Recent reviews by JMiN

Never really played PoE 1 because I figured it would be too overwhelming..so I was excited to get in on the ground floor of 2..and it's like they made an ARPG just for me. A dodge roll with a tiny bit of iFrames, boss fights that almost feel as complex as MMOs, and classes that feel AMAZING to play.

One of the coolest things are the environments- and I'm playing on STEAM DECK! Solid fps and most graphical settings are set to high (or even ultra!) with FSR set to balanced. I am SHOCKED at how smoothly this game plays on the deck, and its quickly becoming my favorite game.

This game could have so easily gone the route of microtransaction hell but instead you have to earn everything you get. I’m amazed at how fun the single player AND multiplayer are..and I’m not even usually a JRPG fan. If you enjoy action RPGs, you’ll love this game.

A truly great metroidvania that surpassed my expectations big time. It has a few soulslike elements as well, but the difficulty isn't too bad. I definitely recommend if you have an itch for Castlevania and want to try something new. I'd say you can't go wrong if you're a fan of the genre!

I feel like I’m going insane with how negatively this game has been reviewed. The devs made some mistakes but they almost always immediately respond to feedback and get a patch for issues out as fast as they can.

I love soulslikes and have played every major one and even niche ones. This one has become my second favorite (behind only Lies of P) one I’ve played that isn’t released by From themselves. The combat is super satisfying and feels great, the large dodges are amazing, and I love that when locked on you sidestep like in Bloodborne. The world/story is also super interesting and I read items more than I do in actual FromSoft games. The umbral mechanics are also awesome and the simple yet fun puzzles that you need to transform to it to either progress or for a valuable item never got old.

I play on the Steamdeck and while playing on low everything kinda sucks due to how visually stunning this game is on higher settings, it still manages to run decently.

I’m on my second playthrough with a new character that I started immediately after beating the game with my first, and I’ll probably go for the third ending with one of them after this run too.

If you enjoy souls games, I recommend this 100% and praise the devs for their hard work and how great they are at listening to the community.

I'm someone who has played basically every soulslike there is, and with few exceptions they are almost always a disappointment. That is not the case with Lies of P. The fusion of Bloodborne's rally mechanic paired with Sekiro's deflection gameplay make for an incredibly satisfying combat system. Add on to that that it is extremely polished, runs amazingly on the Steam Deck, and has a playtime of 30-50 hours and I can safely say this is the best soulslike experience you'll find outside of From Software.

Bosses are GREAT as well. I'm in the minority of people who actually doesn't see boss fights as the greatest aspect of these games..but this game has some of the most memorable ones I've ever played.

Definitely worth the money.

Haven’t played long but it’s been a blast. However my main reason for posting this review so far is to let people know it works nicely on the Steamdeck on low settings. Also I’ve see some complaints about co op but it’s nowhere near necessary. If that’s what you’re looking for, stay playing Remnant.

Have it on ps5 and PC for my deck (mainly played on ps5 which is why playtime is so low) but if you’re a fan of FromSoft you simply can’t go wrong.

I was once an avid consumer of soulslikes until being so disappointed way too many times. Yet I’m still drawn to them, so I gave Steelrising a try genuinely expecting to refund it..but I was very wrong. I’m very surprised at the amount of armor and weapons with unique move sets so far, and the combat is fun with proper I-frames and not going overboard with how long it takes to dodge out of a swing like many others in the genre do (FromSoft not included)

The story is a bit confusing, but that’s relatively okay for me. They have a very in depth codex, but I wish there was an overall story recap that expanded as you played..which I guess the memories kind of are, but not really.

The only negative (and imo it’s a major one) is how often it crashes. Mind you I’m playing on the Steamdeck which could be the issue but certain areas will have the game crashing 3 or 4 times in a row in a very short span of time. I really hope Spiders fixes this, as it’s the one thing hampering my enjoyment of this otherwise very fun game that I feel deserves more attention and love (and I’m saying that as a jaded souls fan as I described earlier lol).

I’d definitely recommend a buy, unless this isn’t purely a steamdeck problem in which case I’d say wait for the patch that I pray the devs are working on to stop the crashes.

Overall great MMO

Very rarely do I feel compelled to review a game but I really do with this one so here goes-

This is hands down an awesome game. The creator hasn't shied away from acknowledging that this is a top-down take on the SoulsBorne formula, and I really respect that. After beating all those games multiple times as well as some clones, I was still hungry for more and so far DarkMaus has satiated that hunger.

The story telling is also surprisingly great. Initially you wake up, seemingly washed up from the ocean with zero inpupt story wise, and get right down to learning the combat mechanics and how punishing it can be if you're careless. Taking on multiple enemies at a time is extremely hard and every encounter with any enemy is intense. Personally, I think this was a great idea because all you're focused on at first is learning the dash distance, how powerful even trash mobs are, discovering you can cut through certain "walls" and find loot, aquaint yourself with a few different weapon types, etc. I was very weary at first of the top-down view and honestly at first really didn't like it..but something told me to keep playing and I'm very glad I did. The game doesn't get "easy", but anyone with Souls muscle memory will eventually feel right at home.

But then you start to meet various NPCs and a narrative starts to unfold. It's not completely handed to you just like in the games this one's inspired by, but so far I've found it a lot easier to follow which is honestly refreshing for a change.

There's also quite a bit of exploration and non-linear paths, which usually end up rewarding you and making the exploration and going routes you know aren't towards your goal worth it. I get super excited every time I find a new weapon because each one is unique in their own way. I find myself switching from my pyromancy to my bow to my long sword all in the same fight sometimes. It's great,

I'll admit there were a few things I wasn't too fond of..but nothing that really inhibits my enjoyment while playing. I think the torch mechanic where your visibility steadily decreases the longer you don't rest at a bonfire is a tad annoying but they're never far apart so it's not a huge deal. Just a tad annoying. You can feel disoriented when you first boot up your game each time and while the map is a great help, I wish it would show you where you were on it. But other than that I really have no complaints.

This game is hard but fair, fun, has a pretty decent story, and it's insane that it was all created by one guy. Definitely worth your $10