Recent reviews by Draknar986

I am astounded that this game is not higher in the “most played” Steam charts.
This is an absolute gem!

Wayfinder just feels great to play. It has so many quality of life features. And the multiplayer keeps bringing me back because it’s so easy to find and interact with other players. I feel like there is an actual community instead of a mass of players constantly passing each-other, but not actually engaging like many other Triple-A titles on the market.

The only downside is the power progression systems can be a bit overwhelming. Trying to juggle Echos and upgrading equipment and characters. Then stack on top trying to figure out what “imbuements” to stick on which dungeons or boss fights to get the resources or items you need.

The problem is, the game doesn’t have a critical mass of players making content and guides and builds. Plus the fact the game went through a major refactor so 75% of resources you find online is out-dated.

I hope more people flock to this game when they realize how amazing it is, and build up a robust information warehouse for players like me that just want to follow cookie-cutter templates while casually joining up with online parties.

Definitely check this game out, especially for the price point!

I love the combat in this more than any other game (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Injustice, etc.).
It's super easy to get into, you don't need to practice for hours and hours to get to a rewarding spot, and the feel of the game is just so pleasing.

The immersion this game gives you compared to Injustice is what really put it over the top. In Injustice, you can literally play as superman. But you feel like you're just another Mortal Kombat character. In here, you put Kryptonians to shame! Flying around massive and beautiful maps, while destroying the terrain. One of the first episodes in the story had me fighting a massive evil monkey, and I energy blasted it through a mountain! How cool is that??!?

Absolutely unplayable due to constant crashing.
There's a laundry list of things I could try to troubleshoot, but it's not worth the risk of going over the 2 hour played mark for a free refund.

Please beware! If you or your kids purchase this, make sure it runs and do not leave in an open window idle ticking the Steam Played timer without checking that it works so you can also get a refund!

I love this game, and I do recommend it.
*But* I will start off by saying this game is brutal, much more so than the artwork and characters and story would lead you to believe.
Therefore, I highly recommend you do *NOT* play the "Standard" game mode, go to Custom, and play with the settings to make it easier.
If you search Reddit, it's flooded with people talking about restarting their games over and over, and making multiple saves to re-load from, because you will go bankrupt so badly the game literally gives you a "Game Over".

Pros:
- #1 Factor: Immersion! This hits an element of immersion that games like Euro Truck Simulator just don't quite seem to strike. But it's an easier learning curve and more relaxed gameplay than something like Elite Dangerous.
- - You have various buttons and switches to toy with, and you have physical systems you need to repair and manage, but it's all intuitive and not overwhelming. Just adds that extra level of spice to a standard truck sim.
- - I also really enjoy that sometimes you *have* to use your console monitors to navigate, or see your system status. It just seems really neat when you are in the back dealing with supplies and all of a sudden you lose gravity, so you quickly float up to your cockpit to check your monitors to see what's going on.
- The concept of Cargo, items, stores, and a fluctuating economy. In addition to your standard trailers, you can buy and trade items that you store in your cabin. You even get a cool smuggling hidy-spot later in the game!
- - This is further enhanced by salvage you can collect - free money! (or supplies)
- Maps: Each Zone isn't that large, which seems like a negative when you consider Euro Truck Simulator's whole appeal is endless miles of roads. But TBH, that would be too much. Instead, each zone is interesting, gorgeous, and can come with their own unique challenges. (Lightning Ion storms, solar flares, asteroids, etc.) They keep it interesting without getting boring.
- The truck flying just feels good!

Cons (in order from worst to tolerable):
- Containers need to be able to be strapped down. a) It would fix the lag, and b) it's just so annoying. Every "Tips" post talks about opening the containers so they wedge into the shelves, but that's a work-around exploit that just makes any lag worse. Like come on, every trucker here on solid ground owns tie-downs, are you telling me they don't exist in the future?
- Just-in-Time delivery missions is an area where the community frequently save-scums to avoid. That means the devs need to take a look at this. What happens is you get to a location too early, and you need to kill time. Which is insanely dangerous when any dent tootling around can drive up your repair bills, on top of general power and component consumption.
- Scale the Default difficulty back a bit, I think it's ruining the new player experience.
- This may be a bit immersion breaking, but trailers and salvage should not drift off to infinity when tapped. I get it, the cold mistress of space is lethal. But I'm just trying to play a game and the beer I found is getting away from me!
- Docking Stations need a larger inventory. It's annoying when I have 4 broken air filters and I have to visit 6-8 locations to find a complete set.
- - Maybe even just make some major port areas have huge supplies but at a higher cost. Then it would feel like properly stocking up before a long deep-space voyage.
- Some way to label containers would be amazing! You end up with so many, which then inevitably get jumbled on the floor everywhere (see line item above about tie-downs), having labels would be a huge QoL improvement.
- I wish the Economy was more dynamic. Prices fluctuate, but there's no rhyme or reason to it. If you buy and trade you would hope that would impact the market, but it doesn't. Maybe even some "events" to spice things up would be neat, like a famine or construction project driving prices. The Story hints at this a bit, but it's all smoke and mirrors.
- I'd like some more customization of your truck, primarily inside the cabin. But I can totally see this as a DLC. (Even just changing the color of your interior, or your screens).

Overall this tiny team has made magic, and I'm sure they will be tweaking things over time.

I *want* to recommend Norland. I think it will eventually be a gem, and I have faith in the developer. But I am going to write this review for anyone thinking of spending money right now, as if I was talking to a friend; and my suggestion would be to hold off for now.

There is a ton the game does right, and it feels and plays great for the first couple hours.
But as you progress into the mid to late game the bugs and quirks really start to build up.

Cons:
- The way technology is handled is an interesting concept, but I ultimately don't like how it's based on personal Lord knowledge, and if they die, you lose all that technology. It's a neat thought about how easy it is to fall back into the Dark Ages, but it takes so long to learn technologies it really just ends up being more of a detriment to enjoyability of the game.
- The object of the game is to unite 12 provinces. But what's annoying is you can *either* do so by vassalizing, *or* by alliance. Not a combination. It's annoying when you have a really strong and friendly neighbor but if you have one vassal, too bad, now you have to conquer them instead of becoming fast friends.
- When you attack someone, you are given a 3 day timer to do so. But you can't station your troops on the map. So you have to try and coordinate your troop movements awkwardly around the map.
- My biggest gripe that ended with me rage-quitting instead of finishing my campaign are the supply chain bugs. Workers only work for certain hours of the day. Fine. But then every 3 days they need to have "orders" from a Lord of Chancellery. Lords are frequently busy, and the Chancellery needs paper. And even if you have tons of paper, it doesn't find it's way into the Chancellery itself? So then everything stops. It just became a micromanagement annoyance.
- The UI for information needs work. Better information on what buildings are tied to which Chancellery. Ways to *find* where that building even is. Diplomacy information on your neighbors. The game is a lot of cat and mouse hunting for information. I had a case where it said a common thought is my villagers are starving. But I couldn't figure out where. Everyone I clicked on was fed and happy.
- The game becomes more and more laggy as the game goes on.

Overall the Cons just made it too frustrating to keep playing.
BUT, there's a ton I like about the game, so I do want to highlight that as well!

Pros:
- Map customization - I LOVE how you can set up the starting map for yourself and everyone else to create any kind of setup you want!
- - I do wish though that I could further customize and control my starting lords. Just for testing purposes I'd like to have the ability to have like 8 lords with max stats and go nuts.
- Combat - I bet most people will disagree with me here, but I actually really like the simplicity of combat.
- Ease of Resources - Another unpopular opinion probably, but I love how simple the economies are. There's only one ore: Iron. You don't need to juggle copper, tin, silver, etc. etc. There's only a few foods, a few drinks. It's not a crazy mountain of complexity like some other city builders.

Conclusion:
- DO buy if you want to support the devs and are capable of delayed gratification as the game is further developed.
- DO buy if you just want to goof around for a couple hours and are happy with the price.
- DO NOT buy if you wanted to have more than 8 hours of play time this weekend.

This is one of my favorite games in the past few years. It does the things that I complained Valheim couldn't let you do. It's especially a blast with friends.
I built a 100% underground base that can only be accessed via teleporting in. I love it!

This game tricked me into learning.
Now I'm unintentionally helping myself and those around me.
10/10.

From a high level perspective, I will thumbs-up this game. For a game that is Free to install with just 12GB of hard drive space, you will load the game and have a couple hours of fun entertainment of mashing buttons.

The Devs, from a game mechanics viewpoint, are great. The combat feels fantastic. But you get the impression that the old Warner Bros. are walking around their offices waving a gun, demanding more exploitive microtransactions.

If you expect a game where you can access all the characters for a reasonable amount of grinding, this is not your game.
If you expect a game where you can access all the characters after paying a AAA title price... this is also not your game.
Full content is reserved for whalers only.

With that said, I've dropped about $35 (an Indie title amount), and played 40 hours, and unlocked 7 characters. Plus the couple freebies you get, and the weekly rotations. I definitely do *not* feel like I've hit an entertainment wall yet.

I also really like how the daily/weekly challenges aren't crazy to complete like some other games. Granted, there will be a couple locked behind characters or costumes or premium content, but I never felt like I was stuck for what I wanted. (assuming you have no intention of reaching the Capstone event rewards, those are impossible).

At the end of the day, I can have a beer and log in with a buddy for 30 mins, and have a lot of fun. I'm not looking for an Elden Ring epic adventure. I just want to punch someone in the face and go to bed, and this satisfies that need quite nicely.

Absolutely recommend!
You're basically playing through a new Robocop movie, and it feels great! It's simple, yet sucks you in.

This game blew me away!

I’ve never heard of Portia, or Pathea Games, and stumbled onto this game google searching games like Stardew Valley.
On its surface, I wasn't too excited. A goofy looking cartoon game by a company I never heard of, set in a dusty western dystopia? And the simplistic mechanics and combat didn't exactly have a "wow" factor.

But the more I played, the more I got sucked into the story. Into the idea that I am revitalizing a town. Into the character development. Into building up my workshop.
And the tons of Quality of Life features! The game is simple, sure, but relaxing simple, not boring simple. It's such a joy to play!

And what really speaks volumes, is the anecdote that I also played Baldur's Gate 3: a game I fully enjoyed and whose devs I support. But, I got bored before finishing it, and when my "hours played" for My Time At Sandrock surpassed my BG3 hours, I decided I really had to give credit where credit is due.

Definitely try this game!