Recent reviews by 🍂 Buna-N

This game borrows everything combat-related from FTL, but while completely missing what makes the combat in FTL fun. It then adds some other half-baked systems outside the combat and calls it a day.

It's a shame cause a lot of this game is very charming, I love the art and the monkeys, but the systems just don't mesh together. And why on earth is boarding done through a special device just like in FTL? It's a pirate game, boarding should be an option at all times.

If you like the combat in this, go play FTL: Faster than Light.

"Mostly Negative." Ouch.

I don't write reviews often, but I figured I should offset this unfair (in my opinion) score a little.

I've played every Paradox Development Studios game since CK2 at launch, except HoI4, and I can say that this is easily the best 1.0.0 (or 1.0.1 as it is now) PDS ever made. Have you people seen the very first version of CK2? The entire muslim world was two massive unplayable empires called "The Sunni Caliphate" and "The Shi'a Caliphate". There was one pagan religion and it was called "pagan". There was only one government form.

After playing 100 hours to finally get the damn Perfidious Albion achievement, I can say that Imperator is indeed a broken mess, and there is indeed not much difference between nations beyond the three government types and their starting position. But at least there's those government types with their own mechanics, all playable, all the way to India. I think they're well-done and fun to play.

What I like:

- The civil war mechanic. Yes, that thing, I actually really like it. It's much more engaging than the rebellions of EU4 and your nation often comes out stronger, with high loyalty everywhere and the traitors eliminated.

- The trade system. The bonuses are really good and there's a lot to manage to get them. It also allows access to certain units to feel more natural, rather than it being culture-bound or tech-group bound like in EU4 and CK2. Sadly a little aggressive expansion makes it very hard to trade with anyone outside your borders, and since improving relations by a lot costs mana I find that is often not worth it.

- A visible health bar. As a strategist, I really don't like having zero knowledge of when my ruler is going to die. No that isn't realistic, even people who died from battle would often suffer for months before succumbing to their wounds.

What I dislike:

- Everything costs mana! Why does switching a diplomatic stance or a province policy cost mana? Why do bribes and granting stipends so my poorer tribal chiefs can afford an army cost money? And why can I give gifts to other nations for no mana then??? And why do all the techs cost civic mana instead of the mana of the type of tech???!
I don't mind EU4's mana system tbh, since at least it was used for key things where money or other resources wouldn't make sense. But this, this is ridiculous. Hopefully this will be tweaked in future patches.

- It's a buggy mess with bad UI. Colonisation gives me RSI. This has been said already though, and will be fixed in free patches.

All in all, I think I can recommend this game. It's fun right now, and it will be moreso later, even if you don't buy the DLC.

Welp, guess I'm gonna review EU4.

All the stuff about DLC policy and how much you pay for the full experience has been said and done. It's true that when not on sale, this game and its DLC cost way too much. I personally never buy anything that isn't on sale anyway, but it's a fair complaint that only keeps growing as they release more DLC rather than work on a new entry.

That said, Paradox Grand Strategy games, even with the place they've been heading, are the best blend of historical immersion, simulation and accessability on the market. No other game lets you play anywhere on the map as one of tons of nations that existed in a particular time in history. It is the ultimate alternate history sandbox, as well as being a quality game with sometimes enjoyable machanics, although it does become a bit crowded with all the buttons the DLC has been adding.

I do believe Paradox can do better if they try to make more coherent games and rely on that for their income rather than on pumping out lots of expensive DLC. But all in all, I cannot give this a negative review. If you're interested in this type of game, EU4 or Victoria 2 are the way to go.

If a real-time super-hectic FTL-like set in WW2 sounds fun to you then I can recommend this game. The art style and atmosphere are quite charming, especially when your innocent-looking soldiers will soon be fighting for their lives as half of them are on fire and the pilot is wounded while someone desperately goes onto the wing of the falling plane to extinguish a burning engine. The gameplay is slightly grindey and repetitive at times but playing through the campaign is fun as it keeps you constantly on your toes to manage everything.

Yes the negative reviews are correct about the forced autosave and how easy it is to get a full wipe and how much you have to grind to get back to where you were. So far I've been solving this through my good friend alt+f4. You will find that if you force-shut the game as you see your plane crash and everyone dying, it will load to the last finished mission before the one you failed and you can continue without losing progress.

The devs are also active though and will probably address the concern in future updates to allow for an enjoyable experience without "cheating."

With that concern out of the way though, the game is tons of fun in short bursts and has a very satisfying level of difficulty.

I've been playing this since early 2015. Since then there's been six new weapons, a new character nearly every month, balance patches every two weeks and loads of goodies. The devs work continuously, listen to the community and won't stop adding stuff as long as people still play.

Brawlhalla is an ever-evolving platform fighter with excellent netcode (don't let the wi-fi scrubs tell you otherwise) and competitive gameplay that feels like Smash Bros but is also different and unique. If you want a free PC alternative to Smash, play this. If you're into Smash and you're looking for a fresh competitive scene to enter, play this. If you're just bored, play this, it's free!

Note that this game's main community is on Reddit, not on the Steam forums. The devs actively read both though and take the player's opinion into consideration.