Recent reviews by Squid

I almost couldn't play it. My 2060 Super and i7-9700k struggled to run it originally. After turning on the FSR upscaling I could run it on medium settings at 30-40fps. Once I did that the game was playable.

There is a lot I love about this game. The weapons feel so polished that even weapons I struggled with before feel fun. You get to carry 2 weapons! Monster variety is excellent for a base MH game. It is easier than previous MH games because the wound system lets you get a bunch of free damage. But that's not a problem since it means more hunts can be done and get loot faster. Plus the real difficulty always comes in with the DLC.

It flows very nicely. Pick a hunt from the map or quest, fight the monster, SKIP the result screen and immediately start the next quest. With so little downtime, and nearly no load screens, it might be the fastest MH game on PC. It's quickly becoming my go-to MH game in the series.

Editing your character (and cat) should be free

Editing characters should be free

I don't hate the DLC BUT I can't recommend it because Shadow of the Erdtree is too hard. I know, I know it's a soul's game but let me explain. Elden Ring lets you play the game how you want it. Stuck on a boss? Well go do something else, level up, and maybe throw some spirit ashes in. It's still challenging but the game at least gives you enough tools to handle it solo.

SotE on the other hand forces you to a narrow set of play styles. Can't use shields, too many enemies counter them. Enemies move too fast making spells difficult to use and makes you a sitting duck. Spirit ashes can't live long enough to be useful. Had a very hard time trying to use medium and heavy weapons on most bosses. That leaves users with a handful of valid weapons and having to dodge roll through everything. Which just feels bad because it feels like you can't enjoy the game like the base game. A very narrow range of playstyles that will just not be fun for many folks.

There is one thing I did like about the DLC. The seamless co-op mod is the best thing to happen to Elden Ring. It's how the multiplayer should of been in the beginning. It is a HUGE DLC. Feels like I'm playing a full sequel to Elden Ring. I don't know if I'll ever find time to replay this game and DLC again.

If you want more Elden Ring with more challenge then go for it. For everyone else I fear it won't be fun for them.

Path of Exile 2 is unfinished. Obviously the game is in early access but it's hard to separate the filler from the content. The first 3 acts are some of the most exciting ARPG content I got to play. WASD/controller controls feels great. Boss fights are extremely well designed. It's way better than all the time I've spent in PoE1.

However, to stop the player from blazing through all the content they had to slow it all down. Maps are very large in Act 1 and they get bigger in later acts. Loot drops from monsters are rare and not always something you can use. The "cruel" acts are just the campaign repeated to delay the player from reaching the end game. And while I haven't seen the Atlas, I can already tell the grind is real.

So for now I'm satisfied with my playthrough. For 40 hours I did enjoy it was really fun. However, there is a lot of polishing left to be done.

This DLC makes me fear for the future of Risk of Rain. I don't know how they manage to do it but they managed to make the game worse with the DLC. The new items poison the item RNG and make your characters worse. There is still a number of bugs that plague it. New characters are meh. At least the new levels works... I guess.

Thanks Gearbox!

Normally I would wait to beat a game to review but I've played enough to know that I like this game. It's very easy to boot up and play for 30 minutes kind of game. There is a ton of weapons, items, monsters, bosses and events that I'm still finding new things every run. The best part is good weapons or upgrades are not required to win.

My one and only complaint is in the later stages the bullets overwhelm the screen. Making it hard to see. There is no clear way to tell what's my attacks and incoming attacks at times.

Prime example of a game rushing out of early access so the developer can charge extra money on their unfinished game. Kinda fitting that it's a game about how corporate greed ruins the world while the developer is chasing those extra dollars.

I wanted to like this game but it didn't take me long to clip outside of vent. Or the fact nearly every mission and interior is the same. No seriously, the tutorial mission is the only good mission. The rest is procedural generated nonsense that you are lucky if you can even finish the mission.

Edit: "But you only have 4 hours in the game! You haven't seen everything!" Oh but on the contrary I have. I play a ton of procedurally generated sandbox indie games to know exactly where this was going. This game needs a lot more unique content and no amount of "potential" is going to magically make it happen. Once a game hits 1.0 the updates always seems to dry up. And that to me is the disappointment. That a game had one of the coolest settings and game ideas and will never achieve it's full potential.

I was hesitant to get this DLC after hearing the negative reception of the game. After completing Rise I thought I give it a try. Glad I did because I did have fun.

TL;DR: If you liked Monster Hunter World then definitely play it. Master rank difficulty and doubling the number of monsters really completes the game.

The biggest complaint of Iceborne is the clutch claw. When used, it creates a limited time wound that increases your damage. On paper it sounds great. The execution was sloppy. It's clear they want you to use it because they up'd the defense and hp. To use it, you must attach yourself to the monster and play out a long attack animation. For heavy weapons the wound happens on the first hit. For light weapons I heard it takes multiple tries and gets annoying.

Now for me, it wasn't a problem for two reasons. 1) The whole point of the game is to defeat monsters. Having a fight last longer isn't a problem (unless I'm speedrunning). 2) Playing online with other people generally speeds up the fights and they are likely to use the claw.

As for the endgame, I'm curious to see where it'll go. I might update this review when I play a lot more of it.

So I played this game after completing XCOM 2. There is enough differences between the two games that still makes XCOM 1 worth playing today. XCOM 1 reimagines UFO defense, the first XCOM game, while still doing it's own thing.

I know this was my fault but I wish I had played this game first. XCOM 1 still offers a brutal challenge that is fun. I just miss the small improvements 2 minus the load times. This game feels like it instantly loads in where as 2 can take 10-20 seconds to load on my SSD.

So yes, I highly recommend this game.