Recent reviews by Lemon stealer

Jello.

Has ♥♥♥♥. Is overall good.

I loved it. Granted, Gothic is a series I was introduced to as a kid, and I never sat down to figure out what exactly it was that I liked and disliked about it, but regarding this mod, I caught myself praising it time and time again: being more story-oriented than the original, it has PLENTY of side content for those who crave to explore the world, and when I decided I'd clear the whole map before joining a guild, time and time again I thought "Damn, how am I supposed to remember all this, how BIG is this map?!".
The mod introduces a big world, connected in a sensible manner, with a captivating enough story, a setting that does not go beyond what the originals established, and most importantly - the quests. Many quests, short and long, trivial and complex, linear and branching. Unlike Gothic 1 and 2, this mod goes out of its way to add quests that get you lost in the island's life - your log will bloat with side content, and almost every part of it will either have rewards tempting enough to spend your time on without getting mandatory, or lead you to locations you wouldn't get to otherwise, or submerge you into the island's routine.

The sheer amount of secrets and easter eggs is unprecedented. Admittedly, sometimes while wondering around the city I questioned whether or not it added too many silly random encounters, but all in all it rewards exploration, and it manages to strike a decent balance between silliness, serious storytelling, world building pieces with specific conditions and secrets you have to put effort to find.

A whole load of new idle animations, an abundance of new mechanics subtly fit into the gameplay, uniquely structured quests, old character progression system with some minor adjustments - the mod keeps you cozy in a familiar environment while making it all seem fresh.

Blaze through the story or explore every nook and cranny, min max like you used to or let the game lead you along the rails - you will have a good time. I speak as a casual Gothic fan without deep understanding of the lore, genre integrity and all that other complicated stuff, but I had a great time.

Also bugs, Bugs exist. Not too many to abstruct the gameplay, but enough to remind you it's a Gothic game. Maybe it's a plus i dunno.

The more you think about how this mod came to be, the more unreal it feels. Long story short, the project is most impressive, and even if there are certain things to criticize, overall it's a great deal of fun, and for me, personally, just thinking about its background and effort poured into the production adds an extra layer of enjoyment. Sure makes your head hurt though.

I was perfectly fine with the possibility of Reynauld being dead, but the surprise is sure a welcome one. The new hero's great as well, too bad she makes me think more than "funny damage button go brrr". There's hoping we'll see more expansions and QoL updates in the future, I'd love to see this game get more "objective modes" like the Crusader's quest, seems like a promising extension of the current gameplay loop.

I liked it more than I hated it. For no good reason, don't buy it.

A cesspool of kids and drunkards who've never played a coop in their entire life, only kept alive by custom servers modded beyond recognition. Great game, but I can barely remember having fun in it. Still enjoyed it as a Christmas gift please don't hit me Infern.

Missed the release, missed the popularity peak, missed the controversial balance changes, but clicking heads feels good, enough for me.

Long overdue. My dictionary illustration for "guilty pleasure".

It's not DD1. It's still under active polish. It has complex issues with replayability and setting goals for the player to stay invested after beating the final boss once. The hero balance is still being tweaked and the mod support is yet to come. The gameplay loop gives the player little control over how each run starts and goes (no guarantee you'll get the items for the build you want, starting quirks can be a huge bother to deal with). It's more personal - not the player's relationship with each individual hero but each run in itself - instead of planning things out in the hub and having a clear idea of how your next mission's going to go, you're forced to constantly improvise in pretty much every aspect of the gameplay. It's uncomfortable, but more engaging. The game features numerous systems to help you adapt on the fly, though it's still being fine-tuned.

With that being said, DD1 started off the same way, and with this being the studio's 2nd game with much bigger team and vastly different technical environment, I think they've adjusted great. The devs are known to put their best effort towards realizing their vision while listening to the community's feedback to make the game the best it can be.

It's different - in some major mechanics, in the narrative and its message, but in the core it's the same Darkest Dungeon - the game will pull every lever to screw you over and you have plenty of tools and methods to clown on it in return. The atmosphere it top-notch, the style and graphics are great and, in my opinion, it's undeniable that great passion is being poured into the development proccess.

Like the first game, it's far from being for everyone - not for the RNG, you can always mitigate it, but it'll relentlessly pull you out of your comfort zone, even if you learn to optimize every aspect of the gameplay and use every available advantage. It has plenty of issues big and small, but none grave enough to overshadow the quality and fun it can provide.