Recent reviews by fivesixzero

Fun little three-player extraction shooter with potential, but not quite a classic (yet).

Good: Solidly fun game play loop on five pretty different levels with unique environment-based goals. Genuinely enjoyed my first 15 hours in this game.

Bad: Might've done better on release at a lower price point, and despite the general polish there are still some annoying bugs. REALLY needs voice or text chat! Coordination makes or breaks runs and there's virtually no way to communicate with teammates beyond simple pinging.

Meh: Although its set in the Control universe, and the setting works well, the writing and immersion we're used to from a proper Remedy game just isn't there. Probably an appropriate level of world-building and story for an extraction shooter, but from this team and at this price point people rightfully expect more.

On balance, this game is a net-positive for me. After 15 hours in just a few days I feel like it was worth the cost at release. Here's to hoping Remedy continues to work on this and improve minor bugs and balance issues as they go.

This is a very, very special game. You should probably buy it.

On paper, its seemingly haphazard pile of gaming mechanics and genre riffs looks ... ridiculous. In practice, the MINTROCKET crew managed to create a wonderful experience full of little (and large) bits of random joy that make Dave the Diver add up to something far greater than its parts.

Chill 'dungeon crawl' fish-catching is super fun. Dangers definitely exist, and they're pretty dang scary at first, but they're easily manageable with some experience. Taking Dave out for a long dive is a great way to unwind.

Running the restaurant can be a bit more frenetic at first, at least until some good staff arrive. Its a nice balance to the more chilled-out fishing trips. Its really rewarding to mix and match recipes and rake in the dough after a long day.

The only real downside is that the game is fun enough that reaching the end is a bit sad. Hopefully the devs will be using the runaway success of the game to work on some new content and/or DLC to keep the adventures coming.

WARNING: Proper early access, content isn't nearly complete, needs a lot of tuning, occasional bugs are present. (reviewing Milestone 1.22)

Even in EA this is a ton of fun if you're a fan of the original mid-1990's X-Com formula. If you liked Xenonauts 1 but found yourself wanting more, this is an easy buy. If you're a big fan of old-school X-Com and haven't played Xenonauts 1, I'd recommend starting with X1 until X2 is out of EA - its a blast from the past, in a great way.

So far (a few days in) this feels like an evolutionary, not revolutionary, extension of Xenonauts 1. The engine looks like its more capable, both graphically and in terms of storytelling tools, and the bones are already in place for a pretty great riff on the genre.

Development is very active coming out of closed beta - just look at the patch notes[www.goldhawkinteractive.com] - with patches coming in hot every couple of days. Really looking forward to watching the dev team cook this one.

TL;DR - Buy if you liked X1 and want an early peek at what's next.

Do you like mysterious government agencies, supernatural mystery, uban legends, or surreal/brutalist architecture? Do you enjoy throwing forklifts with the power of your mind or, say, hovering above your enemies while raining death from above with a paranatural hand-cannon? Does the idea of a tangled web of storylines being revealed by inter-office memos appeal to you? How about well-crafted cinematic vistas of all of the above combined with excellent voice acting and well-acted motion capture?

If you said yes to any of the above, you'll probably love Control.

I played through Control and its two DLCs (Foundation and AWE) on a Steam Deck without any issues and found it to be thoroughly enjoyable. It probably looks even better with higher graphical capabilities but even without all the bells and whistles this whole game shines.

The only minor gripes I have are that the DLCs simply don't meet the high bar for writing or kinematics set by the core game, but that's forgivable given how enjoyable it is to just have more time to explore new mysteries in the Oldest House.

Remedy's generally excellent writing has offered them lots of options to continue building new stories in this universe, inside and outside of the FBC. Here's to hoping that they do!