Recent reviews by Greenman

a zombie survival game stuck in an infinite development hell with the modding community keeping the ship from sinking

pros
> fun in both single-, and multiplayer.
> dedicated modding community.
> easy and fun to start over after a previous session.
> lots of tiny details and gameplay mechanics you don't get in other apocalypse games.

cons
> lazy / incompetent / unorganized development team.
> updates and content are released too slowly.
> developers will take any opportunity to victimize themselves.
> not enough content to keep the game interesting past early-, and midgame.
> the game is a massive timesink. if you don't have more than an hour or two to play a day - do not buy.

and now for the stuff that doesn't fit in a tl;dr section.

the game's development reminds me of "the forest" - the game that truly never got out of the early access state and instead remained janky to play and ugly to look at despite being in development for several years. the same thing applies here.

project zomboid is being held back by the development team, who are either the laziest people or the most unorganized bunch in the gaming industry. they still try to portray this game as an indie project, rather than as a game that has sold over 9 million copies on steam alone. the studio consists of childish staff members that lash out on twitter and on youtube videos criticizing the development flow of the game. they NEED and SHOULD hire new people to work on the game.
at this rate the game won't be out of early access by 2030, and that's not a joke.

https://www.reddit.com/r/projectzomboid/comments/1dj4jcm/lemmy_speaks_out_against_the_spiteful_community/
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08650737/filing-history


BUY if you are ready to download 100+ mods on the steam workshop made by the community to make your experience of the game enjoyable.

DO NOT BUY if you're expecting a nearly finished game with a steady flow of new content by a company that is worth more than 25 million dollars in 2024.

im a D2 and D2R enthusiast, been since 2000-ish

played this during free weekend event
was hoping for a revival of the diablo franchise
was instead further convinced that blizzard has ruined everything

pros
> okay graphics
> returning to the roots SOMEWHAT with the darker gothic vibes
> character customisation (although very barebones)

cons
> messy gameplay. tons of ♥♥♥♥ happening on the screen with very minimal impact.
> enemy difficulty scaling is wretched - going from ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tier enemies that die from 1 hit, to suddenly two deckard cain juniors that thanos snap you from 1 projectile hit with absolutely no warning whatsoever, in the same area.
> dialogue and story progression feels shallow (at least at the start?). it feels like there are no likeable or iconic characters.
> absolutely zero satisfaction from gathering loot. no gems, charms, runes, and all the loot is personalized for each player.
> splotchy, bugged textures and models during cutscenes, even when the game settings are cranked to highest settings possible.
> unlocking new skills hardly feels rewarding, very samey skills over and over.
> the game shamelessly kicks you out and locks you out from using the character after you've reached level 20 during your "free trial". i thought i was playing FREE WEEKEND, and not basically a closed alpha pre-release build. i was hoping to finish act 1, and maybe ending the game on a good note, like a decent cinematic, or whatever, but no. literally:
Congratulations, you have reached level 20! EXITING GAME IN 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
> predatory micro-transactions. i checked out the store after getting kicked out of the game for playing too much??? and all the items were in sale for prices that would require you to buy more currency to afford them, over and over:
pay 6 dollars for 500 platinum, the cheapest item in store costs 650 platinum, 1250 platinum, etc. you're never getting left off with 0 platinum after purchase, you're always left hanging.

i will stick to playing diablo 2 resurrected, thank you.
do not buy this game, or play during free weekend, it's a complete waste of time.

played during a free weekend. can't recommend.

pros:
> good graphics
> can draw ♥♥♥♥♥ on the map with your friends

cons:
> abysmal UI. EVERYTHING you do requires for you to 'hold down' something, rather than making things fast and simple with clicks and quick key strokes. i wish i could say that was the only downside of the UI, but it keeps getting worse. crowded menu screens that are hard to navigate, health/ammo/tool bar placements are all around the screen when in game and just overall messy design. there's nothing good that i can say about the game's UI.
> boring areas and low visibility in game. your visibility in game is like if someone ripped a fat wet fart right on your screen, and the fart cloud now floats on your screen for the rest of times. it's clearly a design choice, just not something i like.
> enemies are boring. take a human model, disfigure it a little, put some teeth in places where they dont belong, glowing bubbles, tentacles, or stretch the model to be taller/bigger. bam, you have a gtfo enemy.
> gameplay. the game WANTS you to stealth your way through 80% of the enemies, but doing it is really, really boring. take out your melee weapon, hold m1, go up to a 'sleeping' enemy, release m1 while aiming at their "shoot me here"-glowing weakspot, rinse and repeat 20 more times until you've cleared the room.
> combat is bad. guns are not satisfying. i picked out a heavy machine gun and a pistol in my loadout, hoping that i could utilize the pistol in places where ♥♥♥♥ hadn't quite hit the fan yet, but ended up finding out when it did, that the machine gun did less damage per shot to enemies than my pistol. what doesn't make it any better is that your screen shakes like you're in the middle of an earthquake whenever you shoot, and the fact that one of the common enemies is someone that shoots fast projectiles that are hard to dodge and eat up your health like a fat guy eats up a slice of pizza in a buffet. there's no directional damage indicators, so you won't know where you got hit from until you look around. it's an overall bad experience
> boring surroundings, every room looks roughly the same, just shelves/boxes/other scrap that's been placed differently with some different lighting effects at times. pair this up with the fact that there's no minimap, but a map that opens up on your entire screen, and you're going to have a bad time.
> facing hordes has been made as boring as possible. need to get through a door to your next area? expecting a creative turn of events that triggers the horde to come your way, maybe breaking through the door, having to punch a hole in it payday style??? no, it's just "security check" on that specific door that blares alarms, because why not.

i've seen reviews saying how this game is somehow innovative, a breath of fresh air and even genre defining. i don't see any of those in this game. go play left 4 dead or left 4 dead 2, those came out over 10 years ago. it might not be the same, but you'll notice the similarities in gameplay. the catch is that left 4 dead just did it way better nearly 15 years ago.

this game ain't it. i wouldn't buy it even for 5 bucks.

No more cheating bots.
Can recommend.

boring and clunky

this was my first time playing state of decay so i didn't know what to expect.
seeing the tags being survival/openworld/zombie/basebuilding, i expected some kind of a "Rust with zombies, fallout 4 esque basebuilding and some rpg elements that you can play co-op with your friends", but as you can probably guess already that's not at all what this game is. i was shocked at how piss poor the animations, melee and gunplay are in the game. what shocked me even more was that this game came out in 2020, wtf.

pros
- scavenging and exploring is fun (to a certain point) and finding valuable items feels rewarding
- you can utilize driveable vehicles as extra storage, and bring more equipment back to camp.
- you can be either stealthy or loud when scavenging. stealthy gameplay naturally is slower, but doesn't attract zombies.
- perma-death adds a little more of that 'dangerous' feeling into the game.


cons
- absolutely retarded gameplay mechanics - forget about playing co-op if you're not the host of the session, because it's simply not fun. when joining a friend's game, the game locks out quite literally 75% of the actions you would be normally able to do in a solo play. you can't upgrade the base, you can't search 50% of the loot in the map, you can't specialize your survivors, you're locked out of almost all dialogue, you can't make any decisions regarding the basebuilding. you. are. there. for. moral. support.

- shallow story and character customization. the survivors are randomly generated (if you can call it that because the possibilities are so narrow) and you don't really get a say in what your character will be. it doesn't help either that 80% of the time the character dialogue you hear mid-exploration is cringe.

- basic movement in this game is terrifyingly bad. i don't even know where to begin. it feels like your character moves on a strict grid and isn't capable of fluid movement. parkouring your way out of somewhere is 100% out of question. when you jump mid-running it feels like youre a 1000lbs fat ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cow.

- all combat in this game is terrifyingly bad. you don't feel like you're in control of your character when the melee combat sequence comes with a delay and random animation each time. you might end up taking twice as long before your hit connects solely because of the animation playing, even if you quickly tap your mouse. gunplay is also simply boring and unrewarding.

- physics in the game are straight out of 2002. grand theft auto vice city is what came to my mind first when i tried comparing these physics to some other game. your character will EASILY get stuck in rocks, trees, cars, everything and the game has a built-in un-stuck'ing system because of this. car physics are equally as bad. i drove an SUV towards a staircase at 20mph, and it threw the entire ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing 20 feet in the air and did a backflip. other times hitting a zombie at 5mph has put me flying in the air at 200mph.

- zombies spawn out of thin air and usually in the same spots. while playing co-op, we got the same special infected spawning in the middle of the road nearly every single time we crossed the same place, running it over and gaining in-game currency from it.

- the game literally teleports you without a warning if you go further than 2000 meters from your hosting friend while playing in co-op, because "surviving alone is not an option" or some ♥♥♥♥ that it said on the screen.

- the game has no steam workshop, so the co-op issues will likely never be fixed by the community (since the devs have refused to do it).


don't buy unless you know what you're getting and specifically want to play this kind of game, not even in sale.

i read numerous of reviews saying that the game runs an untrusted anti-cheat called 'anti cheat expert' equivalent to a spyware program, as it wouldn't turn off after the game was shut off and wouldn't uninstall when you uninstalled the game - both were big red flags. they've now apparently fixed the issues and knowing that all my data's already been compromised by playing games like Dead by Daylight etc which uses 'Easy anti-cheat', owned by the same company - i ended up installing bloodhunt and giving it a go.

it's disappointing.
> the character customization is lacking, reminding me of an early 2000's game than a 2021 game. there are no shirts, pants, boots, and other clothes to choose from. instead, you pick an outfit and some ugly looking hair that looks like it's still stuck in the 80's. with 9 hours of gameplay, i unlocked ONE costume. ONE. EVERYONE AROUND YOU LOOKS THE SAME. i was so disappointed, because i kept seeing people simping about the character customization in the reviews, but then it turned out to be ♥♥♥♥.
> the in-game store is ridiculously overpriced. 20 mfing euros for an outfit, and nearly 4.50€ for a new hairstyle. wtf have these devs been smoking? oh and don't forget the LIMITED TIME ONLY!!!
> the game functions slowly at the worst possible times. you load into a game, start. someone spawning 20 meters away from you gets an assault rifle while you've got nothing but a pistol. they murk you INSTANTLY. the game sadistically forces you to watch as they come and finish you off while you just want to go and find a new game already. you leave the session and you're put in a match summary screen where you can't just skip ahead and get back to searching for a new match, no. you wait for the timer in the top right to count down for you, and only then you can be put in a loading screen and back in the lobby before you can start searching for a new game.
> finding a match and getting to actually play takes a minimum of 2 minutes up to 5 minutes. the game easily turns into an afk simulator when you spend 25% of your time tabbed out waiting for a game to start.
> winning a match grants you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. all you get is "more xp" so you can progress in the ongoing battlepass and admire all the ♥♥♥♥ that you can't get because you didn't buy the PREMIUM BATTLE PASS (9,50€) or the BATTLE PASS BUNDLE (24€). if you're free-to-play, you really don't get anything.
> guns are unbalanced. you're best off finding an AK, thompson or some other automatic weapon. shotguns, crossbows, dual pistols, etc. are s h i t. another option that you've got is to just boost your melee attack damage, and then go M1 someone with a katana or blades.
> the gameplay is repetitive. that goes without saying because it's a battle royale, but there's nothing to gain from playing. for a while i thought it would get more enjoyable the better you got, and when you started winning matches, but winning a match is so unrewarding and meaningless at the end that it's honestly sad. you've done everything you can in the game after 30 minutes of playing.
> the movement mechanics feel sloppy and imprecise to me. it's really something you either get or don't, because half of the reviews praise the game for the movement, and the other half don't like the movement.
> the game feels like it didn't do much to innovate and add into the whole battle royale theme. you can argue that it's got classes and the "feeding" mechanism, but that's really all there is to it. at the end of the day, it's just a copy and paste battle royale with a vampire theme trying to make a buck with endless microtransactions.
> the optimization is horrid. ever since the update 2 was released the game has been running like complete ass. Textures turn into PS1-tier textures and you start clipping through walls and floors.
> the game is already infested with hackers, anywhere from aimbot, to wallhack to no recoil and the list goes on. some of them even stream it live because there's no consequences. so the already fishy anti-cheat does really nothing to stop cheaters.
> the devs add insult to injury by not including an in-game reporting system, and instead guide you to make a report on their forums or discord with video evidence recorded by you. what a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ joke.

it's fortnite with vampires.





and a spinoff early access game.

the more you play it, the more you come to the realization that fallout is simply meant to be played alone.
progressing the "story" in co-op just isn't immersive, and there will be countless of moments when you lose focus of what you were doing etc. unless you can find someone that's immersed and genuinely interested in the story, and wants to progress slowly.

pros
> lots of places to explore
> "fun" with friends
> you can play co-op and focus in different traits/perks (have your friend do lockpicking/hacking while you upgrade weaponry etc.)
> new "bosses" and cool features like the fact that players can nuke certain areas of map

cons
> laughable optimization. you can forget about buying the game unless you have an i7 and a great gpu (1080+). my specs are i5 7600k, gtx 1060 6GB and 24gb ram, and the game had frequent fps stuttering.
> constant server issues and crashing for the dumbest reasons. i spent about an hour creating my character to look the way i wanted it to, only to step into the game, press 'use' on a nearby guitar, and the game crashed. wiped out the character that i made and i had to create a new one, so i just ended up making hitler and speedran the first 10 minutes.
> the npcs AI is broken beyond belief. they run AT YOU with a grenade launcher in hand, sometimes start moonwalking to places, get stuck on corners, or worst case scenario - completely forget about your existence.
> the world feels shallow and not crowded enough. you run around exploring empty wastelands about 70% of your time.
> the new perk/trait system is awful. forget about focusing on something specific like in the older games. you instead pick and choose from traits that might be 100% useless to you.
> the monsters' levels aren't accurate at all. at times you get monsters that are level 15 and they TOTALLY kick your ass, and then you come across a level 35 monster that dies from two shots.
> you won't be spared by the constant reminders of "you could do all the stuff you want to do, quicker if you paid more money". micro-transactions all around and you can literally buy weapon repair kits with real money. get ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ real.
> game isn't in sync with steam overlay, so you can't join your friends via steam overlay etc.
> if you thought fallout combat was bad on it's own, try it with at least constant 100ms latency to everything you do. you literally have to wait half a second after you shoot an enemy's head before it explodes and it dies. e v e r y t i m e .
> boring dialogue and quests. "oh no did you see those raiders nearby", "nice weather today haha", followed by a quest where you need to go and pick something up, or kill something. rinse and repeat.
> loot is boring. see a raider with a sweet ass combat helmet??? you want to spend all your time and bullets to get it??? sorry, it's glued to his head. it's not lootable, but here, have 3 caps and two 308. bullets. that'll do it.
> hunger and thirst meter which exists for the sole reason of pissing you off. your character eats and drinks about the same as a full grown ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ horse.
> the game feels like an early access / beta.

do not buy. this game should be f2p if you ask me. try it if it's on free weekend, and you'll see what i mean.

Do. Not. Buy.
I bought this game for the simple nostalgia factor only to be disappointed by the lack of content it has after a while of playing. Don't make the same mistake that I did by buying the game on Steam.
This is only a HD rendition of the base game - there are no DLCs included, yet the game costs €15,00.
You can stretch a good 30+ hours of gameplay from this, but you won't be getting the full experience.

What you can do instead, is buy the game on either GOG or UBISOFT store for LESS MONEY, where the DLCs are included. Then you go ahead and install a fan-made HD mod, which is FREE, although doesn't quite reach the HD quality that the Steam rendition has, but you can tweak the resolution, different sharpness modes and other things.

Links to buy the FULL EDITION and to download the unofficial HD mod:
UBISOFT: https://store.ubi.com/ie/game?pid=575ffd9ba3be1633568b4d8c&dwvar_575ffd9ba3be1633568b4d8c_Platform=pcdl&edition=Complete%20Edition&source=detail
GOG: https://www.gog.com/game/heroes_of_might_and_magic_3_complete_edition
HD MOD: https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/

Note: The Ubisoft's Heroes 3 full edition ONLY works with the unofficial HD mod installed.

big half-life fan, i've played hl1, opposing force, blue-shift, decay, uplink, hl2, ep1, ep2, so i knew what to expect from this game.

i first played this 'mod' back in 2012-2013 when it was free on the developers website, unfinished, still labeled as 'black mesa: source'. now that it was fully finished, i ended up revisiting it and playing it from the start to finish.

pros
> great graphical upgrade from hl1, although not amazing. game looks like it's from 2012, which it kind of is.
> stays tastefully true to the original, map layouts have been changed to some extent, especially towards the end of the game. but reeks of 'fanboy'ish atmosphere with forced main character plugs, such as including kleiner at the start of the game etc..
> the new 'xen' looks absolutely astonishing. i had VERY high expectations for it, as the developers kind overhyped it with their changelogs etc. i got chills when i first entered xen through the portal, and felt like the expectations were fulfilled within 5 minutes of gameplay in there. however, it's by no means perfect, which i will further explain in the cons.
> new lore-friendly(ish) enemies. for example, i remember wondering why all the zombies were scientists back in hl1. black mesa has variety of zombies such as scientists, security guards, hecu, and some that i won't mention ;) and yes, there are new enemies apart from just reskinned zombies.
> bosses such as gonarch and nihilanth have been updated nicely, although i HIGHLY suspect that the developers have taken inspiration from 'DOOM' bossfights for this game. which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
> the game has multiplayer capabilities and the workshop offers new content, such as (unfinished) co-op.

cons
> lack of voice actors. did you expect the scientists to sound different at the very least? because i did. 90% of the scientists sound exactly the same and are trying to soullessly replicate the voice of dr. kleiner. it's annoying and uncreative. even the voice of gman, by far the most important character to 'get right', sounds forced.
> L A Z Y voice actors. the dialogue spoken by the actors sounds boring and like it's directly read from paper. some scenes where they're 'shouting' (if you can call it that), it sounds like the time you were 12 and swearing into your mic, but your mom was in the other room so you had to 'whisper shout' to act like you were tough.
> aliens don't sound like aliens. vortigaunts sound like humans trying to speak the vortigaunt language, zombies make unoriginal gurgly voices, and the list goes on. what made me cringe the hardest was the voice of nihilanth.
> poor optimization in some parts of the game. especially in xen whenever you're facing towards a flashy teleport or something. sucks you right out of the immersive gameplay when you're getting 30fps for like the first time in 4 years.
> the interloper chapter is too long, to the point where it gets boring. i was only halfway through when i started wondering when it was going to actually progress. too many repetitive puzzles with a messy labyrinth-like layout. everything they wanted to showcase in the chapter could have been squeezed into fewer maps, and nothing of value would have been lost.
> the human models are outright ugly. the faces are reminiscent of cavemen and their hair is nothing but a splotchy, blurry mess. put that together with all of them sounding like a discount dr. kleiner, it's a nightmare.
> the ongoing scenarios that surround you don't feel organic. for example, when you see the HECU fighting against the aliens, they only start doing so once you come there. it's like all the npcs are plucked from a void to existence right before you turn the corner to face them. there aren't any distant gunshots heard moments before you arrive to witness a shootout, no. instead, you get a sudden "BAMBAMBAMBAM, GRENADE, OOF, OUGH, TAKE COVER" and usually it ends just as abruptly as it started.
> the soundtrack, while praised by a lot of people, isn't memorable in the slightest. a lot of the original half-life music fits the theme and changes up depending on the chapter. i was VERY disappointed to find that the majority of xen music sounds about the same. rumbling dubstep esque bass with overly dramatic female vocals going 'aaaaaaaah' to make it all seem so epic. there wasn't even any attempt to keep gonarch beast-like and primal with the soundtrack. it was all just cheap, epic music playing on the background.
> the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mindless minefields in xen. why are there tripmines in an already highly explosive ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cave that just so happens to be the way you need to go? pair that up with the buggy jumping due to the uneven ground, and the fact that you die instantly and have to start all over if you make the slightest mistake.
> without giving away too much, the new enemies i mentioned before, are kind of lazily designed and especially the effects that come with them. while a nice addition to the game, they're too simple.
> vortigaunts act too much like humans. laughing, coughing, etc. when you see them in the interloper chapter. worst part is when they start having conversations, and just repeat the lines given in hl2. a constant spam of 'galungah', 'gallalong', 'giet' etc.
> the vortigaunts are acting scared and submissive towards the alien grunts and alien controllers, but don't give a flying ♥♥♥♥ when gordon comes around, literally unplugging and plugging their cables however he feels like and blowing their ♥♥♥♥ up without the slightest worry.
> sometimes the AI completely spazzes out.

does it replace half-life 1? no.
is it a nice tribute to half-life 1? sure.
is 18 bucks too much for an indie remake? yes.

buy in sale.

not personally a silent hill fan so can't really comment on the authenticity of the chapter, but i like it regardless.

pros
> a very unique and strong killer with a power that can be used in various ways.
> killer's power allows a lot of counterplay for strong loops and has serious mindgame potential.
> introduces a completely new type of hooking mechanic that works together with the killer's power.
> has a variety of cosmetics for both sides despite being a licensed chapter, but the cosmetics can only be bought with auric cells.
> decent-ish perks for both sides, although VERY situational ones, "Trail of Torment", "Soul Guard", "Repressed Alliance".

cons
> killer isn't as fun to play against, as it is to play as. takes some time to learn how to counter him properly.
> killer's new hooking mechanic "Cage of Atonement" breaks the game by making perks such as 'Decisive Strike' and 'Borrowed Time' obsolete. DS Can't counter Cage of Atonement and BT does not activate upon unhooking from Cage of Atonement. it doesn't punish killers for tunneling and focusing on to one survivor, which can seriously ruin the match.
> killer's ranged attack is somewhat inconsistent with it's hitboxes. sometimes you don't hit survivors even when they're standing directly in your way, and other times you hit them when they have already dodged your attack.

buy it. it's good.