Recent reviews by CitizenX3639

My Steam Rating: Very Positive

Positives
Game feels like a prologue but it is 100% complete
Beautiful art design and numerous brutal death animations
Doesn't reinvent the wheel of 2D platformers but each level was fun to traverse

Negatives
There are zero setting options. Home screen you will have choice of Continue, New Game, or Exit
$3 sale price for less than 90 minutes of game play.
Some levels it is hard to see your character and sometimes the exit platform

Thank you to the developers and Publisher BRUTAL SOFTWARE for providing a game to allow us to escape, enjoy and most importantly, be Brutal.

My Steam rating: Very Positive

The FPS genre really has been stale for so long they don't even recognize it in an actual individual category for useless game awards anymore. We do get a lot of “Boomer” shooters and rogue likes but what we don't get often(outside mods) are linear, story driven FPS experiences that used to dominate gaming. Well, Vladik Brutal here is to change it all with an incredible homage to some of our all time favorites FPS games.

I want to first discuss the technical state of the game as this is a pretty new release(Aug) and that seems to be the main issue on the discussion forum. I have what people would describe as a low tier PC these days(Specs at bottom) but I only noticed frame drops mainly when a lot of enemies were on screen. Smartly, there are a lot of settings to tweak with each having visual photos to show the difference. Also, as the game does have some balance issues mainly with boss fights and the last level but there is a complete built in cheat option to allow you to play the game however you want. All the issues between optimization and balance cannot be any negative as we see how billion and trillion dollar companies release their games unfinished and still receive positive reviews. This is for the most part a solo developed project and from my experience I was able to enjoy this complete game from start to end with no impact on my enjoyment.

The story for Vlad Brutal is in essence an Eastern European retelling of Half Life but still carves out its own identity in the end. You play as Vlad, a prisoner who is taken from his cell and driven to a facility to start an experiment. As the experiment starts it fails, blows up and as you pick up the crow bar, your journey begins. This journey is amazing with 28 levels(Yea, 28) that will remind you of some classics in the FPS genre. It is totally voice acted, includes a few cutscenes, set pieces and the story is pretty easy to follow and has a very satisfying conclusion. Outside some translation issues here and there which will make you laugh, I still wouldn't change a thing.

The gameplay is exactly what you would expect in an old school FPS game where there are no rpg elements, no attachments to guns, no armor, no quests per se. It is simply to enter the level and find the exit. Along the route you may need to find a switch, turn a wheel to open the door, maybe stack a box or two to jump, do some light platforming but it's all easy to follow through the beautifully designed levels as glow sticks will light the path and anything you can interact with is also highlighted. There are also some puzzles usually regarding finding a battery and placing it in position to provide power to a door. These are all nice changes of pace as a majority of the time you will be pursued from everything simply wanting to kill you.

Most combat in the game will be against soldiers or mutants but there are other enemies that will be hunting you down. There are also some surprisingly good boss fights and set pieces that all are just awesome. Your arsenal of weapons comes in the form of said crowbar, handgun, Magnum, AK47, SG, Sawed off SG, sniper rifle, AS Val, Rocket launcher, and experimental weapon that creates a black hole where once you shoot it, it sucks in everything in the surrounding area and explodes. You will also have grenades and most importantly molotovs which I must have thrown a hundred. All ammo and health is earned from dropped enemies, lockers and boxes spread throughout the level and the amount you find depends on one of the 4 difficulties you choose.

Just a quick 2 cents on enemy AI, it is as expected mostly when in tight quarters as enemies just pretty much rush you like kamikazes but in open areas if you throw a molotov some will try to work their way around it as it spreads in an uneven area that was cool to see. Also, enemies with different weapons/armor move at different speeds zig zagging around areas and they also have reload animations. My most hated enemy is one that hatches out of eggs like an Alien. They crawl on the ground like a spider and when they attack they jump right in your face and if you miss it usually means a restart.Bastards.

You can't have brutal in your name and not be fun, right? And Vlad Brutal provides that pretty much every second. You will be hunted down from every angle while using everything at your disposal to stay alive. The gunplay is pretty good with each weapon handling just a little different. The gun sounds are all fantastic and the blood that splashes constantly on screen adds to the violent immersion. In combat or driving around you will be accompanied with a soundtrack that reminds me of 80s synth beats to the industrialized sounds of Nine Inch Nails and it fits perfectly.

I have been playing a lot of HL2 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein campaign mods lately and Vlad Brutal is a perfect example of how that design philosophy with a touch of new paint will never go out of style. It has beautiful environments, an easy story to follow and combat that is challenging, engaging and super fun. I can't recommend this enough and for the asking price of $10 it's an absolute steal and best FPS of 2024. It's been a long time since I had this much fun playing an FPS game.

System
Amd Ryzen 5 3600
MSI 6700xt
16GB ram
3440x1440
According to MSI Adrenaline- 18hrs/ 119FPS avg playing at mostly high settings


Positives

100% complete incredible achievement
Old school story driven FPS -we need more
Lots of Setting options
Dev provided cheat menu in game and wrote the achievement guide
Beautiful game, great sound and level design
Fun boss fights
Enemy AI better than expected
Pacing

Negatives

Could use patch for optimization and some higher difficulty balance of drops
Grenades could use a bump in explosion radius
Some levels could use some ladders or walkways for flow and to make sense
No photo mode/ no way to holster weapons

Thank you to the Developer Parallel Studio and Publisher Spotlight by Quantic dream for providing a game to escape, explore and learn.

My Steam rating: Very Positive

Under the Waves is a simple third person story driven game that excels in almost everything it sets out to accomplish. Despite an oddity or two in the story and some QoL omissions the game is an absolute diamond for the genre and easy to recommend.

In the game you play as Stan, a professional diver who has returned to his employer after a tragic family event to basically escape from everything. Stan believes this isolation will help him deal with this event though 3 yrs have now passed. You are not totally isolated as you will make a few phone calls to your wife and each day you will talk with an old family friend(also an employer of the Co.) who will give you daily Co. tasks and other story missions to follow. The game is perfectly paced as if only doing what is required would be around 6 hrs(guess) but to 100%(all the collectibles/crafting) takes 12-15 hrs. The only issue I have with the story is the game covers only 17 days and the ending where you are given a choice which was not needed. The story from the writing, voice acting and music are all incredibly done. But beware this story is not for everyone as it is about loss and even with a choice at the end, there is no happy ending here.

One thing I wanted to highlight for the story was this game was sponsored and/or funded by the Surfrider foundation which is an environmentalist group who is battling to protect the ocean for all to enjoy. This is how awareness to a cause is done right in a game. All of the group's causes are in things found(collectibles) or during loading screens with facts and not a distraction in any way. I was aware of some of the information provided but I learned more info on the continued effects from the garbage we dispose of into the ocean.

*The story, atmosphere, sense of loneliness and isolation reminded me of the movie Moon(great movie). I do not know if the dev team were ever aware of this movie but your minisub you travel in the game is called Moon.

The game covers 17 days(there is a 10 day fast forward after day 3) where you will be given missions daily that are basically restoring power, fixing or cleaning equipment, all tasks to make sure the Corporations machines keep drilling. There are also collectibles to find, photographs to take and a crafting system to upgrade your mini sub and your gear. Luckily the game was not gamified and what I mean by that is air, gas, damage and there is no combat like in a lot of survival games. The main goal here is to experience the story and world and I appreciated that design for this game.

In order to complete your daily tasks Under the Waves is somewhat of a scuba simulation game. Each day when you wake up you will make a cup of coffee, retrieve your daily task and go into the deep blue travelling in your one man mini sub called Moon. As you travel you will hit a sonar that will highlight items or locations to explore. These will provide crafting materials and collectibles which also provide a lot of backstory for the game. I highly recommend searching out a majority(some are on your path to a mission) as they provide a lot of information on everyone involved in the game and story beats that paint the whole picture. The crafting system is pretty basic where you will gain bonuses to your mini sub and your gear. However, there are enough items scattered about and the upgrades really are not necessary, just makes some things a lot easier.

Under the Waves is a beautiful heartbreaking narrative story. It is not really a game as it is more of a simulation of stepping into the shoes of an underwater diver and trying to deal with a tragic family event. It does that while bringing awareness to a cause I'm sure we would all agree is sad. It does a great job by not prolonging the game with slogged out survival mechanics but trying to simply let you immerse yourself into the deep blue sea.


Positives

Beautiful detailed underwater world
Story, writing, voice acting, music
Exploration is awesome
Choice to NOT gamify the experience
Environmental information not forced into the narrative

Negatives

Choice at the end
Barebone settings, KB controls excluded
No true ultrawide 21:9 setting

Perfect example how you create tension/suspense, not in hours after boring hrs walking though a fog beating on brain dead AI, but simply confined in a nice 20 minute experience. Nice Job.

Thank you to the developers Dark Point Games and publisher Galakus/DPG for providing a fun action game to fight, fight and fight again.

My Steam Rating : Mostly Positive

I am a huge fan of Greek mythology so for myself, Achilles Legends Untold(A:LU) checks enough boxes as a fun, action adventure game with a good original story. However It’s got some major flaws that holds the game back from being an easy recommendation.

It is very difficult to discuss the story of Achilles Legend Untold without spoilers so all I will discuss is the start. The story begins at the battle of Troy where Achilles is confronted and shot by Paris as it is written in the classic Iliad. However, In this story Achilles does not die but awakens on the cobblestones of Greece where he is greeted by a priest. The priest explains it has been 10 yrs since the war and Greece has fallen into dark times under the rule of Agamemnon. As you progress in the game more stories will come open that will lead you to more of an understanding of why you were spared death. I think the writers did a good job of this new path for Achilles and I like the narrative conclusion. However, the absence of a bio page of the places and major characters within the game could have helped tie that narrative together better.

The story is fully voice acted and covers 16 main missions, 14 side quests across a pretty large variety of beautiful maps which include Greece and its surrounding districts. The maps also include dungeons, cellars and challenge portals and the game ran flawlessly at 3440x1440(100fps). There are multiple difficulty choices but your first play through on any difficulty for veterans of the genre will have no problem as the game is pretty easy. I completed 100% of my first play through(Challenge) around 30 hrs at level 99 killing everything in my path and died just a few times. The game does have a new game + which adds some challenging game modifiers but I still felt it was only slightly more difficult.

Also on difficulty I want to say this is where the challenge could have been addressed better. First , you start the game where you can already carry the max amount of health vials(8). The small vials also are equal to the large ones which when consumed will fill your health bar to 100%. Endurance and magic are also non issues at the start as both bars are large enough to never be any sort of problem.

The game play is a mix in between an isometric and third person action game that bills itself with Souls-like combat. It is primarily a melee fighting game so you have light/heavy attacks with a dodge roll and side step and do a leap attack. You also have bombs, landmines and darts along with the ability to equip 3 special magic abilities where you can throw your shield, have an AoE attack, light your weapon on fire as examples. While I get the reason to use the “souls-like” term If you have played any games in the genre or any action rogue likes the combat is pretty standard.

Along the journey you will be also collecting lots and lots of items, whether it is dropped from enemies, collected from chests, completing tasks or you rolling/breaking the thousands of barrels and vases across the land. Weapons are pretty standard with axes, spears, swords and you can go with a shield, dual wield, or two handed. All weapons include their own animations, unique stats, rarity and possibility of having effects of poison, fire, curses, bleed and light attached. You will also come across recipes for crafting but loot is so abundant, there was never a need. The only need for this was to make sure you had flasks, money and the pieces needed to upgrade your gear.

As an RPG killing enemies and completing quests earn experience where you will then add pts into a constellation skill tree and while it looks nice they could have just kept it more basic. The skill tree is broken into the heroes 6 attributes (strength/health/precision/Wrath/Endurance/luck) but to earn a single point you have to spend 3 pts. You can unlock a few additional combat skills like parry and passives such as drinking potions faster, throw your shield faster or gather more xp from defeated enemies.

I was impressed with the numerous enemies in the game which included skeletons, plants, cyclops, animals, and soldiers to name a few who will use poison, fire, bleed and curses that can harm your character. The last area of the game really is the best and is by far the most challenging as you can get overwhelmed as mobs are much closer together and gives you that feel of an ARPG but if you have been doing everything, it will still not be much of a fight. Lastly, the boss fights are not up to what is expected. There is a nice variety but all of them were underwhelming and thru 2 full play throughs I maybe died once.

Achilles:Legends Untold is 100% complete, runs and looks great and most importantly is still a fun adventure game. While Its ambition and vision to be a big ARPG are clear it is unable to reach those goals with mainly its lack of balance across the entire game board. Still, if you are looking for an adventure set in Greece with spartans, Gods and some mythological creatures i think you will still have fun despite those issues.


Positives

Fun action game, 100% complete
Ran flawless(3440x1440) looks beautiful
The last area is what the entire game should have been
Original Achilles story
Impressive animations all special attacks and different weapons
Surprising amount of enemy types
Perfect length of game play
Solid achievement list
New Game + with modifiers

Negatives

Difficulty balance- too easy
Boss fights
Inability to add/change gems in weapons/ shields
Lots of inventory for no reason
Skill tree
Voice acting is hit or miss
Music is quiet

Thank you to the devs. 2K Australia, Gearbox Software, Aspyr_Media and Publisher 2K for giving us another chapter of the Borderlands series and another reason to explore, fight and find that sweet, sweet loot….however, I rarely found it, you might want to look into that.

My Steam rating: Very Positive
As a Borderlands Co-Op Experience: Mostly Positive

Released just 2 years after the massive hit Borderlands 2 The Pre Sequel released in 2014 is considered by most fans the weakest of the series until Tiny Tiny’s Wonderland launched in 2022(from my POV). While I agree it has issues and feels like it was pushed out to ride that massive wave from BL2, the Pre Sequel is still a Borderlands game at heart with some fun new tricks up its sleeve accompanied with a solid story that is the best in the series..

Borderlands the Pre Sequel is set between the first and second games of the series. The story begins with a cutscene on Pandora as Lilith(from BL2) is interrogating an assassin in front of a firing squad. The assassin named Athena begins to tell the story from where she was hired by a low level programmer to find and open a vault on the planet. This will then lead to a cinematic and choosing one of six characters to play. You will then be thrown into the usual BLs tutorial mission which for this game is escaping from the Helios Space station with that low level programmer named Jack. As you escape Jack stays behind and ends up being captured by a group called the Lost Legion. Once you have escaped you will begin your adventure of taking on 12 main missions, 60 side missions that will involve rescuing Jack, regaining control of the Helios space station, building a robot Army and maybe finding the elusive vault everyone is talking about.

I like the main campaign a lot as it is well written and provides a ton of lore for the series, especially foretelling of events that were in the previous games. Why are the robots yellow, why does Handsome Jack look like he is wearing a mask, why does Jack hate claptraps, etc. The side missions are hit and miss as are some of the new characters but highlights a glaring issue and that is progression and balance. It still doesn't take away it is still a fun game all around, but in all honesty feels more like a single player experience. One of the main reasons being quest givers and story beats can take 1-2+ minutes and you can't skip dialogue and oftentimes they have something to hand to you at the end. It really is a different pace from the other games in the series where it is go, go, go all the time. Also the mob fights in this game are way less dense than in previous titles and they don't seem to scale in any way during co-op.

So for the side missions you will HAVE to complete almost ALL of them in order to progress because missions are level specific. You can go and try to complete them but being even -1 level less than the requirement can be challenging(unless you have the weapons). Even on the second play through it will be even more challenging as after completing all missions available, I was still -2 levels lower than the enemies. It is just one of the small number of issues where the game could have used some feedback to devs. increase xp or decrease enemy health. Also even on 2nd and 3rd playthroughs numerous times, the legendary drop rate is horrid. While I think the drop rate is horrid for the entire series, this is by far the worst.

As a Borderlands game, everything you expect is here from the series. The now iconic beautiful cell shaded look, the loot, the gunplay, and fantastic characters such as Moxxi and others all make an appearance though small, but then there is of course Jack who will eventually become Handsome Jack at the end. Jack is once again voiced by Daemon Clark and just like in BL2 he steals every scene and line. I mean his first line of the game is “Did that claptrap just die?(laughs) Good!”. There are 29 pretty large locations to explore with much more verticality and not to mention the sounds and music are all what you would expect and the fun never stops.

Besides its great gameplay and worlds to explore one of Borderlands biggest strengths is in the characters and RPG elements and it is just as diverse and strong here as any of the series. You have 6 characters to choose all with the normal 3 different skill trees which offers the usual 100s of hrs of replayability. In the close to 2k+ hrs I have in the series, I don't think I have ever found a character that is not fun to play and it remains true here. You will also see new gun types(lasers) and a new effect(frozen) which brings just more arsenal to an already great system.

So far everything sounds good. It looks like Borderlands, plays like Borderlands, has characters everyone likes so what is different? First it starts with the movement which is my favorite. As you go on your adventure a lot(not all) of it will be outdoors in low gravity environments. Your movement will be more floaty but you will also be able to jump further and higher. This both adds to exploration and in combat it gives you the ability after jumping high, to do a slam which does AoE damage. These outdoor environments will now require you to equip 0z(Oxygen) mods. At first I thought this was going to be one of those survival mechanics that is a nuisance, but really is never an issue as there are pockets of air everywhere to recharge. All of these are great additions to the Borderlands gameplay formula and really make this journey fun and definitely different from the previous titles.

As with the other titles, The pre Sequel offers a ton of end game content. It offers the normal vault hunter and true vault hunter modes which increases difficulty and supposed drop rates(questionable), one raid boss, a horde style arena battle and only one story based DLC Claptastic Voyage which offers maybe one of the best boss fights in the series.

I love this series and the pre sequel is a great origin story for one of the best villains in gaming. The Borderlands series is still the undisputed king of the co op shooter and while this feels more grounded as a single player experience it is still way better than a majority of games still today.

Positives
It’s a Borderlands game
Best writing and story in the series
Great exploration, new characters
New game mechanics, weapons, effects
DLC
Better than I remember

Negatives
Balance and progression
Legendary drop rate
Unable to skip any dialogue
Only one story DLC
Co-op feels off

Thank you to the developer A.Y.std and Publisher Crytivo for providing a fun game for me to escape, craft and explore.

My Steam rating: Very positive

One of the few things you can’t find among the hundreds if not thousands of survival games on steam is a finished game(We are finally starting to see some 1.0 releases). Well, good news we have one and better news it’s pretty good. Force of Nature 2 Ghost keeper is exactly what I look for in the genre: It’s complete, solid exploration, progression, deep crafting, farming, base building, fair combat and a solid achievement list.

FoN2 is an isometric action adventure survival rpg with some very minor base defense game play. As you begin the game you will be given one of the most bare bone settings for a game ever with some odd choices. The character creator is fine(M/F hair/skin color), video options only include resolution(UW supported), Vsync and quality*. There is no difficulty setting but you can choose an option for enemies to have greater health and deal more damage, have increased inventory, and faster crafting speed. Once in the game you have other options like respawning all enemies every time you restart, the ability to auto attack(works fine) and how to camera position your character on screen. You are given even more choices when going to sleep(bed) like recovering health, respawn all enemies and animals in this biome or respawn all enemies and animals in all locations. All of these are great for the player, but weird in how it is presented.

*I played FoN2 at 3440x1440 High settings/100fps and it ran phenomenal and the game looks great, better than expected.

Before starting in your randomly generated world, you actually start at home in your garage where you will go through a good tutorial of some of the basics. Once completed you will transport to a lush green biome where you will continue to go through more tutorials. As you complete these tasks and do some exploring you will finally come upon your main story objective. The story simply is to find 4 shattered stones, combine them to open a portal to get you back home. I really never paid too much attention to the story but it does end with a nice surprising twist.

So after learning of your quest, what do you do? Well, that is up to you as this is a sandbox but if you are a veteran of the genre you know the drill. It will be cutting down trees, gathering sticks, stones, food, water, etc. You will continue building a base, maybe just for crafting or you want to build a huge compound it really is up to you. The building in the game is very good and everything looks great. It really is intuitive and simple to build, move or destroy with hotkeys on the toolbar.

There are 21 skills to unlock for your character with each having multiple tiers. Each level you earn and defeating each boss gets you 3 pts to distribute. The skill tree is fine and pretty basic but I'm not a fan of having to spend x amount to unlock the next tier, 1 point should always suffice. There is also no sort of build specifics for a single character so you can fight with whatever you build and sometimes against certain bosses a ranged vs melee, maybe better? I played the majority of the game using halberds/maces with bombs and lightning magic. There are a lot of weapons to experiment and mix and match however you want to play and to make this easier, there are slots for 3 loadouts on your character sheet.

As you explore the 5 Biomes each will have different challenges being weather conditions, environmental obstacles and assortment of animals and enemies. The weather conditions….(Spoilers if I explain). There is a good variety of enemies to encounter in all locations but most will fall into 3 categories: cannon fodder(easy), melee(moderate), and ranged(lethal). The game feels like it wants to play like an ARPG and a base defense but neither of those goals are reached fully. And then we get to the bosses for FoN2 which are all really fun, challenging and sometimes a little infuriating but not impossible.

After defeating each boss you will be rewarded with some items(3 skill pts) , a puzzle to complete(optional) and the ghost of the defeated boss. The ghosts of the fallen will become servants at your base where you can direct them to do jobs like craft, gather, repair, build. These directions only adhere to what happens inside the base, you cant send them to go cut wood or get water, so they basically just help speed up crafting.

I want to address two things about mixed reviews:

-A lot of reviews seem to have issues with the amount of crafting, feeling it was a chore. I never felt that way as I would farm, craft, build, explore, etc. to level and get better gear, there was always something to do. I also never mind a little grind in a good game, so this will be different for everyone.

- I do however somewhat agree on the progression as the game definitely feels balanced for 2 player co-op which it provides. I can easily see one player just building a home base while one is handling all the crafting. Or maybe one player goes and drops portals and explores while one stays back and farms/crafts. I finished the game at 96 hrs and I can see that time being cut in half in co-op, but i still think it is a solid single player survival game.

Force of Nature 2 Ghost keeper is a hidden gem in the survival genre. It is a fully complete experience from start to end and looks and plays great. It allows the player to make a lot of QoL choices for how they want to play, the world is fun to explore and there is a deep crafting system in place which I enjoyed. The game would benefit with some more video settings and maybe a tweak for the single player balance, but neither diminished my enjoyment or my time with what is a really fun survival game.

A few tips:
If you want to get rid of anything, throw it on the ground and it will turn to garbage in a day.
Make sure to have 3-4 cows/chickens
Have 2 Mussel pools
You dont have to build a house, just build a floor to place certain crafting stations
You will have to respawn enemies in the first biome for more leather
After defeating a boss and collecting the reward, goto the FoN shrine.

Positives
A 100% complete survival game
How do you want to play choices
Phenomenal performance 3440x1440 high settings, looks great
Simple story, good ending
Crafting, progression, exploration, fun combat
Puzzles are good
Solid achievement list
Eating and drinking are not nuances
No degradation

Negatives
Bare bone video settings
Balanced better for 2 players
Skill tree is basic
Base defense is pretty much absent
Objection sheet becomes useless for some reason after tutorials are done

Thank you to the devs and publisher of Total Factory, Total Craft Games, for providing a fun game that made me build, defend and farm.

My Steam review rating: Mostly Positive

Total Factory sits on a very, very small pile of automation games that proclaims it is fully complete. It's not labeled early access, it has a full achievement list, it all works as intended without basically any performance issues……

And then you get to level 7(of 8) and it all changes as minor issues arise with a confusing rushed ending that all need addressed for a more satisfying play through to the end.

Total Factory is a mix of genres that includes automation, tower defense, and farming. At the start of a new game you will begin by making a randomized world and choosing to include or exclude enemies. The world is not an open world but a connected 4x4 grid. As you explore you will come along a shadowed barrier that you simply enter and transfer into the next area. I believe this is done to keep enemies isolated and it is a seamless transition as you will be moving product via conveyor belts/power lines though these zones. The zones include different biomes such as desert, winter, forest, and plains which will have specific resources while a few can be found anywhere.

As with all automation games the goal is to gather resources, create, automate, combine and export 3 or so items so that will unlock the next tier. Everything from the genre is here from conveyor belts, drills, power lines, assemblers, mergers, splitters, etc. all works as expected and when upgraded I was surprised to see them aesthetically change, nice touch.

One of the most important aspects of an automation(or any) game is inventory and here it is very limited with exclusions of auto stacking and sorting. This is painful and a very, very major issue that will be highlighted in the late game. As I did fully complete the game with 100%, the ending feels really incomplete/rushed as you can craft a radar dish, enemy mortar and an enemy spawn point? It makes no sense.

There are only 3 enemy types in the game who are not really too aggressive but the more time you spend in a zone, the more will spawn. The 3 enemy types include a mortar which launches rockets in an area(highlighted on the ground) , a slow tank like robot and a fast robot who will try to steal resources from anywhere who will be your main nemesis.. They will also put down a pad to spawn in more enemies. They are not aggressive but necessary and a nuisance. Necessary because killing them will provide the ONLY resources to upgrade ALL equipment.and a nuisance because your weapon is terrible. The only weapon you will equip is a gun that shoots at a short distance with slow velocity and with even maximum damage it feels really weak making the play through longer than needed.

Luckily you will be given the ability to build 2 robot types,a healer and a fighter, alongside turrets and a mortar of your own. These are pretty cheap to build and will suffice in base protection for the most part. And as you will have smaller factories spread across the zones, make sure to have them guarded. Enemies again are not aggressive, but will spawn near bases and with no protection they will destroy it.

I want to briefly touch on level 7-8 which IMO, needs desperate rebalance alongside the inventory I already discussed. This is where you will begin farming whether that is harvesting oranges and apples from trees or growing crops such as corn, tomatoes, or berries. The problem is these levels take forever because there is no way to automate water to crops. You will have to manually go back and forth to a water source and with all of your needs in multiple zones it becomes an absolute chore.

As an example one crop(blueberry*) needs water (I counted) 13 times for it to fully grow and harvest. That harvest will account for an avg of 400+ berries. One of the last items you will need is 500 jars of blueberry jam. This required 30 blueberries for each jar, meaning you need a total of 15k blueberries. That is about 35 BB bushesx13 manual water ea x 45 sec(guesstimate) between ea water. This should explain why the last 2 levels took me over 15 hrs to complete.

*This is the most extreme example, other crops are quite abundant to find and dont require a lot of work to harvest.

Total Factory is a strong automation game for 75% of the time but the end game feels rushed with levels that are extremely grindy, unbalanced and inventory that is not optimized in a way to lessen the players time. There is still plenty of content to enjoy worth a sale price and for those who want to check out one of my favorite genres. It definitely is a welcoming game for new players and those who want to test their overall grind tolerance.

Positives

An automation game that isnt in early access.
Fun game loop , progression for 75% of the game
Nice visual presentation
No bugs or issues with performance
Choice to include/exclude enemies
Enemies cannot destroy conveyor belts
Fun achievement list to 100%

Negatives.

Lack of space, sort or auto stack for inventory
Main weapon is super weak
Last 2 levels need reworked
No true ending
Proper balance from weapon dmg, healing time, crops growing, etc.
Bare bone settings
Cant export out of storage containers

Thank you to the developer INTERIOR/NIGHT and publisher XGS(never have said that before) for providing an amazing choose your own adventure story that is easily one of my favorites of the genre.

My Steam rating: Very Positive

This is one of those games that for whatever reason, price, timing, genre fatigue, mature story that's not woke AF, unknown developer, etc it really makes no sense how this was not a game more people were talking about in 2022. While it is extremely light on game play the story, writing, acting and your decisions will drive the outcome that I'm still thinking about days later, after multiple playthroughs.

**Warning: Do not read the achievement list as it has every spoiler imaginable. I didnt look until after the 2nd playthrough and was like, dang.

As the synopsis on Steam for As Dusk Falls proclaims, this is a game about 2 families that spans thirty yrs and begins with a botched robbery attempt. It is so much more but it is a 2 act choice driven story with 6 episodes. The two main families involved are the Holts who are trying to save their farm after their father has fallen behind on some gambling debts and the other is the Walkers who are moving to St Louis after Vince(the father) is under suspension/investigation for a mistake that caused an airplane crash. After a strong introduction to all the players involved, the families collide in a small town where both of their lives will change forever, depending on your choices. Now, to avoid spoilers it is more than two families involved, it is more than simply a robbery gone bad, the decisions here are what matters and a lot of them have major consequences. Those consequences feel real as do the actors, writing and world which for myself, I felt like I knew them all and felt something for everyone involved.

If you have played episodic choice driven stories, this is pretty much the same though its difference is you will play multiple characters and the graphical, artistic choice. I actually thought they shot this whole entire game like a movie and then showed every 20th frame? And had them cel shaded? I was close. They did shoot every scene, but it was green screened and then each scene(12k) that is in game was hand painted. Its crazy, looks beautiful and works extremely well with exceptional acting, writing and cast. This is definitely what I call lightning in a bottle productions where everything is close to perfection.

My only negative on the experience after 100% the game is I started to notice a few timeline infractions that really seem way off and are in fact laughable. You may not catch it the first time, but if you check out all the choices you will start asking yourself, how long has it been? When did she get from there to here? etc.

This isnt a game of superheroes, zombies, AI, or robots, it’s about family and I think they nailed it from start to finish. An incredible piece of entertainment that is not to be missed.

Positives

Top tier cast, acting, and mature writing
High production value
Unique visual style
Didnt see that twist coming
That one ending is hard

Negatives

Some timeline issues

Thank you to the developer Flying Wild Hog and publisher Focus Entertainment for providing another exciting and challenging action game for me to explore, fight, rage and rage again.

My Steam review rating: Positive

I have said forever Guns+Magic is a perfect recipe for any action game and Evil West proves that formula still works extremely well. It's reminiscent of some of my favorites in the genre(Outriders and Remnant from the Ashes) and never lets up in the action while told with a good story that is very familiar.

Evil West is a re-imagining of the old west where vampires, werewolves and demons are real. You play as Jesse Reinterre, a member of a Gov entity called the REI institute. This was established by your father where it is your Co. job to rid the west of the evil that has plagued the land. It's a solid set up, good voice acting, writing, characters and cut scene direction. The story reminded me of the movie Blade. There is even a scene early showing the two antagonists, an older Vampire Peter D’ Abano and his young daughter Felicity proclaiming to the elders, either rule the world or fall victim to the evolving humans who have reached the steam age. Their denial from the elders to start an all out war with humans chain reacts into the events that will be taking you across pretty exciting 16 missions and depending on difficulty 12-15+ hrs campaign(I have 60hrs thru 3 full playthroughs).

One thing on cut scenes is they sometimes will end abruptly or you will even approach what is a cut scene, and then you are back in the game. While it doesn't affect the overall story, either scenes were removed(you only see the elders at the start) or maybe they were not completed? I Don't know, its just weird.

*On Difficulty, you can choose from story, normal, hard, or Evil but the game is meant to be played thru multiple times. If you DON'T want to reach def-con 5 levels of rage, start on Normal. You will thank me later.

The heart of all FWH games is fast, manage cool down, arena style combat and it is all here, maybe just not as fast. The difference here prior to their other games is this in 3rd person and while you still get that dash move, you also get to roll. All weapons are on a cool down and your special abilities and upgrades evolve around the power of the era, electricity. This is why I love their earlier titles such as Shadow Warrior and Hard Reset, and why I love this game. You will constantly be switching thru every weapon which includes revolver, rifle, crossbow, gatling gun, grenades, and flamethrower in almost every fight. However, the main weapon of the game is the Reinterre Gauntlet which is fully highlighted in the main menu. You will be pulling, throwing, slamming, punching everything in sight and it's fantastic. All weapons have upgrade trees which require blueprints and money to unlock but the gauntlet will be upgraded as you level. Its tree is unique as it will give special abilities to perform those massive damage combos by collecting glowing orbs that drop from defeated enemies.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3009149573

As an arena game the enemy variety, the mob and boss fights have to be fun and it does so here almost perfectly. There is a large variety of enemies to combat and early game is pretty manageable with basic cannon fodder but around mid game the real challenge begins with enemies who shield the mobs and also heals them. That’s to name a few of the many types you will encounter and all when mixed together provide a good challenge. You will be rolling, dashing and doing everything you can to collect orbs so you can unleash your ultimate. I can guarantee one thing in this game, in any fight you will never be standing still.

I saw some early reviewers complain that the linearity of Evil West was a weak point but I totally disagree. While the game is very linear in design, this game proves that style can still work but having to get a button prompt to climb and jump in only highlighted designated places feels weird in 2023. As the levels are linear and decent size, there are many branching paths that could lead to extra fights, money needed for upgrades, or secret cases containing blueprints for weapons. This makes exploring every corner of the map a must and while there is no map for any level, there is a lore tab that provides info for how many collectibles there are for each level. Some levels will also require solving a few puzzles that open a path which will require shooting an object or transferring electricity to power poles. These are not difficult in any way but are there to provide a breather from combat.

You will be fighting in many different locations from the expected Old west town, oil fields, to lumber and train yards to name just a few. Each location will also provide different weather conditions(just recalled that) and it will either be day or night. I think the game looks amazing as the art direction is top notch and as it is an unreal game, expect a crash or two(always happens to me).

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3005781665

If you are a fan of the genre or of FWHs previous titles, then this is a no brainer. A solid story, great atmosphere and hard hitting combat from start to finish. I was never bored, but challenged and the pay off at the end of 3 full playthroughs, I wanted more.

The game is priced at $40 and if I knew of the replayability that is a fair price but I got it on sale for $20. That was a steal.

Positives

Awesome SP action game from start to finish
Complete game, no DLC needed(last patch was a month after release)
Jesse is a Hero we need today
Story, writing and characters
Every location looks amazing
Good variety of enemies
Fun achievement list to 100%
NG+, Chapter select and info on collectibles

Negatives

2 late game mob fights feel added

Played at 3440x1440 High settings
Avg 100FPS
Radeon RX 6700XT
Amd Ryzen 5 3600
16GB Ram