Recent reviews by Tayvin

This game is already a lot of fun with a ton of potential. For an early access game, it's been very stable and smooth running performance-wise. Gameplay, it's got a nice enjoyable loop of building up your settlement, exploring your surroundings and taking regions with resources you need in the early game, while gathering the ability to fight off zombie infestations in the mid game, all while carefully managing your resources and objectives which vary from level to level.

The late game is where the game falls off a bit as, once your fully explore your surroundings and deal with all the zombies, there's not much reason to expand or up your tech level beyond completion's sake. There's just not much going on once you get to that point. However, I feel like this is something that will be expanded on with time. There is going to be an additional campaign beyond the two that are currently out, and more features are sure to be on the way.

As it is, it's lacking in parts, but it's already got a solid foundation to build upon and I for one and very excited to see how it develops in the following months.

I bought this game kind of on a whim....

And then next I realized, 14 hours had passed by and my body was aching for sleep and even now, I'm tempted to push onwards.

This game is surprisingly addictive, which may not come as a surprised to those who've played Plague Inc, the developers previous game, but that one was a bit too grim for me to really get into. Rebel Inc, however, is not as dark and has a much more understandable, and enjoyable, element of strategy to it. It's fairly simple to understand, especially if you've played Plague Inc, but still plenty challenging on its own. And then there are the various leaders and advisors you unlock along the way that can change up and better fit to your playstyle. Are you an economist who likes to rapidly fund a variety of projects and military resources to cover your bases? Are you a military-focused general who wants to crush the insurgents and keep them from growing too strong? Or are you a civil engineer hoping to rush out projects to stabilize many regions before the Insurgents even form? All have their strengths and weaknesses and are great showcases to this game's replayability.

In short, would highly recommend for any who enjoy strategy.

If you're a fan of RPGs, of grand Sci-fi universes, of fantastic storytelling and wonderful characters, this is a must. Mass Effect 2 is easily one of the best ever made, and that's not a statement I make lightly. A great story that serves as a darker, more intense sequel from the first game of the series, and with even more permanent choices that will affect the progression of the story into the third game.

You are Shepard, the first Human Spectre, an interstellar agent with broad reaching powers to preserve galactic peace and stability no matter the cost. In the previous game, you uncovered the threat of the Reapers, a race of sentient machines that have wiped out all sentient life in the galaxy time and time again for millions of years, now they are returning to do the same once again, and though few believe the Reapers even exist, you will do whatever it takes to save Humanity, and the rest of the galaxy, by stopping the Reaper Threat. In Mass Effect 2, you must work with a former enemy from the first game, and gather a team of highly-skilled individuals in order to launch a suicide mission to stop an alien race working for the Reapers, some of these people will be companions from the first game, most will be new faces, all of them will have problems, personal and/or professional, that will need your help to solve if they are to perform their very best for this mission. Fail to do so, or make the wrong choice, and you may lose them forever in the mission.

Along the way, you'll be faced with difficult ethical dilemmas, but not the Good/Evil variety. Instead you must choose between the Paragon (Self-less Hero) or the Renegade (Ruthless Badass) options. There is no right or wrong option with either of them, and you can go for one of the other or a mix of both for any situation, whichever suits you.

So yes, get this game, it is absolutely worth your time. But do not play it before playing through Mass Effect 1, the choices you make in that game will have a major affect on this one, understandably so. So get both of them, and save the galaxy as a Noble hero or a Ruthless anti-hero. Either way, the galaxy will be watching you, and judging Humanity on your actions.

If you're a fan of 4X strategy games, you will LOVE Stellaris. Great creation options for your species/empire, plenty of gameplay options from complete military conquest or a more subtle approach or just befriending your neighbours if you can and a lot of twists and turns along the way in each game. The game may seem complicated at first and, yeah it kinda is, but it does a good job of walking you through most of its functions.

What more can I say? If you're a 4X strategy gamer that loves having the freedom to play the way you want, this is the game for you. Go out there, and bend the galaxy to your will!

For those who at least enjoy strategy games and the Halo universe, this is definitely a fun game to play, especially if you have friends that also own this game but even if you don't the AI can be pretty challenging too. Controls are somewhat awkward with a mouse and keyboard but not overly so and the story is... alright, I guess. Nevertheless this is worthwhile with buy when on sale.

Star Trek Online is a game that I not only find to be incredibly fun and engaging, but that I also respect it because of its Free to Play model. There's little here that I actually dislike about the game and, for me personally, I can only think of one minor glitch that I've encountered throughout my whole time playing.

So, where to start? Well, the ship combat system is so much fun and so well designed. If you've ever played the old Starfleet Command games you'll see that the combat system here is very familiar while also clearly standing on its own. Every ability you gain as you level has a specific use and, as you level, the combat becomes more and more challenging. You have to use your abilities at the right time and where you're strongest and where you're weakest. There's a good amount of tactics you can and have to use in the space combat, providing a fun challenge. Ground combat is okay yes, but doesn't compare to the space combat.

The UI is quick to understand and easy to modify to personal preferences. Character customization is magnificent and, for an RPer like me, I absolutely love how I can put in a background description for my character, and a formal name function, who would think to put that there? And you'd think it would stop for just your character, but no, you can customize your bridge officers with their looks, names, and fill out a background from them as well as their skills to use in combat, allowing for even more immersion into the game's world.

And then there's the Free to Play model the game uses, this makes me respect the game and their developers even more. Like all Free to Play games, there is a special freemium currency where one can use real money to get and buy special extras that non-subscribers can't get. For STO that can be ships or ship designs, extra character slots, certain races can't be played, and certain costumes/uniforms can't be gained without using this currency. However, there is a legitimate way to gain this freemium currency, called ZEN, without spending money for those who want some of those bonus goodies but won't, or can't (in my case) spend money for it. Basically there is a secondary currency in the game called Dilithium, which certain (repeatable every 20 or so hours) missions award as ore, you can refine the ore into crystals which, through the Dilithium exchance, you can sell a large amount of Dilithium for ZEN, roughly 150 per ZEN. Non-subscribed players can only refine a certain amount per day, 8'000 specifically. Per Character, before resetting the next day. Depending on what faction your characters join/side with, Starfleet or Klingons, you'll gain roughly some 3'000-4'000 dilithium ore by doing these repeatable missions, and your DOFF system can bring in some small bonus Dilithium while you're not playing (Don't worry, once you reach lvl 10 the system is usable to you and it's easy to learn and understand). So yes, with time, effort and patience, non-subscribed players can have most of the same bonuses as subscribed players can.

The fact that it is possible for non-subscribed players to get ZEN, while at a slower but not unreasonable rate, is where most of my respect for the game comes from, and the fact that, so far, it's not all in your face about how you don't have everything when you could with some cash (I'm looking at you, TOR).

In short, do I recommend this game, even to casual fans of Star Trek? Absolutely, heck I didn't even consider myself a fan of Star Trek before playing this game. Now, I'm watching DS9 and loving it, so yes, I do recommend it. At least try the game out is all I can suggest.