Recent reviews by Zoe Hexe

I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who is put off by earnest sentiment; few games have made me cry this much in a good way. I have minor quibbles, some mechanical jank; lack of quest spacing can often lead to taking two spirits to the Everdoor back to back which blunts the emotional effect, and frankly there could always be more things to do with food if only to give the mid-late game more substance.

Still these are small annoyances. I played through the game twice, once after my mother expectedly passed in 2020, and again this winter to enjoy the new additions. I strongly recommend it to anyone who can engage with it on its own emotional terms. The mechanics, while cozy and enjoyable as advertised, will wear thin for anyone who is maintaining their ironic detachment, or for those who rock a lower empathy baseline.

So I'll get this out of the way; the AI will not always do what you want. The Reviews complaining about rogue hunters not defending well enough and people not running to safety fast enough are not making it up.

With that said - it doesn't really detract from the experience for me; it just replicates the experience of managing a lot of normal people who make mistakes and don't always do things well. It's pretty easy to get a grip on building defenses on the side that matters and making sure that the hunters are focusing on that side. The rest of the description of the game, videos, and other positive reviews also do a good job of describing the slow pace, meditative mood - and unique experience of being very hands on but not really having direct control of anyone but yourself.

Overall I enjoy it a lot. I'm not amazing at it (yet) - but defeating the first island felt like an accomplishement - and it was only just barely - with enemies chasing us down the dock. Grab it on sale or be ready to refund if you're wary - but it plays exactly how the gameplay looks; and it does what's on the tin.

TL;DR - if you need to be really hands on in your strategy game - give this one a hard pass. If you like more indirect rule and a different pace, maybe give it a shot.

To most people I would not recommend this game. Yes I only have an hour - Yes that's as long as I need to form this judgement. I've played survival games and I can see the structure of this thing. Surprise plot twists do not appear to be coming from other reviews and you can see the shape of the late game in the early game. So basically if you REALLY love the idea of this game and don't mind a simple survival game with a lot of crafting and inventory management and a nice atmosphere - have at it. Maybe wait for a sale.

If you want depth in mechanics, more survival based on interaction with environment rather than spending half the game in your menus, or more significant variety in the locations you visit... well - I would pass. It has none of those things; and it commits one of the most cardinal sins of any surival game in my eyes - it consumes basic tools for crafting single items. Sorry but that's a hard no in my book - and I'm sure some others will feel similarly. There are ways to add difficulty to a late game in survival (condition for weapons that can degrade through use or attach like long dark) or more varied locations (procedural generation). Maybe even just removing the safety area from the docks that NO animals seem to be able to penetrate.

Honestly I'm just not sure what this game has that most other survival games don't aside from a unique tone and aesthetic and I'm sorry but that's just not worth the boredom. I should know - I play No Man's Sky.

It does what's on the tin. The benefit of being 2d and having its own distinct art style is that I found it far more engaging than the more popular Dark Souls games. If that sentence makes you disregard my opinion fine - but I found the original game unplayable in how hideous the thing was. The art style here made it playable - but that comes at a cost. 2d necessarily lessens the complexity of combat - there is no way around it. Some of the negative reviews here mention it. I think it becomes extremely relative based on how much you like the style and look of the thing. If you can forgive less complex combat but arguably more style - this might be worth your time. Especially on sale.

If it looks like hot ♥♥♥♥ and you are just looking for more Dark Souls - I would give it a hard pass.

Absolute garbage. Runs like soup strained through a gray filter; bloated and clunky motions and generally ridiculous amounts of problems trying to manage a lan game. Seriously - with three people we only managed to get one game going with everyone in it and when we got into game we were bored or frustrated dur to bad level design and horrible game breaking bugs. I don't even care if it eventually gets better - that hour or so of my life of launching and relaunching and then being angry when the game was actually running was enough that the only remaining regret is that I waited too long after purchase to try an alpha of a game in order to refund.

If the video attached looks great to you buy it on sale but be ready to try and refund asap.

It does what's on the Tin. If you've played Don't Starve and loved it - you will likely enjoy playing it with others.

My only advice is that if you Do NOT love Don't Starve, or its pace - you will not enjoy it suddenly with other people. In fact the sometimes hectic pace will only make it worse. So basically that's the only Caveat. If you love the original and are longing to play with friends this is exactly as good as you think it is.

It is currently everything I wanted from No Man's Sky. Apparently some people were looking for meaning in a procedurally generated universe; but the gleeful nihilism of the current game combined with the slow pace and visuals is more than enough to keep me coming back. I'd advise anyone coming in fresh and worried about the rating to look up what the previous updates have added to the game and find some gameplay footage. The majority of bad reviews here are upset about pre-game hype and broken promises and not the game itself - which is plenty of fun.

If you're sick of crafting mechanics and mining in games I'm not sure I could recommend it - even though there is now a creative mode that removes this aspect of the game I don't personally enjoy it at all.

I'd recommend it on sale without hesitation - especially 50% off or more. I'd recommend it at full price for anyone who likes slow paced exploration and is tired of space games crammed full of fetch quests and melodrama.

This was why I bought the first game. I was initially disappointed by the new world cuts but now that I'm playing they all make sense. All of the conflict there feels as streamlined as the early game conflict in the Old world and it all feels massive.

Optimization isn't as good, which feels like a step back. I am hoping that gets better - but still - few strategy games including other Total War games have pulled off releasing two games then fusing them together like this. The idea that the plan to do it with the third game as well has me extremely excited.

I was going to wait to give this a thumbs up until the launch of the Tomb Kings but I'm having so much fun carving up the badlands as Queek that I thought it deserved it now.

So I've sunk 200+ hours in and completed at least one Vortex campaign. I love it a lot. There is plenty to recommend about it; it improves significantly on the gameplay and racial diversity of Game 1; despite two of the factions being Elves they play quite differently. If you enjoyed the first game it is unlikely you'd have a bad time with the main campaign of this one.

For the new player I'd say to pick which game has the most interesting races to you; and buy both if you'd like to play with both games combined. There are a staggering number of bad reviews that are simply because the combined campaign requires both games but to be totally honest with you; the Vortex campaign by itself is worth the price of admission and difficult to complete in under 50 hours.

It has plenty of bugs but is generally optimized better than the first game; and most of my biggest quibbles with balance or graphics were padded out by the modding community within hours of launch so. Big thumbs up to most strategy or warhammer fans; maybe wait for a sale if you can't bare the thought of not having 'All' the content right away.

*Updated*

So after a long cooldown (my previous negative review was pretty viscious) I have made peace with TLD. I recommend it to anyone looking for a good sandbox survival experience in cold weather - while steam has never been so choked with survival games, few do it well and even fewer focus on cold weather survival. Now that Hinterland has listened and included custom settings for survival inaddition to difficulty presets it's possible to have all sorts of fun.

I really - REALLY would not buy this game for the story. My apologies to any devs/writers reading this but to be honest - I can't tell if it's the writing, the voice acting, or simply the art style that rubs me the wrong way; but I have been rubbed wrongly. I do not enjoy the super linear and frustratingly dull storyline.

TL;DR - I do not play this game for the story and I don't recommend it to anyone who would. However if you want a sandbox to play in survival wise, there are few that do it this good.