Recent reviews by StarbitSparkles

This is a fun little game, love swinging about the maps while listening to music or podcasts... that said, I gotta agree with some of the other reviewers here, the last 10 levels are positively sadistic. Not all games are meant to be completed by everyone, and these pushed me to that point. Everything else was wonderful, and I'm excited to see what else the team has going on if they ever go back to a similar style of game, but I'm cashing in at level 95.

Just finished my first playthrough of the main game, DLCs still not done because the difficulty spike is immense but I've heard the content is considered some of the best in the game. Narratively, DS2 is at an interesting crossroads between DS1 and DS3 as it puts you in the shoes of an ordinary undead, who has to claw their way into the role of the game's protagonist, rather than coming into being as the 'chosen one'. Along the way your destiny begins to take shape, and (with the prerequisites met) you're left to decide the fate of the lost world you've wandered through.

This matches well with the gameplay which, of the three Dark Souls games, is significantly more difficult in the early game, particularly in SOtFS. You are going to die again and again and feel the need to close out. If you quit here you're going to potentially miss out on a gem as the areas past Forest of Fallen Giants and Heide's Tower of Flame (the first branch in the path towards Drangelic Castle) are fantastic and awe-inspiring. The layout of the map only makes sense in the fiction of the world, and vary wildly, from pirate coves, to lava-flooded castles, to shrines surrounded by dragons and the memories of both the King and the Giants they fought against in their past.

My advice would be to use summons where you need to in order to keep from being stuck on bosses forever. You only get a few opportunities to respec so when you're outmatched and lack the souls to properly fix your levels, its completely alright to ask the game for help. In respect to builds, Ymfah on Youtube has some fantastic guides specific to certain builds that'll help you get up to speed. Once you're properly leveled the possibilities open up and you're able to really start doing some damage. It gets easier, stick with it.

This is not a perfect experience but if you're patient, this is a twinkling titanite in the rough.

This game really makes you feel like Micheal Rodent.

"Did I wake you up from your depression nap?"

This is one of the better immersive sims in the genre. The myriad of tools and weapons at your disposal ensure a high level of replayability. The Grappendix and Biothruster alone turn the pinpoint precise gunplay into a stellar speed game.

The world of Cruelty Squad explores ideas of the capitalist ideal, immortality, the implications of the two crossing paths, and the resulting cultural malaise. This permeates the game's themes and overall artstyle, which is what many would note as the games most polarizing aspect. It's ugly in a beautiful way, but takes time to adjust to.

It's a really solid game, but not without the occasional hiccups:

The game's penultimate levels, Archon Grid and Trauma Loop are where you're going to likely find yourself restarting the level over and over again, if not quitting entirely. On the surface they seem to act as tests of everything you've learned so far, but Archon Grid locks you into arenas with low ceilings and tiny doorways and Trauma Loop dunks you into darkness and takes all of your implants and augments away, along with throwing every filthy trick the game has at you. You will not survive.

Other than the gross difficulty spike of these last two levels, you're left with a really satisfying experience that I hope the developer will match with a sequel or DLC.

As a short little indie romp it hits all the right notes with some impressive visuals, obviously taking inspiration from Hotline Miami but in a charming sort of way. The middle is raw in a bad way though, between the hitscanning military enemies and the grenadiers. I ended up turning the difficulty down at one point just because of how atrocious a jump it was in that aspect. Maybe one day they'll make a sequel that improves on the somewhat solid foundation here.

halfway through the game right now and the core gameplay is solid, but what the hell 2k. This is the version of the game you actively advertise on the steam market and 4 years since this "remaster" came out, it's still broken as ♥♥♥♥. Just dealt with yet another major crash that caused me to lose progress in one of the more tedious parts of the game. Adam gathering is a slow as hell and resource intensive exercise in patience, even on easy mode, so to have the game crash 30 minutes later and be told "Do it again. Through not fixing these bugs, we, 2k games, are telling you this is the way it was meant to be played." makes me just want to quit on it.

What people are referring to when they talk about 'that good ♥♥♥♥'

Rust, rust, rust, what could I say about Rust, coming off of around 3 or 4 hours of gameplay... what a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ toss. The issues aren't in the actual mechanics for me, they're fine essentially, but unless you're playing with a bunch of friends get ready to get your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ salad tossed because you've made the early game relentless. The whole culture behind your game has become truly cancerous, all these death squads with AKs and full armor gunning down "freshies" or newbies because obviously they'd be carrying more than just a rock and a torch and maybe some tidbit ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of stone or wood.

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There is no solo-player progression. You either play with friends, join an already existing clan and hope to god they don't gun you down and tell you that you joining them is a joke (I've had it happen before), or you just die. again. and again. and again. Each time having to wait through the painful process of hearing your own personal set of jimmy rustling beach-campers gloat about how stupid you are to be only given a rock and a torch and how you're ♥♥♥♥ because you're a "freshie".

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You need to balance your early gameplay, perhaps allow people better access to resources without having to join a modded server, and for the love of god at least provide better access to stone nodes. I've played on a lot of servers where the "fun" death squad decided to camp up in the mines, killing anyone they can just so they can gloat. Please don't let this become another game like League of Legends with a wonderful game but a misguided playerbase. This isn't to say that players that are good at the game are bad people - it's saying you need to at least give people that are either bad at the game, or good at the game but starting out again on a server, some kind of chance. Playing solo isn't even an option at this point, and I've really tried.

I've been playing since it was originally a free to play title, and it's just gotten better and better! The devs seem to put a lot of love and effort into balancing and running the servers.

Delicious.