Recent reviews by Soli

Surprised I didn't write one already.
TLDR: This is one of those point-and-click (kinda) games where the solution to a puzzle is: "Put the shoe on top of the door to unlock it".
It doesn't get quite that bad, but by god does it feel that way.
At some point, the gameplay is so slow and meandering, that without a guide, you are more likely to waste time than you are to experience any form of joy from back tracking back and forth between points to shuttle items and click on characters, in a very particular order, to progress through the game.

The story itself is interesting, as well as the world itself. But because the gameplay is such a bore, I couldn't finish it.
(And this comes from someone who enjoys Point and Click games, as well as puzzle games, to some degree.)

Ran a few tests on Deep Rock Galactic, Horizon Zero Dawn and The Surge.
Got the best results with The Surge, which normally runs at 100~90 fps at 1440p, with frame-generation managed to get it to 144 fps and it seemed nicer, and also more stable. Didn't need to upscale.
That being said, it also "feels nice" at around 90 fps, if it's just stable. So I was more likely benefiting from stable FPS than purely from the frame-generation.

With Horizon Zero Dawn, I got very poor results. Got best results with NIS and frame generation, got 1080p to 1440p, from locked 60 fps to 120 fps -- however, there was extremely noticeable input lag, the extra frames did not provide any "smoother" experience, it seems like there's just way too bloody much overhead with this game, or something.
Using just upscaling would really crisp the image, with extremely minimal FPS loss (around 90~100 fps, while at 1440p native, I'd be around 70~75 fps).
However, there's still noticeable "lag" in the game, at least to me.

With Deep Rock Galactic, I couldn't really perceive a major difference. I am capping the game at 100 fps, and boosted it to 144 fps with FG.
Then tested it with low settings to get 144 FPS, definitely felt different there. So, input lag ruins the "smoothness" sensation from the extra frames at certain games, your miles may vary.

So, overall, this is obviously a good software. For very specific use case. Just, not the type I care about.
With emulators I can already control the output resolution and get all the FPS I want, my PC is not that much of a potato. It's just a total potato with relatively new games and high FPS.

This is a good metriodvania, indie game, with a very large BUT.
Good:
* The music, from Beicoli, is PHENOMENAL, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
* Characters are very well written, full of personality. You really feel like you get to "know these people".
* There's an actual story here, no souls-esque ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ "You don't even know why you're playing or where you're going". There's a solid emotional story to explore.
* The world is interesting, and exploring it is rewarding, for the most part.
* Most of the weapons are actually useful.
* The backtracking akin to all Metroidvanias is negligent, but I'd still recommend finding a World Map in the guide section of Steam, to see where everything actually is, to not just meander blindly.

The bad:
* 99% of the side-quests are pointless fodder to pad out gameplay time. The reward is pathetic, and they don't chain into anything. They are 100% optional, and do not integrate into the story AT ALL. The only good side-quests are "Closure" and Maya's.
* Halfway through the game, it became CLEARLY OBVIOUS that they ran out of money. Some main-quests are incredibly rushed, and some are very poorly constructed.
* The ending sucks, there's no actual good catharsis. Again, they 100% ran out of money here. It just "ends".

Overall, I got this game for 7.5$, and I'd wager it'd even be worth it for 10$. This is 100% an indie game through and through: It's seemingly a work of love and vision: the music is great, the world and characters were well thought of and implemented, the gameplay itself is well made -- but it's also amateurish in the worst places, in the worst ways possible: the last arc of the game is rushed and poorly made, the side-quests are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pointless, the story "doesn't go deep enough" where it matters...

Overall, this is a great game to play. I had my fun, but I'd heavily recommend people to NOT do 99% of all sidequests, and not think too much about upgrading ANY WEAPON AT ALL. If you have the funds, upgrade. If not, ♥♥♥♥ it. Just hard-focus the main-quests, and that's it. The world is spread way too thin, otherwise.

Overall a good game, but definitely not the direction they should've taken the game.
Big con: have to rest between missions (can't re-use a bot until you rest), so you have to backtrack back to the bar, because you now control a boat in real-time, so you're doing a whole lot of nothing in between missions as fodder. Which isn't terrible, it's a nice distraction, but not what they should've went with.
Probably not worth full price, get on a 50% discount or so.

The idea seemed appealing, a PvPvE, but in practice it is very monotones and unappealing.
The "PvE" aspect is just a buffer to slow you down when you go against other people, there are different types of zombies and some bosses, which aren't very difficult and just take time to defeat. PvE is practically apropos and unimportant.

Players, however, are incredibly lethal, clever, and can be way better kitted than you in terms of weapons and items (I died several times to explosive traps, when I didn't even unlock them yet), and it's incredibly, incredibly easy to die in the game.
All it takes is for someone to camp with a sniper, and off you go.
Overall, it doesn't feel like "a fun game to play" for me. It's very slow, you have to be very careful not to be 1 shotted by anyone, and can spend 30 minutes doing nothing. But it is nice with friends, I guess?

That being said, I don't think this is a bad game, if you get into it. But it is not an easy game to pick up, very much like Natural Selection 2 -- great concept, hardcore community. ggbb. Not worth the money at all.

At this point, nothing much to say. Everyone and their mother knows what Hollow Knight is.

PRO TIP: Do NOT bother with Godmaster, the final DLC. If you want to play it for fun, go for it. But if you feel: "I want to see all the endings!" -- ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ don't. It's not worth it. Godmaster is a huge pain in the ass, and it's not fun after having to practice these boss fights to perfection, and then having to run them all in a consistent gauntlet. You need to be a VERY specific type of person to enjoy Godmaster, and I'm not that type of person, and I tried to beat it for over 2 weeks, and now I low-key hate Hollow Knight for it.

Another instance where I wish there was a "meh" category.

TLDR:
This is an okay game, if you want to chill and not think. Otherwise, this game does not really respect your time. It is needlessly padded out, with a lot of dead-time where you just spend a lot of time walking somewhere, and then get barked at to come back to repeat it all, and the loot & upgrade loop is not very meaningful.
This game does not provide a special experience, neither do I think the COOP is any good, considering the sheer amount of dead time, and non-difficulty of most encounters.
Only get this game if you want to chill the ♥♥♥♥ out and not think.

• Gameplay loop gets stale really quick. You do the exact same thing on repeat, with no meaningful upgrades or new challenges. Same enemies are recycled ad infinitum.
  
• The main gameplay loop is boring. Quests are:
  Go there (slowly, gotta walk, a lot!) -> kill enemies -> come back -> repeat
  
• No meaningful loot after level 10+-
  
• Story is okay, passable. But you're put hard on rails, where you're just constantly told to do ♥♥♥♥.
  It's an "open world" game where the only usage of the "open world" is to make you walk a lot.

• This is a really beautiful game
  
• On a massive discount, or on bundle (I got it on Fanatical)
  
• If you want to zombie-out. Put on a podcast, get in, shoot, walk around, get out. The little dialogue there is in the game is massively skippable, given that it's mere fodder to the fact that you're put on rails, to go there -> kill -> come back like a good doggy.

I also want to point out that the "tutorial", the 1st stage, is really long, and really boring. It extremely, and needlessly, pads out the game.

Essentially, this game has "no soul", and "dumbed down in the worst way".
You start off the game as an ex-military veteran. Your wife's dead, your son kidnapped, you're on a mission to find him. The first thing you encounter, is your age-old robotic butler that is absolutely emotionally wrecked for having no purpose for hundred of years, and literally your only dialogue options are: "Hey! Focus!!" -- or: "So anyway...".
What is up with these dialogue options? Why only 4? And why are they so ♥♥♥♥?

And from there -- the first, big encounter you come upon on that quest? A scripted bandit assault on some random stronghold of some random shmucks, where they pull you into a power-armor tutorial under the guise of: "help us on this suicide mission, please!" -- And of course you do, you're forced to, it's part of the main-quest, which then devolves into a mid-late game boss battle with a deathclaw, which you spray with your minigun as it roars at you. That's trailer / streamer bait ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ right there.
And then what? They drag you to help them settle in your old home and build them a settlement.....WHY? What happened to finding his son?

That's the essence of Fallout 4 right there. It's poorly written, poorly planned out, and I've barely even advanced in the main mission yet. There are just so many bullocks tacked on mechanics that are completely unnecessary, and just distract away from the actual game which is -- scouting the map, finding interesting people, getting mixed in with their problems, getting clues about your main mission. But here I am, 17 hours in, and barely even advanced the main mission, because there's too much oh-by-the-way ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that can distract ADHD idiots like me.

This is such a low-cognition game, that it's very easy to start up, walk in random directions, get "content" (shoot people), and just log out. You rarely get roped into dialogue heavy, complex encounters where you actually need to think. If that's to your fancy, go get the game. On a massive, heavy discount.
Also, install this mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/27216
(Go to download manually -> get version 1.4.0, recommended with Vortex. Takes some setup, but it's convenient afterwards.)
It's a mod to change the dialogue options to your characters' actual dialogue, like previous Fallout games.

Anyway, I'm still going to play the game, until it officially pisses me off too much. It helps pass the time between uni nightmares as it doesn't require much brain power, but I also have to keep reminding myself to: "stay on the main path, because nothing interesting is off the beaten path", which just doesn't make sense for this type of a game.
I wish there was a "meh" category.

Preface: I personally like the game. But you have to be the type to enjoy QWOP-esque games in order to get into it.
I've let 3 other couples play this game, and none of them enjoyed it, and my girlfriend personally found it absolutely rage inducing after playing it for around 1.5 hours.

As such, I really can't recommend this game. It doesn't matter if your favorite streamer seemed to have a ball while playing it, this is a game that's INCREDIBLY difficult to recommend to most individuals.
So, ye who reads this, be warned. This is a particularly esoteric game meant for a very niche market.

I wish I could give this game a "meh".
This is the type of game where you feel like: "YO I CAN DO SO MUCH IN THIS GAME!!" -- Be creative with defenses, manage outposts, teleport to different biomes to harvest and 'mix' resources, install unique technology in each biome -- heck, you can even farm!!
...But it's paper thin. It's poorly designed, it's ♥♥♥♥.
At the end of the day -- this is a lootbox-and-shoot game that pretends it's a basebuilder + exploration game, when it is absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ not.

The only reason I played for so long is because I'm a moron.
If you see this game, and think: "Wow, it's so pretty, and the base building seems so fun, and shooting infinite amount of enemies is cooool!"
That novelty wears out pretty fast. But not fast enough.
If you do buy this game, buy it for 10$. Play for 10~30 hours, and forget about it. Do NOT go for the alien-caches, or any other ADHD time-wasting ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
I am getting angry just re-writing this review, and I haven't played it for almost 2 years.

P.S: The only reason I'd want to ever replay this game ever again, is due to to the robust modding-potential this game has. This game desperately needs a proper game-designer to do a total-conversion mod for this game, because lord knows the devs have no idea how to make a proper game loop for this sort of a game. But as of right now, 2025, I found nothing.
Unlike their previous game, X-Morph, which I felt like was MUCH more robust, and had MUCH less needless distractions.