Recent reviews by SplendidHowl

The game has an impressive energy and visual flair, but the overall experience feels a bit too hectic to be consistently enjoyable. Battles often become chaotic, and without a reliable dodge or evasive mechanic, it can feel like there’s little room for skillful maneuvering once things get crowded.

Balance also seems off at times — some weapons or abilities dominate while others underperform, and it’s hard to understand how much damage each attack really does. Clearer feedback and better damage indicators would go a long way toward making combat feel more strategic and satisfying.

On a broader note, I found myself wondering what the larger purpose or narrative focus of the game is supposed to be. While it’s visually cohesive, its thematic direction and tone can feel muddled — particularly because the style and perspective seem very American in a way that might not resonate with European audiences. It’s not overtly exclusionary, but the tone sometimes feels culturally narrow rather than universal.

That said, there’s a lot of potential here. With improved clarity, balance, and a bit more global nuance, this game could reach a much wider and more appreciative audience.

ARC Raiders presents an entertaining extraction shooter featuring an engaging core loop of gathering loot and extracting—or risking the loss of everything carried in—but it eventually leads to frustration.

The core gameplay centers on looting remnants on fixed layouts like the Dam or Buried City, assembling upgrades from scavenged parts in your underground workshop, and extracting before ARC machines or rival Raiders intervene—potentially losing all gear. Upgrading mechanics are adequate and provide early satisfaction, with risk-reward dynamics enhanced by threats like drones and bots maintaining interest at first. However, certain design limitations, such as extraction challenges and storage restrictions, promote repeatability in ways that extend playtime without adding substantial depth, shifting early excitement toward routine.

Questlines offer structure through rewards and skill unlocks, yet guidance is limited, resulting in rapid disorganization and confusion as objectives accumulate unclearly. Progression is structured to encourage repeated sessions, which may not sustain long-term engagement, particularly for those newer to the genre.

Initial PvP encounters amid PvE threats create tense and enjoyable moments, but they can become discouraging over time, sometimes prompting players to exit sessions prematurely due to balance issues like matchmaking gaps. The lack of a dedicated PvE-only mode, such as against machine swarms, limits options for solo play and replay value—an area where community feedback highlights room for improvement, impacting overall accessibility.

With over 90 hours logged, I can confidently say Dune: Awakening is one of the most compelling survival games. It takes the harsh mystique of Arrakis and turns it into a living, breathing ecosystem that challenges and rewards in equal measure.

The water survival mechanics are brilliantly interwoven into everyday play — managing hydration isn't just a gimmick, it’s a tense, strategic layer that forces you to constantly assess your environment and decisions. Resource gathering feels intuitive yet rewarding, with systems that encourage exploration while avoiding monotony. Base-building is another highlight: deep, modular, and surprisingly creative. It's not just about functionality, but also expression — a real triumph in design.

What truly elevates Dune: Awakening is its shared-world experience. Whether you’re a lone Fremen wandering the dunes or part of a tightly knit group, the game accommodates all play styles without forcing conflict or dependence. Player interaction feels organic rather than intrusive, giving the world a sense of scale and unpredictability.

Room for Improvement: Spice for the Solitary

While the overall balance of the game is impressive, one area that could use refinement is spice harvesting for solo players. The current system tends to favor larger, coordinated groups, making it disproportionately risky and punishing for those who prefer a solitary path. Tweaks such as smaller-scale spice events, stealth-focused alternatives, or dynamic risk scaling could help bridge that gap and make spice gathering a more accessible pursuit for solo adventurers without diluting its danger or significance.

Final Thoughts

Dune: Awakening is a masterclass in atmosphere, survival mechanics, and world-building. Whether you're a fan of the Dune universe or just love a richly designed survival experience, this game is well worth your time. It captures the spirit of Dune while delivering something fresh, vast, and utterly absorbing. Highly recommended.

First time I see a Civilization game that does not have Greece and a Greek leader. The interface is cumbersome and slow, auto-exploration seems to be missing, interface is difficult to understand compared to previous Civ games. Overall, it seems the game was released very prematurely, and probably needs at least 12 more months of work before it can be called launched. Not sure why this game was released with such low quality. Do not buy if you expect a proper Civ experience, too far away from the real deal. You will be disappointed.

Great repeatability, and open scenario. Fantastic base building, research, material gathering realism.

The game has barely any roleplaying, the story is too linear, the exploration is extremely limited, and the controls and playability are very limited, overly optimized for console/controller, instead of going full-on mouse and keyboard. Lots of boring unwarranted monologue of characters, cumbersome movement, inability jump freely in the environment and general lack of character agility. It is a complete disappointment and does not match the previous experience with Dragon Age 2 and other chapters of the series. I strongly do not recommend the game, it is extremely far away from what I was expecting, and does not meet my expectations by far.

We spread managed democracy to Sony.

Excellent story, character progression, and game length.

There has been a lot of marketing around Jedi Survivor. Multiple advertisements across the media creating fanfare to accelerate the sales of the title. The graphics of the game are excellent, with greatly detailed landscapes and amazing effects. Some characters are familiar to well-known stories, but this is where all the good things end.

The game is a disaster from a playability point of view. It is optimized for controller instead of mouse+keyboard, limiting the options for real players, forcing into key combos that make no sense, instead of single key presses. The control feels sluggish, the movement of the character is extremely limited to basic movement within delimited space. Combat is repetitive, and non-engaging. Character customization is also ridiculously poor, with the playable character being forcefully a redhead instead of allowing the player to build their own. Lots of advertising into how customizable the playable character is to only end up meeting with full disappointment at the limited options.

The story of the game itself is another disaster. It's completely linear, there is barely any decision-making. Typical star wars franchise game play surrounding light side versus dark side of the force, and enabling the character to progress in either or neutral direction is consistently missing. The story is boring, with good and bad fully set instead of offering an ambiguous scenario.

Lastly, there is no blood, gore and death dramatism. Instead, a completely family friendly and this disappointing title that does not honor the star wars franchise, but instead stains it.

In short, this is a game with good looks, but bad game play. Certainly not recommended, and deserving of a boycott. Disney taking over the Star Wars franchise has landed us with mediocre games, and poor, slow, completely linear story. One could say this is an AAA game for children ages 5-9. A terrible business decision.

Good story, but difficulty a bit too high.