Recent reviews by Majestic

The idea of levels looping back to their starting point is something very interesting and as far as I know the first in the series to do this consistently. It gives the idea of having explored a large tomb when you swim back to your boat or point of origin. Instead of cutting to a cutscene at the end of the tomb/level, or the open-world idea of the Square enix reboots that doesn't really work either. In my opinion this is pretty much the best attempt at remaking the original idea of Tomb Raider (both in character and level design), whilst attempting to try something new (looping levels). The newer games (square enix reboot) are fine on their own right, but I feel like they're missing the point of the series. And it wouldn't have lost anything by naming it something other than Tomb Raider. It's very melodramatic. And the character arch they're giving Lara in the reboots can never arch back to her cocky, posh attitude in the original series or this second attempt at a reboot. Which was most of the charm of her character. So consider this the final Tomb Raider, and just call the new ones Uncharted wahmen edition.

Combat is ok once you realise that instead of jumping (like in the older games), you should instead roll out of enemy attacks. Otherwise they keep pouncing you and knocking you over. Just roll and shotgun and it's pretty satisfying.

The only downside of the game is admittedly bad camera design, with the worst aspect being the self-rotating camera when you don't want it to. The option of having an FOV toggle during the climbing sections would've made some jumps less of a "leap of faith".

However I have not really experienced any gamebreaking bugs or phsyics bugs. Just vsync the game. Modern hardware pushes this game to 300+fps, the engine was likely never designed to handle those framerates.

A technical mess of a game. I could very well be fun but the absolutely dreadful frametime consistency turned it into a stuttery mess. I can tinker myself around most games to get them to work properly, but this is just too much of a technical turd, much like XCOM2, for an end-user to fix.

System specs exceed the recommended specifications, frametime inconsistency present on low settings even, aswell as with v-sync disabled. I've posted some photo's on my profile of the ingame framerate/frametime. See for yourself.

Sadly had to refund the game without even getting to explore it much. It seems as though Unreal Engine 4 + Gameworks implementation turns it into a stuttery nightmare. Mass Effect Andromeda had the same weird problem of CPU Usage spikes for no apparent reason.

DLC items are locked behind a (long) tedious grind of replaying the same level over and over again. If you're buying it for the outfits, just skip it.

The zombie mechanics are incredibly cheap, as even trying to stealth it you get random events where they just swarm you. The zombies also crawl through walls and suddenly appear behind you eventhough it should make no sense.

This DLC has little redeeming factors.

Pretty good game don't get me wrong, but barred by some highly questionable (downright infuriating) design decisions that soured my experience. Since i'm going to give this a bad review, i'll skip over the pro's and give my reasons as to why. As those are the things people will want to read if they agree and thus avoid it. I don't hate the game, but this can't be allowed to continue. And if I give this one a positive review, it will be swamped. I also like to state that it's probably the publisher, Konami, that is at fault for most of these gripes. They seem like tacked-on afterthoughts.

1; the fact that every main mission needs a creditroll. This whole game reeks of Kojima self-congratulating himself at every corner. Be it cameo's in the demo, or having to have his name plastered on the screen every mission. It was fairly obnoxious to be honest.

2: Overly long chopper transitions. Yes you can teleport to ACC, but you still need to wait for the cutscene of the chopper flying and touching down. If you could skip that whole thing, it would speed up the already lengthy playtime.

3: The base management/idroid screen is way, way too cluttered and the whole mechanic of base management I could do without. It's not fun and it's tedious busywork that you have to do in order to get any decent upgrades. It feels like a unncessary barrier between you and the gameplay.

4: and this basically singlehandedly forced this negative review, the absolutely hamfisted approach to online play. First off, they don't explain what the online mode does, and default it on.
What it does is save about 90% of your GMP (the ingame currency) into a online depository which you can't access in offline mode. It does this every time you launch, sync or play the game in online mode. And it leaves you open to being attacked by online players. What essentially happens is that people just enter your base and steal all your stuff. Meaning you get interrupted in your game and have to either stop the player or get your stuff taken. You can also just use real-world money as insurance (wish I was joking). Chances are, by the time you get invaded by players, and decide you'd much rather play offline, that GMP amount which you lose is going to be substantial. Basicly meaning that they intentionally designed it as ransom mechanic to punish you if you decide to take it offline.
Now comes the kicker. In order to play offline you need to disconnect in-game via the menu, do something that requires a checkpoint which needs to be synchronised next time the game goes online. Restart the game and decline the UELA license agreement, every single time you launch the game. Otherwise it will always first sync up before you enter the game and reset your online balance.
Oh, and you can't drain that online GMP without getting a severe hit to base morale. Since you need to go into the red on your main account so it drains the online portion. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, this is some next level villainry if I ever saw one. What were they thinking. To sell those shekelcoins?

5. Another reason to dislike the game are the arbitrary timedelays for upgrades to your base or equipment that can take literal hours before they complete. So if a particular mission would go better with a specific upgrade to your silenced sniper rifle, prepare to do vapid sidequests or exploration for a good hour for that upgrade to finish. And no you can't speed the ingame time to get it to finish. And no it doesn't continue to run the timer if you close the game. #♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

6. Resources, especially Fuel, are scarce by design and required in every major base upgrade, again forcing the player to play online and steal it from others. The alternative is grinding ad nauseam for boxes and containers. My current gametime is 125 hours (though probably 50% of that is just idle time) and I still hadn't gotten enough materials to even max out my base. The latest upgrades to your base can take literally hours to grind/farm, and they've even patched in diminishing returns if you try to repeat missions to farm them. How nice of them. #♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Only relatable if you're an angsty, 12 year old girl. Come at me fedora tippers.

I'm starting to really like Image and Form, I hadn't played the original one but I played Steamworld Heist and decided to give this one a go aswell, based on that. Was not let down. The game is very fun to play and does a good job to compel you to keep playing.

I had a little issue with the verticality of the digging mechanics, being only at the very end do you get equipment that lets you traverse upwards. I guess it's just part of the balance.

Combat felt adequate and the bosses were fairly easy. The game's challenge is however challenging you make it. The diggin mechanics are made difficult by enemies also destroying terrain, often having rocks fall down on your resources. So a methodical approach nets you more rewards. There is also the option to turn on blueprints that make the game harder.
It's not really a heavy storydriven game, Rusty merely serves as a McGuffin to keep the plot going forward, aswell as the game. But this didn't bother me in Steamworld Heist either, the gameplay makes the game.

Performance wise it runs excellent. 144fps locked without a hitch and fast loading times. And the game looks amazing, especially if you have a vibrant panel.

Can't wait what Image & Form bring next. Indie is definitely the way to go these days, what with AAA only making lootbox infested tripe.

Can run on modern systems (ran it on Win10 64bit Creator update), but the 30hz maximum update of the game engine (yes that is with v-sync off and framecap removed) is very jarring on a >30hz screen. There are no fixes for this. Buyer beware, eventhough it's only 1,99 atm.

Moderation level discussion page: 1984

This is for them:
░░░░░░░░░▓▓▓▓▀█░░░░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░▄▀▓▓▄██████▄░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░▄█▄█▀░░▄░▄░█▀░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▄▀░██▄░░▀░▀░▀▄░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░▀▄░░▀░▄█▄▄░░▄█▄░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░▀█▄▄░░▀▀▀█▀░░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░█░░░░░░░░▄▀▀░▐░░░░░░░░
░░░░▄▀░░░░░░░░▐░▄▄▀░░░░░░░░░
░░▄▀░░░▐░░░░░█▄▀░▐░░░░░░░░░░
░░█░░░▐░░░░░░░░▄░█░░░░░░░░░░
░░░█▄░░▀▄░░░░▄▀▐░█░░░░░░░░░░
░░░█▐▀▀▀░▀▀▀▀░░▐░█░░░░░░░░░░
░░▐█▐▄░░▀░░░░░░▐░█▄▄░░░░░░░░
░░░▀▀░MODS░░░░▐▄▄▄▀░░░░░░░░░

Game is pretty much what I expected, but it certainly has some rough edges. Particularly mounting over objects, the netcode and latency monitoring. Haven't really noticed many hackers, i'd say a lot of people just get shot without seeing the perp and assume hacking. Sound design also requires improvement. Directional it works, but distance doesn't work. I thought someone was in a house, but the footsteps where nextdoor.

But the community moderators in the discussion pages need to get sacked. Tbh, they are never welcome in my book.

Highly skillbased game, and only really enjoyable if you put the time into learning things like 'offset'.
I, however, did not feel compelled to invest this time into this old game and thus got stuck halfway through. Because sucking at the game only gets you so far. It isn't like Dark Souls where you can use multiple playstyles to get you through, if you can't use offset, you're screwed. It would be like if Dark Souls forced you to learn how to parry and riposte or you'd get stuck halfway through.

Thus it was not an enjoyable experience for me, and this serves as a warning to players who are expecting it to be something else than it is. It's an older game, but it being just released on PC I'm thinking this won't be common knowledge.

Gets referred to as system shock clone, have to admit never having played that game I couldn't tell you. As far as a sci-fi rpg it's pretty good. Subpots and alternative endings are there but rather cannon. But I enjoyed the 40h playing it. Don't get it at full price though.