Recent reviews by toomuchcaffeine

I like this game a lot, even though I'm not that great at it - let me break down why.

First, while this may be a pain point for others, the game does not hold your hand. There are no tutorials, no guides for the different enemies, etc. The flip side of this is that it actively rewards you for taking time to learn more about it. Keep dying to the various mobs? Learn their (generally simple) attack patterns so you can dodge them every time. Not moving fast enough or doing enough damage? Look through the different gear buffs and stats to see what pieces you need.

Secondly, the mob variation. Even though the mob attacks are relatively straightforward, like I mentioned above, each mob is different enough that you need to be thoughtful in your approach. While a general cw/ccw rotation can avoid many of the hits, forgetting a sweeping attack variation or getting hit and taking a move speed debuff can quickly change the fight in your demise.

Third, is the starting gear set. If you've played other extraction games (looking at you Tarkov), if you run out of money to buy gear, you have to start going in runs without any. Dark and Darker addresses this by giving you a small amount of starting gear that your character is equipped with on every death. Through completing quests for the different vendors you can expand your starting gear selection. I think that this is a nice quality of life improvement.

Lastly, we come to PvP - this is a bit of a mixed bag for me. The movement and combat systems I touched on earlier give it a high skill ceiling, but also make it very difficult to learn (in my opinion). One mistake against a player with a similar gear level could very well cost you the fight. With the constantly varying meta from the Dev's patches, this can make learning from lost fights frustrating as you can't quite be sure where you went wrong (gear diff., spacing, strategy, current spell meta, just not good, etc.). The one benefit from this is that when you do figure out something or succeed in PvP, it is quite rewarding.

Overall, I think the game has the potential to be one of the best hard extraction/dungeon crawlers out there. I think the PvE aspect is really solid, but would like to see more consistent balance come to the different classes and PvP combat. If you like the aesthetic and don't mind the learning curve, I recommend giving it a shot - especially if you have a good friend or two to play it with.

Started off as a group of skeleton nobodies, 40 hours later I was a cyborg hive drug smuggler.

Yes.

For some reason this game keeps pulling me back. The scope of its PvE isn't too huge yet, and seeing another player scares the water straight out of you, but its a fun concept and the devs keep updating it, consistently. If you're looking for something new or you have a group of friends to play it with, I'd give it a go.

Am I especially good at pvp? No
Will I ever stop ranting about EPG and Scorch mains? Probably not
But is this game amazing? Absolutely yes

Time flies by playing this game, very satisfactory, even when that one conveyor belt refuses to clip.
The world is also very well designed. Also, those fire shooting deer scared the heck out of me when I first saw them.
Great game 10/10 would recommend

"Wait.....No! Stop! I'm still in the hole don't throw the dynamite! Huh? No I don't have wings yet, its only day one!

Lots of content, 10/10 would recommend, great to play with friends!

Never has a coffee cup given me so much anxiety. 11/10 would recommend.

177 hours in, and I still love playing this game. Each new playthrough is enjoyable. It's interesting to get to know the townspeople and and make your mark on the community. Chill music, great gameplay, and so much to explore and discover. 11/10 would recommend.

Absolutely great game! Thanks, Bungie, looking forward to D3!