Recent reviews by TrackerNivrig

There have been several controversies around Helldivers 2 as of the time of this review. Before I get to the game itself I'd like to address those.

The first controversy was how difficult it was to find matches at launch. While the majority understood that this was acceptable considering that the player base was magnitudes higher than expected, a few thought it was unacceptable for a game to have such low capacity at launch. This is no longer an issue, and the fact it happened was exclusively because the game performed far better than the devs intended.

The second more recent controversy was the controversy involving PSN accounts. The devs were forced by Sony to change their policy from encouraging PSN accounts to actively requiring it. This is obviously a horribe idea, because there are many countries that have access to Steam but not Sony, and therefore would no longer be able to play the game. As far as I'm aware, this decision was not made by the devs and rather Sony, so it should not reflect poorly on the devs. Many negative reviews were created due to this controversy, which changed the overall rating from Overwhelmingly Positive to where it is now at Mostly Positive. However, Helldivers 2 is still a "Sony Game," so if Sony's actions cause you to not want to support the game then go for it.

That being said, controversies don't matter when the game is this awesome.

Recently, I feel like we've had many good co-op games, but even among them (Deep Rock, Lethal Company, etc) Helldivers 2 has been extremely well received.

The gameplay has 9 difficulty levels, and a ton of different "Strategems," which essentially give you equipment or call down airstrikes and defense turrets. While the later difficulties start to restrict what you can use to the more "meta" things, the earlier difficulties (1-7ish) allow you to approach each mission however you want.

There are a variety of mission types, and new ones are added as the global campaign goes on. That global campaign encourages the player base to work together to liberate specific planets for a huge reward. Every mission played contributes to this global campaign, which really feeds into the sense of community the game has.

Teamwork is at the core of nearly everything in Helldivers 2. You need to work together with the community to liberate planets by doing missions where everyone else is. You need to work together to complete mission objectives before the timer runs out. You have to work together to clear out enemy bases or stop them from calling reinforcements. You even have to work together to load your teammates weapons and stim them when they run out. The resupply has to be shared by the team or else a player will not be well equipped. Everything runs on teamwork.

This means the game is amazing with friends. Everyone yelling at each other as the mission gets more and more crazy is one of my favorite parts of this game, however it should be noted that this may not be everyone's experience.

The public lobbies are fine. There is in game voice chat, but most people don't use it. This means that the teamwork, the thing that the whole game revolves around, gets more difficult. Also, if you are a lower level and don't have the best Strategems, you can't run the higher difficulties that well with your higher leveled friends unless you work together really well, and those friends are probably over-equipped for the missions you can actually do. For me, this hasn't been much of a problem, but it's something to note.

Another thing to note is that there is a lack of any real story. The "story" created through the global campaign is really interesting to me, and makes me feel like I'm actually a part of something organic. However, it may leave some people disappointed.

For me though, the game is amazing. The gameplay is super rewarding to play with friends, especially when you coordinate. The music is amazing. The over-the-top militaristic and nationalist theme is hilarious and awesome at the same time. The devs add new Strategems, missions, and balance updates that change how you approach the game.

I highly recommend at least trying Helldivers 2, even if it's something you're usually not a fan of. As someone who hasn't really enjoyed many PvE games, this one really stands out to me, and the devs are adding new things pretty frequently so I expect it will have a pretty long lifetime.

I got into the souls series from Dark Souls 3, and picked up the first 2 games in a sale at some point.

While at first there were a ton of things that annoyed me about this game, like not being about to travel between bonfires, kindling bonfires, only 4 roll directions, no movement while using estus or items, and a bunch more, I have to say, I love this game.

In terms of gameplay, Dark Souls Remastered is definitely similar to Dark Souls 3, but the playstyles for each game are pretty different in my opinion. Dark Souls Remastered feels a lot slower paced and calculated compared to Dark Souls 3, which while at first seems off putting, ends up feeling really rewarding. The way progression is handled is a lot better than Dark Souls 3 in my opinion too. The ability to upgrade both weapons and armor makes you have to decide which you feel is more important at the time, similar to leveling in general.

Another thing that I really enjoy about Dark Souls Remastered is the world. One complaint I always had about Dark Souls 3 was that each area felt separate from the others. The world was more like a line that you had to go across rather than an actual place with branching pathways. In Dark Souls Remastered everything connects to everything. The fact you can't fast travel at first makes that even more apparent, and getting a shortcut to a place you've been before feels extremely rewarding. Not only is everything so interconnected, the order in which you go to areas is not very restricted. Of course, it is restricted to a point, but everything definitely feels more open, and it's up to you to decide whether or not you think you can handle the area you're going into. I personally feel like the level design in Dark Souls Remastered is one of its best selling points.

As for the music of the game, I've always loved the way From Software implements it in the Souls series. The fact that for the majority of the game there isn't much music makes the times when there is music much more meaningful. I love the way that the Firelink Shrine theme fades in whenever you come in from a new shortcut you've opened, and all of the boss themes are great. Dark Souls 3 handled this really well too, but I feel like I prefer the Dark Souls Remastered songs, though that could just be because I've listened to the OST from Dark Souls 3 far too many times.

The story is just as cryptic as ever from the soul series, though I find it A LOT easier to follow than Dark Souls 3 was. I'm sure this is mostly because I jumped into the third game in a series and tried to figure out what was going on, but at the same time, I feel like the NPCs in Dark Souls Remastered are a lot more plentiful, and the NPCs that tell you what is going on are a lot easier to find. But even without the NPCs, Dark Souls is able to storytell through the world itself beautifully, and I really appreciate that.

Overall, while I haven't played this game as much as I've played Dark Souls 3, I really do love this game, and it has quickly become one of my new favorites. While the high difficulty scares off a lot of new players, I would definitely recommend trying it out to anybody that is interested.

Great RTS game. Whenever I play, I end up playing for hours. Playing against friends is also fun in LAN, and I'm pretty sure there's an online that I haven't tried.