Recent reviews by Uber Noobage

I cant really recommend buying this game unfortunately. The developer initially got funds from a kickstarter for a slated 2014-2017 release. That was a for a single player story game that has since developed into a survival scenario game with the main story being more of a back-seat sort of addition. This means that they have put their development aims more into that side of things than the originally promised story mode, and to a certain extent that is fine. An indy dev needs to drive sales to stay afloat. The only problem with this though is that they have also decided to make a DLC before finishing the story and keep pushing the final episode back thanks to other commitments so the survival side and dlc has been their priority. Their most recent promise for the final episode of the story was for release last quarter of 2024 and they have just released their dev diary stating (to absolutely nobodies surprise) that the last episode is being delayed yet again. This means that people who backed the project way, way back have now been waiting for 10 years and still can't see the light at the end of the tunnel as the tunnel just keeps being made longer and longer at every turn. The dev diary also goes on to talk about other projects and future games, which really is one of the main reasons as to why I decided to just go ahead and NOT recommend this game.

"We've kept people waiting 10 years and we are already thinking of new stuff but don't worry your last episode will come soon™, no honest we mean it this time. The last 3646742198743 times were just for funsies" is not a great look from my POV.

I'm all for indy devs diversifying and making sure they deliver a great product, but at a certain point if a dev is releasing and finishing DLC and looking at what to make next then you have to just go ahead and question their authenticity and whether that final episode has even been planned properly let alone be developed.

Something else that I have noticed over the last 6 months or so is that negative comments will go missing pretty quickly, especially on dev posts. Threads that are asking valid questions about time scale or development will be merged with no new information (last updates often being several months old) or just plain deleted so it isn't uncommon to read all of their stuff with a tint of rose coloured glasses because all that is left is the positive stuff. Again, that is a bit of a red flag to me and something people should be weary of.

I do think that IF they actually finish the game then there is playabilty and enjoyment to be had, however that IF is bigger than any IF in development history at this point. Their new slate for release is now Summer 2025, which makes perfect sense for a game that revolves around winter, snow and ice.... which leads me to think that summer will roll around and it will be pushed back again until winter instead. But hey, at least they finished their DLC!

There are some pretty cool survival games that are already on the market that are finished, so i'd recommend buying something else instead and then checking this in 6 or 12 months to see if they ever did finish it if you are really curious. Though the story is largely inspired by the book "Paradise Lost" so you could go ahead and read that instead (which I highly recommend!)

Original Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hinterlandgames/the-long-dark-a-first-person-post-disaster-surviva

Edited April 2025 - Developer Update says "I’ve asked them to work on it through the remainder of the year, with a plan to launch towards the end of the year." So I was indeed correct in saying that they would push the release date yet again for a mode that was promised ( *checks notes* ) 10 YEARS ago.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/305620/view/512956388211687524?l=english

A masterful piece of storytelling that delves deep into the murky waters of PTSD, the unquenchable thirst of power and the uncompromising expectations of following in your families footsteps.

Set around the events of the first world war, the story focuses on a German brother who has returned from war in a mind that is different to the one he left with. As he walks through the halls of his family home, it becomes clear that the things that he is seeing aren't necessarily what he should be seeing. Initially presumed dead during combat, the story unravels events that detail his life both before and during his military service as well as the fate of his other family members namely his brother, father and grandfather. His mother is wracked with melancholy and whilst you never see her, you hear her distorted cries in various parts of the mansion, almost as if she is in the room with you and yet your psyche just cannot manifest or process the image.

As the protagonists grasp of reality becomes less certain, you begin to experience flashbacks to the trenches and no man's land of Flanders Field. Again, these memories present themselves as real as possible at first but slowly become more and more twisted as you progress through the story and you have to face twisted nightmarish manifestations that reflect the emotional state of the protagonist as they stalk you through the nightmarish hellscape that he has conjured. The emotions and feelings covered are hunger, rage, mayhem, despair, corruption and pain.

Much of the storytelling is done through reading letters that you find on your journey, and occasionally you will get some narration after interacting with an object as your character remembers a specific situation. There are a number of puzzles throughout the game too, though nothing too taxing. It is usually the standard work out a code for this door, reroute power to this gate or mix these chemicals type of thing.

There are three endings that you can obtain during play, though I have currently only seen one but it has left me with a desire to see the other endings too.

Graphically the game is beautiful and I managed to play it on epic quality with no issues on a PC that is almost 10 years old at this point. I have seen some people comment on discussions and other reviews about the flashlight/torch being useless and yet personally I liked the fact that they opted to use a technology that was actually used during the Great War. the flashlight is a kinetic one that requires winding up before use, and the light it produces lasts around 5-10 seconds at most. Honestly, it is more than enough light for all aspects of the game and adds to the tension that the environment tries to create. They wouldn't have had constant portable light back then, and so it makes a lot of sense to not have it in this game.

All in all, I have really enjoyed the experience and I am looking forward to playing it again at some point. If I have one criticism of the game, it is purely that having some sort of map when in the house would have proved helpful purely because each time you go to the house different doors are open or locked and so it can be easy to get lost when trying to find your way around. That being said though, it was by no means a large frustration of any sort.

I really do recommend playing this game if you enjoy history, puzzle games or horror walking simulators. I do think though that it is fair to warn you that it deals heavily with the subject of PTSD and poor mental health as well as some other mental health conditions like melancholia and sociopathy. If any of those are triggering for you then it would likely be wise to avoid the game.

Quite possibly the most eerie setting for a horror game I have ever played, the atmosphere and setting are perfect for this sort of walking sim/horror.

First things first, there are jump scares. Several, and they are good ones. Jump scares on the whole are overdone these days and you often get them at glaringly obvious times, but this game manages to put them into the experience at the perfect time to make you really feel a sense of shock.

Secondly, the game is very short and so I'd strongly recommend picking it up on a sale if you can. I finished the game and unlocked all achievements in around 50-60 mins. However, this does not feel detrimental to the overall feel of the game at all. In fact, I started playing it again immediately after which is something I very rarely do with any game.

The Kowloon walled city was a modern marvel/oddity and the very idea of a ramshamble city being built by people who were forgotten and being policed and contained by themselves has always been fascinating to me and I can only imagine that walking through the real winding and claustrophobic streets that you would always feel a sense of something unsettling. This game doubles down on that and adds a supernatural element as well as the feeling of being constantly watched as you progress through the story.

The story is pretty basic, but it is more than enough to keep you interested in seeing the outcome. The setting itself *is* the narrative and the supernatural element gives you the sense of urgency that keeps you going through.

The only negative thing I can really say about the game is that I wish there were more, or a sequel. Other than that though, I do not regret buying it at all and I did pay the £5.89 that it is currently charging for. If the games length concerns you, buy a key from a reseller or wait for a sale. If the game intrigues you though, try it. Just be prepared to be scared.

Full playthrough available here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmXKFj9I73c

This game is a digital love letter to the original Resident Evil trilogy and survival horror in general, as well as a homage to 1980's and 1980's pop culture to boot.

The developers don't try to hide their inspiration, and there are whole rooms and area's that have pretty much been lifted from Resident Evil games and then remade in the newer engine. Suddenly finding one of these areas and thinking to yourself "hmm this seems familiar" only for the memory to come rushing in gives you a great little nostalgia hit on an already fun game. Examples of areas that have been copied over are the S.T.A.R.S office (Now the H.A.D.E.S. office), the helicopter pad from the tyrant fight in RE1, Kendo's gunshop and the hopskotch area from the back if the bar in RE Nemesis. There are also a number of little nods to characters and places from the RE series, such as finding the body of "D.R," alongside his daughter in a very familiar looking warehouse (Dario Rosso from RE Nemesis). You can play this game without ever having played the RE games before and won't notice these little easter eggs as they have no bearing on the story or game at all, but for a long time fan it is a really nice touch. There are also loads of references to movies, video games, tv shows and pinball machines that were around during the 80s and 90s and these too give you a nice little hit right in the nostalgia. Back to the Future has a number of references too, from an actual DeLorean in a street, the sports almanac and a very familiar looking DeLoreon on a for sale poster.

The story in the game isn't exactly in depth, and quite honestly the voice acting and script for the game is pretty laughable at times. I make no exaggerations when I say that at times I did genuinely wonder if the script had been made by some sort of AI because there are just certain sentences that people wouldn't say. The voice acting often doesn't marry up to the subtitles either, where it is obvious that the voice actor has corrected something that would be grammatically incorrect or just plain clumsy when said. With that being said though, the paper thin story and bad dialogue doesn't harm the game in my opinion. If anything, it is another little homage to the super cheesy dialogue of the early survival horror classics, "Jill Sandwich" being something that is also references a number of times in the game.

The graphics are pretty good for the environment and whilst the character faces in particular aren't the best, I feel like they do a good job of covering up these weaknesses where possible so they become less obvious. The game's puzzles are also pretty taxing for the first play-through, and are much more involved than the usual "fetch object A to open door 1" so they actually require a bit of brainpower to solve. An example would be a a puzzle where you have to work out a password written in ancient Greek, using inscriptions written under paintings of Greek myth's as well as a typewriter that has all of its letters replaced with the Ancient Greek Alphabet.

All things being said, I think that Daymare 1998 is a must have for old school survival horror fans. Yes it has flaws, but there is a lot of fun to be had too.

Regrettably, I can't recommend this game to anyone for a few reasons.

First off, I have been playing and enjoying survival horror games since the mid 90s and so I am always looking forward to trying different games in the genre, and seeing where different developers take the concept. On the surface, I was really excited by Tormented Souls and the number of very positive reviews gave me a good feeling when it came to playing the game. However, my experience of the game just hasn't been enjoyable and after hitting a roadblock of sorts I have simply decided that the game isn't worth the struggle to try and play through it.

The overall graphics of the environment are really well done, and I like the idea that you have to sort of 'juggle' where the power goes so different areas will be in complete darkness until you find a power switch to make them brighter but using the switch will make the last area become dark instead. It's a little thing, but it does make exploration have a feeling of trepidation which I think is quite a neat idea.

The puzzles so far have been mainly object based, so don't take a lot of brain power as it is mainly "you need x to open door A" and the objects needed vary from keys to door knockers and handles and stuff. When there is a more complex puzzle, they are still easy to work out such as making sure the gas level of a boiler is correct so a generator can power on and the puzzle which stopped my progression was at least sensible enough on paper. In this particular one You find a door that needs a door knocker to be installed and is engraved with the instructions that "only someone who knows the heart beat of a certain creation can enter". The creation referenced is a statue and you need a stethoscope then to listen to the statues chest and hear the heartbeat, and then you replicate the pattern of beats on the door knocker. The pattern itself is very simple being one slow knock, followed by three fast, followed by one slow and another one slow knock. This *should* open the door. However for me, I could not get the door to open at all. I tried going faster than the beat was, slower, matching it completely, following video guides, recording the audio and pressing the button at the exact time I hear the beats and even tried using a controller, keyboard and even a mouse. At no point did the door open and so I couldn't progress. After several days of trying and even creating a forum discussion asking for help, I just figured that I am wasting my time since it just does not seem to want to work. I have done some digging online and it seems a lot of people have the same issue with me, and the number one response that people seem to give is to "use the games debug mode to glitch through the door" so effectively you have to cheat in order to simply continue. This strikes me as an exceptionally lazy method on the part of the developers when they could quite easily make the door more likely to open by lowering what appears to be a ridiculously tight failure percentage. For me, that was a no go. I have never had to cheat to finish a survival horror game before on my first playthrough and so it just seems wrong to me that this seems to be necessary.

On the debug mode too, it seems that people recommend using it to counter-act the extremely low pickup rate of healing items and save items in the first portion of the game. Again, it seems you have to cheat to simply play the game which just seems bonkers to me. The game isn't exactly hard either, but the lack of these items means you are quite likely to have to replay whole sections as you will likely die whilst you are learning the general mechanics of the game. For example, the most common form of enemy you encounter will continually chase you and get close to you to attack. This is fine, but their animations seem to be quicker than the characters aiming and moving animations which means you are definitely going to get hit when there are multiple enemies in a room and so you will likely run out of health items early on very quickly. The save system itself is pretty much identical to the resident evil typewriter, but instead is a voice recorder that requires tapes. The scarce amount of tapes means that in 3 hours I could only save twice, so approx once every hour. This did mean that there were times I died and had to rerun through multiple rooms and enemies which in my honest opinion, hurts the game a lot. Horror games rely on tension, but there is no tension left when you know where every enemy spawns and where every item is. Having to run through areas multiple times simply because there aren't many save items really damages the enjoyability of the game, especially at a time when you are just settling in and trying to become engrossed. It just takes you out of the moment, and out of the story. Again, I understand why people say to use the debug mode but as a player it just seems extremely counter-intuitive from an enjoyment stand point to have to cheat just to play normally. This isn't a souls like game, and so it doesn't leave you feeling like you are learning but rather that you have been cheated somewhat when you do die and have to replay a section.

Unlike the door puzzle, these issues are small and at first you don't notice them. The problem with this game though is that once you see the cracks in it, you can't help but notice that they are everywhere. There are things I had overlooked that by the end of my time playing were just glaringly annoying to me. For example the textures of the environment are beautiful but the textures of the characters are very basic and so look odd in comparison. The standard enemies make sense in the way they move and attack, but then there is a wall enemy that never moves or even acknowledges you until you stand in front of it - which nobody will ever do. It just makes it's existence pointless and you just melee kill it since it is zero danger. The environment doesn't really make sense as it is referred to as a mansion, but then has rooms that a hospital would have like treatment rooms and a maternity ward, but then there are religious looking texts and even a priest which leaves you wondering Is it a mansion, church or hospital then? The maps arent very good and at times you genuinely wonder where you are because it doesn't make it obvious and you need to pick up different parts of the same map in order to see a whole section which just makes it more confusing at first. The analogue movement is very light and flighty whereas the d-pad tank controls are overly heavy (moreso than games like the original resident evil and survival horror games) which means there is a bit of a learning curve at first just trying to move in a natural way. There are other small things I noticed as well, but you get the idea. Once you see a crack, you literally see them everywhere and it just takes you out of the experience.

I had genuinely been looking forward to playing this game but I am left feeling like it was really just a waste of money and I really didn't get my money's worth before being stopped by an insanely picky game mechanic. Honestly, I figure my experience must not be very common considering all of the positive reviews this game has got but I do genuinely wonder how many of those people experienced the same issues and just gave in to use the developers debug mode to actually play the game. As an old school survival horror gamer though, I simply cannot recommend this game to anyone. Save your money because I really wish I had.

I feel kind of bad about writing this review as it's a game I don't actually recommend, but having put a load of hours into the game I figure it's worth pointing out to other survival horror fans what to expect when it comes to 'them and us'.

First off, the positives, the game is beautifully rendered and gives you the classic mid 90's survival horror feel as you traverse through an old mansion solving puzzles, finding keys and facing off against zombies. It's a pretty perfect rendition of "we have resident evil at home" when you first start playing and that alone makes you want to invest some time in it. You can tell that the dev's have tried hard to suit the different tastes and play-styles of all survival horror fans too because as default the game comes with the option of playing with fixed camera angles (like the original RE games) or as an over the shoulder 3rd person game (like RE4/5). Whats more, there was also a dlc available for a while (no longer on steam but can be found on resellers) that allows you to play the game in first person too (so like RE 7/8). The simple fact that they have taken the time to program all three styles tells you that the dev's really wanted to give you the survival horror experience that you have been craving for outside of RE. There is also a TV in one of the rooms that when interacted with allows you to change the art style between vanilla, black and white and mid 90s digitised. Again, a small feature that just tried to give you whatever experience you prefer, and the devs really do deserve credit on that front.

The backgrounds and rendering is really well done and I would even go as far as to say that in some places like the mansion, it feels more ominous than the RE1 remake did which is no small feat either. The zombies too are really well made, and the animations for them walking is much more in line with how we tend to see walkers/zombies depicted on TV with a shambling, shuffling motion and not the frankenstein arms out approach that so many games adopt. There are times where the zombies here do that too, but it is far less frequent and so less glaring when it happens. The environments have lots of interactivity with little comments to keep the characters point of reference in mind too and that makes the large maps feel less empty as you do tend to go around searching everything.

The large maps though, for me at least, are a bit of a problem. At first when in the house you are separated from different wings due to missing keys, which is fine and helps make any backtracking feel necessary. After all, its a strange house you have never been in so there is bound to be doors that are locked that you need to get through. The game starts to get tedious though when you finally get outside. There are so many garden/forest/path/greenhouse maps that it is way too easy to get lost when you find something for a puzzle that requires you to go all the way back to the mansion for example. The map system at first seems like resident evil, but it suffers here because there are just so many large areas and the map's don't connect or show any signs of labelling. A simple arrow with the name of the next map at entry and exit points would go a long way to stop you from getting lost, and quite honestly getting frustrated. I am someone who enjoys taking a long time to play a game, exploring every nook and cranny and backtracking to find hidden stuff. In this game though, I find myself mentally checking out more often than not because they really do have you going through 4 or 5 maps to fetch one item, to return through the same maps and then back again. At first it makes sense, but by midway when you are finding mansion door unlock items out in the middle of a forest then it just starts to feel tedious and silly. Some areas too like the ruins are just exceptionally bland and you can tell that they had less time spent on them than initial areas like the mansion. This sort of makes certain parts of the game feel a bit disjointed, or at least it did for me.

There is a selection of enemies which are mainly zombie variations (male, female, bloater), but the zombie dogs and hunter-like frog men (though much less scary and easier to kill) are all represented here as well as different types of cultists and a chainsaw wielding maniac (basically all of the tropes that have been done to death in this genre) so it does lack some origiinality. There is a nemesis style monster too called the "gatekeeper" that quite honestly is a huge letdown. You read lots of diary entries and texts about how scary the guy is and how he is impervious to pain so in your mind you are picturing a tyrant-esque monster that will drive up the tension. However when you do face him, he is not at all intimidating and goes down with repeated shotgun blasts to the head. Graphically he has a pale white face and jet black hair and dark clothing, but in contrast to the details on literally every other enemy, he looks like a random create-a-monster where someone just clicked randomise. The way he looks reminded me of Ka'Dargo from Farscape but with Nausican graphics from Star Trek Online. It just isn't scary at all. As for him being relentless too, he does chase you, until you move into a new area, and you can outrun him pretty easily if you want to. The devs have made killing him rewarding though as each time you do (I faced him 3 times so far) he will drop a key to a different part of the mansion that will contain ammo/health items. I do quite like the fact that there are parts of mansion that some players will never see, unless they specifically pass challenges like that in order to see them. They aren't by any means must see areas, but it's nice all the same.

The story starts off well, you wake up in a strange house without knowing how you got there or where you are and you are looking for your daughter. The problem is though, there just doesn't feel like there is any urgency in the way that the story is told. There is so little voice dialogue that after the intro, it seemed like it had been hours before I heard a voice giving any sort of exposition. That isn't necessarily a fault of the devs, voice acting isn't cheap after all, but the game does suffer because of it and by the time they do start to try and ramp up the tension, you are already kind of 'over' it and are just playing to see off the game.

And really that is why I can't recommend the game. I wish i could, indy developers are important and survival horror games with that 90s feel are rare enough that I really do wish I could point to it and say how much of a gem it is. But I am close to the end of the game and genuinely not sure whether I will finish or not. I'm not at all interested in seeing the resolution of the story, apparently there are multiple endings too but I am certainly not interested in replaying it either. I feel like the sheer amount of back-tracking has devalued the game massively to the point that it just feels like a chore to play. I don't like leaving games unfinished so I probably will attempt to finish it in the next few days but quite honestly the drive to do so is waning fast, if it hasn't left me already.

All I keep saying to myself is "I could be playing Resident Evil instead". That is the lasting impression that this game has given me.

Edited to add - I did go on to finish the game and I also looked up the criteria for the different endings and also watched them on youtube. It seems that 3 of them are different only due to a single interaction and choice at the very end and the good ending has approx 1 hour of further gameplay to achieve. However, watching the video for that ending on Youtube highlighted to me the games biggest flaw in the sheer amount of back-tracking and empty, lifeless maps that the player had to run through in order to complete the next little bit of the puzzle. I'm left feeling that the devs had lofty ambitions, but struggled to live up to them.

I've played a number from MMO's from LotRo, ESO, Rift, and SWO and yet none has kept me logging in daily quite like STO has. And the weird thing is that I am not a huge Trekkie either, or should I say I wasn't a huge trekkie before I started. LotR and ES have both had me investing far more time in the past in other games and delving into their lore, but I started playing STO about 3 years ago simply because I started rewatching next generation.

Star Trek Online is very easy to play in bitesize chunks because of the episodic nature of the chapters and missions, and honestly it is done in a way that no other MMO I have played has ever beaten. In games like LotrO and ESO I found myself logging in after a week away or an extended absence and simply having no idea which quests I was doing or why and so would generally drop them all and start picking up random quests until I found a common story thread to follow. It's not a major issue, but it is a bit jarring when going back to a game after a break. With STO though, the chapters just seem to be more neatly wrapped up and easier to digest and there is a very definite order where you just follow one by one when it comes to the main story. There are other world missions that you pick up on the way too, but are generally repeatable which means they don't tend to affect the main story much. I don't know why but STO just feels neater when it comes to storytelling, and it really helps you not feel overwhelmed.

The devs also keep constant mini events running where you can earn ships, upgrades and in game items on pretty much a monthly basis which in my view also makes it one of the most generous MMO's I have played. Most games give a daily reward for free, but its usually a one use consumable or something you never would have bought anyway. In this game, the ships alone are worth logging in for the events as each one can be claimed on every character and every ship has a unique trait or sometimes equipment that can help you experiment with builds. I see a lot of "STO is pay to win" but in my experience that just isn't true. They are more than generous with free stuff and they have regular sales on the in game store. Most of what people cry about the cost of seems to be things like rare ships too, which just seems to me like a huge FOMO that they themselves need to either cough up or get over. You can absolutely play this game without investing much at all, as I played f2p for quite a while before starting to spend money on it.

As well as the in game rewards and freebies, there are regular update giveways on sites like intel, alienware and Steel series and these giveaways tend to have something that ties into the latest game update. For example a recent update was all about the borg and so the giveaways had borg consoles and borg ground weapons that you could claim. What is more every single time they do these giveaways, every one contains a pack that gives you bank and inventory space which means that there is another thing you don't necessarily have to buy in game. These sites always have their own unique updates too giving away different items, and so at each update you get to claim 2-4 different ones and so that is 2-4 different bank and inventory packs. Again, in my opinion just another showing of how overly generous the game actually is.

There are also in game work arounds to some of the paid content, for example one thing people buy is "cross faction flying" but this can be unlocked for free just by levelling a Klingon KDF character to max level. Once your klingon is max level, every character on the account can fly whatever ship they like so again saves you money after a little time investment.

As for levelling too, I find this to be one of the easiest games to level characters in personally. I have something like 8 max level characters and most of them I haven't really played that much. They have been levelled mainly through events, random TFO's (group missions) and solo patrols. This wasn't for any other reason than because I wanted different characters of different races to be able to jump in and play when I felt like it and have access to similar skills across them.

Quite honestly, even as a someone who is fairly new to star trek I can say that this game gives you a lot to log in for and a lot of content to play. It also got me interested in watching other star trek shows such as Deep Space 9 and TOS, neither of which ever interested me before. The fact that the game hires many of the voice actors to reprise their roles got me wanting to know more about them and so it kindled a bit of a star trek deep dive and in turn made me appreciate the whole fandom a lot more.

My final thought is simply that if you are on the fence about trying this game, just try it. I was and I did, and I haven't looked back.

I've never really enjoyed playing arena style games, but started playing this after watching a friend and I am kind of hooked (no pun intended). I can't quite work out whether I prefer being a survivor or a killer, but either way it's an enjoyable experience that gets the heart racing a bit. As a total noob there is a lot to learn, but the learning curve seems to be a small one as I haven't really struggled as either role just yet. It's interesting to see how many streamers are playing it too, and they are always friendly if you pop into their chat after a match to say hello. I've made quite a few acquaintances through it already. If I have one criticism it is purely the amount of DLC's that I now want that will cost me even more £££ but really, that's just my own little FOMO thing on show.

They have added so much content since launch that it is more than worth the price now. Its an enjoyable game to sit back and relax whilst watching TV.

Honestly, it isn't as bad as people make out and worth playing if you like the zombie (sort of) genre or MGSV gameplay. I certainly would not have bought it at launch price, but I think I paid £3 or £4 for it in a sale a while back and it was worth that easily.

I've just played it purely as a single player game (I haven't tried any of the co-op or salvage missions) and just played through the story whilst collecting things to build up my base, and have found it quite enjoyable. There is a nice range of enemies from mindless shambling wanderers to insect like grabbers that hide in the ground and act like a living trap. The enemies are always very easy to deal with, but the whole idea behind the game is survival and so the enemies are really just there as a means to make you run out of ammo and other stuff. The enemies are only really deadly if you let them group up and so during the tower defence style parts of the story (namely when you unlock a new area and have to initially defend it) you have to make sure that you are fully prepared with weapons, health items and blocking aids (barriers and fences).

The missions are repeatable and so very repetitive, but considering the state that they released MGS V in with regards to repeatable missions, this should come as no surprise. They range from rescuing unconscious survivors, collecting crates and walkers that have appeared through wormholes and mining moving singularities. The latter of those is basically a smaller version of the tower defence style gameplay but still fun in it's own way. Like all tower defence games, the "fun" comes in finding new ways to deal with the oncoming hordes and this game does a pretty good job of drip feeding new equipment throughout the story to let you try different things as you progress.

As you do unlock these things, you are also able to build up and improve your main base of operations which makes looking for certain resources a little bit easier as you can build farm plots for food items, cages for regular meat and milk from captured animals and water towers. I found myself redesigning the whole camp as soon as new things were unlocked which certainly added to the amount of time I put into the game. At times in the story the base will be attacked, which means you will learn what sort of defences work best for you and it really helps you decide what is worth building and what is not. To go with the whole base thing, the people you rescue can be assigned to teams such as medical, farming etc.

There is a tactical team that they can be assigned to as well, and there they can go off and get you specific items that you require. The rarer items obviously take more time and so this is where the micro-transactions would come into play. I think the longest amount of time a run can take is 3 or 4 days, and the shortest is 21 minutes. The game unlocks 1 tactical team for you to use, and you can buy more if you want to partake in the micro-transactions. I did not, and so I just never bothered using them for anything other than the 21 minute and 24 hour runs and it really did not impact my game-play negatively at all. In this sense, the micro-transactions are easily avoidable. I have quite literally just completed the main story after putting in 98 hours of game-play and have not spent 1 penny on the game other than when I originally bought it. From what I gather, the people who complain about the micro transactions in this game are the ones who don't really want to partake in the survival aspects of the game anyway - where you have to go out and find what you need before you run out. Personally, I feel like that is the whole point of playing a survival game so I actually enjoyed the hunt and just developed a pack rat mentality whereby I picked up everything I could whenever I saw it. But yeah, as a single player the micro-transactions are easily dodged. I should add too that I am not at all in favour of games having them (I think it is a pretty scummy practice) but am more than willing to point out when they aren't integral to being able to play the game and in Metal Gear Survive they really do not seem to be.

The game does have issues, there is no denying that. My main issue with it was that even though I chose to play solo, you *have* to have an online connection and running it with Steam in offline mode just gives you an error. It also logs you out whenever you alt tab out of the game, so when you go back to it it has to log in again. It doesn't take long (5-10 seconds maximum) but it is annoying nonetheless. This one issue leads me to believe that at some point the servers will be deemed non-profitable and be switched off for good leaving every copy of the game worthless. Personally, I think that they should have included an offline mode for that very reason. Another issue I had was that when creating your character, there was a choice of 5 hairstyles that are all short but when playing the game you would regularly see and rescue characters that had varied long and mid-length hairstyles, so I was a bit confused as to why these could not be used on your player character. A mild annoyance, sure, but still one that shouldn't really have ever existed. Finally, a lot of this story is told in storyboard format similar to in Metal Gear Peacewalker. In PW that was understandable due to it being made for the PSP and so hardware limitations would have been a factor, but here it did seem lazy. Basically most of the story is communicated to you via static images with text - similar to the codec in the original Metal Gear Solid. There are cut scenes as well, but they don't tend to have any talking in them and are only really used for action sequences. This makes the characters feel a bit flat and so you don't really 'feel' anything towards them. Again, a small issue and one that can be overlooked but still could have been avoided easily considering the company that made the game and their history of amazing cut scenes.

I think the majority of the hate that this game gets is because of the tie to Metal Gear after Kojima left Konami, but honestly it isn't that bad. It could be better for sure, but then again Metal Gear Solid V was literally unfinished and left the vast majority of us feeling unsatisfied on completion, so really why should we expect anything different anyway? I think they have done a good enough job of creating a story that fits (kind of) into the canon if you want it to but also can be completely ignored if you don't want it to. Really on that note I think that they have given Metal Gear fans the best of both worlds and the idea is quite simple that if you don't like the idea of it then simply do not play it and so nobody is losing out really at all. If anything, playing another game in the fox engine was quite welcome for me and so I went in with no expectations and ended up enjoying it.