Recent reviews by neb

I can't recommend this game in good faith. There are so many issues with it that should, hopefully, be addressed in some later patches down the line.

For what it's worth, I actually really like the game on a conceptual level. Taking the world of Deep Rock and applying a bullet heaven twist is really smart, and, for the most part, this game does this quite well. I think the models and art are nice, mining feels amazing, and killing enemies is always fun.

However, that's where the positives end.

Everything else - the difficulty, the performance, the RNG, the meta-progression, the weapon masteries... it all feels really rough.

First off, the performance for the game is pretty awful. Chugs and frameskips are the norm when it comes to the higher difficulty levels, and it makes some runs completely untenable due to too many particles. This has been addressed by the developers, and they've even tried rewriting the game from the ground up, but ultimately pushed it back due to it stretching the team too thin. I respect this, but the game's performance is currently not good enough.

Meta-progression is far, FAR too slow. It feels like they had no faith in the replayability of the game, so they decided to make is so that most of the game is just grinding over and over for 10% of an upgrade. The pace you get minerals is laughable - sadly, this is much like base DRG in that sense. Money is never an issue, but the cost of pure minerals is far too high.

Weapon Masteries just straight-up don't feel like they've been tested. Some weapons, like the CRSPR Flamethrower, feel completely fine and fun, while being challenging, while others, like the Shredder Drones and HE Grenades feel borderline impossible without pristine RNG. This is a huge issue when you start locking weapon damage upgrades behind these that are practically necessary for Hazard 5.

Speaking of which, Hazard 5 is just as much of an RNG-muddied mess as the weapon masteries, since you need to slog through all of the meta-progression and all of the weapon, biome AND class masteries just to stand a chance on it, not to mention the performance tanking because of the entity count.

I'm sure a lot of these issues will be addressed sometime around or after the game's full release in September, but right now, this is how I feel after a year of on-and-off playing. I want to love this game, I really do, and I understand that it's a small team, but it's currently got so many issues that I cannot recommend it.

Heart.

Slay the Princess is a game that tasks you with something simple - enter the cabin, and slay the eponymous Princess. I'll be dancing around the actual story, since the game is better experienced COMPLETELY blind.

Lungs.

This game took a little bit to click with me, honestly. I was having a great time, but the unprecedented depth the game has to offer took a little bit to open up, but once it did...? Well, the game had me hooked. The amount of variance from the smallest changes in approach make for a game with hundreds, if not thousands of different experiences. I'll get a kick out of watching others play the game for a long while as a result. It also leads to plenty of instances where I'll go back to try and retread ground and then thrust myself onto an entirely different path, which gets me every time.

Liver.

The characters in Slay the Princess are equally fantastic, with each of them being, at worst, just entertaining, and, at best, perplexing, intricate and refreshing takes on tired concepts. Piecing together lore based on the tiniest bones the game throws you is a thrill, helped by the excellent writing. The voice acting really sells the characters, too, with none of it feeling compromised despite the game's herculean script.

Nerves.

Finally, the art for the game gives it an identity entirely on its own, aiming for a hand-drawn, sketch style that immediately reminded me of adaptations of "The Highwayman". Environments in the game are packed with details, using highlighting and the game's limited colour palette to paint a picture that is equal parts somber and surreal - combine it with the game's stellar soundtrack, and you have one hell of an experience.

I would strongly encourage anyone to pick this up. For its price-point, it's virtually a steal. The game is a complete home run. Bravo.

Heart...

Poppy Playtime and its consequences have been a disaster for Indie Horror.

What else can be said about the cinematic masterpiece that is Garten of Banban 7 that hasn't been said already? It is a continuation of the enthralling plot established in Garten of Banban 6, and it is absolutely brilliant! Personally, I loved the part where they were in the plane! Seeing the cast high in the sky, only for the electric rush of danger to come in and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ kill all of them was amazing!

However, I must take a moment to address a true highlight in the story - seeing Sheriff Toadster ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ kill Bittergiggle is not something I thought I would EVER see in my lifetime. I was brought to tears at the sight of him sprawled out on the floor, and seeing him respond to one last joke before leaving this mortal coil was just... chef's kiss.

Don't get me started on that ending sequence! It had me shouting JUMBO JOSH SWEEEEEP from the moment it started. He really hit them with the Garten of Slamslam. The cliffhanger at the end, too? Absolutely PEAK. Loved every second I spent with the game, and I...

Wait, ♥♥♥♥. I went past two hours.

When I sat down to play DREDGE, I was expecting a lax, calming game about sailing the seas and harvesting some fish. Sure, the "Lovecraftian" tag tipped me off a little, but I was sure that my innate fear of the ocean would keep me plenty entertained.

What I was NOT expecting was to walk away with DREDGE as one of my favourite games of the year in a year that has been jam-packed with amazing releases.

Seriously, this game does everything you'd want a game of this genre to do. It delivers on the fishing, it delivers on the world, the characters, the immersion and... well, that tag isn't there for no reason. In fact, it was so good that I was immediately compelled to go for 100% right after seeing the credits.

As for gameplay, it goes for a bizarre blend of a fishing minigame that you might find in a game like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing, but it manages to sprinkle in one of the most ingenious elements from a game like Don't Starve: the Sanity (panic) meter. Trust me, you'll get used to frantically glaring at the surface of the water while that chromatic aberration kicks in.

The upgrade system helps you feel like you're truly progressing, and something that I cannot commend the game enough for is the freedom of choice. Do you want to brave the waters on the first night, slowly dredging while something larger-than-life waits beneath? Go ahead. Want to take your time, upgrading your ship as much as you can before entering a single major area? You can do that, too.

I CANNOT recommend this game enough if you're into this sort of "subtle horror" experience. If you're like me and are helplessly scared of any body of water that's more than two-feet deep, then all the better.

Definitely one of the standouts of the year, and one that I'll look back on fondly.

When I first played Deep Rock Galactic at the beginning of this year, I was initially sceptical about the game. I had heard that the game was good, sure. I had heard that the characters were downright hilarious, sure. I had also heard that the music, gameplay, graphics and sound design were amazing... sure. It wasn't until after I had played it when I realised that this game is truly something special.

At first, when I launched the game, it was overwhelming. There was a lot to understand very quickly since there are so many systems in place already. However, after a few missions, everything started to click in a way that I could only every describe as seamless. The controls were tight, the caves were randomly generated in a way that never felt manufactured or repetitive, and every weapon was very well balanced around the environments you'll find yourself in.

Additionally, the game is full-to-bursting with life and character. The game has a unique blend of low-poly graphics and high resolution textures, which makes the game look both primitive and stunning simultaneously. The lighting is also amazing, illuminating the wildlife in otherwise lifeless caves. The characters of the game are also incredible- not that they're this deep well-written narrative marvels, but rather that they're all so absolutely stupid that they never fail to get laughs out of me, even after hearing the dialogue again and again.

While the game may be a little overwhelming sometimes, the game itself makes sure to trickle things to you slowly, giving you more and more power to align with your growing experience to allow you to play on higher and higher hazard levels. However, I feel the rate at which the game gives you these new mechanics is a little too slow, meaning that the player must prestige with a given dwarf before they can really see some of the systems that make the game tick. This, if you approached the game how I did (prestiging every single dwarf at once), makes the game a little repetitive on the first prestige.

I believe that Deep Rock Galactic is an amazing game that can be enjoyed both alone and with friends. Some of my best memories with friends as of late is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about in this game. Please, give this game a shot if you just want something to relax and laugh to. The amount of passion that goes into this game makes it a no-brainer to buy the supporter DLCs for the game to show the developers who put their everything into it.

9/10

People look at me funny when I say that this is one of the best games of all time.

Kitty meow mreooww meow c:

♥♥♥♥ YOU MAGIC HAT

That was some great pegging!