Recent reviews by Sir Diesalot

I wish there was a way to give Long Gone Days a "Meh" review. As there is not, I'm going to go ahead and give it a negative one just to try and temper the overwhelmingly positive score the game now has.

The game promises a mature and political story about war and its consequences, set in a dystopian alternate universe which hits close to home given the current global situation. The setting is quite good, and the idea of a shadowy PMC calling the shots and destabilizing democratic countries in order to ensure the outbreak of conflicts from which to profit is really interesting, so the game starts off strong.

The visuals are fantastic, with both the pixel graphics and the anime style cutscenes being extreme detailed, expressive and beautifully animated. Graphically, a lot of attention, care and love have been devoted to this game, and the result is outstanding and deserving of praise. Sadly, no other aspect of the game holds up to that level of quality. The combat is appalling: too easy, too repetitive, most of the time just a chore with no real stakes. The levels feel way too linear and exploration is obvious and unrewarding. The game boasts about every encounter being handcrafted, and they might well have been, but they are by no means unique or varied. You will fight the same generic enemies almost every time, almost all the time. But with great visuals.

The writing is generally decent, and it holds up when written in languages other than English, at least in those that I can understand myself. However, every bit of promise that the story showed early on fizzles out and dilutes over the course of the game, as no real hardship ensues.

Topics such as the massacre of civilians, slavery of women for reproductive purposes, police states, repression, the mental struggles of soldiers are touched upon lightly, but they are never dealt with at depth or with any kind of nuance. I get the impression that the writers did want to speak about those topics, but that they for some reason toned down the discourse, or maybe just never had anything interesting to say. The result comes across as bland, unimaginative, derivative and naive.

In summary: the combat never really tests you, the story never really shocks you, and the choices you are given by the game never seem to have any real importance. And for that reason, the game perpetually exists in a state in which you feel as though it is about to deliver, about to finally get good ... and it never does. Long Gone Days is the skeleton of a great game with nothing of substance filling the space between the bones. I do not regret outright the time I spent playing, but I do feel disappointed when I imagine what this game could have been with a little more drive, a little more bravery, and at least a tiny amount of soul.

There have been previous iterations of Heads Will Roll, which I have been hesitant to review positively because they were a bit too similar to a previous game, A Legionary's Life. Especially regarding the combat system, but also the overall gameplay loop of training at camp, the reputation system and even the evolution of the story and certain encounters ( the siege, the shieldwall/phalanx ). This game, however expands on both the combat and the story immensely.

The combat has been completely revamped. There are many different weapons to choose from, crossbows, throwing knives, trinkets, consumables, and more. These improvements to the combat make it not only stand out on its own, but also really replayable and rewarding. The attention to detail with the historical weaponry and armor is also outstanding, including how better armor and gear influences the way you are perceived by other characters.

Regarding the story, its scope has been greatly increased, encompassing many different chapters, a branching storyline based on your reputation and decisions, a good amount of intrigue and some very exciting situations and encounters. While the romance aspect of the game is something that I do not personally enjoy too much, given that it is pretty shallow and prone to fanservice, there are some very interesting situations which arise from it. Some of the girls have SERIOUS issues.

Overall, this game feels like the culmination of a years long process which has gradually deviated from its original influences and has finally become its own game, unlike any other out there. An immersive, zero-to-hero story set in the Hundred Years' War with high stakes and great replayability.

Congratulations to the devs! I am eagerly waiting for more.

PS: There are a few bugs and some issues with the English localization, but given the size of the team (I read on Reddit that the game is made by just a married couple) I am fully ready to cut them some slack. They have also been very active fixing those issues post-release.

So, this is my first negative review ever. Never expected it to be in a game that I mostly enjoyed.

The game is beautiful, artistically. The characters are compelling, the voice acting GREAT, and the parallel storylines work really well in the context of someone stuck alone in the freezing cold, starting to allucinate. However, I take extreme issue with how the illusion of choice is implemented.

Throughout the game, you are forced (I tried sometimes to not respond, but I wasn't allowed; with one notable exception not pulling the gun on the russian guy ) to choose the emotion that the main character feels whenever he intervenes in conversation. I did not expect these choices to have too much of an effect in the overall narrative, but I did expect them to shape the story in some way. However, I was dissapointed. In spectacular fashion. Spoilers ahead:


There comes a point in the game when all your choices are rendered meaningless. Whatever you chose, in a certain conversation with Clara, she will pick your choices apart one by one and reveal to you that you are remembering things incorrectly. Literally, I had been walking around for 3 hours, taking my time to choose an interesting story, roleplaying Peter in a way that I found interesting, and then I find out that the game has been gaslighting both Clara and myself the whole time.

Then the only choice which really matters is to keep "lying to yourself" about the past and choose to remember asking for Clara to be kept as a co-author, or choosing to go towards the red light. And you would expect this choice to be significant. The difference between being lost in Peter's delusions or actually making it out alive, maybe. But no. ¿Wanna know what the difference is?.

One cutscene. At the very end of the game. Everything else remains exactly the same.

Now, do not misunderstand me. I think that this idea for a story is great. The guy lying to himself, not getting the girl due to his own lies and decisions, and everyone dying at the end would have made a great movie. If this game had been a movie made with the game engine, it would have been a great, memorable movie. And this review would have been a 9.5/10. However, it was supossed to be a game.

I, as the player, was not only encouraged but forced to take decisions that ultimately, not only did not matter, but were actively disregarded in my face. I do not think the format fits the story at all. I feel like I have lost my time with this game.

If you want a visual novel with some choices which actually produce (small but significant and rewarding) changes in the overall story, with a great visual style, go play Pentiment. This game, I cannot recommend.

I was sort of coasting through this game, casually gaming like it was a Telltale game. Then Episode 3 hit and in hit hard. Extraordinary, otherworldly experience, far better than any other visual novel I have played. I am hooked now, and awaiting the next Episode anxiously!

A very promising Early Access release. The setting (Metro 2033 inside a spaceship) is very intriguing, and the graphics and UI are greatly improved since their previous game (The Age of Decadence), even if the gameplay remains largely the same. However, the possibilites provided by this more futuristic setting (hacking and manipulating electronics while in stealth mode, mutants, cyber enhancements, etc) are really exciting and might prove deep enough to keep the game fresh.

Combat has adapted well to a modern setting, but I sometimes miss the ability to start an engagement on my own terms (like in similar games such as Wasteland 2/3 or Underrail), instead of having to go through dialog and being put in a disadvantageous position at the beggining of the engagement. However, with the game being at such an early stage, I think it justified to give the devs some leeway and wait for future improvements.

If you are looking for a deep roleplaying game set in an original and well crafted retro-futuristic setting, definitely keep an eye on this one. I will probably update this review in the future, when I have played some more (or the game has been patched to the point that my review no longer applies).

The game is incredible even in Early Access. Some things are still raw and rough around the edges, but the campaign is fun, the battles are challenging and engaging both on land and at sea, and you end up loving your officers and ships and trying your best to keep them alive.

I would like to see some changes in the future, like the ability to skip battles (especially when replaying campaigns) and an ironman mode, but I wholly recommend the game in its current state if you are a fan of the Age of Sail, Hornblower, Aubrey and Maturin, or even just someone looking for a good strategy game.

This game is just perfect. The way it encourages exploration without even having a backstory to follow or nothing to find besides the sensation of fulfillment when your spaceship finally lands on Mars is amazing. It is a game about becoming better, in which you set your own objectives, and devise your own ways to achieve them. And you never get tired of it. There is always something you haven't tried out yet. And you try. And you utterly fail. And you try again.