Recent reviews by Retropunk

I can't recommend this game to anybody who's a fan of shooters or the SCP lore. This is a game that's very unclear on what to do or where to go and generally lacks polish and love. I'll give the benefit of the doubt and admit I didn't play for long but what I did see lacked anything that really felt "SCP" in look and feel. Didn't see any fanservice or nods to the wiki, the setting feels generic as far as horror shooters go (Dark maze like corridors, big open gunfight area). The anomaly choice, while not awful, doesn't feel terribly unique either. I understand that there's a lot that wouldn't work in the context of a shooter but all of the anomaly choices translate to fairly uninteresting enemies. The AI isn't brilliant either and I sat in front of a security guard for like five minutes as shot bullets over my head from a position where he was partially clipping through a wall and STILL couldn't hit me. The whole thing just feels like the developers aren't really SCP fans, I was hoping for cool nods to the wiki, cool locations, fun gunfights, and maybe an interesting take on the story but I got a generic facility, copy pasted rooms, braindead AI and instakill anomalies with no time to react, and little in the way of story or even readable notes despite the inclusion of a journal system. . . and for whatever reason a lives system and semi-random spawnpoint? This was a dissappointment to be sure, again I know I didn't play long but I seriously doubt the game was going to recover from the lows it hit during my time and even if it did I don't think I recommend it regardless. This might be an early access game but after three years I expected something that didn't resemble a very barebones rough draft. Honestly you'd have more fun playing secret lab

Absolute peak retro FPS. This game is everything I love about classic shooters without imitating them to a fault or feeling like a lazy "Low effort retro game nostalgia bait". This game really goes above and beyond in so many ways

Storytelling- I feel like this is one of the best ways to handle story in this kind of game: Light enough to not pull you out of them moment, interesting enough to keep you invested, and keeping the right amount of secrets to keep you curious and wanting to find out more.

Gunplay- Normally I'm one for functionality over realism in gun mechanics but I feel the way this game commits to its realistic gunplay while keeping it "arcade-y" enough and allowing total customization over mechanics like reloading and mag loss to let you decide what works best. Gunfights are hectic, tense, and incredibly rewarding to win as well as ramping up the adrenaline when you barely survive and encounter and have to limp through the rest of the stage.

Difficulty- This game is HARD on higher difficulties, The hardest difficulty in this game is head and shoulders above the hardest difficulty in the last game and I seriously respect that. Beating this game feels like an accomplishment and love it or hate it, it'll bring you back to the days of being stuck on that one level for what feels like ages.

Character design/Aesthetics- This game absolutely nails is visual design, making the most of its format without feeling limited by it. This game couldn't have been made in the era it pays homage to and THAT is what I want to see in a modern retro style game. Keep the aesthetic but go above and beyond what was possible at the time. The best way I can put it is that it looks now as impressive as those games did to us back in the day. It's the visual equivalent of the way your favorite old FPS looks in your head through your nostalgic, rose tinted glasses. The gore is absolutely amazing as well. Fights feel bloody, brutal, and satisfying

World building/lore- This ties into aesthetics but this is one of the most interesting worlds in a video game I've experienced. I'll spoil nothing here but the level design, setting on the whole, and symbolism are just phenomenal

Honestly if you haven't played this game and citadel before it and you have any interest in retro shooters or shooters in general then you're doing yourself a disservice.

Honestly this game breaks my heart. Borderlands 2 is one of my favorite games of all time and to have it followed up with a game that feels a hollow shell of a borderlands game is just an absolute shame. The bones of a really good borderlands game are here but the story and humor (The very things that made the borderlands games so special) were completely unbearable for me. The best way I can put it is that this is a masterclass in how NOT to do Ironic humor. Near enough every joke is absolutely groan worthy and typically goes on to the point that the, proverbial, dead horse they've beaten into soft serve has gotten sick of it as well. The story feels like it doesn't take itself seriously, the characters are practically all bland or annoying (or both), with most of the new characters being forgettable at best. The gear progression is totally busted with guns dropping so often that it ruins the magic of finding loot and you'll constantly be overloaded with mid guns. The combat feels way easier as well, with enemies having way less health and guns seeming to punch WAY above their weight class. I had a level twelve vladof AR shredding a level nineteen boss several times faster than the higher leveled guns I had. All of this is before you factor in the alt fire modes, so on top of being over saturated with guns they all have alt-fire modes to take into consideration. It's just overwhelming and it makes looting and comparing more of a chore than it needs to be.

It pains me that all this is the case because, as I initially said, the bones of a really great borderlands game are here: The gunplay is great, I like the alt-fire idea, there are some cool ideas and environments, this game really COULD have been amazing. If nothing I said bothers you then maybe you'll like this game but I can't recommend it in good conscience. Play Borderlands 1 or 2 instead, even the pre-sequel would be better.

Best zombie game ever hands down

I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hate ARK

Fun enough game but nothing mind blowing
Great music, great art direction, tons of great nods to the 40k franchise
Gameplay can be a tad frustrating even on medium and the guns left me wanting but I think it's a fun enough way to kill 2-3

This wasn't game breaking but I think it's funny: My play through ended with the credits crashing

This game is pretty janky and a bit of a headache. I know we all hate hand holding but I spent the first fifteen minutes of the game wondering how to even complete the tasks marked "Emergency", some form of tutorial would be nice.
I'm fine with a game expecting you to figure it out as you go but how you interact with and lead your nation feels clunky at best or cryptic at worst. again, I feel this wouldn't be as much of an issue if there was a more in depth way of telling the player what to do.
I love the concept but it's just not easy to interact with. The UI is clunky, the game doesn't look great or run very well, and despite these obvious flaws that need polishing or even reworking, the devs already have DLC available for purchase.
Maybe this game is great if you can get into it but I just can't.

Once you install mods to fix the problem of the items in your trunk flipping your car, you realize how dull and easy this game really is. The biggest danger you'll face are tiny lag spikes that jolt you into a telephone pole. Can't say anything declaratively but it feels like this game was made to be "Janky physics content bait" for it's own sake.
If the current version of the game was the first playable demo then yeah I'd say it has promise but it's has been out for three years and even the dev has said they have no plans for a finished and polished game.
If you just want to screw around for a few hours then sure, this game is perfectly serviceable but the point still stands that there just isn't much to do.

Its good, play it

First of all I want to commend this game for having no microtransactions.

While the game handles okay it feels pretty unpolished and lacks a unique identity. The mech designs are okay but they come off as generic and all end up looking kinda samey, even with different parts to choose from. The weapons feel underpowered when fighting stronger enemies, especially arsenals or immortals. The story is meh and seems content to bring up themes but never really explore them. The characters are a plus and a good handful of them are memorable but none of them are exceptionally well written. The biggest flaw to me is the fact that certain mechanics seem to not be explained well enough or at all. This comes to a head in the final boss fight, without spoiling the story I can tell you that a central mechanic to the fight (Throwing capsules that line the floor) Is not explained to you at all and the fight is impossible without it. You are never told to use the capsules and since you start the fight in the air you can go several attempts without even seeing them. In line with the theme of things not being properly explained, short of checking the controls tab you won't know how to use any of the skills you purchase in the body modification lab. In addition some mechanics in the game just feel like they don't do anything or were intended to be more than they were in the final product. There seems to be the beginnings of a faction system in terms of consortiums and merc squads, I'd hazard a guess that you were at one point meant to be able to join one of each. The game seems to hint that your choices will effect the ending but I counted two (MAYBE three) Choices in the whole game, not sure if any but the last one mattered. If this game had some more dev time and polish it might have been something really interesting but as it stands it feels like an unfinished build of a better game.
I'd give it a 4/10
A few inexcusably annoying boss fights away from being an alright early access game.