Recent reviews by Knobulus

Frostpunk 2 is a fairly notable departure from the mechanics and gameplay of Frostpunk 1, and after finishing my first playthrough of the story mode I'd say it works well. Where the original Frostpunk focuses on intimate development of a small city with a unique radial design, Frostpunk 2 has you managing a city of tens of thousands and its subsidiary colonies in a hex-based system. It retains the survival city builder design of the first but oriented in a different direction (The City Must Survive vs. The City Must Thrive). The first game introduced the two main antagonistic forces as the weather and rivaling ideologues, placing higher emphasis on the former and using the latter primarily as flavoring. This game reverses that. In the story mode, 2 whiteouts happen in the early chapters and they're practically nothing. A whiteout was the thrilling climax of the first game. If you're open to entertaining the Frostpunk world as a POST-apocalypse where politics are arguably more important than freezing to death, you'll find that Frostpunk 2 is a pretty satisfying experience. It took me just about 6 hours to finish the story mode and I'm looking forward to trying alternative routes and victory conditions.

The best hidden easter egg in this game is that it does tell you some real secret lore. I now know what a shilling is and how many tuppence are in it.

Very nice puzzle game with some moderately difficult solutions and great historic set-pieces. A decently sized VR game as well, taking me 10 hours to beat. Fairly polished and "cinematic" feeling. Some other reviews note bugs, but I only encountered a handful, primarily with object collisions. If you want a narrative puzzle game and/or like time travel and history, I'd definitely recommend it. The ending was somewhat confusing/anticlimactic, leaving many more loose threads than answers and not-so-subtly baits a sequel, so the game is more enjoyable for its journey than destination.

Stellaris is interesting when lined up against the other Paradox grand strategy titles. The futuristic setting aside, there's something about it that makes me think it doesn't quite belong. I've heard the game referred to as "like Civilization" or "a 4X". The game does include exploration, expansion, exploitation, and extermination, but so does Europa Universalis 4 and I don't think I've ever heard anyone call it a 4X. Stellaris has all the facets of a Paradox GSG, being initially difficult to learn with many overlapping systems a new player has to come to terms with. Although a score does exist for each empire, the main goal for most players will be just to play and experience the story that unfolds. It's mired in DLC hell, and the price of entry is high. You could even argue that the game is still a map-game.

I think the main difference that causes me to set it apart in my mind is how the game is approached compared to the historic Paradox GSGs. From Imperator to HoI4, there is always the context of history. Choosing a nation, a player will often think of what the historical context of that nation was and what they did historically on top of what the player can steer them to do differently. It attracts a certain type of fan who enjoys the historical aspect and who will have a fair understanding of what the AI around them are capable of. It's not a small niche; EU4 pulls good numbers due to being largely uncontested in it. HoI4 pulls in a sizable chunk of the WWII strategy crowd. However, players outside of this niche won't have the same advantage. They may find themselves lost and looking for direction, unsure of who should be their allies and greatest threats. It may take them longer to grasp exactly where they stand, if they even stick around long enough to do so. In contrast, Stellaris is a blank slate.

Stellaris is the most customizable of the Paradox GSGs, moreso than Crusader King's Ruler designer and EU4's nation creator or random New World. What shape do you want the map? How large? How dense should pathways be between system to system? Roughly how do you want the AI to be placed around the map and how many should they be? Do you want those AI to be your own creations, premades, or a mix? Do you want to create a species and name it after your friend and make it a smelly toxic man? You don't need to know anything before booting up Stellaris other than the most generic of science fiction concepts. For most origins you start with a single system, a single planet, a small fleet, and one each of construction and science ships. The only thing you can see on the map is yourself and the immediate surroundings. The only overload to a new player comes from the mechanics, not the map around them. I've actually been able to get people into Stellaris. I've as of yet been unable to get anyone into other Paradox games.

It's been a joy for me to come to and from Stellaris for the past few years. I always find myself enjoying it greatly, accidentally playing until 5 AM like I do with the other grand strategy titles. Read other reviews for mechanics, this is just me musing about the game as a genre. If you can get a good price on it, definitely pick it up. If you're new to Paradox games like this, I think you should still give it a chance.

I've been playing this game off-and-on since the 2010 update (forget exactly which one, just remember that the playerbase called the game DF 2010 from that point on). I used the recommended Lazy Newb Pack, but still preferred to keep the ASCII graphics intact. I remember booting it up once in my freshman dorm and my roommate remarking that my computer looked ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up. I have no idea how many hours I've played, but I'm certain it must easily by in the mid-to-high hundreds. They changed the keybinding for mining from d to m. I'd change it back but the WASD camera movement is pretty nice. I do sometimes miss the numpad.

For experienced players who are hesitant about the Steam release, know that it's a good translation. Mouse support is implemented and works wonderfully. Drawing squares for designations is a lot faster than adjusting parameters via key-press. The tileset is not only visually interesting but also robust, allowing for a good deal of variety in certain creatures (like, thankfully, the dwarves themselves) which greatly increases reflex readability. The music is amazing, drawing from longtime fan creators. I'm sure the workshop will also bring a whole new ease of modability to the game as well, and I look forward to the possibility of old favorites being ported over.

My main gripe with the game is that while the labor assignments feel better than in Classic mode, I do miss Dwarf Therapist. I hope that maybe there will be an update or even a mod that can offer better control over labor priorities. Other than that, the adaptation is great and definitely worth a purchase. Looking forward to the next Future of the Fortress and Monthly Report on the Bay 12 Forums.

-An addendum of a fun story in my recent fort-

I had breached the cavern layer fairly quickly, bumping into it accidentally while trying to reach the lower layers in search of marble for my faltering steel industry (there are no flux stones higher up if you're in an igneous zone). There was a tribe of hostile swallow-men in the cavern, but they stayed away long enough for me to wall off an area outside of my staircase, allowing me a small parcel of cavern floor to explore until I could get a functioning squad to guard the entrance. A few seasons later, I get a notification that a Forgotten Beast has appeared. These are randomly generated monstrosities which are designed to present a significant challenge to your fort. This one was named Em Spiderymoistens the Cavernous Hole of Depths, a giant one-eyed snake with ebony scales and lethal blood. The artwork actually represented this very well, and the sprite took up several tiles. The beast spawned at the cavern's edge and began to massacre the sparrowmen on its way to my fortifications. As I prepared for the worst, a sole swallow spearman challenged the beast. After a lengthy battle, during which the beast ripped off its wings, the spearman slew the Forgotten Beast and collapsed exhausted in the puddling blood. I checked the swallowman's thoughts:
"He didn't feel anything after experiencing trauma. He didn't feel anything after seeing Em Spiderymoistens of the Cavernous Hole of Depths die."
If I could go out there and bury that hero, I would.

Shadow government grand strategy xcom very good.

I can't believe I slept on this for so long.

You know what this is. Everyone who has even touched a computer knows what Mount and Blade is. And they know, deep down in their hearts, that Bannerlord is never being released

Holy f u c k dude this game's only $20. If you have ANY desire to play it, pick it up. I had no idea I would love this damn game so much.

Everything about it is a trip. Everyone knows about the juxtaposition between the melodramatic, gritty story about the underbelly of Japan's most infamous syndicate and the goofy minigames like karaoke, dancing, mahjong, etc. It's somewhat come to characterize the series, and honestly for as much as I worried it would detract from the game it only added to its charm. Kiryu does everything incredibly seriously, and watching him answer a phone as if he's about to kick ass instead of talk to some h*rny chick serves to better display just the kind of character Kazuma Kiryu is.

Goro Majima is a character old-time fans of this series adore. I've never owned a Playstation, so I had no stake in this game when I first met him. Within 15 minutes I came to understand why people love this maniac so much. In future games, Majima is somewhat of a comedic relief wild card, as well as a complicated ally and rival to Kiryu. This game, set years before the start of Yakuza 1, shows him a bit before he accepts his wild side and he doesn't meet Kiryu for the first time until the end . However, he's still an incredibly interesting and somewhat ridiculous character. One of his fighting styles is literal breakdancing.

All the minigames are executed exceedingly well, and oftentimes in the one playthrough I've managed (around 66 hours) I would go for a whole sitting not actually doing anything story or fight related. Make no mistake, however. Yakuza 0, and the Yakuza series as a whole, is a fighting game. And it's a damn good fighting game, as far as I'm concerned. Both Kiryu and Majima can switch between 3 fighting styles on the fly (which from what I understand was first introduced in 0, and was retrofitted into the Kiwami remakes of 1 and 2). Without spoiling all the styles, each character has a swift style with a red theme, a balanced style with a blue theme, and a heavy-hitting style with a yellow theme. In all the styles, every hit has an incredibly satisfying weight to it. I didn't have a problem with the combat being floaty at all. Largely thanks to the visuals and the sound design, slamming a guy's face into the wall just feels painful.

Speaking of the sights and sounds, they're great. This game already has some age to it, but it doesn't look like it all too much. While character facial animations may be a bit janky up close, ultimately they avoid the uncanny valley. The music is killer. Whether it's the hard rock of combat or the smooth jazz of a hostess club, Yakuza 0 brings it. I've had Baka Mitai stuck in my head for a long time.

I don't speak Japanese, nor do I comprehend the language very well. I can't comment on if the voice acting is fantastic, but from an English speaker's perspective it all seemed appropriate.

As with every review, I'm mainly just rambling with this in hopes that someone will be convinced to pick this up and enjoy it half as much as I did. This game is a real treat, and I'm SO glad Sega is bringing Yakuza Kiwami here as well. It's a great port, and I didn't note and issues in this matter.

All that's left to do is wait for that Kiwami release date.

Yo, Kiryu-chan!

Oh boy this is gonna be a ramble

This game is hilariously buggy at times. In my 71.6 hours of playtime, most of the bugs were graphical and related to AI pathing. I only experienced one gamebreaking bug which had a somewhat simple fix before a patch which I believe addressed it directly.

This game was Kickstarted, which I didn't even know until I looked up who were the names on all the roadside crosses and shrines. The game feels incredibly indie, yet at the same time feels just as professional as Skyrim or Witcher 3 (the latter of which was also made by a relatively small Eastern European dev team). The game is a good looker, and while voice acting may be a hit or miss for some characters the overall quality I would argue is satisfying. The map is large and varied enough with many hours worth of side quests and activites to get involved in. Some activites may be simple fetch quests, but the majority of the side quests presented entertaining scenarios and situations to get through. With all this, why does it still feel so indie to me? I can't really describe why in non-abstract terms. The game really lacks that "AAA polish," if that makes sense. I don't refer to the bugs or the graphics or the voice talent when I say this. There's something to me in the way that the game plays that feels very "indie." The gameplay is rougher and much less streamlined than something like Skyrim.

On the difficulty of the game, I personally found it to be rather disappointing. I wish I could have had some sort of difficulty setting to raise. In the beginning the game does a wonderful job of making you feel powerless and weak. However, once you exit the intro segment and you get the chance to train your swordsmanship with Captain Bernard, you can easily become strong enough to take down almost any foe. For example, there are a series of activites in the game where you are tasked with taking down hidden encampments of foes across the map. The game stresses that you may want to work your way carefully around these, poisoning food or picking off the leader with arrows. And these are valid strategies, but for many of these encampments even later in the game I had little trouble with simply waltzing in longsword in hand and taking the whole camp on. The only time I ever felt threatened in melee combat was when I was surrounded by enemies, but this would often not happen as most foes would go down in a few hits. The melee combat is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fun and reminiscent of Mount and Blade with a few more directions and the ability to dodge, parry, and perform combos. Some of the most fun I had with the combat was fighting Captain Bernard in training, as unlike most enemies he could withstand enough hits that I could combo him. As for difficulty in the stealth aspects, I found that fine. I dabbled in stealth enough to get my levels up to 10 in stealth, pickpocketing, and lockpicking, and the road there was fairly challenging. Much like other open-world games of this sort, the stealth isn't Dishonored or Thief level but it is fairly servicable. The difficulty with the bow I enjoyed. You can cheat to add a marker for where the arrow should go, but I found it fun to try and master the weapon. However, in most combat situations I would always be found confronted by an enemy at close range. The most I used my bow was in hunting.

I had no idea what the hell this game was going into it. I got it at full price because the concept seemed so intriguing and I was hearing a lot of good things from people I followed on social media. From what it seemed to me looking at it from a distance, it looked a lot like a Mount and Blade sort of game with an overlying story. It really isn't, but that's 100% fine . There is a fair deal of player choice in the game, but overall KC:D is a focused character-driven story. I can't help but like Henry's character. I and many others will mention this game feels a lot like the Witcher, another heavily character-driven story. Henry, however, is the antithesis of Geralt. Whereas Geralt of Rivia is wise, old, experienced, and done with this sh!t, Henry of Skalitz is young, greenhorned, entirely foolhardy, and wide-eyed. He transitions from a nobody sorta witnessing this big historic event into an invaluable part of the plan for the Bohemian nobles. You kinda feel like you grow with the character, and you can't help but feel a little proud by the end. You start to forget that Henry's whole quest started just because of a sword (which, as a neat little thematic bit, remains with you the entire game as a main quest that you won't complete until the sequel, probably.

A quick note on the story: I enjoyed it. It's political and immersive in this real historical event in real places of then-Bohemia, today-Czech Republic. The characters involved are lovable and there are some moments you feel like a real bad@ss, even when you fight Runt, the brute who kicks your ass in the intro and steals your sword, starting your quest. You have a dramatic duel with him midway through the game (this is the only dramatic duel of this sort you'll have, which I found to be a let down), but for me the duel took around 10 seconds. I didn't feel as accomplished as I could have, and the ferocity of Henry in the following cutscene therefore felt a little unearned. I was told the story ended on a terrible cliff-hanger, but actually I feel that the ending was a resolute enough point to stop on and pick up in the next game. The developers have stated prior to launching the game that KC:D would be the first 2 acts in a 3 act story. My only worry is whether that third act will be enough to adequately fill a full game as the first two did.

While the game plays more like a Witcher than the sandbox-ier Skyrim and Mount and Blade, like M&B I feel like the game mechanics and engine would be fantastic for modding. I'm holding out that there might be some quality DLCs and expansions from Warhorse a la Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. Furthermore, I could see some people making some kick@ss total-conversion mods to place the game mechanics into a different setting and different story (if WH don't do that themselves in any DLC). While I enjoy the whole "Dungeons and Dragons minus the Dragons" motto of medieval realism in the main game, I would pay mad shekels for some sort of Warhammer crossover.

This review doesn't cover everything I would like to say about the game, nor does it probably function very well as a review in the first place. Really, I just finished the game and wanted to express my full impression of it because it has been gathering within me for weeks now. But that's the thing, this game has really made an impression on me. I wholeheartedly enjoy it, and hopefully my review gets that across.

Game's good. Give it a shot