Recent reviews by Fridarey

I had high hopes for Starfield. The concept combines so many of my favourite game elements. I was looking forward to being carried along by a rich story, discovering detailed and interesting side quests with decisions to make, moral judgements to make and no right answer to google. I was looking forward to wondering why it was 3am.

I've not played since 15th Nov and I'm hoping for a Cyberpunk or No Man's Sky-style rework or I'm unlikely to return. Unfortunately I think it'll be difficult for Bethesda to fix this as the problem is the writing and quest design.

Starfield's just too boring.

This would be a problem in any year, but the added contrast of Larian showing us what can be done with character, acting, storytelling and branching possibilities really shows Starfield up. I know they're different genres but if you're going to have ANY amount of story and you're planning one of the biggest games on the planet, it needs to be better. People will just leave if they're bored.

I also think the lack of a respec is a mad choice.

Stellaris starts off seeming simplified compared to Paradox's other games and as you play through your first time you won't really see the possibilities. I mean it's good, but it seems about as good as so many other space-based 4X titles.

Try another build though second time; different traits, different origin, different government and you'll start to see the possibilities - the builds are extraordinary in giving you something new to tackle. I'm in the middle of a Void Dwellers game at the moment topping the leaderboard with ZERO planets occupied. I've also had fun with Lithovores, Hive Minds, religious fanatics and scheming marketeers. It's a blast :)

Paradox keep pumping love into Stellaris, and for me it's a must-have.

Even better than the last XCOM, this game is well worth the purchase and if you're in for the long haul the expansion adds really worthwhile content. The mod community continues to come up with replayability treats as well - this is one of the best.

One of the funniest and most brutal games I've played in ages. It's VERY easy to get killed. I was going to add "... at the start", but actually it's easy to get killed any time.

I'd recommend playing a few days or a week on a fairly low-pop server to learn how things work. Unless you know people already playing, it's hard to learn the ropes when you're dying or being invaded regulartly. Once you understand base design, blueprints, etc then go find a busy server and try out there - the game is best, and most fun, in a PVP environment.

I laughed often and long :)