Recent reviews by Second Soulless

TLDR: Very meh. Definitely not worth full price unless you're a die hard fan, and even then that is a stretch.

The "Stand and Fight" version of The Doomslayer is cool on paper, but it wasn't executed very well and paired with other poor choices, this game is a pretty big step back from previous titles. There are a few reasons for this, and I'll just quickly list off why:

It is hard to overstate just how poor of a choice id made by not including glorykills. Removing glorykills for nearly everything is just a massive downgrade. In this game you'll get an enemy low, and instead of getting a chance to activate a glorykill you instead swing your melee weapon for free. It is particularly annoying that some mobs DID get glorykills, but there are only a few and they are not consistent at all. Every now and again you'll activate one and saw a Mancubus in half, or behead a Hell Knight. For a second it feels incredibly satisfying and cinematic until you realize that combat doesn't include such moments 99% of the time. The fact that there are a handful of glorykills in the game on non-boss enemies leads me to believe the content just wasn't ready in time and they shipped it anyway.

This leads into the problems with combat: there is almost no pressure on the player ever. If glorykills aren't going to be in the game, the rest of the combat needs to be satisfying right? Well, sorta. The parry mechanic they added is good, but it is incredibly over used. Most of the enemies that aren't chaff are primarily defeated by parrying their attacks. This leads you to some weird circumstances where you're just sitting around waiting for them to do something so you can parry and fight back.

That is, until you upgrade just one of your weapons. Once you do that you can just run through basically the entire campaign spraying everything to death with it. There is no incentive beyond personal flavor to pick different weapons, they all perform at relatively the same level (except for the Skullcrusher weapons, those things are leagues ahead of everything else DPS wise). It isn't like the other Dooms where you need to swap weapons in order to have the right tool for the right target. No, in this game you can just hold down M1 and basically get the same results across the board. Everything feels equally powerful/viable for everything and as a result none of the weapons really stand out from each other.

The way you get upgraded weapons is also a big letdown. You have to run all over these very large maps collecting gold, hunting "side bosses", and solving puzzles. This ends up doing something really weird to the Doom formula: for the player to upgrade their equipment they must spend a LOT of time wandering around giant, empty maps collecting stuff all over the ground. I don't just mean the player has to take a little break from the combat to grab these things as he passes through. If you are collecting most things as you go in order to upgrade your gear you are spending *significantly* more time running around empty fields and corridors than you are fighting. Crossing the map for a key, backtracking to unlock a door and collect 25 gold, etc. It just really sucks compared to the way you got these upgrades in the past. In the previous Doom titles combat was never that far away. For many of the upgrades/secrets in those games you had to complete extremely intense encounters, where in this game you get them from wandering around and solving "puzzles" that mostly consist of checking the map to see where you are supposed to jump off a cliff to land in the secret area below. A couple of the puzzles got pretty interesting in the last 1/4 of the game, but by then you're so exhausted collecting all these trinkets that have been spread across the lands like Dragonballs that what interest you might've had is outweighed by how annoying the process has been the entire game.

Then is the overall difficulty. This is a significantly easier game compared to the last two Doom titles and most of it has to do with the amount of encounters in the game paired with the overall lack of intensity. Even the "hard" encounters against mini bosses are a total breeze. There are a few gore nests that can be completed as optional objectives, they too are incredibly easy. The only standout difficult encounter comes on the last mission, where 2-3 Cyberdemon tier enemies come after you at the same time. Even still, you have access to multiple one shot mechanics and can parry most of the damage. It's like id forgot how to pair enemy types to create genuine problems for the Slayer, and there are significantly less dangerous enemies overall. It feels like you spend little time fighting and more time walking from one symbol on your map to another. It is a REALLY bad combo.

I seriously cannot overstate how little of the game is combat if you plan on 100%'ing pretty much any of the missions. I've repeated it a few times in this review but it is by far the games weakest area and it is basically a requirement because upgrades are all locked behind it.

For me, Doom Eternal with DLC was a 9.5, borderline 10.

This game is clocking in at a mild 6-6.5, and that is being optimistic. This game took several steps backward.

With the lack of variety in combat, the lack of pressure on the player, the lack of difficult combat encounters, the lack of glorykills/dynamic gameplay, lackluster weapon implementation, lame "puzzles", frustrating map design/obligatory trinket collection, a pretty underwhelming story, and a mostly forgettable soundtrack all come together to create a very "meh" experience for a Doom title.

There are just too many missteps when it came to how things were put together in this game, and I say that with heavy heart as one of this franchises biggest fans.

For now, hope that the DLC or some sort of update redeems these qualities and get it when its half off.

Very good game. Gunplay is fun and the roguelike elements, while not a very large system yet, are pretty solid and also are a lot of fun.

Game needs some QOL updates (like better stat tracking as your build fleshes out) and some more variety.

New guns, new modifiers, new perks, new rooms. Foundation is there and already very solid, it just needs to be expanded on.

This game is unbelievably good. The way the building and systems are designed leave you with the ability to craft basically whatever you could possibly imagine, made even more possible by mods/community ship designs.

It is extremely satisfying to build your own fleets from scratch, tailoring your designs to the specific style of combat.

Want a nimble fleet of fighters hitting the enemy with run and gun tactics? Go for it.

Want to build a stationary super weapon platform that obliterates everything? Easy. Send in one of your fastest ships with an active beacon, and have your station hyper-jump right into the center of the enemy formation.

Very good game, Definitely worth giving a try.

Probably a good game. Wouldn't know because it's been getting DDOS attacked for like a week now since I bought it and has been unplayable as a result.

Unfortunately I accidentally left the game on in the tutorial when I went to sleep so there's no getting my money back now. Sort of insane to me a company this large and with this many resources not only left themselves completely wide open to having their game shut down by anyone who wants to DDOS them, but is also completely unable to mitigate the issue.

Due to updates with the game's water system that was the main subject of my original review, and specifically after being reached out to by the developers under this review, I will update my thoughts and give you a good idea on if the game is currently worth buying:

In 6 or so months FDS has made significant strides with this game. They finally landed on an appropriate system for water instead of the original way that held your real life time hostage. That alone is enough to get me to change the previous review, but there is much more.

They have been very receptive to player feedback as they improve various systems that are in an Alpha state. Improved gunplay, several new features have been added in a relatively short time, and they have continued to deliver with maps.

AI have seen significant improvement since launch. It still isn't perfect, but several key issues have been resolved and you no longer have constant immersion shattering spawns/AI jank.

Performance has seen a large improvement, but the combat happening around has taken a hit. Less enemies, enemies don't spawn far away anymore, those sort of things. My only real complaint about this game is tied to a need for better optimization. This game has a pretty incredible vision and it will not be possible without some major work on that front to enable the scale/complex AI behavior we all want to see.

That being said, this game is a blast and you should give it a try with your friends. FDS has made it clear they take the community seriously, and they are making a really cool game. TFW is still very early in development but I think it is worth it now. FDS turned out to be pretty good devs even after a rough launch which is pretty unusual for modern studios, and if they keep at it they might just create a masterpiece.

Give it a try, you won't regret it.

See you all in the Innards.



Release Review:
I am going to lead off with the most important part of this review here that people need to understand before they buy, and then explain later on after context: A core mechanic of this game is a FOMO system that will delete hours of your progress if you don't play it on a somewhat regular basis.

Now, on to the review.

This title has been one of the most greatly anticipated releases for me in a lot of years, and I have to say I am pretty disappointed by the state they released this game in. There are also some pretty glaring issues in their design choices the average gamer should know about before they pick this game up.

The Idea is really cool. Sometimes when you're playing, you get to see a glimpse of what this game is intended to be: moments where you're caught in the middle of a clash between giants, bullets flying in every direction where you are trying to just navigate the mess and get out with loot.

That is not the game that they put out.

Alot of the time the AI units are walking in circles, sometimes you'll see their logic just break mid fight and NPC's sit still until they die/explode.

The maps do not feel like large sweeping battlefields, you can pretty safely run from spawn to extract in a minute or two and there's usually alot of empty space for you to walk through to avoid enemies entirely.

The tutorial lasts like 1 minute and doesn't explain really anything to you, if you want to learn the controls expect to go check the keybinds and just start memorizing stuff.

The controls are really janky too, everything feels clunky and weird. Aiming and moving just feel unwieldy and strange, it's really hard to describe otherwise.

You'll extract with gear and it will have a network error that just doesn't count your progress/let you keep the items you just brought back. Hope it was nothing important!

I encountered a game breaking bug that pops a door-unlocking interface over your entire screen until you die or extract, and the door minigame didn't even work properly for me.

There are other issues, and I could check off as early access growing pains if not for the current implementation of the water system, the FOMO mechanic I warned about at the start of this review.

In this game "water is the only thing that matters". You collect water, bring it back to the Innards, it enables more features as you store it up, and allows you to spend lots and lots of credits to upgrade your base area. You get a gigantic warning pasted on your screen in your base when its low, warning you that it will completely reset your base area and delete your entire inventory if you run out of water.

What isn't explained is how ***the water drains regardless of whether or not you are playing the game***, and you absolutely will get your progress reset if you don't log in and collect more water.

The vast majority of beta tester feedback on the water system was negative, because no one likes when a video game holds their real life time hostage and punishes them for not playing.

The devs came out and said to fix this issue they were making water even more readily available and easy to store, which not only doesn't solve the problem players are having with this, it actually just trivializes water in general. I can confirm this after playing: water is everywhere, you can afford to pass it up all the time. This has created this absurd balance where the only way to "game over" is to not play, and the game is significantly less hardcore as a result.

More people complained en masse because it was easy to see this was how the game was going to turn out.

The dev's final justification for this system that was said in a Q&A was, and I am quoting here: "Overall we want people thinking about FW with anxiety and excitement when not playing". And they are just ignoring the massive amounts of negative feedback regarding this.

So there you have it, the philosophy that goes into keeping this stupid feature that punishes you for not playing is indeed meant to be a predatory, gacha-style, login retention mechanic. "Don't play the game? Lose hours and hours of progress. ♥♥♥♥ you and enjoy your anxiety"

I want to see this game thrive but there are alot of glaring gameplay issues and a clear lack of respect for the player's time involved that you should understand before you purchase this game. It really is unfortunate that the reviews pointing this stuff out are being bombarded with clown reacts (thank you for the free points in advance), because this game will never grow or improve if the valid criticisms are routinely dismissed.

Guess time will tell if this game turns out alright in the end.

FDS: CHANGE THE WATER SYSTEM

Extremely cool game. Been tracking this one for a while now, still can't believe it's the product of a 2 man indie company.

The gunplay is unique, the graphics, lighting, and sound design are incredible too.

The maps are built in a way that goes hand in hand with the unique shooting mechanics in this game, creating a brutal and intense experience in close quarters, and a slow tactical approach on more open maps.

This one could very well be a pioneer for a new genre of shooters. Definitely worth giving a shot if the gameplay looks the least bit interesting to you.

Only drawback this game has is that the graphics are dumpy enough most will write it off without trying, which is unfortunate for a party game.

Only played solo at time of this review, and it is still good. Probably 10x better with friends

4th review because ArrowHead is completely incompetent:

HD2 was world class fun. Everything about it. It is unfortunate that it is going to be remembered as one of the bigger fumbles in gaming. Sony Drama aside, ArrowHead is very clearly way out of their depth. Every single complaint from the 2nd review portion further down regarding inability to "balance" the game or fix bugs still applies, but is much more galling as AH has had months and months of feedback begging them to stop nerfing everything for the sake of some arbitrary "balance". They still are taking what weapons are fun and effective and nerfing them. Many stratagems still have anywhere from 5x the cooldown they should for how effective they are. Many weapons and stratagems are still completely useless half a year later. The ones that aren't? Nerfed.

The trailers and ads all promise overpowered weapons decimating Democracy's enemies, but the current state of the game just does not deliver and no matter how many times AH indicates they are going to change course, they don't. The latest indication comes with the newest update that introduced a slew of much anticipated flamethrower/fire based weapons, alongside a massive nerf to fire. It is just utter insanity.

So, that is why this review is negative again. Because people should understand what the developers are like before they buy the game, the devs nerf all their favorite toys, and then they can't refund it.



3rd and probably final review:

Sony has reversed their decision to impose PSN accounts on steam players. It still worries me that the corpo heads guiding the game are clearly making decisions based solely on what will affect the bottom line, but for now they are giving in.


The game is still extremely good. Arrowhead needs to rethink their approach to balance most of the time, but on its face the game is still incredible.

10/10, get this game you will have an amazing time.

Helldivers like me are waist deep in oil and broken metal, just waiting for you to make the most important decision of your life. Join the last line of offence TODAY!






2nd review:
Welp, I have never done this, but I'm changing my review.

The gameplay is incredible. Like, 10/10 industry leading amounts of fun. Unfortunately, ArrowHead is dropping the ball time and time again.

They clearly don't understand how to balance in a way that REINFORCES power fantasy, their answer to something being fun and effective is to nerf it extremely hard since other items are not being used. They are oblivious to the fact that the items going unused JUST. NEED. BUFFS.

There are many game breaking bugs that have been around since day 1. We are months into the release now, and Damage over Time abilities (think Fire/Napalm/Gas) GUARANTEED DO NOT WORK for 3 of 4 players in any given lobby.

I have been writing all this off as growing pains, as they had a sudden smash success with it and that comes with its own difficulties.

However, now that they are forcing PSN accounts on Steam players, it is time to adjust my review. The literal only reason for this move is so Sony can harvest YOUR data and make more money off of you.

This title is turning into one of the greatest fumbles of all time if they don't figure this ♥♥♥♥ out.





Original Review:

The negative reviews are mostly people complaining about launch instability due to server overload or the anti cheat being kernel level (as if this isn't standard for most multiplayer games now).

If neither of those bothers you, this is a great buy for $40.

If you like over the top violence and tons of chaos that you accidentally team kill your friends in, this is the game for you.

The combat is visceral and crunchy. The skill ceiling seems high, especially at the higher difficulties where synergizing with your teammates is heavily rewarded.

The in game shop has no FOMO mechanics for once, when a battle pass gets released it stays so you can get around to doing it whenever you have the time, care, or money. You can also get the premium in game currency through normal gameplay, Two big pluses.

10/10 get this game

This game offers "VR Support", but doesn't support the use of motion controllers. All VR mode does is turn your head into a fancy camera while you still use your mouse and keyboard/gamepad.

Talk about a letdown and missed opportunity.

7DTD's newest patch A21 is a slam dunk, and one of the best patches any early-access game has gotten.

Everyone by now is used to early access being the standard for small teams getting their games out to the public, for better or worse. The most disappointing part of early access is how, very often, the devs will either promise something that isn't possible for their team, take the money and run, or the worst outcome in my opinion: put out half-assed patches that make the experience worse in the name of 'adding more content' everyone is always begging for.

The Fun Pimps broke the mold, and I could not be more satisfied.

I was worried about the magazine/book system changes, but after playing the new build I can't believe how wrong I was. You know what really sucked Pre-A21? Having to find specific items to unlock specific crafting options out of the several hundred craftable items. You know what sucked way more? Having to spend valuable skill points on an attribute you didn't care for AND THEN the skill to do something simple like craft a minibike, or a forge. They were all things you needed, and nobody likes waiting on luck to bring you into the iron/steel age. So, valuable points got put into things that made the crafting menu better, but slowed down everything else the game has to offer. The overhaul to reading solves this by naturally feeding recipes to you, over time, in a way that makes sense and suits your game state at pretty much any point. Even better that it takes what you spec into and allows that to decide what books you find more of, allowing you to expedite your progress in areas that you as the player are interested in.



Speaking of freeing up skill points, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, the perk overhaul. I thought I was going to be permanently sad at the absence of Sexual Tyrannosaurus, but seeing how TFP put its effects into the perks you are already using to play the game how you want is just such a big QOL improvement, and that is only one example. Everywhere across the perk trees, things are just better. And now without being forced to put a bunch of early points into unlocking recipes, you're freed to start doing what the game is all about much sooner: busting zombie heads and grabbing sweet loot.



Speaking of busting zombie heads, the new gore system is a ton of fun. Hitting a zombie across the neck with an axe and just ripping the whole throat out was a shocking thing when it happened to me the first time, and it never loses its luster. I look forward to the times to come when, hopefully, this system is expanded and takes fighting zombies to the next level. Especially if with that comes updated/new zombie models (still miss my dearly departed every time I go into Diamonds Men's Club, though).



The random world generation improvements alongside the upgrade the game's visuals received make everything feel much more immersive. Cities in particular feel like they are packed with a lot more POI's/layouts that make sense. Sure, there is the odd occasion where you'll have two Mo' Power stores on the same street, but I've been playing this game long enough to remember when cities were no where near as packed full of things to kill, explore, and loot. Everything about these changes is just great.



I will end by saying that for a long time player of this game over many of its builds, when The Fun Pimps say 'this is the biggest and baddest version of the game to date', they mean it. Each time they shatter expectations for a team of their size.



I could go on and on about how they pretty much made every aspect of the game better, but I've got zombies to kill and glass to eat before the infection finishes taking hold.



TL;DR: A21 sets a standard for how indie developers should operate, and given The Fun Pimps history this standard will only get higher over time. If you aren't playing 7DTD, you should. If you are playing, make your friends. You're missing out if you don't.