Recent reviews by Folcro

I have an ASUS ROG STRYX 2024, NVIDIA 4090 and 14th generation Intel CPU and this game absolutely refuses to run in full screen. Shame.

True, there is no management, but your city will have its own ways of developing itself as you lose yourself in subconscious planning and haphazard placement. Each passing moment is simple, but take a step back and you'll find the tapestry forming out of an almost automatic experience. Smooth, enjoyable, and highly atmospheric.

I cannot believe how good of a job these guys did.

Every change I wanted from the original is here. The game runs smoothly all the way through, improved graphics, sound, and the ability to customize capital ships and planets with more depth. Capital ships now share the same logistical slot as regular ships, so you can just load your navy with capital ships if you want, or add in a small contingent of support ships to the muscle, or just rock out with a massive fleet of smaller ships, or whatever ratio you choose.

The visuals are stunning, the skyboxes are breathtaking, I just can't stop gushing.

If you were a fan of the original, you will be more than pleased; what worked in the original has not been changed, what changes were needed have been made, and the surprising additions add depth to an already deep 4X experience.

This game is to Vampire Survivors what Doom was to Wolfenstein; It's not a clone, it's an advancement.

It's Civilization except set across a galaxy, and all in real-time. Yes, I recommend it.

If you've played Travellers Rest, this tavern manager is a less Harvest Moon/Stardew Valley in that there is no real "hands on" approach. You are not represented by any character and you never have to run around performing tasks on your own. In a more strategy/sim tradition, you can sit back with one hand on the mouse and another in the popcorn bowl while all the work is done by those whom you hire, leaving you to make the macro decisions. This has its ups and downs, but is definitely a more laid back experience. A particular day ends, every patron knows when to leave, and you decide when to click "Next Day" for progress.

The game has many features and provides a satisfying, if quick, rise from rags to riches. Personally, the game is a bit macro for me, down to the generalities on which the mechanics rely. For example, raising the quality of a certain table does not elevate the satisfaction or comfort level of anyone sitting at that table, but merely adds to the overall renown of your tavern (a simple numerical measure). I also wish the patrons were a little more fleshed out, such as I could read their thoughts ala Roller Coaster Tycoon, find out what they're about and what they think about my tavern, just to make things more interesting. Details like that are something from which I feel a game like this, with its solid design and addictive gameplay, would greatly benefit.

Overall, Tavern Master a great little management sim and, at the price of a couple family size bags of Doritos (14.99 at the time of this review) probably worth it, but I mainly say so on the condition that it seems the developers still have an interest in this game, and hopefully have a bit more to add before stepping away.

As of the Winter Sale, 2023, Tavern Master is on sale at 7.49. At this price, I am much more enthusiastic in my recommendation.

Aside from solid gameplay, this game is set up for depth. Like Elder Scrolls, you gain skills by performing the corresponding action (and there are a lot of skills to learn, even such obscurities as "wall running"); this also contributes to your next level progress. However, like Fallout, you also gain level progression by killing enemies and completing quests, making your every feat acutely meaningful, and the overall gameplay loop is addictive and satisfying. The travel system is similar to the old Final Fantasy games or Mount & Blade, with the world being cut into many small sections that you access by running your character across a map.

The core of the game is very well established, making this an Early Access title I feel confident to support; I am looking forward to seeing small improvements in combat and design, and to discovering what features are going to be added.

You know that I know that you know there are some who have railed against this game, some pretty hard. Here is the input of a Bethesda fan of twenty years.

There are a lot of things this game is not. For one, it's not Baldur's Gate 3. You will not find grounbreaking storytelling or Shakespearean players knocking about the stars. Were you expecting better? Then you must not have played a Bethsoft game since Morrowind. This game is also not No Man's Sky. There is no seamless transitioning, there is no full-planet exploration (land on a part of a planet where the land seems to meet the water, and you will not be landing on a beach; you land on the map designated for the biome you selected). I think Hines and Howard were banking on our predispositions. Clever marketing or disingenuous advertising? That's not the shot I'm here to call.

I'm here to talk about the game.

I loved it. At first.

I gave Starfield all the benefits of every doubt. I quickly learned to stop looking at what it is not, and looked instead at what it is. I love base-building, I love ship-building. This game has both, but ship building is limited; it doesn't make me feel like I have full range to make meaningful design choices but am otherwise arbitrarily maneuvering (mostly) inconsequential parts on a flying maze (just walking around your claustrophobic ship can be a chore). As for base building, the mediocre Fallout 4 settlement system felt more alive. Gun play? Again, better in Fallout 4, and not just because of the ultra-violent nature of FO4's gunplay, it's because it felt like I was shooting something.

Those are the key words here. Feeling. Meaning. I'm not so bothered by the seams in exploration; in a better game, such inconveniences would be easily overlooked. And in a game made by Bethesda, that is exactly what I was expecting.

I was expecting the story to be bad, like most of of Bethesda's titles, but this was almost insulting to science fiction. These developers created this new world out of fascination with the unknown, a passion for astronomy, all of the reasons a storyteller goes out of their way to develop a new setting. All of it lead to a lazily conceived and clumsily executed interpretation of the tired "Other Worlds" theory. There are "versions" of everyone. Why? Why is our universe interacting with universes that are similar enough to have "versions" of ourselves, but different enough for dramatic convenience. Never explained, and it never will be, and I really shouldn't be surprised.

I spent hours building up my character, poking at the various stories and anticipating something great. But this game is little more than buildup, an hours-long advertisement of itself, a pyramid scheme of gameplay loops that, in the end, turn up meaningless.

[Edit: 25 hours in I had given a recommendation for the game; 100 hours in, I switched to not recommended.]

It's not often I see a tower defense come along that feels and looks this good (usually, it's often one or the other, if either).

This game is everything the trailer makes it look like.

The game play is as smooth and addictive as it should be in a game that manages to innovate the TD genre while, at the same time, maintaining the traditions that made it so much fun from the start. Its framework for future builds demonstrates enormous room for further content, and I can't wait.

The only thing I would like to see, aside from as much content as can possibly be offered, is some audio feedback for the creeps getting killed, at least when you pan in close.

I highly recommend this game and can easily see it inspiring a revitalization of quality TD games.

500 hours and I still don't know how to describe this game.

It's a squad-based game, but you can go solo. It's combat intensive, yet also sometimes similar to the sims. It's a business manager, it's a tower defense, it's stealth-based ninja infiltration, it's prison break, it's a prison manager. It's a game where you can sit back and play while you snack, or create a situation where your eyes are tethered to every pixel on the screen. It's a game where you start off not only as equal to those around you, but less than.

This game will make you feel like a nobody, in order to make you feel like a god. This game will frustrate you, even when you've figured out how it works. It will humble you when you think you've made it. You'll anger the wrong people and find your overpowered clan suddenly overwhelmed. You will find yourself gathering your men to rescue one of your crew before they bleed out or are eaten by cannibals. You'll spend hours planning to break into an ancient ruin with invaluable treasure. You will do this all without being told, but because you discovered these things were there for the doing and the taking. And even when you're on the top of the world, you'll stand on your ramparts staring into the wilds, wondering what the world has next to throw your way.

Oh, and it has base building.