Recent reviews by andy-matter

Helldivers 2 is a great example of live action co-op done well both technically and monetarily. The monetization is fair, the game does not use FOMO as a motivator, and provides an avenue for all premium rewards to be earned without spending any money. All of that for a non-AAA price is more than anyone asks of most games in the year of our Lord 2024, but hopefully HD2 leads by example and we start seeing more offerings with fair and customer-forward practices like this in the future.

Risk of Rain 2 rules, it was truly my first action roguelike/bullet heaven and it's one of my evergreen games. Something I come back to over and over because there's always something new to try out.

Elden Ring is a masterstroke of the FromSoft souls formula, from innovations like spirit summons to returning mechanics like power stance weapons it delivers a unique experience on every playthrough. Character customization and buildcraft are familiar to anyone who has played Dark Souls or Bloodborne, with helpful guildes available both in-game and on YouTube for those who are not. While the story on a surface level is yours to tell, the rich lore underpinning the Lands Between and the Lands of Shadow are found in NPC quests, NPC dialog, and quest descriptions that are beautifully crafted to give context but still allow the player to draw their own conclusions about the world they are taking part in. It's truly one of my favorite games ever, having played hundreds of hours on Xbox I am still looking forward to fighting may to becoming Elden Lord on Steam.

Vampire Survivors has swiftly become one of those games I buy on every console. Poncle has made something great and remain committed to making it better and not cramming it full of ads, pay to win garbage, or micro transactions. It's a great, fun, casual game that I'll play any time any where and have a good time.

Warframe is one of the best live service games on the market today, and by far the best in terms of non-predatory monetization. It's a fantastic, frenetic, third person action game with a constantly evolving story and worth every second. I've played Warframe across three platforms since 2015 and with the introduction of account merging and true cross play and cross save have settled on PC and it's consistently a staple of my gaming habits even when other games pull me away I always come back to Warframe.