Recent reviews by Ki-OS [It/Its]

This is a game where I wish I could give a middle of the road score, but I'm leaning towards not recommending this game for the time being.

When there's a good balance of players in different roles, and the individuals in those roles sticking somewhat to what they're designed for, the game is a great time. The tug of back and forth conflict, the constant battle of attrition and strategy, the player trading, and just the silliness that can ensue. The potential for all of that is great, and it's occurred a few times, where what the devs have aimed to do really shines through.

But, unfortunately, there's a *lot* at the moment that is easily abused, or were oversights by the devs into how players behave in game.
- It's incredibly easy to steal in front of others without consequence, or for those trying to get their things back to be actively punished for it.
- The PvP is incredibly unfun when it devolves into jumping fests, and where a flamethrower on a cheap fate is one of the best pvp classes out of the gate. The shooting can feel fine enough, but movement latency on top of jumping is very easily and constantly abused.
- SCUM aren't penalized for killing one another, and incentivizes killing other SCUM to hoard supplies with or without consent in that regard.
- The CORTEX or SCUM factions having a heavy player lead over the other either way feels incredibly unfun. Too much Cortex/Police presence, and you feel like you can't achieve anything or gain a foothold as a SCUM. Too much SCUM presence, and it feels like even spawning in as CORTEX is pointless since you are more than likely just going to die due to previously mentioned abusable PvP.

It's a game that is great when people are mature and willing to play in their role, and seek to have a good time AND *create* a good time for others. You aren't going to run into that often, and I hope the devs address the many issues this game has so that the floor of enjoyability can be heightened.

The first Monster Hunter game I've been able to enjoy to the fullest and sink my teeth into properly.

The story has stakes I actually felt engaged with, the gameplay feels in the best sweet spot it's been in, and progression feels straightforward and fun.

If you have a great rig right now, I recommend it.
If you have a few years old rig, I'd recommend waiting until optimization improves.
Otherwise minimal bugs, crashing, and all that. Been a very fun experience.

With the first game being one of my alltime favorite games, period, my expectations for Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector were high when going into it.

I can happily say most of my expectations were met, some were pleasantly exceeded, and only a few minor grievances cropped up in my first complete 10 hour playthrough.

If you liked the first game, it's an easy recommend.
If you didn't play the first game, you don't need to have played it to enjoy this, though playing the first elevates the enjoyment of this tenfold (and is also just a great game in its own right).
If you didn't like the first game, this isn't for you since it's merely expanding on the formula of what the first did well.
8.9/10

- The writing in the first game was phenomenal, and in my experience some writers can lose that edge when making further iterations if they're not careful. Thankfully, Gareth has improved on their writing skills, and it shows wonderfully in this sequel. More characters in more varied circumstances all feeling unique and intriguing is something to be proud of. There was never an immersion break, nothing that felt like it was out of character when someone made a decision or said something.

- The new and adjusted gameplay systems feel familiar yet distinct simultaneously. I enjoy the risk/reward and the touch more complexity added into the gameplay loop in this iteration. Contracts and the Glitched Die system feel great overall, if in need of some minor tuning and balancing. It's not too cumbersome to feel like a drag, and not too simple to where it feels tacked on or anything like that (with one minor exception I'll get to later). A phenomenal iteration of the dice system.

- Where Citizen Sleeper 1 was an introduction to this universe, I'm glad this sequel expanded on it without betraying the potential choices the player made in the first game. By design, your Sleeper in CS1 never made any grand, system-spanning decisions but at the same time you felt impactful in the lives of the characters you involved yourself with on the Eye. Without spoiling directly, seeing where some of those characters are now, knowing what potential choices and endings you could have gotten in the first game, I never felt that a 'canon' I had chosen as 'my' ending had been betrayed in the first game, nor did I see that any of the endings got decanonized in any way here in the 2nd game, which pleases me greatly. It was a concern of mine before getting into this; that either there'd be zero callbacks, or there'd be confirmation of one ending that decanonizes or makes other endings feel illegitimate.

- In tandem with the writing, the art has had a noticeable quality uplift overall too. Not that the first's was bad by any stretch, but the art style feels more refined and explored in this iteration in a way I appreciate deeply, and aids even further in immersing you in the universe that's painted for you.

- The soundtrack is phenomenal as the first's was. Nothing that completely wow'd me so to speak, but nothing that was jarring or felt out of place. It simply feels like a very solid expansion of the soundtrack established for the first game, and I'm happy to have more to add to my playlists.

- The Belt you can travel in is well paced and balanced overall, and feels *just* big enough for what the narrative needs. This is not an exploration game, and while you can travel to different locales, still feels closer-knit in many ways like The Eye was. I don't consider this necessarily a good or bad thing, more something that didn't feel great or terrible. Fun set piece and gameplay to work with, but not wowing.

- Each locale can feel sorta samey and lack a sense of variety at points in the playthrough that left me wanting just a bit more sometimes, in terms of gameplay. Most will have a place to refuel, resupply, earn chits, and earn a specific resource. It can lightly detach the urgency of some quests when I need to go back to a location I'd just visited for the sake of getting enough of a resource to meet a threshold for a quest. This is ultimately a nitpick, but one I feel worth mentioning. The moment a dialogue and text tree ends and you've met progressed as much of your quests at a location, sometimes locations can feel a bit reduced to simply gameplay spots, which is a bit dull at moments.

- Where Citizen Sleeper 1 had multiple paths that could lead to very different endings, Citizen Sleeper 2 has many potential paths to explore that ultimately end up to a single ending point (as far as I can tell). This ending and who is involved or present can be altered widely by your choices of course, but it's worth mentioning given how the first one, narratively, is distinct in that way. I've enjoyed both, and feel a replay would bear a much different story depending on what choices I make, but I know ending up in roughly the same spot at the end of every playthrough can end up feeling a bit "too on the rails" for some, so it's worth mentioning if you were expecting a multiple endings experience like the first game.

- I like the crew system for its narrative opportunities and further player choice in terms of who they want to bring along. Being able to pick specific characters to interact with on journeys and get closer to them that way felt organic and appreciated. However, the "eh" part comes in with the gameplay, which is the ONLY 'tacked on' feeling aspect to the gameplay in my opinion. While it's nice to have companions or crewmates have their own dice to roll on Contracts, it falls a bit flat in terms of expandability. I'd have liked to see even a simple form of leveling up depending on how much you bring a certain crewmate along, maybe being able to make their chances of better dice higher or being able to put +'s onto certain skills. Nothing to the point our Sleeper can, but something to where I can feel my relationship with that character grows outside of the dialogue and has an impact on the gameplay. Hopefully something a future update can expand on lightly, who knows.

- Philosophically, the writing makes some choices I felt a bit disagreeable to, or felt pressured against making. There were a few instances I was told how my Sleeper was feeling without being given a choice, and I didn't much agree in that that'd be how *I* would respond or feel to the situation. Additionally, there are several moments where you get the "I completely agree" or the "I'm sorta iffy on it but it will happen anyway" options with no true opposite option. It's rare and more-so in teh later game, but these moments for me personally did pull me out of the experience a bit. Obviously, with one writer needing to account for any possible choice a player could make, there are limits to what can be implemented. But, without spoiling, introducing higher stake or existential topics only for there to *really* be one ultimate answer to the encounter felt a bit too on the rails for me at times.
Again, to not spoil, it's things I think most in a general audience would agree with and not take issue with, and so is an extreme nitpick in the grand scheme, but something I felt worth mentioning in case others feel the same after a playthrough.

Saying I enjoyed this game on a first playthrough is an understatement. It's another wonderful narrative RPG that is in my top 10 games that have impacted me personally. The overarching narrative, the characters, the universe it's set in, all are incredibly enjoyable and overall immersive to a point I felt moved at the end of my first playthrough. I will no doubt be playing more to achievement hunt and experience different dialogue options I missed. It isn't perfect, but it's an unforgettable experience regardless, one I hope many many people get to enjoy.

fibsh

It's a more well rounded experience nowadays than it was at launch, and is all around a very fun time.
It isn't perfect, there are still things I think need to be added and fleshed out, but I still have a great time with this game, and the updates the game has gotten push it to an overall positive 7/10 experience for me, especially when it's on sale.

A solid foundation with a thick layer of rust.

The Forever Winter is, at its core, a beautiful and fun experience.
Visuals are stunning, art direction is on point, sound design is great, it feels cohesive and brilliant.

Looting, evading, and extracting is a really fun loop that's solid as is in most areas, and the amount of near misses or high tense situations where I barely escape alive is high.

Progression doesn't feel too punishing nor too easy. Getting on an extract streak is really rewarding, while going on a death streak is extremely punishing. It rewards well when you do well. It punishes hard when you fail. Its balance, while not perfect, feels really solid overall.

Yes, there are rough spots.
- The gunplay feels foundational, but not fleshed out or polished yet.
- Movement needs a lot of additions (strafing while sprinting, better responsiveness when adjusting direction, better obstacle navigating, etc.). Animations across the board need a lot of love (Some AI are very obviously not done yet animation-wise).
-The Water Decay system could be adjusted to not be so unnecessarily time punishing.

But for where it's at, and where it can and will go through Early Access, I can't do anything but recommend this game. This dev team has put together something that hits a ton of the right niche buttons for me, and if the aesthetic and general description of the gameplay loop sounds like your thing, I'd give it a go with the disclaimer that there WILL be jank, unfinished areas, and things that dont feel quite right just yet.

Give it time to get that rust off, that good layer of polish. As it is right now, it's a phenomenal experience I've had nothing but fun playing in my near 15 hours so far.

Surprised I've yet to review one of my favorite games ever made.

Absolver has always been one of my favorite games in both gameplay and style.
The lore, the aesthetics, everything about the world is something I wish we had more of.

The gameplay is phenomenal and one of my favorite fighting systems ever created, really giving that "becoming a master" feeling when you sink in the time to learn moves.

The story unfortunately holds back the reigns, and is quick and not explained well at a first playthrough. Nevertheless, what we have is something I wish was fleshed out more.

While Sifu is a hit, it doesn't hit the same notes for me that Absolver does. I really hope they revisit the IP in their next game or a future game down the line, as the potential for this to be a truly expanded upon experience both gameplay and story-wise is incredibly high.

PLEASE Sloclap, I'm on my KNEES.. BEGGING for Absolver 2 or something akin to it.

For less than a bowl of Ramen, this game is a gem.
I'm the target audience for a game like this: the type of individual who loves just making a city in a sandbox and having a little story/justification for everything I place down in my head.

Plus, it's sci-fi/cyberpunk, my favorite!

I really can't recommend this game enough, it's perfect in what it sets out to do, and I can't wait for the updates and additions this game will inevitably get.

The idle game of my dreams.

Little robots in a Solarpunk setting simply enjoyin life and farmin
Nothin better.

They use AI generated images in the game.