Recent reviews by MADhorseKD

I really do not like the business model for games like this, especially after the terrible launch of the base game (nr 3).
And given how horribly expensive the entire 3 game spanning cost has been.

But i'm glad to say that this has been one of the best DLC's to date, despite my actual grievances of needing all DLC to pretty much play the game as intended. But lets face it, i've been a whale for anything warhammer ever since the early 2000's.

This DLC is warhammer done right. There have been some flaws, mechanics wise, which the devs have worked out within days of feedback, which is good. Confederation is something that was heavily needed. Concerning how the faction plays and feels, how it progresses. Its mechanics are fully in line with the lore and actually pretty neat.

Marauders turning into warriors after they have proven themselves (with experience). Only for 120 guys to turn into 100. Meaning those 20 didn't make the cut. 'VERY' lore accurate :)
All the way to aspiring champions, which only has 16 guys, but each of them are beasts.
Which can then possibly turn into spawn if you want.

I would have loved to see this kind of mechanic for lets say, Norsca or even greenskins, boys into big 'uns.
Or for Dwarves to train Slayers etc after a defeat or taking too many losses.
It half reminds me of the vampire counts and the corpse pile recruiting.

Though i guess it's more easily implemented on an 'entire army' scale with the warriors of Chaos.

I don't know who they put in charge of the direction and decision making on this DLC, but they need to get a raise and be involved with more stuff like this.

The only thing i'd love to see for chaos now, is for Throgg and Wulfrick to be able to join the roster properly.

And more/proper Greenskin lords and heroes.... (black orc warboss, Savage orc big boss and warboss, etc)

Some remarks beforehand:

* Game needs a bit of polish.
* The models and animations look like they are from an older era (which has its charms, for sure. But its nothing like Total Warhammer 3 for example).
* The weapons and balancing of the armor might need a revision.

But all in all, a title i'm already quite enjoying. And while not 'as' in depth as an Xcom 2 game 'yet' (so far for me at least), I'm enjoying it. Solid mechanics idea's so far that really seem to work.

I LOVE the fact that i can change minute details about my Knights, down to the voices, armour details, last names ( which are spoken aloud as well as be displayed on the knight on certain places). It really makes me care more about them, instead of 'generic marine nr 5'.

I have played several 40K games who have all tried their own spin on this genre of Xcom like gameplay, from mobile to PC games. And this is the first one where i'm actually enjoying myself.

Each class of knight has their own feel to them and has a varied roster of traits they can unlock in a tree.
(so far, no idea if one Knight can have all of them, but hey.)

It feels like Xcom married Dawn of War 2 in terms of loadout mechanics but expanded heavily on them. Such as the ability to unlock upgrades for your gear.


I would love to see this kind of game (with perhaps a bigger budget), with other chapters. Could be the same setting for all, with minimal narrative changes or references, so long as the chapters have their own styles or changed options/gameplay.

Such as Black Templars (Templar visuals with correct colours, no psykers, themed weapons and traits, stratagems etc) compared to Blood angels or even Imperial Fists and so forth (just some founding chapters would be enough in this case, or possibly to create your own generic second founding one). Just roam about the galaxy, doing missions, trying to beat back a warp event/invasion or other xeno races. Leveling up your Marines, building up your base/fleet in a freeplay scenario. Expending resources or requisitioning more from your chapter/the imperium. Collect gear and personalise all of it like in this game.

Heck, a system/game like this with an expanded roster choice to also play as a strike force of Imperial Guard, Sisters of Battle, etc. I would be amazing to have the choice to play as a different faction for another playthrough.

Would happily buy the next game in this series if that were the case.

This is one great visual ride, for sure.
Don't let the interactive part fool you, it will be a slow start and you don't really get to do a lot. This is not a Simulator.

A lot of the details were very nicely done, such as the cockpits etc. Even the 2D aspects of it.

I will however 'not' recommend this title for the simple fact that i had giant visual artifacts severely breaking my immersion. Like pink bars in space, a giant flat, grey rectangle attached to the thruster, which only disappeared once i looked away enough for it to pop away. and plenty more.

I currently run the Steam Index and cannot vouch for other headsets, though for me, having to deal with that stuff was enough to just turn me off from it entirely.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing, this is still an EA title and i have been playing since launch. Will edit when needed.

* Its an EA launch title, which people seem to forget and then complain about it not being a finished game. (not defending EA titles, but you knew what you were getting into -_- Tired of seeing the chat, the discussions and the reviews filled with ignorant complaints. If you demand a refund or that people leave a negative review over the fact that you don't know how to get wood or that an alpha monkey lvl 237 managed to kill you, then that's on you. Launch issues are launch issues, it's to be expected, ffs wait a few weeks and then complain.)
* The launch was rocky and hardly anyone could get in since the devs were trying to fix it so that everyone could.
* Next day, you could but with massive lag and rubber banding.
* Next day, smooth 60 fps on my rig, smooth gameplay. (Some enemies are still running flying about and are a massive pain to hit though, like the giant bee.)
* steady stream of Dev patches. Version 6.52 at the time of writing. They said they would deliver and make the game playable around Xmas time, they delivered and have been patching several times a day to make the game a smooth experience for everyone.
* Passed our first chunk wall, 2 seconds waiting and then instant continuation of sailing. I was pretty amazed by how stable that was. Honestly well done! Been havig a chill time ever since, save for gathering enough kinds of food and vitamines, which they should decrease the degradation of imo.

The gameplay:
* It's the Ark engine, so expect a lot of resource gathering and running, eating, drinking and the occasional building.
* The combat system hsa been completely overhauled from static hitting/shooting something, to directional blocking, types of attacks, dodging, target locking etc
* The entire ocean and naval aspect (ships, wind directions, having to moor and anchor for supplies, NPC crews or your own etc) is just great. You can tell that a lot of love went into it compared to the static waters of Ark that were just filled to the ass with blands things that want to kill you. I will say, it pains me to see so many inept crew and captains out at sea (especially as someone who has taken part in actual sailing...)
* Enemies have had a full overhaul. While some are based off their Ark counterparts (the sheep, bear, lion etc) they have had a full animation and behavior overhaul. (the lion will try and flank you etc, pounces, dodges, holds onto you when it hits the pounce etc).
* As for taming, only if you specialize into the beastmaster skill tree and its required tiers can you tame a bear for example. Bola it and then feed it, no more tranquilizers. The same goes for riding and commands, you need the reguired skills for that tier.
* The game was clearly designed to have a band of friends or a large company all work together to create a small fleet. I like the whole idea of balancing things out for a solo experience by having the NPC crew that you need to feed and pay wages for. Yet to try it.
* Can't wait for the S+ crew to get in on the main branch and add their terrific quality of life settings to it.


Complaints: i have some.
* The vitamines, food and water meter need to go down slower, seriously. I know you can balance that out with taking skills and points into adding buffs that slow your drops/boost your maximums, but that seems like a shame to me.
* I live in a country with azerty keyboards. The game is preset on qwerty (which uses wasd for movement). Not that much of an issue, except w is set for multiple forward movements (yourself and the ships) by default and once you rebind z to it, you cannot also set z for another binding (your ship for example). Would be better if the game detected that but hey.
* Maybe tone down the enemy spawn rate? just a smidge? thanks :p Also they heal pretty effing fast if you don't attack them for a good 10 seconds. Maybe keep enemies on the same damage for a while.

In its current state i'd rate the game 7.9/10, Quite an experience!

Where 'Of Orcs and men' had a more tactical game play and light roleplay elements, the story had been spot on. It had actual well written main characters, especially Styx.

This game tells you the story of Styx and his beginnings, lightly touched upon in the first game.
After just finishing it, i can say i stuck around for mainly that.

The gameplay itself is pretty decent. Though the controls may be Jank at times and the Ai can be weird (maybe due to all the Amber they take, i dunno). Think assassins creed but less good in terms of mechanics. there is no automatic ledge walking and if you want to drop down a ledge, oh boy is it fiddly. The bug enemies are the worst. Blind but the slightest movement triggers their hearing and they rush onto you to inspect. If they find you, it might as well be game over. Like most enemies, enough will stun lock you and end your run. The bugs are fast enough to simply do that themselves.

You revisit a lot of areas and there is actually a lot to explore. Very time consuming and especially hard on a 'no kill' run.
There are in fact multiple ways for you to complete a map and ive even done speedruns on them.

If you want the best experience, get a trainer and cheat in all the skill points for all the abilities off the bat.


Tl;DR: loved the story, jank assassins creed controls, big levels that you revisit.

Serious value in this one, so far only the beastmen was rather overpriced. Loved the vampire one (yet to do the empire side) + Vlad Free-LC was an unexpected, yet pleasant bonues :)

For 7-8 bucks you get so much and Wurzag+bloody hands and the white dwarf as Free-LC ????
Hell yeah!

Ive been hearing a lot about how theres a lack of Orc Bosses, savage orc Bosses/shamans, Savage goblin Bosses etc with their own benefits for goblins or savage greenies in kind. And how people would have loved to take of the Eight-peaks section by section, I fully agree, that would have been amazing.
But seriously? 7-8 bucks for all this extra content, shared new units, regiments of renown and all true to flavor makes one very happy Warhammer fan :)

I cant wait for the next batch to come out :p

So to start off.

What is a nice throwback and attempt at Dungeonkeeper with some twists on it, its got some issues. Its a great concept and though i said the same about the first Dungeons, this one is actually better and more true to the concept.

Do note, the gameplay ends up like trying to plug and save a leaking/sinking ship ( depending on how good your at it). Where youll be desperately trying to find gold, fend off waves of enemies and meet the games grueling demands of quest goals. (TL;DR at the bottom, but i advise to read all of it before you buy.)

* The game (and every individual map) actually starts really effing slow.
Youl find yourself waiting a long ass time for your workers to do anything, especially when your clearing out large rooms. Even more so when those happen to have gold nodes that take longer and has them scurrying off to the nearest gold pile. Youl end up waiting a long time on your mana and research as well. Even more since you need mana and gold to even start your research. (all of it is needless to say, very slow).

* Only when youve risen up a tier or two (3 tiers total) will you get the good stuff instead of the same old bland newbie stuff mission after mission.
In the campaign, this means nearing the mid and end of the campaign.
In single this means collecting evil and when you do, theres really only a research need for your minions, not your workers, since theyve usually already done all the digging you need. All they do now is just stand around collecting gold and placing it at their feet (if your smart enough to place a treasury there.)

Hope to christ you have an unlimited gold node on your map (usually is when your mid campaign, try searching the edges of the map) Or your already boned...

The narrator is the same guy from the Stanley Parable, i love his voice and the guys a pro. But the script at times is really forced and cringy and META as ♥♥♥♥. The best laughs i had were smirks and mild 'ah, i see the reference now' moments. And those get hammered in on repeat till your sick of it.

Its fun to have certain minions from the start till the end, level up, gain more fighting power, a new look and class, more side jobs skill and even titles from finding power books or doing stuff. You get attached so to speak. And the design of most of the units is quite well done. Others (like the naga or the spider bugs) look bland and boring.

With the Winter expansion, youl be playing 3 evil sides in total. Each with their own play style, units and feel. With some elements staying the same, which is nice.


On to the more annoying stuff:
Important: THIS GAME DOES NOT GIVE YOU A ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ BREAK! ......EVER!!!!!
* Where the campaign starts off slow as ♥♥♥♥. Youl find yourself to be always in need to get all upgrades for your tier before your able to do stuff without too many casualties (they recover at your base, if you have the proper room and devices, thank ♥♥♥♥ for that, but it takes a while)
* As you progress, youl find yourself swamped with wave after wave after wave of increasingly more powerful enemies. At a rate thats actually quite unpleasant and hard to follow because of slow income and reasearch times.
* While you can make long, snaking tunnels filled with traps and doors to bar out invaders, which mind you youve just spent ages researching in between waves and assaults and pay days, youl find that in most invasion parties (Youl mostly be facing the alliance), which even at the very first wave, has a bard. A halfling Bard. Eventually this will be 2-3 Halfling bards.
This ♥♥♥♥♥♥ is IMMUNE TO ALL TRAPS and does not trigger them, is programmed to (when seeing a door or trap) head out with the party halted nearby and disarm your doors and traps....as an AOE...yup an area disarm....allowing his remaining party of death to just waltz through your tunnel as if they owned the damn place...
Oh, and the bard also heals and gives a boost to his allies. YOU WILL HATE THIS ♥♥♥♥♥♥
Dont even bother setting traps unless its the exploding kind. Heroes cannot help but hit those and get AOE damage (except the effing bard) Or the teleportation thing which is a 1 hit kill for anything enemy like. All of this results that you have to rally your minions to the intrusion anyways...having them run away form their important ( and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ time consuming) tasks, like research and mana collection for a higher unit cap. Oh and forget picking them up one by one...and placing them down again, one by one...(which even has a small delay on it, ♥♥♥♥ that noise). Your dudes will lie there for a second or so and then hobble up, WHILE GETTING ATTACKED if you were careless. So use the rally spell and wait for them to run over.


* Just as important events are starting, which usually are timed and result in an instant GAME OVER, youl find that your still reeling from yet another pay day, yet another wave incoming, or a sudden demon gate spawning end tier demons near your dungeon heart. And youl actually barely be on par to deal with the issue at hand.

* Timers are too short, enemies have stupid buffs and a lot of support units. Youl get shelled from catapults and towers. Invaded by demons just out of effing nowhere (again, do not even bother setting traps, just set up a guard room with an alarm so that only nearby minions will stop their tasks).

* Didnt manage to kill that passing caravan i just announced and only needs 2:45 seconds to reach the town? of which you need a good 30secs to mobilize your forces? Tough ♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, game over or i just made it extra hard for you....oh look, another hero spawner!

* Enemies will heal their allies in an instant for nealy more than half their health. They will charm your units and may even give their allies nasty buffs. Oh, and usually come in 2-3 of everything. Squad of a bard, 4 amazon berserker ladies and 2 elf druid healers? yup.

* Always upgrade your minions to a full unit cap, they arent only better at fighting but also their side jobs. Saving you valuable moments of your life.

* My God everything is expensive 0.0, you can easily toss 10K on a room with devices. Knowing that a typical worker rakes in between 40-70 gold per haul, thats expensive... And tedious.....And youl need to choose, workers or minions, since both count towards unit cap. More income and get ♥♥♥♥♥♥ by the enemy? or have a good army that bleeds you dry. Fun...

* Pay Days are the worst -_- , youve just had one, and lost around 2K in funds. Everyones back to their chores or fighting a wave or resting after having died! and when your workers manage to regain that 2K ...oh guess what , its 'pay day'. ♥♥♥♥ me...i thought 'Payday 2' was economy heavy, Jeezus...

* Cant afford to pay your dudes? Need more housing or food but cant afford it? ouch, tough break Chummer. Were all on strike now! ♥♥♥♥ working for you! We require more Money Pile-ons (get it?).

* Youl easily find yourself having to do the same map over again for 2-3 times. given your luck maybe even more. And dread to dig in certain areas because of the possible monster spawners there that release an unGodly amount of spiders, weird looking dog lizards and worse homing in for your dungeon Core. Which you need to end or YOU WILL DIE.

* The entire game feels like your trying to paddle upstream in a leaking and sinking little boat. Constantly trying to replug holes and dunk water overboard while paddling. Once you manage to seal all your holes and get the water out, your good to go, but man is that a chore. And a game isnt supposed to be a chore.

TL;DR:
Game feels like a chore and has enormous potential to be a salt mine for people.
But damn it if im not invested to see it through...
Still better than Impire.
Recommended cause you get as invested in this as i am. If only just to finish this ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Looks flashy and promises a load of fun.
Is in fact one big rock paper scissors game....combined with QTE.
Im not even joking...i feel betrayed.
Dont buy it...