Graham Smith

Rock Paper Shotgun

Graham Smith·Dec 16, 2020

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Cyberpunk 2077 is huge, sprawling, complex, and deeply flawed. It’s at its best as a fairly straightforward singleplayer action game, with likable characters and thrilling capers in a fascinatingly detailed open world that looks better than any game before it. It’s at its worst if you want it to be an RPG, an approach-as-you-please Deus Ex successor, or a polished piece of software. I enjoyed my time with it a lot, and I even want more of it, though I’m going to spend years complaining about its flaws. I’ll enjoy the complaining, too.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Graham Smith·Nov 4, 2020

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Our Teardown review explains why this game about smashing into buildings and stealing their contents is a marvel.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Graham Smith·Oct 16, 2020

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A roguelike in which every pixel is simulated, and a rare partnering of technical witchery and compelling game design. Read our Noita review for more.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Graham Smith·Sep 29, 2020

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Spelunky 2 rejuvenates the classic roguelike platformer with a huge number of smart, elegant additions.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Graham Smith·Jul 28, 2020

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The result, for me, was anxiety. A low background hum of “did I miss something”, combined with the high notes of being unable to find the next new area. It was enough to shade my entire experience with Carrion, turning a pleasant enough Metroidvania with a one-of-a-kind protagonist into something I felt like I was struggling to escape from.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Graham Smith·Jun 1, 2020

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It’s the underlying systems which let everything else down, and which felt incoherent to me. Some games only become fun once you work out what they expect from you, and I spent most of my time with Wildfire wondering if I was playing it wrong. Maybe I was, but if there was a fun way to play it, I never found it.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Graham Smith·Mar 11, 2020

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As it is, it’s the best way to play Valve’s original design if you haven’t done so before, and it’s a brilliant way to retread those old ventilation shafts, if you have.