Recent reviews by Navarre

For 58 GB I expected all textures to be done, not half of them. As a result we get a game that looks slightly better in places, and then we stumble on common textures that look bloody awful. It's a mismatch all over, with much increased demand on the VRAM for a result that doesn't warrant it.

I get a much better result with less than 10 GB of modded textures, with less demand on the VRAM. Just go on the Nexus and download Vivid Fallout mods and other HD packs, your game will look much better.

To top it off, it introduces a glitch giving characters a black face on a white body. A first it was thought that it was only on modded skins, but I get it on vanilla characters like children which I never modded, and none of the fixes I've tried corrected it.

Step 1: empower council up to war declaration.
Step 2: put every powerful vassal on it so they can't join or found factions.
Step 3: enjoy your faction-free realm and doing whatever you want.

Politics are easy.

It adds some interesting content. Nothing shattering, but it's cool to find a Leviathan or an Enclave and interact with it, it adds a bit of flavour to the game.

Protip: unlearn sending your entire fleet exploring at the beginning of the game, send just one corvette. This way you won't lose all your military if you stumble on a Leviathan nearby.

It's getting pretty good after 3 patches. Still a few bugs, and it's not quite cooked yet, but it's getting there. Still needs some balancing, especially the endgame crises that went from minor inconveniences to almost unbeatable juggernauts of doom in 1.3.

So, git gud or git eaten by a monstruosity from outer space.

One awesome side of that game is that you can make pretty much any sci-fi faction you can think of, thanks to a flexible system of traits and ethos that allow you to create hundreds of different empires. Whether you want to play a race from Mass Effect, the Culture, Farscape's Peacekeepers, the Imperium of Man or any combination of space-faring entities you like, the game has you covered.

There's also a very active mod community, if you want to tune the gameplay or play a race with their actual portraits. Finally, there are dozens of shout-outs to every sci-fi fiction out there through events and descriptions. You can research psi techs and make your own Jedis, you can collect a Dune's spice equivalent and make your own Navigator's Guild, etc.

If you like sci-fi, 4X games and roleplaying, or any combination thereof, it's definitely a game you should check.

Don't mind me, just throwing my hat over here to counterbalance a bit the misguided chinese critics bashing the game because the devs had a translation mod linking to a pirate site deleted. The modder whined on a chinese site that the devs were mean with chinese people, and they came to bash the game without having any clue of what was going on. That's internet for you.

Haven't had time to play it in depth yet, but it's gorgeous and very intriguing, a 4x with sort of a fantasy/sci-fi storyline mixed in, with original mechanics. It looks very interesting.

Great game. Pretty much what you'd get if GTA and John Woo had a baby who was raised by Shenmue and uncle Bruce Lee visited once in a while with his buddy Jackie Chan. Then the kid becomes a teen, gets angsty and decides to become a cop to go play with the Triads and punch everybody in the face. While drinking tea.

Gameplay goes from good (the fighting) to pretty meh (the driving), but it is serviceable once you get used to it. You'll need a relatively recent gamepad with XInput, the game doesn't like DirectInput and throws a tantrum if it detects it.

Ye olde RPG. Recommended if you know and like this kind of game, or are really motivated to learn.

At first, the game is pretty rough to learn. First, you need to learn the mechanics, which differ significantly from D&D even if they look the same. Once you've done your character and start the game, it drops a volley of lore-bombs on you, and it takes quite some time before this avalanche of Welsh-sounding names starts making sense.

Once you've cleared these hurdles, you discover a well-thought game in a great setting, with an intriguing story and interesting characters, The game really gets on its own once you've reached the big city, with side-quests everywhere and different factions you can align with.

I don't recommend it if you're not familiar with isometric RPGs and are looking for a first game in that genre to see what the hype is all about. Get a Shadowrun game or The Age of Decadence instead, they're fantastic games too but they don't demand as much dedication up front to get into, and turn-based combat is easier to master than real-time with pause. Then, if you decide you love that kind of game, come back to Pillars of Eternity.

The apocalypse made Australia slightly more liveable, none of the wildlife tried to kill me. Traffic is still murder though.


But seriously: highly recommended. I couldn't stop playing this game.

It's a sandbox game with a whole lot of sand, a great atmosphere, visual design taken straight of Fury Road and made by fans of the whole series or at least people who really documented themselves, with lots of details and easter eggs about the three first movies. As a fan of the Mad Max universe myself, I had a blast.

However, just as in a real sandbox, it's mostly up to you to make your own fun. The story is a bit weak, and while there are a ton of locations (over 250 I think), all of them unique, all you do is drive and fight, either in a vehicle or on foot with a Batman Arkham clone system which is very brutal and satisfying and offers quite a bit of different possibilities once you've unlocked skills. You can upgrade your vehicle to make it tougher and meaner, get a few weapons for your car and unlock fighting skills for Max, but the core experience stays the same. If that appeals to you and you like to explore every nook and cranny in a game to find stuff (it's always scrap, but you need it for everything), go right in. If you need to be poked every five minutes by narrative to stay interested, it isn't the game for you.

There a over 16'000 reviews already, so there isn't much I could say that you can't find elsewhere. I'm just going to say "watch the trailer", for once it isn't just an empty cinematics showcase filled with buzzwords but it shows you most of the gameplay and really shows you the game and what to expect.

Disclaimer: I am a fan of the Mad Max universe since The Road Warrior, back in the days where there was no videogames and where it was the only post-apocalyptic experience around, so I'm probably biased.

Not for everyone. The learning curve looks a bit like Mount Everest, especially with the DLC.

DLC you need to access all the depth of the game: Art of War, Common Sense.

Wealth of Nations and The Cossacks add a few more nice but optional features, and it can wait until you're tested the waters and seen if you like the game. Everything else you can ignore until you're hooked, then it becomes like crack and you'll want everything.

Give it a try if you're into strategy, it's worth it.

More of the same, in a very different setting and with refined mechanics. A little bit text-heavy even for people who like to read, the pacing isn't as good as in Dragonfall, but it's still an excellent game.