Recent reviews by G R U G

This game had everything stacked against it. Production hindered by the pandemic, a rushed release by Tencent, horrible launch which drove the ratings and player-base down. But there was still something amazing to be had there. And after almost 2 years of constant support, I can now safely say that with the latest Unlocked and Loaded update, the game has unearthed that diamond from the dirt.
The customization at hand is insane, from the sprawling character creator that offers 12 excellently written personalities, to the 4 classes and their subsequent sub-classes which change your play-style completely. A mission variety that's consistently getting more and more added to it with each update. Graphics and art direction that put most AAA studios to shame. A loot and gear system that promotes experimentation and mastery. An OST that's filled with nothing but bangers. One of the best combat systems put into any game ever. The only issues that could arise are performance based and the occasional glitch, but nothing that will ruin the experience. This is a MUST HAVE for not only those who enjoy horde-shooters, but FPS' overall.

No, this isn't the masterpiece that every youtuber claims it is. Sorry.
I first came into this game with high hopes, being promised a brutal and unforgiving take on the rpg formula inspired by the works of Kentaro Miura and H.P. Lovecraft. Don't see too many games that deal with that type of horror, so I was pretty excited. Sadly, what I got instead was a convoluted mess that takes all the bad parts of its influences and shoves it into one experience. And to pre-face this, I have played through the game two times. My first play through having no guide at all, eventually achieving ending D. And my second play through using google for help, eventually achieving ending A.

TL;DR for those who don't wish to get spoiled:
Fear and Hunger is a game that has some amazing ideas behind it, that is ultimately held down by an unoriginal world, poor game design, and even worse writing. Don't get it.

Let's start with the good, however, seeing as this game does actually do some things right.
- The Intrigue
The game does have an amazing way of building intrigue to the players. From the dark ambiance that's exemplified by great sound design to the bleak yet foreboding soundtrack, everything revolving around the presentation of this game is amazing.

- The Art
The art for this game is jaw dropping at times. It has some of the most uniquely designed enemies I've seen in any type of media, and the art style itself gives a perfect uncanny feeling to each encounter.

- The Idea
A bit strange to praise it, but I love the idea behind the game itself. An rpg that actually tries to break through the tedious formula of its contemporaries by flipping everything on its head. Needing to avoid battles instead of engaging. Intricate combat that rewards thinking. All around, it's great.

Now, here's all the bad stuff.
- The Lore
People love to go on about how amazing the lore is, how intricate its woven through everything in the game. Personally? While there may be a lot, most of it just ends up buried under mountains and mountains of strange prerequisites or general clueless from the player. You'll only ever understand the lore if you either follow a walk through or read through pages and pages on the wiki. And most of it is literally just copied directly from its inspirations.

The best example for this is one of the game's most important characters, the knight captain who leads a band of warriors into battle, Le´Garde. In the story, he is a renowned leader throughout the kingdom, until he is eventually captured and thrown in the depths of a dungeon to get tortured till the day he dies. But later on (if you follow the canon storyline), he is saved by one of his closest followers, who unintentionally helps him transform into a god who later on successfully unifies the mid-western nations under one flag. What a character he is, Griff- I mean, Le'Grade.

Now, in no way am I saying that you aren't allowed to take inspiration from other sources -- every idea is influenced by the one that came before. But when you directly rip off characters, gods, and locations from other pieces of media, barely changing the story following them either, it doesn't exactly make for a compelling world once you realize you can get all these things from much better stories that were written AGES ago. It also doesn't help the fact that it becomes insanely hard to take these Gods seriously when you can just, rush most of them with a jagged sword and a pocket full of dreams.

- The ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Despite what some pretentious fans will say about how you need to "git gud" when you present any type of criticism, I'm just gonna say it. The game has ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ in it. Just, unavoidable annoyances that you could only avoid if you knew of them existing before hand. My favorite example for this is the item drops. Where nearly every item drop in the dungeon is randomized. And sometimes, this can be really, really annoying when you step on a rusty nail that's just lying in the background, that you could have in no way known was something that you needed to actually pay in mind -- giving you a nasty infection that only 2 items can cure. 1. Green herbs, which will cure it. Or 2. A hacksaw. Which will permanently cripple your character throughout the entire rest of the game. It also doesn't help that a lot of enemies will naturally give you these status effects through their attacks, which means you have to play through the game perfectly if you don't want your experience to be made worse.

The game is also inherently convoluted with its design. Several different story paths being completely miss-able if you don't follow the exact prerequisites needed. This would usually be fine, if it weren't for the fact that most endings feel so unbelievably hollow. I finished my first play through after around 14 hours of slogging through the trivial designs of the dungeon, the caves, ancient ruins, and Ma'Habre; only to be met with a few questions, text bubbles, and an ending. Safe to say, my experience with this play through just felt like a complete waste, where I hadn't really learned anything except some garbled pieces of lore. Why even have alternate story paths if there's only gonna be one or two rewarding endings?

And this is where I would normally talk about the frustrations that linger with the coin toss mechanics, but I'll just leave it at this instead. DON'T LEAVE SAVING BEHIND A COIN TOSS. AND DON'T LEAVE INCREDIBLY INSIGHTFUL PIECES OF LORE BEHIND A COIN TOSS.

- The Tastelessness
This is where the "bad parts of its influences" comes in from before. So first, it's important to realize something about Berserk -- which is probably the game's biggest influence. It can be tasteless. I know I'm probably gonna get crucified now for saying that, but it's just a harsh truth. Even Kentaro Miura himself admitted to the fact that he can get lost in his own writing and think that EVERYTHING he comes up with must be needed. The best example for this is Casca -- who after being a strong, compelling character that changes and grows over the course of the story; gets raped at the eclipse.

Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with a story dealing with a topic as horrible as this. But the way it's presented in the manga is just grossly fetishistic and incredibly insensitive. And what happens to her after this horrible event? She gets turned into a "damsel in distress" with the mind of a 3 year old throughout most of the story. This isn't character assassination, it's a character mutilation. And it's undeniably, in poor taste. And it's not like this is a one time thing that happens in the story. It happens so, much, MORE. And the only time a subject like this is presented with the sincerity it deserves, is at the start of the story with our main character, Guts. Every other time it's used as a gross tool for the author to point at the story and go "LOOK HOW DARK IT IS!"

And sadly, Fear and Hunger falls into that same pit. It seems to be the only type of trauma presented in the game actually. It's treated either as an RNG based death, or as something to shove into the story to say "Wow, look how awful everything is!!!" with no further respect given to the subject. It's so ridiculous how the game handles it, that some immature fans have even done speedruns to try and see how fast they can get raped. The world record is UNDER TWO MINUTES. And the final nail in the coffin with how bad the game handles this subject, is the fact that there is a status effect dedicated entirely to this. "Severe Anal Bleeding".

Overall, Fear and Hunger 1 is a incredibly ambitious achievement in terms of game devving. One man making ALL of this is just mind blowing to think about. Too bad that you can really tell that this is someone's first venture into writing and game creating.

Yea, alright, I might've cried once.

Yea, okay, I might've cried twice.

Yea, fine, I might've cried three times.

Yea, you got me, I might've cr

Sub Rosa?
It was something else.

You'd step on that train, drive into work, and let the reign of capital loose. Nothing was certain. There were no safe hunts for disks. Deals could go clean or bring your entire company down. Faces came and went with each bullet. And there was nothing else like it.

But what made it all special, even at its barest form, were the people. Its lucrative nature drove in a specific type of laborer. The free. They recognized the game, how nothing could restrain you in it, and they took their shot. You'd even start recognizing some of them, trade with them, deal with them, bond with them. I'll never forget the camaraderie that I forged. The blood I spilt. The money I gained. The brothers I made. God. How I miss those days.

It's all gone now. Neglected. Abandoned. Even after all these years, nothing's ever come close to it. All that lives on are the memories we made. Locked away. Kept safely in a lampblack briefcase, sitting in the vault of that derelict office. Goldmen Inc.

So goodnight, Sub Rosa. Goodnight, to that sleepless city.



And if you're stiil out there, somewhere, Coach. Just know that I'll always be grateful to have done business with someone like you.

eh, could use some work

I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ LOVE WAR

It's aight.

This is by far one of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and non-balanced mil sims I've ever played. The game is just a cluster♥♥♥♥ of badly designed maps, broken balancing, and a ♥♥♥♥ ton of glitches. All of the maps are just "Grass field with forests" and nothing else. The guns in the game are either completely useless or incredibly broken. And it is impossible to play this game without several glitches ruining the experience. 2/10, just use your money on something else

Even though i´ve played this game for 88 hours, and that i´m quite possibly gonna play more., I cannot recommend it. Sure, it´s fun, but it is so unbelievably broken. Several bugs that have existed for years still havent been patched, several pay to win mechanics, an incredibly toxic community, are only a few reasons why I would´nt recommend this

In this game, you and 4 other friends can go recruit and all bust through 1 wall, And then get mowed down by a russian guy with a sentry. 10/10