Recent reviews by Byager

The matchmaking is atrocious. Monetization is greedy and clearly an attempt to hop on the 'season pass' money train. AI is brain-dead to the point that they could make random moves and play better, making offline play near impossible. Unless they drastically change the game from the ground up: Do not buy this. This is a step down from the previous game in every way.

Play until you collect all the Series 2 cards, then stop playing.

You'll thank me later.

Disclaimer: As of writing this, there are several PC performance issues with stuttering. These will heavily impact your gameplay experience and would make me not recommend the game. I did not experience them on my system, but there is always the risk that you may. Be wary.

Hogwarts Legacy is a wide sweeping Open World RPG. It treads dangerously close to having too many underdeveloped systems, generic open world staples, and missing RPG mechanics. Despite all this, it is clearly a labor of love to the Wizarding World and already one of my favorite games of the year. The amount of detail and effort put into every scene is astonishing, and clearly done with care to honor the original source material. This may not be the Hogwarts life-simulator that many people have wanted, including myself, but as a action driven story game it succeeds.

TLDR:
If you like the Harry Potter universe, this is easily a must buy.
If you are wary, it's worth watching some gameplay and deciding for yourself.

Story: 6/10
Interesting new take on something that's been done before. While the eding is epic, a lot of the game seems like going from fetch-quest to fetch-quest. The character of War and is summed up as "Angry Guy with a Big Sword and Horse", and while the game adknowledges this fact, there is a distinct lack of humanity in the characters, even for demons and angels. The game hopes to be a stepping stone for a larger scale game, and it does build to that.

Atmosphere: 4/10
The zones are intersting and have a very alien feel to them, however you quickly forget that you are on Earth after leaving the first few zones. There is a lot they could have done with the setting to show a post apocolyptic world without getting stale, however the fantasy aspect seems to take over a bit too much. The areas are pretty, and seem vast, however are often rather small and get old fast.

Gameplay: 5/10
Basic puzzle-dungeon gameplay with hack and slash combat. It doesn't seek to expand into any new territory, but accomplished what it wants to. The hack and slash style combat is straightforward, giving you combos and allowing you to level new ones. The finishers get annoying after seeing them more than once, and some abilites are insanely powerful.

Sound: 6/10
War's voice acting could be described as " Christian Bale Batman with some cough drops". While not the worst, all the voice acting in the game is....alright. Up to industry standards, but definately not pushing any boundaries. The music, however, is great though and fits well with the fantasy/war style the game wants to express.

Pros:
Gameplay is something that ....works
Story is a new take on something we've seen
Soundtrack is great

Cons:
Lacks the Human aesthetic the first level has
Poor Characterization

Buy If:
You like puzzle-dungeons
You are intersted in the Four Horsemen story
You want to play Darksiders 2

Story: 9/10
While playing the other Bioshocks is not a requirement, playing them first will build up to this game. The plot kept me engaged the entire time, and while certain areas did feel like filler (specifically right before the final act) the small plot twists and interesting premise, along with the great characterization, will keep you playing.

Atmosphere: 10/10
Columbia (the city the game takes place in) is beautiful, and the variation between different zones is beautiful. A screenshot from anywhere in game looks like a painting. The music is fitting, the city feels alive, and while you don't always feel like you are miles off the ground, you always feel like you are in Columbia.

Gameplay: 8/10
Solid shooter mechanics, and a variety of weapons. The new plasmids, err tonics, are different enough to compliment a variety of play styles. The action is fast paced and very much -in your face-, so don't expect stealth mechanics, but the gun-play is much improved from the original Bioshock. The limit of two weapons at a time is also a welcomed addition, as it makes you wonder if carrying around an RPG for a boss is worth it when fighting individual units.

Sound: 9/10
The voice acting is fantastic, and while the music is up to par with industry standards, doesn't really stand out all too much. There is only one point at which soundtrack really stood out to me, but even then it was only for a moment. For the most part the soundtrack is going ot be fast paced to match the gameplay, which works. Columbia, however, and the sounds of the machines and songs on the streets, work perfectly.

Pros:
Great Story and Atmosphere
Solid Mechanics and Gameplay
Continues the BioShock story
Amazing Characterization

Cons:
Certain areas feel like filler
Strange difficulty spikes in some areas
Low-Medium Replayability
Some tonics you get too late into the game

Extra Notes: Looking forward to see where they go with DLC. There are some characters I'd like to see expanded (Songbird).