Recent reviews by an NPC

EDITED 06/05/24

Sony has since indicated that they are reversing the PSN integration policy. This review has been edited to reflect this change. The original review remains below for posterity.

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Helldivers 2 was, and still is, a great game.

But I absolutely despise Sony's boneheaded management of the game, and their policy of instituting a requirement for players to make a Playstation Network Account to continue playing, after months of appending/removing the requirement, followed by delisting the game in countries where it is not possible to make a Playstation Network account legally, making it so that I cannot play with my friends in the Philippines. This was such a monumentally stupid move that I cannot in good conscience recommend this game to new players until this asinine policy is changed.

In short. There are few other vehicular combat simulator game like it on the market that can match its value and experience, but beware the microtransactions and be ready for interesting balance decisions. I strongly suggest you try it for free before you buy anything, and strongly suggest you avoid buying modern vehicles from the store until you are certain you want to take the plunge. Manage your expectations a little and you may find a very special game that has few competitors on the market.

14/06/23 EDIT: After a long period of quiet deliberation, Gaijin Entertainment have produced a long term roadmap for balance and economy changes they hope to implement over the next few months. It is still too early to tell what sort of effect this will have on the game so far, so this review will be updated after some time and more work has been done.

28/06/23 EDIT: The general trajectory of the changes so far has been positive in small ways, with a few highly demanded changes from the players such as basic repair kits/fire protection equipment for newly acquired vehicles and basic countermeasures for jets that require them finally being implemented, as well as the beginning of their economic revision program that aims to lessen the in-game costs of playing for most players. This review was changed from Not Recommended to Recommended in recognition of the developer's willingness to consider player feedback in recent weeks. We all hope it will continue to reverse the trend for the foreseeable future.

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War Thunder is a unique game. There are few others with the sheer scope and scale that it has. You have to be a bit of a different kind of person to enjoy War Thunder, perhaps someone who enjoys vehicle simulation games or enjoys more tactical or realism oriented first person shooters. If you enjoy military history, you'll find a great deal of interest in War Thunder through its extensive library of vehicles and its historically inspired maps and overall presentation, and all in a very accessible package that doesn't require you to have more than a reasonably decent PC, a mouse and keyboard or controller. No super high end gaming rigs, specialised flight stick or VR headsets required.

If you enjoyed the classic IL-2 Sturmovik or the more modern DCS series of flight simulators, you may enjoy War Thunder's flight oriented modes, though War Thunder's most commonly played modes make more concessions towards quicker, pick up gameplay compared to DCS and the stricter gameplay variations of IL-2.

If you enjoyed the vehicular combat of games like Arma, Squad, Post Scriptum or Hell Let Loose, you'll find some commonalities in their ground forces modes, though War Thunder can be considered stricter in terms of its vehicle damage modelling and playstyle compared to the others mentioned. Even at its most arcade-like, War Thunder is still more simulationist compared to a game like World of Tanks.

If you enjoy naval warfare simulators, I'm afraid you may find War Thunder's naval gameplay a bit awkward and slow compared to a faster paced game like World of Warships, and is nowhere near the detail of other naval simulation titles due to the nature of naval warfare, but the way they have chosen to model the ships is very detailed and can still give a sense of the sort of firepower at their disposal compared to tanks and planes.

There are many problems with War Thunder from a player perspective. The balance of the game when covering late Cold War and modern vehicles is difficult to defend. The monetisation aspects of the game can feel overbearing at time. There are still a myriad number of graphical and mechanical errors or bugs throughout the game, some of them positively ancient. And for all the game purports to model and simulate as accurately as possible, there are very clear concessions made to gameplay and balance that sometimes 'feels wrong' or 'unfair'.

And yet despite all these issues, War Thunder is a unique game. There are few other games that have the sheer scope and scale that War Thunder supports, let alone games which offer these things to you for what is very close to free. Learning the mechanics and maps and developing the muscle memory and game sense can make you really feel like an ace pilot or a veteran tank crew out of the history books or documentaries when you outplay others or oull off slick maneuvers, and despite the age of the game there are still many pleasures to be found in the visual spectacle of it all at higher graphical settings.

A caveat for anybody interested in modern vehicles. The developers gleefully run a store where even brand new players can buy immediate access to modern vehicles and aircraft immediately. If you have never touched a vehicular simulator game before, DO NOT BUY MODERN VEHICLES IMMEDIATELY. Take your time, play earlier vehicles first, watch content creators who play modern vehicles, read how-to guides and reviews first, and really understand the sort of game you are getting into. Your fantasies of flying supersonic jet fighters and driving invincible main battle tanks will be shattered if you do not fully understand the sort of enemies you will be facing, the sort of gameplay you are going to have to endure as a new player. There will be a lot of "What the ♥♥♥♥" moments where you die to weapons whose capabilities you don't fully grasp yet. You will be staring at indistinct blurs and shapes at long distances across hills and valleys, or trying to pick out pixels through foliage wondering where all the enemies are. You will see missiles seemingly teleport out of nowhere or make insane, impossible to dodge trails in the air, enemy aircraft seem to magically dance away from your own missiles and your own jet weirdly falling out of the sky in the middle of a chase.

This is normal if you don't understand what vehicles and weapons are really capable of yet, or you don't have a solid idea of what is a good or bad idea, and this sort of harsh, confusing and unintuitive experience will sour your opinion of the game if you go into it unprepared. Be prepared. Do your due diligence and do some research into what you're buying and ask yourself if it is worth it.

There are better games for people who want vehicular combat action now. There are better games for people who want stricter simulations. But there are few games that do what War Thunder does, and likely no others that will do it at War Thunder's price point.

Hey there,

I really enjoyed my time in the Literature Club, but I'm... a bit sorry that I have to leave so soon.

As far as VNs on Steam go, this one has certainly been quite unique. It hasn't got the flair and polish of some of the more established studios, and certainly does not have the sheer length to match, but I can feel the love and attention lavished upon it by the writer.

I loved the little interactions between all of the club members throughout the story, all of the subtle quirks and details hidden away, and all of the wonderful art that went along with those special moments. Save for a few rough spots here and there, I could totally see myself loading this game up a couple of times to get things just right on my next playthrough.

The extra effort you have to put in as a player in order to get a happy ending for everyone is impressive for such a short game, it puts many other free (and some commercially available,) VNs to shame. I have to say, I adore all the Literature Club members.

But if I have to name one in particular?

I suppose it'd have to be...

Monika.

Just Monika.

The underappreciated Literature Club President, who sees the things other people don't. Who is smart, but lonely. Who loves to live and lives to love.

Well, I've never been one for poetry or prose.

The minigame is a little bit hard, after all.

Please, if you're still reading this.

And I know you're still reading this.

Won't you give the Literature Club a chance?

I'll wait for you in the club room.

Love,
an NPC