Recent reviews by MrDeficient

This is literally--not figuratively--the greatest game ever made.

Oh boy. This game is challenging, the story is engaging and the tao-punk aesthetic is consistently impressive. While most Metroidvania games have throw-away stories, this one actually has me very engaged. Most of the characters are flawed and relatable in a way most platformers completely fail to grasp. I haven't beaten it just yet, but unless the ending is complete trash, this is an easy recommend to any fans of 2D platforming, action combat, skill-based challenge and sci-fi mysticism.

TLDR: The monetization of cosmetics is as bad as everyone says, but the game underneath of that is fantastic. I highly recommend you give the game a shot in 2024, even if you disliked it or burned out on it when it released. This is pretty much the game we were promised at launch and it's super fun and rewarding.

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Alright, I'm going to get this out of the way: the monetization sucks. When I go to customize my spartan, every single thing I see that I like--armor coatings, gloves, even visor colors--are either "vaulted" to punish me (a newish player) for not getting in on the FOMO earlier... or it's a paid cosmetic. It feels bad. I never even had a chance at some of these things and a huge amount of the content is literally locked away.

This is for Microsoft and the management at 343: I think you know you goofed on this. You let an engagement specialist from some social media firm tell you how to monetize your game and it shows. It's embarrassing for a premium product like Halo to be almost begging me for money at every turn. It feels cheap and desperate.

However...

The gameplay is fantastic. I've been playing this game non-stop for the last few days and, I'll be honest, my gripes with the armor customization and monetization model melt away when I'm in the middle of a close CTF or Oddball game. The guns are punchy, the movement is fluid and rewarding to master, the gadgets are super fun in the sandbox, and there are hundreds of maps with the (at last) addition of Forge. The intersection between arena shooters like Quake and Unreal (games I grew up with, to show my age) and modern shooters like Apex and CoD has created something truly unique in the shooter space.

I also have to hand it to 343i for a couple of things: they made a ton of in-demand cores available to all players, all season passes are perpetual, buying one of the older season passes typically gives you enough credits to buy the next once you finish it, and all of the paid content is purely cosmetic. I still think it's one of the worst implementations of the model I've seen... but it's attached to such a stellar shooter, that I pretty much forgive it.

I'm going to put a lot of time into this. I might even grind ranked for literally the first time in my life in any game--that's how much fun this game is.

I may have spent a lot of time dwelling on the negatives, but that's because they dominate the conversation and I felt I had to address (and, unfortunately, agree with) them. But, I'm going to ask you to set that aside and try the game out for yourself--especially if you're a fan of Halo and looking for something different from Warzone, Apex, CS2, Valorant, etc, etc.

It's also free. Did I mention that?

This is the kind of game that brings you out of "multiplayer game" retirement. I haven't made time to play a multiplayer game with my buddies since college. The games were either too involved, too expensive, or I was too far behind. Helldivers 2 was the answer to a question I didn't know I had.

I'm not going to spend time on gameplay, since it's so well documented. It has some bugs, but it's a hell of a good time. Combat is visceral, weighty, and the team-kills are almost always hilarious. I'm going to focus, instead, on why a game like this might be worth it to you if you're a father (or mother or something else entirely) of 2 with a full time job, like I am.

I'll also qualify that I put about 300 hours into the first--back when I had unlimited free time--so I'm not a complete noob to the gameplay loop and general flow. However, this was still a big change and I was starting from level one with a bunch of level 30+ players... and I got to have fun right away. Helldivers lets you dive in, have some fun, and get out. It's as involved as you need it to be and you're always earning progress towards the next unlock. If you want to sweat, there's always some kind of content that demands teamwork, communication, and razor sharp game-sense. However, you can also get drunk with your buddies and screw around, laughing the night away.

Like it's little brother, it's a game that never asks for more than you can give it (as long as your honest with yourself about what you have to give, that is). Ignore the comments on the community page about people kicking eachother and getting toxic as hell. That's not what HD is about--never has been--and those folks will move on to whatever the next big thing is. The core community is amazing and the devs are genuine people who love their game.

So, Dive in, spread Democracy to the far reaches of space, kill each other on accident and laugh about it, and reconnect with old friends (especially with crossplay--whenever they fix the issues with sending and accepting invites). This is $40 that will go very, very far.

As a final note: ignore any and all hate about the in-game store. The premium currency is available in game for free and is pretty plentiful if you want to run some mindless, low-level missions. If this is anything like the first, you will likely never need to spend another dime on it. It will keep getting bigger and better and your value proposition will just keep getting better.

This game will eat your life. That is all.

This game is not for everyone, but everyone should at least try it.

When I saw the trailers, I thought it would be impossible for me to make sense of all of the visual information, but, after a few minutes of playing, it all starts to make sense. Furthermore, the score-attack style of gameplay (focused on hyper aggression), is rewarding and addicting. Climbing a leaderboard has never been more engaging.

The devs have done the impossible and made an excellent arcade-style shooter that utilizes a 360 degree field of view. Utterly unique and focused.

Metroidvania is the dominant gene in most genre descriptions. That is not the case here. 9 Years of Shadows is an action platformer first with elements of a Metroidvania. I'm not going to say there's no value to backtracking, but it isn't really necessary and I found most everything on my first run through each area.

The game is beautiful and I'm obsessed with the character design. The combat and platforming are tight and responsive and the bosses are imaginative, screen filling spectacles.

I enjoyed every single second with this game. I can't think of a single thing it doesn't do at least competently and most things it does incredibly well. It's a standout game and worth every cent. You wont regret playing this if you're a fan of 2D platforming action with beautiful pixel art.

I had never heard of this game until I found it in my Queue and that's a damn shame. Everyone should know about this game.

Monolith is a twin-stick shooter with rogue-lite elements. It has permadeth, randomly generated floor layouts and weapon spawns, a small amount of game-to-game persistance brought to you via your cute cat-blob friend, and many other staples of the genre. This game checks off all of the boxes. However, it is far from formulaic. Despite the pixle graphics and dytopic, magic-punk setting, the game oozes personality and--I was pleasently surprised to find--real charm. Not only that, but the difficulty of the game is perfect, especially when paired with the flawless controls. Other than some frustratingly difficult to use weapons (I'm looking at you, Sword) and some runs being still-born due to bad RNG, this game is just about perfect.

I also want to point out the awesome music. It's great, perfectly paired with the environments and bosses, and sticks in your head long after a session.

I should probably metion that The Binding of Isaac is one of my favorite games of all time. I even bought a physical copy of the original game hand packaged and signed by McMillan and his wife. I also love shmups. This little game is the most perfect marriage of those two things I have ever encountered. The controls are so tight they make Enter the Gungeon and Isaac feel frustratingly loose. The gameplay loop and boss design make Nuclear Throne seem boring by comparison. If you're looking for a quick jaunt through an insanely well-made rogue-lite, please give this game a chance.

I'll begin by getting Hollow Knight's biggest flaw out of the way: the performace issues are a real bummer. The game hitching and dropping frames is a constant concern and made certain parts of the game far more frustrating than they needed to be. It will, at times, impact your enjoyment of the game.

That said, I want to be perfectly clear when I say that Hollow Knight is worth every penny. It is a game painstakingly created by people who clearly have a passion. The art and animation is genuinely charming, fluid, and beautiful; the challenge is perfectly balanced and (nearly) always fair; the atmosphere, NPC development, music, and cryptic story all contribute to an engrossing experience; and believe it when I say the game is massive. I was fairly certain I had found the limits of the map at the fifteen hour mark (which would have still been a splendid accomplishment), yet, seventeen hours later, I was still discovering large, new areas.

This game truly deserves more attention... and it pains me that the only mainstream review it's received was so negative. I get that everyone is entitled to an opinion, so I don't want to discredit those who are knocking this beautiful, charming, challenging, engaging game, I just want to offer my 2 cents: buy this game. Buy it right now.

You'll have trouble finding better bang for your buck.

I've been playing this game off and on since Beta, never finishing it for whatever reason (probably the character resets), but always in awe of what Grinding Gear Games have accomplished. The Passive Skill Tree is massive, the skill gem system is flexible and rewarding, and the barter economy makes currency drops (the various "orbs" of the game) exciting and fresh.

As far as the theme of the game goes, I feel it more closely resembles the oppressive darkness and hopelessness of Dark Souls than it does its spiritual forebear Diablo II. This feeling is only cemented by the cryptic lore, the impossibly ancient dungeons and crypts, and the merciless denizens therein. Though some criticize the game for being generic, I feel the atmosphere (including the solid soundtrack) are spot on and the environmental design ought to be applauded.

Were this game $60, I would recommend it to any fan of the genre (It may very well be the finest ARPG ever crafted and only promises to get better with constant updates and added content). But it is not $60... it is free. And I don't mean "free" as in "grind for hours or pay X amount of money for exp boosts or rare find boosts, but truly, wonderfully free. Nothing in the transaction store gives an in game advantage. Quite literally, it is all cosmetic. Perhaps one could argue that increased stash space is necessary, but the free amount of space is very generous and I could see playing for hundreds of hours without needing to expand. As it stands, there is nothing stopping you from playing this game save indifference to the genre. If you're even remotely interested in the game, download it.

This brings me to my only potential negative. The game is so free, in fact, that I'm terrified GGG isn't making anything from it. There is so little incentive to purchase any of the cosmetic items (which are, I admit, rather pricey), that I have to wonder how GGG are financing the game. I intend to buy something eventually (out of sheer guilt for getting to play such a great game for free), so my only hope is that enough others are of like mind to fund this game into the future.

tl;dr: Game is incredible and truly free. Try it. 10/10