Recent reviews by Struthio

This was originally a review, but i got death threats and - reps because of it. Shows what kind of community this game harbours.

Game is good. Community sucks, especially if you're not in the same echo chambers. To me, it was a little bit of fun, but as a Greek person, or... Hellenic, I feel like i'm just not represented or like these gods are nothing but playthings. And, of course, no-one cares. In fact, i've actually received a lot of death threats over saying this (mostly in very angry ways and when pulling my points).

if you think you'll enjoy the game, try it, me personally, i don't think i can. If you actually care about the hellenic world and not a bastardised version of it that a bunch of americans think is greek, then try Enyo, Apatheon, Assassin's creed odyssey or even watch the remake of ducktales.

It's sad that i see my lineage and it's legacy be bastardised and the only people who would care about it, think it's good. Not to mention how countless artists, neal illustrator especially, think themselves so highly, they do not even see what's wrong with removing the Greek aspects from Greek mythology. Games like hades promote that idea. Hellworld.

One of the best Indie Games to grace the gaming community HANDS DOWN

Battle brothers is, by far, one of the best worlds I have explored. I cannot even begin to say how many sleepless nights I have spent trying to get my bros to level 11 and 12, get them good gear and make stories with them, only for one bad, BAD ambush at night, while going from one city to another and losing half your squad to some nasty bandits. The game is... amazing. I will try to form a coherent review to elevate the things it does well and warn of what it does badly.

What it does well -
The world generation, and the world and lore in general, are fantastic. It's gritty, it's very low fantasy and it embraces how most people would likely have to live in the medieval ages, with the big change of "what if monsters existed"? I like to think battle brothers is basically lord of the rings with a bit less dressing on the cake and a lot more bitterness. It's delightfully pessimistic and that makes your own personal victories and the small glances of light oh so much more meaningful. The lore is outstandingly great, the world building and enemy design is VERY nice and near perfect, and the amount of customisability you get for your bros is genuinely amazing.

The combat and managing your company.
Battle Brothers is basically XCOM but medieval, and a bit harder on the management side. In combat, you will engage in guerilla tactics more often than not, and will suffer great losses if you do not strategise well or don't use your surroundings to their full potential - and even then, there will be times that you will struggle in. The game really does a good job of making you feel like you're not so much a commander of knights but more so like a guy running a business. Acts of kindness will often leave you at a loss, and you WILL need to be a bad guy to get to the fun parts. More often than not, you won't lose a run to your guys dying in a battle, but the aftermath of that. You trying to recouperate, failing to make enough crowns and being left by your company, alone, until you have noone. It's awesome. It's hard in a way that other games can't be - XCOM tries to overwhelm you and make you prioritise targets, Darkest Dungeon punishes you severely for failing to do the right thing. Battle brother is both of those. It's both hard AND punishing. And you WILL need many specialists and many generalists. You WILL need to make your own company BE your own. What do you prioritise? Ranged combat? Tanks? Hybrids? Damage dealers? Only YOU can determine what your team struggles in and it's awesome.

Art, Writing, Music and UI
The art? Sublime. Writing? So great it really makes you FEEL like you're there and so much of it they couldn't even translate it to other languges. The music? Battle brothers is one of the very few turn based games that i DIDN'T turn the music down for my own. It's genuinely great. Especially the barbarian tracks and one of the bandit ones. Like, you will genuinely NOT want to put your own spotify list over it, it's THAT good. The only times I did put a youtube video on the background were while I was travelling. The amount of customisability you get on your characters is insane, and the UI is the exact opposite of project zomboid - it's really helpful and you generally get a good idea of what you're doing.

The bad

Nearly non really, only 3 issues.
Really high skill floor, you WILL struggle to learn the game.
Late game enemies and bosses. Most of the late game stuff isn't really well done. I finished each late game location in vanilla. The kraken is a slog, the monolith and goblin city just tries to overwhelm you with numbers and the Ijirok is the only reasonable boss fight. The library is close, but falls short thanks to the gimmick. Don't get me wrong, they're good as boss fights, but the point of the boss fights are going to them and winning them - I cannot recommend even doing the first part. They're THAT bad, and what you need to do, and the reward you get, i cannot even justify it.

The price.
Let's assume you buy all the dlc, because it really is a superior game with all of them. 50 euros in the bundle. It's really high for an indie, and one of the reasons i don't recommend darkest dungeon 2 - But battle brothers? I wholly suggest it. If you think your investment is worth it, buy it. I do wholeheartdly suggest it.

one note - you should play at least 1 succesful run on vanilla and then start playing legends. That way, you will have an OK idea of what you're getting into, how the world and combat works and how you should or want to build a company. Legends is basically Battle brothers on crack. It's infinitely superior that way in my opinion, and you WILL get a lot of replayability out of it.

All in All - battle brothers is the best indie game i've ever played. If Strategy was a more appealing genre to the public, I'm sure it would be as famous and popular as slay the spire is. I genuinely have no words to describe how good this game made me feel and how awesome of a game it really is. If I had to choose only 5 games to have access to in my entire life, battle brothers would undoubtedly be one of them.

Fights in tight spaces is awesome. It's style is very unique and I honestly cannot really find many things wrong with the game - Apart from an underwhelming sequel... or prequel? The new game is set in the middle ages. Screw it.

Fights in tight spaces doesn't really do much outstandingly well - it's decent. It's a very nice roguelike game that fills the fantasy of being James Bond. The animations are all excellent, most cards do something useful in most builds and the AI, both the enemy and the cards' is very intelligent. What do I mean by card AI? For some reason, each time, I get an extremely specific hand - there has been no one instance where I genuinely couldn't get out of whatever situation I was, even with a bit of damage. It feels like the game does cheat to help you out - but you do pay the price for bad choices each time you make them.

The enemy design is really, really good. Each goon and elite has their own way of going about things, and you almost always feel equally matched if you know what you're doing, or have any idea about what build you're going to do. Every run I played before the final boss i was going with a push build. Oh, oh the pain I had to face... do NOT do that. Some enemies, like the guy with a scar and the hatchet man from the K9 DLC are very, very strong, but you can always use a lot of things in your control against them. Especially their own teammates.

Speaking of the DLC, both are bangers. I played the weapon of choice extensively and it's REALLY good and REALLY fun. The achievements, for the most part, are well thought out and very achievable. Save for the 50 card one but, well, not every game is perfect. Just look at dishonored and it's achievements. The K-9 dlc is also really good and challenging - that's the issue. It's too challenging. Having to control 2 units at once in a game that wasn't designed for that is REALLY Hard - and the devs did it as best they could and i'm seriously impressed they got it so right. However, the draw seems to almost always screw at least one of the two characters over. Either your dog isn't getting any movement cards and gets downed, or your character doesn't and has to tank a 20 dmg hit and a push. It's... a lot. Seriously impressed and it's a really good dlc, but I think that the two dog card decks need some help.

All in all, fights in tight spaces is a REALLY good game. It won't blow your socks off, but you WILL really enjoy it if you like stuff like slay the spire or into the breach, into the breach players will especially like it since you can also utilise enemy numbers to your advantage. The price, while fairly high, seems fairly reasonable. I do recommend buying both DLCs. They're not as gamechanging as the DLCs in battle brothers, but still very impactful, like the DLCs of darkest dungeon 1 - they allow for a lot of replayability. The only real issues this game has are the price, that it's somewhat heavy for weaker hardware like mine, and low to no modding scene. But well worth it's money. I recommend!

Let's start with this: Darkest dungeon 2 is a good game. It improves on a lot of factors that the first fell short of but still falls short on a lot of others. This game is a complete downgrade in comparison to the first one but I just cannot pin point exactly why, yet i hope my review is still coherent.

I will point out what I find nice first.

Starting the game, It was really pleasant to see a different fighting mechanic. I think the tokens were a really good addition in order to make AOE attacks more useful, as well as make buffs and debuffs more impactful. My second favourite character, leper, has really benefitted from the changes, and the jester leper combo is as strong as it could ever be. I am happy with that change.

The new art direction is really nice. Of course the first one had a unique style, but so does this one. I personally prefer the style of dd1 better, but I can see the appeal here too. The lore is still grounded in the world it's made for, and even good in some aspects (i'm a big fan of the burnt city), the enemy design (art wise at least) was really good, and as a guy who loves the crusades, and especially just medieval Europe in general, i ALWAYS go through the forest with knights every single playthrough with no fail. Regardless of reward. I just genuinely love my own cohort, carefully hand picked to make for a good contingent of war ready men and women, against a barely alive levy leftover from an army long forgotten. It feels nice. It tickles me well. The music, in my opinion, is on par with the first game, but the first game will win any comparison when it comes to sound design in general - exception for the draggi ng of weapons, the gurgling laughter of your enemies and the cries of babies immediately afterwards your heroes get assaulted.

That being said, those are the only good things I have to say. It goes downhill from now.

First and foremost, the most popular hero and arguably the mascot of the game, the crusader is hidden behind a paywall. I would've been fine with the fire girl being a dlc - but two main game heroes from the old game, and one of them arguably the mascot of DD as a whole and probably the most popular vanilla hero in general? Behind a paywall? I was completely turned off at launch from the game because it didn't feature my boy. So buying it WAS a requirement. And now Abom is hidden behind a paywall? Abhorrent. You do get a new area - crimson court style - but give us the main game heroes and make new ones for the dlc, Duelist style. It's incredibly scummy to have beloved characters from the first game locked behind a paywall. I personally wouldn't have played dd2 at all had I not been able to buy my boy. Deus vult bro.

second point, it's hard for no reason. I do mean this in a bad way. It seems like the developers went:
"How do we make the game stand out from the first one?" "I know! Let's just make it artficially harder!"
it was the same design choice as dark souls 2. I'm a big fan of ds2, but the enemy placement was extremely unfair and only there to make it arbitrarily harder. DD2 also suffers that issue. Enemies have bloated health pools, borderline busted combos and, thanks to how much slower and how much of a slog the game is (fights almost always take around 10-15 minutes, unless it's 3 enemies), it just makes you feel like you're not really doing much other than wasting your time. The sea area specifically is much harder than the rest. I had more success in the forest, the countryside with cannibals, the burning city and the warrens combined, in a failing run, than I ever did in the sea level. The enemies there have just about everything except burn. Shuffle, big health pools, a unique and impactful debuff, strong team comps, etc. So ♥♥♥♥ you if you play leper and jester. Your jester needs to push your leper up front so he can do something. And then bam. Another push. Of course there's counter play - and I did have fun playing the game. But when most attacks do so little damage... what's even the point? Only on your side of course, the enemy will always top roll on damage rolls. And heals? They're limited. And always weaker than enemy heals. Lore reasons? You have to ration them throughout the run and the brigand doctor doesn't. Gameplay reasons? Lol git gud.

Starting out is way too sluggish. To get all your heroes abilities, you need 5 shrines. So you basically need to go through purposely bad roads to get to something that will allow you to team and character build better. I think that's stupid. With how many characters there are in the game, it will take you hours to get all abilities for just 1 - and god forbid you want a crusader support from the get go. Starting abilities tend to be strong but often mismatched. Card games like slay the spire often suffer from card bloat - as you progress, especially with after play level ups, your deck draw gets more bloated and so, where as before you would almost always get at least a few useful cards every 2nd or 3rd encounter, every single encounter now has you see whether or not you need an exhume, an intimidate or a bastion. And you are going for a strength build. DD2 suffers the exact opposite problem. You start really weak and have to force yourself to make probably bad choices you're not ready for just to probably have fun later on. The upgrade system though, with candles, i find really good. They should've put the abilities there.

In my opinion, dd1 is a better game. Fights tend to go out faster, but they are at least not sluggish like they are in dd2. In dd1, you can slow them down with certain team comps. In dd2, if you try to rush, you will be punished for it, and even so, it will still take far more time than most modded bosses too. I think my umibozu and plague priest fights took around 9 minutes. A single encounter in the flaming city often takes me around 12. It's sluggish and you cannot do anything about it. In dd1, it snaps and goes by quickly if you want it to but you can force it to slow down. Plus the fact that dd1 has better mods, in my opinion better areas and heroes, and the fact that it's also a better rogueLITE, it's a superior game with just enough control for you to do as you wish. DD2 only offers one dish. And that's fine, maybe the dish was made well and i don't recognise the taste, so those that love that taste WILL love this game, but to me, it is an inferior product. It is an inferior product that forces you to buy your favourite characters. ♥♥♥♥ you if you want to play crusader or abom, buy our game. Not to mention, the whole bounty hunter system that... in my opinion sucks.

DD1 has more bang for your buck. It regularly goes on sale for... maybe 15 euros for all dlcs. Dd2 on other hand, on sale, is still around the 50 euro mark if you want the dlcs too. Granted, the abom dlc does come with a new area, but at least in DD1 the CC dlc didn't lock a main game hero behind a paywall, and just gave a wholly new one. DD1 is superior in mods, gameplay (especially for busy people), art design in general and price. But, if you enjoy roguelikes with a strategy aspect, like an XCOM x Pixel dungeon... you won't really find it with dd2 but the experience will be relatively close, if you're willing to pour more than 30 hours to get half of the main cast some decent abilities and buffs.

Project zomboid has been some of the most fun I have ever had in the gaming landscape. The fandom is as helpful as the one of battle brothers and the game itself is robust, holds it's own weight and offers a very unique experience - that can and will be tailored your liking if you bother!

For me, personally, the favourite part of a zombie apocalypse is the initial chaos, around 1 week before and after. So basically, the first 3 weeks. The inital struggle to figure out what's going on, see who you can trust and rely on, realise what kind of threat you're up against, what skills you'll need to learn, what bandits are usually like, etc. What I especially love- the LOOTING aspect. It is so fun breaking into a house, police station or military base, sneaking around or attempting to clear the area and loot it before any uninvited guests come over. Or in my personal favourite scenario - attempt to clear the area, realise that either you are too weak, the zomboids are too many or the area is simply against you, hide somewhere, run away, be caught and have to somehow find your way through the horde and escape again. It is so, so, soooooooooooooooo good.

The music is great. It is very nice when you are relaxing in your base and really gets your blood pumping when in combat or stealth. If I had to make one complaint, it would be that after combat, it does overstay it's welcome just a little bit - if the music wasn't so good, it would probably be a problem, but I think it can be given a pass. Its not that bad an issue anyway, barely an inconvenience at worst and good music for your ears at best.
The artstyle, while definitely not for everyone, is well done, serviceable and does it's job perfectly. It emulates the real world as best it can and I can definitely appreciate a more minimalist angle.
Zomboid is a sandbox game - which means you have to set your own goals. Unlike minecraft, I don't feel like I want to make a new world by the moment i'm self sufficient, with a farm, a good house, a wealthy cave and hoard and iron tools, no no - In project zomboid it goes like this - I spawn in, scramble together what I can, see where I want to set up shop for now, go there, clear and loot the immediate area, scout, clear the entire city while growing stronger, better and fortifying my safe house all the while preparing to leave and take on the same challenge in a different area. That is how my game plan always goes - and thanks to how many zomboids there are, it is ALWAYS a fun but stressful time.

I do, unfortunately, have 3 complaints though. One being actually serious.

1. Books and working out is a huge pain, especially on multiplayer. On singleplayer, it gives you a nice trade - do you sacrifice a bit of time looting, risking some pieces of food or bread to spoil in order to get that one level in electrical you need to hijack that one car you saw? Or do you want to grow big and strong and carry mom's groceries? But in multiplayer, it's a huge pain. No time speed up. You can't even leave your laptop open over night to do so thanks to your character either going thirsty and dying, your character going hungry and dying or a zombie finding you, breaking your ♥♥♥♥ and dying. Only 2 of those are preventable, but as far as I am aware, there is no "automatically eat" option.

2. You die too easily. I get it, that is one of the reasons I love and was drawn to this game for - but after a month and 14 days doing everything right, it is very, very, very demoralising to know you wasted your time. In battle brothers or xcom, at least you do have something to show for it more often than not, either in xp for your remaining guys or loot. Or if it's a complete failure, at least a lesson. In zomboid, you more often than not don't die because you ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up - you die because you get complacent and don't check the closet or bathroom and get bit in the neck, not because you overestimated yourself and tried the louisville mall. Now personally, I don't know how to feel about this, as I do like feeling like i'm not the main character, but after a few weeks of doing everything right, it is really annoying. Even if you make a new character in the same world, they are in such a disadvantage - the tv will likely not air life and living, even if you have set the electricity and water shut off to happen in either 6 or 12 months, if you spawn in your first starting area you likely didn't leave anything behind, you have to read every single book again and will likely die again because you got used to your level 6 short blunt and level 4 long sharp so you can't handle being at 0 again and die because you were too slow.

3. The actual important and real complaint. The UI is atrocious. I nearly stopped playing at 20 hours in and even now, I barely know how building and crafting works. It takes the same prepartions as the crusades did to make a single coffee. Now, I do actually understand how the UI works - sike, No i don't. I know how to handle the Health tab, inventory and looting tabs, but everything else is unknown waters, and it took me 50 hours to get those right.

all in all:

Pros:
-Great game, solo and with friends, lots of fun to be had
-The map is well made (mostly), the loot and customising your base is really fun and grinding most skills is not a chore (huge plus if you know what zomboid or gachas are like)
-While the price may seem steep at first, for what you get, it is most certainly worth considering. Same as minecraft - 30 euros is a lot, especially if you don't know if you'll enjoy the game, but if you are at least interested in trying, do it. It gave me 100 hours of fun and i still have interest in the game.
-It's really easy to make goals for yourself. This is a huge deal for sandbox games. More often than not, you'll play for a bit, learn the basics, set up a base to the point you're a god and never touch the game again, This has been my experience with Minecraft, 7days and trove. Not zomboid, or at least not yet. You will always have options and they will always be good. For example, I still haven't even gotten close to louisville because I keep wanting to either check out riverside or muldraugh - that's how far i've gotten since I start on rosewood.
-MODS!!!!!
-Incredible amount of freedom in the ay you can play the game.

Cons
-very, very steep learning curve. And it's a long one. It's really hard to even learn how combat works when you have 5 zombies on you at spawn. Generally, the spawning areas are relatively safe, but in one of my... give or take, 37 playthroughs, I spawned in one of those small, white houses in rosewood along with 6 zomboids. No fun. New players do not even get the chance of learning how combat works, let alone how to drive or how nutrition works.
-Realistic to a fault. Noone wants to manage calories. In my first real playthrough, my character died because he reached 59 kg and couldn't fight for ♥♥♥♥. I recommend turning nutrition off for the best experience.
-deceivingly heavy for the way it presents itself
-You lose progress very easily
-A little hard to set up a server for friends.
-Some skills, like tailoring, are an absolute ♥♥♥♥♥ to level up.

overall, 7.5/10. The minor complaints only lose it a point, but the horrible UI makes it a 7 alone. If I want to play with friends, they have to dedicate 30 hours to learn how the basics work and even now, 100 hours in, I barely know how building and crafting works. I do not know how to even start metalworking, how to cook a stew or even how to dismantle car wrecks. And personally, the way you upgrade tailoring needs a complete overhaul. Still though, it is a great game if you are willing to put in the work and learn it - Like for honor, battle brothers and FTL. Give it a try :)

FTL: Faster Than Light is one of the BEST games ever HANDS DOWN.

Allow me to say, i'm an old player of this game. I've played for around 200 hours on my old account and I had not gotten bored once. While I don't play FTL that much nowadays, it's one of those games that has had such an impact on me as a person it actively shaped me at least a little bit to who I am today.

The gameplay is simple, effective and fun. You have to travel to a variety of locations, some of which will see your Vessel boarded by pirates, Have you ambushed by Mantis or Slavers or worst of all.... you find a station with giant alien spiders. The fights themselves are, in my opinion, phenomenal and one of a kind. Of course you have your trade offs, you sacrifice someone who is stationed at the engine so that he can go to weapons, or you move two of your guys and gals from the Cameras or doors to your teleporter and settle things close and personal. The weapons are no joke either, almost all of them are completely viable (almost). My favourites are the Laser machine gun (I think it was called Vulcan?), The Fire beam and by by by far the glaive beam and the anti-bio beam.

The way you unlock new "outfits" and ships is also smart. Connected to events and challenges, my own personal favourite being the Lanius ship (I love the idea of the Lanius as a race in general) and the Federation cruiser. If I had one complaint in this department, it's that some ships are lacking or the event to unlock them is more fun that it is playing with them, like the stealth cruiser or (if i remember correctly) all 3 of the zoltan cruisers. But that is to be expected from such a variety, some ships are just better than others.

The world building? Immaculate. Muah, chef's kiss, 11/10. It's a self contained story, small and maybe inconsequential but it d o e s immerse you. And with the Series "Kestrel Adventures" (one of the most ambitious fan projects i've ever watched and had the pleasure to watch before it was over) you get a much deeper appreciation for the game. Though take my opinion with a grain of salt as I was raised with this game and I could have some rose tinted nostalgia glasses on. But for the life of me, when I started writing, I absolute loved the Zoltan and the Lanius as races. Living energy who power everything around them and living robots who eat scrap metal to survive, so advanced they suck the oxygen out of everything and have their own languages. Personally? I LOVE the Lanius, i'd go out of my way to play with their cruiser.

The music? Boy, if the world building and game play were good, this is leagues above it. The main menu music is THE stuff, I remember a friend back in 2020 being sick and tired and I told him "Open up FTL, listen to the menu music and go to dream land.". He did. And since then we've BOTH been nostalgic, despite he himself not being a fan of these strategic games. There's some who don't really slap but really that's like, 10%, you'll be vibing your way through sector 5 like there's a rave.

Replayability is also a factor FTL excels on. It's designed to be played ad infinitum, with different races and weapons to try out, not to even mention drones, hacking and what not. No complaints here.

All in all - The game is awesome. But I do have one complaint, which is major but in no way a deal breaker. It's very, very hard to access the "DLC", and if someone doesn't have some outside source of knowledge about it, they wouldn't know it existed. It's such an RNG fest that I dedicated 10 hours in my old account and still never got to find the crystal biome in and of itself, much less the cruiser. I never even got to see the crystal man himself. But as i said, far from a game ender.

In short -
Graphics: 10/10, style over graphics all the way
Music: 11/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Replayability: 10/10

All in all, the perfect game to pour your heart on. It can run on a potato (Or even Glados!) and it will be one of the few games i'd keep to play if I was to have to choose 5 games to play forever. 10/10.

No long review for this one. It's good for what it is, which is a demo. Made me want to play the actual games, despite being unable to. Pick it up and see if it's for you. It's hard, it will anger you a little bit, but in my opinion, it's worth. I like to think of it as a different take on Dishonored, more based around stealth.

Half life started it all. Portal, Left 4 dead, Team fortress 2... I for one, will be eternally grateful.
I cannot begin to say how proud i am to have been a gamer under Valve's guise. The true innovators in the field of gaming, doing only what's best for the player. They didn't want to give us a sloppy, half baked sequel, so we've been waiting for 20 years.

The amount of nostalgia i feel for this game, even if i wasn't born in 2004 is so, so hard hitting. I finished it and the combine are by far one of my favourite villains ever. I finished portal and the moment i went to pinterest and deviant art to see once thriving communities giving their all made me cry, cry because i wasn't there to experience it but still given the chance to experience it, even in a weaker state. Half life made gaming better. Portal made gaming easier to access. Left 4 dead made gaming with friends easier than ever. Team fortress 2 was built on the principles of valve, and it has the most dedicated fanbases in all of culture and media, not just gaming.

I cannot begin to say how grateful, how thankful i am to have experienced Valve's games. Even the ones that are not entirely theirs, like payday or a bit of DOTA. EVERY Valve game is not about the game itself - i stressed this on my team fortress 2 review but it goes for each game. It's about the community, that sense of immense nostalgia you get from seeing artwork from 15 years ago, of people who loved the game and it stayed with them, just enough to contribute and call themselves "Valve fans".
I had lost hope for valve. I really had. But after finishing portal 2, after seeing it's masterclass, crying at it's ending song and the plot twist, seeing tf2 get some of the recognition it deserved and have Half life be properly thanked and congratulated by the makers themselves, no, the GODS of gaming - it brings me hope.

Never change Valve. Never change.
Keep going, Community of Valve. You have no idea what you give to kids all over the world, who will one day become men and women and be changed as a whole by your contribution.

I'm an old player. I've played for around 1000 hours since 2016. Im not that old but i have very fond memories of TF2. I was very young back then. Valve has made something unique, something that is almost akin to a rite of passage for a proper gamer. It's one of the few games that still lets you do almost anything you want, for better or for worse.

I am so happy and proud to have been part of the community. It's the most dedicated one i have ever witnessed, most likely on par with the communities of Lord of the Rings and the like. Valve used to care about the game, and Gaben himself did, once. Even if they don't now, you can see it in it's soul that it has love baked into the code itself.

Play tf2. And you wont be able to play anything else for a while. For me, it was 7 years until i was done. But the youtube videos, the sfms, the "meet the team".... THEY show what tf2 is about. The community. I personally seriously got into tf2 when i saw meet the pyro, late 2015.

For honor is the definition of ♥♥♥♥ and ball torture from a meme prespective. From a serious prespective, it's an amazing fighting and strategy game that is being held back by the incompetence of it's developing team and the player base itself.

I'm a returning player. I got around 340 hours on it and 76 reps. It's not a lot but i've played this game since 2019 and quit in 2021. The reasons are the same stuff i get angry at today.
- Light spam
- Toxic players
- i was a dumb teen that couldn't adapt and kept doing the same thing.

The game right now i would say is both at it's worst and at it's best. Matchmaking is terrible, the power creep in this game is worse than any other i've played (There is quite literally a BETTER version of the hero you start with, the Warden) and the developers have continuously shown that they are tone deaf. However, once you finally manage to adapt and overcome Nobushi's overall ♥♥♥♥♥♥ design and kit (It's both UNDERpowered and OVERPowered at the same time, somehow), Varangian's, WM, Pirate's, Shaolin's and Hitokiri's mere existence, along with the small, vocal minority that ruins the fun the game is PEAK.

The mechanics are fabulous, the story is better than some STORY BASED Singleplayer games, the graphics are better than some games this day without relying on style to improve them (even though it helps), the customization is PEAK! It's a hidden gem with such a history, Zanny, Kaif, Raven knight being the people that peaked 14 year old me's interest and thus lured me into ♥♥♥♥ and ball torture: the game.

As much as i meme about it, for honor is an amazing game that i believe, if it wasn't held back by the multiple issues it had on launch and still has to this day, and if the team knew what it was doing, could rival double A titans like TF2 and Overwatch. If only...

Even with the bloat of recent years, universal executions, effects, the entire outlander faction being both a fluke and a disappointment (As a Greek, i feel HIGHLY disrespected Varangian is gender locked), the heroes going from 0 to 100 3 years after their release like Shinobi, the game still holds it's soul. The discord is still active, the cross play update breathed new life and the 1v1v1 update is what personally peaked my interest and brought the idea of a return in my head.

It's just disappointing to see what could've become a gaming titan fall so short because of a bad start, a toxic community (honorable or otherwise), and the constant back and forth between developers and playerbase.
A bad start was a fluke.
A toxic community is everywhere, it's a multiplayer game. If it bothered me enough to stop playing, there's a vs AI mode.
But the developer team? They're definitely trying, don't get me wrong - But it took 7 years or so since launch to add a cosmetic item for the warden to give him plate armour. 6 years for Shinobi to be viable (And they ♥♥♥♥♥♥ THAT up and he's an overtuned piece of ♥♥♥♥), they continuously pump out op power creep heroes as if it's brawl stars and characters like Conqueror, Kensei and Nobushi who are in MAJOR need of a small update rot in purgatory. Especially nobushi, they need to remove her weapon.

It took months of complaining for them to remove storming tap's stun, FROM MULTIPLE YOUTUBERS.
But. That being said. The game is definitely worth playing. Pick it up on a sale, as i don't think it's worth 20 euros by itself, but buy the year 1 bundle too. It's awesome. We all know ubisoft is a small indie company, it's being bought by ten cent after all. May god help them fix this game and launch an ad campaign.


SMALL DISCREPENCY I FORGOT TO ADD WHILE WRITING
Toxicity doesn't mean ledging or ganking. Those are in the game for a reason. It's how the game works. If Ubisoft didn't want ledging to exist, they wouldn't have added cliffs and open bodies of water. Ganking is a real historical thing that happened. When people say "honor" they mean today's standard - Our romantic interpotation of chivalry, the bushido code and what not. But real honor was for valor in combat, great deeds done in battle and what not. Roland was ganked in Roncevalles. bandits literally prey on lone people because they don't have good equipment. Ganking always has and always will be a thing, including ledging, and people who do it will still be honorable (if they emote first of course). If you want a proper duel, with today's idea of honor with no ledging and no ganking, make it clear in a brawl or a duel by respectfully emoting first and if they don't do it, then go ham. Not everyone is going to play like you. Just see what your opponnent does and go with the flow. Faraam made his entire channel about anti ganking. Instead of complaining, like 14 year old me, get better.
Also, don't try this in 4v4s. It's a team mode. The way i see it, there's nothing honorable about seeing your friend die to the hands of a Berserker or a weeb without so much as helping him.