Recent reviews by Smirok Gambeson

Small game worth its $5 price, I hope they add more to the game and improve on its issues. I've found enemies get stuck occasionally (usually in doorways) and clip into each other. The game's got some optimization issues, which are only really an issue in the latter two maps you unlock by completing the game's objectives. There's an awful lot of running into enemies and hardly any instances of enemies running into you or hunting you down. Leaning is impractical because it doesn't jut your perspective too far in the direction. Horizontal input for aiming as you lean translates to diagonal movement, which feels absolutely terrible and needs to be fixed.

Drinks are alright, as they give you passive buffs to your character, but they make the character too tanky in higher levels in the mid-to-late game. I would have liked them to give modifiers to your characters to make you stronger in some aspects but weaker in others.

Weapons have to be chambered manually. This also clears jams as weapons will occasionally stovepipe, failing to eject a spent shell. There aren't any other kinds of weapon jams past failure to eject, though. Enemies are armored, but a shot to the chest or limb can stun or knock them down. As long as you keep shooting at them before they can get up, you can effectively stunlock them.

Generally, the game's mechanics are simple, but well-executed. The game has some issues that need ironing out, but the developers seem to be actively working on them.

-Game doesn't have satisfying weapon impact feedback. Killing enemies doesn't feel all that great, especially early in the game when you shred through everything. Tanky enemies don't feel very great fighting in general.
-Progression is slow, not engaging, and takes a lot of time.
-Enemy difficulty throttles in a lot of places, mostly in the open-world maps and nodes in the gas giant planets past Jupiter. (Looking at you, Lephantis.)
-Slots for weapons and Warframes are premium-exclusive. If you want to make and try new things, you'll have to pay real money, barter for premium currency in the game's market, or find someone who does either of the two and is willing to gift you slots.

It REALLY doesn't sit right for me that I need to rely on someone else to enjoy this game. It has a lot of content, and it's very clearly a game that both the developers and the community surrounding the game have a lot of love for. It's just not a very good game in my eyes.

It's not developed by Torn Banner

It's a silly little game, just a smol guy. The combat works as advertised being a "cozy" souls-like, where you don't have to worry about dying in two hits, but you can't just blow through the entire thing with your brain on autopilot. Don't expect a leveling system or complex mechanics beyond managing your stamina in fights. The boomerang is a pretty nice side-weapon, though, and the fact that it can still damage and stun enemies on its return arc allows you to set up with cool moments where you can just whale on an enemy for a lot of damage. The art style is cute, the characters are adorable, and the soundtrack is passable.

The only things about this game I don't like is the lack of audio and visual feedback. You won't know you're in combat until you see the enemy or you see your stamina bar revealed, and sometimes you won't see the enemy before the game decides you've entered combat. Additionally, there's feedback for when you hit the enemy, but not when you get hit yourself. Aside from a white flash on your character's sprite to indicate you've taken damage (and the health bar, obviously), there's no hitstun or sound effect to indicate you've taken damage.

This is not a game that you put hundreds of hours into either dying or exploring. It is short, it is simple, and it is cozy.

I'm deathly allergic to breakcore now thank you Hakita

I physically can't 100% this game and I hate myself for it.

We are so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ back

There really isn't anything about Darktide's core game design that I don't like, it's just got optimization issues. I'd be willing to put much more time into it if the framerate wouldn't bottleneck every time a horde of Poxwalkers or Groaners spawned in. Otherwise, very good game. Does things different enough to deviate from Vermintide 2 while still being the same fun you come to expect from co-op horde shooter experiences.

gives you barely any viable resources for self-defense
kills you
calls you bad at the game

bruh I don't want to spend another $70 dollars
you can't make meEEE