Recent reviews by DiceRollingProgram

Buy this game now so we get the full version in 2 years

Alright, I don't often leave a review. But I've logged almost 100 hours in this game, and as as a grown ass old fart with a mortgage and a demanding career, that says something. I don't log hours like that like I did when I was younger.

If you don't know much about this game, you'll stumble across this page and probably do what I do: Read the reviews. You'll scratch your head about what appears to be drama... Something about a marriage system... And a lot of people with an ~1 hr of game play defending the system. You, the intelligent being you are, recognize that something is afoot.

So, first off, let me tell you how much I really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ love this game.

- As someone who loves dwarf fortress, kenshi, rimworld, and a lil' project zomboid. Holy hell, this game is my absolute and utter jam. Imagine the basebuilding of rimworld, the world building of dwarf fortress, and some pieces from project zomboid scattered throughout.
- Your world feels unique, special, and only for you. You forge a story throughout this world, and as mechanisms are added that scale the "political breadth" of the game (such as the soon to release war update) it will only get even better.
- Settlement management is a blast. Seriously, I love scouting for locations, building settlements, and there's a focus on settlement trade, so you can specialize these settlements. As an example, my first settlement is a bread basket, pumping out tons of wheat and food. I then use this to fund/feed my second settlement, a mithril mine high up in the mountains. Love it, love everything about it.
- While dying blows chunks for sure, the family/legacy system is pretty cool. When you die, you take over as your heir a'la Crusader Kings. You inherit their lands (settlements) and such so you can keep the party rolling, and you'll even take some of those traits from your mom/dad that they spent so long developing!
- The dev is passionate, and for the most part sticking to roadmaps. They love their game and it's clear.
- Is the game done? No. Buy this game now to make sure we get more of it. This game is going to be a big one someday soon, I know it for sure.
- Really, if you like games where you can build your own lore, do whatever you want, explore, build bases, build settlements with NPCs running around collecting stuff for you and making you rich, just buy it now. Really. Put money in this guys account so he can keep building this -- I can only imagine what this title will look like one year from now!

The drama:
You may be wondering why I'm bringing this up. Again -- You, the observant intelligent reader, most likely notice a lot of weird reviews. Maybe caught some drama on youtube. All good.

I believe that video games are art. Art should be criticized, we should be critical of it, and that includes being critical of the artist. That is, after all, the caliber that art requires. Soulash 2 is art, I will argue that to the day I die, and therefore, it is important that we assess it critically. I think very few people would disagree with me that Soulash 2 deserves the same critical discussion that any piece of outstanding art should recieve.

For the record, I'm queer as all F---. Seriously.

The artist/dev introduced the long awaited "marriage/family" system recently, allowing you to produce an heir that you may respawn as after death as described earlier. I won't get into the details, but people requested that queer couples be permitted within the game. Some people attacked some people, then they attacked back, but whatever. That's the long story short.

It led to a dramatic exchange on twitter and other communication channels. The dev in particular was fairly loud, expressing that they didn't believe in gay marriage.

Now, as a self described queer as f---, did that hurt me? Yeah, kind of, but it does not detract from the art itself. I am critical of how the artist dealt with the situation. To me their response felt abrasive: A statement of "This isn't within my original vision of the game, but I encourage the modding community to have at it, I worked hard to make sure the game was modable" would have gone much farther. For this, I admit, I am critical. I am leaving a passionately positive review for this piece of fine art, but even then, I will admit, I found the words of this artist frustrating. They were really off mark, and they upset me. Not because same sex relationships were not included (I literally never expected them to be), but how he dealt with it. But hey, I know first hand that I haven't dealt with everything thrown at me perfectly, so who am I to judge.

If that is of issue for you, then I understand full well your position to not support this work of art. But please, allow me to remind you that as important as it is that we criticize art critically, that we also know to separate the art from the artist. If we failed to do that, we wouldn't go to museums.

TLDR:
- Great game. Highly recommend. Buy it now so we get the full game later down the line!!! I've recommended this game to three friends IRL and now we're all obsessed with it.
- Don't worry about the drama. Could of been handled better but whatever, life goes on.

Awesome art, gameplay is hard but remarkable rewarding. The lack of hand holding makes a great experience.

SO MUCH F'N HEART IT MAKES ME CRY I LOVE YOU CONCERNEDAPE

It's been 10-12 years since me and all my friends have laughed and screamed this loudly on VOIP. This is a game that's made for one this: fun

I don't know how to explain it. The game is an experience which has undoubtably changed me in profound ways, though I am not certain I fully yet understand why or how. Never before have I found myself so absorbed, enraptured, by a story; one which has touched a particular handful of lives, and whose similar nature has touches many, many more.

I can't speak for the specifics, I can only speak for the aggregate of it all: Play it, and find it yourself.

We need more games like this.