Recent reviews by Xecthar

This is my summer vacation game. Every single summer. I go somewhere with decent ping to servers (because where I live it’s 300+ ping pain), install it again, and disappear for a few days.

It’s best with friends. Not for teamwork, no no. For blaming each other playing like sh*t and not covering your back. Constantly. Everyone plays like trash, everyone calls it out, and somehow that’s the fun. It turns into this weird competition inside your own team where the mission barely matters. The only thing anyone cares about? Kills.

Win the game? Whatever.
Outkill your friends and everyone else? That’s the real victory. That’s when you feel like a god.

I love this game. Still do. Just wish they’d throw in more weapons to mess around with.

And honestly… after all these years, a sequel would be nice.

If you’re here, you’re probably chasing that HOMM3 feeling. You know… late nights, huge maps, arguing with your friends over dumb moves. I can’t be the only one.

Yeah, I know this game has its own lore, its own history, prequels and all that, but that’s not why I bought it. I came here looking for that old school vibe after the latest HOMM disappointment… and honestly? Didn’t regret it for a second. Me and my brother grew up on HOMM, so we were desperate. Then we landed on AoW 4. I vaguely remembered playing AoW2 back in the day, but this? This felt like a proper return.

The mechanics are great, the races are even better, and the hero system? Honestly… might be better than HOMM. Didn’t expect to say that.

But the AI... Yeah, they don’t mess around. They’ll bait you, pull you out of position, then sneak in from the back and wreck your unprotected cities. You can’t just run around with one overpowered hero, you actually need multiple armies, backups, some planning. Annoying? Sometimes. Smart? Definitely.

Playing solo can feel a bit punishing, but with a friend this is a whole different game. You split responsibilities, cover each other, and suddenly those “impossible” fights become manageable and actually fun.

It’s not exactly HOMM3… but it scratches that itch better than anything else I’ve played in years.

Honestly, I’d say it’s the best in the genre right now, even in 2026.

If you liked the earlier Ace Combat games, you’re gonna like this one too. Same formula, just more of it. New story, new toys, lots of dogfights, lots of blowing things up. Exactly what you came for.

Only downside? It ended way sooner than I wanted. I was just getting into the rhythm and suddenly… credits. I dind't felt robbed, because it's Ace Combat but I wanted more, not gonna lie.

The final mission though… yeah, that one got me. Failed like 5 times before I even understood what the game actually wanted from me. I swear half the difficulty was just figuring out the objective. Feels like some of the mission explanations still don’t translate well into English, so you’re sitting there mid-air like “what am I even doing right now?”

Still, awesome sequel overall.

If you liked the old ones, just play it.

This is one of those small sandbox games that just hits different, especially with friends. I somehow end up coming back to it every summer like it’s a bad habit. Good kind though. It’s got everything: random adventures, panic moments, a lot of screaming.. and a lot of blaming when your friend drives straight into a lake!

The zombies are a mixed bag, some cool, some straight out of every cliche book. But then there’s the Screamer. Yeah… that thing. The sound alone is enough to freeze your brain. And the worst part is that she doesn’t just show up, she calls more. When we hear her, it’s no more looting, no more exploring. It’s personal. We grab everything we’ve got and go hunt her down like it’s a boss fight.

Crafting though… yeah, that can drag. You’ll be sitting there waiting 30 minutes for bullets while the game expects you to go out and scavenge. Problem is you need bullets to do that. So sometimes you’re just stuck at home, staring at your fireplace like it’s a survival simulator inside a survival game.

Speaking of home, don’t get attached. Seriously. That cozy base you spent hours building? Gone. Blood moon hits and it turns into a pile of regret. You’ll be running for your life until sunrise, wondering why you even bothered decorating. Best way to play? Hide your loot all over the map like a paranoid squirrel. When things go bad - which and they will - you at least have somewhere to crawl back to. On the bright side, everything being destructible is actually pretty awesome.

It’s not the best zombie game out there. But somehow… it works.

Definitely worth it if you’ve got friends to suffer with.

Awesome game, seriously full of nostalgia. The graphics instantly reminded me of the first xcom, and that same stress and “what the f*ck is going on???” feeling is back in full force. I’ve played all the xcom games, and this one is super easy to get into comparing to the new ones. But keeping your soldiers alive? Yeah, good luck with that.

You kinda have to accept people are going to die. Don’t get attached. Just train more, send them out, and watch them get wrecked too. That’s just how it goes. Just like the old days, aliens will straight up one-shot your guys. Best armor in the game? Doesn’t matter. Plasma cannon says bye. You land a perfect shot with your fancy Gauss sniper on some flying robot thing? Cool! no damage, their armor just shrugs it off.

It’s frustrating as hell, but also kinda perfect. Feels exactly like how an alien invasion should be.

I totally failed my first run, did way better on the second.
Now I’m gonna take a couple months to mentally recover before I even think about starting again.

Great game.

It might be nice for your 8 years old daughter who wants to create a Barbie House but if you want to create your own home or something special to use your imagination, forget it.
First of all UI is super NOT intuitive and NOT user friendly. The program can calculate the room dimensions but somehow hides from you. You have no idea how to find the length of a wall, only thickness and height!?!
And most horribly, the program randomly crashes and if that moment nothing was saved, goodbye to your progress.
I strongly not recommend this program.

Beautiful game that is loyal to the lore and enough depth for each faction. When I first time played, I remembered the Dune game I was playing when I was a child more than 30 years ago.

I enjoyed playing every factions missions however do not expect a strong story that you'd normally expect from a Dune game. It's more like a sandbox missions in procedurally generated maps each time you play. It' not bad, it's actually fun but I wish there was some story as well.

It's totally recommended if you like Dune universe and it worths even at full price.

I was a good trip. Don't expect a Freelancer or any kind of Space RPG here. This is a space action game with full of combat and nearly no choice. Although pretty linear game, the story is compelling and the action is super fun.
Pros:
- Unlimited action
- Special abilities boost the combat experience
- Game progression makes you feel becoming a god, which is super satisfying
- Very intuitive and simple controls that makes the whole action more fun
- Your spaceship talks!

Cons:
- Not a very long game. I completed all side missions and the game around 20h
- Main character's voice acting can be a little annoying / cringe sometimes
- There's no actual character development but all progression is pretty automatic
- Game makes puts you high-speed chases in narrow tunnels and it might get a little frustrating at times.
Still, a nice recommended game if you like to get some space action.

If you liked Slay the Spire, you'll LOVE Monster Train. In my opinion has a better card collecting system and you feel godlike if you can reach to the endgame with a great combo. However, the roguelike map is not as detailed as Slay the Spire which gives you only 2 routes each level. If you like card builder games, this is a must-to-have!

Finished the game 100% within 30h. It's kinda short for an arcade game as this could be easily a 200h game with more content and levels. However, it was much fun and if you find this on sale, just grab it. You won't regret.