Recent reviews by Ced

If you get OK performance (60+ fps no framegen or 120 with framegen) its an amazing game. I'm hopeful that they can somewhat mitigate performance issues like they did with previous BL titles.

As a Borderlands game, this is probably the best installment in the series at launch. The story is pretty good, it kept me engaged the whole way through and i quite enjoyed the fact that our player characters actually appear in the cutscenes, and talk way more than previous games.

Side quests are also as a whole probably the best in the series. BL4 takes itself way more seriously than BL3 (not a hard bar to overcome) and the atmosphere is great for fans of earlier entries.

Once again Gearbox ups the actual moment to moment gameplay, they have consistantly gotten better at it with each installment and now the glidepack is honestly a game changer. You can do some fun movement tech, and the combat just feels amazing to play.

Vault hunters are also up there in the series with how fun and interesting their kits are. There are so many interesting builds (though there are also many bugs in the skill trees at the time of writing this review) and you can make multiple working builds for each VH. The Vault hunters are also written and voiced very well, with Rafa being my personal favourite and probably my favourite VH in the series currently with his personalty and fun skill tress. I'm also pretty excited for the new vault hunters they are releasing as DLC later instead of new skill trees for old ones.

Lastly the item system so far has been just superb. It feels really good to find legendaries as they are really rare, and at feels even better finding that god roll purple item that somehow is even better than some legendary items. The new parts system has so many interesting combinations for guns and gear, and it feels really nice to be able to use other stuff than only legendaries in the endgame.

If you can run the game, theres potential for it to be the best in the series with some tweaks to endgame, and i'm really excited for DLC releases. Theres so much content even in the base game to play through, and hopefully Gearbox can make the game run better.

As someone who has played the series since BL1, i think this might be my new favourite in the series.

Update: I've lost faith in the project


To preface i didn't play Splitgate 1.

Splitgate 2 is awesome, it looks really good, it runs really well, annd the gunplay feels amazing. The portal mechanics have a really high skill ceiling and different classes (its not a hero shooter) feel balanced. They have different perks and different weapons for each class, but the time to kill is similar on each one, some shoot faster with lower damage, and other shoot slower with higher damage etc. Splitgate 2 is a class based arena shooter kind of like never halo games with abilities.

You make a loadout to start with, and maps have power weapon spawns to change the tide of the match. Also portals.

The first couple of days were riddled with issues like challenges and XP not counting, but they were fixed pretty quickly and after that it's been running amazingly.

Theres tons to play here like official maps, rotation of different game modes, and a custom map maker that seems really robust. The game has pretty expensive skins, and a 5€ battlepass, but you get enough money back from the battlepass to buy next one as well, so in theory you only need to drop a fiver to keep unlocking battlepasses.

The shop has been done pretty annoyingly for me, theres a weekly random rotation of stuff to buy, i would have preferred just a big shop with everything in. Battlepasses don't seem to be permanent either which sucks, one of the best things about halo infinite is the permanent battlepasses and other games should copy that.

At first when i heard they are shelving Splitgate 1 for another game i was kinda taken aback and really didn't care to try 2, but after hearing the reasoning i understood why they wanted a clean slate. I'd recommended trying this out, its really fun and the devs seem to be listening closely what the community wants.

(the reason for shelving splitgate 1 was basically that it was such a bad coding job and the game just got spaghettier every patch, they started splitgate 2 to make it work properly)

I've played this many more hours more before i got it on steam.
Technically Guild Wars 1 probably isn't an MMO, but i'll still call it one.

GW1 is one of my favourite MMOs currently ongoing, along with ones like SWTOR and GW2. Many of the reasons why i like SWTOR are why i like GW1 too, like the ability to play most of the game solo, and having NPC companions running around with me. It's a very chill game to play.

The combat is pretty basic Tab targeting with 8 skill slots. You choose a main class in character creation, and a secondary class in game. After doing some story you can changer your secondary class freely. The build variety in the game is really nice, and there is literally hundreds of skills to choose from, of course not all of them are created equal, but honestly with a party of "heroes" you don't need to play optimally.

A pretty big part of the game is running through all of the campaigns, and the missions in them are basically dungeons from other MMOs. Some are longer and others are shorther. Some are just basic boss fights and others have more unique mechanics.

What makes GW1 different compared to others in the wider MMO genre is that in GW1 you meet players in towns or outposts, but when you load into a zone you are alone there with your party of 1-8 players. Zones are balanced for different sizes of parties, and if you don't have enough players for a party you can add NPC "Henchmen" or "Heroes" to your party.

Hechmen are characters that have a defined build already, usually they aren't that good but you can still finish the game with them. Heroes on the otherhand are NPC characters with a defined primary class, but you can otherwise build them as you like. This makes them a much more optimal choice for a party compared to Henchmen.

You can also buy Mercenary hero packs from the GW website, Mercenaries are wholly custom characters that you make and name, they work like heroes but you don't have to unlock them in story.

First of all the port is terrible. The game is not graphically demanding that it requires this amount of hardware. Top of the line PCs are having hard time running it, and basically no current PC can run ultra-graphics.

I also have around 90 hours on PS5, and i've 100% completed it on PS5 too.

Still, even though the port is horrible i will leave a "recommend" on this one, just because i love the game so much. If you've played Nioh 1/2, then you probably know the basics. Fast paced combat with stance switching, many weapon types and Diablo style loot to top it off.

What differentiates this game from Nioh is that Rise of Ronin is more "grounded" I don't mean realistic because there are people doing superhuman stuff, but there are no Demons running around, and there is no magic to cast.

Rise of the Ronin also has a Open world setting (or multiple smaller ones) its a checkbox style open world, there are some secrets that are not in the map, but you can turn your brain off for the most part and go through a checkbox doing everything. It's not ground breaking new stuff in any way, but its a fun side activity to turn your brain off to. The open world also kinda changes in the endgame but i won't spoil that.

The time period is interesting, i haven't seen that many games in this period, and it brings some fun stuff like a Revolver ranged weapon that you can use to "critical hit" or execute enemies that have run out of stamina. The story is there, it's not that much to write home about, there are some choices you can make, and there is an easy way to go back in time and change the choices if you want to.

The combat is a bit simpler compared to Nioh, there is the stance switching, but there is 1 attack button which can do heavy attacks buy holding, and normal attacks by pressing. Then there is another button that is a "counter spark" it does an attack, and if the attack connects with and enemy attack it does a counter against the enemy.

The big thing about the combat is that you can have 3 stances equipped at a time, but there are many more unlockable stances depending on the weapon. Also every stance has their own counter spark attack and basic attack combos. There is so much customization in the combat.

Its a pretty fun Looter Shooter with interesting gimmicks going on for it, but bogged down by repetive missions and endgame.

Gameplay:
Honestly the best part of the game, the moment to moment gunplay in battles feels amazing. Every character handles very differently even though they use mostly the same weapons, because of their travel abilities, the game gets VERY hectic on higher difficulties and you have to constantly on the move. Guns feel good and punchy, abilities feel really cool when they oblitiriate a group of grunts and the overall gameplay feels really unique with all the arcadey effects going on. I can't think of a game that feels quite like this.

Loot:
The loot has some really interestign aspects here, first of all there are no level requirements or gear level, if you find a legendary gun in hour 1, it can still be used pretty much as well in hour 40. Speaking of legendary effects, many of them really feel like you could make a build just around them, the effects are interesting and you unlock more legos when you go up in difficulty tiers.

Story:
The main story was there, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. Best part of the writing was all of the banter going on, and multiple long running jokes from the start to the end. I was almost constantly smiling listening to the characters talking, but it also wasn't a story just about jokes, i found them to be mixed in really well.

Endgame: I'm still going through the endgame after leveling all launch classes to max level. The loop seems to be: Do short missions in open world to get currency, and use the currency to open a map into a 5-10 minute missions with loads of enemies and good loot. This is where the repetetion comes in, i have 4 missions unlocked, and they are always same ones, only with some different modifiers depending on RNG and difficulty setting.

Final thoughts:
I like the game, but i understand a lot of the critisism for it too, some of it is really blown out of proportion, but there is really fair critisism going on too. I wouldn't give it a 5/10, maybe 6 or 6.5 currently. Its really fun, but i don't think there is currently enough content to go around. We'll see how the first season does. I hope that the game survives for a long time and becomes better with age, but we will see what the future brings.

If you have any interest in the game, please give it a try. It's a really close competition for my GOTY of 2022 between this and XC3

The game is made by team ninja, so expect bad performance and superb combat. It's also pretty parry heavy game if you're into that sorta thing.

The combat can be pretty challenging, but this game isn't really a soulslike, like Nioh or Wo Long are. You have a FF job system, and a party of AI controlled guys following you around in missions. Also Diablo like loot, which is really fun for me, and if you love loads of loot to shift through, SOP has it.

But honestly the best thing about this is the main character of the game. He's just oozing a sort of "♥♥♥♥ off" vibes all around, and his dialogue is hilarious. The MC is a walking skip cutscene button and i love him for it.

The story itself isn't that great and doesn't really make that much sense, but the amazing main character, and amazing gameplay lifts the game into another level of fun.

It's a great game with glaring problems, and performance issues being especially bad.

The gameplay itself is great, i might even like it more that Nioh 2, deflecting bosses and counter attacking them just makes you feel really cool. It feels simpler that Nioh 2 for sure, but i don't necessarily think thats a bad thing, there is still loads of depth in the combat for you to learn.

temization is a bit mixed bag, personally i don't have a real problem with the amount of gear in the game, but i prefer more of a Diablo like loot system compared to what we have here. If you really want to, and have a bit luck, you can easily use a weapon you got in the first mission through the whole game.
My biggest problem with the items is that the set bonuses are just too small. It feels pretty bad to farm a boss for his set, and get a 5% damage increase, but a great thing is that you can swap your item bonuses really freely to make the item really fit your build.

I really like the world of Wo Long for pretty much the reasons as i liked Nioh world, there is something really charming about it being "real" history with demons and superpowers mixed in.

A fun horde shooter / slasher with light RPG elements, but sadly plagued with performance issues.

A similar game to Left 4 Dead, or probably more appropriately, the developers previous games Vermintide and Vermintide 2. A horde shooter / slasher in the Warhammer 40k universe where you play as a priser taken into the inquisition to cleanse heretics and do the jobs no-one sane is willing to do.

The gameplay happens in missions that are randomly generated by having a mission list, and then possibly attaching a random modifier to it, like having endless enemy hordes, or having collectibles in the mission that give more money and experience as a reward. In these missions you progress forward with your party of 4 other player, do a multitude of objectives, and try to survive until the end to extract safely. After the mission is over you get experience and money to upgrade your characters skills and weapons.

As with previous games in the "Tide" series, the game focuses on melee combat, but this time there is more ranged combat than was previously necessary. Still it is not recommended to only use ranged, or only use melee, as you get easily overwhelmed by either: enemy hordes, or enemy gunner squads. Mixing both of these combat styles is your key to victory.

The gameplay overall is really fun. The combat is punchy, gory, and when you get skilled at it, it almost becomes a dance with you dashing around a horde. Soundtrack in the game also meshes perfectly with the game having a kind of industrial electic mix with choirs mixed in, personally it might just be my favourite game soundtrack of the year.

Biggest problem so far is that the performance is honestly just bad, there are many issues with crashing, and even high tier computers having a hard time holding a stable fps.

I highly recommend giving the game a try if any one it sounds interesting, and if the game just refuses to work for you, you will notice it before the 2 hour refund time is over, so you can just refund it.

Great game, at the start it's really hard, but when you get in to the rhythm it gets really addicting.

If you're like me, then you like to have NPCs around with you, and the game makes it easy to summon them, and gearing is quick with killing the players "revenants" from where they died.

Nioh 2 is basically a looter game, with unforgiving combat mixed in where you can easily die from a single mistake, and rewards skillful play, but if you're bad like me, then you can cheese the game too, by using "sloth talisman" magic which slows the bosses down, and spamming your yokai abilities.

I'd highly recommend Nioh 2 if you like the idea of a Souls-like game with Diablo loot.

Been playing it for about 150 hours on the Epic version. If you liked BL2 then this is mostly more of the same but with better gunplay. The story is just OK, but there is one character in particular who is really annoying, but it never made me turn the game off.
The release version was horribly buggy with really bad performance, but personally i run constant 80-90 fps compared to 40-60 from before. Also one of the biggest problems being that almost every legendary item was in the global loot pool, has been mostly fixed now.

I highly recommend this despite Randy being an ass and it being Epic exclusive for 6 months.