Recent reviews by Pox

So, I like the game. Kind of. It's very mediocre for an ARPG. It got the universe right I reckon, but there's something off about all of it.
Maybe it's the fact that the fundations were slower and clunkier, and they tried to salvage a decent game out of it. I think it worked, but honestly, if you want a good game, right now is not the time.

I like summon-type characters in games, although not too much either, but it's something I can ♥♥♥♥ with. This game especially has a very interesting take on summons. Reserving big summons, customizing them, going hybrid or full summoner. Especially the customizing aspect. It's very nice.

But there's an issue with all of this: Passives and items are an absolute snoozefest. I thought it would get better eventually, but it didn't. Ancient relics are basically gimped items until you unveil them through objective completion. I don't understand why anyone thought this would be a good idea.
Passive unlocks take forever when they're hidden behind the achivements system, which is not interesting either. Speaking of which, if you have a specific build in mind, some passives are hidden behind levels. And not level 20. IIRC there's one for Tech Adept that's in the 50s. Which is insane. I don't understand why I had to get to level 40 so I could finally unlock a passive I needed for my build to work without me wanting to wait a hundred years every mission so I could summon more turrets.

Combat is fine though, it's not the best but it's not the worst either.
I can't see much love poured in this game, especially if you're a lore hound.

Absolutely not worth the full price, and not even 50% off. Go at 70% if you want to play an ARPG with at least interesting ideas. What you will find, at the end of the road however, is a disappointment. You'll be glad you didn't pay more than you did.

I'll keep playing the game for a bit, but if there's nothing of interest in, let's say 10 hours, I'll drop it and be on my way to better days.

Simple enough concept in the gameplay itself, it's been done before and all of that, but so far (prologue) it's more about the story and atmosphere. Everything comes together in a perfect way, it's a good blend between everything.

I've got nothing bad to say, if not for the last prologue mission (?) that's suddenly harder than the other ones, though it makes sense that it is.

Hard to make a proper review at the moment, but at 5€ you're buying for something very much worth it. I'm very curious as to where the story and worldbuilding takes us, there's a lot of interesting things that can happen and has seemingly happened.

Edit years later : Cringe review, but I'll keep it as it is.


Much like real life, this is something that will draw you in, should you allow it to do so. And much like real life (again), once you'll finish it, you'll have an uneasy feeling about everything that you did, wonder how it affected people.

The voice acting is amazing, I don't think I heard one that wasn't even mediocre or below. Usually I just read the text and hear a bit of the voice before moving on, but this time I just heard the entire performance of each line. Really good choice of voice actors, really build the world.

Though this game is definitely a world building experience, the gameplay stays a classic cRPG with some stuff that's different enough to make it enjoyable to more people, perhaps because of the setting that's way different than what you would expect.

Sailing is okay, naval battles are interesting enough but more of a novelty than anything else.

When it comes to difficulty, I think the one I was in was well dosed. I'm not a good player and I wanted to have a good time more than a challenge, so I chose the classic difficulty. I suppose those who are well versed in these sorts of games would prefer veteran or higher. Iron Man is a thing if anyone's interested.

Anywho I really enjoyed it, I've encountered one bug, one with Maia, where there was one dialogue that I couldn't get for whatever reason.

Brings me to my final point, one that I really must stress: this game, above all, feels organic. That's the best way to describe it. I only played through one entire DLC (Beast of Winter), and there was a big change. It's more akin to a classic cRPG than Deadfire, because you just go through areas and there's no real feeling of freedom. Very linear, I suppose is the word. The base game does not feel linear, and everything that you do just compels you to progress further. Being able to be curious was well rewarded, and it's even encouraged from the get go, which is really great.

This still is a game that will require patience. It's an experience among other things, one that I hope will stick with me for a fair amount of time. Very well written, very interesting, except the DLCs that lost me (Beast of Winter I was kind of stuck anyway but there was some real good stuff in there, except one part that frustrated me and - I think - killed my enjoyment quite a bit).

Very cool game. Might make a new game + at some point to try some other things, and actually try to finish the romance with Maia. Which actually came very naturally. I suppose the game just asks you to be true to yourself to have the best of experiences. If you do so, well you better live with the consequences, but what you want to happen may happen... Granted you've got the insight. It is still a game after all, but I think that's going to be the best compliment I can give it:

This game feels very human. Created with love from A to Z, also now I need a job again I just realized. Cool ass vacations though that's for sure. Next time I'll actually travel IRL, though I'll avoid boats, probably go back to the mountains or something, it's been a while. Ah well, I'm rambling. Amazing game, buy it whenever, full price is worth it for the base game IMO, though waiting for a discount is never a bad idea.

Well, there was a prompt to review the game, and I thought why not.

So far I'm really enjoying this game. I've got a long way until reaching the meat of the game, since the whole story seems to serve as a tutorial. Still, it's a fun experience and I would recommend anyone who's in need of a deep monster collector/fighting game to drop a dozen bucks. Feels like I already got my money's worth.

EDIT 1: Finished the main storyline, and on to the postgame I went. There's a lot more to do than I first thought, and theorycrafting is already taking me by storm. Love this game.

One thing is certain for now, it's that the performance is garbage. However it doesn't mean that it's all bad.
Certainly, I play at around 40 fps and less than 30 fps on some maps. But I enjoy the game a fair bit nonetheless.

When it comes to gameplay, the core of the game is there, and there's a lot of fun to be had, if you're really into ARPGs/Diablo-like style games.
Definitely the game is very unpolished and needs a lot of work in that department. But if the team delivered on a solid core gameplay with a lot of potential to fill, I don't see why we should stop supporting them just yet.

Since it's a beta and the team is rather small as of now, just be patient. As patient as we were for Grim Dawn, let's say. That's a good amount of time.

EDIT: called it

Well it's just more One Finger Death Punch, but enhanced, and more of that. Really good game, pretty damn fun like the first one. Plus it's very cheap for what it is, seriously worth it. There's not much else to say, if you liked the first one you'll like this one too, if not more. A bit deeper, just enough to not bore you and bring something new.

For more information, guess there's more around here.

Most people expected the first release in Early Access to be good, albeit the 3D change put the rest on their toes, but ultimately it delivered.

As of the first release of this game (28 March 2019), the game is solid and a good fondation for what is to come (and we hope it will be great, though there's not much reason to doubt that, unless Gearbox start to corrupt our beloved developers).

So far there's plenty to entertain and challenge for a few days with the feeling of "new". There's not that much content yet (which is expected and is in no way a bad point for a first day early access game), so do beware of that. But for 15€ you have a solid game with plenty of hours of enjoyment. Also, big bonus, right now it's two copies for one (although you can only buy it once). Great stuff all around, the future looks promising (keep an eye out for Gearbox though, who knows) and the community is solid (the RoR community already was, this won't be any different).

This review will be edited as the game changes, and one last time at its final release, unless I get a post-abortion or lose interest.

/!\ This is a semi-serious review, it's another take on "should you buy this game" without speaking about game mechanics, because there's already plenty of that here /!\
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So, you're tempted to try Factorio? Could be nice, and if you don't like it you can get a refund. But sadly for you this probably isn't going to happen. You dive in or you stay dry.
Because that's what Factorio is; A big diving session that lasts for days. You have a great time for dozens/hundreds of hours (thousands even) ; There's a reason why people call this game "digital crack", it's like a hard drug. The official OST for this game should countain "Just Can't Get Enough" by Depeche Mode, because frankly that's all you're going to feel when you start to get into this game. There's no breaks on this train, you could say.

It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up how addicting this game is seriously, but after you send a rocket in space your blood pressure should come back to normal. Either you start over or you try to move on.

Don't buy this game, it's gonna consume your life. You're not going to see time pass, you're gonna binge BIG TIME. It's even worse than on Civilization games.

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That said, it's a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ amazing game, buy it if you're willing to not do anything but play Factorio for days non-stop.

PS: Bought this game in 2014, so I got some time on it already before the Steam EA access happened.

No point in leaving a full fledged review, and I'm only good at abstract anyway

Good ♥♥♥♥, would recommend if you're into the genre. You'll have a lot to learn though so if you're not willing don't bother. If you're curious however, think you might find a good time here.