring down what they perceive as a Communist threat to their American way of life.

Once we’ve cleared a mission, we’ll be able to return to the play area where it took place, and engage in several types of challenges (that will unlock gradually as we progress in the game’s campaign), or just zip around the place, causing mayhem, scooping up brains, or finding hidden items that will reward us with upgrade points that can be spent either upgrading Crypto’s arsenal, or his flying saucer.

As expected from a game set in the 1950’s, there’s tons of references to the Cold War, and the writers did a pretty good job with the constant barrage of jokes that bombard the player, even if some of them are a bit outdated nowadays. Of course, while we are talking about jokes and writing, we should take a moment to highlight the vocal performances of the two main characters, Crypto and Orthopox, since the actors playing them (J. Grant Albrecht and Richard Horvitz) did a marvellous job. Crypto sounds like Jack Nicholson at his craziest, and Orthopox is always majestic and aristocratic, even when sending us to do the most unbelievable things. This is another aspect that didn’t get an update in the remake, and I’m very glad that this is the case, because I can’t see anyone else pulling off performances of this caliber for this kind of game.

Going back to the gameplay, the one part that I am not glad that wasn’t updated is the stealth, which can be quite grating, as it’s often non-optional, and it usually forces the player to follow a rigid path, doing specific actions with no room to improvise. I am aware that this is how it was in the original game, but honestly, I feel that this remake could have taken a page out of the Resident Evil remake book, and reworked the stealth segments entirely. Missions failing instantly because of finicky and under-cooked gameplay mechanics will never be fun (though thankfully there are checkpoints you can fall back to when it happens).

Other than that, I don’t have many complaints about Black Forest Games‘ job here. Destroy All Humans! (2020) is a faithful remake that captures the joy of the 2005 original while at the same time looking and feeling like a modern game. If you are a fan of Pandemic Studios‘ output, then I’d say that you owe it to yourself to pick this gem up, as it’s a perfect tribute to the kind of games they used to make.

An excellent PC port of a (so far) intriguing sci-fi adventure that stubbornly refuses to be confined to a specific genre.
Graphically, it looks phenomenal while at the same time running like a dream, even on mid-range hardware (and there's DLSS 2.0 support for those who have lower end RTX cards and wish to play at higher resolutions without sacrificing performance or visuals). It works fine out of the box with keyboard/mouse, which is a nice bonus, considering most Japanese PC ports end up requiring a gamepad.
I'll update this review as I go through the game, but my first impressions after four hours are extremely positive.

Una balsa de tablas, un gancho de plástico y muchas ganas de sobrevivir. Mires por donde mires, el azul océano se extiende por incontables kilómetros en todas direcciones... Así arrancará nuestra aventura en Raft, un título al mejor estilo The Forest, pero sin caníbales ni encuentros sangrientos que puedan espantar a una audiencia que tiene que cuidarse de lo que juega, ya sea por ser padres, o por ser pequeñines que todavía no deben andar en esas.
Quizás no parezca algo muy entretenido, pero a medida que uno va juntando los restos de civilización que el mar nos entrega con cuentagotas, el juego se vuelve cada vez más atrapante, llevando a sesiones de cuatro horas sin parar, todo para buscar esto o aquello.

Te gustan los juegos de supervivencia? Raft te va a encantar, ya que tenés que manejar todos los aspectos del personaje, comiendo y bebiendo, durmiendo a la noche para evitar tener que salir a la luz de la luna, etc. Todo mientras nos persigue un incansable tiburón que a falta de poder pegarnos un tarascón bien se conforma con destrozar partes de la balsa cuando la perdemos de vista por unos segundos.

La parte de supervivencia no es todo lo que Raft nos ofrece, por supuesto. También podemos ir descubriendo la historia del juego, visitando islas que estuvieron habitadas hace poco, y que nos dejan pistas sobre los siguientes pasos a seguir. Al momento de publicar esta reseña, la parte "narrativa" termina relativamente rápido, ya que el Capítulo 2 fue retrasado recientemente (cosas de los juegos de Acceso Anticipado). Sin embargo, sigue siendo algo entretenido, y seguir la "campaña" nos dejará ir descubriendo nuevas recetas y cosas útiles para poder avanzar en la construcción de la balsa.

Además de la supervivencia y de ir siguiendo la historia, también podremos construír una verdadera isla flotante, plantando árboles, capturando y domesticando animales que nos proveeran de carne, leche, huevos y pelaje para crear ropa, etcétera.
Y la mejor parte? Todo esto se puede jugar en modo cooperativo, por lo que podés compartir tus aventuras con tus amigos. Tampoco hay que preocuparse por crear servidores vía línea de comandos ni nada por el estilo, ya que el sistema usado aquí es bastante simple, y con ser amigo en Steam de la persona con la que querés jugar ya está todo cocinado.

Para ir resumiendo, si te gustan los juegos tipo The Forest pero desearías algo más lindo de ver, o si te gustan los juegos tipo Stardew Valley pero querrías estar en la acción en primera persona, Raft es tu juego. Y sobre todo si viste Waterworld y te gustó, ahí definitivamente te recomiendo que lo compres, porque vas a poder emular las aventuras de Kevin Costner en esa película de culto (bueno, digamos que una parte, no todas).

I’ll start my review with my take on the singleplayer campaign, as it’s not exactly what I expected from the creators of the modern military shooter genre. Instead of placing the player in the boots of a grunt who must follow their leader’s orders at all times, Titanfall 2 lets us be a badass Pilot who can dropkick someone in the face, then cloak and effortlessly wallrun across a massive gap and take out an annoying sniper, all in a few seconds. There are some scripted moments, but for the most part, Respawn Entertainment‘s first attempt at a singleplayer campaign is a rare sight in the modern videogame landscape, as the player can choose how to engage the enemy without being told that they are out of bounds or similar things.

The game’s story is a collection of cliches but it’s well told and the voice actors in charge of bringing both friends and foes to life do a great job. Those who didn’t play the original Titanfall won’t be lost here, although the new title references events that happened during the multiplayer campaign featured in the first game in the series. As a militiaman turned Pilot (Pilots are highly skilled special units who can call down Titans and possess superhuman movement abilities thanks to their high tech jump pack kits) we will have to fight our way through territory held by the evil Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation, trying to find a way to stop their oppressive regime from taking over the galaxy. As the game goes on, players will bond with their Titan, a hulking mechanical beast named BT-7274 who can’t stop saying unintentionally funny things. Just as in the multiplayer modes, game time will be divided between on-foot sections in which we’ll have to sneak and make use of our superhuman movement skills, and Titan battles in which we’ll have to engage similar sized threats (and boss Titans)

As I said previously, the on-foot sections are mostly freeform, with the player being provided with an objective and set loose upon huge levels. Although the majority of the campaign consists of gunfights separated by small environmental puzzles, there is a special level which reminded me of Portal and will probably stay fresh on my mind for years, thanks to the way in which it was presented and the freshness of the gameplay on display. Most sections revolve around a particular gimmick or thing to do for the player, and then drop it completely, ensuring that the game never feels repetitive. Aside from the variety in offer during the Pilot parts of the campaign, the combat is also fast paced and rewarding, letting you slide across the floor, wallrun and go invisible at the touch of a button all in the same combat encounter. Yes, most levels can be completed with tried and true tactics such as popping out of cover, hitting the enemy in the head with a few well placed rounds and then taking cover again, but the great thing about Titanfall 2 is that this is just one of many possible options. Other modern military shooters have adopted the wallrun and jetpack mechanics, but they still force players to hide behind cover once their health gets low, or to wait for specific scripted moments in order to continue onwards.

Titan combat scenarios are different, because they are mostly linear affairs in which the player must either fight hordes of robots, a few enemy Titans at the same time or a powerful boss Titan. Defeating bosses adds their loadout to the player’s inventory, and BT-7274 can swap weapons and abilities mid fight, something that can be incredibly useful during boss fights. The unlockable Titan loadouts also work as a sort of training for the multiplayer mode, since they are the same different chassis that can be used when battling online.

So, the campaign is great, but I hear you asking… How is the multiplayer mode? Is it as good as Titanfall 1 or did Respawn make a great singleplayer shooter with a weak multiplayer component? Is it even alive?

I hear you, multiplayer fans, and you can rest easy knowing that Titanfall 2′s online offering is not only a great game on its own, but it also isn’t just a rehash of the first game’s player versus player component with a few tweaks thrown in for good measure. Instead, Respawn Entertainment chose to revamp the entire concept, going from small tweaks such as the removal of Titan shields, to bigger changes like the addition of a grappling hook or the introduction of a completely new mechanic such as Titan Batteries. There are new game modes as well, such as the Pilots only variant (which disables Titanfalls) or the Coliseum, which pits one player against another in a match of sheer skill.

Matches start just as they did in the first title, with everyone running around as an agile Pilot, wallrunning all over the place and using different gadgets such as grappling hooks, sonar based knifes that can reveal the enemy’s position, stealth kits and other fun high tech tools. Killing enemy combatants advances the Titanfall timer, and once that meter is full, players can call down their mighty mechanical buddies. Just like in Titanfall 1, Titans can be set to be AI controlled or the player can climb inside and control them in real time. However, thanks to the removal of the shield system, AI mode titans are quite easy to kill, so they won’t be such a common sight as they were in the first game in the series. Another important change is the Battery system. Instead of rodeoing an enemy Titan and shooting at its core with a gun, Pilots will now climb on top of its hull, open a compartment and steal a battery that can be used to add a shield to their own Titan or a teammate’s. This mechanic can be incredibly useful during heated Titan battles, and it adds a strategic layer to the fight, as a talented Pilot can steal an enemy Titan’s battery just in time to save a teammate from certain death in a way that wasn’t really possible in the first Titanfall.

Another big change is the removal of customizable Titans in favor of a class system in which players can choose from six different archetypes who all sport different weapons and abilities. This makes them feel like MOBA heroes or hero shooter characters, as every one of them has a signature ultimate ability that can be unleashed upon the enemy as the core progression meter reaches 100%. Of course, even though the new Titan classes can’t be customized in terms of weaponry or skills, gamers can still choose different skins, making each machine slightly different from the rest.

The progression system has been overhauled as well, and there are a lot more weapons and customization options to be earned as players level up, something that will definitely help the game on the long run.

Titanfall 2 shines on the tech department as well, as it not only looks gorgeous (it’s hard to believe that this game runs on Valve‘s Source engine) but it also runs like a dream. Voice acting is perfect, as we said before, and both the sound effects and the soundtrack fit the title perfectly, with chunky hit sounds giving the right feedback as bullets hit their targets, and catchy tunes playing just when the situation needs them.

To conclude, Titanfall 2 is one of the best shooters released in the past decade. Respawn Entertainment mixed an unforgettable singleplayer campaign with an excellent multiplayer suite, creating the ultimate action package, something that every FPS fan worth their salt should at least try (and while we are at it, the Stream re-release has revitalized the playerbase, so multiplayer matches are easy to find. Get in there, Pilot!)

This is one of these times when I'd love to have a neutral option on Steam.

I bought Fallout 76 back when it came out, to play it with my brother. It had its fair share of issues, but overall, it worked and we had fun. Now that Bethesda have added NPCs, it's pretty much what I expected from their vision of a Fallout online game, and I intend to keep playing it for a while, since the exploration and combat are pretty fun.
Story-wise it's not very good (though I don't know yet if that changes with Wastelanders). If you liked Fallout 4, then you will probably like this one as well, as it uses a lot of stuff from Fallout 4. I wasn't a big fan of that game, but I can ignore a lot of its faults when transferred to an online environment, since that lets me do stuff in co-op and have fun in a different way.

Oh, if you run into performance issues, try setting the game to fullscreen instead of borderless windowed mode.

I got Wolcen a few years back when it was in Early Access, and the improvements the developers have made since then have been nothing short of impressive. Now the game is fully out, and while there are server issues, I'd say that it's definitely worth it if you are an action RPG fan. The combat is very satisfying, the build variety seems massive, and the class-less system lets you go your own way.
With that said, if you are not a patient person, then I'd recommend waiting a week so the launch issues are sorted by the time you start playing. I'm reading far too many reviews from people who seem to think that a small team that has already beaten Blizzard when it comes to delivering a quality ARPG should have also beaten them at launching an online game without server issues. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but if it does to you, then maybe wait another week or two...

Short but entertaining, somewhat replayable. Looks pretty if you like the style the devs were gunning for (I like it). You will definitely beat it in 10-20 minutes (I got all the achievements in 20 minutes total, and I could have gotten them in 5 if I'd checked their description beforehand).
I still recommend it in spite of its short length since it's cheap and I had fun with it. Would be nice if the devs ever revisit the concept.

Pretty good so far, very similar to Pokémon but in MMO form. Had some launch issues (servers were getting hit by DDOS attacks, while tons of people were trying to get in at the same time), but that seems to be mostly a thing of the past now (though there's still queues to get into the game). Overall, I'd say it's a successful EA launch and I'm optimistic for the future of the game.

It looks like crap and sometimes runs like crap as well, but it's got tons of heart. Surprisingly entertaining so far, and the developers seem to be very active working on new content and fixing issues.

Wild hearts never die.