Recent reviews by The Alchemist

The game feels disorienting and often unclear. Many aspects of the gameplay are confusing.

One of the major issues is the overwhelming number of enemies. While they are present in large quantities, they don’t pose any significant threat. In fact, they seem to do nothing meaningful—they merely populate the space, and you can easily avoid them to pursue your own actions.

The map (accessed via Tab key) design in Monaco 2 is quite thoughtful and plays a significant role during gameplay, offering substantial assistance once you’re in the action. There's even an option to engage in a planning phase before the match—akin to the system seen in Payday—that can help strategize your approach. However, despite its potential benefits, this added planning element tends to create more pre-game confusion than actual advantage, leaving the overall experience somewhat muddled.

Overall, while there is potential here, the demo suggests that Monaco 2 still has a lot of work to do to clarify its gameplay and improve its overall design.

Glory to PoE-likes!

As a long-time fan of action RPGs, I can't express how excited I am for the upcoming release of Path of Exile 2. With the recent disappointment of Diablo 4 falling short of expectations for many players, Grinding Gear Games is stepping up to deliver what the genre truly needs: innovation, depth, and a return to the qualities that make ARPGs unforgettable.
The previews and developer updates for Path of Exile 2 are nothing short of astonishing. From the revamped skill system and fluid combat mechanics to the stunning visuals and expansive new world, it’s clear the developers are pulling out all the stops. The promise of a deeper, more engaging progression system and meaningful endgame content is precisely what fans have been craving.

It's perfect

This game is a crime against humanity, don’t buy it. It was supposed to be a hit, but instead, the studio has deceived all its fans with this pathetic AAA game. If this is what AAA games are going to look like, we’re doomed. Players expect more for this kind of money—don’t fund a studio for a game that mocks its players without even trying to hide it.

The game was previously available on the Ubisoft Connect platform, and I played through it there, as is my habit, from start to finish. I even gave Dragon Age: Veilguard a positive review (despite it being a game for kids, it was quite good if you played it with that mindset). This game, however, is not like that. I know this might be painful for those who criticize a game after just 10 minutes of playing, but unfortunately, I managed to finish this game.

The main and core mechanic of the game is stealth, and as you might guess, it has been implemented in such a horrible way that it's hard to find the words to describe it. The game neither encourages nor rewards independent thinking—there is only one allowed path. If you come up with another idea, well, you’ll have to start over. The game is so extremely linear that it kills any enjoyment of playing. Enemies can see you from absurdly long distances, which often makes no sense. While it might sometimes be more realistic, it ruins the gameplay experience far more often than you’d expect. At the same time, when you perform a suspicious interaction with an NPC (e.g., throwing a grenade at them), they treat it as an insignificant event, as if it never happened.

Moreover, the game makes contracts with the player only to break them. It teaches you something, only to completely contradict it later. Open your eyes, people—games like this will slowly kill your passion for gaming over the years. And to those crying about hours played on Steam: if I can make even one person see the truth, I can replay the game here on Steam. Open your eyes and don’t let gaming be killed!

Wow That's a Lotta Sounds, Too Bad I'm Not Listening Em

I consider the time spent in the game to be fulfilling, although the game offers a short gameplay time, I recommend it.

The game deserves "The Most infantile Game of the Year" award...
Let me start by saying I was initially shocked to see that the darkspawn in Dragon Age aren’t depicted as stereotypically white, heterosexual men. Jokes aside, this game faces a key issue: the developers' lack of clarity about their target audience. They claim it’s “for everyone,” whether you're familiar with the lore or not. But the reality is that the game, with its colorful visuals, lack of moral choices, and absence of a dark atmosphere, feels tailored to a young audience — specifically a 12 to 15-year-old girl, not a mature player. Yet, the developer doesn’t acknowledge this openly.

The puzzles and riddles are extremely simplistic. For example, if a door is locked, the key is conveniently placed right in front of it. When the player needs guidance, there’s usually a brightly flashing wall with a ballista standing by. The interface, though visually appealing with its shiny, violet theme and toy-like interactions, is frustratingly impractical. Players looking for information in maps or inventory often get bogged down by flashy animations that slow down gameplay instead of providing functional support.

These flaws might have been highlighted in pre-release reviews, but the developers provided review keys to a very select, likely biased, group. As a result, the full picture of the game didn’t emerge until release. I realize the studio may consider this review overly critical, but there’s no shame in creating a game for kids. Plenty of fantastic games target younger audiences; the issue here is the lack of transparency.

I completed the game 100% before deciding to write this review. I explored every corner of the world, although I’m sure I might have missed something. The game is beautiful, and the gameplay is engaging, but there isn't much variety in the threats you’ll face. The enemies are repetitive, both in terms of bosses and regular opponents. Despite this, the desire to explore the entire world remains strong, as the world itself is excellently designed.

What saves this game from the lack of enemy variety is the ability to change classes, of which there are quite a few. Each class offers a unique experience, and playing with each one is genuinely enjoyable. With every class change, combat feels like you’re facing completely different enemies, which adds freshness to the game.

Most reviews of this game focus on issues with optimization and microtransactions, often sounding more like complaints than actual evaluations of the game itself. In my opinion, anyone who enjoys traveling and immersing themselves in a well-crafted world will find something to love in this title. However, it’s not worth buying the deluxe edition or any other in-game items with real money—everything you need can be found in the game world, and there’s plenty of it. Don’t worry about the controversy surrounding microtransactions either—you don’t need to spend extra money to get all the items in sufficient quantities.

Finally, I’d like to return to the optimization issue I mentioned earlier. On my system, the game runs smoothly in 4K (RTX 4090), but I know that with 4070 models, there are performance issues. The game world is fairly large, especially considering the limited fast travel options, but is it really big enough to cause such problems? Definitely NOT.

I love this game and highly recommend it, although, unfortunately, it’s not motivating enough to play through more than once. Thanks for reading my review, and I look forward to some substantial DLC.

SUPER, ŚWIETNA I NIEZAPOMNIANA ZABAWA. POLECAM CIEPLUTKO :)

Let me start by saying that I decided to recommend this game because it is early access.
However, I think that the developers are unable to use the potential of early access to the game, because there are no patches or additions to improve the gameplay.

It won't be a secret if I tell you that you will probably never scream in this game.
When the game creates an atmosphere and we feel threatened, we often miss the jump scare, but when the atomosphere becomes loose, we are suddenly attacked from different sides, but it doesn't work because we are no longer so tense.
The possibility of dying because of screaming is not enough, it does not provide a sense of challenge even if we were to take full advantage of the atmosphere that can be created in this game, there is no sense of real threat, something to hide from, fear, and during our struggles to escape from of this threat, we would be attacked with jumpscars, which, when we are very nervous, would actually work and make us scream.
So there's no real threat, what else? There is also a lack of more atmospheric places, a forest with buildings here and there is not enough, a larger agglomeration, (converted into a post-disaster one?), would be useful, rather than individual houses. Don't get me wrong, single houses in the forest are fine too, but that can't be all there is to offer.
Optimization is also not great, but it is something worth taking care of later.

Dear game developers, I hope you have reached this point. Take advantage of the potential of early access giving you what you need - people's feedback to create the perfect game. You released a game whose idea people liked, but it still has major shortcomings, I'm counting on you, just like anyone else, I hope that I will be able to play this game again, when you will add some corrections, perhaps based on my tips too?

I am Malenia, blade of Miquella