Recent reviews by Evert

Sony can go chow down on a turd

Sony backed down! For democracy!

I now dream of mixing tons and tons of concrete

Let this one cook for a while longer. It is effectively early access at this time. Lots of class tweaking, gameplay balancing and performance/stability work to be done yet. There are also missing features; the crafting system is not yet completed.

It is a fun romp though, and this review will be updated.

They've almost fixed it lads, hop on in!

I originally got Receiver 2 on release, and left my thoughts on it in an earlier review. The review in question cited a number of fatal flaws that made me refund the game. Seeing that the devs changed up some of my biggest gripes with the game, i deleted my previous review in the interests of fairness, and have since played it again. My highest level reached at the time of writing is level 3/5. Minor spoilers below.

Receiver 2 is a game about a kind of doomsday, "the Mindkill", brought about by an invisible force only referred to as "the Threat". You are a member of a cult that just happened to accurately foresee this doomsday, a Receiver. Over the years, the Receivers, like many other similar cults, attributed many negative societal phenomena to the Threat as a way to weaken the mind and thus paving the way for the coming Mindkill.

The Receivers have spent years preparing to combat the Threat by employing what they call Mindtech, which simply are a series of mental exercises designed to counter the Threats insidious mental influence over people, and to give the Receivers a chance in the coming Mindkill. This is standard cult stuff; indoctrination via a series of tapes allowing one to reach higher tiers of enlightenment. In this instance, though, the cult was right, the Mindkill has happened, and you are now in reality B, a bizarre, procedurally generated world quite literally dreamt up by the Threat. You have no memory of the world that was, and must seek out a number of tapes to reawaken to reality A once more.

Receiver 2 is a first person experience where you find yourself in the bizarre world of reality B, gun in hand. Your task is simple: collect and absorb the information on a number of tapes spread around the procedurally generated level. Collecting five tapes will take you out of the current world and level up your conciousness, bringing with it additional weapon unlocks, more enemy types, and more challenging situations, before starting you on the next world. Complications arise in the form of killbots; robotic enemies that will attempt to kill you on sight. These come in two types: Turrets and killdrones, with some different flavors (armored turrets for example). Beware: if you die, you regress one level (although you get to retain all unlocks).

The unique mechanical schtick with this game as well as its predecessor is of course that of detailed firearms handling. The game has separate buttons for everything; no press R to reload but instead E to eject magazine, E again to drop the magazine on the floor or alternatively a number key to stow it in your inventory. Tab to holster pistol (hold it down to prevent accidental discharge), R to insert a new bullet in the magazine, hold tab again to Z to insert mag, etc. Each gun is a little different and learning the kinks of each might save your life. A double action revolver might require you to hold down LMB for a split second longer unless you've ♥♥♥♥♥♥ the hammer beforehand. A Glock 18 has no safety but a full-auto mode instead. Firearms familiarisation is in fact a major theme in this game, and there are as many tapes explaining the proper handling of guns as there are explaining the nature of the Threat or what Mindtech is. This might seem frustrating, but learning how to load and prep your handgun is very rewarding and may save your life. The game also features a very robust ballistics simulation and you might not be as safe behind that wooden box as you think when a turret opens fire on you. Enemies are very detailed and you can disable them in a multitude of ways including shooting cameras, motors or batteries or cameras, with the most economical way being to sneak up outside their field of view and disabling them up close.

This game rewards patience. The enemies are usually harmless and do not prowl the level extensively. Even the killdrones, who will not hesitate to fly into your face and tase you to death when they see you, are normally very docile and will lazily fly about the area they spawned in until they spot the player with their camera. Thus, careful observation of your environment as you move forward is essential. Enemies shine a blue/violet light wherever they point their cameras, and staying out of their field of view is VERY important. Should they spot you, you will hear a heartstopping BEEP, the light on their camera turning yellow. You now have about a second to react before you're dead. Turrets are very accurate and will blow you away even through the tiniest crevice, sometimes shooting through obstacles once they have you spotted. Killdrones are very fast and will get in your face quickly. Both through tapes and through game mechanics, Receiver 2 teaches you that the only thing you can trust is your mind and your gun. Be patient. Be vigilant. Be accurate.

Receiver 2 is extremely moody and atmospheric. The feeling of dread when you prowl through the bizarre mishmash of buildings left by the Dreaming with only two rounds in your pistol is palpable. Progressing through the levels will see the Threat evolve and the atmosphere become increasingly grimmer. The sound of creaking walls inside dark, lonely buildings will turn into loud and violent storms. The report of your handgun is thunderous and will black out your vision for a split second every time you squeeze the trigger. Listening to tapes sometimes details the ills of modern society and the disastrous consequences they have for the individual. While Receivers attribute these ills to the subtle and insidious workings of the Threat, there is no denying these problems exist in real life, and have real consequences, rooting the otherwise bizarre setting in reality and thus adding an excellent horror subtheme to the game.

The graphics tech behind this game is nothing groundbreaking, but the visual style is cool and works well for what the devs have tried to do. The lighting is what really sells it for me and sets the mood very well.

The sound design is simple and mostly made up of ambient background noise designed to build a pressing mood, which it succeeds at. I appreciate the sounds of the guns being as realistic as their mechanics. In tight spaces, they are almost deafening.

The game shipped with a few crippling design flaws, but the devs have since fixed the absolute worst of them. Some minor flaws still persist; fall damage is excessive and i feel the gun safety mechanic (where you risk shooting yourself if you tap tab to holster or unholster rather than holding the button down) could be done better. However, the game now feels like such a solid experience overall that these issues fail to annoy me as they did before.

In conclusion, Receiver 2 is quite a unique game, both in style and mechanics. It's thrilling and nervewracking. It will reward focus and attention to detail. It's brutal and punishes mistakes. It's not for everyone, but if you enjoy complex mechanics and a very gradual learning experience, Receiver 2 is for you.

Edit: It still says i refunded it for some reason despite having bought it again since.

It's a good un

shut mans wid gahn it gud