Recent reviews by deadman

Baldur's Gate is one of the best releases of the last few years, in my honest opinion -- and a revolutionary title in the gaming scene for more than a few reasons. There is so much attention to detail, passion, love, and effort put into this game that there are debates online on whether or not the game is setting too high a standard for future games. I have friends who despise turn based RPGs that can't get enough of this damn game. And speaking of, there is SO MUCH GAME TO EXPERIENCE. I have almost 200 hours in the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing and I still haven't beat it! Granted, that's largely because I'm doing as much side content as I can find instead of just rushing along the main story -- but I feel that's how the game is best experienced.
Baldur's Gate is a love letter to Dungeons & Dragons, as well as games and storytelling in general. Honestly a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fantastic title. With major updates, hotfixes and quality of life improvements coming frequently (sometimes more than two or three times a week), as well as a thriving and interesting modding scene, it would be a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shame if you did not get this game for yourself. Play Baldur's Gate 3.

Despite the "Mostly Positive" rating for this game, I unfortunately have to say that this game is not worth 20 bucks.
Me and my girlfriend tried to play it together. Took us like 15 minutes to try and get the multiplayer working after numerous attempts, the game has virtually zero sound design beyond the same looping tracks that play throughout an entire day, and the tutorial broke the second we accidentally did something before it told us to. The instructions for how to make the FIRST DISH were so vague we just kept throwing things at the stove until it produced what we needed. I also got softlocked twice in the 40 minutes I have played. Unpolished, buggy, and generally just very boring.
Give it a few months and see what any potential patches can do.

Outward has cool ideas. None of them are executed well. Some design choices in this game have the bragging rights of being the most nonsensical, ass-backwards things to ever have in an RPG. The Co-Op is broken, only the person who talks to NPCs gets rewards for quests and important items, including SKILLS. Some of which are entirely unique and can ONLY be obtained through talking to that NPC. And once that ONE player talks to them, whatever they had to give out is lost forever. You can't give skills to other players, either, so in my first playthrough with a friend, he had a swordfighting skill as a mage because we didn't expect the dialogue system to be so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ busted. Furthermore travelling the overworld is a damn chore. There is NO MECHANIC, I repeat ABSOLUTELY NO MECHANICS to speed up travel. There are no horses to ride, carriages to take, no fast travel, no teleporting, not even RUNNING FASTER. You have to walk. EVERYWHERE. In terms of combat, it's just frustrating. The dodge roll is not nearly as effective as it should be with how much damage enemies deal to you. It also always feels like it comes out too late to actually do anything, especially against multiple opponents. The survival mechanics aren't important enough to feel like the central mechanic they're advertised as, but just annoying enough to be a hassle. Additionally, Outward is the only RPG I've ever played where you are punished for choosing armor that befits your class. If you wanted to play a heavier character, like a greatsword wielder in heavy armor, you are punished for it. Heavy armor lowers your stamina significantly, nerfs your dodge roll, AND makes you more vulnerable to magic. Yes, it's realistic. But pursuing realism in games does not always mean creating fun mechanics. If it's not fun, why bother? One last thing that I personally have a huge problem with; every character in this game is ass ugly. You physically cannot make a character that doesn't look like they'd be arrested for standing within 100 feet of an elementary school. The character customization in this game is so weak that I'd rather just play as a static character that I can't change. I respect what the developers were trying to pull off with Outward. I do. But they failed. This game is not good and anyone that tries to tell you otherwise either has standards lower than the resolution on the game's character faces, or they just suck up to any vaguely souls-like games as marvels of game design.

Before I begin, I will clarify something; I recommend this game very loosely. To be honest I really hate Steam's "like or dislike" review system, but that's just me I guess. 100% Orange Juice is a board game you play with your friends, but there is one problem I have with the game: It has so little to do with skill that I've won against a veteran friend of mine multiple times, despite having maybe 20% of the game knowledge he does. This entire game is luck. Pretty much the only things that will, by your own choices, affect your chances of victory, are;
1) choosing whether or not to fight an opponent (it is typically smarter not to)
2) when you use a card in your deck, and what cards to remove
3) choosing which path you take on the board (if there even is a choice, alot of the time where you end up is purely up to a dice roll)
Now, saying all of that, you might be asking why I even recommend this game at all. Well, while this game has absolutely nothing to do with skill, it is fun to play with your friends and watch chaos ensue as the guy who installed the game 15 minutes ago somehow rolls the entire opposition. Orange Juice is simple, probably too simple, but it's fun, I guess.
5.5/10

Skyrim is apart of what I would call the "Steam Classics Collection," boasting a significance in gaming that's lasted over a decade now, something few games can say. The entire reason that Skyrim is still relevant to this day is one, simple aspect that has nothing to do with the actual developers of the game; modding. Skyrim is probably THE MOST modded game of all time, and the experience you can get out of the game through said mods makes the game vastly superior to its' vanilla counterpart, and easily makes it worth the 20 bucks it takes to download the game. Me personally? My favorite aspect of modded Skyrim is the roleplaying; you can truly experience the world as the character you have created. The infinite amount of replayability and approachability to modded Skyrim is what makes every experience with the game a new and refreshing one. I highly recommend Skyrim solely due to how much you can tweak the game to your tastes.
Also, while I'm here, my favorite mod is "Divine Punishment for Mention of Arrows in the Knee." Instantly brings lightning down on any dumbass who dares mention arrows and knees in the same sentence.
9.2/10

Helltaker is a short game (I beat it in 56 minutes with no walkthroughs) with simple but challenging puzzles and adorable but bite-sized character interactions. The gameplay itself is perfectly fine, but my only real criticism of this game is that there is so little character interactions that it leaves any player who enjoyed the game starving for more. I would also appreciate if the game was longer, but I can't complain when it's exactly as advertised. Hopefully the creator takes Helltaker's success and explosively created fanbase as a sign to continue the story.
7.5/10

In this review I will be reviewing 2 different games. Terraria, and it's now developer-condoned modding client, TModLoader.

TERRARIA
Terraria is easily one of my favorite games of all time, with it's incredibly approachable gameplay variety, immensely satisfying progression, and an adventure-filled experience that lasts the entire game, from the moment you spawn in the forest to the exact second you slay the final boss. I have been playing minecraft since I was a kid, and got it in it's earlier days, namely 1.2.5. But something that I never liked was how your adventure progressed. You never get any notable new equipment, you never truly develop. You craft armor and weapons with new materials, and that's about it. Even enchantments are more often than not simple stat buffs and little else. But Terraria has all of the things that I looked for in Minecraft that it still lacks to this day. No two characters in Terraria are the same, everyone has different skillsets and specialties. Taking on bosses can feel like a serious challenge, even with friends. Your character looks and plays entirely different from the moment you spawn, even just to the point where you're about a quarter of the way through the game. With all of the creative building freedom that Minecraft has to offer, a hundred times the adventure, and exponentially more satisfying combat and progression, Terraria is my favorite sandbox game without a doubt.
7.2/10

TMODLOADER
Alright. Here's where ♥♥♥♥ gets real ok. You see everything I just said about the game? Multiply every good thing by about six hundred. TModLoader lets you personally cater how you want to play the game, from the weapons you add, to enemy HP, even what your UI looks like. There are truly no limits with TModLoader, and you can handcraft a brand new adventure to go on. If you're like me, and you had already beaten Terraria on normal AND expert mode at least twice, you're probably getting bored of vanilla Terraria. You've likely seen everything it has to offer. And while that may be true, you will never see everything that TModLoader has to offer. Mods can range from simply adding more vanity items, to powerful or even ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crazy new weapons, or they can even enlarge the whole maximum world size. You can embark on an adventure catered specifically to your tastes in games. And that's what is so great about TModLoader, is that literally anyone can pick it up just like that, install what they want, and play. Modding Terraria has never been easier, and it's certainly easier than modding Minecraft. I heavily recommend both versions of this game to any sandbox game enjoyer. Or platformer fans. Or bullet hell fans. Or really just people who like games in general. Which is probably why you're reading this in the first place. Play Terraria.
9.5/10

Black Desert is easily one of the most visually stunning MMORPG's I have ever played, but I cannot recommend it. Black Desert is horribly generic, establishing little personality in contrast to other MMOs. While it is alot of fun at first to cleave through hordes of enemies effortlessly, the game is comically easy. Enemies and even bosses offer little challenge. While I did not spend a serious amount of time playing the game, I still had a very mediocre time. Definitely the MMO for videophiles, but I can't recommend it to anyone who appreciates a challenging experience.
4.7/10

I initially recommended this game when I had first picked it up, but I no longer feel I can in good conscience. I felt I had experienced everything this game had to offer within the first week of playing it. Every pub game goes the same, with one or two players leaving at the start, one guy who accuses everyone because he thinks he's sherlock ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ holmes, and that one dude who never talks and disappears halfway through the game. There is not enough content to keep a player's engagement, and the game panders to 9-12 year olds who think this game is the best thing since sliced bread. even with this big spankin' new update that's coming out, the two biggest things added are a single map and ladders. even with friends, this game gets stale fast. I feel nothing but grief for youtubers or streamers who gained popularity by playing this game and feel they have to keep subjecting themselves to the same ♥♥♥♥ every day so that they can pay their damn rent by playing this game. I will change my review in the future if more content is added and pushes the game to be more enjoyable.
4/10

FINAL FANTASY IX is hands down my favorite game of the series, and of all time. From the perfect introduction and the way the game eases you into the story, to the lovable characters and imposing villains, this game's adventure ties together so nicely that every time I play through it I take little bits and bobs of the storytelling execution as inspiration for my own works. I not only played this game as a child, but it's the entire reason I learned how to read. My first playthrough of this game was magical, and will always hold a special place to me. I not only highly recommend this to RPG lovers, but I recommend it to people who love a good story. 10/10.