Recent reviews by Arphee

Your chronicle is perhaps one of the most active and commitment required idlers i've played to date, and despite the nature of the game manages to provide complex challenge and a small level of strategy and team composition building to get ahead, as of yet the game is not fully complete.

So be warned ye time travelers, no amount of time-changing will allow you to cheese this game by skipping ahead a month or even a year, progress will be tedious and well earned- if your into that sort of thing.

Subverse is an early access title- that has immense potential, but as of now isn't living up to it.

Content is very bare bones, and compared to the quality of the later Studio FOW cinematic titles such a Kunoichi 2/3 leave much to be desired in terms of audio-scripting, dialogue, and story around the H-scenes.

The characters and writing are extremely tongue in cheek with the optional missions having MANY funny references to memes and personalities such as Tim Pool and Gordon Ramsy. Personally i'm a big fan and see a lot of potential with the cast and setting of Subverse, but its unlikely to see good utilization given the nature and current direction of the game.

I desperately hope that as things get flushed out H-scenes are more seamless and cinematic like the AAA quality animations i'm used to from Studio FOW, ideally id hope by the end of this journey the game is equivalent to at least a COUPLE new animations of again, similar quality to Kunoichi 2/3, Nier First Assembly ETC.

The grid based combat currently lacks real depth, or progression, but- is admittedly functional. Personal recommendation for studio FOW would be to implement some tool-tips or UI elements to make things more intuitive and remind people of the different damage types. Markers should also be added for WHERE enemy units will spawn at start of combat, and the round before reinforcements show up to allow for informed planning and strategy. OFC id also like to see a progression system, additional units and strategy elements- but again very early access.

Space combat is also serviceable- but could do for some better controls as it currently stands its not really playable one handed unless you like an extreme challenge. Ideally they would consider adding twin-stick controller support, and a switch to some kind of mouse only navigation for mouse and keyboard w/ auto-firing basic attack and super + dash assigned to the left/right click.

Overall i'd still recommend the game- but not in its current state and price with a fraction of the content complete at $30 MSRP especially given other similarly themed projects that will VERY soon be coming to steam as well.

Unless, you, like me, are already familiar with studio FOW. Like dumb humor. And also believe whatever end game cinematic they EVENTUALLY produce will drain your sack, more than it drains your wallet.

Phantasy Star Onluine 2, hereafter referred to as PSO2 is an aged old-school MMORPG long in the tooth and showing it. PSO2 originally released in 2012 despite only NOW being localized. This poses 2 problems for the game that are hard to overcome.

First and foremost the age and limitations of a game that have been updated this long clearly show. PSO2 has a lot of clunky, outdated, systems and mechanics that at times bog down the entire experience that the rest of the games industry abandoned 4-6 years ago in favor of more streamlined solutions.

The second big issue? Sega's accelerated content release scheduled. Since the PSO2 Global launch people have been shotgunned through 7 years worth of content- in a couple of months. New content and UQ (Timed multi-party Urgent Quests) rush out very quickly and are soon replaced making it hard to get into a good grind pattern, as major new content drops become "last week"'s content.

Soon this second issue will be over, we will catch up to the JP release and be set for a simultaneous launch for the new game, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis later on in 2021. Sega has also tried to fix the clunk, by basically replacing some of the old systems with with redundant new content, sweeping it under the rug- so its there but you needn't necessarily ever know about or touch it.

If you like old-school action MMO's, or are in games like path of exile for the grind loop, you'll definitely enjoy what POS2 has to offer. Outside of those folk- there's a little bit to love for everybody else. Lots of cool fashion, a really cool community with LOTS of lobby socialization emotes etc for all the socialites. Folks who are into games like Monster Hunter (Not world, but the older games), God Eater, etc will apriciate the UQ's and bossing content Etc etc.

Personally i love the the game, to the extent of putting an unhealthy amount of time to it in the few months since launch. This has resulted in me actually puling back on the game recently. PSO2 isn't a game for everyone, it takes a certain kind of person to get into the flow of things- but when you do. BOY is it fun.

What you see is what you get, a budget spin-off of xcom experimenting with new features for better or for worse. Rather than team based turns each individual unit is given an initiative score. Randomized units are replaced with static characters. Skill trees are drastically different with certain fan favorites like Serial being locked behind "Epic" weapons. Etc.

While marred by technical issues and some game breaking bugs that specifically would end the whole careers of people trying to play on hardcore or ironman modes- that level of technical bugginess is to be expected from this kind of mini-spin off.

While it lacks technical polish the gameplay is decent, difficulty scaling is easier than Xcom to while impossible difficulty provides a moderate challenge. Achievements are reasonable outside of "Every Timeline" which will require 4 play-through's to unlock- which is problematic considering just how little variation there actually is.

Overall i cant complain given the price tag, $20 is more than fair, and god forbid you see this go on sale, even more of a deal. Plus given the reduced difficulty, Chimera Squad is primed to be the perfect entry point for those unfamiliar with the franchise.

Crying suns is what happens when you take FTL, segment it, and then smash in RTS elements and a story line.

I enjoyed crying suns a fair bit, but that's because its like a more casual version of FTL. Difficulty wise Crying suns is a lot easier, and a lot more predictable- making it feel fair. The segmented story parts also lead to shorter play sessions with each section taking an hour or two depending on play style and game familiarity.

Overall i strongly recommend crying suns if you're a fan of FTL specifically or RTS / Strategy games but lack the time commitment for long-form titles such as Civ, Stellaris, ETC.

Working from home? Got a spare monitor? You'll beat the game that way- trust me, I did.

Guild of Dungeoneering is an excellent casual rogue-lite. Gameplay centers around classes, and randomized deck building as you explore each environment. Everything is turn based with no per-turn/move limit but some quests having fail-conditions for X amount of turns.

Admittedly there aren't that many hours of game play- of the 46 I've put in probably 10+ of those are from me multi-tasking while playing. Rest assured however the hours that we're there we're quite enjoyable.

PS: If you find yourself struggling in game, try to rush to unlock Catomancer as a class, it straight busted, but super fun to play.

This game is fun for what it is, but is ultimately a bit too linear, i know its meant to be a light hearted little romp but it'd have been nice to have a longer story, more branching paths, and more romance options than just the beefcake that is Colonel Sanders.

Still great for what it is but boy do i wish there were an Aeshleigh or Miriam path too...

The original borderlands is one of the few games I've loved enough to replay all the way through multiple times, Once on Xbox, and then again on PC, and then all these years later, a third time for the Enhanced Edition, and outside of Mad Moxxi's Underdome, each time its been one of my favorite experiences in gaming.

Borderlands was the first successful implementation of a looter shooter. From my experience as someone who isn't the best at FPS oriented games, it's fantastic starter for those trying to get their feet wet with the genre without being too intimidated.

Grab a couple of friends, your significant other, or that buddy that just cant get behind shooters and take them for a whirl- You will not find a better gateway drug than Borderlands.

Life is strange is a fantastic cinematic story experience that will leave you guessing until towards the very end. Life is strange is one of the best interactive stories made to-date. If you're familiar with the concept of a tell-tale game, this is in a very similar vein- and if you enjoy the format, your certain to enjoy this.

Unturned is a perfect mesh between the simplicity of minecraft and the brutality of DAY-Z, though the game is far from finished its showing great progress, and even in its current stage could be considered bug free compared to your average early-acess game in the steam library.

With the 3.0 update looming overhead allowing users to easilly create their own maps and content the future of unturned is looking bright- anyone who is a fan of Day-z willing to forgive the voxel graphics should check the game out- multiplayer offers countless hours of fun.