Recent reviews by Yohighness

Endless Legend takes the 4x strategy genre and puts its own refreshing spin on it. It definitely captures that one-more-turn feeling while changing and adjusting numerous small gameplay mechanics. The result is a beautifully designed, complex experience with a heavy focus on empire management.

It can initially be overwhelming, as there is a lot to take in and the tutorial can do with improvements, but it is definitely worth it. Although combat is rather simplistic and the AI needs work, Endless Legend is one of the most exciting, recent 4X games out there with fantastic, asymmetrical factions, beautiful art design, great music and plenty of solid, refreshing mechanics. An easy recommendation for any 4X fan.

Full review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGB6l3ozj9o

Beyond Earth is a good game but very clearly flawed. It takes a number of steps back in personality, its suffers from a poor user interface and the AI does not deal with the new victory conditions in an interesting way (making the final moments of any game rather dull). Mechanically, Beyond Earth is still a very strong game though. It plays very similarly to Civilization 5, meaning that if you don't enjoy Civilization 5 then you won't enjoy Beyond Earth. If, however, you do like Civilization 5 then Beyond Earth is a nice, fresh take and certainly very enjoyable. If you've never played Civilization, then this is a competent title to get you into the series. The new mechanics such as the spies, the techweb, the changes to virtues, the affinities or the quests are all great aspects of Beyond Earth allowing for much more player freedom, and because of that it is still a very competent game. It’s not the best Civilization by any means, but it’s worthy of the series and in those 50+ hours I’ve spent, it remained highly enjoyable.

Full review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHyqgIw8b70

Shadow of Mordor is easily recommendable. It features excellent, fluid combat with high animation quality and brutal executions, imparting a real sense of power to the player. The highlight of the game is the rather unique Nemesis system, a system that tracks the rankings of every Orc captain and sets up many possibilities for organic storytelling. Furthermore, in large part due to the excellent audio quality (great voice acting, music & combat sounds) the game does a solid job at feeling like a Middle-earth game. The one downside is the repetitive nature of the game, due to the lacking difficulty and unvaried environmental design, but if you are looking for an excellent action game that's all about massacring Orcs and toying around with their political status... then Shadow of Mordor isn't one to miss.

Full review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FGlQKIot8A

Wasteland 2 truly is a fantastic game, but you won’t see that until you’ve spent roughly 10-20 hours on this sprawling RPG.

The game suffers from an archaic user interface and the first half of the game isn’t very notable, I’d recommend having one character invest into the Outdoorsman skill, because random encounters can easily take off another 20 minutes of your time without really providing much of interest, plus you will likely find yourself walking away from your screen quite a few times as you wait for your characters to move all the way back on a map. It’s a slow, slow game.

Yet, Wasteland 2 has so much to offer. The second half of the game is an immediate improvement in quest and map design and features interesting factions and story choices. The second half opens up a lot more, giving you less directed main quests and giving you a good amount of freedom to solve your way through side quests at your own pace.

The roleplaying aspect of Wasteland 2 is great. Designing your specialized characters and seeing how they make their way through a story with real consequences offers a good deal of replay value.

If you are patient and give Wasteland 2 the time it needs to show its potential, it will be a tremendously enjoyable experience. Time definitely worth investing.

Full review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040P1pqkjrM

Divinity: Original Sin succeeds wholeheartedly in establishing a classic RPG without feeling old. Although it can be rough around the edges, it is easily recommendable to any RPG fan. Original Sin is a game that gives you a lot of room and allows you to solve its odd encounters in numerous creative ways. Every new area has the potential of putting you in yet another highly amusing event and wandering around the colorful world of Rivellon is certain to be entertaining. There are definitely a lot of tiny annoyances (co-op dialogue is clunky, the game poorly hints at which direction you should go, the main story isn't immensely interesting and more companions would be great) but these are all just tiny issues in what is otherwise a fantastic RPG that allows you to interact with a highly engaging world in creative and clever ways. Excellent turn-based combat that highly promotes clever solutions and party interaction, a highly amusing and meticulously filled world and a great sense of player freedom make this one of the best RPGs in a long time.

Full review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGmesfZdWKE

Bound by Flame is ambitious, but doesn't manage to achieve the intended goal. A highly mediocre RPG, it remains enjoyable once you've got used to the rather quirky nature of it all. Environmental design is great and together with a day and night cycle and good music create a solid atmosphere. Combat is incredibly hit and miss, feeling sluggish and clumsy while in the warrior stance, but fast and relatively fluid while stabbing your undead enemies back to death in the ranger stance. The story in Bound by Flame can be summed up as generic, and feels disjointed as it rapidly skips through major events while suffering from poor dialogue. Bound by Flame is an incredibly flawed gem, but one that may just be worthy of your time if you enjoy these types of action RPGs and can forgive it for having glaring, glaring problems.

Fully detailed video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWiX5dPtehs

Domination is the name of the game, and luckily this game does that very well. If you are looking for complex building or research options, vast diplomacy networks and interactions.. then this is not the game for you. But if you are looking for fantastic, highly tactical turn-based combat in a good fantasy setting then Age of Wonders 3 is going to satisfy your needs. The strategic map has great detail and a real sense of atmosphere (the music certainly helps out a lot in this endeavor), and there are plenty of combat maps that have a beautiful layout. Unfortunately, siege maps lack variation (you will be fighting on these the most) but beyond that this game does conquest incredibly well.

Classes feel distinct and allow you to focus on your own playstyle, maps offer a lot of freedom and with two decent campaigns, scenarios and a good random map generator there is plenty for you to try out.

Fully detailed video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdKrgCj15sI

South Park: The Stick is Truth is no doubt a fantastic video-game adaptation, and I can heartily recommend this to any South Park fan. The gameplay is, sadly, far too easy and at times poorly explained, but it is most definitely a joy to play. Though not very lengthy, roughly 12 hours, it is from start to finish fantastic. Again, the one glaring issue I had came down to the almost utter lack of difficulty (And I then recommend anyone to put it on "Hardcore" from the start, sadly that is still far too easy) but the amazingly true-to-South-Park style more than makes up for that, with fantastic combat variety. A light and yet highly entertaining RPG that feels and plays like an extended South Park episode. Simply can't recommend it enough.

Full review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kYcmMJUcTc

Might & Magic X: Legacy is a pleasant throwback to old school dungeon crawlers, but it is limited in what it manages to pull off. If you are looking for a huge focus on story, NPC interaction or a powerful atmosphere then this is not going to be it. On the other hand, if you are looking for a heavy combat focus with a great sense of progression then you are going to have a blast with this game.

Certainly not perfect, it's a highly enjoyable combat-oriented dungeon crawler with plenty of combat.

Full review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kloN6vxlAwU

Baldur's Gate 2 is the follow-up of one of the best RPG experiences created to this day. Originally released in 2000, you should really play the first before considering getting the second as it DIRECTLY follows the storyline created in Baldur's Gate 1 and starts you at a much higher level. Therefor, if you haven't played it yet, head over to the Baldur's Gate 1: Enhanced Edition first and then come back and buy this game for it is fantastic.

Both Enhanced Editions offer a much more convenient experience with some great solid new content. Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition offers four new companions, each with a great storyline and dialogue, new class and race combinations and "The Black Pits 2" campaign (an arena-style combat campaign). They are both definitely worth getting as they are the definite modern way to experience these fantastic classic games that offer a tremendous amount of content, quests, great dialogue and a huge sense of freedom. Visually there have been few improvements, and a shocking lack of options is disturbing, but if you can set aside these problems and have the patience to learn these obviously outdated gameplay mechanics then both Baldur's Gate 1: Enhanced Edition and Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition are absolutely worth it.

Full review (Includes BG1: Enhanced Edition): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5qqfOXRRaA