Recent reviews by Pyetech

It's more Elden Ring, and a lot more of it at that--Shadow of the Erdtree contains as much content as most action RPG games today, if not more.

The map design has been changed for the better. There are fewer formulaic caves and crypts, and the region is divided into vertically stacked plateaus. It's still open in terms of design, but it's not quite as overwhelmingly expansive in every direction as the continents were in the base game. The player is pleasantly teased with new plateaus when looking down or up, and accessing them is a reward for exploration, generally. The other reward for exploration is Scadutree Fragments, which permanently increase your attack and defense in the DLC and therefore make thorough exploration mandatory. As usual, there are secrets within secrets, and in true From Software DLC fashion, a secret so obtuse that it is nearly impossible for a solo player to decipher. As in the base game, you will be bombarded with crafting materials, smithing stones, new weapons, new armor, spirit ashes, new spells, etc., the vast majority of which are either useless, against the spirit of the game, or have too high of a barrier to entry.

The story has a few beats but is cryptic as ever, both in terms of what's happening and how you should respond. There is essentially no connection between the lands of the base game and those of this DLC, either in story or gameplay. I think I would've preferred it to mesh more seamlessly together rather than being so disparate.

The combat is as good as it ever was. I found the difficulty curve to be identical to the base game: it starts off hard but given the open-world nature of the game, with exploration, it's very possible to outlevel the midgame content and only fight bosses when they're easier than they should be. The endgame content is a test of skill, and I enjoyed the slow process of learning and mastering the endgame bosses, particularly Bayle (though the camera lock-on was wonky) and the final boss. However, the penultimate encounter, Needle-Knight Leda and Allies, was absolute trash in terms of design if you're doing a no-summon run.

It famously took two years for From Software to develop the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Would I have preferred them to work on a new game instead? Maybe, but this is such a meaty addition to such a seminal game that I'm happy to see Elden Ring stuffed with even more content that people will enjoy for years to come.

Undoubtedly 2023's Game of the Year. Amazing worldbuilding, great story, very interesting characters (Shadowheart being the breakout), rewarding exploration, significant and impactful decisions to make, extremely talented voice acting, expressive animations, and serviceable combat. The attention to detail given the game's level of freedom is remarkable, with voice acted dialogue even for unusual situations. I was very easily able to immerse myself in the role-playing; I felt like a detective and a historian. Sometimes you are asked to make decisions based on incomplete information, but I suppose that's realistic.

Multiplayer is supported but the game mechanics simply aren't designed for it--especially if everyone's priorities are not on the same page.

Really a masterfully designed game, with such an obvious premise that it's a wonder it hasn't been made before (or at least, not successfully). At the end of the day, Balatro has very little to do with poker. I enjoyed winning but I enjoyed collecting everything even more. However, I feel the game falls apart in the higher difficulties due to the level of randomness, requiring the player to restart repeatedly to get a run off the ground.

Elden Ring is a seminal game with a massive scale, and is certainly 2022's Game of the Year, but the open world experiment is not entirely successful.

The especially large early areas are my least favorite because the points of interest are too spread out for my liking. For someone who exhaustively explores games, Elden Ring's open world can be a chore to fully explore, particularly because mists and rock outcrops frequently limit visibility. A map that tracks where you've already been would've been a godsend, though I would've still found myself methodically exploring to ensure I didn't miss anything (to the detriment of my own fun).

From Software's strength has always been in the meticulously hand-crafted, tightly designed, labyrinthine areas, and even in their previous games, the more open areas have been the weakest. Rest assured, though, that with the exception of the very samey Chalice Dungeon-like crypts, the points of interest in Elden Ring are as good as or better than anything they've made before.

Souls games have always had an issue where players will (or at least can) outscale the difficulty curve as the game goes on. For example, while not a smooth curve, in the original Dark Souls, you can tell that the difficulty spikes were deliberate all the way through Ornstein and Smough. After that, the world opens up, and many players do the bosses out of their "intended" order and find some of them to be trivial. The problem is worse than ever in Elden Ring because while there is an intended path through the game, the open world provides many more ways for players to outlevel the main path. This issue has downstream effects such as discouraging the usage of consumables, soul ashes, new weapons, etc.. It also discourages players from learning a fight, playing conservatively, getting good, and barely pulling out a victory, since there is always the option to come back later when the encounter will be much easier. To be clear, I found the beginning and also the end of the game (when you've hit soft- or hard- caps) to be difficult, with uneven difficulty in the middle where I sometimes found myself blowing through content.

A common criticism levied against the game is that bosses and minibosses get repeated a few times in the optional content, which is true and unfortunate, but ultimately not a big deal to me. Horseback combat is much less engaging than on-foot combat--mostly because elements of timing are removed--so I consider that feature to be a failure overall. The Stakes of Marika, however, mitigate long runbacks while still disallowing warping, and are an elegant solution.

I found myself getting invested in the lore of Elden Ring as the game went on, despite its ludonarrative issues. As the player, you are frequently asked to make stark decisions with no information to go on, and even worse, you're generally expected to simply answer in the affirmative if you want to see the content. NPCs will appear and disappear at seemingly random locations without warning as you progress through their stories, which is inelegant but fine, I suppose, if the intent is to force the player to just go with the flow. It is very difficult to piece together what is happening, and there is simply not enough information in the game to determine good from evil, if there even is a good.

The game engine is serviceable; there are some beautiful and detailed vistas with incredible draw distances and no loading times. While the torch is the neatest and most useful it's ever been, I think a state-of-the-art lighting system would've brought the visuals to another level.

Again, Elden Ring is a content-rich, memorable game that will be analyzed and used as a yardstick for years to come. Western game developers are clearly concerned about their ability to compete, and for good reason.

Worth playing. Strategic gameplay and an interesting (if impregnable) story.

Simply the best incremental game I've come across. Unlock systems upon systems as you optimize your path forward. I am continually impressed with how well-designed Trimps is, in that it provides endless satisfying short- and long-term goals with permanent benefits.

The dev releases regular updates and is very good at providing catch-up mechanics and quality of life changes for newer players without upsetting the veterans. It's truly free to play: no paywalls nor pay-to-win.

EDIT: I have played this game off Steam for upwards of half a decade.

Timberborn could become something great, but it isn't anything too special in its current form.

Due to their similarity, any review must bring up Factory Town, which came first and is more full-featured (most notably including conveyor belts and logic operators). Timberborn has the stronger theme but it doesn't do it justice, both graphically and gameplay-wise. Setting the game in a post-apocalyptic world rather than in a lush forest with giant trees was a very weird design choice. The only redeeming aspect of the setting is the minor satisfaction of revitalizing the land as you slowly bring water to its farthest corners.

Speaking of water, the waterflow mechanics in Timberborn are clearly its most interesting aspect, and even those don't feel fully realized yet. Creating reservoirs and diverting the river is unique, however.

I'm not crazy about the district system, and giving exclusive buildings to different factions is a poor choice as the number of available buildings is already limited.

I can only speak for the early game, but it was extremely linear, with shallow and repetitive quests that you zip through. I was hoping to explore a living world, but it's just a series of drab corridors you can run through. Enemy quantity is substituted for quality. Lost Ark seems to have embraced the worst attributes of modern World of Warcraft.

The only 4x game I've ever had the desire to replay. The varied lore/story abounds with flavor, yet the gameplay remains competitive. Free (and paid) updates are regularly released that boldly improve and overhaul the game. Excellent mods like "Gigastructural Engineering & More" flesh out an already feature-rich game.

Very much inspired by (the first half of) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the table, but it's a fun, charming little game. I would've liked the inclusion of a Hard Mode, because rarely did it offer me a challenge.