Recent reviews by CodeYo

Early review, but I am completely blown away so far.

UPDATE:

Do you remember that feeling you had the first time you booted up Oblivion as a kid?
I do. Nothing has ever matched the mystic and wonder I felt diving into that game for the first time, until now.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon has completely rekindled something I haven't felt in an RPG for a very, very long time. That immense desire to explore every single nook and cranny, immersing myself in the struggles and stories of the characters that fill the world, is something that this game has given me.

I don't read dialogue or story, ever. (I'm literate I promise, I just can't really get "into" it).
This is the first time that has ever changed. The character dialogues are quick, engaging, and impactful. No fluff of throwing around 100 names and elaborate histories, hoping it somehow gets you to care.

The world is dark, gritty, and extremely atmospheric. But the game doesn't just shove this down your throat the entire time. Instead, it does a great job of balancing it with occasional humor and engaging personal stories.

I found a seemingly not entirely alive chef who sent me on a mission to catch a "special" fish. Then I used said "special" fish to create a uniquely grotesque dish of Sour Herring and Cheese (yeeeea, gross). Well fast forward, I now have the power to summon cheese blocks or turn people into cheese until they explode, dropping even more cheese.

Well what about combat and loot? 10/10. Exploring and finding hidden chests is extremely rewarding. You'll find build-changing equipment that has you constantly going "OH! What if I combined THIS with THAT?!" then completely shifting the build you want to try.

There are so many other things I could highlight: the music, the animations, the crafting, the missions, the skill point systems, the Wyrdness.

It's simply, very good.

Great game.

This isn't your "I'm going to LIVE in this for 1,000" type of survival/crafting game. This is something you pick up for a unique, fun experience, play through it at whatever pace feels right to you, enjoy the story as it unfolds, and maybe dip into the endless mode after the story if you want to deck out your train and continue exploring.

As I've grown older I've found myself wanting more games that can be beat in around 10-20 hours. Something I can pick up and casually play over a few weeks, beat it, then put it back down without feeling like I missed part of the intended experience.

The train building and mechanics are fun.

The narrator is great.

The animations and "cutscenes" are great.

The survival features aren't grueling.

It's just a nice, simple, straight forward game where you can get the core experience without committing your life to it.

A lightweight single-player Runescape experience

A very good port of a fantastic game.

Progression is slow and impactful.
As others mentioned, it does have a Kenshi feel to it and I love that.

The game is still early in development but shows a ton of promise.

EDIT: 33 hours in, just beat it and my review still stands. Fantastic game.

This is one of those rare moments where Devs don't give up on a project they're clearly passionate about and turn it around.

Wayfinder was dropped by publisher Digital Extremes, this forced developers Airship Syndicate to either close their MMO entirely, or find a new way to keep the game alive. The decision became to convert the game from an MMO to a fully offline single player game with optional online co-op. And boy, what a save this was.

The change was initially not received well. Tons of people were upset that the project they had back and invested in was seemingly scrapped. But as the update came in, people gave it a shot, new players flooded in and it became clear that this decision had potentially saved the game.

They didn't just "take it offline". They restructured the progression and in-game systems to better reflect a Single-Player/Online Co-op experience. And it's been executed extremely well.

The devs are communicative and transparent on their Discord and I see this game having a solid future.

Vendir: Plague of Lies was enjoyable and easy to pick and play.

If it weren't for some reviews here, I wouldn't have known it was originally a mobile game, it didn't feel/play like it at all, it just felt like a light-weight rpg worth every penny of $15.

The Great:
🟩 Steam Deck Performance 10/10 - I played almost entirely on Steam Deck and it ran perfectly.
🟩 Dialogue 9/10 - Straight up enjoyable dialogue. Witty characters, funny interactions.
🟩 Customization - 9/10 - Great customization of your hero and teammates, plenty of builds to try out and tweak AND you can reset characters individually very easily if you want to try something different.


The Okay:
🟨 Combat 7/10 - The most fun part of combat was just trying out different build combos and seeing them perform. But in terms of actual combat, it began to feel repetitive and "just got to get through this" at the very end.


"You have to play a mana tank healer or pay to heal after every fight!"
Just not true. There is a ton of food crafting in this game, I never paid to heal until late-game when I just had so much money that I didn't need to bother with gathering/crafting anymore.
You also gain more teammates, at no point are you forced to turn your main hero into anything. I played with 1 tank and barely healed in combat at all.

"No save mechanic"
.. what? Press select, click save. Literally any time except mid dialogue or in combat.

I like

Fantastic game.
Heavily recommend to anyone looking for a casual and atmospheric game.

I almost feel bad for thoroughly enjoying this more than Elden Ring
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almost