Recent reviews by Eelface

MHW is a fantastic game, and Iceborne has only built on that content. The new town is beautiful and at the same time more functional than Astera. The flavor content, from cosmetics to descriptive texts on dialogue shows a solid understanding of what fans like and didn't like about the base game.

The extension of the level cap and introduction of incrementally better weapons and armor works to keep the grind going, tho if they kept dropping expansions like this it would get old fast. Fortunately, the producers have no plans on further expansions.

The new monsters are a bit of a mixed bag, as a good portion of them are only modified versions of existing monsters in the base game. Nevertheless, the new challenge they present is real, and all monsters as well as all your weapons have had new moves added to deepen the complexity of gameplay, as an expansion ought to do.

Iceborne succeeds at everything it set out to do. It keeps the challenge alive for everyone looking to improve their mastery of the game, and it's a riot to play. Some of the late game optional bosses added in post-launch updates get kind of insane, but they are there for the die-hards who want them.

My only complaint comes in the form of disconnection issues. There are steps that can be taken to minimize their occurrence, but they still crop up now and then when playing with friends.

SOR 4 manages to be the best game in a series of powerful titles. Each character has a unique feel, old exploits have been polished up, and combat is as crunchy and satisfying as it ever was. The soundtrack is stellar and the environmental art is astounding. This game fully succeeds at everything it set out to do.

Warframe is a tough game to get into. There is a wall of information and dense, unfamiliar language to get used to, and although your character is meant to feel thrown into something they cannot understand, this passes on too well to the player.

Once you can acclimate to the game's needs and understand both the core gameplay loop and progression of player power, Warframe is engrossing. The characters are interesting, the setting is deep, and the gameplay itself is polished to a fine sheen. There is also a remarkable amount of content available for free, and enough now to keep one busy, even for years. The premium economy is reasonable and avoids addictive traps like loot boxes, and everything can be acquired in-game.

Best MMO-ish game out there, hands down.

It's worth saying that this game is pretty sensational. The depth and scale of the mechanics, as well as the considerable balancing that has gone into letting the player experience the game exactly as they wish is more than impressive, and it's a technical marvel as well.
That said, this game is boring. Ten hours in, not a single exciting thing has really happened. Empire development is ponderous, and when war does break out combat is uninvolving and nothing to see. The impossibility of maneuvering fleets lends to brute force strategies and seizing systems is done without ceremony. Stellaris is an elaborate management sim first and a 4x game second.

There are issues with this game. The DLC is unimpressive, the public hosting is poorly organized, and some of the early access players have right to be angry with the way Fatshark has managed their content releases.

But at the end of the day, you have a really fun game. Cutting through hordes of ratfolk and scunner bastards with friends is an absolute blast. Immersive music, breathtaking environments, and quality voiceacting and banter make for an experience that can be enjoyed many times over.

It's also genuinely impressive what they managed to do with bots. As broken as they'll sometimes act, against swarms and even bosses they have a persistent awareness and self-preservation that you wouldn't expect from this sort of game. They can fill in for people adequately when you're missing a full team of four.

"Mostly Positive" is a fair way to describe this game. The mechanics are superb, a great improvement over 5. City planning is a fun new aspect, and the inspirations make for a new and dynamic game every time you play as you take advantage of the situation you're given the best you can. Waging war is rewarded as well, unlike in its predecessor when having more cities crippled your infrastructure through unhappiness. And let's not forget an excellent presentation, including wonderful music, heartfelt narration, and utterly charming graphics and character design.

Several problems are worth bringing up, however.
The AI is terrible. Diplomacy is scarcely worth attempting, as the designers tried to balance the game by making computer players hate anyone that is doing well, and stamping tremendous relationship penalties for each city you take, even when at war with a third party and even when you are not the aggressor.
On top of that, CPU players don't understand combat at all, to a downright embarrassing degree. It's unclear how the designers could have screwed that part up so bad, as the combat isn't all that complicated.
There are also several interface issues, from unexplained mechanics like ranged unit obstructions, to combat predictions randomly displaying combat values in the tens of thousands. The Civilopedia is miserably incomplete and not always helpful, prompting excursions to the unofficial internet wiki to answer questions.

Then we have the more egregious issues.
Those who purchased the deluxe edition got ripped, plain and simple. On one hand, it's the own fault of consumers who threw their money at something without any concrete promise of what they were getting back, but on the other hand it took a very long time to get but a few extra leaders and Civs.
We've been promised cross-platform compatibility between Windows and Mac since launch. They still have no definite date set for this.
Patches have been slow to come and haven't fixed the major issues. Aspyr has, by all appearances, been very forthcoming about what they are hoping to achieve, but results have been consistently disappointing.


Ultimately, this is a very, very good game, but it's anything but "solid". For multiplayer, it's the best Civ game out there, and overall it's one of the best 4x games out there. But I still think you should wait for a good sale.

It's hard to explain what makes this game such a joy to play. Immensely satisfying sound design, immersive music, and the most delicious-looking food porn you'll ever see make a game about finger coordination and fast-paced task completion one of the most down-to-earth happy experiences around on Steam.

Love this game. Will update the review if DRM issue gets sorted in an acceptable manner.

It's been a long time since a game has come out that really makes me want to play through a second time.

The storytelling in Dragonfall is something one rarely sees in a video game. Simple narration most of the time, but sublimely detailed, and loaded full of complex and subtle characters that all feel real and deep. When you act nice for no reason, they tell you to screw off, and when you pry into their backstory, they resist. Dragonfall brings the world of Shadowrun alive like no game in the franchise ever has before.

The actual gameplay has a narrow focus, and consists of equal parts roleplaying and simple-tactics, cover-based combat. The various classes, spells, equipment, and level system give you enough to get creative with your strategy but keep the fights moving along. Combat WILL seem too slow or simple for some players, so keep that in mind if you think this may apply to you.

Another fantastic selling point is the way Dragonfall consistently hammers the player with legitimate, difficult moral choices. As a tool to the people with real power, the player has to be willing to accept a job on very little information, and compromising one's morals is nigh-inevitable in the face of daunting odds and the never-ending pressure to acquire more money for a greater purpose.

I can't recommend this game enough. Dragonfall does what the Shadowrun Returns sought to do, better.

This is quite the charming little game.

I was a bit turned off from the game initially, as it never really presents a challenge and, from a traditional perspective, doesn't have any clear objectives. But the visuals are endearing, the sound design is great, and the concept of being a whimsical little poltergeist is all kinds of fun.

With very simple mechanics and no real challenge, I have to presume this game was mostly made for kids, but a five dollar price tag is more than reasonable. For a fun game you can pick up and put down easily, this is a great choice.