Recent reviews by King B

Short review before I write up a more in-depth one following campaign progression with a more detailed look into it's systems, story and player mechanics.

Went in blind (forest) and ended up playing for 6 hours straight.

Best parts of V-Rising's combat & Elden Rings / Dark souls inventory and combat mechanics with deep storytelling, stunning visuals with real impact alongside a deep dialogue and story.

Developers care about the experience, a passion project from the studio behind the Ori series.

so far I think this is the best game I've played since I picked up Baldur's gate 3 in 21

like eating cornflakes with water as you sit across from your rich neighbour (balatro) eating a full english

An incomprehensible amount of stupid compressed into a game.

It claims to be strategic, but in practice it’s a luck simulator with balance that appears to have been decided by rolling dice down a flight of stairs and ignoring the result whilst simultaneously throwing neon colours at anything and everything in view

"Ranked" is a decorative label - both Ranked and Casual use the same system (with several more ai fights in casual so don't expect it to be easier) something the game itself never bothers to explain. This is part of the larger problem: the game explains almost nothing. With zero transparency about how matchmaking or player interactions function, there’s very little you can do when the game cheerfully throws you against players with 10-100x your playtime. For a game marketed around strategy, that’s… bold.

Balance continues its downward spiral thanks to characters with hilariously broken synergies that cost $20 each ($10 on sale, how generous) and there are already three of them. Free characters simply cannot keep up for new players, making this feel less “pay-to-win” and more “pay-to-participate.”

The community isn’t exactly a refuge either as when asking for advice summons a pack of chronically online neats who seem to derive genuine joy from condescending anyone asking basic questions - something the discord mods seem to revel in.

There’s a rich and confusing history of monetization / NFT / free to play flip-flopping. Before buying, I’d strongly recommend reading up on the decisions made by the “development” team. From a technical standpoint, the mechanics work. The systems mostly function. But whoever is responsible for balancing and playtesting seems to be performing Olympic-level mental gymnastics instead of actually playing the game for more than ten minutes.

Additionally Reynad and his community of Mods actively ban people who give any form of feedback that isn't in line with their views - multiple confirmed and evidential bans have been made to players for asking for clarity on game systems, as well as banning for negative feedback.

Also worth mentioning: there is 100% AI-generated art in this game. Making tiny edits afterward and claiming otherwise is dishonest at best and insulting at worst.

Thankfully I bought it on sale because this game is wildly optimistic about its own quality.

New league
Fall for the hype (again)
Try a “new” class (same build, different colour)
Grind acts (again)
Reach endgame because of course you do
Kill every boss to prove point
Optimize fun out of it
Lose interest
Play something else until next league

Peak tism gameplay

Vaal Temple update is not the best, little to no explanation on how linking rooms works; with streamers obliterating the economy with exploits that ruin the ability for more casual players to even smell the endgame let alone get past T5.

Every new addition feels like GGG are throwing darts at an idea wall and merging them into gems.

got called a racial slur for not knowing the mechs of the first boss, on my first run.

released the game because the boys were almost out of money

i like the game, it's core mechanics are well done - resulting in the positive recommendation

I don't have a problem with censoring suggestive images of children and victims of trafficking.

I do have a problem with graphical downgrades that fundamentally change the immersion of the game.

LOWER SERVER TICK RATES = BORING GAMEPLAY

netcode is still dog.

50/50 chance you get into a match that isn't a total waste of time

Legacy Steel & Sorcery promises an extraction dark fantasy adventure-looter, but what it delivers is more of a stun-locked simulator than a true test of skill; its poor input queuing and sluggish combat mechanics turn every battle into an exercise in frustration rather than finesse.

The core issue lies in its clunky combat system, which feels unresponsive at best and unfair at worst. Animations are slow, and once you commit to an attack, you’re locked in leaving you wide open for enemies to pummel you without a chance to react. Dodging and parrying often feel inconsistent, not because of difficulty, but because of delayed or ignored inputs that make precise timing nearly impossible.

Enemy encounters frequently devolve into stun-lock chains, where a single mistake can result in being trapped in a flurry of attacks with no way to break free. Instead of feeling like a skilled warrior cutting through foes with calculated strikes, you feel like a training dummy for any opponent.

That’s not to say the game is without merit. The environments are rich and have a variation of cpu enemies within the sword-and-sorcery aesthetic, the lore is surprisingly deep. However, these elements can’t save the core experience when basic combat feels like a battle against the controls rather than against the enemies themselves.

If you're going to play, leave your frustrations at the door and expect to die to fully geared players with tons more experience than you because as of right now there is absolutely no matchmaking system, it just throws everyone into the same single map.

Also, these "fixes" that have occurred to reduce the time of stunlock down from 10 seconds to 8 haven't really done much for the core gameplay cycle.

EDIT additional 6 hours or so later;

I will say that the community in this game is by far the best that i've come across in this genre, i've had multiple instances of people actively teaching or aiding others in the game via voice chat ranging from combat mechanics and loot paths.

Ever wanted to be a vampire warlord and an interior designer? V Rising lets you do both. You start as a weak, sun-fearing noodle and slowly build your power by sucking blood, fighting bosses, and crafting the gothiest castle imaginable.

Combat is fast, fluid, and full of spells that make you feel like an anime villain. The open world is packed with things to loot, people to bite, and the ever-present fear of the sun, which turns every daytime stroll into a high-stakes game of "Dodge the Death Ray."