Recent reviews by Phrog

It's like Overwatch but if it never went to ♥♥♥♥ and wasn't an actual scam.

8/10

Do Sho!

Easily the most visually pleasing game I've ever played in a relatively-realistic sense. Stood there watching the scenery for probably a good 8-10 hours in total, and regret none of that spent time. Story is pretty great, too. I guess my only complaint would be that the combat against regular enemies gets a bit repetitive once you near the end of the game, and I wish there were more bosses. The combat itself is pretty well-done though. Despite that, I never got bored of roleplaying as a samurai ninja defending my homeland, so it didn't bother me much.

9/10

This game is okay. I would normally recommend it, but I'm giving a not recommended because I think it's too highly rated for what it is. I would give it a middle review if I could.

It is visually stunning, the areas look magnificent to say the least. The cutscenes and boss intros are fantastic. But the problems come when you are actually playing the game.

Exploration is abysmal. The first act's map is okay, lots of invisible walls arbitrarily blocking you, but not too many winding paths. Not really anything interesting either, though. The second act, however, is a mess. The map intersects with itself everywhere, you can run around in circles for a while and still miss things because they're placed in awkward spots constantly. There is no "flow" to exploring the map; items, bosses, and enemies feel arbitrarily plopped down where they are almost always. Can't speak for anything past there, because that's where I dropped the game, but I've heard it's much the same if not worse going forward.

Then we have the combat. This game's combat is okay. It's not good, definitely the worst of any Soulslike game I've ever played, also definitely worse than God of War's (which I see it compared to frequently, though I don't really see it. More of a Souls game). There are two main functions, hit and dodge. That's it. You can learn some other techniques throughout the game that give it ever so slightly more depth, but you will spend most of your time in every boss fight spamming dodge and attack. The bosses don't have interesting interactions with different abilities like FromSoft titles (because there are no interesting abilities), they don't have certain moves you can parry (because there is no parry), they don't really do anything except swing at you with a different cadence than the last enemy you fought.

Combined with possibly one of the most forgiving dodges of any game ever, this leads to a game that is painfully easy and one-dimensional, in a genre that typically relies heavily on the difficulty and intricacy of its combat to remain engaging. You don't get that addictive sensation of learning or improving while playing. Up to and including the tiger boss in act 2, I think there were 2 enemies that took me more than 5 attempts to defeat. Most bosses I dropped on my literal first attempt, with zero knowledge of their moveset at all. It's a shame, because they have some great introductions, only to be complete pushovers.

The skill tree also feels unnecessarily bloated. It works on a similar gain XP > redeem a skill system as God of War or Sekiro, but unlike those games, most of these upgrades just feel... boring. Like they're only there to give you something to work towards and nothing else. A little more health, a little more stamina, blocking a few more abilities with a certain move, etc.

Despite how much I've been slogging on it, I still think it's a decent game. Just one of if not the weakest among its competition. If you are simply starving for third-person combat games, especially Soulslike titles, it's still worth trying out. Particularly if the difficulty of FromSoft game are usually daunting to you, though I don't know why you would even be looking at the genre if so. Maybe wait for a big sale.

6.5/10

Story is great, didn't like it quite as much as the 2018 release's though. Hard to put my finger on why. Felt a little less personal, I guess.

Gameplay is a massive upgrade, however. If you liked the way God of War felt to play, Ragnarok will blow you away. Improves on all of its systems, from the skill and weapon trees to the armor variety and upgrade system. Significantly larger world to explore, but not overwhelmingly so.

Presentation-wise, same story. Looks even better, soundtrack is just as quality. Which is to say both are phenomenal; best of class, even.

9/10

This is a game that makes me wish Steam had a middle option for reviewing. I think most people will really like it, but I have to put my piece here for others like me who hate wasting their time. It's a very cool game with really interesting mechanics; narrative, space, and physics enthusiasts can get a lot out of it I feel. What little I played was mostly quite enjoyable, exploring the solar system and finding clues about a bygone age.

Unfortunately I am massively not a fan of the time-looping thing. It was cool once or twice, but after that it becomes an enormous hindrance that led to me not even wanting to launch it again. Spawn, fly back to where I was, explore down the cave system I was 10 minutes into, get a few more minutes again before it just loops and sends me back to the beginning to do it all over.

Not sure what narrative reason might be behind it, but I will die on the hill that it's just not healthy for the gameplay. Very grating after the first few times.

I'm sure nobody is lying about the narrative masterpiece the game is, I very much liked what I explored, but this one mechanic single-handedly killed any desire I had to keep exploring the planets. JUST LET ME EXPLORE YOUR EXPLORATION-BASED GAME!

6/10

100% worth picking up at least on sale if you are interested in zombies. I genuinely enjoy the mixed pace between classic round-based zombies and the horde shooter style of Cold War. Terminus is an awesome map, and Liberty Falls is very basic, but has a great layout for just chilling and grinding camo challenges. Eagerly waiting for any new releases.

While I am a fan of the gunplay and movement in this game's multiplayer, the terrible spawn logic and SBMM of the last few entries almost completely ruins the experience. How they haven't received the hint about SBMM after this long, who knows. Old COD lobbies is what made those games feel alive.

6.5/10 for the full package. If you get it on sale just for zombies, 8/10.

Put Stratagem Hero in the base game man.

This is my favorite PvE shooter, ever. And the same goes for many other people. Despite its controversies, ask almost anyone who has played it, and they can testify to the sheer quality of this title.

It is hilarious. As difficult as you and your friends want it to be. The variety of gameplay, between the different factions and the massive sandbox of guns, explosives, sentries, orbital strikes, and much more, is almost unmatched. Always a joy to go back to.

9.8/10

Very fun game. Never really gave an MMORPG a shot, but since this was on sale and a one-time purchase, I went for it.

Exploring is pretty fun, I like the parkour segments. The world is easily the best part of the game (makes sense lol), so many of the environments, especially late-game, are stunning. Sometimes I just ride along the road looking around and listening to the OST. The expeditions are really cool from those I've done. They pose a decent challenge, especially with difficulty mutations, and running them with friends is a blast.

PvP is pretty fun, but usually conflicts are very one-sided. Not to say there aren't some close ones, I've had some really fun back-and-forth moments, especially in influence races (PvP events where factions can fight over territory).

Definitely worth picking up on a sale. Also worth grabbing if you just want a solid game with a vast world to explore.

8.5/10

Fun shooter, but the lack of modes is a serious issue. The two that exist are almost the same thing, so it gets stale after just a few matches for me. Everything about the game itself is great, the movement and gunplay is stellar, as is the soundtrack, performance is pretty good, but I can see this one being short-lived unless there is more to do.

7/10