Recent reviews by Beggar Soldier

Dying Light 2 Stay Human is the sequel of its predecessor Dying Light that offers a variety of new movement mechanics that are really smooth with a really similar combat system to that of Dying Light 1.

"Sometimes You Have To Become A Monster To Stay Human." - Aiden

Pros:
- From a visual standpoint the game looks quite good, especially with ray tracing features enabled
- The main story is quite interesting that grabs your attention
- Tons of side activities to do (Even endgame content I believe?)
- Great and memorable characters
- Great voice acting
- You have to make several big choices throughout the game that changes the world and possibly the ending of your playthrough
- The movement is really good, jumping and climbing never felt better in a parkour based game since Dying Light 1
- Character customization
- Skills and abilities to unlock
- Tons of melee weapons to find, craft and upgrade to your liking
- Great and fun gadgets you can use such as the paraglider and the grappling hook
- Photo mode!
- Multiplayer component (Co-op)
- Community made maps to play
- Night time was enhanced, meaning that volatiles roam the streets and if you get spotted by them a chase starts
- Pilgrim outpost, a website that is tightly connected to the game giving you access to weekly bounties and an armory where you can earn new weapons and cosmetics for doing said bounties
- Frequent updates and events to keep the game fresh
- Guns were added back in an update and they are great!
- Steam achievements, trading cards etc.

Neutral:
- You can only get new guns from Jai after completing his missions which are fine but most of his missions are built to be played in co-op, that can make it an absolute chore to do
- Bloody Ties DLC is quite meh, not bad, but not great either
- In-game store for skins, completely optional

Cons:
- Some side missions rely on time padding
- Some side missions were pretty much softlocked
- Bugs can happen

8.5/10 Honestly a really great sequel, even without our beloved Kyle Crane as Aiden is a pretty great protagonist for this entry as well. Bugs and repetition aside, the game is really fun and I'm gonna revisit it many times to check out new updates and events or just to do achievements.

Portal: Revolution is a free mod for Portal 2 that offers a new story, locations and characters set after the story of Portal 2.

Pros:
- Modified version of the Source engine that allows many graphical improvements
- Really good visuals and artstyle
- An intriguing storyline
- The voice acting is impeccable for a mod
- New unique characters
- Great Soundtrack
- The test chambers are all well designed and fun to do
- New mechanics (Gel cleansing fields, another type of laser cube)
- Steam Achievements

Cons:
- The ending felt abrupt

10/10 Brilliantly well put together mod that is enjoyable from start to finish and it is quite refreshing to play.

Arctic Adventure: Episodes is a free mod for Half-Life 2 that takes you to the Arctic, possibly wants to take place after Episode 2(?), but it is a horribly done mod that is hard to enjoy let alone finish.

Pros:
- The mod WOULD take you to various places, such as Xen and Aperture Science
- Custom-made weapons
- Steam Achievements

Neutral:
- Unnecessary visual effects when using an HEV charger or a Med station.

Cons:
- Horrible voice acting
- Driving the snowmobile is horrendous
- Very bad lighting all over, at dark places your flaslight doesn't do anything
- Abhorrent level design and enemy placement
- Bullet spongy enemies for no reason (even on easy difficulty), there is a section where you'd have to defend Alyx from a few combines but you cannot really do anything since they eat bullets like nothing. Really bad.
- Weapon animations are broken
- Some features do not even work, such as throwing grenades
- Really buggy and crashes really frequently, even when quicksaving

1/10 The first 30 minutes of the mod is so horrible that I just can't bring myself to play it any further and you shouldn't really bother with this mod either. It's stinky.

You may only be able to finish this mod with console commands if you want to keep your sanity or as I just said don't even bother with it altogether.

This might be worse than Half-Life: Before.

Requiem of Science is a free mod for Half-Life 2 that takes you on a confusing plot structure that hardly makes any sense, but it still has some great ideas.

Pros:
- Variety in locations due to the constant teleporting
- Puzzles are okay
- Notes that tell a bit of story

Neutral:
- Map design were questionable at a few occasions
- The voice acting is not great, but for a free mod it's totally passable
- Missed opportunity to use a variety of enemies at various maps, seeing the combine everywhere kind of killed it, especially at locations used directly from Day of Defeat Source.

Cons:
- I could almost softlock the game numerous times, due to the mod heavily relying on killing every enemy in certain areas, even if they are behind places you can't really go back to anymore.
- Not really a coherent experience, it's all over the place story-wise.

7/10 It's a so much better mod and a more enjoyable experience compared to the previous one from this modder "Genry's Great Escape From City 13", but still has its short comings.

Half-Life 2: Genry's Great Escape From City 13 is a free mod for Half-Life 2 in which you are Genry(?) and you escape from City 13 as the name suggests. It's done quite horribly

Pros:
- Hilarious intro splash screen.
- Short

Neutral:
- Voice acting is bad, but for a free mod, I guess it's fine.

Cons:
- The level design is atrocious throughout the entire 30 minutes you'll be playing the mod.
- Visuals are really bad, there are no lighting in so many places.
- No HUD for absolutely no reason


4/10 It's bad, but at least hilarious, free and extremely short.

Logistique is a modification for Half-Life 2 set in City 17 during the events of Half-Life 2 and you play as a new character that goes by the name of Ivanov or Adam(?) who searches for his wife Anna, who presumably got taken during a head count in the city.

Pros:
- Visuals are pretty good
- Ironsights and clip mechanic
- The mod has its own soundtrack that is not half bad and keeps the mod's atmosphere throughout.
- The intro cutscene is really good
- Voice acting is decent
- Custom Guns
- Free

Neutral:
- Bland level design

Cons:
- The new mechanics for gunplay are janky
- There is a platforming section that is executed horribly

6.5/10 Logistique Act. 1 was a pretty meh experience albeit not a bad one, I enjoyed the new mechanics it tried to bring, but it fell short with annoying design choices and bland level design.

A continuation of the mod was never released.

The highly acclaimed Ghost of Tsushima finally came to PC with tons of graphical improvements that was previously only a playstation exclusive title and it is one of the greatest game I've played in a very long time.

Ghost of Tsushima is the closest we can get to a fully fledged Samurai open-world game with an exceptional storyline that deals with the themes of honor, morality and the code of the samurai during the mongol invasion of the island that is beautifully presented through the game's cinematography, soundtrack and visual fidelity.

Hopefully Assassin's Creed Shadows will be able to offer a similarly good experience.

"Honor died on the beach." - Jin Sakai

Pros:
- Art direction is insanely gorgeous and pleasing
- Traversing through Tsushima Island is so relaxing that has so much intricate details
- Game runs silky smooth, well optimized and the game also has FSR3 Frame Generation that works flawlessly
- Very dynamic HUD elements make the game really immersive, when you are out exploring, there are little to no HUD elements on the screen. (When you put down a waypoint, the wind will show you the way, not a marker)
- Great and fitting soundtrack
- The story is extremely good and well written along with its characters
- Both English and Japanese dubbing (So far I've only played the game in english, it's really great, but I also want to experience the japanese dubbing, which I will with new game+)
- Combat feels smooth, satisfying and responsive and over time it just gets better and better as the game shows you more possible ways to defeat your opponents
- The climbing, parkour mechanics are also really smooth and just satisfying
- Quite a lot of armor options that all have their own buffs (Can also be customized)
- Various hats and masks that you can wear
- All the animations are silky smooth and well made
- Side activities all around the island that also improve upon Jin's abilities and fit the setting of the game (Bamboo strikes, hot springs and places where you can compose haikus)
- Many side quests to do (Tales)
- Skills and character upgrades you can get by progressing and leveling up your legend status
- Iki Island DLC that introduces a new smaller Island with gorgeous scenery, new side activities, new tales and a new enemy type along with its very own main storyline.
- Legends Gamemode (The multiplayer component) with varying gamemodes that you can enjoy with your friends
- Photo mode!!
- New Game+
- Tons of collectibles
- Steam Achievements, Trading Cards etc.

Neutral:
- To play the Legends gamemode (The Multiplayer part of the game), and for the Playstation overlay, you need to have a Playstation Network (PSN) account.

Cons:
- Can't turn off the Playstation overlay or rebind the hotkey for it and since I use Shift+F1 for the Steam Overlay, It brings up the Playstation overlay along with it which is a bit annoying, but I got used to it.
- Many countries unfortunately have no access to the game because of PSN, which should be addressed by Sony.
- Few minor bugs.

10/10 Easily among the greatest games I have ever played and I can easily recommend it to anyone looking for an unforgettable samurai experience and if you are interested in Japanese culture, then do not even hesitate and pick up the game already.

banana

Chernobylite is a game with RPG elements set in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and its surroundings with an interesting twist involving supernatural creatures and warping between time and space continuum? Yeah it's an interesting take on Chernobyl let's keep it at that.

You play as Igor, an ex-scientist at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant who's only returned to find his fiancée while also partaking in conspiracy theories and unraveling secrets of the zone.

Pros:
- The game feels like a mixture of Stalker, Metro and a bit of Fallout 4
- Absolutely gorgeous visuals, I was amazed how good it looks (+Ray Tracing!)
- The game runs like a dream performance-wise (+DLSS/FSR)
- You can visit many historical places and monuments
- It captures the vibes of Chernobyl extremely well
- Interesting storyline with some twists to keep it engaging.
- Quite a lot of choices of actions and dialogues that has their own consequences in the story
- Base building and management, which is really close to Fallout 4's building mechanics
- Igor can learn new skills and improve upon them through his companions
- Weapons are great to use with great animations
- Weapon upgrades as in modifications
- Steam Achievements, Trading Cards etc.

Neutral:
- DLCs, not required to enjoy the game they are mostly just cosmetic
- The english dubs sounded overtly british and out of place, so I just played the game with russian dubs to further make the game immersive.
- Sometimes the characters acted like kids getting upset over trivial things.
- The chernobylite monsters were not really scary, but I didn't really mind and also more variations wouldn't have hurt as they all felt the same

Cons:
- Base building was quite limited with not much varying options to choose from
- There is no point in playing the game on the hardest difficulty, no achievement or anything gained from it, so just play the game with difficulties you would enjoy throughout your playthrough
- Some animations were stiff and comedic
- When I was shot, there was a possibility my game froze for seconds before returning back to its senses which was quite irritating, so I just tried to not get shot to avoid that.
- Ray tracing is not really well optimized
- Cannot aim and shoot while jumping
- Relations did not matter at the end, it didn't matter whether I had a good relation or bad relation with the characters.

7.5/10 It's a damn good looking game with a good enough gameplay loop and story to keep you going until the very end, even with its flaws.

Helldivers 2 is an excellent swarm shooter with gorgeous landscapes, ferocious enemies, liberty and democracy.

"Spread Managed Democracy throughout the galaxy! Become a Helldiver!"

Pros:
- Persistent War System, every dive contributes to the overall galactic war
- Gorgeous landscapes with full day-night cycles
- Watching your ship go from A to B is spectacular
- Basically players of the game make the lore of the game
- Really smooth animations
- Really great soundtrack that fits the vibes
- Strong Starship Troopers vibes
- It's extremely fun with friends, but even with random fellow divers
- Crossplay with Playstation players (We can't wait for our brothers and sister over on XBOX to come in as reinforcements if the game ever makes it there)
- Easy to get into, even for those who have not played Helldivers 1 (I did not either)
- Many difficulties to choose from
- Stratagems that to me is quite a unique way to call in aerial support, weaponry and other utilities
- Weapons feel great to use and each have their own strenghts and weaknesses against each enemy type
- During aiming you can go into first person
- Great progression system, leveling up and unlocking new stuff to play with
- Can earn Super Credits for absolutely free just by finding them during dives (Meaning you could get anyting you want in the supershop and the premium warbonds without spending real money)
- Steam achievements
- Upcoming updates and a bright future for the game
- LIBERTY!!!
- DEMOCRACY!!!

Neutral:
- Can get repetitive, but honestly as much randomness can happen in every single dive I don't mind. (The devs also plan on adding more variety)
- The soundtrack can also get repetitive over time, but again, it's a great soundtrack so I personally don't mind

Cons:
- Server issues can arise and they are REALLY frustrating
- Some missions can be insanely unbalanced
- Players trying to squeeze in META stuff, just enjoy the game however you want!
- Bugs

9/10 I was honestly surprised to see what's the hype is all about and was greeted with one of the best multiplayer experience I've experienced in years. With more content updates and constant support this game can easily be a 10/10 if it is not already a 10/10 experience.

ENLIST AND PROTECT LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY TODAY!!!