Recent reviews by Porx ❤

While I wish there was some form of infinite scaling to this game, I understand why the skill tree is finite. It's nice enough to justify a three dollar buy, and I might reset to optimize my path through the skill tree if I ever feel like it.

Simply phenomenal. I love this game through and through and have been interested in it for years. The game's complexity is by no means bad or necessarily a challenge—dying is fun! As much of a silly joke that phrase may be, each word of it is true. If you go in blind, dwarfs will die. You might not lose all of your dwarfs, but it may happen enough that you have to face facts and abandon the fort.

How is that fun? Because believe it or not, learning and improving is fun. There is this stage of Dwarf Fortress where all you do is learn how to play. In that stage, you might repeat your steps quite a bit. You may abandon forts simply because you're disenchanted with what you've been doing there. I get it. I've stopped enjoying forts before. I've also taken my dwarfs to the heights of kingdoms. They might not have been the happiest, but none of them were particularly angry. Then again, I never need them to be happy. Some people even disable stress altogether. Their choice, i suppose.

What comes next? Surely you aren't just meant to build fortresses forever. Of course you aren't. You might play adventure mode, which is currently in beta, or you might fancy yourself some legends mode. However, I don't play those modes. I'm sure they're fantastic, and I may edit this review in the future if I ever try them, but I play fortress mode. I build fortresses. I dig burrows for my dwerrows, bemoan that I forgot to check if my embark had flux stones, and retire the fort in mediocrity forever. I haven't played for that long in reality. I'm still in the phase of playing where I like to play for technical sake. However, I look forward to what should come in the future: crafting a story for these little fellows.

Doesn't this game make a story for you? Goodness, no. You might find one if you look hard enough, but in looking for it, you're writing a story by connecting dots between events. I want that whimsy. I crave it. In my forts thus far, they've only been settling in hopes of glory and riches. However, as I dig deeper and eventually find the final glory for this current fort, I have hopes that I can make my next forts interesting. Perhaps I'll make a colony of carnivorous dwarfs who have decided to cast off the mushroom-based diets of their brethren, or a fortress of warlords. Maybe I'll install a mod that lets me play as another race, or I'll look at the world beforehand and find a unique place to settle upon, documenting their journey along the way for a story to tell.

That's it? Yes. That's it. Those who enjoy that side of the game love it tremendously so, and I wish I could join them as soon as possible. Sure, I could challenge myself to live with very few resources or dwarfs, but that's not fun. That's not dying. That's simply upsetting myself and the scoundrels who break the earth on my behalf. I want to play in a way that's unique. I understand that you may need little bells and whistles to enjoy the game—I love bells and whistles just as much as you do. To me, what I've talked about are bells and whistles of a different variety. Optimal play may be enjoyable, but I haven't enjoyed a story like what DF can provide in far longer than I'd like.

Okay but like, can you give one of those like tables of ratings in different categories like some people do? Oh, uh, sure.

I've been writing this for a while. I'll edit it if I want to add more. If you think you're interested, just try it! You can always play a bit at a time.

Great fun. Beat it in 11 hours, but if I didn't have any outside knowledge, I would have easily taken twice as long to beat it.

Darkest Dungeon II is, as its reputation tells, quite difficult. That doesn't mean the game is inaccessible, though. Instead, it has one of the best assist modes I think I've seen in a game. Rather than guide your strategy or make the game a joke, it simply increases the chance of good events and decreases the chance of bad ones. The maximum health increase also feels natural; it makes the game "playable" for someone who doesn't want to grind out hours and hours of the game for achievements. Rather than make the game very easy, it eases you into easier gameplay with each defeat to simulate getting better at the game. While some might not like something designed to keep them playing games, I like it.

The sheer amount of content is astounding. I've played for 21 hours and the end is nowhere in sight. Then again, I just suck at this game and need the crutch mode that I really like. The characters have fairly predictable stories, especially if you've heard their voice lines. Renaming party members and the wagon is... not unique, but it's just something that I also want to point out. I don't know, you try writing a review for a game that you just want to review positively.

I have seen

I too am a fan of "pegging."

I aspire to slay the spire. That's all it is.
I am horrendously bad at this game, but I still want to beat act 4 on ascension 20. I'll probably never do it, but god, I can sure as hell try.

Modding the game is fun too. Just using mods or even writing them, they make the game feel as fresh and exciting as the first time. Really, I recommend this game for anyone who likes a good rogue-like. Also, if you just like card games, it's fun. The little card noises make me happy.

Oh my goodness gracious, I'm fracking!

Classic Bullet Heaven.

trimp