Recent reviews by Investigamer

DggWare is a woman's game.

~ Difficulty ~
🔲 Stupid easy
🔲 Easy
🔲 Normal
☑️ Heroic
🔲 Legendary

~ VISUALS ~
🔲 Awful
☑️ Passable
🔲 Good
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ MUSIC ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
☑️ Good
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ PRICE
🔲 Waste of money
🔲 Overpriced
🔲 Fairly priced
☑️ Fantastic value
🔲 Free

~ REQUIREMENTS ~
☑️ Entry level PC
🔲 Mid-range PC
🔲 High-end PC
🔲 Top-spec PC

~ LENGTH ~
🔲 Stupid short (0 - 4 hours)
🔲 Short (4 - 15 hours)
🔲 Average (15-40 hours)
🔲 Long (40-80 hours)
🔲 Extremely long (80-120 hours)
☑️ No ending

~ FUN ~
🔲 Agonizing ***See notes at bottom***
🔲 Boring
🔲 Average
☑️ Quite amusing
🔲 Exhilarating

~ STORY ~
☑️ Doesn't exist
🔲 Bad
🔲 Average
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ REPLAYABILITY~
🔲 None
🔲 Only for achievements
🔲 Average replayability
☑️ High replayability
🔲 Never gets old

~ WORTH BUYING ~
🔲 No
🔲 Wait for sale
☑️ Yes
🔲 MUST BUY

~ Conclusion ~
Lethal Company is a challenging, unique, and super enjoyable game if you have a friend or two to play with. Joining lobbies with randoms can also be enjoyable, but mods really take this game up a notch so it is preferable to have friends playing the game or join the discord to organize a lobby. The visuals are dated but charming, it is endlessly replayable, and the low price and low system demands make it accessible for just about anyone. Definitely worth picking up if you like co-op horror hi-jinks, there's nothing else quite like it!

FINAL SCORE: 4/5

~ Difficulty ~
🔲 Stupid easy
☑️ Easy
🔲 Normal
🔲 Heroic
🔲 Legendary

~ VISUALS ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
🔲 Excellent
☑️ Best in Class

~ SOUND ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
🔲 Excellent
☑️ Best in Class

~ PRICE
🔲 Waste of money
🔲 Overpriced
☑️ Fairly priced
🔲 Fantastic value
🔲 Free

~ REQUIREMENTS ~
🔲 Entry level PC
🔲 Mid-range PC
🔲 High-end PC
☑️ Top-spec PC

~ LENGTH ~
🔲 Stupid short (0 - 4 hours)
🔲 Short (4 - 15 hours)
🔲 Average (15-40 hours)
☑️ Long (40-80 hours)
🔲 Extremely long (80-120 hours)
🔲 No ending

~ FUN ~
🔲 Agonizing
🔲 Boring
🔲 Average
🔲 Quite amusing
☑️ Exhilarating

~ STORY ~
🔲 Doesn't exist
🔲 Bad
☑️ Average
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ REPLAYABILITY~
🔲 None
🔲 Only for achievements
☑️ Average replayability
🔲 High replayability
🔲 Never gets old

~ WORTH BUYING ~
🔲 No
🔲 Wait for sale
🔲 If you like similar games
☑️ Yes
🔲 MUST BUY

~ Conclusion ~
Hogwarts Legacy is easily the best game in the Harry Potter universe to-date, its hard to believe that a studio known for mostly making goofy movie adaptation games in the past such as Cars 3, Bolt, and Toy Story 3 was able to set their sights extremely high and delivery an incredibly solid, well rounded product that was fully functional at launch. The visuals even on lower settings are stunning, the combat is exhilarating and well-tuned, and there's plenty of content to pique your fancy. The story, on the other hand, is average to above average, but I imagine would be viewed positively and enjoyed by the vast majority of Harry Potter fandom.

My biggest complaint with this game is performance and spec requirements, make no mistake this is an INCREDIBLY demanding game, at 1440p my 2080 Super struggled heavily playing this game even on medium settings. I upgraded to a 4090 and even with the best card and CPU on the market if I completely max all settings at native resolution of 2880 x 1620 (no DLSS), it is still possible to dip below 60 fps in Hogsmead. Thankfully, the 4090 can take advantage of the new Frame Generation feature, which when enabled brought my FPS up to about 100 in Hogsmead and 200 everywhere else.

Bottom line is, I recommend having at bare minimum a 2080 to play this game with reasonable performance, loaded on an SSD with an equally competent CPU, with a bare minimum of 16GB of RAM (32 is VERY recommended). Also ensure that your Nvidia drivers are up-to-date and if you run into any performance issues, look for the multiple performance improvement guides you can find via google. You may need them.

FINAL SCORE: 5/5 (if your PC can run the darn thing)

~ Difficulty ~
🔲 Stupid easy
🔲 Easy
☑️ Normal
🔲 Heroic
🔲 Legendary

~ VISUALS ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
🔲 Excellent
☑️ Best in Class

~ SOUND ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
🔲 Excellent
☑️ Best in Class

~ PRICE
🔲 Waste of money
🔲 Overpriced
🔲 Fairly priced
☑️ Fantastic value
🔲 Free

~ REQUIREMENTS ~
☑️ Entry level PC
🔲 Mid-range PC
🔲 High-end PC
🔲 Top-spec PC

~ LENGTH ~
🔲 Stupid short (0 - 4 hours)
☑️ Short (4 - 15 hours)
🔲 Average (15-40 hours)
🔲 Long (40-80 hours)
🔲 Extremely long (80-120 hours)
🔲 No ending

~ FUN ~
🔲 Agonizing
🔲 Boring
🔲 Average
🔲 Quite amusing
☑️ Exhilarating

~ STORY ~
🔲 Doesn't exist
🔲 Bad
☑️ Average
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ REPLAYABILITY~
🔲 None
🔲 Only for achievements
☑️ Average replayability
🔲 High replayability
🔲 Never gets old

~ WORTH BUYING ~
🔲 No
🔲 Wait for sale
🔲 If you like similar games
🔲 Yes
☑️ MUST BUY

~ Conclusion ~
There's been a renaissance of classic shooters taking on the aesthetic of old games like Wolfenstein, Quake, Doom etc, and Cultic fits into this esteemed tradition. Among these retro shooters (and I've played many), Cultic IMMEDIATELY stands out as a main contender. The visual and sound design especially are at the top of their game, but more importantly the gameplay is butter smooth and exhilarating, and the cherry on top is the consistent horror atmosphere. I'm a sucker for horror games, and Cultic has plenty of great scares.

A feast for the senses, and a journey back to the late 90's, and scaregasmic challenge for twitchy fingers. And for only 10$? You better damn well get it!
FINAL SCORE: 5/5

~ Difficulty ~
🔲 Stupid easy
🔲 Easy
☑️ Normal
🔲 Heroic
🔲 Legendary

~ VISUALS ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
☑️ Good
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Best in Class

~ SOUND ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
☑️ Good
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Best in Class

~ PRICE
🔲 Waste of money
🔲 Overpriced
☑️ Fairly priced
🔲 Fantastic value
🔲 Free

~ REQUIREMENTS ~
☑️ Entry level PC
🔲 Mid-range PC
🔲 High-end PC
🔲 Top-spec PC

~ LENGTH ~
🔲 Stupid short (0 - 4 hours)
🔲 Short (4 - 15 hours)
🔲 Average (15-40 hours)
🔲 Long (40-80 hours)
🔲 Extremely long (80-120 hours)
☑️ No ending

~ FUN ~
🔲 Agonizing
🔲 Boring
☑️ Average
🔲 Quite amusing
🔲 Exhilarating

~ STORY ~
☑️ Doesn't exist
🔲 Bad
🔲 Average
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ REPLAYABILITY~
🔲 None
🔲 Only for achievements
☑️ Average replayability
🔲 High replayability
🔲 Never gets old

~ WORTH BUYING ~
☑️ No
🔲 Wait for sale
🔲 If you like similar games
🔲 Yes
🔲 MUST BUY

~ Conclusion ~
I enjoyed Fall Guys before it was acquired by Epic Games. Now I feel like my money was totally wasted. I would not have paid 30$ for this game if I knew it was going to become a free to play microtransaction monster only a couple years later. Now you can't get any half decent skin without spending real money, looking at the shop is beyond laughable as you'll see a dozen or so paid skins and maybe 2 or 3 common rarity garbage skins for the currency you earn from playing. And the prices on real money skins are an absolute joke, 16$ for a SINGLE SKIN on Fall Guys??? Are you effing kidding me?

Furthermore, Epic Games has become one of the most rapacious companies in the industry, with predatory marketing practices. They took Fall Guys off Steam for LITERALLY no reason, they destroyed the community and further monetized a game that had already made back the cost of its development like 10+ fold. I refuse to play Epic Games exclusives, I refuse to support Epic Games. Please join me in also boycotting Epic Games, because they desperately need to be taken down a peg. They need to be shown their business practices are not acceptable. Steam has been good to all of us, I will continue to support Steam and the Steam community, this game is no longer welcome.

FINAL SCORE: 0/5

~ Difficulty ~
🔲 Stupid easy
🔲 Easy
☑️ Normal
🔲 Heroic
🔲 Legendary

~ VISUALS ~
🔲 Awful
☑️ Passable
🔲 Good
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Best in Class

~ SOUND ~
🔲 Awful
☑️ Passable
🔲 Good
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Best in Class

~ PRICE
🔲 Waste of money
🔲 Overpriced
☑️ Fairly priced
🔲 Fantastic value
🔲 Free

~ REQUIREMENTS ~
🔲 Entry level PC
🔲 Mid-range PC
☑️ High-end PC
🔲 Top-spec PC

~ LENGTH ~
🔲 Stupid short (0 - 4 hours)
🔲 Short (4 - 15 hours)
🔲 Average (15-40 hours)
🔲 Long (40-80 hours)
🔲 Extremely long (80-120 hours)
☑️ No ending

~ FUN ~
🔲 Agonizing
🔲 Boring
☑️ Average
🔲 Quite amusing
🔲 Exhilarating

~ STORY ~
☑️ Doesn't exist
🔲 Bad
🔲 Average
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ REPLAYABILITY~
🔲 None
🔲 Only for achievements
☑️ Average replayability
🔲 High replayability
🔲 Never gets old

~ WORTH BUYING ~
🔲 No
🔲 Wait for sale
☑️ If you like similar games
🔲 Yes
🔲 MUST BUY

~ Conclusion ~
I will admit, I'm not generally a fan of survival crafting games, and 7 Days to Die is a perfect representation of why that is the case. Survival games in this tradition often lean into early access so they can be in a perpetual state of development, never fully forming into a solid polished title. They come with headaches, a lot of grinding and time wasting, and the content is randomized as opposed to curated. If you like survival/crafting games you very likely could enjoy 7 Days to Die, it has a reputation in that community as one of the better options on the market.

However, there are some major drawback to 7 Days, probably my biggest annoyance is the EXTREMELY poor optimization. This game requires a very good PC build to play at decent settings. Unless you're running at bare minimum a 3080 with a solid CPU, you should expect frame dips, stutters, and just generally crappy performance on high settings. From what I've gathered, the performance of 7 Days is much more CPU bound than other titles which can be a headache for people with high end GPU that haven't upgraded their CPU in awhile. My advice would be try 1440p on medium settings. If you're doing OK, increase to high settings and test again. If you're not performing well at 1440p medium, switch to 1080p high.

What upsets me most about these performance issues is that 7 Days DOES NOT LOOK GOOD, the visuals in the game absolutely do not match the high barrier to entry. Bottom line is, the optimization is absurdly poor, and given the fact that we've been in Alpha for years now it doesn't look like this problem will ever be solved.

I only recommend this game for people who enjoy the survival/crafting genre, if you don't I would skip 7 Days in a heartbeat.

FINAL SCORE: 3/5

~ Difficulty ~
🔲 Stupid easy
🔲 Easy
☑️ Normal
🔲 Heroic
🔲 Legendary

~ VISUALS ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
🔲 Excellent
☑️ Best in Class

~ SOUND ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
☑️ Excellent
🔲 Best in Class

~ PRICE
🔲 Waste of money
🔲 Overpriced
🔲 Fairly priced
☑️ Fantastic value
🔲 Free

~ REQUIREMENTS ~
☑️ Entry level PC
🔲 Mid-range PC
🔲 High-end PC
🔲 Top-spec PC

~ LENGTH ~
🔲 Stupid short (0 - 4 hours)
🔲 Short (4 - 15 hours)
🔲 Average (15-40 hours)
🔲 Long (40-80 hours)
🔲 Extremely long (80-120 hours)
☑️ No ending

~ FUN ~
🔲 Agonizing
🔲 Boring
🔲 Average
🔲 Quite amusing
☑️ Exhilarating

~ STORY ~
🔲 Doesn't exist
🔲 Bad
☑️ Average *see below
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ REPLAYABILITY~
🔲 None
🔲 Only for achievements
🔲 Average replayability
🔲 High replayability
☑️ Never gets old

~ WORTH BUYING ~
🔲 No
🔲 Wait for sale
🔲 Yes
☑️ MUST BUY

~ NOTES ~
* There isn't really a story, but I'll give it points for fantastic world building, dialog, etc.

~ Conclusion ~
Chances are you don't need me to tell you this game is amazing. Deep Rock has earned its reputation as an infinitely replayable game with a friendly community and uber satisfying gameplay loop. It also must be mentioned that this game has always been offered at a reasonable price and all content updates are free, despite the developers making no attempts at monetizing the game with microtransactions and other such horrors. The Deep Rock team should be commended for showing everyone how its done, they made a fantastic infinitely playable and fun game without hitting players in the wallet, they respected their craft and community and as a result, the low level of toxicity among players you'll match with is legendary. In my experience 95%+ of players take the game's creed to heart: Leave no Dwarf Behind. If you play shooters, this game is a hands down, no excuses, MUST BUY.

FINAL SCORE: 5/5

~ Difficulty ~
🔲 Stupid easy
🔲 Easy
🔲 Normal
☑️ Heroic
🔲 Legendary

~ VISUALS ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
☑️ Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ MUSIC ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
☑️ Good
🔲 Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ PRICE
🔲 Waste of money
☑️ Overpriced
🔲 Fairly priced
🔲 Fantastic value
🔲 Free

~ REQUIREMENTS ~
🔲 Entry level PC
☑️ Mid-range PC
🔲 High-end PC
🔲 Top-spec PC

~ LENGTH ~
🔲 Stupid short (0 - 4 hours)
🔲 Short (4 - 15 hours)
☑️ Average (15-40 hours)
🔲 Long (40-80 hours)
🔲 Extremely long (80-120 hours)
🔲 No ending

~ FUN ~
🔲 Agonizing
🔲 Boring
🔲 Average
🔲 Quite amusing
☑️ Exhilarating

~ STORY ~
🔲 Doesn't exist
🔲 Bad
🔲 Average
☑️ Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ REPLAYABILITY~
🔲 None
🔲 Only for achievements
🔲 Average replayability
☑️ High replayability
🔲 Never gets old

~ WORTH BUYING ~
🔲 No
🔲 Wait for sale
☑️ Yes
🔲 MUST BUY

~ Conclusion ~
I think this game is severely underrated. I took the time to write this review because the aggregate of reviews for this game are missing the mark. If you enjoy the Left 4 Dead style format, Back 4 Blood is a HUGE improvement on that formula. The layers of strategy when building a deck for a character, selecting a play style, choosing a role on your team and coordinating with your team to suit your strengths, all of this makes B4B a more satisfying and modernized successor to Left 4 Dead. With that said, there is one major drawback which is the price.

This game needs a price drop, it has been out for about 8 months now and should have released at 50$ on PC in my view. The first DLC is paid DLC, if the developers were delivering free content as DLC that would be one thing, but its a good idea to drop the base game price when you start releasing additional paid content. I recommend a price drop to at least 50$, preferably 40$ for the base game, at which point I would be happy to award it 5 stars. In terms of Gameplay, it is probably the best game within its format.

Another potential consideration if you plan to buy this game: It is really, really hard. Don't get me wrong, recruit is pretty easy, the average gamer can play recruit without worry. However, to really enjoy the deep levels of strategy you need to venture into Veteran at least (which is hard), or my personal preference Nightmare (which is really, really, REALLY hard). Then, there's also No Hope difficulty which I haven't even attempted yet. All I can say is, good luck cleaners.

FINAL SCORE: 4/5

~ Difficulty ~
🔲 Stupid easy
🔲 Easy
🔲 Normal
☑️ Heroic
🔲 Legendary

~ VISUALS ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
☑️ Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ MUSIC ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
☑️ Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ PRICE
🔲 Waste of money
🔲 Overpriced
🔲 Fairly priced
☑️ Fantastic value
🔲 Free

~ REQUIREMENTS ~
🔲 Entry level PC
🔲 Mid-range PC
☑️ High-end PC
🔲 Top-spec PC

~ LENGTH ~
🔲 Stupid short (0 - 4 hours)
🔲 Short (4 - 15 hours)
🔲 Average (15-40 hours)
🔲 Long (40-80 hours)
🔲 Extremely long (80-120 hours)
☑️ No ending

~ FUN ~
🔲 Agonizing
🔲 Boring
🔲 Average
☑️ Quite amusing
🔲 Exhilarating

~ STORY ~
🔲 Doesn't exist
🔲 Bad
🔲 Average
☑️ Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ REPLAYABILITY~
🔲 None
🔲 Only for achievements
🔲 Average replayability
☑️ High replayability
🔲 Never gets old

~ WORTH BUYING ~
🔲 No
🔲 Wait for sale
🔲 Yes
☑️ MUST BUY

~ Conclusion ~
There's a reason Valheim has been one of the most successful Early Access games of the year, and indeed Steam history overall. It has a unique take on the craft, kill, survive together gametype. The world building, mechanics, quaint but intricate settlement construction, boss fights, and continued support by the developer has earned Valheim a strong recommendation. If you have friends to play with, you'd be insane not to drop into Valheim at least once and gear up for a voyage.

FINAL SCORE: 5/5

~ Difficulty ~
🔲 Stupid easy
🔲 Easy
🔲 Normal
🔲 Heroic
☑️ Legendary

~ VISUALS ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
☑️ Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ MUSIC ~
🔲 Awful
🔲 Passable
🔲 Good
☑️ Excellent
🔲 Masterpiece

~ PRICE
🔲 Waste of money
🔲 Overpriced
☑️ Fairly priced
🔲 Fantastic value
🔲 Free

~ REQUIREMENTS ~
🔲 Entry level PC
🔲 Mid-range PC
☑️ High-end PC
🔲 Top-spec PC

~ LENGTH ~
🔲 Stupid short (0 - 4 hours)
🔲 Short (4 - 15 hours)
🔲 Average (15-40 hours)
☑️ Long (40-80 hours)
🔲 Extremely long (80-120 hours)
🔲 No ending

~ FUN ~
☑️ Agonizing ***See notes at bottom***
🔲 Boring
🔲 Average
🔲 Quite amusing
🔲 Exhilarating

~ STORY ~
🔲 Doesn't exist
🔲 Bad
🔲 Average
🔲 Excellent
☑️ Masterpiece

~ REPLAYABILITY~
🔲 None
🔲 Only for achievements
🔲 Average replayability
☑️ High replayability
🔲 Never gets old

~ WORTH BUYING ~
🔲 No
🔲 Wait for sale
☑️ Yes ***See notes at bottom***
🔲 MUST BUY

~ Conclusion ~
It's hard to conform my usual way of reviewing games (up above) to what this game achieves. This game is truly a masterpiece at giving the player a different feeling than any game I can think of (and I've played many). The intent is to make the player feel truly helpless while balancing decisions and consequences, knowing a holistically positive outcome is unachievable. As I implied above, it can be an agonizing game--but that's the point, and in the end I enjoyed playing a game that pushes me to the limit, that is brutally hard for a reason, and coming out the other side having achieved anything under such horrific conditions is hugely satisfying. The game isn't flawless, but if you've ever seen the first Pathologic you can appreciate how perfectly this updated title improves upon the goals, adding graphical beauty and polish to an existing masterpiece. Despite a few small issues, and the prospect that perhaps it could still be balanced in some way, for the higher form of ideas explored and the excellent execution I've decided to award a 5/5.

THAT BEING SAID, can I recommend this game to anyone? If you are used to streamlined mainstream games which consistently outline what is expected of the player, I probably would not attempt this game. If you don't typically play challenging ambiguous games I would recommend NOT playing the Imago difficulty right out the gate. Start with larva or even cocoon if you really want to give it a shot and aren't used to truly challenging games.

FINAL SCORE: 5/5