Recent reviews by LavishLupin

Here is where I'd love to write about how much fun the game is (because it's incredibly fun) however; I'm here to write a negative review because while I understand it's a free-to-play game and revenue has to come from somewhere..

The WAY it's monetized is two-fold terrible: Poor descriptions and tool-tips regarding in-game currency as well as an VERY IMPORTANT inability to purchase what feels like one incredibly strong, pay-to-win suit for nearly 50 USD, and that's separate from the in-game currency. To purchase this suit you need to explicitly drop cold, hard cash into the game as Corite (the currency) doesn't count towards it.

I found this out after dropping money, innocently into the game thinking if I didn't spend it on shop stuff, that I could use it towards something like a new mech in the future-- This couldn't be further from the truth.

Not to mention I most recently discovered that a fair number of shop items you may want, you have to purchase them in a tree-like fashion and the game forces you to purchase other cosmetics BEFORE possibly purchasing the one you actually want. This borders on predatory behavior.

TLDR, be VERY careful how you decide to spend money on this game.

You may fall into the same trap I did. You may have to read and use a little extra deduction for yourself while navigating the various pop-out menu's as the initial advertisement might not reveal all the information you need when deciding to drop money on the game.

Writing this to try and set the perspective straight:

To anyone considering whether or not they should avoid this game based on recent reviews, the answer is; No.

Pick it up if it looks fun, it is. It's one of the best indie (yes, indie) titles to come out in recent decades. The recent "review bombing" is the result of fear-mongering, and misguided attempts to send a message to Sony, one they'll never get or even grant the time of day. Sony is a multi-billion-dollar company. Assaulting Arrowhead Studio's with negative reviews to tank their labor of love and spit in the face of all the good-will they've fostered is tantamount to the highest grade of misguided malice stemming from unchecked frustration.

It's the sad result of countless players who were swept up in --if they actually took the time to read the FAQ put out by AH Studio's community moderators-- they'd see that it's not ANYWHERE near as big of a deal as it sounded initially. It harms no-one. It's a MINOR inconvenience at best. If you aren't somewhere with valid access to PSN, it's inconsequential, you can simply fudge your region (I can attest as I've done this for recreational purposes).

Be better, I'm sorry if this is a hard pill for some of the crowd to swallow-- but this isn't the move.

TLDR (which is still a little long);

-The game is still incredible. If you want it, buy it! There's nothing seriously wrong with the title.

-There was no bait-and-switch (The developers COULD NOT implement this soon-to-be prerequisite due to launch complications)

-This changes nothing.

-Sony is the one you should take things up with, and it ISN'T through Arrowhead Studios.

-Sony will lose NO sleep whatsoever over the community mauling Arrowhead over this, and those partaking in the bombing-- do better, BE better.

Hopefully, approximately 400 hours gives me an ounce of credibility. If not-- the saying goes; you cannot lead a horse to water.

I encourage anyone still on the fence or uncertain, and even those who've taken to the review section to exercise their critical thinking skills and perhaps peruse the FAQ section of the official Helldivers 2 Discord.

Thanks for reading if you've bothered to stop and factor in this review.

EDIT: Congratulations Helldivers! I'm pleasantly surprised to say that somehow what should've been inconsequential to a large company like Sony, actually seemed to resonate with them. I can only imagine this is due to the alleged bargaining that Arrowhead Stuidos alluded to. I'm even more pleasantly surprised to see that the large majority of the community's efforts weren't wasted.

That being said, I hope that everyone who partook in these recent efforts, do not take this as a sign that it's okay to go after developers to get results. That isn't the takeaway from this. I believe this succeeded because Arrowhead Stuidos took the full brunt of the communities vitriol and used that to parley with Sony.

Though this doesn't mean the community played no part in this, that could not be further from the truth.

Lastly, I'll advise that players who are locked-in to this undertaking-- not relax just yet. Sony's recent announcement had subtle mention that they may attempt to re-enact this policy in the future. Make sure that they do not.

I have good, and bad (if you can even regard the "bad" as such) things to say about this game.

Let us start with the good, as it's earned that in my book.

The Good:

-The game satisfies my brain in a way few games in recent years have. I hadn't realized what I had been missing until I started tinkering around and trying my hand at playing god with budding settlements and the like.

-It's a delight to play, observe and build up settlements.

-Overall feel, aesthetic and functionality of the game feels very accurate, and charming besides. (I'll likely rephrase this many different ways, I simply it earns that repeated praise)

-Music score, despite being repetitive after many hours-- is easy on the ears. (It could fluctuate or flow a little more, but I digress)

-Intricacies of what's required, and which aspects of the settlement support each-other are a lovely touch.

-It's a considerate breadth of difficulties, and gives you the option to customize your play-through to whatever you fancy at the time. This ranges from a brutal rts with a lot to manage, to a pleasant and casual world-building experience. (The modes and facets listed but not yet functional show great promise for the future of the project)

I'm not sure what else positive I can say from this early stage, and how admittedly little I've put into the game. However, that being said-- in summary of the positives; I believe this title has a lot of promise and potential. To me at least, it's very clear the love and care that went into crafting this game even at might be a cursory glance compared to others hours logged. (Though I wish I could articulate more, I think I just need more hours logged into the game.)

Now, I'll try to wrap this up with my few personal gripes based on my experience thus far. I'll preface by saying that I am fully aware it's an Early Access Game, as well as having acknowledged the disclaimer that it is a passion project and not some triple-a game. I understand the distinction. That said, my time playing god was not always painless, even on relaxed settings.

The "Bad":

-Some inconsistencies can be frustrating. Such as citizens choosing to starve themselves despite nearly a mountain of food in all forms; wild game, berries, vegetables, eggs, and a myriad of crops.

-I'm not sure if it's intentional, but I don't think Bandits and the like should be able to steal from you from an entire province away through strange and mystical means. (It is as if they possess the ability to reach across time and space, directly into your various storage structures and you cannot stop them from doing so ((unless you go and kill them, but this isn't exactly feasible from the very beginning, arming yourself is a lengthy process))

-Sometimes, unfortunately citizens will stand about and not do the various tasks you instruct them to do so. Even on an increased speed resulting in months going by of them standing vacantly in the pasture. (this doesn't always happen, but when it does--)

-Prioritization seems fickle, for every manner of task in the game.

-Tutorial descriptions aren't bad, but they could certainly be better or more thorough I believe. (of course you could just experiment and find clarity for yourself, it isn't a terribly complex game despite the things I've made mention of and you can fumble around and figure it out easily enough) However, having more thorough explanations might be nice for some people who require more details.

I think that's it.

I think I'll wrap this up with a TLDR just in case:

Lovely little RTS(?) that has a lot of potential. I absolutely will recommend it. I can't wait to play future updates as more functions unlock and enter a playable state.

7/10 (this is a good rating coming from me, I try to be reserved in my ratings lest I diminish higher or exemplary ratings)

Keep up the good work dev/devs, can't wait to see what the future holds!