Recent reviews by Sulrn

I don't think a game has captured the Aliens franchise this well since AvP (2010). Highly recommend for any fan looking to grab a pulse rifle and go on a bug hunt.

Game is rough around the edges, but still worth the price for any Aliens fan who also enjoys the occasional XCom experience. I picked up the game about two weeks after launch and didn't face any game breaking bugs other reviewers mention. I did have some bugs that required a reload to fix, but otherwise finished the game in about 30 hours. The campaign is relatively short, but I think it ended at about the right time for how limited the game play loop / evolution is - by the time the game is getting a bit stale it ends.

This doesn't excuse the ending though, which while thematic and cool unceremoniously dumps everything you've been building up for the sake of narrative. That could have been much better handled. That's probably my biggest gripe. Second to that is how repetitive some of the voice lines are for command acknowledgment. Game has scant customization of the marines, barely enough depth to the character development pathways; limited weapons (all the iconics are here) and enemies/xenos; no customization of the ARC/APC; Soldier management / doom clock racing are the only strategic element outside of combat. Feels like a solid rough draft of a great game.

Otherwise I found Dark Descent set a very strong base for a future expansion / sequel to further flesh out systems, story, and missions. I truly hope this game does well and we see further development on it - especially if they tie in some of the more popular Dark Horse story lines. The game engine and squad mechanics look primed for a Beserker unit story - which could naturally address the most common request from the community after removal of the doom clock: replayability / mission randomization.

Ave civite!

If you like historical dramas like Rome or Vikings and RPG game play, you're in for a treat. The Expedition franchise is back with another adventure through time. This time our journey follows an alternative series of events to those seen before and during the era of Julius Caesar. You are the scion of a patrician house and must determine the fate of not only your family and friends, but also of Rome and its allies as events unfold and thrust you into the moments of fate. You will travel through Rome but also to Asia, Africa, and Germania with not only your praetorian guard but also a Legion or two as you vanquish Rome's foes and survive the machinations of those that would destroy you. You and your guard are specialized between four classes, each with three specialization trees to mix and match from as well as randomly generated 'weapon skills' based upon the quality and type of weapon you choose to fight with. Party battles occur on a hex grid like previous titles while Army battle occur in a four phase battle system where you choose tactics for each phase that can influence the behind the scenes stats being calculated at each skirmish point. For fans of Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous - this is a much less tedious battle and army management system that surprisingly also has more depth as you capture resource nodes across the theaters of war to improve your Legion's encampment, manage basic four resources to sustain your army, and gradually improve battle strategies and one use battle tactics.

Fans of Exp: Vikings rejoice for there is no timer or punishment for exploring the entire map or side quests. The only timers are in party battles - ie rescue before executed. The class system brings more focus to each character and the weapon skills allow for a some level of cross over. Crafting is significantly improved from the last installment (it is actually meaningful now) and dialog choices hold significantly more weight at many critical points of the story.

I highly recommend all the Expedition games to anyone who enjoys a bit of historical fiction and RPGs and Rome is no different. I truly hope we see more post-launch content than previous games as the quality has been very much appreciated in all three games and left me wanting for more. My first run on Rome provided roughly 70 hours of content on a completionist mindset although you could probably complete it in closer to 50.

Same issues from Kingmaker (obvious absence of a live DM to rebalance content on the fly).

Massively improved UI, 3D maps with significant verticality (which breaks dimension door more often than not), better animations. Can't wait for the rest of the bug fixes and the future DLC. Day one kickstart and very much worth the money and the wait to get to this point.

KM/WoTR are still the closest to a true 3.5/PF1E experience. If you like table top RPGs or RPGs based off them (Pillars, Solasta, Baldurs Gate, etc ) highly recommend the buy.

Solid contribution to the TTRPG.

Story and game play fall off in the last chapter (where a live DM would normally intervene), but otherwise a great game. Looking forward to the follow-up game, Wrath of the Righteous.

Recommended Mods: Bags of Tricks, Eldritch Arcana, Craft Items Mod, Respecialization

I really wanted this to be a great game, but the DEV Teams' focus on adding features that should have been in the base game instead of fixing core game issues is misplaced.I bought the 'season pass' at launch and got the first several DLCs up until La Resistance and it felt like the game got worse after every iteration and late-game performance continually decreased.A lot of quality of life has been added over several DLCs and patches, but after seeing how much CK2/EU4/HoI4 seem to be getting milked instead of curated/quality controlled I'm not sure I can ever recommend any Paradox sims anymore.

The game can be fun if you ignore the abysmal AI, questionable mechanics that railroad or obstruct your ability to make decisions, DLC-content not being balanced against core/vanilla version content, etc. The game is best played with friends or in multiplayer or in small chunks of single player facing specific goals or challenges you set for yourself. Historical WW2 runs or world domination get so tedious and bogged down by unoptimized AI-processing by 1943 you'll likely end up quitting and going after a different challenge.

Mods improve some of the issues, but that's a different issue entirely.

I enjoyed this more than the Witcher series even though it isn't as polished or as expansive. The world felt more real due to the nature of the game design and AI programming. Weapon combat was certainly more fun for sure, though it would have been nice to have Geralt's arsenal when getting ambushed on the road or getting caught sneaking into a bandit camp.

Only major complaint is that there are some quests that definitely need some more polish to them. There are confusing triggers that aren't intuitive, bugged NPC interactions, and areas where the game's mechanics actually interefere with progression of the game. Nothing game breaking, but certainly frustrating especially when compounded by the save system.

Overally though I very much am looking forward to any expansions on the story and it made me sad the game ended just as Henry starts coming into his own as a wandering knight-errant.

Base game is fun and a potential rival to other historical tactical arenas (Total War: Arena, etc), but falls short on content and polish. This is a rough cut gem that needs a lot of love before it starts to really shine. Poor english localization, lack of gameplay updates since I started playing (~6 months) despite clearly unfinished/implemented content, near zero player base in the States.

Studio needs to repitch the project, grabs some investors, grow the team, and finish this game. I like this game, but it looks like it's going to die before escaping Early Access.

If you're a fan of old school RPGs in the same vein as Baldurs Gate or Neverwinter Nights and tired of the graphics-first, on-rails technical demos that are passed as 'modern' RPGs then you should give Expeditions: Vikings a playthrough or three. The setting is based in the realities of 700-900ad with the only fantasy elements being those based on Norse mythology. No wizened wizards here except old, One-Eye and his ravens; no dragons to slay until Jörmungandr comes to poison the skies and devour the world. Simply put, be ready to focus on tactics to put your hardened steel to use instead of slinging Thor's mighty mjolnir. The story has many parallels to the shows Vikings and The Last Kingdom and in fact the difficulty settings use some of these more recognized names as their monikers. Similarly, many of the decisions you make in game aren't locked into good or bad (like many of todays RPGs), but rather shades of grey. You're a viking, sure you always have the option to rampage across Britannia but with some of the more subtlier options you're never going to come out feeling clean even if you get exactly what you wanted. As I pointed out at the start, this isn't a triple AAA title like The Witcher. It has some rough spots visually but for the most part the game does compete with the like of Tyranny or Pillars of Eternity and it also has a beautiful sound tracks to match.

As someone that played and enjoyed Expeditions: Conquistador, this is a dramatic improvement in play experience (especially the camping mechanic and involving player made hirdsmen in events / dialogue). My only request would be to increase the amount of interactions / dialogue with your companions/world as the vignettes currently ingame are what really sell the setting and keep things grounded in reality and engrossed in the story once you really get the grand adventure going where it's easy to fall into a detached, meta-gamey feeling.

Overally I would give the game an 8/10 and feel like this studio has the potential to be the next (classical/pre-EA)BioWare.

Edit - Nominated for Choices Matter Steam Award

As of release day build:

+Game plays how I wanted BG:EE to play
+Has a wonderful grounding for future content/mods
+Very morally grey situations - world is not black and white

-It's an Obsidian game: ie. It has bugs (some game breaking)
-In combat melee-pathfinding has issues and requires oversight
-Quest/Faction locking before you know what you're agreeing to
(caveat) not being able to play turncoat what-so-ever in obviously profitable/beneficial situations

Overall it's a fun tactical RPG that meets it's claims and has quite a bit of potential. I would recommend for anyone who enjoyed Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age: Orgins, or Divinity: Original Sin.

Tedious gameplay, non-fluid combat mechanics, uninteresting/infinite spawn enemies.