Recent reviews by WyrdNexus

Almost a great game, but plagued with balance issues and artificial difficulty.

I had fun with it for a bit. Then I started noticing the problems. It's the same problem as the other Mechwarrior games. Rather than give us interesting AI and tactical problems to solve, we get a battle of attrition against hordes, with the occasional OP "boss." I want battles like the cutscenes, but what I get is a constantly repeated slog through a battle of attrition, followed by an OP end-battle. I want positioning and tech to matter, but what I get is a fancy slap-fight.

Clan mechs are supposed to outclass the IS, especially in range, accuracy, and heat. But here, heat is not a concern for the IS, and the range is meaningless because of the maps. That leaves every battle the same. Trade shots until you get to the "boss," and hope you have enough armor left.

Story mentions defeating an "inferior" mech, that just sat there soaking focused fire from 5 of our mechs for 3 minutes straight while it didn't have a hard time 3-shotting our mechs. Some missions are a breeze, while others leave no real option but cheese or die.

All it would have taken is a little more care with the balance, and some better and more varied AI pilots. One small team of 6 devs a couple months. That's all that stopped this game from being great, and instead made it quickly get stale. I'm so tired of mech games being driven by producers who don't care about the world or the genre.

Takes a bit to figure out, but has become one of my favorite strategy games since RUSE.

Just make sure you have chaff, enough anti-chaff for your opponent, then find the late-game balance with mid/large/giant units.

Generally a good game, but it's plagued by major issues:
1. Game modes. Pretty much all you ever do is 2-team attrition battles, making both bombers and scout tanks nearly pointless. There are story missions, but most of them are not worth playing.
2. Balance issues. (expanded later, but I'm always in matches where my vehicles are severely outclassed)
3. Microtransactions. They're not a must, but basically everything in this game is monetized, and getting past tier 3 will take hundreds of hours, or $20.

Fundamentally, the matchmaking system seems like it is built to keep you outmatched. When you're always fighting against a team where half of them are a tier above you, there's really not much you can do but try to grind to a higher tier. Guess what happens when you do that? You're still in matches where half the players are a tier above you. As a money-making scheme, it makes sense. Push players to always be upgrading, "you just need the next level up, and you'll be on equal footing," ...forever.

- US tanks are nerfed.
- Most matches will have one squad of people playing together that will determine the outcome of the match.
- Want to win? Buy German or Chinese premium vehicles a tier above where you're playing. Done.
- Don't do US or Russian vehicles, they're all nerfed to death. Speed, armor, penetration... all worthless unless you play German or Chinese.

I've taken a closer look at their update history, and it's not good news. Game with so much potential, but they couldn't or wouldn't push through the homestretch of polishing it up. Originally released Nov 2021, just launched on Steam Feb 2024. Their steam launch gave them a huge influx of sales and cash, but all they've done with it is add Skins and paid DLC.

Sadly, DOA, unless they actually try to polish it, but that's not looking likely. I'll update this review if that changes before 2025.

Is almost a great game, but it's still too rough in places. Probably shouldn't be considered a full release yet.

Beautiful, and very deep. Multiplayer survival crafter that focuses on PvE instead of trolling? Yes please!
Beautiful world and environment? Awesomesauce.
Huge skill tree and tech tree.
Giant worlds to explore. Seriously, the game world is huge... but that might be part of the problem...

There's three big things holding it back:
1. Combat mechanic is very squishy. Plays more like WOW than the medieval combat style they were going for.
2. Construction and base building... needs work. Seems like it works well anywhere that's flat... except that nowhere is flat, and you can't make it flat. Basically, you can't clip through terrain, and you can't build off foundation, and you can't build a foundation very high about terrain. The result is you either must build in a wide flat area, or you'll have gaps and disconnects all over your buildings.
3. Empty. I played for 4 hours straight, and never saw another human. I was looking to avoid populated areas, but still.

FUN! EVERYWHERE.
(one major pain point: MP quest progression)

For a long while I've been pissed off that developers had forgotten the, "rule of fun," so they could chase whatever overdone style was currently popular. Not Enshrouded and the Keen Team.

I cannot stress enough how polished this game is, through all the growing list of features:

• Better, and more detailed, base building than anything previous.
  
• Flexible, easily respeced, skill tree with a variety of skill combos.
  
• Crafting system that's just complex enough to be fun, without needing wiki research to figure it out.
  
• Adaptable, flexible, combat that feels fast and punchy, while also giving you space to be tactical.
  
• Exploration with flying, digging tunnels, placing new teleport locations, and discoveries to be made everywhere.

... there's at least another ten things that can go on that list, but I think you get the point.

This game ticks all the boxes for Action RPG, Sandbox, Base-Builder, Exploration. TOTK meets Valhm, with a dash of Eldn Rng and a pinch of MineCrft, and an (almost) fully destructable environment.

The Catch
(but it's still very much worth buying and playing)

Multiplayer quest progression... isn't quite right. Keen says they're working on it, but they're also sending some mixed signals about it, saying, "...the (quest) the system as it is now will not be replaced." The trouble with the system as it is now; anyone playing multiplayer will miss out on some quests.

Honestly, that shouldn't stop you. It won't stop the fun.

Action packed flying, dashing, blasting. Honestly some of the best time I've had with a game in a while.

Unfortunately, it's short.

---

There's so much great to say about the movement and control. While a bit to handle at first, it quickly becomes the best part of the game. Dashing, flying, drifting, all feels fluid and natural, even in the middle of battle. Many combat mechanics play into this as well, with attacks, blocks, and dodges that combine movement and power.

Add to that, a simple yet engaging customization system, and you can really adapt to however you want to play. Granted, you'll max the movement and combat trees eventually, but the journey there is a fun one. The weapon customization really hits well, with a selection mods you chose for your limited (but upgradable) mod slots. Those mods combine in some really fun ways. Want a weapon that acts like a full-auto shotgun? Done. How about one that can blanket an area in stacking damage-over-time to clear out crowds? No problem. One that acts like a gatling grenade launcher? You can do that too.

The world is beautiful, and made fun to explore by the liberal unlockable fast-travel "portals," and that you can essentially jetpack-glide everywhere. That jetpack is so fun, and keeps getting better the more you unlock.

All of the missions are unique, and many are interconnected. While there are a handful (okay, a dozen), "gather X and bring it here," quests, no two are the same. And most of the other quests are very unique. The only quest that keeps repeating are the base assault quests, which is really where you get to play with all those fun unlocked skills and weapon customizations.

The story is a great continuation of the last game, and brings the story to a satisfying close. It also stands on it's own, so you can enjoy it without knowing another game even exists. Some of the voice acting was a little forced, but most of it exceeded my expectations.

Seems to me that there were three game features (sidequest markers) which could have used more attention, but seem to have been rightly ignored in favor of focusing on the more fun bits.

- The Gork. Go here. Kill crowd. Done. -Needs more depth, more complexity, and something of a story. There's potential here for another 20 hours of gameplay.
- Crafting. Really looked like there were plans here that were just completely dropped. Probably a good thing.
- Parkor Challenges Go here. Jump and jetpack a course. Done. 15exp. No real reason to bother with these, which seems like a missed opportunity.

The only other minor complaints I have:
1. Some parts are very dialog heavy. 80's action/comedy movie dialog heavy. I wound up just running around talking to all the quest-givers, skipping the dialog, so I didn't spend an hour running around unlocking quest goals. It didn't start that way, but due to the nature of the open-world, it was too often out-of-sequence anyway. (Toward the end, I kept triggering friendly dialog with a character who, at that point in the story was very-much not interested in talking.)
2. It ended too soon. 25 hours of action. Totally worth the price, but I still wanted more.
3. There were a few spots of blatant sexist militant feminism that really didn't make sense, and rubbed me wrong.

I don't have enough words to describe all the ways in which this game is awesome. Not dude-bro "awesome," but awesome in the real meaning of the word. This is not only a tremendously fun and engaging game, but it's also a wonderful example of environmental storytelling. With mountains of examples of the "rule of fun," in a huge world to be explored, it's hard to ever feel bored.

There is a bit of grind, collecting resources to tier-up your gear. However, that grind is also the main motivating mechanic. Go on an epic adventure across the sea and into the mountains, fighting werewolves and dragons on your way to gather the silver you need for Thor's hammer. That's not hyperbole, but one of many adventures you'll create for yourself on your way to conquer the world.

Really, there's just something about this game that hits the sweet spot between open-world, survival, crafting, action, adventure... and it manages that balance by inviting the player to push themselves toward the next goal they've set for themselves.

Valheim has quickly become my all-time favorite game.

Why are there so many games lately that put huge emphasis on graphics, and then ignore the rule of fun?

First hour of the game is cut-scenes of, "look at the beautiful and interesting alternate timeline technology!"

The next hour is collecting materials while a robot tells you about the world, interspersed with occasional fights.

The fights are what gets me. The combat feels so damn squishy and unfun so far. Super-slow wind-up attacks against fairly fast bots. It teaches you a dodge mechanic, but that only works in the short "robot-red power attack" window. Aside from that, it's just keep moving and poking. But, really!? Quick-time events as the main combat mechanic!? STOP WITH THE QUICK-TIME EVENTS!

The combat gets less squishy through upgrades... then the game changes mechanics on you and makes it squishy again. It's almost worth it to just mash the attack key, tank the damage, and consume your health-packs. (No matter what you do, you're going to spend every fight running away while drinking health potions).

Despite all that, I was really starting to enjoy the game, and the upgrades when... WHAM! Ultra-squishy combat with quick-time events added in! YAY!

That's right, once you're finally upgraded enough to start using skill in fights, the game throws a whole new enemy at you... One that's faster than you, with repeated heavy-attacks (so you can't avoid getting 1/2 health hits and being knocked down), and a special attack... an unavoidable grab attack. This isn't just any grab attack... this is one you can't avoid or escape, except by completing a series of four rapid and random quick-time events. One fail = instant death. You have to pass two sets of these special quick-time attacks to defeat this enemy.

...and just like that, you lost me. Bye. Not coming back. ♥♥♥♥ you, your quick-time laziness, and your forgetting the rule of fun.

P.S.: This one is especially painful for me, because it is so damn close to being so damn good, then effed up the combat mechanics. And that's it, that's really the only problem with the game. Very few bugs, smooth gameplay, great world and story... but quick-time and squishyness everywhere.

it might get good later.
It's gotten better, but still has an empty campaign.

This game has some serious potential. Ship building is detailed, and fun. So many different ways to tweak and customize, I love it...

...unfortunately, everything past that has been overlooked.

1. "Naval Academy" (56 training missions?) is the only thing flushed out. It's functional, though has some major balance issues in places, and big bugs when setting up your loadout.
2. Skirmish can be fun-ish... were it not for the same problems just mentioned.
3. Campaign... is bare bones. Meant to be a world conflict, but it's clearly a barely complete prototype. Most of the worst bugs here are gone, but there's very little to actually do here. I played 15 years, month-by-month, as US. Despite always maxing out research, buffing GDP, completing every mission, and avoiding war. Technology fell way behind. Even when I incited war, I never managed to enter a battle. I like the direction it's going, but this is still just a functional early prototype.

Seems to me like a game that should still be in-dev. It's not even ready for Alpha. As I see it, there were five major milestones intended for development:
1. Basic Ship Construction.
2. Basic Skirmishes with Constructed ships.
3. Research trees and technology unlocks.
4. Detailed ship construction.
5. World Conquest Campaign.

Instead of refining at each milestone, it appears the devs got the skirmishes and tech working just enough to dive into the detailed ship construction (which is all they really wanted to make). Then they just focused on that, leaving everything else by the wayside. Lately, they've spent a great deal of time improving the construction mechanics, and adding ships and components. Let's hope they eventually find a way to make the academy balanced, and the campaign fun. Without the academy, there's little point to customizing. Without the campaign, there's little point to tech-unlocks and different research tiers, aside from playing with historical battles.

I really wanted to enjoy this game, but it's just not quite ready for prime-time.

+ Beautiful and visually stunning.
+ Great potential in the skill system and combat flexibility.
- Long heat-seeking combos leaves you with little _real_ combat flexibility.
- Actual combat mechanics are very squishy and un-fun: run run run... until the boss is done with his combo... hit hit... repeat. That's the first three boss battles. I stopped at that point. (Dodging, blocking, specials, health pots, or anything outside of that pattern will bet you dead pretty quick).