Recent reviews by Phazonmasher

Let's get the negatives out of the way. The optimization is terrible. It's much better if you use the Ultra+ mod or something similar, but it still shouldn't be in this state.

As for positives, this is the closest a game has been to capturing that Dark Souls 1 magic. The world is the character and exploration is king. A lot of modern Souls-likes put their emphasis on the boss encounters, including From. Wuchang has excellent bosses, but the real fun is getting lost in its dungeons that are expertly crafted to mess with players in some really fun ways. Traps are back on the menu and they're great.

The devs have also found a clever way around the problem with many Souls-like by 1. making respec something you can do any time and point by point and 2. making weapon upgrades tied to a weapon type so any spear/sword/etc gets the benefits of your investment. It's simple but elegant.

The only downside right now to combat is that you don't have iframes when you're knocked down and wake up is very slow. So if you mess up once and end up prone, you're probably gonna die. The devs have already stated they are changing this so they are listening.

I want the devs to take the legitimate criticism to heart, but they have made something special here. It's the best Souls-like to come out of China by far. They should be proud of themselves.

A game brimming with passion and jank. I really love this one but it's certainly rough around the edges. I'm just really in awe of what a small team was able to accomplish. They say they aren't on the level of the AAA Chinese games coming out today like Wukong, but so what? They got good fundamentals, great level design and amazing art direction. Some of the bosses definitely need some tuning and the flow is nowhere near as graceful as Sekiro, but I want these guys to succeed and keep on trying. For a first game from a small studio, this is excellent.

I love a game that you can tell was made with utmost passion. It's a little messy and the boss fights could use some help, but man, this is one of those rare games that you can tell has a concrete vision from start to finish. It never sways from wanting to be Half-Life but what if Doom? The guns feel incredibly good, the level design is a mix of narrative and arena shooters and some of the enemies are truly fascinating. Highly recommended.

Beautiful presentation paired with outdated and archaic gacha game design. I was hoping that the game design would have matched with the lavish animation and great visuals on display, but the game plays like a gacha from 10 years ago with free/paid banners, a stamina system, way too many currencies and a monotonous story system. This could have been something special, but gacha has come along way since FGO and Granblue and copying those games isn't going to cut it in 2024.

I don't play ARPGs for the repeated runs, build variety or watching numbers go up. I play them for the cool environments and fun dungeon design. Grim Dawn has that. It also has a decent story and lore with some great writing in the notes you find around the world. Great for casual ARPG fans like myself.

A lot of people say Remnant II is a Souls-like. Sure, it has some elements, but Remnant II really is a bright shining evolution of the DRPG. Dungeon crawlers have needed a kick in the pants for the longest time, and Remnant was a slight jab. Remnant II is the full on kick it needed. Highly recommended. 10/10.

I just finished the first episode. This is the good stuff. The maps flow well, it never gets bogged down with overly complicated design, and the weapons feel great. While Herald of Havoc doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the more famous boomer shooter renaissance games, it really excels at combining the map design of Doom and Quake with the combat of something like Serious Sam. The game really shines when you open a room to see dozens of enemies and the game gives you a weapon that just slaughters all of them in quick order. It's a really graceful marriage that could have become something awful like slaughter maps in Doom wads, but it never lets it become that tiring or bothersome. It's dedicated first and foremost to fun and it succeeds on that front spectacularly.

This is clearly a love letter to Dino Crisis in all the best ways while also being a pretty competent throwback first-person shooter. It has the puzzles and environmental exploration you would expect from a boomer shooter with the pace of a survival-horror game. I also would like to give kudos to the developer for including multiple accessible difficulty options for players all of skill levels. This is a good one. Keep your eye on it.

I'm a FFXIV player who picked up ESO as a side game. I come from the position of FFXIV is one of my favorite games of all time and the first MMO to ever click with me. In fact, I tried ESO when it launched years ago and it just didn't work for me.

Coming back now, it works for me. The open ended nature of the game really helps and hinders it. Being allowed to do any MSQ content at any time is great, but I'd still recommend following a chronological guide. The writing is excellent with characters and narratives that are far better than in any of the mainline games.

Th star of the show, however, is the exploration and dungeons. I love FFXIV, but I've always been let down by its zones and dungeon design. ESO has massive zones with lots to find and do, and the dungeons are dynamic and interesting with lots of moving parts and interesting encounters.

The only thing I really don't like about ESO is the community. It's not bad - it's just not really there outside of people complaining in world chat or trying to sell things. And when doing instanced PvE content with randos, everybody just rushes ahead wanting to get the content done instead of enjoying their time thus stressing and pressuring new players who want to pay attention to the quest dialog inside of dungeons. Outside of that, people are generally friendly when there are interactions. Just don't expect FFXIV's level of friendliness and oddball world chat.

So basically, if you want a good side hustle MMO in between FFXIV patches and have a passing interest in Elder Scrolls, ESO might just be the game for you. If not, find something else to play. I'm not your personal game recommendation engine.

Just finished my first run - this game is the real deal. Absolutely nails the aesthetic they were going for. It's very much as the developers state - a marriage of King's Field and HeXen with roguelite elements. If you're into any of those games, you owe it to yourself to check this out. It's rad as all hell.

EDIT: Just beat Descent mode. Point still stands. Absolutely wonderful. One of my favorite games of the year. This is really good stuff.