Recent reviews by Deku Scrub

Best Use of a Farm Animal

Pretty neat controller. Takes some getting used to, but the trackpads are very versatile, and the haptic feedback is spot-on.

Biggest complaint is that it forces big picture overlay, which is a travesty. To fix: unplug controller before booting up game; plug in controller after booting up game.

Best controller-driven keyboard I've ever dealt with. Each thumb controls a cursor that owns half of the qwerty keyboard, which simulates typing on a smartphone. Microsoft and Sony need to take notes.

Good story, good gameplay. Fits the noir detective theme really well, and in the end I was questioning my own decisions (who to trust, who to help, who to kill). The Island itself is a very large land mass, with more settlements and plenty of quests for each faction in the major conflict.

The gameplay changes drastically for one of the quests, where you have to direct beams of light by placing blocks around the map using the settlement-building interface. I don't know to what extent a game should up and change genres on the player like that (what if I hate block puzzles and prefer to shoot everything?) but the sequence is relatively short. If it is a hassle, remember that on PC you can have infinite building materials by turning on god mode in console (`tgm), and this will not effect achievement progress. It is also easy to disable using the same command (the t in tgm stands for toggle).

This is one of the best DLC experiences I have had, up there with Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep and the Alan Wake specials. I would recommend it to anyone who owns and enjoys Fallout 4.

It's like Skyrim with guns

Helldivers is a fun game from the makers of Magicka. It is similar to Alien Swarm, but it has randomly generated maps and more humor. Missions are short but get longer as difficulty increases, and there are clear moments of low and high tension which keep the game interesting. At the end of each mission is a 2 minute extraction sequence kind of like the equivalent of a Left 4 Dead finale.

Each planet has a pattern of patrols crossing through it with some randomness. If a patrol spots you, you have a couple of seconds to kill it before it sounds an alarm and summons stronger enemies. It is technically possible to get through a mission without sounding any alarms, but I haven't done it yet.

Like Magicka, human players are very powerful, with each player bringing 4 "stratagems" to each mission. A stratagem can be airdropping ammo supplies or it can be calling in an airstrike, or almost anything inbetween. I personally enjoy bringing a Guard Dog drone, which flies around and shoots at enemies (it has a quick reaction time, which helps me against the patrols). in addition to the 4 chosen strategems, each player gets a reinforce stratagem that resurrects dead players and any mission-specific stratagems like a metal detector for sniffing out mines. Because of the resurrection stratagem, death in Helldivers is not a big deal, and most of the time a player is not out of the game for very long. Also like Magicka, a mission is failed if all 4 players die without calling for reinforcements, however.

Two key differences between Magicka and Helldivers are:
1) In Helldivers, it is relatively easy to know when and where your attack is going to hit. Killing friendlies is easily avoided most of the time, and few of the attacks are going to wipe the party. This allows for more consistent, less annoying gameplay, imo.
2) The writing of Helldivers has a theme with a bit of a smaller scope (making fun of Starship Troopers, mostly) but there are less references to internet memes.
I consider both of these differences to be, on the whole, positive.

Missions are randomly generated and each completed mission adds to the Community Influence in the galactic campaign, which is an aggregate function of all Helldivers' efforts in the war. As players spread managed democracy across the galaxy, they approach the home planets of 3 alien races: the Illuminates, Bugs, and Cyborgs. Each faction has its own sector of the galaxy, and the playerbase as a whole must balance their efforts to make sure that none of these factions gets too close to SuperEarth by completing missions in each respective sector.

There isn't a ton of plot, but there is some lore to read up on if you're into that sort of thing, and the Helldivers occasionally spit out gems like "Say 'hello' to Democracy!" while blowing up a planet with orbital strikes or stomping on things in a Mech resembling the Dreadnoughts of Warhammer 40k. You also unlock cosmetic customization options as you progress through the leveling system, and some of them look pretty nifty. Your cape is the most important item in the game, as it will flow magnificently behind you as you twirl in place.

Occasionally there are connection issues. A friend of mine seemed to be disconnected from the game any time we failed a mission. Other players have reported black screens. Once I saw, through a screenshot of someone else's game, an objective spawn outside of the bounds of the map. Personally i haven't experienced any issues other than seeing my friend disconnect, and I consider the game to be pretty playable in its current state (5/17/2016).

If I have a major complaint it is that the game forces all players to share a screen. This is the era of internet play and I don't need that nonsense. I have died a few times because I got stuck around an objective off screen and couldn't see. It isn't a huge deal in terms of enjoying the game, it's just an archaic design decision that gets in the way for players who are not playing local coop.

9/10 - shows improvement from the studio and fills the dark void left by Alien Swarm.

In order to review Firewatch, I will attempt to compare it with other games in the same genre.

There are two types of walking simulators. The first takes form in Dear Esther and The Beginner's Guide. You hold W until you reach the end of the story and then you quit. Calling this type of walking simulator a 'game' is generous.

The second type of walking simulator, which is a game, revolves around discovering art or narrative by exploration. The two best examples of this are The Stanley Parable and Firewatch, which give the player options and then respond to those options in relatively simple ways.

Where The Stanley Parable allows the player to explore a physical space only, Firewatch allows for exploration of both a physical space and a dialog tree, adding a layer of depth.

In both cases, the character is motivated by some mystery, and the player is motivated by the fantastic writing and voice acting. While the world of Firewatch is beautiful, the real draw of the game is in exploring the main characters, Henry and Delilah. I was able to finish this game in 2 sittings (I got tired and had to sleep) because I wanted to learn more about the characters and I found that ultimately, the mystery was a secondary concern. This is actually the case in The Stanley Parable as well. Ultimately everyone in the office disappearing is just a catalyst for Stanley to stand up from his desk, and everything that happens thereafter is completely irrelevant to the mass disappearance. In Firewatch, the mystery is primarily a source of tension - a conflict for the two characters to overcome - more than a key component of the game.

One feature unique to Firewatch is that navigation is a mechanic. You occasionally have to slow down and pull out a compass or look at a map to get your bearings, because it's 1980's Wyoming and those are the tools available in that setting. I didn't mind the navigation, especially with the little "You are here" indicator on your otherwise paper map.

The main caveat is that it's short for the price. I completed it in about 3 hours and I don't really feel a need to replay it. I believe the quality makes up for it, but $15 might be a better price. To be fair, before playing I thought $10 was probably a better estimate for a 3hr walking simulator, but I really was impressed by the game's art and writing.

Some people didn't like the ending, but I thought the ending was human and real and for it to have been more than that would have been rather jarring when juxtaposed with the very human and real relationship developing center-stage.

9/10 Exceeds expectations for character building and pushes the boundary of its genre without simply adding elements from other genres. Game is a little short for the price and for some people the mystery pay off would not be grand enough.

This game is a unique take on the Hotline Miami formula. Unlike Bloodbath Kavkaz, this game is pretty good, with a decent western tale and solid combat. It isn't as good as Hotline Miami, but it's a good time if you've bled Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number dry and are still hungry for brutal, fast-paced top down action.

+ Great music
+ Hotline Miami gameplay + need to (hold) right click to shoot. If you don't right click before you try your shot, the enemy will shoot first and you will die
+ Classic genre that doesn't see a lot of representation in the modern day
+ Repeatable tasks for randomized fun

- Melee is often not a one hit kill
- Can't deal with large swarms of people the way you could in Hotline Miami, which makes each map slower and each death is more time lost

RECENTLY (AS OF 2015-02-02) THERE IS AN IMMEDIATE CRASH TO DESKTOP PROBLEM FOR MANY (ALL?) PLAYERS USING STEAM BETA CLIENTS. IF THIS HAPPENS TO YOU TRY OPTING OUT OF BETA.

Sort of like Battlefield if it were an isometric open-world RPG

Tales of Zestiria is a very good Tales game and the first on Steam. If you like Tales you will like this. If you don't like Tales you won't like this. If you are unsure I think it is worth checking out on sale.

Pros:
+ Improved combat (now takes surrounding landscape such as doorways and rocks into account)
--------> + No longer limited by TP/forced to run up and smack things as a caster to be able to cast spells
+ 2 waifus for the price of 1
+ Lots of gameplay & story for the money (compare to 8 hour 'cinematic' AAA titles that show up a few times a year)
+ Large maps with signage make you feel like an adventurer (less like Tales of Graces F, more like Ocarina of Time)
+ No Carol, no Teepo, no highpitched whining crybaby, etc; all the characters are pretty likeable

Cons:
- One of the 2 waifus leaves the party early on with practically no warning and is replaced by the 2nd waifu who uses different equipment. Do not waste time on the first waifu.
- 30FPS lock with no in-game way to change it. Not very noticeable most of the time and doesn't affect gameplay, but birds flapping their wings looks weird af because of it
- Local coop only (didn't honestly expect internet play though)

I wouldn't call this a con but if you are unfamiliar with Tales they are LOADED with cheese as far as dialogue and themes so if you can't handle saving the world through the powers of friendship you should look elsewhere.

This is a fun experience, but I don't consider it to be a game. It's more like Dear Esther than the Stanley Parable, but it's also a hell of a lot more interesting than Dear Esther ever hoped to be. It's fairly short, and you can get a lot more hours_of_gametime/dollar elsewhere, but The Beginner's Guide absolutely deserves your attention.