Recent reviews by d3cker

Tap Ninja ripoff full of AI

I was excited at first but quickly realized the upgrade system is entirely opaque, not tutorialized, and by level 40 or so I had tier 4 upgrades (maxed) and there was nothing else I could do every time I leveled so I just left my mouse over where the skip button would appear when I leveled up and mashed leftclick. I got to level 130 or so before I realized there's nothing going on here, at least nothing that makes sense.

I understand it's an early demo, but it's important feedback regardless. As a player I was not given enough information to find anything interesting here.

EDIT: Clarifying some of my feedback in response to the developer response:

What I meant by "opaque" was the second definition of the term: "hard or impossible to understand." More specifically, I was completely lost as to how the upgrade system actually functions. It seemed that some same-color upgrades would stack, but not all? I couldn't tell if I was adding stats by stacking those same-color upgrades, replacing them, or somehow mixing their stats in some way. I didn't realize there was a deck for a few levels, so I was holding off for upgrade "cards" of which no more remained in the deck, among other things. I think a good amount of hand-holding on a player's first run, going over all (or maybe just the most important) stats would go a very long way towards resolving this pain point.

I should add I'm definitely looking forward to checking this game out again later! It remains on my wishlist and I'm changing my recommendation, given that it's unfair to judge it by only its current state, and the developer's response should be enough for anyone to see that this game is going to be well-cared for.

An Obra-Dinn-like for visual-spatial thinkers with some light puzzles to comb through too. I am beyond excited for this game. The team is on track to have this land as an all-timer. No pressure, devs! Just keep doing you!

Zachtronics lives.

100 hours in 2 weeks might be the most I've ever played a game at (early access) launch.

Improved in almost every way from its predecessor while maintaining all the things that made it so special in the first place. It's far from perfect, but this is only the beginning.

The expansion made the base game much more streamlined, and getting to space is no longer a distant end goal, all the while the same things that made the base game good are still here, just improved, more varied, and there is even more player choice than there was before.

Don't think, just buy. A pinnacle of a game developer's years of experience and success, executed immaculately. Anything I would criticize would take away from your personal interpretation of the game. Dive in.

Another banger from ATLUS, the only negative reviews I see reference performance issues... you'll know if it's a problem for you long before the two-hour refund period. It's worth giving it a shot. I noticed some lag as well and when I went to the settings I saw that the game defaults to 125% resolution, which is a strange alternative to anti-aliasing, but turning that off resolved even the briefest moments of lag for me. Can't wait for the full game.

Despite some spotty performance issues, the game is a perfect aesthetic journey into WH40k. The story is compelling enough, and a continuation from the first game. Combat is meaty and gory, and the power fantasy is there, as long as you are paying attention, because your armor is a lot stronger than your health, and if you lose it and don't realize it, you can die very quickly.

PvP balance leaves a lot to be desired, and games automatically queue into a rematch (you think I want to get stomped by the same 5 pricks again and again?)

While I do recommend the game, if you aren't interested in playing the story, immediately, in co-op, then you might be better served waiting for a sale. The game would be a steal at $30 or less, $40 is reasonable, and full price is just to join the zeitgeist of the new release.

To start, I'm very cynical about games that come from China for a number of reasons, but fortunately many of the typical things that bother me are not present here, and I can feel my prejudice melting away.

The game runs very well, which is crucial. It *is* ultimately derivative and a "souls-like," but has those sharpest of edges rounded off. For example, free talent respec at any checkpoint, lose nothing when you die except getting physically sent back to the last checkpoint. Bosses are frequent and challenging, but manageable, and not explicitly designed to *force* you to lose multiple times before you figure out their attack patterns. I've already beaten at least one boss on the first try and it was just as satisfying as the hardest boss that took me probably an hour or so including grinding up an extra skill point. Aesthetics are on point, modeling is unbelievable, animation is fantastic, and the music has already given me goosebumps. Progression is at an exciting pace, levels are not overlong to traverse or explore, and I can easily see why it's so appealing for so many players. I'm only 5 hours in but the more I play, the better the game gets.