Recent reviews by Doubledip

Really a must play if you're into sprawling RPGs- closest thing to Dragon Age Origins I've played in years, so a total nostalgia buffet if you liked that game.

I'm not totally sure what it is about this game that makes it stand out in such a crowded genre- but I've got a few theories.

Valheim is early access, and there's clearly a lot of balancing needed, but the core of it is delightful. A marriage of Dark Souls, Minecraft & a healthy dollop of Breath of the Wild. The game makes a lot of tweaks to the survival formula to create a 'carrot not stick' gameplay loop. For instance, not eating doesn't kill you, but if you leave camp on an empty stomach, you're going to have a bad time.

The graphics are very stylised, but fantastic art design and great lighting creates vistas and scenes that honestly took my breath away where so few Triple-A games can achieve this these days.

A caveat to this review- I've mostly played online with friends, which certainly adds a lot to the experience. Jumping off a longship to attack a dragur village, shouting and screaming on discord, is an incredible rush. So if you do get this game, I strongly recommend playing with others. Either way, it's a must buy in my book.

I'm quite late to this highly regarded RPG- but I'm glad I gave it a go! Overall it's a damn well produced package. The combat is genre-leading, offering tons of flexibility and keeping even the most rote fight engaging. It's a shame to admit, but in 90% of RPGs I play, after twenty or so hours, combat is a chore I have to get through to continue the story. Divinity 2 is one of very few exceptions to this rule!

If you're a fan of freedom in choices and roleplaying, this is also a very strong example of the genre. There are myriad ways to approach almost every problem.

The highest praise I can give it is that it is the closest a game has ever felt to the tabletop experience.

On the negative side- the story isn't incredible. It's very well written in terms of the minute to minute storytelling (the narrator especially) and the voice-acting is brilliant, but the overall story feels like pretty standard high fantasy fare. I think there's an element of bias here, I tend to prefer grittier and more intimate stories, but be prepared for lots of chosen one shennanigans, loads and loads of high fantasy jargon- and loads of grand prophecies. The tone is a bit all over the place, which is very accurate for simulating that pen and paper feel, but sometimes makes it hard to become invested in the world. For instance, you can interact with a ghost to learn the tragic and agonising circumstances of their hideous demise, then walk up the road and get a whacky quest from some chickens.

Still, if an inconsistent tone and fairly rote storytelling don't bother you, Divinity 2 is a must play rpg for it's genre-defining combat and approach to open-ended problem solving.

A solid ARPG, with a captivating world and story, and gorgeous graphics. It falls flat a little when it comes to loot diversity, and you'll see the same items cropping up a lot (visually at least) but overall a solid contribution to the genre, especially given that it's free play play, and in a very reasonable way, too.

The combat feels floaty and off, the minion AI is laughable, and the graphics have aged horribly. Worse still, it fails at it's most basic level, being neither funny, or letting the player be particularly evil. It's not a terrible game, but unless it's going for a couple quid and you really fancy a naffer version of pikmin, I'd give this one a miss.