Recent reviews by Dreamshadow

A great adaptation of Mage Knight. Very complex but well presented.

My initial impressions of this game on it's release was 'Why is mech armor paper thin?' Combat was blistering fast, and I was losing arms or weapons less than 15s into engagements. I hated it. I wanted bit tanky stompy mechs, and I was getting early game Armored Core twitch shooting.

I hated it.

I revisited it with a friend recently, working some PS5/PC co-op and starting a new campaign. Playing the game in co-op mode made me realize some of the problems I had been running into. My mech was getting ripped to shreds because I was leading my AI lance into short range combat, but was not piloting mechs intended for that role. With a co-op partner, suddenly the attention was not immediately on me as the lance leader and I could also play more into the Centurion's role as a mid-range fighter using the LRMs and AC/10 where they were intended.

This bled over into my single player sessions as well. Better use of commands for ordering my lance into action, or switching to mechs that were better suited for brawler roles as the lead made all the difference. No longer was every mech covered in tissue paper. Battles could still be brutal on the repairs but I felt like I had a better handle on it. The little time I spent at base game launch hating the game has turned into really liking it with all the DLC.

I haven't looked seriously over all the patch notes since launch, so I don't know how much rebalancing was done, other than the rework of the Campaign story opening. The game is certainly better for the passage of time and support from the developer and leaves me with a positive look towards MW5: Clans in the future.

It's a fun middle ground game. I love building different decks and seeing just how long I can survive in the endless mode. (Drones still are the best.) Excellent sub-ten dollar game.

It's a great game for relaxing and enjoying the open road. Paired with 'second screen content' (a podcast, long movie, or TV show binge watching) and you have a game that is both fun and low stress to play. It is also very easy to save a game and set it down mid delivery, making the game respectful of your time.

An excellent continuation of the franchise. I'm much happier now that decorations are not random drops, but crafted items, unlike Monster Hunter World. The new Petalace mechanic gives incentive to explore the map a little before engaging the monster you are there to hunt. I miss the maps of MH:World though. I think I see what they were trying to go for with the wirebugs and the more vertical maps. I just don't feel like I'm adapting to the maps (this was at 30 hours into the game) like I took to them in MH: World.

Game looks great, plays well, and has a varied list of monsters to hunt.

Shiro is taking the system they laid down in Northgard even further than before. Wonderfully weird soundtrack, beautiful graphics. Solid Early Access so far.

This is a great attempt of continuing the legacy of the Original Evil Genius game and bringing the evil lair building into the modern era of video gaming. Sadly, annoying bugs that break the various missions hold it back from being amazing.

Evil Genius (original game) started the franchise off strong, but had a very linear progression for the villain scheme and was unforgiving if you laid out your lair poorly. If you dug out earth, there was no reversing it. Evil Genius 2 adds a lot of variety to the original formula with multiple levels for your lair and the ability to fill dirt back in. The map and the cover hotel feel a little less interesting than it did in the original game, but the dialog and cutscenes help offset it a little bit.

The game looks amazing with 300 minions running around my lair performing their jobs. No slowdown or stutter on ultra settings for a Geforce 2060RTX. Sound is good, with Lalo Schifrin-like music playing in the background and the minions make various noises in the lair. The inner circle members and the villains are well voiced though some of the idle lines are limited and get repetitive after ten hours of play.

Bugs amounted to missions not becoming available, or certain sub objectives not appearing in the cover hotel or map or couldn't be built. Generally, saving my game, exiting, and then launching Evil Genius 2 fixed the majority of bugs I encountered. Considering that they have moved to a console release, I'm worried that these bugs would appear in the console version as well.

I recommend this game cautiously. Buy at full price with season pass? Only if you are desperate to build your villain lair. Buy on sale with Season pass? YES! The idea is sound and Rebellion just needs to work out the kinks for it to be a solid game.

While the distances covered are not to scale, the game is an amazing driving sim. There are also interesting business decisions to be made. It's a great game that lets you enjoy the zen of the road and mix with with earning simulated money, eventually branching out from a single truck to many trucks and garages around Europe.

My only complaint is that I would like the rearview draw distance to be further out. But this is more a limitation of when the game was originally released than a failing or a bug.

I'm obsessed with this game after only owning it for a week. It's a deep sandbox game that invites you to obsess over all the details you need for survival: Power, Atmosphere, and Food. Just getting to a point where you can live in your hab without a space suit is a daunting task. Can recommend, an amazing simulation made even better with multiplayer.

As an update to this review in 2023, the developers continue to do amazing things with the engine and game. The features that have been added in the last three years since I originally reviewed the game have turned this into an amazing sandbox title.

Very beautiful implementation of the board game. I had a few times where I couldn't place a die even though everything else looked like it should be able to go there. I would like it if the game would give me feedback on why the placement is wrong.