Recent reviews by Sir Provost

I really enjoy this, it fits a niche genre that not many other games hit on and it executes quite well. It's still in active development but progress so far has been really solid and I look forward to seeing this completely fleshed out. It's fun to begin life working as a florist and eventually open up your own florist shop to eventually own 10 florist shops and become economically powerful enough to dictate policy in the city. I'm pretty flower neutral in my real life but florist me in This Grand Life 2 will absolutely call up legislators to push forward my flower agenda and I enjoy the power fantasy.

There's a lack of endgame content but that's kind of like real life as well, where the only goal I've been able to discern from living is to acquire resources and reproduce. I would personally like to see more organically implemented difficulty incorporated but it's certainly playable where it's at.

For the price it's worth it, give it a try if nothing else.

I started my playthrough broke as hell, with a ship littered with trash and numerous systems in disrepair. I didn't have time to fix anything though, the clock was ticking and I had a mortgage to pay, so I hopped in that baby and haphazardly darted towards the nearest derelict ship I could see floating in space.

I docked "successfully" (almost killing myself in the process), put on my spacesuit and headed inside to be greeted by a dead body laying on a bed. After examining the body and determining that this particular spacer had been poisoned to death, I began the demanding task of searching the ship for valuables. I found most systems completely intact and by the grace of god I discover that the reactor was still in good working order. After several hours in game and playing some inventory tetris on my half destroyed ship, I had loaded up on valuables and headed back to the station for my first big payday.

Once back on the station I paid a visit to my black market friend in the local bar, who didn't want my reactor but was very keen on getting her hands on the nav station I had pulled and paid me a little over $10,000, which was more than quadruple the amount of money I had to my name at that point. With those funds I went and bought a proper license from the authorities (all my actions up to this point having been incredibly illegal) and began hauling scrap to the kiosk to be sold. Altogether I found myself with about $80,000 and was able to sigh a breath of relief for the first time since starting the game.

With a bank account flush with funds and bankruptcy no longer looming over my head, I was able to finally cleanup and fully repair my ship. Additionally, I was able to invest in some better tools along with some bins and lockers to increase my overall inventory space, and once everything was installed I couldn't resist feeling a tinge of pride about how well everything had came together.

I then spent an entire playthrough scrapping ships out in the great unknown, slowing accumulating funds, paying off my mortgage and having numerous close calls with death along the way. Sometimes there would be pirates I would panically burn to death with my laser welder, other times the power of the derelict ship I was salvaging would shut off and I would find myself locked in, several powerless doors away from functioning life support systems as the CO2 indicator on my helmet began flashing.

Ostranauts is amazing in its delivery. It hits exceptionally well and I found it to be some of the most fun I've had playing a game in a very long time. I ended my playthrough once I bought the rights to a mostly functional freighter I had discovered while scavenging that only needed a swapped O2 tank, and fully pimping it out to the nines. My mortgage had been paid off, I had luxurious living quarters, and my ship could haul the scrap from more than a half dozen scavenged ships at a time. My character could functionally retire and live the rest of their life doing the odd scrap job and chilling out in the lap of luxury: I had made it.

I loved every minute of my playthrough and left feeling satisfied but sad that there was really nothing else to do. This would be my only gripe with Ostranauts; the early and mid game are phenomenal but as of right now there is a severe lack of end game content or any excuses to keep a game going. Perhaps I'm greedy, but with such gripping gameplay I just wanted more. Maybe increased difficulty options would help, along with more options during character creation that would allow for more varied playthroughs.

With this game being early access, I hope that it only continues to get better. It's a little bit janky in some areas (particularly the social system) but I have thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend this to anyone looking for a roleplaying experience that's unique, challenging and rewarding.

An absolute worthy successor to the original Six Ages as well as King of Dragon Pass. If you've played either of them and enjoyed it than this is a must have in my opinion.

It's incredibly difficult which I enjoy, you really get the sense that an apocalypse is happening and that there isn't all that much you can do about it except minimize losses and hope for the best. Whereas previous titles had you working your way up from the bottom to the top, Lights Going Out has you working your way from the top to the bottom and it's a joy to experience I promise lol.

Giant creatures will come and eat a third of your population, bitter frost will destroy all your crops before they're even a couple of inches off the ground, and your long term allies and trading partners will just disappear overnight (with embers still burning in their fireplaces), but every once in awhile something good will happen and you'll feel an immense rush of relief as you realize you might just survive another couple of years.

It's like the dark souls of whatever genre these games are. I love it

I went into this release quite skeptical, being a big fan of JA2 and putting an insane amount of hours into the vanilla game and 1.13 modification over the past decade or so. That being said, JA3 holds up and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the turned based tactical game genre.

Let me start off with the negatives, to just get it out of the way.

First and Foremost, this is not an exact replica of (arguably the best turn based tactical game ever made) JA2 which will be disappointing to some. There are a few things that I personally disliked when comparing the two titles, mainly how much smaller maps are in JA3 and the increased emphasis on resource management. Maps feel tighter and more fleshed out, but there was a certain charm to larger battles in JA2 that I feel is missing here. Moving on, I can understand not including Bobby Ray's shop even if it was one of my favorite features of JA2, but in the 12 hours I've played so far I have not been able to field even a single machine gun because there is never enough ammo to feed it. Furthermore, I have yet to find enough medical supplies to make healing my own troops a viable option. These aren't a big deal, but I do wish there were more options for purchasing certain resources beyond the limited markets, especially ammunition.

Another gripe I have with this title is the UI. I miss having distinct strategy and computer menus to better organize everything. Everything just kind of feels thrown at you all at once, and it can be a struggle to organize everything you're trying to do. That being said, the overall presentation is fantastic and it's clear a lot of work was put into making the map and menus look top notch.

The actual gameplay is an absolute joy to play and feels faithful to JA2 while adapting to modern times. It still feels like I'm in a gunfight more so than anything, and I have personally chosen to forego the modification to display hit chance because it never really matters in the grand scheme of things. You take your team and put them in the best position to fight, and it's incredibly rewarding when your mix of stealth, positioning, and patience pays off with an overwhelming victory over a superior force that would stomp you in a face to face confrontation.

I'd like to take a moment to inform new players that this game is incredibly difficult, and that ironman mode alongside higher difficulties is absolutely not how you should play this your first time around. Quicksave is your friend, and the beginning portion of the game when you only have access to pistols and SMGs is especially difficult, so don't be disheartened if it doesn't seem fair or fun your first hour or two. It gets better when your team is fully kitted out, I promise lol. Be aware however, that you might make some critical strategic mistakes (such as picking a bad team, running out of cash, letting too many people die, etc) your first time around and that this game takes a long time to learn and master.

It's obvious that some of the new changes are inspired by XCOM but I do not personally believe this is a bad thing. A cover system was originally in JA2 but you never really knew how well you were covered and this could cause problems so I like the change. When combat kicks off it's only natural that enemies should run for cover and get behind something and this along side all enemies moving at once at the start of their turn feels organic and fluid which I think is cool. Like, you kick combat off by putting a bullet through the strongest enemy's head from a distance and everyone scatters. Every turn they close in on you as a team all at the same time, and you can really feel the tension as they flank and surround you, often far outnumbering your forces. I know it's a little thing, but I believe it adds a lot of quality to the game all things considered.

The story is just okay and some of the characters are over the top (especially on tutorial island) but the actual strategic gameplay is wonderful and feels improved when compared to JA2. I love the diamond shipments that move across the map and enemy outposts that need to be weakened externally before being battled head on. Furthermore, some of the quests have been a blast (rescuing Biff has been my favorite so far, what a wild battle!) and I love how fleshed out the world is. You'll show up to sectors sometimes thinking you'll have just a regular battle and then things can get crazy which I enjoy quite a bit.

Some people may take offense to some of the characters and what they say ("you shoot pretty good... for a girl") but this stays faithful to how characters were portrayed in JA2 which were often over the top action movie stereotypes that weren't exactly PC. The dialog isn't great but I don't think it's as bad as some other reviewers have stated. Overall I think it adds to the unique charm of the game but it isn't exactly amazing either.

Performance isn't great on my 4K setup, but I have yet to encounter any actual bugs so far which is a good sign. While I should be able to play this on ultra settings, I've had to settle for medium settings which still looks good so I'm not too upset. I believe that over the following weeks and months that the developers will only continue to improve everything, but so far it's definitely in good shape technically.

With steam workshop being already available and fantastic core gameplay as a base, this a title I could see myself getting hundreds, if not thousands of hours into over the years. Although there is way more I could say, I am incredibly excited to see how much this game improves over the years and I believe it is a worthy successor to the legendary Jagged Alliance 2.

If you like XCOM or similar games you'll probably like this a lot too. Give it a go, there's a good chance you'll like it.

Overall: 8.5/10

We Who Are About to Die is an intense, rewarding, and in its current state, janky little indie game with a whole lot of heart and much room for improvement.

I would like to start by saying that this game is still very much in early access and we can expect sweeping changes to be made to the entire state of the game over the course of its development. Some of the things I bring up in this review will almost certainly be fixed or modified in the coming months or years so take this as you will.

I have essentially "beat" the game in its current state, having achieved all victory conditions with every background. Starting out is incredibly difficult but after a little trial and error things became much easier, if not a bit more limited. Maces, flails, and the high end polearms are the current meta and outshine everything else by leaps and bounds. Armor is important but a skilled player equipped naked with a Bardiche could win any given fight with 3-4 well placed hits, somewhat negating its usefulness. I say this all to emphasize that the game is not currently balanced, and knowing that going in could save you a lot of trouble.

Combat itself is pretty fun, it's kinda like a more complex Mount and Blade with physics playing a larger role in how things shape out. If you're wielding a flail for example, you have to take into account that momentum and gravity are going to have an effect on where your swing lands. Learning how to place well aimed shots and account for unique weapon mechanics is challenging, fun, and rewarding. The armor mechanics in combat are pretty cool as well; I loved bashing a dude on the head relentlessly until his helmet flew off and then going in for the kill. That being said, there is a decent amount of jank and I found that sometimes my character did not want to comply with what I was trying to achieve. Furthermore, throwing is all but impossible which is disappointing because there were times where it could've definitely been useful.

The AI is okay for the most part although improvements could be made. Teammates aren't the greatest and it's easy to cheese opponents at times, especially if they have a long range weapon and can be pressed into a corner. I have read that opponents aren't currently effected by stamina and that their weapons don't degrade the same way the player's weapons do, which is something I observed but didn't really take away from my experience with the game in all honesty. For the most part they function well and I was surprised by how well some of them utilized their setups, especially enemies with shields and spears who ended quite a few of my runs.

As far as the game outside of combat goes, there are certain things to love and hate. The ranking system is cool and I enjoyed feeling my character being put in more and more challenging situations as they climbed up the gladiatorial ladder so to speak. If you advance too fast without the proper equipment you can find yourself in incredibly dire circumstances very quickly, which adds an extra element to the strategical side of the game. The two currencies, gold and renown (or acclaim? I can't actually recall lol) synergize well together and I liked how you could exchange one for the other if need be. The marketplace is frustrating but I can understand it from a gameplay perspective. There were times where I rerolled roughly 50+ times to get an item for a specific body part. Not a specific item mind you, but literally a decent piece of armor for one part of my character's body. It made it exciting to get a decent item, especially as a fresh character, but once you reach the higher levels it gets a bit frustrating.

There is certainly more I could get into but I'd just be nitpicking at this point. My overall takeaway is that I wish there was more, which is a good problem to have for an early access game developed by a single person. I can see myself revisiting this every once in awhile and I believe with the right amount of improvements and expanded features that this could turn out to be an absolutely wonderful gem of a game. In its current state however, there are many things that could be improved and I couldn't wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone. If you feel like this sort of game is your type of thing then by all means go for it, I certainly got my moneys worth.

Victoria 3 at it's core is a tycoon game dressed in a fancy grand strategy outfit. Pick a nation, build it up from nothing and watch that GDP bar glide it's way up throughout the course of the game. That's really it, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a lot of fun. If you go in expecting to spend more time staring at the buildings screen and less contemplating your territorial expansion, then you'll probably enjoy this quite a bit.

GearCity is the holy grail of spreadsheet games.

I was originally going to write a lengthy review about how awesome this title is but it honestly speaks for itself if this sort of game catches your attention. It's the blacktar heroin of tycoons and once you've played it nothing will ever scratch the same itch. I'm not even a big car person and I could care less about the automotive industry but this game is truly in a league of it's own when it comes to creating a fun and compelling business experience.

Give it a go, you won't be disappointed.

I've only played this particular game for about 10 hours at the time of review, so I have yet to fully experience much of the mid and late game of this title. That being said, I am currently blown away by what I've experienced and felt compelled to write a review.

This is the game I would have assumed to have been way too good to be true. I would personally describe it as a hard sci-fi, post-apocalyptic 4x game built on a wargaming engine with RPG elements and a mini card game throw in for good measure, but it feels much broader than that. It might be the only game of its kind that will ever exist, and it's beautiful in its complexity and execution in every way. Where it's not beautiful is everywhere else, and what I mean by that is that this title is graphically ugly. The UI is actually pretty decent and once you know how to look for information (and there's a lot of it) everything is easy to find, but the visuals as a whole are quite lacking.

As far as gameplay goes, it's a blast once you figure out what you're doing. I played one game on a moon where at one point I lost thousands of troops protecting a brothel settlement right on the border of my empire and the only other major power on the map. The map was small and the overall population was quite sparse so this loss was significant. The brothel gave a +1 to troop morale per turn to troops stationed in the same zone as the hex however, so after holding it for several turns the troops were just as content as they were before the battle in no time. This is something I can say I've never experienced ever while playing a game. My troops were literally killing and dying for that moon poon, and I think that's amazing.

Another game had me on an Earth-like planet with a ton of hostile native life which decimated my early militia when I tried to fight it. Eventually I was able to thin the herd but this left me weak enough for my nearby enemies to swarm and eventually wipe me out. Even though I lost horribly I learned a lot and had fun doing it; I could learn from my strategic failures and go into my next game stronger then before. I can only imagine this will continue with time and I look forward to dumping an extreme amount of hours and mastering this title in the future. If it can make losing fun, then I can only imagine what finally winning will feel like.

This is absolutely not the game for everything, so take my positive review with a grain of salt if this sort of thing isn't for you. For those that like these sort of data-rich, decision packed games then I would 100% recommend you give it a go and see if you like it. It just hits so many notes for me, and it really is excellent in what it sets out to accomplish.

Pathologic 2 is a game unlike any I've ever played. Tight and generally polished from a technical perspective, but not easily described as a game in the traditional sense. I'm struggling to write a review but I feel compelled to do so after experiencing it, and if you've read other reviews you might know why.

There's this feeling of dread while you're playing, like you're stuck at the bottom of a sinking ship and with every floor you manage to ascend the ship sinks further. You feel helpless but oddly driven to carry on, each day adding to the immense pressure you're experiencing but also promising a slew of new answers and questions as you fight to save the city. The passage of time is what makes this game so unique, it looms over you with every passing minute. Every day you will struggle to survive, every day you will make decisions that have consequences far beyond what you originally anticipated.

There's so much I could say but this is something you should really experience for yourself. Go in blind, let whatever happens happen. I think I'm going to come out and just say it.

This game is a masterpiece, and you should absolutely play it all the way through at some point. It sticks with you, it might just stick with you forever.

This is an actual war crimes simulator, but in a good way