Recent reviews by Ururama

Had a pretty rough launch thanks to an insane amount of bugs, making the game nearly unplayable. Now that the bugs have been mostly fixed, it's easier to fairly evaluate this dlc for what it is, and, in short, the dlc is just okay.

The dlc feels very mixed, it's one of those things where if a mixed option on steam existed, I would use it, but I think overall the dlc does benefit the game more than it detracts, so I am giving it a positive, but don't be mistaken, there are many negatives to this dlc package as well.

Lets cover the main elements, going from best to worst:

Stages:
The stages of the dlc feel very well done, definitely the best part of the dlc. Each new stage has lovely visuals, along with an amazing soundtrack to accompany it. They are an amazing addition that can change up how your runs play, especially with the introduction of Hellminth Hatchery, giving the game its very first alternate stage 5. Some of the stages feel a little bit unbalanced in terms of how big they are and the loot pools of the stage, for instance shattered abodes (The new stage 1) feels a bit too large to be a stage 1, but overall, the new stages are an amazing addition, and probably the main reason I would recommend this dlc in the first place.

Survivors:
The survivors are sort of a mixed bag, much like this dlc.
Seeker, the first survivor, feels well done. They play nicely, have well done animations, and a unique playstyle. They feel as if they could use a little bit of a buff, but overall, are well done.
Chef on the other hand feels very weak when using him. He has a sluggish and slow playstyle, with abilities that don't really feel like they have much cohesion together, and ultimately feels like he needs major buffs / reworks.
The third survivor who I will not name for spoiler reasons feels very unique and fun to play, they have a very interesting gimmick and mechanics that give them a very interesting playstyle. They feel and look very janky though, clearly they were quite rushed in the animations and polish department. They are fun to play however, which I think is more important.
Overall, Seeker and the Secret survivor feel fun to play, Chef does not, but overall I think with 2/3 survivors being fun it is still overall a positive addition.

Items:
The items are where this dlc begins to turn sour. Many of the items in this dlc feel completely useless, and made by people who do not fundamentally understand risk of rain 2. A ton of them rely upon you getting hit, and provide nearly no benefit or valuable ability upon activation. Many of these items I believe not only are unfun but actively hinder the game by clogging up the loot pool and making it harder to find fun items. That being said, there are some fun items included in this dlc, items like the Sale Star are incredibly enjoyable to use. I would say about 60% of the items in the dlc are terrible, while the other 40% are a worthwhile addition. Overall, I would say the items in the dlc are a pretty negative part of it for me, and I would like to see them buff and rework many of these terrible items.

Enemies:
Definitely the most egregious part of the dlc for me are the enemies, but not the new enemy types. There were three new enemies added to the game. They're fine. I don't really have an issue with them, but I don't feel like they add too much. What is truly painful are the new elite types. The gilded elites cause you to drain money and are far too tanky for how frequently they spawn, and the twisted elites can counter you with map wide, unavoidable lasers which simply punish you for attempting to play the game. The elite types NEED to be nerfed, and make this game dreadful when fighting them, and are definitely my pick for the worst part of this dlc.

Verdict:

6 / 10

Overall, this dlc has a lot of good and a lot of bad. Very much a mixed bag. Overall though, I think the good additions outweigh the bad ones, and this dlc is still a fairly enjoyable experience. I would say in its current state, it's rough, and still needs some work and changes, but playable, and enjoyable. The next steps I would like to see from Gearbox are to nerf the elite types and to buff the items in the dlc, specifically the common ones.

If you are willing to download mods, downloading Item Selector which allows you to disable many of the terrible items and only keep the fun ones, Remove Twisted to remove the unbearable twisted elites, and Better Cleave which fixes Chefs slow primary fire can probably bring this up to about a 7.5 or 8/10, so if you want a much better experience with the dlc, I would recommend spending 5 minutes and looking up how to mod the game, and you can get a legitimatley much more enjoyable time out of it. If gearbox updates and changes many of my negatives, I will update the review to reflect those updates.

Truly a fantastic expansion over the base that the original Shapez built. Feels significantly more in-depth than the original.

Pros:
- Takes the things which made the original Shapez great and continues them even stronger here.
- Adds many new features for veterans of the original.
- Features many many many many many options for tweaking your play experience to be just right.
- Amazing soundtrack and aesthetic.
- Fun game play loop focusing on optimisation and experimentation, with all of the new additions even players of the original will have to relearn and tweak with many new features.

Cons:
- I personally found the tutorial to be a bit cluttered, I found as if there was too much happening at once, especially with how many new things there were in the game to manage. I found it difficult to figure out where I was supposed to focus my attention during it, and felt as if I was being thrown a lot all at once.
- Maybe add an option / setting to disable songs used in the original shapez? They are very good songs and I think they deserve to be here, but after listening to those songs so many times in the original, I think have a toggle or setting to play only the new ones would be appreciated.

Overall, if you enjoy factory builders, or want to get into them, Shapez 2 is a fantastic game and one I can highly recommend.

If break the targets from melee was an entire game, it would be something like this. Very good movement and a high skill cap. A little bit short but very replayable if you enjoy grinding for fast records on levels. Could use a level browser where the community could upload levels, or steam workshop support, but otherwise very great game.

Really fun and unique clicker game, allows you to choose how you play and has an interesting upgrade system that doesn't feel repetitive like many other clickers. Overall quite fun! (Also the kiwis are cute af)