Recent reviews by Samich

FOMO for all of their DLC is getting really old. This game had so much potential to build on and they're just squandering it with external marketing promos that disappear after a few months. Can't even secure a full year for anything and seems like a waste of time for developers to build because it gets thrown away.

Stop making deals like this. You're only hurting the fans of the game and it's reputation.

Spoiler free
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Pros:
- Skyrim/Fallout gameplay loop with plenty of enhancements and QoL
- Massive amount of places to go (handcrafted and generated)
- Loot is streamlined in a way that makes it easier to scavenge and process in the long term
- Weapons and armor seem interesting; legendary variants have some really cool effects
- Writing/Quests are great; factions have really good plot lines that chain off into several other side quests quickly that are also interesting
- Late-game mechanics; ship and base building and a few others to keep you busy if you want to really dig deep and optimize your adventure
- Graphics are amazing for the environments you go to. There are some very mysterious or spooky environments that have quite an impact thanks to the visuals and sound design
- Music is fantastic
- I personally enjoy the new perk system and having to work towards the next rank (some are a little more unforgiving than others, though)
- Fast travel works in a way that respects my time as a gamer. Loading screens are in a lot of places, sure, but overall, I'm super happy I don't have to walk to every little point in this sprawling game.

Cons:
- Ships and the ship builder can be a little clunky; starting ship feels really bad (because it is).
- Starting inventory size is WAY too small, even with ship hull. Inventory management becomes a problem faster than any other Bethesda game. Should get at least 30-50 increase on base value.
- Fast travel to planets/points-of-interest can be very confusing at first. There are not many good tutorials for a lot of systems, even for what buttons to press or menus to use.
- Generated planets have a relatively good amount of points of interest, but it still feels like it could use something else to make exploration feel worthwhile. Legendary creature hunts maybe? Excavation or Archaeological events? Destructive/dangerous weather events?
- Cities desperately need a map to show at least where any vendors are


Overall, I thoroughly enjoy the game. It's got the depth you want from a BGS game, once you figure out how to navigate the world-spaces and get a feel for how you want to play in the universe. The fact that planets aren't free-roam-forever is definitely not an issue and you get a massive area to explore. They need more variety though, otherwise doing a lot of surveying across planets gets very boring/tedious. However, enough random events occur to keep you invested, and side quests get thrown at you pretty frequently. Still a few moments of the typical Bethesda bugs, but definitely not anywhere close to previous BGS titles. They really did clean up a lot of issues, thankfully.

Crashes constantly. Tried playing the new season until it crashed and I only made it through 3 matches.

I found myself being able to jump into this game very easily. Even if I was inexperienced with "proper" game-play tactics because I didn't fully know long-term mechanics, the story and misc. conversations were intriguing and enemies were engaging. For a Roguelike, this really scratched an itch I've had to find something new along the lines of DCSS. It feels modern, controls are great, and the visuals and effects are amazing. I definitely need to pull this game back up in my day-to-day rotation.

Keep up the great work! It's mechanically inspiring for me as a hobby game-dev who enjoys rogue-likes/lites.

I've barely played this game but can already tell it's had a lot of love poured into it. The menu systems feel slick, movement is solid, and the action I've experienced so far is unique.

This game, once it hits 1.0, will be amazing. Might just wait a bit longer for that point to come, so I don't ruin/spoil too much once the full game is released since saves won't carry over.

Repentance update just made this game somehow even better than it was before. I've sunk tons of hours into multiple versions (mostly on Switch), and the complexity of item synergies you can come across are a replayability dream come true. This game never gets old with how much stuff there is to unlock. The new graphics and music are sharp and refreshing for long-time players. The addition of B-side characters (tainted) is just icing on top.

Completely unexpected. Go into this game as unaware and uninformed as possible. It really is as great as people say.