Recent reviews by JaayB

Okay, so I've put about 18-19 hours into this so far and If you want the TLDR; I am having a blast with my friends! It's super fun and already given me immense enjoyment worth the price I paid for it. There are issues but none that are overly egregious.

The longer version is:
----- THE GOOD ----
Multiplayer is extremely fun and I think this game was mostly designed around this. That's just how it feels to me. If you have a group of friends you play with regularly, loading this up as a squad is both fun and as challenging as you want it to be.
The maps are pretty well designed if a little daunting at first. They seem a bit more complex than previous games in the series but personally i think its good. There are many ways to play each map and the barricade limitation (we will get to that later) does sometimes limit whatever options you may have to play a map. But again, creativity is not a bad thing and I like thinking of this as a puzzle too. Besides, barricades were expensive in old games so you couldn't set up a full kill box most of the time anyways.
The traps that are implemented are working great. Of course everything needs some balancing but overall everything feels fine with no glaring oversights. I particularly love the physics based traps, and the reliance on grinders, brimstone and tar is not the instant win it used to be. Again its GOOD and FUN to use more traps and make them combos.
The developers are genuinely great and care about their game. They are taking feedback seriously and are very active in their discord. I take my hat off to them and admire their work ethic.

---- THE NOT SO BAD ----
I really don't have anything that's purely bad to say about this game. A lot of complaints are around the barricade system and such but after playing it for a while, i like it. Single player you get more barricades than usual to start and multiplayer we usually end up having more than we need after a few runs. I think it can still be balanced a bit better which i believe is coming up in a patch soon anyways.
The characters do seem a bit meh in some toolkits. Most are fun to play but can be a bit underwhelming with their abilities. I also think all of them should have some form of mobility too. I miss double jump (that Max still has but its JUST Max).
The UI and aesthetics of the game do feel the most unfinished. OMD1 and 2 were DRIPPING with style. OMD3 and DT just feel a bit lazy in comparison. Plain low opacity colours and business font is not exactly eye candy. Its functional... If it were a car it would be a VW Golf. Not bad. Just fine... Bland even. Devs, please take inspiration from your older games and add some style back into your UI elements!

To summarise, it does feel like its missing content and areas seem unfinished (like the UI) but its VERY playable and SUPER fun, especially with friends. Its a similar but different experience than previous games. So if your main complaint is "this isnt OMD2" then GO F*CKING PLAY OMD2 YOU MORON. Otherwise, get your squad together and have fun!

EDIT: Major order completed - Remove Dictatorship from Super Earth.
Can now whole heatedly recommend this game.
-------
Sony does not have the strength and the courage to be free.

Personally, I have a PS5 and linked my accounts but this step should absolutely not be mandatory. Its stopping me from playing with my friends who dont have a PSN account and do not want to make one.

UPDATE:
Not sure what happened exactly, but over the last 14 hours of extra play, the game has ran perfectly. I haven't even had to compromise on any settings. 144Hz at 1440p in borderless window... nice! The only thing I did was adjust my fans to ramp up a bit more optimally so it doesnt get as hot. If this works for you it would be handy to know.

With that being the case I am happy to recommend this game now. However, if it ever slips back into instability its getting the thumbs down once again.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Okay, I don't usually write reviews but this game deserves it.

First off I would like to say I LOVE this game. It's stunning, good story so far and is genuinely a lot of fun.
I also respect the devs for giving such a vast amount of content in their game at launch. Really. They worked hard and it shows. The sheer amount of possibilities and ridiculous things you can do are phenomenal and I'm still in act 1!

So why would I not recommend this game? Because I feel like I cannot play it. The game crashes frequently... Nay, CONSTANTLY. Every session. Multiple times. I now cannot get past an encounter because it just crashes for no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ reason and it is INFURIATING. There is no specific action that is causing it. Happens in combat, out of combat. Looking around, doing actions. Even had it crash when it was idling and away from my PC.

Initially I thought it might be my PSU. I upgraded my PC recently but the only thing that was "old" is the PSU. An RM1000 from about 2016. So, upgrade to a new RMx 1000 just in case. But nope. A needless expense. My rig is decent. A 3070 TI with an i7 12700k should be able to handle this game easily. I initially ran it at 1440p 144hz but that started to crash a lot... OK... Play in 60Hz... Works for a bit. Then crash a lot more over time. Okay.... 1080p... Works for a bit. Now crashes again more and more over time. Repeat with other solutions until I'm all out of patience.

For the price of this game it is absolutely unacceptable how it runs. Larian, if you are listening. I want to play your game. If you ever update it to... you know... WORK then I will change my review. For now though... If you buy this game you are rolling the dice if you can even run it.