Recent reviews by Teknikal_Domain

Let me state first: I do love this game. Coming as someone who still holds Elite: Dangerous as their favorite game of all time (and Star Citizen trying for number 2 and failing because someone doesn't know how to prioritize and set deadlines for meaningful features)... with some time put into American Truck Simulator, as a professional driver the core of the game is solid.

I like the atmosphere, the general design of the world they've built here, and yes, the fact that someone seems to have actually done their research when it comes to the CB conversations (though, completely inconsequential, every time I look at that CB I wonder why a non-SSB capable CB has a clarifier knob, which is only needed on sideband... and sideband is more of a DXer thing not a driver thing). The concept is sound. The implementation could use some work. I'm not saying don't buy this game... but do know what you're getting into, especially... (checks notes) exactly 1 week after release at the time of writing this.

Everything is just clunky. Note for what I'm about to say next: I've been playing on the balanced difficulty setting thus far, except where noted.

• The truck turns, well, "turns" is the misnomer, you've got to steer way out in advance. Get used to other drivers honking at you. Don't turn too tight at low speeds either or you'll collide with and damage your own trailer.
  
• Lights have literally no use. Either balance their power drain (some 6%/hr? that's 1/3 of both core system cells, per hour. That is excessive), or add some use for that power drain, as right now it's literally unbalanced as a negative without a positive. But this is a review not a bug report, I digress.
  
• Some rush jobs are literally impossible. If you're the kind of person that hates seeing "LATE DELIVERY FEE" then don't take the time-sensitive ones. They might actually not have enough time to get to the destination because of the gate time dilation
  
• Total power drain is just too high. You work, to buy power cells (that sound like coke cans, funnily enough). That's it. What is your purpose? You buy power cells. (Oh my god...).
  
• Easy / "Driver" mode: someone forgot to account for their changes! Jobs pay less (as stated) and yet, express gate tolls aren't scaled to match? $150 toll on a $900 job, feels a lot different than on a $1900 job. By the same token, easy mode turns on the "premium" fuel setting that, if you look, states that it's more expensive but lasts longer. Well fueling up after the my first job (2-hop), it still took just over $1000 to top off the tank, meaning the cost-per-mile is basically the same, just with a higher up front number. The gauge doesn't even change it's range estimate from what I can tell, it's still ~60 mi on a full tank.
  
• Distances and scaling are just... weird. It says 150 mph but it sure doesn't feel like it. Everything is a mile or two from a gate. The fuel gauge range estimate is about as accurate as Windows estimating how long your file transfer is going to take. Maybe it's me being used to E:D's sense of scale (or maybe it's me knowing what several hundred daily miles are like first-hand), but it just doesn't seem... "right." (Not to mention, for distances this short, you're measuring fuel consumption in gallons-per-mile not miles-per-gallon. I guess we doin cruise ships now)

Like, we have all the good trappings of a nice leisure game, a nice "dad" game here. (Especially since, to be frank, there's really not that much involved gameplay otherwise. You drive things. End of story. That's not necessarily a negative, that's just what it is.) But "leisure" doesn't generally insinuate having to get up every 5-15 minutes to swap power cells, to reload an autosave because some NPC driver hit you while you were going in a perfectly straight line, to have to weigh every single purchase you make (of things you need) because every dollar that ends up in your bank account goes right back into parts that'll fail before the day is over, or fuel that takes like 1/4 of the tank per job.

My advice: Wait for a round of patches. or three. I can't fully recommend it in it's current state, but the devs seem passionate enough that I'm hoping I'll have to edit my review in the future once some tweaks have been made. If you do want to play right now, don't pick a difficulty. Pick custom, set the settings up the way you'd like. That'll be a more enjoyable experience.

Prison Architect, a good game overall. Not only are the devs active, updating every month and then uploading a youtube video describing said update, but they do a good job too. Most bugs are fixed in a relatively timely manner, new features added regularaly, And overall we have a very fun game if you enjoy sandbox games, I really don't have too much to say.

Overkill software really outdid themselves on this. I can't complain about much, a good weapon selection, enjoyable heists, some better loud than others, and a semi-good community, although I cannot fauult the developers for that. The soundtrack, is awesome. Nothing else to say there. But, I do see a few downsides. One, many heists are very RNG dependent, exspecially if you plan on doing them in stealth. Two, the cash. 80/20 split with the majority going to offshore? I almost never use it. a potentially better system would be a slider, choose the ratio at the end if the heist. Three: the DLC. almost ALL of the weapons and a good few heists are locled behind DLC that ranges from $5 to $10, usually $7. This means shelling out a lot of money for all the DLC, and while it may not seem like a lot, seven bucks for a heist and a few weapons, averaging out to a dollar per thing received, that adds up quick. While a great game, it is nowhere close to being perfect.

Honsetly, this is a really great game. Excellent music, nice graphics for how it was designed, I got my money's worth out of it. Good combat system too, makes you think about what to do next and what to do now. And while it is the same handful os ships with 2-3 layouts, They are fun to try out and see what you can do with each one. I really can't complain, Actualy, I can complain. Some random encounters seem a little too aggressive. I know that you need to spend wisely, as going further increases difficulty, but being randomly encountered and then being outmatched in every single way seems a little on the RNG luck side.

While great in some aspects, I find flaws in places that mean that I cannot reccomend this game. Yes, it's a cool concept. But it has a few major flaws, the first one being the extreme difficulty spike from level 9 onwards, The fires are VERY aggressive about spreading, and a fireball can completely incap a person or a cat if it hits them, or add HALF to your heat meter. Did I also mention that most, if not all, fireballs are targeted at you? Speaking of people and cats, While the people you have to rescue are fine, the cats can die before you clear the room if it's big enough, which means potentially losing a life because you had to run through half a room of flames. Also in the later levels, the time you have is very small, almost that you are rushing to find people to save constantly. I know the game is designed to be difficult, but half of the time your death was because RNG wasn't in your favor. When I lose, I don't feel like I messed up. I feel like the game decided the run was over.

Interesting take on the roguelike genre here. Simple and challenging, pick this up if you want a bit of a puzzle each time you play.

my review:

"Elite: Dangerous is one of the best open-world space exploration game I've ever played, full stop. With no hand-holding rules, and multiple things to do, I most definitely recommend this game to anyone who prefers the genre."

First review I've seen:

"Elite: Dangerously Boring is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game about flying through space. Sometimes you shoot other ships but mostly you don't."

Not true. Actually having played for some time, I've been relatively successful NOT shooting any ships at all, because that is the beauty of this. You dont have to shoot other people. You can be an explorer, and sell data for profit, or you can be a trader if you want. E:D has no real limits on what you can do, and if you need any help, there's a wiki. a very detailed, helpful wiki.

Play to have fun, don't try to win a game that has no such reason to include such a system.

Rant over, have an actual review:
+ Excellent graphics. I would take notes, they hit the look & feel sweet spot.
+Great sounds: nothing much to say, excellent sounds.
+ Smooth gameplay and control. only time that I've had a control problem: I was under stress and pressed the wrong button.
- In game contract system! No. Contracts CAN be a bit tedious, and there are really only 4 or such types, and the payments are relatively small. yes, one contract can be worth 100,000 CR, but it's also somewhat of a challenge, usually with a hint of RNG luck mixed in with the fail condidion. Grab a weapon and kill a few wanted people, no need for the system.
But, due to the glory of the game, after starting out, you don't need to do these.

I've gotten more than my money's worth out of E:D. Probably one of, if not the best game I've ever played. Frontier Developments: Keep up the good work!

one of the greatest games ever on steam except for one exception. quit reading this and get this game now!