Recent reviews by Ash

This game is like some toxic partner - you can't escape it or you don't want to. You have a Stockholm Syndrome and you just keep playing it, enduring all the suffering, because she's the only one giving you what you really want. Er, I mean the game. Not any X4, not SC or NMS, only Elite Dangerous.

And this is my abusive relationship with ED. It goes back to my ps4 days. Whenever I said "I'm done, I'm not touching this garbage anymore", I kept coming back either after a year or two just to be annoyed at the lack of QoL or the fact that developers are ignoring the players and their requests. Too busy with in game shop I guess.

And yet... here we are... again.

Sure wish I could give it a "neutral" rating.

I can genuinely say this is one of the best DLCs I've played. This isn't just some 2h long side quest with a high price like other studios release out of greed and laziness.

This DLC spans throughout the whole game, adding a lot of content, not to mention a completely new companion which I also adore. Kibellah is now definitely my favorite right after Abelard, of course.

Oh, and the new class with a new archetype? Amazing and fun.

No game in the past decade made me smile so much like Dave The Diver.

It's wholesome, fun, relaxing and I really can't recommend it enough. It is a labor of love, not greed or... something else like most of the games these days.

Fantastic port, great optimization. Wish all the games were like this. Looking at you, Capcom.

Years of waiting for DD2 only to get it with the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ optimization of a decade.

It's like Mass Effect 3 MP and Alien Swarm had a child.

Definitely recommended, fun as ♥♥♥♥, addictive. I wasn't sure at first, but I was sold after first few matches.

Way to ruin a fun clan due to some ♥♥♥♥♥♥ rework.

Starfield has to be the worst optimized game of the last 5 years. At least for Nvidia users. ♥♥♥♥ performance no matter the settings has to be a joke. DLSS mod helped a bit, but still not enough to enjoy the game with stable FPS.

Not to mention what a blurry mess the game is if you tinker a bit with resolution scale to gain some extra frames. With or without DLSS mod.

If you don't have AMD gpu, give this game a pass.

Oye, Beltalowda!

Listen up!

... actually, no time to explain. Assume battle stations. We've got belts to mine!

EDIT: Frigid Fjord update:
Game got a lot of QoL features, including better narration and some quest "markers", bunch of bugs were fixed and of course, on top of that, a whole new beautiful area with more content. I still very much recommend the game, especially now. And from what I've learned, new updates will be released more frequently without such long breaks.

-----------------------------------

I've seen people compare Holomento to Dark Souls/Elden Ring games. I'd say it's a mix between DS and Risk of Rain 2, just without time pressure. You're free to explore and play as long as you want.
You can explore all areas and travel between them doing some small quests from the bounty board. Your main objective is to rebuild the Holomento, so that means, you need to gather resources to rebuild towns, so the game is not just about monster slaying. You have a purpose.
Of course, game is still in early access, and that means there isn't much story yet, but that's okay, at least for me. I still enjoyed every minute of it. I have a pure satisfaction when I see how towns are changing and expand from ruins. I hope for more of that in the future updates!

As for other gameplay aspects - game isn't really hard. You won't be sweating like in DS or ER, though from what I read, dev wants to change difficulty options, so I guess everyone will find their own desired difficulty in the future!
There's a lot of equipment to find, weapons, armors, trinkets. And everything can level up and equipment can even change its look based on experience. That feature is pretty nice. Hell, everything you pick up, every trinket is visible, even rings on your fingers.

Graphic and art style are beautiful, also very similar to RoR2. It's very neony like, colorful, overall it's pretty simplistic in details, yet has its charm. Personally I love it. I'm tired of those "realistic" graphic style games on every turn.

Of course early access means bugs. There are bugs, sometimes I was forced to restart the game, because my character wouldn't attack anything, one quest also was broken, but those things are to be expected in EA.

Overall, it's a shame more people don't know about this game or aren't willing to give it a chance, because it's a pure gem in the making. If you're not sure whether to get it, just buy it. I risked it and I'm glad that I did.