Recent reviews by Constantine

EDIT: turns out you can only jump in certain missions...

An oddly comprehensive(?) review from a gamer

I pre-registered the game but have only tried it since last week, played the game up to the end of Chapter 5 of the storyline, so some things might be different once I played more of it, I'm also not the biggest fan of arena-based ARPG (like HI3, PGR, ZZZ, etc) so do keep that in mind

First of all, before we start, I just want to say I really appreciated the fact that they released this game on Steam, which allows me to give the game a try on a steamdeck, and despite some jank, it works surprisingly well, it also means thats 1 less launcher I have to download from the web (THANK GOD!)

Now, if you don't want to read too much, just read the TLDR:

TLDR - OVERALL SCORE: 6.5 / 10
It's an overall decent package, I like the characters, graphic looks decent, has decent story, decent gameplay, with a fair progression system in the combat department (getting characters and games), however, almost, if not all of the fanservice content (skins, special interactions, etc) is paywalled, which I find it disappointing since this would be 1 of the main reasons people would play the games

I also find the pricing of the currency to be a bit too much considering the difference in quality of the content that they offered compared to other gacha companies (Mihoyo and Kurogames comes in mind)

Keep in mind that in combat gameplay, the grind is somewhat reasonable and fair, I'd even go as far as to say it is quite generous, however, in fanservice/interaction gameplay, the MTX is basically holding you in a chokehold with no way out other than a swipe of your credit card

All in all, the jiggle physics hard-carried the game if I had to say, and almost everything else is decent enough that I can at least commit to it, I especially appreciate what the company had done in order to take stand for the sake of the fanservice, and for doing something unique, compared to the other gacha games I've played, so I'm giving it my recommendation, despite its flaws
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GAMEPLAY: 6 / 10
I will be dividing this aspect into 2 different review, 1 for the combat, and the other for the social/interactions:

COMBAT: Decent, if a bit stale, the shooting mechanic is somewhat solid, if a bit basic, skills are definitely useful and have impacts, but you can still get away with just shooting people to dead, which i find oddly funny, unfortunately, considering how short the levels are and the amount of assets reuse that they do, it gets really repetitive after some time

Thankfully, you can mostly skip the grind part after doing the grind mission at least once, I've also yet to notice a relic system (unless the logistic is basically relics) in the game which means you can probably eventually get to a somewhat optimal build with enough time

SOCIAL: The interaction with the girls is a nice addition, and definitely something new and unique to me (so far other gacha games I've played doesn't offer such features), you can go to your base and have some interactions with the girls, like random event and gifting them gifts. However, almost all of the fanservice content, are strictly locked behind paywall, since the only way to obtain the specific currency required to buy it is to... well... buy it

Overall, the social aspect seems a bit half assed, I personally feel that they could've have double down on it, giving the current features more depths and expanding it more
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STORY: 6 / 10
the story is decent, if a bit predictable at times, keep in mind that I've only finished the game up to Chapter 5 so far, so I still have some ways to go, and it may get better after this, but overall, it's okay, nothing unique

I do find it funny that despite the girls' (literal) godly powers, the reigning powerhouse of the game is still the guns...
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MUSIC: 4 / 10
basic and bland, maybe I'm just spoiled with how good the songs are on the other gacha games I've played, seems like they skimp on this aspect...
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GRAPHICS: 7 / 10
The overall graphic is decent, but very meh, It does run really well and smoothly, but the level design is really limited, with lots of repetitive and reused assets/locations

UI, however, is a bit of a hit and miss with so much currency types to keep track off, some dialog options that are so long that it takes time for it to scroll through, and weird design altogether (why's the logout button on option? just clump it with the exit game dialogue hello?)

The jiggle physics are great tho, I wholeheartedly approve of that

I also really appreciate the uncap fps option (GENSHIN!? WUWA!? WHERE?)
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CHARACTERS: 8 / 10
Arguably one of the best aspect of the game, which makes sense, because it is the main selling point of a gacha game

Characters have distinct and unique designs, with diverse, if somewhat cliche personalities

It's sad however, that the voice acting is very limited, with even the main stories mostly not being voiced

We do get boobs, asses and thighs tho
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COOP: 5 / 10
Currently there's only 1 game mode that allows you to coop with your friends, a lot of the game system seems to be designed with singleplayer in mind

But I believe there are ways to make the game more COOP friendly, and with it, allowing us to have more reason to invite our friends to play
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MTX: 5 / 10
From combat POV, I think that the game is generous enough to the point that you can comfortable play as an F2P and thrive, so I think that the MTX can be safely ignored

However, most skins, notably the Convenant ones, which gives you special interactions with the girls, are paywalled and cannot be obtained in any other way except by spending money

I was very much excited to give this game a chance and also my support when I heard what the company was doing for the sake of the fanservice (for those who doesn't know, the EN VA complained about the fanservice directions that the game is going for, and the company decided to part ways with them in favor of giving the fans some service, pun intended)

But with how this aspect of the game seemingly locked behind paywall, it basically mean that this wouldn't be a F2P game anymore if you want the full experience

On the other note, for those who are willing to spend money on the game anyway, they decided to follow another sour trend of charging us the same ridiculous pricing as other gacha games did, and they somehow also makes it worse (the purchasable premium currency comes in a different number than the main premium currency, so more math, yay...)

I believe that, as smaller company that are trying to appeal to their fans, 1 of the way they could've appreciate us more is by providing us with more value, especially considering the quality level of the products that we're getting when compared to something like Genshin or WuWa
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WHAT THEY COULD'VE DONE BETTER? (in no particular order)
1. More value: cheaper premium currency, ability to obtain skins without paying, etc
2. Feature refinement: More refined interactions with the girls, more options for interactions, maybe going the Sims route even and have your own customisable room, expanding the shooting mechanic (allowing parts/attachment to affect more than just specific stats)
3. More COOP content to encourage people to invite their friends to play with them
4. More voice-acting
5. UI Refinement, I find it a bit cluttered at times and the font that they picked seems to be a bit odd IMO

The automaton missions are basically the Terminator game we all wished had existed, full scale war against robots , as you plow through (or gets plowed) by the everlasting waves of robots, tanks, and the hellish rain of lasers and rockets

The bugs missions on the other hand, are starship trooper/alien shooter type of vibe where you're fighting the unrelenting tides of multiple types of bugs that wants to spew acid on you and tear you apart

Now why are we sent to these planets and fight these epic wars? well...
FOR DEMOCRACY OBVIOUSLY

I give it 9 out of... ehm...

I MEAN 10 OUT OF 10 BECAUSE DEMOCRACY IS DEFINITELY PERFECTION AND I AM MOST DEFINITELY NOT BEING FORCED TO GIVE PERFECT SCORE TO PREVENT FROM BEING INVESTIGATED FOR TREASON.

8.5 / 10

GBF Relink is a solid Anime ARPG/JRPG that seems to feels like MHW mixed with Genshin while bearing some influences from others like FFXVI and Nier Automata. Despite it's flaws, it offers is a good and tight, if a bit predictable, ~15h of main story along with a somewhat solid end-game content and replayability, playing Cygames's other games and watching the GBF anime def help gives proper context and insight on parts of the story and references, but overall, it is still quite friendly for a newcomer as well (I'm being one of them)

The game has:
+ One of the best graphic for an anime games IMO (IDK why anime games seems to love sticking with low res textures and low poly models... considering how far hardware has progressed)
+ smooth performance, it even runs on steam deck
+ Good story and amazing characters, though it is to be expected considering the franchise
+ Fun and solid gameplay, imagine fighting MHW bosses with characters that can move and attack at the pace of Genshin Characters
+ Each character comes with a somewhat unique weapon, and therefore gameplay, which gives you more variety in how you approach your game
+ improving ideas that they "took" from other franchises, for example: all the characters that you've met / in your roster can spawn in the actual game world (staring at you hard, GENSHIN, TF you mean characters only shows up on events/quests), there's also the primal battles which are basically ikon battles from FFXVI
+ Good AI companions that are actually useful and doesn't hinder your missions, even toward the end-game contents

But it is by no means flawless:
- UI and menu control are obviously very controller-centric, this game is just a straight port from the console version, a good and stable one, but not a full PC port
- Some of the mechanic that they pulled straight from their mobile games doesn't really fit people that would play on PC (Fate episodes anyone?)
- A lot of reused assets, was expecting more variations and unique stuffs considering how big the company/franchise that's behind it and how much the game cost
- The camera has a mind of its own at times, which is annoying
- Very rigid world design with plenty of use of invisible borders, as an avid open world game enjoyer, I really don't like the fact that they used so much invisible barriers to block your progression instead of clever world designs, though this is also nothing new in anime games...
- Despite having a variety of characters, the story seems to only revolve around the main party, which does break immersion abit (it's like -talking to zhongli in Genshin, as zhongli- kind of immersion breaking)

Overall though, despite all the flaws that I've listed, they don't really affect the overall satisfying experience that I had with the game, but rather mostly minor complaints, nitpicks, and constructive criticism, I think that the game delivers a great base experience that can certainly be expanded down the line with Expansions, DLCs, seasonal events and updates, just like MHW did, which I hope the company would do!

Review is made after finally beating that sonnuvabich Versa in Proud difficulty

As my first experience the Harry potter universe, this game kinda shows me why a lot of people fell in love with the series

As a standalone game, it's not the most amazing game ever, some part of the story are pretty predictable, in-game activities are somewhat limited, and there're definitely some corners being cut

However, as an adaptation, this game is marvelous, especially the hogwarts itself, it really brings back my childhood memories of witnessing snippets of the movies here and there.

They may not get the perfect marks on the gameplay department, but in terms of world design, they've definitely nailed it

8 / 10 for me

Summary of why this game is bad and you shouldn't be playing it, based on my first impression:
- Expensive
- Cringey lines
- Unpolished in almost every aspect (I got a 3090 and I can only get ~60-80 fps maxed out settings @ 1080p with DLSS, even DL2 isn't this bad while also looking better and having more things going on than this game)
- A lot of the game features felt unfinished (it feels like comparing the Cinematic Justice League vs Snyder cut, that's the best comparison I could come up with, this game feels like something that should've had more, yet someone on the company was like "that's too long, make it shorter and more compact, cut this and that out, change that to this, etc")
- Did I mention that it cost a lot?
- Some unseemingly bad game/story design (imo)
- Bad facial animation (it looks really jarring in at least like 1/3 of the scenes I've seen)
- Bad voice acting in some parts (a lot of tone miss / monotones in the wrong time)
- Awkward silences every now and then, it's like I'm watching a skyrim conversation for a sec...
- Price

Simple example of why it's bad:
The first 1.5h or so, are basically interactive cutscenes, the amount of time this game stops you and show you an uncontrollable scene is astonishing, you watch minutes of cutscenes, walk couple steps, or run a block or two, and then met with another cutscenes, maybe even accompanied with a loading screen, rinse and repeat... Moreover, We haven't even talked about some of the baffling story design that this game have: Oh I got this bag of money that I've been saving my whole life in this burning house, I should just leave it here on the floor to look for my cat as the whole room burns or Oh no, the scary dragon came and it made the gates fell down, what I could I possibly do? wall run and escape? that's impossible, I should just fight the dragon instead...

The only redeeming part of this game, based on my experience with it, was the magic parkour/"Flow", which I only get to experience for like what... 15-20 min at most? chopped into bits and pieces here and there due to the innumerable amount of cutscenes?

the magic combat was good, nothing amazing (at least on my experience, i didn't play much to unlock everything after all), the animation transition, especially from Flow to opening doors / chests are really jarring, it's like they're trying to copy Witcher 3 ballet-like movement principle (how Geralt's combat animation was based on dancing) on it, when you press the interact button the character would loop to the door and then loop the other way to kick the stuff open, which is... idk... weirdly not smooth?

Some say I'm nitpicking, I am, because they dare to charge us 70$ for it, therefore, I think they deserve every one of it! Not worth it for 70$, not even worth it if it were launched for 60$ tbh, I'd say skip and wait for a big sale (60% or more) or just forget about this game altogether and you won't miss much...

An overhyped and overpromised game that ends up greatly underdelivering...

KEEP IN MIND THAT I DON'T PLAY MUCH HORROR GAMES, NOR HAVE I EVER PLAYED THE DEAD SPACE SERIES

Plus:
- Graphics and Animation are top-notch, like I'm talking about blockbuster, AAA kind of top-notch. It wouldn't be an understatement to compare these part of the game to other games that are known for its beautiful graphics and sceneries like Witcher, Horizon Zero Dawn, etc
- The gore, oh man, satisfying as hell, whether it's from your enemies or from you yourself
- Voice/Acting and SFX are amazing, I guess considering that they're using experienced actors/actresses, I shouldn't be surprised, the SFX are also pulling all the weights in creating the tense and terrifying feeling, if only to be wasted by the game design...
- Did I tell you about the graphics? man, the sweat beads, the pores, I can see them all during those close up scenes, and man, the main character models, they look amazing, the other non-important npc models are more on the average side tho

Minus: Okay now where do I start...
- The gameplay loop is more bland than the chinese food that i usually got for lunch, basically a bunch of uninspiring button mashing/button holding... same "hacking" animation, same-old door opening animation, same old npc and monster models... it gets old really quick considering how often you'll encounter those locked doors...
- The combat barely works on a 1v1, occasional glitch causes you to still get hit even after dodging, so you'll still die every now and then, and on 1vX you're just straight up getting g*ngb*nged... no way of getting out unscathed... imagine designing a game for PC with MOUSE AND KEYBOARD and then CONSTANTLY SOFTLOCKING THEM... enemy-locking should've been a button toggle
- Game is so linear, it's straighter than most people's s*xuality... any detour you'll take will loop you back to the ONE and ONLY main path, there're no "alternate paths" or "shortcuts"
- Wasted potential with all the atmosphere-building that the SFX team had done, which usually ends at predicatable jumpscares... or even occasional dud...
- RTX without DLSS support = RIP FPS, i went from ~100-120fps to ~40 even after using FSR2, on a 3090, @ 1080p

I've somehow managed to discover a lot of its flaws within less than 2 hours, which, based from what I've heard, means i'm like ~25% into the story already, since the game's only around ~8h, and frankly, for 60$ (or 80$ if you got the Deluxe like I did) it's not worth it...

A 6/10 game based on my experience of trying it out, if anything, solely carried by its technical greatness...

UPDATED REVIEW - as of Patch 1.10 Hotfix 1

I've finally returned to this game, and it has improved a lot for the better! to me, it's starting to live up to its name a "sequel", here's some of the changes that I've noticed have changed / been updated:
- The gore system is now way better and detailed than the previous game, like i'm talking head split open, thigh getting chunked off, and many more
- Some of the old game mechanic also returns (like weapon crafting & dismantling, smooth air takedown instead of the "F to takedown" prompt, and more)
- Improvement to the previously flawed features (batch crafting [THANK YOU!], gear transmog [which I didn't know I needed till now], and more)
- The parkour and movement are still floaty compared to the DL1, but it def is better than the earlier version of the game
- Legendary Levels, which means now you'll actually have a reason to play more after you finished the story and max out your inhibitors
- More diverse zombie appearances and faces
- Better performance, I seem to be getting higher FPS and smoother experience overall, with less crashes to boot

Those are the main things that i've noticed have been updated, there're probably more updates and changes that I didn't realize, but still make a difference in my experience.

So now, instead of feeling mixed, I'm actually more inclined toward recommending people to give it a try, especially with Techland's track record of long-time supporting their games (DL1 was supported & updated for 7 years) meaning you won't run out of stuff to do with the game anytime soon

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This game left me with a mixed feeling, honestly...

As a big fan of DL1, this game does somewhat improves upon it in some regards, while also side/downgrading it in other parts

I love the fact that the world is now bigger, with more things to explore, more verticality thanks to taller buildings
I love that we got new types of enemies to fight against, giving us even more variety
I love that the parkour system got improved with more movement set, along with the bigger map, makes exploration even more fun

BUT

I hate the fact that the game is now more... RPGeqsue... weapons are now more of consumable, gone are the unique weapons since every upgrades are now modular (which def has its own up n downs), now we have global world levels... I guess it sounds a bit harsh considering that DL1 also has RPG elements to it, but here, the progress seems less granular and organic compared to DL1, especially because of the level gating with the stamina requirement etc

I STILL HATE playing through the story, somehow the story on this game feels even worse than DL1, a lot of unfinished conversations, dialogs that felt like it got cut early, inconsistent character personality, etc, I honestly suffered whenever there's a cutscene i have to watch through, and so my opinion on this series is still "the gameplay is the best part of this game, not the story"

THAT PROMPT TO CONNECT YOUR STEAM ACCOUNT TO YOUR EGS ACCOUNT, CUT IT OUT, I HATE THAT SH*T.... ISTG

TLDR: if you like the first game, this game takes a different approach of it, don't expect this game to be "Dying Light 1 but on steroids" because it's not, lore-wise, it may be a sequel, but gameplay-wise, it's a whole different thing, they added/changed a lot of stuff, for better... or worse...

Adapted to a netflix series, you should check it out, the game is that good

This game certainly ease the pain that I got from seeing yet another Cyberpunk 2077 Delay...

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TLDR;
Game's great on all aspect except it's short story.

If you like fast-pace action skill-based game and loves doing thing repeatedly to perfection, give this game a go, it'll certainly entertain you longer than it did to me.

If however, you feel like a 6-hours worth of storyline isn't worth current price tag, then maybe wait for a bigger sale

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Ghostrunner is a fast-pace action-puzzle-platformer game that is very skill-based, where one hit is all that is needed, for both you and your enemies, to die.

And honestly? I love it! Almost everything in this game is solid:
- Voice-acting are definitely up there
- Game mechanics are very fluid and just works!
- Map designs are decent, some area are especially better than the others
- The puzzles, while mostly simple, are pretty challenging
- No difficulty option, just you, your brain, and your reflexes
- Secrets are pretty fun to find (although thanks to a certain upgrade, it's mostly trivial)
- The music are great (although, it'll eventually gets boring/repetitive if you died a lot like me)
- Graphics are decent, not the best, but more than fine for a game of this caliber

All in all, it was an awesome experience overall, except for one thing, the storyline...

While it's pretty straight-foward (especially with the hints that they gave you along the way, intentionally or not, it becomes pretty predictable) and doesn't drag around, It's honestly too straightfoward and short for it's own merit... and if you don't care about perfecting every run, you'll probably finished it pretty fast, probably just around my playtime which is around ~6 hrs or so (and I died quite a lot in this game, so if you died less, you'll prob finish it even sooner)

For it's current price tag, it's pushing it quite a bit for me (especially since I'm more of an open-world/exploring kind of guy, so I usually prefer content-cramped games) and I'm tempted to not recommend this game because of it's shortness...

But... these days, these kind of polished and solid experience are pretty rare, and as such:
1. If you're fine with short-storyline game
2. If you like skill-based game and loves replaying/perfecting your runs
3. You love good challenges
I give this game a solid recommendation for you to try

I won't say that I am great or experienced with VR gaming or anything, but I consider myself quite tough at it, I managed to play my first bonework playthrough for a good 2 hours or so without any headache/nauseating, that's on top of trying other VR games like beatsaber etc (i was testing the games out when i just got my VR headset)

This game managed to do what those games couldn't at less than 1/4 of the playtime (my full game time also include the loading screens etc etc, so it's more of a 30-35 minute gameplay, honestly...)

At that point, I don't think anything else matter for me, if I couldn't play it properly, then I won't be able to fully enjoy what it has to offer...

There are however, some inconsistency/problem that I've found while playing the game, so I'll just list it here to let you guys know that despite what happen, I did try the game out (I RAN THE GAME @HIGH SETTING):
- Backpack seems inconsistent, sometimes can't be gripped, especially with my non-dominant hand, it's way harder for whatever reason, even after reaching all the way to my back, instead of the usual shoulder grip... it also happens to my dominant (right) hand tho too a much lesser degree

- Snap Turn doesn't exactly feel like a snap, it kinda feels more like a smooth turn tbh (definitely contributing to my headache)

- When using knives sometimes it would bug out and causing massive lags and stutter, until i drop it and picked it up again, might be a physic bug (since it kept spinning the whole time and the game stutter/lags like hell until i released my grip and drop the knife)

- Texture popping (I installed this game in an NVME SSD, so something like this shouldn't have happened... or at least it shouldn't be this noticable, but it might had something to do with the draw distance, that and our sprinting speed)

- Performance drop (again, might be connected to the draw distance AND our character's sprinting speed, it's way too fast and abnormal IMHO)

- Loading time (again, I am running an SSD, it shouldn't take 2-3 minutes just to load things out, especially when you still had popping issues even after waiting that long...)

- The game seemed less vibrant when compared with the trailer, but maybe that's just my VR HMD being old (running a CV1 here)

I hope that the devs would notice these issues and check it out, see whether this is a recurring problem / is it merely an isolated case of mine...

As for now, I'm afraid that I have to refund and not recommend it, maybe in the future I'll repurchase it and check what's new and has change