Recent reviews by Simboker

Well, one hell of an epic journey, living up to its hype and rightfully deserving all its awards and praise.

Optimization and performance is not good, but still playable and enjoyable if you turn down the settings. Physics for capes and clothes is somewhat buggy.

A faithful sequel and great experience. ~18h campaign alone, a lot of exploration optionally, but you need to find at least some extra hp booster or additional stim cap upgrades, if you are playing on higher difficulties. But you can change the difficulty anytime.

You could start to be nitpicky about some aspects of the game like the combat and the story, but in the end it was still a great jedi action adventure game with some souls-like mechanics. The story could have ended at a specific point, but went on and left a small sour taste. It is not easy to sell such twists and turns storywise, especially when it comes to character motivation and development. It keeps me thinking, if it was authentical enough. They took a risk and I can respect that, because everything in this game felt well-made and with great care, the story, the dialogue, the environments, all the small details, the music, the animations, voice acting, lip syncing, emotions, even the npc's felt real...

In the end, in the modern gaming world, where almost all triple AAA titles are half-heartedly created, excessively bloated with fillers and uncreative content, released in unfinished beta states, choked off by corporate greed, filled with microtransactions, lootboxes, et cetera...

... this game (and its prequel) stand out (and you can grab it in a sale for <20€ and its prequel for <7€) This kind of games and developers should be supported.

5/10 a rather mixed than positive review

From a great predecessor (Bioprototype) to a meh sequel (Bioweaver).

While the first game was about trying out different characters and builds, specialized for that characters abilities, the concept for Bioweaver is your own character, which you keep the entire time and try to find your own builds with weapons and abilites.

What sounds good on paper is poorly executed. There are some clear balancing issues, since the most efficient ability build is simply to go for max life/reg and tanking, making all other abilities useless. The same goes for weapons, the most efficient and hard hitting weapons are some offsprings with Limb of the Giant (in Master Replica quality, since it gets a 1200-2000% base damage buff at the cost of life to cast, which doesn't affect you, since you can easily tank it with your tank build or the life cost doesn't apply to you, because it is cast by your offsprings.

The next problem is crafting modifiers on your weapons of choice, which is rather frustrating because of unbalanced modifiers and the way they are changed. Some are cleary way better than others and some feel even detrimental. Then, the RNG to change the modifiers is terrible. There are only limitied tries to change your modifiers and there are 7 different qualities of tiers, which you can circumvent by applying high quality modifier changer or upgrader, but they require some grinding and farming. In the end, it feels like fighting AGAINST a bad RNG concept rather then fighting WITH a good RNG concept like in the first game :/

Another annoying problem are the almost instant spawn-hitting monsters. (Also a reason why you need the tank build). Make them like in every other survivor game, approaching from a distant and outside the screen.

And change the pace of unlocking the ultimate test chamber. No one will start it 13 times from the beginning to the end only for unlocking the possibility to go from 1 to 150 waves. A very frustrating approach. If someone wants to test his build, allow them to do so without meaningless grind.

The next installment should focus more on the first game or a combination of the two. Make some clearly diverse preset characters like in the first game (+ your own character, but the abilities of the presets should be distinct and powerful enough) and keep the concept of building your build continuously and discard of the frustrating crafting mechanics and make it a satisfying loot experience again.

Great concept, game design and execution.

Resulting in creative and fun gameplay with cool combos.

Boss designs and patterns were refreshing, creative, cool, sometimes ridiculously crazy and with some fitting metal beats at the end.

Difficulty balance was just right. Difficulty increases and so your potential to find epic spells, as well. But you never feel too powerful, except that one time when you were able to cast 2x 20x 20x poisonous Black Holes, each releasing 2x other Black holes per second, splitting up into 5x Thunderstorms in the end ;-)

A very ambitious ARPG ranking somewhere in between of D4, PoE, D2R, Grim Dawn and the like.

The amount of content (early game/campaign) is comparable to D4, which is around 20h and is a great experience (even though I didn't pay much attention to the story...)

Gameplay is super fluid and fast-paced like D4 and PoE endgame.

Difficulty is challenging but fair, not like the triviality in D4 or the difficulty spikes like in D2R or PoE. You don't need any guides or farming/grinding exquisite gear to progress through the campaign. Respeccing is fair and not expensive.

Complexity is much deeper than D4, but way easier than PoE. The crafting system is one of the most user-friendly and the perfekt balance between some RNG, luck and simplicity.

Endgame content (~40h+) is very engaging, creative and captivating. I enjoyed it far more than D4 and a bit more than PoE.

All in all a great ARPG experience a bit more on the casual side and perfekt for a quick dive, but not as hardcore as my all-time favorites like D2R and PoE.

Perspective from an old Diablo veteran, who enjoyed D2 and D1 the most.
Only regarding the first 20h campaign. The campaign itself is much shorter,
maybe 10h, but I spent some time with side quests und simple dungeons. I was
max. lvl in the middle of Act 1 from 3.

11/10 cinematic cutscenes (+promotional cutscenes, which are not included in the
game: Liliths summoning)
10/10 atmosphere
10/10 (combat) animations
9/10 graphics, art style
9/10 music
9/10 combat, gameplay
8/10 item abilities creativity
8/10 skills creativity
8/10 story
5/10 story telling
5/10 skill tree
4/10 items, loot, smithing
3/10 game design

Unfortunately, maybe the most important part of Diablo 4 is its weakest point or
it is simply designed for another purpose or another audience. Maybe its main
goal was to reach as much (new) players (and therefore revenue) as possible. In
this regard, it is clearly highly effective, allowing for easy and instant
accessibility, avoiding complexity and difficult challenges.

Many points are really great and enjoyable, but in the end if you simply rush
apathetically through the entire campaign, the game itsef is not great. There
was literally no challenge at all in my entire playthrough. The first dungeon
boss managed to force me to use some healing potions and the battle was
exciting. Later on, I was doused with healing potions. There were boss battles,
which ended with 10 or more healing potions lying around. The underlying problem
is the difficulty (but also the healing potion game design, which adds to the
trivialization of the difficulty). You can carry only 5 potions, which are
automatically refilled in town and in front of every boss battle. Bosses spawn 2
healing potions every 25% health damage. No regeneration potions, no potion
management like in D2, again everything for better accessibility. There are also
many health regeneration affixes for items, which are very strong. During my
playthrough, I was constantly overpowered and I didn't care if I get hit, since
it didn't matter.

On the other side, my damage output was far too high, mainly due to the smithing
mechanics and inflationary drop rates. During the campaign, you will only find
magic (yellow) and legendary (orange) items, the latter having one more affix
and an "ability". This "ability" can be recycled by salvaging the item and
forging it onto a magic item. This way, you can easily create a powerful build
tailored to your play style. The abilities themselves were great and creative,
and added much to your play style. Additionally you can forge a temper on your
items, which can be obtained in clearing dungeons. Those tempers can add an
additional powerful affix out of a selection of 4 possibilities with a good or
bad roll. It also removed any interest in the dropped items, since I was only
focused on getting my preferred temper affix (25% possibility) with a very good
roll (rarely) on a relatively good basis for all my items. All drops are also
specific to your character class, which reduces the interest in trying different
classes. In D2 you created entire builds and characters simply because you found
an unbelievably amazing unique item or set, designated for this play style.

Magic find and charms for your inventory are completely removed. Those additional resist charms or skill boni charms could make the difference between a fluent Hell build or not, even though they were hard to get/find. Magic find itself was crucial in finding better
items more frequently, while it was difficult to maintain an effective item
build and a high magic find. Two further points, which reduce the need of any
difficult item management and item impact and the excitment of finding something
amazing, something unique, something special... On the other hand, there is no
frustration whatsoever in D4 regarding item drops. The next drop is guaranteed.
In D2 there were times where you didn't drop anything useful for hours, which
could be very frustrating, but then all the more rewarding if you do find your
next epic drop, which catapults your power into new heights.

Another missing aspect from the good old times are rune words. The most powerful
and important item crafting in D2. There were rune words for the early game,
significantly making the first playthorughs easier and ultra late game rune
words, for the ultimate power. Not only the runes were hard to come by, but also
the socketed bases, which also were a great find.

The skill tree is very basic and simple, even though the skills are interesting
and creative. The entire barbarian skill tree felt like one skill tree branch
from D2 times. The possibility to respec any time is very much appreciated. In
D2 you were really careful about your skill points in fear of misplacing them
and ruining your build and character. It also felt like there are more than
enough skill points in D4, while you could never have enough skill points in D2,
even stacking skill point affixes on your items and charms cluttering your
inventory. The Skill point limit in D4 is 5 with 2 additional skill point bonus
perks, enhancing the play style of the skill. After level 50 you get paragon
points, which add a minor stat boost. You cannot level attributes at all. They
are increased automatically with each level-up, reducing the players freedom a
bit, but increasing the simplicity of building a character.

The main story from the Diablo universe is captivating and engaging. Lilith and
Inarius are implemented well, reaching their climax in the cutscene before the
end. Still, Tyrael and Imperius were more interesting. Lilith can live up to the
standards of the prime evils. Her motivation seems intriguing, never knowing if
you can believe her true intend or not. Meanwhile, Mephistos spirit is meddling
in the story, too, reaching a point where the player asks himself whether to
take either side or to trust their gut feeling and do something else. Deep
insight you know, you can never trust one of those evils, even though Liliths
motivation and history seems pure - to stop or run away from the eternal
conflict.

The final boss fight and several others were really imposing. Unfortunately,
they were far too short and not dangerous at all. I had to stop intentionally
and wait to see their moves and actions. This kinda kills any excitment for the
next boss fight. Do you remember the first time fighting Andariel, Duriel,
Mephisto, Diablo and Baal?! Yeah for sure... even in my nightmares... Will I
remember the Boss fights from D4? Maybe, I don't know, their concept was cool,
their graphics model was great, their musical backdrop was glorious, but all in
all, probably not.

In many aspects the game is highly polished - the music, the atmosphere and the
graphics are simply great and a perfect fit for a dark and grim Diablo World.
The combat is super fluent and satisfying. The cinematic cutscenes are
unparalleled. The story is interesting and captivating. But in the end, the game
doesn't take any risks, playing it safely, making it easier accessible, removing
any complexity, but also any excitement and the feeling of overcoming a
challenging obstacle... Other games have shown that difficulty is not
necessarily daunting, but rewarding in the right dosages. Elden Ring and Sekiro
were more than succesful due to their reputation as difficult games (and many
more superb aspects). Could their sales have been even higher, if they were
easier? Maybe, but never as memorable and exciting. There is still the endgame
waiting for me, but my old diablo spirit is already hurt, since the Diablo games
I used to love entirely focused on the campaign and the experience therein and
not on an artificial endgame content.

A great co-op Top-Down-Action-shooter RPG set in one of the most immersive and detailed cyberpunk worlds ever built, accompanied with an absolutely awesome soundtrack.

Solid Gameplay
Items and weapon upgrades could be more complex and not just higher stat numbers

cons:
Some bugs, glitches and crashes - like a restart every hour
Bad inventory UI: Everything is described with icons which are not self-explanatory and you often wonder what did that just increase or change?!

In the end I would have rather replayed the old S.T.A.L.K.E.R games...

A genuinely wholehearted puzzle-gaming experience better than Portal.

Puzzles go from easy to very hard (golden gates), challenging and creative
Beautiful graphics & imaginative landscapes
Relaxing soundtrack
Superb voice acting
Enveloped in a great story (puzzle to story ratio is ~ 70:30 this time compared to more focus on puzzles in the first title, which is ok. You can still fast skip dialogues if you want)

10/10

Vampire Survivors - gameplay, aesthethics
Hades - Power ups, Gods
Diablo - Items, Inventory

TL,DR: Huge potential for an Early Access game, just needs more content

cons: Anime touch to the art style and dialogue