Recent reviews by Wait, is that Barry?

Whether it's the painfully clunky vehicle controls, the endless string of identical "fly through the smoke ring" missions, or trying to stealth kill shirtless cultists who can eat multiple .50 caliber bullets to the skull, this is one of the most miserable gaming experiences I've ever had.

My problem with this game is the same as my problem with Diablo; the numbers go up, and the armor gets cooler looking, but gameplay is essentially a static experience the whole way through. I know that hack-and-slash style really works for a lot of folks, but it's not my thing.

I got this game three weeks ago. In the first three weeks, I've put in around 80 hours, and I expect that rate to continue for the forseeable future. This game is excellent, all the virtues of survival/crafting games with very few of their flaws.

The one note I'll give is that there's a bit of inconsistency in the difficulty curve. Meadows are pretty trivial, Black Forest has a couple curveballs, but they're easily handled, Swamp is like getting a brick to the face over and over and over again, Mountain is a ski vacation, and Plains are where they make the bricks so the face-smashing is done at wholesale prices.

The difficulty isn't actually a bad thing. A friend and I spent nearly eight hours and a dozen lives each reclaiming our first foothold on a new continent, and it was some of the most engaging and fun gameplay I've encountered. The problem is more that the curve feels kind of sudden and inconsistent.

That said, the game is otherwise absolutely excellent. It's pretty, engaging, and satisfying in all the right ways.

This game is spectacular. It's still a bit rough around the edges, but if you've always fantasized about a truly open world game where you could do anything, this is by far the closest anyone's ever gotten.