Recent reviews by TheVectronic

BACKED THIS ON KICKSTARTER! MADLY IMPRESSED BY THE ANIMATIONS & IF THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE NOW, IMAGINE WITH FUNDING.

This game consumed my very life early this year. Every now & then I like to tempt fate & crack it open like a trapped minotaur inside a maze. The house wins & no matter what you do, you will never outwin it; so cash out while you are ahead.

This is more of the vibes of Star Fetchers mixed in with a 10 wave climb to the top in order to earn your freedom in a Punch-Out!!!-esque episode that can oh so spin off so hard into an endless rougelike & I'd be eternally grateful towards the devs if they do.

It picks off right where we left off in the Star Fetchers pilot, the combat is reminiscent of Wii Boxing of all things. You can only hit the face of the opponent when you hover over their head & you beat the crud out of them before they do. It was frankly very addictive that I went for it twice over already to get a proper fill for it.

The visuals, the music & even the sound effects are punchy, flashy & oh so grimy. While the screenshots shown on the page are outdated, they did a wonderful job just polishing every asset when it launched (despite the small bumps & hiccups near & shortly after launch). Overall this is a solid support package for the developers who clearly worked hard on this for everyone involved.

• Aim for the head (it's where it counts)
  
• Grab attack buffs early & steamroll the competition
  
• Talk to Nevada, the cowgirl, in the shop. She may have something to give you if you talk to her enough between rounds.
  
• This is a one shot episode with no saves, you sit there til you're done all the way through. Attempts can take anywhere between 10 to 30 minutes if you're fast enough. Make sure you have an afternoon or an evening clear if you think you need the time to finish this DLC.

Now go out there & be the gnarliest beast Pork Belly has ever seen. BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU!! Hail to the Thornz!

There is a whole song about having a new hat & it made me very emotional about collecting hats off my fallen foes. 10/10 would buy a new hat!

HEKKI ALLMO!

Edit #1: Despite the reversal of this policy, the game still remains region locked & cannot be purchased in the regions affected by the policy as of May 8th, 2024. Once it has been fully reversed, I will reinstate the positive rating otherwise they can easily supplant this once more.

Original Review: I'm fuming, after almost 200 hours in Helldivers 2, I'm now told that after May 30th I can no longer play this great game because of the region that I live in.

All that time & effort, effectively wiped unless I figure out how to link to my account that has existed for +10 years & I'm scared that I'll be unable to link my PSN to my Steam account during the grace period.

This is unacceptable, please rollback this change. It's absolutely asinine; the Arrowhead Studios devs are nothing but kind, respectful & absolute gold stars about this game. I've had an incredible time with the game, Arrowhead's customer support was top notch when I requested a refund for my super credits when I bought the $20 Super Citizen Edition & delivered them in-character. I cherish these memories I have with my friends over this game, but I will be saddened that I'm unable to write new ones because of this change.

I'm not complaining because I can't make an account, I already have one; I'm complaining because others can't & that's a tragedy.

I don't always make reviews, but this is an exception. This is a wonderful 3D platformer, the most joyous 15 hours I've had with a video game in a long time. It's like you've had a massive sugar rush of emotions in the moment to moment gameplay. There's gonna be a lot of moments where you sit down & think "how the hell am I supposed to get that gear?" which made it so much fun when you finally manage to collect it.

Tons of fun secrets to find, great level diversity & you'll have an excellent time 100% each level once everything clicks. If you are hesitant, please check out the demo & try the game for yourself. You will not be disappointed.

Back then, a videogame was part of media, where people can consume the product & feel entertained by it. It was merely a method of killing time & when it feels as it can't entertain us any longer discard it. Though nowadays, videogames are able to surpass that & break the expectations of narratives that where once basic & discardable to a more complex & thoughtful experience.

Anodyne 2 easily fits in that description. Taking form of nostalgia as we remember it & not as it is with low-poly visuals that resemble early 3D games, mainly PlayStation 1 & PC games graphics, & using it to tell a narrative unlike any other. Anyone who is a fan of early 3D platforming games will certainly enjoy the visuals & the gameplay of this game. Complementing the jagged, rough, yet smooth 3D graphics are quality 2D spritework reminiscent of Super Nintendo games that simply feels as though you're playing a completely different game.

Ultimately it feels a complete natural upgrade & a breath of fresh air for anyone who played the previous game, Anodyne, while feeling welcoming to newer players who just stumbled across this game if not this game studio.

Now, I want to take a moment to address the pros & cons of the game.

The game exceeds in capturing the feeling of playing an old PS1 game while adding new elements that were not achievable within the PS1 itself, such as dynamic lighting effects on the water & intrinsic particle effects. Playing as the main protagonist, Nova, felt natural, making excellent use of the gamepad to make platforming a lot better & traversing through New Theland a lot quicker via a car transformation. Citizens of the world are as quirky & meta as they where in Anodyne, with many adapting as the game continues forward. An example of this is when you meet the Hint Dolphin early on near the car wash which tells you a hint of the whereabouts of the cards & then later on, once you're purchased the card detector, you can come back to him feeling he has lost his purpose because of the new device. All of which is amazing writing that feels absolutely insane that the developers thought of despite that not many of the people playing will ever find it.

With that said, there are some things that could've been improved on or added into the game. For example, a first person camera to zoom in while reading through the developer rooms would've been nice to get a better view of the images within them, or at least being able to get close, press the action button to bring up a bigger image of whatever concept art that was in the portraits. It could also be used for when you're on the car driving around as a toggleable perspective.

In addition to that, hinting about the use of the purchasable warp items within the game's store or having them being in a separate menu option simply called Warp can help guide the player find out about these items & go to each location relatively quickly without the need of having to backtrack a lot via the car transformation. This from experience, because I learned about the warp items near the concluding hours of the game & would've been useful to know that I could do that from the very beginning. Though despite this criticism, I thoroughly enjoyed exploring each area of New Theland as I was familiarized with the entrances & nanopoints when I was just about to clean up each location of collectibles.

Having played both Anodyne & its sequel back to back, you can clearly tell the amount of passion & personality that is poured into these games. Making them feel as though they're a return to form on what indie games felt like, experimental games that pushed the ideas that aren't commonplace anywhere else & transforming them into actual playable & purchasable products. Not to say all indie games nowadays aren't experimental, but they've certainly found a sort of comfort zone when it comes to repeated formulas with a small twist to make them stand out.

In conclusion, Anodyne 2: Return to Dust is a grand art piece, one you find at an art gallery & stare for hours on end, trying to find meanings behind the artist's intention for it, only to find out that it's simply a reminder that even when you think videogames have reached a limit, one will certainly rise up to the occasion to elevate that limit into something better than whatever you may think of. Surprising you, enthralling you with a world you wouldn't have dreamed of, filling up the anticipation for whatever the artist will come up next.

Certainly it's a must play in my book & I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Thank you Sean & Marina for making this game!

It has truly been a pleasure reading & playing through the script of a world that doesn't feel all too distant from our own.

I played open-world games before; in fact I love the open-world genre but this game hits it on the roof when I say that this game is MAD MAD MAD MAD MAD. Now being the president has it's quirks: you are the face of the great nation of 'Murica, you sign laws, beat the sh*t out of aliens... You know the usual. Playing this game is a ton of fun especially if your playing with a friend but hey we are PC gamers, right? The collectibles are as big as how much hair a hairless cat has and their as painful to get but satifactory when you get them all. The amount of side quests are useful if you are like me and play for the achievements if not skip them since the side quests give you stuff you get later in the game. Also for those Hardcore Achivers try to do everything (and I mean everything) before doing your campain, I'm sorry the Epic Conclusive Story of the Saints... Row... IV... DLC isn't going anywhere unless they release mission based DLC then we begin to talk but for now 9.1/10

Like being 'alone' in a underwater city filled with mad people then this is your game. There is no such thing as 'scary' moments unless you forget to kill a guy and you die unexpectedly then yes. Now gameplay is nice (I guess), ADAM is not very necessary to be honest, so harvesting or saving the Little Sisters is just your choice, but be warned there out to get you... 8.5/10