Recent reviews by LoPV

Cool game continuously getting updates for the price of free. I really like the feeling of exploration the games gives you, at least for the first playthrough. Has some issues like sailing being tedious but if you play without permadeath I think it's a good gateway for the average person to 'traditional' roguelikes even if Moonring isn't exactly one itself. One of the best free games I've played.

NOTE: Review is revised from an older review from June 2024 when the game was still bot-filled. I will re-revise the review if there comes a day when the bots re-invade.

TF2 is a classic FPS that endures due to its passionate fanbase and fun gameplay. The characters are iconic, the gameplay is fun on a casual level, but there's a lot of mechanical depth if you want to take it more seriously. You can have hour-long games with tense back-and-forths finally ending in a climactic finish, and you can have silly experiences just hanging around with friends or strangers. You can easily have a fun time if you are a longtime veteran of the game, but I have to say that new players will probably have a tough time getting into the game. The game may be worth getting into it for someone who tries the game and likes the immediate feel of the gameplay.

I think that pretty much anybody should at least give the game a try to see if they like it since the game is free-to-play.

__I will end the review with some recommendations for new players:__
*Don't buy weapons from the store unless you have a LOT of money to burn! A couple weapons will randomly drop each week for you, and the Stock weapons are more than sufficient to win games.
*If you want to become a Premium player (get more inventory slots, are able to trade, guaranteed to be able to chat in game if you don't have a 'limited' steam account), then you should buy a Mann Co. Supply Crate Key ($2.50), or a Tour of Duty Ticket ($0.99). These items retain their value in Refined Metal (The game's low-tier trading currency) the best out of the purchaseable store items. You can then trade the item you bought for Refined Metal, and trade that Refined Metal for a full suite of the in-game weapons, and probably a couple of the cheaper cosmetics too.
*Joining a Valve casual capture the flag 2Fort server is a good way to have a very low-pressure environment to learn the game's basic controls and get acquainted with the 'funnier' side of the community, but it is NOT representative of the average TF2 gameplay. If you want to properly learn how most TF2 games flow and improve your skills, I'd recommend trying any of the other main gamemodes (King of the Hill, Control Points, Payload). If you want to play the game really casually and just relax on 2Fort, that's ok too though.
* The games default settings set a new player up for failure. I heavily recommend looking up a guide on what default setting you should change. The most important setting to change is setting the default FOV from 70 up to 90 if you have to start with one thing.
* If your game runs poorly even on low settings, look up 'mastercomfig' which is basically a mod to set certain settings extra-low and make some optimization changes.
* There are community servers called 'Jump Academy' which teach you how to do rocket/explosive jumping and have people willing to help you learn if you want to learn it.
* If you can, try to find someone who has already played the game for a while to fill you in on some gameplay basics, because the in-game tutorials really don't tell you that much. They can probably also give you any weapon you might want if you don't have one.
* Lastly, the game is old. There will be some people playing (like me) who have been playing the game for a decade and have thousands of hours. It will be really difficult for a new player to win a 1v1 fight against a veteran player. Don't get discouraged, instead, try to group up with other players when you see one, or attack them when they are already weakened.