Recent reviews by McStruthers (マク)

Deceptively deep combat system (PvE AND PvP), world feels alive, replay-ability, interesting challenges (ex: varying boss mechanics), and a sense of humor.

the combat is Diablo-esque. PvP especially reminds me of Magicka: Wizard Wars. I was quite sad when that game shut down; happy to see similarities here.

there's some light factorio/satisfactory-esque crafting going on, which can be vastly simplified in later run-throughs.

there's server settings to tweak all sorts of things, which really help replyability.

i would recommend first starting to play through the game yourself, or with a couple friends, through standard multiplayer. but when you start up the world, untick the "teleport bound items" box (this setting being ON is really just to add stakes to PvP), and set the material yield multiplier somewhere between 1.5x and 3x (so it doesn't feel like a grind). Start on Normal difficulty, and move it to Brutal if it feels too easy, but be warned, the later bosses are pretty darn tough for a first playthrough on Brutal

EVEN IF you stop after that first time you go through the main game, i think this game is well worth it. but there's a lot more to experience via public servers (the game has global chat and proximity voice chat, and many v rising servers also have public discords)

-you can join a PvE brutal server if you want to engage in jolly cooperation and check out some neat, player-customized castles. you can also learn to use server mods pre-installed on most dedicated servers, like "KindredLogistics", which trivializes the factory-farm features of the game

-you can join a PvP server and learn how to progress while staying healthy enough to scrap at a moment's notice, eventually being on either side of a "base raid"...from there you gotta figure out how to build your castle to give defender's advantage.

-at some point, it's worth checking out VArena - dedicated servers for PvP only


this game is definitely worth purchasing imo, but if i had to cite any cons / buyer bewares:
-it's "story-lite". the only lore is environmental, and brief descriptions for the bosses
-if you decide to join a new server, you start from scratch (this can actually be cool on a PvP world, as people are competing for resources and unlocks)
-when you arbitrarily join a dedicated server, most players are max level already. these folks won't attack you as you're leveling up, but then you're basically playing in single player until you also beat the game on that server (most servers "wipe progress" periodically to combat this, starting everyone at zero)
-there's no kind of matchmaking: the best players, worst players, and middling players are all mixed together. (in a way that can be a good thing because you never know what to expect. some servers try to address this anyway. for example, MoonRising has a mod that puts people into skill brackets based on player Kills / Deaths, and higher skill bracket players can't strike the first hit in an engagement with a player in a lower skill bracket)
-in every dedicated PvP server i've played on, some players are inevitably arguing in global chat (i think some of this community get really salty when they die. still hoping to find a PvP server without a few bad eggs spoiling things, but for now i just gotta ignore that sort of thing)

it's OK for cheap co-op when just hanging with friends.

beat this game in multiplayer. has lots of cool ideas but they are underdeveloped. the canon ending is illogical (and ridiculous from an emotional perspective), and the story pacing near the end isn't right. the environmental storytelling falls apart under any scrutiny, core game loop gets mindful and repetitive quickly, building has no tie-in with story progression, enemy encounters feel like mindless obligations after the first couple fights.

i played this in a group of 4, and it was so fun!! folks had cemented roles and we got out of some tough situations together. felt like we had each other's back; stuff was action packed and under time pressure.

when it was EVA time and we were under no threat it was a shame there were only 2 EVA suits, but that only happened twice. it's all hands on deck otherwise, and a lot of decisions that can be made for optimization.

i also played this in 2 player and singleplayer. Solo felt kinda bland to me. 2 player was "OK". But it really seems to me this game shines when everyone has a semi-narrow band of focus, and everyone is doing callouts. I think that requires 3 players minimum to feel great.

Gripes
-a little bit lacking in mission depth/variety it seems. the amount of different mission types seems a bit low to me. However, I noticed they *just* released update 1.1, and it was massive. I think that if people keep buying their game (fingers crossed), they'll add a bunch of neat content.

-flat stat increases for "character level". Basically, you can freely come into a given run with boosts like "25% damage increase on guns" or "50% faster ship turn radius" just for being a higher player level. Games like Vermintide and Deep Rock Galactic also do this, and it's a pet peeve of mine - harder missions should be achievable due to game mechanic mastery, not better stats for simply playing more. I think player level should only unlock alternative actions (possible ex: eva grappling hook instead of eva thruster, better turn radius instead of speed, etc) instead of flat increases.

-lore is shallow; you can read some lore from the pause screen from the beginning, and that's about all there is. at the beginning of a few missions you get a couple lines telling you objectives, but that's about it.
the entire game lore is basically: METEM (the player humans) are fighting AI robot hordes, and METEM tech allows an individual human "spirit" to jump between bio-engineered bodies...so if you die in a mission, that's canon! you're jumping to another body. that's basically it. there's also something about METEM wanting to reach EDEN and we're uncertain if that's a real place or a religious idea, and i'd love for that to be explored via gameplay

-i really wish there was some kind of hint as to the stats of the biggest mob you're going to face when you're picking a mission. like, if we had a "ship defence level" and "ship offense level" based on our current guns and shields, and we would get to see the same for what would be in the mission we were choosing: one of our runs ended because we did a "HARD" mission where we were supposed to kill a frigate, and the frigate had a gun with incredible range, firing speed, and bullet velocity. in retrospect we may have been able to shoot out a decoy lure or something to help, but that thing absolutely annihilated us. i bet if there were visible levels, our ship would have been level "6" and that frigate would have been, like level "30". wouldn't have picked the mission if we had known. but, live and learn!

i wanted to like this!! but the characters felt incomplete, the writing felt lazy, the scenarios felt contrived, and the core gameplay loop was repetitive and boring. it also had the big-budget movie trope of playing sad music right before something sad happens, as if the player needs to be told how to feel.

the art in this game is beautiful, and so i think this is a real shame.

if you like this storytelling / camera style, i think "the last of us" is a good start. and if you like the overall mood and general story beats, i think "kenn follett's the pillars of the earth" is great to look into.

edit: want to point out that "Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons" is another good place to look for better execution of sad familial themes, and a better execution of puzzle-based gameplay

neat game. fast-paced decision making, and highly mobile. sort of like rocket league

the core gameloop loop is satisfying and has levels of complexity. character and build variety are also appreciated.

there are a couple "twitch reaction"-type frustrations at the highest difficulty level, but many are counterable, and you can make up for others by playing well consistently

visuals are also pretty, and story isn't bad

positive: there's a real potpourri of game mechanics to play with your significant other / friend here, and many of the worlds are pretty neat. the controls are fluid and expressive, and the animation is done well

negative: the story!! the characters are all extremely unlikable and often irrational. the jokes are often pretty painful. the overall narrative and writing are "ok" to awful

if at least one of you hasn't played many games and wants an introduction, consider it!

if y'all are planning to skip the cutscenes, play it!
if you ever played borderlands and thought "gee the problem here is we don't get enough claptrap", then play it!

but for me, it wasn't worth it

tactically shoot all the enemies in an area without dying. i truly appreciate how the AI works here - rotating around angles and backing each other up. having an optional slowdown effect is a clever boost for the player; more clever still is rewarding the player for surviving without it. having a roll/slide to make yourself safe is also pretty neat

the visuals are great as well, and the music fits. it looks kinda like a tabletop game

tiny gripe: i don't care so much about achievements, but i will mention that there are achievements slated for "medium difficulty"...and they don't apply to "medium or hard" - they are medium only. i had achieved the majority of the challenges in hard mode before realizing i would only get the achievement if i turned down the difficulty. a bit strange!

Unique game! High-risk, high-reward PvP combat. Play fast and loose, or slow and methodical. Great opportunities for all styles; many ways to die, and many ways to snag kills. My favourite part is that no two rounds feel the same. Win or lose, each feels like its own emergent story.

Devs are going for realism - movement feels fluid but isn't too fast, and the dated setting means the arsenal is interesting and has that weighty cowboy chunkiness; spray and pray doesn't truly apply. "Hunt" is the keyword that makes it fun. All players leave a trace, and you can use this to your advantage to predict enemy player movement and act accordingly. For example, hearing a flock of crows fly away from an enemy team, or hearing their gunshots get louder as they approach.

Buyer beware: at certain times you may see this game get review-bombed for specific changes they make. The biggest being the recent UI overhaul, that not many people like. It's true that Crytek could benefit by listening to their playerbase more often in reagrds such as these - I know I personally don't agree with some of their changes - but it feels to me that they are trying. And these issues are typically "quality of life" - after my many years playing off and on, the core gameplay has remained intact, and it's still a lot of fun

very cute! great dialogue + story, soundtrack, movement mechanics, and environment

binding of isaac, but fps, and a rhythm game to boot. gameplay is satisfying. only questionable thing is the limited colour scheme, but it grows on you