Recent reviews by Samwiz1

Any game that I can enjoy every second of and be brought to a teary-eyed smile over and over again just through the story it weaves is worth your time and money. I can offer no higher review than this.

While I am grateful for the free minor graphics upgrade and minor goodies the new version of this game adds, the fact that many previous problems (overinvasive anticheat, inability to tab out without opening task manager, confusing UI, etc.) still exist while no significant new features were added means I'm going to be naturally a little skeptical about the need for an entirely new game. Then combine that with the fact that you both Removed Multiplayer Text Chat outright (while keeping voice chat for some reason) AND added a monthly subscription battlepass that gets flashed in your face every time you open the game or flip open your phone in-game? It's just not enough. I don't entirely fault Rockstar for wanting this, and I certainly can't fault the coders who made a version of the game with a lot of minor improvements, but it just isn't worth making an entirely new game and stripping existing features for.

Brilliant, beautiful, and--after a little bit of balance-fixing--well worth the price.

A very, very, Very good game. 500 hours later, I can say this is firmly one of those excellent casual timesuck games I keep coming back to. Get it.

Alright, I gave this DLC a fair shot before I'm making this review, so keep that in mind. This isn't just me hopping on the bandwagon.
This DLC is pathetic.
When you buy this DLC, you get three figures: The Changeling, Yuan Bo, and Mother Ostankya. As characters, they're all pretty decent and pretty strong. But I bought this DLC for the campaigns, not for the characters the campaigns showcase.
The Changeling's campaign is a choose-your-own-adventure, and while I didn't personally get interested in the premise, I get there's probably some people who liked it. It seems to be well enough made, so I'll give a neutral opinion on that.
Mother Ostankya is a copy/pasted Grom the Paunch with the roster of those malevolent tree folks. Interesting premise, terrible execution. In Realms of Chaos she's not too terrible, but her campaign is relatively flavorless. But Immortal Empires? I don't care what excuses other people come up with, having a figure whose entire lore background is drawing on the power of the land of Kislev above all else *Not Start In Kislev* is just sad. That, and her hexes don't affect autoresolve, her recruitment is stunted by lack of units and streamlined by just how OP the ambushers are compared to everyone else, and her game-long goal is just too grindy with nowhere near enough flavor.
And finally, Yuan Bo. I did a full Realms of Chaos campaign with this guy.
Here's the breakdown.
- 2 cutscenes, one at the start and one at the end, with copy/pasted art in the first one and a single scene in the second one
- No required quest battles other than the final
- The final quest battle is a normal siege battle against a single lizardmen army; braindead easy
- No campaign completion reward aside from knowing you completed the campaign, unlike most other Realms of Chaos nations
- No fundamental change in the "unite Cathay and then kick chaos in the groin" experience the other Cathayan lords have
- Fundamentally the experience of the campaign was just a lite version of Warhammer 2's Great Vortex campaign
I hate to talk this much crap because I love the Total War: Warhammer series, but the appropriate pricing for this DLC is $10 tops. I needed to try it out just to see for myself, but for those out there who don't feel that brand loyalty need, steer clear. This one is not for you. Sorry.

This DLC isn't worth the price you'll pay for it and there's not that much replayability, but the Chaos Dwarfs are still a fairly solid race and their final campaign battle in the Realm of Souls campaign was definitely fun. Hopefully the western Dawi will get their own touch-up with some unique showstopper units to even things out at some point.

Alright, here's the thing about this DLC, as it's very unique compared to the rest:

Pros:
+ Focus trees are brilliant. Lots of diversity, lots of lore. I've never been more immediately satisfied upon looking at my purchase than with this.
+ Tons of decisions. You will never tire of things to do in managing your new empire.
+ Very unique experiences. The political climates of all 3 nations are astoundingly in-depth, especially so with Turkey's different Factions and the potential for multiple civil wars within a short time.

Sounds good, right? Well, here's the other things.

Cons:
- As any of these powers, your entire game can be dashed upon the rocks with but a single focus from any majors. As Greece, either Italy going to war with you (extremely likely) or Germany demanding you submit to Bulgaria (somewhat likely) will compromise your entire gameplan.
- As Turkey, if you go down the ahistorical route Russia can completely run your rear into the ground just for re-militarizing the straits. Sucks.
- As Bulgaria, Germany can automatically puppet you with a single focus regardless of anything you might have been doing otherwise.

Conclusion: I love this DLC and it's otherwise great, but it just doesn't fit with the scale of the rest of the game. The fact that these 3 powers have such a unique dynamic between each other is great, but how they interact with the rest of the world in the mid-game just makes them un-fun to play half the time. If you get this DLC, get ready for the difficulty to scale incredibly fast. You've been warned.
PARADOX, PLEASE FIX DIPLOMACY SO YOU CAN TRADE TERRITORIES, REALISTICALLY WHITE PEACE, AND MAKE DEMANDS BEFORE WAR STARTS.

Great game, but frequent crashes on high-resolution monitors. If y'all could optimize that kinda stuff that'd be great.

F

Alright, so here's the thing about this game. NOTHING is consistent. I'm telling you, this "Physics based" puzzle game does not have consistent physics. SO many times while streaming this game did I create a design, watch it fail, watch it go again with the EXACT same design, watch it fail again, then again, then again, and then the fifth time for no good reason it would work. I cannot in good faith recommend a game that just rewards those who believe in the Chaos Theory of rodent-dom.

Aside from that, though, it was a pretty solid laugh, even if I was only laughing half-insane at the stupidity of the physics. It can be quite enjoyable if you have friends with you to commiserate with in the inevitable suffering.