Recent reviews by Tiruin

It's a pretty nice game--simple to pick up and put down; it's free, too! And, given it being one in the works, it can be a game that exercises discernment in between lacking direct information in the meantime. There are issues to note, but nothing in it has any bearing towards having microtransactions or other shady stuff (everything can be gotten in-game and not in a tedious way):
As of this time of writing, many details are visually present but not detailed in text, like color theory familiar in many other games to assign difficulties or rarities--but understandable by visual comparison.

There's a bug at this time of writing that I'd bet would be fixed, in that currency (or reward in general) missions seem to be based on difficulty but still include the floor (i.e. one can earn a measly +9 currency on a red/hard difficulty mission vs getting like, ~20+ on a green/easy or yellow/moderate mission), though this follows the general RNG on mission rewards (this must be known to the player).

A short summary: There's different classes of soldiers, and different classes of weapons; there's no range or anything than fire rate and accuracy--all weapons can hit anywhere on a 9-square grid; the battlefield is made of two opposing grids of the same format. One can put soldiers in any of these grids, with default preferred attack priority hitting those at front (and soldiers have an evasion modifier), with higher rarities having less 'requisition'(R?) points to spend and more of certain stats in general (e.g. a 'white'/basic rarity costs ~180R, a yellow rarity costs ~20R [same as your character]; one can assume from first principles that there's some tiering based on this difference and around a certain range of R cost). Only some weapons can be equipped to some classes (assuming 'special forces' can equip everything). There's not an index or list of what details are available, from what classes exist to what weapons are about, to transparency to the lootbox mechanics, or particularly a full tutorial (in the sense that it's complete, but some of what's said aren't or don't seem to be implemented, like going into defense/shield for one's characters). The only method to gain more progress is by, as usual, grinding//completing missions, but it's not tedious or straining given one can just do these in a few clicks and a battle that can mainly be automated based on one's preparation (aside from direct control enabling focused fire and presumably other situational circumstances, like holding fire, forcing a full reload, and taking cover/'shielding' away from fire).

To get more of any of these (i.e. weapons, soldiers), one must spend earned in-game currency from battles...on 3 categories of RNG or Gacha, notably named under the category 'lootbox'. It's priced adequately (buying at 1x vs 10x, with the latter being cheaper), and differ per category [weapons, soldiers, or a mix of both with this last one being cheaper].
Part of what attracted me is the lack of sexism--like, military games go a lot by only one model and design (and its guys), whereas this one goes for a generality, though I'm really curious why there are...Starbound character models for our faction, like, this game explicitly has models similar to these but not for some of the antagonists? Likely all placeholders while working on personally unique art given the small dev/art team)

Good notes that're lacking at the time of writing (but can easily be put in) are depicting association by visual design as well as giving agency of information for the player: All of the above can be iterated on, edited, fixed, and adjusted. I'd recommend it for the effort and there being evident work being done (from the art to the pixelation [outside the obvious Starbound models, complete with the stances and such] to the animation/introduction going on and presumed plot in play); it seems to be something that could become way better given the fundamentals exist to work well under quality-of-life in design; there also isn't a sign that this is a predatory gacha at work, though there lacks transparency to said lootboxes %s?

Witty as all goodness--much like when I first knew about these devs (Heat Signature, which I feel also pioneered its own impact). From miniature details during chat sections giving character to the characters (alongside off-plot chat), to delivery of narrative and building the very language of the game, the pacing goes smooth, newbies learn conceptualization from the get-go, and the only regret I've found is not having a text log because I left the 'auto-advance' on rather than clicking all the way through dialogue sections.

It's really that good--wittiness without apologia or other issues when dealing with guns, terror, civil disturbances, and militant stories. It's a wonderful puzzle game with guns (and they're non-lethal by default); steam achievements are saved in offline mode (though I've to somehow be 'online' despite Steam tracking both modes to post this review), and one of the characters has a black cat she takes care of very well!

There's no way the prices are friendly for my country so this review is written outside of the paid aspects,
because the pixel art got to me, and to find out it's followed by wonderful music AND a split game mode that doesn't run on gacha at all (and is a literal campaign with multiple checkpoints/revisiting sections and split-factional storylines?) carrying over 3 people from one's roster (per instance), with both packaged into a tactical planning game? It scratches an itch I've had for years.

The art is done wonderfully--and to emphasize, similar to other games of this nature, characterization is done with practicality in mind (aside from hyperbole, like spikes on armor, which for one guy really makes sense), especially for fem characters (obvious objectification in these pixel and whole body artworks isn't prominent, aside from the lack of drawing musculature as a template, which can unfortunately be a different manner of depiction), and it's wonderful seeing the narratives woven with characterization about. While you're set to 5 characters per most maps (6 in some stages and pvp [vs a computer saved version of a defense map, which is pretty nifty and a reminder of many games I've seen in Japan do for decades]), having 5 characters is saved per instance per continuity--so for the many purposes there may be for gacha (like getting resources of 5 or so different types), the game will save the last loadout output; having a diverse roster of characters to the occasion fits a lot, even those that don't seem that unique! (Which often is an issue with gacha games, common or uncommon tier stuff getting put to the side)

Really also appreciate the QL features implemented, from automatic battles [though the AI doesn't utilize tactical advantages--much like the usual, which is totally fine], to the lack of white flashing [at least, in intensity] to represent any rewards, it's a very nice niche.

The music is great enough to run in the background, really soothing orchestral/instrumentals.

I just wish it could run on my phone (but 3GB RAM apparently doesn't do well).

I love playing games where I didn't see the screenshots because at level 1 end I was all: "WAIT WHY ARE THERE KILLS IN THIS GAME"

It's a student-made game, that's free, that's made with love from small details to all==and it's made with such a compressed design that everything shines within its scope! 7 days (levels) of doing what you can under the horrors of capitalism, which shows in depth!

Kudos to the folks who made this--especially since seemingly everyone who did so is in the credits (as characters!)

It's sorely enjoyable finally seeing a game that does roll also into werewoof lore--where the issue is primarily ANXIETY rather than "oh I want to kill people" or other caricatures of the sort for 'monsters'; this game emphasizes that you're just a lil' guy, doing the work (especially in collectibles as backstory). Would've loved to know who added to the ending especially since...there's lots of in-lore tells of Issues and other people being...casualties.

Great story where it is! It's very well done. No cons spotted other than the infrequent lag and perhaps being softlocked (i.e. if you drop someone near the exit door or a barred door and splat, and part of the bits appear beyond the door into an uninteractive zone, which is fixed by restarting the level anyway).

It's refreshing seeing works like these and this thumbs up as a recommend isn't enough to emphasize how important it is seeing wonderful art and works with these narratives.

Great devs providing transparency with each patch (woo, more stuff up to par, like this wonderful flamethrower) and community management; my friends love the co-op nature and coordination about. It's astoundingly workable even on my low-ish end PC!

What got me into this was, aside from the adorable rats, the description. "There's no such thing as a free lunch" (you literally can mandate this, you can make it into the code stone; you can literally shape the society about by the policies you make from affecting an item's price [to literally free] and breaking class barriers [given some buildings are restricted by class, and by that, by wealth//"how much money someone has"]...or do completely otherwise). It's a perfect deconstruction of these statements because they're made as they are, or were, in this case--and as a monarch surviving the fall of a kingdom, you can make that into whatever you wish. You can make food free, you can ensure this fancy bathhouse is for all as public use, you can organize and edit everything you've done and will undo--and you can totally see that these have consequences in full given the local currency is fully tracked, and balance that out otherwise in managing persistent need with resource scarcity (or worse, artificial scarcity).

Sorely love how this game puts beauty in tiny details--the musical score included, as well as the tiny interactable sound effects, very much attention to detail as well as comforting ambient instrumentals--but also the modeling of a closed-ish to fully open economy and handling it while also being driven by it (as a result from the past). That the devs are both caring with work and health in progressing on this is a ton! Many mechanics also are their own thing rather than relying on metaknowledge (which I can see frustrate others as a first impression; where the context is a complexity of simple mechanics, from pathfinding to associative design).

It's been something I've been playing offline for quite a time, especially given the range of customization present and available. It says "Early Access" but it's very detailed and filled with as much potential as one's effort could go. Further customization is also being constantly suggested and tailored for further patches, which shows the connection between devs and the community about. For my own experience--it's the first game I've seen that works with currency in a detailed manner where you both can see its full circulation in concrete measure, and/or also be abstractly working with how to keep that flowing as the heart of this smol rat society.

(Also realized I needed online than offline time to make a review/recommend)

Edit: That patch on customizing difficulty (and basically most every mechanic in game, including enemy pathfinding {that teleporting if no direct pathfinding}/whether there's enemies at all) is a beautiful decision and game design!

Reinstalled this 9GB mess purely to submit this negative review given needing 'tracked online minutes' as, seeing the lack of updates (moreso the omission of them) and community tracking finding no accountability from the devs (https://steamproxy.com/app/773951/discussions/0/3808409963278803995/ especially where their profile is now 'private' after people noticed them actually committing to omission while working on some other game, some "Sunkenland" https://imgur.com/7aYu8bW)

It's been abandoned without good faith to the community--even a dev update saying their actions would've been something! Also the current version is a buggy unstable version
(that was the latest, years ago in 2021 or so) compared to the latest stable one that existed years ago before that.

This game is offline-acheivement compatible, built on itself, and is rather quite nice at 1.0 inasmuch as it was great years back, AND being the OG backpack novel paradigm, it's got a lot going for it there on (within a turn-based energy system).

Though, given the 1.0 release, there should be some edits or at least MORE PREFACING to the town--inasmuch as 'new runs' don't seem like carrying old equipment but every post-run equipment seems...saved, it was somewhat confusing there to see.

Still, always will have a lovely place in my heart--also because of the diversity of characters, especially when at a time it was released, there was like, not that much focus on not-male-human characters in many places and themes (or if there was a need for such, it'd be put down under some dissonance by even devs than merely players). Love to see this going forward as, way back before 1.0, me and all those close to me had the idea of "wow this has so much going for it; backpack hero is 1000% more amazing than it has any right to be".

Any issues right now seem to be more of tiny mechanical stuff than anything inherently gamebreaking given knowing the language of this game (or moreso, its design relationship). It still screams "we have to pick which fits best" and I'm sorely glad it isn't just "SHOVE ALL THE WEAPONS IN THERE" because the world isn't just 'poke enemy dead'.

P.S. Went online to get enough minutes to review/recommend :P But this has been with me for years and I can recall everything from the different end-runs to divergent plot points.

It's epic seeing local stuff on the international stage! And when I mentioned this to found family--them having subjective experience with public PH transport--this was "technically" received for free because I got suddenly gifted it (to stream and share).

It's a wonderful game with a lot of potential--in the sense that: "The basics are all there but there MUST be adjustments."
Though many make sense to reflect the IRL issues (which, likely through politics are only placeholders mentioned in-game other than the very obvious exploitative Hiraya company, which the devs were great in making humor of [like our cutthroat rent/gas prices]).

Every second in reality is a minute in game. Every moment the jeep's engine is on is a tick down from the 2000 fuel meter.
And by "potential" I mean, this can be fleshed out very well--the tutorial is a bunch of sticky paper on the wall alongside background storytelling, which would be great if all that was in the new game section, too. But also (aside from the lack of classical manuals explaining tons more), there's a lot not mentioned--from how many Liters make up the gas tank volume or a way to compute time when you're doing the very realistic thing of "driving while money changing", which isn't exclusive to the Philippines! (But quality of life reflections, like passengers riding at front and helping out with money counting or fare rates...or joining a transport union, all are potential possibilities). There's also a lot of humor in passenger dialogue (though, unsubtitled in English, spoken in Tagalog, or pun'd in English), and even elder representation!

Just like reality.

In its current state at time of writing, which I DEEPLY hope will get expanded on, it's a race against the clock (though physics issues like "insurance payments for hitting things or people" don't exist), but hard 'shift' timers do. Which incentivizes...probably not the best driving or safety. But that's also alongside that "while your wife is also working, none of you are earning a living wage", which is unfortunately realistic here compared to other countries. Also fuel prices squeezing the life out of you.

But also subjective routing (and bugs that way like never receiving passengers if you abandon your jeep for too long in order to change the money you have). Usually jeep drivers band together if possible, and that'd be a great thing to see modeled in game for the depth of both any plot and power to the player/people.

Hopeful for more (and I sorely love other reviews//discussion posts highlighting our national issues vs gentrification of the public transit industry).

But this is likely the last version as of Sept 16 as mentioned by the devs; power to them!

(I didn't know one could upgrade the jeep, too. That'd have made SO MANY ISSUES less as issues)

Edit: Typos.
I was gifted this for the record. It's a 'recommended but goodness the issues make it feel otherwise'. (i.e. 'just the writing on Strand', Neomuna is actually great especially the characters post-campaign, which have actual reasons why you can't interact with them [like being under siege]). Otherwise it's a hard recommend because details below***.

And I'm in approval of it--many negative reviews are also valid. Mine focuses on that, drawing from experience by others who have looked into the lore and this as a piece of a whole, that this plays out more as... a piece of a whole; the key point being a huge difference is entering this in media res, compared to all other dlcs as far I'm aware beforehand.

Unfortunately much of this will not appear as feasible or palatable for many given the indirectness of these gems, especially given extraneous factors like that Destiny 2 runs with its lore as much as its gunplay, this being the DLC that comes out with the difficulty shift/major reworking/armor mod changing. Mara Sov has communicated a ton of details in between Earth and Neptune apparently, as well as Neomuni tech being able to hone in onto Earth and the surrounding details. It's unlike Beyond Light that this feels like a proper intro to a darkness power...but also Beyond Light was deeply affected by the historic pandemic--which again won't be something as visible in hindsight, and they're still editing for balance as, understandably, programming is esoteric, difficult, and commonly the major issue when newly releasing things given how many delicate factors make discernment easy to attribute to malice than anything else. (It doesn't help that, especially in places like the USA, the pandemic has never ended in intensity of impact despite current popular conception otherwise)

The Strikes are beautiful in their own design--coupled with the music of Neomuna as a whole. The story, especially seeing how many negative reviews point out succinctly, doesn't stand by itself--and it shouldn't, there are references all the way until Destiny 1, there's fleshing out of Osiris, the PROPHET WARLOCK, as well as the logic of paracausality of the Darkness, and there's dropping tells straight from SETH J. DICKENSON'S brilliance directly in cutscenes, plural.

That said, the lore IN THIS DLC doesn't have Dickenson's perspective even if it derives from it--Strand contradicts its idea in its applicable design (OSIRIS YOUR DIALOGUE IS MESSY). Inasmuch as Dickenson's writing has bloomed in Witch Queen (Savathun's plotline) and more--its derivatives here aren't...well done at all. It's missing out on the symbol of the concept rather than its interpretation--semiosis powers good plotlines and this one didn't, even in media res, touch it efficiently or cleanly.

Doesn't help that the writing is done so finely/bluntly/"subjectively" that details will be missed if taken as narrative analysis into itself--especially on Strand!

***This is where my recommendation comes from!
Edit: MANY NARRATIVES ARE ALSO BASED ON '80s TROPES, which works very well and does fulfill a lot of detail--however may not jive with...people who don't know these.

There's specificity to the Ishtar Collective, which is also the repository of Destiny's lore (as a website compared to the in-game reference where it takes its name and a huge point towards why this DLC is important in continuing lore pieces and notes all over). Much of the beauty of Neomuna isn't as accessible as needed (us as Guardians or "Earth Warlords" aren't full citizens and thus can't access the rest of the beautiful landscape than the one war-torn area next to the obvious disparity in the sky backdrop). Neomuna itself as well as its characters take from real-world cultures (here it's like, Indian/Irish, similarly like characterizing contexts of the Awoken/Mara Sov), seeing the naming. And I do love everyone loving Nimbus--who struggles thanks to lacking translators and all of that appearing only in English (and is a huge thembo, but also post-campaign missions reveal tons of character). A host of characters post-campaign gives SO MUCH LIFE (looking at you, archivist and co!), and the whole and full reality present despite complaints is pretty much meant as a way to depict how new even-old-prophet-folks can be to things that have been extant and formed since ever.

Really, post-campaign stuff has...references all the way to season of the chosen and back. The VexNet has a lot of secrets!

Aside from that, the addition of Tormentors and the emphasis on mobility compared to static defenses (coupled with the remaking of the armor mods) touch nicely in the context of these areas. Destiny 2 players are probably used to hunkering down and this cancels that out! Unless you've Strange Tangles and suspension grenades--much like Stasis' freezy funtime.

Also I wouldn't be able to afford this if not for the gift! It's somewhat pricier than most DLCs--however in the same context, Destiny 2 really has a better monetary system than most MMOs given it's not subscription based, and in comparison to the time vs investment, it's way cheaper. Still doesn't mean I could've bought this though (but the same applies in subscription-based accessibilities for me).

The writing could've been done how much better and it didn't. But goodness Strand as a mechanic is such good. It should be detailed better than the 'subjective reality' as it's said to be (which is incorrect)! But as usual, even folks like Osiris can be subjectively mistaken.