Recent reviews by Bullett00th

It's a great game, like a dungeon crawler in a sci-fi setting.
Not too intricate but pretty, immersive and 'scary' in an existential sense. If you like exploration and space stations in the vein of Dead Space or Doom 3, this is very enjoyable, if a bit simplistic.
Keep in mind that controller support is sub-optimal.

I wish I could say more about it but I couldn't continue playing it after switching to a new PC as cloud saves don't work despite the game claiming it supports them.
I also tried moving the saves manually but they display as corrupted for some reason.

The game released on May 30, one update released on June 9 which did not address the issue, and it's been radio silence ever since.
There's a plethora of threads in the community asking about cloud saves with no acknowledgement from the dev or the publisher.
It's been 9 months as of writing this review.

I'm done waiting

Simply put, one of the best survival horror games I've played since the 90s.

Even if you only play it once and never look back, it's well worth the money.
But there's a ton of reasons to keep coming back to it with very creative and fun post-endgame content. Won't even tell you what it is, just play and see for yourself.

There are two difficulty levels in Sekiro:

The first one is frustrating, punishing, unfair, and feels clunky as hell.
You will definitely die a lot, likely rage a lot, and always feel at least slightly confused about how Sekiro wants you to play it.
You will hate the dev's sadistic design and assume its fans are just masochists.
You will be tempted to drop the game multiple times.

The second difficulty is still punishing, but it's much more manageable, much less frustrating, perfectly fair and has a majestic flow to it.
You will still likely die a lot, but also definitely kill a lot, have a lot of fun, and always feel at least slightly driven by finding, unlocking, and learning new ways to crack every challenge.


Thing is, you can only 'unlock' the second difficulty in your mind, by bearing with the first one.
For how long? That's individual.
But sooner or later comes an 'aha!' moment, likely a bossfight that beats you into submission until you let your emotions go, enter a state of flow, and just calmly, patiently, methodically made that boss your little b....
Entering this state of flow for the first time unlocks it for you permanently. You will still need to enter it by being calm, vigilant, focused, and not letting emotions take over and yank you right out of your element.

Not clouded by frustration, you will begin to appreciate not only Sekiro's combat, but everything around it as well: the sleek art style, the smooth animations, the thick atmosphere, the traversal, the verticality, the enemy designs, and a MUCH richer biome variety than the Storepage screenshots would have you believe.

It will be an experience you've unlikely had before in gaming, even if you're familiar with prior FromSoftware creations.

Found this gem completely by accident looking for a coop dungeon crawler, and it has become one of my favorite games.

You pick a class, a race (DLCs, very much worth it), and dive into a semi-randomly generated dungeon full of monsters, traps, secrets, loot, branching paths, and a never-ending sense of adventure. While this description may sound a bit run-of-the-mill for the genre, I believe it's one of the best implementations of the roguelike dungeon crawler formula.

Your choice of race, class, and weapon COMPLETELY changes your playstyle. With many hours of gameplay there are class combos I still haven't even scratched the surface of.
- bruteforce everything as a tanky warrior or cleric.
- build contraptions and drones as a robot, burning loot too keep your steam engine going.
- hide in the shadows and feast on blood as a vampire.
- build your own army by enchanting enemies as a succubus/incubus, or just summon undead minions as a conjuror.
- be a shaman and turn into different creatures from a tiny mouse to a mighty troll - each with their unique abilities and applications.
...the list goes on.

Your race also determines who you're friend or foe with:
- If you play as undead, zombies and skeletons will join you, while human traders will attack on sight.
- be a robot (automaton), and many usually hostile creatures will simply ignore you unless you attack.
- pick a goatman who can brew potions, and throw bottles of alcohol at humans and goblins to get them drunk and befriend them.

Each run is highly modifiable to suit your playstyle:
- be pressured by hunger and turn it off so that food items become heals.
- have a huge minotaur spawn on random dungeon floors to chase you - fight him or flee (better flee).
- turn friendly fire off for a relaxed coop experience, or on if you never want to talk to your friends again.
- have all your items respawn on a new floor after death, or make your friends carry your s**t for you while they whine about you dying like an idiot.
- disable traps if you get mad from dying to them like an idiot.
etc.

And that's not getting into spellcasting, weapon systems, stealth, main & offhand weapons, scroll crafting, brewing, appraisal, blessed/cursed items and so, SO much more this wonderful game has on offer.

I don't even like voxel-style games, but Barony is special, easy to read, pleasant to look at, and deeply atmospheric.
Been nominating this game for the Steam 'Labor of Love' award for years, because that's what Barony is. It deserves your attention, and you deserve to experience it.

- EDIT -
Had to change the review to positive simply because I was having fun and immediately went for another playthrough after beating the game.
-



Trepang2 is very clearly inspired by F.E.A.R. - both in its visuals and gameplay.
But it gets WAY more insane - sometimes to a fault - where the tactical cat&mouse with enemy squads turns into borderline horde shooting. You don't have to look for enemies when they're everywhere.

This initially creates an admittedly annoying cognitive dissonance if you're justifiably expecting a familiar F.E.A.R. combat loop. But this is secretly Doom Eternal. Yes, really.

Dealing with overwhelming enemy numbers requires you to juggle shooting, swift movement, focus (bullet time), and a temporary cloak - the latter being the only ability that depletes and regenerates at a stable rate on its own. The rest require you to be aggressive and efficient, as killed enemies drop armor, replenish your focus and double your stamina.

Stamina is your movement resource used for sprinting, jumping, sliding and melee - all important tools to maintain 'the dance'. And that's the bottom line. Once you get a feel for 'the dance', everything clicks and your enjoyment of the game goes way up along with your mastery of its systems.


It's a very cool set of systems that make Trepang2 its own thing, separating it from its obvious inspiration. Most importantly - they feel good. Shooting, sliding and kicking all look and sound really crunchy and satisfying, with some atmosphere sprinkled around the levels.

Everything around these systems ranges from 'okay' to 'meh'. You're offered a tiny 6 missions-long campaign with a simple yet fun story, side missions, most of which are wave arenas but a few more original ones, some bullet sponge bosses, a primitive and honestly unnecessary hub area with mission selection, customization, and combat training (more wave holdouts). But it's not what you'll be playing Trepang2 for.



P.S.

The previously negative review came after a particular side mission, which I still think has infuriating design, as well as a pseudo-horror mission that doesn't contribute to the game's combat loop. It can be rough around the edges, or even frustrating when you're not familiar with its systems.

The atmosphere, the music, the art, the story delivery, the class variety, the replayability, the learning curve - everything here feels amazing.

I love how there's depth in combat and deck building, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming or uninviting.
I love how there are no right or wrong decisions and there's a mystery behind every choice.
And above all, I love just the overall FEEL of the game. Makes me think of Disciples 2.

Probably my only complaint about the game would be the amount of coffee I need to keep up with the daily work because of staying up late for 'just another fight or two'.

SUPERHOT VR is still easily my favorite VR experience for standing gameplay with hand tracking.
It's THE game I launch for anyone to get a feel of VR. It's just perfect for it.

Accessible, understandable, easily readable, and involving every aspect of motion tracking with body movement to make you FEEL you're there.
The visuals invoke a feeling of being in a virtual reality experience from ~80s-90s sci-fi films.

The only bad thing about it is that it ruined the regular SUPERHOT game for me. I've only tried it after the VR version and just couldn't imagine this gameplay without actively partaking in the movement.

Came for the atmosphere, stayed for the gameplay.

This is a slow-paced hunting horror game, which is not a combination you see often, if ever, but boy does it work great!
I have a lot to say about it, but don't want to spoil anything. It's best to just dive into it blind and get to experience its mechanics and atmosphere firsthand.

It's a cheap game made with passion and one that won't give you an easy time, but you will feel the progress as you get acquainted with its world and mechanics. Loved it all the way through.

You either play id wants you to play, git gud and have tons of fun, or try to play your way, get frustrated and have your butt handed to you.

The feel of this game is something else.

It's as if I'm playing one of the PS1 classic combat platformers.
Witty dialogue, simple but reasonably challenging combat and platforming, a pleasure to both look at and listen to.