Recent reviews by chipsHydro

I'm very much a fan of team-based, social gaming. There's something inherently fun about working together towards a common objective - and in Void Crew's case? Keeping your ship and crewmates alive while under fire from foes.

This game is well worth every penny even 25 hours in! The team at Hutlihut Games are extremely open to feedback, ideas, constructive criticism and active in the community on Discord.

I cannot stress enough how important indie gaming is to the industry; where small development teams have always created the most passionate, ambitious, enjoyable worlds, stories and gameplay alike.

Being able to pilot a ship under the stress of a bullet-hell galaxy? Thrilling.
Going guns-blazing taking out swarms of drones? Satisfying.
Running around, repairing and maintaining the engines and hull? Fulfilling.

Sans the odd desync and a few (relatively funny) bugs, this has been the smoothest Early Access launch title I've played in a good few years. There's certainly enough content in this current state to last even another 25-50 hours, and MORE as my fellow Ectypes try to complete Insane level missions.

So please, give the game your time. There's an amazing game in here, and it's going to get better and better.

Just finished and wow- absolutely phenomenal game. I brawled my way through as a Boxer/Corwid. For the Boy!

Each stance was deep enough for varied combat, each special viable and unique, and paced throughout the world so as to not drown you in choice illusion. Combat never felt like a chore, or something you'd want to avoid. It's a testament to how important the core gameplay is in any game.

The interconnected world design is something that -in my personal opinion- has out shined the standards set by FromSoftware's Souls games. They've managed to build these vertical, yet surmountable regions that connect sensibly. This creates a strong feeling of progression while you brawl your way through Zenozoik.

I know this was game was independent of Zeno Clash 1 and 2, but it was nothing short of enjoyable seeing some old assets from those games be re-used. As a Zeno Clash fan, nothing scared me more than seeing "Corwid Territory" on the map as one of the regions. And I was right to be afraid, as the descent into madness via true freedom is still as maddening as ever.

The cross-hatching art style, while some may be taken a-back, served the narrative and immersion well. It's not a downgrade by any means, if anything it's a piece of rendering technology that's used creatively AND effectively. You can turn it off if you desire, but I personally feel it would detract from what ACE Team were trying to convey with Clash.

If I had any downsides, they'd probably be that I didn't use weapons that often, in comparison to Zeno Clash. It may have just been that the combat arts themselves were more than enough (and allowed more moves). Additionally, some minor bugs/stuck on level geometry that were quickly resolved by either waking up or reloading my checkpoint - nothing detrimental or progression-halting.

I was part of both closed tests, and there were two cut features I'd have loved to seen (not sure if I can say what they were). But understandably, they were probably not fleshed out enough to warrant further delays, or fit within the gameplay.

Thank you ACE Team for revisiting Zenozoik a decade later. I really love this universe, as do so many others. It has been my goal to get my friends invested into the games, and this entry might be the one that finally tef-ing gets them to jump right in.

4/10 no moustache riding scene unfortuantely

First off: I feel bad about thumbs-downing as a Souls vet since Demon's Souls. Love the games, love helping people with bosses/areas, and it's had an awesome impact on my life and my friend's lives <3

Despite my playtime however, I can't recommend the game for a multitude of reasons.

My PC beats the recommended specifications. I'm running the latest nVidia ready graphics drivers for my RTX 3070. CPU is an i7, have tried running OC and stock with no difference.

Day 1 I had level unloading issues and stuttering. Went away after I made a multitude of updates and fixes, and these have since subsided to the latest patch. However as the game continued to be patched, the more stuttering I encountered.

Aside from performance, Elden Ring suffers from content bloat. All open world games suffer this, but it's largely noticeable when FromSoft have set a precedence for uniqueness in their universes (when looking at prior games).

With 165 bosses that are largely recycled, it's no wonder that the second half of the game post-Leyndell feels like a slog. Reused enemy types in the last three realms, a lack of motivation to explore, and a general overall lack in design when it comes to enemy placement.

What irks me the most is that these areas are beautiful, but rely heavily on ladders and elevators to circumnavigate. These are usually fine -and it's understandable for some of the more vertically challenged areas- but sliding down or climbing up a gargantuan-sized ladder becomes nothing short of a chore.

The enemy placement come the last third of the game feels as though it was hashed together with duct tape and a prayer from the Golden Order. What I mean is the game starts to focus on creating ganking situations with its enemies, and an overabundance of reused, unoriginal enemy types.

Elden Ring is at its best when there is ebb and flow in its combat. But it's at its insufferably worst when the chemistry of enemies fails to adhere to the combat design and world it's living in.

Lastly, content burnout. There's far too many re-used dungeons and enemies - which hampers any motivation for exploration. After clearing the entirety of Caelid, Limgrave, Weeping, Liurnia and Atlus, I stopped playing for 8 months.

After returning as a vow to complete ER, I still found myself dreading what would come in the areas to come (Mountaintops onwards). While I adamantly avoid using maps, videos and hints to enjoy the ultimate experience, I just wanted to finish the game and shelve it. And thus, I directly went for all the bosses and rolled credits,

Yeah, I've completed 1.5 playthroughs (hence my nigh 400 hour game time [plus accidentally leaving it open]), but in all honesty I wouldn't want to touch this game again. There was some absolute great promise upon my first, gleeful playthrough. But open world was just executed in such an average way come end-game.

Here's hoping future DLC will prop up the base game. Otherwise, FromSoft; please stick to the more unique, linear experience that you've set a precedence with from our prior games. We appreciate you branching out, but it wasn't a strong hand of cards.

To anyone who declares this game bad...
WRONG ANSWER

This game made me feel ways I shouldn't.

And I love it.

I give it a Sven out of Ten

Pretty hardcore tower defence, I find the balance between growing my plants and upgrading them in the day then fighting zombies that threaten my farm at night is a very original theme.

EA, despite your shortcomings, this game has really shown you still have it in your hearts. I give Plants vs Zombies a 4 brains out of 5!

Haven't wrote a review in a long time (thanks uni and work) but I got the chance to finish this in one sitting today (5-ish hours played, explored a fair bit). What started as an enjoyable, lighthearted wilderness explorer turned into a dark, creepy get-the-heck-out-of-here experience. And I loved every hour of it, definitely the *hottest* story game of 2016 so far for me.

Delilah, your only communication in the game, has some serious character depth for a (basically) walkie talkie. And the player character Henry has some great banter as well, with a touching back story that I can't spoil. Exploring the wilderness is relaxing as it is enveloping.

If you're scraping the barrel for money, don't buy it full price. But please give the game a thought and send money towards the developers. And if you do end up playing, play it without the player map marker. It's 100% more fun even if you get lost, honest to god!

Smoky the bear approved review.

It seems yet another one of my favoured developers have befallen the curse of small currency undertakings. I would recommend purchasing Killing Floor 1, a game where the DLC is fair and you know what you are paying for. Please do not support any game developer that adds microtransactions (I know my words contradict, but KF1 is my solution should the player want to still have a good zed-crushing experience, without feeling as though they have contributed towards the malpractice Tripwire have sinned for).

Remember children, you can't spell Gambling without Gaming!