Recent reviews by Arubarius

Did you ever dream of being a pirate? The Salt series is like a dream of piracy. I mean that literally--there's a distinct dream-like quality to the Salt games. The world is bright and sunbleached, the sea endless and glittering. The different biomes are caricatures of familiar tropes, struggling to make an impression against their Caribbean setting: redwood-sized trees block the infinite sea, poisonous mist obscures the coast. Resource nodes dot the landscape, plentiful but somehow not plentiful enough, for the hungry crafting tables.

Your ship is simple, toy-like. It's a blank space for you to fill--crafting tables are cheap, decoration strangely expensive, so your ship remains a little more bare than it should be for the majority of the game. The ship is always available when you need it, spawning immediately from your quick menu and dropping massively into the sea like the breaching whales you see all the time.

Towns are populated, but are pure NPCs, existing only to talk to you. The buildings too are toy-like, some with dedicated internal areas, trapdoors, hidden bunks. "Guilds" are where the real action is, each a unique toy set of its own, repeated across islands, connected by dream-logic. They are beautiful set pieces, hidden in shipwrecks, underwater in ancient ruins, in weather-worn tombs.

There's no naval combat- no cannons to manage, no sinking ships. All combat is hand-to-hand, and its systems are probably the most intricate, with different damage types delivered through sword, mace, bow, and pistol. Enemies have only a few types, but vary considerably within them. Combat is challenging, and levels with you at distinct steps, letting you get ahead before getting set back. These levels are perhaps too frequent--your builds tend to depend more on what good equipment drops you have found, and your ability to upgrade them, rather than your preferred style, if you want to keep up with the hard step-ups in difficulty. Skill does usually make up the difference, and there's always cheese you can retreat to if you look for it. Generally you can assemble your preferred build by the time another level-up occurs and you need to use whatever works again. The end-game level is a relief, and lets you finally refine your builds.

To summarize, Salt 2 feels like a fantasy pirate playset, with all the benefits and limitations that implies. There are a few resource balancing issues, imo, but mostly good QoL and balanced better for groups than solo players. The resource grind is very calming. Sailing is simple and feels like crossing vast distances despite being relatively well-paced. Combat is fun and consistently (maybe too consistently) challenging. There's minigames and other mechanics littered around, so it's never one-note, although things like fishing don't feel wholly cohesive with the rest of the game. If you let it pull you in it's a unique and consistent experience for an indie studio price. If you get hung up on realism and want naval combat then go play Black Flag, I hear they're releasing a remaster soon for 70$.

I don't have much to add re: the basic notes of the game. It's fun, appropriately priced, with very addictive gameplay.

Something that I can weigh in on though, is that the medical literacy isn't actually bad. Pretty simplified, sure, but not enough to break my immersion (as a doc). The exam is pretty consistent with how to actually perform a physical exam, and the feeling of diagnostic uncertainty as you look for a telltale sign is pretty similar to actual medicine: sometimes it's classic and easy, sometimes it's subtle and hard, other times it's just not possible to make a call yet--into quarantine you go. If you've ever been to a hospital and stayed the night without them doing much except checking your vitals, that's why: sitting on you to see if you're looking better or worse in the morning.

So, yeah. It's simple, but in the same way real sims are simple--not just a button pressing minigame that does the hard part for you but actually kind of representing reality in a more attainable way for a gamer.

And I think that's pretty cool. Recommended.

Jumped on this after only... *checks watch* 4 years. I remember when it came out and people griped about it. On the store page, people are still griping about it. So let's just hit on the big points.

"It's not an assassin's creed game!" Sure it is. One of the BEST assassin's creed games "isn't an assassin's creed game" (Black Flag). I've been playing since the original AC and let me tell you, the core assassin's creed experience is here, and anything else is just rose-colored glasses.

"It's buggy." You know what, fair enough, I've had about 2 crashes in 24 hours of gameplay, one of which was worse because it left a quest broken. Thankfully the game saves like 3 times a minute so it's not much to jump back a few saves and replay the 5 minutes of mission.

"It's too long!" No idea how this is a criticism. There's a lot of game here. There always has been since the early days of AC. UbiSoft's whole strategy now is to keep you playing these solo games as though they're MMOs and that requires a ton of content. That said, I don't particularly LIKE UbiSoft's general attempt to monetize as though it's an MMO, but I guess it's valid enough, and I'm not going to complain about too much game. JRPGs used to be 200 hours of story. Valhalla just plays like a Netflix binge. It's episodic and kind of an anthology rather than one continuous narrative. The individual stories are interesting, the set pieces are good, and everything is highly customizable. Choices you make have some weight, at least as far as gameplay goes, because after you've resolved the story about one of the kingdoms your choices have already resulted. It works well enough.

If I had to make a complaint, besides that nasty crash, I would complain about Ubi's monetization. You can buy packs for money and rare currency. You can find some of this currency in-game but it is definitely balanced to encourage purchasing. Same can be said of most game resources, it seems like it's slightly balanced towards meagerness to get you to consider paying. You don't have to, and a lot of the items are excess to requirements, but it's still annoying, imo. After several years and a sale, I got all the DLC and so on for <20USD which is well worth it, but along with it came a bunch of packs with equipment in it, some of which is pretty immersion breaking. This kind of gets worse and worse as you go deeper into the monetization--there's a mount in the store of a rainbow polar bear with a unicorn horn. Imagine that showing up, uncommented on, in Vikings on Netflix.

So. I think there's a good game here made by a lot of really passionate people, with systems they've been perfecting for decades now. I think there's also this other corporate-money guy veneer slapped over bits of it that I dislike. But I'll give it to the Devs, I think they actually pushed back enough where it mattered to keep the core experience pretty authentic, to where you can ignore the silliness and just play the story.

So really, to summarize, If you like Vikings, and haven't bought this yet (like me), then buy it. It's pretty much the definitive Viking game. You can even just play that, without touching any of the assassin's creed stuff, and it's still more gameplay than you'll be able to get through if you're just a casual player.

I played FS when it first came out, and a lot of those criticisms from the launch were valid. It wasn't... bad, as such, but it didn't live up to its potential. That said, I didn't review it then because it wasn't good, or bad enough, for me to feel like I should comment.

So why review now? Well, because it's developing. Devs listened to the feedback, made a plan, and are addressing all the stuff that made the game feel... less than satisfying, including some large environmental changes and new questlines. And that's "recommended" worthy. I look forward to playing after the next big update.

This is a cyberpunk sim. A real one.

You wanna pretend to be a merc, go play Cyberpunk 2077. The soundtrack of 2077 is Dubstep.

You wanna have the experience of feeling like you're a cog in the enormous dystopian machine, lose yourself in the day to day back breaking labor, feel the callousness of the system and the unexpected human tenderness between you and the other people trapped in the grind, Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a better fit. The soundtrack of Shipbreaker is Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ford with a stronger baseline.

Unsurprisingly it's not everyone's cup on tea. Only like 20% of players have much beyond the tutorial achievements. But then it seems to stay pretty steady, meaning those 20% really dug in. I guess that's because it cuts a pretty thin line between people wanting a highly realistic, satisfying cleaner/worker sim and also people who want a gritty sci-fi cyberpunk game. At the same time. But boy if that's you, you are in such luck.

Writing this after finishing the game, specifically the release build. Which I mention because it highlights 2 things: it's actually a pretty short game, and that issues that I have are actually on the dev's radar and apparently they plan to patch them.

First, the good: it's very cute. The art style is very sweet. It's very addictive, as each day runs pretty quick and the minigames keep things moving. Genuinely very fun to play moment to moment.

That said, I have a couple of gripes: currently I don't think it's balanced very well. The loan return increases way too fast, which actually forces the rapid playtime. In fact I probably would argue that the days are probably slightly too fast at baseline, as it doesn't give you time to explore or even seek out specific gem types or artifacts (see below about the gem demand mechanic). The flashiest upgrades are also the least useful. There's a whole mechanic about the gem demand that just... doesn't matter by the mid game, despite several upgrades being focused on it.

There's a loan repayment mechanic which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but they specifically mentioned that in a post-release patch so I imagine that will probably change.

Overall, it's cute, simple, but not a walk in the park. The playtime is about 5 hours. I don't know why you'd do multiple playthroughs. A couple issues that might get fixed. Wish there was a little more meat on the bones, and a little less challenge in the wrong places.

If it sounds good to you, you won't be disappointed.

Honestly I had a hard time getting a bead on this one. Caveat: I love Tavern Sims. So I wanted to like this game so bad. Also: I played it solo so I might not be getting the full experience. And some of my complaints may be alleviated with multiplayer--there's a lot of menial chores to do that would be much more palatable spread out over a group. Dishwashing, for example, somehow manages to be overly streamlined ("cleaning" the dishes consists of wiping the dish partially clean before just dunking it into the water) to the point of being unsatisfying, while still requiring considerable attention regularly, especially at the start of the game.

Water started to drive me nuts. Buckets are 15 units of water. Any cleaning requires 10 units. Most recipes require 5. That means that you are CONSTANTLY running to the well to refill this dinky bucket, which is a hold-key input rather than a single press, so it takes EVEN LONGER. Legitimately maddening. I kept waiting/hoping for some kind of relief but for some reason it actually gets worse over time as more things require water, and you never get more convenient water.

The same thing is true about the farming mechanic. First of all the plots look terrible. Like calculator buttons. Every. Single. Time. you grow anything, you immediately need to use the hoe to prepare it again. Later in the game there's a one-hit hoe that makes it easier but honestly I hate hate hate going through 30 crappy looking plots over and over and over again with a very touchy tool just to have crops.

Inventory is a nightmare. For some reason there's a hard cap of 10 to a stack--though MOST things are lower. If you've played Tavern Sims before you know that mass food production goes with the territory, so you really feel those stack limits. For example if you harvest a full garden, that's 3 stacks. 5 if you use fertilizer. Meanwhile other limits are even lower--Plates and mugs are 5 cap max. Potions are a 2 stack max. Any prepared food can't be stacked at all. All of these are too low, guys. All of these are irritating. Maybe this was was a design choice for co-op?

So, yeah, the Tavern aspect of it definitely has an uncomfortable gameplay loop, but it's actually the fantasy RPG they're wrapping the Tavern sim in that is why I'm leaving a review. There's combat, for one thing--and it's absolutely terrible. It's very jarring, for one, with the tavern stuff. The art style for the monsters feels totally out of place. You don't get a real weapon until the mid-to-end game in the current built. Before that you're using an ax that does no damage. Nothing increases this number (except one of the banners that you have to earn). There is no leveling up or armor. You get hit and that's 20 damage. Block, at least, is very responsive, as without that it would be literally unplayable. However, there are attacks (like the bear ground slam), that can't be blocked, and its area effect is greater than the range of your dash so like, what am I supposed to do? Ranged combat is locked behind the Forest Spirit Deer quest line for no particular reason. It's not like he teaches you to shoot. You're just not allowed to use them before he asks you to.

None of the quests are tavern or food related, by the way. At the end of the quest lines you usually have to bring them some specific food, is the only thematic element. Everything else is just EXTREMELY mediocre fantasy RPG gameplay that you're forced to play.

The map is too big, by the way, for the amount of content in it. There's a lot of empty "woods," and you do not have a sprint button. You have a small dash, which you will hammer the whole time. This also means that innocuous quests like "bring food for so and so" are a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pain because you have to run all the way back to your tavern to prepare it and back. Ingredients that are in high demand require a 5 minute run across the map to go fishing. Or go kill some frogs. Or require running around looking for specific (common) enemies that you can't find because the area you need to search is massive.

Oh, and the voice acting is, on the whole, abysmal. Guys, were these just your friends you recorded? In, like, a garage? Do you have a sound editor? The script is cringe. The scarecrow keeps asking you to grow "magical weed." Quests are often "Go talk to a guy." It reads like it was written by a high schooler.

The picture I want you to get is not that these are a bunch of minor complaints, but that as a whole the game is like getting rubbed with fine-grain sandpaper: it feels smooth enough at first but the longer it goes on the more abrasive it starts to feel.

I played this game legit. I put in the hours and I wanted to like it. I'd still be happy to change my vote if any of this changes. But for now I would suggest you not spend your precious time on this.

Alright, 20 hours in at the moment. Given the reviews are "mixed," I wanted to see what the issue was for people before coming down one way or another. But to give you my overall opinion right at the top: the line between "simple" and "tight" can be thin, and Moonstone walks it--but I think it comes down comfortably on the "tight" side with good design and appropriate depth. But more in detail, going top to bottom:

The very good: the aesthetic. Very cute, very wholesome, great character and creature design. The world in general feels unique, with islands you traverse on a balloon, broom, or glider. Crops and plants are unique per biome, and the seasons progress in the standard 3 weeks, with plants and crops completely cycling. The seasons are generally very important because it's also the reset point for in-game resources. Moonstones respawn every season. Shrines reset. But you're not beholden to the season for crops: a greenhouse allows you to grow out of season, and the Alchemist staff allows you to mature crops using stamina instead of waiting after you get it in the first temple. No more end of season time crunch.

The Good.
The relationship system. The townfolk, a bunch of non-binary hotties, have the standard heart meters that are filled by talking, gifting, and dating. Initially I thought it was a little shallow, since they don't offer much info in standard chats, but after dating (not necessarily romantic, probably should just be called "hang out"), they open up and you get some good character development, both as individuals and in how they feel about the weird quiet Alchemist kid who fell onto their island.

Combat. Card-based, meaning some RNG, but well balanced. There's plenty of ways to refine your deck, as there are little shrines on most islands that let you upgrade, remove, or pull a new card. This shrines also reset at the end of every season, so you can make big changes to your spirit's deck regularly if you wish. Creatures have armor and health that can be attacked separately with different effect. Importantly, crops (and potions made from crops), can actually be really important modulators for RNG that can heavily sway the outcomes of battle. Example, there's a leaf that removes 2 armor, the same as one of the basic cards for armor attack, but does not rely on a draw. It's balanced by not being able to remove the last piece of armor and send them into the "dizzy" state, but can still shift battle safely into your favor.

I'm seeing some people gripe about boss battles being difficult--this is unfair. I got stomped the first main boss (the tree one), but swapped out my monsters for new friends and when I went back, and absolutely dominated. The levels of the new monsters were lower than the first group, and I used a few of the shrine cards to refine their decks, but otherwise, just changing strategy was enough to flip the tables. Save before you fight and you've mitigated all the negatives of losing.

The So-so.
Crafting. Crafting in game is... limited. There's 3 tiers of ore/weapon: copper, iron, moonstone. Copper and iron are fairly abundant in mines, moonstone is harder to find. Iron and copper are both of only middling utility, as top tier items all use moonstone, which can be made into ingots at 3:1 ratio, and because there's only three tiers you quickly find yourself pressed into the moonstone bottleneck. Moreover, there's plenty of items that use both moonstones and moonstone ingots, so making the choice between refining for a higher item vs. using the moonstone for more basic QoL improvements, like more moongrass (self-refilling) troughs, can be tiresome. Getting moonstones themselves is the only thing that has felt like a bit of a grind.

Mining. Mines are NOT like Stardew Valley. There isn't a biome down there, nor is there much in the way of secrets. Pretty much, find a few chests (it tells you how many there are, and they aren't hidden), mine out all the ore, fight 2-3 spirits if you feel like it, and close it up, never to open that particular mine again. Perfectly reasonable, but limited.

The medallion. I want to like the medallion. It's a cool idea, instead of a monster-management menu you just hop inside your little necklace and can interact with your lil guys. However--the medallion is an item, not a menu, so you need to switch to it on the tool menu to use it, which makes interacting with your little monsters kind of a hassle. Especially if you want to feed/heal them. In fact...

The Poor.
Feeding your monsters. It has to be done through dialogue options. Which is annoying both in the Spirit Barn and in the Medallion. It's also how you heal them outside of combat, so you're doing it a lot.

The takeaway:
Honestly, it's a good game. It is ambitious--almost overly so--but DOES do its individual components justice, IMO. There's a dozen different ways to spend your time, and reason to do so. So far, unlike Stardew or Sunhaven, there's no thriving Wiki community to make things easier and give you all the answers, yet. So there's some trial and error as you learn the game, and secrets are yours--only yours--to discover. I have a fishbo with a totally different sprite marked with a "*" and I have no idea why .

If it looks good to you, buy it. Especially on sale. The bad reviews are uncharitable, with most issues being actively addressed with a little more playtime.

When people tell you video games are inherently violent you should point to this game about setting up an industrial exofarm to supply struggling settlers on nearby planets with fresh produce. Surprisingly deep farm sim with crop rotation mechanics, giant mechs that can transform into a tractor and a harvester, and just appreciating the general vibe on a luscious alien planet. You're given a huge amount of freedom in designing your farm, with a lot of customization options from painting just about everything to individual mech components.

I gather the recent update was huge so be wary of poor reviews prior, to me it feels like a pretty much finished game but per their roadmap they do plan to add another biome, I assume on the empty island in the south. My only complaints are no inherent healing for your mech, even when you're back and docked meaning you MUST use repair packs, which can be resource heavy, as well as maybe a few balancing issues with animal husbandry.