Recent reviews by zesty zang bunger

new era of simulation game going crazy with horror-flavored lightweight network technician simulation, complete with dreadful busywork, diagnosing, troubleshooting, and the realization that you've done everything all wrong. obsessed with it til it was perfect enough as per my own standards. 10/10

MOVEMENT MECHANICS ARE JUICY AND SMOOTH LIKE LUBRICATED BUTTER. OTHER INTERACTIONS WITH SAID SYSTEM ARE ORGANIC AND EXPLOITABLE. A GOOD METRIC OF A SHOOTING GAME IS HOW GOOD THE SHOTGUN FEELS AND BOY HOWDY IT MAKES SURE I HAVE THE CIGARETTE AFTER WE FINISH TOGETHER. ALL THE OTHER WEAPONS ARE FAIRLY NICE TOO (EVEN THE MINIGUN ALTHOUGH IT HURTS MY POWER FANTASY TO SPIN IT UP) AND THE QUICKSWITCH IS OBVIOUSLY SEXY. ADRENALINE FEELS AWESOME TO ABUSE AND MAKES ME FEEL LIKE IM HITTING CLIPS ALL THE TIME.

SOUNDTRACK IS VERY NOISY AND KILLING-WORTHY YOU SHOULD GO LISTEN TO IT EVEN IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BUY THE GAME.

SHORT STORY MODE MEANS NOTHING WHEN YOU ARE FREE TO SIMPLY RE-PLAY THE EPISODES OR USE THE HORDE MODE TO ENJOY SPRAWL'S MECHANICS MORE.

One must imagine Sisyphus happy (eclipse is exempt from this mantra)

Short and relatively sweet. Game feels like it chose a flavor—cool aesthetic and a setting acting in harmony—with everything else following afterward for better or worse. As a result the game's pseudo-monochromatic pen-and-ink visual style really pops in levels and locations that all feel extremely distinct from one another. This is probably the game's biggest appeal and it is fantastic in that regard. The music and the missions themselves are definitely entertaining (perhaps lacking in difficulty) and present as humorously mundane as killing droves of undead and sealing portals is quite literally your profession.� �


The gameplay elements lack that same full level of polish. Your arsenal covers the shooting essentials (with the inclusion of some amusing alt-fires), but they could use more punch and balance. The iconic double-barrel shotgun tickles anything bigger than fodder, and the rifle or gatling gun outclasses everything as long as ammo lasts. Ammo reserves tend to be ridiculously inexhaustible (If you have any sense of discipline), but the second you die you become wholly bereft of any ammo at all as that isn't saved by checkpoints and ends up being reset. Speaking of dying, the mid-level saves feel incomprehensibly inconsistent: Sometimes a death will just send you back a few feet, but sometimes it also undoes secondary objectives or retroactively re-incarcerates every freed prisoner. This can lock some levels in a fail-state on the highest difficulty, forcing a restart for full completion (Which admittedly isn't a huge task, this is more of a minor annoyance.)


Beyond those ideas I spoke so fondly (or not so fondly) of, there is still a relatively splendid and enjoyable demonic shooting job-venture game here, and it is one that can be very casually consumed. It is definitely a game I would recommend to those who were allured by the aforementioned distinct visual style.

eye candy is most effective when it also induces cluster migraines. i wish it could remain incomprehensible forever.

retro-inspired shooters with the ability to crank render scales and other graphical settings to turn [what was admittedly an insanely gorgeous game by standards of pixel art] into a super-dithered incoherent chaotic mess is a recipe for greatness. feasibly* unintentional (although I imagine the kick boost was 100% intentional) movement mechanics being ridiculously fun gives further brownie points.

i admit the game being fun and engaging and sexy fundamentally is probably more important than those other parts, so i will also say the game feels fantastic to play. you get enough freedom AND enough challenge (at least on harder diffi-cult-ies) to flex your entire arsenal and feel clever with how you approach everything. also further bonus points because I can go back and find the secrets I missed afterward. thank you.

final verdict is that my blood bread currently feels bullet buttered. thank you a second time.

very meaty. very unhygenic. grungy? very bloody! very mobile. music is noisy, feels bloody. delicious. game is chaotic, akin to wrestling and carving your own barbecue.

weapons have their niches and uses—Kitty is my best friend. throughout heaven and earth, the starting revolver is the one and true supreme. like a burger i can never forget.

game may be a fair bit difficult to the uninitiated, but it didn't hurt my experience nor do i think its a problem. the difficulty not only being adjustable, but also affecting incoming damage and projectile speed is a fun idea, homemade and special like a nice jerky. lives plus a lack of quicksave forces me outside of my comfort zone and into the meat, without hesitation or safety. spaghetti and meatballs

This game is the essence of "short but sweet". The gameplay loop is extremely engaging and fun. I won't deny the comparison: they almost certainly took inspiration from Doom Eternal's recipe, then home-brewed their own version with an amplified focus on the fun factor. It is far, far less difficult, but the reallocation of combat flow (use gun to get health, use melee to get ammo, use environment to get both, do finishers for temporary buffs/weapons) and uniquely-overpowered nature of your whole arsenal is perfect for elevating your own ego to the same level as Mr. Wang.

Game also ran like butter on my rig, and looked legitimately sublime. I'm a bit of a sucker of landscapes and the like, so I spent a considerable amount of time just looking at the environments in awe (the skyboxes especially look like shan sui paintings in gorgeous colors). The music is not quite anything I've heard before for a game soundtrack, being a collection of extremely eastern-themed electronic bangers. I legitimately wish for an official soundtrack release.

I won't sugarcoat it. If you are looking for a 20-30 hour experience, you will very likely be disappointed. I have no complaints regarding the price point versus playtime calculation, the wildly different gameplay experience compared to SW2013/SW2, or the voice recast (Mike Moh does just fine), but if you have reservations about those, the game simply might not be for you. This experience is all substance and no filler; It feels like Flying Wild Hog set marks for what they wanted to make and then far exceeded each and every one of them.

*there originally was a complaint about a lack of level select, but they added one sometime in May 2022 on top of a ng+ and a higher difficulty. very cool, thank you guys :)

First and foremost, big props to the art direction and design; I would regard Tango Gameworks as an expert on this front historically. The actual game looks fantastic, even on lower settings, and the visual design for areas are so superb that I would sound pretentious for going into detail. Enemy design is very enchanting, e.g. modern emotional manifestations being faceless suits and white-collar demons mixed with more traditional-appearing yokai.

Your mileage may vary depending on tastes, obviously; Plays a lot like one of those universal open world games, but differs a lot more in setting and action. The most substantial thing of note is that, barring a few exceptions, it is very much not a horror/survival horror game. The setting may give off such a vibe, but in reality unless you scare easily it's far more akin to an action game with a supernatural flavor.

I enjoyed the gameplay immensely. A significant amount of game-time will be collectible/power-up gathering and exploring. Side-quests feel entirely unique, generally containing their own self-contained stories and pretty unique areas otherwise inaccessible. Additionally, the game implements quality-of-life mechanics for all collectibles, removing any frustration as well as the need for an online guide. The game does not often lean towards loud or stealth gameplay, merely giving you the tools and then leaving it to your discretion. Combat scenarios differ dynamically in stress and challenge based on the enemy composition and area; Some of the most fun yet taxing fights are in extremely close-quarter areas where kiting is impossible, or fights where enemy composition compliments perfectly against you.

My biggest criticism of the game is that this combat feels way too lenient. You have 3 elemental 'guns', a bow, and consumable utilities, but I used almost exclusively two elemental attacks. The starting wind attack has so much speed and capacity that it was my single-target skeleton key; I would only ever switch to water for crowds, while most everything else sat there looking pretty out of a lack of necessity and comparative scarcity. I can see the combat triangle they were going for: wind on single enemies, water for cleaves, and fire as a rare potent hybrid, with bow for stealth usage and talismans as on-demand power-ups, but I instead hoarded them without ever using them (the bow especially was a victim simply because your melee is a fun and free OHKO in stealth and removed most opportunities to use arrows). I think that a more scarce ammo pool, implementation of enemy resistances/weaknesses, or more punishing/difficult combat (simply to lower the ubiquitous "I don't want to waste these" threshold) would have forced players to be more versatile with these resources, but I think story/environment was more their focus.

With all that said, I never actually found myself getting bored with the game, even when I was approaching the end. I tend to avoid those kind of open world games because I get burnt out and exhausted regarding "so much to do!!", but this game was unique and engaging enough to me that I played it to completion. I can see a lot of people getting turned off by the collection mechanics or lack of combat depth, however.

having not completed the main story yet, i will just say that techland is the master of jank. there is a delicate balance in a game working just enough to be playable and fun but breaking in a manner that provides the highest possible humor per second. I believe this fragile mixture of elements should be regarded as an art form.

dead island was too much jank and too little good. dead island riptide was even less jank. dying light was actually legitimately just way too good, and not that there wasnt jank, there was a lot and it was simply beautiful.

with dying light 2, they're adding a higher dosage of jank to see if the compound remains stable. what matters the most is that the game mechanics function and create much ordinary joy for a large portion of playtime, while occasionally ♥♥♥♥ breaks and i am in tears from laughing. maybe not as enjoyable alone, or if you encounter any actual gamebreaking bugs (of which i saw one), but the game is a natural comedy generator and i am loving it