Recent reviews by DragonFriend

EDIT: I think I'm going to have to reverse my recommendation. The game is fun, but I got hit by a 1-2-3 combo of 1) looking deeper into the monetization, 2) seeing that the game is not disclosing its use of AI-generated art, and 3) there is a lot of AI-generated art! I noticed some on the first day I started playing, but as much as I'm opposed to it, I was somewhat willing to overlook it because I thought it wasn't used as much as it is, and because the actual game is fun and creative.

The creativity of the design is great, but why should the creativity of the assets be robbed by using AI?

Original review:

This is essentially a hero-shooter-ified version of Counter-Strike, and I think it's mostly *great*, with a couple caveats.

The main twist, and the thing that really intrigued me, was that each round, both teams get to use shard cards to change the rules of the game for that round. Some effects are basic, like giving your team more health or more move speed. Some are a bit goofy, like making your heads small so they're harder to hit, or the enemy's heads larger, so they're easier to hit, or being able to shoot teammates to heal them, or making the map icy so everyone can crouchslide.

Then there are the bonkers goofy effects, like forcing both teams to use melee weapons only, or an effect that deletes a random bomb site, or an effect that lets the defenders pick up the bombsites and move them around, or an effect that lets your team respawn as zombies the first time you die, or an effect that lets you swap your health bar with someone else.

There are some very creative ideas, and the cards make each round feel a bit different, or even very different! There are, however, some issues.

The game is overwhelming at first, because there's simply so much to learn and get used to. Movement mechanics, guns, maps, character abilities, shard cards, etc. The onboarding needs some improvements. The first 5 matches I played, I really could not parse the cards my team was being offered, the cards the other team was offered, think about the strategies and synergies of the cards, figure out which character and weapons I wanted to use, and plan out where I would go in the round. There just wasn't enough time before the round began.

The menus are also overwhelming at first. I've seen freemium mobile games with fewer active events and battlepasses and challenges and microtransactions and bundles and subscriptions. In my first hour of play, probably 10-15 minutes was spent figuring out what the menus did, and clicking on all the pages that had notifications on them, telling me I had rewards to claim, or a new card unlocked, or a challenge completed, or a new item, or an achievement level, or something else to click on, which would inevitably cause another menu to notify me that the items I received were in my bag, or that receiving the rewards leveled up one of several "receive rewards" challenges.

Another concern is that I received an email from the developer/publisher via the in-game messaging, inviting me to download a shady piece of software that would "use AI to improve my internet connection." I'm 100% sure that this software would not help, and I'm 100% sure that it would have unwanted side effects. I would not trust that software at all, and the offer does lower my trust in the people behind the game.

Regarding the game itself, there seem to be a few technical issues. DX12 seems rather unstable, and the game completely froze once on DX11 mid-duel. (Sorry team)

Footsteps also still need some adjustments, even after the latest patch.

Still, I think the game itself is great, and if these technical issues are fixed, and the monetization doesn't go even further into the deep end, I can see myself playing this *a lot*.

If you found this review helpful, and you give the game a try, here's my invite code: JiZA0txchs
Use it if you wish.

I don't often post reviews, but I'll make an exception for this game.
It's hardly a game. I unfortunately can't recommend it to anyone.
The concept of investigating a murder by swapping bodies is great, but... that's it. There isn't really even any investigating. You walk slowly (and for a game where walking is such a big part of the game, it's surprisingly janky), and talk to people in bizarre conversations that don't give you anything helpful or interesting. The day ends and you repeat.
I can't understate how little it feels like playing a game, like solving a crime, or even like being in a city.
If you want a timeloop murder mystery, I highly recommend The Sexy Brutale instead.

I really enjoyed the first hour or so, as I was easing myself into the game. Unfortunately, I can't recommend the game as a whole.

I actually enjoyed it mechanically. Tracking squirrels by studying multiple cameras at once was a fun bit of detective work, even if there wasn't much variation in the "puzzles" themselves. The plot and the writing, however... I just couldn't connect to the characters (well, character) at all, and the writing took me out of the experience once the plot started picking up.

As for the abruptness of the ending and the fact that so much isn't explained, I'm not too disappointed. I understand the decision to leave some things unexplained, but there were many guns that had been set up, and very, very few of them were actually fired.

It's a rogue-lite. It's a dungeon crawler. It's a shmup. It's a bullet hell. It's all of these.

This is a very fun and addicting game, with plenty of content already. Arcen has had a great history with providing support and updates for their games, and I expect this will be no exception.

Plus, hydras are cool.

An action-filled, fast-paced shooter with encounters of epic proportions.

It takes a little longer to reach the "extreme" levels of ridiculous encounters that the Sam series is known for, but it does get there.

If you dislike "First-Person Waiting" games (waiting for squad to advance, waiting for health to regenerate, etc), you will love this (and the rest of the Sam series (except Sam 2 ;)).