Recent reviews by Smorf.

Hive Scum has enough talents to be completely ammo self-sufficient. That's the only reason I bought this character. In everything else, Hive Scum is lacking and it feels really difficult to clear an Auric-level mission without dying at least once. This class either needs their damage numbers scaled way up or be given better survivability. Lots of bugs and interactions that create anti-synergies also hold this character back.

Here's what I'd suggest to buff Hive Scum:

-Make Rampage a combat ability you can toggle on/off at will at the cost of having both the benefits and drawbacks at the same time. Rework the ability modifiers to give better tankiness/toughness replenishment while Rampage isn't active as well as make Rampage stronger. (It would be really cool if Forge's Bellow was reworked so if you activate Rampage above a stamina threshold or exit Rampage below a stamina threshold, you perform a shockwave.)

-Give the Stimm Lab a "pure concoction" bonus when you're building towards one direction in the tree, so if you're using it to get a free combat stimm every 45 seconds, you're actually getting effects as good (if not better) than the stimms you find in-world. Add or rework a talent to give Hive Scum gold toughness every time they stim (it's exclusive to Hive Scum, they can't use Stimm Supply to give other people gold toughness since they're already giving the equivalent of a combat stim to everyone in the squad.) If nothing else, as a lazy fix, make it so we can pick up all the nodes in one branch of the Stimm Lab instead of being locked out of options.

-Give Hive Scum access to heavy bolters, flamethrowers, everything. I wouldn't trust them with plas-weapons or las-weapons on account of their... potential tinkering. Additionally, give the Shivs and Crowbar better stats so they don't feel like worse reskins of the Combat Dagger and Shovels.

-Tox Renewal and Sample Collector should proc any time an enemy dies while they have stacks of Tox on them, and not killing blows exclusively. Psyker gets Soul Stealer and Souldrinker for free on soulblaze DoT kills, so why does Hive Scum have to work extra?

-A general UI fix to make talent stacks and their timers easier to see, and make the cooldown on the Hive Scum's stimm easier to read. I am extremely against modding a game for quality of life changes if the modding process isn't built-in or easy to use.

-Buffs to all of Hive Scum's keystones to bring them in line with the keystones of other classes. The percentage increases they give on meeting the activation requirement are extremely lackluster.

-Make Hyper-Critical work on Ogryn enemies. Hive Scum is the only class to get an instakill-related talent to my knowledge, so it might as well punch above its weight (if you get the joke, you get it) instead of being a slightly different, arguably worse version of a weapon blessing. Hyper-Violence should be apply its damage bonus to the next strike and not over one second. It doesn't even make sense that it has a one second duration because it's not on the path of the talent tree for ranged builds where a high rate-of-fire weapon would synergize sexily with this.

This is my personal wishlist on how Fatshark would go about buffing Hive Scum, in ways that would make them more fun. Bugs aside, it feels like they were really hesitant in going all-out in making Hive Scum a glass cannon, and because they didn't fully commit, we've got an underwhelming class that folds easily ON TOP OF bugs that turn into a lot of discomforting pain points for this character. You're entitled to your own opinion. You're not welcome to share it here.

This was one of those games where, upon seeing it for the first time, I worried an awful lot that I'd be sold short because of something in the base-managing or maybe the combat was lacking something. Having 100% this game on the game's intended difficulty, I can say CoTL's gameplay loop kept me heavily invested and satisfied me even in spite of occasional pains. The game's combat does have an issue with high-speed unreactable moves, and there's an inherent un-fun trying to whack an enemy with melee when they are very effective at zoning you with projectiles, but that's not a problem. I can get hit by the same boss ten times and not be mad about it because a dub is a dub and the bonus resources on killing a boss hitless isn't essential.

There's some (spoiler-related) permanent decisions you can make, one of which denies you the post-game if you choose wrong and several that'll probably make you feel bad, but you must do it to 100% the game (if not to do it in a timely manner). You are literally God in this game, though, so take that into account the next time you wonder if anything you're doing here is ethical.

Really fun game playing solo or with friends. It has a low barrier to entry with its climbing mechanics to the point where managing your energy (and stockpiling climbing gear for when there's no natural way forward) is really the only thing you need to be good at to make great strides in this game. No BS'ing with a tough but fair physics engine here. No disembodied voices making grand meta-narratives and cringing every time you fall a great height. Just you, your friends, and a climb that's kind of low stakes considering your life is on the line.

My only real critique has to be the fact that some of the segments of the maps seem genuinely impossible to climb without the help of items. I know we got to add difficulty to the game that boils down to "hold left click to climb" for its mechanics, but where other climbing games impose a technical challenge or test your endurance through sheer length (or both), having a sheer stretch that you can't reach even with full stamina plus reserve energy feels kind of lame. Also, cactus and ticks that stick onto your character's body that are hard to remove yourself can be really concerning for solo play.

The game makes up for these issues with teamwork, exploration, and items, but the fact that there's no skill-based mechanic to even out the playing field when the game doesn't yield much in your favor makes this game fall just short of perfect for me.

As a hardcore peakbagger who 100% Getting Over It and reached the top of most of the climbs in Peaks of Yore, this game is a certified banger. You will have to learn, whether by your own peril or through others who have mastered this game. You will fall a lot (especially on the new map.) But when you learn this game's physics, nail the execution, and reach the top? Welcome to the club, baby.

To everyone leaving negative reviews because the game's too hard or developed poorly:
Y'all look very small from up here.

(The new map's brutal though so I can't blame you lol)

Greatly overhyped, alright gameplay, terrible optimization. The same AAA-game slop everyone's grown to hate. Offset attacks are nutty to pull off though.

ha, noice

If you haven't played Conrad Stevenson's Paranormal P.I., I highly suggest you try it out before playing this game. I'm not saying one is better than the other; Among The Whispers (ATW) does some things that are quality of life improvements compared to the previous, but it still has some issues that need ironing out and is missing content the previous game emphasizes heavily (for better or worse).

Conrad Stevenson's Paranormal P.I. (CSPI) is good if you want a more hand-crafted, story based experience. ATW has story, but the ghosts and their backstories are procedurally generated, lending to replayability of similar caliber to Phasmophobia. There's no real progression in terms of getting better gear for your ghost investigations. Sometimes the process of releasing the ghost is difficult because they'll decide to move elsewhere as you're trying to converse with them, and unlike CSPI, you have no indication of where they move next so you can stay on them and continue the ritual. (This seems like a bug since the process of following the ghost as you release it was a feature in CSPI that was entirely done away with in ATW.) Provocations in ATW that raise the "ghost level" (which you'll need to max out in order to get the ghost ready for release) are a beginner's trap because the duration of the provocation can end mid-release and make you waste time. ATW has limited time between investigations and a "nerve" mechanic that makes your character panic if they've witnessed too much paranormal activity, both of which can be toggled off. Thank God.

Something CSPI does significantly better are residual ghosts: paranormal phenomenon that are more like imprints of a person's life/death in a place. The biggest thing about them is that their interactions (manifestations especially) follow a scripted path and the ghost never directly interacts with the player. Residual ghosts in ATW don't jumpscare the player, but they also don't seem to have the same two/three manifestation "scripts" residual ghosts had in the previous game.

Demons and poltergeists are missing from ATW entirely. In later investigations there's at least one area that has no paranormal activity whatsoever despite the E-mail you get at the start of every night indicating otherwise. I don't know if this "red herring" room is an intentional mechanic.

Even though there's a lot from ATW that is missing from the previous, not all of it is bad. You can investigate and release ghosts incredibly fast in this game with the right strategy, and preparation is minimal and streamlined. You don't need to make "notes" to invoke activity in a haunted area unlike CSPI. CSPI had different types of incense for different kinds of ghosts essential for releasing them, but in ATW you only need the Mugwort for the provocation and release of residual ghosts. CSPI requires you to gather most (if not all) of the evidence a ghost can give you, but with ATW it feels more forgiving. (Of course, some ghosts seem to need more unique audio/visual evidence than others, which is frustrating, but I feel this is not a problem and an inherent frustration to ghost hunting games where sometimes the ghost doesn't feel like giving you what you need to progress.)

I'm looking forward to seeing if this game has any content updates. I recommend it, but only if you're already a fan of Conrad Stevenson's Paranormal P.I. or if the game goes on discount. The dev has been churning out small updates regarding bug fixes, optimization, and quality of life improvements, which shows promise that there's more to come for this game.

I find myself struggling to like it. The game feels like it’s branching out in so many directions that it’s lacking depth. Choices in dialogue don’t matter; choices in crafting doesn’t matter beyond the only correct options. The rhythm minigame for hammering ingots is good but I wish the grindstone for sharpening weapons and repairing scuff marks was more than just pressing and holding down two buttons. Trinkets are weird because you’re making your own design to fit an outline, but it’s literally gluing pieces of trash together to make a larger, singular piece of trash.

I was cursing myself when I found out I had gotten past the two hour mark and had basically already seen half of the game. I want to enjoy this game, but I can’t see myself finishing it because of how static it is and lacking in replayability.

I squeeze the grub when it misbehaves

Extremely racist far eastern wasps