Recent reviews by Struthio

Absolutely amazing game. I've replayed it several, SEVERAL Times and i plan to 100% the original as well.

You'd think a 2d game could never become stealth. This game changes that. It's so good. The story in my opinion is handled a bit poorly and if you have any remote ability to take a step back and reflect, the final option becomes funnily one sided, but it's clear to me that the game is purely for gameplay and the story is just a side dish, so it's lacking depth is acceptable - if they handled it better, maybe it could have been something equal to dishonored, with both amazing gameplay and great story, but still i find mark of the ninja incredibly fun.

The stealth kills are dynamic and as time passes, you become more daring. The outfits and different tools really elevate replayability and make the entire game just a lot more fun. There's a lot of stuff you can find in the game even several dozens of hours in - like for example, when you throw dead bodies to a guard's line of sight, they will become terrified, very much like the Hisomu terror darts, the hangman's hythm or the Oni outfit.

You can clearly trace your progression through the game very easily. Even as far as level 1, if you have completed level 2, the level is much easier and you can complete it much faster. Along with unlocking different kill techniques and gadgets.

However, there's 2 complaints i have. There is no way to revert/"unbuy" techniques or gadget upgrades. The moment you get them, you can never unequip them, which means you ALWAYS run them. You'd think that's a good thing but it's not. What if i want to run the last level but without the upgrade that makes my running quieter? OR what if i want to play the game without buying any kill techniques? Or what if i don't like one of the upgrades and i prefer the old gadget, like the spike trap or hisomu dart (Whose upgrade makes the person you hit commit suicide)? It's a lost opportunity as, even if you want to replay through the game, you will be so overpowered for the early levels, it will just be less fun. Not at first, no, you will enjoy how you can kill the goons, but after you play as long as i have, you really just start speedrunning through levels.

second complaint is jank. I've got caught more because of jank rather than my own incompetence. A guard heard 3 noises and never went back to his original post, leaving him to watch the vent with no other exit. A guard hears a kunai near him, checks it out, you jump over him and despite looking the other way, he still sees you. A sniper shoots you through a vent. A laser destroys you because the buttons don't know what you're doing and they decided you want to jump to the top of the box instead of stay to the side. It's really annoying.

That said, the game is really good. I recommend it. I have multiple hours on both this version and the og one and i recommend getting both. I wish Klei paid more homage to Mark of the ninjaplier and Shank because THESE are what launched the studio, and i always feel sad when i don't see shank on their studio banner, and i have a feeling mark will be removed too.

All in all, 8/10. Story is lacking and there's some jank, but infinitely replayable and tons of fun

It's alright. That's it. It's a good game but you have no real reason to replay it as it's mostly story based and offers no real challenge. If i had to be honest, i played it on some weak hardware and it lagged quite a bit, to the point one of the sections with a helicopter nearly softlocked me because my game lagged so hard.

All in all, it's a good game but only for one playthrough. It's a really good playthrough and i watched the opening cinematic when i was 5 when my dad played the game. It was really good and to this day i really like the game, but don't expect anything worthwhile out of it. In my opinion, the underground character (the rat i think) is a bit shoehorned and the story could do well with some changes but i like the game. It's fun. The combat is weak but that's not it's main selling point so it's good enough for what it is. Good game, but only play every year or so, when you forget the general structure.

I think a 6 or 7 out of 10 is reasonable and fair. It's a good game, it just has no reason for you to stick around and replay it, along with some aspects where it's lacking, but overall pleasant experience.

In my opinion, the best game in the trilogy. I am dead serious. I felt actually invested in the lore, the gameplay encourages you to take a slow approach and try to use your brain. "Wuaaaah wuauaaaahhhh my rapier can't pierce armour because i'm not an anime protag wuaahaaaah"

adaptability is, the name of the game. Did it as a stat make the game worse? Yes. Are there any other problems in the game? Only 2. Bad enemy placement which leads to artificial difficulty and the general jank of dark souls. But frankly, all 3 of those have been beaten more than a dead horse. There is no reason to keep going.

I would much rather the creative and in general GOOD game that dark souls 2 is, as well as the great sequel it also is. It progresses the lore in a good way, it's interesting, the areas are fun and interesting to explore - for god's sake, the poison area is a misty mine instead of a bog, do you understand how much the gears in fromslop's head were grinding to come up with anything OTHER than a poisonous bog?

I know it's a meme ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on dark souls but quite frankly, it is the only reason elden ring is what it is and why we even have fashion souls. The amount of weapons and armour is far greater than what we have in DS1 and ds2 was the reference fromslop used for elden ring in many departments, specifically for dual wielding weapons as well. Dark souls 2 has achieved a lot of things and people do not acknowledge that because some idiot youtuber or reddit thread filled with lobotomites told them that it's a bad game. Yeah dumbass, it's a bad game if you only use one weapon and get stuck in the iron keep because you refuse to adapt. These same people will play a fighting game and never adapt to their enemy's playstyle, then say that every character except the one they play is either broken, overpowered or that their enemy cheated. Get real.

Nothing will ever beat the first time you reach majula. Nor when you reach the tower. Nor when you go to the forest of giants and the quarry. Every section is unique and it will make you feel like you're exploring a dying world. Except this time, it's actually interesting and not overdone, like dark souls 1. Dark souls 1 suffers from first game fatigue, like dead space 1 does. Everyone has gone into so much depth about literally everything that every time I try to get back into it, it's incredibly boring, tedious and honestly, just mundane. Dead space doesn't suffer from that because it's innovating and the gameplay loop will always remain the same, despite how you may tackle it. With dark souls, you just can't do that. You already know where all the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ items are, what to avoid and what to try and rush. I give Hollow knight a tough love because frankly, It's start to early game progression is.... just bad. The crossroads suck. But dark souls 2? It has a great tutorial, partly because you can just skip it. Everything in dark souls 2 is just, far more interesting than every other game, save for bloodborne. Bloodborne used to be my favourite but frankly, ds2 just won that place. It's a superior game to all others in the souls series once you accept it's flaws. Maybe the lack of content, especially from Vaati vidya, has helped it, because there is still a sense of mystique and wonder. The world is just, far more interesting, the enemies are far more fun to fight and think around, the platforming is still janky and annoying and i love it. It is just so... fun. It feels so genuine. I would much rather this dark souls 2 than a soulless "Dark souls 1 - but with a 2 this time!". My favourite game in the series. It has some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, but please try it.

♥♥♥♥ the shrine though.

Very nice little game. It's just casual fun, no real profound message or a revolution to the industry - just some old school gaming. Played for a VEEEEERY long time both on android and on my brother's account, around 150 hours combined. I'd buy it, it's very nice fun with friends and mastering each character is really fun. If i had to guess, the hardest one is Shield, and my favourite is Recon. I got every star on every mission, including the challenges - it was all worth it. I love playing like an american and british police officer! Body cam off since 2012

I'm not the best Into the Breach player. I struggle a lot, it's a really hard game, much harder than ftl in my opinion. I am also, not at all as familiar with it as i am with FTL or battle brothers. I haven't played it much but the little I did play, i did have fun in.

There's a lot of things it does well. Like in ftl, the art style is amazing, the worldbuilding is... it personally made my heart ache a little, the music is great (albeit inferior to FTL but FTL was a masterclass in music so not at all an insult) and the unique gameplay - specifically you being insentivised to use enemy numbers to your benefit, as well as the unique mechs you unlock - is incredibly rewarding. I find the way you unlock new mech squads is very fun and interactive, but you will eventually hit a wall - at some point in your playthrough, you will have a lot of mech squads and therefore, have completed 1 or 2 achievements from them - and not the last one because it's hard. But to get a new squad, you need to complete 3 more hard achievements, likely by 3 different squads, therefore, your progression is stumped. It's a good method, it just has an inevitable brick wall you will need to scale, one you will have trouble with if you are not a fanatic of the game .

The pilots are handled pretty well, and I find it very... wholesome that they include 3 easter eggs. You really do not see many games or companies pay homage to what made them what they are today. Seeing ITB pay tribute and homage to FTL makes me feel tingly inside. I really appreciate seeing something modern acknowledge something that i grew up with as the masterpiece it is. The pilot system itself works really well, and i find that the small differences between robotic and human pilots to be quite charming.

There is but only one issue - Sometimes, the game simply sets you up to fail. You cannot protect the city without one of your mechs dying, you cannot survive that one extra round without at least 2 buildings not collapsing, you cannot keep those buildings standing without your mission objective, let's say, a train not being conquered - "That's the point of the game, hard choices" and in normal circumstances, I would agree, but a lot of times, these hard choices come every third turn or so. Truly impossible situations with no viable out are rare but there's a lot very close to them, and it sucks.

that being said, the game just, is simply good. Not equal to FTL at all, but a very good game on it's own, all things considered. I do recommend buying it full price, purely because the devs deserve it, it's a reasonable asking price and the game is simply, a really good roguelike that i think you can get a lot of mileage out of. Personally i stopped for a bit out of frustration of my halt in momentum during progression but i'll play again. It's really interesting and i really wanna dive in this world again.

8/10

Charming little game - i grew up with it. The music had engraved itself into mine, my brother's and my father's memories. I downloaded the android version one day, was listening to the music and my brother dead ass looked me in the eyes and said "Pixel heroes?". Absolute cinema. One of my childhood games, i try to get all of my friends at least one copy. It's honestly surprising it released in 2015 - i was expecting it to be older, like maybe 2012 or 2009.

If i had to give some complaints - an X2 speed would be welcome, as the game is fairly slow, the rng is... pretty bad, when you have no armour that counters the next area you'll go to and the heroes are not created equal, making some achievements or runs difficult to get (The cleric is by far the best healer in the game, and once you beat the third difficulty, you get infinite rerolls for heroes so, why bother with anyone else? Especially the randomisers) - And the classic, no cross progression. That's a big oof that shattered pixel dungeon also suffers on. I recommend using SAM to at least align the achievements that you may have on android but not on here.

That being said - the game is good. Maybe not a very good pc game, but if you ever need to play with one hand or just want to chill one day, this game just does that. I grew up with this, i get one copy for all my friends whether they want it or not and it will always have a place in my heart. Get it and you will not be disappointed.

Super cool game that has nearly no bad and almost certainly a lot of good. Inkulinati does a lot of good stuff and not really anything bad - but it doesn't really do anything extraordinarily well either.

Inkulinati dives into Historical manuscripts and uses that artstyle to form a very cozy and funny game. I'm fairly certain the creature design (the little monsters with two arms and weapons, along with the bishop) are based on another creature that has a funny little title "A very useful creature", in Flanders, with the same exact design as the Creature with an Axe unit in the game. As someone with a big interest in history, military history mainly, I really appreciate the commitment. On this note, the music itself is really nice and the UI and tooltips are intuitive and work as intended, alongside with giving you the amount of information you'd need - they do their job well. If i had to be pedantic, i'd say the music gets stale too quickly and that it should have more tracks, but in all honesty, with games like these, fights in tight spaces and darkest dungeon or just turn based games in general, i turn the music off and play a video on the background. Still just something i'd like changed.

As for gameplay, it's deeper than I anticipated but just not deep enough and maybe just a bit slow. Don't get me wrong, it's an incredible game, and the different amount of starting decks, powers, units, actions, etc make it an incredibly replayable game, but it's just fairly slow. You're at your weakest when you are starting - your beasts accumulate boredom and you don't have more options other than to keep drawing them and you HAVE to take fights you may not be prepared for purely to find more beasts otherwise you will suffer. This issue is further exacerbated on higher difficulties where you have less health, less quills and beasts in general gain more boredom and deal more damage. I Wouldn't say it's bad game design, but it's one of those games where you simply need to start strong or you won't get far - like pixel dungeon. The opposite of this type of game i'd say is fights in tight spaces, where you can make do with stuff you'll find, it just won't be ideal.

That being said, the game IS complex and has a fair amount of depth, from natural objects like Beans, gates, maws of hell, ink blots, chests, etc to units like the fish and dogs. It has a really high skill ceiling and almost every deck has no counter and is inherently strong in it's own way - which means, there's no cheap victories on either end and you have to actively work towards victory, while learning every single army. I personally only had 3 succesful runs, one on easy and 2 on normal - and from my experience, barks of war is probably the best deck, but the bunnies and devils are also very fun too, i've probably had a lot more fun with the devils actually despite their weak first impression and the least with the bunnies. The devils and the bunnies are very similiar in playstyle but the devils are in my opinion, simply stronger. They just need to inflict bleed on the enemy tiny and/or their beasts - something really easy and really strong on levels with a lot of elevation, whereas bunnies have 2 turns of them being mediocre to bad and only AFTER the second nap do they become actively good - which means, to get the highest amount of mileage out of them, you either need to keep them alive for two rounds or dedicate hand actions exactly for that, something that the front liners are not supposed to do - stay alive. Really good for ranged units or beasts that stay alive for more, but for shield and pike rabbits? Nah. I am currently in a hard run with fish and it's HARD but i see a lot of parallels with the devils and once again, devils are superior, but i'll keep an open mind.

I genuinely really love inkulinati. If i had to say anything negative, there would only be two things.
1. It's too slow. It's too slow to start, you get things too slowly and you advance too slowly. It's REALLY fun don't get me wrong, but i find myself bored only AT the start. I finish one run hot with a deck that i feel like i mastered and then i have to start another run with a different army for more stars and then learn that army and then struggle through getting more beasts... It's just a slog. A self imposed slog, but a slog non the less, and thanks to inkulinati not being that big, there's not many guides on the armies, so you have to figure them out yourself. I have no issue with that, but fore more complex armies like the fish or the pigeons... it's just hard and it needs a lot of investment. I'm fine with giving it that investment, but the early game is just a very inherit and necessary weak point.

2. Not enough skins. I understand that there's a dlc for that BUT! There's no crusader or nun skin. I played the tutorial, i thought "Hell ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ yeah i get to play as a cool ass crusader" and then bam. Nada. Godfrey is still in the game but he's a boss - which is really cool and i feel the Heavy Tiny is a good effect for him, but i wish i could play as a crusader or knight as well. Anything would do, even some pleb with a nasal helm and a byrnie. like, not cool yo.

That being said... inkulinati IS a good game. It's worth the money. I do enjoy the game. You just need to endure the hardship of a new run and THEN you get to pop off and THEN you start having fun. And when you start having fun, it, genuinely is fun. It really is a fun time and when you get a hard earned victory, you really do feel accomplished - and all that with the message of appreciating history and trying to relive it through a game. Just out of principle of something celebrating european history and sharing that excitement and interest with other people through an educational game is just really nice. I really enjoy it. It's also a really good way to learn other languages too, as i had it set to German long before my exams for the language. I really appreciate Inkulinati's existence and, had it not existed, i wouldn't really feel anything deep, but i'd definitely feel bummed that it did not come to fruition. No strong feelings but overall, a very enjoyable experience that i do recommend people try.

8/10, would recommend and will most likely enjoy playing for give or take 200 hours.

The way i would describe blazing deserts is bold. It tries a lot of new things, majority good but with the few bad being quite hefty. But in general, i enjoy this dlc and am fully willing to take the bad as they do in general support what the dlc is trying to go for.

The good.

For one, if you know me, you know I love the crusades. This game does not only let you go crusading, it also lets you jihad - basically the crusade of islam. So, in short, ♥♥♥♥ yeah.
Secondly, the new art and amount of weaponry, along with classes, events, contracts and retinue system are nearly paramount for your enjoyment of the game - once you try it with any achievements at all, you simply can not go back to pure vanilla. If all dlc had to go for one to stay, this would be the one staying.
thirdly, i enjoy the aesthetic of the new faction and how it contrasts in the world. If i had to nitpick, i'd say it's really confusing how towns and cities are only days apart and you can go from a desert to a frozen wasteland with 4 days at least, but it's nothing to write home about. I love it. And, as a greek, i do thoroughly enjoy the Linothorax being added. It makes me feel nice and tingly.

Now for the bad, it's really simple.

The new beasts, the handgonne and the Jihads/Caliphate powers.

The new beasts are 2/3 good. The hyeanes act very much like wolves and the serpents are a very, very early equipment check that, if you do not pass, you will be party wiped. So far so good.
but.
The ifrits are an absolute chore to fight.
I have wasted at the very least 30 minutes in one fight to ifrits and had nothing to show for it purely for a city event. They have to be the absolute worst effort to reward value in the entire game - second only to the goblin city and the monolith or whatever drops the armour. At least with the kraken you get a cool sword - but no. with ifrits, it doesn't matter what armour you wear. They will lump up and shoot out like sperm and dome your guy and give him a severe concushion and oh their spawn now surround him and he's 20 hp with 46 armour left. And did you think that maybe, if you kill it now that it's big you're done right? you just need to rush it, right? no. It just gets smaller. It's still a threat. And it's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tanky too and it probably has even more friends to get big with. Ifrits suck.

that is my only real complaint - the other two are only minor personal stuff. I don't like how the handgone is strictly a southern weapon. Then again, i don't know how i would change it but i'd like the northerns to have a unique gun as well. I know it wouldn't work, because Bows arleady are snipers, crossbows already are anti armour, handgonnes already are aoe and grenades are area denial... but i'd still like the northerners to have s o m e t h i n g ressembling gun powder considering how influential the caroleans and pike and shot were. Maybe give them a musket or something, or give them a handgone that shoots through 3 lines instead of 7 but does more damage. Bad idea but you get the point.

As for the southerners, they are way too damn good. When you're escorting a caravan? That's great. you got ambushed 3 times and you only won thanks to them. When you're against them? BAD. Nimble, pocket sand, handgonne, 2 reach maces. They're literally the north with a little worse defense but a LOT better offense. and a nuke too btw just for good measure. The same tactics work, kill the ranged and polearms but now you also need to rush the engineers. I like it, but i'd like the nobles to be strong too, because you can afford to make a noble house angry early game - and it's worth it too. But you can't with the southern cities. Because for one, there's only 3, so if you're in the desert, that's one less food source and for two, they so hilariously more competent than any other faction (save for orcs) that it's almost unfair. I'd wager that a noble army of 25 would lose to a southern army of 18 with a canon. It just irks me. Imo, they should be equally matched, even if they're either weaker or stronger so that way, you're not breezing through if you pick south or are genuinely hoping for the crisis to end if you pick the correct option and go crusading.

all that being said, the only real issue are the ifrits. The dlc is INCREDIBLY worth it, adding plenty of new systems, items and, in legends, more legendary areas, more drip and a lot more lore. I wholeheartedly recommend it just for the ability to profiteer through war even more - like a proper mercenary!

Used to be multiple reviews before this. I am tired of fighting.

Essentially, I leave this. I am Greek, i've asked multiple Greeks and people interested in Greek culture and history, the vast majority agreed with me, some with a bit of persuasion - this game is racist and an insult to hellenic culture, and the community it harbours is filled with racist manbabies who place more trust in their tribalistic tendencies and safespaces rather than their ability to grow as a people and accept fault.

Hades spits in the face of any greek remotely wanting to feel proud of their racial and ethnic identity and makes us clean it's boots with our tongue after spitting on them too, as it's fanbase abuses us in all ways but pleasurable.

The game is fun - i only played for an hour. And if you yourself have any shred of dignity, respect and basic humanity, you will not buy this piece of racist ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and give these excuses of a people any more money that they do not deserve. Be better. Or at least show compassion for your fellow man that pieces of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ like this tread upon with neither respect nor gratitude.

One of the best Indie Games to grace the gaming community HANDS DOWN

Battle brothers is, by far, one of the best worlds I have explored. I cannot even begin to say how many sleepless nights I have spent trying to get my bros to level 11 and 12, get them good gear and make stories with them, only for one bad, BAD ambush at night, while going from one city to another and losing half your squad to some nasty bandits. The game is... amazing. I will try to form a coherent review to elevate the things it does well and warn of what it does badly.

What it does well -
The world generation, and the world and lore in general, are fantastic. It's gritty, it's very low fantasy and it embraces how most people would likely have to live in the medieval ages, with the big change of "what if monsters existed"? I like to think battle brothers is basically lord of the rings with a bit less dressing on the cake and a lot more bitterness. It's delightfully pessimistic and that makes your own personal victories and the small glances of light oh so much more meaningful. The lore is outstandingly great, the world building and enemy design is VERY nice and near perfect, and the amount of customisability you get for your bros is genuinely amazing.

The combat and managing your company.
Battle Brothers is basically XCOM but medieval, and a bit harder on the management side. In combat, you will engage in guerilla tactics more often than not, and will suffer great losses if you do not strategise well or don't use your surroundings to their full potential - and even then, there will be times that you will struggle in. The game really does a good job of making you feel like you're not so much a commander of knights but more so like a guy running a business. Acts of kindness will often leave you at a loss, and you WILL need to be a bad guy to get to the fun parts. More often than not, you won't lose a run to your guys dying in a battle, but the aftermath of that. You trying to recouperate, failing to make enough crowns and being left by your company, alone, until you have noone. It's awesome. It's hard in a way that other games can't be - XCOM tries to overwhelm you and make you prioritise targets, Darkest Dungeon punishes you severely for failing to do the right thing. Battle brother is both of those. It's both hard AND punishing. And you WILL need many specialists and many generalists. You WILL need to make your own company BE your own. What do you prioritise? Ranged combat? Tanks? Hybrids? Damage dealers? Only YOU can determine what your team struggles in and it's awesome.

Art, Writing, Music and UI
The art? Sublime. Writing? So great it really makes you FEEL like you're there and so much of it they couldn't even translate it to other languges. The music? Battle brothers is one of the very few turn based games that i DIDN'T turn the music down for my own. It's genuinely great. Especially the barbarian tracks and one of the bandit ones. Like, you will genuinely NOT want to put your own spotify list over it, it's THAT good. The only times I did put a youtube video on the background were while I was travelling. The amount of customisability you get on your characters is insane, and the UI is the exact opposite of project zomboid - it's really helpful and you generally get a good idea of what you're doing.

The bad

Nearly non really, only 3 issues.
Really high skill floor, you WILL struggle to learn the game.
Late game enemies and bosses. Most of the late game stuff isn't really well done. I finished each late game location in vanilla. The kraken is a slog, the monolith and goblin city just tries to overwhelm you with numbers and the Ijirok is the only reasonable boss fight. The library is close, but falls short thanks to the gimmick. Don't get me wrong, they're good as boss fights, but the point of the boss fights are going to them and winning them - I cannot recommend even doing the first part. They're THAT bad, and what you need to do, and the reward you get, i cannot even justify it.

The price.
Let's assume you buy all the dlc, because it really is a superior game with all of them. 50 euros in the bundle. It's really high for an indie, and one of the reasons i don't recommend darkest dungeon 2 - But battle brothers? I wholly suggest it. If you think your investment is worth it, buy it. I do wholeheartdly suggest it.

one note - you should play at least 1 succesful run on vanilla and then start playing legends. That way, you will have an OK idea of what you're getting into, how the world and combat works and how you should or want to build a company. Legends is basically Battle brothers on crack. It's infinitely superior that way in my opinion, and you WILL get a lot of replayability out of it. The devs of it are are... the best term would be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, so don't be surprised if they make fun of you for making simple questions. Lots of bad people have made good things, they're in that equation

All in All - battle brothers is the best indie game i've ever played. If Strategy was a more appealing genre to the public, I'm sure it would be as famous and popular as slay the spire is. I genuinely have no words to describe how good this game made me feel and how awesome of a game it really is. If I had to choose only 5 games to have access to in my entire life, battle brothers would undoubtedly be one of them.