Recent reviews by Fun Denied

This game has the most unbalanced progression I've ever seen in my life. If you have a full time job don't even think about playing this game. Tier 4 helmets tank multiple 12G slugs or sniper rounds. MGL passengers on helis that move so fast you can't even shoot back. Artillery wiping out $50k loadouts from 1km away. Armored Humvee that has bulletproof glass and tanks multiple C4s and RPGs. All the "early game" counters that people bring up are fundamentally useless as an individual. The new update made CIWS take 300 plus shots to take out the attack chopper.

The first week was so good, now that the no lifes and exploiters have figured out the most overpowered kits and strats the game isn't even remotely fun. Now you're just a meatbag for some loser who's been playing 14 hours a day to farm XP off.

The devs have made it clear this is part of their intended vision and don't seem keen on actually making the grind fair or balanced at all. The wipes are only going to hurt players like me, another situation where the no lifes and the streamers will have all the strong unlocks while people with actual responsibilities will still be trying to level up. By the current progression rates I'll never experience 50% of the games content because the ridiculous grind and how impossible it is to play now.

Really disappointed with this one, it has potential but I feel like the devs are gonna lead this game in a trajectory that will deviate even further away from the casuals.

The Witcher 3 but with Vampires and based on a realistic setting. If you are a fan of Witcher games this will be worth checking out.

If you have a really dated PC chances are you will have issues running this. Even with my rig I'm still only holding 80-90fps at 1440p on max settings with DLSS on balanced mode. Some cutscenes are pre-rendered at 30fps and seem to have no anti-aliasing on, hair looks really bad especially against the background of the sky in those 30fps scenes. However, I've only found a few of those particular ones compared to the majority which are real time scenes that run at normal fps.

The time mechanic isn't as punishing as I initially thought it would be, if anything it just further incentivizes you to do another playthrough. As someone who did 3 whole playthroughs of Witcher 3, this is actually a selling point for me rather than friction.

If you're concerned about performance, I suggest waiting for a stability patch. If you have confidence in your rig then I highly recommend buying it.

Edit 9/30
This is one of the few games that I've had to come back to and update my review. After enough time I can safely say this game is not very good at all. It's got all the great problems we've come to expect from UE5. Stuttering and massive frame drops in the major city, Svartrau, which is full of major quests so you can't just avoid it. Combat is very repetitive once you get used to it, a bit more fun than Witcher but fundamentally the same thing. Enemies are all massive damage sponges as well. It gets better when you level up, but then to get to that point you have to give up time. The biggest enemy is the camera, which is the worst I've dealt with in a LONG time, with the useless lock on you're going to be fighting blind most of the time. Trying to traverse the map is a real pain, when there's a pack of wolves or boar that lock your camera onto them and prevent you from running or jumping, for a game to be so focused on a time system it seems counter intuitive to have forced combat sequences everywhere with the same 2 enemy types. There is also very limited enemy variety, I think no more than 12 total in the entire game. The romance options are absolutely awful, your choices: are a Tatar man, a neurotic middle aged woman, and an Egyptian murder hobo vampire woman. There's also a lot of "creative decisions" that are questionable to say the least. DEI is very present here, but they sneak it in slowly at first, likely to get you past the 2 hour refund cutoff. Anca makes multiple references to the "intolerance of The Church" regarding women and Muslims. Or the presence of Tatars in a region that historically fought back a Tatar invasion, integrated to the point that no one seems to see them differently than Coen or any other NPC. They also made sure to include Jews in this game because why not, even though there was no Jewish population in the region for at least 100 years. And then make a main story mission tied to helping a Rabbi and you can't even refuse his request, can't kill him, you can only do what he tells you. But the Priest, yeah go ahead you can drain him if you like. There's also a black man here in 14th century Carpathia...but its fine cause he's a vampire. This game is totally corporate approved ESG slop filled with subversive narratives.

Brutalist Mirrors Edge with optional co-op. This is some good stuff right here.

Aw yeah we shrimping

Oh yeah we fishin boys

It's pretty good.

Poncle did it again. Just as addicting as Survivors. Hopefully we end up with the absurd amount of content on this one as well.

Get your feet wet and get soggy.

Run around aimlessly, picking up a hoard of herbs and apples.
Find a horse, nearly die taming it.
Run into a werewolf 2 minutes later.
Jump off the horse to fight it.
Horse proceeds to kick its head in.

10/10 will tame an army of horses.

I gave it a chance thinking I would hate it and wholly expecting myself wanting to refund it, and boy was that the right decision. The Marathon hater to glazer pipeline is real. Visually this game is a pure delight, everything from the UI to the music to the map designs. Its all made with meticulous care and attention that we all know Bungie for being great at. The gameplay loop becomes significantly more enjoyable when you look at the game less like an extraction shooter and more like a roguelike. Embrace the free kit lifestyle. Performance is solid on my setup as well. Always stay above 140fps even when a lot is happening. Cant wait to see the direction they take the game over time.

Edit as of 8/20:
I can no longer recommend this game, Bungie has done nothing meaningful with this game at all. They add limited modes to try to pull people in, but these modes are always a 2 week thing and then it's gone. Why play if the mode you enjoy is temporary? Why spend the time and money developing these modes to not keep them in the game? The addition of AI voice moderation is laughable, banning their few remaining players for no-no words is definitely a choice. This whole game can be summed up in one word: Squandered.