Nedávné recenze uživatele Chaney

Upon further inspection I can confirm that this is a banger.

So we've got this guy, this one absolute madman named Jason Smith who one day said to himself "You know what? f*** it! I'm going to make my own game and do 95% of all the work my damn self!" And so he did, and a legend was born.
CULTIC absolutely slaps. Imagine Resident Evil 4, smear a coat of Blood-hued paint overtop of it and make it as chomky as is theoretically possible, and you've got about 1/3rd of an idea of what kind of absolute thrill-ride CULTIC is.
The art direction is stunning. A creative vision utilising old-school style graphics with an intentionally limited color-palette, sprite-based animations and a freight-train supply of voxels.
The gameplay loop is as gripping as a barbed fishhook covered in gorilla glue. Methodical and masterfully paced environments that show the sheer amount of dedication to crafting a unique experience in the wake of very stiff competition. Combine that with an arsenal of grounded-yet-impactful weaponry (except the hatchet it suuuucks) to be used against a roster of fanatical mass-murdering psychopaths and you've got yourself a good time. Oh, and the weapons can also be upgraded too, so there's a hearty selection of tools for murder and mayhem that makes me feel as giddy as a Build Engine protagonist in a gun and candy store.
The music is the perfect mixture of atmospheric pieces and relentless pounders that honestly reminds me of the best of John Carpenter. I've bought the OST and I can't help but play it full volume during my daily commutes. Yes, Jason Smith also did the music as well. Can this guy not be so damned talented? He's making the rest of us look bad.

In terms of criticisms, I don't have much. The minor gripes are how all the environmental bodies are made of voxels but the actual enemies you fight are sprites, so it feels a little inorganic in places. There are a few platforming sections and mercifully CULTIC doesn't ask you to do them too often outside of a few instances of secret hunting, but when you do have to do platforming it is painful because the protagonist's shoes might as well be coated in vaseline for how slippery it is.
And minor spoilers/controversial take here, but I did not in fact enjoy the cathedral level. The game up to that point was a measured and evenly-paced survival horror experience until the game decided it wanted to be an arena shooter for a brief period. So holding out in a clustered arena with endless waves spawning while fighting a static boss didn't do it for me fam.

In conclusion: Play CULTIC. If I had to make a tier-list of throwback FPS games, then CULTIC would be smack-dab easily in the S tier, tucked comfortably between DUSK and Prodeus.

One upon a time, Epic Games had a soul and made games that had some level of passion and creativity behind them.
Tim Sweeny wants us all to forget about those days. He hates money that isn't milked from the rich teats of the brainwashed masses residing in the Fortnite Gulag.

De-listing Unreal Gold is a baffling display of tone-deaf corporate decision making. Especially considering that we're living in an era where the retro & throwback shooter genre is absolutely exploding to fill in a demand for action-packed shooters that have a pulse rather than the ceaseless production of the Call of Dutys that keep getting sharted out of some creatively-depraved production line. Epic could have worked out a deal with Nightdive to remaster Unreal and bring it to a new audience, but instead they opted to suppress their heritage in favour of extorting more Fortnite microtransactions from Gen-Z babies who have no personality outside of acknowledging the existence of *RECOGNISABLE BRAND*.


****EDIT****

Changed the review to "Recommended" because despite my gripes with Greasy Sweeny I still really really like this game and also taking part in review bombing makes me feel dirty.

It's alright.
Which, considering that this game was more-or-less made by one dude, is a respectable accomplishment.

I don't want to be too harsh on the game because of that, and when the chips are down and all is said and done I do like it and would ultimately recommend it. A decently made, retro-style first-person hack-n-slash with satisfyingly visceral combat, intuitively sprawling level design and a well-crafted atmosphere that despite it's flaws managed to keep me engaged throughout.
As with any entry in the recent and oh-so-wonderful wave of retro shooter revivals, Arthurian Legends understands that keeping the experience tight and basic is key to the overall experience. Following the three-episode structure of the classics, granting the player use of a respectable arsenal of weaponry, plenty of wretched foes to exercise them upon and hidden secrets to encourage and reward exploration of the levels rather than just bee-lining from point A to B.

First, the levels:
Chapter 1 is the indisputable highlight of the game, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The levels just feel so much more lively and polished in terms of layout and enemy/item distribution, and the hidden secrets feel more organic to the areas.
Chapter 2 is where the game begins to peter-off for me and in my opinion are the lowest point of the game. The levels feel agonisingly long, enemy distribution becomes irritating and I'm just exhausted by the end of each level.
Chapter 3 picks up a little bit, with better level layout, atmosphere and pacing, but enemy distribution becomes an absolute pain.
As well, each chapter has a hidden secret level that can only be accessed by finding a hidden key, and you want to go to these levels, you need to, since they reward you with a set of armor that mitigates environmental damage types to be found on the following levels.

Now for the weapons:
The arsenal of destruction available to the player is very wide and diverse, arranged in three categories: Your right hand weapons, available from the number keys, are your primary source of damage and dismemberment. Category 1 weapons, the gladius and the hunter's axe (which has unlimited durability) are typically useless with low damage, short-range and I only used them to break pots and walls to replenish my resources. Category 2 is the spiked club, which is a bludgeoning beast of burden that can effectively stunlock foes, making it essential in later levels as enemies become tankier and hit harder, I recommend using it sparingly to preserve it's durability. Category 3 are the first ranged weapon, throwing axes. Think of them as your shotgun, they're reliable and they hit hard. Number 4 is the bastard sword, which is my go-to melee weapon since it's durability is high, it has long reach and deals respectable damage, great for clearing out low to mid-tier foes. Category 5 are your crossbows, absolutely essential to deal with those archers who like to perch far away and whittle your health down, we'll get to those bastards. Category 6 are your throwables, explosive and fire grenades. Explosives are best for quickly removing mid-tier enemies that you don't want to spend too much time on, and the fire grenades are great for clearing out small clusters of weaker enemies. Category 7 is your panic button, the Holy Hand Grenade. Akin to the BFG, it's a room clearer, it's main drawbacks are the egregious self-damage it can cause you, and it's model looks like it's made of play-dough (as Civvie would say: Nice f***ing model HONK HONK). Category 8 are poison throwing knives, and although they say they're poisoned it's more like they're coated in fluoroantimonic acid, making enemies literally explode in the most satisfying way possible. Category 9 is the Jester's Staff, which can be toggled between acid, frost and blood magic. Arguably the strongest weapon in the game but it's ammo is scarce and precious.
The second group are the left-hand weapons, which are significantly fewer and toggled with Q by default. The shield is the first you'll get and by far the most important, not only because it can block damage but also because it's bash attack is 100% essential to master. Next is an off-handed dagger, and I get what it's purpose is, but I never used it because the shield is way more effective. Lastly is a miniature crossbow, which again I never used too often and only brought it out to deal with those f***ing archers while preserving ammo in my main crossbow. I really hate the archers.
Last group is the wide selection of consumable items, and these are the real powerhouses of the arsenal. Single-use items that are bound by default to the F1-F9 keys (though you can scroll through them thankfully with Z & X). They include some basics like potions that heal your or increase your attack power, deployable traps that root enemies in place (100% invaluable, especially on later levels), and magic runes that cast insanely powerful spells that if used properly can save you precious weapon and armor durability, so keep one equipped and handy if you're expecting an ambush.

Third, the enemies:
Basically enemies are divvied up into four main camps: Humans, beasts, demons and bosses.
Humans are pretty basic for the most part, standard saxxon warriors who are no threat at all once you get the pattern down or drop like a bag of rocks after a few hits with a ranged weapon. Except for the damn archers who love to camp in the most obnoxious out-of-reach places and act like sentries. Timing is essential for taking out archers from range, since projectiles will collide and cancel eachother out. It's even worse in episode 3 when the archers are replaced with skeleton archers with fire arrows and the developer knew EXACTLY what he was doing putting them in obscure places or at the ends of narrow corridors. Early on you're introduced to tankier knight enemies who become more and more prominent as the game goes on, and like the earlier enemies they become trivial when you learn their patterns, or you can easily disable them with a deployable bear trap. Later game it's the invisible female assassins who poison you and the mages who can deflect your projectiles that are the real threat, and the dev is not shy about putting them in obnoxious places.
Beasts could have been annoying, and I mean really REALLY annoying. Small rats and bees that can poison you are indeed in the roster. But after episode 1 they rarely spawn, and they're uncommon in episode 1 to begin with, so there's a bullet dodged there. Most of the game beasts are comprised of demon doggos of three varieties and they are not good boys in any definition of the term, or giant spiders because the dev secretly hates arachnophobes and wants you to suffer (please leave a comment telling me about arachnophobia mode).
Demons suck. I hate them. The basic parts of the roster are functionally reskins of humans as I've alluded to, and except for those f***ing archers they're negligible. It's the flying imps who are an obnoxious pain in the rump, imagine if the gargoyles from Blood where not as fast but twice as annoying then you've got a pretty good idea what to expect. But when all is said and done the one enemy that really brings my trouser-broth to a steaming boil is the red skeleton mages who soak up an obnoxious amout of damage, demand a hefty resource toll to put down AND can heal their allies, they're almost as bad as Archviles. Almost.

As I've said, unlike some games in the recent boomshoot revival (some whose name may or may-not be similar to "Sorry Daddy") I at least found Arthurian Legends to be a decent if modest little distraction from the torrential maelstrom of mediocrity my burgeoning middle-years is quickly shaping out to be. If anything I'm honestly a little surprised that not many people are talking about it.

Please leave a comment telling me that I forgot to mention the Hellbow I really appreciate having smart handsome chads reminding me of things on the internet.

Breadmen have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt one simple fact:
You can teach a janky old engine new tricks.

Entropy : Zero 2 is without question a truly astonishing piece of work, that may I add is a COMPLETELY free game (go suck a fat one, Hunt Down the Freeman, you oily edgelord game). So you literally have no reason not to play it and as well you should since the sheer amount of quality in this *FREE* game embarrassingly outpaces a significant portion of high-budget, triple-A titles by big publishers. Can somebody please give this dev team a cozy budget and resources and see what they can do with it?

With all the obligatory smoke-blowing out of the way, allow me to actually discuss what the game entails. Set in Valve's Half-Life universe (and this title is canon for all I care, because Valve is creatively bankrupt and I've lost all respect for them) and picking up from where the first *FREE* mod left off, the player will step into the combat boots of Overwatch Elite soldier designation 3650, waking up from a storage unit in the wake of the events of Nova Prospekt from Half-Life 2 before being assigned your missions by an Advisor to hunt down and apprehend key resistance figure Judith Mossman (yes, that totally memorable character) in the arctic circle somewhere in northern Europe. Along the way the game also effortlessly implements the more tongue-in-cheek aspects of Aperture Science from the Portal series into the world, aided by 3650's scathing commentary (nope, this is not another Source Engine silent protagonist).

Gameplay has a lot of unique additions, instead of once-again recycling Half-Life 2's arsenal, Entropy : Zero 2 instead only recycles most of Half-Life 2's arsenal: The first weapon you'll get your mitts on is a gauss-pistol that has infinite ammo and behaves like a shotgun with an insanely tight spread, as well as an MP5K capable of 3-round bursts and full-auto fire modes, the S.L.A.M. mines from Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and the XEN Grenades which I won't talk too much about because they're amazing and you should experience them for yourself. The recycled weapons have been tweaked as well, with changes to their animations such as in the case of the .357 for a slightly faster reload time, where as the shotgun has been kind of nerfed in functionality with a lower ammunition reserve and longer reload time so that players aren't too dependant on it (I approve of this change).

Map and level layout are fantastic, as Breadman has clearly demonstrated multiple times in past projects and it would be foolish to expect anything less. The levels all feel unique and organic to the world with beautiful custom assets to create some genuinely stunning visuals and setpieces (there is this one part involving a Headcrab zombie and a time-flux field that I refuse to spoil, but let it be known that I actually paused the game to properly process what I just witnessed and wondering aloud how in the ever-loving f--k did they manage such witchcraft)

There are some parts of the game I did not like, but since it's a *FREE* game I'm not going to be an a--hole and harp too long on them. Squad mechanics return, and as "Follow Freeman" has demonstrated they still suck and I never used them willingly. There's also this one short but obnoxious escort mission that was annoying because Half-Life 2's AI is jank. As well, I didn't really care for the gameplay whiplash in the earlier segments where your weapons are taken away and you have to kinda-sorta stealth around for a bit while a big scary monster does big scary things (it's impressively done I will not deny, I just don't enjoy this kind of gameplay, which is why I've never played Alien Isolation).
Again, in case it hasn't been made painfully clear, this is a *FREE* game so complaining in depth about things like this is ultimately negligible and anybody who does so unironically is a trashy waste of flesh.

But there is one really big negative I have with Entropy: Zero 2. The lack of a download for the soundtrack, which has some awesome tracks in it including this slamming remix of a classic Half-Life 2 track. If you're reading this Breadman, then put it in! PUT IT IIINNNNNNN!

I know I haven't finished the game yet, but I simply cannot help myself. Do I recommend Prodeus?

Awwww Lawd Yess.

This is probably one of the most definitive boomshoots to come out in recent years. Boasting over-the-top gratuitous violence beautifully brought to life via 3D modelling that is rendered over with low-res pixel filters, making it look like an ultra HD pack for a retro shooter of yore.
The controls are tighter than a ********'s *******, making the movement fluid and responsive, alongside the firm and satisfying shooting makes this game tickle every pleasure centre of my brain.
And good lord, the music. This is some of Hulshult's finest work ever, I cannot recall headbanging this hard since the first time I played E2M6 of DUSK. I think I gave myself permanent nerve damage in my cervical spinal chord.

What do I not like? Well unfortunately I have to answer this question to avoid tongue-punching Prodeus' fleshy fun-bridge too hard. Luckily these are all relatively minor issues that don't impact the experience too much.
The enemy roster is basically just reskins of classic DOOM monsters. It does get a little distracting, but then I gib an enemy's skull into a fine, snortable powder accompanied by a satisfying geiser of blood that would make Ol' Faithful jealous. So this is quickly forgiven.
The splatter of bullet impact might be just a bit too over-the-top, which in the heat of combat arenas can make it difficult to effectively register when an enemy is actually dead or if they're just barely clinging on.

To basically sum it up: Yeah, only 3 hours of playtime thus far and I'm already head-over-heels in love. Call me a shill if you want, but I know what I like.

When the Build Engine is used properly, it is a beautiful thing. Ion Fury not only utilises the Build Engine to it's fullest potential with an intimate understanding of it's strengths, but also pushes the boundaries far beyond anything I ever thought that the engine could do. The sheer amount of detail and quality of the level designs, weapon animations and the overwhelming use of the most beautiful voxels makes Ion Fury a game that stands tall with the best of them.

What I loved:
-The environments, absolutely stunning with the level of attention put into the most mundane details that most other developers would have happily left blank.
-The music. Absolute slammer by Jarkko Rotsten.
-The combat, it's a retro-shooter on the Build Engine, you should already know what to expect.
-The enemy variety, a respectable roster of aspiring corpses and puddles of unidentifiable mushy-parts.
-The gibbing, it's meaty and impactful. Some truly wonderful stuff.
-Jon St. John. 'Nuff said.

What I was okay/neutral on:
-The weapons, they're creative and definitely unique, somewhat breaking the mould of what to expect. The pistol is now my new all-time favourite starting weapon, the ion bow can one-shot most enemies with a well-placed shot from the primary and can eviscerate tougher enemies with a fully-charged secondary. And the shotgun is an absolute beast of burden that does honour to it's proud lineage of Build Engine shotguns. The bowling bombs were great when they worked and didn't get stuck on environmental details such as railway beams.

What I didn't like:
-Secret hunting, the secrets in this game are absurdly plentiful to the point where most of them aren't even really worth scouring for, especially in the later game. Not to mention that secret hunting in itself would probably double time of a single playthrough since so many of them are stupidly well-hidden.
-Shelly. She's not the worst shooter protagonist ever, but her one-liners suck and she's kind of an un-charismatic thunderb**ch.
-Ladders. They be jank AF.
-Boss fights. I rarely enjoy boss battles in shooters, and the boss battles in Ion Fury are no exception. They're usually uninteresting toll booths who require a payment of most of your ammo and armor in a time-consuming process before you can get back to the fun stuff. The closest I had to an enjoyable experience fighting a boss in Ion Fury was a surprise boss fight in an enclosed elevator lift, because it was unexpected and didn't bring the pace of the game to a total grinding halt.The final boss battle was also just pathetic and boring.

What can I say about Roguebook? It's a well-made, fun and intricate deckbuilder with roguelite elements, and while I have a lot of issues with it I still like it, and would recommend it to players who enjoy other deckbuilder games like Slay the Spire and Monster Train.

Anyone whose been paying attention to this title over the lead-up to it's release knows that the game launched with a lot of issues, and if you ask me I'd not hesitate to say that it came out of the oven too early. The ordeal involving the Apex Predator pack however has proven beyond any doubt that the developer's heart is in the right place, and the game has received plenty of patches and hotfixes over it's lifespan to salve-over the egregious inconsistencies. It's perfectly playable now however, but I still adamantly stand by my statement that it should have baked a little longer. But now that those issues are irrelevant, let's talk about how the game currently holds up;

Describing my experience with Roguebook, both past and present, in one phrase would be "two steps forward, one step back". Meaning that for every two things Roguebook does really well, there's one thing it does that I absolutely hate. Gameplay-wise, Roguebook has an excellent gameplay loop, emphasising exploration and resource-management with a fog-of-war style approach to it's maps, requiring the player to utilise "inks" to maximum efficiency to reveal the map's tiles and uncover a very wide array of resources, ranging from simple gold piles to gem troves that can be used to apply new effects to your cards.
What I don't like about the exploration is that after chapter one there's a guaranteed event where this incorrigible greaseball of an NPC appears, steals one of your treasures and runs away to an undiscovered area of the map. Which has the potential to completely screw over your run as this prolapsed pink-sock can steal a treasure that is absolutely essential to your build, then f--k off to a tile that requires a large amount of resources to reach.

The card mechanics in the game are well-implemented, and aside from the clunky nature of the UI they flow reasonable well enough (if I might impose a recommendation for future updates, add a "quick-play" option to skip the card animations, or at least speed them up like what Slay the Spire did). They can create combinations that are very deep and intricate and require careful ordering when playing to maximise damage output or mitigation. Choosing a combination of two out of four playable hero characters, each with their own deck of cards that excel in some areas but not in others, most of the combinations work well with eachother and if managed properly can effectively cover eachothers weaknesses.
But what I don't like (read: HATE) about the deck management is the lack of card removal options. The game seems to encourage building a colossal deck, which is at odds for my preferred playstyle of other deckbuilder roguelikes. This is definitely a personal preference and you might have a completely different opinion, but I like to keep my decks small and consistent, and I'm very picky about what cards to add because for each card put into the deck makes it less likely I'll draw the cards that I need. So for me, removal is one of the most important aspects of the genre, something that Monster Train did exceptionally well. What Roguebook has instead however are these little "Alchemy Shops" which allows to to replace one card in your deck from a pool of randomised cards and gems, which at best can be rationalised as a super-upgrade, and at worst can just end up replacing one useless card with another useless card. I know this is very much a personal gripe, but for me it damages my overall takeaway from the game.

The characters and combinations of decks are mostly well thought-out and work well with eachother. Mah boi Seifer in particular is an absolute beast and his deck is exactly what I like it to be: It has unique mechanics that don't isolate the other characters but instead works with them cohesively, it requires planning and efficient management and it's payoff is incredibly satisfying. Sorocco is the hefty, reliable heavy-hitter whose deck is as big in impact as it is big in energy cost, and his easy access to area-of-effect attacks and massive block cards make him a sturdy character. Aurora is like a glass-tank, with interesting support mechanics and a lot of access to energy generation and card draw, and as a result she's rarely anything but essential.
The short-end of the stick of the cast, for me at least, is Sharra. I find her in terms of gameplay, aesthetics and character to be extremely boring. Her deck emphasises multi-strike attacks and mobility, so she benefits immensely from power stacking, so she works very well with Sorocco. But I find that she lags behind when paired with either of the other two. She and Aurora both have little health pools, and while Aurora does have access to hefty block cards they're effectiveness is highly situational, so their momentum often peters out in more intense difficulties. As well, she doesn't get along with Seifer since they both want to be in front, they both want to dish out the damage and they both generally lack in reliable defence. I find this to be a recurring trend in deckbuilders like this, that the starting character is always my least favourite, like the Ironclad in Slay the Spire or the Hellhorned in Monster Train.

Finally, the game's presentation is phenomenal. The character and enemy animations are smooth and fluid, the design and overall art-direction is colourful and brimming with personality, and the voice-acting/sound design is wonderful. What I'm not to impressed by is the music, I'm sure the composer worked really hard on it, but it's mostly just generic-sounding and forgettable orchestral tracks. Compared to Monster Train which has an absolutely breathtaking series of compositions, this one just feels feeble and toothless.
I also REALLY hate the Yak enemies. Not because they're overpowered or broken, but because they're so freaking adorable and I hate myself for fighting and killing them. Plz remov yaks my bleeding heart can't take them.

Having first heard of Severed Steel through the gospel of that 8-foot-tall cybernetic kangaroo hybrid from the mythical kingdom of Australia Gmanlives, my interest was immediately peaked. Then not long after having played the downloadable demo I was fully invested and convinced of the game's potential. Now, having fully played and experienced everything that the game currently has to offer I can safely make the verdict that Severed Steel is truly wonderful.

This game offers some of the most air-tight, satisfying and intuitive movement and shooting controls that I've ever experienced, and though the game is admittedly short it's foundation is rock-solid and it's gameplay loop is as addictive as crack. Providing a challenging experience that avoids being frustrating due to bite-sized level segments that are fun to play over-and-over again.

The basic premise (according to the art book) is that the player takes on the role of Steel, a physically-enhanced clone manufactured to perform gruelling tasks in an inhospitable environment who is discarded as soon as her usefulness comes to an end, and if that premise doesn't give you Blade Runner vibes then I've got to ask what you've been doing with your life.

With that in mind the game gives the player a quick rundown of the basic movement controls that you'll be needing to make full use of before dropping you right into the action. What can be said about the game is that it is highly respectful of the player's time and doesn't waste a second of it on unnecessary exposition or distractions, dropping them right into an expertly crafted starting level that is open in layout but with some enclosed spaces, giving the player free reign on how they want to initiate combat in a similar method to F.E.A.R.. You'll need to wall run, double-jump, dip, dodge, duck, dive and dodge in order to survive since while performing these inhuman feats of athletics the enemies in the area cannot damage you, and it provides your primary mode of defence.

The combat loop of Severed Steel is the definitive highlight and is entirely what the game focuses all of it's energy on. In order to promote this method of play the game does not allow the player to reload their weapons, which makes sense in the game's setting since Steel wouldn't want to weigh herself down with extra magazines when she needs to be as lithe and agile as possible. Instead you'll need to make your shots count, keep moving around the arena and constantly pick up fallen weapons or even swipe a sidearm out of an enemy soldier's holster. The enemy AI in this game is hyper aggressive, as if they've been injected with pure epinephrine prior to combat. Enemies can often be witnessed communicating with each other and converging to the player's last known position, and they can lose sight of you if you escape their line of sight, in which case they'll fan out and begin sweeping the area. The dynamic AI demonstrated by the enemies provides the game with it's high replay value, as you'll rarely have the same encounter twice. What I'd have liked to see with the combat however is a bit more enemy variety. Not to say that there aren't a lot of different enemy types, a lot of them wield different weapons and there is a respectable array of heavy units, but for the most part they don't shake up the combat and promote different strategies. What I'd have liked to see is more of the flamethrower type enemy, who is covered head-to-toe in nigh-impenetrable armor who can only be reliably taken down either by stealing his flamethrower (which is laughably overpowered in the player's hands) or shooting his exposed gas tank on his back. Throwing in more units like this would spice up the combat encounters and make it more dynamic than just jumping around and shooting heads. Another instance of this was the boss fight which I won't spoil too hard, as it really kicked up the thrill factors another notch and it was unfortunate that there was only one boss fight in the entire game, and it wasn't even at the end.

Map layout is mostly spot-on, with several alternate routes and designs that encourage the game's strengths, offering a tasteful variety of wide-open arenas, high verticality and narrow corridors that each test the player's abilities. Some certain maps however aren't up to snuff, with one level taking place in this indoor golf course that is way too open, while the apartment level is very constricted and bottlenecked which makes it less replayable on the Firefight game mode. But in contrast to this the train level is absolutely thrilling to play, hopping between two speeding, multi-layered train cars racing side-by-side. Mission objectives in the campaign are also wisely implemented in a way that doesn't detract from the gameplay loop, and are there mostly as a prod for the player to progress and to shake things up a little so that it's not all just "bop all the nerds".

At the time of this writing, I've logged in just over five hours of playtime, during which I've beaten the campaign and have unlocked most of the weapons, maps and mutators for the Firefight mode (which is basically just objective-free versions of the campaign maps). Still after that I can easily see myself logging twice or even three times that much before my interest begins to wane, and that's just with the base content, not counting what the community-made levels available on the Steam Workshop can offer, made from the built-in level editor. Severed Steel has got a great set of bones in it's body that allow it to stand strong and unique in the sea of it's competitors. High weapon variety, lots of replayability and a very bright and flashy design accompanied by a decent soundtrack (it's a little too dub-steppy in places for my tastes, but it's still some pretty good stuff). Definitely recommended.

Let's just go ahead and get the root sucking out of the way, shall we? Hedon Bloodrite is a really, really good game and I highly recommend it to fans of retro shooters, the dev put a lot of hard work and care into a product that he clearly has a lot of passion over and should receive nothing but praise and respect for it. Seriously, the dude packaged an entire sequel up as a free update to owners of the game when he could've easily just shipped it out as it's own product, that right there is irrefutable proof that we've got a wholesome chad behind the gears of the game. I've personally spent close to 40 hours all told in the game, playing on normal like a total sop when I first got it, then again on hardcore difficulty in preparation for the Bloodrite update because I don't have enough chest hair to handle anything harder. The first episode shows that a lot of care went into the making of the game, and Bloodrite itself took everything that episode one did and dialed it up to 11.5.
The combat in the game is the definitive highlight for me, the sheer variety of gibbing enemies do when killed splashes my brain with entire tidal waves of serotonin. The weapons are all very creative and unique, with each individual weapon filling in at most two different niches. For example; the slot three weapon is a shotgun, a pretty reliable and satisfying piece of hardware to be sure, it does exactly what a shotgun in a good ol' retro FPS should do, except that with the alt-fire it also serves as a highly effective area-of-denial flamethrower and it is just so very satisfying to use. Other weapons include a spike launcher which is your typical slot two weapon, it's reliable enough but on the difficulty I played on it's main use was clearing out bottom-tier enemies and neutralising environmental hazards. The Hellclaw is your standard rapid-fire projectile weapon, and it's fine enough for what it is, but it's secondary fire takes 20 points of ammo to drop a proximity mine that deals absurd AOE damage, which is primarily what I used it for. The Pain Gun, sharing a slot with the Hellclaw is basically a rapid-fire minigun and my go-to workhorse weapon for the Bloodrite episode, as effective at swiss-cheesing enemies as it is at gnawing through ammo so going through the sidequest to get the ammo capacity upgrade is essential for it. Potion Launcher is the grenade launcher type that can fire either acid bombs that do massive damage in a wide area, or poison bombs that leave a large lingering cloud of toxic gas that can be ignited with the Fragfire's flamethrower to create a massive, earth shattering kaboom, both are great for crowd control. The Crushbow is Hedon's variant of the rocket launcher, and my main complaint about it is how ammo is somewhat scarce for it so it's not as reliable and it's damage output doesn't seem to justify this rarity as it takes 3 direct hits to down a Pit Lord, not a bad weapon by any means but it feels outclassed by it's peers. The Crylance is the big girl of the game's arsenal, a rapid-fire beast with fast projectiles and an alternate-fire that makes the monsters wish their mother's would've swallowed, it's not used until near the end of the first episode, but Bloodrite has you starting with it and it is just about the hottest piece of rump in the game for me.
The enemies in a game like this are just as important as the weapons should be, and Hedon does it perfectly well. There's a wide variety of monsters that each have different strengths and weaknesses and when combined with others can make a combat scenario thrilling and challenging. Irritating gargoyles that swarm in like mosquitos? One up-close blast from the shotgun or two well-placed Crylance shots will swat the twerps. Busty, nimble, black-sludge ninja monsters? Splash damage from the Acid Launcher and they're now a wet stain on the ground. Big, jerk-off Cthulhu wannabe tryhard b-stards who like to throw that stupid spell that feels like it's a roll of the dice whether you can dodge it or not? Doctor recommends one alt-fire blast of the Crylance, if problem persists, keep blasting until it's calamari soup. I honestly hate these enemies, and paradoxically that's a point in the game's favour, because it makes fighting and overcoming them much more satisfying.
Now for what I don't like about the game, and that's the pacing. The game's pacing is very, very tiresome and after beating it I didn't feel validated, or accomplished or satisfied, I just felt mentally taxed and in dire need of a nap. Especially in Bloodrite, which is not as a traditionally linear sequence of levels but instead having two massive overworld maps that connect the individual levels together, where you can reenter previously cleared maps to complete additional missions and side-quests. And these maps are truly gargantuan, on a technical level it's incredible the amount of care and detail that went into them with added bits of environmental storytelling and compelling atmosphere seamlessly woven in. With big maps like this I wish that the dev would let the player add little notes or marks on the map to point out where health pickups or points of interest are so you can recollect them at a later time I stand corrected. Some of the puzzles are especially egregious, to the point where I had to give up and look up a walkthrough just to find that I had to swing my axe at some invisible switch to open all the gates, which maybe I missed an important hint somewhere but that made the entire map a massive slog to fight through. On the same map the layout was un-intuitive and I eventually gave up trying to find out the solution honestly and just rocket-jumped to the out-of-reach ledges to progress. On a technical level these maps are truly a marvel considering that they were assembled by hand with entirely custom-made assets by one developer, but if I may impose some constructive criticism? Tone it back juuust a touch, I love the enthusiasm and it's marvelous what was created, but it's a tad tiring for some antisocial nob who's bad at video games to plough through.
Personal whinging aside and to reel back to my initial statements, I do love this game a hell of a lot, I might not be rearing for another playthrough any time soon but this game is a massive work of passion from a guy who clearly has a lot of love and respect for the medium, and he's also a pretty laid-back dude who's very active with his community, xoxo totally not kissing up for attention. Give it a go and play it on Hardcore or higher or else you're doing it wrong.