Recent reviews by FalconX51

Absolutely love this game. In its current early access state I've put in 70 hours, completed all the achievements, and had a blast. Definitely the love child between Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing. The town building aspect is unique and while every resident has their own home location/decor requirements there is a lot of freedom to design the perfect town for you. I personally cannot wait for release and to see some features implemented/expanded. At the time of my writing there are a few incomplete features such as lvl99 skill chests, final balloon destination, etc. but the game feels complete and feature rich with little to no bugs.

I can't remember which upgrade they were in when I started playing, but this game has eaten so much of my time. It has nearly limitless replay value and with the recent launch preview there are so many more options. Easily a 10/10 from me.

I have missed work for this game, I have sat at work talking to myself about ways to improve my colony, i've played for 24hrs+ at a time. It's hyper addictive and always out to get you. Sometimes I play where everything that happens happens, others I'm fine with reloading. It's anything and everything you want it to be, mods only add to that.

It's Super Wagon Adventure Turbo meets Organ Trail. Everything you could want in a game that you just pick up from time to time, even couch co-op. Havent survived a run yet but losses dont feel discouraging, even when the dice were clearly stacked against you. There's a large variation of characters and the option to build (a lot) of your own. Make your friends, make your enemies, watch them all die horribly.

Overall, I love what Ark has done during its developement. It has its flaws, and yes its Early Access, but I whole heartedly reccomend this game. Look at the progress, the updates, the work done over its year and a half. Is it still in early access, yes, but its one of the most frequently updated titles amongst that sea of vaporware.

I will address the elephant in the room, paid DLC. Yes, its asking for more money before its even been released. You dont have to buy it, it goes on sale regularly as does the game itself. I purchased both at full price because I want to see the game go further. The Scorched Earth dlc is practically a seperate game, its a true expansion pack and when are those ever free? It's more than a simple map, and quite frankly its hard.

Optimization is still a mess but it has improved dramatically. As someone who has played since early on when running medium spec was a challenge its vastly improved. My friend runs it on a dated gaming laptop. Initially it stuttered around at about 20fps tops on min settings, but now even his laptop is running mostly medium spec in a playable range.

The biggest drawback is the community. Official servers end up a joke since there are no admins. Reviews and posts you read about invading Chinese and Russian players aren't actually joking, it is a thing. Obviously griefers come from all over but specific groups have made names for themselves using their distant ping spike and aimbots to their advantage. I hear Rust has the same problem. Play with friends, find a good unofficial server or run your own, and you'll have a good time.

This game has a bright future and I look forward to its completion. Edit: I wanted to update this for all the idiots commenting on the sheep being only available if it won the vote. They stated very clearly that it was being implemented whether it won OR NOT, but many recent reviews still call them out on it incorrectly. It wasn't some fine print, or hidden message, and certainly not a threat. If people would actually read they would have seen the glaringly obvious print stating it was coming win or lose.

Truthfully my favorite strategy game. I played this back when it was new and am amazed it has held up so well. It isn't a game where you just tell your units what to do and kick back, you have to adapt to the situation and at times be a pilot yourself (I piloted in most if not all missions, It just feels so much more involved). You learn what each soul is good at and surprisingly they do have fairly decent AI, if nothing else for the time the game is from. The banter gets a bit repetitive between your souls but I still greatly enjoy that they talk to each other. The graphics are dated heavily but they were very advanced for the time and it still isnt painful to look at. My hour count on here is only since picking it up on steam, ive beaten it countless times before obtaining it here. My disk is too worn out to run now. 10/10