Recent reviews by BinkSayres

I'm not gonna lie. This really hurts me. The game as a whole has an incredible amount of potential. And it's fun to play.
What is here shows the fun FTL like game loop with added ship building elements and greater personnel management.
And while the game can be "completed", this game is hardly anywhere near complete. It's a total buggy mess, the AI quickly gets overloaded and unresponsive,

And yes, I hear you out there. "Of course the game isn't finished and is buggy! It's in early access you idiot!"
...Firstly, rude...
Secondly, While the game is still in early access, the developers have made no secret that development of this title is on permanent hold..."until such time that funding can be reacquired." As of the last update, this is still the case and questionable if development will ever begin again.

Maybe one day, someone will come along and this game will start back up again...and then...we'll see. For now...is abandonware, despite the dev's best efforts to prevent that. As such, and because the game we have is just a poor, sick, hollow shell of what it could be...there's just enough there to show us on what we are truly missing out on...I cannot recommend this game.

TLDR: An incredible tongue in cheek game on the vein of starship troopers that suffered greatly at the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of their publisher's short sightedness. ♥♥♥♥ you very much Sony. They eventually pulled their head out of their full point of contact and lifted most of the restrictions. Hence why this is now a positive review.

I'm afraid that I can no longer support this game. As this post requirement of needing to have a PSN account, even if technically it was always there, this just ruins the good will that Arrowhead as made with us.

It's scummy, it's unconscionable, it should be fought at every avenue.

Update: After Spitz spittin' fire against all of us fighting against this PSN requirement, they took a moment and learned how screwed up this all is and walked back their statements. A lot of damamge was done over the last couple of days over this. It'll be interesting to see how this all affects ArrowHead's talks with Sony. But until something actionable comes from this...this review will remain negative.

Long term update - While the PSN account requirement has been canceled, the game remains region locked from any country that is unable to get a PSN account. While those who purchased the game prior to this debacle have been able to access the game, no new purchases are able to happen in these regions. Until Sony lifts the region lock...which would take almost no effort on their part to do...this review will remain negative. While Arrowhead has continued to refine their game, I cannot support Sony in these obviously anti-consumer tactics that they are employing. We all drop together or we don't drop at all.

12/4 Update: Still the same. Sony sux.

6/14/2025 Edit: It took Sony way too long. But they finally lifted the restriction on 130 countries.

Let's be fair...there is nothing that is unique in this game. However, it's the combination of these well known systems that the greatness in this game really shines. So...the best way I've seen this described...if Pokemon and ARK had a baby...this would be it.

Yes....yes yes yes....and ...well, yes.

Just another perfectly normal Dating Sim.

Watching this game evolve through Early Access has been one of the rare joys of the myriad of projects that just seem to die. While the game is still in EA, it's not from it being dead at all. Pretty regular updates and nearly constant bug fixes, this game is alive and well. If you're into survival base building, you can certainly do a lot worse than this one. The fact that your base is semi mobile adds to it. Combat feels fluid. Shooting is tight. Enemies can vary based on difficulty but feel balanced and not too bullet spongy.

Definitely worth the purchase.

Just when you thought you had enough of Animal Crossing, now we're going down under to do it all again, only better.

This game starts with a huge immersion hit before it even starts. "Hi. I'm a spaceman from another world yet everything about your world looks exactly like mine. I'm wearing technology that keeps me from dying because your air is poison. But I'm reduced to sticks and stones for everything else." It doesn't make sense...but I digress.

TLDR; Icarus is an exercise in gamer expectations vs Publisher dreams. They do not mesh at all. The publisher should have left it in the cooker for a few more passes before this mostly baked, but incomplete game was given a "Full" release (with the added promise that the missing pieces will eventually be added), or have released it as an Early Access title.

The beginning animation and your first steps do not match at all. Space pioneer in an environmental suit being dropped from orbit into an area for <insert mission objectives here>...and your first task is to make a stone pick. Beyond that immersion break at moment one, the tools and actions feel clunky at times. Frame rates jitter for doing very little and seemingly at random (And I'm not on a weak machine). The environments, while very pretty, don't convey "Alien". It looks like you're just landing back on Earth. Combat is very clunky. A lot of stuff is still marked as "Coming Soon". I mean, it didn't effect my play-through because I couldn't get to those parts yet. But it's not a good look to have a spot for something and it saying its not here yet. The only impression it gives is that the game is incomplete and it was shipped knowing full well that it is missing parts. There will be those that say "see it for its potential". You can't judge a full release on what's coming. You can only judge on what is there. And what is currently here is lacking.

The story line and lore about Icarus are completely lost the moment you step off your drop pod and step into yet another Earth-like environment. You could have just as easily landed in a parachute after jumping out of an airplane and it wouldn't have changed anything. And what is here doesn't feel like anything new. Other more complete games have done everything this game is trying to do and they did it better. However, the game is only $28, Less if you can get it on sale. Two hours is long enough to get you through the first mission even if you go at it slow. With Steam's refund policy, you can try it and see if it's for you. There is an OK Core here. I do hope it gets better.
Maybe after a few patches and updates they could have smoothed this out. The environments do look beautiful, but I never can fully get into it because I'm still just a spaceman working with sticks and stones.

Squadrons is a strange one to rate. This game was obviously designed to fit the gaping hole in the gaming market for a Star Wars physics flight sim. If you're a fan of X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, then you fit this niche. However, being a fan of that game, I know what's missing. The game looks and feels good with a controller, but HOTAS needs some tightening up. The campaign is singular and intertwined. It doesn't do anything spectacular to the point that it's very Star Wars cliche. That's fine, though. All the campaign does is serve as a game tutorial...which I highly recommend prior to jumping online. And in that respect, it does exactly what it's supposed to do, and really not much else.

Where the real star of the show is is the Multiplayer...and that I really find lacking. A grand total of 2 modes on 5 maps. You're either having a 5v5 dogfight, or a 5v5 dogfight with capital ships. No Co-Op option, except for the cap battle against AI.

All in all, the game is lacking in features. More variety in ships (Where is the B-Wing and the Missile Boat?!?), more variety in game modes (Actual Co-Op), custom missions....that would really give this game some life. Yet, I have still found that I had fun. If that's all that matters, then great. There is a good core of a game here. And for $40, it's hard to recommend, but if MOTIVE and EA stick with this thing...it'll be worth it in the end. And for leaving out Microtransactions and Loot Boxes, they at least deserve the chance.

EDIT: I managed to get an Oculus Quest 2 for Christmas. Finally had a chance to play this one with it after getting my Sideloaded Virtual Desktop to allow Steam VR. And HOLY CRAP! Does this game deliver in that respect. If you have the opportunity to play this game in VR, jump at it head first.

Fun city builder and worker management game. Love the 8-bit aesthetics. Played the game back when Limbo was a thing. Kind of miss it, but like how resource and people can move from region to region now.

Being the successor of the Annihilation series means a few things. It means epic battles with ever expanding armies. It means hundreds if not thousands of units on the screen at once. And it means larger than like super weapons.

While Planetary Annihilation got the first two right, the third one was kind of lacking. Sure, you had the Planet Buster world...but it's not the same as a giant behemoth stepping over a mountain range like it was a picket fence. Titans helps to fill that void.