Recent reviews by maeday

dispatch, a game where the two main romance options should be lesbians.

its a great game though!

out of all the multiplayer games in the past... id like to say a decade, none of them are this good or atleast, do everything this well.
polished, haven't come across any weird 'bugs'
the 1% of optimised ue5 games

+ mostly everything in the game is viable at any level. weapons, util, nades, all viable. white tiered weapons can be upgraded to even take on people with higher tier loot than you if you play your cards right.
+ have only played dam so i cant say much about the other maps but dam is a very well paced and varied map
+ majority of the community so far have been good which is uncommon for fps/tps
+ animation framework is superb, one of the best ive seen come from a game
+ the ai (arcs) are tuned *exactly* to the point they should be, 30 hours in and haven't had a problem.
+ audio/soundscape is nearly on par to hunt showdown levels (which i found to have the best audio in any FPS so thats my basis)
+ game is as tense as you make it
+ game is designed with third-person in mind, if someone wall peeks you you'll have a chance to react (unless you get unlucky double tapped with a ferro) and maybe be able to wall peek back. bush camping is also hard to get a visual advantage from aswell, which is good.
+ gameplay loop feels good. losing your kit doesn't feel as bad as just dying in general, very easy to get your resources back
+ the game values your time

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- lower chances of environmental changes in maps. more than majority of my raids have been raining which lowers visability and sound. you can barely hear running and can't hear normal walking, it's terrible.
- ai voice performance is boring and bland. shouldn't be ai
- more UI QOL
- less cosmetics on the concord direction would be great, only 3-4 cosmetics that aren't terrible or mid atm
- more cosmetic options, atleast when it comes to face styles or allow multiple face styles at once. makeup should be a different category and there should be a good range of base options. its embark so... i doubt they'd rework their cosmetics atm or ever (even though the finals gave you a good amount of options)
- visual feedback on hits after shield is broken could be improved
- sometimes when players get downed it feels delayed. dont know if its animation issue, hit reg issue or server issue.
- spawn points are a bit f'd, spawned several times in a row across from where i wanted to spawn which ties into the next issue
- can spawn into a match with 16 minutes left even with a full custom kit which... doesn't feel the greatest. doesn't feel like you can get much out of a 16-19 minute raid

as someone who is very critical of online games, this is the one... if they don't mess it up..

more escape simulator
wish it ran better in some areas

okay so im writing this review like 4-5 months after playing the game so at the moment its mostly from memory.
i planned (and hope) to 100% this game eventually.

combos feel tight and satisfying. dodging going into witch time, multiplying your combo, learning the deep combat system god... no game does it like this.
characters are well written and as campy as they need to be. its the hideki kamiya game of all time.
the game comes from a time when developers actually gave you rewarding and fun post game rewards, rewards for completing certain challenges or just basic unlocks through different weapons and accessories that makes the game very replayable even near the end-end game.

there's a few levels here that are... not fun to replay especially on the harder difficulties and im talking about the gimmick levels. the flying level, bike level, etc. they're fun on a first playthrough but having to slog through them on repeat playthroughs, especially when trying to get pure platinum sucks.

the story? its okay. I read through every note i found in my first playthrough, i got sunk into the lore however the game likes to hide it in those notes so the first and foremost story in front of you is passable. it has a lot of great moments but the main villian is just eh to me, his design is cool though ofc.

the only gripe i have with the visuals is that yellow brown filter which if you play the game as the devs intended without context of the sequel you wouldnt really take it into notice but when you play the game stripped back of the filter its so beautiful but nothing compared to the beauty of 2's visuals (when you do compare it)

i love bayonetta as a character and im so glad a woman designed her. now, going into some discourse... is she sexualized? sure. here it is more empowering than degrading. i dont think there's another singular character as sexualized as bayonetta that is done as right as they've done here with her. its a femme power fantasy (and the game is so gay like cmon)

anyways, game still holds up incredibly well and the second game just brings everything here and makes it 10x better.

play bayonetta. thanks.
and oh god that soundtrack jesus christ.

beta was better. not getting into all the logistics. they know what they did. 2042 v2
fix the 'challenges' and the progression. oh wait, they wont. they dont value your time. no online game does.
season 1 has not made the game any better. blackwell fields is one of the worst maps in the game, so much for new content.
rip.

landfall can you please develop a game that doesn't either break the interaction with friends in-game e.g. voice chat not working (you know, the whole point of the game) or have a game breaking bug that forces you to restart e.g. content warning (video footage not saving which lets you not continue)

maybe im just not a fan of landfall. tbf, im really bored of their physics engine

a climbing game in concept is a great idea, especially now but this isn't how I'd develop a climbing game personally if I had to make one.

everything that switch 2 welcome tour wanted to be and more

no report feature for a multiplayer game in 2025. pure misogyny and racism in voice chat.
no punishment for leaving mid-game atm (even though it says there is)
needs better netcoding. 2025 and the ball can rubberband
seems like a game that's better watched than played.
game should still be in beta rather than a paid full release on steam + a paid battlepass on top of that.

its slocap so the game's controls feel tight and responsive but the servers dont help it at all
im not even a fan of soccer, i just wanted to support slocap and actually have fun in a sport game that isn't owned by a money hungry conglomerate (even though it seems to be the same case here)

very slow progression
definitely showing its age
cool npcs
runbacks are not good game design
basic bosses
cool level design

but its still an okay package, okay enough for a good review.
i cant say if ill replay it anytime soon though, it's such a slog of a game since you run so slow with very weird enemy placements and big knowledge checks

very fun, definitely more enjoyable for me than elden ring
missing communication if you're playing with randoms (join a discord server for best experience)
good selection of different characters
rng on the map/loot is kinda mid
new movement options are a breath of fresh air
all the nightlords are very unique in their own ways (but very tanky)

would recommend, just wish there was a bit more content and ways to communicate; just a voice chat in-game would suffice.