Recent reviews by CosmicDan

A scifi-thriller ARPG metroidvania kind of game, pretty original. Had no idea it was in the same universe as Alan Wake until reading lore stuff about Alan Wake 2 after finishing that, was a nice surprise. Can't wait for the next game in this connected universe!

Didn't play much recent Mana games, only the original SNES ones and I think one on PSX or PSP. I came in with high hopes, especially having development from NetEase (Dawn of Isles was an insanely good MMO ARPG) and I haven't been disappointed yet.

Plays like an Anno-series city builder with Transport Tycoon or Locomotion style logistics. One of the best economic strategy games I've played, very nicely polished and clearly made by people experienced in the genre. Well done!

Best FPS ever so far, absolute must buy. No I'm totally not a biased RoboCop fanboy, ignore my profile picture...

... in all seriousness, the FPS itself is "only" above average but the story and voice acting are fantastic. If you like FPS games with crazy action but also good story then you can't go wrong. Plus it has some light puzzle (police investigation) elements which is REALLY cool. It's a proper RoboCop game, a definitive tinman roleplay experience, and it rocks.

Only real downside I have so far is that the graphics/animations seem a little dated in some ways. But I only have an RTX 2060 so I don't mind tbh. Only reason I mention that is because the game is maybe a LITTLE bit overpriced for the average gamer. Still, if you consider yourself a true FPS fan, this is definitely a must buy as it has a lot of unique and original gameplay mechanics to make it a worthy addition to any shooter collection.

UPDATE: I've personally decided to *not* continue my playthrough FOR NOW, though I still Recommend the game ON THE CONDITION that you have a better PC than me (my RTX 2060 @ 1440p struggles). Personally I am still very pleased and do not regret buying, though I'm not impatient - I will wait a few months and hope for some optimization patches. If you're not sure, wishlist it and wait for a sale :)

Not as good as Quake 1 but still good.

What PoE is to D2, Undecember is to D3. 100 hours or so in (on my main toon, I have 2 alts) and I still haven't finished the main game (I'm underlevelled). Such a good ARPG, so much original stuff and a decent difficulty level. Good story and lore too. The skill building system is AWESOME and has so much actual variety.

All this rage about monetization is 100% entitlement. If you feel the need to spend money on this game to enjoy it then you've got some other issues going on tbh. Or you're just trash and need to git gud. Or you still play ARPG's with a mouse and keyboard like a noob.

Easier than Dark Souls 3 (at least it seems to be, at first), even when starting with the naked character (that club is pretty sweet and a decent shield is easy to get early). But that's really not a bad thing - you don't spend ages stuck on one boss, can just yeet out of there and grind some XP and stuff if its too hard.

Very polished, runs well enough and looks great even on my 1070 Ti (except for minor loading stutter during open exploration), and plenty of fun new mechanics. But its even easier to cheese stuff, what with Horse combat and the ability to summon minions to draw aggro.... but yeah, still very fun and exciting.

Glad I went in blind and didn't get this until the first update. This is an early review, though - I'm at level 22 and haven't done any group content yet. I'll probably redo this review at some point.

In short, it has Aussie servers, doesn't have a monthly subscription, and the combat is fantastic - true dodging with IFrame mechanics means it's possible to solo guys who are higher level than you, just channel your inner dark souls and stick to light armour so you can roll around :D

Looking forward to open PvP once I get a higher level. In fact I run around with PvP on usually for the luck bonus, and most other PvP flagged players I've seen that are end game just ignore me - guessing because I'm low level and they're nice.

Story is better than BDO (if that even had a story) but not as good as ESO lore, but I still like it. It's not fantastic but also not terrible. The combat though is that makes this game great for me, and I hope this game keeps updating - been waiting for an affordable Aussie friendly MMO for a long time and this looks like it.

All in all it feels more like a third person ARPG than an MMO, but it also has that opt-in PvP which turns the entire map into a three team survival/gathering battle royale with survival and conquest mechanics.

If you want something like WoW or ESO with tick based combat, you probably won't like it. This is a new generation of realtime MMO where your "veteran MMO player" status has no relevance. That's why I love it - it's something new and original, without an aura of elitist MMO fans surrounding it (they're all salty about the game not being perfect, or have moved on by now).

Honestly the best survival game I've ever played.

NB / TL;DR: If you like immersion, survival, discovery/exploration and calculated stamina-based combat rather than spam-fests, just buy this game and go in as blind as possible. Don't read or watch anything - if you like The Forest and/or Subnautica, it's definitely up there and you will love the experience this has to give.

If you want to know more about the game progression and mechanics, read on.

It is not trying to be a sandbox so much - resources are limited and you have to keep expanding/conquering to get more and better loot/resources - but repairing anything is free - it only takes stamina/time. The game encourages you to build outposts and expand because of the need to gather rare resources and haul them long distances in order to progress up the tech/gear tree and story. Basic resources are plentiful however.

This is one huge advantage to the game over other survival games - you can settle down and build with whatever wood is around you, then when you're ready to advance you can go build a new settlement somewhere else. [[[Minor spoiler: or restore one of the many ruins scattering the procedurally-generated world, and path roads between them all for extra fun!]]]

Combat is fantastic. It's stamina based, or "Soul-like-lite" if you prefer. Once you figure out an enemy, and what damage type they're weak to, it's fairly trivial and just requires some focus. Combat becomes frantic when you're trying to face multiple enemies though, if you get mobbed the usual choice is to kite and pick off stragglers while dodging ranged attacks... which is pretty fun, just takes time and you need to pick when to take risks or hang back. I love the combat overall, especially with the lack of target lock and the need to maintain stamina for dodge/block/sprint.

Co-op is a blast, though combat with multiple enemies become much easier. It seems their health doesn't scale at all or enough, IMO - even two player is so much easier than solo. Mob spawn counts don't seem to change either. That's probably the only criticism I have so far.

I could go on... but all in all, if you're a fan of survival games at all, especially those with an adventure/progression element (e.g. The Forest, Subnautica) and boss battles/biome progression (e.g. Terraria Don't Starve), you don't want to miss this one!

Came for the Terraria + Space.

Stayed for the exploration + soundtrack.

Came back because of the Terraria update xD