Recent reviews by Floyd Collins

Surprisingly well-done survival game with many interesting ideas and mechanics.
Combat is pretty smooth and engaging, weapon types and abilities actually change how you fight, stealth is viable and direct approach is doable too. Different masks boost different playstyles, so you can experiment with your fighting style.
NPCs on base actually work well, almost never saw them stuck (and i had like 30 ppl on single base!), and in general automation works really well - configure it one time and forget about it, they will do everything, from sorting your storage to crafting advanced armor and weapons.
Progression have some rough edges, transition from iron to steel is pretty brutal due to placement of resources needed to craft steel, but still doable, just takes more time than bronze to iron.
Fairly well optimized, even runs on steam deck.
Dedicated server is available for both Linux and windows - huge bonus for those who want to self-host their own server.
Pretty much every gameplay parameter is configurable (i bumped awareness XP gain because later in game it really takes _tons_ of XP to reach high levels), which is another nice bonus.
Building works well, but i wish there was more cosmetic stuff to decorate base, and especially more lighting pieces.

I have one suggestion - please put comments for parameters in server config file. Since developers are from China, config is written in Chinese, which forces you to google every single parameter every time you need to adjust something.

Overall, i hope that game won't get abandoned after release (imo, it's already in release state, i hasn't encountered any game-breaking bugs or crashes), and i hope we will get more content (maybe whole new maps like Ark did? who knows).

TL;DR: great visuals, great use of LoTR IP, very meh gameplay.

The worst moments:

Resources won't respawn. It's ok for something like iron, there is plenty. But good luck farming elven wood or durinul. Suggestion from other players? "Just create a new world, run to that point and farm there!". I was forced to do that multiple times. Does that sound like good game design?

Another annoying thing is coal. For some reason, it will simply disappear after the 1st zone. It's completely understandable why you can't find high-tier ore in the starting zone (well, you can. There is gold in the first mine you access), but if you want coal (and you will need it) you need to go back to the starter location again and again and again and again. Or, well, just recreate the world, mine it, delete it.

Combat is clunky. It's got the same issues as valheim - if the enemy is standing a bit higher/lower than you, you won't be able to hit them. Enemies, however, will be able to hit you with no problems. In terms of general combat, there is zero depth in it - you have light hit, you have charged hit, and you have block with roll. Bows and crossbows felt absolutely useless during the whole game, because they're extremely weak even with top tier arrows.

There are serious issues with lighting. I put tons of lights on my base, but visibility still was like 5-6 meters. This also happened during ordinary exploration - despite the fact that you can clearly see that the place should be pretty bright (those with giant crystal windows), it was pitch black.

Map is awful. Locations are multi-level but the map will only show you one level. It will show you rooms from all levels, but they will overlap in 2d projection, which makes it even more confusing. I was forced to google how to find the last boss, and there are people spending 10 hours trying to find entry to the last boss dungeon. All issues can be solved if the map can show multiple levels, but...

There is no dedicated server, either. For a game where you can spend many hours just building and decorating a base in co-op, that's pretty much a criminal offense.

Progression is also very questionable. At some point of time, you will feel that your weapons are weak, as enemies scale with each location. Hell, even dwarves themselves will say "I need a better weapon for this!". But guess what, in the current tier there is no better weapon. You will need to clear that zone with weapons that deal gray damage to your enemies. And yes, I found every forge, every recipe in that game. It's not like I missed something.


There are lots of things missing from this game which have been present in other survival games for years.

For example, "auto sort to boxes in your area". Could be done as mid-game upgrade maybe? Nah, not present. You will spend tons of time just throwing everything you farmed manually. You also can't lock stuff in inventory, which is another annoying thing.

Graphics settings are pretty much non-existent: you have selection from 4 graphics presets and that's it. Well, you can also choose between DLSS and FSR. FPS is locked to 60 max.

You can't disable full loot drop on death. There are difficulty settings which make this game a walk in the park, but this one can't be adjusted. I don't mind dropping my backpack, but losing everything equipped on me is not fun. Especially if you consider that maps are pretty damn big and it can take _long_ time to get to your body.


Is there anything good in this game? Of course.

Map is really, really, really well-done. Breathtaking sometimes. Makes you really feel like a spider-man dwarf. Some really amazing locations, nice nods to LoTR (you can find memoria of fellowship), there are some familiar places for those who watched movies (who doesn't at this point?), and so on. Whoever was in charge of level design - props to you, 10/10 work!

Sound... I'd say it's great with one major issue - there is some kind of sound localization issue. You can see orcs talking like they're right next to you, but in reality they're like 200 meters away. Other than that annoying bug, it's really well-done. All that "walls shaking, something growling in next room, nameless one comes after you" felt amazing.

Building is nothing special, but it works and I haven't noticed any major issues. Your standard building system, but without usual bugs.

So overall, will I recommend this game? If you're a huge LoTR fan, maybe it's worth giving it a try. But only because it's LoTR game - it's not like we get lots of them. If you're just here for another "survival open world building crafting" (even with a bit of love for LoTR), most likely not.

Honestly this is just phenomenal, especially for an unknown studio's first game.
Combat feels great, and it plays more like a fighting game than platforming one, and at same time without the complexity of traditional fighting games (combos are just 2 buttons at most).
Movement during combat is very fluid and responsive, you can just fly around with jumps and shoot in different directions, and yeah, you can use combos there too.
Characters are pretty different - you got ranged, long-range melee, short-range melee, and even a stealth-based one that rewards you for hitting enemies from behind.
Run progression design is interesting - you can choose the next level based on the upgrade you need (not always, of course, it's random).
You also retain some progress - after finishing a run, you're left with "imprint" of that run's character, which allows you to save 2 random upgrade cards and also use that character's signature attack. And you can choose 2 of those imprints for the next run.
There is also a story that seems interesting, but since I haven't finished it yet, I can't really comment on it.

Also, with a little bit of settings adjustments it runs smooth 90 fps on the steam deck.

My only gripe is lack of level variety. There are not too many stages, and I really hope devs will add more, along with more enemies.

Highly recommended for any 2d roguelike fan.

Really good so far.
I especially love Enshrouded voxel engine (yeah, they made their own engine, rare case today) that makes building smooth and final buildings look like actual buildings and not some blocky mess. Or when you blow up some house with enemies inside and how the building looks after that, with parts of wall missing, splints sticking out from broken parts, and so on.
Combat is pretty fun and rewarding. You can be mage, you can be tank, you can be the swordsman, archer, or even stealthy assassin (although that seems to be pretty pointless in this game).
Exploration aspect is phenomenal, there is _lots_ of POIs, with loot, cave systems, enemy camps, etc etc etc. I really enjoyed just walking around and discovering new things.
They also implemented bunch of quality of life changes from the start - one of the best, for example, is ability to craft from storage boxes. This one tiny change improves gameplay by a ton, saving you alot of time.
Oh, and server can be self-hosted. This is nice addition for coop players who don't want to pay companies like gportal for semi-working, unstable setup.

There is bad parts too:
1) Same enemies can be level 1, level 15 and level 25 (and probably higher) and they all drop same loot. So why bother with farming high-level enemies if you can just oneshot bunch of lvls 1 for same amount and type of materials?
2) Weapon variety can be better too, i used same stuff for 25 hours, except only level changed. Bonuses are same, design is same, only real change is damage #

But i guess we can write that off since it's early access game.

I'll keep my eye on that game, and i really hope they will do better than valheim. At least comparing both at start (and i feel like enshouded was partially inspired by valheim) enshrouded is vastly better.

Majority of gameplay so far:
1) Spam "quickplay", get "failed to join lobby" for 10 minutes
2) Finally join lobby, get kicked because it was for friends only and host forgot to set lobby to private
3) Spam "quickplay", get "failed to join lobby" for 10 minutes
4) Finally join lobby, play game, crash in the end, lose progress
5) Spam "quickplay", get "failed to join lobby" for 10 minutes

6) Finally join lobby, play game, extract, your progress is bugged and not counted. - ok, this was seemingly fixed. Other problems still remain.

Yeah, sometimes it works. And when it works, it's fun. But it feels like open beta.
Won't even touch other parts like progression via season pass, alot of features from helldivers 1 that was removed (probably will come back in DLCs) and so on.

Base game is pretty dull and gets boring fast.
Zombie and defence modes seems to be abandoned and look really barebones.
But... there is mods.
Lots of them. And pretty high-quality ones, too.

Pistol-only mode on small maps is illegally fun.
There is Halo mod.
There is Star Wars Battlefront mod.
There is WH40k mod. First time i started it some dude charged at me with dual power swords screaming "for the emperor" with voice of 12-years old.
There is TONS of classic maps from different games, even from counter-strike 1.5.

Hope it won't get abandoned after they release their battleroyale game

Enjoyed every minute of it.

I absolutely love this retro-futuristic style, amazing atmosphere, great worldbuilding and nice suspense.

The Invincible is a really low-paced, narrative-driven game, and most of the time you will be walking (not even running) around, adoring amazing views of Regis III, learning about The Invincible world and trying to figure out what the hell is happening on that cursed planet.

It's clear that developers paid great attention to details - everything here is logical and doesn't create more questions. Even tiny details are amazing - for example climbing gear which is used like 2 times per game - there is full, detailed animation on how it’s installed and used.

I really can’t say anything specific about good parts, because pretty much every part of game is good.

Graphics are great. Sound design is great. VA is great. Mood is great and very suiting - you can feel that emptiness and loneliness. World is great - despite Regis III being a desert planet, it doesn’t look barren and there is lots of different stuff to look at - props to the level designer!

But yes, there is one issue I really disliked. Due to the game being story-driven, narrative style, there are invisible walls pretty much everywhere to force you on certain path. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why they use it. But it’s _way_ too overused. For example, I have faced lots of cases when you need to jump down from a small ledge, but you can’t do that - you need to move a bit left / right where there are no invisible walls placed. It really breaks immersion in some places, and I hope it will be fixed in future updates.

Let me start by saying that I played D1 on PS1, Diablo 2 on PC, Diablo 3 (both pre and after ROS), also Path Of Exile (although i stopped playing long time ago, so my current knowledge about PoE might be lacking), Grim Dawn, Last Epoch, and some other smaller diabloids.

I heard a lot of trash talk about D4, and let’s be honest here - a lot of criticism is absolutely justified, but the game is nowhere near as bad as some people paint it to be (comparing it to overwatch 2, for example). Yes, season 1 was pretty damn bad, but season 2 improved _alot_ of aspects and made game actually fun. It’s like playing D3 before and after RoS.

I’ll start with good parts here, yes, there are good parts, and a fair share of them.

1) World design. It’s beautiful and very suitable for the Diablo universe. Awful grotesque creatures, blood, pieces of bodies as elements of decor… Overall grim atmosphere is here, and after D3 it really feels like a Diablo game. I’d even say it’s better than PoE, which has great world design too.

2) Story. It’s great. Loved almost every minute of it. Memorable characters, some emotional moments, some good revelations of Diablo lore. Some side quests are also pretty nice and interesting to do

3) New skill system actually allows players to play a very wide variety of builds, and while some might feel weaker than others, they all feel playable (well, at least on Druid. I Haven't tried others yet).

4) Lots and lots of QoL changes (UI optimized for controller when it detects controller, search function in stash, separate tabs for quest items / elixirs / keystones, lots of adjustable UI and UX tweaks, and so on)

Next, we will go with polarized opinions, because, well, it’s matter of preference:

1) Migration to an MMO-styled system. I know, I know, some people hate it. But you’re still mostly progressing solo or in party (nightmare dungeons), and you only meet other randoms in events, world bosses, helltides and so on. Personally, I enjoyed joining random people while doing open world stuff, they also don't seem to care if you’re a bit underleveled or your DPS is on a weak side, and can easily carry you if needed for that sweet sweet XP boost.

2) Aspect system. It’s… an interesting take on traditional legendary system. Previously, you was forced to farm specific legendaries or set items to make your build work. Now, you can run some dungeons, open some aspects (they will always be the lowest roll, though, so you still need to keep an eye on legendary items you need), apply them to rare items - and bam - you have a semi-working build already!. There are also unique items, which have pre-set rolls, higher drop rate from certain enemies, and often boost your damage by a lot. Personally, I love it, but I see how more, uh, dedicated players see it as making the game more casual, since it allows faster start.

3) Legendary devalue, as a result of the aspect system - it kinda removes your excitement when legendary drops - you just farm them all the time. And you spend more time looking at rare items to use as a base for your next legendary. On the positive side, you can trade rare items with your friends - especially nice if you run the same class. However, it makes game a bit slower overall, since you need to look at every item to see if it can provide you needed stat boosts. But to be fair, you got tons of legendaries and set items in D3 at the end of rifts, and majority of uniques in PoE is useless trash too - your main source of upgrades were... yes, rare items!
Fixed in S4, legendaries are back!

4) Always online. While I understand where it comes from (Diablo 3 on consoles had offline mode, at least on switch, and leaderboards were full of cheaters, blatant stuff like gems where they shouldn’t be, turbo boosted stats, and so on). Still, causes networking issues and inability to play offline on steam deck.

5) Endgame. Some people say the D4 endgame is “lacking”. But really, look at any other diablo-style game - it’s all the same ♥♥♥♥. D1 - farm the same levels again and again. D2 - same bosses again and again. D3 - same rifts again and again. PoE - maps, again and again. Last Epoch - monoliths, again and again. D4 - nightmare dungeons again and again, but there are also world events like helltides, seasonal events, world bosses, legion events, and etc. Yes, endgame is grind. Always been, always will be. Complaining that d4 endgame is grind doesn’t make sense, because those games were always about minmaxing with grind.

And last, but not least, negative ones:

1) Price of the game - just personal opinion - too high. Blizzard doesn’t seem to care about regional prices, so it’s pretty much 70$ everywhere.

2) Price of cosmetic stuff. Same thing. You need 2800 plat for a skin set, which is the price of almost 3 seasons passes. So… 30$ for a single skin set which you can only apply on a specific class? That's just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

3) Season mechanics not going to the main game. Ok, I _kinda_ understand why they aren’t - each season introduces some big mechanics, it’s not like PoE where you usually get “smaller” mechanics (like strongbox), which are easy to move into “permanent” game mode. This is not the case with Diablo 4, or we will have like 6 different skill trees in a year or so.


4) Helltide. I do not hate helltide as a mechanic, i hate that it's available only every 2 hours. And you need reagents from helltide for rerolling stats on items, to summon endgame boss and so on. So if your playtime is limited and you're playing hour per day, you're SOL. Time gates (especially for progression) are insanely bad mechanic.
Fixed! Helltide is now present almost all the time except short 5 minute window before resetting.

5) Bugs and networking issues. They’re fairly rare, but they happen. The most annoying part is rollback issue - where your character gets kicked out from the server, you can’t login for some time (biggest i had was like 20 minutes), and when you login, you see your progress rolled back by about 20-30 minutes. This is a really big problem that needs to be fixed ASAP. There are also desyncs, some issues with damage registration if you end up on some bad server with 200ms+ latency, and similar network-related issues.

5) Lack of set items. I guess they will come back in some season. But ATM unique + aspects covers all of your needs, so maybe, just maybe set items are redundant.

6) Paid seasons in general. Yeah, yeah, it’s just cosmetic stuff, and some of it is free, but I just hate season passes in general. Playing on FOMO is not nice.

Smaller nice things to mention:

1) Actually nice seasons mechanics, D3 pretty much stalled after they introduced horadric cube

2) Works great on steam deck, UI auto adjusts for controller, no messing with settings needed - it just works out of the box. Performance seems to be pretty fair too, if you sacrifice some graphics fidelity, you can easily get 60fps. I prefer medium settings, FSR set to quality, 45 FPS lock and TDP set to 10 - allows you to squeeze around 3 hours of playtime.

3) There is system called “renown” which is basically map exploration (side quests, dungeons, altars, etc). You get some really nice bonuses from it (significant stat boosts, free paragon points, flask charges and so on). Sounds boring, but you only need to do it _once_ on softcore / hardcore. Progress carries over, and your next season will be started with nice boosts - no need to grind renown again!

4) Steam version is proper port to steam - it doesn’t launch battle.net launcher, it just boots straight to game. Props for Blizz to not going “lazy” mode and actually working on steam release

I played fair amount of remnant: from the ashes, probably farmed majority of items, and i can easily say that remnant is my favourite "souls-like" so far. I don't usually preorder games, but that's where i pulled the trigger instantly.

Let me start from bad parts first:
1) ♥♥♥♥ optimization. No, really, this game was definitely developed with FSR/DLSS/etc in mind. Honestly, it works great here, i hasn't noticed any artifacts from upscaling, but still. Just look at it: 4090 can't hold 60 fps at 4k/ultra without DLSS and DLSS framegen. This is cyberpunk 2077 level of trash optimization, and it doesn't even have RTX! This needs to be fixed ASAP.
2) Removal of many traits and armor set bonuses. Okay, this is double-edged sword and my personal opinion. Personally, i don't like it. On the other side, you can now create more focused builds designed around certain stats. But if you remove set bonuses, at least allow us to use armor as cosmetic items. Transmog will be nice.
3) If you discard part about procedural generation, there seems to be less content, location-wise. We had earth, rhom, yeasha, corsus and ward 13, labyrinth in first game. Also reisum, if you count DLC. In remnant 2, you have 2 new locations, yaesha again (a bit different, but still reused), labyrinth (same here, also static), and one end-game location (static again). So for late-game adventures, you have 3 locations, one of which is pretty familiar. Feels a bit... short? Hopefully each DLC will add new one.
4) No chat. Like, come on. I had like 15 attempts on one boss which requires you to _stop_ DPSing (otherwise you will face hordes of adds), but i can't tell people what to do. Add text chat to play with pugs, please!

Now, should we get to good parts?
1) Gameplay - it's great, no complains here. Some rage-inducing bosses, very different arsenal, builds seems to be more diverse (good lord, why there is SO many rings?), archetypes are damn nice additions (2 active skills, some passive perks, one prime perk), amulets are diverse, and changeable relics gives you _very_ different ways to play this game.
2) Amount of puzzles is truly mind-boggling, i restarted some adventures like 6 times already and i still find something new every run. One of puzzles related to some secret archetype was broken only week after release by a community of dedicated puzzle solvers. That's some old destiny ♥♥♥♥.
3) Graphics are great. It's not "whoa what the hell" level, but it's great.
4) Coop works great, hasn't faced a single desync, disconnects, crashes, or anything. It just works.

So do you want some souls with guns, proper coop without all that summoning limitations, and so on? Do you have relatively beefy PC that can handle it? Yes? Get this game, you won't be disappointed.

Very nice game with great gameplay, interesting, well-developed characters, and nice story.
Good upgrade system, interesting and different weapons, etc etc etc.
Also, whoever voiced dr. nefarious deserves a medal.
Great optimization, too.
My only complain is boring and repetitive mini-bosses, but boss fights, IMO, is a weak side of insomniac games. Hasn't really enjoyed boss fights in spider-man, too.