Recent reviews by C4

I originally bought this from (I think) Indie Game Stand on release day. I was provided a Steam key via that purchase a few days later. I barely have a memory of firing it up, playing for a bit, and thinking that it was "fine".

I never gave it another look.

Two weeks ago a friend randomly brought it up to me (he saw that I have it via Steam friends) and I didn't have a lot to say. "I checked it out a long time ago, it wasn't notable" type of response. Immediately those old "meh" feelings came back, but OK, he brought it up and I'm not currently sucked in to anything else, I'll install it for the day.

The Steam page news shows the "vote for Barony for the Labor of Love". Hah, right (little did I know). Something, something, Eat My Hat. Ok, whatever.

I fired it up and was immediately gripped. This game has evolved into something special.

After being completely immersed since then, I realized it has been (almost) NINE YEARS since I last gave this a look.

Every class plays differently, the variety of items is expansive, reality that death is around every corner keeps you on edge.

Magic takes some time to get a handle on. Stealth takes some time to get a handle on. Tinkering items take time to get a handle on. Even basic regular combat takes some time to get a handle on. This is a gamer's game. Go through the tutorial levels, your eyes will be wide when you take in the scope of this game.

Don't sleep on this, this is a fantastic game. It as one of the best modern rogue-likes (not -lite) out there.

Don't waste your time reading reviews of other people's opinions. Get your own opinion. Download the demo and get yourself through the first two "levels" and see what you think.

That was originally the last lines of my "review" here, but I moved it to the top because it's all you really need to read and do. The following is my experience of how I got into the game:

I downloaded the demo out of the blue. I had never heard of this game before! I saw it advertised on Steam and thought the graphics were nice looking, and I was just so happy there was a demo for something that I downloaded it immediately.

I played through the first two tutorial levels and really wasn't feeling it at all.
Then I got to the third/next part. Holy smokes, THIS is what this game actually plays like?

And then I was hooked. After only five weeks I'm over 103 hours played at this point and only a map or two away from level 18 (which, at this time, appears to be the cap - but there is still plenty to unlock).

It's baffling how the same team put 1328 INTERESTING Steam Achievements into Payday 2 and Payday 3 got... this.
"Beat $MAP on $DIFFICULTY n times before the assault."
"Beat $MAP on $DIFFICULTY n times after the assault."
What kind of uninspired lazy effort is this?

The challenge system is garbage. Unfortunately for me I am in the "this is a heist game, if you go loud, you did something wrong" instead of "yet another first person shooter" camp. You think I'm ever going to get the points for "get 500 headshots on overkill difficulty with every gun with certain mods at high tide on Thursdays and the second Tuesday of the month"? This makes me not want to play. If I'm not being rewarded, what's the point?

The lack of "planning" is so, so sad. If utilized correctly it was so amazing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlv4d2pnwoY). The inability to place Favors where you want them is a crime. Mine are also disappearing randomly without using them, so who knows what's going on there.

The worst thing is how the levels are the same after restarting them! What gives! That allows for brute forcing the maps and removes all of the creativity and skill required to pull off a stealth heist. You can run in, read the door code, restart the map, and now you already know the code as if you had clairvoyance.

The Perks/Skill Tree stuff isn't my favorite, but it's workable I guess. Maybe just a better UI would help it.
Concealment is gone? If you wanted this to just be another first person shooter just remove the stealth part altogether.

Being unable to pause has caused me to fail a heist more times than I can count. I often have to step away here or there, and being near an unpatrolled broom closet I can camp in isn't always an option. People have lives outside of a video game, sometimes we have to attend to our children or spouse, and we need to be able to do that. I don't mind the always-online, I mind the lack of pause.

The heist gameplay ideas are neat. Very refreshing. The game sounds good, runs well, and likely has a bright future if they stick with it and address the concerns.

Pretty game, runs well, however at night it's very difficult to see your own character.
But in the end, forget this slot machine. A complete rando-fest. Got all 4 spirit stones to go cure the king for the win? Good luck trying to Yahtzee your way into the castle. A few rounds of failing the random rolls and then you'll lose simply because you couldn't win the game of random chance. Spectacular game design. :rolleyes: Even playing cards to reduce the needed four matched symbols to two I couldn't do it over the course of five turns.

Also, for whatever reason I can't seem to unlock the chests (because every game needs "loot drops" these days, don't they?) because "Ooops, cannot connect to server! Check your connection and try again later!" No thanks, literally everything else here works fine except for your game.

Your heart will think you're doing cardio.

A fantastic worker placement game by Shem Phillips! A great theme and the actions match them.
A great job on the digital version. Runs well (would like a "borderless windowed" mode however), information is visible and at your fingertips.


Would give massages to the dev team for the expansions to be released.

What a fantastic game! Continued support, tournaments, and runs on anything. THIS is the digital card game to be playing.

Somehow after all this time it is still janky as ever. This will go down as one of the biggest "how they screwed up" stories in gaming history.

A real pleasure to play! The tight controls really make it. Pleasing graphics and sound. Moderate replayability (make a procedural dungeon crawler like this!). Worth every penny. Don't forget there is a demo.

Would you believe there are games out there without native borderless windowed mode? This fixes that. Welcome to the future. (Whatever questionable licensing practices have been engaged in were not considered for my opinion.)