Recent reviews by ShadowsThoughts

https://youtu.be/_Wd0y2XTplA

A lot of fun. The character creator is still kinda weak IMO but visuals and audio are great. I get a bit of screen tearing in the middle of the screen, still trying to figure out what's causing that.

UI could still use some work, there are some awkward interactions. Some building issues with the lower build camera that are resolved by using the higher camera. Frustrating when it happens but not game breaking.

Hard is difficult but not insane, they've balanced it more since the demo.

A solid pirate themed survival crafter. If you like survival crafters like Valheim then you'll be right at home here. If you just want to be a pirate, this is the game for you.

https://youtu.be/gA23vkgUebM?si=jkKCoC-M_m0aGqrp

Let me start this off with the good. I think the combat is solid. The grid works better than the free form movement of BG3.

And I think that's it. That's the one thing it has on BG3. And yes, i'm measuring this against BG3 as I've seen content saying S2 is the next BG3. And it really just doesn't compare.

That's not entirely fair. The overworld hex map system is interesting and very reminiscent of a Westmarches game but the limitation on travel vs long rest means you're kind of forced to long rest more frequently than you need to which trivializes the combats you DO get into. So while I think it's a positive, it's also got some negatives that need to be ironed out to truely be a positive.

Encounters would be more interesting if they didn't feel like random arena fights and had more of the BG3 dungeon crawling vibe but I may just not have gotten to any big story dungeons. I did crawl the map quite a bit before continuing the story. You could definitely get lost just doing the side content though I did see a few repetitive encounters in my session where the setup was the same but slightly altered.

Controversial topic but one that's pretty prevalent in gaming at the moment.

Kinda woke
Pronouns
all characters are ugly AF. No one is allowed to be attractive.
-Might be due to early access but feels more like a choice
If you're looking for it you'll see some commentary. I wasn't particularly looking for it and noticed some eye roll inducing lines that could go either way. YMMV depending on your tolerance. It's not overt but feels mildly peppered in.

On the topic of ugly characters, the graphics are kinda mid. The world feels very bland. Again, early access, I expect this to get better but right now it feels over priced for the quality. It's nothing to write home about. BG3 in early access 6 years ago surpassed S2 by a noticable margin.

the writing is pretty damn bad. As a story lover and a reader of all the things. 8 hours in I just didn't give a ♥♥♥♥. I was done and ready to quit the game. I love story in all of my games. It's a driving motivator for me to keep playing. Mindless slaughter can be great but 99% of the time i want to have a reason for it. I crave the story. It just didn't hook me here.

Part of the problem may be:
poper nouns are too similar to be distinguishing or iconic.
-Fantasy names don't need to sound like you face rolled the keyboard and they don't all need to end in vowel + N.
-a lot of wyn ending names, Hyfrin, Gallivan, Colthannin, Falafyn, Gualafyn.
-Names like Neokos, Tor Wen, Caer Mar, The Beacon, Masgarth. They kind of fall flat.
-VS Neverwinter, Mythril Hall, Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale. These are all iconic and memorable but they also don't sound like gibberish. The most gibberish bit of those names, Baldur easily tracks as a name thanks to the possessive form with Gate. This is a persons Gate. It doesn't read a gibberish. It's not awkward to say like Farendragh.

And that's just the proper nouns for places. Character names are easily awkward and forgetable. I couldn't tell you one NPC name after 8 hours. I closed the game down and immediately wrote this and I can't even tell you the name of the NPC we traveled with for 6 of those 8 hours. T..E.. something? The halfling woman. Who was she again? An extra attack for my action economy.

The story telling is just as bad. Dialog is awkward and forced. Early access issues abound here with dialog not matching lip flap but I expect that to be fixed before 1.0. I'm trying to mention those EA issue but be fair in reminding everyone it's EA and they'll probably be fixed. But probably is not a guarentee and that's how it is as of this review.

Some of this could be fixed by a camp screen where you talk amongst yourself but you don't really have the same "Main Character" vibe that you don in BG3 so this might be more difficult to pull off here. There are some moments where the siblings bicker with each other and I liked the idea of it but it felt like it was written by an only child with no sibling or close relative bickering experience.

The UI is passable but there are some low hanging fruits that could be improved on like seeing everyones inventory to move items between instead of the right click or drag to their icon, and have to swap to them to do anything with it. Being able to see everyones inventory at a glance is prety valuable. Multi selecting items for moving/selling etc. Ability hot bar customization for frequently used abilities. Better icons for abilities. This is all stuff that could drastically change in EA but it was friction while I played.

A point of personal friction is that it seems as though they don't have the license for anything outside the SRD. When I play a DnD game I want to play DnD, not random Joe's version of DnD. There's a lot of homebrew here. That typically turns me off of in person games. I do like some of the class mechanics they had but one of the selling points was that this was more faithful to DnD rules than BG3 was. So given people are listing that as a reason Solasta is better, it was jarring to see so much homebrew in the game. If an in person DM were telling me about this much homebrew I would be thinking there may just be a better system than DnD to run their game in. I understand why and licenses are expensive. Doesn't change how it feels. It's not a major issue but it's definitely not a positive for me.

The audio and voice acting of the main cast kind of falls flat. Expecially the grunts and groans as you hear them 4X for every jump. Especially in a series of jumps. uhg, ooh, oogh, argh. uhg, ooh, oogh, argh. uhg, ooh, oogh, argh. Each time you climb a wall, vault a tree or hop down a ledge which there's quite a bit of running around. It was distractingly bad. Overall it just felt flat.

That's all without mentioning any of the object pop ins, Bethesda level character animation siezures, or characters missing half their model in cut scenes. those are obvious issues I again, would hope are fixed in the EA process. I can look past those and laugh at them. A bug here and there in an early access game is expected and accepted.

The real issue is that there's a theme here. Flat. The game just feels flat. Everything is kind of bland. If the game were a color it would be beige. I don't care enough about the game to love it or hate it. It evokes almost nothing after 8 hours.

Even with all the critiques, I really don't hate it. I'll even give it a try when it hits 1.0. At the moment though, I have 0 interest to fire the game up again. I hope they make it better. I love to see the competition. I want Tactical Adventures drive Larion to better heights like the Square Soft vs Enix rivalry back in Squares prime and vice versa. I'm all for game companies competing for our $. I think it leads to better games and gamers win no matter who comes out on top. So I genuinely hope they can drastically improve on the game and like I said, I'll check back in on 1.0. As it stands now, I regret picking it up and I'm glad I listened to my gut on S1.

Really solid demo. About 6 hours of gameplay on the hardest standard difficulty. A few rough edges and needs a bit more polish, but overall a fun experience.

Will play when it launches.

Fun indie Rhythm game that can get really complex really quick depending on your song choice and difficulty level.

The retro pixel art graphics are a fun, nostalgic twist.

I really enjoyed the ability to import any midi songs. This also pulls on that nostalgia as I pulled in a lot of old SNES game music when I was playing. (beware, they're harder than you think.)

There have been a number of significant updates since the game was originally shared with me. The devs are fully committed to supporting and enhancing the game. Always a good sign to see devs that are receptive to feedback and move fast getting that feedback implemented.

Rhythm games aren't typically my thing though I enjoyed myself. If you're a fan of rhythm and retro aesthetic, it's definitely a recommend. Especially for the price point.

I'm giving up on Blue Protocol. I was so hyped for this game and it's just a predatory cash grab.

My on stream rant: https://youtu.be/u67bl_hR7-Y

First off, the microtransactions in the game are extremely predatory. 10 different currencies with the free currencies unable to purchase much of real value. They are selling soft power in the form of Life Skill advancement. There are multiple monthly subscriptions that you can purchase. There is a gacha system where a guarenteed SSR pull will cost you over $200.

Games are a business and the developers need to make money. Excessive greed and asking for more than the game is worth is easy to see and not something I want to support. If we do support it we'll keep seeing it.

The time gating is pretty ridiculous. You get 20-30 minutes of progress before your time gated into repetitive grinding. I just want to play the game the way I want to play the game. Taking agency away from your players on how they want interact with your game is asinine. Again, this isn't something I want to see in other games so I'm not going to support it. Period.

The gameplay that Is there is pretty shallow. I'm a huge fan of story. I was reading all of the story. It still made no sense. It bounced all over the place from pending war one moment to a cozy cruise the next that lead to a billionaire losing all their money but the billionaire was actually an undercover agent and also related to the BBEG. That's just scratching the surface...

I'm the kind of person who will read all the side quests in an MMO. I like to know why I'm doing what I'm doing in a game. Once I lose narrative purpose for my actions I tend to burn out quick. I couldn't stand the story and writing here and even I was skipping dialog by the end.

The grind is pretty insane. Every. Single. Enemy. Kill 10, kill 50, kill 200. You don't even get anything out of it. The main story ensures you're at the soft cap as soon as you do it. The grind is purely for the sake of the grind. To eat your time because you can't progress in the story. There's no point to any of it except busy work that doesn't respect the players time. Again, not something I want to support. Is that a theme here? huh...

At least with the mindless grind they gave us auto nav and auto fight mechanics so I don't actually have to play the game! So... Why am I playing the game then?

All they had to do was be a decent MMO. They didn't need to even be a good MMO. We were all excited for an anime MMO where we can create our own anime protag. It's a shame they ruined such a promising game.

EDIT 9/21/25:

I honestly think this is narratively the worst Borderlands game to date. The tone here is disappointment over hating on the game. Deep, lingering disappointment from someone who has been with the franchise since day one shooting and looting in 4 player co-op as the Firehawk herself.

They tried to recapture what made Borderlands 2 great without knowing what made Borderlands 2 great. The key creative talent that made BL1 and BL2 left between 2015 and 2017. Even more senior individuals in 2021. Sadly, it shows as those who are left or replaced them do not understand the formula.

The characters are forgettable and unremarkable. Crush tries to be Roland and fails. Zadia tries to be Tannis and fails. Any emotions the game wants you to feel about these characters feel unearned and empty.

Where are the returning characters? Excluding Claptrap we've got 4? Out of all the previous Vault Hunters and supporting NPCs we pulled 4 back? Returning characters is a fundamental part of the Borderlands formula to me. Having this missing for no reason just doesn't feel good. Their absence here isn’t just noticeable, it’s jarring. Sanctuary is on planet and we just glaze over where anyone else is. Nothing is explained, not even a half assed reason why Marcus, Tannis, Ellie or Tina are nowhere to be found. Hell, I'd even take Ava with some off screen character growth.

Yes Borderlands is a looter shooter. Mindless gore and dopamine hits galore. It's also a strong narrative focused game. There has been a through line the entire series. Each game has had a satisfying story that felt complete. Some better than others but it was still there. Borderlands 4, with its open world format felt more like 4 half finished ideas cobbled together under an antagonist you barely interact with.

Strip away the narrative elements and beloved characters and you're left with a hollow echo of a Borderlands game. Mechanically familiar but emotionally empty. Fans don't come to Borderlands for just the looter shooter mechanics. We come for the story, the characters and the world. Without these elements we're left with something that plays like Borderlands but doesn't *feel* like Borderlands.

This game feels like it's trying to emulate Borderlands 2 while also being a soft reboot of the franchise and, in my opinion, it failed on both accounts.

What's worse is this doesn't even cover the mechanical failures or performance issues. Guns all feel the same with bigger numbers. The open world just adds busy work and removes narrative focus. The UI is atrocious and buggy as hell. The Vault Hunters themselves are the least interesting in the series and often feel as though 2 people wrote the character with very different ideas of who the character is. There are so many other shortcomings in this game. The narrative is just the single most disappointing aspect to me.




Edit. Streaming for 2.5 hours today and crashed half a dozen times. It's gotten worse over night somehow. This is embarassing.

Performance issues and crashes on a 4080 super. ~14 hour stream and 6 crashes. Pretty much crashed right around the 2:10 - 2:10 hour marker. Was very consistent.

Launch day stream: https://www.youtube.com/live/scSfE6MNQH4

As far as the gameplay itself I'm fairly mixed on. There's definitely things to like. Some QoL things from 3 have been removed. The UI is generally worse. Who th thought it was a good idea to default sort by manufacturer instead of quality or level? Why doesn't it remember my selection? Who are there so many yellow dots on everything. Why don't they go away? Why do they randomly and erratically go away and appear as I click tab to tab.

The game needed another 6 months of polish before they released it.

The game doesn't feel like a main line entry to the franchise. This feels more like it should be a spin off. It doesn't feel like a Borderlands game. It feels more like Skyrim or Zelda, in not a good way. It's something uncanny. Hard to put a finger on. I don't think the open world works. It just doesn't feel right for a BL game. It may grow on me but first impressions are very mid.

The new movement mechanics are very meh. Neat but uninteresting. Not something worth all the hype they were throwing around. Weird marketing move.

There are a number of story beats that feel like they were copy pasted out of BL2. Again, not in a good way. Like someone copied your homework and changed a few key sentences so it makes no sense. Like the people who made BL1 and 2 aren't there and the people left behind are trying to recreate that magic but don't really understand why it was magical in the first place.


Overall. The game so far as been exceptionally mid. It needed to cook. Wait for a sale and see if it gets better.

Infested with bots. "player" enemies in PvP run in a straight line towards you ignoring mobs. You can kite them in circles letting mobs kill them. Player base in 5-600s. Sadly the game seems DOA. Was interesting mechanics wise and was having a decent time until I jumped into a PvE match and ran into 3 bots in a few minutes. Seems like it's a common problem/complaint. If the population goes up and the bots go down it may be worth a play, sadly it looks like the game is dead.

Bot clip 1 of 3 from the same game
https://www.twitch.tv/shadowsthoughts/clip/ColdbloodedHonestJaguarPoooound-OOHi0ePemePK91Kz

An amazing Early Access Beta launch.

https://youtu.be/Y11v7DsYiiI

The building is some of the most polished I've seen in a survival crafter. I'd love a grid system for placing decorations.

Gathering is a bit tedious before you get your magic but that's to be expected from the genre.

Crafting feels very much like Valheim. Find a new ingredient and unlock new crafting recipes but there is an element of trial and error with cooking. I like the mix here.

Graphically the game is ok. Not my favorite graphic style but it will be more timeless than something hyper realistic.

Combat, I barely scratched the surface here. There seems to some depth here but the initial combat was very basic.

Animation locking and ability queuing are fairly annoying. I hope this changes. The harvesting attacks are particularly long to get stuck in when you need to slightly reposition.

I do wish the Talent "Tree" was more tree and less stick. It's very linear with no choices. This in my mind will lead all characters to be exactly the same with no reason to need a buddy to play with or multiple characters. Choices are important even if the end goal leads to knowing everything anyway.

The character creator is fairly lack luster. It IS early access so I'm hoping this is expanded on with more options.

I have definitely not explored all this game has to offer and can't wait to play more.

One of the best games since Alyx. Apologies for the longer video but it does feel like one of those can't put down games. So glad I picked it up. And it's on sale atm for 30% off. Convenient!

https://youtu.be/iJy2RMLHlq0

Very high production quality. The voice acting is great. The audio is creepy and immersive. Graphically very appealing. The eye contact that NPCs give you. Plenty of physics objects to interact with.

Starts out a bit slow but ramped up pretty quick near the end. Can' wait to get some bigger mutants and bigger guns. Would be nice to have a melee option (unless I just haven't figured it out) alah that NPC sucker punching that mutant in the intro.

The game is outstanding in most areas. The only two critiques I have are a very minor one and a very major one.

The minor one, I felt some drift on the gun sights. Almost as if there were some type of smoothing happening. It didn't feel as tight to make precise adjustments. It wasn't too egregious but just enough for that uncanny valley feeling of something being slightly off. It's entirely possible that it's just a skill issue but it felt ever so slightly off.

The major issue is the saving. If I can't exit the game and be confident that the game is going to pick up exactly where I left off, that's a HUGE problem. Why is there no save and quit? I don't really feel like check points have a place in story based games like this. A platformer sure, but not here. It's also not made very clear where exactly those checkpoints are. When I stop for the night I have NO IDEA where I'll be picking back up. Is it a minute back? Is it 10 minutes back? Or is it 2 minutes in the future to spawning into a room I never entered!? I loved the game but this is a major issue that I hope gets patched ASAP.

Overall, well worth the cost. Especially on sale.

Drama:
I was not following the game until two days before launch. I don't have any insight into the price change or the scope change of the game. My review below is based solely off the first hour or so of gameplay. If the scope change and last minute price hike claims are legitimate then I would absolutely criticize them for that.

https://youtu.be/-bmBOqCVqAA

Game:
The moment to moment gameplay was engaging. Still very early but playing on the hardest difficulty still felt doable and fair. It does feel like you need to balance exploration and speed as it felt like Xenos would spawn around you if you lingered too long. A good way to keep tension high and preventing the player from feeling to safe. I do like to explore and loot all the things though so it may get a bit frustrating.

Even on medium settings, the game was visually satisfying. Very immersive. I felt like I stepped right into an Aliens movie and that's exactly what I wanted! The Xenomorphs looked amazing. The death scenes were brutally gore-geous.

The audio feels decently put together. The ambient noises keep your head on a swivel and tension high. The voice acting for the intel pieces was well done.

The story line, even though I've just brushed the surface of it, seems fairly engaging. It's mainly delivered through snooping in peoples emails when you get to a terminal and piecing things together. Hopefully we get some more direct answers as we play. I'm looking forward to finding out more.

I haven't experienced any of the issues/bugs I've seen mentioned in other reviews while running a 4080 Super and a Valve Index. The initial IK on your arms when you're stuck in your flight chair is pretty atrocious. It makes a very bad first impression. Arms rotating at weird angles and just hands not going where you wanted them to go. It was pretty bad. Would love to see this addressed solely because it's a bad first impression. Once you're out of the chair the IK is pretty decent and your body generally moves how you expect it to. Though I did get stuck in a wall at one point I did manage to get myself unstuck. This could be a problem in the future when not near a ladder. Also an issues is trying to grab ammunition from tight spaces. Grabbing things and collision on the arms in tight lockers needs some tweaking and polish.

Overall the game delivered exactly what I wanted out of an Aliens VR game. If "Part 1" ends up being half a game, I may reverse my review. I think game needs to hit the 5-6 hour mark or more to warrant the price at a bare minimum. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint.