Recent reviews by Axe99

This is a tentative thumbs-up - there are a lot of good ideas in Millennia, and I had fun learning and playing the game, but also quickly learned that the GPU (!) use was so high that I really had to play on a tiny map if I didn't want really painful late-game slowdown (and even on a tiny map it slows down late-game, but not insufferably so). The AI is solid, and the potential for MP is probably very good. The economy management is a teensy micro-heavy (it doesn't scale well with map size) but also interesting and flexible, and the ages system is a fun way of . Diplomatic systems are still quite underbaked, but it is a new game, and a very ambitious one, so some rough edges can be forgiven. It's not "early access" rough (everything works, more or less) either, just a very complex game and these things take time to "settle".

I'll be back for the first couple of DLC at least and hope to follow the game for the long haul. It's a good, solid start but with some rough edges - I'm hoping the devs will be able to turn their foundation into something for the ages, no pun intended :)

This is a very easy-on-resources tech-based strategy/puzzle game with a lot of heart and great attention-to-detail in it's crafting. It can be a bit "groundhog day" as one plays through the story again and again, but I got about eight hours of fun out of it, with 5-10 playthroughs, so definitely can't complain. Well worth a look if this thing is up your alley :)

The core gameplay loop of Carrier Deck is good fun - balance your aircraft and their capabilities against a range of threats. It's a good "little game", and I was quite enjoying going through the campaign. However, about half-way through it started experiencing consistently repeating performance issues that made it 'gum up', making it effectively unplayable (it's not technically unplayable, but the FPS is so low important gameplay cues can be missed). In this context, it's very hard to recommend. Without technical issues, would be an easy thumbs up for someone looking for a bit of light carrier-themed fun, and I got 5 hours out of it before it fell in a heap, so it wasn't all bad - if "a taste of light carrier-themed fun" appeals, it may still be worth checking out. Same if you're tech troubleshooting inclined.

It's an incredibly ambitious game, which means it has some rough edges early, but I'm enjoying it a heap.

Pros:
- Engaging and deep economic simulation.
- Interlinked political and social simulation
- Great soundtrack, and aesthetically pleasing.

Cons:
- Warfare is still pretty rough - not unplayable, but it's no surprise the devs have noted this is one of the areas they're keen to improve.
- There are rough some rough edges.

I expect in a few years time this will be even better, but there's no doubt I'm enjoying myself as well.

A lot of fun - Crusader Kings 1 was an interesting experiment, and Crusader Kings 2 made great strides, but Crusader Kings 3 is where the series has "clicked" for me. Lots of fun, a very enjoyable Medieval sandbox, great UI, and impressive performance.It is a new, complex strategy game, so does have a few niggly bugs, but nothing I came across in my first run that was game-breaking, or oven a serious issue.

I've played nearly forty hours of Imperator: Rome now, and can happily report it's an enjoyable game and allows for some quality ancient-era empire-building. It still has it's rough edges (performance at the monthly 'tick' can be pretty slow, particularly late-game) and like any strategy game at release has some areas that are stronger than others (navies at the moment are a tad one-dimensional, and trade is very, very basic with no actual trade routes across the Ancient Mediterranean, but rather just selecting stuff you can trade for that is 'in range' for money and bonuses), but it all holds together as a game and is fun to play. Further, as a Paradox game, I have confidence it will be improved in time (naval improvements are already slated for their 1.1 patch).

As a recommendation, I'd say it's a good game for people wanting to get their ancient empire-building on, but that they should be aware if they're getting the game shortly after launch that it still has some rough edges (hardly unusual for games in the era of over-the-internet releases).

A great little expansion adding a couple of interesting new mechanic (autonomy and better puppet-master interactions, and the spearhead command for battleplans) and a bunch of extra detail for Commonwealth minor nations (including steps to reduce India's available manpower, particularly while it remains a subject of Britain). The new Commonwealth minor focus trees are a blast to play and the new 3D models for Commonwealth units add immersion. While not perhaps of much value to the German player who's primary interest is in rolling over the enemy while paying little attention to them, for fans of attention to detail, or Commonwealth minors, this DLC has a lot to like.

Comfortably the best 'whole of' Second World War grand strategy game yet released. While the inherent complexities off a game modelling World War Two (WW2) at a division/ship/aircraft level mean that there are still elements of the game that could benefit from further polish, the game in its current state is a lot of fun and a genuine strategic challenge as long as one is either playing multiplayer or not taking advantage of exploits that the AI can't match (and, of course, playing a nation like France or Italy will be more of a challenge than playing one like the US, USSR or Germany - but that should expected (and desired) in a WW2 grand strategy game.

As with all 'core' Paradox Development Studio games, there is a team continually working to both improve the base game and develop DLC, which promises great things for the future. The game is also well supported by modders, with both active WW1 and Modern Day mods in development, as well as alt-history favourites like KaisserReich.

Atlantic fleet is a funny beast. It's good oodles of potential, but it doesn't make the 'recommend' for me for a few reasons:

- no save during missions, which can go for quite some time (over an hour if there's a long pursuit of a smoking enemy).

- A tad crash happy. I had four crashes in 7.7 hours of play, which when you can't save mid-mission can mean a lot of repeated gameplay.

- the game isn't sure whether it's trying to be a sim or an arcade game. It's too slow to be an arcade game, and too mechanically arcade to be a sim. It does a lot of sim stuff decently (relatively detailed damage model, great ballistics, wind affecting shots) but then you'll have lone destroyers raiding in the South Atlantic (theoretically possible, but Germany never had plans to do that for a reason!) Destroyers always know where submarines are (even from well outside the range of the sonar of the time), and depth charges are far, faaaaarrrr too accurate. This isn't bad if the game's taking an arcade approach, but.....

- on the other hand, it's very slow paced and can get repetitive very fast, and the mechanics are a tad obtuse for an arcade game (although the game does have decent tutorials, and they only crashed on me once).

I'd say it's a decent patch from being a solid game that's not quite sure of it's identity, and potentially fun. The mechanics are at their best with surface ship actions (a little odd, given the 'Battle of the Atlantic' title, the namesake being primarily a contest between escorts aircraft and merchants vs submarines and aircraft) and it can be enjoyable setting up a custom battle between a couple of battle lines together and slugging away for a bit.

An enjoyable space 4X game, but unless you're playing in MP, it's 'workmanlike' rather than stands out. I enjoyed my time in it, but it felt too skewed towards the early game (it's tough early, but once you're out in front, then there's really no stopping you, so the last 75 per cent of the game is no challenge - or you get smashed early and the game's over - or it's easy early, and then crazy easy for the rest of the game), and could have done with more work balancing the strategic AI and the difficulty curve over the length of the game. Would recommend trying the devs later stuff first, and hoping they refine the single-player game in the upcoming Endless Space 2.