Recent reviews by Faeris

Great game, terrible Developers.

Helldivers 2 is a 4 player co-op shooter game where you go to different planets on various missions against (currently) 2 factions, the Terminids (bugs) and Automatons (robots), in a grand scale war across the galaxy all in the name of SUPER EARTH! That is, 100 years after the previous Great War (Helldivers 1).

For the most part, Helldivers 2 is exactly what it says on the tin. You're an Elite Soldier trained (for 5 minutes) on Mars to take part in the Galactic War for Super Earth where you have a life expectancy shorter than an active duty Imperial Guardsman defending against an Ork invasion. You can deploy a ton of amazing and awesome stratagems such as Heavy Machine Guns, Rocket Launchers, Rocket Launcher Turrets, Sentry Guns, Orbital Strikes, obnoxiously large explosives and more!

Premise sounds fun right? And it is. You're killing hundreds of enemies with a ton of badass tools and toys. That is until the secret 3rd faction shows up, tinkers with Super Earth in the most uncanny ways possible by drastically cutting budgets for Super Earths arsenal and it all suddenly makes sense why SEAF (Super Earth Armed Forces) are absolutely useless and do a vast amount of nothing for the Galactic War. Budget Cuts.

This secret faction? Arrowhead Studios. They've somehow managed to catch lightning in a bottle with Helldivers 2 with a spectacular premise. An amazing launch (outside of a few server issues but at least the ex-CEO said "Don't buy the game until we fix it") where players were discovering all kinds of strategies and learning how everything worked. Skip a few months where most of the players have things pretty figured out but the Developers themselves somehow haven't.

Railgun nerfs, primary weapon nerfs, "Reliance on stratagems" is their motto only for them to nerf said stratagems they want players to use oh so badly and a Dev stream recently where they basically only played on Difficulty 5 and now want to validate their crappy Flamethrower nerfs to "It's not realistic" even though giant bugs that stick tentacles into the ground and ragdoll you endlessly until you die isn't either. Or how about squad loading a teammate using their backpack? That's realistic too.

Not to mention new enemies such as the Impaler, Rocket Tank, Alpha Brood Commander, etc. Are basically just tankier, more annoying versions of already existing enemies and tools that we had (e.g.: Flamethrower) to deal with these threats are nerfed or made less effective because the elite versions are tankier for no reason (Charger Behemoths take multiple rockets to kill, regular Chargers take 1 to the face as another example).

Also the game is still banned in over 150 countries, THANKS SONY!

tl;dr: Great game let down by terrible developers. As I said in the first sentence. Oh, and Sony too. Sony Bad.

Extra: Tacking this on after reading some community posts. This negative review complaining about Arrowheads handling of the balance isn't to say the game is too hard, the games pretty easy but a game can be incredibly frustrating while also being easy. It's more how the developers don't understand their own game in terms of balance and are nerfing things based on usage percentages rather than how weapons actually feel and/or function on higher difficulties, evident by them primarily playing lower difficulties. As well as adding new enemies that are "This enemy but more annoying" by making them tankier or ragdolling (aka: removing all control from the player) you even more than usual. KTHNXBAI REMEMBER SONY BAD!

Dark Souls meets G U N.

Remnant 1 (Cuz there's a 2nd one lawl) is one of the best Souls-likes (I don't play a lot of em to be fair) I've ever played, the movement and shooting in this game is extremely crisp, the randomized worlds are great even if the same PoIs are re-used quite a few times and the storyline, while somewhat barebones compared to a Souls title, is good at it's core and there's lots of good extra lore tidbits sprinkled around for players to discovery that enjoy reading into that sort of stuff.

This game has, imo, aged beautifully. Looks great, runs great, plays great and overall in my opinion is a better experience compared to the sequel due to both the pacing of the storyline and the progression of the story. Everything feels much more grounded in comparison to the second game and it's something I personally prefer.

There are a few things in this game that I wish was more prevalent which I'll get into via Spoilers:

I wish the Root (the main baddies) were a more prevalent threat throughout the entire game instead of only on Earth, they have a very minor presence on Yaesha and have absolutely no presence on Rhom despite having conquered that planet (before it got nuked ofc) but would've liked to see more overall Root Presence on those two worlds as those are worlds that the Root had access to or are already attacking. I also would've liked to have more sections involving combat on Earth as The Root causing the apocalypse is a huge plot point in the game that is, kind of just glossed over once you reach the Labrynth? Even in the DLC, you get a brand new area of Earth to explore (Rural Earth) and it's an hour long side quest compared to Reisum.

Another issue I have with this game is the oddly unbalanced bosses and how absolutely ludicrous the additional enemy spawns for said boss battles can be. Some bosses have adds that make sense and are spawned through environment destruction while other bosses simply spawn mobs willy nilly to agitate the player and distract them from the heavily easy to predict and avoid bosses. The bosses are, okay at best and frustrating at worst.

Also the netcode sucks and enemy hit registration is host sided, not client sided like in the Souls series of games, so get used to dodging early or you'll be eating dirt (but if you're playing solo this point is completely mute and you should ignore it)

Despite this. If you can overlook the annoying design choices for bosses, the game is a fantastic game with 4 difficulties to chose from so you can play at your own pace from Normal mode to "I want you to destroy me" Apocalypse mode (which I highly advise NOT doing on a first playthrough, I had a hard time running through it after 2-3 Nightmare New Game runs). Remnant 1 also has systems such as Armour set bonuses which were removed in the sequel which I really enjoyed, as it made armour feel meaningful regardless of their stats and made each build (based around what armour set you wore) feel more unique both in terms of feel and aesthetic.

Overall, very good game, has it's issues but I prefer it over the Sequel by a solid meter or so. Which isn't very far cuz they're both good but I still like this just a little bit more.

PS: Survival mode is actually kinda fun, which is another thing Remnant 2 doesn't have :)

I shoot blank at Dealer, Dealer shoots me, I blank Dealer again, Dealer murders me.

For 4 bucks (Less then £3 in the UK) you can't go wrong with a simplistic game with an addictive core gameplay loop like this one. The addition of the "Double or Nothing" mode alongside the new items (available only in Double or Nothing) is the big ol' meaty portion of the content for those that like to push their luck.

While this kind of game isn't for everyone as the hook of playing Russian Roulette (with a shotgun) may not align with what gives players "The Big Dopamine" for such a low price it's definitely worth checking out if you have some semblance of interest in this game.

One last thing. The way the music POPS OFF when events happen in the game is absolutely dope and really helps push this game forwards imo. I can't explain because I'm musically challenged, it just do.

A blast from the past from what I remember as a simple flash game I'd play when bored in ITC classes at School is now a fully fledged game and I'm addicted.

Can recreate 2fort from Team Defence Fort 2 and replicate capitalism by building banks and never sharing money with friends in co-op

Gud gaem.

Update forever later: Memes aside, I've been playing this game on and off over the past couple years, this game is the video game version of drugs but in a good way. If you want a solid Tower Defence (TD) game that consistently gets update (and will have updates for the foreseeable future) and has a ton of progression to keep you hooked, then look no further.

Gameplay: Select monkey, put monkey near track, watch monkey brutally assault rubber pedestrian trying to cross ridiculously complicated brick road. Overall? Gameplay is good and simple at it's core. You put down a monkey, it pops bloons, it gains XP and you can use that XP to unlock new tiers to then buy those tiers in your current and future games. Some monkeys are good at dealing with clumps of bloons, others are good on straights, some on corners, etc. There's a monkey for basically everything you can think of (mostly).

However for those of you that want to delve into difficult and more complicated content such as boss events, CHIMPS, etc. There's plenty to learn with this game that only gets more ridiculous the more you learn. Anyone that's unlocked and used a Paragon will understand.

There's also heroes but uhh, for Ben mains (like myself) you just drop him and forget he exists while he racks in the dosh.

Negatives: Microtransactions! In a paid game! While Bloons TD6 handles this extremely well (and kudos to Ninja Kiwi) in the sense that, the "premium currency" is earned simply through playtime and other "Premium" powers are also earned through playtime it's still a bad practice imo. The microtransactions also aren't really forced down the players throat and the microtransaction store tends to be tucked away to the point I'll often forget it even exists in the first place.

2nd Negative is, y u maek Engi Paragon bad maen y u do dis 2 me maen?

tl;dr (if the first few lines weren't enough): Game is good, should get it, goes on sale all the time too. Very accessible.

I'll keep this as unbiased as possible.

Killing Floor 2 is the successful sequel to Killing Floor 1. The ZEDs are much scarier then their KF1 counter parts (and the Clot now has a sick as ♥♥♥♥ swag walk), the guns feel powerful and do some real damage thanks to the new M.E.A.T. system which allows you dig into the brains of a Fleshpounds with an AK12 and the characters all have unique voices now which, personally from my perspective, is a great thing because it opens up much wider varieties of humour then just "WAAAANKARS!".

However, development for the game is slow and while Tripwire are doing their best to make the perks feel strong and balanced while also preventing Fleshpounds from being nearly undestroyable there is one very obvious and glaring flaw for now.

Microtransactions in an unfinished game

Now I dunno why this even got past the suggestion phase, the game isn't complete, there are unfinished balancing issues to be addressed, gunslinger is still to be added to the game and work on Sharpshooter (which I'm interested in due to the fast paced nature of Killing Floor 2) is almost non-existant. Not only are we missing one of our core vanilla perks from Killing Floor 1 but the game is nowhere near finished in terms of balancing and perk weapons.

Now, this wouldn't be an issue if the game was finished and these items were offered in a DLC pack, these items are simply cosmetic and weapon skins that do not affect gameplay in any form but the reason this is such a bad thing is because it's preventing production and work on things that need to be addressed in the game right now!

I listed this as negative purely because of how strong an impact microtransactions have on the gaming industry right now, microtransactions should NOT be a part of any game that you pay full price for, it's a gimmick for free-to-play games. Not paid products like Killing Floor 2 which is actually far from finished.

I would love to make this a positive review and I had planned on writing a positive review for Killing Floor 2 but the fact they are also attempting to censor any form of backlash about their decision on the Tripwire Interactive forums has changed my mind. I will not say don't buy this game but I will say this with a heavy heart.

Buy with caution.

Rebirth, where to begin.

If any of you have played The Binding of Isaac you'll remember that it was a fun, sometimes tough yet other times hilariously easy RNG item based roguelike where you played as Isaac or one of his split personalities through dangerous underground floors to escape his mothers hand.

Multiply that. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth includes new characters, enemies, items, unlockables and bosses. Rooms can be combined into one often causing you to find new 2x2 rooms which are more lethal then their regular 1x1 counterparts.

Gameplay wise The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth dosn't really do much new, you play Isaac and go from room to room. Collecting items, crying on baddies and defeating bosses until you can go on no longer, get bored or defeat your final adversary for that run in a top down Legend of Zelda like form.

But what's so special about Rebirth? The new changes, items that were piss poor have been buffed. Items such as Brimstone are now back in their full glory unlike when Wrath of the Lamb came out for the original Isaac and Brimstone recieved a nerf. Other items like Chocolate Milk have been adjusted accordingly meaning uncharged shots are now measly and weak. There are a lot more changes but there are so many to list it becomes difficult. A lot of things have been modified from the original Isaac and it's up to your tinkering and tomfoolery to find out the changes. Some of the bosses have also been changed but telling you would be spoilers! Shhh!

The music in Rebirth is a nice change and much more fitting for Isaac's dark journey to survive. There's more ambience in the music and when you encounter a room full of enemies you get an extra drum beat or guitar riff playing in the background helping to imply that sense of large scale combat. It's all quite charming really and done by Ridiculon. While not having the same chirpy tune from the original Isaac it's definitely a nice touch to the game and is in some cases. Better then the work Danny B done (Sorry brother).

So what's different in Rebirth? A lot of stuff, new music, enemies, floors, bosses, items. The list goes on and on. For original Binding of Isaac players you'll be right at home with Rebirth, for those of you that never tried the original Isaac then Rebirth is definitely a game to pick up. If you're still skeptical just remember, Danny Baranowski supervised this game, it's gonna be good!

A definite recommend and one every steam user should have in their game library.

Tower of Guns, it's a tower made of guns which you enter to fight more guns. Amazing concept right?

As sarcastic as that last sentence sounded, this is actually a pretty good concept and a well executed one! Tower of Guns is a game where you play an unnamed male character (judging from grunts and what not) who enters "The Tower of Guns". It's that over sized tower with all the guns on it y'know it totally isn't the pinnacle of the entire game or anything.

ANYWAY this unnamed male character enters the Tower and fights through 5 randomly generated stages to complete one of the random storylines designated to you, unless you turned the silly stories off you sad sad person. Entering the tower you get the decision between a weapon you've unlocked and a perk, the starting weapons and perks are effective so don't be shunned by the unlock system!

Gameplay wise ToG (Tower of Guns) plays out like a typical quake shooter, you move fast, you shoot a gun at mounted guns or mobile guns depending on your luck on enemy spawns (Dang twerp bots...) and you progress through the levels, levelling your gun up, defeated bosses and collecting power ups and possibly more guns and secrets...if you look hard enough.

Overall the concept of Tower of Guns is relatively simple and despite the hard to imagine concept is performed successfully. This game is a game you can burn a large multitude of hours on and enjoy it for even more to come. A very nice piece of art from Joe Mirabello, his brothers musical pieces amazing as well! Don't forget to credit him!

Don't forget to be caring for the hugbots, you never know, something good might just happen.

Nuclear Throne is an addictingly frustrating yet still surprisingly fun top down bullet hell/shoot em up (or beat em up if you enjoy melee) game created by the indie devs "Vlambeer" who have put an amazing amount of work into the game despite it still being in Early Access but the game gameplay wise feels far from that of an Early Access game and more of a finished product.

The story is simple, apocalypse happens in some way or another, nobody was prepared, everyone became mutants and now explore the wastelands to find "The Nuclear Throne". Each playable mutant has unique passives and use abilities such as Fish having the ability to do a dodge roll while he passively finds more ammo in ammo pickups.

Gameplay is simple, shoot enemies with your revolver, find bigger guns, kill more enemies with bigger guns, progress through the game and try to reach the throne. Each boss at the end of every stage has an interesting function, the first boss Big Bandit engages the player by breaking out from the walls, while the bosses aren't insanely difficult they still provide a challenge to the less inexperienced players but also mixing things up for more seasoned vets as if they aren't careful will need to deal with both the boss and regular enemies.

In general this game is a ton fun despite how frustratingly unforgiving it can be, while annoying at first it gives the game charm as not a lot of games actively challenge the skill and thought process of players. Vlambeer are an amazing company and deserve all the support they can get, now go slay some bandits, jump in portals and reach that throne!

PS: #VerifyVenuz

This is a game I've owned since my childhood on the original XBOX and it's still one of my favourite arcade games to date (Metal Slug X claiming first). The game is as fun as I remember it even if I only played through the first three three missions. The game is tough as nails for first time players and offers a great challenge even after your first playthrough and I highly advise getting it. One bullet kills you, three lives, a wide array of guns and a bunch of continues, this is a game that you'll just keep coming back to.

If you love arcade side scrolling shoot em ups then this is a game that you should really play, if not I still advise getting it as the game is solid and there's an "Easy" difficulty if you wish to have a more casual playthrough.

Note: I have not tried any of the online aspects and thusly do not have an opinion on it.

UnEpic is a game that stays true to it's name. The game is set in a castle located in an unknown land, you as Daniel, an every day person find yourself transported to it while taking a piss in the middle of a Dungeons and Dragons games with some friends. Believing the entire thing is a hallucination, Daniel presses into the castle full of dangers unaware that what is happening is more than he expected.

UnEpic is a metroidvania that resembles that of the old school castlevania games, the castle is full of secrets and dangerous traps. All of which won't hesistate to laugh at your misfortune. It also a great sense of humour (or terrible but very well done depending on your view on it) which will at least cause you to smile, despite the game being full of comedic references it still manages to maintain a serious atmosphere and the puzzles for each quest is cleverly done and forces you to think outside the box rather then blindly run in and complete the quests with no problems, you can always a expect a twist.

Overall the game is great fun, the combat mechanics are great if not a little clunky but once you get used to it you start to enjoy bowling through waves of enemies. The game will be difficult for first time players but the challenge is part of the charm to UnEpic. The Multiplayer is also a completely different thing from the Single Player so either way, alone or with friends. You won't get bored of what UnEpic has to offer until you've ran through it a couple times.

This is one quest you won't forget, because it certainly is "UnEpic".