Recent reviews by SteelWicker

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Major Order Completed

With the help of the entire Helldivers legion, we have driven back the enemy known as Sony. Thank you divers for defending our galaxy in the name of Democracy. You are free to return to fighting the Terminid and Automaton threats. Be weary and vigilant, as the Sony menace may come back even stronger than before. Until then, we salute you, the 69 nations who would have been forced to submit to a fascist regime, and every member of the 171 nations who would have otherwise been left behind by the Sony regime.

Pre-May 6th announcemenr: Helldivers 2 WAS the symbol of the rise in popularity for anti-AAA games. It WAS the non predatory multiplayer game that friends could play together and not be targeted by advertisements for cosmetics and items you had to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on to get everything ore miss out. There WASN'T any PvP with sweaties ruining the experience for casuals. There WAS a sense of community around this game and we all felt there could be no wrong done to US, the gamers who just want to relax and zone out at the end of a long day without worry of you're data being sold and your game screen filled with adds and FOMO. That changed today, when we were told we would be required to sign up for a PSN account and link it with this game on PC or else we would not be allowed to play a $40 game we bought months ago. Sony is singlehandedly ruining the game, and this is a test bed for whats to come. Spider-Man, God of War, Uncharted and Last of Us players, be warned. Sony came for us, and they are coming to you too. After I get the rest of my super credits, I am refunding this game, and until this decision is reversed, i will not be playing this game again.

Note: Please disregard the 1 hour of playtime currently on this profile, I’ve already put well over 20 into the Xbox version on both a Series S and on PC before I got my Constellation Edition for PC in the mail, and if you want proof, you can probably find it on my Xbox account with the same username as here. Now, with that out of the way, let’s get to the review.

If you came to me 10 years ago and said BGS would rerelease Skyrim 10 times, I would have laughed. And if you would have said that their first new IP in 25 years would be a space game, I would also probably laugh because obviously it would have been either a new Fallout game (which only came out 2 years later) and then the next Elder Scrolls game. At the time, this was Their bread and butter, release an Elder Scrolls game, the release a Fallout game. Boy would I have been so embarrassed now if that had happened. Of course 2016 is when the rumors began with the copyright of the name Starfield being made and the subsequent subreddit being created 7 years ago in September 1st (the day Early Access started for those of us who bought the Premium or Constellation editions). 2018 brought the reveal at E3, and along the way we were drip-fed more info between 2018 and 2022. Now, after all this time it’s here, and it’s worth checking out.

This game, make no mistake, is not perfect. It had some of the usual Bethesda jank. It doesn’t look the best, it doesn’t run the smoothest, the character models leave a lot to be desired at times, and boy oh boy do some of the systems feel like they were lifted out of the now 12 year old Skyrim, tweaked for this setting, and plopped right in to this game. Creation Engine 2 feels more like it should be Creation Engine 1.5, as it somehow is still kicking around and being used to develop BGS games. And the Exploration, well, let’s just say No Man’s Sky or Star Citizen it is not. But that’s okay, it doesn’t have to be perfect to be good, and this game is definitely good.

If you come into this game expecting something like Skyrim or Fallout in Space, and without the aspirations of being a No Man’s Sky or Star Citizen killer, then you will likely have a good time. The Main Story from what I have played of it so far is good, and I will leave it at that to avoid spoilers. However, side content is the name of the game here. Sometimes I feel like I can’t go 10 minutes without getting yet another side quest or activity to do that is added to my list of side quests and activities I have yet to do. The content just seems to never end. Some of these activities and side quests it can be repetitive. You know, the kinds of things that are in MMOs where you go to this place, get this item, come back and give it to me, rinse and repeat. However, some of them will take you down interesting rabbit holes and following them can be rewarding.

Now, if we move past the quests alone, you also have hundreds of planets to explore, and while there are boundaries and other things that break immersion such as not being able to fly down to the planet on your own, it isn’t all bad either. The landscapes you get to actually visit are larger than the map of Skyrim in all the the cases I have seen, and you can go to multiple on each planet (I believe the max limit is 4-5, but a mod can give you up to 50 per planet). There is a mod that gets rid of these barriers, but be watered, it can cause your game to crash from overloading memory. Once again, this isn’t No Man’s Sky, this is a BGS game, and it’s already taxing enough on your system.

Now, if the exploration of this game doesn’t seem all that great to you, the combat is pretty decent, better than any BGS game before. You can of course find many amazing and powerful weapons in the world, or you can research mods to improve stock weapons or change modded weapons (the term mod here is different, as I mean you can customize your weapon with add-ons that improve the weapons stats and usefulness in certain situations). The enemy AI isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough to have a decent time in combat.

Speaking of research, you can research a number of things for crafting and outpost buildings, using resources you find and collect in the world to complete the research. Use this research to your advantage to craf items to use to restore health, cure any ailments you might have, whether it be physical bodily harm inflicted on you or illnesses that you might receive. Or maybe research and craft items to use for base building and go build an outpost to keep your NPCs at and also use to generate money. Even create cargo shipping links between outposts on different planets.

Speaking of, we can’t forget the shop building. While I haven’t gotten far enough to do either outpost or ship building, what I have seen of it from others looks fun and I can’t wait to get late game to where I am earning credits to do these sorts of activities.

Finally, let’s talk bugs, polish and performance. This game is demanding, it needs powerful hardware to run well, and even then even the best of the best computers can struggle at times. The limit to FSR2 only without mods also hurts performance for those who are on Nvidia cards, but luckily misdeed have quickly come to the rescue, and I’m hoping FSR3 will only further enhance the experience for those running 20 and 30 series cards or AMD and Intel cards that can’t utilize DLSS 3’s frame generation tech, but only time will tell to see if support gets added. Outside of these concerns, performance is pretty decent and smooth with the right hardware. As far as bugs go, there are some, but wow, there are wayyyy less than what we had in previous BGS titles, and hopefully this trend continues for BGS.

Overall, based on my rather brief playthrough so far, id give this game a solid B-B+, or maybe even an A-. The Metacritic score reflects this sentiment with it sitting at an overall 88 on PC and 86 on Xbox. If you have Gamepass, give it a shot, it’s included with your membership after all, and if you love it, come back here to Steam to buy it so that way you can get full mod support. I hope you all find this review useful, and may you find your way Into The Starfield.

I love this game so much. Its fun but challenging. However, the DLC keeps getting more expensive (150% than in the past) while also offering less content at the same time. Clearly they are milking every last cent they can while they can still make DLC because they don't have the license to make a new game in the future. Do not buy this game in protest of the new DLC. Do not buy the new DLC because of the price. Only buy if the price is decreased or if there is a really good sale.

Before I Begin, I will discuss the controversy surrounding the game: I do not support JK Rowling's views. I support trans people, and I am an ally to them. However, I did pre-purchase this game, specifically the deluxe edition. The developers of the studio have done their best to distance themselves from JK and her views, and have created a product that millions of people around the world have been waiting to experience for a very long time. They deserve every bit of credit for crafting this game and deserve to be paid. Whether this game succeeded or failed wasn't going to affect JK in the slightest, as she had no input in the game development and likely wouldn't approve of some of the decisions this team made, including adding a trans character to the game. The people who would have been hurt directly by this game being successfully boycotted would be the people who poured their time and energy into this game, the developers themselves. Being a recent graduate with a game development degree, I did not want to see them suffer because of the opinions of a singular, rich person with a terrible worldview. I believe that if you want to play the game, you should feel free to do so without worry, as JK is likely only making pennies on the dollar in royalties on this game. If you are boycotting the game because of your morals, that is okay too. You are a free person and nobody is forcing you to buy the game and play it. Just do not be the person that harasses another over their choice to buy or not buy the game. With that out of the way, let's get into the review.

In the time I have spent thus far playing this game, I have come to find that it is a fantastic experience, and a refreshing one too. In an age of always online live service games being released regularly, a single-player game that can be played offline from anywhere with a ton of content is nice to have.

As the proud owner of a Steam Deck, this game fits the bill for everything I have looked for in a game I can play solo in offline mode. I frequently take my Steam Deck to work, and many games will not work due to the restrictions of my workplace internet that the company has implemented. I have a lot of downtime during some of the shifts I work, especially on the weekend, leading to extreme boredom at times, hence why I take my Steam Deck. Say what you will about performance issues on PC (which there are), but the game's overall quality is very high. Most of the performance issues are more likely a result of Denuvo than it is the optimization of the game, as even the best of systems appear to have similar stuttering issues after playing for long periods of time.

Despite these issues, the environment of the open world is highly detailed, even on the lowest of PC settings at a mere 800p resolution, and the game manages to be reasonably smooth even at 30fps on the Steam Deck, at least until those aforementioned Denuvo-related stutters kick in. And that open world isn't bland or empty as far as I can tell, with so many diversions to keep you busy for hours on end, whether it be exploring Hogwarts castle to find every last field guide page or exploring the wide open world around the castle, running into Merlin Trials or coming across a camp of enemies.

Most NPCs are also extremely lively for an open-world game, oftentimes not just standing around, but actually doing something, walking to another location, having a conversation with another NPC, or even talking to you directly. Not only that, but many have side-quests that I am sure are to fill out a ton of time and grant you cosmetics and other important items for the game. And don't be afraid to sell your cosmetics, especially early on when you have limited Inventory space. You unlock all cosmetics permanently once you have owned one, so if you like the look of a lower-power cosmetic, just select the higher-powered item and change its appearance and sell the low-power item for some extra Galleons (the money of this world).

How could this game get better you might ask? Well, for one, the combat is fluid and simple to pick up while also providing many different gameplay styles that suit what you enjoy, and there is a complexity to the gameplay that makes it challenging to master, though that doesn't mean it is difficult unless you decide to set the difficulty of your game to a harder setting that is. And then there is replayability. In order to truly beat the game and experience everything Hogwarts Legacy has to offer, you will need to use all 4 save slots to accomplish many of the sidequests exclusive to each house. That means you essentially can play what is a 40-hour campaign 4 different times and change your decisions, though they may not affect you as much as we thought they would. We all would love to see a true villainous route that we could take on to become the bad guy and experience the game in an entirely different way than we can now.

While we do not have that, the ability to have multiple saves, one for each house, allows the player the flexibility of trying new builds by allocating talent points a different way than in another save. It also grants players access to the different house common rooms, different house fanatic rewards from the wizarding world website, and of course, we get to complete house-exclusive quests. All this content can easily give you around 200-300 hours of playtime if you are dedicated to completing most of what this game has to offer.

Despite all this praise, there are some issues that need to be resolved, First and foremost is the performance of the PC version. That's an easy fix I think, just get rid of Denuvo. Next, we need PS5 content unlocked without the need for modding our game. Thirdly, The navigation of menus on the gamepad is a bit slow, and I would love it sped up just a bit. Im not sure if it is already possible, and if it is, let me know how to do it please, I would appreciate it. Fourth, I wish it was easier to manage spells. I am unsure if there is a way to have multiple spell setups I can swap between, but it would be nice if I could set up a few spell crossbars and use the bumpers to switch between them on the fly. Last, but certainly not least, please add multiplayer, quidditch, and other minigames throughout the wizarding world. It would just be that much more immersive and make this game even better. and maybe through DLC we could visit victorian London and Diagon Alley, or capture and breed even more Fantastic Beasts. Maybe we could even meet the ancestors of the Potters, the Malfoys, and the Grangers. The possibilities, while not being completely limitless, are there to take this game to an even higher tier than what it already is, and fixing these issues and adding these suggestions would enhance the game.

This game is easily a game-of-the-year contender and a great way to start 2023, which admittedly is looking a little weak in terms of big-budget hits. The biggest competition for Hogwarts Legacy in that department, as far as we can tell, is Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, Spiderman 2, and Starfield if It launches within the time frame before The Game Awards voting begins. Hogwarts Lgacy can only improve upon its already fantastic launch, and I am eager to see what Avalanche Games does next.

My oh my what a ride this game is. I don't have a VR headset in my possession yet, but that doesn't stop you from opening this title. Let me tell you, this game, its no more than a poorly made asset flip. Using the keyboard and mouse, you can't get passed the menu room, but considering how the menu room has no collision and I can go into the never ending expanse of nothingness where the sun shines constantly, that's one easy escape room. Meck, the menu room is lit by the same sun, so there is no ceiling. You can go through the floor, and looking from below there is no floor, just the bottom of the walls. There is a ball in the room you can pick up, which has some collisions on the walls, but can still go through and disappear into infinity when thrown. Overall, I'd say that if you haven't tried this game with keyboard and mouse, you should just to understand how broken it truly is. As a game design student, this kind of project would not fly with my professor, and we would fail if we made such an abomination as this. I cant wait to delve into the VR stuff when i get my headset so I can pick it apart. I hope the developer will try to fix this game, but I don't think they will simply because it's a free to play game. I don't recommend this game to have fun, but I do recommend this game if you want to laugh at true incompetence in game development.

After playing well over 100 hours, with experience with nearly every aspect of the game, i have to praise what Destiny 2 has become. With the original 3 campaigns and almost every game mode available for the people who play for free, you can spend a lot of time playing and not feel bored after a while. PvP modes in Crucible are incredibly fun, albeit with its issues with exploiters and cheaters on occasion. PvE with the Vangaurd Strikes are fun, with constant rotations and different challenge levels for those who are at higher light levels add interest and replayability. In Gambit, you get a mix of PvP and PvE, something I don't see done as often as i would like to see in games. There are also a ton of weapons and armor to collect and customize to your licking, offering both cosmetic and functionality mods that will make your weapons and armor look color, or give you extra perks.With the bounties that you can complete daily, a weekly rotation of items you can purchase in stores, new seasons every couple of months that give you new things to do, and special events around the holidays, you have many reasons to keep coming back every day. And I haven't even scratched the surface on the Expansions, which will give you even more weapons and armor, more campaigns, and even new abilities for your gaurdian to choose from. You also get to pick what type of gaurdian you wish to run, and with 3 slots available for different characters, you can run all 3 types, and even transfer weapons between them with the vault. all around, this is a fantastic game and would highly recommend. the only downsides are the few bugs that occur occasionally, servers can sometimes cause connection issues on even good networks, and people who cheat the game with lag-tagging and map exploitation, and other network related griefing. But most of those issues are forgivable because of the mostly great experience now. The worlds are absolutely beautiful and the graphics are stunning. even on lower settings at 1080p the game looks miles better than a lot of this game's main competition, that competition
being Fortnite, TF2, PUBG, The Division, Ghost Recon, and Apex Legends. I dont consider this game competing with the likes of COD or Halo because it is more of an MMORPG than a traditional FPS. If I had to give it a score, I would give it a 8.5/10 rating for how they have managed to give the game New Light (pun definitely indented) by making it free to play and giving us cross-save and also promising that they are working on cross-play, as well as giving the users a better overall experience than before, and also for Bungie ending their agreement with Activision the way they did so Destiny as a whole could be better and have a brighter future. Thank you Bungie for giving fans what they wanted.

Honestly, this game is fantastic if you are creative, but its definitely not perfect by any means. Nearly 2 and a half years on, management still sucks. I think this first version of the game was meant for people like me who want to just build. But I’m wanting to learn the management side of it and it’s a struggle. Maybe in a sequel, we will get all the major complaints fixed, such as a better management system, water parks and zoos, a better coaster building system, an actual parking lot system so the guests don’t randomly spawn in a hill (This is more wishful thinking but if Cities; Skylines figured out bringing citizens into a city from a high that connects to the outside world, this shouldn’t be hard for frontier to figure out), and the ability to adjust the size of the park, among other highly requested features but the community. This game is starting to feel a little long in the tooth and while the DLC and Patches have been fantastic, it’s time for a sequel I think. And maybe, just maybe, they can implement a better career mode and actual tutorials for absolute beginners. Oh, and one last thing, a universal grid system for building. It is weird to have buildings separate grids from paths and coasters to be separate as well, and other rides not even offering them. Improved grids would help with customization as a whole. If planet coaster did all this in patches to the current game, it could see another 3-4 years before a necessary sequel, but the community really wants to see all these things and its enough to warrant a full on sequel. And bringing all this to the current game would take about as long as developing a full sequel would I’m sure. Maybe water park DLC could come and maybe we could get the improved grid system, but everything else really should be implemented in a sequel instead of shoehorned into the existing game. For all those critiques, there are also praises. The free form building doesn't limit you to an overall world grid like rct 1 and rct 2 did, letting you build winding paths, place scenery and objects anywhere within the world. the constant flow of updates, patches, and dlc have vastly improved the quality of life and extended the life of this game beyond the typical life cycle of the game. and adding the theme maker's toolkit in the latest major update at the time of writing allows those who enjoy custom content to make or download items that weren't made by frontier and weren't made using the tools of the game. so, an already vast scenery and building system just expanded infinitely. the community is very active as well. i see all kinds of you tuber's creating and showcasing parks and rides all the time. all i have left to say is that if you enjoy building theme parks, don't mind some quirks and limitations, and don't care about management as much but care a lot about building, this game is a must have hands down. if you are on the fence about getting this game, unless a sequel is announced, just buy it. and if a sequel is announced but you cant wait for it, buy this game. its well worth the money. you will easily get hundreds of hours out of this title.