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Reviews
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut (2014)
This is what a modern turn-based RPG should look like
Before we begin: This game is not a simple DLC! It was marketed that way, yes, but this is a whole new campaign which is quite a bit longer (and better, if I may add) than the original Shadowrun:Returns. And furthermore: Before playing this I knew absolutely nothing about the Shadowrun universe except for the content of its predecessor. Having brought that out of the way, let's begin, shall we?
I want to start with saying that I normally value good gameplay over story, especially if its text-based story, but this game... this game, man... Right from the start I fell in love with the world and the characters. They drew me in and did not let go until the very end. The gameplay is also quite good, actually. Which is something you maybe wouldn't think of such a story-heavy RPG. Not as good as the obvious comparison, XCOM, but it gets the job done quite nicely.
I don't want to take away too much, so here is just a word of advice if you plan on playing this game: Take your time, explore every inch of this gorgeous world and let yourself get enamored with this gorgeous piece of software. And what I mean by that is: In most reviews they talked about how this game is around 12 hours long. In my first playthrough, attempting to explore everything possible, it took me 35 hours. And I still had to go through a second playthrough to get to see all there is. The level of detail and optional content in this game is just breathtaking.
I, again, highly encourage anyone who has any interested in RPGs to pick up this gem. It will be well worth your time!
Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven (2002)
An absolute classic of the video games industry
Sure, it lacks the graphics you expect of a modern game, but for being 15 (!) years old, it still looks very acceptable. But you don't buy this game because of its graphics. It has, for me at least, the perfect mix of story and gameplay. Every single mission of the 20 total is completely unique and every single one of them is important to the overall story-arc. Speaking of plot: It's obviously no Shakespeare, but it gets the job done and can even be pretty gripping, especially towards the end.
There are only three things this game lacks, in my opinion: The first is replayability... which hasn't stopped me, however, from just finishing my 8th playthrough. The second one: Adjustable difficulty. It is one of the hardest games I ever played. Nothing you can compare to generation CoD where hiding behind cover and waiting for health to regenerate is a viable tactic. If you get hit here, your only hope is finding one of the very scarcely distributed health kits. And lastly, something the game isn't really at fault of: Availability. Since it got pulled from the steam store a while ago, it got quite difficult (or costly, to put it in other words) to get a copy.
Nevertheless I can recommend this game to anyone, who can get their hands on it and feels up to the challenge of tackling this classic of the video game industry.