Recent reviews by catnip

Impressive mystery-deduction game. While writing can be quite corny and there are some technical issues the story in intriguing and gameplay loop interesting enough to keep playing. Definitely recommended.

A true masterpiece with unforgettable story. I've completed it on PS4, PS5, PC and still can't get over how brilliant this game is.

Fantastic game. Greatly improves on the previous title covering pretty much every gripe I had with it.

There's only one thing to complain about: Alloy has a great voice but she should really shut up and let me figure out the way and puzzles myself.

The base game was amazing already but Phantom Liberty is something else, a true masterpiece. 10/10 must-play.

A true masterpiece. Absolutely the best game I'e played this year and one of the best games ever.

Good detective game, bad Poirot game.

Putting aside the new looks of Poirot (which I cannot accept as an extreme traditionalist in this matter), the game does a bad job of portraying the famous detective. His voice, his manners, his appearance, his convictions - all gone. To me it's a completely different person having the same name.

With this out of the way I can focus on the game itself and in general it's surprisingly good. I really enjoyed my playthrough and I'm hoping to see a sequel.

The game is full of contradictions. It was a very interesting move to try to reimagine the well known history in modern times, but at the same time a lot of actions and events felt stuck in the past (who writes notes and letters nowadays?). And I couldn't help but cringe when Poirot was talking about vapes.

The game is low budget, so don't expect AAA audio-visuals. Graphics looked a bit outdated but stylised and once I got used to it I started to enjoy it. The character design was top notch, especially Princess Dragomiroff. Unfortunately some locations (Venice, Bank) felt straight up from 1990s adventure games with static, empty world. Invisible walls (e.g. Armstrong's driveway) didn't help.

Music is really good and perfectly fits the atmosphere of Orient Express. Sadly most voices are subpar. Either they don't fit the characters (e.g. Poirot) or the accents are imitated to a comical level (e.g Hotaru) and which you can hear are almost always fake. In a game where dialogues play such a big role it's a serious detriment. The only exception is Joanna Locke, who does a great job playing an American detective.

The main part of the game which is investigating is done brilliantly. You need to actually read what you find, pay attention to small details, often take screenshots or take notes in addition to what the game saves for you. This in combination with fact gatherings from conversations made me easily overlook shortcomings mentioned above. The mind map, while it could be a bit clearer and easier to navigate, is much better than in the other recent Poirot games. The amount and variety of puzzles and minigames make it a worthwhile addition to the game (unlike in the "young Poirot" series). It helps to keep track of the progress and helps with the next steps in a logical manner just like a real detective.

Mechanically some design decisions are weird to say the least. The fog/smoke transition between screens which adds nothing but a delay and quickly becomes really annoying. Poirot not able to run is certainly the "Poirot doesn't run" trope from the books, however with the chosen Poirot design it makes no sense at all. Having to walk the train back and forth from one end to another chapter after chapter quickly loses it charm. All characters seem to be talking very, very slow and dialogues can't be skipped.

The changes and additions to the story known from the book were done well. Being able to set out of the train and see the places, events, meet the characters which lead to the main story was a well needed change of pace. Joanna Locke is an interesting character and I hope she will be back for another story. In all honesty I wouldn't mind her as a lead in a new game while the "modern Poirot" is phased out.

All in all a game worth playing if you like detective games and don't mind some budgetary and/or gameplay shortcomings.

Yet another great Rusty Lake game. Fans of the series will feel right at home. I really liked how the game was kind of divided into two parts: the main story and all the extra stuff after.

I'm rating this game positive since I'm a fanboy of Poirot and I genuinely had fun playing it, however there are quite a few issues and "mixed" rating would probably be deserved.

In general TLC plays very similarly to the previous title with some changes here and there. In my review of the first game I said it had potential and it was a good foundation to build upon. Sadly after finishing the sequel I don't see any meaningful progress. I feel like the developers listened to the feedback and tried to open the game a little and make it less linear. Unfortunately it was done without too much consideration and resulted in spreading the game too much, having a few illogical conversations or investigations due to me doing things in different order than assumed.

Due to the "scope" of the game we also don't get to know the characters that well meaning I didn't really get attached to them. The game feels wider, but shallower with less content and generally shorter.

To not be entirely negative I like the addition of analyses and matching to conversations and the main theme is really nice, it reminds me theme of the TV show. Voice acting was also really good.

As a side note: at the moment the game is riddled with technical bugs. Nothing game breaking, especially with chapter select, but I think QA wasn't as thorough as in the previous game.

Brilliant game. Basically cyberpunk Diablo clone. Amazing audio-visuals, smooth gameplay, very fun combat.

Cons: Quite buggy in coop, my partner would often complain about hud disappearing or get disconnected. Also often changes in camera angle would significantly reduce combat maneuverability and aiming.

Homeworld from a perspective of a single fighter ship. Great visuals, brilliant music, super fun combat, especially once you unlock and upgrade your rites. The story is a bit basic and underdeveloped, there's certainly a room for improvement. The beginning is a bit slow, but it gets better and better with time with proper big battles later in the game.

My main negative point is very often dialogues are interrupted by random events and once that happens it's gone and never comes back. It was infuriating and made me quit playing a few times. I can't remember the last time I played a game without a basic dialogue checkpoints so it could be continued.