Recent reviews by Detective Mekova™

Add Triangles.

EDIT:

Add half walls.

As a straight white male, I find this game to be incredibly woke. They even made a title called straight that is ridiculously expensive compared to the LGBTQ titles. I can't believe they'd do that!!!

10/10, would fish again.

Overall it's a 5/10.

Edit: So their game plan due to rapidly dropping player numbers is to add FOMO in order to get whales and streamers to buy their skins and bundles.
As my review below said, it has the foundations of a solid game. However, if their plan is to lean even more into microtransaction hell this quickly, then I don't see the game lasting much longer.
Even Ubisoft learned from its mistakes after Outlaws was a bust.
Season 1 of this game was worse than season 1 of Diablo 4... and that's saying a LOT.
I changed my overall to a 5/10, and I do not recommend this game.

I haven't played too much, but what I have played is pretty damn okay, and sometimes it's even pretty good.
Those are indeed compliments, because in truth I don't like grindy games like Destiny, or The Division. The latter had really good lore and atmosphere, but the grind just isn't my thing.
This game has a lot of grind. It also has the tendency to make you feel sooooo close to unlocking a part or research ingredient but it ends up taking up a half hour of time for you to even get it... then you have to research the whatsitwhosit which literally takes hours.
I get the purpose is to make it so damn annoying for those who want to breeze through the game so that they feel compelled to buy the dumb characters or weapons... but come on now. I guess it's not as annoying as it could be since I do have a full time job so I can grind a bit before bed, then when I get home from work all of the stuff is researched, but eeeh it still feels scummy.

The story feels almost ai generated, along with many of the characters and layout of Albion. It's too damn clean and corny. The lore is legit interesting and I do like the different locations. Don't get me wrong, I love corny science fiction. It's my bread and butter. When I saw that the first mini-boss was named Greg I literally couldn't stop laughing throughout the fight. It was very entertaining.

The objectives are pretty uuuhhh... generic and repetitive. They all consist of "kill these guys", "defend this terminal", "Escort this bot" and the worst of them all "Collect the orbs". The game needs more variety, especially since there is no actual endgame, so the grind is about just collecting materials and unlocking characters. Even the battlepass is pretty mediocre with only a few really interesting unlocks.
Which is wild to me since it's meant to bring in money, but how do you expect to entice people into buying the battlepass if it takes hours to unlock the levels and the unlocks are pretty "okay" overall?
I guess the focus is to get people to buy the characters, as I mentioned before.

If left to cook a bit, I think the game could actually do some good things. I've mostly complained so far, so here are some really good positives:

I genuinely like the boss fights. It's one of the strongest aspects of the game in my opinion. I like how their weaknesses and strengths, along with the fighting patterns emphasize planning and teamwork. Both are aspects that many other games of this ilk kind of lack.
I like how easy it is to pick up and play. The benefits of having a fairly generic story is that I don't have to worry too much about the dialog when grinding for loot.
The different Descendants are enjoyable. Yes, there is a meta, but from my understanding the meta is mostly about speeding up the grind over actual numbers so it doesn't feel like my starter character is any less capable than Bunny or Valby.
The lore is pretty interesting, and it's neither obstructive nor too hidden. The world is generally explained through the dialog and story, but there is in-game information you can learn yourself if you want to actually know more about the game's setting which is fun.

Bottomline: It's free, and it's a run n gun kinda looter shooter. It's a certified brain off, guns out kinda game imo. Yes, Nexon is pretty much a leech on the industry, but as long as the game is still given love and care overtime, then it can be more than the sum of its research parts.

Updated:

The issues below remain, but also archers are still actually never worth it. You're better off investing in spear infantry over archers.
You can literally have 50 archers against 18 brigands (some without shields) and those 18 brigands will survive multiple volleys of arrows while sprinting at your archers/frontline. Occasionally they'll pause and go "Whew, I think I broke a nail!"
I get the importance of the dreadful word "balance"... but medieval times weren't balanced. There is a reason that medieval england literally had every male possible from about I think 8 years old practice archery for an hour after church on sundays.
Archers. Are. Effective.
Especially in huge numbers. It's also why the crossbow became such a huge menace when its production reached larger heights. Now you don't need people to train very long every sunday morning or afternoon. You can give a man a crossbow, and he is just as likely to fell a lord as a lord is to him.
So why is it that 50 arrows barely even bother unarmored brigands? It makes as much sense the context of the period as having a baron force everyone to only harvest berries from a small patch.

Alrighty. So the game itself reminds me a lot of the Hegemony games but with an emphasis on village building.
It is a fun game with pretty serviceable combat, a gorgeous design, and a pretty simple but fun gameplay loop. You build up your village from scratch and it's very rewarding to see your smol work camp become a small village as your citizens start becoming specialized and trade flourished.
However.
Food production is actually a nightmare. Berries in real life aren't just... in a patch in the middle of Ohio. Berries and foraging was generally a passive thing that peasants did organically for survival. Ergo, the idea that a medieval village is micromanaged to such a controlling level is pretty silly in my opinion. Many people fail to realize just how important gardens and land management was in medieval times. As such, it's astonishing how so many games of this ilk gloss over that important detail.
There's also the farming which is atrocious. The numbers are literally wrong. I had 5 fields of wheat with high fertility and during the Harvest the game said that each field had about 800 wheat each.
The wheat was harvested, and the yield was... 50... What? That's an incredibly bad oversight. Especially since the conversion is 1 wheat turns into 1 grain. Which means I have a whole 50 food for the winter months coming from a field the size of a village itself.
I get that the game is in early access, and that there's a single dev working on it... But this is a huge oversight that needs fixed asap. Also, the farmers tend to sow the fields... during late august/early winter... That's hilarious to me.
I'm not recommending the game until the bare necessities are in place such as actual deplomacy, the farm yields issue is fixed (which if you google the issue, is a recurring problem), and smarter AI that actually does their job instead of wandering around in the field aimlessly for a whole winter season lmao.
I want to be more positive, but the game can't improve without people giving valid criticism. I'm not "hating" on the game. I actually quite enjoy it overall. It's just that the basic mechanics of a functioning town are literally broken.

It's pretty fun so far. It's like the first Dead Island except it's... not on an island... and it definitely feels like a sequel in terms of graphical and gameplay improvements from the first game. I've played as Ryan so far, and he's a perfect balance between serious and comedic. Some of his lines are genuinely funny and they don't feel as forced as some of the other characters.
Also, yes there's Gen Z humor here... but a lot of it is obviously poking fun AT the cringe instead of Embracing the cringe. So as long as you go into it knowing that it's not serious, then you'll have fun. AKA the opposite to the twins in Borderlands 3.
The epic stuff is annoying, but only if you don't pay attention lol You literally can just... skip the Epic integration. I have an Epic account, and my Epic Account is synchronized with steam and I still skip the integration. I haven't had to download any launcher or whatever else.
For a game that's been delayed for as long as it has, I'm pretty happy with the final product. It's sad that the game was stuck in limbo for so long that many of the gameplay elements feel dated, but it's still genuinely enjoyable.
Overall, I'd give it a solid 7/10 so far.

TLDR: It's not much different from the first game. It's better looking and it feels very good to play. However, it runs like garbage and there are pointless Microtransactions.

Update: After 200 hours, I've beaten the game. Granted, some of those hours was due to the game's executable running in the background randomly after I accidentally caused the game to crash.
I actually was en route to get the true ending on accident, so my review is based on that experience. The game is honestly great. As someone who enjoys traveling through Morrowind, Oblivion, and then Skyrim on foot as opposed to fast traveling.. I fell in love with this game instantly. In the endgame portion, I was impressed at how much and how little things change. Without going into spoilers, I feel like the endgame portion makes the experience worth it, if only because the difficulty spikes up, and now you genuinely feel like you have a purpose as opposed to just wandering around the world looking for upgrades. A lot of care was put into the world, and you can kind of tell simply by exploring the locations you used to avoid previously in order to reach locations that were previously blocked off or impassable. However, I honestly feel like the weakest part of the game is the story. Like yeah, it's a great story on paper, but its execution felt rushed and befuddled. Honestly, there were two points in the story which made me have to go online and look up what the hell I was actually doing because a character would say "Do ABC", your objective marker will say "Do CBA", and then the overall plot implies that you're doing "BCA". It's honestly annoying and I do not believe in the excuse that "It's an issue with translation." Nah, that's just poor quality control and execution. The story has potential, but it feels like your actions as The Arisen literally doesn't matter until the endgame. Your subterfuge, your actions, and the romance in this game feels like it's just set dressing. It feels like the Bethesda games where you've literally killed god, and bandits still go "Dang, I need to loot your corpse." You've become an unstoppable force, yet the plot pretends that you didn't just travel across the continent killing ogres, dragons, and a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Medusa before you reach the endgame. It's a typical problem with these kinds of games, but I feel it especially here. I will 100% buy the DLC when it comes out, because if it's on the same level as Dark Arisen then please, take my money.

I've only "played" for about an hour.
My first thoughts were negative because for whatever reason every game since 2020 needs to compile shaders before you even play it which is wild to me.
After I got past that, I loaded up the character I made using their character creator.
I can totally see how poor the optimization is, despite the fact that I'm running the game on the highest possible graphics and the game's buttery smooth due to a pretty damn beefy PC, though the processor and RAM is last gen. You can tell because when I dropped certain things like the shadows or even the textures DOWN to low, my frames go haywire for 10 minutes until the FSR levels it all out.

The gameplay itself is so damn good though. It's almost *Witcher 3 level combat*, but it feels more fluid.
The boss fight had so much going on made it hard to see what the heck was even going on, but I think that's just due to the setting and location.

The graphics are actually really good. I do believe that this industry has officially hit a roadblock in terms of graphical innovation. Games will only be able to go one of two ways now: More hyper realistic, which means uncanny valley and really noticeable flaws in facial animations, and character visual fidelity; or more stylistic, using modern graphical breakthroughs to compliment current graphical abilities to provide more interesting and unique visual representations of every day things.

The sound is good. It's a Capcom game, so they usually have this down.

Microtransactions: They exist, and it's embarrassing. It's a 70-dollar game. DLC it a Capcom staple, but adding dumb gems, shards, or other stupid currencies is a Certified Shareholders Moment.

Overall, it's a solid game, as long as your computer is up to snuff. As the TLDR said, just wait for an update that fixes optimization, as ridiculous as that is. Once again, mainstream publishers drop the ball on optimizing their damn games before releasing it.

*This was a dumb comment. It's more akin to the True Directional Combat mod for Skyrim. Take that how you wish.*

Update: I've played this game way too much, and I haven't even beaten it. Never have I had this much fun playing a game since Monster Hunter Worlds or even Skyrim. I will 100% admit that the game is terribly optimized, but if your computer runs it fine then you'll have fun.

This is less of a full review and more of my experiences with the game which might help others who feel just as conflicted as I do. I tried not to spoil too much, but the general idea of the game and progression IS brought up.
This is the best RPG that I'll likely never complete.
It has similar issues that I had with Divinity 2: Original Sins.
Like, an example is that I'd think that trying to heal someone would make the most sense for a high charisma character to do in order to help. As if it's literally their job to do it, and they are, theoretically, a professional at it. I roll to complete the thing, and get a natural 1 on a 5 or above charisma check. My suspension of disbelief is ruined. It's like going to tie your shoes and you end up redacting yourself with the laces.
And that's why DM's often use a screen so they can fudge rolls so that things happen which make narrative sense.
It's a similar issue with most games of this ilk, where you are at the mercy of dice rolls, with the only solution being save scumming if you get frustrated with the quirks of the D20 system. It's an illusion of control that I take issue with since I'm technically driving the narrative. Everything literally happens when I, the player, says it does. Nothing in the main story progresses unless the player does it... which is another issue I have...
So having the control taken away due to dice rolls and my character having high wisdom and charisma, but somehow lacking the ability to learn the context behind a certain religious plot element that he should know as a religion figure himself is baffling. It's like asking a priest "Hey, why is the upside down cross associated with Satan" and the priest going "Dunno man, probably because it's the opposite of an upright cross lol"
That being said, it is a fun and enjoyable game. I'm giving a positive review because my own issues with the game, bugs aside, aren't the fault of the developers or the game as a whole, but an issue with trying to take the RPG/DND medium and putting it into a game like this and my own personal expectations and unrealistic desires.
It's really fun in multiplayer though. That is a good enough reason to get it, but it'd be cool if there was a DM mode where a dungeon master player can play "against" or "with" the players to change the narrative and spice things up.

A game's worst crime is that it's... fine.
As in, it does what it says on the tin, but not much else.
It gives you a sense of steady progression in the early and mid game, which is what I love most, but I feel like the bugs, and various construction systems are clunky and not well optimized. I also feel as though the promise of true co-op was broken as the weird split-screen co-op experience is lackluster.
I got to the point where the main limiting factor of my success is that my machines produce far more ingots and gems than I can ever sort through and process on my own. I'm also to the point where everyone wants me to do Agricultural goods and it's like... no, I won't blow thousands of coins on starting a whole new business venture because nobody in the town knows how to fish or farm themselves lol It's ridiculous.
The game at first made me feel like I'm a part of a cozy little village of people, but now I'm shanghai'd into abandoning my 20 hour business venture in order to satisfy these mooks in order to earn some dumb trader coins so I can buy better equipment to break through the progression wall I hit. 3 hours of my play time was wasting time starting a dumb farm in order to progress, and 1 hours was spent doing farm work. It wasn't even enough coins to break through the wall, and so I needed to keep doing it... No thanks. I thought manually panning for resources was tedious...
Also there's DLC coming out when the game still feels incomplete and in Early Access. Granted, the base game is only 15 bucks and it's almost always on sale. It's just a bunch of small tedious parts added up to me not touching the game since June of last year. Satisfactory, Factorio, Techtonica, and plenty of other games akin to this exist which all have working multiplayer and have infinite depth (Literal depth for Techtonica) which all are around the same price or are often also on sale.
If you're thinking of buying this game, don't expect it to be like the games I mentioned, and maybe wait to see how the DLC fares.

We did it boiz.

If you like Paul Verhoeven's version of Starship Troopers, the Earth Defense games, and/or extraction shooter games, then you'll like this game.
As long as you can actually run it, of course. The game crashed twice the moment I land on the planet, and the queue times are disgusting. While the devs are working to fix these issues, it's pretty wild that the game blew up as much as it did. Especially since it's a pretty niche genre.

Two tips to join the defense of our beloved Managed Democracy:
1. Ensure your FPS is limited to at least 60 FPS. The game doesn't automatically have it locked, so it can cause your CPU and even GPU to burn hotter than napalm in a third world communist country.
2. Verify the integrity of the cache. This neat trick will have Steam reinstall the stupid nProtect, but actually do it correctly so it'll communicate with the servers properly. Otherwise, there's no guarantee that your request to reinforce is ever granted by command.

Hopefully that helps, as it helped me. I'm doing my part!

PS: I wish the game allowed bigger lobbies, which would 100% free up server slots since it seems that each individual session is what is eating up the server resources, so increasing the amount of people per session could potentially alleviate the pressure. Just my two cents.

People are comparing this game a lot to Valheim, for good reasons. The vibe is very akin to that game. It's very similar to the setting and art style of Valheim (if you remove the blurry pixel vibe of Valheim.)
It's an amalgamation of various other survival games like V Rising, Valheim, Conan Exiles (Ancient civilization, ruined and forgotten).
It takes all of those games and boils them down to be significantly more accessible. Not easier mind you, just accessible. The research tree, so to speak, advances by acquiring resources which are used to craft basic items. Upon crafting those items, you then unlock further crafting and construction options. It's pretty intuitive compared to many of the other games out there.

The biggest gripe I have is how unresponsive the melee combat is compared to its peers. The combat feels heavy, without the feedback needed to justify it. A giant two handed mace should feel weighty and chunky, but when I hit a skeleton the skeleton goes "Cool" and then does a 3 hit combo instantly melting my armor.
The dodge is also pretty jank, seeing as how I'll dodge out of the way of an attack, only to die despite being no where near the enemy.

You can unlock some fairly rudimentary building options early on which is perfect for folks who just want to build a giant house while their friends go off adventuring.

I think the biggest issue is how many of the quests are indeed server based. As in, the progression is server based, so if you go to bed but your hyperfixated friend plays the game all night... expect all of the quests to then be completed without you ever experiencing one of the biggest aspects which separates this game from the competition.

The story/lore is very fascinating, and it's similar to the idea of the Darkness from Dragon Age. It's like if The Darkness actually won and the dwarves said "Oi mate, let's shove 'em survivors into metal pea pods an 'ave em cookin for awhile 'til dis all blows over."
It's a pretty engaging story and setting, and I'm looking forward to learning more about this world, and finding more people.

Also, I appreciate the simple intro. It's nothing special, but honestly it reminds me of Dark Souls' intro. Short, sweet, and to the point.
Overall, I give it a 7/10. It's not amazing, but the areas that stand out so far, really do stand out. The wildest part, is that it's early access but if feels (so far) fairly competent. I'll be watching your career with great interest.