Recent reviews by UselessFodder

Sometimes you come across a game that transcends just being a 'game' and becomes something much more. Caves of Qud is one of those games. When I dropped into my first playthrough, it felt like I landed in a real living world, like if I could reach into the screen I would feel the dew drops on the grass and smell the smoke from the fires. As a fan of deep simulation games, Caves of Qud tickles every desire I have and more. If you seek an experience you can truly plumb the depths of, you'll never find the bottom of this one. But the journey is the destination. Strong recommend.

Played this game for a Halloween challenge and it scared the ♥♥♥♥ out of me. Great environmental storytelling, lots of jump scares, and a genuinely novel locale that pulled me right in. Just don't ask me to 100% it...

Six years on and I'm still coming back to this GEM. There simply is not another tactical game that captures the authenticity of GROUND BRANCH. Though development has been slow going, I've enjoyed every moment in GB and every update brings so much cool new stuff. Accept no substitutes: GROUND BRANCH is the real deal.

I've bought this game 3 times, including the midnight release special edition in 2011, yet I've still gotten my money's worth and more. Morrowind will always be my favorite TES game, but Skyrim is still the pinnacle of open world storytelling (and hilarious bugs)

An absolute classic that still holds up to this day. Would love for Creative Assembly to finally make a new Medieval Total War instead of the 15th version of Warhammer Fantasy

Don't let the simplistic graphics fool you: This game is an extremely in-depth tactical experience that any fans of games like Door Kickers will love.

What sets No Plan B apart from other games in the genre, however, is how it divides the gameplay into the "Planning" and "Execution" portions. Within Planning, you direct your team through a shoothouse of boxes and cardboard that represents the actual target area, making sure to cover corners and deploying a significant array of grenades and devices to handle the unknown bad guys in each room.

After your plan is finished, which could take 20-60 minutes if you're a real micromanager like me, then you enter the Execution phase where you watch the plan you laid out in the shoothouse execute in real or controlled time in the actual target area. You can't change the plan here, you just gotta watch your guys and gals execute. What seemed like a perfect plan in the planning stage is often revealed during Execution to be full of flaws, missed angles, and poorly matched weapon types. Or, maybe not and you're just better than me :)

No Plan B is a thinking man's tactical game and it benefits from the meticulous detail that the developer put into all of the gameplay elements. There is a roguelike story mode with permadeath for your characters as well as randomized skirmish and premade scenario modes. Lastly, there is endless customization for your characters, making it fun to create a squad of discord community members saving (shooting) hostages or your best friends robbing a bank.

The developer has also added a rather deep modding system that allows for completely custom maps, scenarios, and new enemy types that he has indicated will continue to be expanded in the future. I'd love to see how far the mod system can go in the future, but what's there is already making an extremely replayable game even more so.

I 100% recommend picking this game up for anyone who enjoys tactical games. And, if you don't trust my recommendation, look up the top rated reviews and find out that the lead dev of Door Kickers 2 has already left a glowing review of this game. If that doesn't impress you, I don't know what will!

I was one of the lucky folks to get to test this during the Creator Preview event, so here are my initial impressions:

- The core gameplay loop is already in and incredibly enjoyable
- The lack of loading screens makes everything way more immersive. Hang out at base and shoot the breeze with your friends, then hop on the chopper and insert seamlessly into the AO. No delays, no timers, no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
- The game is less Escape from Tarkov and more Deadside + Ghost Recon Wildlands + Ground Branch/Arma 3
- At launch, there's definitely some Early Access jank. AI could use some work, there are server issues, and changing one graphical setting could double your framerate or crash your system. If you've played Early Access tactical shooters, then this will come as no surprise to you. Anyone expecting a smooth Day 1 EA is kidding themselves
- The map is gorgeous and had some of the best environments in any tactical game. There are a ton of little details that make the AO feel extremely lived in, which makes it thay much more immersive
- The indie devs are extremely approachable and have managed to turn a ton of changes and bug fixes we identified in the test just last week. They seem dedicated to this game for the long haul and not just an Early Access cash grab like *some other games lately*

Overall, I'm having a blast and I feel like GZW is bringing something really unique to the genre. EA release has some problems, but I can run itndecently and have fun on Day 1, which is much better than several other EA tactical games I've played.

Recommend picking it up and giving it the full two hours

Operation Valor is basically if Squad and Foxhole had a baby, but in the best way. The top-down perspective adds a whole new tactical element to the experience and I love the teamwork it takes to be successful each round. I've been a believer in this project since the first beta play session and I'm so glad the rest of the world finally gets to try it out!

It's a little thing, but getting a little holiday gift from the devs was unexpected- and very much appreciated!