Recent reviews by FormulaTツ

Very enjoyable hack-and-slash action game with plenty of character customization. There are a lot of systems for build craft between character kits, weapon abilities, passive stats, triggerable effects, etc.

Collecting weapons and cosmetics was enjoyable as well. This and other parts of the game are massively better for the game no longer being a live service. Weapons can be found and used instantly, and what would have been cosmetic microtransactions are now just transmog items that drop.

Although the game sorely misses by not having any sort of loadout system; which makes some of your progression and build testing a chore as you not only need to re-equip weapons or accessories out of a sea of duplicates but tons of socketable items as well. Flipping back and forth between a couple of build concepts toward the end was excruciating.

Despite some misses on the inventory management side, it’s a fantastic looter overall though. The Critical Role collaboration also deserves special mention for those familiar. A Grog skin for riding around on a Trinket mount, with D&D table decorations for your house, might be one of my favorite collabs ever.

As a byproduct of unplanned twists in the development cycle, the reputation of this game or old Steam reviews may proceed it. However, with the overhaul of game systems they completed and a super reasonable price, Wayfinder is solidly in hidden gem status and deserves far more attention for its 1.0 launch state.

Absolutely phenomenal automation game and the feels like a new standard for the factory genre. The way recipes balance at certain machine counts, massive flexibility in how you can build your factories, and the first person viewpoint make for quite the sense of scale and accomplishment when you step back, sip some congealed coffee, and see a complex factory come to life.

This is also the first "sandbox" game that I spent any extra amount of time in besides just finishing the objectives. Extra time spent decorating, optimizing factories, or just goofing off with friends was all well spent.

And my absolute biggest gripe in the game of running out of materials while setting up new assembly lines and needing to trek back to your main base to pick up 5 motors or whatever is completely solved with the new tech trees released in 1.0.

I typically don't replay games, but I'm already looking forward to playing again down the line with some mods. Amazing game!

This expansion adds a decent amount to an already improved state of Diablo 4. Since Loot Reborn, the core game has been in a much better state, and it was just about continuing to flesh out the endgame systems. To me this expansion delivered in that regard as each endgame system has a primary reward but also secondary materials you’re getting along the way.

The new main quest has an interesting premise, but by itself is a bit too short and doesn’t live up to the highs of the base game story at all. The new region however, is a welcome addition. Doing renown and side quests again was actually pretty fun as well, exploring a new map with different monster families and dungeon aesthetics. The overworld and quests also have high mob density, as the devs fully embrace the direction D4 has gone post-launch.

Unlocking the new mercenary buddies, leveling them up, and setting up reinforcement skills was very a polished system out of the gate. And having that naturally fill out a new hideout with crafting stations was cool.

Spiritborn class design is unique, fits the story / region, and visually looks great in terms of transmogs and ability vfx. And while there are only a few runeword combos I found interesting to use, I did really enjoy those few. Runewords being back in this fashion is so much more interesting than the gems we’ve had thus far.

And then the Dark Citadel / raid. Ran it a couple of times with pick up groups and it is great that it can be done with only 2 people. The boss fights have enough going on where the team needs to split up into different floors or sub-objectives that make these bosses the most engaging in the whole game. The mechanics were involved enough to be fun but also don’t have to be nailed exactly the first time they appear; so it gives a lot of leeway for pick up groups to lack some coordination but still clear as long as eventually a couple of people do the mechanics right.

Overall this is best D4 has ever been, and now that the core game is in a good state and the expansion features like the Undercity, Runes, and Raid are in; I’m definitely looking forward to the next few seasons.

Massively improved my factory building experience; it’s so nice to create a bird’s eye view plan of the factory before building, thank you!

Last Epoch is a shining example of the genre. Itemization and build crafting are key features for these types of games, and LE has removed most of the pain points and frustrations from those equations.

Experimenting with different skills and build ideas within the same character is encouraged and freely allowed, not penalized. Stash tab space is plentiful, not scarce or locked behind microtransactions. Loot filters, glossaries, and base type lists with implicits are all in the game itself, rather than needing wikis or third-party tools for basic functionality or information.

Then itemization and how it blends into the crafting system are second to none. By having the best stat values be drop-only and the rest of your item stats be craftable in a deterministic way, the age-old APRG question of found gear vs. crafted gear is simply: both! And it works so well. They have made finding the correct rare stat on the wrong piece of gear exciting and interesting.

Last Epoch has its downsides, from an endgame that currently lacks variety or pinnacle goals to UI and server issues, but the game does so many more things right than what I mentioned so far (including its faction system, target farming, coop implementation, etc.) that it's an easy and wholehearted recommendation to anyone interested in the genre.

Amazing experience where the art, music, and gameplay do all the talking. It’s vibrant, symbolic, and clever.
(ignore time played, it was completed offline)

Really well made Portal expansion/mod, can’t believe it’s free. Revolution feels like you are playing levels from the Portal 2 cutting room floor. There are some clever puzzles and it’s all packaged in a neat narrative wrapper.

An amazing action game that showcases how awesome mech customization can be as a game mechanic. By the time I finished New Game++ I had an arsenal of 7 or so completely different mechs that I would swap between depending on the mission or boss. Piloting your creations and seeing them come to life to conquer a boss that destroyed you a minute ago is a fantastic feeling.

An absolute triumph of an RPG that home-rules Dungeons & Dragons into the Divinity Original Sin 2 blueprint perfectly.

Really my only complaints are a couple quests ended in a half-baked way, inventory management could use some quality of life, and some facial expressions were goofy. That's it. After 170 hours of continually new and dynamic content. That's all I can think of.

Anything else from the systemic gameplay, character/team building, music, writing, performances, storylines, companion quests, exploration, and replayability factor is all just superb. Absolutely my game of the year and one of my favorites of all time!

The first fighting game I expect to spend a significant amount of time in, after experimenting with the genre for a couple years. Character kits, visual flair, and netcode all get high marks. World Tour is a little hit and miss, but still very welcome. And anything extra to purchase, from skins to DLC characters, feels outrageously overpriced. But the core gameplay is very fun, the system mechanics open up a lot of strategy, and the netcode is best in class.