Recent reviews by Jerik

Cozy life-sim game. The town has Hobbiton vibes. Animations are awfully cute and there's a variety of activities to engage in. The game might seem a bit sparse at first glance but there's actually lots to do; don't be afraid to dig in and really see what's there!

Figuring out what the other residents like is a fun challenge, and the game includes a very useful notes application for keeping track of their likes and dislikes (no paper notebook needed!). This is particularly useful if you play the game on multiple devices, like switching from your PC to Steam Deck or laptop, since you don't need to bring the paper notes with you.

Excellent new entry into the series. Lots of changes that streamline the game and make easy decisions faster.

Splitting settlements into Cities and Towns removes a lot of the workload, along with removing Workers. It feels like you need to do less "prep" work when launching a new city; no need to send a fleet of workers along (or wait ten turns to build one) before you can start doing anything interesting. Towns will naturally expand along the terrain after founding and this happens at a spritely pace.

The changes to military are really nice. Commanders are the core of your armies now and are the only ones that earn XP. Individual basic units (warriors, archers, etc) build very fast but you should think of a Commander and their associated units as the actual fighting unit.

Whoever did the unit animations deserves a pay raise. When swordsmen are set to sleep until healed, units will mill about a camp, tending their wounded. When fortifying, they carve stakes. I am spending way too much time zoomed in watching people do stuff.

The game currently ends with the end of the modern age which might seem like a put-off. However the general length (and amount of stuff happening) in the ages as it stands mean that even without future ages a single game lasts as long as a Civ 5 or Civ 6 run to complete, so there isn't really less "there". The game has room to grow but it feels at least as or more full of content than Civ 5 or Civ 6 did at launch.

Overall, a really enjoyable game. There's some UI/UX and mechanics issues, and a few flow wrinkles that need smoothing -- but none of them are nearly enough to push me off the game. The core game loop (making a cool base and populating it with lackeys and traps) as well as the theme are both so strong and enjoyable that I can't stop playing. Already, some hotfixes have toned down a few issues, and the devs seem aware of some of the other concerns and how to polish things up.

Playing with Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS and MFG Crosswind Pedals on a 9600k and 1070.

Game looks gorgeous, perfectly captures the feel of Star Wars-style combat flight. Things are fast and bright. I've had a few minor issues binding keys -- you might need to unplug some controllers to get it to see buttons during binding, but they all work fine with everything in once bound.

Graphics are gorgeous, ship interiors look great. The X-Wing perfectly captures the retrofuture look from ANH. I really appreciate the clutter and obstacles littering the maps -- the OG X-Wing and Tie Fighter never had as much of that, but here you can weave through rocks, structures, or debris and it feels exciting.

I've experienced minimal bugs. Performance is weird in the hangar menu, but is perfect in flight which is what matters. The story isn't riveting but you get to fly TIEs and shoot stuff, so it works for me. Definitely worth the purchase at this price; it's a great experience pulled off well.

Starbound is a seminal example of a game with a good idea and a lot of hype, but with a disjointed, failed execution that results in a weak overall experience.

At alpha release, the game was promising, with a fun though limited game loop. Similar to Terraria, the player collects ore to build new armor and advance to more difficult terrain. The universe provided a lot of different options and experiences, and had a vast array of items to collect to enhance your home and ship.

As development continued, changes to combat made fights with monters more lethal but did not increase the variety of encounters. Even though monsters are procedurally generated, their attacks and combat maneuvers are well stereotyped. Further, a lack of difficulty options may prevent players who are primarily interested in exploring and building from experiencing the universe.

The most dissappointing change was the introduction of the quest system. While questing could have been utilized to create interesting adventures, the previously mentioned changes to combat make some missions frustrating. Many missions are simple "fetch quests" and don't contribute meaningully to player experience. Furthermore, the quest systems have resulted in a linearized and gated progression that forces players to complete missions to expand their starship and explore new worlds.

Ultimately, the game may appeal to people who are very interested in the combat system and are willing follow the railroaded questing path. For players who are looking for an exploration game, be aware that you will have to progress through the quest chain to unlock all the worlds and be free to explore the universe at your lesiure.