Recent reviews by Sasha Nein

This game has redefined what good storytelling and characterization can be in games. It's just a band of (exceptional) outlaws just trying to live life as the world closes in around them... The game most certainly follows the life and times of one character and he does have a certain outlook on life, you do not play a silent protagonist... but every single character is so well written that it just feels like you're living the life right along with these people. The game isn't here to tell you what you should think or feel, it doesn't take a position on which political issues the developers/writers align with... and it is an incredibly refreshing story experience. A true masterpiece.

That being said, the game mechanics will frustrate you to no end. The game was certainly revolutionary in a few areas. There are SO MANY animations for things and the creatures and characters... but the gameplay is clunky and tough and the pathing for your horse will probably make you throw things.

This is easily forgiven with the quality of the writing and the cinematography they apply to make it more of an experience and less of a game.
This is 100% a worthwhile pickup, even at full price. Everyone should play this game. It has plenty of extra content for those who like to grind or 100% things, but even if that's not your thing it still provides 80hrs of non-repeatable content.

No prior Ratchet and Clank games played, but bought on reputation of the series. The game did not disappoint. It was a fun romp and while there do seem to be a number of references to the older games throughout it does not impact the storytelling or characters.
The graphics are excellent and the gameplay is excellent. Controls are all responsive and all of the guns feel like they have a place in the arsenal up until the very end. I appreciated the development of mechanics as well to keep things fresh.
While some may say the game is quite short; I myself having finished 96% of the content in 20hrs, this might not seem like a value pickup. No, for sheer mass of content this game is likely not up to modern standards. I, however, appreciated the development of the game and story and not being huge on grinding I found that the 'extra' quests and content in each area was just enough to keep me intrigued but not so much to make me bored before it was done.
I think that is okay though, and if someone really wants that last 10% there is a newgame+ mode available.

Good Coop game.
Not mechanically intensive, but has a lot of cool little elements and mini games throughout that are great for you and a good friend.

This game is not complex, but it is still early access. The graphic design and editor heavily remind me of my AOE2 days, but with added flair of complexity and animation.
The mechanics revolve around water, and your supply of it, making this city builder a tense bid for survival. I like how the game transitions from different phases of the game. Early, where you struggle to keep your dozen beavers alive from drought to drought, to the late game where your population manages itself well as long as you do not become complacent and find half your residents wiped out due to negligence on a large scale.
There is a lack of content you notice after only a little time playing, but I imagine it will be built upon as the game develops:
There are 2 playable races, which are beautifully sweet in their uniqueness and how they go about survival. I cannot wait for more.
There is a map editor, which has made me acutely aware of just how simple the worlds are.
There is no purpose or end goal to this game.

I imagine these things will be built upon as the game nears completion, but for now this how it is. The game is refreshingly stable, but there are still some issues with some of the more complex mechanics.

Overall, cool mechanics make this a fun city builder, but the lack of purpose or end goal will turn away plenty of people early on. If you enjoy the journey of city building, this is a good game to pick up now. But, if you require direction, perhaps wait until the scenarios have objectives.

What an excellent mod, and beautifully imagined side story to the Half Life series.

If you're a half life fan, play this. You'll enjoy it thoroughly.

Granted, this was sweated over by many people for a long time and provided to us for free for our enjoyment, but it is still a mod and you should treat it as such.
However, as far as mods go, this is a top tier production. I had a couple of inexplicable crashes, but I was able to hop right back in and get through sequences. There was never a point where I got stuck due to poor scripting.

A+ extremely polished with a very well crafted story and engaging play through. There were a lot of unique situations to work and puzzle through.

Are you looking to relive the glory days of your childhood with a past iteration of MechWarrior?
Perhaps large robots with big guns is simply appealing?
Want to blast something with Particle Projection Cannons and massive Auto Cannons that go BRRR?

If you're looking at this game for any of those reasons, you've come to the right place. This game will give you that.

However, that being said... Right out the gate this game did not impress me terribly much. 80hrs in I've yet to track down a few performance issues and it makes playing some missions a pain. That's on me though, I think. My friends with similar rigs report no such issues.
The scale is off in this game. If you spend any time observing the terrain... you're going to find that some of the world items simply don't make sense when it comes to their sizes.
It does feel like there is some serious polish and attention to detail that is simply missing in this game. After about 40hrs and repeats on maps and missions, I started to notice and while it is nothing game breaking, it just brings to light that under the surface there isn't much thought put into the little things.

That being said, you're not here for the little things... STOP LOOKING AT THOSE ROCK TEXTURES... Go blow more stuff up!
I must certainly say the progression has been very enjoyable. 80hrs in across 2 campaigns (single and coop) and I'm still finding new weapons and mechs which allow for tasteful configurations that continue to send tingles up my spine.
The gritty punchyness that I expected out the gate in this game wasn't what I wanted, but I've grown to enjoy it very much and getting to dual wield AC20s for the first time is definitely the highlight for me.

The coop experience has been unoffensive. There are certainly menu options which could be improved as well as some AI functions and camera work. But, when on missions, things have gone quite well and jumping in and out of matches is surprisingly easy.

There's definitely more things I like and dislike about the game, but that's the general gist. This game isn't going to win any awards or blow any minds. It definitely feels like there's some serious QOL oversights, but heck dude I really enjoy blowing things up and I'm going to continue doing so with a grin.

TL:DR
Everything was.... bad. Not worth getting for any price.

There are maybe a dozen different types of enemies you fight throughout the whole game... but you can narrow that down to 3-5 similar classes with different skins to fight.
Everything is a bullet sponge... for no reason. Things are actually SO DANG tanky. Fights feel like they become a giant waste of time... nothing interesting going on except shooting and reloading.

There are maybe... half a dozen different cool big boss fights that have semi-interesting mechanics... then the second half of the game is nothing but shootouts against mass enemies that all shoot you back at range. Quite annoying.

Graphics are meh... but the grass does look nice.

Abilities are... probably the best thing about this game... but pretty quickly you come to the end of all 6 different of your abilities and then... that's it. The rest of the game are marginal % increases for them in the skill tree which I'm convinced actually do nothing.

Gunplay is subpar, diversity is... lacking.

Looting is... unbalanced. Why do I have 50k of common crafting materials I can do nothing with... but then never have a supply of the important material... can't there at least be SOME sort of exchange rate with all of this worthless scrap and leather??

Side quests are... lame. go here, shoot this, get generic loot... rinse and repeat.

Then... There's the story. The writing. My word... heh.
It's actually so bad. All hail to Square Enix I guess, I'm convinced the writers for these games are poor enslaved bastards who are locked in a dungeon with no food or water until they bang something out on a primitive typewriter... which is then immediately inserted into the game without any question.

The MAIN CHARACTER in this game hates that he's EVEN THERE. All of his dialog is so... defeatist. He doesn't care about anything or anyone, he continually s**t talks those around him and questions the point of every single side quest and task.
Like.. he has MY ATTITUDE when faced with this garbage... That is so not okay. This character is so self aware of what a garbage game he's in that I feel like he's going to turn around and slap me in the face for continuing to play the game.
Why... why is writing like this... you're supposed to draw me INTO the story, not point and laugh at how DUMB it is!
Story progression made no sense... You jump from one location to the next with such random scene breaks that it's mind boggling. Oh! And not to mention... Cutscenes and load screens for E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. you do. Like... what the heck man... who thought it would be okay to drop you out of a cutscene into a room that requires an additional cutscene to step out of? Why would you do this multiple times?? Sigh.

Sound design in this game is terrible... some things are stupidly loud, others are stupidly quiet. Audio breaks randomly all the time.

And... actually, I just need to stop. I feel like I've made my point.

I played this game with the "The Crew". Your best buds, right. So, we had fun laughing at it all and just running through mindlessly gunning things down... But, I will not play this again and it's forever going into the uninstalled list for me to eventually reminisce about and remember how much I regretted paying $20 for this.

Don't let the demo/intro lure you into a false sense of enjoyment. The demo is actually the best part of the game... Just play that, then put it away... because that's it. It won't get any better or cooler.

There is a review by "Maybe 7 Parents" for this game that I completely agree with. I suggest reading it.

In addition to the things he's said:
Pros -
I saw a few people saying the graphics were great. I would say they're average. Nothing special. It doesn't hurt my eyes.
However, there are a few points of the sound design that I found to be incredibly well done. I really liked what the game had to offer in that regard.
Grass. Crawling through grass and seeing it flatten before you, and stay flat after you pass it... oof. I never realized what I was missing in games until I saw this game do it. Come on people, do better! This was by far the coolest feature to me in this game.

Cons -
The game feels horribly unfinished. A lot of the quest locations feel terribly empty. There is NO water interaction; you're teleported out of it if you fall in. And then the game progression. Beyond just getting more powerful versions of weapons... you've seen everything the game has to offer 20% of the way through it. Why can I not drive a car???? REE!

Story was not great. Ending was... disappointing. And while just the general ambiance was pretty good I'd say... the atmosphere suffers from a horrible emptiness that is downright immersion breaking. Not a single rat left alive, nobody hiding in a dumpster bin, not a single car drivable even though they're basically running.
It feels like you've arrived on scene to a huge warzone 20 minutes AFTER the last dude died.. but wouldn't there be some poor schmuck who pulled his beaten body into the corner of a barn somewhere? Ugh.
Where's the wildlife? Even if the robots shot them all dead, there should be bodies.
Why does every single vehicle have a military box of ammo in it?

Some things in this game were done incredibly well I think... but honestly this game is feature lacking. The core of the game works and is fun for a co-op romp I think... but the lack of detail demolishes any staying power this game could have had.

I recommend because what is there, is good.
But, be warned... once you've killed the 4 different types or robots... it doesn't get any better or more interesting after that. So, good luck!

Let's get the politics out of the way first:
Yes, I'm disappointed that 1yr later that there are still stupid, glaring bugs to be found every time I turn around. But, the game never once crashed on me, or put me in a spot that I had to reload a ways back because it was unplayable... (except that one time). I am 100% behind the crowd that thinks AAA games shouldn't be anywhere near this buggy at release, let alone a year later... but, I am also completely behind the $30 I paid for this game. There was a lot of work put into it, even if it didn't live up to many expectations. I think this game is worth picking up. Now, let me try to explain why...

The Story:
I don't think anything is going to surpass the storytelling of classics like Baldur's Gate, Half Life and even Mass Effect... But I can at least appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into Cyberpunk. I was surprised at how autonomous my choices felt. There are certainly important decisions, but they didn't make it seem I was being forced into one faction or another, or that whatever choice I made would alter the game state towards one ending or the next. Although, mind you, I've only played through once fully so this sort of thing might be more apparent on multiple runs.

The characters were... refreshingly unique, I think. There were certainly some that fell flat, but just as many were vibrant and quite a few were off living their own lives which you are only a small part of.
And, honestly, a number of the main characters fall into the flat category I think. I ended the game feeling quite confused. I really don't understand what half the conversations with Johnny were about and I was quite unsatisfied with the overall conclusions everyone came to. I thought I noticed characters changing one way or another throughout the game... but then a conversation would happen that made no sense and now enemies are allies or some other shenanigans. But hey, I was along for the ride, and the general course of events played out obviously enough and I just like shooting things anyway so...

The Gameplay:
I played on Hard for my first playthrough. Enemies are DEFINITELY bullet sponges, but it's no Skyrim levels of unrealistic. Fights required me to be in cover A LOT and always popping health stims... but, the challenge felt good and not overbearing until you get into the bad side of town where you most certainly aren't supposed to be 'yet'. Everything definitely has The Witcher feel to it.

I did not choose any melee options, and I actually don't think I put a knife in a single damn enemy. Dang, I should have gotten an achievement for that actually... hmm. The gun play felt punchy, except shotguns are stupidly under powered. There was enough variety to keep me entertained on this playthrough, but idk if it would for another playthrough. What was there was good though.

Driving is very much an arcade experience... but once I figured out how to drift through the city streets it was enjoyable enough. The races were a joke, and honestly the easiest thing to beat in the game. Total. Yawn-fest. I did appreciate how functioning the city streets were and they felt sized appropriately, but there is definitely something funky going on with the lights.

Conclusion:
I'm easily entertained by the cheap thrills of gameplay: the punch of my futuristic AK and the rumble of my truck engine. The world grabbed me for sure, and it was amazing to see what was around every new corner.
But, the novelty can get old quickly. I don't think I'll be coming back for another playthrough anytime soon. The story was satisfactory, but the Johnny conversations were a wildcard. At least Cyberpunk didn't make me throw up my hands at the absurdity of what character motivation has become today. It was a close call, though, especially at the beginning when V is challenged to express his motivations and he gives some half ass response about 'glory' and 'being remembered'.
The game was plagued by minor bugs which kept destroying my immersion, but they never 'broke' my game... So take that as you will. If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, I'd say stop waiting to play this game. It's fun.

If you're still on the fence: It's not going to get better. I don't think this game is a MUST play and if what I've said would bother you, then simply don't get the game. This is certainly a modern day triple A title. It comes with all of the flaws we have come to expect. I had fun running and gunning, however, and was pleasantly surprised throughout with everything.

Before I begin, I wish to express that at 90 hours of game time, I've explored about everything this game has to offer. I've been putting off this review for so long because I've been looking for good things to say, but unfortunately that list remains quite small.
I played this game back when it came out, as well. I quit then because of the reasons I will state below. Basically, nothing has changed for the better.

tl;dr:
This game isn't worth buying or playing... Unless you have friends and you all enjoy a survival/crafting coop experience. Everything this game does, is done better somewhere else.

Pro:
The only thing this game has going for it, is that the 'combination' of mechanics are combined in a way that no other game has done... But, even that wouldn't be enough for me, because those mechanics and concepts are just done so poorly.. I have a friend who is utterly smitten with the game and wants to play it with me and I find that to the be only reason I got past 40 hours.

Cons:
This game came out in 2013 and it is still in Alpha. I've been thinking about possible excuses for this for weeks, and I cannot find anything that satisfies. 7 years of being an Alpha stage game with minimal improvements to any of the mechanics, and an overall feel of a 2005 Source mod. This is just unacceptable.

As I said earlier, pick any one mechanic, and I can name a game (RELEASED BEFORE 2013) That has done it better.
Shooting? Left 4 Dead, Half Life 2... both of which are zombie shooters btw.

Crafting? Minecraft for me. 7 Days' 'set it and forget it' crafting style really really bugs me, I hate it.

Building? The building isn't the worst, but it is frustratingly complicated to build anything in this game. Minecraft is so much simpler to build in, but there are also other games that give an equally if not more satisfying result, like Skyrim: Hearthfire; a stupid little dlc to an already mediocre game is more satisfying.

Exploring? (insert elder scrolls game of choice here), all of which came out before this game. 7 Days' is terribly cookie cutter. You've seen 1 building, you've seen them all. Minecraft, AGAIN, has superior returns in every way when it comes to exploration.

Vehicles? Half Life 2: Episode 2 probably has one of the most satisfying driving sequences out of any game I've played, but that's still a single player experience. Any Battlefield game.

Animations? Literally anything that isn't a mod. Once again, this feels like playing the Survival game mode available in Garry's Mod. A literal bare bones product, which just FEELS BAD because they've had 7 years to give me something I enjoy looking at or feels substantial.

Graphics? 2005 Source mod. That's what this is. They just released a 'new lighting engine' in Alpha build 19.whatever and you know what? It's kinda cool... if it didn't absolutely throttle my video card and stab it 12 times before throwing it into a pool of alligators. I had to turn it off to make the game playable... so I'm not able to enjoy that either if I want to play at more than 12fps. Perhaps if you've a modern RTX card it would be somewhat playable, but anyone without is likely screwed.

... I imagine I could go on, but I'm just going to stop there with specifics. I think the final (and biggest) nail in the coffin is that this game has seen little to no advancement in all the time it's been available for purchase. Sure, some things have been reworked or changed, but the core concepts are still the exact same as they were seven years ago.
There are better things out there, and for less money. I am glad I've been resolute about not purchasing this game, and I wouldn't have started playing if my friend hadn't gotten it for me. Objectively, this game just isn't worth it.