Recent reviews by Universal Quacks

The life and work of a porter are never finished. Just one more bridge, just one more addition to the chiral network, I may have an addiction to walking from point A to point B.

One of the best looking games ever made. Kojima and the Decima engine mog all over UE5, proving once again purpose built engines are still the way to go in 2026.

Game looks and runs flawlessly with my hardware even on maxed out "very high" settings. Haven't noticed any stuttering or frame drops whatsoever, so far.

Story off to a strong start right off the ending of DS1 but I'll save my thoughts on that for when I actually finish the game in 100 or so hours.

If you played and enjoyed DS1 it should be a no brainer to play and enjoy DS2 ASAP.

Rudy best felyne. Sorry, Navirou. You were way, way too annoying in MHS2.

Since this is a WIP review I figured I'd take a moment to touch on basics since I'm just past what could be considered the "intro" or "prologue" for a JRPG, when the story opens up and really gets going. So far it's been quite engaging. Much more mature and dark in tone than the first two games. The cel shading looks amazing and the animations are a joy to watch. The cutscenes are very well done. Even the humdrum conversations outside of cutscenes are shot well with good angles. Probably the best soundtrack with the best versions of classic MonHun songs to date. The "home theater" mix is exceptionally well done especially in regards to the music, everything comes across amazingly via Dolby Atmos on Sonos Arc Ultra with Era 300 rears and a Sub 4. Wish it had a dedicated Atmos option for audio. Heights would be amazing to experience.

Gameplay mechanics are extremely similar to the first two games. So if you've played those you know more or less what you're in for. Some great QOL additions and changes on top of some new gameplay loops and mechanics that really make the game and the world much more enjoyable to spend time in. Habitat restoration is pretty fun especially when you try to hunt down mutations.

Performance wise I couldn't be happier. Maxed out settings @ 4K and sitting right at 120fps with some miniscule dips to the 110s in super heavy scenes. Not anything noticeable especially with VRR. The game looks and runs phenomenal. Been playing since release without a single crash and only quit the game just now to write this really quickly and get snacks before jumping back in. Hopefully those with crashing issues can get them sorted quickly as I've seen reviews with similar PC hardware and haven't had any myself.

RIDE ON!

Truly a masterpiece and masterclass in the survivalcraft genre. Easily my favorite survivalcraft game and the best one I've ever played. Easy to understand and play. Doesn't hold your hand and allows an enormous amount of player freedom and creativity. Can be a tad difficult and overwhelming if you don't prepare but you can easily change settings and get to where the game feels great to play for you. One of the best co-op experiences in a long while and a ton of fun.

Now excuse me while I get back to scienceing.

The bones that exist are something special, it's just everything else that's problematic. I know it's EA but they need the feedback to truly create something special.

First and foremost there should NEVER be a progression losing death system in any sort of survivalcraft game. Set your autosave to 5 minutes or you'll be screaming even more than you already will. I have zero clue why they didn't have some sort of backup system on your ship that can print a new bot and just implement dropped loot and respawns like every single other survivalcraft game that exists. Create lore behind it and make it make sense. Singlehandedly the most frustrating experience about this game and the core reason why I gave up trying after 1.4 hours played. I'd get something started and then get swarmed by hordes of mini enemies and get downed instantly and have to slog over and over or just wait and do nothing until they didn't spawn anymore.

Clunky, unintuitive controller controls that can't be rebound. Melee should be on RB (not LB). LB should open the tool menu (which should really be a radial for controllers in 2025, I guess 2026 now lol). There are so many double prompts it drives me up a wall. For example to heal or to save you have to long press X twice instead of a single long press. I don't know who else I'm going to connect the save cable to since there's no multiplayer. I shouldn't have to tap or hold commands so much.

The UI needs a lot of work especially the inventory and menu systems. Very clunky, not easy to use. You have a tool belt but can't put anything on it like the repair or dismantle tool, at least on controller, so good luck if you accidentally take them off.

Other than that the physics and sailing are pretty fun. That's about all I have to say since I only made it to the first beacon outpost and then turned the game off in frustration. I'll check back in a few months and see if any of this was addressed but man it's totally not worth what they're charging right now. Buy on sale and only if you want to play something extremely experimental and unpolished.

Ran flawlessly until the "next gen" update. Now the game sharts itself every five minutes so badly that it causes the AMD drivers to have a stroke and shut down everything from the game to AMD Adrenalin. Microsoft should have never purchased Bethesda. Saar can I have some more to do the needful?

Ubisoft has some sort of invasive account system going on. I've never even owned this game before and when installing Ubisoft Connect it signed into a Ubisoft account I haven't even had access to in almost 5 years. Didn't prompt me for my username and password. Automatically tied my game to the account I don't have access to. Now I can't even launch the game because I have zero clue what the login info for that account is AND I deleted the email that it was tied to years ago. THANKS UBISOFT no wonder what's happening is happening.

✋😐🤚 ABSOLUTE CINEMA

It's okay. It feels more like a boss rush and less like a metroidvania. Every other screen is some sort of boss fight or beat up the group of bugs fight. Definitely doesn't have the same sort of wonder of exploration as the first game. It's tedious and not fun. The gameplay feels solid but I'm not a fan of the game and level design they took this time around.

Pinnacle of interactive cinema games 11/10

The best gacha combat and exploration gameplay out there with hot husbandos. I don't need anything else.