Recent reviews by Xul

A competent action RPG, drawing on some influences from other successful titles, with satisfying exploration and good performance.

• Combat is simple but enjoyable. Variety seems to come more from weapon sets than from abilities, but as I'm only around level 10 that's something that might open up more in later levels.
  
• Ambient dialog between the companions is excellent. It feels very natural, helped by some quality voice work. Overall writing is decent, no complaints through the first region.
  
• Game systems are light by design, they've tried to strip out some of the busywork and tedium present in some other 'heavier' RPGs. Particularly, companions look after themselves - you don't have to supply them with equipment and constantly keep it up to date. This kind of approach helps reinforce that companions are their own people, not just paperdolls for you to micromanage their stats and equipment.
  
• There are some minor flavour notes from Baldur's Gate 3 and from Mass Effect. The light RPG mechanics, action combat and independent companions feel similar to Mass Effect's approach, while the dialog UI and function has more in common with BG3. There are no social dice rolls, but rather some dialog options are gated by attribute scores or character background, eg. needing 4+ perception to be able to use an option. These extra options aren't always useful - in fact some can be slightly detrimental - so you still have to consider whether it's appropriate, not just 'gated response = better' as with some RPGs.

I will comment on price, but it's an odd thing to include in a review because it's highly subjective and it's ephemeral anyway. The launch price is fairly high, but at the same time I think some reviews' suggestions it's worth $20 are absurd for a game with 30+ hours of play (because let's be honest, nobody's buying an RPG just to beeline main story and skip everything else). It's my opinion there's enough content and enough quality here to keep you entertained for a pretty reasonable per-hour cost, even without factoring any potential replayability. And I've not yet felt like the game disrespects my time, which is a common pitfall in large heavy RPGs, so I've had no sense of disconnect between time spent and enjoyment so far.

Lastly, a gentle suggestion: there are enough hardships in life without inviting others' negativity to affect you. It's perfectly fine to not like a game - not everything is for everyone - but listening to people who peddle in hostility and antagonism, people who want to spread negativity and bring everyone else down, is just letting their rot infect your happiness. Enjoy what you enjoy, move on from what you don't, and let others do the same.

An excellent implementation of D&D, wrapped in a compelling and well-written story and engaging companions. The game loses some of its polish in the third act, but the game is absolutely worth the play. Unquestionably the game of the year.

A very wide, somewhat shallow, heavily-procedural sandbox. Many interesting mechanics that can be a little overwhelming for new players, but may exhaust its captivation for some who prefer depth over variety.

New systems and mechanics have been added constantly over the years, many of which are interesting, but each system has relatively little depth. That's not to say the game is bad - I do recommend it, after all - but it can lead sometimes to a sense of wondering where it's going, whether your time spent has been worthwhile, or whether there is anything new over the horizon. For people who don't tire easily of the game's systems this means a lot of longevity, but if you reach a point of wanting something more, the game can at that point feel a little lacking.

Suffice to say, the game has changed substantially since my initial negative review. It's been improved for some time, but I thought to keep the original review up as a record of how it was at the time it was reviewed. Now, I think, it's finally time to update it.

Most of the problems with the game at launch have been resolved or exceeded. The game has been an absolute labour of love for the development team, with dozens of large content updates delivered for free, far beyond any reasonable expectation. I suspect they may be nearing the end of their feature updates for the game, but considering how much they've delivered to date I'd have no problem at all with them calling it 'done' any time they like.