Recent reviews by Boxtopher

Yeehaw.

---EDITED 05/13/2020---
Hats off to Ghost Ship Games for managing to deliver a well-rounded, engaging experience that's rocketed out of Early Access like an escape pod out of Hoxxes. Since my review last year, the developers have managed to add onto the framework they built in a way that compliments and incentivizes the core gameplay loop without sacrificing quality or the expectations of the Deep Rock Galactic community. Updates have been frequent, bugfixes have been efficient, and all throughout the Early Access process Ghost Ship Games were significantly transparent on the status of their project.

As a 1.0, the game is as solid as a rock (and stone) with plenty of content for newer players to sink their teeth into while veterans can look forward to earning the newly included prestige tiers. Volume 2 of the soundtrack is also a very welcome addition, adding a multitude of appropriate and engrossing songs to accompany the ever-present senses of wonder and danger within the planet's crust. There are a few features I am surprised to see missing from this release, namely an animation for storing the M.U.L.E. in an escape pod for example. However, GSG has made clear that they plan to continue supporting the game with content updates for the forseeable future and given their track record, such a thing is likely to be implemented eventually along with other goodies for dedicated fans.

Overall, I can say with confidence that Deep Rock Galactic has cemented itself as one of the best cooperative multiplayer experiences on Steam, even possibly one of the best in general. If Ghost Ship Games continues on the course they've set, our future in extraterrestrial mining is very, very bright.

---EARLY ACCESS REVIEW 09/2019---
One thing I want to make perfectly clear is that even though this game is in early access it's probably one of the most polished early access games I've ever had the pleasure to experience on this platform. The developers, Ghost Ship Games, already have a very solid and very rewarding gameplay loop that fosters cooperation and friendship and are now working to expand the variety of challenges and rewards you encounter. It is very satisfying to find yourself in a dire situation at the hands of insectoid horrors only to overcome them with a little help from your friends. Each class is fun to play with each of their respective weapons, tools, and abilities while also maintaining a balanced role for maximum synergy with others.

Graphically, the game is impressive as well. The art design is charmingly reminiscent of early three-dimensional games where every model has a distinct polygonal appearance to it, yet it also strikes a nice balance with modern textures and shaders to deliver a unique visual appeal. Lighting is also very much fine-tuned as it acts as a key gameplay component given spacious unexplored caverns don't come pre-lit. Keeping flares going to light your way is essential to finding minerals and avoiding obstacles, and the way it is implemented realistically only lights a given radius.

The sound design is also of note here as well. Much like one of its inspirations, the Left 4 Dead franchise, each entity has its own clearly discernible cues that both alert players to its nature as well as location. Not to mention a vast majority sound extremely and appropriately alien. Other impressive examples of attention to detail include the varying levels of reverb depending on the size of a cave chamber, the unique firing sound of each weapon, and the robotic whirrings and clankings of the AI-driven drones that and other machinery that accompany you into the depths.

Overall, as it is now the game is quite good and as more and more updates are released it looks to keep getting better. I highly recommend this both now, and whenever the full game is released in the future.

I couldn't even get past the title screen without having several concurrent problems relating to controller support and the Steam Overlay UI. I own a Logitech Gamepad F310 and it works fine for every other game in my Library that I've used it with, but for some reason Monster Hunter: World cannot recognize its inputs correctly without running in Steam's Big Picture Mode which does not allow for Steam Chat to be used. I did manage to enable the controller to be recognized by the game somewhat, but a majority of the controls were not mapped correctly. I looked into trying to remap everything, but the UI for Steam Controller support does not inherently make the functions of the program clearly understandable and I was not about to spend more time looking through documentation on the internet. Please note that this was after I spent hours of time troubleshooting and updating my controller's drivers. Additionally, even when I was finally able to have the game respond to the controller, the default Steam Overlay was not functioning properly and I could not access any of the options it provides. Overall this was a very disappointing experience. I'm a huge Monster Hunter fan and I really wanted to enjoy the game but all the technical problems I encountered kept me form doing so.

I picked up Subnautica last year when it was still in early access and it showed a lot of promise, especially given the pedigree of the developer's previous projects. After playing it for a while and enjoying what it had to offer, I put it down and let it sit until the recent 1.0 release where I eagerly picked it back up again. For the most part i've enjoyed myself and the new additions to the game that I had not experienced in the later stages of early access and I do believe this is inherently a good game. However, at this point in time I cannot in good conscience recommend this game as it is right now.

For a full release, Subnautica has quite a number of bugs that still plague it. Most I encountered were benign, yet detracted from the immersion the world tried so hard to create. Namely, the game's assets have extremely noticable pop-in issues, sometimes not even loading in until the player is directly next to them. Creatures and resources occasionally become stuck within the game's geometry because of this issue causing unintended (and often humourous) side effects.

Unfortunately, as my playthrough continued other, more detrimental bugs reared their ugly heads. At one point while traversing some underground caverns, part of the cave system failed to load completely causing a bit of a navigation headache. Yet the worst bug I happened to stumble upon was a complete softlock that occured by accidentally redocking my PRAWN Suit with the Cyclops as its docking bay doors were closing. I had no choice but to quit the game, losing several hours of progress and souring the experience for me as a whole.

I'd like to complete the game at one point if only because I've gotten so close to the end, but for those who are interested in Subnautica as a fresh purchase, I would advise you wait until Unknown Worlds releases bugfix patches to address the more serious problems that may arise from regular gameplay.