This is my personal 2023 GOTY. Total dark horse for me, I wasn't even planning to wishlist it until I saw a pile bunker video on youtube, then Zanny's gameplay sealed the deal.

Gameplay is really quick and responsive, and the buildcrafting has that classic FromSoft semi-balance where some stuff is easier, or at least more straight-forward in use than the rest, but pretty much every weapon is viable, and every piece of armor has a build that it'll shine in.

Story is amazing. Honestly one of the best AAA stories I've experienced in recent years, and it evolves & expands over successive NG+ runs. Super fun, and really rewards exploration and iteration. It's not Baldur's Gate 3, but it's still damn good and will be a breath of fresh air for anyone else who's gotten exhausted with endless exposition and fake "choices matter" games that give you the same story either way.

Another element that I found refreshingly "retro" (God help me for using that word) is the stage-based structure of the game. Every mission is self-contained. There's no open-world-survival-craft-BS here, but you're still amply rewarded for exploring with extra gear, secret bosses, cash, and story/lore.

Oh and also the game is gorgeous. I'm on a Lenovo Legion 5 with a 3050 (laptop) and every landscape, every cutscene has been a treat. There's one or two missions where performance dropped due to an unusual number of assets on-screen, but it's still far better optimized than most games that come out these days. Fun fact: everything is rendered to scale! Zullie the Witch, on Youtube, dropped ACVI models directly into Elden Ring as they share an engine. The robots are actually lore-sized!

One final note: the dress-up opportunities are phenomenal. FromSoft allows you to make your own decals, emblems, etc. and share them for free through an integrated system. AC companion website allows users to share codes for AC builds, emblems/decals, etc so if you wanna make a BarbieBot, a John Deere tank, god-help-you, you absolutely can. Krumping giant robots in style never gets old. Absolutely worth it at full price, if this goes on sale it's a steal.

10/10 would number-crunch my war machines again. Updated this review slightly in honor of having 100%-ed this game, twice. I love it that much.

This is my personal 2023 GOTY. Total dark horse for me, I wasn't even planning to wishlist it until I saw a pile bunker video on youtube, then Zanny's gameplay sealed the deal. Gameplay is really quick and responsive, and the buildcrafting has that classic FromSoft semi-balance where some stuff is easier, or at least more straight-forward in use than the rest, but pretty much every weapon is viable, and every piece of armor has a build that it'll shine in. Story is amazing. Honestly one of the best AAA stories I've experienced in recent years, and it evolves & expands over successive NG+ runs. Super fun, and really rewards exploration and iteration. It's not Baldur's Gate 3, but it's still damn good and will be a breath of fresh air for anyone else who's gotten exhausted with endless exposition and fake "choices matter" games that give you the same story either way. Another element that I found refreshingly "retro" (God help me for using that word) is the stage-based structure of the game. Every mission is self-contained. There's no open-world-survival-craft-BS here, but you're still amply rewarded for exploring with extra gear, secret bosses, cash, and story/lore. Oh and also the game is gorgeous. I'm on a Lenovo Legion 5 with a 3050 (laptop) and every landscape, every cutscene has been a treat. There's one or two missions where performance dropped due to an unusual number of assets on-screen, but it's still far better optimized than most games that come out these days. Fun fact: everything is rendered to scale! Zullie the Witch, on Youtube, dropped ACVI models directly into Elden Ring as they share an engine. The robots are actually lore-sized! One final note: the dress-up opportunities are phenomenal. FromSoft allows you to make your own decals, emblems, etc. and share them for free through an integrated system. AC companion website allows users to share codes for AC builds, emblems/decals, etc so if you wanna make a BarbieBot, a John Deere tank, god-help-you, you absolutely can. Krumping giant robots in style never gets old. Absolutely worth it at full price, if this goes on sale it's a steal. 10/10 would number-crunch my war machines again. Updated this review slightly in honor of having 100%-ed this game, twice. I love it that much.