Recent reviews by Birdie

I liked first Hellblade because it looked fantastic, sounded fantastic, had interesting plot and engaging gameplay, not everything was perfect but I had a great time.
Sadly, can't say the same about Hellblade 2 as it underdelivers in most of previously mentioned aspects and I find this fact quite upsetting.

Graphics and sound are fantastic, I'll give them that one. Don't have much to say, they're simply great.

Plot feels very inconsistent, does multiple detours here and there, making you wonder if they're actually related to story. At top of this all characters we met stay with us until the very end, yet we spend little to no time with them to know them better, making it hard to build any bond with them or just to start caring.

Gameplay is very bland here, not going to lie. 60% of time we move holding sprint button, 30% takes solving puzzles and only 10% is sword fight. Puzzles aren't hard rather easy and quite linear, like you can't mess them up. Last one was the most enjoyable part of the game to me, which sadly got downgraded to 1 on 1 rounds.

In my opinion game doesn't worth its price, despite looking great there's no big reveals, no memorable characters, no boss fights and foremost almost no replay value. For beating game once you get alternative narrator (also another one if you found all lorestones) and that's it. Perhaps they can show same events in different light, but I don't have any motivation to replay it.

It's very hard for me to recommend this game to anyone.

Is it good game? Yes. Unless you're completionist, then you're going to have bad time.
Is it better than Nier Automata? Story is on par, but gameplay is not but could be better.

I respect the fact they left it unchanged, but it also kept the frustration of original. I really hoped they would alter some stuff for the sake of QoL closer to how it was done in Nier Automata, hence I would compare these two games on how things could be better.

First problem: this game is very time consuming, if you want to see it all of course, not just the first ending. Full playthrough requires beating game 4 (and half) times. Second and onward playthrough starts from the second act so it's not that big deal, but you would have to do and listen same things three more times and it's tedious (they differ a bit but that's it). Comparing with Nier Automata, second playthrough partly skips stuff we already seen, yet still succeeds to deliver fresh perspective.

Second problem: quests. Quests by itself are quite interesting, but reward for them is mostly money. There's still motivation for doing them like lore as you unlikely will be short of money in this game. Also, on the beginning of the second act of the game quests from the first act become uncompletable, there's no warning this would happen, and you can't rewind time to finish them. Some second part quests become inaccessible because of it. There's actually no real reason to prevent player from blocking them in the second act. Comparing with Nier Automata, quest rewards do include some unique stuff like rare materials and previous Routes are accessible after beating the game so no quests can be missed there.

Third problem: rare drops. Upgrading weapon require materials that can't be bought neither received as reward for completing quests as was mentioned before. This leaves the only way which is grinding by beating same couple of foes on plains or in dungeon. There's no way to increase chance of dropping rare item, only chance that can be increased is drop itself, which is not very useful. If you plan to get all achievements it would be quite rough ride. Comparing with Nier Automata, well, I don't remember getting such issues with getting everything I need for upgrading stuff, I could be wrong thought.

I want to sum up that despite problems above I really like the game.
I like the story for being such emotional rollercoaster.
I like the music, some tracks were re-arranged such it's not a big deal.
I like the voice acting, English one is especially good.
I like the graphics, game looks great.

It's might be not the best game, but it's good remaster. If you don't plan on 100% completion, pretty sure you'll enjoy it.

Price is being quite steep, but I think it's worth it (yet better wait for sale). In my opinion one of the best VR games available, It's very well made, utilizes FMV in 3D, I don't think I have seen it being used in VR games before.
Took me about 7 hours to beat, stuck only twice as pointers were a bit blurry, but overall I feel quite satisfied with the game.
Quite sad you can't revisit the mansion after beating the game, but I hope this will be introduced in future patches.

Надзвичайна гра, місцями не дуже проста в проходженні, але сама історія і її подача мене зачарувала. Проходив гру з встановленим українізатором, як і саму гру - дуже рекомендую.

Гра розпочинається з прибуттям головної героїні, Кейт Вокер, в маленьке містечко посеред Альп з ціллю завершення підписання угоди продажу старої фабрики (паралельно - сімейного бізнесу). Але, на жаль, ми дізнаємося що останньої спадкоємиці не стало за день до нашого приїзду, і мало того, в заповіті згадується існування іншого спадкоємця, якого ми і будемо шукати протягом всієї гри.

По сучасних мірках гра не є ідеальна, багато до чого можна причепитися, наприклад: гра не дає прямих підказок для вирішення головоломок, не допомагає з пошуком потрібних предметів і не вказує що робити і куди йти далі. В принципі інформація є але важливі моменти майже не виділяються, тут ми самі по собі.

Але в процесі гри на ці проблеми стає якось байдуже: атмосфера в грі неймовірна, кожна локація виділяється за рахунок унікального оформлення і музичного супроводу, а персонажі - харизматичні і добре вписані в сюжет.

Хочеться рекомендувати цю гру всім, але на всяк випадом мати гайд з проходженням під рукою, щоб не застрягнути в одному місці надовго.

It's really good game, reminded me "Return to the Obra Dinn" in some way, but not that complicated.

Very nice puzzle game with good music, it's hard but not as much as it looks at first glance. Recommend to try if you liked Stephen's Sausage Roll and Bonfire Peaks.

Good small puzzle game with spooky elements, no agressive jumpscares.

It's not very long and not very hard and these are two main reasons why I liked this game so much. It almost felt like "puzzle vacation" :)

It's great, I don't remember online game that ever been so fun!

I simply love DRG, it provides one of the smoothest multiplayer experiences you can find on Steam.
Game doesn't cost much, frequently appears on sales and has easy learning curve.
Multiplayer is the most enjoyable part of the game as community is very friendly and patient, if you're beginner don't be afraid to ask about stuff. I generally recommend to avoid playing alone, having Bosco by your side is cool but this is not when the game blooms.
Each character is unique in his own way, have own set of guns, tools and requires different playstyle.

Big chunk of game is locked behind progression which is new guns, modifications, overclocks and access to Deep Dives. Also ton of cosmetics for your characters. So in other words, game gets better with every next unlock.

There's couple of cons I would like to mention:

• Overclocks unlocks are randomized and you have no control over it, so better try to get advantage from what you have got instead of trying to follow some specific build;
  
• Resources required for upgrades aren't evenly distributed, so one way or another there will be always shortage of one resource and surplus of another. Thankfully you can buy/sell them;
  
• I've been playing for a bit longer than year already and would like to say that Season 4 being a bit extended version of Season 3 is quite disappointing. Rockpox isn't the best mechanic, yet you get another season about it, now with even more frustrating enemies. Really looking for game getting some big updates in the future.
  
• Game really needs shooting range, as you can try your updated build only during missions. I know there's a mod for that, but would really like if it was included in game officially.

Still, I would recommend it to everyone, at least to try, pretty sure you won't be disappointed.