Recent reviews by The Plaguedoctor

Overall, I really like this game. I think that, especially for an early access game that is built by like 2-5 people, it’s quite impressive. The mechanics are varied enough to bring hours of enjoyment and simple enough to learn quickly. Quasimorph encourages tactical, thought-out gameplay unlike some of the faster paced roguelikes. The out-of-mission mechanics are all pretty solid as well, I like the idea of helping power scale mega corporations based on your actions and how that genuinely affects the in-game difficulty of missions. Overall, it’s a great roguelike with a ton of potential.
Understandably, I have some issues with the game as well. They can probably be categorized into two main categories: Difficulty and Issues/Questionable Mechanics
Honestly, I enjoy a difficult game, and I think that 70% of my playtime consists of well-scaled and challenging missions that aren’t boring but aren’t easy. However, there are two issues I draw with the difficulty in this game.
The first: The difficulty reader on a mission in game is just one of three components you have to analyze when choosing a mission. By that, I mean the skulls only represent the general number of enemies and mission length, but not the challenge those enemies represent. Both a faction’s power and the “power concentration” metric are used to gauge how challenging enemies you will be on a certain mission. So you could take on a single skull mission and get one shot because you’re going up against the strongest faction in the game. Once you learn this lesson, its fine, but it is weird that difficulty is presented on the mission screen and not actually all-encompassing of the difficulty you’ll be facing.
The second: Difficulty spikes. Like I said, a lot of the difficulty is well-smoothed out along a curve once you learn how to gauge it using the above information. You can, more or less, know what to expect going into a mission. Except for when you can’t. Which starts to happen a lot more about 15 hours into a game or so. Stunlocks are a pretty real issue for me at the moment, enemies with stun weapons that, if they land a single shot on you, will result in you being stunlocked to death with no hope of recovery. I know the current meta (at least at the time of posting) is to build your dodge so that never happens, but I don’t think that encourages players to try new strategies like heavier armor or melee builds. I think this is, at the moment, my biggest issue with Quasimorph at the moment and the reason I can’t really continue in my game.
These are just some of the issues I’ve encountered that may be actual bugs or may just be questionable development decisions. Shouldn’t be enough to keep someone from playing, but generally quite informative nonetheless.
1. Navigation Beacon – I click it and it makes a noise, then nothing happens. It is supposed to generate a new random mission but it rarely, if at all, manages to do that. I think this is a known bug but worth noting its not an upgrade worth pursuing.
2. Trade Ship – This one really sucks, unfortunately. The idea is that you load all the goods you want to get rid of on the ship, then send it to a location to trade away for other goods. It’s the lack of control and explanation that I struggle with here. It will not only trade away any potential debt a faction owes you, I found out the hard way losing ~3K debt with AnCom, but brings back random items not sold at the best price in a given system? I don’t know why it wouldn’t choose the best possible price but regardless, it makes the entire mechanic close to unusable for me unless you really have a lot of useless stuff you’re trying to get rid of. Even then, you may lose valuable debt a faction has accumulated with you.
3. UI/UX – I think this is an easy one, but there is no categorical sorting, filtering, etc.. of your inventory on the ship. It makes re-equipping clones after their death a pain. I know you technically can allocate resources to separate tabs, but not the best way considering you’re constantly making/acquiring new items.
Overall, those are some of the big ones I’ve found so far, but generally speaking its still worth playing around them since none of these mechanics are critical.
Overall, it’s a great game made by a passionate group of developers evidently. I would highly recommend the game for its $20 price tag and really look forward to fixes/updates to come. The most recent major one, 0.80, that came in October of 2024 was massive and brought a lot of much needed mechanics and content to the game. I have full faith the developers can get this game release-ready in no time. Just a few small issues I’d like to see addressed in the future. Can’t wait to see the next update!

Not a lot to say aside from the fact this is a masterful example of how to remake a game. Obviously, Gunner Wright is awesome as Issac Clarke. He really deserves this role and delivers in an outstanding fashion.

Overall, gameplay changes are great, smooth, and enjoyable. I have a 3080 so no stutter issues on my end, but I could see this chugging on a middle of the road PC. I got it on sale, and I have no regrets. Worth every penny despite having played the original quite a bit. It delivers just enough of a differing experience to feel like a new game almost entirely.

Honestly, I love this app. It has a healthy amount of fantasy and sci-fi props and generally offers great functionality for a DnD session (or any other TTRPG you may want to run using this service). The main problem lies in the wording of my previous sentence, notice I refer to this as a service and not a game. This, unfortunately, is a live-service application versus something you can run locally. This means it is subject to not running when their servers are down. I find this to be phenomenally frustrating when you block time to session prep or, God forbid, the servers are down when you're trying to run your session.

I love what TaleSpire offers, its tie-in with HeroForge is great, but man is it a massive waste of money because the live-service style disables a lot of functionality when you most need it. I unfortunately cannot in good conscience recommend a product that is live-service, that is subject to being down on occasions where you most need it and paid for it to operate, when it absolutely has no need to be. If this was a game stuffed with a live-service community with real-time connections being required at all times, I'd be more understanding, but unfortunately this doesn't need to be live-service and is entirely discredited by that operating model.

Sorry to the developers that worked hard on this app, it really has a lot of potential, but I won't use something consistently that I can't count on consistently.

Honestly most of the "not recommended" reviews are understandable yet contingent on release issues like server failures and bugs. I've encountered 1 game breaking bug in the ~50ish missions I've played in so I'm pretty content saying, from my personal experience, this game is pretty smooth running at launch.

Also, its an absolute blast. This feels like the game they wanted Helldivers 1 to be but finally got the resources/time to make. I cannot endorse how entertaining this game is. I'd say if you are a fan of Deep Rock Galactic or something of the like, this game is for you. Similar structure but different enough game play to feel very unique. Also, strategems (AKA supports like airstrikes, weapons, turrets, etc.. for those new to the series) are AMAZING in this game. Its the main draw of the original for me and they just took it and ramped it up to 11. Great job to the developers, you can feel the love they put into this one.

Midnight Fight Express is a game I received on Humble Bundle this month with a moderate to low expectation of having any fun with it. Humble Bundle games can be big hits or misses but this one had a solid 91% positive reviews on Steam so I decided to give it a whirl. After about eight hours (a good bit of that was idle time in the main menu so realistically 2-4 hours I’d say) I finished the game and unlocked the entire progression tree.

I can say that for free this game was 100% worth my time and I can see myself getting another couple of hours out of it now that I can go back and try to “S” rank levels with all the skills unlocked. Seeing the $20 price tag on Steam makes me hesitate slightly but given the fact that this game was created by a single developer, Jacob Dzwinel, I would toss my concerns aside to just encourage you to give the man his well-earned money. As per most of my reviews, I’m just going to talk about some of the stuff that stuck out to me versus the standard array of game mechanics reviewers tend to speak to.

Not a very creative first category but a necessary one to discuss when talking about Midnight Fight Express . This is the real bread and butter of the game as it will encompass ~95% of your time while playing. I can wholeheartedly endorse the finely tuned, well thought-out mechanics this game props itself up on. At first, the game felt a bit sluggish to me (I was initially ignoring the well-given advice and tried on mouse and keyboard) and after switching to controller I found that was 100% a personal problem. As you unlock the basic dodge (via tutorial), parry, heavy attack, and combos the game starts to really shine. All of these unlocks take approximately 15 minutes to come about so the game doesn’t waste too much time before getting you its most important tools.

The fighting is great. It is a well-crafted, intricate gameplay loop that clearly had been thought out and thoroughly tested by the developer. The hit feel heavy, the rage mode feels solid, and the finishers/parries make you feel like you are the main character which is exactly what I was looking for. Its fun, the animations are all great, and I am happy to report that this part of the game knocked it out of the park. Just, don’t be me, play it on controller from the get-go.

I was somewhat surprised to learn that this game incorporated firearms, but I figured they would be rather rare from what the tutorial made of them and that, considering this was a fighting game, I wouldn’t see much of them. I was quite wrong about that, and I think this is one of the two areas that Midnight Fight Express starts to slip a bit in. Firearms feel pretty good but they miss the mark for me when using them. First off, large crowds of enemies wielding firearms is rather annoying to deal with and can screw up a pretty fun flow the game has going for it until you get the ranged rope disarm later in the game (however this does not come until level 30-35 or so, so its only good on replay to be honest). There is a weird glitch(?) that occurs when you shoot and enemy in quick succession where the “lock-on” you had disappears for a split second and causes that second/third shot to miss. This, especially when firing into a crowd of enemies, is frustrating and had me avoiding firearms for most of my playthrough. If this was intentionally added to make firearms less OP, I guess I can see the argument. I just think that guns in this game, at the volume that they appear, messed up the flow of the game for me a bit.

My biggest gripe with Midnight Fight Express is the inclusion of the “alternative mechanic” levels. Out of the game’s 40 missions, I think only 4 (maybe 5?) of these levels are anything besides the core gameplay fighting loop. However, I never enjoyed these missions. They’re the equivalent of a mid-2000’s mandatory turret section developers seemed to love, and those just never hit their intended mark for me. In particular, the Scorpion Queen fight was just infuriating and poorly paced. One bad level obviously doesn’t come close to ruining this very pleasant experience for me, but it’s evident that this level didn’t receive the love that many other better areas of the game did. For me, many of these parts weren’t difficult, its just that I found them as a slog I had to get through to get back to the gameplay. Overall, really doesn’t ruin the experience, just wouldn’t recommend adding them into some sort of sequel (and I certainly will skip them on my replay).

Awesome game, evidently a labor of love from developer Jacob Dwiznel. $20 is a bit steep but honestly if you even remotely enjoy fighting games, give the man his money, its well-earned. I look forward to any future work that this developer is planning on releasing and really have enjoyed my time with Midnight Fight Express .

This game is as addicting as Cracktorio, without being a supply chain/automation game (for the most part) ,which is an absolutely monumental achievement.

♥♥♥♥ all your triple A remasters. This is how its done.
WARNING: This review contains unmarked spoilers (since HL1 has been out for just under 24 years), so proceed at your own risk.

--- Graphics ---
I’ve always struggled to determine the order/categories I should review when it comes to remasters. Graphics are the primary thing that remasters seek to achieve and then sometimes (if the developers are savvy) will remaster some of the staler elements of the original game, so I’ll start there. In the case of Black Mesa it really is the graphical overhauls that blew my mind. I’ll leave the gameplay tweaks for another section and just dedicate the entire next paragraph to raving about how ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awesome this game looks.

Saying this game pushes the limits of the source engine is a gross understatement. It takes the source engine, proceeds to shatter it, rebuild it with impossibly large dimensions and stuff Black Mesa into it. I don’t know how they pulled it off, frankly, but damn does this game look great. A lot of people have complained that, since it took almost four years to complete the Xen levels, it was released dated. I would disagree with that statement as there are many graphical elements that time really doesn’t wear on. The lighting, for example, is fantastic. The Xen levels especially. The screenshots for the game also don’t do it justice. It is the beauty of the environment and being able to explore it is when Black Mesa’s graphics come together. Overall, game’s gorgeous, I’d recommend the full priced $20 for this aspect of the remaster alone. But that isn’t all that the Crowbar Collective brought to the table with Black Mesa…

--- Sound Design / Music ---
This game sounds great. The sound design was expertly pieced together to enable us to relive those moments the 1998 crowd must’ve had when they first played the original Half Life. Everything sounds crisp, high quality, and immersive. The way the environments come together with their new graphical overhauls as well as this precise sound design is stellar. Some of the set pieces, such as when the Marines swoop in to ambush you in the lobby of Questionable Ethics and the first time you see Xen are amazing. You really are enveloped in the specific emotion that Crowbar Collective wanted you to feel in that scenario. It is expertly executed and makes the game a joy to play and replay.

I will also quickly give a shoutout to the Crowbar Collective’s music composer/audio lead Joel Nielsen. I get a slight Halo vibe from the first moments on Xen because of the strong vocals his soundtrack makes use of. Its beautiful, powerful, and maybe even a little melancholic (possibly representing the hidden struggles of the enslaved races living there). Overall, expertly done job with the music.

--- Xen ---
God. I hate Xen in the original Half Life. I won’t be the first person you’ve heard making that statement and I probably won’t be the last. However, I feel like I need to present the gradient between the original Xen levels and… what Crowbar Collective has delivered us. I’ve mentioned the amazing sound design/music that helps highlight the awesome atmosphere that has been built for us, but I’ll say it again: this ♥♥♥♥ rocks.

I don’t have anything else to say here besides expressing my unending love for the new Xen levels. My only disagreeable point of this review is that I actually quite enjoy the Interloper level. Yeah, I won’t disagree that it overstays its welcome but I love it for what it is. The descent into this dark, disgusting factory filled with Vortigaunt slaves. It is phenomenal environmental storytelling, especially on the conveyor belts transporting pods of prepubescent(?) alien grunts that you can break open and fight. The engagements in Interloper feel good too. I love being able to go ‘all out’ with the Gluon Gun, as the crystals surrounding you provide infinite ammo for it and the Tau Cannon. I like the verticality of the levels and how it makes you question your previous fighting style, even preparing you a little bit for the final boss. Overall, I love all of Xen, even if the Interloper level is a bit long.

NOTE: I will not be incorporating an extras section as this is a remaster and there aren’t enough elements to warrant one. Happy to answer comment/questions though if you felt as if I missed something.

--- Conclusion ---
This game is a beacon for what every other remaster wants to achieve. The fact that this game was completed by a group of fans in their free time is incredible. It is a testament to the fact that indie developers still have it in them to kick the ♥♥♥♥ out of larger companies when it comes to fun factor and presentation. All I have to end with is this: Hats off to Crowbar Collective, I cannot wait to see what comes next from this group of dedicated, talented individuals.

A challenging, yet gradually evolving experience that rapidly found its way to the top of my favorites list.

--- Story ---

Honestly, Frostpunk is amazingly simple in its concept. Survive the cold. However, the way it paints that picture (quite literally, in most cases, with some awesome art direction and design) is done incredibly well. 11 bit studios has a distinct feel to their titles, typically it could be summarized in one word: bleak. Now, that is not a bad thing in this case. In fact, its quite stellar, as the art that is presented at every major decision you must make, every location you discover, and every event that unfolds in front of you, only helps to reinforce that incredible imagery. Why talk so much about art? Well, I didn't want to make an entirely separate category to just talk about how awesome it is. While it may deserve that, there isn't much else to say besides the fact it is stellar. Additionally, the art ties into the story so well and so effectively it feels appropriate to include it here.

Now, onto the actual story. I will avoid spoilers for most of this section, as you can pick up on the quality of the universe 11 bit has created early into your first playthrough. You begin as a leader of a small colony around 'The Generator,' a project created by England to help some refugees escape the coming always-winter apocalypse. Survival is your main goal, but seeing how the world came to be and the events that unfolded around you from this perspective is fascinating. No communication with other colonies from the Americans and French only add to the eerie setting that 11 bit has carved. The only real sin this game commits, in terms of story, is leaving you wanting more.

Time for the quick spoiler section, which contains more of my actual critiques, although minor at most. Tesla City, damn, I wanted to know more. Yeah, we can guess what happened for the most part. We can assume “okay, Tesla went nuts, kicked his people out that wouldn’t work, zapped their colony to death, and then the Americans hunted and killed him.” However I wanted more details to this, as well as Winterhome. What are some specific tales leading to Tesla City’s downfall? How did people feel living their in their last moments? My gripes with Winterhome are answered in the extra scenario included after beating the game, so that is invalid, but I still just wanted some extra detail. All in all, no actual problems arise from the story, it just kept me on the edge of my seat for the next game.

--- Gameplay ---

Another section that is, well deservingly, going to receive praise for its evolutionary style of gameplay. Now, I don’t mean evolutionary in place of revolutionary, and I want to put emphasis on that. What I do want to praise, is how the game fundamentally changes once you believe you have a solid grasp. Unfortunately, this section does require an immense amount of spoilers to elaborate upon. Check out that section below for some details. My spoiler-free summary is that the main campaign gives you a few simple mechanics at first to master, throws them on their head, then does it all over again a few times. A parallel I would draw, in a far-fetched way, would be to Factorio. The game begins amazingly simple, and slowly evolves you into this massive, ridiculous factory on a magnitude of complexity you only would have dreamed of at the start of the game. Frostpunk doesn’t quite do that, however it does manage to deliver that “oh, I’ve just discovered oil, how does this incorporate into my factory?” feeling that Factorio provides upon a new event occurring in Frostpunk.

An important example of this “upside down” gameplay flip would be right after the discovery of Winterhome. The colony Hope Meter is suddenly plummeted, and people feel awful. You are no longer working to maintain the Hope Meter, but grow it. It really helps integrate a unique mechanic into how your colony is feeling. A second example I will cite is the existence of the second Book of Laws tree appearing after Winterhome. It now is more focused on how your society, at its core, operates as opposed to just “hey lets send a bunch of children into the coal mines.” I could list more, like how scouting can reveal the story gradually and the Great Storm coming entirely shifts your priorities (my personal favorite change), but I digress. The slow introduction of new mechanics in new ways, then using them to challenge, and not burden, the player is masterful.

The actual gameplay, the city-building and resource management is quite neat. You can introduce extended shifts, child labor, and many other laws to enhance productivity at the cost of what some people would call “morality” (children working in coal mines was probably the least of my city’s concerns towards the end). Later on you can find ways of getting resources consistently and not just during the workers’ shifts. New requirements aren’t introduced, but are built upon which force you to adapt. Did you find a new group of settlers? Well, we could turn them away, plumet my Hope Meter, or we could take them in and have to feed and house some extra mouths. All of these mechanics come together to form a rather simple experience, yet entertaining. Also, side note, the radial grid that you build on will either drive you up a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ wall or you’ll love it. Personally, it was neat, I like it even thought that last ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ house won’t fit because my infirmary was a single meter too large.

--- Extras ---

If you analyze any of my other reviews, you’ll notice I don’t really have a consistent set of categories that I rate games on. Primarily, this is because a certain aspect of a game makes me feel strongly, and I want to discuss that feeling. In Frostpunk, it was the story, the actual gameplay (which was really fun) and the artwork. Other than that, no other aspect makes me feel strongly but I want to give an honorable mention to:
Worldbuilding: Unlike in my Iron Harvest review, Worldbuilding will be a short section here since I covered a lot of that in the Story section. That being said, its great. It is also heartily expanded upon in the DLC’s (which vary in quality, still worth getting on sale though). The game has a distinctive feel to its art and environment, and that in of itself is an achievement.
Difficulty: Why write a section about difficultly? Well, let me put it this way: Games that pride themselves on their difficulty are sort of like that guy in your friend group that prides himself on being into sports. He knows everything there is to know about sports. Yeah, cool my man. But what else you got going on up in that noggin of yours? Well, probably not a lot. It’s the same thing with videogames and difficulty. A game that prides itself on being “so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hard only 0.00000001% of the population has even dared attempt it” doesn’t actually have a lot beneath the surface. (For the record, I’m actually not referring to the Dark Souls franchise here). However, Frostpunk, does not run into this issue. It is, what I’d call, perfectly challenging (for me, at least, on medium). I managed to beat the main campaign in one try, as well as The Last Autumn DLC, on that difficulty and found myself having to think, but not be punished with a “game over” and one misstep. I appreciate that, as an adult that has limited time to play games and write meaningless Steam reviews on aforementioned games. Difficulty settings are available, and could be required for tweaking if you want to take it easy or satisfy that sweaty inner gamer of yours.


--- Conclusion ---

Game’s neat. Buy it. I got it on sale, but worth it full price. DLC is a hit or miss, worth a separate review. Very much so looking forward to Frostpunk 2 now.

I have a lot to say about this game in the brief time that I owned it, and generally speaking, I did not enjoy it very much. I'll preface this review with stating: I am only reviewing the game on categories I felt strongly about. Graphics (other than art design) aren't something I care too much about (unless they're absolutely ♥♥♥♥, which they aren't in Iron Harvest). A few relatively specific categories will also be included, as I felt strongly about them for Iron Harvest. We'll start from the top:

--- World Building ---
Best part of this game, by far. A universe that throws these super neat looking mechs into a WW1/WW2 setting? Absolutely. And they look great. A lot of the pictures shown at the beginning of the campaign, the ones with the mechs photoshopped into the background of actual WW1 pictures, look awesome. It really sets the tone for the game you are about the be playing and man it gets you hype. Such a neat concept and it really allowed me to ignore the strangely renamed Poland, Germany, Russia and American factions because I was so excited to dive in. Unfortunately, this is basically all Iron Harvest had going for it in my opinion.

--- Story ---
Jesus. They dropped the ball so hard on the story. Like I said, it starts out super neat with the 'Great War' and the awesome photoshop jobs they did incorporating mechs into the WW1 photos. And then they have the audacity to throw the most cookie-cutter, bland, generic ♥♥♥♥ in your face with absolutely no parallels with the darker introduction of the game. I won't get into details, so you can play it for yourself, but everything about this story was just so fundamentally boring or eye-gougingly terrible that I never finished it. I'm sure there is an argument to be made that 'you shouldn't review the story before you finish the game', which I would typically agree with. However, I played 50% of the campaign, it was awful. If the first half of the campaign is so bad to the point that I cannot continue, it really isn't going to get above the 3/10 mark for me, even if the next half was a literal 10/10 (which I am doubting it is).

This brings me to a subsection I want to discuss, which is the voice acting. I really don't comment on voice acting much unless we're talking about Joel from the Last of Us, or some other stand out job (Plenty of examples, won't list them here though, I'm sure you get the jist). Voice acting is something that, if done right, elevates the game, if not, it really doesn't leave an impact. Iron Harvest introduced me to a third perspective however. When the voice acting is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awful that I had to slam my head on my desk to get through cut scenes. It only carries over into the actual game play, whenever you select a unit, they spew a brutally awful accent and generic piece of dialogue (that has absolutely no variation, so I hear the same ♥♥♥♥ over and over from the same unit). I mean ♥♥♥♥ this game's voice acting is ♥♥♥♥. It hurts and it makes me angry.

--- Gameplay ---
After the difficult to bare with story, and the ♥♥♥♥ voice acting, I really was hoping the saving grace for this game would be its gameplay. Company of Heroes with mechs right? What could go wrong? I love Company of Heroes. But... it isn't. It is like a very watered down, janky version of Company of Heroes.

Allow me to explain. In CoH, there is a distinct satisfaction to every unit you eliminate. The shots your units fire, be it a Sherman 76 or a standard infantry squad, feels unique and meaningful. I enjoy just... watching the combat between squads in CoH because it feels very much like (what I would imagine, at least) is a real firefight. Units are taken down when your squad loses health, etc.. So as your squad's health lowers, you know that maybe that next Kar98K shot could take out your AT guy, or your sergeant. It distinctly feels like there is a real firefight going on.

Iron Harvest does the opposite of this. They took the pretty fun cover-based, squad-based RTS system that CoH has and just sort CTRL+C, CTRL+V'd it without understanding what makes it special. Bullets feel fake. Units will fire a constant stream of automatic bullets into a single unit, where he doesn't even look like he takes damage. Mechs do not feel good when the go up against infantry. They look great in game, sure, but they just entirely miss the marker unlike facing down a Panzer IV in CoH with infantry. I wish I could elaborate more on why this game misses the mark in terms of gameplay, but see for yourself if you still want to buy it. This was really the part I thought would redeem the... disaster of a story but nope. It was just more kindling on the dumpster fire that is Iron Harvest.

--- Conclusion ---
Kinda ♥♥♥♥ game, buy it ONLY on sale if you want to see for yourself. But if you end up enjoying it, that's cool too.

P.S. If anyone tries to tell me that the ♥♥♥♥-awful Boston accent the give all the 'American' soldiers in this game is not "grab a .44 magnum and blow your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ brains out" levels of annoying, you're wrong. ♥♥♥♥ I hated hearing that ♥♥♥♥ and I am so happy I returned it. I have a Pavlovian reaction to the point if I hear "YEAH YEAH" in that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ accent one more time I will get KING Art and Prime Matter sent to the Hague for ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ war crimes. ♥♥♥♥.

Beautiful game, not much else to say without spoiling it but it is well worth the time.