Recent reviews by Wolf

Awesome, (skip to end for breakdown)
Turn based, strategy combat that feels similar to games like baldurs gate or xcom. I like the gritty feel to it, the executions are bloody and have a good feel overall when they occur. The time frame seems to be around the dark ages so of course people are slayed for minor infractions and the world overall is cold and harsh.
Gear, food, coin can be hard to come by unless you dive into the crafting and gathering systems which I will say are quite satisfying. Feels like quite a bit of time was put into some of these, blacksmithing has its own mini game for crafting as fishing has its own mini game as well. Getting better gear can make a world of difference as you step up in the world and take on bigger contracts with your merc band. You can also increase your troop size by recruiting more horses or more people and possibly (don't quote me on this one but it seemed hinted at) even wolves. Crafting bigger and better meals, learning new recipes, putting points into the right spots, can all make just traversing the world and staying away from towns that much easier.
Talent system(if you can call it that) is a little odd but can make a huge difference across the board. As you craft new things, make more discoveries, complete missions, slay people and creatures alike, you will eventually be rewarded with points to use that affects your whole party.
With so many things done so well in the game it is hard not to keep coming back for more, even the quests allow for some play as to be good or bad simply by your choices. That being said there are a few things that need some cleanup and maybe some tweaking to be even better. Some of the quests have you make choices at an odd point. You are forced to tell someone's friends that he is being arrested for theft to pregress a quest. You are only greeted with the choice to stop the intervention after the fact you tell his buddies (which btw are bandits that were using him to get food). Once they hit the farm then you are greeted with the choice to help the guards or the bandits. Would have been nice to hit them beforehand if that were an option. Some of the executions look like they need some work, two handed sword goes in the neck sometimes and it looks odd on pullout. Fire seems to spread between your people even when you are using a bandage to put said fire out...btw how is that supposed to work? Maybe have thrown water bottles instead? Or a potion? So far those are my only gripes, everything else has been pretty top notch. Heck, most if not all the quest lines are voice acted that I have come across so far. I can really appreciate the voice acting, it has always been a killer for me in past games. I can read but I don't want to read my rpgs, they should immerse me into the world. This one does that.

Positives
-abundant and good voice acting.
-lots of different quests.
-options to do good or ill
-party composition options
-spec options for different classes
-crafting and crafting mini games
-doesn't overdo the survival aspect (on easy at least)
Negatives
-needs some artwork cleanup
-some quests could have better break points for good/bad options.
-map traversal can, at times, be clunky.
-some things aren't spelled out for better or worse(affection system and how to improve relations, knocking out and tying up enemies)

This game....AMAZING! I absolutely love it. The combat, the characters (some of whom I love to hate...including possible companions), the gameplay differences from character to character, the ability to say and do things completely different...honestly I can't say enough. The world is also, finely crafted as if from a vivid dream. The backgrounds look so amazing it's hard to tell sometimes if it's part of the world you can traverse or not. The foliage, the buildings, the water, the dark shrouds and fog, the spell effects. It all just blows my mind. I have spent entirely too much of my life playing since release and am now seeking help (joking, I refuse help!). I don't usually do more than one playthrough on any game, with exception to Red Dead 2, Gears of War, and Last of Us. I am actually planning to do a second, possibly evil playthrough solo even though I have a solo and two MP games going currently. I can't get enough! Even with all this greatness comes some bad...
There have been some pretty terrible glitches at launch that have been since dealt with. I won't list them all here but the ones I encountered are mostly minor camera glitches and one in glitch in particular that infuriated myself and my Buddy. We unfortunately encountered a save glitch where we had to turn off "steam cloud saves" in order for the game to auto-save as intended as well as to be able to hard save. Went three hours in (which we know isn't much at all) and then realized we hadn't an auto for some time. Attempted to save but could not. With the cloud save function disabled in steam, everything seems to function properly again. Not sure if this has been addressed since but I do know they are actively glitch hunting. I will say that the Paladin class seems to be too easy to get oathbreaker status as well is my only other gripe. I have been attacked by enemies and still been labled oathbreaker even though I didn't start the fight. I got the oathbreaker label another time while trying to save someone from an outpost after failing a conversation ability check. With no way to "stand down" so guards and enemies will stop chasing and attacking it seems difficult to avoid these situations. It also seems a little too hard locked in to, preserve life, seems like it's at even the cost of your own life. Even with these issues, the discovery, the interactions, the beautiful landscape, story thus far all seem to outweigh it enough that I have dumped over 100 hrs into this game and still want to keep playing...and I haven't even completed a single play-through 0.o. A true AAA title. 9/10 easily 10/10 once bugs are squashed.

Better than "The forest" in many ways. The only issues I have run into are due to A.I. companions falling into water and dropping to the bottom...where they stay. Kelvin is nice to have around though to chop trees, gather rocks, or even find my missing arrows that I whiff passed enemies. So much more detail has been put into this game, from clothing changes to the different foliage ( both harvestable and not) to the way bodies of enemies burn in the campfire. Clothing goes first then the body shrivels down to a husk. The water looks amazing, specially around waterfalls. Fish jumping out of the water in those areas makes it feel much more alive. And who doesn't love swimming with sharks?! Glad to see they keep updating this game at a decent pace and while I originally had quite a few gripes due to missing traps and build options from the first game, they have since added quite a few. If you like being scared out of your pants from delving into caves with mutants, definitely give this one a go...but take a friend.

I haven't sunk much time into this yet, but...I will say this game has great potential. As a big time BF3 and 4 fan, this game really hits that mark. The gun play is solid, the vehicles are powerful but not overpowered and I think they have solved some issues that BF struggled with. Things like people just squatting on HP packs and ammo packs the whole time, each pack requires you to hold "f" or whatever your use button is. I haven't tried vehicles yet to see how those feel. When a scrambler is nearby I love how your hud and even your radio plays all garbled.
On to the bad...
Sounds...all the sounds are aweful. Guns sound empty with no bass, explosions sound empty with just a touch of base and no ears ringing afterwards. Everything just sounds flat, even your own super loud foot steps sound gross. I think the gameplay is solid but the sound leaves a lot to be desired. Hopefully since this is in early developement this will be addressed.

"Most complete Alpha" I've heard this statement often and this holds true. I've played a few games in Alpha and Beta Stages that had much much less to do and explore. There is a decent building system, weather, bosses, mini bosses? ( I consider timmy the troll a mini boss), Boats, Brewing (Alchemy), Crafting weapons/tools/armor. It's all linked as well to give you a sense of progression. The map is HUGE!!!!! I can see some calling it a walking sim but it's honsetly never a dull moment. You get harrassed by enemies or see random wildlife all over. Boss fights definitely require some prep and/or friends. They do have a bit of a Tutorial system implemented as well but the hand holding only goes so far. Only the true Vikingrs will make it to the Swamps and beyond! Oh and who doesn't love being a viking and sailing the sea?!
Update:
More biomes, more bosses, more equipment, building options, cooking recipes. They just keep adding well...MORE! I keep revisiting this game, certainly one of my favorites to go back to every big update. I think the hardest part right now is finding a big enough crew to take on the big bads to get that push to the next biome. That's not a dev issue so much as my own. One can surf reddit and Discord to find some people looking for more players but even that can be a chore. Guess I need to make more friends! Could also be better if they make some servers that are just...open? Higher population allowed, dedicated servers would be great! Though I'm sure they are afraid of it making bosses less challenging and also keeping the server stable at times can be a challenge if there are too many people. Love this game and I'm sure I will keep coming back for more till I get tired of getting stuck at ol swampy lol.

I much prefer the pc version as opposed to console for ease of use. The continued support and creation of new items, biomes, creatures, etc has made this game much larger and in depth then when it originally started. I continue to re download and play this game many years later for some hack and slash, platforming, and building fun....don't forget those boss fights :P.

First and foremost, the game is gorgeous and yes quite difficult to survive. I don't think it's so much the terrain, the creatures, the other hoomons or the parasites lurking around every corner. No, no, your enemy is far closer....HUNGER and THIRST....Feeding this "child" is a non stop chore. You wake, eat, sleep, build or chop down a tree or two and it's back to sleep you go. I feel like the Day/night cycles are too short or at least the day cycle is. Perhaps slowing down the passage of time and easing up on that hunger/thirst/energy depletion a bit will make it slightly easier and more enjoyable to progress. I simply feel it's waaaay too fast and/or your character is far too needy. I do like this game so far and anyone not bothered by that kind of extreme neediness will enjoy it far more than I. That being said, you can find some ways to make it easier, i.e. eating grubs at a fire which basically negates the insanity you gain or leaving coconut bowls in the rain to catch water.

While this yet another Early Access game, thus far I believe it to be better than the late and not so great Dayz standalone that has been in production for several years. The Zombies seem really stable, hit boxes seem set really well and if you play on a headshot only server then it's very realistic vs zombies. This being said I haven't played on a pvp server yet, that will be separate from this review. Oh and did I mention this game is much easier on the pc as well vs Dayz and has much more decor inside the buildings (which in Day Z are pretty damn empty). My only beef so far is I can't seem to carry much of anything as the weight or "bulk" as they call it, makes you either carry weapons/food or food/crafting gear. Seemed nearly impossible to do both even with a backpack. Thus far I've had some good fun blowing up zombies with grenades, chopping away at their flesh, and popping rounds into their faces with pistols, shotguns, and of course a sniper.

This game is absolutely crazy! First playthrough ( attempt really) didn't go so well. After reading several reviews myself, I decided running from the plane was a great idea. Found a river with cannibals and decided to see if they could swim(or if I could for that matter). Swam to a little island after triggering a few of them which decidedly didn't like the water. Found out the map is limited half way across said island and didn't find useful supplies either so ultimately had to go back inland. Close to the island was a bit of a rise with some trees so I went to build up there. Turned out to be a mistake. That night I got jumped and successfully chopped one into little bits before being B-slapped by a naked tribal woman with bruce-lee strenght and speed. After sailing through the air and landing unconcous I was ready to explore the cave. Soon as I awoke I laid eyes upon two tribesman who appeared to be sleeping. Instead of trying to be an escape artist I decided to murder my captors, both of which were better armed and in much better fighting strenght. Thus ends my first experience. Still working on my 2nd playthrough and so far built a shelter, fire and two walls and no contact with cannibals so far. Grilling food seems to be a challenge and I did lose a rabbit to my fire : /.
I'm wishing I had a better video card to experience this game in a less laggy and more beautified view but sadly no money to do so since I keep spending money on alpha games lol. However, even with that this game is more beautiful than rust in both graphics and realism in a sense that when you chop a tree down, you quite literally chop it down. The tree doesn't just fall apart much like other games and fall straight downward but rather falls in a realistic fashion but then once it settles plops into roughly four useable(and apparently carrieable) peices. Berries can poison or fill you up( a nice plus) and I think I saw a huge lizzard possibly a komodo dragon running around. Killed a bird on accident while chopping a tree but sadly those are too gamy... The building system is great, easy to use and lets you place it before building it and have to build peice by peice.
So far my ownly issue with the game is my own fault ( my computers inability to process great graphics) and the fact we don't know who the random child is. Well that and he looks like he's riding a rollercoaster having tons of fun while the plane is crashing. Very good start on an alpha, I aplaud you and your team for putting up something playable to experience and I'm glad to say I have a hand in funding the project with my purchase. I look forward to see where this goes. Oh coop might be nice in the future, nothing fancy just two person coop via lan at least.

Keep in mind this is ALPHA so my comments/suggestions WILL change. All bugs and gameplay issues WILL change in future builds.

In its current state you can deffinitely tell this is in ALPHA. Movement is clunky and melee fighting is rather embarrassing but I'm sure will be fixed. Ladders are a pain the butt as they like to glitch you off and throw you to your death. Zombies can be rather glitchy and clip through doors/walls. Keep hearing weird soundbits where I don't know if it's other players or zombies or my character making weird noises and parts of words. Fall damage is off the charts atm. I fell maybe three feet and broke my leg, little bit too much I think considering I can jump down off at least 6 feet without hurting myself. I wasn't able to play much as there seems to be a glitch that keeps me from selecting a new character or respawning after death and keeps teleporting me underwater with a broken leg just to die again...no matter the server. My character changes don't seem to stay 3/4 of the time either. Areas in the game are rather bare and lifeless with minimal furniture and design. Hardly any way to tell it's a zombie apocalypse with the little tiny bits of blood and the occasional zombie. Oh and speaking of water I can't seem to swim and fall right through as if it's air. Rains entirely too much!!! I'm sure all this will change in the future as I'm sure I mentioned this is ALPHA!!!

As for the good, beautifully vast forests, birds and other wildlife including wolves I think. Lots of foliage and vegetation and even lootable bushes that sometimes have berries. Love the detail on the food and drinks, can tell if they are bad before picking them up (this also includes clothing for the most part and other object). I like the fact you have to go and load your gun from your pocket/pack rather than just hit R, adds to the realism. Love the fact I can see my breathe when it's cold and hear myself pant while running wet through the woods. Hard to find ranged weapons and ammo for them which makes it feel more like survival and as if it's been going for awhile. Character detail is nice and I wish I had a better video card to better experience all the graphics. I like the ability to switch between first and third person though third person seems easier to navigate and fight with. Honsetly I think no working vehincles is a plus, maybe make it a buildable item in the future but hard to obtain parts or make them and require the tools. Running is set to a nice pace and being able to vault is great.
All in all I think it's a great start but I think they should have followed the example set with "Destiny" and "Rust" and waited till they had a more playable version that we can enjoy more than 1 out of 4 hours. In its current state I do NOT recommend buying this game. I suggest waiting till closer to end of year.
UPDATE: Experimental build is allowing respawns and functions a bit more stable. To access right click the game go to Properties at the bottom and click the BETA tab. Click the option and go down to experimental.