Recent reviews by Salogeo

Really relaxing game with a lot of depth to it and tons of unlockables. Runs can be very short but it can take up your whole day before you know it.

Definitely something new and refreshing, I don't even care much for poker but I really like Balatro as it's not really "poker".

There is a LOT to do in this game, zombie surivival, shooters, mario-kart like games, arcade stuff, gambling, tons of other minigames. It's honestly really amazing and since it supports Steam Workshop integration the possibilities are nearly endless. It's kind of like Tabletop Simulator without the limitation of the tabletop.

The game is sliiightly janky here and there (but jank can be quite charming) but you can feel the love the devs put in this game. It's great solo and even greater with friends. It's a rare gem that's actually fun to play rather than a pretty game with boring gameplay.

The hub world (Plaza) is a decent size and there's a lot to explore and loads of secrets / little things to discover.

I'd highly recommend everyone gives this game a go!

Edit: my original review can be found below but I've updated this due to the shutdown notice

The game was awesome but unfortunately it's getting shut down in April, they announced a new character and a day or 2 after that they announced the shutdown, I feel like this could've been avoided and Warhaven could've become something big so it's a shame to see it go. If you want to see what it's all about, go and get in a game but do yourself a favour and don't give them any money.

-----------------Original Review---------------------

If you're put off by the mixed reviews, don't listen too much to the negative ones. People saying that queues take forever might be playing when it's either during work time or the middle of the night or something for most of the player base but my longest queue so far was 3 and a half minutes, with most of my queues being between 30 seconds to 1 minute.

The game runs smoothly and looks amazing visually, the characters all play very differently (although I haven't played them all yet) theres a nice variety of game modes and there are some cool unique mechanics like transforming into an immortal and using gliders / cannons to traverse the bigger maps.

There are a lot of different things that give you rewards (Similar to mobile games) which feels quite nice, doing just about anything will reward you with something.

While I don't have a lot of hours yet I want to address some of the negative comments and my personal experience with them.

Long queue times : I've already mentioned this, my queue times aren't that long, I've had longer queues in more popular games, I'm sure anyone can find something else to do for 3 minutes while they are in queue.

Disconnects: Never had this problem myself but it could happen, but just like in any online game where people complain about it, it might not be the game itself

Unbalanced: There are a few characters that do feel quite strong compared to others but overall I feel like a lot of them have a counter in one way or another, note that a lot of the people saying it's unbalanced only have 2-3 hours of gameplay, of course it will feel unbalanced if you're new and you're playing against people who have played for lets say 50 hours.

TL;DR : I feel like most negative reviews are unwarranted by people who have barely played the game and given it a go, it's a good game and it's free so just do yourself a favor and try it out

TL;DR at the bottom

Overview:

Super addictive game. Easy to get in to and all the concepts are easy to grasp but it has enough depth to keep it interesting.
Plenty of players as well so queues don't take long at all.

Games take about 5 minutes on average so you're not tied up too long and the characters all feel unique enough and have interesting designs.

The pro's and cons below are all from my own personal experience and can differ from person to person of course.

Pros:
- Unique gameplay
- Unique characters
- Short but action packed games
- Lots to unlock
- Quite a lot of depth in a game that might seem pretty straightforward
- Highly addictive
- Bug free (apart from a few visual things that aren't really major in any way)

Cons
- Not a whole lot of characters (yet). But this might not really be a con if you're the kind of person that just picks one character and sticks with that.

TL;DR: Highly addictive and fun game and it's free to play. Just give it a go

I feel like this should go without saying but a lot of the negative reviews are people that barely have any gameplay time at all.
At the time of writing this I "Only" have 18 hours but I'm planning on pumping a lot of time into this game.

TL;DR at the end

Gameplay 8/10

There are 2 modes Saga and Survival mode, most of this review will cover my experience with Saga mode as this is what I've played the most.

The gameplay is very fun, some people don't like that gathering is "just pressing F" but I actually like it, you press the button a short animation plays and you're on your way to the next thing. I love survival games but mining a single rock for 30 seconds and doing that 5 times to get 1 brick for your building is not really that fun after you've done it for a while.

The combat is pretty good, I see some people calling it bland but if you look at other survival games, combat is usually very bad with janky animations and barely anything to customize your character. Tribes of Midgard allows you to pick a class for your character (and you can unlock more of them as well) and build your character your way. In Survival mode you don't pick a class but you can level to level 50 and pick perks (90 of them) to build your character. There are quite a few weapons to build and even different weapons of the same type can be very different because they offer different specials.

The Saga mode is really good fun, building isn't really the focus there, rather you just upgrade the village and prepare for battle by upgrading your gear etc. Saga mode is also where you unlock a bunch of rewards for other playthroughs. A roguelike survival game is not really something I've played before but it's really addictive.

Visuals 9/10
I really like the art style, the cell shaded style fits really well and makes the world feel quite vibrant. The effects you see during special attacks also look quite nice and the world around you just looks amazing.

Not much more to say

Music & Sounds 6/10

Nothing special here but then again I didn't really expect a survival game to have a banger soundtrack.
The voice lines are all in Norse (I think? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Which is quite a cool feature for immersion. However the NPC's in Saga mode say something every time you craft and since the tinkerer is one of those crafters you'll use A LOT and will probably be crafting multiple things in quick succession the voice lines can become a bit annoying.

Unlockables 10/10

This could probably be put under Gameplay but I thought it deserved it's own section.
There are a lot of unlockables in this game, you can unlock classes which can be used in Saga mode, new armor and weapon recipes, cosmetics, pets, starter kits, runes. All sorts of things, and the best thing about it is that all of it is done through gameplay, just like the old school games where you had to play and achieve certain things to unlock something. Personally something I really love to do and really adds replayabillity.

There is a shop where you can spend real money for a premium currency called Platinum Coins but these are purely used for cosmetic purposes and not for gameplay items. Unlockables can be gained in 2 ways.
1. Achieve certain "challenge" objectives"
2. Earn Golden Horns with playthroughs and random drops and spend them in the shop.

Final words

All in all I really enjoy Tribes of Midgard, it's very fun especially with friends. I haven't enjoyed a survival game in a while now because they all seem to be mostly the same but I can say that this definitely feels like a breath of fresh air. Don't let the "Mixed" reviews (at the time of writing this) scare you off. It's honestly a lot of fun and definitely worth the full price. (it's also in the Humble Choice January selection right now).


TL;DR

Amazingly fun and addictive game with a great gameplay loop and visuals, just get it and give it a go.

First off I'd like to mention that all the people complaining about the Gacha system seem to forget to mention that all that stuff can be paid for with in game currency. In this specific regard the game is fairly generous and gives a lot of tickets that can be used for free as well so if the Gacha system is the only thing that's stopping you or keeping you on the fence, just don't let it stop you.

This is not to say that I like having it in the game but I don't hear people complaining about DBD's Bloodweb which is completely RNG as well and unfortunately we are in a time period where games need some form of continuous income to keep supporting it and bring out updates.

Now on to the actual review.

The graphics:
The graphics are very Xenoverse-y, not a bad thing and not a good thing either just very mediocre which doesn't really wow me. Maybe I've been spoiled by the artstyle in FighterZ.

The gameplay:
The game CAN be fun, playing with friends is a blast and I've also played quite a few matches on my own. It can get quite repetitive as there are limited things to do (Just like in DBD) but it's good in short bursts of a few matches every now and then.

There are definitely some balancing issues though, it could be that I'm just bad at the game but I see it happen to almost every raider I've played against as well. Survivors can just team up and rush a Raider and there is basically nothing they can do about it. Especially if the survivors get all the dragon balls it's basically a loss for the Raider.

Speaking of Raiders, you don't get to choose what you play as. You can pick a preference for survivor or raider but that won't guarantee you get that spot. You'll get a priority point for each match you play as your non-preferred role and usually have to get around 6 points to finally get your preferred role if that happens to be raider.

There seems to be a clearly weak Raider and a clearly strong (wouldn't say OP) raider, Cell and Buu respectively.

Overall I think the game has potential but needs a lot of support.

Sound:
Sound design is fine, nothing particular which is a bit of a shame because I always loved the dragonball soundtracks


TL;DR : Can recommend the game but it's not perfect and not like most dragonball games. Get it if you're a fan or are looking for a DB themed party game

- Graphics feel dated even though it's all new it feels like a late PS3 game.
- Combat is quite weird, they tried to copy For Honor but failed
- Main character can't shut up and has to describe every single thing he sees, hears, feels and thinks.
- Characters look nothing like their counterparts of the original?

I love the idea of a remake but I don't think this is the way to go. I think Dark souls like combat would work better than For Honor for a Gothic remake due to the slow and skillful nature of the original ones. I know this was a test to see if people liked it but please at least try to make the characters look like an updated version of their original counterparts and don't design them from the ground up, that way it's not a remake it's just a game.

Code Vein, an anime styled souls like game.

I've played the Dark Souls games but always felt like it was lacking something (personal opinion).
Code Vein has a great balance between story telling and combat, it's set in a post-apocalyptic world but there are still plenty of NPC's to interact with.

Gameplay 9/10

Combat is smooth, it's pretty cool that you can switch classes on the go and master abilities so you can "inherit" them on other classes and eventually forge your own mix mash of skills.
However a lot of enemies are quite easy to deal with (I haven't completed the entire game yet though) some bosses are even very easy to beat as well. I think the first actual boss gave me the hardest time.
Ability animations / particles and effects look really nice and every hit really gives you a good feel of impact

Visuals 10/10

Anime games used to have terrible graphics but over the last couple of years they have made leaps and bounds in progress with that, the world of Code Vein really is beautiful and makes me want to explore every corner, the effects, lighting and all the visual parts are very nice to look at.

Story 8/10

The story is very interesting but sometimes you'll get a lot of cutscenes one after the other, don't get me wrong I love a good story in games. However I also want to actually play the game and not be stuck in cutscenes for 20 minutes. Cutscenes are skippable but like I said I do like stories in games so I also don't want to miss any important bits.

Overall I'd say this game is definitely worth the money and will definitely keep you entertained for a long time if you enjoy these kind of games, the multiplayer is a blast, I've been playing through the game with a friend of mine and it's awesome how it makes you work together and communicate about how you will handle certain fights or solve puzzles.

--Another Edit--

The game has been out for a while now, there have been a few small updates but nothing is being done about the things that concern the players, the dev blogs are nothing more than "We see players saying X but no they are wrong." I bought the Year 1 deluxe edition but there is no sign of a battle pass whatsoever so I really feel conned because of that. I keep checking the progress of the development but it just keeps on disappointing me.

--Edited after more playtime, this was originally a "recommended" review--


Hood: Outlaws and Legends, the concept is great but the execution is terrible.

Lets get the bad things out of the way first.

The bad:
-There are a lot of bugs in the game although some seem to have gotten fixed really quickly. NPC's will sometimes teleport slightly which makes it hard to aim for headshots or in the case of the Sherrif, will result in you dying if he's teleporting next to you.
Sometime's you'll just get catapulted into the air etc, guards will sometimes see you through walls etc.

-There are some...questionable design choices in place like the enemy team getting the victory even if they don't do anything all game and just steal the last winch point. Another thing is that once you get to the final stage of the match "Extracting the chest" there is barely any stealth involved, it becomes a non-stop brawl so I do hope they find a way to change the final phase to live up to the whole stealth gameplay vibe they promised.

- Currently unlockable content feels a bit worthless, the weapons and costumes you unlock are mostly just re-colors and most of them don't really look that great

- It is nearly impossible to fight 2 v 1 since one of the enemies can just walk around you and assassinate you mid-combat

- Unfortunately we were promised something and it doesn't quite live up to that due to the bugs and how the mechanics are in the game right now.

The good:
- The concept is great and working as a team is really important.
- The visuals are really great and the maps look amazing.
- Perks really change how the game is played (for some characters), it can even change how a whole team works together
- Every character feels truly different but all of them are fun to play.

Unfortunately the good doesn't even come close to outweighing the bad. I really wanted to like this game and got my friends to buy it as well but that was a big mistake.

I've been waiting for a good VR Card Game for a long time and it's finally here.

Cards & Tankards is a mix between Heartstone and Magic: The Gathering with some great social aspects to it as well.
I've played several matches with my friends and it's great fun. The models for your summoned monsters are simple but very cool, there are already quite a lot of cards despite it being an Early Access game and I can tell the developers really are putting a lot of time and effort into this game.

A room can hold 16 players which is plenty to make it feel alive but keeps it small enough so you can still talk with the people you are playing with normally.

Getting new cards is quite easy, there are quests you can do every day that will give you plenty of gold and the first win of the day will also give you 3 cards, it doesn't feel like a pay 2 win game at all and the only things you can buy with real money are cosmetics anyway.

I feel like this game has a lot of potential and the developers are even holding championship tournaments with cash (and in-game) prizes. It certainly has the makings of a VR e-sport game.

All that being said, it's an Early access game and those always have issues.
I've only had some very minor issues but bugs are being fixed very quickly. The biggest issue for me (and it's not even that big of an issue) is that you have to push your summoned monsters forward to let them attack/defend but sometimes this doesn't go as smoothly as one would hope.

The game is free so I'd say definitely try it out, you've got nothing to lose but could gain a game that you could spend hundreds of hours on.