The difficulty modes are way too extreme in this mod in my opinion. It's honestly obnoxious. The expectations of the player are so unrealistic even for people who are good at the game. So, I recommend playing classic or expert, not revengeance or death, especially if you're playing for the first time. To play revengeance or death you need to be using the right loot for every single progression point in the game which requires game knowledge you have not obtained, and may not even obtain after one play-through because this mod adds a shit ton of stuff. You may not even finish a classic or expert mode playthrough there is so much to do, ... so playing on extreme difficulty is stupid. People who say "oh revengeance isn't that bad because they add new mechanics and weapons to balance it out" are smoking crack and have played terraria for 500+ hours minimum, don't listen to them.

Again this is obviously all opinion but I will die on this hill because as much as I enjoy this mod, it's my understanding that recommending people to play a high difficulty for a difficult and long mod in an already difficult and long game is braindead. Especially with the crazy boss re-works they just released. It's annoying that the mod overall difficulty and balance is changing over time, but that is something that happens in base Terraria too. It's hard to say if people who have rated the game highly from a past playthrough will always stand by their rating because this will be a whole different experience in 2 years time, just like it was completely different 2 years ago.

It's kinda unfortunate that base Terraria doesn't have some of the quality of life changes that this mod introduces, like infinite boss summons or crafting hermes boots or a horseshoe for example. I feel compelled to play this mod for all the crazy new additions, but revengeance is not the way, especially playing solo.

I'm also a little conflicted because I kind of combine calamity and other quality of life mods in my mind and forget that this is a review on just calamity, not calamity + other mods, so it's hard to say whether I would rather play base Terraria no mods or calamity with no quality of life mods. Overall, this mod definitely becomes equal to my feeling of normal Terraria because there are still bells and whistles to playing the game just like there are in normal Terraria, and there is still enough annoyance to rate it 7/10 instead of 9/10. Enough bloat for you to feel unreasonably confused or questioning why some parts of the mod were not combined because they are so similar or why some parts weren't cut altogether.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

Just replayed the game, been a year since I first played it. Completed the "true" ending of the game (artifact), watched a bunch of youtube interpretations of the game, and I have to say, this game is SAAAAAAAD. Like really, really sad (in a good way).

The endings are super quick and to the point, I expected a lot more extravagance, but I guess that's not it's style. I do wish the two most important characters had more to say to each other after, you know, Elster fights her way through fucking HELL ON EARTH (but it's not earth it's Leng and Rotfront and technically Vineta) to reach her soulmate. I guess an "I love you" makes it harder to carry out the promise (which I'm convinced the promise is for Elster to kill Ariane if she becomes too sickly) and we know they love each other through notes in the game and the one cutscene, but common man give us more of a payoff. That is my only real complaint about the game. The thing that makes me feel better about it is knowing how much time they spent together on the Penrose. 3000 cycles = 8.22 YEARS.

The fake ending is genius. Everyone who played the game knew that wasn't the end because it is the biggest cliffhanger of all time. I also really like the artifact ending, it takes on the idea of some otherworldly god pulling all the strings which makes a lot of sense in the context of this world. The artifact, a symbol of the safe manufacturer, holds all the puzzle pieces to bring Elsters' ambition to fruition. The most powerful entity in the game. The ever-looming red eye "a perfect metaphor for the ever-present surveillance by the Protektors and the tight grip of the central government", the violent storm on Rotfront, and a symbol of Ariane as she watches and guides her twisted dream or interpretation of reality. The idea of ███████ and the king in yellow.

It's storytelling is amazing. There are so many little details in the storytelling, but it's not one of those games that tries to tell a compelling story with other horseshit that has nothing to do with it tacked on. All of the notes and setting in the game is relevant and worth your time. It doesn't overstay it's welcome (unless you try to get all the endings). Getting the endings is a bit tedious, I recommend just playing through the game once and looking up the endings to be honest. Unless you really love strategizing it's mechanics.

It gives you enough details to understand what is going on without knowing everything in a way that makes it very mysterious. I love it when a game feels mysterious, even after the credits roll and you watch 2 hours of explanations about it. I completed the game like "huh???" and after watching videos I feel like I could have figured out the juicy details myself. All the clues are there.

Love the idea of these cyborgs who have the power of synchronicity/resonance. How the world/combat perfectly reflects this principle. Love the glitchy effects associated with it.

Combat is tuned to perfection (for this style/genre).

Something I also really want to praise is it's puzzles. They're not very difficult in retrospect, but god damn, are they structured, deliberate, well thought out, and interesting.

The whole game is so stylish, poetic, and beautiful. Great sound design and music (even if there are classical pieces and minimalist dark ambient music, it fits the game very well). The ominous hum when you stand in the cryogenic room and the creepy magpie signal are particularly awesome.

It's truly an art piece all to it's own. An experience that pulls you in and imprints itself in your mind even after the credits roll.

I'm so unbelievably split on this game. It is made for a specific type of person, the type of person who wants a very chill game play experience, enjoys trial and error, and doesn't mind there being no end to their play through. All of those things sound very boring to me, but I suppose that's my preference. Nevertheless, I will rate the game even though it's not made for me.

I can see how co-op with your significant other in this game is popular because it is in my opinion a game that appeals more to women. It's like a way to get them to play video games with you even if it's your not your first choice (speaking from a male perspective).

I can't help but feel after looking at this new 1.6 update for the game that the creator is sort of lost on what people are looking for as new features. This game has so many crazy cool mods that it is straight up 2x better with mods. Having a game with tons of mods is not a great sign imo. I will never hold back a low rating because "the mods save it". People shouldn't be expected to mod something to make the best version of the game.

It seems to me that players know what they want more than the creator, or have more ambition than the creator because it's one person who made this entire game. That's a lot of responsibility it's mind boggling to me.

Browse the mods for this game and you'll see what I mean.
https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/?BH=0

One I would never be able to play this game without is movement speed increase, the slow movement speed is really annoying. https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/2736
Yeah I get that you get a horse with a stable but that takes quite a while when you don't know what you're doing. And yes I know that you can drink coffee or eat food for a speed boost too.

Another issue I have is there are lots of wiki lookup moments because the game doesn't do a good job of explaining it's mechanics naturally through game play. For example how you have no idea what gifts npcs like or don't like. For that I use this mod https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/6564

The entire game is framed around either not caring what is most efficient or relying on the player to figure it out on your own. A methodology I hate to endorse.

The other thing I don't like which is again part of the appeal that doesn't appeal, is the game is so jam packed with shit, and a lot of the shit I don't really care about. The thing that does appeal to me in this game is variety in aesthetics, mechanics, and storytelling. Like oh I talk to this specific seller in the game to get this exotic plant, and now it is treated differently because it's a different plant. Or I chose this relationship and that led to a interesting event. Or I can make my house japanese themed. Or now since I neglected this relationship, something bad happened. Or I can have a ton of crazy animals and they all need to be cared for differently. Or I can cook this recipe because I farm x y z.

This game kind of just gives you options and you're left to draw your own conclusions, and my interpretation is then there is no conclusion/lesson/reason.

This game doesn't commit all the way, it holds back because the scope of what I am talking about is complicated. Or because it's made by one person. Or because it wants to be simple. Either way I wish it was different.