Recent reviews by Nightshade878

I love KCD. The attention to detail in the setting is where this game shines. But it has a lot of major flaws that keep me from recommending it; primarily the combat.

When it comes to combat, you're fighting the mechanics more than your opponents aside from in 1 on 1 encounters. Enemies phasing through you to drain your stamina with a chain attack you cant dodge or parry, dogs stunlocking you while enemies beat you to death (and the autolock refusing to let you just kill the dog), the autolock spinning you in circles till you have a migraine. Thinking of being smart and using a bow to even the odds? Be amazed as an arrow passes straight through your enemy's ♥♥♥♥♥♥ hibox! And bows arent even a solution to even moderately armoured enemies like Cumans. (They really dropped the ball not implementing Crossbows)

If you think you have the patience to deal with the janky combat system, and really enjoy a mostly authentic medieval experience, then go for it (on sale). But if not, I would recommend watching a lets-play instead.

Someone once said "Starfield is a game that leaves so much to player interpretation that it ends up saying nothing". Wise and truthful words. The story is the culmination of a philosophy of apathy. The world is as wide as space, but as deep as a puddle of water spilled on the floor from a half full glass. This game does not respect you. It is the embodiment of "Players dont care about the story, theyre going to ignore it and run around building shacks".

Dont buy it full price.
Dont even buy it at half price.
It's not worth your time, your money, or even your consideration.

I wish I could give this game a neutral review cause there's some good and some bad. The core gameplay is fun, but it's held back by some flawed level design and lackluster companion ai. If you're running the campaign solo, especially on Hard or higher difficulty, you're in for a rough time in some of the arenas.

It's also another game that doesn't know what a Boltgun is. At least Darktide got it mostly right. This game treats them like modern ARs, once again. No mass reactive shells here, I'm afraid. There's some other lore quibbles but nothing that overtly takes away from the experience.

Having finished the campaign, it's probably one of the most unoriginal sequels out there. If you played Space Marine, you played this. It's almost completely identical in terms of plot. You're basically paying $60+ for a mediocre multiplayer mode, and frankly, there are better, cheaper multiplayer games out there.

I'd say it's worth it if it's on sale, but not at full price.

FatShark will do anything but what its game actually needs and its players actually want

Millennia brings some interesting ideas to the table that I really like (the way it handles resources for example), but overall its just....kindof meh. Also the graphics are atrocious.

I love the smell of FREEDOM and MANAGED DEMOCRACY in the morning!

The main attraction of this DLC, the Iranian Intermezzo, doesnt last anywhere NEAR long enough for you to accomplish any of the ending goals. Ive tried two runs starting in 867, one where it lasted 20 years, one where it lasted 31 years. That's nowhere near long enough, especially if youre working towards the Iranian Resurgence resolution. Unless they do something to extend it I cant recommend this dlc.

I played both the beta and the pre-launch game test so I think I have around 12hrs or so combined between the two and the 5-6hrs I played in the "release" version here. I also have ~2000hrs in CoH2 so needless to say I have a fair amount of CoH experience.

CoH3 I feel is a foundation. Not a solid one, but it IS a foundation. But you cant sell someone a foundation priced as a fully built house, and that's what CoH3 is doing.

It feels completely underbaked. The UI feels slapshod, and less intuitive than CoH2's UI. Pathfinding is still not what it should be. There are balance issues I read about on forum posts from ~5 Months ago that appear to still be in the game, or at least still viable enough that despite changes, people are willing to exploit them.

There's also nowhere near enough variety in what factions can do. You can have more than 3 commanders per faction without making the game a bloated mess like CoH2 became in the end, and at $60, 3 Commanders per Faction isnt enough.

All in all this game should be priced around $25-30 for what it offers at this juncture and no more. But as it stands I cannot in good conscience recommend it at this price point. Especially since they're also asking you to pay more real world money for skins (I wont get into the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that the cash shop is because many people have already said as much and more, and I need not preach to the choir)

This is an excellent addition to anyone's citybuilding library!

The setting is extremely refreshing, and beautifully presented.
The gameplay is satisfying, with no noticeable bugs or glitches, and the romance is inclusive of LGBTQ+ people!
It is also encouraging to see a roadmap for where the devs intend to take the game going forward.

All in all, an easy and hearty recommend, especially at the price they're asking.

Karl would approve of this!