Recent reviews by The ♥♥♥ ♥

I shall preface this by saying: the game is amazing. If you're a fan of DL, DEFINITELY get this.
Small bit on info though, I have never touched DL1 or DL2 Reloaded, just the original DL2.
Also tried to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.
Played on normal/medium difficulty.

DL:B is basically the same thing as DL2, but a lot of the stuff you had to unlock in DL2 is available from the start in DL:B. Good in regards to some stuff, not so much for others. imo it cheapens the game a lot to have such a massive arsenal of movements and skills, but half of them are already unlocked. My issue isn't necessarily *that* that's how the game is, it's the skills they decided to give you from the start (and consequently, which ones you still have to unlock). I saved up most my skill points for the (subjectively, I guess) only worthwhile skills, the rest I never used.

However, that last comment is important, not because I want to draw attention to bad design or anything, but because those skills are tailored to a playstyle that is just not for me. I was very melee-focused in DL2 and didn't exactly plan on changing than in DL:B; to a degree, the game design supports that, but the late-game skills absolutely do not. Most of them focus on ranged combat for example, something I tried to avoid as best I could. It subtracts from DL, but that's probably just me.

Enemies... well, all the typical DL2 enemies make their appearances, Infected, Virals, Volatiles. However, combat has shifted away from Volatiles significantly. My experiences from DL2 had me scared ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of Dark Zones; memories of minutes of hiding and dying to Volatiles inside Dark Zones flared up and made me avoid them in DL:B until rather late in the story. At that point, though, I found out that Dark Zones no longer contain Volatiles (under specific circumstances and with unlucky spawns, entering Dark Zones during a Volatile chase will result in some having spawned in there), just Screamers, which go down as easily as do Virals.
Why, you may ask? Because what is said during the first story-related Volatile encounters, "they will tear you from limb to limb", is an absolute understatement. They are significantly more powerful in DL:B, which, again, isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it defies expectations to say the least.

Speaking of power brings me to the whole Beast Powers situation. While I get that it's the entire gimmick of the game, again, it feels... cheap. Gangs of low-level enemies become fodder even more than they already were, but wasting Beast Gauge on them feels like a waste. Then again, since Volatiles usually only appear in groups (at night, anyway), using Beast Powers against them is worthless since you still have no chance against more than one or two, even at max level. Damage against (mini) bosses in Beast Mode is laughable at best and miserable at worst compared to using upgraded melee weapons and throwables (with, by the way, dirt-cheap crafting recipies), the latter getting insanely overpowered even beyond the final mission.

Talking overpowered, a very positive note about enemy levels compared to player leveling: the balance here is absolutely spot-on. Low-level Infected remain fodder and scavenging sources (unless in very big groups), Virals and other mid-tier enemies remain glass cannons, Volatiles remain a massive threat, all scaling perfectly all the way to max level. You never feel under-challenged, but never overwhelmed either.

As far as I can remember, item distribution has taken a massive turn for the worse in DL:B compared to DL2. DL2 obviously had materials that were easier to acquire than others, but this contrast is amplified by orders of magnitude in DL:B. You will almost constantly be running low on the same 3 or 4 materials and they're commonly found in a very rare type of Dark Zone or rare rooms in abandoned houses. While this gives an incentive to visit those places more often while passing by, it gets repetitive. Very quickly. Grinding for the "upgrade all blueprints to max level" achievement is an absolute nightmare because of this.

Topic switch, story pacing. Similar to enemy scaling, progression feels steady when playing just story missions, if a bit monotonous. Side quests exist for a reason, you're supposed to switch it up in between traveling across the entire map to keep it fresh. While that was probably a conscious decision, I'm not really at peace with it. Not everyone plays games this way, some people want the story, maybe watch the cutscenes, and then do side quests AFTER finishing the story. For those, this game will feel like a bit of a drag.

On that topic though... I find it very unfortunate that the map and world turned out the way they did. The in-game map screen looks truly massive, until you find out that most of the outer grid squares will never be uncovered; the world abruptly ends in hedges and cliffs before you reach anywhere near the edges of the map screen. While this alleviates the pain of having to travel across the entire map every second story mission, it makes you a bit sad and wonder what could've been.
This is unfortunately reflected in what you do in some of the missions. Of course, I get this is DL and there's not veeeery much to do about that, but there's several missions where you literally just flee from a horde of enemies. As in, the exact same flight sequence happens, ending in a cutscene with some plat twist or another that will end the chase. Feels a bit cheap.

On the topic of side quests, races are back in this game! Unfortunately, what once where complicated and fun races on foot where you had to find your own way around, in DL:B, they're now by car. Might not sound bad, but the Ranger trucks in DL:B go 55 kph tops, meaning you'll typically be cruising along at a medium pace at best, following a sequence of tightly packed checkpoints. Make any ever-so-small mistake and say goodbye to a silver time.

Finally, exploration is severely limited compared to DL2. I remember in DL2 (again, remember, not the Reloaded version, which I haven't played yet), using the paraglider, you could literally gain height infinitely if you knew what you were doing. You were literally able and allowed (movement-wise), to reach the tops of buildings meant to be accessible only with equipment given several story missions later. This level of exploration felt deviant in a sense, but still somehow intended and expected. The reason was that there was loot; you were able to scavenge in areas you worked very hard to reach, long before you were supposed to.
Now, this ability isn't completely gone in DL:B, but you are hindered from actually doing it with walls made unclimbable, doors that will not open until story triggers enable you to interact with them, the like. It feels as if a degree of freedom was intentionally taken away to prevent sequence breaking, but that was the charm about DL2; there was no sequence breaking because there was no sequence to break while you were free-roam exploring areas you were not meant to access yet. Missions weren't active, triggers could not be skipped because there were none.
The ONLY thing you could do is unlock access points or drop ladders, giving you access to those areas you were perhaps not meant to access immediately during the mission. But even that is so inconsequential that it should not be the reason to remove that exploration.

This may be the best Souls-like ever made. And Pinocchio is so insanely hot I'd be willing to bet money this was made with the express consideration of r34 in mind.

For the love of god, DO NOT BUY THIS. Ever. Not even on sale.

Is badly retells the story of the original DS with washed out characters. It's a sanitized, overly polished reinterpretation, where the gritty, apocalyptic realism has been replaced by a hyper-friendly and overly cautious, 2020s-washed tone, diluting the original DS's urgency and edge.

Where the characters used to react like real people, cursing, anger, cracking dark, bitter jokes, they now act like they’re in some horrible trash sitcom. Forced optimism and overly polished, safe dialogue that doesn’t belong in a world that's very literally falling apart around them.

The best way to describe it is... bland. 2020s-friendly, market-tested fluff pretending to hold true to what was an amazing game. Do yourself a MASSIVE favor and buy the ORIGINAL DS if you want the story for what it is. I'm not even gonna pretend I'm a hardcore DS fan or anything, but THIS, this is insulting.

Not to mention how insanely horribly this PoC "game" is optimized. My rig (pun intended) definitely isn't the best, but it's also far from the worst. No matter what graphics setting, I get the same 90 FPS, insane frame drops and constant stuttering. Even running JUST the game and pretty much nothing else doesn't resolve this. Actual insanity.

I wouldn't accept this if I was given this game for free after knowing what it's like. Deep down, I expected nothing less considering this is still an EA title, but somehow STILL got disappointed. The original was perfect. This is EA slop at it's finest.
Again. Don't buy this. Ever.

-- SPOILERS AHEAD FROM HERE ON --

As for gameplay, it plays more or less like the original, with some major pitfalls. Spamming Stomp now stunlocks most enemies, something they didn't allow in the original. This alone makes the entire game SIGNIFICANTLY easier.
Stasis no longer feels instant, you can now watch the charge you fire travel through the air. Forget everything you knew about the old way you used Stasis, cause that'll get you killed now.

I will update this as I play the rest of the game, but this impression within an hour of the game, compared to the original... it's a joke.

horrible ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game
sucks you in like a thicc femboy's ass so that's a plus

To summarize: I expected more from how it's presented.
I know "18 minutes" isn't a lot of time to form an opinion but it's more than I've given a lot of games to hook me and this one failed. Horribly.
He's nothing but annoying, constantly walking around where you need to go. Slow Walking Simulator, basically, since doing anything but that (or more precisely, crouch-walking) attracts him within 2 seconds.
Just... no...

Loved the idea of this game, loved the "Prologue" demo version and I love the full game.
Everything about this is awesome if you like turn-based games like... this one.
Absolutely worth it.

Learning electric guitar with RS is easy and damn fun, too.
The DLCs are rather pricey, but if you know/knew what amount of work you actually need to put into making one + tones (and I do), the prices for one (or the entire pack) become pretty reasonable.
Also, http://ignition.customsforge.com

Now, uhh... I've played through this and frankly, I don'T know if there's anything more to it than I saw (and there probably is), but I have to say (and I'm kind of ashamed to do so) that I don't get the ending...

However, I CAN say, however, that the game looks beautiful, pretty linear story, but I like that and it's pretty easy.