Recent reviews by Grizzlywolf

Is this DLC worth 40 EUR? I would say no.

Let's start with the good stuff:

New weapons types are great and fun to use.
New locations are visually stunning and much more varied than Limgrave in different colors. Map has more verticality, so there will be parts of the map where there are completely different areas at the top and at the bottom. The way they are connected means reaching them is much less straightforward than in base game and it feels really cool when you finally figure out how to reach a new area or accidentally stumble upon it while exploring or when you loop back to the previous area.

Unfortunately, this is where the good stuff kinda ends for me.

Exploring these cool looking areas was filled with disappointment. Every time I would reach some new location, I was looking forward to discovering new enemies, items and other side content. And what did I usually find?
Nothing. A lot of the locations seem large at first, but they are basically barren and empty, so you're just running and riding your horse with an occasional enemy until you reach the end of the road, where you will usually find a boss. Sometimes, riding around an empty area until reaching a boss worked really well for the buildup and atmosphere like in the Jagged Peak . After a while, i was almost glad they were empty because usually when they weren't, they were filled with reused enemies and minibosses from the base game or the most boring new enemies from the DLC.

Enemy variety in this DLC sucks. You will see most of the new enemies in the first dungeon and then you will mostly fight the most basic ones anyways, the ghost villagers or whatever they are called. They weren't challenging the first time you step into Shadow Realm and they are definitely not getting any more challenging or interesting near the end of the DLC. But like that's not enough, there is also a ton of reused and reskinned enemies and minibosses from the base game, the ones I killed hundreds, if not thousands of. There is an abundance of rats, bats and dogs in DLC, just like in base game. I feel like I have killed thousands of them so far, they weren't too fun to fight before, they are even less now. Considering that combat is the meat of the game, brainlessly mashing R1 half of the time was not a great experience. But of course, all those reused minibosses from the base game that people were complaining about are also back in the DLC, so you will encounter Ulcerated Tree Spirits, Tree Sentinels, Death Rite Birds and Magma Wyrm here as well.

Loot also sucks. It was kinda not great in base game and it's even worse in the DLC. It really feels that there is almost zero incentive for exploring, discovering secrets and trying to reach some hard to reach areas with chests and items you see glowing in the distance when said item ends up being smithing stone 3 or a glovewort or runes...Most of the cool stuff, armor and weapons, you get by defeating harder enemies or bosses, which you usually naturally stumble upon anyways.

As far as the bosses go, they are alright. They feel like Elden Ring bosses, which you may or may not like. I personally am not too fond of them. Particularly in the DLC, most of them kinda work and feel the same, rarely having some different mechanics or requiring a different tactic to defeat them. From Soft also refused to make the boss arenas a bit more interesting this time, instead just making them big open flat spaces with nothing else inside. I think the most fun bosses for me were actually mini bosses in catacombs(yes, those are back too), they felt more mechanically interesting than remembrance bosses and had arenas with obstacles that you could utilize, although they were obviously a lot easier.

I never particularly liked Elden Ring lore and story and I like DLC story even less. Dark Souls, Sekiro and Bloodborne stories are a lot more fleshed out and interesting in my opinion...But the story is secondary to me in these games anyways. However, I do like most of the new NPCs introduced here.

Overall, while there were some fun parts in Shadow of The Erdtree, it was mostly a disappointing experience. I was hoping they would at least resolve some major complaints about the base game, but unfortunately, they doubled down on them. DLC feels worse than base game in almost every aspect except overworld area variety. I don't think it is worth the price.
I feel like I could have just played Elden Ring with mods and get a better experience.

Update after 1.2 patch:
Game is in a much better state now. A lot less buggy, gamepad seems usable now, got some very nice QOL updates as well as endgame content. Unfortunately, one large issue remains: this game is waaaaay too easy until late endgame. This is is one of the rare ARPGs where i didn't felt like i need to follow any kind of build guide and I'm still destroying everything. Part of it is because of a great skill tree system that makes it easy to see what you are working towards and what skills could synergize with each other. This allowed me to get very creative with builds without thinking too much and analyzing if it will work. But the problem is that it never really feels like my character is progressing, besides the bigger damage numbers I see. During the campaign, you will destroy everything without a sweat, from start to finish and it will probably continue in Monoliths as well until a certain point. Damage/elemental resistances don't really seem to matter much either. Combine the difficulty with a very uninteresting campaign and level design inside the campaign and the good portion of the game just feels boring. I feel like these problems got emphasized for me now because I recently also started playing Grim Dawn, which has an amazing campaign, story and level design from start to finish as well as much better difficulty and build progression.
But, I'm a lot more hopeful for the future of LE now than at release and I'm sure that, at the very least, some of the issues mentioned will be resolved.

1.0 Review:
In short: This game is unfinished right now. There was no reason to get it out of early access and release it in this state.

The amount of bugs could put to shame even the Bethesda titles. From small ones to game breaking ones.

Gamepad support is barely serviceable and UI is broken. Selecting passive skills with right stick(cursor) doesn't work and it caused me to allocate wrong points numerous times, so I have to use dpad for that. But adding skill points to skill masteries doesn't work properly with dpad, so in that case i have to use right stick(cursor). Focused windows are not respected, which causes numerous issues. Sometimes I am unable to click on quest items, so I have to use my mouse to progress. Sometimes the game randomly focuses on chat, making me unable to use skills and I again I have to reach over and use a mouse to unfocus.
Many unique items still don't have models. Some classes are unfinished. Many passives don't work, same with set items.

There are also memory leaks and random performance drops.

Campaign is boring and so is the level design. Levels are flat and simple and not very interactive, there is no verticality, there are barely any secrets so there is almost zero reason to explore the levels. Time travel mechanic is barely used in gameplay. In campaign it is used like maybe twice and also in single dungeon, which is a shame. So campaign is basically just moving from point a to point b while mowing down enemies in your path.

Luckily, not all is bad. Combat is very fun, there is a lot of build variety and the game allows you to really create a powerful character that fits the playstyle you like without having to follow the guide. Crafting system is also really fun and well done.

I can't say the game isn't fun, but releasing a game in this state is unacceptable and frankly, a baffling decision. Developers might be trying to sweet talk their way out of this on reddit and forums, promising to listen to the community and what not, but I bought it cause I expected to be able to play a finished title now, not for sweet promises and to be able to maybe play it sometime in the future.

Project CARS 2 is SMS's second attempt at making a racing sim. While it still can't compete with Assetto Corsa amazing physics, driving is a lot more enjoyable compared to the original, plus it has a benefit of being fully playable with a gamepad with all the assists off.

As far as the content goes, there is a ton of it. A really nice selection of 200+ cars, you get everything from GT cars to Indy Cars. There is also a ton of tracks. Monza, Nurburgring, Imola, Hockenheim(including Classic circuit!), Spa, Laguna Seca, fake Monaco, all of them and a lot more is there. There is also a dynamic weather system here, along with day/night cycle and seasons. All in all, when it comes to content, there is a lot of it and you surely shouldn't get bored for a while with this one.

Unfortunately, there is no any kind of progression system in this game. All of the content is unlocked from the start. Game offers a Career Mode, which is bland and boring. It basically consists of what I consider a bunch of Custom Race presets. You can set the rules and regulations, race length, even AI driving skill and aggression to your will for any race. The AI part is especially problematic, because there is basically not AI progression through the Career unless you manually keep changing it. Depending on how you set the AI difficulty, they will drive the same regardless of whether you just started your driving career as a rookie driving go-karts or if you are competing for grand prize in Formula X. My suggestion is to set their driving skill to 0, which will limit their max speed to 60km/h, so that you can get the achievements quickly, if you are into that stuff.

There is no story here and the only character is a radio guy. I absolutely hate that guy. I'm not your mate, mate and we're not a team. And yea, I did notice my wheel has come off, you snarky bastard.

When it comes to graphics, I would say this is a best looking Sim/Simcade game on the market right now. Sure, GT Sport has better lighting and Forza 7 has better looking rain, but you know what this game has? 3D trees. Yeah, you heard it right, I don't know how did they manage to come up with this advanced technology in 2017, but they sure delivered. Not all is green unfortunately. This game's engine struggles with antialiasing, so yea, you will see some jaggies and some flickering but it shouldn't deter from the overall experience.

Anyways, if you want a nice out of box experience sim that is playable on gamepad, check this game out. Otherwise, try out Assetto Corsa, which, when it comes to sims, is one of the best. It has better physics, a big online community and a lot more content thanks to mods.

♥♥♥♥ you, radio guy!

My waifu is finally back!

One of the most fun fighting games out there. Fun and no-nonsense mechanics, fast paced gameplay and a huge roster where every character has some unique gimmick. It also has a ton of singleplayer content. Story mode, arcade mode with 3 acts and a couple of secret bosses, fun rpg-like abyss mode, speed star and score attack modes. There's really a lot to do here even if you aren't into multiplayer. There's also a lot of unlockables, like extra character colors, old BGMs, illustrations, online avatars, lobby room decorations etc...
It might not be the most balanced fighter out there, but unless you're planning to compete in high level tournaments it shouldn't really bother you. Get it, it's a ton of fun.

The most intense game of poker ever.

What can I say about Geometry Dash? First of all, for all of you wondering what kind of game is this, let's just say it's a The Impossible Game clone. Now, it might be a clone, but it's a damn good one. Gameplay is a lot more varied, there's a whole bunch of levels, great music, level editor and online level sharing(now with the ability to put custom music in your levels from Newgrounds!) , lots of unlockables and lots of dying. Yea, even though the controls are as simple as they can get, this isn't an easy game by any means, but if you are ready to accept the challenge, you're gonna enjoy this game a lot. The devs are amazing and they make constant free updates and keep adding new stuff into this alerady amazing game. I kind of wish they had added Steam leaderboards into this version, even though the game does have its own leaderboards for those who make Robtop account. Btw, currently there are some performance issues when playing the game in windowed mode, but besides that, this is a good port. All in all, I will give this game a 9/10, a must have have for all the fans of hardcore games.

Better than Star Citizen.

Wow, this game...
The gameplay was kind of boring to me, it mainly consists of combat, and combat can be interesting and tactical, but it can also pretty dull and repetitive. On the other hand, the story, the world design, the art style and the music is simply amazing. So all in all, I liked it, though after you finish the story(about 6 hours), there's not much reason to come back to it. Still, I think that it's worth the money.

This game is amazing in every way possible.