บทวิจารณ์ล่าสุดโดย Eldy

Orcs Must Die feel, very fun and fair, even for solo (100% achievements). Trailers and poor communication about core changes seem to be the main reason for mixed reviews among long time fans. Multiplayer a little risky with long-term commitment that can result in all or nothing outcome of your time from disconnect/power outage/etc. Devs have been on top of positive changes, and it's 100% worth $30. If you're on the fence, wait for a sale. Otherwise? These orcs really need to die. :]

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I didn't think it was possible to kill this many orcs, yet they continue to come, and I eagerly await. Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is a step away from the main line series, drastic changes made to the core makeup of the game- but not in a way that betrays the original idea, nor the fantasy. Rather, with grace the game takes the simple concept of what Orcs Must Die was, a tower defense with action-rpg hack-and-slash kind of murder layered on as a beautiful slice of butter on this toast.

What was once sprawling hallways in a fortress, or mines (omd2 my beloved <3), becomes vast fantasy locations that baffle you with their majesty. A Great seaside observatory where a battle unfolds upon the beachfront landing, as a final desperate defense culminates at the rift- invaders coming from additional fronts. This is where my first complaint comes, as a mostly solo player (80-90% of my play time), having to deal with 4 fronts as 1 body is just not a realistic expectation. The game can be played to 100% completion in terms of achievements solo, but multiple bodies will just be able to cover a greater area more effectively than a lone person ever could.

The barricade count being increased for fewer players was helpful in this regard, but high-level solo play does seem to wittle down to flyers just eeking through one by one over a few waves every mission. You'll progress, not a single orc, troll, nor ogre will reach the rift- but you can't possibly hold them at your traps while also navigating flyers ignoring the barricades you laid in the first place. Steam Traps were added as a floor/wall option in a patch today which may help on maps where ceiling defense may not be an option against flyers when you can't spare the time.

I Should also iterate that from the mainline OMD series, barricades no longer cost rift coin. Instead, you are given a certain number of them at the start of a mission, which can be increased through random threads (more later). This does allow you to focus your coin on traps for murdering. I personally feel this change has been healthy for the game. There's no map that currently feels oppressive with the starting barricade amount (Maybe Museum :eyes:), and additional just streamline designs.

Not only do you have all your rift coin for traps, your entire hotbar is dedicated to them as well in Deathtrap. Trinkets and weapons have been hard baked into the character's identity. From what I've read, this bit is particularly divisive among longtime players. While you could freely swap out between a blunderbuss or a Staff of Petrification, weapons are an extension of the character. Sophie is a dual-wielding menace with daggers, while Mac has a staff that functions as a sniper rifle.

Deeper to that cut, each war mage also has an active ability (Q) and Overdrive (Z). These fill what trinkets sort of did in previous games. In Vaan's case, literally as the rift protection power. Kalos, our large bear man with a big ol' hammer on the other hand creates a runic circle with his Overdrive, greatly empowering war mage damage while they stay within. His Q creates a totem that taunts nearby enemies- great to feed floor traps like Cursed Ground and Briar Patches.

The flexibility of swapping war mage every mission would certainly help, but I also feel the marathon run style needs to be addressed as a whole. It may be the greatest weakness of the core changes.

Due to the way skulls (currency for perma upgrades (like traps and talents (and thread unlocks))) are gained from and gambled between stages, they aren't actually rewarded until you cash out and return to the fortress. That means you could be several hours into a 10 run marathon and a power outage or crash away from losing tens of thousands of skulls. In multiplayer this also includes the chance of disconnecting. While still in lobby you seem to have the option to reconnect, but if your internet cuts out during a run in progress? All skulls are forfeit and you cannot reconnect. This is frustrating to say the least.

Opposed to previous entries, where we had a campaign, perhaps a bonus one (or dlc!), endless mode, and in OMD3 Scramble mode. Instead the only game mode consists of a scramble-like formula. Choosing from 3 different maps at a time, each with a different negative affix that will stick for the entirety of your run. That could be anything from barricades not being able to be sold after being placed, ogres dealing double damage and costing double rift points, floor traps costing twice as much, sappers appearing every wave, and then some. A little balance of weighing temporary misery (the map) against long term woes (the affix).

To balance out this increase in difficulty, each time you complete a wave during a mission (which there is always a total of 6 now) you are able to choose 1 of 3 threads. Threads are minor buffs, things like a little extra wall trap crit, increased weapon damage, perhaps a fun bonus chance to launch smaller enemies, or even a chance to stun on hit. You'll slowly gain in power through these threads, as well as a random given blessing at the end of each mission. These tends to be passive long lasting buffs of weaker strength than a thread (+250hp), or a single massive boost for the next stage (50% bonus damage on floor traps).

You are then given the choice to gamble forward (wager some of your current skulls) or return to the fortress with your current trove. If you do gamble forward, the orcs get a bit more health, do a bit more damage, and you choose between 3 stages and their various negative affixes. Repeat infinitum*

*The base game does follow a more restricted format.
Do two missions, fight a boss.
Do three missions, fight a boss.
Repeat until you have killed all 4 bosses. At this point the only way to play the game is infinite runs where you risk some of your winnings to progressively mounting challenges and overlapping affixes. This is honestly where the game really shines. Where there once was only three difficulties, apprentice, war mage, and nightmare, there is now an entire spectrum of ever mounting challenges. No two runs will bring the same challenges, but as long as you've still got 1 rift point to gamble, you can up the difficulty another nudge and keep at it.

On top of that, there is an adjustable starting difficulty that ups health and damage for a +10% skull bonus, up to +100%. Less random difficulty affixes, and more raw orc to have to deal with every stage. The furthest I've personally been able to get on difficulty 10 is mission 7 completed, 4 rift points remaining. Mission 8 would have been the actual death of me.

Retired on my throne of skulls, I did. But, not for long.

Despite it's flaws and deep changes, the game has a very strong base to build off of that none of the others had. This is the first time I've been as excited as I have been for an Orcs Must Die game, and that's coming as a long time fan from the very first game over a decade ago. Like, I legitimately love this game. $30 is beyond fair for the fun it has brought and will continue to bring. If the devs continue to respond to changes with the cadence they have, I can only remain optimistic. All the more once we start getting new war mages and maps, too.

this game is basically pokemon snap meets monopoly

If dipping your private parts into a vat of liquid nitrogen and shattering them with a sledge hammer was a game, this would be it.

If dipping your private parts into a vat of liquid nitrogen and shattering them with a sledge hammer was a game, this would be it.

A marvelous combination of Half Life 1, survival and SCP, Abiotic Factor has made a stunning entrance with its early access debut. The tutorial is quick and to the point, covering most of what you'll need just to get into the facility and activate your inner mungo, all without being too hand holdy or detailed. There's plenty of room for explorations and experimentation, learning as you go along!

Character creation and the skill trees feel a tad unpolished, the means of farming some skills being rather tedious, if not outright demanding. You'll passively cap out accuracy/reloading skills just by combat, but to do the same with the strength skill you'll spend hours running around the facility at max encumbrance just to eek out every bit of exp you can get. As an extra kicker, not all rewards are equal or spread out in a meaningful way. I hope this is something the devs touch upon in future iterations to bring all play styles in line in terms of tedium and reward.

The environment in Abiotic Factor is astounding, especially in the Office Sectors and Manufacturing West- two zones far more polished than the current finale in the Containment Wing. At first the game leans heavily on inspiration from the original Half-Life, aliens popping up in the facility, chaos, more questions than answers. But, as you progress through the office and get your bearings, you set out into manufacturing with an objective in mind and the tools to execute it. Stepping up to heavier materials and actual firearms, the sense of progression is rather magical. The beautiful, silky icing on top of this cake is the shortcut system opening up ways to previous sectors without a whole lot of footwork. The trams, unlocked doors, new tools all made a vast world feel interconnected and approachable.

Then, we reach the Containment Sector. Things pivot from a half-life feel to an SCP focus, various specimens held in containment ranging from aliens we've encountered before, to a table that really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pisses me off, and a tub of blood (That really should be updated to work. Please? maybe?). There's certainly an air of mystery, but so much of the lore that's handed off to you is just that: empty lore. They do not match the in game mechanics, if they tie into mechanics at all. It's just fluff and it creates a sort of disconnect.

Furthermore, resource acquisition in this third leg of the game takes a dramatic change. Instead of harvesting resources from furniture or portal worlds or the like it becomes a trading mini-game. Take some of the stuff you got back in manufacturing west and trade it into this material needed for progression. The backtracking required was not too fun. If the goal was to make the facility feel more cohesive and add a need to revisit earlier sections, this is not the way to go about it.

<<SPOILER AHEAD, SKIP IF YOU CARE, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED>>

This gets extra frustrating with the tie in of IS-0091, the "Leyak". A very fun first encounter as he shows up, especially in multiplayer where the lore is consistent in how he only appears to one person at a time, which made for some spooky memorable encounters. But, that's about where the praise ends for this specimen. Like the earlier mention of inconsistent lore, the Leyak suffers from it just as much as the other entities. The logs state it reappears every 3-4 hours (It doesn't), its spawning seems too random to track in any tangible way. Which is rather unlucky for us, because we need to hit this floating squid man with x-rays to get his essence which are mandatory for progression.

He'll just show up whenever he feels like it. Can't check your watch and anticipate him, just have to remain vigilant at all times. And I gotta say, RNG progression towards the end of this venture was a big mood killer. Interest fell off heavily at this point in the game. It was further exacerbated by the fact that my friend accidentally destroyed the free Greyeb seed we got while trying to move our planter, thus removing any chance of stable baiting for the Leyak. A separate issue, but one that falls to both user error and on the devs.

Lower the randomness, update the logs to match its actual spawning patterns, don't have the only bad-luck prevention method capable of accidental destruction.

<<SPOILER ABOVE, THIS IS THE END OF THE SPOILER WARNING, YOU ARE SAFE TO READ BELOW>>

*Deep breath*

Alright we made it through to the closing notes. Abiotic Factor does have some pretty critical bugs that still need to be addressed, but it's an early access title. So far any inconvenience has been fixed with a relog/relaunch of the game, and nothing close to a soft lock or crash. There's tons of promise for this title, and I'm super excited to see where it goes! Also? The siren as the end of early access might be the most beautiful way I've seen the lack of a full ending handled, so bravo Deep Field Games!

tl;dr recap:

• Incredible early game, containment wing needs polish
• Skills need to be brought in line to not be more tedious than one another while sharing mutually beneficial reward in their respective area.
• If you're going to go the SCP route, at least make the entities follow the lore and make for exciting encounters throughout the facility! Otherwise a table is just a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ piece of ♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ ass stupid table ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ god ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ damn it what were you thinking???
• Memorable and fun experience so far, and certainly worth the money.

Slay the Spire is a deck builder game in which you slay the spire. You might be wondering- Eldy, how do we kill something that isn't considered living to begin with? Great question! You see, at the heart of the Spire lies, wait for it, an actual living, beating, heart. Why are we slaying it? Because that's bad. If you have an immortal beating heart in your basement, I've got some bad news and recommend you contract your local pest control service. With full on mod support, I highly recommend Downfall to anyone who already owns this product. Heck, I even recommend it to new buyers once they dip their feet in and learn the universal basics like vulnerable, weakness, fortify, retain, and all the rest.

Anyway, I get paid by the hour so this review was paid for by my company. Now I gotta get back to it and, slay the spire.

As a furry, I can't recommend this one. It broke my vulpes mod without adding a whole lot to replace it. Really, the only selling point I can make for this DLC is that sometimes an 8 year old will come to raid your settlement and get torn to shreds by a hungry bear. It's grim out here in the Rim, but it used to be fluffy.

Introducing traditions and religion to the social experiment known as Rimworld was an interesting concept- one that panned out throbbingly well! Remember that rat pit you made that hit critical mass because the rats are breeding too rapidly that they're starving to death in troves?? Now it can lead to mass colonial collapse as the rat was your CHOSEN ANIMAL OF GOD and their perishing causes everyone to have a mental breakdown. The doctor just killed our priest- like. It's getting out of hand here, please send h-

Rimworld - Royalty is a continued social experiment where casual racism, social castes, and general snobbery enter the arena of this ♥♥♥♥ show of a survival title. Giving psychic powers, military aid, and wealth to sadistic mungo's who ♥♥♥♥ where they eat was probably a questionable choice- but the god emperor probably thinks its funny and so do I! Now with even more options to be a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ person, Rimworld - Royalty ups the ante of the original title in a very thematic experience.

Rimworld is a social experiment in which the player is given a choice between morally questionably decisions, and survival. Maybe you didn't need to make a rat pit to dump bodies to save time on digging graves. Maybe you didn't need to abandon Susie to those raiders just because she's a pyromaniac. Maybe you didn't have to cut off the limbs of those prisoners and send them out into the world with no chance of survival.

Really, that's for god to decide! Your only goal is to survive by any means- and in this game? The more reprehensible you are, the better your odds.