Recent reviews by XTRMNTR2K

Holy crap, what a horrible broken mess of a game.

The devs can't be bothered to put in proper control rebinding (hello RETURN key, are you there?) in 2025, so I can't be bothered to write a proper review.

Also, the reload system sucks donkey balls.

Hard pass for this overrated piece of garbage "art".

I don't know exactly where I first heard about ASTLIBRA Revision, but I remember reading that it was supposed to be an amazing, one-of-a-kind, oldschool JRPG experience. Being curious about this game, I downloaded the demo... and was somewhat disappointed. I didn't really like the visual style at first, and some of the animations looked really stiff and cheap. There wasn't much story to talk of in the demo, either, so I didn't really know what to expect - despite the thousands of positive Steam reviews.

Some time passed, and still had the game on my wishlist, hoping for a good sale so I could give it another chance. Fast forward to January 2025, when the game was on a 25 percent discount. Needless to say, I was eager to give it another try so I went ahead and bought the game.



As soon as I started the game, I realized the demo didn't do the game justice, because so much in terms of gameplay mechanics had to be crammed in a few minutes' worth of play time. The real game, on the other hand, took its time to tell a story and establish gameplay mechanics at a comfortable pace.

Without wanting to spoil anything about the story at all, I can say is that it starts out somewhat slow and personal, and then bit by bit expands the scope of the plot, world, characters and gameplay mechanics, all the while having enough opportunities to play with the player's expectations, sometimes subverting them or leading them down a false path. None of this, however, feels artificial or forced; all aspects of the story fit together organically, which is one of the reasons it all works so well.

If I had to describe the game's plot in a metaphor, it would be that of a large onion: There are layers upon layers, and with each one that is peeled away, tears are going to flow. While there is some comedic relief every now and then, the overall tone and themes in ASTLIBRA are serious, with some downright shocking twists and turns down the road. In most cases, however, the game doesn't keep up the most depressing and hopeless moments for too long, as the main protagonist and his companion usually come up with some kind of plan to turn things around. This theme of never giving up and always fighting for the ones we care about is a common and reoccuring theme throughout the entire game; while there is always a risk of coming across as too cliché, the game mostly pulls it off in a way that works well on an emotional and story-telling level.

All in all I can say that I hugely enjoyed the story throughout the ~70 hours it took me to finish the main game (including all optional content - which is highly recommended, by the way)... Especially considering the game has three subsequent endings: One after finishing chapter 8 of the story, another after finishing the "Final Chapter", and then another one after finishing the Post-Script/Post Story chapter. Yup, there's that onion I was talking about earlier.



As mentioned before, there are some aspects about ASTLIBRA that can be considered oldschool. For example, when you are asked to used a key item in a specific location, the game doesn't necessarily tell you *where* exactly you have to use it. And you always need to select and activate the item manually from your (ever-growing) inventory (or quick-access bar if you put the item there). Additionally, there are a few puzzles that require you to pay attention, both while looking at the screen as well as when listening to certain character's dialogue. However, with the exception of one particularly annoying puzzle in the later half of the game which consists of several parts, these aren't too bad. And if you are really stuck, there are always guides and walkthroughs to help you through.

Another important aspect that needs to be mentioned is the optional content. For example, there are new arena challenges with each chapter of the game (right until the very last), which come with their own unique rewards. I found these arena challenges to be especially hard in the early parts of the game, really struggling during the first two chapters. Afterwards, you should have enough KARON skills to be able to figure out a strategy to make each of these challenges easier.

Speaking of KARON skills, those are passive skills which are acquired by mastering equipment (weapon, shield and armor). Once mastered, you get access to these unique skills and bonuses even without wearing the piece of gear that unlocked the skill, although this costs magic crystals (a resource you keep finding and unlocking throughout the game) for each currently active KARON skill.

Combined with the grow board (a skill/attribute tree that is truly GIGANTIC), tons of equipment, active summon skills (called "possession skills") and various usable items you can tailor the characters attributes and abilities to your particular playstyle, or any given situation. This kind of flexibility is really useful at lower difficulty levels (I finished the game on "Easy"), but most definitely necessary to make optimal use of on higher difficulty levels, such as hard or impossible.

Going back to the optional content, the game kind of expects you to finish it at some point - ideally as early as you can manage. Some of the best equipment can only be gained by beating a bunch of secret bosses, and there is even a hidden sidequest that requires you to gather all weapons, shields and armor, rewarding you with the (second) most powerful weapon in the game (potentially only outranked by a weapon you can gain in the very last hours of the post-story chapter).



ASTLIBRA Revision has a theme of one-upping itself again and again. The story and world? Just whenever you think you know what's going on, something happens that shows you that you know nothing, Jon Snow. And the same is true with the gameplay; in fact, the very final chapter of the game introduce a whole new gameplay mechanic that isn't even hinted at previously! And it does so in a way that is meaningful and "just works" without too much of a hassle.



If you enjoy side-scrolling action-JRPGs, you owe it to yourself to give ASTLIBRA Revision a chance. Especially if you are an oldschool gamer, growing up with games that give you obscure hints to solve strange puzzles (looking at you, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest!). Just be prepared to be hit... right in the feels. But in the end, I promise... It's gonna be a journey unlike any other.

UPDATE 2024-10-01: The bug affecting the assignment of left and right arrow keys for controls has been fixed. If the game receives an overhaul of its bad game design choices and horrible balance at some point in the future, I will update my review to a positive one accordingly. In the meantime, this one stays up.

The devs like to pander to a miniscule super-hardcore-everything-needs-to-be-ultra-hard kind of audience, which only makes up a fraction of any player base. Whenever there's a new update, prepare to read pages upon pages of nerfs in the name of "balance". Fun? Who needs to have fun in a game?

Also, quite a bit of content (cosmetic content like colors as well as gameplay content like weapon mods introduced with one of the DLC) is locked behind ranks that you can only achieve by completing challenges that are getting harder and harder to achieve, especially for solo players. And this is ON TOP of a ridiculous grind (XP) requirement.

Last but not least, a recent "hotfix" suddenly broke the controls for many players, including myself; my controls have been reset and I have not been able to re-bind the left and right arrow keys for movement ever since. It's been a week now and despite the release of 2 or 3 more hotfixes ever since, this game-breaking issue has not been addressed (or even acknowleedged) yet.


I may change my review to a more positive one if 1) the control bug is fixed and 2) the balance is actually changed to be fun (again) instead of constant player nerfs all around.

No remapping of controls. No controller support.

The devs couldn't be bothered to put either of this in, so I can't be bothered to play their game, much less leave a fair review.

Since the dev team is no longer around as far as I am aware, these things are unlikely to get fixed.


Avoid at all cost.

UPDATE February 5th, 2023:
New content has been added to the sim: AH-1Z Viper, APKWS pods (guided 70mm rockets) + fixes and polish!


Original Review:

If you are an older sim enthusiast or grew up in the 80s and 90s, you' probably remember some of the great flight sims of the time. And if names like Microprose or Jane's Combat Simulations evoke memories of the golden era of flight simulations, then this game is for you!

Survey Sim? Sim-Lite? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Before we go into more detail about Helicopter Gunship D.E.X. (or HGDEX for short), we should first define the terms "survey sim", "sim-lite" or "lo-fi sim".

Back in the 80s and 90s, flight sim devs were very ambitious - but they had to be really creative in order fit the limitations of PCs with limited processing power So while many aspired to deliver a realistic and engrossing experience, simulating every nut and bolt just wasn't feasible back then. Additionally, information about military equipment was limited, so some guesswork was involved.

The resulting experience was one that had a certain level of authenticity, yet was also easy to pick up and learn. Modern "hardcore sims" such as DCS are a prime example of going 'too far' towards realism. Arcade action games, on the other hand, can be fun but lack depth and long-term motivation. Oldschool "survey sims" (as opposed to "study sims") strike a perfect balance between the two. And I am happy to say that HGDEX is firmly rooted in the survey sim category.


A love letter to the zenith of flight simulations

The lone developer of HGDEX cites the likes of Enemy Engaged and Comanche Gold as main inspirations; and it shows in the best way possible! What this means is that specifications for vehicles and their equipment is close to reality, with realistic behavior. Where HGDEX takes artistic liberty to serve gameplay is simplified controls for accessbility.

The developer has even found a way to make this sim accessible for gamepad users. Surprisingly, this does not disqualify HGDEX as being a sim - I can assure you that it is perfectly playable (and probably WAY more fun!) using a joystick or HOTAS. TrackIR is also being supported!
(Side note: I have used both a Saitek X45 and Logitech G940 HOTAS and both work fine.)

A diamond in the rough

Keep in mind that at the time of this review, HGDEX is still in Early Access. If you see any asset that looks rough you can sure that it's a placeholder and will replaced in time. Features and content are being added regularly - the developer aims to release at least one significant update each week.

If you head over to the discussion forums you'll see that the dev is very active and usually offers quick and detailed responses to user questions. And it is also a rare pleasure to see someone who is as open towards feedback!

So if you have concerns about Early Access, I hear you. Chances are you've been burned by EA titles before. There is no guarantee that a title will be developed to your satisfaction or even be completed at all! But if the quality of the current features as well as the developer's dedication are any indication, things are looking good for the future of this sim.

So what's in the box?

There isn't a huge amount of content yet. One of the goals is to have a dynamic campaign, but right now there are only single missions generated by the mission generator. Sortie types include SEAD, Search & Destroy and Strike missions. The number of ground vehicles in the game is also somewhat limited, with one type of AAA (Shilka), SAM (Strela) and MBT (T-62M) each, plus other vehicles such as APCs and armored scout cars (BTR-60 and BRDM-2 respectively).

When it comes to flyable choppers, you get 3 distinctly different helicopters with several models each: 3 different models of Apache, 3 Gazelle versions and 2 different Lynx models are currently playable. Available weapons include Hellfires (Laser & Radar), unguided Rockets, Gunpods and different types of wire-guided missiles (TOW and HOT-3). Additionally, artillery strikes are also available (which are spectacular to use!).
UPDATE 2023-01-23: I forgot to mention that many more flyable choppers are planned: Hind, Viper, Blackhawk, Kiowa, Tiger/Tigre, Bo 105, Alligator/Blackshark, Mi-26, Chinook and more...

Aside from setting things to random, you can set OPFOR difficulty and choose from time of day/night, but weather is currently limited to clear visibility only. As for locations, there is only one available at this time ("lush desert").


Ugh, so many words! I just wanna shoot stuff!

Remember, this is no action game. This IS a sim, even though it is designed to be accessible! Don't fly high and go in guns blazing. Flying low, utilizing cover, evaluating the situation and exposing yourself as little as possible is the name of the game. The flight model is really good and controls are precise, so flying nap-of-the-earth is easy to learn.

At one point you ARE going to be shot at with guns and missiles and will go down sooner or later. But that only means there's more to learn: How can you adjust your approach next time?

tl;dr HGDEX is easy to learn, but already deep enough to provide many hours of fun.

How well does the game perform?

HGDEX performs reasonably well, especially for a game that hasn't seen significant optimization yet. On my machine (Core i7-6700K @4.3GHz, 32 GB DDR4, RTX 3060 Ti) I get between ~48 and 54 FPS at 4K. At slightly lower rendering resolution constant 60 FPS is possible. There are also more gfx options to be added in future updates.

Graphically speaking, you can't expect the level of fidelilty of MSFS 2020 or DCS, of course - but the assets and effects that aren't obvious placeholders are looking pretty good already. I would also like to point out that for a military sim the aesthetics of certain things are more important than sheer fidelity - i.e. the way "hot" units look when viewed through FLIR, how light sources appear in nightvision, the look of weapon impacts. All of these are stylistically consistent and provide a believable, immersive experience. You should still expect some things to look odd or unpolished, though - but that is the nature of the beast that is Early Access.


Verdict and a few personal words

Do I recommend Helicopter Gunship D.E.X.? Yes, I wholeheartedly do! Just understand this is a survey sim, not a hardcore study sim or arcade action game; you can have a lot of fun already!. And if you want to keep up with the latest features and content I recommend looking if a beta version is available (right click the game in your steam library -> properties -> betas), which is where new features and content will be added first. At the time of this review there is a Beta containing an early version of the frontlines feature, and I have spent most of my current playtime in this beta. The game is remarkably stable (no crashes in 11+ hours) and bug-free for an Early Access game, even in its beta release.

On a personal note, I would like to add that this sim already holds a special place in my heart because it reignited my love for flight simulations that I had thought all but lost. For years my various joystick/HOTAS were mostly collecting dust, as the only remaining sims these days were much too hardcore, expensive and time-consuming for me to enjoy; EEAH/EECH community development has ceased almost completely and it is getting increasingly hard to run properly on modern hardware as well... And there aren't many comparable helicopter sims available nowadays. The developer behind HGDEX loves the sims of old just as much as many of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s do, and understands what made them so much fun in the first place. This provides me with hope and confidence regarding the future of this project.

If you love survey sims, give it a chance and I am sure you won't be disappointed!

Disclaimer:
I've been one of the first backers of MechWarrior Online; I have been a BattleTech and MechWarrior fan since the late 90s, read dozens of BT novels and spent 1000+ hours modding HBS' turn-based BATTLETECH game. While I can't and won't claim to be an expert on all things BattleTech, the BT universe and its related games are close to my heart.


I gave you a chance, I really did
I'll be honest to get this right out of the way: I despise PGI and their practices. In my humble opinion they are unable to create anything beyond mediocre quality at best. Balancing isn't their strong suit, and neither is working with the community, IMHO.

MWO started out with a lot of potential, and I pretty much jumped on the backer bandwagon as soon as it went live, hoping it would result in some PVE or even singleplayer content down the line - and, ideally, set the foundation for a proper new SP-focused MechWarrior title.

However, it quickly became apparent just how incompetent the developers were, and what could have been a great and fun game - and I am not saying this lightly as somone who rarely plays online - turned into a boring, unbalanced, unfun grindfest designed to suck more and more money out of the pockets of the few richest people desperate for more MechWarrior content.

But okay, I could have lived with that. It just wasn't my cup of tea, but there was still hope someone else would make a MW5 game, right? Especially considering HBS' then-recent development of BATTLETECH, which turned out to be a really good game that managed to adapt the TT rules as well as possible in a PC game.

Unfortunately the task of developing MW5 fell to PGI. Even so, I'll admit I was moderately optimistic and hopeful for the upcoming game.

Of course, PGI had to give a big fat middle finger to pretty much everyone by going EGS exclusive.

At that point I just didn't care about the game anymore, to be honest.

Yet, when it came to Steam, I still wanted to give it a chance. I really, really wanted. And this is what I found...


A boring grindfest, yay!
I'll make this quick: The visuals are okay, though not really state-of-the-art, sound effects are mostly good, controls aren't that bad - but more on that later - and the art design, particularly the 'Mechs and vehicles, is really good. So all is fine and dandy, right? RIGHT?!

Unfortunately it isn't. The gameplay is repetetive thanks to doing the same old randomly generated (read: slightly modified) missions over and over and over and over again. Well, that goes for most missions, anyway. Campaign missions aren't much better, though. Most missions boil down to "stay alive and kill these designated targets and as many infinitely spawning enemies as you can lolz".

This would be kind of okay, if, you know, the actual shooting and killing part would feel good. But it doesn't. It feels chaotic, and despite the reasonably precise controls you never really feel that much in control of what's happening. It's often hard to tell where damage is coming from, and, what's worse, HOW MUCH DAMAGE each hit actual inflicts on you, or your selected target.

Admittedly I didn't play the early releases so I don't know how much changed, but even now the balancing doesn't feel good. I found that even mods struggle to get it right - which, to me, suggests deeper underlying issues with some of the game's design choice. But honestly, f that noise, I don't even want to waste the time getting into that.


Oh, and did I mention the story is boring? To be honest after not playing for a few weeks I totally forgot what happened aside from SOMETHING SOMETHING REVENGE. Yawn.


A word on controls
The funny thing about the controls in this game is, I was so worried they would be bad. Especially playing with mouse and keyboard, since I prefer the oldschool approach of playing Mech games with a Joystick or HOTAS system.

Ironically, M+KB controls are pretty solid. Feels way better than MWO, from what I remember.

Then again, I had planned to try this with a HOTAS for years, since I used to have a lot of fun with my old Logitech G940 back in my MWO days. Heck, once set up correctly, this combination was easily competitive with the average M+KB player!

That being said, so far I didn't even bother setting it up. These days I mostly have my wheel and pedals connected to the PC, and the only properly working joystick I have aside from the G940 is a VKB Gladiator Mk.II - which is mostly a replica of a WW2-era fighter stick and far from ideal from a shooty sci-fi Mech simulator.

From what I've heard, however, the game doesn't make it easy to set up a HOTAS or stick anyway, which is another huge letdown for me. Even MWO had that - and yes, I know that's based on a completely different engine, but still... it makes you think.

As a sidenote, I don't think MW5 supports headtracking via TrackIR, either... Another thing that MWO already has, and has had for a long, long time.


Verdict
Do I recommend this game? No, not at all. If all you expect is to have a few short hours of fancy-looking shooty and stompy Mech fun, and you can get the game at a steep discount - then yes, maybe. But if you really care about BattleTech or the MechWarrior franchise, I urge you to stay away and save your money instead. I know there isn't really an alternative to get your MechWarrior fix these days, but that doesn't mean we BT/MW fans need to put up with this kind of crap AND pay money for it.

Players have been losing their progress out of the blue ever since this game was released. So far there has been no fix for this issue, and no reliable way to restore progress. Don't believe me? Just check the forums here on Steam and you'll see these threads titled "progress?", "lost all progress", "all cars gone", etc. pop up regularly, going back for years.

Now, after 28 hours, it happened to me. The cars are still unlocked, my money is still there, but all my highly customized settings have been reset, all car tunings as well as all car designs I had made are gone. And I did not reset my own progress by accident.

The drifting is good fun - great, actually - but I can not and will not endorse a game and developer that does not respect the time and efforts players have put it and just decides to ♥♥♥♥ in their face and delete their progress for no good reason.

Stay away from this game.

At the time I am writing this I just finished watching the end credits roll over my screen. According to Steam I spent almost 9 hours playing this game; that is with me having to replay an entire level due to a progress-stopping game breaking bug at the end of one level (though it was partly my fault for getting stuck in that situation), and having died a fair amount of times - particularly during some frustrating jumping sequences that leave no margin for error. Moreover, despite the game being pretty linear I tried to find most of the secrets in the levels, so someone who is better at platforming and rushes straight through the levels can easily subtract two or even three hours from my playtime.

So, what *is* They Always Run?

In essence, a mostly linear sidescroller with tight combat and a few annoying platforming sequences set in a sci-fi setting. You are playing as Aiden, a three-armed bounty hunter on a personal quest for revenge.

I won't cover any of the story details here to avoid spoilers, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed it, and it was one of the reasons I kept playing despite ragequitting the game once or twice.

What sets the game apart is its art style - characters and backgrounds are made up of detailed 2D graphics, and the lighting (rim lighting in particular) is really well done here, giving an illusion of depth to the scene. The animations are mostly good and very stylized, although I remember a few coming across as a little janky-looking.

Speaking of jank, the controls are... a mixed bag. For the most part, combat feels really good and satisfying, and despite the overall limited number of enemy (arche)types it rarely gets boring. However, with some enemies, including bosses, you end up fighting the controls more than the enemies, often leading to Aiden's untimely death. Most bosses require running, jumping and dashing around most of the time with short intervalls inbetween where you get to pummel them. The issue is that the player character often doesn't stop movent in time and starts a combo (or interrupts it) by lurching forward instead of remaining in place during the attack. This is particularly annoying when you are attacking an enemy from behind and end up dashing right into their attack. It should also be mentioned that Aiden can't take too many hits, and healing items are rare in each level (and you can't buy them, only find them as drops from enemies or in chests). So often made me restart from a checkpoint if I took too much damage during a fight, which isn't exactly great game design, IMHO.

Additionally, there are also a few bugs left in the game. One particularly nasty one required me to replay an entire level from start to finish including the boss. At the end of the level you are usually required to carry the bounty back to the ship, and this requires you to traverse the level back to the beginning or to a different location - either way, it's usually a trip that is filled with traps and enemies. To deal with those, Aiden has to let go of the bounty and pick it up after taking care of them.

On one such occasion I didn't realize I could actually climb down a ladder with the bounty because the controls were so unresponsive - no kidding! - that I thought I could only climb UP with a bounty. As a result I ended up leaving the bounty on the ground, thinking I would need to unlock a shortcut first... Well, turns out there is a certain point on the way back to the ship were you can't turn back, and the game decided to autosave right after, so I was screwed.

On the upside, replaying the level wasn't as tough as the first time because I already had the patterns for most enemies encounters, traps and jumping sequences down. Same goes for the boss.

Speaking of bosses, they are real damage sponges, and some of their attack patterns can be nasty and hard to avoid. They are also highly damaging so you can't take too many hits. Moreover, if you happen to run out of healing items just before a boss you're ♥♥♥♥ out of luck.

The balance when it comes to bosses is generally weird. Some bosses can either be brought in dead or alive. In order to kill them you just need to keep hitting them with your swords and guns; to stun and bring them in alive you need to hit them with your arm, preferably with powered attacks (think of it as ammo for your third arm, which only replenish one by one upon countering enemy attacks). Unfortunately it looks like some bosses have been tweaked post release to take much, much more stun damage than they used to, which makes them nigh impossible to bring in alive (Colonel Mueller is one such case).

That being said, the bosses for the most part aren't as hard as they appear at first once you learn their patterns. In the end it most often boils down to a marathon where you try to wear them down bit by bit... Annoying, but doable.


Final Verdict

Does They Always Run have it's share of problems? For sure. It's janky at times, and some parts of the game are infuriating. But overall it isn't too hard or frustating, and I found the experience rewarding. Plus I liked the characters, story, setting and art style (so, so MUCH!)... And I'm probably alone in this but I actually liked the ending, even if it felt slightly anticlimactic and sudden. Either way, I want, nay, demand a sequel!

Purchase or no purchase? I'd say play the demo and buy the game if you liked it... and have some tolerance towards frustration. It's still a good game with its own unique character, despite the flaws.

Horrendous loading times. The game itself is cool and the writing is loads of fun at times (though it comes across as pretentious at times, but I can deal with that for the sake of this being *art* and all), but just booting up the game takes around 5 minutes to get to the main menu. First time around it even froze completely.

Then, another 1-2 minutes to load the savegame and another minute to change between screens. Thanks but no thanks.

And yes, my system exceeds the minimum requirements, and I've had the game installed on an SSD. Couldn't find a fix no matter where I looked, so I'm getting a refund. What a shame.

This seems like someone had a look at games like Panzer General, Wargroove and other turn-based tactical games and thought "hey, let's make this slow, tedious and as little fun as possible!". If you think infantry was slow in Panzer General or Panzer Corps, think again; here it can only move a single hex - and infantrymen, like most units, can EITHER shoot or move, not both in the same turn (tanks can, though). With weapons range also being limited, most encounters boil down to slugfests and battles of attrition. (Also, the AI supposedly always knows where all your units are despite the fog of war, but I can neither confirm nor deny this myself.)

The art is cool, though. And there are actual US military manuals from the era (early 80s) included. Other than that, hard pass for me.