Recent reviews by DogPoundOverlord

One of the best games I've ever played in my life. A masterpiece of story telling.

What a ridiculously addicting game. Just when I thought I was done, they rope me back in with that stupid parchment. Then, on top of that-- the prophecies, the weapon upgrades, the plot... keep going, and going... and going after... every, single... run to the top. I thought it would never end at one point. I thought the game was generating AI lines at one point. Would do it again 10/10, can't wait to play Hades II now.

Vampire Survivors is pure heroin in video game form. The literal definition of "Bang for your buck". The amount of content & fun you get for the price is RIDICULOUS. 10/10

They told me about Origins and the "RPG Trilogy" for AC games so I decided to give it a go. It was my first AC game so here are my thoughts coming from an RPG fanatic perspective as someone who as cleared the game entirely with 100% achievements.

Immediately the first thing that stood out to me was how beautiful the game is. The graphics are gorgeous and the amount of assets and diversity of assets was incredible to see. You see a lot with the different buildings architecture types through-out the game. Different areas, different types of flora and buildings all distinct enough that you get a true sense of what area of Egypt you are in. The best thing is that from what I could tell based on my research most of it is fairly historically accurate. Like for example, was there really a need to add different types of farm wind breakers? Probably not, but such small details like that were fascinating to see. The NPCs going about there days were unlike any other RPGs I've played. They really felt alive and organic for the most part. You will tend to hear a lot of lines over and over again but what can you expect from a 100+ hour play-through. The one thing that blew me away was the amount of different clothing and clothing combinations for the NPCs, amazing diversity but not as historically accurate.

The combat was a real treat. I played a major portion of the game on Nightmare without scaling at first until I realized how stupid and poorly implemented it was after taking 10 minutes to fight off simple wildlife. I found that dropping the difficulty to Hard with scaling was a sweet spot reminiscence of Dark Souls games but much less punishing obviously as the AI is just not fitted in the same manner. This difficulty also felt appropriate enough where I felt like the ability points I was using still had an impact-- despite the scaling I still felt like I was getting stronger and gaining and advantage over my foes. I do have a gripe with the first mechanics in this game. It felt janky and I feel like felt so because they were trying to capture a sort of organic feel to it. Basically fire spreads, to pretty much anything it can. Fire weapons-- though extremely powerful when augmented through the Seer tree's Pyromaniac skill can be are double edged sword-- often setting ablaze nearby pots and hay amidst the chaos of battle and for this reason I found my self opting out for poisons instead. Sickle swords in particular I found to be extremely overpowered in it's ability to allow you to dodge and weave so effectively that you could get behind any enemy so effortlessly, whack them a few times and keep them poisoned until they died. There are a few broken mechanics if I may be honest but overpowered doesn't necessarily mean it's not fun. For example, the Predator bow was a complete meat fest. The ability to control the arrow you shoot from a mile away and clear out entire forts without enemies discovering you location? Yeah, pretty game breaking if you as me. One thing I really appreciated was how quickly and fluently the game let you switch from ranged to melee and vice versa. I found my self shooting bows and melee depending on the situation and adapting on the fly as needed. Another thing I loved is how the weapon traits would stack. This allows for setting up nice combinations of weapons. Sickle sword + Daggers, you'll be in Overpower mode 75% of the time. Mace + Sword, say hello to big wooping crits that debilitate enemies and break through shields effortlessly. It was really pleasant to have that flexibility even with the ranged weapons as well.

Exploration was AMAZING. What can I say? I mean seriously, being able to dive into these ancient pyramids and explore them? The Great Sphinx? That mysterious structure way out in the desert? Activating ancient mechanisms and diving into these pits of water in some remote areas in the middle of the desert... at times I felt truly alone and it was eerie and spooky. The ambiance was really something to take it. It was incredible and probably my favorite thing about the game. My only complaint is that some of these "puzzles" where just to easy. They left me yearning for more. I wanted to think more, I wanted to be engaged more and so I felt they didn't use the beautiful ambiance to it's full potential. That being said, the sheer amount of locations you get to visit makes this completely forgivable. Unfortunately I wish I could say interiors had as much diversity in assets as exteriors but that's simply not the case. Despite using a lot of simple assets, pillars, rocks, statues for interior locations, they still are magnificent to look at. Some of it got a bit repetitive and started to lose it's charm after about 60 hours in. Perhaps it's just my imagination, perhaps the outside world offers SO MUCH diversity that it pales in comparison and serves to highlight interior locations short falling, I'm not sure.

The story left much to be desired... or so I thought until I played both DLCS. In my opinion the problem with the plot/story is not that it wasn't good. I loved it, it was a great revenge plot that had me rooting for my character all the way through. The problem is that it ends so abruptly. In reality this game is really unfinished without The Hidden Ones DLC. The Hidden Ones not only was a fantastic bite sized DLC but it gives the base game the closure it needs. And honestly, I felt the DLC very closely resembled the base game in game-play flow. It just felt like an EXTENSION and not an actual DLC so to speak. The Curse of the Pharaohs on the other hand, that was a TRUE DLC and it was AMAZING. I mean, I truly loved this DLC and it was able to re-capture after 100+ hours already. The locations and the story, the lore in this DLC is beautiful. I've learned so much about Egyptian culture and have a new found appreciation for this civilization and it's wonders. The areas in this DLC hands down the best areas of the ENTIRE game. Those after life segments were sweet, love, love, loved them!

In conclusion I would recommend this game to anyone. I would just say that this is a slow burn and you will have to take your time. DO NOT RUSH THROUGH IT. YOU WILL BURN OUT. Take your sweet time, play a bit everyday, enjoy it. This is a game is a glass of fine wine, not a shot aged whiskey.

I've beaten this game on Insanity well over 10 times at least and have used all the classes. I've play through multiple times to role-play, to try different choice combinations, to try to break the game on purpose, for just about ever imaginable reason I've gone back and replayed this masterpiece and it never gets old. I love this game (trilogy). What can I say that hasn't already been said-- a classic. Recommend this to anyone who loves Sci-Fi, RPGs and Shooters. It does sooo much right and so little wrong.

Simply put, it's a buggy mess but super fun if you can see past the imperfections. It doesn't do anything new or ground breaking but it does what it does well enough.