medbottle
2024
I am yet to play this - but I suppose a fair warning is in order.
They never finished their previous game (Craftopia) and they jumped to work into this one already.
That doesn't mean that Craftopia will stop getting updates, but the idea of publishing another early access open-world crafting survival game while the first one is still unfinished is a bit of bad taste.
However, I will play this - it looks fun regardless.
They never finished their previous game (Craftopia) and they jumped to work into this one already.
That doesn't mean that Craftopia will stop getting updates, but the idea of publishing another early access open-world crafting survival game while the first one is still unfinished is a bit of bad taste.
However, I will play this - it looks fun regardless.
2023
Having played the demo for this game before its release, I have to say I was very excited to actually manage a school. I absolutely adore these tycoon-management games, and the graphic style + the environment this one was set in did wonders to catch my attention.
Unfortunately, as soon as I played the demo, I found that this game was very much like others of its genre.
So, back when I was a little kid, there was this game me and my sister absolutely loved, called Theme Hospital. How is this relevant to the review, you ask? We will get there shortly. Theme Hospital, apparently, was very good; though I had no idea what a good game was at the time, but I loved Theme Hospital with passion. And, a few years back, I noticed a similar game called "Two Point Hospital" which also approached the hospital-tycoon style with a bit of a funny point of view. The diseases you had to treat were cartoonish, often very crazy-like and that was good. It kept the game new, not realistic, but surprising.
I don't remember much about Theme Hospital, I hardly remember the gameplay, but Two Point Hospital has a very "unique" gameplay. The building aspect of the game is a matter of organization and how much stuff you can fit inside one room. How does that work? Well...
Let's say you want a waiting room for your patients, you will make a box (or any other shape, if you are feeling brave) and add the essentials. The essentials change depending on the room you wanna make, so let's say here the essentials are basically the reception desk and seats. After adding that, you have the option of boosting its attractiveness. So, adding flower pots, water dispensers, posters, and windows will do that. So, what happens is, you have a room, and your room has little stats you can increase, and increasing those boost the productivity of said room - alongside making a few changes here and there.
Now imagine this for every other room. Examination Room, Nursery, Surgery Room, and so on and so forth. You will do this for every room that is not a hallway.
And while this is not bad per se, it gets tedious (to me). The game is basically broken into how much stuff you can fit inside a cubicle, and you can make that cubicle bigger if you want it to be even better (or until you unlock smaller objects that boost your stats even further for less space). On top of that, you will have your employees, who have their own set of stats and traits, which is good too. But in the end, it doesn't affect the game as much as you'd think. It basically affects their performance but nothing else. A trait can be called "lazy" and all it does is affect how fast they perform an action, it doesn't go beyond that. Mind you, this is an example, I don't really remember if there's a trait that does that.
But moving forward, Two Point released yet another game, called Two Point Campus - and look at that, it is quite similar to the game we are reviewing today! Two Point Campus has the same approach (with QoL of course) that its brother. Your objective here is to graduate your students, in a funny little environment with bizarre classes and all that.
Now, Let's School has this same approach to its game. It's a Two-Pointesque game at its core, or a "Facility Based" game. Whatever name you wanna give it, it has the same vibes as the two mentioned games. Though this is not bad, but in the long run it gets quite boring. You will take students from communities, often close or distant from your school, and you will teach them whatever they wanna graduate on - and you have four types of classes. Art, sports, science, and literature. So, in one class you might have students wanting to graduate in Arts and Sports, and in another, you will have some in Science and Literature.
Organization is key here, and so are your teachers, they also have their own set of stats. You will need "teachers" to handle administration, cafeterias, research, and so on. You have homeroom teachers for every class, and as you research new stuff, you unlock modules and actions that will help you in the long run of your school. So, in the end, it is a very simple game. Put good teachers to work, and get good grades, even if your students are bullies, I had no trouble getting them to behave and score A+ on their exams.
I wasn't expecting the game to be hard, mind you, but something I disliked a lot was definitely the Two-Pointesque thing. I don't like having to fill my small room with the same object only to boost my performance; I like to see my room looking good, cute, realistic even! I don't expect every object to be used, but I want them to feel unique to the place they are, and not a copy and paste of every other classroom (even if I tried to differentiate the rooms).
You will get random events happening in your school, however. Students can befriend one another, they can fall in love apparently, they will bully others, they will bring frogs to the classes, play video games and so on. You will be responsible for assigning a teacher to deal with it and... that's it. Their discipline stat will raise (to show they are behaving) and they will get a demerit. With three, you can expel them. But why would you do that? Well... I don't think there's a reason. A student who has been disciplined will keep doing what they want, I ended up having five students who kept gaming around and they had maybe six or so misconducts.
I didn't get far in the seven hours I played, stopping at the third research tree (there are four, as I write this), and while the game is good and I had fun playing it; I feel like there's a lot to improve here.
Unlike the previously mentioned games, I feel like the developers wanna try a bit of everything here, and that is good; I can ignore the district-building-whatever genre if the school feels like an actual school. It is being sold as a finished game (not early access) but the developers have already sent some hotfixes and I feel like the first week will be full of changes. They promised, too, new content and I think once the Workshop hits, a lot will change.
It is not a bad game, mind you, the art style is pretty cute, having to manage your teachers and all that can be relaxing if you are into it, and it is far easier than most management games. It gives you the opportunity to tweak the difficulty, if you so wish, but I think the point of the game is not exactly managing your school.
I will be playing Sandbox in the next few days and maybe I will edit this review with my experience there, but making a cool school seems like a plan, it has a lot of options to customize your institute and overall the general vibe of the game is good. I can see the developers are putting effort and I expect good things from this game in the future, but as it stands I don't feel that it should be called a "finished game".
A gem with rough corners or something. It is a good game, you can definitely spend time on it and it is not extremely expensive. I definitely can recommend it if you wanna handle a school, but don't expect much in regard to the "sim" part. Then again, I did not go far enough into the career mode to see how the rest of the game is affected by new research facilities, but Sandbox will probably answer most if not all of my questions.
I'd say you can fully enjoy this game as it is, just don't expect to invest a hundred hours into it like you can in other management games (Factorio, Rimworld, Crusader Kings 3... maybe?). It is also not fair to compare this one with others, as it is not fully fleshed out just yet.
Excited to see the next updates, so I will probably come back to this game within a few weeks.
Unfortunately, as soon as I played the demo, I found that this game was very much like others of its genre.
So, back when I was a little kid, there was this game me and my sister absolutely loved, called Theme Hospital. How is this relevant to the review, you ask? We will get there shortly. Theme Hospital, apparently, was very good; though I had no idea what a good game was at the time, but I loved Theme Hospital with passion. And, a few years back, I noticed a similar game called "Two Point Hospital" which also approached the hospital-tycoon style with a bit of a funny point of view. The diseases you had to treat were cartoonish, often very crazy-like and that was good. It kept the game new, not realistic, but surprising.
I don't remember much about Theme Hospital, I hardly remember the gameplay, but Two Point Hospital has a very "unique" gameplay. The building aspect of the game is a matter of organization and how much stuff you can fit inside one room. How does that work? Well...
Let's say you want a waiting room for your patients, you will make a box (or any other shape, if you are feeling brave) and add the essentials. The essentials change depending on the room you wanna make, so let's say here the essentials are basically the reception desk and seats. After adding that, you have the option of boosting its attractiveness. So, adding flower pots, water dispensers, posters, and windows will do that. So, what happens is, you have a room, and your room has little stats you can increase, and increasing those boost the productivity of said room - alongside making a few changes here and there.
Now imagine this for every other room. Examination Room, Nursery, Surgery Room, and so on and so forth. You will do this for every room that is not a hallway.
And while this is not bad per se, it gets tedious (to me). The game is basically broken into how much stuff you can fit inside a cubicle, and you can make that cubicle bigger if you want it to be even better (or until you unlock smaller objects that boost your stats even further for less space). On top of that, you will have your employees, who have their own set of stats and traits, which is good too. But in the end, it doesn't affect the game as much as you'd think. It basically affects their performance but nothing else. A trait can be called "lazy" and all it does is affect how fast they perform an action, it doesn't go beyond that. Mind you, this is an example, I don't really remember if there's a trait that does that.
But moving forward, Two Point released yet another game, called Two Point Campus - and look at that, it is quite similar to the game we are reviewing today! Two Point Campus has the same approach (with QoL of course) that its brother. Your objective here is to graduate your students, in a funny little environment with bizarre classes and all that.
Now, Let's School has this same approach to its game. It's a Two-Pointesque game at its core, or a "Facility Based" game. Whatever name you wanna give it, it has the same vibes as the two mentioned games. Though this is not bad, but in the long run it gets quite boring. You will take students from communities, often close or distant from your school, and you will teach them whatever they wanna graduate on - and you have four types of classes. Art, sports, science, and literature. So, in one class you might have students wanting to graduate in Arts and Sports, and in another, you will have some in Science and Literature.
Organization is key here, and so are your teachers, they also have their own set of stats. You will need "teachers" to handle administration, cafeterias, research, and so on. You have homeroom teachers for every class, and as you research new stuff, you unlock modules and actions that will help you in the long run of your school. So, in the end, it is a very simple game. Put good teachers to work, and get good grades, even if your students are bullies, I had no trouble getting them to behave and score A+ on their exams.
I wasn't expecting the game to be hard, mind you, but something I disliked a lot was definitely the Two-Pointesque thing. I don't like having to fill my small room with the same object only to boost my performance; I like to see my room looking good, cute, realistic even! I don't expect every object to be used, but I want them to feel unique to the place they are, and not a copy and paste of every other classroom (even if I tried to differentiate the rooms).
You will get random events happening in your school, however. Students can befriend one another, they can fall in love apparently, they will bully others, they will bring frogs to the classes, play video games and so on. You will be responsible for assigning a teacher to deal with it and... that's it. Their discipline stat will raise (to show they are behaving) and they will get a demerit. With three, you can expel them. But why would you do that? Well... I don't think there's a reason. A student who has been disciplined will keep doing what they want, I ended up having five students who kept gaming around and they had maybe six or so misconducts.
I didn't get far in the seven hours I played, stopping at the third research tree (there are four, as I write this), and while the game is good and I had fun playing it; I feel like there's a lot to improve here.
Unlike the previously mentioned games, I feel like the developers wanna try a bit of everything here, and that is good; I can ignore the district-building-whatever genre if the school feels like an actual school. It is being sold as a finished game (not early access) but the developers have already sent some hotfixes and I feel like the first week will be full of changes. They promised, too, new content and I think once the Workshop hits, a lot will change.
It is not a bad game, mind you, the art style is pretty cute, having to manage your teachers and all that can be relaxing if you are into it, and it is far easier than most management games. It gives you the opportunity to tweak the difficulty, if you so wish, but I think the point of the game is not exactly managing your school.
I will be playing Sandbox in the next few days and maybe I will edit this review with my experience there, but making a cool school seems like a plan, it has a lot of options to customize your institute and overall the general vibe of the game is good. I can see the developers are putting effort and I expect good things from this game in the future, but as it stands I don't feel that it should be called a "finished game".
A gem with rough corners or something. It is a good game, you can definitely spend time on it and it is not extremely expensive. I definitely can recommend it if you wanna handle a school, but don't expect much in regard to the "sim" part. Then again, I did not go far enough into the career mode to see how the rest of the game is affected by new research facilities, but Sandbox will probably answer most if not all of my questions.
I'd say you can fully enjoy this game as it is, just don't expect to invest a hundred hours into it like you can in other management games (Factorio, Rimworld, Crusader Kings 3... maybe?). It is also not fair to compare this one with others, as it is not fully fleshed out just yet.
Excited to see the next updates, so I will probably come back to this game within a few weeks.
This review contains spoilers
Fear & Hunger 2: Termina is the sequence to the first game, both created in the RPG maker engine and both made by Miro/Orange as he is called within the community. Termina takes place, however, quite a few years after the events of the first game, and where one is in a dark fantasy medieval place, this one happens around the period of 1940s.
I won't get too much into the lore of the F&H universe in general, because there are so few things that are actually confirmed and most of them are open to interpretation, so you can take your own spin on it. I will deal with a few spoilers for F&H2 here.
The game starts off by telling you to choose your character, there are eight to pick (as of 07/2023) and each of them is different from the other. The cast is bigger than the first game, having doubled and there are more coming out in the following few updates. In total, it is expected to have 14 characters to play.
If you have played the first game, the character selection will make you feel at home, you also get to pick their skills and by doing so, you get some backstory on them.
Once this is all done and you played/skipped the intro, you're finally thrown into the game of F&H2. You start in the train and once you get out, you get to meet all your fellow comrades. I won't go over the lore too much, but the general idea is that the game is supposed to be a battle royale for Rher, the Moon God. All participants got the same dream, even if not all of them are present outside the train - but everyone is aware of what needs to be done.
You are told to kill your fellow friends by the third day.
So, unlike the first game, sleeping in this game will cause time to advance, it will also allow you to save AND get new skills, using soul stones acquired from enemies. Getting soul stones is much easier in this game, but it also opens more room for every character. Some characters are way more robust in the early game, some are late-bloomers, and some are completely broken (Marcoh and O'saa). So, depending on the character you picked, you will have to play safe or go wild; and like the first game, you are expected to die a lot.
I died quite a lot in my first playthrough, having to reset many times to deal with the initial phase of the game, which is exploring and getting to know the place. I didn't want to really advance time because when time progresses, something terrible happens. Not only are you getting close to the end of the game (aka Day Four), but the other participants also have events happen to them, like getting turned into a monster or simply having their head smashed/ripped off/shot by other participants/monsters. Usually these events happen around day 2, but I was not aware of it, and kept myself somewhat 'stuck' on day one until I got comfortable with the village.
Once you find the best path and how to deal with enemies, the initial area is relatively easy, but then you are thrown into other places, like the sewers and Bunker 7, where you find a friend and also a "friend". Like the first game, this one will contain disturbing scenes, but what I liked here is that it didn't appeal to the shocking value.
Something I didn't like and still doesn't like about "dark fantasy" games or media, in general, is the use of sexual abuse and rape, and if you've played the first one, you are aware of such things. It is a meme within the community, and while I don't honestly see a problem in that, it is undeniable that "being raped" is one of the reasons this game got popular.
Nonetheless, unlike other media that I am also not a fan of but I still recognize them as good, I think Miro did a good job in the second game. It is not the focus, it is hardly mentioned (if ever), and I like to think Miro as well didn't want the game to be remembered as "lose and you get your ass fucked".
While some sexual aspects, nudity and genitals are still within the game, it was toned down a lot and I feel it was much more shocking than seeing your character get their butts fucked. But this is just a nitpick of mine, F&H1 is not bad because of it, nor is F&H2 better because of the lack of said scenes.
The scenes in F&H2 are much more shocking to me, and I like that. The few instakills I got were disturbing enough to make me never slack around said enemies. But despite having instakills quite around, this game feels much, much more easier than its sibling. You are given a bigger world to explore, after all, so Miro handed out a few goods to keep you alive, because killing you everytime is not good - especially since saving is scarce here.
Anyway, once you are past the initial village, you enter the city - and this is where the fun begins. It is a whole new area to explore, and this is where you will want to pass the days, because most if not all of the events happen around here. And if you don't see them and act, you will lose participants and potentially party members. Talking about party members, let's quickly go over what they do and what they don't do.
They are helpful, each of them coming with a few handpicked skills and besides ONE party member, all of them are useful. Karin can open doors, Marina can engrave, O'saa is a tremendous hitter, and so is Marcoh, and Abella can carry you through the whole game if you let her. Levi, however, is trash unless you revive him with Daan.
So, what's the deal with Levi? Well. He's addicted to drugs, and unless you are constantly feeding him with needles, he will mostly be a punching bag for enemies. He can be helpful, sure, he is still better than a ghoul, but you don't want him around.
Talking about needles, there is someone you should meet, which is one aspect I really liked about F&H2. You are not safe, even if you think you are. Needles is a famous enemy that happens to chase the player around if they get too cocky, and running into him can be the end of your run - alongside Bobbys in the city and the Mob.
So, the city is much more dangerous than the village, but still doable, it is not unfair, but it isn't entirely fair either. If you didn't get it, this game does not reward you at all for fighting. You don't get EXP, and you don't often get soul stones. Fights are dangerous unless you're well equipped and there's always a chance you get ganked by some people.
So, here is a brief summary. The gameplay is perfect, it requires a bit of strategy, and you are expected to die a few times. You are expected to walk around without an arm or a leg, and you are also expected to kill your fellow members.
Why? Because that's what Termina is all about. It is a battle royale, and the only fights you're 100% rewarded for are the ones you murder your friends. Not only do you get their equipment (which might or may not be helpful), you get their souls, allowing you to learn their skills. You can also chop their heads off and trade them with Pocketcat, someone you might remember from the first game.
And no, you can't save them all and yourself. The "best ending" requires at least your character to sacrifice themselves.
Okay, so you got what F&H2 is all about. Kill your friends (or don't), survive a big scary city, and wait until the third day.
Now, this game has three different endings, one of them will require you to explore the game a bit, and it goes off-rails with the whole Termina Festival thing. The other two are closely related to the festival, asking you to kill your friends.
So, for ending A, you will discover along the game that something bizarre is going on. The bunkers, the weird technology, the mystery, they all lead to this big door in the depths of the museum, which takes you to yet another hidden bunker. Once you're inside the "white bunker" as it is called, there is no going back.
You and your party explore this place, and you discover Kaiser, a man dressed in yellow who is the leader of the army invading the city you are in. He tells you about creating a god out of technology, the Machine God, so to speak. The Gods had forsaken humanity, and the new gods were too weak to do anything. If you played the first game, you would RECOGNIZE this man as Le'garde. What happened to him is up to interpretation, however, but it is definitely him.
You fight him eventually after his explanation, and you meet the Machine God. Another fight with yet another divine being and what happens is... you are absorbed by it, you become part of it, and she soothes you by telling you everything is fine.
So, the Machine God is a god made by humans, to care for humanity, and when you finally set her free - so does the festival end.
As for the other endings, they both involve the Moon God, and the revelation that Rher is actually gone. What you see, and what the antagonist uses to fuel his power, are but traces of him.
The main villain explains to you that the last few festivals were, in fact, used to further the plans of his cult and master, the Sulfur God, which is basically Satan. The Sulfur God is not talked about much, but he is clearly the counterpart to All-mer (basically Jesus). The Festivals are used to choose souls to serve him and just sacrifice in his name, in general.
So, depending on the ending, you will fight this handsome antagonist and the moon, and escape the festival alive - but with memories that will never fade...
Or you will be sacrificed to the Sulfur God.
Both endings are lacking, and it is a letdown towards the game's premise. Sure, the plot twist that Rher is dead did catch me and I loved it - but hearing that it was actually a plan to take Satan out of his pit? I didn't like that.
I'm sure Orange/Miro has some plans for him, and it was nice to see another God introduced. Don't get me wrong, the Sulfur God is not a bad thing, but I feel the way he was shown was lacking. Why would the Termina Festival (which is hosted for Rher) be used as a 'cover' for the Sulfur God? From what the villain says, the Old Gods are gone, and it's not like the participants actually wanted to be part of Termina; they were forced to.
So, why the cover-up? Did the villain think people wouldn't want to play his game if they knew it was actually a festival for the Sulfur God? Or was he fearing other cults to try and take him down for worshipping a god which is, from my point of view, "bad and evil", one that should be forgotten, one that is taboo even within the other cults (who are just as bad)?
Nonetheless, the OST of this game is fantastic, and so is the ambiance. Miro clearly took inspiration from Silent Hill and a few other games, and he certainly didn't lose his touch with the art style or the sprite work. The design of the enemies (in particular Bobby) kept the essence of the first game, and the Lovecraftian Horror was tuned to a max, even if the endings were unsatisfying for me.
Though, one thing that disappointed me was that you really don't get to know much about your character if you play as them. In my eyes, they are just an empty shell, with few moments where they actually truly shine through, well, the character. Of course, I won't ask Miro to change every dialogue and make it unique to all characters, but there are a lot of things you don't truly see about them. There are unique scenes, of course, but they are so rare and specific that... they don't fill the void in my soul, I want more, I NEED more.
Despite that, this game will go down as one of my favorites of 2023, and I expect to play it quite a few times until the end of this year. I do hope there are some S-Endings as there were in the first game.
I am excited to see what Miro is planning.
Happy suffering!
I won't get too much into the lore of the F&H universe in general, because there are so few things that are actually confirmed and most of them are open to interpretation, so you can take your own spin on it. I will deal with a few spoilers for F&H2 here.
The game starts off by telling you to choose your character, there are eight to pick (as of 07/2023) and each of them is different from the other. The cast is bigger than the first game, having doubled and there are more coming out in the following few updates. In total, it is expected to have 14 characters to play.
If you have played the first game, the character selection will make you feel at home, you also get to pick their skills and by doing so, you get some backstory on them.
Once this is all done and you played/skipped the intro, you're finally thrown into the game of F&H2. You start in the train and once you get out, you get to meet all your fellow comrades. I won't go over the lore too much, but the general idea is that the game is supposed to be a battle royale for Rher, the Moon God. All participants got the same dream, even if not all of them are present outside the train - but everyone is aware of what needs to be done.
You are told to kill your fellow friends by the third day.
So, unlike the first game, sleeping in this game will cause time to advance, it will also allow you to save AND get new skills, using soul stones acquired from enemies. Getting soul stones is much easier in this game, but it also opens more room for every character. Some characters are way more robust in the early game, some are late-bloomers, and some are completely broken (Marcoh and O'saa). So, depending on the character you picked, you will have to play safe or go wild; and like the first game, you are expected to die a lot.
I died quite a lot in my first playthrough, having to reset many times to deal with the initial phase of the game, which is exploring and getting to know the place. I didn't want to really advance time because when time progresses, something terrible happens. Not only are you getting close to the end of the game (aka Day Four), but the other participants also have events happen to them, like getting turned into a monster or simply having their head smashed/ripped off/shot by other participants/monsters. Usually these events happen around day 2, but I was not aware of it, and kept myself somewhat 'stuck' on day one until I got comfortable with the village.
Once you find the best path and how to deal with enemies, the initial area is relatively easy, but then you are thrown into other places, like the sewers and Bunker 7, where you find a friend and also a "friend". Like the first game, this one will contain disturbing scenes, but what I liked here is that it didn't appeal to the shocking value.
Something I didn't like and still doesn't like about "dark fantasy" games or media, in general, is the use of sexual abuse and rape, and if you've played the first one, you are aware of such things. It is a meme within the community, and while I don't honestly see a problem in that, it is undeniable that "being raped" is one of the reasons this game got popular.
Nonetheless, unlike other media that I am also not a fan of but I still recognize them as good, I think Miro did a good job in the second game. It is not the focus, it is hardly mentioned (if ever), and I like to think Miro as well didn't want the game to be remembered as "lose and you get your ass fucked".
While some sexual aspects, nudity and genitals are still within the game, it was toned down a lot and I feel it was much more shocking than seeing your character get their butts fucked. But this is just a nitpick of mine, F&H1 is not bad because of it, nor is F&H2 better because of the lack of said scenes.
The scenes in F&H2 are much more shocking to me, and I like that. The few instakills I got were disturbing enough to make me never slack around said enemies. But despite having instakills quite around, this game feels much, much more easier than its sibling. You are given a bigger world to explore, after all, so Miro handed out a few goods to keep you alive, because killing you everytime is not good - especially since saving is scarce here.
Anyway, once you are past the initial village, you enter the city - and this is where the fun begins. It is a whole new area to explore, and this is where you will want to pass the days, because most if not all of the events happen around here. And if you don't see them and act, you will lose participants and potentially party members. Talking about party members, let's quickly go over what they do and what they don't do.
They are helpful, each of them coming with a few handpicked skills and besides ONE party member, all of them are useful. Karin can open doors, Marina can engrave, O'saa is a tremendous hitter, and so is Marcoh, and Abella can carry you through the whole game if you let her. Levi, however, is trash unless you revive him with Daan.
So, what's the deal with Levi? Well. He's addicted to drugs, and unless you are constantly feeding him with needles, he will mostly be a punching bag for enemies. He can be helpful, sure, he is still better than a ghoul, but you don't want him around.
Talking about needles, there is someone you should meet, which is one aspect I really liked about F&H2. You are not safe, even if you think you are. Needles is a famous enemy that happens to chase the player around if they get too cocky, and running into him can be the end of your run - alongside Bobbys in the city and the Mob.
So, the city is much more dangerous than the village, but still doable, it is not unfair, but it isn't entirely fair either. If you didn't get it, this game does not reward you at all for fighting. You don't get EXP, and you don't often get soul stones. Fights are dangerous unless you're well equipped and there's always a chance you get ganked by some people.
So, here is a brief summary. The gameplay is perfect, it requires a bit of strategy, and you are expected to die a few times. You are expected to walk around without an arm or a leg, and you are also expected to kill your fellow members.
Why? Because that's what Termina is all about. It is a battle royale, and the only fights you're 100% rewarded for are the ones you murder your friends. Not only do you get their equipment (which might or may not be helpful), you get their souls, allowing you to learn their skills. You can also chop their heads off and trade them with Pocketcat, someone you might remember from the first game.
And no, you can't save them all and yourself. The "best ending" requires at least your character to sacrifice themselves.
Okay, so you got what F&H2 is all about. Kill your friends (or don't), survive a big scary city, and wait until the third day.
Now, this game has three different endings, one of them will require you to explore the game a bit, and it goes off-rails with the whole Termina Festival thing. The other two are closely related to the festival, asking you to kill your friends.
So, for ending A, you will discover along the game that something bizarre is going on. The bunkers, the weird technology, the mystery, they all lead to this big door in the depths of the museum, which takes you to yet another hidden bunker. Once you're inside the "white bunker" as it is called, there is no going back.
You and your party explore this place, and you discover Kaiser, a man dressed in yellow who is the leader of the army invading the city you are in. He tells you about creating a god out of technology, the Machine God, so to speak. The Gods had forsaken humanity, and the new gods were too weak to do anything. If you played the first game, you would RECOGNIZE this man as Le'garde. What happened to him is up to interpretation, however, but it is definitely him.
You fight him eventually after his explanation, and you meet the Machine God. Another fight with yet another divine being and what happens is... you are absorbed by it, you become part of it, and she soothes you by telling you everything is fine.
So, the Machine God is a god made by humans, to care for humanity, and when you finally set her free - so does the festival end.
As for the other endings, they both involve the Moon God, and the revelation that Rher is actually gone. What you see, and what the antagonist uses to fuel his power, are but traces of him.
The main villain explains to you that the last few festivals were, in fact, used to further the plans of his cult and master, the Sulfur God, which is basically Satan. The Sulfur God is not talked about much, but he is clearly the counterpart to All-mer (basically Jesus). The Festivals are used to choose souls to serve him and just sacrifice in his name, in general.
So, depending on the ending, you will fight this handsome antagonist and the moon, and escape the festival alive - but with memories that will never fade...
Or you will be sacrificed to the Sulfur God.
Both endings are lacking, and it is a letdown towards the game's premise. Sure, the plot twist that Rher is dead did catch me and I loved it - but hearing that it was actually a plan to take Satan out of his pit? I didn't like that.
I'm sure Orange/Miro has some plans for him, and it was nice to see another God introduced. Don't get me wrong, the Sulfur God is not a bad thing, but I feel the way he was shown was lacking. Why would the Termina Festival (which is hosted for Rher) be used as a 'cover' for the Sulfur God? From what the villain says, the Old Gods are gone, and it's not like the participants actually wanted to be part of Termina; they were forced to.
So, why the cover-up? Did the villain think people wouldn't want to play his game if they knew it was actually a festival for the Sulfur God? Or was he fearing other cults to try and take him down for worshipping a god which is, from my point of view, "bad and evil", one that should be forgotten, one that is taboo even within the other cults (who are just as bad)?
Nonetheless, the OST of this game is fantastic, and so is the ambiance. Miro clearly took inspiration from Silent Hill and a few other games, and he certainly didn't lose his touch with the art style or the sprite work. The design of the enemies (in particular Bobby) kept the essence of the first game, and the Lovecraftian Horror was tuned to a max, even if the endings were unsatisfying for me.
Though, one thing that disappointed me was that you really don't get to know much about your character if you play as them. In my eyes, they are just an empty shell, with few moments where they actually truly shine through, well, the character. Of course, I won't ask Miro to change every dialogue and make it unique to all characters, but there are a lot of things you don't truly see about them. There are unique scenes, of course, but they are so rare and specific that... they don't fill the void in my soul, I want more, I NEED more.
Despite that, this game will go down as one of my favorites of 2023, and I expect to play it quite a few times until the end of this year. I do hope there are some S-Endings as there were in the first game.
I am excited to see what Miro is planning.
Happy suffering!
2023
I am unsure if I am fit to write a review about this game, given my short playtime - but nonetheless, here is what my mind palace has decided upon.
Sailing Era is a game that focuses on travelling the world and exploring uncharted islands and ports across the globe. You can sail the seas and explore islands, forests, ruins, mountains and so on. You get to play with some characters from different parts of the world, from China to Portugal, and each of them with their own set of skills and personalities.
While all of that sounds promising, it pains me to say that there's nothing more to it than that. The tutorial guides you through some of the game's core mechanics (and let me tell you, that the tutorial is a pain in the ass) and you can quickly notice how... well, boring the rest of the game is.
While this may be true for a lot of games that focus on exploration, travelling and delivering products, I think Sailing Era just tried to be a lot of things at once and it did not have success in any of them. There is ship combat AND melee combat, but I only managed to see the sword combat once, and never again.
There are a few issues too with the translation of the game, which do not come as a big issue to me - it is quite normal for Chinese/Korean games nowadays - so I don't think it'd be all too fair to mention them here, but oopsie, I mentioned them anyway. It's not a big problem for me, though.
Still, take this with a grain of salt - I have not played more than 4 hours of this game, and for the moment I do not want to nor do I intend to. The art style and OSTs are quite good, and I feel this is just not the game for me.
I hope that in the future someone will review this game better than I did, but unfortunately, Sailing Era is just not the game for me, and I don't think it will be for most people.
Sailing Era is a game that focuses on travelling the world and exploring uncharted islands and ports across the globe. You can sail the seas and explore islands, forests, ruins, mountains and so on. You get to play with some characters from different parts of the world, from China to Portugal, and each of them with their own set of skills and personalities.
While all of that sounds promising, it pains me to say that there's nothing more to it than that. The tutorial guides you through some of the game's core mechanics (and let me tell you, that the tutorial is a pain in the ass) and you can quickly notice how... well, boring the rest of the game is.
While this may be true for a lot of games that focus on exploration, travelling and delivering products, I think Sailing Era just tried to be a lot of things at once and it did not have success in any of them. There is ship combat AND melee combat, but I only managed to see the sword combat once, and never again.
There are a few issues too with the translation of the game, which do not come as a big issue to me - it is quite normal for Chinese/Korean games nowadays - so I don't think it'd be all too fair to mention them here, but oopsie, I mentioned them anyway. It's not a big problem for me, though.
Still, take this with a grain of salt - I have not played more than 4 hours of this game, and for the moment I do not want to nor do I intend to. The art style and OSTs are quite good, and I feel this is just not the game for me.
I hope that in the future someone will review this game better than I did, but unfortunately, Sailing Era is just not the game for me, and I don't think it will be for most people.
2023
This will go down as perhaps the most controversial game of this year.
Hogwarts Legacy, however, found a place in my heart in the first 2 hours of gameplay. My expectations for this game were not high, mind you, I already knew it would have mid gameplay and mid story, but HL managed to capture what no other game did.
It is a faithful adaptation of the Harry Potter universe, with references to the books now and then on every corner. The magic and spells are no stranger to fans, with many known spells from the books making it's way to your arsenal.
However, the combat is somewhat chaotic, which might be good or bad depending on the type of fan you are. There is a lot of shield-breaking which is somewhat popular in WB games, and I do not mind that at all - however, I think it did not fit a magic game at all - and the game is basically a "counter game" much like the Arkham games and, again, Shadow of Mordor.
What maintained me playing for so long was the worldbuilding. The game adds basically nothing to the gaming industry, you will be collecting things around the world, the "RPG part" of this game sucks completely, and there are not many enemies to fight, but despite it all, Hogwarts Legacy is a fantastic experience for the average fan.
I think it's worth noting too that most characters failed to have an interesting participation in the story, which is disappointing. The teachers, unfortunately, are there just to teach you a spell or two, your companions have their own questlines but only one of them has a very interesting ending and the world doesn't feel that alive.
Sure, you can find a lot of funny events around Hogwarts itself, but compare this game to, say, Red Dead Redemption 2. God, it's almost an insult. I really wish both Hogwarts AND the world outside had more events going on, more people to find,more students wandering around, but alas, WB has failed me a couple of times in that aspect.
Long story short: First experience was very amazing. Won't 100% it too soon due to how boring and annoying it is to travel the world fighting EVERY enemy, getting EVERY page and doing EVERY sidequest (which are not bad per se) like in previous Arkham/Mordor games.
I still recommend this fully, if you enjoy the books/movies, you will most likely enjoy this game that's been bombed by reviews.
Hogwarts Legacy, however, found a place in my heart in the first 2 hours of gameplay. My expectations for this game were not high, mind you, I already knew it would have mid gameplay and mid story, but HL managed to capture what no other game did.
It is a faithful adaptation of the Harry Potter universe, with references to the books now and then on every corner. The magic and spells are no stranger to fans, with many known spells from the books making it's way to your arsenal.
However, the combat is somewhat chaotic, which might be good or bad depending on the type of fan you are. There is a lot of shield-breaking which is somewhat popular in WB games, and I do not mind that at all - however, I think it did not fit a magic game at all - and the game is basically a "counter game" much like the Arkham games and, again, Shadow of Mordor.
What maintained me playing for so long was the worldbuilding. The game adds basically nothing to the gaming industry, you will be collecting things around the world, the "RPG part" of this game sucks completely, and there are not many enemies to fight, but despite it all, Hogwarts Legacy is a fantastic experience for the average fan.
I think it's worth noting too that most characters failed to have an interesting participation in the story, which is disappointing. The teachers, unfortunately, are there just to teach you a spell or two, your companions have their own questlines but only one of them has a very interesting ending and the world doesn't feel that alive.
Sure, you can find a lot of funny events around Hogwarts itself, but compare this game to, say, Red Dead Redemption 2. God, it's almost an insult. I really wish both Hogwarts AND the world outside had more events going on, more people to find,more students wandering around, but alas, WB has failed me a couple of times in that aspect.
Long story short: First experience was very amazing. Won't 100% it too soon due to how boring and annoying it is to travel the world fighting EVERY enemy, getting EVERY page and doing EVERY sidequest (which are not bad per se) like in previous Arkham/Mordor games.
I still recommend this fully, if you enjoy the books/movies, you will most likely enjoy this game that's been bombed by reviews.
2015
This review contains spoilers
The first review of 2023 and also the first game I finished will go to Bloodborne.
I will start by saying the things I didn't like in this game - because it is a game almost perfect enough for me to not even dislike anything about it. From Software is indeed famous for making hard games - as everyone is aware - and Bloodborne is no different. However! In my own personal opinion, the limited amount of Health Flasks (and even bullets) is somewhat a bad design. "But you can just farm them very easily in many parts of the game!" And while that is true, I do not like to do so. It reminds me of Demon's Souls, where you also had a limited amount of health items - and let me tell you, it was a PAIN. Limited health items paired with hard bosses AND difficult sessions are bad design. I have to praise the Estus Flasks from Dark Souls (and now Elden Ring), because they definitely saved us a lot of time farming souls just to try and kill the boss again.
Another thing I did not like is the lack of items. I did not have enough time to explore the game fully, because I was playing at someone's else house and I had like 2 weeks to finish it - but throughout the game, I did not find many weapons nor many outfits. You can easily finish the game using the initial weapons and outfits, and while this is not a flaw - it is in the aspect that I liked the game's design so much that I wanted to see more clothes, more weapons, and more guns! :)
With that out of the way, I am 100% able to say that, in my experience with From Software, this is their best game. I am very biased toward Lovecraft and Victorian Era, so bear that in mind.
The aesthetic of this game hits the spot immediately after you exit the clinic at the beginning of the game, you walk through this nightmarish city, filled with beasts and unimaginable horrors - and you, as a hunter, need to hunt. You become stronger with the help of a creepy but comforting doll, and a strange old man helps you in your journey. Those are, mostly, your only friends - with few exceptions of NPCs you can find around the game. Some are friendly, others are not.
I don't think I need to praise more the design, so let's go over the combat. I have NOT played Dark Souls 3, but I WANT to say this is by far the most aggressive game (I will not include Sekiro on this) - because of the mechanic where you can regain health by hitting enemies when you get hit, and also shooting them just before they attack. This alone makes this game much, much more entertaining. Beasts and even humans are vulnerable to this, and you can quickly end a fight that you were having a shit ton of trouble just with two to three of these (with exception of bosses, I guess). The trick weapons are also a great addition, and while I did not do any of the PVP content, I want to say that the hunters you find around are quite troublesome because of this. But once you get the hang of it, my boy, it's amazing.
There is a good mixture of humanoid bosses and beast bosses, so if you like to fight with enemies of the same size instead of giant abominations, you will find a few of them. Though there are like 3 or 4, the fights are very memorable, a hunter is a hunter even in a dream, after all.
This a nitpick of mine, but the Forbidden Forest is by far the worst section of the game - but From Software seems to love forests filled with poison, so I will let them pass. But even then, the forest itself has a very nice ambiance, enough to give you the creeps.
And when you think you saw enough, you kill Rom, and the game you knew is changed drastically - the illusion of the world is broken and you see Bloodborne for what it truly is. An eldritch horror. This will be the only spoiler - so fret not. But if you're reading this, I assume you've already finished this 2015 game a couple of times.
Anyway. There is a lot more I'd like to add to this review, but unfortunately I don't think I will be able to - since exploration for me was quite short and I COULDN'T finish everything I wanted. I have not played the DLCs either, but alas... it happens. The game is shrouded with mystery, so I will not comment much on the lore either - but from the little bits I saw, I can say it is very inspired by Lovecraft and From Software did a good job with it. This is one of the games I forgive for not telling you much and leaving a lot of questions - just because it is heavily inspired by the works of H.P.
Never explain anything.
Thank you, good hunters, for reading this. And I hope this review can remind you of how good this game is, or bring new hunters to the night. Farewell.
I will start by saying the things I didn't like in this game - because it is a game almost perfect enough for me to not even dislike anything about it. From Software is indeed famous for making hard games - as everyone is aware - and Bloodborne is no different. However! In my own personal opinion, the limited amount of Health Flasks (and even bullets) is somewhat a bad design. "But you can just farm them very easily in many parts of the game!" And while that is true, I do not like to do so. It reminds me of Demon's Souls, where you also had a limited amount of health items - and let me tell you, it was a PAIN. Limited health items paired with hard bosses AND difficult sessions are bad design. I have to praise the Estus Flasks from Dark Souls (and now Elden Ring), because they definitely saved us a lot of time farming souls just to try and kill the boss again.
Another thing I did not like is the lack of items. I did not have enough time to explore the game fully, because I was playing at someone's else house and I had like 2 weeks to finish it - but throughout the game, I did not find many weapons nor many outfits. You can easily finish the game using the initial weapons and outfits, and while this is not a flaw - it is in the aspect that I liked the game's design so much that I wanted to see more clothes, more weapons, and more guns! :)
With that out of the way, I am 100% able to say that, in my experience with From Software, this is their best game. I am very biased toward Lovecraft and Victorian Era, so bear that in mind.
The aesthetic of this game hits the spot immediately after you exit the clinic at the beginning of the game, you walk through this nightmarish city, filled with beasts and unimaginable horrors - and you, as a hunter, need to hunt. You become stronger with the help of a creepy but comforting doll, and a strange old man helps you in your journey. Those are, mostly, your only friends - with few exceptions of NPCs you can find around the game. Some are friendly, others are not.
I don't think I need to praise more the design, so let's go over the combat. I have NOT played Dark Souls 3, but I WANT to say this is by far the most aggressive game (I will not include Sekiro on this) - because of the mechanic where you can regain health by hitting enemies when you get hit, and also shooting them just before they attack. This alone makes this game much, much more entertaining. Beasts and even humans are vulnerable to this, and you can quickly end a fight that you were having a shit ton of trouble just with two to three of these (with exception of bosses, I guess). The trick weapons are also a great addition, and while I did not do any of the PVP content, I want to say that the hunters you find around are quite troublesome because of this. But once you get the hang of it, my boy, it's amazing.
There is a good mixture of humanoid bosses and beast bosses, so if you like to fight with enemies of the same size instead of giant abominations, you will find a few of them. Though there are like 3 or 4, the fights are very memorable, a hunter is a hunter even in a dream, after all.
This a nitpick of mine, but the Forbidden Forest is by far the worst section of the game - but From Software seems to love forests filled with poison, so I will let them pass. But even then, the forest itself has a very nice ambiance, enough to give you the creeps.
And when you think you saw enough, you kill Rom, and the game you knew is changed drastically - the illusion of the world is broken and you see Bloodborne for what it truly is. An eldritch horror. This will be the only spoiler - so fret not. But if you're reading this, I assume you've already finished this 2015 game a couple of times.
Anyway. There is a lot more I'd like to add to this review, but unfortunately I don't think I will be able to - since exploration for me was quite short and I COULDN'T finish everything I wanted. I have not played the DLCs either, but alas... it happens. The game is shrouded with mystery, so I will not comment much on the lore either - but from the little bits I saw, I can say it is very inspired by Lovecraft and From Software did a good job with it. This is one of the games I forgive for not telling you much and leaving a lot of questions - just because it is heavily inspired by the works of H.P.
Never explain anything.
Thank you, good hunters, for reading this. And I hope this review can remind you of how good this game is, or bring new hunters to the night. Farewell.
TBD
Um jogo que está em desenvolvimento quando alguns de nós erámos apenas adolescentes ainda. O "GTA Brasileiro" é uma proposta incrível que, nas mãos certas, seria um ótimo jogo.
Entretanto, uma empresa indie mal tem recursos para criar um jogo de tal escala - e lançando ele em early access só mostrou o quão verdade é isso. Esse jogo definitivamente não tem potencial ALGUM para ser o que promete e prometeu.
Comparando com o trailer 2015, você consegue ver apenas poucas mudanças no jogo de antes com o jogo de agora. Eu lamento em dizer que 171 é um jogo que morrerá como um fracasso.
Mas não era de se esperar, afinal receber o título de GTA Brasileiro vem com expectativas no talo.
Apesar de tudo, eu acredito que a ambientação do jogo foi em cheio - a cidade realmente lembra muito o Rio de Janeiro, então acho que temos que bater palmas para isso.
Não comprem 171.
Entretanto, uma empresa indie mal tem recursos para criar um jogo de tal escala - e lançando ele em early access só mostrou o quão verdade é isso. Esse jogo definitivamente não tem potencial ALGUM para ser o que promete e prometeu.
Comparando com o trailer 2015, você consegue ver apenas poucas mudanças no jogo de antes com o jogo de agora. Eu lamento em dizer que 171 é um jogo que morrerá como um fracasso.
Mas não era de se esperar, afinal receber o título de GTA Brasileiro vem com expectativas no talo.
Apesar de tudo, eu acredito que a ambientação do jogo foi em cheio - a cidade realmente lembra muito o Rio de Janeiro, então acho que temos que bater palmas para isso.
Não comprem 171.
2019
This review contains spoilers
Having played the vanilla Persona 5 when it was released and now I have the opportunity to experience the Royal edition, I couldn't miss it.
However, I have to say that despite my love for Shin Megami Tensei (and consequently the Persona series), this one is more or less a downgrade from the original game.
Nonetheless, it is wise to start with the pros of the game in general. I will review Persona 5 as a whole and the additions of Royal as well.
The basic thing is how smooth the combat and the mechanics are compared to its older brother (Persona 4), when this game was released, it revived one of the best RPGs I ever played in its glory. The combat mechanics in the previous games are not the best, and even some of the newest Shin Megami Tensei series still lacks a lot of the charm this game has. Royal adds even more things to the table, with special moves and a lot of quality of life changes.
Another thing we should mention is how the art design in general is top-notch here. The game passes an amazing vibe of Japan and the theme in general. I'd go as far as to say every Phantom Thief is very unique in this regard with one exception, which I will cover later on in this review. From Joker to Akechi, both attires are unique and reflect a lot of the characters themselves - even if Joker's personality is, in a way, 'dull' given how their personality is more of what the player wants it to be.
Most of the characters are indeed pretty interesting, some with very good motives and others falling flat - and I don't think that's intended. I'd go as far as to say that's the writers' (or the director's) fault. While some of them started off with a good hook, it really dies very quickly as the game progresses, both the main plot and social links. I will go as far as to add that Director Hashino is not very good at writing female characters, and it shows in most games how awful he is at it. I won't go in full to explain which characters are affected by this, since it is something quite obvious within the Megaten community.
However, despite this, I still believe the game to be enjoyable and the characters themselves relatable. You can really feel some sort of attachment to them, and they don't go off too far from real life. Ann's problems to Futaba's are very much things that can happen within one's life, especially at the ages they are in. Still, I'd like to say that the adult characters had the best social links in the game (including Maruki himself).
Now, there is another concerning aspect of this game, which is how Joker can get into a relationship with certain adult characters - and despite being of legal age in Japan, it is something quite disturbing from my point of view. It is something that should not be common, and perhaps just one social link should allow you to date an older woman, but still, it happens in-game with three or so characters.
Now, for the new three social links they added with Royal, I'd say Maruki is the best of the three. Yoshizawa's character as a whole is wasted potential. While I find her plot all too interesting, the developers clearly wanted the player to feel invested in her, even if they have to push it down our throats. I did not like Yoshizawa at all. And you might go as far as saying that this is something common in Persona games, having Marie in P4 and Aigis in P3 as some sort of plot point, this is true. But alas, even Marie and Aigis were much more invested in the protagonist's party than Yoshizawa was. She only becomes active towards the LAST ACT of the game. Before that, you just see her alone with Joker (and Akechi sometimes).
All the screentime that was given to her could've been given to Haru, which is a main party member. And despite that, Yoshizawa still has more plot relevance and attention than any other party member.
At least they gave Akechi some justice, given that after his death in the original game, he was barely mentioned after. I think that ended things very well with him, and I liked him more as a character.
Moving on, Maruki's social link was definitely the best addition, but I find that his reasoning fell flat for a character like him. Not that I disliked having him as a final boss or his palace in general, I just think that him getting all that power after the God of Control was defeated is just... lazy.
The palaces were, in general, all pretty good. Needless to say that the OSTs are always perfect and I wouldn't change a thing. Although, I need to admit I feel the game itself fell a lot after Kamoshida's palace, mostly because the other rulers weren't as present as Kamoshida was. it's just me, though. I think Kamoshida hit very close to the heart, and that's why I consider it to be the best dungeon from P5. Not that the others were bad by any means, it's just that they did not have a high impact as his did for me. Perhaps it's due to the shock value as well, which can feel kinda cheap, but I have mixed feelings about it.
Besides the palaces sort of falling off, I do feel the story of the rise and downfall of the Phantom Thieves was good! Even if they got involved with bigger and bigger targets one after another, I think the plot ended on good terms with everything.
With all that said, let's not pretend that the combat combined with the graphics and the art style of Persona 5 isn't what made this game so attractive to the public, and in my opinion, it is what makes it stand on top of their siblings (despite, in my opinion, the other games having a better storyline and even better characters overall). As you progress more and more into the story, new mechanics are brought to the table - all to make you even more powerful.
And that just makes the game less fun. At one point in the game, you can simply pay to have higher level personas, and money quickly becomes easy to get due to Mementos having its own way of boosting how much money you get. Along with Network Fusions which can be easily abused to get Victory Cry very early into the game and other powerful spells, and I'm not even talking about the new DLCs personas that were added. From the very first dungeon, you can get Izanagi-no-Okami for the price of 0 yens.
Still, you can say "well, just don't buy it," and it's true. It is what I did. But, I can find no reason for the developers to make these mechanics so easily accessible at such early points of the game. But alas, Persona was never considered a hard game by any means, even on Merciless, the game was more punishing in the way that "hit them before you get hit" way instead of actual teambuilding and whatnot.
Talking about that, I appreciate the boss fights being reworked, but I got quite sad to know that the last boss of the vanilla game wasn't reworked at all!
Ah, there is another thing I should mention about characters, which is how often they say "adults bad, phantom thieves good". I don't think the game is really about that, but when the characters themselves say that in-game, it is disappointing. It makes it all too easy to label this as the worst story of Persona games. For real. It's quite sad to know that someone saw this and thought it would be a good idea to let it slide in the game, even if the game is all about rebellion. It is not THIS kind of rebellion.
Overall, I think what mostly carried this game was the base game. Royal had some additions (some good, others bad), like every other Persona before it. But, I don't think the price they are selling it on Steam is very nice, given this is a game from 2016 still. Still, it is not a bad game by any means, and the port is very good considerating how some ports are. But alas, it feels like a downgrade from the original plot. Instead of adding to it, they extended it even further with... dare I say, meaningless confrontations.
I think a lot of what Royal brought to the table was very poorly explained. Still, putting all that aside, we got a lot of cool scenes from Joker and the party itself, while having to endure the game pushing Yoshizawa into our faces all the time.
Oh, and bring back fusion spells in the next game. Along with Raidou's outfit. xoxo
However, I have to say that despite my love for Shin Megami Tensei (and consequently the Persona series), this one is more or less a downgrade from the original game.
Nonetheless, it is wise to start with the pros of the game in general. I will review Persona 5 as a whole and the additions of Royal as well.
The basic thing is how smooth the combat and the mechanics are compared to its older brother (Persona 4), when this game was released, it revived one of the best RPGs I ever played in its glory. The combat mechanics in the previous games are not the best, and even some of the newest Shin Megami Tensei series still lacks a lot of the charm this game has. Royal adds even more things to the table, with special moves and a lot of quality of life changes.
Another thing we should mention is how the art design in general is top-notch here. The game passes an amazing vibe of Japan and the theme in general. I'd go as far as to say every Phantom Thief is very unique in this regard with one exception, which I will cover later on in this review. From Joker to Akechi, both attires are unique and reflect a lot of the characters themselves - even if Joker's personality is, in a way, 'dull' given how their personality is more of what the player wants it to be.
Most of the characters are indeed pretty interesting, some with very good motives and others falling flat - and I don't think that's intended. I'd go as far as to say that's the writers' (or the director's) fault. While some of them started off with a good hook, it really dies very quickly as the game progresses, both the main plot and social links. I will go as far as to add that Director Hashino is not very good at writing female characters, and it shows in most games how awful he is at it. I won't go in full to explain which characters are affected by this, since it is something quite obvious within the Megaten community.
However, despite this, I still believe the game to be enjoyable and the characters themselves relatable. You can really feel some sort of attachment to them, and they don't go off too far from real life. Ann's problems to Futaba's are very much things that can happen within one's life, especially at the ages they are in. Still, I'd like to say that the adult characters had the best social links in the game (including Maruki himself).
Now, there is another concerning aspect of this game, which is how Joker can get into a relationship with certain adult characters - and despite being of legal age in Japan, it is something quite disturbing from my point of view. It is something that should not be common, and perhaps just one social link should allow you to date an older woman, but still, it happens in-game with three or so characters.
Now, for the new three social links they added with Royal, I'd say Maruki is the best of the three. Yoshizawa's character as a whole is wasted potential. While I find her plot all too interesting, the developers clearly wanted the player to feel invested in her, even if they have to push it down our throats. I did not like Yoshizawa at all. And you might go as far as saying that this is something common in Persona games, having Marie in P4 and Aigis in P3 as some sort of plot point, this is true. But alas, even Marie and Aigis were much more invested in the protagonist's party than Yoshizawa was. She only becomes active towards the LAST ACT of the game. Before that, you just see her alone with Joker (and Akechi sometimes).
All the screentime that was given to her could've been given to Haru, which is a main party member. And despite that, Yoshizawa still has more plot relevance and attention than any other party member.
At least they gave Akechi some justice, given that after his death in the original game, he was barely mentioned after. I think that ended things very well with him, and I liked him more as a character.
Moving on, Maruki's social link was definitely the best addition, but I find that his reasoning fell flat for a character like him. Not that I disliked having him as a final boss or his palace in general, I just think that him getting all that power after the God of Control was defeated is just... lazy.
The palaces were, in general, all pretty good. Needless to say that the OSTs are always perfect and I wouldn't change a thing. Although, I need to admit I feel the game itself fell a lot after Kamoshida's palace, mostly because the other rulers weren't as present as Kamoshida was. it's just me, though. I think Kamoshida hit very close to the heart, and that's why I consider it to be the best dungeon from P5. Not that the others were bad by any means, it's just that they did not have a high impact as his did for me. Perhaps it's due to the shock value as well, which can feel kinda cheap, but I have mixed feelings about it.
Besides the palaces sort of falling off, I do feel the story of the rise and downfall of the Phantom Thieves was good! Even if they got involved with bigger and bigger targets one after another, I think the plot ended on good terms with everything.
With all that said, let's not pretend that the combat combined with the graphics and the art style of Persona 5 isn't what made this game so attractive to the public, and in my opinion, it is what makes it stand on top of their siblings (despite, in my opinion, the other games having a better storyline and even better characters overall). As you progress more and more into the story, new mechanics are brought to the table - all to make you even more powerful.
And that just makes the game less fun. At one point in the game, you can simply pay to have higher level personas, and money quickly becomes easy to get due to Mementos having its own way of boosting how much money you get. Along with Network Fusions which can be easily abused to get Victory Cry very early into the game and other powerful spells, and I'm not even talking about the new DLCs personas that were added. From the very first dungeon, you can get Izanagi-no-Okami for the price of 0 yens.
Still, you can say "well, just don't buy it," and it's true. It is what I did. But, I can find no reason for the developers to make these mechanics so easily accessible at such early points of the game. But alas, Persona was never considered a hard game by any means, even on Merciless, the game was more punishing in the way that "hit them before you get hit" way instead of actual teambuilding and whatnot.
Talking about that, I appreciate the boss fights being reworked, but I got quite sad to know that the last boss of the vanilla game wasn't reworked at all!
Ah, there is another thing I should mention about characters, which is how often they say "adults bad, phantom thieves good". I don't think the game is really about that, but when the characters themselves say that in-game, it is disappointing. It makes it all too easy to label this as the worst story of Persona games. For real. It's quite sad to know that someone saw this and thought it would be a good idea to let it slide in the game, even if the game is all about rebellion. It is not THIS kind of rebellion.
Overall, I think what mostly carried this game was the base game. Royal had some additions (some good, others bad), like every other Persona before it. But, I don't think the price they are selling it on Steam is very nice, given this is a game from 2016 still. Still, it is not a bad game by any means, and the port is very good considerating how some ports are. But alas, it feels like a downgrade from the original plot. Instead of adding to it, they extended it even further with... dare I say, meaningless confrontations.
I think a lot of what Royal brought to the table was very poorly explained. Still, putting all that aside, we got a lot of cool scenes from Joker and the party itself, while having to endure the game pushing Yoshizawa into our faces all the time.
Oh, and bring back fusion spells in the next game. Along with Raidou's outfit. xoxo
2022
There is not really much to be said about Overwatch 2 - it is mechanically the same game as its precursor, with perhaps a few new UI adjustments and minor game-changing stuff.
I don't think it's necessary to say that the launch day was horrible and the queue times were immense; and not only that, even after waiting for (apparently) 30.000 people to join, you still get 5 minutes match queue times.
Yeaaaaah.
I don't think it's necessary to say that the launch day was horrible and the queue times were immense; and not only that, even after waiting for (apparently) 30.000 people to join, you still get 5 minutes match queue times.
Yeaaaaah.
2021
Loop Hero. It's a game I tried to like, I have attempted to play it, what, five times at this point?
So, the idea here is that you act more as a worldbuilder than a player, you mostly give your character challenges for them to overcome - in a brutal and grim world, or a to-be-world.
As you can imagine, every time you die, you lost resources and the world resets, and once again, you have to do the same. That is not bad per se, since that's a formula for most roguelikes.
But for me it feels too slow, most cards seem to not be useful unless paired with more advanced cards. Of course, that's intended I presume and I would have no problem with that if it was a little bit less grindy to progress in this game.
Not all roguelikes need to be easy, or not grindy, but when it is slow (even on 4x) and you need to do that multiple times, it gets on my nerves. You can't even alt+tab while your hero is running the loops, so it makes all of this more frustrating.
The graphic is amazing, the OST is pretty good and I think it fits nicely with the theme. I can't say much about the story, but from what I saw, it seemed quite interesting. Overall, I think it's a good game - it's definitely not for me, and it's definitely not a horrible game.
Alas, my main concern is how slow it is to progress. How painful it is to die, and while that may be what the developers wanted, I simply don't think it works out in practice. Especially in a roguelike.
Good game. Bad mechanics. Amazing art design, sounds and I go as far as to risk that the story is also top-notch.
So, the idea here is that you act more as a worldbuilder than a player, you mostly give your character challenges for them to overcome - in a brutal and grim world, or a to-be-world.
As you can imagine, every time you die, you lost resources and the world resets, and once again, you have to do the same. That is not bad per se, since that's a formula for most roguelikes.
But for me it feels too slow, most cards seem to not be useful unless paired with more advanced cards. Of course, that's intended I presume and I would have no problem with that if it was a little bit less grindy to progress in this game.
Not all roguelikes need to be easy, or not grindy, but when it is slow (even on 4x) and you need to do that multiple times, it gets on my nerves. You can't even alt+tab while your hero is running the loops, so it makes all of this more frustrating.
The graphic is amazing, the OST is pretty good and I think it fits nicely with the theme. I can't say much about the story, but from what I saw, it seemed quite interesting. Overall, I think it's a good game - it's definitely not for me, and it's definitely not a horrible game.
Alas, my main concern is how slow it is to progress. How painful it is to die, and while that may be what the developers wanted, I simply don't think it works out in practice. Especially in a roguelike.
Good game. Bad mechanics. Amazing art design, sounds and I go as far as to risk that the story is also top-notch.
I've been waiting for this game for a while now, and after playing the demo that was released some time ago, I need to confess I was VERY disappointed.
The demo felt nothing like the trailers shown, nothing like the game promised and of course, it was a major letdown for me.
HOWEVER. Hope did not die yet, I got it anyway, booted it up and started playing. Sure, the beginning is quite slow - but from the very first few minutes, you can see some improvements. It did not feel like the demo at all, it felt faster, and less repetitive as well.
I played three to four stages, and sure as hell it was the game I was expecting. Badass songs, cool movesets, fast-paced action, brutal finishers, gore and so on.
Needless to say, there are clear inspirations in some other indie games here, a popular one I'd say is Hotline Miami - but it plays nothing like it. But much like HM, it is very fast and punishing, especially if you're playing on the highest difficulty.
I won't get into spoilers, and I have not taken the time to 100% it yet- but from the trailer, there are quite a lot of options for customization and challenges to do. If you're looking to get a 100% on this, you're definitely spending maybe 12 hours or so, depending on how good you are or what difficulty you are playing.
The writing is, as mentioned by others, not the best - but honestly, any of us is really playing this for the story? Given that the combat is the main focus here, the story we got is quite enough, being very fair.
A few things annoyed me. I wish other traits from the tree would be more useful, a few of them felt very... useless. Mostly from the grabber tree. The sounds of dying enemies can get repetitive too, one of the sounds being from Katana Zero too, so I'm very sick of that sound. Not that it's bad, by any means, but hopefully in the near future, the developer will change that.
A few levels are quite annoying, mostly because they have a lot of enemies with guns and you have to roll a lot. This can be avoided by simply playing on a lower difficulty, but you don't get gamer credits for it.
Also, add multiplayer coop. This game could seriously use it, it'd be awesome.
Nonetheless, Midnight Fight Express, ladies and gentlemen. Very good. Highly recommended, please buy it.
The demo felt nothing like the trailers shown, nothing like the game promised and of course, it was a major letdown for me.
HOWEVER. Hope did not die yet, I got it anyway, booted it up and started playing. Sure, the beginning is quite slow - but from the very first few minutes, you can see some improvements. It did not feel like the demo at all, it felt faster, and less repetitive as well.
I played three to four stages, and sure as hell it was the game I was expecting. Badass songs, cool movesets, fast-paced action, brutal finishers, gore and so on.
Needless to say, there are clear inspirations in some other indie games here, a popular one I'd say is Hotline Miami - but it plays nothing like it. But much like HM, it is very fast and punishing, especially if you're playing on the highest difficulty.
I won't get into spoilers, and I have not taken the time to 100% it yet- but from the trailer, there are quite a lot of options for customization and challenges to do. If you're looking to get a 100% on this, you're definitely spending maybe 12 hours or so, depending on how good you are or what difficulty you are playing.
The writing is, as mentioned by others, not the best - but honestly, any of us is really playing this for the story? Given that the combat is the main focus here, the story we got is quite enough, being very fair.
A few things annoyed me. I wish other traits from the tree would be more useful, a few of them felt very... useless. Mostly from the grabber tree. The sounds of dying enemies can get repetitive too, one of the sounds being from Katana Zero too, so I'm very sick of that sound. Not that it's bad, by any means, but hopefully in the near future, the developer will change that.
A few levels are quite annoying, mostly because they have a lot of enemies with guns and you have to roll a lot. This can be avoided by simply playing on a lower difficulty, but you don't get gamer credits for it.
Also, add multiplayer coop. This game could seriously use it, it'd be awesome.
Nonetheless, Midnight Fight Express, ladies and gentlemen. Very good. Highly recommended, please buy it.
Could've been better. They had a nice theme with the D&D stuff but eventually, it ends badly.
While the art style is nice and there are often rewards for tuning in to streams from the devs or partners, it just reminds me of one of those mobile AFK arena copies- which, in a way, goes against what I expect of an idle game.
Mind you that I am by no means the biggest Idle player, but this one is simply not for me. I think there is room for improvement here.
By being a free-to-play game, it is quite easy to test it out for yourself, so give it a try if you have a few hours of your life to spend looking at the game now and then.
While the art style is nice and there are often rewards for tuning in to streams from the devs or partners, it just reminds me of one of those mobile AFK arena copies- which, in a way, goes against what I expect of an idle game.
Mind you that I am by no means the biggest Idle player, but this one is simply not for me. I think there is room for improvement here.
By being a free-to-play game, it is quite easy to test it out for yourself, so give it a try if you have a few hours of your life to spend looking at the game now and then.
The second entry in a trilogy(?), BioShock 2 picks everything BioShock 1 did right and amplifies it. This time you play (as you may know) as a Big Daddy, which the first game didn't let you do.
This will be spoiler free - much like my review of the first game.
So let's get some stuff out of the way first. This Remaster port is quite unstable, it crashed a few times for me during random scenes (two times at the ending, mind you), and I have some friends who experienced no problems with it. Given that it's not the best remaster and definitely not the best port - I won't bug too much on that.
Now, some problems from the first game are still in - like noise pollution and the fact most of the lore is explained through radio tapes. While that is not bad per se, combined with all the noise surrounding you, it gets hard to grasp fully what's happening. However, as I said in the other review, it's something you can see later on the internet, so it's not a big problem.
The gunplay got a lot better, now letting you hit enemies with melee attacks regardless of weapon - and you also get a drill, isn't that awesome? Plus, you can use both PLASMIDS and GUNS. Now that's awesome. For a 2010 game? This feels spectacular.
Much like the first game, the ambience is top-notch - it's hard to compare to the first game but I would say it's slightly better. Sound, OSTs and visuals are all pretty good, and they improved on what they already had- so it's still unique.
You see some returning foes, and some new ones - like the infamous Big Sisters, your mortal enemy. But overall, not much changed from the first game in regards to combat - except for some QoL changes, like making all your passive plasmids just one big group.
... Unfortunately, changing between plasmids and guns can get pretty confusing on the computer, for they took out our precious weapon wheel from the first game. Good luck changing plasmids mid-fight.
Hacking was also changed for a much better alternative, and there's not a huge difficulty spike from early to the late game here like it happens in BS1.
And, bear with me on this, the story is much better than the first game. It still uses the foundation of what was shown - even mentioning the events of the first game - but it's on a totally different level here. Maybe someday I will elaborate on it, but my personal opinion is that there's much more gold inside BS2 than there is on the first game.
If you liked the first game, you will love this one. Maybe you will prefer the first one, maybe not. Just play it if you haven't already.
This will be spoiler free - much like my review of the first game.
So let's get some stuff out of the way first. This Remaster port is quite unstable, it crashed a few times for me during random scenes (two times at the ending, mind you), and I have some friends who experienced no problems with it. Given that it's not the best remaster and definitely not the best port - I won't bug too much on that.
Now, some problems from the first game are still in - like noise pollution and the fact most of the lore is explained through radio tapes. While that is not bad per se, combined with all the noise surrounding you, it gets hard to grasp fully what's happening. However, as I said in the other review, it's something you can see later on the internet, so it's not a big problem.
The gunplay got a lot better, now letting you hit enemies with melee attacks regardless of weapon - and you also get a drill, isn't that awesome? Plus, you can use both PLASMIDS and GUNS. Now that's awesome. For a 2010 game? This feels spectacular.
Much like the first game, the ambience is top-notch - it's hard to compare to the first game but I would say it's slightly better. Sound, OSTs and visuals are all pretty good, and they improved on what they already had- so it's still unique.
You see some returning foes, and some new ones - like the infamous Big Sisters, your mortal enemy. But overall, not much changed from the first game in regards to combat - except for some QoL changes, like making all your passive plasmids just one big group.
... Unfortunately, changing between plasmids and guns can get pretty confusing on the computer, for they took out our precious weapon wheel from the first game. Good luck changing plasmids mid-fight.
Hacking was also changed for a much better alternative, and there's not a huge difficulty spike from early to the late game here like it happens in BS1.
And, bear with me on this, the story is much better than the first game. It still uses the foundation of what was shown - even mentioning the events of the first game - but it's on a totally different level here. Maybe someday I will elaborate on it, but my personal opinion is that there's much more gold inside BS2 than there is on the first game.
If you liked the first game, you will love this one. Maybe you will prefer the first one, maybe not. Just play it if you haven't already.
2016
I do not remember how it felt playing BioShock back in the PS3 era, so I cannot comment much on how the Remaster affects graphics and things.
However, the gameplay, as far as I know, remains unchanged. And given that this is quite an old game - it... hasn't aged quite well. Changing between plasmids and guns definitely gets annoying with time, especially since doing a lightning combo with a wrench hit is something you will do often.
So, the gunplay and combat aren't the best, but what about the lore? The setting? That's where BioShock hits you. Rapture is amazing and the ambience, the theme, enemies and the hidden lore behind everything really get to you. You are left in the dark most of the time, sometimes having to find hidden radio boxes to uncover more about the incidents (and accidents) that happened within Rapture, but it's well worth it.
I won't be getting into spoilers here - so I cannot comment on a lot of things. But there is something that bugged me quite a lot in BioShock, and that is the noise.
There is too much noise. You are constantly bombarded with noise. Dialogue from radios, explosions, little sisters' noises, big daddies' noises, splicers, guns, plasmids, fire, lightning, water, security bots, everything you can imagine - it will be there. It gets even more annoying when you are trying to focus on either Atlas or Andrew Ryan talking with you.
Nonetheless, I assume everyone has internet nowadays and can calmly research the lore after beating the game - if they so want to.
It is quite good, and it's playable nowadays unlike some games from the era. Get it, play it, you won't regret it.
However, the gameplay, as far as I know, remains unchanged. And given that this is quite an old game - it... hasn't aged quite well. Changing between plasmids and guns definitely gets annoying with time, especially since doing a lightning combo with a wrench hit is something you will do often.
So, the gunplay and combat aren't the best, but what about the lore? The setting? That's where BioShock hits you. Rapture is amazing and the ambience, the theme, enemies and the hidden lore behind everything really get to you. You are left in the dark most of the time, sometimes having to find hidden radio boxes to uncover more about the incidents (and accidents) that happened within Rapture, but it's well worth it.
I won't be getting into spoilers here - so I cannot comment on a lot of things. But there is something that bugged me quite a lot in BioShock, and that is the noise.
There is too much noise. You are constantly bombarded with noise. Dialogue from radios, explosions, little sisters' noises, big daddies' noises, splicers, guns, plasmids, fire, lightning, water, security bots, everything you can imagine - it will be there. It gets even more annoying when you are trying to focus on either Atlas or Andrew Ryan talking with you.
Nonetheless, I assume everyone has internet nowadays and can calmly research the lore after beating the game - if they so want to.
It is quite good, and it's playable nowadays unlike some games from the era. Get it, play it, you won't regret it.
2021
Having played it a bit, I don't feel like actually finishing it 100% due to the excessive amount of grinding and repetition.
Apparently, the game started out as a little fun project by the developers, and it exploded in popularity! That is good, because this game was made with actual love and interest, rather than money in mind.
With that said, the song and sprite work is quite good, it reminds me a lot of Castlevania and that's not a bad thing, there are quite a lot of characters and a ton of achievements to unlock for 100%.
Now, this is the sort of game that you can only have fun with at the beginning, in my opinion. I had the most fun not knowing what combos to make, and especially not knowing the combinations between items! When I found my first one, I felt like a god (and the rest of my build sucked lol). Now, I know what to build and it's not really fun because once you get them, it's almost impossible to lose.
There are some "non-idle" builds and that's good. But they are just so few that I cannot actually enjoy them, and there are still other slots to fill with powerful weapons and whatnot.
In the end, I really wanted to give this game more stars - but as it is? It just feels like an idle game. Sure, it is cheap as hell and you can have fun, but once you're past that, there's nothing much behind it.
My suggestion, now that the developer got quite the fame and money from it, is to actually develop a "playable" mode. What does that mean? One where you actually have mechanics, where you can aim your attacks, where enemies offer variety and become a challenge. There is ground for it, and it would make an amazing game.
(Also, to add, since Vampire Survivors got a lot of attention, I can already see a lot of other similar games on Steam, including but not limited to R18 ones. lol)
I had fun, I hope everyone is having fun too, if I could I'd give this a neutral rating, but... I think it deserves a positive review. Will change this if somehow in the future it gets a big update!
Good luck, survivors.
Apparently, the game started out as a little fun project by the developers, and it exploded in popularity! That is good, because this game was made with actual love and interest, rather than money in mind.
With that said, the song and sprite work is quite good, it reminds me a lot of Castlevania and that's not a bad thing, there are quite a lot of characters and a ton of achievements to unlock for 100%.
Now, this is the sort of game that you can only have fun with at the beginning, in my opinion. I had the most fun not knowing what combos to make, and especially not knowing the combinations between items! When I found my first one, I felt like a god (and the rest of my build sucked lol). Now, I know what to build and it's not really fun because once you get them, it's almost impossible to lose.
There are some "non-idle" builds and that's good. But they are just so few that I cannot actually enjoy them, and there are still other slots to fill with powerful weapons and whatnot.
In the end, I really wanted to give this game more stars - but as it is? It just feels like an idle game. Sure, it is cheap as hell and you can have fun, but once you're past that, there's nothing much behind it.
My suggestion, now that the developer got quite the fame and money from it, is to actually develop a "playable" mode. What does that mean? One where you actually have mechanics, where you can aim your attacks, where enemies offer variety and become a challenge. There is ground for it, and it would make an amazing game.
(Also, to add, since Vampire Survivors got a lot of attention, I can already see a lot of other similar games on Steam, including but not limited to R18 ones. lol)
I had fun, I hope everyone is having fun too, if I could I'd give this a neutral rating, but... I think it deserves a positive review. Will change this if somehow in the future it gets a big update!
Good luck, survivors.