Recent reviews by comfort

This is the kind of game where most reviews are incredibly misleading. I've seen some comparisons to Risk of Rain 2, which I don't really understand outside of maybe the aesthetics, which even then is mostly limited to the fact that both take place on alien planets and feature robots as playable characters. The closest thing I can thing of is that it captures the mission-based, horde-shooter gameplay of Deep Rock Galactic, while fixing many of the gripes I have with the aforementioned title--and it mixes in a lot of different mechanics from other, familiar giants in the shooter genre.

What you will find, however, is that this is a game that checks many different boxes for what I, and I feel like many others, consider crucial features:
- Fluid movement with a high skill ceiling, paired with laser accurate hip-fire a'la the Titanfall series. You can get some serious speed going when you get the hang of each character's movement options, all while maintaining great accuracy. While I wish there were more movement tools that could assist teammates mid-fight (right now there is seemingly only the Junker's grapple-hook-tower-slingshot-thingie), I'm sure those will come as new playable characters get added.
- A deep and expansive upgrade system, with a huge amount of build variety. On top of the many guns this game has to offer, just like in DRG, some upgrades can completely change how a weapon or tool functions to allow for creative build-crafting. I actually picked up an upgrade for my DMLR that adds the ability for the laser mode to heal my teammates, while still being able to take upgrades that add damage to my laser, or allow it to incinerate enemies--meaning I can pivot to being a medic when the time calls for it, or I can continue blasting enemies with it, burning them to a crisp. This is just one example--don't get me started on my SMG-turned-chaingun that shreds cores with handy tracking missiles.
- All upgrades and materials are collectable mid-round, meaning if you explore enough, you can get lots of resources very quickly. While upgrades that you pickup are randomized (which feels very looter-shooter-y), you get quite a bit of them at a time, meaning it doesn't take long before you can start to do some really wacky stuff. I only have 6 hours in the game so far, as of writing this review, and I was able to create all of the aforementioned weapon builds.
- Each class feels pretty capable since they have a shared weapon pool, meaning you don't have to feel pigeonholed into a certain role. At the end of the day, most of the gameplay revolves around shooting, shooting, and more shooting. No matter which class you play, you don't feel remarkably weaker than anyone else--even the Glider, which is the "healer" class of this game, can dish out enormous damage with her rockets. While some people say it might make the classes feel a tad homogonized, I think everyone having similar capabilities in terms of combat makes for a much more enjoyable time for everyone involved.
- There are lots of secrets in the game--some funny, some that give you new tools and such. The environments they are found in--the stages you actually fight on--are absolutely massive and very beautiful. I won't spoil anything in here, of course. Additionally, a lot of the dialogues you also find yourself experiencing are injected with a certain kind of humor and charm that feels somewhat like "old" Borderlands without any of the "cringe"-factor.
- The game is really well optimized, and I've personally nary encountered any notable bugs. No crashes, no frameskips, no connection issues--nothing. The only thing that I've seen others have mentioned in their reviews, is occasional desync/disconnect issues with some randoms inside of public matchmaking, but I haven't really used that much so I can't personally speak about it. I feel like people tend to leave this sort of topic out of their reviews when a game doesn't have these issues, but in an industry where games, especially those in EA, are so frequently released riddled with horrible bugs, crashes, and bad optimizations, I think it is really important to highlight games that get it right.

That being said, I'll leave some warnings below:
- Do you get motion sick easily, or are you prone to headaches? You might want to avoid this title, or at least keep an eye on the refund timer. This game can feel pretty disorienting to some people--even I, a gamer with thousands of hours in many different titles including movement shooters, sometimes have to take a short break every now and then because of minor headaches.
- There isn't a huge variety of enemies available currently--but what else can you expect from a game that just entered early access. The modular nature of enemies, however, adds a lot to each individual encounter and makes you really think about how you want to approach each fight, or might require you to alter your movement a certain way to dodge their attacks. Though, I do wish the enemies were a little more visually distinct--it takes some time to cultivate the instinct to shoot at the "cores" of enemies when they don't particularly stand out at first, let alone have any faces or identifying marks, since most are covered in a dull, grey shell.

Overall, Mycopunk is a game that I see myself frequently playing with my friends for quite some time. It scratches a certain itch that I didn't even know was there until after the first couple hours that I started playing and it really started to "click". I'm already losing sleep over how easy it can be to say "one more mission?" and hop back in. I think the game is well worth its current asking price of $15, and so I can wholeheartedly recommend it to others.

Good game so far, but crashes for my friends repeatedly as soon as we reach the second area. Because of this, it kind of brought our evening to a halt. Would appreciate playing this again, if these issues are fixed. If they are, I'll update my review to positive.

EDIT: They fixed all of the problems I had with this game. Thanks devs! I now happily recommend it, and have already got 8 of my friends to buy it to play.

I have nothing bad to say outside of small criticisms when it comes to gameplay--but please, for the love of all that is holy, PLEASE FIX CRASHES! I have multiple friends that are crashing repeatedly during our sessions. I myself have not experienced any hardware crashes, but I have been dc'ed from several matches now for seemingly no reason, and only when I queue solo. Not to mention, queue times are absolutely abysmal! There's simply not enough time in the day to sit around and afk for 10 minutes just to find a match. If they could fix these issues, I would be playing this game much, much more, in addition to recommending it to more people. However, these issues seriously hamper my enjoyment of what the game has to offer. Thankfully they at least added duo queue, so please just refocus your efforts on these problems!
EDIT: We now have trouble finding a random even if we are duo queue with all nightlords selected. Currently sitting at almost 20 mintues in queue. Yeah, I think I'm done playing this game for now.
EDIT2: Weeks later and still getting constant disconnects, sometimes in the last area, which makes you unable to rejoin the match.

Reminds me of the Overwatch launch "glory days", though it is not without its flaws. I'm afraid this review will be a tad hard to properly structure in order of importance, so instead I'll leave a short bulleted list for pros and cons.

The good:
- It's hard to argue with the low, low price of free for a game that has seen one of the cleanest launches and on-going server stability of its generation. All heroes are unlocked from the start--there is nothing gameplay-related that is locked behind a paywall. Cosmetics are a tad over-priced and low in variety for now, which is disappointing, but to be expected for a game so early in its infancy. The battle pass system works similarly to Helldivers, which some folks like myself enjoy, since you can just unlock exactly which currency/skins you want.
- The heroes are all very fun to play, regardless of role. Matches are exciting rounds of push-and-pull encounters, where it is common for either team to be completely wiped out by competent combinations of ultimates. While some might feel that is unbalanced, there are many characters that counter one another so proper team composition can give you a massive advantage, which also discourages "one-tricking". (Even though people do that anyways...) If you are the type of player who likes exciting, chaotic, large-scale team fights, then this game is for you. If you are someone who has trouble focusing on many things at once, or simply wants to chill out, you might feel completely lost at times.
- Matchmaking times are lightning fast, and menu UIs and in-game HUDs are very readable while still being stylish. Rivals really feels like the "complete package"--very sleek, and incredibly charming. Some might associate Chinese studios and publishers with "aesthetics first, gameplay second" (I know that I do.. you wouldn't catch me dead playing a "gacha" game), this game by NetEase is certainly an outlier.

The bad:
- Some of the worst behavior I've ever witnessed online is absolutely rampant in this game. If you have thin-skin, I suggest turning chat off completely to preserve your sanity. And no, I'm not talking about generic videogame trash talk. People of *every role*, in *every gamemode* will tell you to uninstall, "rope" yourself, stop breathing, and they'll throw in plenty of slurs while they do it--it is frankly ridiculous. I've played games that are considered to be some of the most "toxic" in the industry, like League of Legends, CS:GO, and Overwatch, and they honestly don't even come close. The moderation team for this game really needs to step up, but with the sheer number of players it is shaping up to be a monumental task. For now the best you can do is just ignore it, and keep a cool head.
- Optimization is pretty bad. I typically have to restart my game every handful of matches, likely due to some kind of memory leak. I've noticed certain particles, like Thor's electricity, tend to make my frames drop consistently in large battles. When these things aren't getting in the way, the game typically performs very well and visual clarity is great. Do yourself a favor and minimize the downsides as little as possible by adjusting your video settings accordingly.
- Hero balance, especially for DPS, feels very unfair. Don't get me wrong, almost every hero can be made to "work" in the right hands, but there are very clearly some stand out champs that outshine the rest of the cast. This is a problem that most hero shooters deal with, but it is also one that can be easily remedied.

Overall, I would recommend this game. There is more I could write, but I think these are the big hitters. I think this game has a lot of potential if the developers capitalize off of its popularity and appeal properly. Give it one last coat of polish and it will be one of the greatest hero shooters on the market.

I admittedly first got this game as a joke between friends... but now, I'm hooked. Surprisingly great combat, buttery movement, decent balance, and the developer is communicative on Discord--fixing things, making changes, and giving sneak peeks for more content. This game has a lot of promise if it continues to regularly receive new content; the suggestive characters are just an obvious plus on what is already a very complete package. I would recommend this game at full price of $10 in it's current state.

Locations are gorgeous, enemies have great designs, and the new armor and weapons are some of the coolest and best designed that FromSoft has put out in a long time, and the story is amazing. That all being said, I am giving a negative review for one reason:
Performance issues. I'm no stranger to Elden Ring having the occasional stutter or drop in frames--however, this DLC has it *REALLY* bad. It is common for my frames to drop into the 30-40 range during certain boss attacks/phases (likely because of the sheer number of particles/effects on-screen). Normally it wouldn't be such a big deal, but many of the bosses in this game (certainly the first two, and maybe the rest if you aren't finding every single fragment tucked away in the map) will kill you in two hits max, even with 50+ vigor, due to the way the new scaling system works. I'm all for difficult bosses, but when I feel like I'm losing due to a lack of visual clarity, there is a problem. For context, I have the latest drivers, and my specs are well within recommended specs.