Recent reviews by BFenix

Blackwake is a virtual materialization of any kids' dreams of high sea battles. A mutiplayer coop FPS where you fill the shoes of a sailor crewing a multitude of majestic sail vessels somewhere during the Golden Age of Piracy. The game hands out the tools and the playground but the real experience is made by the players and their cooperation and cohesion both as a crew and a team.

Reload cannons with a variety of ammunition to cripple the opposing ships; avoid Davy Jones Locker by fixing holes in your hull, pumping out water and repairing torn sails; grapple and board ships to eliminate crews with a myriad of deadly black powder and melee weapons - from blunderbusses to muskets and cutlasses to broken rum bottles. Do your part to keep your ship floating and sunk the enemy or command from behind the wheel as a capable captain directing your men and women. Beware of natural phenomena and obstacles such as waterspouts, erupting volcanoes and icebergs. Sink the enemy fleet, capture the most treasure or assault forts in three game modes.

Blackwake is a passion project and it shows through the transparency of the devs which continuously improve the game and listen to their dedicated community for feedback. Although it's still rough around some edges, the base content and gameplay are there which are the foundation of a mostly player-made experience. This sort of genre has been explored previously through games like Guns of Icarus or more contemporary counterparts such as Wolfpack. Other great titles such as Sid Meier's Pirates!, Naval Action, Sea of Thieves and even FTL, although more polished, came pretty close but, in my opinion, none really captured the Age of Sail and the 54-player sea-battle aspect as well as Blackwake since the action is purely made by player interaction and you're put right in the thick of it. Being an FPS helps tremendously to enhance immersion and gameplay. An excellent (although limited) soundtrack also heightens moments of calm and stress and helps settle the theme. Several character customization options are also present for both factions (Navy and Pirates) and more cosmetics such as clothes and awesome hats are unlocked as you level and rank up.

In the end, I believe Blackwake is a rough gem that's slowly being polished by Mastfire Studios. The current population is small and mostly plays at the end of the day and during weekends but it's strong, loyal and healthy and during those times it's easy to find one or two well-populated servers and have a blast. Before you hop-in though, make sure you complete the tutorials. If you want to apply for captain, try to get a good grip of how most aspects of the game work first, make sure you have a mic and then have a go at it. The more experienced players usually help newbies out, so listen to them!


TL;DR:
If you're trying to make the decision to purchase Blackwake or not, ask yourself this: Do you enjoy the Age of Sail and multiplayer ship battles? Do you have fun and feel rewarded when you work with other people to achieve victory? Are you OK with dealing with the roughness of Early Access to help the game shape up properly and grow? Do you love Pirates of the Caribbean? Have you ever dreamed of screaming "FIRE!" as your crewmates let fly an entire broadside of cannons on an enemy ship just like the admiral dude on the first Empire Earth intro cinematic? (that was awfully specific but Google it if you feel lost)

If you answered "yes" to most it, than you'll find tremendous fun and satisfaction on Blackwake, ya flithy landlubber!

Darkest Dungeon really scratches my inner demons with satisfaction while delivering powerful dosages of stress and anxiety from the prospect of losing my fragile adventurers to the abominations that lurk around the corrupted hamlet and seek to crush their bodies and psyche alike.

Red Hook Studios delivered a solid yet merciless dungeon crawler with RPG elements, absolutely dripping with quality art by Chris Bourassa, eerie sounds, superb voice acting by Wayne June and overall a great haunting atmosphere. All accompanied by simple yet engaging gameplay.

The core of the game is party composition and keeping your adventurers healthy and well prepared in terms of equipment, consumables, skills and mental stability in accordance to whatever hell hole you're putting them through. Battle is done with a turn-based positioning system that dictates which adventurer classes go where and how they destroy their foes.

While out of combat but inside a dungeon, a careful eye must seek out traps, rekindle torches to light the way and diminish stress, decide either to open the abandoned chest in your path or leave it be, with the possibility of being rewarded with loot or infected with a debuffing disease, for example.

The only moment when the game eases up (a bit) is in town when upgrading the several buildings that improve the survival chances of the adventurers and ease their poor existence in this terrible place through relaxation or curing their physical and psychological ailments.

Often, in key moments, your late ancestor will melancholically narrate the events occurring, along with commenting some highlights of your dark quest. All from beyond the grave.

Once you've embarked on enough missions on a certain area, a boss must be slain. While your surviving adventurers toughen up, they'll eventually have to face the ultimate evil of eldritch, cthuloid nature and cleanse the hamlet of this wickedness once and for all.

I'd only point out the lack of more interactivity within the dungeon itself. More kinds of traps, rooms, obstacles and perhaps even puzzles and riddles. Just to make the crawl more varied.

Darkest Dungeon truly is one of, if not THE darkest dungeon crawler around in all its aspects and in the right way and never has the old saying "making the best out of a bad situation" been more relevant. For after losing adventurer after adventurer (or corpses, as the game suggests) to wicked monsters or episodes or pure dementia, you might start to question if maybe your own sanity hasn't dwindled a bit...


Maybe.

Visceral. Brutal. Gory. But I think that the word that describes Killing Floor the best is satisfaction. Every single kill is a shot of adrenaline as you pump your shotgun and take aim at the next freaky mutant victim. When played with a bunch of friends, it becomes a real challenge without becoming too repetitive. Plus, with above-average graphics, stellar performance and special events through out the year, there's really no excuse for those Clots to keep their heads.

A fast-paced type of gameplay that mixes traditional RTS and MOBA elements into a fun and competitive combo. Plus, who doesn't like transforming mecha-vehicles? Should definitely get more attention.