Recent reviews by ThePaulineIndex

If I was a younger man I would put thousands of hours into this game. Instead as a middle-aged gamer this game has my full attention for as much as I can give it.

An incredibly fun formula for people who like squad PVP and if you also like spaceships like me then this is your perfect game.

Win or lose the game is a fun romp. My only recommendation is to jump on the official discord and get a group going in there so that you know you have people who are happy to work together. And most importantly for me: You can make sure you get matched with people that have a similar attitude toward the game. This game is fun and I'm here to have fun, winning is fun but losing can be fun too if you let it.

The perfect blend of Soulslike, ARPG, and Ori. Can't wait for the full release but the game is already a ton of fun and highly recommended.

Best TD game yet, nothing more nothing less; if you like TD you'll like this.

Another non-AAA studio that got more popular than your average AAA game and has some server issues - that is the *only* reason for the mixed reviews. And btw, there is a fully offline option; not ideal but everyone that wants to play the game, to at least try out a build for example, can get in and play offline.

The game is a great middle-ground between PoE and Diablo 4, if PoE is too much for you and D4 isn't enough you will like Last Epoch. OR, if you're like me and you love PoE and think D4 is a waste of time you're also very likely to like this game for the downtime between PoE seasons. I don't like to summarize games in my reviews - videos are better for that - but my rating is a solid "buy now" for any ARPG fan, especially those who want more than D4 and less than PoE.

Don't let them being more popular than could be expected hold you back if that's why you're on the edge - there is an offline option and these issues will pass for online play.

A game so good my friend bought it for me just so we could play together. Don't let the "Mixed" reviews at launch fool you. This game has a temporary capacity issue like many games at launch, but unlike many games the company is publicly addressing the issue and aggressively working on a fix. In the words of DJ Khaled the game is "Suffering from Success" beyond what they as a non-AAA studio ever imagined.

As for the game itself, why am I taking the time to write this review? It's fantastic - it's chaotic co-op at it's finest - bar none. Kill bugs, or robots, or your friends - you don't know true joy until you've died and your friend is struggling to finger-DDR in order to get you back and then you repay them by dropping your pod right on their head. I'm not going to waste time describing the game in depth - watch a video for that - but if you like co-op shooters then I'm here to tell you this is the best one on the market.

The game's progression also feels fun, fair, and fluid without being too fast. Admittedly, at first I was worried it was pay-to-win. There *is* something akin to a battle-pass with both a free and premium version *and* the paid version does have a little bit of player power in it ***but*** (and this is key) you earn the premium currency by playing the game at a very reasonable rate, I'm halfway to buying the premium version with no microtransactions in just 6 hours and my friend with more hours already unlocked it in less than 15. This is a good system, even as someone who hates P2W (this is literally the only game I've ever seen it done, even a bit, acceptably). But this is a point to watch for later issues.

The *only* reason not to buy this game when the servers stabilize - you're a bug loving communist.

Helldiver PaulineIndex
Cmdr. of SES Legislator of Iron

EDIT: This review was written at launch, I will leave the text up since it is still true, but the PSN requirement means I'll no longer be playing; and for that reason only and will be changing the review to a negative review as I don't think people should buy the game as long as PSN is a requirement.

EDIT 2: Sony have backed down, in happy to change the game back to recommend as reflected in my original review.

"Died like so many things did...."

Game is fun, even in it's partly finished state, but they removed a classic DRG voice-line because they are worried it might offend/trigger people and are deleting any discussion about it. I no longer have faith in the continued development of the game to be the best it can be.

If that doesn't bother you the game is probably a recommend, but I've watched this mentality kill too many things I care about to stay invested. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm moving on anyways.

I stopped playing a while ago but I never left formal feedback. But in a recent article I seen that there had been a huge decrease in player base. So I'd like to do so now. I was happy for the game to succeed without me if that's what everyone else wanted the game to be. Since that's not looking like the case - here's why I left:

When I picked this game up near launch it had its flaws and balancing issues but overall it felt like the perfect mix of arcade and Sim. The one notable exception was the medic class, of the bad balance issues the game had this one stuck out as the most relevant. It dominated CQB play it and it dominated mid-range. Many people blame the guns but that was never the issue, at least not the biggest part of it. The main issue was that the medic class deviated from the games arcade-sim hybrid (that differentiated this game) and was far too arcady. The medic had an infinite self heal that it could use, even in the middle of a firefight since it could spam spin and jump around while using the pack. Not only was this frustrating to play against it was frustrating to play with. When you were dead waiting for a revive if your closest player was a medic you knew you weren't getting picked up. This felt even worse than playing against a medic. I was picked up far more often by non-medics then I was by medics and 90% of the time asking for a heal was a waste of time. The medic class was too good as a solo experience, too easy to ignore your teammates. It was going to be enough to make me quit the game but I decided to wait and see how they would fix the predominance of medic since they mentioned they would.

Now to the day I quit - The patch they announced their fix. The medic adjustments did nothing to touch the overly arcady gameplay of the medic nor did it attempt to solve the medic's solo play style. Instead we got a literal Band-Aid in the form of giving everybody self heal. The medic was as arcady as ever and now every other class didn't need the medic so it was free to continue to solo and the game grew more arcady as everybody had a self heal.

In short Battlebit lost what made it special, it left the realm of the arcade Sim hybrid and marched ever more towards just being another generic arcade shooter. I'd be interested in coming back, but not if that root problem is not addressed and the only way to address it is to start by removing that bandaid, literally and figuratively, that is self heal; and actually reigning in medic so that it has to be a team player and respect the sim half of what the game, at least used, to be.

Highly recommended,

Would have nominated it for at least half of the 2022 Steam Awards if Steam allowed you to nominate a game in more than 1 category.

Truly the best game of the year, maybe the best of the decade, we'll just have to wait and see.

Good game, Devs committed to making it better and keeping it fresh.

Fair monetization policy, they ask a lot, currently ~$120 for everything during the sale, but they deliver a lot, every DLC patch/addition comes with free updates as well. As someone who already owns everything I have never regretted purchasing any of it, worth noting as well that they add additional content to older expansion packs post release.

I buy all DLC week one of release so apart from when the game was new I have not played the base game experience but as I noted they are always adding free content (one system added by an expansion was even made free for everyone when it grew in scope and became more important to the game).

All said I highly recommend the game, sometimes it does get boring and repetitive and I'll stop playing for a few months; but the team is always working to add things and re-tune old things (or I'll just get the itch) and I always come back!