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heretic is a dark fantasy first-person shooter\h
video game released in December 1994 it was\h\h

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developed by Raven software and published by ID\h
software through GT interactive let's be honest\h\h

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heretic was the game we all wanted at the time we\h
all needed it we've been playing around with doom\h\h

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for over a year by this point and we wanted a\h
foray into the world of medieval into a world\h\h

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of magic and the world of Mystery Doom scratched\h
our sci-fi itch now it was time to scratch our\h\h

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Dungeons and Dragons itch of course at this point\h
it oftware had moved on with bigger fish to fry so\h\h

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development duties were granted to Raven software\h
who honestly did a standup job the basic premise\h\h

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is the same as Doom fight enemies collect keys\h
and navigate your way through levels in order\h\h

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to defeat the serpent Rider known as the sparrow\h
well maybe that last bit isn't the same as Doom\h\h

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but you get the idea the game did improve Pro on\h
Doom in a number of ways including the addition of\h\h

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an inventory making it more RPG like if heretic\h
was a good game then it sequel hexin was even\h\h

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better building upon heretic by adding further\h
RPG elements such as the ability to choose your\h\h

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character class the game varied quite a lot\h
depending on who you chose with the fighter\h\h

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focusing on melee combat giving the game a more\h
ancient and forboding feel hexen also introduced\h\h

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a hub concept to which you return after solving\h
puzzles and unlocking areas elsewhere its sequel\h\h

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hexen 2 would expand upon the RPG element by\h
offering four classes and incorporating more\h\h

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fish puzzles to untangle so our DND needs were\h
sated for a while but let's be honest that need\h\h

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to explore these mystical lands never went away\h
it's always been there that warming feeling of\h\h

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watching Lord of the Rings that Pang of excitement\h
when seeing a group of Warhammer figures that need\h\h

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to feel encapsulated by the world of hexen once\h
again we've got titles like wizdom project warlock\h\h

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apocryph hands of necromancy and Amit evil but\h
one that has piqued my interest quite a bit is

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Graven mainly because of what it promises\h
now Graven is developed by slipgate Iron\h\h

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Works and published by 3D Realms and full crumb\h
publishing who have sponsored this video and like\h\h

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all sponsorships of this nature I told them\h
I'd share exactly what my views were and they\h\h

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were completely on board with that so here we go\h
released on the 23rd of Jan 2024 early reviews\h\h

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are in it's not looking great maybe I shouldn't\h
have agreed to this but let's go back to those\h\h

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promises solve puzzles and scour law to uncover\h
the motives of foul heretical sects behind the\h\h

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plagues and Seasons undermining by the land\h
spread fires charge Machinery reveal hidden\h\h

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paths and freeze rivers to walk across discover\h
new weapons and upgrade them at blacksmiths and\h\h

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Alchemists to customize your capability expand\h
your horizons by returning to old stomping\h\h

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grounds with new abilities and seeing how far down\h
the chasms go and what powers they hide fantasy\h\h

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blood and gore dismemberment and ludicrous\h
jibs you know it sounds like they've nailed\h\h

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the elements that made hexen fun exciting and\h
enchanting with quick nod to rise of the Triads\h\h

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as well the story is pretty straightforward we\h
are a faithful priest of the orthogonal order\h\h

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exiled unto death for a crime in defense of\h
another and now we're living again in a small

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boat okay we have to go forth as a Pious priest\h
alleviating suffering uncovering deceptions and\h\h

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smashing the eldrich perversions encroaching\h
upon reality itself basically this land has\h\h

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fallen victim to a terrible plague that sees\h
the inhabitants going wild and violent and\h\h

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for us well that's a problem at times\h
the only light in this accursed swamp\h\h

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of the funeral piles the first thing you\h
notice though is the atmosphere this game\h\h

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is absolutely drenched in it just taking in\h
the surroundings on this forced boat ride is\h\h

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glorious the droplets of water the distorted\h
air from the PES the smog the shadows in the\h\h

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distance you can almost taste this world once\h
you get off your boat the level of detail\h\h

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just gets better the glow from those little\h
houses for plague filled screams coming from

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inside the birds that fly over head you feel\h
immersed from the go and honestly that's the\h\h

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nostalgic hit I want it's the same feeling\h
I'd get when playing heretic for the first\h\h

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time feeling like this world actually exists\h
did you know it's great the only difference is\h\h

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that immersion back then was done by our awe and\h
Wonder and Imagination these days we need these\h\h

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details to draw Us in it's expected so a retro\h
Boomer shooter like this works best where it\h\h

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creates that same sense of awe and Nostalgia\h
and it can do that by serving up how we felt\h\h

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and what we imagined using details like this\h
our first task seems to be smashing boxes in\h\h

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taking whatever falls out Mana health potions it's\h
all very exciting and again a throwback to games\h\h

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like hexen where you do the same thing our next\h
task seems to be talking to Residents and reading\h\h

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notices to see what to do apparently this guard\h
wants us to take care of some body piles in the\h\h

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sewers before going into the main town I mean it\h
seems reasonable given we're an exiled priest the\h\h

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seers are where you get your first taste of plague\h
violence and honestly it's a little distressing be\h\h

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these guys are not messing about they want to\h
ruin your day and so swinging our staff truly\h\h

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and directly is a must it's quite satisfying\h
to be honest our first puzzle is finding the\h\h

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handle to put on this door so we can grab some\h
barrels fire some Flames at them using the magic\h\h

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book we found in the sewer and clear these bodies\h
clearing body piles is important as well because\h\h

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they act as spawn points for enemies you know\h
like those little bases you'd get in Gauntlet\h\h

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now we're allowed to enter the main town and\h
talk to a tax collector who has another task\h\h

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for us right light some lighthouses yep no problem\h
more box mashing more wandering more wandering you\h\h

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quickly realize that you're actually doing more\h
wandering than you like the level design here can\h\h

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be confusing and sometimes you just don't know\h
where to go it took me about an hour to find the\h\h

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lighthouses and then light the lighthouses that's\h
without being distracted by the the librarian who\h\h

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also has a task for you in the library which\h
you presume is the book fi building behind her\h\h

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but which turns out not to be that at all this\h
is actually the library which you get to a lot\h\h

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later and I guess that makes sense this looks a\h
lot more like a library but you know it's still\h\h

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confusing in either case it still all looks very\h
pretty so I guess that's kind of okay I guess the\h\h

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initial problem is you don't really know what\h
you're looking for you might be looking for a\h\h

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tiny switch or little Corridor you've missed you\h
just don't know so you don't know how long to\h\h

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spend in each environment what I would say is that\h
it feels like the game wanted to be more than the\h\h

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developers delivered it feels like the RPG and\h
exploratory elements were intended to be a lot\h\h

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more there are big areas that really don't yield\h
very much other than the odd note which doesn't\h\h

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really serve a purpose other than to shower\h
you with information the result is you end up\h\h

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searching these areas thinking you're progressing\h
and really you're just wasting your time it takes\h\h

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about 3 hours to really understand how this\h
game works and what doesn't work to get your\h\h

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head inside the developers and designers heads\h
for example once you light the lighthouses you\h\h

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need to go back and tell the taxman which isn't\h
immediately obvious it's also not immediately\h\h

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obvious where the hell he is because vesky\h
Rascal has ridiculously moved so find him\h\h

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talk to him and then only then move the next area\h
open up but once you've done those first 3 hours\h\h

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that's also the exact time at which the game\h
gets interesting you see once you realize that\h\h

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this town area is just a central Hub just like in\h
hexen and you're gradually unlocking other parts\h\h

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of the town and those other parts are interesting\h
places and often pretty darn beautiful as well you\h\h

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just want to unlock more you want to see what\h
Graven has in store sometimes I wander into a\h\h

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new place and just take in the Ambiance and and\h
I don't mean to sound like a pretentious [\h__\h]\h\h

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but the mix of sound and light effects in this\h
game are truly something to behold there are\h\h

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often times I'd walk up to something like a\h
bubbling stove and just take it in for a few

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minutes yeah I'm starting to question my Insanity

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too but then I still get excited about seeing\h
translucent water in games so maybe I'm not\h\h

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the best gauge of this stuff but you don't just\h
start understanding the game at this point it\h\h

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also becomes more of a gameplay experience\h
at this point and that's mainly because it\h\h

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gets pretty hectic and it gets hectic while\h
you're still avoiding Arrow traps solving\h\h

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puzzles and working out exactly where to go\h
but this isn't a bullet hell kind of hectic\h\h

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it's interesting and at times it's unsettling\h
look at these guys they absolutely scared the\h\h

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crap out of me when they appeared that rapid\h
deter mined movement not only catches you off\h\h

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guard but it's unnerving these skeletons come at\h
you with a persistence that I admire plus I love\h\h

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skeleton enemies but when you encounter them\h
you'll have a flant which basically hurls rock\h\h

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fragments at them and it's honestly a pretty\h
satisfying experience especially when compared\h\h

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to the cuff bolt you get earlier on which is a\h
bit crap talking of satisfying once you level\h\h

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up your staff a bit smashing the absolute\h
crap out of characters so a literally fly\h\h

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through the air and smash into a wall is also\h
very great and these Dragon guys well they're\h\h

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an absolute pain in the ass to be honest\h
spilling this fire likee acid down on you\h\h

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that spreads quicker than a leaking nappy is\h
both horrific and annoying just like a leaking\h\h

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nappy thankfully they're quite easy to take\h
out but God damn I've met less annoying Morris

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dancers this game is like from Dust Till\h
Dawn it rapidly goes from a sedate and\h\h

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sometimes frustrating exploratory\h
experience to an all-encompassing\h\h

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and quite exciting experience you\h
have to keep on your toes and you\h\h

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have to work out things at the same time\h
and honestly that's quite an addictive

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combination alongside this entire experience you\h
also have your infantry this can be expanded upon\h\h

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by visiting the town Alchemist or blacksmith who\h
can offer upgrades like these explosive alternate\h\h

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firing rocks which are great but the most\h
important things to have really seem to be health\h\h

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potions that you can neck on demand and some\h
kind of armor without armor your life depletes\h\h

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pretty damn quickly you know once you get into\h
it this game is good it has its flaws but it's a\h\h

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good game and it does remind me a lot of old style\h
medieval games like hexen and heretic it's got the\h\h

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same elements and the same kind of atmosphere but\h
I do have gripes and one of those is sometimes you\h\h

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still feel lost even after getting into the game\h
and if you're impatient that's a problem '90s me\h\h

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would have loved the opportunity to explore and\h
look in every nook and Atmospheric cranny 20204\h\h

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me just wants to crack the hell on plus Early\h
Access versions literally had a map here the\h\h

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map is gone according to the publisher that's\h
because Acts 2 and three are more complicated\h\h

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and it was too much to implement the map so they\h
took it out entirely that's a shame because a map\h\h

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would be mighty handy there are other gripes\h
I have such as burning wood for some doors\h\h

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you need to set fire to the wood that protect\h
them but then there are doors like this which\h\h

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burn but don't actually fall away why do that it's\h
just confusing should I just stand here and wait\h\h

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or just try to find another entrance navigating\h
ladders can be a pain in be ass too I mean just\h\h

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get down what are you doing you know you'll find\h
lots of little gripes which don't make it a bad\h\h

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game they're just more questionable you'll ask\h
yourself why is that the case I've seen other\h\h

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people complain about save points but honestly\h
I didn't have a problem with that if you quit\h\h

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then you start back at the Town Square which is\h
fine because you still have all your progress all\h\h

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your ammo all your things and and even Treasures\h
you've smashed open from boxes remain in place if\h\h

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you die in the game then you'll go back to your\h
nearest respawn point which also works you know\h\h

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fine but then the developers do already seem to\h
be taking care of a lot of reported problems I\h\h

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had heard the game had an awful stamina system\h
in Early Access builds which will never not piss\h\h

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me off please please stop implementing them the\h
fact that you can get out of breath after running\h\h

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for 10 seconds is ridiculous imagine being able\h
to fight enemies to Absolute crap carry tons of\h\h

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weapons and jump massive gaps but yet you can\h
only run for 10 seconds I can literally run\h\h

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for more than 10 seconds I can run for a minute\h
at least what the hell is it with these cardio\h\h

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sock blowers that have to sit down on a bench\h
after a few Paces but thankfully like I said\h\h

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the developers do seem to be listening to feedback\h
and the stamina system has been changed to make it\h\h

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a little more forgiving and I didn't really have\h
a problem with it you know maybe my gripes are\h\h

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a bit harsh because honestly though Graven is\h
addictive it's weirdly addictive I find myself\h\h

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getting frustrated trying to find something but\h
then an hour later I want to play it again and\h\h

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then I can often work out where to go or what\h
to do I want to keep immersing myself in this\h\h

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atmosphere drenched fantasy world and maybe that's\h
just because I often prefer style over substance\h\h

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to be honest maybe a game having the ability\h
to pull me into a world is more important than\h\h

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it having the perfect combination of rewarding\h
gameplay and progression maybe but then maybe\h\h

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it's the same for you that's the thing with games\h
like this you'll either love it or you'll be upset\h\h

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trying to find your way around the bottom line\h
is I myself am enjoying Graven quite a lot out\h\h

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of the many games I've played of this type this\h
game actually gives me that nostalgic feeling of\h\h

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exploration that I used to love and I'm kind\h
of getting back into it it feels like a game\h\h

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of old and I can't really ask for more than that\h
oh apart from the fact that it also does have an\h\h

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online co-op mode which is absolutely my favorite\h
way to play games online it's just like playing\h\h

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juk Nukem 3D Co-op which was always the best way\h
to play it oh and it does have a 3dfx graphics\h\h

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mode which kind of makes the visuals feel like you\h
know you have a 3dfx card so that's a nice element\h\h

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too if you want to play this on Steam deck then\h
it seems to work absolutely fine there's nothing\h\h

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I could find that I couldn't do whil playing on\h
PC so you know there it is that's Graven it's a\h\h

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pretty good game and I'm not just saying that\h
because I've been paid to if you're a fan of\h\h

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hexen or heretic then really you should take\h
a look and see if it's your cup of tea because\h\h

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honestly this might be the one you're looking\h
for until next time I've been Nostalgia ner to

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Blue