Recent reviews by Omicron 3000

I'm about 7 hours into this game and it's ranking very high on the list of favorites in my library. The combat is harsh but fair so far, and the art, story, and overall vibe are so good! It's the perfect blend of cartoony but gritty and whimsical but serious. It's absolutely worth the full price but if you're hesitating and you catch it on sale, there's no question it's worth adding to your library.

Full disclaimer, I've only played the tutorials and opening mission in Conquest mode. But I write this for anyone who is in my shoes. I'm nearing 50 and never had great RTS reflexes nor the patience to get good at RTS games in the past, though I played the campaigns of Warcraft 2 and 3 and Starcraft 1 and 2. But I always kind of liked the Dune universe and I saw a popular streamer playing this game recently which piqued my interest. I also never played a 4X game before so when i heard that this was part RTS and part 4X, I thought it might be a good mix for someone in my shoes. I played the tutorial missions (they're very brief bite sized missions that do a pretty decent job explaining the very basics of the game) on night 1 and night 2 and then jumped into the first mission of Conquest just to give it a quick taste. I fully intended on playing for about 10 minutes before saving and picking up later. Almost 2 1/2 hours later, I found myself victorious by obtaining an iron grasp on the Landsraad while maintaining my Hegemony lead over the Harkonnens and the Emperor, maintaining truces with the other houses to hopefully avoid all out war, and buying enough CHOAM stock to fend off a push from the Smugglers to obtain an economic victory at the last moment. None of that would have made sense to me when I first started my match but it made perfect sense at the end just by playing. I'm not one to normally just absorb details while I play (even when I played RTS games, it was rarely strategic and almost always brute force) but this match really made me think about what I was doing and got more and more enjoyable as it went on. And maybe I'm terrible at this and should have won more easily in 1/4 of the time but I had a great time winning nonetheless.

All that being said, do I see myself going back night after night? I don't know. I really had a great time playing and I definitely will play more but it also doesn't seem like a game for people with pretty limited free time or who start getting tired at 8pm. If there was a story driven campaign, I'd stay for the story and even without that, I do want to learn the ins and outs more. But it does seem like this game is looking for more of a time commitment than the FPSs or platformers I usually play. Anyway there's the early impressions from an older slow moving dude who wanted to try something a little more strategic and slower paced. So far, I already feel like I got my $22 (sale price) out of the game.

I know it's fashionable to dunk on Bethesda but I very much enjoyed Starfield. I've played a few of Bethesda's games in the past but I was never really disciplined enough to finish long RPGs in the past so Skyrim and various Fallouts have gone unbeaten in my library. For some reason though, Starfield just clicked with me, not in a 10/10 way but more like a solid 8/10. I found the characters likable for the most part and the story engaging but sort of loose enough that the ending never felt contrived and I never felt like I was wasting my time when I took a break and did some side quests instead. The visuals are, at times, very nice and the music is outstanding. The combat is very Bethesda and that's not great but it's not bad either. Overall it's just a well crafted game that might feel unfinished in some areas but still has a lot of heart when it counts.

A great little game that hits just the right creepy mood without being a full on horror game. The actual gameplay itself (the fishing and dredging mini game) isn't anything spectacular but these activities are really not the focus of the game. Rather the characters, the music, the story, the exploration, and the overall vibe are what make it great. And while it felt like I wasn't going anywhere for a little while in the beginning, once you upgrade your engines and hull all the way, the game really picks up. It was well worth the price of admission!

This game has provided some of the most fun I've had in a game in quite a while. The pace of the combat, the feel of the movement, the impact of the weapons and abilities you pick up along the way.... all are very enjoyable. The sprite design and animation are top notch as well.
I'm not familiar with the Lodoss story or characters at all but I enjoy them from what lore I've gotten in the
game to this point. I can understand that some people are saying that the game is a bit on the easy side or perhaps too short but I'm enjoying the level of the challenge and the length so far myself. I don't have a ton of time these days so I really appreciate the more affordable and shorter games.
Overall, the game is very much worth the $20 price.