Recent reviews by Atomic_Toaster

It's a great open world RPG with tons of freedom, including a wonderful marriage/family system that doesn't really need that much else added to it ;-). Props to the dev for sticking to their vision and focusing on what actually matters.

It's more Elden Ring, what else can I say? If that hasn't sold you on getting this DLC already than it might not be for you however. There's a couple design decisions that really shake up the core progression of your character and due to how high the difficulty is set, this can make for a frustrating experience.

Farming runes to level up is no longer the main way to make yourself stronger, now you have to hunt for items scattered across the new areas to give your character a direct boost to damage and defense. The exploration is a lot of fun as all the different regions have very distinct themes and look amazing. Yet, this creates a gating effect to certain areas where you are expected to have found a large number of these upgrade materials, and many of these areas can be accessed very early on by accident. If basic enemies are doing a lot of damage and you are dying a lot, you may need to come back to this area later and explore somewhere else.

I can see how a lot of people wont like this sort of design and the game doesn't really feel open until you have found a certain number of these upgrade items. It makes the whole DLC feel like you have to do your chores first before you can start having fun. Once you do get to that point however, you are in for some of the best content gaming has to offer.

If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, that's fine. This DLC is hard as nails and the devs were very clear about this pre-release. Going in with an over leveled character is highly recommended. Don't worry, you wont make the experience too easy as everything is overtuned to hell and back. If you are new to this type of game, I'd suggest holding off on buying this DLC until playing through the base game first. If you like the base game enough and are up for a challenge, then you there's a good chance Shadow of the Erdtree is worth your time.

...and to all of the people leaving a bad review because you think the game is too hard or designed badly, I get it...but grow up. There is some stuff in this game that I hate and see as unfair but the devs did explicitly state that the content in this DLC is targeted to players who had gotten to end game...and you know what kind of game you are playing right? Every Fromsoftware Souls-like has had it's own fare share of unfair stuff that you just have to learn how to adapt to. You'll get mad, that's for sure, but it shouldn't reflect on your perception of the actual quality of the game.

The PSN account requirement was walked back so back to shooting stuff.

Ah yes. The good one...again.

Even if you're a Saudi Oil Baron, you are better off playing Baldur's Gate 3 instead.

This game lets me put the largest most ridiculously, obnoxiously cumbersome hunks of steal on to the most comically minute of handles...and then I get to beat things to death with them.

If you like blowing stuff up while piloting a giant robot, this is the game for you.
If you like optimizing a massive high performance death machine in order to get the high score on every mission, this is the game for you.
If you like spending hours in the garage painting and customizing your hot pink polka-dotted super-sonic war crime, this is the game for you.
If you like being challenged and are actually capable of adapting your play-style instead to trying brute force a wide variety of missions and bosses with the same build, this is the game for you.
If you like reading negative reviews left behind by 40 year olds with failing reflexes complaining about how there's too much Soul in this game, you don't need to buy the game to experience that but I still think this is the game for you.
If you aren't afraid of the occasional cheep death and want a new experience that comes along with a bit of trial and error, you might like this game.

However, if you are a so called vet of the series and are expecting something that plays like driving a rocket powered forklift, you are going to be disappointed by how good it feels to play this game. But don't you worry, I'm sure the retirement home you currently reside in has a working PS1 and a copy of Master of Arena lying around somewhere.

An amazing port of an amazing game. It's so good, Risk of Rain 2 deleted itself from my game library out of shame.

I get to bonk even shinier lizards now

8/10

Step 1: Equip stick
Step 2: Eat
Step 3: Bonk shiny lizard
Step 4: Use shiny lizard parts to make bigger stick
Step 5: Eat
Step 6: Bonk bigger shiny lizard with bigger stick
Step 7: Use bigger shiny lizard parts to make even bigger stick
Step 8: Eat
Step 9: Get knocked out by biggest shiny lizard
Step 10: Stay home and pet doggo

Rating: 7/10