Recent reviews by Liefde

I enjoy player career mode and only play Single player. That's the only reason why I'll recommend the game.
Do NOT buy this game for multiplayer. It's an utterly greed ridden gambling den.

It's Vampire Survivors as a third person shooter, without the upgrades.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a perfect example of a game actually letting you play instead of dictating your every move.
Damn is this game fun!

It's a point & click murder mystery written and drawn equally well. Really enjoying my time with it thus far.
The game's very text heavy and for me, I pick it up for an hour every now and then to slowly progress through the story.

Age of Wonders 4 comes close to the fantasy immersion I've felt playing Age of Wonders 1, and that's a massive compliment to the team!

At release I left a negative review due to crashes and poor performance.. it's already been fixed for me. Solid stuff.
One huge, massive and major downside to the game remains: The AI is bad, absolutely insanely terrible and it cheats to hell and back. I truly wish & hope that Triumph Studios spends a part of the profits they've made thusfar into developing a proper AI that's actually interesting to play against.


Background:
Age of Wonders 4 makes me nostalgic for 1997, when I bought my first game with my own money. 99,99 Dutch guldens for an amazing looking boxed copy of Age of Wonders 1. I mean, it features a hooded dude blasting lightning from his hands that envelops an entire city!

I remember starting the tutorial upon first launching the game and being blown away by the massive red dragon that envelops the pop-up game menu. Pure high fantasy goodness

Age of Wonders kept me hooked ever since, to the point where every new PC I get, every upgrade I do; Age of Wonders 1 is the first game I install. Over the years new AoW games came out and I've tried them all.. but none of them got close to the fantasy immersion I felt in Age of Wonders 1.

If any of the devs read this;
1: Amazing game, hats off to you guys! <3
2: Thanks for adding in the Karagh.. I miss his big sword and his association through lore with the Goblins. Hope he gets a place around their hearth in the future!
3: In AoW1 all the creatures in the game had lore text. Hope you guys find time to add a tab to the unit info to explain the lore behind the creature. Because I really love looking at the unit and reading about it's place in the wonderful world you've created.

Story: 1/10
Anyone who has a child or a great love for someone, would know how purely desperate you would be when you've just seen your boy get kidnapped. This story has also lacks synergy with the rest of the game.
Quests: 2/10
For a game series known for mediocre main questlines, Fallout 4 is again a massive step down.
RPG elements: 1/10
For a game series that used to be about choices making an impact in who you are as a character(Stats/traits etc) and what is available to you(the impact of your skill levels on the environment and the NPC's).. Fallout 4 is a massive step down.
World: 9/10
Though the world offers no character in it's quests, it definitely shows character in it's map design. It's a beautifully crafted map
Combat: 9/10
The combat, especially when you mod the game to be more of a threat.. it's great. Walking through dark spaces with zombies crawling out of crevices unseen, you're putting all your trust in your rifle to get you through the day.
Crafting: 8/10
Especially considering it's age, FO4 does a great job with it's crafting. The repetitive nature of and relative pointlessness of the base-building takes away a few points though.
Modding community: 10/10
Bethesda should keep their hands away from monetization and focus instead on offering the best support they can. This game's succes to me is purely reliant on it's many great community creators.

Hogwarts Legacy is more an interactive lightnovel, than a game. You're a character in an open map that's filled with fetch quests, mini-games and things to kill/collect.
There's little to no player agency & the world doesn't really react to you, in fact, aside from cutscenes, mini-games and combat; you'll basically not exist to the outside world.

You're barely in class and the classes you do take are cutscenes that you watch in order to deliver your fetch quests.
Gear is inconsequential as are most RPG mechanics in the game.

The story itself is alright, but nothing mindblowing. It's the standard: You're a special chosen one who can do special things no one else can.

Great world, but I'd hesitate to call it a game. My recommendation is to only buy when discounted.

Don't mind my low hours here, I have a physical copy and I own it on Origin and GOG as well.
Why? Because that's how much I want EA to know how good a game this is.

Choose your starting race and gender and then select your background, your origins. You get to play the last part of your origin story, as you prepare to step out into the world. Forced conscription is what kickstarts the game as it pits you up against an evil force that's well thought out and at times truly exciting to combat.

I cannot recommend this game enough. It is one of the best role-playing games ever made.

This game has you starting out in a bitter world full of monsters. In the end-game though, the roles have turned, as you sit back and watch your character murder hunderds of thousands of monsters.

Goes 0-100 in a very fun way.

Disclaimer: Played Cities a while back, shared it with my brother who has it on his account.

I'm thumbing Cities down because of it's total pricing, currently sitting on € 247,18.
Now that's not to say you need all the DLC in order to have a fun experience - but figuring out which DLC to get for a game you're thinking of getting is a terrible experience and just not a consumer friendly practice.