Recent reviews by Stickguy101

If steam could give a mixed rating I would do that instead. ( Hi Nathan :) )

To simply get some mechanical complaints out of the way, i'll quote a different review:

"The dungeons are some of the most boring I have played in any game. It's square rooms connected by a corridor with an occasional hidden room that is accessed by a hole in the wall 95% of the time. Most of the places you explore are drab empty caves...

The characters are completely one-dimensional. Every single person you spend considerable time with in this game has one life event that completely defines who they are as a person. The only growth any of them have is overcoming that singular setback. Every person who joins your team, or is an ally to your team, has the exact same ethics and world outlook. There is never any tension in the party, and the main character says one line per discussion and every one around him fawns over how amazing he is."

Beyond that, here's a list of games that you should play instead of Metaphor ReFantazio:
- Any Other Atlus Game
- Any Souls Game
- Any Metal Gear Game
- Any Xenoblade Game
- Nier Automata
- Expedition 33 (As of writing have not played but probably better)
- Include your own game in the comments as well for others to play that ISN'T this game

Also I will throw in here as well that Metaphor ReFantazio is a game that has some good ideals at a surface level, and I like the positive message that it's trying to send out (looking at the book that the main character always reads from to convince people to join him). But it feels like the writers don't realize how often they contradict themselves on their messaging. Example is how the ideal world talks about how people vote for their king democratically and how this is a good thing in a peaceful world, yet our entire goal is to restore the monarchy. The system that allowed such a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of a world to exist in the firstplace. I want to hear other people in the comments try to throw in their own counters to this cause I might be missing something for all I know.

People who are crying over the most minor settings are really just looking for something to complaign about aren't they? (Or they're a "41 year old man" who doesn't "have friends to regularly play with")

Hell Yeah

All of the cool "Breaks the fourth wall" stuff that people praise Doki Doki for, this game does better, and they utilize it more than for shock or horror reasons! Every OneShot playthrough is personalized!

Pacific Drive is a game that is capable of so much, from calming atmospheric moments, to tense thrilling moments when it's do or die. However, due to some fundamental design choices, those rare moments are muddied and instead you have a game that barely manages to cross the finish line of a 6-7/10. I beat the game, and was able to nearly 100% the map before doing the final mission, so I believe I can give a somewhat informed review of the game.

First, i'd like to go over the good:
- Great Music, really helps to establish the mood, and I felt this was a game that made me curb my habit of playing music in the background when playing
- A great cast of characters, fully my own personal taste, but the characters in Pacific drive will be the thing that motivates you to continue forwards. You get to peer behind a curtain of these people's lives, and what you get is a very human story about people who all yearn for something more.
- Fun early game progression, when you start off the game you don't have much besides the bare minimum to get you started. Being able to salvage resources while maintaining fuel and power becomes a balancing act that's fun for a time, but as i'll mention in the bad section, this all falls apart at a certain point.

The Bad:
- Repetitive resource gathering. The atmosphere is something that I praise this game for, but the game often makes it hard for me to appreciate that atmosphere when i'm constantly stopping and starting my car to gather resources. You will spend 75% of your time gathering resources, 15% driving, and the other 10% in the garage preparing your car. It goes without saying that this constant looting cycle is one of the biggest downsides of the game, especially if you go in expecting to drive around more on longer expeditions.
- The Anomalies. For how this game presents itself, you would think that the anomalies are something that should be feared and avoided at all costs. When in reality, the anomalies turn out to be nothing more than some slight annoyances that only turn into real threats towards the late-game (but by that point you would've already upgraded your car to where that wouldn't really matter). The Anomalies are nothing more than weird traffic cones that will damage your car if you get too close.
- Car Diagnostics. Oh my god. Let it be known that while I will try to describe how annoying this mechanic is, I will never be able to capture the true essence of bad that this mechanic encapsulates. By the end-game I had to turn it off the resource cost of the diagnostics in the settings as it had already begun to be a ridiculous resource sink. To put it simply, car diagnostics refers to the action you have to perform to evaluate quirks that your car may have developed when out driving on an expedition. These quirks vary from slight annoyance like "turning on the windshield wiper results on the trunk opening" to brutally crippling such as "When steering wheel turns, battery or fuel drains". In order to fix these issues that randomly develop, you will have to perform meaninglessly tedious inspections of you car, or spend upgrade points to get a HINT as to what may be causing the issue. A terrible mechanic that should've never made it to the final release, if you do play the game yourself, know that you can disable it entirely in the settings and you won't face any negative consequences from doing so.
- Lackluster Ending, i'll leave this vague as to remain spoiler free, but the ending to the game doesn't answer any questions that the player would have by that point. Rather, it repeats to the player what they should already know, and feels more like DLC or sequel bait. Again, I won't say more than that, but with the context of the ending in mind, the narrative of the story arguably peaked about 2 or 3 main missions before the final one.

Hopefully this helped in some way, and aside from that, goodbye!

Definitely a bit short, but a nice vibe that I enjoyed!

Instructions...Unclear
Goals...Unclear
Game...Unclear
Recommended...Unclear

Ignoring all the joking stuff, there's something in here... I guess? I like underwater settings, but game design is intended to let people play the game... and I don't see how anyone who isn't ascended on crack or other substances can play B.C. Piezophile. I'm writing this negative review with the understanding that this is a Demo and things are subject to change. But I don't see why i'd spend money on a game that is actively trying to hide how you're supposed to play it. I'll keep an eye on this, perhaps things may change further down the line.

One of the best puzzle games i've ever played!

Must play blind, if you're reading this, buy the game and play it. Don't look any further at the reviews, it'll spoil the surprise :)

Worth every cent, but if I had to give each game a rating
1st game, a classic that gets a thumbs up and helped setup the foundation of the series
2nd game, No... just no, a generous 6/10 but that could change with further thought
3rd game, Amazing, took every lesson from the previous games took things to the next level

Simply Peak

don't do it