Recent reviews by K-Smooth

I'm pleasantly surprised at how feature complete this game feels despite being a recent Early Access title. It could be declared "finished" right now and it would be just fine. Despite this, the game is getting frequent updates, and I look forward to what gets added next. Hands down the best implementation of proximity chat I've ever seen in a game, and it adds to both the horror and the comedy elements of the game immensely.

Monster Rancher 2 is an absolute classic, one that I've been playing regularly for 20 years, and this new port to PC with Monster Rancher 1&2 DX is solid overall. The bug fixes and small mechanical improvements present are very much welcome, though some of the minor technical details of the PC port are questionable (like the buttons intended for the mobile version being visible when they are not needed for controller users). For full details check out my video review for Niche Gamer (pre-release copy was provided by Koei Tecmo.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUipzlDtCxI

At its core, when you've learned the inner workings of the game and mastered your character(s), it's an absolute blast to play. It's hard to really describe unless you've experienced the right kind of matches yourself - the ones against an equally skilled opponent, between two well designed and balanced characters. The matches just have a particularly satisfying pace and flow to them in those scenarios.

I only wish that fun could be applied evenly across the entire game. As a whole, SCVI is held back by some poor design choices in regards to oversimplification of certain mechanics and characters, and mediocre balancing across the entire roster. Several balance patches have been released for the game, and so far their strategy has been to buff nearly every character in every patch, including the ones that are in desperate need of nerfs, and it's making some of them an absolute nightmare to play against, even if your character was also buffed in the process.

I really hope Bandai Namco continue to update, balance, and expand upon the game so it can reach its full potential.

You will die in one shot.
You won't know where it came from.
War is hell.