Recent reviews by Almeck

As this is an early access review and the game has only been out for around 24 hours at the time of me writing this, I will keep it short (for me) and simple.

TL;DR - I don't buy many Early Access titles, but this is so good that I made an exception after playing a demo a couple months ago. The potential for this game to be among the best open world survival crafting games is very high. Also, you're lowkey an airbender with your glider you get to go WHOOSH!

I have played my fair share of open world survival crafting games. This has great potential to be one of the best. I say this confidently as I only rarely buy a game in early access these days, even to play with friends. This was one of my very few exceptions.

Overall it's been a great experience for me. I fell in love with it when I played the demo and even more so now that I've gotten my hands on a more fleshed out version. There is definitely some work to be done, as with any early access game, so do keep that in mind it is not perfect. However, the community Discord is active and responsive from what I have seen so that is a promising sign that any existing or future issues will be resolved fairly rapidly (particularly compared to many other Early Access titles).

The atmosphere of the game is excellent. The art-style is whimsical yet grounded (haha, pun!). The sound design is excellent. The mechanics are, for the most part, smooth and easy to learn. Story wise the verdict is yet to be determined because I have not yet discovered a ton of lore; that said, I have liked what I have seen a lot so far.

Also, I should probably mention that you get your glider right at the start of the game and if you've ever wanted to soar through the air like an Airbender, then this is the closest thing to that I can imagine. It's fantastic!

A couple weeks ago I would have recommended this game to anyone that wants to have a fun time with friends. However, in light of the recent decision by Sony to require linking a PSN account I cannot recommend it at all. If I could get a refund for this game, I would. I tried, but I didn't buy directly through Steam so there's nothing I can do. The least I can do is tell others to stay away from the game unless Sony reverses the decision.

Sony is famous for their poor security on PSN and that has caused me to uninstall the game. That plus the kernel level access because of the anti-cheat (which was already something I was wary about in the first place). With this combination I will not be touching this game until Sony reverses course. They need to listen to Arrowhead and not do this to the entire community.

I haven't even mentioned the fact that with this change I can no longer play this game with friends that are in countries that cannot have PSN accounts. Now many of those countries cannot even BUY the game at all. A poor response from Sony is putting it lightly.

Sony took a game that could have been a contender for GOTY and shoved it in the trash because of their greed. I should have known better than to trust a Sony published game with online connectivity. Didn't buy a PS5 because of their security issues and there's no way in Helldivers I will ever let them have kernel level access to my PC.


AVOID THIS GAME AT ALL COSTS



This is Helldiver Almeck and this is my final sign off. Transmission Over

Update: Honestly I did not expect Sony to back down. However, my review stands as I do not trust Sony not to try and force this change once again. Until I see a change on the Steam page and/or a change to the EULA saying that linking a PSN account will not be required ever, I will not reinstall the game. Additionally, Sony must return the ability to purchase the game to the 177 (now 180) countries from whom the game was pulled due to lack of PSN support. The latter may be more difficult to accomplish based on legality or whatever, but I stand firm. We dive together, or not at all.

Overall Score 5/10

Another game I wish there was a neutral option on Steam reviews for.

This is going to be shorter than my usual reviews. It's a simple game, costs $3 (at the time of this review) and has some decently difficult puzzles. A good portion of my time on the game was just to leave it idling while I went to do other things when I got stuck on a given puzzle. However, there are only 36 levels and the last one (among a couple others) felt way too easy.

Some of the logic on the puzzles leaves a bit to be desired and I only got them by brute force and figured out the logic by reverse engineering so to speak. Overall, a decent little puzzle box game and not a bad asking price for what it has. However, I would still only recommend getting the game on sale. There's potential here and I hope to eventually play the Escape Room sequel(?) of this to see if that potential was realized.

Overall Score: 6.5/10 - Above Average

Full Review:

There's a lot to say about this game, but I am going to keep it short. The game is a lot better than most people gave it credit for. The beginning has some really cheesy dialogue but it does improve throughout the story. By no means is the dialogue the best out there, but it does get better. Where the game really shines is the combat and the movement system. The difficulty can be trivial or challenging based on the settings you choose. Rather accessible in general. Dialogue and difficulty aside, the story was alright, but sometimes fell short. It was sort of predictable and felt very rushed at points. However, there were some legitimately touching moments.

The main negatives are poor optimization for this port to PC game and a lot of padding via collectibles. Even lowering the graphics settings I had FPS dips during combat when a lot was happening. There is little to no point to go around and collect every treasure chest and mana point. The resource collection is both time consuming and boring. Getting from point A to point B made this bearable with the fun traversal mechanics, but resource collection just felt like speed bumps along the way at times. Some unresolved plot points that really felt unsatisfying to have not gotten a through-line throughout the game, but at least leaves them open for a sequel (if that happens). I should also note that at times the pacing of the story feels like content was cut and the dev team ran out of time to address those gaps.

While it shows that I spent 192 hours on this game, a good portion of the game was me idling as I left the game running to go take care of something else, but even with that being the case a good portion of the actual play time was spent just exploring what ultimately was a vastly empty world. Now, that is not to say the world is dull by any means. The environments can often be stunning in this game with fascinating points of interest... it's the in-between that suffers the most. At the very least the combat in the open areas was fun and the most of the creatures in the game had great designs, overall.

Oh, and cats. Lots of cats. That was great. Definitely bumped the game up from a 6/10 based on my personal disposition. What can I say? I love cats.

In short:

The Good:
+ Excellent Traversal mechanics
+ Fun combat
+ Great graphics
+ Interesting designs
+ Cats. Lots and lots of cats (sort of)

The Meh:
~ Dialogue (thankfully you can reduce the chatter of the main character and companion character in the settings)
~ Somewhat predictable story - Some surprising parts
~ Odd pacing

The Bad:
- Pretty bad optimization overall
~ Large empty environments in places - Fields as far as the eye can see
~ An overabundance of pointless collectibles (and I like collectathon games!)

That is why I give this game an overall score of 6.5/10 - Above Average
Not the best game, not the worst game. Certainly better than the average fair of the current era of gaming, but not without its flaws.

For reference, my scale:
0 - Shovelware
1 - Garbage
2 -Barely playable
3 -Somewhat playable
4 - Meh
5 - Average
6 - Above Average
7 - Good
8 - Great
9 - Excellent
10 - Near Perfection

Do I really have to say anything? The Baldur's Gate series is one of the best RPG series of all time and this is no exception. Are there bugs? Sometimes, yeah, sure. But they are far overshadowed by the story of this game. If you are unfamiliar with the gameplay of these style of games, it can be a bit difficult for new players of the genre, admittedly. However, if you watch just a little bit of gameplay video on YouTube or Twitch you should be able to learn the basics.

Overall I'd give this a 9.5/10. Nearly perfect with minor issues and mostly nitpicks otherwise. The only thing keeping this from 10/10 for me is some of the more finicky aspects of the gameplay (camera movement/adjustment being one high on that list).

I really wish Steam had a neutral option. The price is very low, and as I received the game for free I cannot complain there.

However, there are multiple issues. The movement and controls are slow and sort of janky at times. The camera vibrated almost the entire time I played and the movement was sluggish when walking and slippery when running. The puzzles are okay, but nothing I haven't seen done better in other games, honestly.

Perhaps my biggest gripe with the game is the achievements. 100 of them and the majority of them are just finding the same 4 or so objects over and over but in different colors. Other achievements are just handed to you for doing nothing. You get an achievement for clicking "New Game" even! It's just bloat to make the game feel like it has more to it. I started going back to just top off the few achievements I missed but grew bored and then annoyed at a particular achievement. Which has no indication of how to do it within the game and requires a guide made by the Dev.

All that being said, for a dollar it's okay, but even then I'd say get it on a sale. The game has potential to be something more, but it feels like it may just been a quick and easy asset flip.

Overall 2/5
In other words, just below an average score for me. Not the worst, not the best.
If the few issues it has are resolved it would be pretty decent.

Detailed review below
This game is very visually pleasing and is a collectathon fan's paradise.
A delightfully fun platforming experience and a nice casual game that will have enough playtime to easily warrant the price - if you go for 100%.

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The Good:
+ The mix of 2D and 3D graphics is aesthetically pleasing and the style lends itself well to the whimsical feeling the game provides
+ TONS of things to collect in each area. Really scratches that collectathon itch
+ Catchy, fun music that fits well within the game
+ Fun, interesting mechanics with the different types of Tinykin you get throughout the game
+ Navigating the world is fun and fluid. Controls really smoothly (at least with a gamepad, I did not test keyboard + mouse)
+ TONS of Easter Egg/references. A lot of fun cultural references, many of which I was delighted to see. Some are less obvious than others, but there seems to be something in there for everyone. I'm sure I missed a few, but that just goes to show the massive variety of them.

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The Meh:
~ WAITING. So much WAITING. A lot of the side quests and some of the main quests require you to wait for your little buddies to carry a "large" object from one area to another. The saving grace here is that you are able to go off and complete other tasks while your lil dudes are making their delivery.
~ Repetition. This almost went into The Bad category. Each area has nearly identical side quests. While the old saying goes "if it ain't broke don't fix it" usually applies, this is not one of those times. It's an indie game with a smaller team though, so it gets a pass on that. I just wish some of the different mechanics were mixed up within these side quests to make them a little more interesting at least.

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The Bad:
- The main thing I can really put here is the story. While somewhat unique it is not incredibly engaging. There are bits that are told well by the environment but the majority of the story is exposition at the beginning and end of the game. What could have been a deeply moving story loses its punch by not showing enough of the story throughout, and putting it on the back-end.
- At the time of this review I should also mention that the game has issues with a few of the achievements. Specifically the collection ones. Click the spoiler to see how I was able to fix the issue Once you have collected all of the pollen in an area. All of the mail delivered. Found all the tinykin. Etc. If you do it all when you're in the area for the first time, the achievement may not update. To have it update, simply go back to that area and leave. It should then update the achievement correctly. I did this after I had beaten the story, so you may have to do the same

+ Many people I know have described Hades as "Bisexual Panic: The Game" and it's true. The characters in this game are very attractive 🥵
+ Both the Story and Gameplay - These were great enough to get me to enjoy a roguelite, a genre which typically interests me very little, so it says a lot.
+ Art Style - as with all Supergiant Games work, the art in this game is stunning. From the backgrounds to the smallest of details, this game is a pleasure to look at.
+ Soundtrack - again, Supergiant Games excels once again in this category. I fell in love with the soundtrack of Bastion and this title is no different. The music works extremely well with the gameplay and tone.
+ Voice acting - once again SG excels in this area. If you've played other titles of theirs, you'll recognize some of the cast, for sure. Even then, the voice cast is fantastic at making these characters unique and interesting. I have not found myself thinking "I can't hear anything but _____ from _____" even once during this game.
+ Mechanics - while not particularly unique individually, the different weapons, bonuses, and items can make for some interesting and powerful combinations.


~ Repetition - while this comes with the territory of this genre, there are a few particular aspects of this game that can be a bit tedious. This mostly boils down to certain enemies being a pain to deal with, but not in a challenging or fun way but feels more like a tedious task of tidying up a room.

Honestly? I can't think of a bad thing off the top of my head for this game. There may be some small things, but nothing that I couldn't overlook as not one thing stands out.

The Good:
+ The puzzles are not overly difficult.
+ Overall the game looks nice and has some awesome trippy effects early on.
+ I naturally found several Easter eggs while just exploring the playable areas. Found them quite amusing, too.

The Meh:
~ The graphics are good, as long as they're set to high. On medium I noticed that many of the finer details were blurry beyond being legible. Mileage may vary.
~ An interesting story at some points, but I predicted the ending less than halfway into the game. Not particularly original either. However, if you do miss out on some of the context clues and foreshadowing, you may enjoy the ending more than I did.
~ Puzzles: mediocre difficulty, many of the puzzles' main challenge is hunting for one thing, to put with another. One of the puzzles involves... something pretty foul (you'll get it if you play lol )
~ Voice acting and characters. The main character becomes increasingly unlikable as you play, even though he is framed as the protagonist. Overall the voice acting wasn't the worst I've ever heard. But it wasn't a stellar performance, but one character is voiced by someone that flies high above the rest.


The Bad:
- OH DEAR GODS SHUT UP. The absolute worst part of the game is the 'protagonist'. You play as an extremely obnoxious and annoying college frat boy that only develops into a worse character as the plot continues. To the point that it starts to feel like he's actually the 'antagonist' in this story.
- Game length: This game was rather short for this type of game. Easily finished in about 3 hours give or take depending on how fast you are with solving the puzzles (or rather finding what you NEED for some of the puzzles). Also, the story ends rather abruptly and isn't the most satisfying, to boot.

Final Verdict: Overall I enjoyed the majority of the game. However, I DID pay only half price for this game (about $2.50 USD at the time of this review). For this price, the game was worth it absolutely. I've played worse games that cost way more. However, you'll have to be your own judge when the game is not on sale. If you like puzzle games a lot like me, it's worth $5, otherwise probably not.

I normally don't buy Early Access games anymore after being burned so many times.... but this was a rare exception. It's such a relaxing and pleasant experience and I highly recommend it if you're looking for something to just chill out, maybe while watching Netflix or something. Also great for streaming and just vibing with your chat while listening to music. Definitely recommend it, especially as the game has had regular updates and continues to get better.

Updating my review for two reasons:
The game is out of Early Access and new content continues to be made for it that is as excellent as the rest. Community input is valued and you can even vote on the new areas to be added to the game, which I think is wonderful. A subtle, surprising story is slowly revealed over the story. It's a bit wacky in that regard, but I love it nonethless.

One of very few games I'd give a 10/10.

Second reason? Steam Awards