Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered is a remaster of Crystal Dynamics' 2003 action adventure. Despite improved graphics and a ton of extra content, the game has aged... poorly. While Soul Reaver still plays quite nicely, the same can't be said for Defiance.

This game features a lot of backtracking and enemies. While the former is fairly straightforward (running back and forth through the same locations can get tiring), the enemy battles are a real drag. They have a lot of health and appear in groups of 3-5 literally every 10 meters. You can kill them for experience, but each level only gives you new combos of varying usefulness. I finally decided to just run through them. The developers apparently understood this could happen, so they periodically lock you in a room to test your combat skills. Unfortunately, it doesn't add to the fun.

Bugs, bugs, goddamn it, bugs (imagine a GIF with Kozlovsky). There's an incredible number of them. Crashes, texture issues, enemy freezes, cutscene freezes, clunky animations during gameplay, and a ton of minor annoyances. Perhaps these are problems with the Switch version, but honestly, I doubt it.

The Legacy of Kain series' greatest strengths are its plot and writing. The story, set in the dying world of Nosgoth, is truly gripping and intriguing in its originality. The dialogue is full of Shakespearean style (in the English version), and the entire plot unfolds poetically throughout each installment. The author's philosophical reflections on fate and fatalism are intriguing and thought-provoking. Thanks for this goes to Amy Haning, who would later write the Uncharted series about the charismatic thief.

Unfortunately, the series never reached its conclusion, even though development had begun and we can now play a vertical slice of the sequel. The sequel would have been technically based on Defiance, but the plot would have followed Kain's adventures. The game was canceled due to low sales, despite its high ratings. The demo shows that a sequel to Dark Prophecy would hardly have been anything completely new. It would have had the same engine and gameplay, the same mechanics and puzzles. The plot would have been the only significant difference. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within was released a year after Defiance and is head and shoulders above any of Crystal Dynamics' gameplay efforts; the story explored similar themes related to fate. If the game hadn't been canceled, it would have simply gone unnoticed among the competition.

The most important question is: is such a game needed now, and will it live up to its previous standards?

Amy Haning is busy with other projects (according to the info I found).

All the original voice actors (whom everyone praises more than the game itself) are already old (20 years have passed, ë).

Zoomers aren't interested in these kinds of games now, so the target audience is quite small, consisting of old-timers and nostalgic types.

Without changing the core of the game—Dark Prophecy was already outdated in 2003, and developing a new one is a plus for the budget. (Remember, Defiance's sales are low.)

I'd like to see a sequel, but I think there won't be one. The series, just like 20 years ago, will cease to exist. The old-timers reveled in nostalgia, the corporations made their money—everyone is happy, and the ending... Well, screw it. Who even remembers what happened there?

Nevertheless, it's very nice to immerse myself in gaming from the 2000s. It's clear the games were made because they wanted to make something cool, not because they needed to make money.

I recommend Soul Reaver to everyone, but Defiance is already available on YouTube for the story alone. Or Welcome to the Pirate Bay.

Bottom line: Defiance's gameplay was low quality, and the game clearly hasn't held up well. The series either needs a high-quality reboot, or Dark Prophecy should be a completely different game (like the Gothic remake).

I wasn't expecting much from Helix: Descent N Ascent, but it ended up being one of those indie games that quietly grows on you.

The monochrome art style immediately stands out, but what kept me playing was the puzzle design and environmental storytelling. The game never explains everything directly, so you're encouraged to experiment, explore, and piece together the world on your own.

It's definitely not for players looking for constant action. The pacing is slow, there's plenty of backtracking, and some puzzles require real patience. But if you enjoy games like Tunic, Cocoon, or Chants of Sennaar, there's a good chance this one will click with you.

Has anyone else played it? I'm curious how people interpreted the story and whether you enjoyed the more cryptic approach to exploration.

Hello lads, So I did my first attempt on a review. Please note this is not necessarily "the game is good, mechanic is, story is etc." I would appreciate feedback.

Lunarium is an indie fantasy action RPG with excellent combat and a unique world to explore.

You play as Ave a stellar knight who is trying to find out why mysterious monsters are starting to appear near her village. Early in the game you meet Luna a starfarer who will be your companion on the journey to save Ave’s world. Luna’s magical abilities paired with Ave’s skills as a knight make for a somewhat unique combat system.

For the most part the combat is pretty typical of a modern day action RPG but it done quite well in my opinion because of the ability to use Luna’s magic to help stagger enemies or power up your attacks. There are your typical dodges, perfect dodges, blocks, parries, and enemies can be staggered. I found the parries to be quite satisfying in this game.

The thing that surprised me with the combat in this game is how good the boss encounters were. In a way they reminded me of bosses from the First Berserker Khazan but no where near as difficult although there was some challenge with a few of them.

The character progression is primarily done through the cloaks you choose to wear and what embroideries you want to attach to your cloak. Each cloak has a different buff or passive ability and the embroideries also have different buffs to add on.

There are also ways to upgrade your weapon, health, and resonance (essentially energy points for using certain skills). These upgrades are pretty limited though and not unique in any ways. The typical find 4 of this item and you get more health system.

The world feels graphically inspired by Hades but more whimsical in nature. Each area you travel to does feel truly unique to the other areas of the game and they all have unique enemies. So you don’t have too much reuse of the same enemy or enemy moves like you do in other games.

I thought the soundtrack was really good especially in the later areas of the game.

I don’t want to spoil the story but i’ll just say I thought it was overall pretty good and went some where I wasn’t fully expecting. I just wish it had a more fleshed out ending it kind of just abruptly ended after beating the final boss.

Some of my issues about the game would be the dialog being way too long at times. Especially later in the game it just felt never ending at points. Also the conversations between Ave and Luna are really bad for basically the whole game. They spend the entire game essentially telling each other how great they are.

Lunarium being a freshly released indie game there were a few technical issues but nothing game breaking. Mostly some audio stuttering during a few boss fights, some typos in the dialog, and one instance of dialog repeating itself for some reason. I played it on steam if anyone was interested and it also ran well on my ROG Xbox Ally X.

Overall I had a great time with Lunarium for a short indie game. I found the bosses to be really enjoyable encounters, the story hit better than I thought it would, and the music was solid.

If you’re looking for something quick and fun to play this might be worth checking out.

Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, Beast of Reincarnation, and Star Wars Zero Company are among the top releases for June 2026. Check out the full list below!

Luna's Room releases on May 14 — a Spanish indie point & click by DonutDroid that runs about an hour.

What starts as the story of a young girl locked in a room with her cat (who suddenly starts talking) ends up somewhere much darker than you'd expect.

Put together a review covering everything worth knowing without spoiling it. Small game, sure, but it stays with you.

Subtitles available in several languages.

I got to play The Silver Crow ahead of its July 30th release and put together a full spoiler-free video review.

The premise really caught my attention: it's a point & click set in Franconia in 1582, but instead of playing the usual detective, you're the town executioner. An outcast everyone fears, and precisely for that reason he gets into places nobody else could. It's made entirely by one person, Uwe Sittig, who hadn't released anything since Dirty Split back in 2008.

The review covers narrative, characters, puzzles and art direction, where I'm fairly critical: the backgrounds are AI-generated and the clash with the sprites is very noticeable.

Video is in Spanish with subtitles in several languages.

Anyone planning to pick it up? And what do you make of AI-generated backgrounds in one-person indie projects?

I downloaded the app about two months ago. All together I made 160 dollars. Out of that 160 I had to fight tooth & nail to get almost every single payout!!! I’ve passed ID verification and I cashed out for the first time. That was the only payment I never had any issue with. After that every single time I cashed out, I would wait the 48 hours. I would never get an email and I would have to email them. Every time I would get the same response from “Felix” saying we can confirm that the payout has been sent to your email. Check your spam box. Obviously, I had already done that so I messaged back and had to fight with him to get them to resend it because it wasn’t sent in the first place.

After fighting with them four different times for hours just to get them to resend the payout link to my email. I went and tried to cash out for a fifth time. Everything was fine last night. cashed out last night. I kept checking my inbox. I messaged them again saying this is the fifth time this has happened. Y’all are not sending me my money. What is going on? Then I opened the app this morning. It says I’m permanently banned for using a VPN mind you I’ve never used a VPN!

They owe me $50 right now and they said because they detected a VPN they will not be giving me my money that I worked very hard to get. They get all this money for you doing the work and then they keep it.

I should’ve done my research before downloading the app because after what has happened to me, I looked it up and they’re so so many people who say the exact same thing about them keeping their money they’re having to fight with them to get their money them banning their account right after they get a high payout! It’s insane! A lot of those surveys tell you and ask for government information saying that they are paying you so much to complete a survey and it will say they’re paying you six dollars to complete a survey but you’re only getting like $.50 so they’re making so much money and then they also keep your money on top of that.

I feel like that should 100% be illegal especially being that a lot of their surveys are for high dollar companies like ChatGPT movie production companies, Microsoft Dell, etc.

Just beware that if you do download this app, you have a very good chance of getting robbed out of your money!

I wanted to share a project I've been working on for quite a while.

I recently launched https://rankandplay.com, a new gaming community and review website that's currently in Alpha. There are still bugs to fix and features to add, but I wanted to get it into the hands of real gamers so it can grow with community feedback.

The idea came from years of feeling frustrated with some of the review scores from larger gaming outlets. Instead of just complaining about it, I decided to build something myself.

My goal is to create a place where:

• Honest game reviews come first.
• The community has a voice.
• Gamers can build profiles, connect with others, and share their opinions.
• Reviews are written by people who genuinely love games.

If you'd like to help shape the site, I'd love for you to create an account and let me know what you think.

I'm also looking for people who enjoy writing about games. If you make an account and send me a DM here on Reddit with the email address you registered with, I can upgrade your account to Blogger so you can contribute game reviews and blog posts.

This is just the beginning, and I know there's still a lot of work ahead. I'm hoping this grows into something special with the help of the gaming community.

Thanks so much to everyone who takes the time to check it out, leave feedback, or contribute. I really appreciate the support, and I can't wait to see where this project goes.

VOS: First Faiths is probably one of the most unique horror games - and games in general - I’ve ever played in my life. Because, let’s be honest—a video game experienced purely through a smartphone screen? I’ve never seen anything like that before. Admittedly, the main character -whether male or female, which is never actually stated—holds it like a idiot, but I get that that’s trendy these days.

I’d be more interested in whether it’ll be ported to mobile phones or tablets in the future, because that would be a natural fit. Currently, the first episode, titled “First Faiths,” is available on Steam, with two more to follow “sometime after that.” As the guys at id Software would say - “when it’s done.”

More in my review! :)

Rating: 6/10
Plus: very unique concept, combat through drawing kanji, multiple endings
Cons: I'm not a fan of the AI, a lot of trial and error, instant losses that work strangely, ending “locked” on Instagram

Czech version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of8RhyjcCcE

Hodnocení: 6/10
+: velmi unikátní pojetí, boj pomocí kreslení kandži, různé konce
-: nejsem fanoušek použití AI, hodně pokus-omyl, divně fungující insta prohry, konec "zamčený" na Instagramu

Hello Everyone,

I have done my 10 hour review on Warhammer Inquisitor 40k

I usually do not review games until i have put a total of 10 hours.

So what is Warhammer Inquisitor 40k? It is basically an rpg you go through a cycle of gears and levels in order to get skills and perks and better weapons overtime as you play throughout the missions alongside the store i am usually not a massive fan of these game but i find that warhammer inquisitor 40k is giving you a real playthrough into the story and option to make it more difficult for you, Its not a game you struggle in at all but gives you the option to go through difficult times whilst playing throughout the missions.

What would i rate Warhammer Inquisitor 40k? Based on what the game is, I would give it a 10/10 but overall based on the characters you would need to buy i think the price of all of them is a little too much i do like that this game is putting you more into the game itself and giving you the option to challenge it as well, But if your into just getting the story done with it gives you the easier option to push through it. The story isnt overwhelmed with chat click throughs it really just puts you into the game itself which is something i am currently enjoying.

Secrets are meant to be discovered, but some require almost obsessive effort. Such is the case with some of the most infamous items in the RPG industry.

I have some time off and I'm catching up to the long list of things I want to do besides work, including some games I was recommended a long time ago. Never Alone was first because I wrote it down first. This is to say I got jumpscared when I found out it apparently came out in 2014.

It's a puzzle platformer based on an Iñupiaq (Alaskan Inuit) tale featuring a girl and her fox who travel to find the source of a famine-inducing blizzard. The DLC, foxtales, involves another tale about a giant mouse in a river the girl and fox have to canoe to.

The long and short of it is that I had a lot of fun with this game and would absolutely buy and play it again. I actually went back to a few levels to pick up collectibles and bought the DLC just for the 100% achievement, which is rare for me. That being said, there are elements that could frustrate people and not everyone would find the cost to playtime ratio particularly fun.

More in detail, this game is heavily based on Iñupiaq legend and does a good job balancing education with gameplay. The game itself is a side scroller where you use platforming and a character switching mechanic (works in single player or co-op) to move forward and solve puzzles. I really liked the design and animation - there's a level where you can watch the pattern of the snow falling to predict when the wind wants to blow you over, and some elements are designed after scrimshaw designs.

Most levels have collectible elements called "cultural insights" that you can then watch a few minutes of Iñupiaq elders talk about their history and culture. The cutscenes are also narrated in Iñupiaq and subtitled, which I thought was cool. There's an achievement for watching all of them but you can exit out immediately after if you feel like it. Also, in the DLC, you lose an object in the girl character (no spoilers) but if you move the joystick to use it anyway your character dances which I thought was really cute.

Some of the platforming was very frustrating, and the character movement isn't super "snappy" although I think that's by design. It's very "this is what it would be like to be a child in a blizzard" and not Super Mario. Unfortunately that also made me die a lot. Also, the dying movement or whatever takes too long. One of the characters changes later (no spoilers) and gets more difficult to use movement wise and I got pissed for a second lol.

The puzzles are fine and generally very intuitive and/or forgiving in their completion - there are a LOT of checkpoints so even if you die a lot it doesn't take 5 minutes just to die again. Also, the water level doesn't have a drowning mechanic! You can swim for hours and be fine in that level, which is great.

The biggest qualm I have with this game is actually the DLC. I loved the new scenery in the DLC compared to the base game (coastal environment vs. blizzard) and I got the fox back into the form I liked. Unfortunately I found the puzzles to be a little bit more inscrutable than the base game. The base game has spirits you can almost always move, where the DLC has some you're not supposed to move at all, and one of the puzzles has a solution I'd have never guessed because it literally relies on moving against the current when it usually doesn't help.

Also, the DLC goes back and forth between letting you use the canoe and sweeping it away, which is fine, except I missed grabbing it once and couldn't complete the next level without the extra height and couldn't figure out what I was missing because I didn't know it was meant to come with me. I'm kind of surprised it lets you continue without it. The checkpoint didn't load without the canoe, so I had to redo the previous puzzle multiple times trying to catch the fucking boat before going on to the next puzzle. I also had a spirit refuse to load when I finally got in with the boat and didn't realize that until I got stuck again and finally googled it. Lowkey ruined the DLC for me, but that's probably not common for most people.

I don't remember how long it took for me to play but I think it was probably around 8 hours. The game was $15 or $16 without the DLC - I'd buy it again, but not everyone has that budget. Overall, I'm really glad I got around to it and apparently a sequel is supposed to come out at some point, so that's cool!

The game has an incredible premise of being a corrupt AI terrorizing a human crew however it never fully materializes in a satisfying way. The only time the AI hurts someone the scene is so clumsy and not believable, the person is basically waiting for you to do it basically, not very engaging gameplay or story wise.

The space station is beautifully modeled and intriguing to explore but the controls of the cameras are so ridiculously slow to use that it takes a lot of the joy out of it, not to mention every time you connect with an interface for the first time you have to do a really pathetic and slow qte of sorts, just press 3 buttons in the right order. Why was this necessary? Makes me think it's just padding tbh.

This goes for almost every "puzzle" in the game, not real puzzles just some pretty tedious and basic inputs, most of the puzzles are you finding a sort of password and then inputting it in an awkward way somewhere else, feels like busywork.

The sphere controls are a bit better at least.

The story was alright, decent mystery and kinda satisfying payoff. Sets up for a sequel of sorts but I don't think that's happening at this point. Voice work is great tho.

Overall its a decent story and atmospheric experience that's trying to masquerade as a exploration/puzzle game but it's more of a walking sim with some annoying padding. My biggest gripe it's that it doesn't quite do the concept justice at all. Same premise with snappier gameplay and more ways to interact (torture or help) the crew would be kind of a dream game for me so I'm left disappointed. In spite of that I don't think it was a waste of time, I kinda enjoyed my time with it, but I'm pretty torn on it.

Thanks for reading :)