#i get that the graphics in the old games weren't perfect and the controls in the oldest ones suck to this day

[sekai-no-koi]

i do wish the graphics were better. or maybe just different? if they had to switch to a different style as opposed to point-and-click, i would've liked a 2D visual novel or something. also if they haven't improved on the graphics, the chances of the controls being the same are pretty high, right?

[dizzygradespells]

VIDEOVERSE Accessibility Review

VIDEOVERSE by Kinmoku is a real blast from the past. Anyone who was in the online forum community from the late 90's to the early 2000's will instantly recognize this particular era of the internet. Even those of us who weren't, like myself, can still find a lot of love and nostalgia. The game is filled to the brim with references and doggo cameos! Like many visual novels, the gameplay is simplistic and easy to understand. It tells a story about online communities, both the good and the bad. The main art style looks like old-school internet pages with a simple and clean UI. Not only that, it features some fantastic animated cutscenes for a fake rpg game and animation for online video chat segments! Clearly, this is a game made with love. When it comes to accessibility, VIDEOVERSE hits the three single most important accessible features a game in this genre requires: easy-to-see visuals (high contrast between backgrounds and text), a screen reader, and the ability to change to a dyslexic-friendly font. It also has a full content warning list. The list shows every applicable content warning via broad label, but you can click on each warning to see details. These details do contain spoilers, but it's nice to see that it lets you pick.

That's the key to accessibility: the more options you have, the more accessible it is.

VIDEOVERSE's accessibility doesn't end there. The game offers subtitles for sound effects, separate volume controls (sound, music, and voice), and the ability to type your replies instead of selecting them from a list. It even gives you several different "themes" from the start so that you can pick and choose which visuals are best for you. VIDEOVERSE isn't perfect though. It falls short in a few areas. The biggest issue is with flashing graphics. One of the fake internet ads is a fairly large box that flashes every time it runs. There's no way to turn this off or avoid the ad. It's rng if the ad will pop up. But seeing as there are only a handful of these fake internet ads for the game to choose from, you WILL see it. The desk pause screen also has a subtler flash in the background, but it's large enough that it bothered me. Finally, the ending segment has a full-screen glitch effect that includes flashing. It's a shame I can't turn these off or select altered versions of the effects. Other accessibility features I'd like to see is the ability to make a custom theme from the get go. It doesn't need to be anything in-depth, but the ability to choose which background and text colors work best for the player would be golden. I'd love to see a UI adjuster as well. Though the font is by no means small, some people have smaller screens or struggle to see and require larger fonts. Another place VIDEOVERSE falls short is controls. While the controls are simple and it does have two different options for controls, I'd like to see custom keybinding. This way players can adjust as needed to specialty controllers or simply more comfortable mapping. At the end of the day, I've enjoyed my time with VIDEOVERSE. It's a cute, well-crafted game that clearly had a lot of love put into it. If you're a fan of retro games and visual novels, this one will be a delight. The accessibility options are a great start, though I'd like to see a couple extra features or some currently implemented options in a more in-depth way.

VIDEOVERSE is available on Steam and Itch.io for PC, Mac, and Linux. It currently costs $12.99, €12,79, and £10.99. Thank you, Kinmoku for providing me with a review copy!

[quaddmgd]

I've been playing Tomb Raider I-III Remastered since its release. I managed to beat TR1 + Unfinished business and I'm 1/3 through TR2. It takes me longer than I thought, mostly because of work and exhaustion, but I'm having so much fun. Let's talk about TR1 then!

I've never actually finished a Core Design Tomb Raider before. I really wanted to start from the first one, but no matter the version, MS-DOS, Windows or PS1, the jumping felt delayed to a point of being unplayable for me. Which... was really weird. Normally I enjoy playing older games and not many ever felt 'too old' for me to learn playing them. Remasters felt like my last chance to try and beat them and, well, turns out jumping in original TR1 is dependant on animations - cinematic platformer-style. The new release actually fixed that and it feels very responsive on a keyboard. That's the most important change for me.

TR1 feels so different from the Legend and Survivor trilogies. Compared to newer games, platforming requires an ungodly amount of precision to pull off and feels very rewarding in the process. Instead of being action-oriented it prioritizes being a puzzle-platformer first, while enemy encounters remain sporadic and rather unwelcome due to their jankiness. TR1 ends up being a really atmospheric, quiet and isolating experience, making you feel like you're really the first person to visit these locations in thousands of years - I really appreciate that.

Now, being a 1996 game, TR1 always looked stellar to me and if it weren't for my issues with platforming, I would've probably beaten the original a long time ago. That being said, I really appreciate the art direction this remaster goes for. It's a nice mix between somewhat cartoony models and the original level design allowing for gameplay to remain intact. It's not without issues (some spaces can be too dark, some items are harder to spot and hd textures don't blend that well together compared to the original pixel art - some of that was apparently fixed in a patch, but it'd have to go back and check), but its lighting system makes up for any flaws. To be honest lighting does all the heavy lifting in creating atmosphere and the way environment reflects colored light on Lara reminds me of RT global illumination solutions used in modern games, but retains the feeling of playing a forgotten early 2000s gem with an HD texture pack installed. I love it.

The photo mode is a nice addition too. I managed to snap a few pics and the ability to switch between old and new graphics helped with making side-by-side comparisons.

There are a few meaningful flaws, unfortunately. FMV cutscenes didn't get a proper upscale, but instead just a blurry filtering, making them look worse than the original ones. Some achievements appear to be broken as well, which can be a bummer as some of them are really hard to pull off. Switching to OG graphics caps frame rate to 30fps with a funky framepacing, NG+ is not NG+ but a hard mode, and all-new modern controls have already become infamous for limiting Lara's movement compared to tank controls and making the camera bug out in tight spaces. I encountered more issues, but most of them got fixed in a 1.01 patch, so overall I'm pleased with the state of the game.

Now there are communication and update accessibility issues I'm planning to touch on, but since they don't seem to affect the experience of actually playing the remasters, I'm going to do so in a separate post.

Playing through TR2, I noticed the bigger focus on action, which I heard will be also a thing in TR3, but aside from that it seems to be a great sequel!

I already made a wishlist of what I want to see in future patches (including a working wardrobe and outfits from other TR games hehe), but I have fun playing it and that's the most important thing about this collection. It was obviously made with love and I hope that updates will make it a perfect visual remaster in the future.

[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: Resident Evil 7

I know I'm about 3 years late to the party, but I was hesitant to trust that Capcom could get back in touch with their Survival Horror roots.

My very regrettable mistake...

So: Resident Evil for PS1/Saturn was great!

Cinematic Storytelling: The game could be completed in under 2 hours (if you knew what you were doing). So that means you're not spending days to get through a feature-film level story (unlike SOME games). It makes the plot and characters a more crucial part of the experience.

Puzzles: Sure, the puzzles are little wacky: like clicking buttons under pictures in chronological order or you get attacked by well-trained zombie birds. But it made the game more than moving from point-a-to-b. It's about exploring and understanding your environment. Speaking of which...

The Environment: The Mansion (and it's other areas) was a character unto itself. It had secrets and a past. And since the game wasn't designed as a series of sequential levels, you really get to know the environment.

Zombies: Zombies were not the mainstream success they are now. Hell, Vampires were just barely getting attention through Interview the Vampire. I became obsessed with zombies and bought all 3 major films in existence.

Such a different time...

Anyway, the point, RE1 was great, RE2 was better, RE: Code Veronica was pretty good, and RE4 is stupid.

Well...not stupid, but it completely changed Resident Evil, and not for the better. While folks loved RE4, it really was the start of a new franchise, which RE5 and RE6 followed. And that's fine--except they sacrificed what Resident Evil was to make way for this new product.

Succinct, mystery-driven storytelling was replaced with nonsensical twist and turns that did little to grow the overall world or its characters. They just stretched contrived cliffhangers across overlong campaigns of mass murder.

Puzzles, as best i can remember, were sacrificed for challenge rooms filled with enemies while the player looked for the exit switch.

The environment, as great as the graphics were, simply became battle zones meant to offer shallow context to the bloodbath gameplay. RE4 did have a strong aesthetic, but you don't get to know each room and hall like you do in the classics. Nothing but well-dressed strangers to high-five as you pass by.

And what happened to the Zombies. I mean, they still had zombies--but they weren't zombies. Whatever. Resident Evil has always had a diverse set of monsters. They didn't have to sacrifice zombies...

All this to say, Resident Evil 7 is awesome!

The opening was a little cheesy with poorly synced dialog and a helicopter shot of Louisiana swampland I'm sure they stole from True Detective stock footage.

But once I took over the character, I was hooked. The game looks great on my phone and TV via Stadia. I enjoyed walking through the woods and house, looking at every little detail the artists meticulously placed.

I've seen most of a playthrough on Youtube (though I was distracted). So I kind of knew what to expect. It's way more intense when you play. Having dialog and cutscenes playout without leaving the first person camera is great at making you feel "there". So all that goes down and I end up in the house for dinner.

Watching this bit on YouTube, I was a little turned off by the obvious Chainsaw Massacre connections: but original RE was heavily influenced by horror films, why not this? (I also have a better understanding of this family cause I know some things.)

Once I gained control, roaming around the kitchen/dining/living room area was great. I was seeing hints to future puzzles, scavenging for supplies, and finding notes giving clues to events that were happening. Very Resident Evil.

I struggled a bit trying to get away from Jack. Since they gave me a hiding spot, I assumed stealth was gonna be a major component. Nope. Not really. Eventually I get to the save room (A SAVE ROOM!!) and then on to the garage fight.

I wasted all my ammo when I probably just needed to grab the car keys. Lesson learned. Jack trying to run me over was kind of crazy, and maybe a little laughable since I was just swiping at him with a pocket knife for five minutes.

After that, more of the house opens up. It's insanely huge and illogically designed. While it creates some great hallways, and helps the designers break the home up into controllable sections: there's no house build like this: wtf...

Going into the basement reminded me of RE2. The molded, I think, are people the family has kidnapped and infected with something. Some change and some don't. Know they've turned into very lethal zombie-esque creatures. Since they're infected people stumbling about, I'm gonna say they've rekindled the zombie. Kinda.

To fight these guys, I've resorted to my pocket knife. Saves ammo. I basically dance around them like I did guards in Thief, wacking where I can. Eventually I chop off their hands, often without taking damage. But the crab guy in the incinerator required a shotgun blast.

One of the fights, he cut off my leg and I was crawling around. I thought it was a scripted scene (I mean, I lost my arm already). Nope. You're supposed to pick it up and reattach it. Ah-well.

Jack wandering around the new area was frustrating. It seemed I could never lose him, so wasted a lot of health and ammo stunning him. His boss fight was pretty rough. I nearly gave up. It took some time getting used to the chainsaw. Right as I was about to switch to easy, I had a near perfect run and defeated him. My wife laughed at the way I was squirming on the couch trying to get a hit in without being cut in half!

Made it to the old house with the bugs. This went way faster. It reminded me of the guard house from RE1, which also had giant wasps. Without Jack or molded zombies, it was actually really easy to explore the house and solve its secrets. Once the old lady showed up, I thought I could lure her away from the exit room. She didn't buy it, so I just ran past her.

When it came to her boss fight, it reminded me a lot of Laughing Octopus in Metal Gear Solid. Which that boss was practically a horror movie in of itself. I thought the flame thrower was gonna be the way to go, but a guide suggested focusing on her belly. And I kept running out of fuel, then being harassed by flies. So I opted for the shotgun and had a successful run.

About a year and a half ago, I played through the original RE as Chris. I remember there was a point about a third of the way through that I had about seven rounds of pistol ammo, and a single green herb--yet several zombies stood in my way. I wasn't sure I was going to make it. But then, I unlocked the shotgun and the game became a breeze. Suddenly I had too much ammo, and too many healing items!

That has kind of happened here. I'm doing well on healing items (though I've used up my shotgun). Still, I feel confident sprinting around and doing quick searches of spaces. I don't even fight the molded much anymore.

Getting into Zoe's trailer was interesting, but you can interact with her bra. I thought that was kind of pervy. I'm guessing Zoe is a part of the family? I imagine she's some how the source.

I think it's great they keep putting the grandma in different places without explanation. The way she looks at you sometimes is creepy...

I'm not a huge fan of the VHS flashbacks. Often, they have you play areas you've either already played or will play. While it's inspired some game ideas of my own, it just feels like a cheap gimmick to get more playtime.

Anyway, this really does feel like a reboot of Resident Evil. It's capturing the strong environmental storytelling of the originals, and making it more about the horror, less about the action. I'm actually getting into the plot and mystery. I look forward to getting my answers.