Recent reviews by SplendidHowl

If you've ever wanted a video game that actually respects Dungeons & Dragons rules — not "inspired by," not "loosely based on," but genuinely enforces them — Solasta II is your game. Spell slots matter. Positioning matters. Flanking matters. The grid-based movement is chef's kiss, rewarding tactical minds and punishing those who just spam attack like it's a mobile clicker. Objectives are clear, class customization is deep, and — be still my heart — character alignment is back and it means something. Lawful Good? Chaotic Evil? You can actually play it. That alone earns a standing ovation.

So yes, the bones are excellent. Now let's talk about... the face.

The character creator is where things get humbling. The developers promised faces on par with Baldur's Gate 3. Reader, they are not. BG3 has set the bar so high it practically lives in orbit, and Solasta II's character faces are still firmly earthbound — sometimes underground. Telling male and female characters apart can feel like a guessing game, and the slider interface is clunkier than a goblin in full plate armor. A game in 2025 should let you make a hero who looks like a hero, not a medieval NPC who witnessed something unspeakable. Keep it simple: give us clearly defined options, clean aesthetics, no identity politics muddying the waters. That era is over. Players just want to make cool-looking characters — man, woman, or monster — without a sociology lecture attached.

The immersion issues don't stop at the character screen. Once you're in the world, interactable items feel sparse and oddly stubborn — you'll click on something that clearly should be pickable and get nothing. The dialogue system, while decent, doesn't seem to pull on your alignment thread the way it should. Your Chaotic Neutral rogue can apparently chat like a paladin with zero consequence. Missed opportunity.

Movement — both your characters' and the camera's — needs some love. The camera handles like a shopping cart with a wonky wheel, and character locomotion occasionally looks like they're skating on invisible ice. For a game that nails tactical positioning, it's a bit ironic that actually moving feels unpolished.

Graphics overall are good — not bad, genuinely decent — but "decent" next to the current competition starts feeling like showing up to a dinner party in a tracksuit. A visual bump across the board would do wonders, because the world has potential and deserves to be shown off properly.

The verdict: Solasta II is a genuinely great tactical RPG for D&D lovers, and the rule implementation alone makes it worth recommending to the right audience. But it's playing in the same league as Baldur's Gate 3 now, whether it wants to or not — and on presentation, interface polish, and reactive storytelling, it still has ground to cover. The foundation is strong. The house just needs some serious renovation.

Not Recommended Yet — with a to-do list for the devs before flipping to Recommended.

Marathon is Bungie's weakest major release in memory, the studio at its most ambitious and least self-aware, and a game so foundationally flawed across so many dimensions that no patch cycle is realistically going to save it.

The UI manages to be both cluttered and unhelpful simultaneously, a genuinely difficult achievement. Colors clash, icons blur together, and the HUD treats information hierarchy as a suggestion. For a game demanding split-second decisions, making players squint at their inventory is a curious design philosophy. The menus feel built for a living-room distance and loosely adapted for a monitor, with nothing that takes advantage of what a PC setup actually offers in terms of precision, space, or information density.

The extraction loop swings between uneventful wandering and instant death, with pacing that feels less "tuned" and more "randomly generated." Solo players are at a particular disadvantage in a game clearly balanced around premade squads, and PC players bear the brunt of that imbalance most acutely.

Console players can restrict cross-play; PC players largely cannot. This is not a technical limitation. It is a product decision, and it makes PC players second-class citizens in their own game. No input-based matchmaking, no clean cross-play toggle, no meaningful platform-specific options -- just mouse-and-keyboard players forcibly pooled with aim-assist controllers in a fast-TTK shooter where that disparity is very much felt. In 2026, PC is the most capable, most flexible, and most demanding gaming platform available, and a serious developer would treat it accordingly. Instead, Marathon subordinates the entire PC experience to Sony's console matchmaking health, because keeping console lobbies populated apparently outweighs basic respect for the platform.

The gunplay, once Bungie's calling card, is surprisingly forgettable. Weapons lack weight, loot icons look nearly identical, and the sound design could generously be described as "functional." Enemies drop without convincing stagger or force, firefights lack physicality, and the audio blends into a grey mush that neither sells the fantasy of high-tech combat nor provides the positional awareness an extraction shooter demands. It does not remind you of Halo or Destiny. It does not remind you of much at all.

The monetization follows a familiar pattern: box price plus premium currency whose bundle sizes are calibrated so you always spend slightly more than intended. The Reward Pass offers one character skin for its full duration. Bold. Bungie has navigated this exact controversy before with Destiny, and the fact that Marathon launches with the same mechanics intact suggests the lesson retained was not "do better" but rather "fix it only when the backlash forces you to."

Now, the lore. On paper the premise is genuinely compelling: you are a former human whose consciousness has been digitized, sold, and endlessly transferred into leased biosynthetic shells. Corporations own the bodies, manufacture personality matrices that partially override your mind, and patch your memories when repeated deaths cause degradation. Your identity is a configurable asset on someone else's balance sheet. There is no continuous, irreplaceable "you" -- just a stack of licenses and backups that can be edited, restarted, or quietly deleted when you stop being profitable.

That is a rich philosophical setup, and Marathon does almost nothing with it. The game presents corporate ownership of consciousness as atmospheric worldbuilding rather than something worth interrogating. More pressingly, this is a Teen-rated title, marketed to players who are still forming their understanding of identity, autonomy, and the relationship between individuals and institutions. Presenting the erasure of selfhood into corporate property not as a warning but as cool sci-fi backdrop -- while simultaneously running a monetization model that treats players as recurring revenue units -- is not just a missed opportunity. It is actively contrary to basic human values. A game whose central premise is the commodification of human consciousness has no business being placed in front of teenagers. It belongs in the hands of adults with enough life experience to engage with those ideas critically, not players who are being quietly conditioned to find them normal.

Marathon is not a game in need of improvement. It is a game in need of a different game.

Universe Sandbox is an incredible physics‑based space simulator that delivers stunning visuals and an amazingly realistic physics engine, letting me experiment with awesome black hole simulations, planet‑orbit habitability simulations, and a crazy‑nice galaxy view. While exploring the actual solar system, I can compare the true‑to‑scale sizes of planets against each other and the Sun, and the breathtaking graphics—detailed planetary surfaces, light‑warping black holes, and procedurally generated galaxies—make every session feel like a journey through the cosmos. Its N‑body Newtonian simulation accurately models gravity, collisions, orbital mechanics, and climate effects, inspiring my curiosity and encouraging experimentation as I adjust parameters, speed up or slow down time, and immediately see the consequences. This turns abstract science into tangible, hands‑on discovery that educates while entertaining and promotes endless creativity.

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.