Recent reviews by Child Zangler

Disclaimer: this review turned out longer than I thought it would. First, I’ll give the positive. Then, the cons.

I cannot stress enough how much I love this game. It’s incredible. One of my new favourites. I haven’t gotten the least bit tired of it. Frankly, it’s amazing that this game is in Early Access. This feels like a complete game for what it costs. The music is wonderful. I love the setting, the visual aesthetic, the diverse mobs, and the customisability of your strategies. The progression system is so profound. There are so many upgrades, items, abilities, and mechanics for you to enter the halls to unlock or obtain. The halls themselves are all, of course, amazingly stylised. Perfect and interesting levels. Some people will complain that the item system is too punishing, but I think that’s part of its charm. You can permanently collect one item only per run (though I suspect this will be changing with a future update rare item the devs have hinted at). This game demands you take it seriously. I love having to think about what I want, and about different item sets and builds. No item in the game feels useless with the right combination of other items and scaling the right stats. The classes all feel fun to play down to their base attacks, and come with interesting abilities to collect by completing quests. Some you will do in one run. Some will take you a fair bit longer. It’s nice to have something to do, even when I’m almost caught up completely with the game’s main branch content. When I am all caught up, I’ll DEFINITELY play the beta branch to see what’s up. Just taking my time now to enjoy the challenge of leveling the different classes to 100 and completing my lightning sorceress build.

Okay. Now, cons. There really isn’t anything bad I have to say about this game. It’s in Early Access, so I’m very excited to see what comes next for it. All I have are things I hope they do. I know they’re working on new classes and a new hall (which is not totally complete, but the environment can be explored in beta branch). They’re also working on new music. These, I think, are wonderful. I understand that the first major update to Halls of Torment that this hall belongs to will also (fairly predictably) come with new items, and possibly new mechanics. One thing I hope I see in the future is a crafting system, maybe one at which you could craft items (with materials collected from mobs, and/or unique materials from bosses) which increase difficulty, improve items, or even summon empowered hordes and bosses. Some more map markers and new points of interest would be nice in maps, and possibly RPG elements, like quests to rescue other people, and you could build a camp at title. I know, that’s going a bit far. It’s not my game. But like I said, it’s just my hope to see something resembling these systems in the future. It gives a fantasy RPG or ARPG vibe, and I love those moments when it plays like one. Whoops. This was supposed to be cons. One more thing that would be time consuming, but add a lot to the game, would be a glossary that would have tabs for stats, mob types, bosses, tutorials, heroes, and abilities. Having classes and abilities broken down would be a really good idea. As things stand, players have to kind of figure out which abilities are synergistic with one another, and which ones scale in which ways with which stats. I personally don't mind, and actually kind of like that, but it would make the game more accessible to everyone to have a handy reference guide with information on things they've unlocked or encountered.

Anyway, buy this game now. I’ve already done it for friends. If the devs added 4 person local co-op like Vampire Survivors, we would get so much mileage out of it.

As a side note to the devs, thank you. I appreciate having been able to purchase your game for the price I did. I live in Ontario, and I need to save every penny I can, because our economy isn't doing too hot right now. This is a great new game even I, a financially strained student, can afford. On the other hand, if you raised the price by a few dollars, you would NOT be selling yourselves short. Basically what I'm saying this is an indie game and you guys should feel good about charging whatever will bring in enough for this game to finish being made. I can tell how much love, thought, and work has gone into this game already, and please keep doing what you're doing. It's really impressive stuff.

I played for about 5 hours straight from launch and beat a few bosses. I won't deny that there are some performance issues, my game is definitely stuttering now and then, which in a game where timing is everything in a fight, is pretty bad. Especially during boss fights. HOWEVER, I really, REALLY love this game so far. I'm loving all the branching paths. Dark Souls 3 is probably my favourite game, but this one might take that spot. I love the souls games, but I'm falling so in love with exploring this world, especially all the hidden and optional areas and fighting their bosses for an extra challenge. I'm not out of the first map zone post-tutorial yet, but if it's any indication of what the rest of the game will be, I so highly recommend playing.

Saints Row III wasn't the best Saints Row game, but still great. The same cannot be said for the remaster. Frankly, I don't even notice a difference. *Some* of the textures have been updated, but the game is relentlessly buggy and the NPC behaviours (though sometimes legitimately funny) are usually laughable in a bad way. For the first chunk of the story, it was running fine, even if it was underwhelming, with no new real content and all the bugs and glitches of SR3 with some new ones added. Now, my save is 40% complete and I have to save my game every 5 minutes in preparation for the ridiculously frequent crashes. This remaster does not seem remotely close to being a finished product, with even the cinematics playing at 30fps. I recommend playing Saints Row 3, (though, 4 was better), but this remaster really isn't worth your time or money unless they eventually release a MASSIVE gameplay patch AND some worthwhile exclusive content. I love the Saints Row games because I never know just what's coming next. They're so outlandish and unpredictable. Saints Row 3 Remastered not only fails to deliver any nice new surprises, the only way in which it's unpredictable for returning players is in its wide array of unpredictable and occasionally game-breaking issues. I don't write reviews, but this remaster is a big enough disappointment compared to the rest of the franchise to warrant a negative one.

First off, I'd just like to say that this is a fantastic game. Everything I loved from DOOM 2016 without any of the issues I had with it. The level design is beautiful, the combat is seamless and a couple of new features had me enjoying this game more than I enjoyed DOOM 2016, (also a great game), right away. In DOOM Eternal, there is a fast travel system. In DOOM 2016, I had to replay levels multiple times hunting down secrets. Now, near the end of a mission, fast travel will unlock various checkpoints so you can go back and grab anything you missed. A lot of people are complaining about a cluttered UI and combat being too busy, but the UI is pretty simple once you get through a couple of missions. Combat in this game is not easy. It's not too tough, but you can expect to die. If you didn't play DOOM 2016, you can expect to die more than once. Yes, the combat is fast paced and at times your best option will be to run like hell to find the nearest health, armour or ammo pickup. But if the game wasn't challenging, it'd just be gratuitous violence. The intensity of tougher combat encounters is part of the game's charm.

I would have bought an entirely separate game just for the online multiplayer in this one. Battlemode is well worth your while and has you playing as Doomguy or with one teammate as demons. Each playable demon has unique strengths, weaknesses and abilities. Also available for the demons are offensive and defensive / support loadouts which change your abilities and play-style. I know Doomguy seems overpowered, and he is, but don't worry! You'll respawn until both demons are dead or he is.

One major difference between DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal is that this game is much more story oriented. And sure, you can go back to 2016 and read all that lore, but although there's lore to collect in Eternal, there is a longer, deeper and much more enjoyable story to be found here. I'll admit that some of the finer points of the story don't make perfect sense unless you do your reading as you find new codex pages. But if you want story, great! You've got one. And if you don't care much for story, rip and tear away. But don't be confused when the angels start showing up.

DOOM Eternal manages something not a lot of games do for me; it gives me an actual sense of accomplishment. As you progress, the game will get harder. It will get a lot harder. And for the last two missions, you may want to go back to earlier levels and see if you can't stockpile some 1-UPs. The bosses here don't mess around. You may think the Doom Hunters were a headache, and they are when you first meet them, but not compared to the Marauder. And the Marauder seems pretty tough until you fight The Gladiator. (Doom Hunters and Marauders actually become fairly common enemies after their initial "boss encounters"... Sorry...). The Khan Makyr won't be too fun either. But in the mission after, the Icon of Sin is going to make her look like a joke.

I'd recommend this game to anyone who is interested. It's great for series veterans and *just* forgiving enough for learners if you choose the right difficulty. (In the description of the easiest, they state that you will die. But what else are extra lives for, right?)

ALSO. A TIP. PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. When you get the BFG-10,000, go into 'Arsenal' on your dossier and TAKE IT OFF YOUR WEAPON WHEEL. There aren't many things more frustrating than using up all your ammo then impulse-clicking that one fateful time after your clip is empty and wasting all your BFG ammo on that one pesky Hell-Knight.

Other than that, enjoy!

First of all, oh my god. This game was the one that got me hooked on horror. It is simply phenomenal. The game is plenty terrifying on Normal, Hard & Nightmare Mode, but after playing it on Insane Mode with only one life being all that stands between progress and restarting the story, this game is easily the most action packed thrilling experience of my life. Outlast™, is everything it promises to be and so much more. 100/100. I definitely recommend this game to horror newbies and horror veterans alike. Allow this masterpiece to reshape what you define as terrifying. DLC definitely lives up to expectations set by Outlast™, and I cannot wait for the release of Outlast 2™ this Autumn. I say to you, Red Barrels™, fantastic work all around.

Great game, but I'd definitely reccomend playing the original Portal before this one. Portal 2 is more fun, but is also much more challenging and you might be less interested in the story.