Recent reviews by JohnVideoGamer

Deep but accessible.

It's a fun game with terrible UI, almost no explanation for the various mechanisms, but the sea combat content is fun if a little sparse right now.

This is a very fun and cute game. It is basically what it says on the tin - it's a side-scrolling pixelart RPG game with rogue elements....which runs across the bottom of your screen hence the name! The graphics look really cute - very old school creature design which I like as an old fella. You feel quite weak to start and you might not get very far before you die and reset but you'll eventually start picking up better gear via loot drops and, within a few runs you should make it to the store which lets you buy/sell your gear for gold. Eventually you'll be able to recruit a new member of your party and at that point you start to progress. With it being Early Access there are some bugs but nothing gamebreaking! The developer is very responsive on their Discord and is very open to suggestions for improvements. All in all it is well worth the price for an EA game. I would highly recommend.

I cannot honestly recommend this game.

It's incredibly generic - everything from the graphics, the storyline, the music, right down to the game mechanics all feel like poorer iterations of things that other MMOs do far better. Even the morph system (when you sprint you turn into a mammal, when you swim you turn into an water-based creature, when you leap from a tall place you turn into a bird) as a unique selling point feels completely half-cooked.

The crafting system is incredibly basic. The cooking vibe feels like a direct rip-off from the Monster Hunter games. Even your magical little companions, Amitoi, are a rip off of the Palicos from the MH games.

The biggest issue for me though is the loot system is designed in such a way that the strongest keep getting stronger so if you're late to the game you're going to have to spend real-time cash in order to drag yourself out of the doldrums. Which is likely part of the plan from the devs.

The journey to 50 is "ok" but after that it really struggles because your progress absolutely falls off a cliff - you can't do enough damage to bosses to reach the contribution required for the good drops so those that are already strong keep getting the good gear to sell or to transform into beneficial traits. You'll get completely wiped on PvP events for the same reason.

My one line summary would be; it feels like a jumped up mobile game.

Game of the Year 2023. Just cannot say it better than that.

Patch 1.1 effectively screwed over any new players or players who were unable to no-life it. Elite areas have been hugely buffed in terms of mob numbers & mob strength. Elite chest drops have been nerfed.

They have also massively increased the difficulty of levelling your crafting meaning those who reached 200 early now hold a massively gear and wealth advantage.

Server crashes are far more freqwuent now.

Basically, the devs have no vision and are happy for the players to be wandering around in darkness too

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This will be remembered as one of the best open world games. Story and gameplay are tight and impactful.

NMS launched amidst a flurry of extreme promises and outright lies. I believe Sean felt he owed it to buyers to correct his errors and he and his team have undeniably worked hard to do that. It's up to you whether you feel the fibs outweigh the subsequent follow-up but NMS is definitely a completely different game to the launch version and is well worth buying in my opinion.

Taking ideas from Arkham/Assassins Creed, improving on them and adding a unique twist in the form of the "Nemesis" system. Sleeper hit of the year and hopefully the start of a great LOTR franchise.