Recent reviews by Justin848

As the curator, I take great pride in our doll exhibit. Particularly the one that’s always watching you… even when you move. Isn’t she great?

Amazing world-building and gameplay. As a big fan of the medieval genre, this is awesome!

8 hours. That’s how long it took me to win a single run in Balatro.

Did I rage? No. Well, maybe a little.
Did my heart drop many, many times? Yes.
Did I uninstall? Absolutely not.
Instead, something deep in my brain—the same thing that makes me believe I can pull a rare card in a $2 booster pack—lit up like a slot machine jackpot.

"One more run," I whispered at 1 a.m., tears in my eyes, shuffling cards like a broken Las Vegas dealer.

10/10 would gamble my sanity again.

Was able to start up fine, and so I started a new game on a new map. Entire computer froze as soon as the map loaded and I went to place a road. Rebooted computer, started the game again, and now it crashes at the main menu.

How is this the state of the game after all this time?

It's Persona in a fantasy medieval setting. What more could you ask for?

The soundtrack slaps so hard on this that I would still play it so I can hear more of that trombone even if the gameplay itself sucked. Good thing the gameplay is as good as the music! I would have been willing to pay full price for this, and so it's currently a huge steal at only $15 in the current sale.

Edit: I just beat the campaign and all I can say is LOL 10/10 best ending for a game in a while. Whoever story-boarded this campaign needs a raise!

I love grand strategy games and survival games, and this combined both of those things. Frostpunk 1 was great, and it was a city-builder survival. Frostpunk 2 takes that scope and multiples it by a thousand, taking it from city-builder to civilization-builder. Why would we want another city-builder when we already have Frostpunk 1? I think both games fit their niches well, and one isn't better than the other. They seem to compliment each other in gameplay and lore. If you're left wondering about the zoomed-in details of your individual cities in Frostpunk 2, well that is what Frostpunk 1 is for. If you're left wondering about what happens when you take your city and turn it into a sprawling civilization, well that is what Frostpunk 2 is for.

I put tons of hours into They Are Billions and I love that kind of genre, and this game took that concept and redefined it in a new and amazing way. Do you love building things like Lego sets? Do you love voxel-like games? Did you ever imagine what it would be like to take those concepts and put them into a base-building, resource-management, tower-defense game? Well this is the game for you! I'm only two hours in so far, and I can tell that I am going to end up sinking hundreds of hours into this. The amazing part is that this is only early access, and it feels like a fully fleshed-out game. Awesome job devs, and I am excited to see what this turns into!

Hands down best game of 2024 for me! If you like crafting, base-building, souls-like boss battles, PvE similar to MMOs, and progression-based fighting, then you'll love this gem of a game.

I fully agree with everyone who already stated the following settings (For PvE):

1) Host your own server so that time continues even while you are offline, as this will make resource production and servant tasks a breeze. This is the biggest game changer. You can play it solo, or open it up however you see fit.

2) Disable 'Teleport Bound Items' in your (hosted) server's settings so that you can teleport with resources. Having this setting on is not needed in a PvE server because the only real point of it is to force players to run around in PvP with the possibility of getting ganked by another player. I tried it at first and the game was tedious in not a fun way, and turning that on changed it around completely. This is almost tied for number one in biggest game changers.
"TeleportBoundItems": false

3) Daytime Length should be between 'Swedish Winter' (very short day at 4 hours in a day cycle) and Medium (8 hours in a day cycle). Decide based on what you're looking for in a challenge.

4) Set the stack size to 2x to make resource collection a bit less tedious.
"InventoryStacksModifier": 2.0

5) Set the resource yield up by a bit, I personally increased it by 50% so that it's still needed but not overly important.
"ResourceYieldModifier": 1.5

It's been a long time since a base building game has scratched that zombie itch for me, and this is doing just that. I think the gameplay is pretty straightforward, albeit a little clunky still, and I can see where the devs intend on going and I believe the end product is going to be amazing.

I think the criticism in the other reviews is a bit harsh based off of what I've experienced so far. It's very easy, almost game-breaking easy, to pile up on assault rifles and ammunition. I have around 150 survivors, 6 squads all with full assault rifles, and plenty of watchtowers. I don't even need walls because the squads mow down anything in sight before it even reaches my buildings. I stomped the military when they showed up, and then stole their vehicles. I get that a lot of the nuisances of the game aren't intuitive yet, such as vehicles and expeditions being lifesavers, or the huge need to scope out weapons supplies early on, but geez... maybe the game was different when it first released, I wouldn't know, but as of the time of this review I do NOT think it's "unplayable" by any means.

I think the part that makes this the best for me is the genius use of OpenStreetMap’s map data to generate literally anywhere, and I can't get enough of it. I've made a stronghold out of my own neighborhood. I turned our HOA president's house into a storage shed. I razed my annoying neighbors house to the ground for it's bricks. This is every base builder's dream!