Despite having 70 hours played I'd never finished the story. My playthrough 6 years ago ended in Old World Blues of all the DLCs which turned out to be my favourite with the hilarious dialogue, and Muggy, the robot with the obsession for mugs. So enough time had passed for me to want to do a proper replay and actually reach the end, and despite redoing a lot of what I'd already done, like with Skyrim I enjoyed it just as much, and it adds a bit of excitement when you reach a part you especially enjoyed first time. It's as good as I remembered, the amount of choice is especially impressive, so many ways to do quests, your skills are always useful in someway and picking traits is such a tough task with so many useful ones available, all the different endings too with which faction to side, it just remains unmatched for me and deserves its reputation as one of the best RPGs, I'm looking forward to Obsidan's Outer Worlds to see if they've kept that standard.

Like seeing the Washington Monument from pretty much anywhere in FO3, seeing New Vegas lit up at night while you're out wandering the Mojave desert is special. It's a shame the Strip itself is disappointing but given the apparent technical limitations at the time that's forgivable. I used several graphical improvement mods, as well as an enb, which was definitely worth all that time installing, but maybe not for the crashes I had, I've got used to quick saving by now so I never really lost any progress but still it was a constant nuisance. The biggest negative I have is not with the game but one of the DLCs, Dead Money, it is genuinely one of my most hated experiences and replaying it didn't change that opinion, I disliked everything about it! I know Fallout 4 has its problems but it'll be good to finally play it having now beaten 3 and NV.

Wow what a game! It's rare for me to buy games so close to their release date but everything about it felt like something I had to play as soon as possible. The story telling is fantastic, it's full of emotional moments, tension, surprise, disgust, shock, and innocence. It does so much so well. In case you're afraid it's a 10-15 hour experience of hand holding and running away, it varies it up with levels where you're alone, or you're accompanied with someone else who has their own tricks up their sleeve to help you. It's mostly a stealth game with puzzle elements, as you have sections where you need to sneak past guards, using standard techniques like patrol movement watching and using items to create distractions, and more fast chased chase sequences, with the fantastic soundtrack complimenting the feelings of dread and urgency. From the very first chapter it's clear it's going to be a difficult journey, one that isn't afraid of making you uncomfortable, and it stays that way throughout, a lot of what I saw stuck with me after playing, some scenes made me nauseous. The star of the show, the rats, are incredibly unsettling, there's so many that fill your screen, the sheer number of them scurrying around, trying to get at you with a beam of light being your only protection is simply horrible, it's easy to relate to the fear your character feels after seeing what these rats do to people.

It also acts as a reminder I really need to play The Last of Us, given some of its similarities. The survival side is there with the feeling of always being outnumbered, limited resources that have to be scavenged, and the crafting to improve your equipment and weapon, the sling. Unfortunately it's the sling that I probably have the most problem with, it's way too overpowered even before you've upgraded it, it's easy to simply take out every guard and remove the challenge of sneaking by. I was going for all the achievements and found myself in situations where stealth didn't feel like an option to get myself to a place where this collectable was located, so I had to resort to killing, which didn't feel right for the character you play as. The patrol paths are incredibly basic compared with other stealth titles I've played, often they stand still facing away from you that never felt realistic, I guess they're just there as backup if you alert them, but the stealth definitely felt weak. But despite this, I wouldn't say it was too much of a negative, these sections didn't make up the whole game, they just could have been improved.

I don't think I've used photo mode so much when it's been an option, so many locations you visit are beautiful to look at, the sections where you're free to move around with no apparent threats are great just to take it all in slowly, there's so much detail to be admired. In these moments you're often accompanied by your younger brother, Hugo, who runs off, providing observations on things of note you pass, or wanting to put a flower in your hair. He's definitely more endearing than just being a burden on the player, which is a sign of a good game where they have to create these relationships from scratch. I'd strongly recommend Plague Tale, one of the best story games I've played, the atmosphere of it in particular deserves the highest praise.

I had a lot of fun with this for the most part. The sense of progression after getting stripped of your powers at the start, to being fully restored by the end was great, the abilities you gain allow you to reach areas that were previously inaccessible, and I liked the backtracking in this case going back to collect everything I couldn't do earlier, it's also a nice touch having the upgrades being actual visual additions to your equipment too. There's some platforming challenges which were a nice break from the combat, I think I preferred this to DMC as the only other in the genre I'd played at this point, which always felt like you had too many options to pick from in comparison to Darksiders where you can get comfortable using a few skills and didn't feel overly complicated. I thought playing as one of the four horsemen was interesting as something different, acting as this neutral in a war between angels and demons, with Earth as the battleground. When you return years later, as you're trying to work out how the war broke out, destruction is everywhere, and makes for some nice environments going through fallen skyscrapers and flooded ruins.

But there were two areas in particular I really didn't enjoy, one being a tedious section where you need to avoid this unkillable sand worm protecting where you need to go, and you have to trudge through the sand at walking pace and hope you've given yourself enough time to get past. The other was when I reached the Black Tower near the end, you're given this portal power to direct beams to a central chamber, solving mini puzzles along the way to create paths. It went on way too long, and required the same golem to be beaten three times with little variance, the enemy ambushes were the hardest yet and caused more trouble than most boss fights with certain enemies I grew to hate, like the wraiths, just making me groan when I got trapped in to fight, I was playing on the hardest difficulty but until this point hadn't been having any problems. These gauntlets provided the wonderful example of giving up in frustration, then beating them first time on my next attempt the day later. It's a tricky one to rate as I really disliked those two mentioned areas, but as a whole had a positive experience, the boss fights in particular were a highlight, and the execution moves you do were always satisfyingly brutal.

I've never played a game where a spider with a French accent sings to me while I have to dodge her brethren kamikaze themselves by dropping from the sky. It's an interesting game with creative levels representing different areas of the mind. As the minds courage you've grown weary and tired as you've not been needed, when a new threat emerges you need to stop sipping cocktails and fight these fears. I thought the main character and his sidekick were great, she acts as the perfect counter to your grumpiness, I don't think I've played a game with so many puns in the dialogue either. The puzzles and combat aren't designed to be challenging, and it's fine playing something that's just a nice gentle experience, the amount of battery retrieval to power things up was a bit repetitive though. The achievements were simple, there's one which encourages you to knock on every door you come across, which was often amusing not knowing what to expect.

Just a short update on the Heritages Puzzle Park, I saw they'd released this which I had to buy as they've never disappointed me. I think the new artworks they've released in these DLCs show a noticeable improvement to the ones in the base game back when it came out, I'm excited to see what they've put together in the sequel. There's about 2 hours of additional puzzles with the hardest ones with the most pieces taking me about 15 minutes, but thankfully there isn't a ticking clock as I always play these to relax and take no rush at all trying to finish them, I'd recommend it as a break from more intense games.

Pinstripe has been on my radar since seeing some of its screenshots when it got released, the art style is great and immediately made me interested in it. The creepiness level may have put me off if the game looked differently, but it was just the right level to put me on edge, while not scaring me away! Mr Pinstripe, his voice especially... it's done very well to make him sinister and make every encounter unnerving from your first meeting on the train. The visuals and voice acting are definitely its biggest strengths. The basic 2D platforming is alright, puzzles are there, backtracking is necessary to get enough currency to progress later on, and I wasn't a fan of locking off certain rooms unless you were on your second playthrough to see everything. Unfortunately the achievements glitched for me and none were unlocked despite being positive I should have got the Sherlock one at the very least, but looking at what's required for the 100% I'm glad as it didn't feel like one I'd want to replay despite the locked rooms. I'd give it a 3.5/5 overall, but feel it deserves to here rather than below.

With the announcement the developers are working on Planet Zoo I had to play this having been meaning to for a while anyway, to check out their park management style in preparation. Before the era of Football Manager and MMOs, I played so much Zoo Tycoon 2 it must be one of my most played games if the numbers were tracked on Steam. I just loved it, creating these habitats for a huge range of species, keeping them happy with company, making sure their needs are met with the right housing and food, then hopping into first person mode to interact with them and walking around your zoo, it was absolutely fantastic, I'm more excited than I have been for a while for a good modern Zoo Tycoon, also have my eye on the Jurassic Park game although I'd rather wait for all the dinosaurs to be released instead of getting a complete package that doesn't include everything... So I don't have the same nostalgia for theme parks and creating roller coasters as I do looking after animals, but I still had a good time with it.

I've been working through the career mode, being given a premade park with some objectives to achieve, like making a certain amount of money each month, or raising the park rating, while having restrictions in place, or loans to be repaid, and it's been enjoyable. I like the amount of customisation possible, everything you place can be edited by attaching other objects to it, there are some great creations on Steam Workshop, not just for rides, but for shops and buildings to fit certain themes. I was disappointed with the lack of tutorial, the game does give you a list of controls, but there's no introduction, just points you in the direction of some videos instead which isn't the same as learning for yourself through a guided level I think is the norm, but it didn't take long to get used to the feel of it. As you can imagine my first coaster was a complete disaster, I somehow made it so fast that it caused too much fear for anyone to try it lol. It's been a fun experience I'd recommend especially if theme parks appeal to you, but I'll be much more interested in Planet Zoo when that comes out.

I bought a few games in the last Steam sale simply because of their overwhelmingly positive reviews I couldn't ignore. This turned out to be a great purchase and I'm eager to check out the rest of the series having played it. The box you have in front of you after you've entered The Room, is like a present you want to unwrap, there's all this mystery through the scraps of information you find, as you solve elaborate lock puzzles, it builds this intrigue as to what's inside it, I loved the feeling of going deeper with each chapter. I didn't require a walkthrough, just made good use of the hints when stuck as they always pointed me in the right direction.

I recently replayed this in coop having beaten it solo back in 2014, and it was a completely different experience, so much fun that I've added it to my top 3 this period, upping my rating from 3 stars to 4. I'd forgotten how beautiful it is, the scenery you run past is breathtaking, adds so much to the magical feel of the game with these gorgeous backgrounds. I remember having some difficulty with the final boss and the rising lava which soured the end of it for me, however we played on easy mode throughout which got rid of the time pressure, and was overall a more fun experience, just focusing on the "teamwork" side of it. I never did finish the 2nd game, but it's great to see a 4th announced after the backlash from the 3rd, I'm going to try and get up to date with this series before that release.

Have you ever put a game on hold, then months later wonder why it's taken you so long to finish it? I had this happen in Vermintide having taken what was meant to be a short break from it by mistakenly trying to beat the bonus levels as soon as they were unlocked early on, when I think they're meant to be tackled after the main story, and wondering why it suddenly got so hard. Returning and doing the story missions properly felt much better, and I wish I'd never taken the break, I had a much better time. I haven't played anything like it, I had to fight my exploration urges and stick with the group, despite all these side paths leading elsewhere to areas I never ended up seeing, as walking off leads to death, I learnt the hard way several times early on... it's not meant to be a game you find chests for loot (they're often empty), instead you need to get from one place to another, killing rats, and completing the level's objectives.

Once I became more familiar with it, I felt like the level quality improved as well, it seemed like mostly corridors during the majority of the early game, which later opened up to more interesting environments. I loved the personality of your party, there's Dragon Age like banter they have with each other, and it's cool seeing them all return for the sequel. There's a decent variety of playstyles available with bows, guns and magic making up your ranged, and swords, axes and daggers being melee, the fighting is usually very chaotic but there's some strategy in there with different vermin types to look out for, keeping formation and covering all flanks when you're being surrounded, and making use of items you pick up like bombs and bandages to keep everyone alive. I never expected to enjoy this as much as I did, I didn't think the genre would be for me but this is why I'm always open to recommendations. I absolutely loved the inn hub that acts as your base of operations too, the cosy feel of it was a wonderful contrast to the dark and unwelcoming levels you find yourself in. I'm looking forward to the next one which sounds more of the same but better polished, my one nitpick would be the item reward system which I hope has been improved.

During a big backlog clearout a couple of months ago I removed most hidden object games as they've always felt like perfect time wasters, which is fine if I didn't have 300 other unplayed games I'd prefer to play instead! I did keep Adam Wolfe though as it had this reputation of being than just a simple HoG. There's a good mix of puzzles in there, covered all the standard ones without any repetition and it was always clear what was required, meaning I could avoid hints and get all the achievements in one playthrough, it actually has the honour of being my 100th completed game. The story is decent and I liked the supernatural and mystery side to it, the voice acting varied in quality but overall it was fine. Some of the backgrounds look fantastic, others less so. And there seemed to be this strange mix of artistic style for cutscenes which was off-putting having no consistency there. During a few action sequences it made me laugh unintentionally at some of the animations and dialogue, but there were some good moments too with urgency that felt real. Overall I'd recommend it.

For what it is, Defender's Quest is exactly what you'd want. I've played a few in this genre from my days playing flash games on websites like Kongregate years ago, and they're just so easy to play and provide decent satisfaction as you wipe out waves by getting your strategies right. You use heroes as the towers that are recruited as you progress, and there's a good mix of classes to play with, it's fun finding placement combinations that work well together. There's a lot of replayability too, although I think it's required, as you get rewards like unique items for going for higher difficulties on earlier levels later on when you've got the heroes for the challenge. The reason I say required is you need to level up your party in order to stand a chance in the later levels, it felt like I was forced to grind for experience points to upgrade my skills to finish the story, it may have been because I was getting my strategies wrong but they felt impossible without upgrading everyone. It's a solid tower defence game.

First impressions were really good, I didn't know what to expect... so right from the start with the incredibly over the top action, with you hopping from missile to missile fired at you in slow motion to slice up a helicopter with your sword, I was blown away, it was so entertaining. However the reason it's down here and not higher up is because as the game went on and the enemies got tougher I started to find the combat less enjoyable, this is totally down to me being bad at it, but compared with the few other hack and slash games I've played like Darksiders and DmC Devil May Cry, I never felt comfortable playing it, which is a huge issue with the combat being such a big focus, and this was on normal difficulty. Parrying is absolutely key, getting hit is always costly, and thankfully most enemy types it's fairly easy to do so, but others, like the gorillas in particular I had trouble with, or just battles that felt so long and intense with no checkpoints, I'd lose my rhythm as I got overwhelmed and get frustrated as a result, watching a loop of my character getting thrown around.

Naturally the boss fights were incredible, and despite some problems eventually I learnt how to counter them, which you'd expect and made the victories satisfying. The final boss however was an absolute nightmare, being right at the end I'd ran out of the health boosts you can find that automatically refill your health when it drops to zero, these proved essential throughout the game with enemy attacks dealing so much damage, so running out and having to survive long enough to beat the toughest fight yet with no help for the initial stages before they eventually appeared, this really wasn't fun and was a huge relief when I finally managed to do it. Stealth was an option occasionally during missions to silently take out enemies without causing a big fight, or just sneaking past them, so I took that whenever I could, I'm looking forward to playing MGS:V for a normal Metal Gear experience where that's more encouraged.