Recent reviews by Dark Passenger

Just buy it. You already know if it's for you.

Getting gang mugged over and over again at the extraction point is not for me. I don't mind the PvP other places on the map(s) as much, But I simply have better games to play that are NOT designed to evoke negativity. I genuinely believe this kind of behavior will only get worse and become increasingly toxic as the Arc Raiders player base thins out. This is not a "Boo hoo" - just simply a farewell to the otherwise great community.

Addictive..

The game explores what happens when someone realizes their traumatic memories never occurred. Does that make the pain any less real or does it offer you hope that you can become someone new?

I'd put this game somewhere between a strategic resource simulator like Frostpunk with a Fallout shelter twist. Except it's mostly third person perspective. The graphics and narrative portions of the gameplay remind me of games like "Life is Strange" or "Detroit: Become Human."

Remember that 11 Bit is the same studio that gave us Frostpunk and This War of Mine. Both games with some really heady narrative consequences. Clearly, The Alters is firmly in the style of 11 Bit. If you liked any other games in their catalog, This game will resonate with you. What this game is NOT is a roguelike. It's a narrative driven game that really feels like it SHOULD be a roguelike. I'd love to see a roguelike expansion for it, but it's wonderful as it is for the price.

KCD2 is the medieval fever dream I didn’t know I needed. Straight out of the gate, this is a CRPG masterpiece.. Imagine Monty Python directing a gritty historical epic while occasionally tripping over their own chainmail and, you’ve got this game. One moment, I'm hauling flour to pay for my meal; the next, I’m knee-deep in pig muck after a drunken brawl with Hans Capon, who somehow manages to be both insufferable and endearing.

Imagine a game that launches on day 1 without major technical issue. Seriously - Try to image that! The game is so immersive that I now instinctively sharpen my kitchen knives on a grindstone and apologize to my dog for not feeding him dried meat. Yes, the save system made me cry (Saviour Schnapps, why must you torment me?), but the sheer joy of roleplaying as a bumbling blacksmith-turned-rogue-poet makes every frustration worth it. If you’ve ever wanted to feel like a peasant with delusions of grandeur in 15th-century Bohemia, this is your chance. Just don’t forget to take a bath—seriously, everyone will remind you.

Update: 23 hours in: When I hit Rostov and the Red forest populated areas - I starting seeing a significant drop in FPS (from 40-50 down to 8-12) This drop renders these parts of the game unplayable. I have not yet spent time troubleshooting, but I am going to assume this is related to on-going struggles with Optimization. I'm not going to change my recommendation, but be aware - The struggle is real. Additionally, it was extremely cool to see Rostov and Yantar areas to find that the map layout is exactly the same as in Shadow of Chernobyl! Talk about Nostalgia! I wonder if I tried hard enough I could find the Wish Granter!

This is a gamer's game. It pushes and challenges you. The developers did NOT compromise. This is a STALKER game. It's messy, strange, beautiful, and sometimes frustrating. STALKER 2 is a fresh breeze in a 2024 that has already had some great games in it. For me, this was a must buy - and I am not disappointed AT ALL.

The game runs at 45+ fps on EPIC - which is good enough for me. Here's my hardware:
i7-12700, 32GB RAM, SSD, 3080Ti

Pleasantly Zen. Might be better than scribbling designs on a napkin during a video conference! Still looking for paths for advancement, but figuring out that you'll find them the more you try to mix and match things. i.e. draw a path into a building to create a door - widen said path to build an arch. The on the fly procedural generation is awesome. Wish I could use this as a tool for level design for an RPG!

This is a really intriguing and quirky game. Really like almost nothing else. Solve murders as a detective, or terrorize the NPC population! Or maybe a little bit of both! There is enough variety in the procedurally generated cases and places to assure that the value proposition of this game is extremely high.

This game is ambitious, so it's not without its flaws. I only experienced an occassional bug, and sometimes it's hard to tell if a case I can't solve is a bug, or a reflection of my ability as a detective.

The voxel based art is great, and really captures it's gritty cyber-noir setting. There's a TON of detail and you can interact with almost everything.

This game really does give you an unparalleled level of freedom for a detective game. It really is a fascinating exploration into what an open-ended detective game can achieve. Highly Recommedned.

This game is quite literally out to kill you.

This game really takes me back. Allows you to move at your own pace with some intense moments of arcade space combat. Space exploration lite with elements of resource collection and tech tree. Space gameplay and story Hearkens of 1986's Starflight and the original Star Control 2. I'd recommend it on sale.