Recent reviews by skibiditoiletrizz

wow this is a visually incredible 'game' but feels more like a hyper realistic call of duty tech demo without the actual appeal of QOL improvements. every single shoot out feels completely random rather than skill. when i get a 2.5 kda it's because my aim, which is horse ship, happened to randomly hit more bullets rather than me actually getting the twitch reaction jump on my opponent. the maps are amazing, the detail in gun realism is 100% there... it's just that the shooting itself feels god awful. it's like they took everything that was realistic but forgot what makes it fun from a video game standpoint. all in all, great if you love realism more than fun. i wiped out every single lobby i played in across every game mode and got bored quick; i would love to see a single player campaign with more fleshed out gunplay though. this environment should not go to waste, but god the multiplayer is so boring

as of 8.21, the combat in the early access feels amazing. played on keyboard and mouse. the first few hours were more frustrating as I got a handle on it, and the game is meant for controller for sure - the spectacle of boss fights is absolutely incredible and I'm excited for the october release. played in single player completely. the game is generally linear and feels a bit grindy though for certain resource management collection stuff, but I'm sure it's more enjoyable with a friend.

The worldbuilding, the music, the atmosphere, the exploration, and art/character design is absolutely amazing. What a beautiful game to stumble into and get immersed in! However, I found various performance issues like stutters on a 4090. I play keyboard and mouse which was one of the worst experiences I have ever had; it's clear from start to finish that they expect users to use a controller. Though these two gripes are annoying, the real reason for a negative comment is the combat. It's a pervasive mechanic in all parts of the game and ultimately never respects players' time.

I've beaten elden ring / dlc and other soulslike games. The beauty of those games is that though the pattern of gameplay is generally "boring" and "simple", which is to say you dodge and watch enemy attack animations until you learn the right moment to go in, is improved by the fact that enemy boss animations look incredibly cool, unique, terrifying, immersive, etc. so you can die 50 times without necessarily getting "bored", even if you're practically doing the exact same thing every death, every boss - watching and learning. So in those games it's fine if you do no damage and the boss one shots you - the appeal is in watching animations and recognizing weak points, windows to attack, proper timing, etc.

In Tunic, the enemy animations and attack patterns are stale, repetitive, and really boring. But you have the same limited firepower. I get it - you're kind of a weak non-hero especially in the beginning, but god does it feel like a grind to hit, dodge, hit, dodge, etc for 15 minutes looking at the same slice of the map, the same enemies, same player attack animations, same enemy attack animations, etc over and over again. It takes the same "watch and learn" formula but genuinely provides little variety or engagement, and ends up feeling like padding most of the time. I am really disappointed in the combat as a result. A shame, since exploring is a lot of fun but the enemies and combat always make me roll my eyes and sigh.

literally only two maps but the shop has four tabs and multiple ongoing events

one map is trios only.

most of the gameplay regardless of class feels similar. spam abilities then time dodge correctly. no weapons feel actually weighty/impactful, including the giant two handed hammer and the 2h greatsword. it plays more similarly to an anime action RPG than any soulslike in practice, bordering on mobile gameplay. there's a lot of ways to run away, and in solos I often go through 15 potions (often due to fall damage while chasing) in a 1v1 before getting third partied. even when i 1v2 or even 1v3 and win the fight (i've never lost a fight in solos) it doesn't feel exciting or rewarding after the first time doing it. the upgrade paths for skills are a complete slog with obvious metas and little viable variation, and there is nearly no discernible difference when upgrading gear whatsoever. a common vs green vs blue feels nearly identical and offers small stat upgrades. every character has mobility options which makes it hard to ever close the gap. this is a cat and mouse type game most of the PVP fights i've encountered, with long TTK and watching enemies going through potion drinking animations most of the time.

Pve enemy types are pretty boring archetypes, and without a weighty feeling weapon, PVE is grindy in feel. every weapon feels like a set of daggers doing tiny amounts of damage. boss animations and attacks feel repetitive and unengaging; it takes the hit once, dodge for 30 seconds pattern and adds a hefty health bar on top.

the game ultimately does not respect your time, to the point where they have two AFK loot mechanics that they add to the base camp.

an inspiring premise, but the game is wholly experienced in the first 5-10 hours. I fear this game will get hit by the arc raiders effect, where it fails to get significant updates or changes to keep the game fresh while largely only rewarding its paying playerbase.

also crashing on a 4090 with 'fatal error' and have lag spikes despite 1gb internet. pretty awful when i'm mid fight with pve/pvp encounters.

i have 45 player kills and a 85% extraction rate and have tried every class. i dont think this game is objectively worse than dark and darker, just an anime-style gameplay skin variant; the game ends up feeling like a time waster and grindy above all else. the content is far too limited, and there is only so much you can do in two maps besides grind for arbitrarily improved loot.

the only good part about the game is some guy in general chat named "meowmeow" who spams obsessing over femboys. that guy is the only thing that's brought a smile to my face in 15 hours of gameplay.

I finished the entire game, ie all three acts and the final boss of act 3. I've beaten elden ring + DLC and lies of P and though I think the game is polished, it's just not fun to backtrack--the metroidvania aspect isn't as satisfying as hollow knight or other open world soulslike titles, and as someone who loves difficult platforming (ie finished C side tapes of Celeste) this game's platforming is largely just uninspired or annoying. Boss fights are riddled with necessary arena type pre-requisites (facing 3-5 waves of trash mobs before a boss fight is literally just padding), and the boss fights themselves are either overwhelming graphically with excessive visual clutter, or just generally repetitive patterns that don't have much variation. There's not as much creativity as I'd expect after this number of years of development -- for all the hype, I don't think it's a real sequel; it feels more like DLC (or maybe even a mod) of the original hollow knight. The graphics are stunning and there were no crashes or stutters/lag but that's the best compliment I can give. The difficulty is definitely higher than the original game, but in a semi padded way -- contact 2 masks damage, forced arena waves, fewer checkpoints and annoying routes from checkpoints to bosses while sporting less than satisfying boss fights. I beat the game hoping each boss would be more creative and exciting rather than tedious and annoying and ended up 70 hours later disappointed. I would rather have spent the time re playing lies of P or celeste, because though the game tries to have difficult boss fights and satisfying platforming, it ends up falling short in both regards. Thanks for putting in the work team cherry, but I hope you explore some more creative avenues in the future and attempt more experimental and bolder decisions rather than just adding a ton of wave-based arenas all over the map--the game could have been half the time and far less tedious in that case.

Surprising amount of polish. The worst part about the game is the limited content.

Overall, En Garde! is an incredible fencing game that has combat mechanics resembling the free-flow type of movement from AC/Batman, with a parry system that particularly challenges players to avoid group fights and attempt to create duels when possible. Though I took around 4-5 hours to finish the entire game on normal difficulty, there was effectively zero downtime. The only times I ever got remotely close to bored was when I died repeatedly and had to wait for the loading screens (which are remarkably quick on my SSD anyways). The characters all have expressive personalities, and though they're pretty standard, the tongue-in-cheek humor perfectly complements the sharp wits, snappy combat, and Puss in Boots aesthetic overall.

So why is this game worth it at $20 for only four to five hours of content?

1: Because of the details. The combat is incredibly well done, and perfectly combines a satisfying gameplay loop (kiting groups and creating duels), with a great array of enemy types and boss fights. The dialogue is magnificent--the typical back and forth dialogue to define contextual relationships and other expository details is there, but there's also more subtle voice lines that trigger depending on what happens during a fight. Ie, kicking crates into enemies might result in the protag making a "Crate to see you" pun, a boss spawning trash mobs will have differently dialogue depending on whether you attack the boss or the non-boss mobs first. Weaker mobs walk with more cowardice, and speak more fearfully, whereas tankier mobs will harass or intimidate you. Miss a parry? Get taunted. Grabbed a box? Get taunted. Running away? The enemy will not stop talking to you/about you. It's just the right amount of playful immersion.

2: Because of the fluidity. The game works well because of how well the elements of gameplay mesh together. From parkour across rooftops or swinging around an arena, to throwing guitars to create space in a tiny balcony, button presses are immediate and responsive. Whatever input method you use, you are in full control of your character. If you die, it's not because of a glitch, or an unfair mechanic, it's because you didn't pay attention and got surrounded. Dashing, dodging, parrying, going on the assault--though the game often resuses asset/enemy types a good amount throughout the game, it never feels old.

3: Because of the style. From head to toe, the game does not once miss the mark on the theme--a swashbuckler adventure where each step is a lesson in panache. From the OSTs, to the world design, to sound effects and animations, to voice actors and line deliveries, everything in this game clicks together. I don't even like fencing, or swordfights all that much, but this game oozes charm. From staccato filled musical cues, to surprise encounters with mystery characters, to listening to one witty comeback after another mid-combat, En Garde! makes sure you *feel* like a rebel, like a strong independent Spanish woman who never backs down from a fight. For a game that doesn't take itself seriously , it has polished every corner of its product without sacrificing its soul.

At the end of the day, though I wish the game was indeed longer, the combat is incredibly robust and replayable. Though the world, characters, and music can only be experienced for the first time once, there is a lot to love. The representation in the game is also quite phenomenally done--LGBTQ themes are not overt enough to seem like a corporate decision, but rather embedded into the story and revealed through combat dialogue. All in all, En Garde! is an appetizer that fulfills a lot of needs, but keeps me hungry for a main course. An indie pick you will not regret purchasing for less than $15, but still worth it at $20.

I wish I could say yes, I recommend this game. I love space, I've loved a majority of the bethesda games that have been released (Fallout is an incredible series), and I thought the marriage of space with Bethesda RPGs would make for an unforgettable experience.

Unfortunately, the gameplay just feels lackluster. In terms of what I can appreciate the most: The world is gorgeous, the detail placed in each individual item is magnificent, and I have the utmost respect for the artists and those working on the models and environments. These aspects are truly mindblowing. However, these worlds, these "1000s of planets to explore", feel incredibly barren. When I land on a planet, it's either explore for 2 hours and find maybe 4-5 structures with mediocre loot or just a standalone structure that has no depth besides some superficial nature to it, like a civilian outpost with generic stand-ins and fetch-quests at best, or an antennae/tree/ruins that captures my interest for 30 seconds at worst. The soundtrack and world details are beautiful, but it's hard to feel immersed when I'm asked to go from planet X to planet Y, then talk to person Z, before returning to planet X, who then asks for a delivery to planet B, where I fight relatively simple AI with tanky armor/shields for an hour until I get to character C, who has a lot of lines of dialogue, but 70-80% feels like filler. Maybe it's because I've just put in 100 hours into Baldur's Gate, but my expectations for dialogue quality have almost never been reached. No character or dialogue yet has made me laugh, feel sad, pause between making decisions, or otherwise leave any sort of emotional impact on me. Choices, like the combat and missions, feel empty, superficial, and non-consequential.

I haven't had any crashes thankfully, and I will say that loading screens are incredibly fast (2-3 seconds!), but the cutscenes... they're immersive and beautiful with the music, the sound effects, the visual effects probably the first 10-20 times you see the docking, space travel, warp drive, landing, etc cutscenes, but after seeing each of these for 10 times, I really wish there was an option to just skip these filler sequences. In fact, I'm tabbed out of the game right now because of another take-off sequence -> loading screen -> landing sequence that I have to watch every time I make a mistake where I land, or need to finish/start another fetch quest, etc. However, I very much still have bugs even if I don't have crashes. Namely, some quest markers just do not appear. One sidequest had me looking for spacers orbiting a planet, but after spending 20 minutes idling, then restarting the game, then fast travelling somewhere else then back again, I spent in total half an hour just trying to figure out how to progress a sidequest. Then I gave up and went to finish a main quest, but once again got stuck attempting to turn a quest in at a satellite which normally should allow me to dock (but the interface simply does not show up). Again, restart the game, fast travel back and forth, and attempting to finish other quests before returning have all failed to help me progress. So now I'm stuck.

The game's ambition with regard to creating outposts, automating resource gathering, creating a fleet of companions to help you on the field or at your outposts/ship, incorporation of more planets than I can count, and otherwise enormous scope have unfortunately taken away from the core gameplay. I loved fallout for the hand-curated worlds, dialogue and side quests that could evoke emotion, whether it's pain or laughter, characters I actually care to remember the name of, and choices that actually make me pause and consider. I was not the biggest fan of fallout 4, but I can admit that even that is a superior game to Starfield in the metrics I described above--it's a more invested game, even with its flaws, compared to Starfield.

I will continue to play the game in attempt to get my $70+ worth of gameplay, searching for an experience in the game that can feel like some sort of silver lining, but in its current state I wouldn't recommend it to my friends, or even strangers, for any price over $10-20 USD. The only similar game I can confidently put this game above is the Outer Worlds. Which is not saying much. I'd recommend you go back and play modded fallout/skyrim or even No Man's Sky; at least they're cheaper.

(52 hour edit)

I beat the game, and out of 52 hours I felt that 5 hours scattered throughout the game were truly enjoyable. This was not worth it. A lot of set up but no impact. The OST, soundtrack, sound design, world, and environments are gorgeous. But there's nothing of substance. You see it once, hear it once, and then get to hear and see variations for the next few weeks of your life. I wish there was one planet or side quest or mission that really made me smile or laugh or even blow air out of my nose. Nothing hit that mark. And my expectations were pretty low tbh.

There are two learning curves to this game. The most obvious one is the learning curve of the city building game itself. But the more important one, the one you can't just optionally ignore and try to 'wing it', is going through the process of Ubisoft Connect. You are an underage simp, desperate to get through the doors to the gorgeous 1800s city builder of your desire, but there's this giant, unassuming, non-loading, utterly broken piece of ship software that absolutely cucks the hell out of you at the door. You pound your credentials into the barrier furiously, but alas, the button to log in does not respond whatsoever. So you try a different Ubisoft account. But the bouncer still doesn't give a ship about your attempts to log in, or how you "paid money" and "deserve" to play the game. That's where you're wrong. You don't get to just *play* the game just because you put down *money*, idiot. You need to get hazed, you need to go through the PROCESS, you need to *prove* to Ubisoft Connect that you really care, that going to this club isn't a one time thing, you need to plead, to beg, to get on your knees and start sucking or praying. Because clicking "Forgot password" will not help you get in. Uninstalling and reinstalling will not make the bouncer budge. No. You gotta go into the "Settings" of the launcher, then restart the launcher, then force close steam and the launcher, then reopen the launcher FIRST, and THEN open steam again, then make sure you're logged into the separate launcher, THEN start Anno from steam, and finally, you might get the game to begin. Thank you Ubisoft, I've learned that going back to college, finishing a PhD dissertation, and marrying the anime character of my dreams is easier than using your outdated, janky, gutless, technically incompetent, intern-created garbage excuse of a launcher.

This is the first and only time I bought a game that just does not even get past the launcher. I've troubleshooter the ubisoft connect launcher not letting me log in for awhile, made 2 new accounts in addition to my existing account, and it still literally will not log me in. I'm not particularly an ubisoft fan, esp with their Epic games preference, but I actually enjoyed the watch dogs series. It's a shame to refund this because I tried a lot to get this game to work.

its like smite but not 1st person