F1 Manager 24 is free on EPIC this week...nobody has posted about it and there's only a couple of days left to collect it. Word is the series has been canned so this is the best it's gonna get and you can pick it up for free.

I got bored today so I made a short review on it...

Splinter Cell: Conviction

A solid cover shooter. You can stealth much of it. Guards will move towards you and you can usually circle around them and silently take out one or two at the back. This is satisfying. Or you can massacre everyone from on high, behind walls, confuse them with remote mines and so on. Ultimately there are moments when it places you in a pitched battle in order to progress, so you won't be able to stealth your way through all of it. It's a bit short, but what it does, it does well. Graphics are excellent and there are suitable checkpoints to stop you having to redo too much of levels.

It was enjoyable, but much more console like than the original two Splinter Cells and the story does a decent job of concealing a twist, but it isn't one you'll care too much about.

All in all a solid game that you'll enjoy if only for a brief time.

Out of curiosity, I've sent this image to ChatGPT and it gave me a very specific answer, in detail. If it's correct I'll be impressed.

(I will not post here as a guess because I want to keep the game AI free, do you part too!)

I've had my guess and will await a reply, but your post prompted my curiosity so I asked Gemini and got quite a specific reply as well. I've messaged you to see if your answer was similar.

Finished Mass Effect 2 and all the DLC. what a tremendous game. Such an improvement on the first one, which I felt retained some of KOTORs worst 'run to one side of the map, then the other' elements. This is the realisation of a fully immersive action RPG. I even enjoyed the mini games of bypassing doors, hacking vaults and scanning planets. Most of the action is third person cover shooter in a traditional team of three. Sometimes your allies AI could be better in combat, but you are never really short of ammo and the skill tree doesn't have too much variety to make errors in spending command points. The result is that you are always pretty over powered for combat which is thoroughly enjoyable.

The set piece finale is a genuinely epic ride without having any new ideas for the boss combat, but the world and story telling is so immersive throughout that you're just embedded in the action. It's considerably more tightly written and put together than the first ME and about half the DLC add to that world building in a quality manner. I heartily recommend it if you have not yet played this, but surely I'm one of the last to this party as Bioware gather pace on the production of Mass Effect 5.

Gears of War

With the tease of another Half-Life game coming out, I decided to go back and finish up some HL and HL2 mods starting with Half-Life: ESCAPE 2.0. Really enjoyed this one. It's basically just non stop action from beginning to end where the action feels like it has an urgency and story purpose to it all. There's also a couple of big touches of immersion with emergency broadcasts from outside Black Mesa that really give you an idea of how awful the situation is outside. I don't have much to say about it, but I thought it was REALLY good for what it was trying to do.



Also a couple weeks ago I finished Return to Castle Wolfenstein via RealRTCW and had a very good time with this game as well. I'm surprised I hadn't gotten to it until now but man, this was a blast. Very immersive, great selection of weapons with gunplay that feels awesome, incredibly smart AI who are very reactive to the things you do, at least feels like it has a sense of humor compared to later Wolfenstein games plus there's a few missions that are something else than constant shooting including some stealth missions that are ACTUALLY great for an Early 2000's FPS. My problems have to do with some of the age in it's design such as hitscan enemies and parts of the mod that include a HUB that doesn't need to be there plus some of the worst voice acting I've ever heard in my entire life that is jarring from the actual game cutscenes from the original title.

I'd recommend Escape 2.0 over RTCW mainly because the game is just more immersive, but that's always been a thing with Half-Life in general. But these are both games that are definitely worth playing.

Superb game RTCW. Good to see people still picking it up. Top notch old gen shooter, still well worth a playthrough

Some sort of Doom game?

After years of hearing just how good this series is, I've finally started Mass Effect. Tonight as I was exploring The Citadel and doing some side quests, I had the good fortune of witnessing this interaction. I'm 99% sure that's a variation on a Winston Churchill zinger, but it hit just right in-game. I loved it.

Yeah great game. I'm just finishing up on the second one which is even better.

Not been keeping up to date so I'll do this in two posts, a couple of days apart. Four games via GOG codes. Share on the Free Keys thread if you don't want them and three epic games free through...Epic.

First up with a GOG game code is Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Following the near death of the franchise with the release of Angel of Darkness, Crystal Dynamic were brought on board to re-launch the series. They did so successfully with Tomb Raider: Legend and followed it up with this release an homage and reworking of the orginal game and ideas in a new design using the 'Legend' engine. Rarely played, but still pulling positive reviews on Steam, you should get about 15 hours of gameplay out of it and is as favourably reviewed here as it is on Metacritic - 77


Overcooked: Gourmet Edition - A co-op food preparation game where you have to work as a team to prepare meals for angry customers before they leave. Essentially this is a team vs clock exercise over a variety of crazy moving kitchens as you progress through the 8 hours of gameplay. It still pulls in plenty of 'Very Good' reviews on Steam and has a low dropout rate on here posting similar review scores to Metacritic - 78. Available until Christmas day.


With humour based somewhere between Saints Row 3 and Brutal Legend, Sir Whoopass: Immortal Death is a dad-joke laden hack and slash that excuses some combat clunkiness by not taking itself too seriously. It scores well on Metacritic - 89 and still pulls in plenty of 'Very Positive' reviews on Steam, but the more discerning players here at HLTB generally view it a little less magnificent, but still worth the 10 hours of gameplay you'll get out of it. Available via GOG redemption code until New Year's Eve.


Released only two months ago, but given away via GOG code comes 'Shogun Showdown'. Like a faster slicker Fights in Tight Spaces, this rogue-like deck builder has a slick, clean and addictive game cycle. It has pulled in rave reviews on Metacritic - 88 and over 4,000 'Overwhelmingly Positive' Steam reviews in just three months, although it has a slightly lesser reputation amongst HLTB reviews. Is it one of the best Rogue-likes of 2024? Available for you to collect for the next two months.


Over to the EPIC Games Store giveaways now and first up why not play as a head crab over five game chapters and more than 300 levels and see what all the fuss was about in this classic super tough platformer from 2010 - Super Meat Boy. It has a suitable high retirement level here scoring a little less than it does on Metacritic - 90, but it is still pulling in 'Very Positive' reviews on Steam. You should get 10 hours of play out of it if you are not a perfectionist...but then if you aren't you're probably not finishing it?


Next up a goliath of a giveaway via EPIC. From legendary games designing god David Braben comes the sequel to the greatest wireframe game of the 80s. A open world space exploration where you can choose to be a miner, a trader, a bounty hunter or a pirate and everything in between. Join the near 3 million purchasers of Elite: Dangerous. Verging on a space sim with a 1:1 representation of the Milky Way it is a VR owners dream. With decent but not spectacular reviews from HLTB owners who yet sink on average 300 hours into play, and a similar Metacritic Score - 80, is it unforgiving or genius? Available to pick up until 25th February.


Lastly also via an EPIC giveaway and again from David Braben who must be feeling the festive spirit; why not step into Jurassic World: Evolution. Nature always finds a way, but until it does you are in charge of the most famous (and dangerous) theme park ever conceived. What will you breed and how will you manage to prevent chaos. Not so well reviewed with a Metacritic Score - 69, but more highly thought of amongst HLTB owners and on Steam reviews, you should get upwards of 30 hours from this monster of a game.

You are the Landlord of large block of flats in a totalitarian state. You must spy on your tenants. How far will you go to serve the state and ensure your own survival or will you bribe the tenants and enrich yourself? Are there any you simply have to save?

Find out who you are in an Orwellian future with Beholder, the free game on EPIC this week. Metacritic Score - 75 with a similar standing on HLTB after 300+ reviews. It should give you about 6-10 hours gameplay, but it's tough.

Not for broadcast

Good to see someone playing that. Superb game - fmv in games comes of age.. I want Jeremy Donaldson to broadcast the news.

Mass Effect 2...

Dishonored: Definitive Edition - via a GOG game code. Account a year old minimum.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light - A bit of a departure form the norm this instalment. Having revived the series with Tomb Raider: Legend, developer Crystal Dynamics took a completely different direction with their fourth game in the series. This is an isometric action puzzler and comes as a surprise for those who think they are getting parkour puzzles and small time shooting in a traditional Tomb Raider way. There's 14 levels of fireballs, swarm shooting, power-up puzzles and platforming and it actually works pretty well. Movement is sometimes janky playing on a PC and no doubt a console as you try to merge a diagonal direction in an isometric game with horizontal and vertical controls. There is no capacity to rotate the screen either. The view position is fixed, meaning you can fall out of view at times in battle - not ideal. These are minor complaints however and there's a good 8 hours or so of fun to be had here. And that's about enough, any more and it would become a grind.

Next stop the first of the 'survivor' series with the rebooted Tomb Raider.

Another bunch of freebies from Amazon Prime Gaming. Share the GOG codes on the free codes thread if you don't want/need them.

Duck Paradox - A precision platformer and arcade style shooter available with a GOG code. Get it and you can be the first to submit a time on HLTB as there are currently no listed playthroughs.


Close to the Sun - A steampunk indie adventure channelling Bioshock. The action takes place on an enormous ocean cruiser 'The Helios' and mostly involves puzzle solving in this atmospheric adventure. It released to middling reviews Metacritic Score - 66, which is reflected by the HLTB community as well, but is a short game and represents an easy win to add to your list. Available via a GOG code.


Dishonored: Definitive Edition - is perhaps the biggest giveaway this week. Continuing the Steampunk theme, take up the role of a supernatural assassin in this highly rated action game with consequential decisions. Whilst it has a solid Metacritic Score - 80, it is more highly prized by the HLTB community . This definitive version also includes all the dlc. Available to keep for ever via a GOG code for free only for the next 31 days so get in quick.


Lastly for this week Snakebird Complete - a devious puzzle game originally released for Nintendo Switch. Despite the cute appearance there are 123 levels of gravity punishing puzzles to solve here. There aren't many reviews on HLTB, but it does have an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' status from near 800 reviews on Steam. This one is delivered to your Epic Games Store.

So, I have finished Necromunda: Hired Gun, and it was pretty fun. It's an FPS game set in the Warhammer 40k universe. Though not in any part of it that I'm used to, it is a bit different than the universe-defining front-line battles with space marines and all. Still, the WH 40k feeling really comes through the architecture and level design. Speaking of level design, it's awesome, the levels are varied, look amazing, and fun to traverse. Traversal is also another fun part, you are incredibly mobile, between your grappling hook, double jumping (and you can jump really high), dashing, and your pretty fast base speed and you can practically fly through some of the maps. And the maps do allow for that, as I mentioned they can be pretty big and allow for some nice verticality. The main point, however, is that shooting is fun, there is a decent selection of guns, and blasting through the game feels really satisfying once you get the hang of things.

Now, one thing worth mentioning is that the game is not a AAA title, and as such not everything is smoothed to perfection. More like nothing is, really. There is a lot of jank in this game, from animations to sound mixing to the weird way your inventory works, and of course the outright bugs and glitches. It took me five minutes to encounter the first of them after starting a new game with a visual bug on the character selection screen. Another five minutes and I managed to fall through the map into the void. Ten more minutes and I managed to open a chest from behind, which resulted in the lid opening into my character, trapping me completely. Thankfully, though, that was the worst I experienced in the game, I didn't encounter glitches after that quite as often, and even when I did, I never lost too much progress. This game also has a story, but uh... the less said about it the better, it's just an excuse to bring you to all kinds of cool places to shoot up.

While I had my doubts about the game in the beginning, once I got into the groove of the gameplay Necromunda: Hired Gun turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience, just... beware the jank.

Nice read. Made me have a look at that. Totally missed it and coming off Space Marine recently, I like the look of it. Stuck it on my wishlist to wait for a sale price. It also led me to Deathwing, remastered which looked good too.

Amazon Prime continue to smash us over the head with freebies, starting only a day after the last lot.

First up you have Marvels: Guardians of the Galaxy only available to claim for the next three weeks via the Epic Store. Metacritic Score - 80


Second is Mafia: Definitive Edition - The classic 2K open world action game remastered with new graphics. Available free with a GOG code. Metacritic Score - 78

Rounding out the huge Halloween themed giveaway on Prime this month are four more free games:

First is Death's Door, Play as a soul collecting crow chasing down a thief who stole one of yours. Some unforgiving combat and 3D platforming can be had in this favourably reviewed game from the ever entertaining Devolver. Delivered to your EPIC Game Store. Metacritic Score - 85


Scorn - A grotesque, unnerving puzzle Horror game that splits reviews. Brilliance or style over substance? You decide with a redeemable GOG code.
Metacritic Score - 70


Coroman - Channelling classic Nintendo pixel art gameplay, this JRPG creature collecting game is available via a GOG code. Metacritic Score - 73


A Plague Tale: Innocence - A stunning story rich adventure and a Steam Game Awards winner 2019. Avoid the Inquisition and the rats as you try to survive in the midst of a Medieval Plague. Delivered via a GOG game code. Metacritic Score - 81

It's Thursday so more free games on Epic Games Store. This week in Halloween theme we have

Witch It - An online pvp, multi-player, hide and seek game based around physics properties. Hunters look for Witches. Fun across the generational divide, but might not have long lasting appeal. Metacritic - 72


Ghostwire: Tokyo. A single player Horror shooter, channelling Anime themes from the developers of 'The evil within'. Can you find and battle all the spirits andfigure out why the population of Tokyo disappeared apart from rendering them would take too long? So accusations of repetitive grind in gameplay from an otherwise visually aesthetic game. Metacritic - 75

Well, I have been jumbling stuff on and off but mainly I've been playing Sable which is jaw droppingly gorgeous. The game looks amazing and is probably one of my favorite games visually from this decade so far. I'm mainly just trying to figure out stuff right now and what quests to do and where to explore next but I'm having a pretty good time. The dialogue is all around excellent and one conversation nearly had me in tears at the beginning of the game. I love it. Plus the Soundtrack by Japanese Breakfast is great, it has one of the best main menu themes I've heard in years. I mentioned on my blog I don't get why everyone was complaining about performance but I'm not beginning to see why. Stutters are not constant but they happen more so than I would like.

I'm also trying to play Sniper Elite 5. I don't know if I mentioned this before but I did play a bit on Game Pass and really wanted to play it after the great first impression it gave me. I'm only REALLY early on and still at the very beginning but so far the story and character development is a million times better than any previous Sniper Elite game and Karl actually has a personality and depth now! Yay! The obsessive handholding this series is known for is still unfortunately in place though, literally in the very first few minutes the game verbally told me pretty much how to play the game without the freedom of choice that I had and basically babysat me through the entire first part of the first level. I seriously don't get why Rebellion is not trusting enough for players to figure out and understand that this series is about freedom and how you play around with how missions are completed, it's become ridiculous.

Nevertheless, I'm very excited to play more of the game. The only thing gameplay wise I don't like is that ADS on Pistols now only showcases a first person view, not the standard third person in previous games. This is excessively distracting and there seems to be no way to turn that off, meaning one time I used a Welrod, wanted to get a headshot up close, completely missed and got my spot compromised because the view I get in first person is extremely shitty so now I have to use the default gun the game gives me because the game completely changed how it works. Maybe there's some obscure way to get third person ADS on Pistols but to me this is extremely disappointing. (I'm Playing on PS5)

I also want to at least start a bigger game soon. I might go back to Yakuza Kiwami 2 and restart that, or I might play Valkyrie Elysium since I really enjoyed the demo for it. I might try Horizon Remastered since it's a $15 Upgrade from the original and I've been meaning to play it, but who knows. I'm just messing with a lot of stuff right now and am mostly learning how to use Unreal Engine 5.

I think a common complaint about Sable was the repetitive nature of tasks which seemed pointless. I have no idea if this is a fair criticism or just one laid on by people who don't like the sort of game it was. So, I 'll be keen to see your review when you finish it.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

What a wonderful game. The third AC game, but the second in the Ezio Auditore series, he's such a well voiced likable character. There were problems with AC1, that were fixed by AC2, but there was still something of the grind about it. This is a marvellous step forward, the movement is more fluid, especially on horseback. Missions are varied, Side quests interesting if you want and the main story line can pass with minimal character upgrading if you don't. If anything the supplies and last chance death mode in combat is a little too forgiving and some elements of the game that take you from one part of the story to another are effectively on rails, but all in this is the best Assassin's Creed of the first three (making my way through the series). Well worth a playthrough if you haven't.

Requiescat in pace.

Becastled?

Yes it is well done. Your turn

Lots more Halloween inspired games from Amazon Prime Gaming being given away free and they aren't finished this month either.

First up is a remastered version of the SEGA Megadrive Classic - Gargoyles Remastered. This is a side scrolling platform beat-em-up that looks prettier but can't escape the dated gameplay and mechanics of the Megadrive era. Added to your library in the Amazon Games launcher (if you have it). Metacritic Score - 58


Morbid: The Seven Acolytes An Isometric action adventure in a Lovecraftian world, delivered to your EPIC store. Metacritic Score - 71


Stasis: Bone Totem. A graphically beautiful point-and-click adventure horror game that serves the genre well, delivered to your EPIC Store. Metacritic Score - 85


The Gunk. A short but visual feast of a 3d Action adventure platformer. Available via a GOG redemption code. Metacritic Score - 70


Pumpkin Jack. Another isometric action platformer also delivered via a GOG code. Metacritic Score - 71


Monster Train. A deck building card battler with Slay the Spire vibes. Free via a GOG Code.Metacritic Score - 86


Grab them now, share the GOG codes on the 'Key Giveaway' Thread and there's five more freebies coming in a week's time on Halloween itself.

Free in EPIC Games Store this week is 'Moving out'. A physics based furniture removal simulator - Metacritic Score - 74

Ok, some clues. It's a generally positively reviewed indie title for the PC released in 2021. An RTS base builder, city management, city defence game.