Recent reviews by [絶望] ℕᴠ𝕊ᴄ𝟛ɴᴇ

About the game itself and as a whole:
The game is amazing so far, it's linear, yes but still absolutely amazing.
The game doesn't take place in a single room per-se, you have changing set-pieces in which you have to find evidence, can take evidence away, etc. how free you are in your choices is nothing i can say definitively as i have yet to see the ending obv, however you do have plenty of options throughout the game, i.e. do you take evidence away, do you clear names, what dialogue options do you pick etc. it helps in sparking intrigue such as why is this dialogue option still locked? is this something for a NG+ if that exists, or is this bc i missed something?

Gameplay:
You have various gadgets you have to switch between to gather evidence which is kinda cool but i can see that becoming a nuisance if it gets stretched out too far or has to be done on subsequent playthroughs over and over again, which could get monotonous quick.
Other than that it's a find and connect the right evidence intermission mini game, which is fun the first time around but from my experience so far you can't reach wrong conclusions like you could in games such as Heavy Rain f.e. and it's a very narrative driven experience, lots of dialogue, which is skippable btw tho i wouldn't know why you'd want to it's a narrative game after all, lots of optional monologues etc.
If you don't like games driven by heavy mono and dialogue with little gameplay during these sections this game won't be for you.

Music:
The music is great and that's all i can say about it tbh, it doesn't reach masterpiece classes but it's very enjoyable and makes for very nice additional setdressing.

Art-Style:
Think Bioshock meets Blade Runner and you got the aesthetic down to a T, it's gorgeous, it makes you want to explore the city in free-roam, just walking or cruising through the neon-lit "streets", sadly, you can't.

Stability/Performance:
So far i had no crashes, no hiccups, no lags, no stutters, no weird glitches, it seems, at least on my playthrough, really solid, comes with all the settings you're prob used to by now, such as, FSR, DLSS, XeSS and whatnot, FoV Slider etc. nothing out of the ordinary but def enough to satisfy most people.

If anything is about to change i'll update my review but so far it's def worth the money, only big contra point for me is the thing about replayability, but that is something i can only really comment on once i reached the end and since it's a narrative driven game i won't put story as a bullet point here, however i think i can guess the ending after the 2nd investigation so predictability might be a thing but that's obv only something i can comment on once i finished it.

looks like we won <3

https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/1787331667616829929?t=NhwAEm4fGpVJj-UyI1lrXA&s=19

game needs a performance fix, update to AI, either they shoot you so accurate you can't react or they just stand still eating hits, sometimes sound just gets muted, no idea why that happens but it does and imo more/better loot options and maybe a tutorial for new players to the genre.
The game just sort of starts and you're expected to just know what and how to do things, if you played Tarkov that won't be too hard but for people new to the genre it's just painful and i saw a lot of people just standing in base asking for help.
Weapons so far seem alright, i haven't gotten very far and therefore only tested about a handful of guns but they did feel alright, only letdown to me personally would be the gun sounds esp with unsuppressed weapons and the modding capability of weapons starting out, you unlock more and better mod options as you keep going but initially you better like that M4 and Glock 17 bc you're not gonna upgrade from those for a while given AK mods require a higher trader level.
The lack of skills (at least to my knowledge( is kinda meh, you do have levels but as of now they serve no real purpose, your gun handling doesn't get better, you don't level up skills like you do in Tarkov i.e. you don't level up weapon handling either afaik so quite honestly not sure why they have a level system to begin with, that being said i do hope they introduce skills eventually.
PvP seems insanely unbalanced, it's hard to describe it but i guess everyone knows Tarkov rats by now, they're here too, obviously, i mean it's an extraction/survival shooter after all, however they are in such a massive advantage over ppl doing quests and stuff it's hardly funny, you will most likely get hurt doing missions, esp later on and they just sit in bushes in the LZ areas trying to snipe you with an ACOG M4, they lose about 2k$ investment if they die, you lose about 10k$ + quest progress in some cases, is this fun? i dunno for some prob, for me personally no, unlike in tarkov there is no timer by which you can force them to reposition, they can sit in the LZ all day long.
Armor and armor stats seem a bit opaque, and not clear at all, the armor does add to your survival chances that much is obvious but it's absolutely unclear how much and to my knowledge the game does not tell you what armor x does better over armor y.
Loot in the open world and loot container are borderline useless as of now, unless you have keys to open locked buildings or go in higher level zones you most likely get ♥♥♥♥ or just outright nothing, comparing it to Tarkov it feels very empty at times, not many objects to interact with and search for loot, only minimal amounts of open loot and backpacks simply do not have enough storage space for long raids.
Co-Op is tech speaking a must, yes you can solo play and yes you can survive solo, however it becomes so insanely difficult esp in later zones that i advise strongly against solo play, if you get pinned down by a sniper in higher level zones as a solo, you will in 95% of all times just die bc you can not deal with the threat and enemies do respawn.

Wishlist:
I wish the game would add female operators, i know other have already asked for that and the devs said maybe later so i'll just leave it at that.
I wish you could start a local co-op and/or search for servers with tweaked settings i.e. health value, loot amount, enemy density, time of day, weather, factions?! etc.
I wish the game would give you the option to go "rogue", betraying the faction you started out with.
I wish the game would have some form of vehicles (doesn't have to be combat vehicles) for faster getting from point A to B, aside from the helo.
I wish the game would add skills that get leveled by kills, looting, sneaking, running, healing, etc.

To buy or not to buy?
I'd say buy it, the foundation is great, the devs are good at communicating with the players and the game is in Early Access so it's actively being worked on, is it a solid alternative to Tarkov, as of now, no but i'm certain it will get there, i chose to place my trust in the devs maybe i get burned but at least it wasn't 250$

changed review after mods and capcom statements:
the game in and of itself is good, just like the first one, the world is nice, less lively than the world in witcher 3 but still really nice, pretty and combat still feels good, music is great, animations and gameplay is good, minus the walking animation w/o armor on (aka beginning section), the animations there feel very stiff and alien.

so far i didn't encounter any game breaking bugs of any kind, some floating objects, floating grass but nothing that is super note-worthy.

surprisingly i don't really have performance issues but i did suffer crashes, most of which came from REFramework and is investigated by the mod creator but it even crashed some times w/o REF which is unfortunate but sadly not exactly uncommon in this day and age, which isn't an excuse on behalf of the devs, just something i came to expect from current games.

i played Tales of Arise + MH:W/IB and Rise so all these "micro" DLCs are not necessarily new to me, on top i like to play with mods, so DLC like this doesn't bother me AS MUCH as it does others but this trend of gatekeeping features, that used to be normal, behind a paywall, is quite frankly unacceptable and while i'm sure there will be mods that break these features apart, i feel bad for those who want to play vanilla and for those who play on console and won't have access to said mods + it might give capcom and others even more of an incentive to try to crack down on modders.

Mods i recommend:
Frame Gen Mod for nvidia 20/30 series
https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonsdogma2/mods/115

Dragons Dogma 2 CPU High Priority regedit
https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonsdogma2/mods/97

Dragons Dogma 2 Save Manager
https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonsdogma2/mods/65

Enemy Ferrystone Drop
https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonsdogma2/mods/70

TL;DR worth? I'd say yes, i played 40hrs for now, still not done with the game, so time per dollar spent is actually great. if the price is too much wait for a sale or use other methods.

The game is super fun it and looks amazing, has a voxel demolition model, so you can just about destroy everything which is really cool, it's kinda like 7 days to die but medieval/fantasy.
Now to the somewhat meh and bad points and while this list is longer than the one above this is because i want the game to improve: for one it's insanely overwhelming it gives you soo much to do, so many quests, so many lore things, so many map markers, this is what i hate the most about open world games, bc while i love the freedom, it often feels like i'm lost and have no purpose, or rather i can't decide what i should do next/what the purpose should be (indecisive nature at its best).
Second is combat, it's soulslike-ish but not quite, it's faster but follows the same overall concept however enemies are not the smartest, have quite a large aggro radius, bosses have gap closers, which sometimes causes them to hit despite you trying to disengage, boss fights are really well choreographed tho and i dunno it's somewhere between very fulfilling and slightly subpar.
Aside from that my biggest critique would be that stamina consumption is basically breath of wild/genshin but on steroids, gliding costs stamina, running does, there is no climbing but if there would be, it would cost stamina, it's a surprise that existing in the world doesn't cost stamina.
Once again no rain in the game as of now, or i haven't seen it yet (yes i'm a sucker for rain leave me alone).
Oh and there is a insta kill mechanic called shroud, basically fog that insta kills you after a certain amount of time which can be frustrating.

Anyway, despite all of this i'm having a lot of fun and the combat system is intriguing and has depth enough to even validate replays with multiple characters/builds, the story so far is ok, it tries a bit too hard to have a similar way Dark Souls presents its story, meaning through non direct story telling and it's very hit or miss, if you like reading and searching for lore clues the game is amazing but if you like it all laid out in front of you through cutscenes or something like that you'll be disappointed.

TL;DR worth? yes, if you're a fan of survival games, maybe if you want to dip your toe into the genre, no if you dislike soulslike combat, exploration and non linear story progression.

loved every minute of it, yes it has bugs, some even game breaking (not to the point you have to make a whole new save but to the point that you have to back out/restart the game) but the amount of content, the overall polish and communication from the devs via twitter/discord/reddit or even on the forums is superb and i truly hope that other EA projects learn from this.

As of writing this review there are 111 monsters, some can be used as mounts, some as "battle tanks" for the lack of a better description, some can fly, some provide buffs and collecting all of them is immensely fun, using them in battle is a bit hit or miss tho, first some are clearly stronger than others, second even with the command menu to make them attack monsters aggressively or the ones that you attack it sometimes seems to not work.

My biggest issue by far as of now is the lack of sound effects, or better put, ambient music and the lack of changing weather, there is a sound effect that constantly makes me think it's about to rain but it doesn't and i guess if that is my biggest issue then the game is actually well put together and esp for that price it offers so much to enjoy solo or in co-op.

TL;DR worth? Yes definitely!

did do nothing in co-op so actually did do something dev pls fix clearly game breaking bug

review for steam awards: better with a friend category

needs a fox girl skin humu humu~
キツネのコスチュームが欲しい~

so far it's been a blast, no technical issues, no crashes, no nothing, hard to believe this is a AAA release in this day and age, literally the only thing so far that bothers me is that hogwarts is a bit too quiet imho, i think more idle chatter between students would be great or more white noise, wind sounds, wood cracking, faint foot steps etc and the rain sounds need to be louder like seriously they're basically non existent.

If anything changes my perspective of this in the future through story development etc i'll update the review to reflect said changes in perception but at least so far 100% worth it.