Recent reviews by Exokyn

Fantastic! Everything a sequel should be. Improved in every aspect. Some minor bugs present at Launch + Hotfix, but it is early days and they weren't game breaking. Loved the combat, loved the story, loved the world. Felt a little easy with certain builds, but I'm looking forward to Hardcore Mode and full Mod Support. Bring on KCD 3!

Decent. Enjoyed the story, liked talking with the villagers, generally putzing about. Especially when played late in the main story as a little breather. Teared up at the emotional bits. The game play though... it's not inspired. Lot's of busy work. Lots of walking. It's not nearly as dire as some other reviews make it out to be. Getting a nighthawk potion and being decent at archery will get you through the night time bit. Snag a couple cumans and you'll find bandages and more night vision drinks. Overall, I think seeing Tess' side of the story adds to the game.

Loved the DLC. Great challenge, amazing new enemy designs, exceptional exploration. The final boss is, in my opinon, overtuned and could use some adjustments so that every build archetype has a fair chance. Played through with a Faith based caster/melee hybrid. Damage types Fire/Holy against the final boss really put the nail in the coffin. Best attempts could get it down to about 15% health left. Respec'd into greatshield build just to knock it out, but I believe a Dex or Str build could beat it.

9.9/10 for the reason of the final boss alone.

Amazing work From!

Overall an evolution of Iron Tower's style. Stays true to the concepts debuted in Age of Decadence, while refining away the impurities and smoothing over a few of the sharp edges.

Combat in particular is much improved and much more involved. It does, however, remain quite challenging. While I am known to appreciate bashing my head against brick walls (proud member of the 2% to beat Underrail), the addition of up to three individually leveled party members alleviates the need for a thick skull.

As is with AoD, narrative choice remains high, and the overall mystery worth digging into. I tend to enjoy devouring every scrap of lore I can find in-game. Plundering every locker, exhausting every route and tangent, hunting down every rumour. I definitely was not disappointed by the end of the game. The party system also makes this aspect of the game more accessible. Typically lockpick/electronic/computer skills are almost hard requirements to appreciate any level of lore in games like AoD and Underrail, so being able to offload one of each "access" skill to party members helps players to see as much of the game the first time (which I think has the most discovery wow factor) through, while leaving additional playthroughs for exploring the other narrative branches.

I really, really like this game. But... there is one thing that has been nagging the back of my mind since I finished my first playthrough. The core mystery: the ship has arrived at Proxima already.

This is a tough spot for me to be in. I am terribly excited for the sequel Iron Tower has laid the framework for. I cannot stress how much I want to see it. But, I believe the reveal that the ship is already in orbit of Proxima undercuts the desperate and despondent vibe of the game. Honestly, during my entire first playthrough I wasn't sure if the ship was half way there, already there, floating aimlessly in the void, or at one point I even started to entertain the idea that it was a Fallout Vault style experiment and the "passengers" had never even left Earth. Finding out the ship was already at it's destination robs a good chunk of the uncertainty of the player's choices. It makes some of the narrative hollow in the way that knowing the ship still had centuries to go would have enhanced.

Do I think it's better to have weakened the despair of the ship for the promise of a sequel? Yes. One hundred times, yes. I want Iron Tower to continue to be able to make these interesting and wonderful games; and make money doing it. So it's a bit bittersweet.

A line from Knurl really sticks with me. He says it before giving up the life support machine to a chosen faction, as a kind of soothing advice. He says, roughly, "giving the machine to the monks will not save the ship. Giving it to one of the habitat factions won't destroy the ship either". It's maybe a little forth-wall break, but it does ring true. I don't mind the machine being the maguffin that kicks off the plot, but again, it doesn't matter because we are already there.

I can one hundred percent see a plot that revolves around this machine being the end goal, a minor boost in power to life support or maybe the ability for one faction to get an edge over the others. I think that game would have been amazing too. So I'm torn.

Ultimately, I love this game like I loved AoD. Please buy it so Iron Tower can continue to tease me with level 10 locked doors and computer logs filled with brutal anecdotes of despair.

Fantastic addition to the base game. A little bit discouraged about the main plot point being somewhat separate from the conflict. Lots to discover, lots to kill, lots of ways to die. Also, ♥♥♥♥ Biocorp.

Fantastically difficult. Played way back in early access, left it for a few years, came back for another chunk, and finished the base game and DLC in a two week sprint absolutely out of my mind with flu. Anyone who says the game is too hard doesn't know the secrets of a good diet (it's free stats) and excessive combat juicing. If you aren't popping at least five different consumables in the correct order to maximise duration before manually starting combat, what are you even doing?

Challenging game made with passion. Harbours tantalising mysterious behind every dialogue.

Disco Elysium is a game unlike most other games I have ever played. I'd like to imagine I'm a rather rabid enthusiast when it comes to role-playing games, so that's high praise. It's not a game about builds, equipment, clever use of skill checks, or even winning necessarily: it's a game about creating a character and seeing how that person interacts with the world they are in. Someone out there might say that is the absolute essence of a role-playing game, something that we who appreciate this hobby might have long since forgotten.

I'm not going to discuss the graphics or the systems or even how choices effect game play. To be honest, how Disco Elysium has touched me in these few hours of playing it almost completely ignores those aspects (though I believe the whole of the piece is made of the sum of numerous beautiful parts). What I will discuss in this review, or perhaps merely share, is a message I felt the compulsion to send to a close friend of mine after a particularly heavy portion of the game. If these words appeal to you, then I would highly recommend the experience this piece offers:

"I don't know why I started playing this game the night before work after a weekend of empathetic drugs but... Man. The premise is of being a cop solving a crime but there's this meta-text of trying to understand the character you're playing. Why did he drink and abuse drugs to the point of the total collapse of his life. What was it that he's being haunted by, why does the pursuit of his memories hurt so badly? Every time you brush against revelation all the parts of his mind absolutely caution to not know, never know these things. And, whenever I play role-playing games the first time I always play the character as myself. So, this pain, this longing he feels, I feel it too. When all of him screams against the knowing, I want it. I want it back, whatever it was that was thrown away. If it's pain, if it's unbearable sorrow, I want it. It's mine. You can't tell me I can't have it.

I've laughed a lot while playing this but, the tears that have come are equal to the bursts of levity."

For clarity, the primary focus of the build I have been playing is the Purple stat which deals in the inner self. I cannot say how the game will play when focus in other areas but, the fact that this may entirely change your perspective is a wonder in and of itself. I hope the journey through the lens of other "builds" are just as rich... maybe the one I picked just happened to be perfect for me.