Recent reviews by sablegloom_

I'll preface this by saying this was gifted to me and I am definitively not a shmup player. I had hopes this game might be a bit more accessible to players who aren't ingrained in the genre, but alas it is not. This is certainly not the hardest shmup on the market, not by a long shot, but if you're like me and struggle with the genre, this game will do little to sway you. It still adheres to a design based on damage avoidance. The roguelite upgrades you get throughout a run rarely feel impactful until they stack much later in a run. Power fantasy this is not - you will not be clearing screens easily and will spend most of your time dodging a screen full of attacks rather than feeling powerful and blowing stuff up. Despite some 'Vampire Survivors-like" elements, the game never seems to get to a point where you actually feel like your upgrades are stacking in powerful and impactful ways like those games - either that or I am just so terrible that I never get to that point/am not grok-ing combos effectively.

Now, the game does have optional modifiers you can apply to make runs easier, but from a psychological perspective I will never enable these. It feels emasculating and demeaning to turn them on, even if it makes no logical sense. I know nobody is watching over my shoulder or cares, but it's just something my brain will not allow me to do. Every successful run would feel like it has an asterisk attached. Others may not have this same problem, but I suspect others would feel similarly. Other minor nitpicks like music loops not being seamless is a small but distracting issue that makes the game feel rather amateur despite this not being the developer's first game.

I'm hesitant to say this is a bad game, I don't think it is. But it's not as accessible an entry into shmups as it may seem on the outside - an already very niche and difficult genre. One day a game will come along and be that gateway for me, but today is not that day.

Fun, run-based strategy/auto-battler game. Although not verified yet, I can confirm it runs great on Steam Deck. I've been primarily playing with a controller on both PC and SD and certain builds do appear to be inherently more difficult than if you're playing with M+KB. As of this writing I've only beat Difficulty 1, but the hooks are there. Really can't go wrong at this price, very well presented. I won't comment on depth at this stage as I feel I've only scratched the surface and this is still EA. I'm sure more is coming and I really am only starting to grasp some of the synergies. For 2 bucks you'll more than get your money's worth already.

I have no frame of reference for how original (or not) this is among all the Vampire Survivor clones. I never played VS or any of its brethren. What I can say is that the game is filled to the brim of "one more run" dopamine hits combined with a vaguely Diablo 1/2 aesthetic. There are fun little objectives on each map that unlock ways to make things easier, the voice acting is amateur in the best possible way, and the trade-offs between buying gear or stat boosts between each run is a fun and satisfying decision space. I'm not sure how I'll feel as I keep getting richer and more powerful. I'm not quite sure how much of the surface I've already scratched, but even so, for 5 bucks you really can't go wrong with this one. A rare Early Access gem.

Quite possibly the greatest action game ever made. Worth it at any price.

The best thing to come out of the Alien franchise since Aliens. Haunting atmosphere, cassette-futurism, beautiful art and sound design. There's a lot to love here, my only misgiving is how it reignites my disappointment with every Alien movie since 3.

Simply the best zombie survival game I've ever played. It can be really unforgiving and obtuse to learn at first, but you get what you put into it. There are so many options given to you to play the way you want that there really is no "right" way to play. The level of challenge is entirely up to you. It is a sandbox in its current state however, so if you require a sense of direction to be given to you, you may not have a great time. But it is a hotbed for creativity and even roleplay with the right group of people. I foresee a bright future ahead for many years.

Brutal and unforgiving. If you can handle the toxic VoIP that the devs do nothing to curb, there's a really fun game waiting for you here. It's loud, fast, and bloody. Call of Duty movement and snappiness with the authenticity of a Red Orchestra title and all the blood, gore, and explosions you could wish for. Good luck.

The most mechanically accessible warsim out there. If you felt overwhelmed my Graviteam Tactics but still want a simulation RTS experience, the Combat Mission series is waiting for you.

UPDATE: Eating my words a bit. It seems they have removed a lot of the "cringey" dialog from the game as of 1.2. I still contend that there are still some issues plaguing the game such as a dirth of new maps and faction identification. But based on my recent gameplay to try out the new update and content, I would tacitly change my review to a recommendation. If you enjoy the casual grind found in the latest CoD:MW, I think there's enjoyment to be had here with their BattlePass. The underlying gameplay is still solid, I think if they keep giving us more content to play with (maps, weapons) and get Operator skins a more uniform look for each faction, there could still be redemption in sight. A long road ahead, though.

A lack of imagination makes an otherwise technically superb product into an otherwise forgettable experience. They honestly could have just given us Titan mode unchanged from 2142 with updated graphics and it would've been worth the money. Instead we have a slew of mixed Conquest/Rush maps across huge maps and somehow not enough players to make it feel meaningfully different. The operators are painfully annoying with some of the worst dialog in a AAA title in recent memory. They also don't make any sense outside of the Tarkov-esque mode which seemed half-assed. It's impossible to identify who is US and who is Russian when everybody is playing the same Operators in nearly the same uniforms. There was the hope that Portal could've helped save the game, but there was just not enough post-release support to expand on the idea to give it staying power. A shame too, because it's a brilliant idea. This could have been a solid entry that I would return back to for fun, but it just gets in the way of itself at almost every corner.

In almost every respect, Post Scriptum is the best WW2 shooter I've ever played. There is simply no other shooter on the market that is more gritty, immersive, and satisfying to play.

Sound: In a word: untouchable. The soundscape of this game is so immersive, loud, and authentic. It's no doubt helped by the fact that it's based off of the Squad SDK, already a game with a sound engine and sound designer that puts to shame any AAA developer on the market. Every weapon and explosion sounds exactly as it should and propagates through the world in a realistic way. Tanks and artillary are impressively terrifying. Shells bouncing off hulls and whizzing into the air is blood curdling. The soundscape one of the biggest factors that sucks you into this world.

Visuals: This is probably the category that has the most ups and downs. The characters, animations, and vehicles are impeccably detailed and believable. The blood and gore is harrowing. Bodies ragdoll realistically. Nothing but high praise for these aspects. The maps can be a mixed bag unfortunately. There are moments of brilliance on many of the American Market Garden maps, though the British/Polish maps are nothing to scoff at. The Chapter 2 maps are wildly inconsistent, with ugly low rez and jagged rocks, cliffs, and roots popping haphazardly throughout the forested environments and the fortresses and towns feeling half-baked and lacking detail. Chapter 3 has an impressively modeled Carentan and Utah beach, but at a significant performance cost. All-in-all, Hell Let Loose has a far more talented and consistent mapping team than Post Scriptum. But in terms of animations, movement, and visual FX, Post Scriptum is on another level.

Gameplay: If you're at all familiar with Squad, Project Reality, or Hell Let Loose, you'll feel right at home with the overall gameplay. It's all largely the same mechanics with minor differences here and there. There are FOBs. There are rallies. There are also mobile spawns. The game thankfully has implemented a dedicated armor squad feature, something Squad so sorely needs. The game modes are ones you are already familiar with - AAS, RAAS, Invasion. There are vehicle variants as well, though not played as often.

But more than this, lets get to the meat - the gunplay. Post Scriptum has probably the best gunplay of any milsim shooter I've ever played - hands down. The Red Orchestra/Rising Storm series has long been king in this area (in my opinion) but it's never felt so good to shoot a bolt action rifle. It's snappy. It's accurate. You get a satisfying "fup" or "ping" when you hit your target. All of it just feels right. Not to mention the beastly MGs and the effective SMGs. They all shoot and sound great, the recoil is realistic but not oppressive, and targets drop with an appropriate amount of shots given the weapon being used. The gunplay is arguably the most important aspect in games like this, and nobody does it better. HLL feels hilariously clunky and unwieldly by comparison. Bullet travel time in HLL is absurdly slow, weapons take far too many bullets to kill somebody, and the animations and sound feedback is unsatisfying. It's made positive strides, but PS is still king.

I haven't even touched on the tanks yet either, but needless to say they are the perfect balance between casual and simulation. They're big, loud, scary metal beasts that can terrorize a battlefield if not dealt with properly. It takes a talented driver to maneuver them, but forgoes the clunky gear shift system of HLL. They're just a blast to play.

All in all, I cannot recommend this game more. It's only pitfalls are its beefy system requirements and a considerably smaller community - far smaller than it deserves. This is truly, a master class game.