Recent reviews by RedfordGames

A great sequel to the first game!

Great game but, removed gender option from character creation for political brownie points.

Having a good time looting and shooting with this one.

I can do my part again! Sony is no longer requiring us to link our steam accounts to PSN. We did it! Updating back to positive. This truly is a great game and the community is united to make t/his an amazing experience.

Edit: 8/8/2024
1. Sony is still not allowing folks that can't get PSN accounts outside of country to purchase the product.
2. The devs keep nerfing everything into the ground. Very reactionary nerfs and quite frankly i'm tired of it. Its a PVE game, stop balancing and just focus on fun. Until the fun comes back, i'm out.

Edit: 09-17-2024
Though there are still folks that can't purchase the game due to Sony not allowing it, I will say a recent update has addressed most of my concerns about nerfing. The game feels really good to play again. If the devs continue to make the game fun like this my review will still stay positive with the note that Sony still sucks.

I didn't kill them because I had to. I killed them because it was fun.

This game is exactly what I was looking for in a space game. A simple and fun RPG in space.

Pros:
Great gunplay and side questing.
Decent story with a unique spin on new game plus
Tons of loot and plenty of play styles.
Great ship combat and plenty of ways to deal with your opponents.
I enjoyed the Side Characters and their stories for the most part. Had fun adventuring with most of them.
Base building and ship building and fun and meaningful.

Cons:
Tons of loading screens (if you download this to your main drive its not an issue, they are really short)
Some modern day politics, AKA choosing your body type, choosing pronouns and diversity check boxes checked. (Its a minor issue but, it seems like every big publisher is doing just because.)
Still has some glitches. Most were minor but they can be immersion breaking. (Lip syncing was off from time to time and NPC movement was not great sometimes.)
I had one hard crash. I could not recreate this and the auto saves are very generous.
Lackluster exploration. Its fine for what it can do but if you played No Man Sky or any other space game there is better

Conclusion:
If you like Bethesda games your going to like this one. If you don't then this won't change your mind.
Space Pirate for Life!

There is only The Emperor, and he is our shield and protector.

I’m doing my part!

(Edited 02/17/2022)
I loved this game. This was an enjoyable experience from start to finish. I have not 100% the game but, got the final cut-scene it was a decent grind but, it really was a fun experience.

Pros:
I enjoyed the story overall. The characters were really flushed out and felt real to the world you play in. The story quests leads to an epic confrontation with the big bad and a climatic finish to the story. I felt compelled to do all my class assignments and experience a lot of the side quests since they were all so interesting and unique.

The combat was a unique highlight as all the spells felt unique and help you string together some interesting combos for max damage. It is easy to learn but, difficult to master. The forbidden spells, if you choose to learn them, are some of the must OP spells in the game. They are the most rewarding to learn and use. However, even if you don't learn them the amount of useful combat and non combat spells you learn can give you a unique edge and all situations. Not to mention your characters plot armor spells that only they know are super powerful and basically a one shot for anyone you come across. All in all it is just a ton of fun to wreck some scrubs with all the spells you have at your disposal.

The open world and vast and unique. I was surprised that the game was so large and every area felt it has a story to share and was absolutely marvelous to look at. Even as someone that did not pay much attention to the books can appreciate the magic that goes into making everything you look at feel unique and alive.

For playing this game three days early, I was shocked on how well this game ran. I didn't have a single major crash or game breaking bug to report.

The immersion for the most part was top notch and I could really feel my self being absorbed into the Harry Potter universe. I watched the movies and read some of the books so I can say that this world gets a thumbs up on overall presentation of the lore and magic you experience.

The challenge system is very detailed and super helpful for you maximize the fun you can have. As the game actively rewards you for participating in any game mechanic you find your self doing. While giving you additional ways to test yourself in fun and meaningful ways. The rewards you receive are great as well. This can be in the form of cosmetics, xp or enhancements to your abilities.

Cons:
(Edited): Some of the performance issues have now been addressed and major and minor NPCs that disappeared for me are no longer gone.

There are other minor issues that have to deal with immersion that are small but enough to notice. The developers seemed to be very conscious of being diverse and inclusive but, it did not seem very historically accurate for the time game is set in. Like, why in the 1800s were the students and faculty so diverse and inclusive but, fast forward a 100 years to the books/ movies and the diversity is gone. To me that has ramifications I don't think the writers thought about. Also, all Ugandan wizards and witchs don't use wands and the spells are just as powerful. Why does no one adopt this line of magic casting if it is so good? They say its because it just feels more dramatic with a wand but, being able to use magic without a wand would make things way easier and more effective. Another issue I could not figure out for the life of me was the implication of a potential Trans bar keep. Though this did not make since as the 1800s were not known for transitioning people back in those times. This led me to believe its just an unfortunate woman with a males voice. (Edit: This immersion issue is easily fixed by switching languages before her scenes. The other dubs for this game give this character a female voice actress and she sounds much better this way) Also, people would not be very open about gay relationships as the 1800s were not very accommodating to those kind of people back in the day. I understand the developers want to make a game that feels like the world we live in today but, it does not feel immersive for the time frame, that is all.

The story has some issues with your choices not mattering to much. I was disappointed to realize that an evil play-through was determined by only one dialogue choice. Not to mention it just changes the end cut-scene in minor way. Yet you still act like a hero and are treated like a hero in the end. So none of the relationship quests, side quests, learning of the forbidden spells really matter in the grand scheme. (Edit: picking your house only changes the color of explosion at the end and the exclusive quest that you get for the house is shared with every other house just with a slightly different coat of paint.)

The combat felt clunky at times towards the later game as you can have four different magic slots with different spells in each. However you get four of these spell wheels and you have to pick the best magic slots you need for the situation. So you are switching out spell slots in the heat of combat while actively dodging, breaking shields, and keeping juggling going. If you are on an easier difficulty this may not matter as much but, the combat becomes pretty brain dead at that point. Which can be fine for some but, I feel it is clunkier are higher difficulties. I am will have to accept skill issues on my part but, still there is a lot manage for even a casual such as my self towards the later game.

In any open world game I do not like invisible barriers preventing me from exploring further. I much prefer the infinite scenery loops that other open world games have done. Also, some of the villages start feeling kind of the same after you visit the third random village on the map. Only a few of them I really understood why people would want to live there. The rest were different but, not different enough.

Conclusion:
Overall, this game is very fun. Beyond some technical issues, minor immersion problems and a flawed but fun combat system. This is a must recommend. You can spend hours enjoying the open world and seeing the secrets this game holds.

Edit: So they got split screen and we got firefight. A ton of new/ old game modes. Lets hope they keep this up. So its good for the price of free right now.