Recent reviews by TTacco

if you're coming from the hype that this game is the second coming that will end all video games, then no. But if you're coming from the angle of a more expanded and improved Hollow Knight? In my opinion, definitely reached it and even surpassed it a lot of different facets with some caveats.

While I don't mind the difficulty per se, I do find myself echoing my some of my frustrations with the broader fanbase (Flyer AI being annoying to deal with, Shard's being iffy as a system, arena's being a tad overused etc). I would definitely recommend to at least be somewhat familiar with HK so you can somewhat gauge if you can tolerate/enjoy the friction the game can have, and it's still not the type of game I would casually recommend to anyone.

Nonetheless, in my opinion it is a worthy sequel to HK and provides the same similar highs. It has a atmospherically beautiful and interconnected world, fantastic music and art to match the environments, a much faster and fun combat/movement system (especially with the Crest system), tons of high quality bosses, and several fun characters and NPCs to meet.

Giving it a final score of "Team Cherry please add Steel City and a boss rush as DLC I beg you" out of a "410,757,864,530 Dead Grand Reeds".

Fantastic RPG with a lot of great exploration, progression and content. It doesn't hold your hand often so you're gonna have to work on stuff like directions, how to progress with side content, and most of all figuring out places that you can or can't go without your ass getting beaten to a pulp on your own.

On top of that, ability/skill/gear progression is pretty good, and getting new gear and abilities actually feels impactful. You start off at the bottom of the food chain and slowly work your way up, and even if you do get stronger, you still need to have the extra precaution as early enemies can still overwhelm you if you're not being careful.

Plotwise, I'd say the game is pretty good and serviceable, and serves a good enough motivation for you to push through. Drova also gives a decent amount of dialogue choices to either flesh out your character or change the consequences of a quest. Speaking of consequences, it's also great to see the outcome of quests from action whether it's an NPC relocating, or just having small additional dialogue acknowledging your actions.

There's also tons of lore to be found, though I personally didn't keep track of it for most part (Overtime though, I did start piecing stuff and speculating the overall plot of the game from reading them throughout my playthrough). On the other good side, the game has a pretty well documented journal system that keeps tracks of these quests, notes/lore you find, and NPCs and where they're currently at.

Though slow paced game to an extent, I overall highly recommend this game especially if you enjoy exploration, and I would personally say it's made at a surprisingly high level of polish.

Bug Fables is not only charming, but also carries a very powerful message; never do ♥♥♥♥ for free and always charge double for your services.

Thank you Vi for this very valuable life lesson.

Fantastic game from start to finish.

Exploration nets you with the good stuff but your skill build will also dictate how flexible you are in situations as you go through the game. All in all gives you plenty of choices on how to proceed. May it be blowing up doors, going though vents, etc, the game is generous with how you approach these.

What stands out personally is the world building and the story too. World building is from reading various terminals, books and looking around computer terminals. The engine didn't age well, but the rest is still fine as it is. Without spoiling anything, the story is pretty solid too.

All in all would highly recommend.

Note: Also don't mind the hours played as I mostly play on offline mode+texture pack mods, the game lasted me for about around 15+ hours