Recent reviews by Th3raid0r

This was the one I played as a kid and have a lot of nostalgia for, and while the aesthetic holds up, the gameplay doesn't. It's a tepid recommendation at best.

The unit AI is just terrible, an enemy can simply march in and start attacking your base unless you explicitly manage your units to defend. So many units lost to simply disengaging mid-combat because the enemy was out of aggro range.

I don't recall it being this bad before, certainly not as good as Star Craft AI - for all the quirks it has.

It's a relic of the RTS past and is more of a curiosity than anything.

With the introduction of Update 4 - I'd finally consider Planet Coaster 2 a clear upgrade over its predecessor and the trajectory of development is positive.

Initially I was skeptical, with such little out-of-the-box content on launch day and loads of bugs. The team had their work cut out for them.

Almost a year on and I can certainly say they most annoying bugs are fixed, and there are some new, compelling features in this game that make it a worthy upgrade to its predecessor.

The Political Process is a political simulator with some game-like elements, but is otherwise quite dry and technical. This is by no means a negative for me - a politics junkie of the highest order.

Pros:

1. Simulates voting systems (and now legislative processes!)
2. The protege system offers a unique take on one way that political power manifests in the real world.
3. Budget processes, while not 1:1 faithful, are excellent at roughly simulating actually trying to budget a town, and how that impacts your campaign promises.
4. Does an okay job simulating how politicians can affect (and are in turn affected by) the Overton window on a number of issues.
5. In general does a good job of humbling the "Armchair Campaign Strategist" in your group. (Go ahead, play a Libertarian in that swing district, let's see what happens.)

Cons / Areas needing Improvement:

1. AI politician decisions are often quite irrational - seemingly intentionally, either for flavor or entertainment.
2. There's not a lot of ways to interact with or strategize with individual AI Politicians. It lends to a sense that they kinda just acknowledge your existence more and support your measures with no other advantage.
3. The media simulation is rudimentary and doesn't seem to amplify or react to politics in the same way it does IRL.
4. Generally speaking a lot of areas need polish, and we're definitely see that with the recent updates.

All in all, it's a useful testing ground for anyone who aspires to public office or campaign strategy, allowing folks to test out all manner of approaches in districts that are similar (or different) to their own.

When I was 12 or so, I got a demo disk for Jet Li: Rise to Honor. I think it had a 5 or 10 minute time limit and full access to the first level. I spent hours perfecting my approach so I could not only beat the level, but do so with minutes to spare. You could do crazy martial arts, and interact with the environment in ways that, until then, was never seen in a fighting game.

Fast forward to today - Sifu is a game in much the same vein and I find it completely and totally addicting. The mechanics are more refined than it's early PS2 based ancestor and the result is a really pleasing experience. The death and advancement mechanic is also an excellent inclusion and makes for a compelling gameplay loop.

It's definitely best played with a Gamepad of some sort - I wouldn't even attempt this with a keyboard and mouse.

Initial impressions are meh. The lack of different biomes and land elevation kinda makes the game non-sensical in many respects. Only really works with downtown/urban, or suburban and very flat areas.

Load up a place like Phoenix or Tucson and you'll be surprised by the green trees and incredible flatness - which throws any suspension of disbelief right out the window.

It's kinda sad to learn that Biomes won't be implemented (the kickstarter didn't do well enough) and that land elevation is pretty distant on the roadmap.

I'm hopeful, because otherwise this is a decent game. It's just held back by poor maps, lack of regional flora/fauna, and zero elevation anywhere.

Picked this up on sale because I couldn't find _just_ Hitman 3 and boy do I regret it!

This steaming pile of crap regularly disconnects mid-mission forcing me to replay entire sections/missions. Internet will usually be fine too - so it seems to be a server-side issue. Alas, it's the only supported Hitman game at the moment - so I don't exactly want to get a refund either.

It'll probably be the last Hitman game I ever purchase though.

As of today. This game is dead. The developer has completely shuttered. And the project is no more.

Do not buy. Also do not buy from Take Two Interactive.

For many, Civ started their fascination for all things 4X, but for me it was SMAC that was the first one to finally hook me as a kid. I even started with a 100 turn demo that I had lying around on a macintosh, before hunting down the game on early ebay and purchasing a copy. A decision that led to many sleepless nights and hundreds, perhaps thousands of turns.

Ultimately I find this the most ambitious of the traditional 4x games prior to going full 3d - and arguably even since for the sci-fi genre.

For a more modern take, Civ: Beyond Earth is a decent, if overly-sanitized modern representation. The newer entry lacks Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri's charm, distinct visual style, and stronger faction mechanics making it a weaker game through and through - but perhaps more accessible to those who aren't accustomed to reading the manuals which often served as the tutorial for games like these.

SMAC, and it's lesser known expansion are easily worth the default price of $5 USD, and on sale (as it is today, for $2) its an absolute steal. If you can get past the awkward learning curve (from a modern perspective) this game offers even modern gamers a great experience!

If you've ever read Cixin Liu's The Dark Forest and thought, "I could handle being a Wallfacer," this is the only game that will actually let you prove it.

I'm writing this on full release day (Jan 5th), and while I expect more polish to come down the pipe, the game is feature complete. I’m just going to say it: this is my GOAT. I play a lot of strategy games, but nothing has ever rewired my brain quite like this one. It captures the terrifying, slow-burn reality of managing a crisis where your decisions might not pay off for twenty in-game years.

The "Wallfacer" Experience

Most strategy games let you be a general. Terra Invicta makes you an architect of survival. You aren't just moving units; you're pulling levers on a global dashboard. You're influencing nations, quietly redirecting research budgets, and building infrastructure in the asteroid belt because you know—mathematically—that Earth’s economy can't support the war fleet you’ll need in 2045.

The scientific accuracy here is absurd in the best way. Space isn't just a black background; it's a logistics nightmare of delta-v budgets and transfer windows. It treats physics with respect. When you finally get a drive engine that opens up the outer solar system, it feels like a genuine technological breakthrough, not just a stat buff +1.

Systems upon Systems

As an SRE in my day job, I look at systems for a living. The way the mechanics interconnect here is beautiful. Public opinion impacts political capital, which limits your ability to acquire organizations, which stifles your research throughput, which delays your Mars colony. Everything is causal.

This allows for some wild, emergent gameplay.


- Want to abandon the major superpowers and try to unify the African Union into a techno-utopian fortress? You can try.

- Want to ignore Earth politics entirely and rush space mining to build an orbital economy that eclipses the G7? Risky, but possible.

- Want to focus purely on espionage and sabotage, playing a shadow war while others build ships? Go for it.

The "Feedback Loop" Warning

This is the part that will bounce people off the game: the feedback loop is long. You might make a critical mistake in 2024 that kills you in 2030. The game demands patience. It demands that you enjoy the planning phase as much as the execution phase. If you need immediate dopamine hits or constant "Victory!" banners, this is going to feel like work.

The Elephant in the Room: The UI

I love this game, but I have to be honest: the UI fights you. It’s dense, sometimes hides critical info behind too many clicks, and looks like a spreadsheet from 2012 in places. You will struggle with it initially. You will need to look things up. But once it clicks, the friction disappears because the simulation underneath is so good.

Comparisons

People keep comparing this to XCOM. I’ve never played XCOM, so I can’t say. To me, this feels like the depth of Europa Universalis or Crusader Kings, but stripped of the history and replaced with hard sci-fi anxiety. It’s less about map painting and more about bending the trajectory of human history.

Verdict

Terra Invicta isn't for everyone. It’s dense, difficult, and unapologetically complex. But if you are a systems thinker—if you like TTRPGs like Stars Without Number or enjoy hard sci-fi—this is a masterpiece. It respects your intelligence and assumes you can handle the scope.

My Personal Scorecard:


- Systems Depth: 10/10 (Unmatched)

- Scientific "Hardness": 10/10

- Strategic Freedom: 9.5/10

- Pacing: 9/10 (A slow burn, but a hot one)

- UI/UX: 6/10 (The only real flaw)

- Overall: 10/10

Play this if: You want to lie awake at 2 AM wondering if you should have prioritized fusion research over xenon propulsion.

Avoid this if: You want a tutorial that holds your hand, or if you prefer tactics over logistics.

In short - Excellent Sci-Fi interactive adventure for just about anyone, but most especially for enthusiasts of Atompunk and Retro Sci-Fi.

Generally no/low combat and sometimes a lot of slow pacing, but for nerds like me, the heady dialogue about the planet's secrets and the challenges Yasna and her team face were a delightful change of pace for games.

I recommend this game to sci-fi nerds like me at almost any price, I think you'll enjoy it and there's just enough replay value in multiple endings to make the price worth it. For less intense sci-fi fans, maybe only pick this up on a sale, fully knowing it's basically a retro sci-fi walking simulator.