Recent reviews by hermos

instant 10/10 from me
its a platforming game about using a grapple hook (with some special abilities) with a huge focus on the narrative
also comes with amazing music through and through and never does it fall in tune with the action or the environment of where its playing
the story is also amazing, its not immediately clear whats happening but u can start to put things together halfway through the story
at a certain point u r given a choice in what u want to do, you'll know what to do if u pieced things together by that point
this game is especially amazing if u r interested in interpreting the psychology behind people's behaviors, there's quite a bit of philosophy going on which wasn't expected but absolutely welcome and well executed in its portrayal of the ideas that its presenting

definitely get this game if u r into platforming and/or good narratives, full price or not, u will not regret it

i only have some minor complaints
1. the game is too easy
i played it on the highest difficulty on my first playthrough and only struggled once in a late-game major bossfight
2. the level design underestimates the player's abilities when it comes to the platforming
there were several points where i "solved" a platforming puzzle the wrong way around because i was too fast or too smart with the platforming
3. the platforming of the "pink" area isn't the most intuitive
sometimes the solution was off-screen, i didn't realize this and did some platforming shenanigans instead to solve things
4. minor typos in the dialogue
could easily be fixed with a hotfix, unsure why they aren't fixed yet

this game is a very far and long departure from the first game, it is not a sequel and has little to do with darkest dungeon 1, ill talk more about this at the end of the review

darkest dungeon 2 is a much more simplified experience of the first game where very little matters, the permadeath aspect has been removed and only applies for that one specific run that you're doing
the transition from 2d to 3d is amazing and the voice acting is once again amazing though the writing couldve done with some improvements
there are 2 game modes, confessions and kingdoms
confessions is the primary way the game is meant to be experienced with kingdoms being more of an arcade and an attempt to satisfy the audience of darkest dungeon 1 (aka me, it didnt do a good job but its ok i guess)

the story, although amazing and a profound way of displaying the human condition, isnt told well and so things wont make sense till the very end where you will understand little, but if you reconsider the entire the game, you will understand it very well

the combat, although it may feel stagnant at times, is nice though functions very differently then the first game, things are much more certain with the removal of accuracy and introduction of the token system, though it isnt a perfect implementation. as the entire meta revolves controlling this aspect of the game and due to the lack of hero diversity, ur gonna find yourself picking plague doctor and man at arms alot as the mechanics of the more difficult fights revolve heavily around the kits of those 2
there is no sense of "progression" in the combat though, numbers dont get higher only abilities get mastered and buffs get used up which has led me to feel the game getting repetitive at times especially after finding out how heavily the game biases towards plague doctor's kit (token removal and all that)
in a nutshell: good formula but mediocre execution

in between all the action you play this subway surfer minigame about driving a cart around and choosing where to go, you're encouraged to drive it into the occasional rubble on the road because theres a low chance to get items, though very rarely are the items significant and mostly useful when in the form of currency

i cant find it in my heart to say that darkest dungeon 2 is a bad game, though i like to compare it alot with its predecessor and in that aspect it feels like it lost the spirit of what the first game embodied, maybe red hook just doesnt want to contend with their first game, that or they are experimenting
either way to me is respectable though i do think in either case they have mislabeled this game
this is not darkest dungeon 2, for a game to be a sequel that incinuates that there is a connection between it and the predecessor, there is little connection here and in that regard i believe it was a mistake to call this game "darkest dungeon 2", especially because it features no dungeons lol just goes to show how much of the spirit of the first they have lost

good game on its own, though comparatively to the first, it is a LITE experience and more of a shadow of the masterpiece that was the first game

mic is on by default, also console players cant see the chat so u cant tell them about it unless u warn them via VC lmao

nothing warms my heart more than seeing a spam-smite psyker get vote kicked

i keep putting mines near the toilet, get them when they least expect it

a pretty raw and unfiltered presentation of mental illness, not something you see ever really
definitely a unique experience and something i highly recommend if you want a short visual novel
in other words: i can fix her

ironically, the game is all about democracy and having a vote but the publishers of the game are against democracy

shout out to all my homies who will have their data sold online by chinese hackers later this year! remember to have complicated passwords boys

Turn your friends into 5 star voice actors with this 1 simple™ trick.

TLDR: kinda mixed on this one, if you wanna try it then wait for a sale and dont buy the DLCs, i'd give it a 6/10

not sure how i feel, for every thing to like there is something to dislike
the game is pretty grindy at times and the economy system is super ass, i hope it gets reworked or overhauled because as it stands currently there are no good ways to make money since whatever u sell will get massively devalued and the merchants take forever to restock on money, i played the game with the DLCs and it complicated alot of things without giving me anything worthwhile as a return
you are very restricted in what you can and cant do and it feels like the game constantly gate keeps you by requiring you unlock something or bring an item that is incredibly difficult to get

20+ years later and its still awesome, just beat it for the first time