Recent reviews by Sir Joebear

We've done our waiting, over a decade! Truly an amazing game and well worth the wait. Great campaign, if a little straightforward, but nobody captures the power fantasy of being a space marine better than this game. Multiplayer is great, just needs MORE CONTENT! The visuals are top-notch, amazing core gameplay loop, and awesome animation means this game has a fantastic platform on which to continually grow. I'm a 40k old nerd and this brings a smile to face. Good job, Saber.

A great blend of XCOM and 40K. The combat system is fairly easy to understand with plenty of space for customization and buildcrafting. The ship travel and "battle" sequences provide a nice break between missions, but ultimately sum up to "pick one of these 4 options" during encounters. The best part of this game is that Nurgle finally gets some wild representation in 40K. He's certainly a popular antagonist among video games, but there is, thankfully, a ton of variety between enemy and boss types.

Overall, this game is fun for at least a single playthrough, but I wouldn't recommend at full price. Haven't tried the DLC, so no thoughts on that.

TLDR: Game is fantastic, Sony is being a grubby corporation, the developers have been mostly awesome.

Amazing:
+Music
+Thematic Elements and ambiance
+Combat
+Core gameplay loop
+Community
+Humor
+Upfront and non-predatory DLC and (actually micro) transactions

The Bad:
-Sony's involvement
-Minor grievances, some griefers in pubs
-No melee weapons
-Some server performance issues

Finally, after a long while I can truly recommend this game; which is kind of a shame when you think about it. Vermintide 2 remains one of my favorite games of all time and while this doesn't hold a candle to it, Darktide is still a ton of fun.

Pros:
The gameplay loop is extremely satisfying and feels true to the "tide" experience, although they could use more puzzles or mini game tasks to keep the world interaction fresh.

The enemies are awesome, and on harder difficulties, panic-inducing (as a dozen crushers/armored berserkers sprint around the corner). Definitely needs more than 2 enemy "factions/races", but let's hope Fatshark does a better job with that than the initial Beastmen launch...

Weapons feel visceral and punchy (except for maybe the laspistol and autopistol). Exploding enemies with the bolter, or deleting entire hordes with warp powers feels incredibly satisfying. They did a good job making the ranged game feel rewarding.

The classes are finally in a spot where they feel unique and have some amount of depth. Its still no 4 careers per character mind you.

The music is AMAZING, especially the horde and assassination boss fight themes.

Character customization is cool for what you can do. Enjoy every flavor of psychopathic space preacher, insane 4th-wall-breaking psionic wizard, grungy grizzled veteran, or adorable lunk of meat that is the Ogryn. Some armor sets looks absolutely fantastic as well (if incredibly grindy to achieve).

The levels are truly gorgeous and well-realized, especially some of the outdoor areas. The sense of scale is awesome when first experienced; sometimes I still look up during the initial walk from the shuttle.

The "Take-it-or-leave-it":
No dedicated characters (i.e. named characters like Saltzpyre) is strange to me. I don't feel as invested in some random prisoner than a character we've had 2 games to experience and 4 different careers to flesh out their life choices and decisions. Don't get me wrong, the voices and personalities of the rejects are fantastic, but something just feels...disconnected, that's the only way I can put it.

The Bad:
The Cosmetic Store. Jeez man...I just don't know. It took the game so long to be in a decent state...yet the in-game store with real money purchases was working near-flawlessly super early on. This game felt like it was in a beta-state for almost a year but micro transactions were available near day 1. That is inexcusable. Not to mention the prices on these cosmetic dlcs are insane. Look, I don't normally care about prices for skins, since it is a great way for a company to continue funding their game and their art+modeling and rigging dept. but 15+dollars for a cosmetic set is far too high. Considering we would pay something like that for an entire CAREER plus cosmetics in Vermintide 2 just feels wrong.

The "Campaign". Oh man, I remember how hyped the campaign was with pulling in a big name like Dan Abnett. Frankly, the campaign would be laughable if it had any humor in it. There is no real overarching narrative to speak of, no main antagonist, no great daemon to battle or warlord to dethrone, no real plot or conflict really. You follow the story a simple prisoner turned "reject" who is conscripted into the Inquisition to do all their dirty work. The premise of the story revolves around you proving your worth and discovering the traitor among the crew of the ship. The first part is so strange, as you do probably over 40 missions to "prove your worth"...shouldn't you guys trust me by now considering I've saved this hive city from certain doom dozens of times? Still calling you trash and rejects, etc. until LVL 30, then suddenly "hey, welcome to the team, dude!" The second part (the traitor arc) is simply played over a few videos, that's it...you don't do anything to help, or find any clues on the surface. This could have been an amazing plot line, finding clues on the surface from Wormwood (the original Inquisition agent from the trailers) only to discover the traitor was someone actually important, like a Tzeentch daemon, the captain, or some other high-ranking member. Instead it is just "oh yeah, there's this traitor but we found em. Anyways, welcome to the club now."

Lack of Bosses: So much potential, never utilized. So much lore and history built around 40k, but we couldn't do better than 4 sub bosses (1 of which is just a reskin)? Vermintide 2 had a boss for every story chapter, not to mention the finale, plus 4 sub bosses.

Optimization: Yikes, even my buddy with a late 3000 series card and plenty of awesome hardware couldn't get stable frames. God help you if you have a potato-ish rig.

That should be all for you to make an informed decision. It feels good to finally recommend this game to others besides hardcore Tide fans, even if there is plenty for Fatshark to still iron out.

A faithful addition to the AOW series with a fresh coat of paint and new mechanics to boot. Probably some divisive choices on on the part of the developer, but it is still early in the game's life cycle. Great customization so you can RP as your favorite trope.

Also ratmen exist now so...Skaven yes-yes?

This game is an absolute delight...most of the time. Excellent music, great voice acting, interesting story, brilliant CO-OP potential, awesome twists on traditional RPG mechanics, and countless hours of replay value. The only 2 things that keep it from getting an A+ in my book is both the 2nd map/area in the game and the disconnect with the aesthetic/content.

To explain: The Reaper's Coast area has many spots where wandering into an encounter or dialogue prompt spells certain death for your party if you happen to be under-leveled or under-geared. Normally, I am ok with this IF I am warned ahead of time that a certain area is too high of level (example: a skull and crossbones over an enemy model). This does not happen, and often feels like the game is actively punishing you for exploring and adventuring. Reaper's Coast is a huge map and is where the meat of the game lies in my opinion, but it just feels awful getting 1-shot nuked from an encounter that is impossible to talk one's way out of or avoid.

Secondly, the game's art style and content don't seem to match. The colorful, almost whimsy-filled visual elements and style quickly give way to a very dark and very violent world. Traditional heroes are very hard to find in the game where everyone seems to want to use you for their own motives. It is dark fantasy in a high fantasy wrapper. The gore is quite intense as well for those who are sensitive to that, with exploding corpses, mounds of dismembered bodies, cannibalistic elves, etc. If one is ok with this, the initial "culture shock" or style discrepancy fades after time.

Far more than any generic BR game. Hunt has depth and a truly fun gameplay loop that will keep one coming back to the game for multiple prestige levels. Excellent use of sound, awesome music, interesting arsenal of experimental and classic post-Old West/Civil War firearms, a cool and creepy aesthetic, and varied DLC. Fantastic duo/trio game to play with your friends.

Honestly, this game made me an actual Total War fan. The fantasy element was what the genre needed in my opinion. The base game is fine, but this title really shines with its DLC. Great with Co-op too! Mortal Empires is a must and is far more enjoyable than the Vortex Campaign. With Warhammer III on the horizon, make sure to pick this guy up during a sale, can't recommend the base game at full price currently.

A charming and campy game that brilliantly implements the 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons SRD ruleset. Honestly a great start for players new to 5E or for veterans to kill time between their in-person/online campaigns. Props to the developers for having your character's personality actually matter with different dialogue options/quips. Good use of height, light, encumbrance, crafting, and long rest rules. The dungeon and campaign editor is great as well! A labor of love to be sure with new content being steadily added.

A sincerely great game that has had its ups and downs when it comes to DLC. I truly like Fatshark as a developer and they have created a fantastic game. Builds on the success of the first Vermintide quite well, and scratches that Left 4 Dead itch with a Warhammer flair. The combat is meaty and satisfying, characters are well-voiced and engaging, active community, etc. Great with friends! With the free Chaos Wastes DLC effectively allowing you to play the game as a Rogue-like, there is a ton of replayability here.