Recent reviews by Simarlis

My review of HighGuard!

I’ve put about two hours into HighGuard with around four or five matches played. Overall, the game is mediocre at best. There is nothing here that makes me want to choose it over Marvel Rivals, Apex Legends, Overwatch, or any other FPS on the market.

The developers keep insisting it is a “new genre” of hero raid shooter or PvP raid shooter, but nothing about it feels new or exciting. The in-game store is empty, the marketing is almost nonexistent, and the core gameplay does not offer anything that stands out.

The worst part of the entire experience is the audio. I am not talking about the gunshots, because those are generic but tolerable. I mean the footsteps and audio positioning. Footsteps sound like someone is right beside you when they are actually two buildings away. Mounted players sound like they are next to you even though they are still ten seconds from appearing over a hill. The audio is truly awful and makes the game feel unplayable at times. This needs to be fixed before anything else.

Visually, the game is fine, but nothing special. The hype on social media feels exaggerated and forced. At its core, the game is basically Apex Legends with mounts. The 3v3 format also feels weak for the size of the maps, and unless you are in a premade, one bad teammate can ruin the match.

Optimization is also extremely poor. Many players and streamers have already mentioned this.

If I had to give High Guard a rating right now, it would be a 3 out of 10. It brings nothing new, the audio is terrible, and overall the game feels unfinished. Unless major fixes happen, I will not spend another cent on it.

Pros:-
-Decent visual style
-Mount system is at least different, even if not impactful

Cons:-
-Extremely poor audio and terrible directional sound
-Weak optimization and performance issues
-Brings nothing new to the FPS genre
-Map size feels mismatched with 3v3 gameplay
-Overhyped by paid streamers, not supported by actual gameplay quality

My review of this game is generally positive, though I believe there are a few areas the developers could improve. Some of these issues might be due to a translation problem, but I'm not certain. Specifically, a handful of game mechanics are not explained as clearly as they should be, which has left some players confused.

I emphasize "some players" because when I read threads where people complain about the difficulty, the problem often isn't the game, it's that they aren't thinking for themselves. Unfortunately, many modern gamers seem to lack the mental fortitude to solve problems without being handheld through every step. This game does not do that.

That said, the developers could have provided better guidance on a few specific points. Aside from that, the game is great. I am thoroughly enjoying the visuals, the freedom, the story, and the joy of exploration and discovery. A common issue I see is that many players rush through the main story quest without exploring. Then they complain, "There's nothing else to do! Why can't I get past level 20?" Well, you have an entire zone to explore, with currencies to earn and materials to gather. This complaint stems from a laziness bred by traditional "theme park" MMOs, where the game guides you from level 1 to the maximum level without requiring any thought.

So, if you're someone who can get dressed in the morning without your mother's help, you will likely enjoy this game. But if you still need your mum to put your socks on, then you will probably struggle.

Overall, I give this game an 8 out of 10 so far. I imagine my rating could improve to a 10 later on, once more content is unlocked and I finally gain access to the weapons I want to use. The current process is a bit of a pain, but it's not the end of the world.

An In-Depth Review: 130 Hours In

Alright, this might be a long post, so bear with me.

Right off the bat, the game is visually nice. I like the character customization; it fits the anime style perfectly. It's been great seeing people recreate iconic characters from various series. The class selection is also fine—you have your typical tanks, healers, and DPS, both ranged and melee. It covers the basics well.

The Story & World: A Missed Opportunity

The tutorial is what you'd expect, guiding you through the basics. I initially wanted to invest in the story, but I lost interest halfway through. It feels like it was written by someone brand new to the industry. The plot is dreadful, and the inconsistency between voiced and unvoiced cutscenes is jarring. It's no wonder many of us ended up spamming the skip button.

That said, I did enjoy the final boss fight in the Dark Mist Fortress—it was a highlight and I'm looking forward to the hard mode. However, a major spoiler and a huge disappointment was the "city on fire" sequence. This could have been an immersive, story-driven event with rescue missions and unique objectives. Instead, it was a rinse-and-repeat of "go here, kill these mobs." It was a colossal wasted opportunity that makes me think the original developers were very inexperienced, which explains the Japanese audience's frustration.

Gameplay: Chill but Shallow

This is arguably the most laid-back MMO I've played. The lack of pressure is both its greatest strength and weakness.

- Difficulty & AI: The game is far too easy. The overworld poses no threat, and the mob AI is practically nonexistent. You can attack enemies and they often won't even respond. The fact that the Muku Chief could be glitch-farmed for days without a fix says a lot.
- Dungeons & Endgame: Dungeon content is repeatable, which is good, but they are short and feel more like boss rushes. The 20-floor vault is a decent gear check but becomes repetitive due to a lack of layout variety. World bosses are far too predictable with their set patterns.
- Life Skills & Time-Gating: I personally don't mind the life skills or the time-gating. The "Focus" system, similar to Lost Ark, encourages daily play without demanding too much time. It forces you to dabble in different activities, which can be a positive.

Technical Aspects & Monetization

The PC customization options are virtually nonexistent, likely a result of the heavy mobile UI overlay. The class balance also needs work; seeing tanks consistently top the DPS charts in Crusade battles due to a flawed contribution system is a clear issue.

The monetization is aggressive. They've added way too many shops for people to spend real money and made it somewhat difficult at times to find the free currency shops to spend your currency on. I just hope they do not add even more premium cash shop to the list.

The Verdict

I'm still having fun because the game is a chill, low-commitment experience. However, I can only recommend it with the caveat that you do not over-invest your time or money.

The developer silence is the most alarming issue. We are two weeks post-launch with no roadmap or meaningful communication. If Bokura wants to save this game, they need to start talking immediately and prove they have a long-term plan.

Final Score: 5/10

In its current state, with its shallow content, lack of challenge, and poor communication, it's a very middling experience. The score could easily jump to a 6 or 7 if the developers add crucial quality-of-life features, communicate a clear roadmap, and show a genuine commitment to improving the game. Without that, I fear the player base will plummet, leaving only the whales behind.

Thanks for reading. If I missed anything you're curious about, let me know.

When the community first heard about "Blade & Soul Neo," we expected a remaster of the original game we loved. We were promised new visuals, but we were never told the game would be gutted. Quests have been removed, core mechanics have been changed, and they've been replaced with some of the most aggressive pay-to-win systems I've seen in years—which is saying a lot, considering competitors like Kakao Games are in the same industry.

While my playtime on Steam shows only three hours, I have more experience via the dreaded purple client, which is arguably the worst launcher NCsoft has ever produced. I highly recommend avoiding it at all costs.

The player base is as dead as the Steam charts suggest, likely well below 500 concurrent players combined across the US and Europe. The latest patch did nothing to retain players, and the in-game market is a clear indicator: to progress or do anything of value, you are forced to use your credit card.

This pay-to-win philosophy has infected all of NCsoft's recent games, both single and multiplayer. I personally wish I could get back the time I spent on this game before its Steam launch. Thankfully, I never spent a penny on it—it doesn't deserve any financial support. It's tragic to see players with more money than sense spending thousands of euros to become "whales," only to end up as the last ones left in a dying game.

I would say if you enjoy the leveling up of items, like in Lost Ark, then T&L is actually alot better in the sense of it's not run by the RMT people, like in Lost Ark.

Visually very nice and I've yet to see a single bot running around trying to farm something. Opens are nice & open, but if you wonder into a "war" area and you're low level, you'll be deleted on the spot by someone who is level 50! It sucks, but you'll be on the other side of that once you're 50.

Has a similar weapon system like New World, but no need to really swap between the weapons, unless you want too (depending on what you're using).

So far it's not bad, but I'm still level 30, so 20 more levels to go and then we'll see how things go from there.

The game is indeed a lot better than Overwatch, as that is what a lot of people compare it too.

The graphics are more fitting and the amount of characters to pick from and the map design is awesome. I'd highly recommend for any new player or old player to join in and give it a go.

The game is just a mobile port to PC. It's not that's great, extremely slow with loading at the beginning.

It's just easier to play this on your phone. But based upon what I've seen it's indeed a P2W mobile game. If you want to kill a few minutes while taking a dump, then download it on your phone and then that's about it.

Not worth the time to be honest to download/install on your computer. Far better F2P games there!

The Division 2!

What can I say about this game, which hasn't already been covered in other reviews dating back to it's released 4 years ago, up until now with the many steam reviews.

Many are angry about crashes! Sure people who are new to the Division 2 can be put off by this, but people who have been playing it for a while, have unfortunately come to live with this. Just like when you have a stupid person in your family, you just ignore them and get back to what you were doing.

Hopefully the new team working on Division 2 maybe able to find the origin of this crash problem and finally get it fixed. However, if not, I personally won't be bothered.

The game visually is beautiful, the sound work that Massive put into the game is also amazing. The stories, the voice acting, the design of the whole game is what draws you in. Unfortunately it doesn't keep people playing for long.

This reason for some is the grind.

You want that perfect build? Well you better grind for it and it's not going to be a few hours, but it may take you days or even weeks to finally get that right item, with the right talent. Then you may need to swap a stat out for another. You then notice you have no more crafting materials, so it's back to the grind.

This can be really offputting for those who want instant gratification. But if you want to put in the effort, you will be rewarded with being able to slap those npcs around and run through the ingame achievements, if that is what you like, as Division 2 has a ton of achievements to earn and unlock rewards from doing them.

Overall for 9euros (at the moment with the discount), this game is worth the purchase. The crashes suck, but hopefully it won't be too serious, where you may crash like some on old systems, where a crash is happening to them every 15 to 30 minutes.

So give it a try, if you don't like it within the 2 hour refund window, refund it. If you do enjoy it, even with a crash here & there, then continue and do ALL the content. Don't skip anything, as you will not want to miss how the story of Division 2 unfolds.

So I will say the game for me is great and SmileGate have created an amazing game.

However, this review is being hit with a negative review because of Amazon Games.

Servers are terrible, once a single person starts to queue to enter the server.
The English voice acting is subpar and I'd highly recommend using the Korean voice pack.
DO NOT believe a single thing an Amazon Games employee tells.

Roxx is banning people who provide any form of negative criticism on their forums, Reddit and here on these steam boards. So you will see a huge number of white knights, compared to most games.

Also CyFy is probably the most clueless individual I've seen with their "1500 hours of ingame playtime".

SmileGate should have used another publisher.

Dear Amazon Games, please stop all activities and do yourselves and the gaming industry a favour and just close down your studio.

Thanks <3

The game itself is worth the money you invest. Sure it has it's ups & downs both from toxic players to strange decision making by the developers. However, you can say the same for any game that is played online.

If you're looking for a game that can be fun, scary, intense and frustrating all at the same time, then indeed get your hands on Dead by Daylight. Just be aware there is a lot of purchaseable DLC, but you don't honestly need it.