Recent reviews by Apocalypto

We recently started playing PUBG with a group of friends, but it has been a frustrating experience in several areas.

Hit Registration Issues:
One glaring issue is the inconsistent hit registration. On multiple occasions, I’ve taken shots that appeared perfectly on target, even confirming with recordings from private streams, but the game fails to register them as hits. This is particularly frustrating when using snipers, as accuracy is paramount, yet the mechanics don’t hold up.

Graphics and Performance Problems:
While I prioritize performance over visuals, PUBG struggles to deliver on both fronts. My settings are optimized for performance - medium for most, with render distance set to Ultra - but static mesh textures are twitchy and unreliable. This visual glitch often makes players indistinguishable from the environment, forcing constant zooming to confirm targets. Worse, this visual confusion means you’re frequently blind to where shots are coming from, ruining situational awareness.

Death Cam Sync Issues:
The death cam is poorly implemented. Often, it shows your character being killed by someone who isn’t even aiming properly, which raises doubts about whether the opponent is cheating or if it’s just another desynchronization issue.

Weapon Mechanics:
The weapon balance feels off. Assault rifles have excessive recoil unless you stack attachments, and even then, using burst or single-fire modes feels unwieldy. For newer players, handling recoil is an unnecessarily steep learning curve, leaving you feeling outmatched, especially at long distances. While single-shot snipers feel acceptable, SMGs and shotguns are nearly irrelevant due to how infrequently close-range encounters occur.

Annoying Mechanics:
One of the most frustrating mechanics is how your weapon automatically pulls up when you're near walls or obstacles, rendering you defenseless. This happens even in critical positions like staircases or windows, making you an easy target while preventing you from retaliating effectively. Ironically, while this mechanic discourages camping in certain spots, it doesn’t stop players from corner camping, which is rampant. Entering buildings is a gamble because you’re constantly at risk of being ambushed by someone hiding in a corner.

Overall, PUBG has potential, but the persistent issues with hit registration, graphics, desynchronization, weapon balance, and flawed mechanics severely detract from the fun. It's disappointing because, beneath all these frustrations, there's a genuinely good game that could shine with proper polish and updates.

Instead of focusing solely on adding skins and other cosmetics - which can still be included as a way for developers to earn revenue - the priority should be addressing these core gameplay mechanics. A solid, well-functioning base game will not only keep current players engaged but also attract new ones, ensuring PUBG’s longevity and success in the competitive gaming landscape.

Spell Brigade is one of the better roguelikes I’ve had the pleasure of playing. The multiplayer mode, while incredibly fun and engaging, does have its share of challenges. Disconnections can be frustrating, especially since players can’t rejoin, often forcing a new game. That said, the cooperative gameplay is still a blast, and working together with friends brings a whole new level of excitement.

The graphics are unique and visually appealing, adding charm and personality to the game world. Creating objects is not only fun but also encourages creativity and strategy, especially in multiplayer. A particularly interesting mechanic is the ability to damage friendly units, which adds a layer of challenge and requires players to be extra careful when casting spells or creating objects.

Overall, Spell Brigade offers an innovative roguelike experience with a lot of potential. While there are technical hiccups, the gameplay and creative mechanics make it a title worth trying, especially with friends.

After 9 hours and reaching level 28, I’m finding it hard to continue. Here’s my experience so far:

The core gameplay loop consists of cutting trees, mining stones, gathering herbs, and skinning animals to level up skills. You then use the gathered materials to advance 8 other professions. While I don’t mind a grind system - it’s pretty standard - it feels dull and repetitive.

The menus are poorly designed. For instance, basic functions like “Recall to Inn” are buried under Escape > Gear Icon, making simple tasks unnecessarily convoluted. The Trading Post is unintuitive; understanding prices or choosing items is a struggle. Worse, the UI doesn’t calculate your total profit - you need a calculator for that!

The crafting menus are a mess. It’s hard for new players to follow recipes, track profession levels, or identify what’s unlocked next. The filters are clunky and make navigation frustrating as your unlocks grow.

The leveling experience boils down to ignoring almost everything except the main quest, which gives the most XP, while side quests offer almost none.

1. Run to a location.
   
2. Kill a set number of creatures.
   
3. Interact with objects by pressing E.
   
4. Sometimes, break something to press E on what’s behind it.
   
5. Run back or teleport to the nearest town/quest giver.
   
6. Repeat.

The quests lack creativity or variety, making the process feel like a chore. The only redeeming quality is the visual design of the world, which is quite impressive-but the world itself feels empty. Exploring caves or regions offers little reward. For example, you might defeat an elite enemy, open a chest, and find… nothing exciting. Wildlife doesn’t interact with each other, and creature variety is minimal (boars, wolves, turkeys, rabbits, lynx, undead/skeletons, and a few ghosts).

Villages invaded by undead lack atmosphere. NPCs simply stand there waiting for you to save them, without showing any fear or distress. Small animations or reactions could have made these scenarios more engaging. It feels like the game attempts a World of Warcraft questing model, but without the depth or polish WoW had 20 years ago.

Character designs are underwhelming. Most NPCs and players look unattractive, with few exceptions. Mount designs are lackluster-like something created by a graphic design novice on Udemy.

With the leveling being quick (thanks to the main quest), I assumed the real content would be in the endgame. After Googling, I discovered there isn’t much. Gear only offers passive bonuses, with no active effects to elevate builds. There are no legendary abilities or mechanics that push creativity, like in Destiny 2 (e.g., resetting cooldowns or other dynamic effects).

PvP has been underwhelming. Despite using a decent Bleed Musket build, I get two-shot by players of my level. This imbalance makes PvP more frustrating than fun.

1. Level 50 Update: Rescued some kneeling NPCs-finally, some reaction! However, the majority of quests are still “press E and kill dudes.” Ran two dungeons with high-level friends, but they were unimpressive. The “carry a force field to cut lasers” mechanic was the most notable moment, which was just okay.
   
   
2. Level 63 Update: Not much has changed. The gameplay loop remains: run somewhere, kill enemies, interact with objects. The game is filled with time-wasting mechanics like:
   
   • Run 600 meters, interact, wait for the cast bar.
     
   • Run 300 meters, interact, wait for another cast bar.
     
   • Return 500 meters or teleport (with a 10-second loading screen) to the quest giver.

Why does setting a spawn point at an inn involve loading? Also, the EU AWS servers need improvement-I’ve been disconnected multiple times, sometimes resulting in my death.

The horse’s auto-pathing is a mixed bag. It’s convenient to travel hands-free, but the system often gets confused in fields, making awkward turns or heading in the wrong direction. There might be an option to disable it, but honestly, I can’t be bothered to check.

At this point, the game doesn’t feel worth the time investment. The grind is boring, endgame content lacks depth, and systems feel outdated or poorly designed. While the world looks great, it’s empty and lifeless. Unless major changes happen, I can’t recommend this game.

It is an ok game. Did not see anything special about it and did not feel the hype people where talking about. Third person shooter with calling bombs from space. Got bored after few hours of playing. There are some skins, armors, emotes, weapons and mods in the battle passes but nothing got me invested in unlocking them all. GL HF ✌️

This game is like World of Warcraft. If you haven't played it you've missed piece of history.

Unique zombie apocalypse experience! Random generated worlds. Breaking into houses is hard you'll have to be really well prepared before every raid. Encountering small and big Hordes while trying to survive. One of the few games out there that is really hard :) I'm playing the game from early stages of alpha and I have to say developers made really big improvements to their product for that period of time. Thank you Fun Pimps :)

The best class-based multiplayer mayhem!

Best Co-Op experience I ever had!

Thank you valve can't say anything else! You have to play this unique game if you have the opportunity JUST DO IT!

Beautiful graphics, very interesting story, Lara is absording a lots of damage :D The only bad things is that everything is too scripted and in missions you can't miss a thing. Nice island to explore.