Recent reviews by Pheonix561

Classic Arcade Shooter, made by somebody who clearly loved those games. I'm just sad there's no plot!

It's a pretty game to look at, but It suffers from "Tiny, old playerbase" syndrome.

I bought this game because I've been hearing about it for years, and I've always been curious about it. The thing is, the player base has dwindled from launch to the point that the only people left playing it are people who have been playing it for thousands upon thousands of hours.

I finished all of the story mode on the hardest difficulty thinking It'd at least help me going into multiplayer, but all it does is teach you how to parry AI bots. Trying to fight players who know all the ways to approach you, attack you in unblockable ways, etc, is so frustrating when you've barely mastered basic parry light attack combos. And there just isn't an equal-ground playerbase to try your skill against. You're either playing with other brand new players, or you're playing against pros. That's it. It's probably a good game if you can get past the steep learning curve, but there's not enough people playing to make it fun to try.

"If lethal company loved you"

Used to be the greatest "turn your brain off and play" kind of game, then valve allowed bots in.

I played something like 170+ hours of helldivers 1.

This isn't quite the same co op experience; Trying to get your character to do what you want it to do is a bit clunkier and more involved than the first game. You aren't forced to work together nearly as cohesively as you were in the first game either, which is a shame, because that's where the first game truly shone as a multiplayer co op title. The switch to 3rd person over the shoulder makes the game feel that much less unique; I feel less like I played helldivers, and more like I played another co op shooter.

But those are the harshest things I can think to say about it. None of that stands up to the fact that I just sank 5 hours into it rolling a party of 4 friends, completely ignoring every other obligation I had to do today on my day off. It's fun, it's got that classic sense of humor, and I'm glad it's popular. Arrowhead deserves it.

Resident Evil but yuri.

I came here because the 6 hour youtube documentary made it sound worth checking out.

I have never played a game more hostile to people trying to learn how to play it. Never. This isn't a game you need to "sit down and learn." This is a game you need to watch several hours of different youtube tutorials just to get comfortable with moving around the map in a really basic way. The simple tutorial missions themselves come with their own tutorials on youtube, which are only marginally easier to follow, and still leave you with more questions than answers.

I'll check out Eve: Vanguard when it comes out, and who knows. Maybe that will make me willing to try to learn how to play this game, later. But right now, the barrier to entry to do anything at all in this game is so outrageously high that, until they implement something like a legit tutorial mode, get used to the idea that you spend less time and effort learning a new skill in real life than you do trying to learn how this game works.

Playing this right now is like playing a vermintide 2 prototype, waiting for it to become what vermintide 2 is today. I say that keeping in mind VT2 had plenty of tender love and care in the years after it came out. It's still, as of release, a game with a fun core gameplay loop, but anybody who's on the fence might want to sit this one out and come back in a few years when it stops being a 7/10 and starts being a 9/10. I have faith in Fat Shark to get there, but it's not there yet.

Not sure how far I am into the game, but I've yet to feel cheated by a puzzle. There was exactly one hidden puzzle I couldn't solve for the life of me early on, so I looked online for a hint. After I found the simple hint, I was suddenly able to solve the whole thing no problem. After that, though, I felt so terrible, like I'd spoiled an otherwise excellent puzzle for myself.

The whole game's been like that so far. I've found and solved everything on my own since then. It teaches you so, so effectively the rules it plays by, and then how to think outside the box those rules make. I'm having a blast!

Fun atmosphere, engaging plot, and Anatola Howard's art is to die for. It's a short game but it's worth the money.