Recent reviews by Mireska~

Absolutely amazing

https://youtu.be/tdeUhcC61Bk

Stronk game. Same jank. Would play again for a dollar.

This game is quite successful in its main appeal but falls flat in its recursive attempts to engage you in its extraneous gameplay.

The Good

- Being chased and shot at feels really good, especially in the early levels. It feels quite tactile and exciting!
- The OST makes the aforementioned chases feel awesome!
- Visually pleasing artistic direction that has aged pretty well for a 2009 game.

The Bad

- It feels like I am always battling to figure out where I am supposed to be going in spite of there being a button dedicated to telling you where to go This is especially prevalent in slower segments. There are frequent moments in which the end destination is clearly visible, but the way to get to it is convoluted.
- Pretty hit or miss level design overall. You cannot jump or climb on many surfaces you'd think you could, jump distance/height can be ambiguous, visual clutter can get in the way, etc. The levels are not very intuitive.
- Combat is REALLY bad. You are simultaneously having to mash for your life and watching for a (VERY TIGHT) parry window. Feels like the best means of fighting the clunky AI is to not fight them at all.

Each of these bad points works together to disrupt the flow of the game. There are too many times where I am not engaged in the exciting, blood-pumping parkour/chasing this game was designed for, and I am instead dying repeatedly (to what I would call unfair situations) or lost as to where I am supposed to go.

No 1440p support. Matchmaking still does not work 8 months after release.

COD BO1 in 2022

The campaign is filled with lots of copy paste/recycled assets, especially the voice lines. There are many blatant shortcuts the developers took which are hard to overlook for a game still priced at $40 (lol) that gets no reasonable discounts. Don't even get me started on the AI. The story itself is a really cool concept, but the narrative is kind of bad. One thing that is done quite well is the mission diversity, though.

Multiplayer is dead. Activision doesn't really support it anymore and no one plays it.

So I dunno.. do you want to pay $40 for a mediocre campaign and possibly Kino Der Toten with your friends for a few hours? Maybe you'll even consider dropping $15 for copy pasted COD WAW zombie maps. The other 3 DLC's (which are all also being sold for their original price, lol) aren't worth it at all given the state of MP. Sound worth it to you? Honestly, some people REALLY LOVE zombies so maybe. I don't think so for most, though.

The series that not only brought indie games as a whole into the spotlight for PC gaming, but also revolutionized an entire genre. To say this is a must play is an understatement.

A fairly simple survival game with an emphasis on tactics and decision making. Though I'd be hesitant to buy this game at full price, it regularly goes on sale for $4, which I think is a great deal.

If you're not a patient person, I would not recommend this game. This is because of a lack of a Sims style fast forward button. Though you can skip entire days, you will frequently find yourself needlessly sitting around waiting on your survivors to complete actions in the safety of your base.

The lack of a real progression system is simultaneously what holds this game together and what makes it such a boring experience.

For a game about plundering, you may as well receive nothing when you destroy an enemy ship or complete a quest. The only thing you can spend your currency on is a forgettable set of cosmetics. Though the idea behind this is to maintain the 'competitive integrity' of PVP, the game seems to have an identity crisis. Servers are so small, relative to the map size, that you'll have to spend over 15 minutes to find another ship, even if you are explicitly searching for one. This is an intentional choice, made so that you can complete PVE content and nearly avoid PVP altogether if you'd like to. Either way, you naturally end up completing PVE content in between PVP in order to gather up resources for the next engagement. Though there is little wrong with this in concept, it feels quite bland in practice. Islands may as well be copy pastes of each other, as they all have the same canned quests and enemies. Loot is predictable and dialogue is about as memorable as a typical modern MMORPG.

I would be fine with the nonexistent progression if there were a variety of ships to pick from, but this is not the case either due to the same obsession with competitive integrity. I really wish this game would just pick a side, and commit to it. Both the PVP and PVE leave a lot to be desired due to a confusing effort to appease to both casuals and PVP enthusiasts.

No, a game does not >need< progression to be fun, but it should be a paramount to a game that is otherwise so repetitive.

It's ok; I would rate this game neutral if I could. Nowadays, this game goes on pretty big sales. It's $5 as of the time I am writing this. If you are looking for a single player experience resembling a CoD campaign, you'll probably be satisfied at that price point. If you're looking for a great story, something resembling the old Wolfenstein games, or a shooter with depth, you should buy something else.