Recent reviews by Arf

What a game. I can't believe how much fun the (not-so) simple feature of native multiplayer is. Everything I liked about the original Slay the Spire is here, with some new stuff on top. If you've ever played the first game, you probably own this already. If you haven't played the first game, play this one instead, it's got everything minus achievements.

PROS:
- The ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Time Eater is gone

- Same good StS gameplay loop, "roguelike deckbuilder" if you're IGN, basic elements of DnD parties if you're not. Very simple, has depth, is good fun.

- New characters add quite a bit to the game. I like playing Regent and Necro a lot, and never gelled with the Watcher so kinda glad she's gone sorry

- New mechanics are also cool, I like Sly. Less thrilled about some enemy mechanics like slippery and ringing but I will learn.

- Ascension 10 is more manageable than having to do 20, that's very grindy. This might change though we'll see.

- Multiplayer is so good. The multiplayer specific cards are cool as hell and you can do so much fun stuff. Synergistic card picks, healing each other at rest sites, setup bots, block bots, heal bots, debuff bots, it's a laundry list and it's all very nice.

CONS:
- Early Access means things will change and they might get worse before they get better. They also might not.

- The balancing is very askew, half the time it seems like the player is broken beyond belief, then you meet some of the elites (especially in Act 1) and it seems quite the opposite. The random mobs are sometimes also horrifically strong, some of them are basically elites themselves. Special mention to "Hunter Killer" that name has struck fear into me since Black Ops and this one has a mean streak to match.

- Each encounter's gimmick seems inclined to punish specific strategies, which means that some builds are outright outmatched against them. Example: the galvanized walking Van de Graaff generator who takes 6 HP for playing a Power card. Defect players beware. I guess it "promotes diverse decks" but like come on, a random brick wall in your way is brutal.

- Following on from balancing, some player strategies and cards are nonfunctional without key pieces of the puzzle. I am not very good at this game so perhaps some of this comes from skill issue, but it feels like certain player strategies are infinitely stronger than others: Sly on Silent, Souls on Necro, it sort of feels like artificial gimping if you're not building those strats. Similarly, some cards are broken beyond belief in multiplayer and outright terrible in singleplayer: Strangle and Ironclad vuln stacking to name a couple.

- I am very confused on whether the game actually wants you to target elites. In StS1, the elite's guaranteed rewards and relics changed the entire flow of the game to such an extent that targeting them as much as possible was the most common strategy. In this game? It almost feels high-risk low-reward. The relics are ... fine? I've only seen a few that are really build-arounds but I'm no theorycrafter. You don't get a guaranteed rare card either, and those are absolutely build-arounds. Odd choices to the elite reward balancing here.


That's it. Notice how most of the cons are stuff that Early Access games often have issues with at the start, or growing pains. I expect some of the fixes to these problems will involve player nerfs, which sucks in a PvE game, but some math wizard will point out how its necessary. Other than encounters feeling almost arbitrary in assignment (some of the random mobs are seriously elite level in strength it is ABSURD) and certain elites being overtuned to hell (F them quad worms in Act 1, WTF is that) this game has few flaws for my personal taste. Will play for hours to come. 9/10.

Hoo boy. This is a ...contested game. There's a lot of history behind how this game came to be and what happened to it when it was let out into the world. So 5 years and a whole DLC later, what's my verdict? It's just not all it's hyped up to be, lads. This game's problem is that it's surface level and superficial to an embarrassing degree given how it was marketed and received. I'm going to be very harsh on this game's level of detail and freedom of expression. Why? Because in a post GTA5/RDR2/BG3 world, open world RPGs just need that level of TLC. If you don't have it, you get punished. ESPECIALLY when you say you have it, and very much do not.

PROS:
- It's managed to keep enough of the Blade Runner/Neo-Tokyo aesthetic and grime to feel "dystopian but still pretty" in a neon-saturated red-light district kind of way, which is what the Cyberpunk genre should feel like IMO

- Melee combat and netrunner combat feels decent for the most part. The heft of the hammers and the manic katana spam has oomph, throwable knives feel good, and so do most pistols honestly

- The NCPD hustles and fixer gigs are easily the most fun I had "doing stuff" in the game. Very little railroading occurs here and you have a wide range of options to complete your objective. Full stealth is actually pretty enjoyable here.

- The lore around the NCPD/Gigs are environment-based and you can learn a fair bit about the fixers and their respective spheres of influence.

- You can make people end it all.

CONS:
- Driving sucks harder than a joytoy on Jig-Jig Street. Whatever the hell they did to their roads and driving mechanics, so few cars handle properly it's a nightmare. You can get used to it eventually but it never really stops being a roll of the dice.

- Guns feel like ass for the most part, especially the full auto ones. Anything above a pistol doesn't look or feel nice to use, except maybe a power shotgun. I think I stopped using assault rifles and SMGs before I was 15 hours into the game, and the various gimmicks like Tech/Smart/Unique versions of these full auto guns are still so unsatisfying.

- TwinTone sucks and the whole owning cars system sucks, no garage sucks, why in the name of God are the color slots limited I just don't understand why this system is so bad.

Actually, forget this cons section. There's several glaring issues in this game that need their own paragraphs because we need to talk about this holistically.

Okay, this game is railroady as all heck. You will go and do things as we say, and you will then watch this cutscene. Special mention to the 30 minute sequence following "The Heist". You've only just been introduced properly to V and his Night City shenanigans, then you're thrown into Keanu Reeves'... I dunno anarchist wet dream or something. I lost the ability to play MY character for such a long period of time that I straight up Alt-F4'd the game and afterwards sped through the explanations for what was happening. I didn't CARE about this history lesson, or introduction to Silverhand, I didn't give a single solitary ♥♥♥♥, and this sort of expository ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is a recurring feature in the game. I spent as much time avoiding main story quests as possible because of this. This extends to in quest stuff too, even if you're a netrunner build sometimes a bot will either be randomly unhackable or have a forced magic pixel of health remaining because it needs to do a story thingTM like shoot someone to create drama.

When I said this game was superficial, I wasn't kidding. Oh you have an option to use your "Cool" or "Nomad" backstory dialogue? Yeah whatever man anyway back to the scheduled outcome and voice lines. You know how many times V said something that didn't make sense given my background/previous actions/previous dialogue? Okay, in depth explanation. Panam is a nomad and is trying to help her clan with a thing. If you, as V, have a nomad background (as I did), you can talk about her clan well before this quest and establish your shared knowledge base. Then, in the event, Panam says something to the effect of "Oh god, members of [clan] are dying!" V, nomad V, V who has discussed TWO seconds ago BY NAME this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ clan, will go "your clan??" This is such a glaring discrepancy I just don't know what to say. There's so much stuff like this in the game. You can scan a dead body from a drone in that same quest and the game will identify it as a certain person. When Panam wonders out loud whether said person is alive, V HAS NO OPTION to say anything! You can't bring it up, you don't even get a dialogue for it. She keeps thinking they might be alive till she finds the body herself. Judy fights the Tyger Claws for control of her ♥♥♥♥♥ club, while you as V are completing gigs for Wakako, who has prominent influence in that gang. Can you bring this up to her or talk about the event afterwards? No, of course not. You know how I praised the lore in those NCPD hustles and fixer gigs? If you find evidence that a fixer has failed a gig previously and you are their second/third option, or if you find some interesting gossip about them on a computer in said gig, can you ask them about it? No, of course not. When you find Dakota's failed attempt to save pregnant women in the Badlands, can you commiserate over a drink? No. Am I asking for too much depth from a video game? In a world with Baldur's Gate 3 in it, I don't think so. Even if it is too big an ask, sucks to suck don't know what to tell you.

The game breaking bugs from 5 years ago weren't plentiful in my run, but there were points where... it breaks the flow significantly when it happens. At a certain point in the DLC, I'm carrying an important character in an important moment to an important place. There is Jesus Music playing, you are princess carrying this person like the Virgin Bloody Mary. You turn the corner and... a door is closed that isn't supposed to be. Can you do anything about this? No, reload an old save and pray that works. If it doesn't? Eh I dunno. Great.

Speaking of this DLC, okay. It's... fine. There's some extra environmental things to do in Dogtown, and the gigs and other events are of a different flavor to the rest of Night City. There's at least a couple legitimately good quests here, shout-out the "rescue two cops" gig and the "Aguilar" quest for Hands. The addition of the car stealing quests were fun for me because I like that sort of thing. Otherwise, I don't think the writing improves any. It's painfully obvious that what's going to happen won't be happy or fun for you as V.

Speaking of which, why are there so many instances in this game of "you know, that there's a bad idea, we should not do that. Anyway, here's our gonk plan for doing that really dumb thing we said is a bad idea." This is the driving force behind so much of the main story that I started wishing I was listening to Dutch tell me he had a plan again. V is stupid, most people around him are stupid, and it's not fun to be around stupid people.

There's also a bunch of small things about the game that are unbelievably annoying. Odd lag spikes when you open the map, that freaking "we like the pain" song, pedestrians staggering INTO the road when you drive near them, the fact that the parry counterattack is TWO hits so you might accidentally kill someone you are trying not to kill, trying to target someone in a car for hacking purposes, trying to get autodrive to not hit something 10 seconds in and shut down, single animations for takedowns, I dunno it's a list. Mods probably fix a lot of this, but the vanilla game has addressed very few of these things.


This game sans DLC is worth maybe $15. This game with DLC is maybe worth $25. Does that seem extremely low to you? You can get better versions of this sort of game for that price, I promise. If you HAVE to have this game, consider sailing the high seas or something, I just didn't think it was worth it in the end.

This game is not Outlast but multiplayer. If that is an experience you desire, I’m afraid you’ll have to look elsewhere. Outlast and its DLC Whistleblower are tight-knit setpiece games with a focus on sequence to sequence gameplay plus jumpscares. The Outlast Trials (TOT) is more like a PvE Dead By Deadlight (complete with generators! Sometimes.). It can be quite fun both solo and with friends, but for a variety of reasons, may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

PROS:
- A colorful cast of villains who are genuinely pretty memorable (and sometimes darkly funny). Outlast is good at doing recurring boss villains, and that experience carries over decently.

- Game carries on the Outlast tradition of over-the-top gory setpieces and window dressing, then pushes it to 11 with some of the things it has you doing. Sawing people’s legs off, electrocuting them to death, drowning them in blood, there is ample horrifying visual material if that’s something you want out of Outlast. If you don’t, we’ll talk about that in a later section.

-The game is pretty forgiving about getting an A+ grade in a trial. You are not graded on time, so playing slow and methodical is rewarded. If you want to bum rush everything, you can play Stun Rig and run through the level - with enough experience it’s very easy to speedrun certain levels.

-You have some ways to defend yourself, because you’re essentially playing as one of the minor a-holes that can punch you in the regular Outlast games. This can be a con for people looking for that “fear factor” Outlast generally has where you must run no matter what, but like I said this is Not Outlast-but-multiplayer.

-Each trial/challenge is pretty different from the others. There are shared maps and objectives, of course, but the maps are adjusted per challenge so that they feel different. Two different challenges at the Police Station will often have very different layouts and routes. However, they’re not so different that you can’t familiarize yourself with the maps, which is very good for gameplay reasons.

-The game is still receiving updates, complete with new villains, maps, and challenges.

-Multiplayer is definitely an overall better experience, but solo players get thrown a bone: you get ways to revive yourself and complete co-op maneuvers such as door bashes which make your life a lot easier as an individual.

-Escalation provides a sort of rogue-like gameplay experience that might help challenge players who feel like they’ve plateau’d.

-Cosmetic MTX exists, but there’s also free “battle pass” style catalogs that you can play the game to unlock. FOMO doesn’t apply to these, as even Season 1’s catalog is still unlockable and completable. Event catalogs do go away after the event ends though.

CONS:
-Game has horrifyingly over the top gore/SA themes and visuals. Coyle shocks himself, other people, and mannequins in the unmentionables. People get drilled in the crotch. There are ♥♥♥♥♥ and balls EVERYWHERE… but you can turn on a nudity censor if you don’t want to see it. The gore isn’t a con for me personally because I knew what I was getting into, but it can turn people away from the game. If you’ve played Outlast and didn’t find the gory displays too much, this game is broadly fine. You get desensitized after a while, which I found to be very on brand given what the in-game corporation wants you to become.

-Some trials/MK challenges are much more irritating than others, especially ones which restrict your movement through mechanics like the mannequin doors at the Docks. It’s a little strange that trial design peaked with Kill The Snitch, not that there aren’t other pretty fun trials too, but that one feels the best to play IMO.

-The Pouncer can go SCREW itself. The Night Hunter is very annoying to work around, but the Pouncer is just asking to be bullied and deserves its fate.

-A lot of skins are recolors of existing skins, which is a bit of a let down when going through catalogs.

-The game is very clearly multiplayer focused, and even though solo players get a few things to help them out, some trials are damn hard to do without someone running interference on the enemies while you complete a “hold the lever” objective or something similar. The game was marketed as a co-op game though, so this is expected if not understandable.

-The psychosis UI screwballing can be incredibly annoying. Full psychosis is weirdly better since it goes away fully after a while, but partial psychosis’ intermittent interface screw is frustrating from both a gameplay and physical vision perspective. The variators Bad Trip and Bad Trip 2 legitimately gave me headaches a couple times.

-The higher difficulties of the game (Psychosurgery in particular) including Escalation can be proper BS sometimes. The game is fully willing to send three or four enemies at you in a singular area and life gets nasty. Learning to work around this stuff is at the core of performing well on high difficulties.

-The game also does not care to compare variators (in-game gameplay difficulty modifiers) against each other. It can give you Jaeger+Toxic Shock together. For context, Jaeger is an unstoppable Juggernaut enemy that knows where you are at all times and will slowly chase you and one shot you like a Terminator. She’s extremely easy to outrun. Toxic Shock, on the other hand, will periodically fill the level with gas and force you to hide in one place till the gas goes away. These two can occur simultaneously and life gets difficult very quickly. IMO things like this should have a “jinx” so they don’t occur together.

-Badges do nothing after you get them for the first time. If they provided XP every time you fulfilled the conditions to get one, I really don’t think it’d be broken, the time to completion for each badge is decently long.

TOT is fun with friends, and decent solo. I like the gameplay loop and don’t mind the live service portions of the experience (money need not be spent, which is a big plus). The updates they’ve made to the game so far are cool IMO, and I’ve enjoyed my time in it so far,

Honestly, until they remove the bot games from casual match, it's not worth it.

One of the best games ever made. Without hyperbole, this was probably my second or third favorite "first playthrough" of all time (MHGU kicks it off the top spot). I like open world games that let you explore, I like RPG mechanics, and I like hunting. As someone who never played RDR1, I went into this game essentially blind, and it is an experience. For me, this game is a 10/10, but if you're a 100percenter, there are definitely some frustrating elements that may turn off people from doing EVERYTHING like I did.

PROS:
- Arthur Morgan is in the Pantheon of great video game protagonists. He's up there with Big Boss for me, and that is saying something. Shepard, Geralt, and Travis Touchdown are close seconds, but man the journey you take with Arthur (and it really is YOU taking it with the honor choices) is pretty special. He's not a faceless self-insert, which makes the few decisions you do get to make matter that much more through the lens of his character. He has some of the best character moments I've ever seen in a game (that dialogue on the train station bench...) and it's not even all serious, he's funny as hell. He broke the damn wheel.

- I like hunting animals. I have hundreds of hours in theHunter:COTW. RDR2 lets you hunt lots of animals.

- The story is pretty good. Most of the characters behave believably, with a few strange exceptions, and it's easy to invest in the Van der Linde gang if you care. It's also insanely easy to not give a damn about them if you don't want to engage, but the story in a general sense can pull you in.

- You can be cruel as hell to almost anyone you don't like, and it is cathartic to violate the Eighth Amendment on them O'Driscolls.

- The world is rich and deep, with so many odd things to find if you head off the beaten path. What the heck is the witch's circle in the north? The homunculus creature in the boarded up house? What's going on with the Stranger in the sidequest that has you find rock carvings? If you care about discovering things on your own, the game provides ample opportunities to do that.

- You can do almost anything you want as long as you're willing to suffer the consequences (or reload the game). I must have wiped out the Saint Denis police force 3 or 4 times with those numbers.

- American Venom

CONS:
- Micah

- Horses

- Horse movement is finnicky and requires a bit of experience to get used to. Wish I'd realized earlier that not spamming the run key when running through forests actually lets the horse autocorrect around trees. My horses are all dumb as hell and I have fallen off a lot. At least I learned the "pet as you gallop to reduce stamina consumption" early.

- Killing horses reduces honor

- Killing dogs reduces honor

- Some of the things the characters do really make you wonder if the Van der Linde gang are just stupid. How are you robbing the town you're camping next to while laying low guys? Are you actually career criminals? There's a surprising amount of hair-tearing story moments, but that's a bit nitpicky.

- Oh man if you want to collect or farm anything without a guide, you might be looking a while. I only gave up and used one to finish off the orchid collection and dinosaur bones, but there was lots and lots of fruitless wandering to find out where cougars and panthers spawned, where Indian Tobacco was, where to find gold rings, it's a chore if you're not immersed in it.

- Hunting certain animals deserves its own point cause ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ those little birds that you'll end up needing are annoying as ♥♥♥♥ to find and shoot. Hunting big game is mostly fine, even moose weren't too bad for me but the little robin and oriole chicks? My God.

- Without the satchel to store 99 of everything, you can't store anything it feels like. 5 is not a high stack cap. Getting that satchel can be damn frustrating if you don't want to engage with the hunting mechanic, so good luck with that.

- Current outfit always taking up a slot in the horse and randomly erasing something you have stored when you pick up a hat is frustrating.

- Unable to save every single hat you pick up. I had to kill a sheriff every time I somehow lost my 10 gallon Stetson.

- The menu wheel to select items took a lot of getting used to for me, release to equip was weird at the start.

- The snowy area that the game starts in is straight ass and was annoying to complete

Most of the cons I've listed are personal gripes with the game as opposed to poor design decisions. I will note that the game is long, even if you don't complete everything and focus on the story, and if you don't care to chase animals, large portions of the game will feel useless to you. Other than that, there isn't much that I think is wrong with RDR2. Playing this game was one of the best video game experiences I've ever had, and I think it's earned all the praise it gets and then some. One of the few things I've been recommened that I will say is not overrated.

Incredible. A 10/10 experience that only really has small QoL flaws which don't come up very often. Start to finish, I was enthralled, enamored, and downright ecstatic while playing this game. I played this right after completing RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2, which might be one of the best games ever made, and this is still a 10/10. Yep.

PROS:
- Engaging combat despite being turn based: there is technically no undodgeable/unparriable damage in the entire game, and learning patterns is a good mix of difficult and satisfying
- Decent story and great character interactions. Without getting into spoilers, characters are written believably and motivations make sense. Main story is laid out pretty well and encourages the player to theorize before revealing anything concrete. The premise is cool!
- Interesting visual style. I meme about France as much as the next guy, but I'll let them have their Arc de Triomphes, merdes, and mimes. World is quite pretty.
- Most build strategies are viable or become viable without a whole lot of grind, I was able to homebrew basically the entire game with the only major struggles coming from self-inflicted silliness
- You can explore far beyond your means and really challenge yourself by clearing encounters that you are very much not meant to: the game only stops you from finding true endgame bosses before their time, the rest are accessible quite early.
- The game understands mood: it sets the stage for setpieces, story boss encounters, emotional moments, and difficult fights very very well. When those lamps start turning on...
- Soundtrack is incredible, nothing to criticize

CONS:
- There isn't a search bar in the picto menu to find details, for example: all the burn related pictos. There aren't hundreds of thousands to search through or anything, but it might have been nice to have.
- If you've ever played Elden Ring or any souls-like where a boss starts delaying its moves to screw with your parry timing, you'll understand. However, the timing can be learned, so... just cry a little
- The final bonus boss is the one fight that feels a bit unfair due to reasons. I won't spoil anything, but man you really want to overprepare for that one.

Please try this game if you like any sort of RPG, especially Action/Adventure RPGs. The creators have done a fantastic job and hopefully have a good future ahead of them.

$10 isn't a huge amount of money, and Lethal Company will provide $10 worth of fun to any group of people willing to play a toned-down loot and scoot game. This game definitely falls into the "party with friends" category though: I don't see myself booting this up and joining a random lobby anytime soon, though the option exists if you want to go that route (I wouldn't buy the game if that's the primary method of play though).

PROS:
- Simple basic controls and gameplay loop: walk around, pick things up and scan. Easy to get into.
- Has surprising depth to it with regards to enemy behavior, loot and item strategy, bonus moons, and teamwork
- Lots of room for "shenanigans". Roughhouse with your friends or play Seal Team 6, it is up to you
- Healthy mod scene with much customization: "Skinwalkers" is simultaneously hilarious and terrifying
- Relatively cheap
- Has unique charm: see dancing animation and shop jingle

CONS:
- unforgiving penalties for failure: team wipe can be the end of a run just like that
- Not a whole lot to do if you get bored of walking around collecting things, easy to zone out in a haze. Once your friend group has their 5 hour high, might be time to move on to the next party game
- Nearly impossible to learn everything about the game from in-game tools: high level play in high quota levels can require in depth knowledge attained from other sources
- Modding isn't workshop based, oh well. I don't like Overwolf.

Decent game if you're not expecting 40+ hours out of it, although you can definitely get that amount of hours if you want to push yourself to really high quotas, full clearing moons, and killing enemies. I do not regret my purchase.

Still not a fan of certain things, but the straw has been removed from the camel's back. Hope they've learned their lesson, not optimistic though. Pitchforks down, for now.

Do not buy this. See those hours I have? That's across three titles starting from 2019, because these rubbish companies want to have it under one umbrella - they're not even trying to hide the fact that they release essentially a buggy version of the same game repeatedly and market it as a new full price AAA game. MW2 was such an awful experience even compared to 2019, which was not a good game IMO. """MW3""" is a 14-year old game with a new coat of paint which feels better to play because instead of trying to make good maps from scratch they reused ones that are tried and true (Derail is still in the game though).

Look, the basic CoD gameplay loop hasn't changed, and for a variety of reasons including longer TTK and better maps this edition's MP is almost fun again, but these money grubbing incompetent blind sacks of manure can't stop themselves from releasing untested unfinished crash-filled heaps of garbage every year. DMZombies, a mode I love the idea of and would like to enjoy, is unplayable because MW3 kicks you out every other game and you wasted the last hour of your life trying to get your three-plate and backpack. I'm this close to being able to have fun, even though nobody deserved to get paid for making this game. I usually reserve this vitriol for executives not devs, but this game shouldn't have released in this state and is such a colossal waste of time. How is your UI person still employed? Please don't pay for this game. I didn't have to since it was a gift, I hope you have better people to give money to than anyone who greenlit this pile of trash.

You do not get to show me ads in your $70 game for your rubbish Battle Pass.

This game requires a bit of patience, don't sprint around trying to play it like a combat FPS, this is the only disclaimer.
theHunter COTW is a lot of fun and I've extracted hours of enjoyment from it. It's got a good mix of stalking, sneaking, and arcadey shooting that combine to create a rewarding experience without being overly hardcore. If you want an animal hunting game that's neither paid job levels of effort nor Call of Duty levels of braindead shooting, this is it.

PROS
- Intuitive gameplay mechanics, especially compared to its predecessor, theHunter Classic. Does away with most of the jank surrounding older games, despite being a bit aged itself

- Gorgeous maps with top class scenery, good looking animals, no PS1 Hagrid to be found here. Revontuli is so pretty.

- Good QoL with fast travel lodges, an item wheel, a compass, and not being overly punished for failures like ammo type mistakes (can you tell I've played theHunter Classic yet?)

- Good value for money. If you get the game on sale (Steam Sale or other sales wink wink) it's pocket change to purchase, and even base game gives you enough content to amuse yourself with for a good 100 hours at least. DLC sales (again wink wink) combine so that you can essentially buy the whole package for about $40, and with the number of maps/weapons you get for that, the world is your oyster.

- Still being updated! The Australia map is, in my opinion, an amazing place, well worth the MTX money.

- Only one person needs to buy map DLC if you want to play in a group. This means you can either leech your friend's maps, or join a rando public lobby on a map you want to play, no purchase necessary. No solo missions for you though.

CONS
- Some bugs that have been around for years still exist. A pack of wolves will sometimes just sit there and let you kill them one by one. I'll take the money, but man there's no immersion there. Animals get stuck on rocks sometimes. Mission items can bug out. It's a long list.

- A bit grindy with the level up requirement to earn skills and perks, the game is completely different when you have a few skills in the pocket, but getting there can feel like a long road. Some people like a long grind though, so YMMV.

- The base game weapons are fine, they really are, but immediate access to weapons that can ethically kill birds or moose is nonexistent without DLC. This may be irritating.

- Actively attempting a Great One (rare trophy animal) grind is no joke, prepare for the long haul.

- Multiplayer features are bare bones at best. Leaderboards have been broken for years, and the best you can do when hunting with the homies is small scale "competitions" in game. These are fun but very limited, and not customizable at all, which is a huge disappointment.

- Stats are severely limited, which breaks my heart in a game like this. I like seeing numbers go up, and not being able to know how many Red Deer I've killed in total, or how many kills I have with a longbow, or how many animals I've shot in the liver, just destroys my soul.

Overall, I would give this game a 90/100. Very very good to play solo, about as chill as it can get. Fun in multiplayer too, but could use a bit more dev attention in that direction to make it even better. Would recommend, but beware, if you're an impatient gamer who likes to be bombastic, this game might feel boring. Walking is slow, I know, but it's better than running! You don't have to stalk animals for hours, but it won't be a 2 minute hunt either. Know your limits, and don't buy this if you don't see the appeal.