Recent reviews by Skinwalker

The game is fun, looks good but the use of unnecessarily invasive anticheat in a TOTALLY PVE game, is too much. Not to mention, the anticheat "solution" chosen for this has a widely known track record of being notoriously hard to remove, remaining active after the game is shut down, causing stability issues and possibly even hardware damage, sometimes permanent.

Whether it was cutting corners, cheaping out, or the most likely answer: trying to protect the in-game premium currency, their choice of anticheat was very poor and it served nothing to deter cheaters.

If you're really itching to play this game, you'll enjoy it if you're not plagued with constant issues such as crashes to desktop, failure to start, black screens, driver timeouts, BSOD's and even hard crashes requiring a very hard reset. AMD users be particularly warned as the game is very hostile towards AMD hardware.

Update 04/05/2024:
Having sunk a considerable time in this game despite the negative review, mostly due to hardware issues and their absolutely awful choice of anticheat software (which doesnt work properly since I have come accross a number of cheaters in game), I still cannot recommend this to prospective buyers. Though the devs keep the game updated and patch frequently, and add new content with some regularity, patches and new content more often than not break existing things or completely mess with the balance. The devs instead of balancing weapons and the game based on feedback from users, have shown to basically nerf weapons based on in-game usage data they have access to, much like the destiny 2 devs.

On top of that, if you participate in their discord or whatever other social networks they have, there is often miscomunication between them and the community, the latest example being the Spear, a weapon with notably bugged target, being announced as being "fixed" and that the fix would have come with the latest patch, but in the patch notes it is still listed as an issue, the weapon isn't fixed and then on their discord, one of the devs retconned their previous statement saying it is "semi-fixed" and that we still need to wait. Other issues persist since the release such as DOT effects like fire only affecting enemeis if inflicted by the host.

Though it was listed on the game's page way before release that it would require a PSN account to be linked, the requirement was temporarily lifted due to all the issues the game suffered at launch and was still plagued by since it's release. The developers are now enforcing that this will be mandatory as of May 6th, 2024, and from May 30th onwards, if you wish to remain playing, you will have to have your account linked. This wouldn't be a glaring issue, were it not for the infamous reputation of sony with their security practices, often resulting in data being leaked, stolen and appropriated by nefarious characters. On top of this, there is a host of countries that do not have access to the PSN due to it being blocked or somesuch, and while the devs did say they would look into a solution for this, it basically came back as "go somewhere that has access to PSN, make PSN account, log in steam, link accounts, travel back to your home and play the game".

Update 06/05/2024: Due to massive reviewbombing and the other issues that would come with their stupid decision, Sony has decided to back down (for now, it seems) on the PSN account requirement. This is a huge win for the players who enjoy the game, yet I still cannot fully recommend it due to the numerous issues and bugs the game deals with every patch, on top of their shady choice for an anti-cheat

Machiavel meets poker

Something about being a writhin mass of flesh, teeth and muscle, trying to escape from an underground lab while devouring everyone in its path, resonates with me in a very, very, very deep and personal level.

In all seriousness, it is a pretty good game. Some light puzzle thinking to get through some obstacles but nothing that needs you to be einstein smart. The sound and ambient design are perfect and in some engagements you really need to think how an all-consuming mass of writhing flesh and teeth would approach it.

It's a chill game. Make potions, figure out recipes, earn gold, earn XP points and become the best damn alchemist there is. The music and the graphical design is very soothing. I recommend it.

Ah yes, Synthetik 2, another attempt by Shrike to once again, catch lightning in a bottle.

TL;DR: The game is worth a purchase if you're patient and don't mind waiting for them to flesh it out completely. As it is now it's rather barren, however, it is an early access title. It shows a lot of promise.

Right now there isn't a whole lot to the game since it is still in very early access and as such there is not a whole lot of content so far, there are some balancing issues, a few glitches but that is all expected. However, the makins of a great game are in place and just need time to mature.

Compared to Synthetik one, this is a giant graphical leap forward, whereas the first game was a 2D game, this is a 2,5D with all the great details of the unreal engine. Some of the maps feel lived-in while some others not quite so.

Soundwise, the soundtrack should be put up for purchase separately, it is that great, and most guns sound pretty satisfying to shoot as well.

The gameplay is much of the same as the first Synthetik game, but there isn't much in place yet, it'll need time to mature and become a full experience on it's own.

It is much like plague inc, in the sense that you basically wait, click things and see what happens then. The difference is that there isn't much in the graphical aspect of things other than a basically still background which is the galaxy, some planets and that's about it. If you look closely, you'll see radio waves slowly propagating over time and ship fleets flying through space, but that's about it. Otherwise, the art direction is phenomenal and the music is 100% ear candy.

Through my attempt of guiding the dinosaurs into a dominant species, I am positive that it is very much possible that one day the dinosaurs ended up eating everything on earth and becamse so hungry they started digging underground tunnels in search for food. Due to subpar dinosaur engineering the tunnels collapsed and that's why we find dinosaur fossiles today.

Seriously though, the amount of developments that can happen for a society in game is really amazing even though this is in early access. Nuclear war, disease, asteroid impacts, brain hacking, rogue AIs... it really does get interesting in the late game.

Hopefully the developers can add some more moving pieces like stars and comets and asteroids flying through the space, and maybe make the radio waves propagate a bit faster. As it is now, I would say this is a bit pricy for what it offers, not much though, but I am happy with this purchase and I look forward to finding out what is to come in the future updates for this.

TL;DR: It's an okay game. But that's the issue, it's just okay, nothing special about it or anything that stands out particularly well. The gunplay is amazing, the driving and car combat is superb. The artistic direction feels confused with a dreary color palette on the wastelands and a bright retina scorching pink coloring every button and ladder and with a sickening pink filter over everything. The game sounds great, the plot is average. It's a game, it's satisfactory, lots of the things it does are done a lot better by many other games.

Okay, so a sequel to a game that was plagued with issues and overall mediocrity when it released... Rage 2 is not the sequel we needed and certainly not something we deserved at all. First, let's talk about the fact that this has the fingerprints of Avalanche Studios, ID software and Bethesda as the publisher. Just as a refresher, Avalanche Studios brought us the Just Cause franchise, which is quite frankly one of the best action packed open world games there has ever been to this day. ID Software spawned doom and the whole modern FPS genre, and "Bugthesda", well, they make some pretty good bugs, with a game embedded in them.

With a mix of such players in the industry, Rage 2 should have been outstanding right? Well, sadly, no. See, the trailers paint a picture of a game filled with action and chaos and a mad max-esque post apocalyptic dystopia with neon colors EVERYWHERE, but the game doesn't deliver on that. The gameplay loop on rage 2 is basically spend a few minutes driving somewhere, spend a few minutes shooting, spend a little bit exploring, then repeat all over. This would be okay, but there's just... something missing from it. Don't get me wrong, the gunplay on this game is just excellent, the guns feels responsive, sound great, and there is no clunk factor to the gunplay. Even the driving and car combat is pretty good when you get used to it, it reminded me a lot of the car combat and the driving in mad max, they managed to fine tune it just right for what they wanted.

Now, the problem is, Rage 2 is just... okay. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but with all the games available out there in all genres and subgenres, that's a problem in and of itself. When you take into account that the game has the fingerprints of 3 industry giants all over it, then you realize that this is not okay, not okay at all! My first issue with the game is it's artistic direction. The game does look amazing, especially if you can run it on higher settings and with a solid performance but... the artistic direction just feels wrong.

You can see some leftover artistic direction of the first rage game, what with the dreary apocalyptic wasteland and ruins all around, but... something's not quite there. The trailers promised us a neon apocalypse but when you're driving around and exploring, you'll soon realize that there is no neon apocalypse, other than conveniently all the important buttons and ladders being colored in an eye scorching shade of pink, and maybe you getting attacked by some goons that are more like a mob of angry rainbows. Oh and everything is seemingly covered in a pink-ish filter, you'll see this especially when near sunset and sunrise and especially if you're looking at some structures far away. For some, this might not be an issue, but for me, it just became an eyesore and a huge misstep in the wrong direction. They could have easily retained a more conservatie color palette and kept the world in a rather dreary, somewhat muted color palette and given more emphasis with pink and neon colors on vehicles, lights and such. The game just doesn't need a pink filter over everything. In this area, Far Cry New Dawn has done a much better job of exploring a color palette.

Moving on, the "super powers" are just... well they're there, but nothing special or nothing that stands out on its own. You get a double jump, a dash, something akin to a "force push" and so on. The problem is that while these look interesting and feel interesting they've just been done before, in just about every game there is. Sure it is nice to just blast someone away tumbling off of a cliff or into a wall and watch them shatter and such but it just doesn't feel quite all there. The double jump is nice, so is being able to hover in the air for a few seconds with one of the ability upgrades but there's not much else special to it. In short, there's special abilities, which the game presents as being "superhuman" but they don't really feel superhuman at all.

Soundwise, there's nothing to complain about. The guns feel good, the ambience feels good, the vehicles sound great. They got all that right.

Story... I wasn't highly invested into it, but it centers around you trying to find a way to destroy the authority once and for all, with it's leader being General Cross, who is only mentioned in the first game and doesn't make an appearance. It's not a bad plot, but it feels rather generic, what with so many games where you're the only remaining "X" of a certain organization/tribe/clan/whatever on a mission for revenge and destruction of a hilarious more powerful organization/tribe/clan/whatever. It's passable, but nothing too remarkable.

All in all, the combat and the driving feel great, the artistic direction feels lost, the plot is average and the gameplay loop wears out quick. It's not a bad game by any standard, but it doesn't quite make the cut to be something more. The trailers make it out to be something else.

In my previous review, I did not recommend this game simply due to balancing issues, which caused the difficulty to ramp up too fast when considering the resources at your disposal vs. the AI's seemingly bottomless resources.

I am pleased to say that the developer has shown to be attentive to the community's opinions, and as such, a while after, has come around and sorted out these balancing issues, meaning the game difficulty is now more or less balanced for what it offers. Previously you shared the same form of currency both for buying units to deploy in game as the one for upgrading your units, meaning that you either purchased units and gimped yourself in the long run, or bought upgrades and gimped yourself in the short run. Now upgrading and purchasing units each have their own currency.

Another issue that I'm pleased that was fixed is the time constraint which basically took away the whole "tug of war" element the game was built around, except for high value targets, but those are a special case. Oh and the enemy howitzers no long fire near constantly and with 100% accuracy, meaning you actually have a fighting chance when they're deployed on the map.

I'm still not entirely sure if a recommendation is entirely in order for this game, however, due to the developers actively listening to the community and working out the issues that made the game more unbalanced for now, and infuriatingly so at times, I am going to recommend this.

Hopefully the future updates in this game bring that special something it is currently missing. This doesn't mean the game isn't fun right now, but just that it's novelty wears of rather quickly. Hopefully among those they'll allow a more customizeable skirmish mode where you can pick the map, your loadout, the enemy loadout and the difficulty.

For now, I'll recommend this due to the developers actively listening to their community's opinions and working around them. Hopefully in the future this will be worth a recommendation for being a great game.

TL;DR: The game is good, it's fun. It improves upon the original trilogy. Cannot recomment because of shady developer practices when it comes to pricing and distribution of additional DLCs. There's 3 season passes, each costs almost as much as the base game, and doesn't add anything more than a few levels and guns. Oh, and you can buy all those separately.

The graphics aren't bad. Gameplay is the same as the previous game, sans the new specialized grenades, takedown, special melee attacks, weapon attatchments and such. The levels are pretty fun when playing togheter with other players and might offer a bit of a challenge if you turn up the difficulty. It's a fun game with friends.

Sadly, cannot recommend this at a full price, only at a VERY VERY VERY deep discount. The base game has almost as many levels as the original trilogy, but you're limited to 3 types of primary weapons, 3 secondaries and 3 sidearms. If you want more guns, you gotta buy them individually or buy the season pass.

By the way, there's 3 season passes, and each costs almost as much as the base game. Each gives you some skins, some new weapons and 3 new levels on the campaigns each. If you REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY enjoyed the game, you might consider buying them, but at that point, it might just be better to buy the new levels separately as they're the bulk of the content added on the season passes.

In short, the game is good, but scummy practice by the developers when it comes to pricing and distributing additional DLC content are what make me not recommend this.

The game is... more so a journey of discovering oneself rather than solving a mysterious murder. Almost as if the earth spat you out in a trashed hotel room. You don't know your name, where you're from, what you're supposed to do. Nothing. In fact, you very much forgot how the world works.

This is story driven RPG done well. There is no active combat, there are lots of reading. It really brings to life that signature skill of detectives of talking to the world, to their own psyche to try and figure things out, to deduce the world.

Unlike other RPG games, especially popular ones, nothing in this game railroads you into being good. You can be an absolutely AWFUL human being, threaten others, manipulate them, take bribes, abuse substances and ultimately compromise the whole investigation by a ♥♥♥♥... just because you can.

The game does get text heavy, and I burned out from playing it so much for so long, but after a break, I was sucked back into it. Martinaise called out to me, yearning for me to discover it's mysteries, to find out not who killed the hanged man, but in fact, who am I?