Recent reviews by cxsvoid

Great title, great art, great interface, really satisfying mechanics. You move through hexagonal tiles of varying terrain (rock, snow, ice, etc) in an almost turn-based format, making calculated decisions on where to go and how you want to spend your limited resources to climb to the top of the mountain. There's a story and many different maps and a lot of scenarios with changeable "hardships" to overcome.

You manage oxygen, sanity, energy, and body temperature with randomly generated scenarios to deal with, all with varying and sometimes unpredictable outcomes. Excellent game for fans of the survival genre.

I'll start with saying I was a huge fan of DD1 and I was very excited for DD2. I don't know what my biggest problem with this game is. I'm not sure I like anything about it.

The stagecoach seems like it could've been cool, but was executed terribly. It's boring and pointless to watch it wheel through the map, and you're never sure what you should be doing with it. Next is the general interface. They use way too many symbols and not enough words, and although you can hold ctrl to get a key of each symbol, it doesn't include the symbol I'm looking for half the time.

At no point during this game did I feel like I had any clue what was going on. It tries to do way too much and uses seemingly purposefully obtuse language and design choices. It feels like you're constantly trying to learn the game every time you launch it. There's an overwhelming amount of... "things". Relics, baubles, mastery points, combat items, inn items, stagecoach items, trinkets, affinity points, relationships, hero paths, flame (radiant and infernal), loathing, etc, it just goes on and on and on and it's so unnecessary to add this level of complexity to an already difficult game.

I'm sure it's possible to love this game, but I'm not sure I've ever encountered a game that went above and beyond to make itself so difficult to love. It will take a lot of time, patience, and an encyclopedic brain to find the groove that brings this game into "fun" territory. It's otherwise a trudge through the mud.

I'm going to shelve it for now. I'm sure I'll try this again some other time, and I hope something clicks then. Maybe I can find a DD2 course at a local community college and spend half a year figuring this mess out.

I'll recommend this game, but it's definitely flawed. A lot is done well, like the soundtrack and base-building, and it's obvious that a good amount of care went into it by the developers. This game is fun to play for a while, and the story is decent. Some things that could use some work:

The combat system. It's fun at first, but it bites off more than it can chew. Being able to move the characters individually, create and employ directional strategy, support, abilities, healing, etc., none of it matters. Life depletion happens too quick to make any meaningful adjustments, healing is too slow and heals by so little that you might as well not bother, abilities don't last any useful amount of time, and spending time building up excellent fighters is pointless as it barely makes a difference compared to the gear you give them. I'd go on, but people have hit on this point a lot already. SOLUTION: Make it so that actions and abilities happen instantly, make them last a little longer, and make heals more than the HP of one demon hit so it's not negated instantly, and let us make tanky melee survivors. It's like they're meant to die to protect the ranged characters.

The neighboring settlements. It is absolutely within your best interest to never interact with them at all. There are two benefits to building your relationships. One, you can have them send a trade envoy to you (more on this later), and two, you can recruit someone from their camp to work for you, but this hurts your relationship. Occasionally, they'll ask for help in the form of supplies. If you don't (or can't) give them the supplies, they'll be mad. Sometimes they'll ask you to take out a nearby threat. If you don't (or can't), they'll be mad. If you make them mad enough, they'll attack you. The benefit of recruiting someone is hardly useful since missions to rescue survivors from demon camps and bring them to your base are numerous. And trade envoys also happen with frequency, but you probably don't want them anyway. SOLUTION: Make it so they'll come to YOUR aid when your base is attacked, if your relationship is in good standing. The relationship feels abusive, and there's no downside to simply never interacting with them.

The trade/shop system. Someone else said it feels like it's balanced for the endgame right from the start, and I completely agree. Right away, they sell tons of things you've never heard of or have access to, and for waaaay more money/resources than you have. Even if you got your hands on these things, you couldn't use them because you haven't unlocked its requirements from the skill charts yet. SOLUTION: It should be tiered and balanced so that it starts with beginner items you would find useful for prices your beginner self could afford, and progresses with you.

Finally, difficulty and consequences. This game is too hard but not in a reasonable or fun way like Dark Souls, wherein if you adjust a little and approach something differently, you feel accomplished and realize the errors of your noob ways. Instead, you're basically encouraged to reload a save over and over until the stars align. This is because accepting the first or worst consequences sets you back so much, it would be too discouraging to continue. You'd spend hours and hours getting back to where you were by leveling up a new recruit, only to suffer the same consequences and have to start again. SOLUTION: Make it so you can resurrect fallen survivors. We already have an occult circle. Maybe they come back with a negative trait? Or just rebalance the combat system so that initial preparation and strategy are awarded, and spur of the moment actions have meaning.

So that's it. It's a decent base builder, the research and skill tree mechanics are fun, satisfying, and compelling. I like the art, the random and flawed characters, map traversal and auto-resolve are great, good variety, solid enough story, managing survivor tasks within base is a fun level of micromanaging, and hunting down demons is always fun. Despite its flaws, it's still worth playing. I just recommend not playing on the middle "intended" difficulty setting, but going lower. The grind isn't worth it.

If you like survival games, this is one you don't want to miss. There's something really special and alluring about collecting what you need to start a fire and having the potential to fail as a blizzard approaches, a hungry pack of wolves howls somewhere nearby, running for shelter and watching your fatigue and calories, unwrapping your last moldy granola bar as you hunker down in a cave for the night; Then you realize it's an empty bear cave, panic sets in, you only have a couple rifle shots left, but your gun is dirty and you might get a misfire. You head out of the bear cave, it's dark, there's a blizzard, your core temperature is dropping, you're at risk for hypothermia. A bear huffs, but you can't tell from where. You run. To anywhere, to nowhere. You're freezing to death, you're exhausted, there's a bear somewhere behind you. You drop the rabbit carcass you hunted earlier, maybe this will distract the bear long enough. It works, but you can't run anymore. You're so tired, your 70 pound pack feels like 100. Your clothes are soaked from the blizzard, they're beginning to freeze. Hypothermia sets in. You're dying, your vision goes in and out, you're stumbling. Out of the corner of your eye you see a car. A loud roar shakes your core, you stumble blindly toward the car. Footsteps running behind you. You open the car door as fast as you can, but this action takes time and your fingers are numb. It's not fast enough. The bear spins you around and eats your frozen face. You fade into the long dark.

This game has a beautiful main story line, with two more episodes to come. There's huge, expansive, detailed maps, professional voice acting, a gorgeous soundtrack, and an endless amount of replayability in survival mode. Do yourself a favor and don't miss out on this one.

I went into this game because I wanted more of the story that got me hooked in the first two Witcher games. I'm one of those people that tend to ignore hype and I'm pretty patient in waiting to play games like this, so I knew just about nothing when I launched it.

I was absolutely blown away. I was so unprepared for just how much of an improvement this game is compared to the first two. The visual impact, the gameplay mechanics, the leveling system, just everything about this game leaves its predecessors in the dust. It deserves every sale and accolade it received. Where it really excels is just how believable the world is. It's truly a work of art, especially the Blood and Wine DLC. The world is huge and beautiful and so explorable and detailed. It very rarely felt repetitive. Idk, I could go on forever. If you haven't played it, you owe it to yourself to experience what they've created.

If I had any criticism, I'd say there are a few too many side quests and uninteresting POI's. But realistically, they just add to the believability of the nature of the Witcher's job. Getting that bread can't always be the most interesting.

A natural progression from the first Witcher, much improved but still flawed. Quick time events are almost always a no-go. I played for a while, but I must admit I ended up watching a synopsis on YT so I could get to the Witcher 3. I might revisit later.

Dated, but engaging enough to have caught my attention and keep me intrigued. It led me to playing the sequels and brought me into the Witcher world. Highly recommended if you can get past the clunky mechanics.

Just a simple game to help get the message out. Good for a few laughs. Tip the devs by buying the DLC!

You get to kill zombies with your friends. I've spent ~450 hours doing this. It's always fun.