Recent reviews by Puddilicious

Fun game back when it had players. It's been 14 years now, so I think it's safe to assume this game is never getting new content.

This is a laid back and relaxing game. There's no constraints so you can take your time and build however you like.

This is quite faithful to the table top version, except most of the mechs and weapons have yet to be released and weapons and equipment are balanced at the discretion of the developers. Additional mechs and weapons are released with each DLC. The tech level in the base game is around the Late Succession Wars, with a sprinkle of Star League era tech thrown in here and there. There is a relatively short, but enjoyable campaign, a career mode where you do as well as you can within a time limit and both single player and multiplayer skirmishes where you can use mechs that you've designed.

If you like the table top game, then you'll likely enjoy this as well.

This game is reminiscent of the old Caesar games from the late 90's and early 2000's, but with the multiplayer aspects of Civilization and other 4X games. If you ever wished Caesar was multiplayer, then your wish has been granted.

There are two modes of play: free-to-play and Royal Merchant.

You can play for free, but will be seriously hindered in almost everything in the game. Royal Merchant, which is this game's premium option, allows you to fully enjoy all of the features of the game. The one thing that keeps me coming back is the company of my guild mates. I've been through a few guilds and finally landed on a good one filled with fun and playful people.

This is a problem solving game, except there are often several ways to solve each problem.

Need food? You can either try to cultivate the indigenous plant life or you can plant your own farm or you can set up a ranch for meat or you can just eat dirt (which won't make your colonists happy, but it's there). Too much heat in your base? You can either super-cool a gas or liquid and pump it through all your walls or you can redesign your base to redirect the heat or you can send rockets into space to retrieve special potted plants that absorb heat or you can come up with some other solution that no one has even thought of. Almost every problem has multiple ways to solve it, with each solution having its own pro's and con's.

You also get to completely design your base from the overall layout to how each room looks and functions to even the type of material to use in the drywall. Trying to design your base to both function well and look good while doing it is a bit of a game in itself.

One downside to the game is that it's not clear what each machine or object does. You have to either Google it or use trial and error to learn how certain things function. For example, the machine that cools piped liquids will cool it by 15 degrees per cycle, but that isn't stated anywhere in the game. The machine that converts steam into power requires a certain temperature to work properly, but that too isn't stated anywhere in the game. There are many examples like this, but once you learn the in's and out's of each machine and object, it's pretty fun to put them together in different ways to achieve a goal.

This is an excellently made game with superb game play. There are relatively few bugs considering the number of ways things can interact. If you like problem solving, then definitely give this game a try.

You can spend months or years grinding epic dungeons and epic trials to get good gear or you can pay money to get it right away.

If gear isn't your goal, but achievements and accomplishments, then Neverwinter has got your back. You may spend months grinding away for those hard won achievements and accomplishments or you can buy an item from the cash store that gives 80% of that to you right away. Great options abound for the avid adventurer.

The game is either grind for months every day or pay money to finish right away. The choice is yours.

While Civilizations V and VI are adequate games and have the advantage of modern graphics, 'Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword' remains the last truly great entry in the series. If you play only one Civilization game, then it should be this.

Edit (October 9, 2017):

A recent update to the game allows players to vote out the leaders of their guild.

The ability to vote out guild leaders is a terrible addition to the game. There is no incentive to invest time and in-game resources to build up a guild if a group of players can band together to vote you out at any time. This discourages guild leaders from allowing open recruitment since they don't know who they can trust. All around, a terrible update to the game. If meeting new people and building a community is what you want, then stay away from this game.



Original review (August 21, 2017):

This is a solid Diablo-like game, but there are a lot of bugs and glitches and the client will crash at some unfortunate times. The content at the moment is a bit minimal. There are a lot of activities such as crafting, fishing, mining, growing plants, potion making and cooking, but none seem too important yet. The end game content currently consists of running a dungeon for loot, leveling up those activities I mentioned earlier in preparation for future updates and completing a compendium of enemy-dropped cards that gives bonus stats.

I'm not sure that I recommend this game at the $20 price point. If you can find it cheaper, then it is worth trying.

This is an RPG with a lot to do. The days seem to go by a bit too quickly for me. I would like to do much more in a day than this game allows. Just walking down a street seems to take half an in-game hour. Other than that, there isn't much I can complain about other than how easily you can sink real life hours into the game without noticing it. A fun, addictive time sink.