Recent reviews by artwaste

I've been playing this game since its first release, Early Access. I've seen the changes and modifications made over all this time, and overall I'm pleased with this game. The developers have done a great job listening to the fanbase to add new items/decorations, and have even changed the way other things work.

Graphics 10/10
The character design, structures, foliage, action scenes, atmosphere, and all the items have a wonderful look, each tailored to every individual item. Each base item has its own unique characteristics, as well as their upgraded forms. Armor, weapons, consumables, and the like are no exception. The devs put a lot of time into the look of this game.

Music 10/10
The music is subtle, and never seems to distract from what I am doing at the time (exploring, fighting, decorating, etc). All the tracks feel very vampiric, without the Hollywood cheesy factor. On a side note, they have announced pre-orders for the OST on vinyl. For all us vinyl nerds, that's an added bonus.

Gameplay/Bugs 10/10
Everything runs fairly smoothly, most of the time. Occasionally characters will get themselves trapped behind things, and I've lost items due to them being out of reach (this has only happened twice). Overall, the things the game has you do and the way you do them makes sense, and is pretty straight-forward. I haven't encountered any bugs really, and nothing I've done has been game-breaking. However, I play solo so I'm not sure if that changes when playing on a server with multiple people.
Side note: to anyone new to V Rising, this bit won't matter to you. The devs did change a key thing in the game which a lot of V veterans are complaining about. Specifically, they've changed the spells. They are unlocked from different bosses, and in a point-skill style. As you defeat certain bosses, you'll get points to unlock certain skills. You will unlock them all if you defeat all the bosses that give points. In my opinion, this major change to the skills was different, but it didn't change the love I have for playing this game. It changed the way I played it until I unlocked the skills I always use, but this was a minor irritation that I got over quickly.

Difficulty 10/10
You have the ability of modifying the mechanics to a degree. For example, ore nodes can yield more or less materials depending on how much you tweak the settings. The same goes for difficulty, player health, damage dealt, damage received, blood drain rate, etc. You can essentially tailor the gameplay difficulty to your skill level. If you want a leisure playthrough, you can nerf the challenges. If you want something that presents a greater challenge, you can do that too. There's also a Brutal mode for all you challenge nuts out there.

Overall 11/10
This game has been a blast to play. I cannot recommend this game enough to anyone that enjoys this style of game.

So I tried to like this game despite some issues I'd foreseen in play-ability from other gamer's YouTube videos. But like a bull, I saw those red flags and charged. This game has the potential to be a pretty cute, fun, and even relaxing game, but as it is, I've never wanted to smash my keyboard more. Without further ado, here are my thoughts on this game:

Graphics 7/10:
The graphics are cute for the most part, but rather mediocre. If you like staring at reddish-orange sand for most of your game time, (and your eyes aren't prone to hurting from prolonged exposure to those colors unlike mine) then this tidbit won't matter much to you. As for me, I keep too many sharp objects near my desk which I'm tempted to use to dislodge my eyes from their ocular cavities to want to play this game longer than I already have.

Music 7/10:
Cute, but mediocre. I almost forget there even is any music playing while I'm running around.

Controls 3/10:
Ever thought you'd have to "line up your shot" just to remove dirt and place it somewhere else? Look no further. I can't count the number of times I'd have to walk in circles just to get the damn cursor placement to fall on the block I was aiming for. You can also do a 180 in mid-air if you fancy that, which does come in handy for combat. The camera angles are actually pretty good, and walking is fine, but heaven help you when you want to build or decorate. This is especially true when you want to plant fruit trees (you have to dig up a square of dirt, throw 1 bit of fruit in the hole, then place the dirt back on top; yeah, fun).

Combat 2/10:
This game reminds me of Stardew Valley, except Stardew Valley allows the player to equip stylish shoes and rings that help you tank hits. But not Dinkum. As far as I can tell this game has you relying on boosts you get from eating meals you cook, which many of the ingredients aren't easy to obtain (at least to make cooking worth-while). I figure you can tank about 2 croc hits, but that third one is iffy. I found Halo attack-jumping quite useful for combat, but that method isn't fool-proof. Considering you do a fair bit of killing things that are trying to kill you, I would've thought the devs would've incorporated some sort of armor.

Crafting 3/10:
Grinding for materials is a staple feature with any crafting game, so you can expect that here. What I didn't expect, is for this game to make the material-gathering so tedious since you burn through your energy bar rapidly from using any of your tools to do anything. And that includes when you miss. If you're trying to catch a bug, make sure you're lined up correctly because both your energy and the tool's health bar will get depleted. I also didn't expect this game to make crafting in Staxel seem like a dream. Need 40 planks of wood? Guess what, you get to spend the very finite amount of time in this game's day/night cycle clicking that damn saw table 40 damn times. The same goes for cooking fruits, veggies, and meats in the BBQ or by way of the campfire. As far as I've gotten into the game, I don't see any sort of automation. You can speed up the process of certain tasks, but you're still going to be clicking each and every time.

Economy 1/10:
This game doesn't exactly have an economy in the sense that if you sell a bunch of one item, the demand lowers, and thus the amount of currency it's worth decreases. However, the townspeople require you to build them permanent shops which cost exorbitant amounts of Dinks (the currency). Each time you request a deed to build these stupid things, the mayor lady tells you how much money it will put the town in debt. The mayor lady also lets you know that everyone will help pay off the debt, which is true, but when a building puts you 250k in debt and the townsfolk donate tiny bits here or there, you're basically in charge of paying the bulk. It's easy enough to collect things to hock, and you can make a decent bit of cash selling all the items you find with the metal detector, but those items are also building materials so doing that often times works against you.

Overall 4/10:
Like I said, I wanted to like this game, but between the aforementioned qualms I have with this game, and my general patience for crafting games, I realized this game frustrates me beyond any desire I have for playing it further. I've been playing it a few hours each day for about a week, and I seem to be getting less and less happy playing this game. The only thing that does make me happy in this game is catching bugs. And also weakening the sharks enough that they swim from you in fear, which I then chase after them because I'm petty and vengeful. Did I mention swimming uses energy? Go figure.

Let me preface this review first by letting everyone who reads know that I do not care about the politics circling this game, or what anyone's views are regarding said politics. I am interested in this game as a fan of Harry Potter, and of fantasy rpg games. That being said, I will only discuss game-related content and/or issues in this review.

Graphics & Sound: 9.5/10
Sadly, I am playing this game with a graphics card that falls short of minimum requirements. However, I'm of the NES/SNES generation, so a game's graphics have never been the sole reason for me to play a game. Even on low settings, I still find this game to be extraordinarily beautiful, and the world feels like a real place, and very lived-in. The music is enchanting, and several times during my play-throughs I found myself standing around just listening to the music. The only thing I didn't like, is the player character's voice. It sounds odd, like as if the studio didn't record the dialogue in a proper setting. I've heard the same thing while watching other streamers' game plays, and possibly only irks me as I've not heard anyone else mention this.

Gameplay: 9/10
While the game's mechanics and controls are easy to learn and easy to master, there were a few glitches/bugs that I experienced, though none were game-breaking. Certain side quests would get glitched, and a quick reload from a previous save quickly fixed the issue. I'm sure with a few updates things would probably run smoother, but the glitches that I encountered in no way deterred me from continuing with gameplay.

Storyline: 10/10
The main storyline is definitely engaging. I found myself dying to get to the next part, whether it was the main storyline or a side quest. You get a pretty good sense of the characters, their personalities, and even the world.

Overall, I'd say this is one of the funnest games I've played in a long time, and has certainly left its mark. I think this game will go down as one of the greatest fantasy rpg games of all time. I've completed this game 100%, and I am very glad I bought it. I cannot wait to build a new computer so that I may play the game with the visual impact the developer's intended. I also want to give kudos to the developers, and add that I had almost forgotten how fun fantasy rpg games could be, but this game certainly reminded me why I love fantasy.

This game used to be really fun. It's been a couple years since I've played it, but seeing all the new crap they've added and done to this game, it's sucked all the fun out of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the devs still have an interest in adding content to this game, I just think they should've left it alone. Lots of mutators in the game can help combat the garbage the devs have added, but it can't fix everything. I won't be playing this game ever again, and I recommend you don't waste your time with this game either. It's way too frustrating now, and is not fun imo. At the very least, wait until it's on sale (heavily discounted) before you waste money on it.

Are you looking for a super fun way to relax and relieve that pent-up stress? Ever wonder what it'd be like to kill annoying party-goers? Have you ever thought to yourself, "... let's pour gasoline on this dance floor and really get this place lit?" Then look no further! This game has all that, and more! I find this game affords me a wonderful ability to relieve the stresses of my work week from dealing with all the idiots in a fun, yet musical way. The music is full-on eargasm, and the game play never gets old. The graphics are delightful, and there are hardly any bugs to speak of. Not to mention the amazing replay value this game has. I highly recommend getting this game should you like to partake of these festivities.

The menu user-interface was awful. I spent the whole time trying to log-in, create a character, start a server, just to have the game tell me I was disconnected from the server which forced the game to close. Very frustrated with this game. Not interested in playing a game (free-to-play or not) that is a hassle just to log-in. There are better free-to-play MMOs out there.

Let me start off by saying that Steam really needs to consider a 3rd option when recommending games to people. This game is fun, and I kind of enjoy playing it, but there are some major things (imo) that warrant a "do not recommend" review, or rather a "recommend this game unless..."

Pros:
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics are cute and colorful and the 3D pixel character designs are fun. Some blocks' graphics glitch through other blocks which can sometimes ruin a certain look the player is trying to achieve with his/her build. There's quite a large selection of blocks to use in your builds, and I'm sure through modding there are vastly more blocks to pick from. You can also rotate some blocks.

Music: 10/10
The music tracks in this game are fantastic. It's Starbound meets Minecraft with a dash of Stardew Valley sprinkled on top.

Character Customization: 10/10
From the start you can choose from 3 different races: human, elf, or caith (cat). You have a nice variety of colors to choose from when selecting your skin tone and hair color. They also give you an ample selection of hairstyles and facial expressions. There are also several different types of garments to pick from at the start, and even more to unlock/purchase as you progress through the game.

Gameplay: 7/10
The controls are standard (WASD directional, space for jump, i/e for inventory, etc). You can remap keys if you wish and I think you might be able to use a controller with this game (not 100% certain on that). Progressing through the game is pretty simple albeit irksome in some instances. Crafting-related missions are this game's bane as the crafting system is horrendous (I'll expand upon this later). This game does still have some glitches/crashing going on, but it seems the devs are still trying to tackle bugs as well as add new content. Also, this game is not so much a 'crafting game' so much as it is a 'purchasing blocks' kind of game. In fact, you really can't craft any of the blocks (save a few), and you rely on your farming to make money to afford blocks/furniture. It's pretty easy to amass a small fortune early on, but can be difficult for users new to this style of gameplay. This game is similar to Stardew Valley in the sense that you have days and you have a start time and a sleep time. Unlike Stardew Valley, you can quit your game at any time and all your progress will be saved instead of only at the start of a new day. You can ignore the game when it tells you that you're "feeling sleepy" and keep working. You cannot die in this game, nothing hurts you, there's no health/food bar, so the only thing that will happen is you'll "pass out" and the game will show the usual end-of-day screen. After this you will wake exactly where you had been.

Cons:

Crafting System: 3/10
As I mentioned before, the crafting system in this game is horrendous. Luckily you can avoid crafting a lot of things if you opt for purchasing items instead. There are about a dozen or so different crafting stations that you utilize for crafting different things. This is extremely annoying when you have to use multiple crafting stations in order to achieve the end result (this is especially true with cooking/baking). For most of the crafting stations you have two sides of the station: the left side which allows you to place up to 4 materials, and the right side which is the end result. There are actually a few recipes that require the same materials, and there is no way to choose which one you want to craft UNLESS you go to your crafting menu and pin the recipe your screen. This tells the game that you want to build "XYZ Furniture" and it will guide you through the materials and quantities you need to complete each step. This doesn't sound like it warrants such a negative review, but trust me, it's much more annoying when you play it firsthand. A word to the wise: if you craft an item and the recipe step doesn't change to the next step, it means you have to craft multiple of that exact item.

Daily Time Lapse: 4/10
The days go by in this game SUPER FAST. Why is this such a problem you ask? The year is broken down into 4 seasons, and in each season are certain events. The events are fun to partake in but if you have other things you're trying to get done (i.e. finishing that building you were working on), it's best to choose what gets put on the back burner. In order to make oodles of cash to afford the blocks/furniture you need to complete building missions, you need to farm. A lot. You should turn your starting farm area into a giant area for crops. But you'll also have to build a barn, and once you do that, you'll have 2 cows to take care of. You have to pet them daily or the heifers get all moody. So, between taking care of crops and farm animals, you're looking at half the day being gone at least. If you want to give the townsfolk gifts to improve their liking of you, that will also take a bit of overall daylight from you. The point I'm getting at with all of this is: work REALLY fast. Really.

Lighting: 5/10
The ceiling lights are dim and yellow, and the windows in this game have opaque glass that you can't see in or out of whatsoever. Pretty much all floor lamps and regular lamps are super bright, but this too has its own problem. If you have super bright lights in your build, it will cause other things like shelves and furniture nearby to darken. This is especially true if you try to use lamps inside Leif's or Aliza's stores. It's very difficult to see items on the shelves.

Block Variety: 6/10
The blocks in this game are really cute and colorful. But for some reason there aren't that many to choose from overall. For a game centered around building, this seems like a pretty big oversight. However, with mods you can circumvent this little grievance, unless you're like me and don't want to mod the crap out of a game in order to make it what it should be right off the bat.

Online Help: 3/10
Enjoy Wikis? You will be very disappointed here. The Staxel Wiki is awful. Most of the pages don't exist, so trying to find help on the Wiki will often times lead nowhere. Even when you do find something you're looking for, there's a good chance the info on the Wiki is incorrect either in its entirety or just partially. This forces you to search Steam for help, or it puts your Googling/YouTubing skills to the test. There are a few people that randomly add bits of info to the Wiki, but I don't know that any of the devs have dedicated their time to making the Wiki useful.

Other things to note: if you go mining, bring a lot of lamps. The block placement structure is very weird. You can break 1 block and walk over the hole with absolutely ZERO chance of falling in. Your character is 2-blocks wide, but trying to fall into a 2-block wide path that you're in the process of constructing is difficult and can be super frustrating. You can actually dig a 3x3 area and still have difficulty falling into the hole.

OVERALL: 6/10
As of writing this review, I have 160 hours invested into this game, and that number will very likely increase. I do enjoy this game, but I cannot see myself ever spending time trying to get all the achievements or even completing the game in its current state. I do recommend this game to those that have read my long-winded review and still find that the pros outweigh the cons. For those that have read the cons and felt like you might second-guess your decision, I recommend NOT playing this game. Or at the very least, get it when it is on sale. Do also keep in mind that you can always play a little bit and if you still don't like it, you can request a refund.

Graphics: 10/10
Super cute pixel graphics, what more could you ask for in a game like this? Beautiful colors, TONS of decorating items; it's a builder's paradise.
Controls: 9/10
The controls handle well most of the time, but nailing the jumping can sometimes get tricky when switching from a different game to this one. I find I over/under compensate a lot, but eventually get the hang of it again.
Combat: 7/10
Not the best game for combat, but not the worst. You can get your butt handed to you in a New York minute if you're not careful. Carry lots of extra blocks on you, including ladders and bridges. It'll save your butt more than you know.
Music: 10/10
LOVE the music in this game. Super catchy, very diverse; put it on your phone for a fun playlist.
Single Player: 6/10
Likes to crash a fair bit. Annoying, but I haven't encountered as many problems as when I play co-op.
Co-op/Multiplayer: 0/10
See below.

I played this game when it was first released on iOS way back when, and it was super fun. Imagine my excitement when I discovered it was being released on Steam. Bought it immediately, played it 'til my fingers broke. I had over 400 hours invested in this, decided to take a break and come back later. It's later now, and to my dismay this game has down a swan dive into the toilet. Constant crashes and bugs are headed your way. Every time my sister and I would play co-op through Steam and the game crashed, BAM we would lose virtually everything. The progress on our map, the items, our character inventory. It would revert back to the earliest save point, regardless of how many times the game would autosave, and we would manually save. If your goals are to play this game with a friend, I advise you to get a different game. If you're planning on playing single player, I still don't recommend this game but at the very least you should ONLY purchase it on sale. I wouldn't count on updates or fixes as it appears this cute game (with amazing potential) has been abandoned by its developers. Nothing has been done on their end for over a year.

My Overall Rating: 42/60 C-

First, let me start off by saying that I am typing this entire review with my middle fingers. Second, I don't normally write reviews, so I'll try to keep this short (forgive any rants that may happen). Like an idiot, I purchased this game after reading several positive and negative reviews here on Steam, thinking about all the negative reviews as: "Eh, I think I can look past all or most of that". I have never played any of this game's predecessors, so with that in mind, I have nothing to compare it to in the way of the older versions.

Combat/Steath
The combat in this game is very easy to under stand, this button + this button makes you dodge in this direction, etc. A very simplistic version of Assassin's Creed combat, more similar, to me, to Dishonored (a GREAT favorite of mine). It is fun knocking people around with your medieval nightstick. I was satisfied with all of the tools and gadgets at my disposal, with an exception of the flash bomb. I felt it to be utterly useless. Whenever I used it in a pinch, the guards always followed me to my hiding spot, so I never saw the point in using it. I was GREATLY disappointed with the stealth in this game, as sneaking around plundering/killing are a few of my favorite things. The stealth bit was accurate; guard perifs, sudden movements, etc. My qualms are the lack of stealth routes one could take to reach his/her destination. For this game seemingly to be "open-world", I felt it to be very confined and restricting, and because of that, I felt this game did not want the player getting too creative in tactical kills, above takedowns, the overall shoot-this-guy-with-an-arrow-to-the-face-then-run-up-a-building-to-hide-on-the-rooftops bit.

Storyline/Characters
Again, because I never played any previous games of this series, I can't compare it as being worse or better than its predecessors. Seeing as how I don't feel there is really any originality left to be had in this wolrd in ways of video game/film/tv miniseries storylines, I felt this one to be a bit predictable, but still entertaining. There's nothing more alluring than playing a video game where you get to be the Jackie Chan of all Robin Hoods, thieving from the rich to... hoard the loot all for yourself? Sounds realistic, but hang on, "Jackie Chan of all Robin Hoods"? NO. Garrett is more like a really cool ninja with a spastic case of down-syndrome that often results in self-termination. "What do you mean?" you say? Well, I find it VERY difficult to understand how a man in such superb physical condition, who can scale walls, climb pipes, use a prehistoric Batclaw to reach new heights and to rappel - who can do all of that - but who dies instantly if the nipple-head falls more than 15 feet. Tuck and roll, Garrett. I am also amazed at how many times Garrett would leap to his death, even though there was a a rope (that he himself attached to a wooden beam) an arm's length away. Outstanding. Next time, do us all a favor and tie a loop at the end of that rope. As for Erin (your sidekick?), I felt her character to be that typical annoying female who is betrayed by her fellow man (a thief by the way, since when did thieves have principles?) and can't seem to let go of things, and wants the world to be as miserable as she is. I would've liked to push her ass off the first building I met her on. She's young, not as masterful as Garrett, but naturally has that young person "invincible" mentality, which causes the whole first mention to go tits-up. Good job, Gaylord. Basso, your fat friend who has all the hook-ups for dirty deeds that need doing, is your typical on-the-sidelines sidekick. He didn't seem to have much character development, which doesn't matter in the big picture. He's friends with Garrett, 'nuff said. I didn't care enough about the other characters to write my thoughts on them, so moving on...

Other Game Aspects
As with a good portion of the negative reviews, I too was very annoyed with the lack of a "cancel" button when climbing through windows. I don't know how many times I went through a window thinking it was a different window leading to a different part of the map, only to realize immediately after holding the "open window" button. I did like that you could pretty much save your game whenever you wanted, except when the baddies were on high-alert. I always hated games with check-point saves. The spookiness of the asylum level was brilliant; I jumped in my seat a couple times. I'm not fond of the overall cloudiness or fogginess that seems to linger around that entire game. Turning up the brightness doesn't help much, and makes the rest of the gameplay feel bright in all the bad ways. I was also not thrilled by the torches in the game, not the ones sort of shielded by the metal grates, but the wooden torches that are fully exposed. I can't understand why Garrett couldn't grab those ones from the wall and stamp them out, or even douse them in a puddle of water (there were plenty of puddles to choose from).

Overall this game left me very angry, and with an empty hole in my wallet. I did get it on sale, thankfully, but would NOT recommend anyone else get this game. The cons definitely outweighed the pros for this game. I made myself complete it because I was curious if it would get better. But it didn't. It sucked, right through the final chapter.