Cristian Gradinaru

Blog

A different perspective on Metaphor: ReFantazio

Metaphor: ReFantazio is an impressive art-driven game, with one key design issue.

Blog Featured

My games of the year: 2024

I will actually do the opposite of what most articles do, and skip straight my list, and have the storytime afterwards. I will also break them down into a few classes, in order to not make my job too difficult to have to find a specific rank. Must Play This

Review

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Review: This is cinema

Movie tie-in games are almost never anything special, so my initial assessment was to write this one off as well, seeing that I am not even a huge Indiana Jones fan. The three things that made me change my mind are in order of importance the following: the developer, the

Review

The Thaumaturge Review- You didn't know this word even existed

It is a rare occurrence when I need to use google to understand a games title. This is one of those times. 11Bit and Fool's Theory come at us with an interesting concept of wizards that can "feel" other people's personalities and intentions imprinted

Review

Silent Hill 2: Remake Review- A study in blood

If you know anything about the horror genre, the name "Silent Hill" has probably whizzed by your ears. To be completely honest, I am not entirely sure where my familiarity comes from, but Silent Hill feels like a household name in my brain. I've been a

Review

Frostpunk 2 Review- A reimagining I didn't quite desire

I was understandably extremely excited when the release date for the sequel of one of my favorite city building games was closing in. Frostpunk was a breath of fresh air back in 2018 when it released. It was tense, thrilling and did not hold your hand... your mistakes were yours

Review

Aliens: Dark Descent Review- A non-traditional Alien experience

You'd be forgiven for thinking a game titled Alien(s) is going to be a horror experience full of tense moments and light-restricted corridors. You'd also be half-right for thinking that. The game succeeds in conveying the atmosphere of a Xenomorph-infested planet, but without the horror.

Review

The Invincible Review- The power of the cloud

I've started 2024 with the mindset to experience more story-driven games... mostly because I've grown weary of the normal formulas of open world AAA games. I've experienced soaring highs and abyssal lows in my search for those hidden gems that I may have missed,

Review Featured

Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga Review- More isn't necessarily better

Hellblade 2 is more of the same, but it is not a step forward. It feels more like a step to the side.

Review

Indika Review- Short but intriguing

A weirdly engaging trek through Christian Orthodox believe systems, told via a 3rd person story

Review

Deux Ex: Human Revolution Review- Quality does not age

While in between big releases in the 2024 calendar year I decided to re-experience a game I had played as a young buck. The choice I landed on was one of the best Immersive Sim games I have ever played... Eidos Montreal's 2011 classic. If you are not

Review

The Crew: Motorfest Review- A car enthusiasts joyride

The racing genre of video games can be mainly split into two groups: sim racers and arcade racers. These categories divide the fanbase into very distinct sectors. Sim racing enthusiasts rarely dabble in the arcade stuff, and vice versa. It is somehow at the intersection of these two genres that

Review

The Last of Us: Part 2 Review- A kerfuffle in the name of ratings

The history of TLOU: Part 2 is one of conflict- both from a narrative perspective and also from a social point of view. The launch of this game was one of those events that shook the gaming landscape: it was all-out warfare between critic and user consensus, and it is

Review

Nier: Automata Review- The internet's posterchild

Word to the wise This post will be a bit more spoiler-ridden than most others on this site, so if you truly want to see if this game is actually for you, skip the text, and read the "Conclusion" chapter. That section will be kept satisfyingly vague for

Review

The Medium Review: Perspective-shifting horror

I became a fan of Bloober Team after playing their first-person horror game called Observer: System Redux. I rate that game very highly mostly because of the haunting creativity that they were able to put on display, with slight regret over the latter half of the game. That second half

Review

Assassin's Creed: Revelations Review- The Dying Embers

Recently, I've been wanting to close the Ezio chapter of my Assassin's Creed "book" since I've never gotten around to playing this when it came out. My preferred method of administration was the Nintendo Switch, which had both a positive and negative

Review Featured

Alan Wake 2 Review- An indie wolf among AAA sheep

Alan Wake 2 is a very atypical game from more than one perspective. First and foremost, there's the fact that the studio behind this title (Remedy Entertainment) is quite small by modern standards, even though you wouldn't be able to tell by the graphic fidelity of

Review

Elden Ring Review- A convoluted masterpiece

Beautiful and frustrating. A game of extremes. One that can be humbling, amazing, grueling, awe-inspiring... The world FromSoft have created is nothing short of outstanding. The pure creative vision on display is amazing, if occasionally outlandish. The combat is engaging in the open-world segments, and potentially infuriating in the dungeons.

Review

Star Wars Jedi Survivor Review - A spoiled spectacle

Coming hot on the heels of the successful Jedi: Fallen Order, developer Respawn hoped to catch lightning in a bottle once again with the release of the latest iteration of their Souls-like (a closer-to-truth term for this would be Souls-lite) game set in the Star Wars universe. All the premises

Review

Resident Evil 4 Remake Review- Campaign Jurnal

Given my experience of ups and downs with this game and how I nearly quit it, I thought this new format I thought up could fit the bill. Its purpose is to provide a view through how I felt at different moments of the game and the annoyances or things

Review Featured

Horizon: Forbidden West Review

The start of 2022 brought along with it the new installment in the Horizon universe. Developed by the now renowned Guerilla studio, and with a great track record of immersive and technologically impressive titles exclusive to the Playstation ecosystem, Horizon: Forbidden West does follow in the footsteps of its predecessor

Review

The Order: 1886 Review

A beautiful mess My impression of this game is that it's fantastic technically, but unimpressive in most other aspects of its design. Released in 2015 by Ready At Dawn and Sony Santa Monica for the PS4, the overall reception for this effort was lukewarm (both from the critics

Review Featured

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Expansion Review

I was initially of two minds when wanting to check this DLC out: I felt the hype was a bit disproportionate but also felt like more Cyberpunk couldn't hurt... and boy was I wrong about it. This expansion rivals the best CDPR has ever done in scope, detail,

Review

Cyberpunk 2077 Review

A story of redemption ( but neither Red nor Dead) The story of Cyberpunk is one of two halves, at least that's how I see it. The Pre 2.0 era and Post 2.0 one. My feelings about this game have changed greatly after my latest playthrough, and