Recent reviews by Iegionnaire

So, the PSN enforcement decision has been axed. At least for now it seems, so we have kind of won. I am still gonna keep the negative review for the time being, since the countries where PSN is not available are still blocked from purchasing the game on Steam. And honestly, I do not actually trust Sony(and to some extent Arrowhead as well) all that much.

250 hours of, admittedly very enjoyable, gametime wasted on a game I will not even be able to play in about a month. All because of Sony's decisions and Arrowhead's moronic approach to dealing with technical difficulties and informing players. Great. Way to ruin what you had going, boys.

So, you know from the start, months before you launch the game, that it is going to require linking a PSN account to actually play. You know that PSN is not available in most of the world and that you can't even register an account in countries where it is not available. And if you try to get around this limitation by using a VPN, you'll have your account banned. You know all of that. And still you decide to launch your game on Steam with worldwide access. So, if all things went well and there were no technical issues, most of the playerbase would not even be able to play the game from the very beginning.

But something breaks, you have too many players. And you decide to make signing in optional. For now. Letting players skip it, giving them a giant "SKIP" button when prompted to link their PSN account when they just start the game. And then in a tiny font have "You'll have to do it later anyways". And for people late to the party, who bought the game weeks after release, you don't even give any linking prompt at all. Then you sell your game to hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people froim countries where PSN is not available. Take their money, their time, their trust. And then when all problems are fixed you just tell them straight to the face "You won't be able to play the game anymore after next month" Because this is exactly what it is. You scammed them. You just scammed millions of people from over 150 countries. And then you think you can just get away with it?

And let's not even mention the way Arrowhead and Sony responded to the situation. First, throwing the blame back and forth. "Erm, actually we had no idea. It's all Sony!" "Actually, we knew all along and it was to help us ban people" "No, it's Sony's decision, we're trying to push back against it!" "Well, we knew 6 months before launch this was going to be a requirement" Then Sony changing their website, when people started calling them out and just know just removing the game from sale on Steam in all the countries where PSN isn't available. Brilliant. Oh, and last, but not least. Arrowhead's CMs and Discord moderator team. Hard for me to think of a bunch of people less qualified for their job then them. Absolute monkeys from deep jungle would probably fare better, if only because the monkeys can't actually speak and spew moronic crap. like those guys. Constant lies, contradictions and insults to the community. It just doesn't get any better.

Firstly, negatives!

1. The servers and connection still are not the best. It's much better than back in pre-order beta. But you're likely to encounter all sorts of errors from time to time. Disconnects during missions, or the game refusing to log you in. It doesn't happen often, but does sour the mood.

2. Overall amount of content could be way bigger. Maps, weapons, cosmetics(weapon ones, not character). The stuff that's already in the game is alright, for me it did not really get repetitive, but more never hurts.

3. Mission variety is quite ♥♥♥♥. All of the missions reuse the same two-three kinds of mission events in different combinations. So almost each mission you'll be waiting for interrogators to hack something or killing a demon infestation. Sometimes maybe carrying around energy cells or similar things. That's it. Of course, it all happens in different maps, but come on. Still the same.

4. Crafting. I don't mind it that much, people more familiar with this kind of RNG crafting system would probably have a lot more to say. But I do find it that crafting material balancing and the way they locked players out of completely tailoring weapons and gear are far from perfect. It's gotten better over this year, but it's far from being a good system. Following the Unlocked and Loaded update this is no longer a negative. The weapon acquisition and upgrading is now straightforward and easy to understand, as well as not resource demanding. Just a bit of grind to get what you want.

5. Premium cosmetics most of the time aren't the best. A lot of reused assets, just differently painted or with slightest variations. And quite often the quality isn't the best, so it's not a surprise to find skin sticking through clothes or parts of armour being placed incorrectly, so they just clip through each other(looking at you Combat-Predicant set, yes!)

And now to the good stuff!

1. Music, I don't have to tell you anything, just go on Youtube and look up Darktide's OST. You're gonna destroy your gamer chair or whatever seating arrangement you have from moving around uncontrollably to it. It's such a perfect electronic-religious mixture, that at least for me just takes that spot of "The Warhammer Music". Sorry, DoW and Gladius and Mechanicus, especially Mechanicus, but Darktide is here to stay. For long. Forever most likely. And it fits the game, the gameplay. God Emperor, yes, please, destroy my eardrums with the blessed bass while I dispense your justice!

2. Environment design is top tier. Doesn't just apply for maps, but the hub as well. It all looks so detailed and authentic in a way. Walking around the Mourningstar you really feel like it's the insides of an Inquisitorial vessel. Or running through the Throneside? Oh my! All the building with the small decor, the "fountains", the peaks of other building hanging somewhere hundreds of meters up. This looks 40K. It really does.

3. Enemy design is very good. And not just visual, but still most of the people(or not) you fight look so revolting. Their behaviour, more importantly the balance between all the enemy types. It comes down to bring you a very tough, but thoroughly enjoyable horde shooter experience. Managing which enemies to prioritise, helping your teammates when disablers or specials decide to show up and mess up the flow of your shooting and slashing festival.

4. The fighting itself is very juicy, very crispy, very impactful. Enemies feel weighty, your weapon feels nice, that especially applies to some of the ranged options. Really, they took the core of Vermintide 2's gameplay, the fighting, and just gave it steroids. The addition of a lot of ranged enemies, as well as new mechanics like springting, sliding, toughness, made the game a whole lot more active, more fast-paced, so you, the player, have to think a lot faster yourself. Which I really like. The classes, while having some overlap in gameplay(biggest offenders being veteran and zealot), all feel somewhat distinct during combat.

5. Sound design is pretty good. All the meaty sounds of slaugthering hundreads of poxwalkers or the God-tier bolter and ripper sounds, they really set you in the mood. Plus all the disablers and specials have distinct audio cues to warn you, same with melee attacks.

6. Voiceacting is great. Pretty much across the board with the exception of some NPCs. Mission givers generally are pretty mid, such as Morrow, Zola or Mazozi. But Hadron, Melk and Hallowette are pretty good, especially after the latest mission the devs added where the latter two first make their appearance as mission givers. Enemy voicelines are quite good, really sell the difference between them. Regular scabs shouting various imperial codes and generally sounding like your average soldiers. Certain elites like Maulers, Gunners being the sadistic commanders among other enemies. Flamers being crazy pyromanics. Or ragers just... Shouting and makind noises. And the best is player characters. They all do really well selling the personalities. Especially ogryns and zealots. Nothing beats the fanatic's "Blood for the Emperor! Skulls for the Golden Throne!" or ogryn's "Stomping snivellers!" Yes, the banter between characters does repeat somewhat often, but it's definitely way more than enough to build each of the classes personalities as separate people, so to speak.

And that's about it! All things said, though... Don't buy this game, kids. It's good, but flawed. Wait a year so the dev's all get back from their vacations or drinking parties and get to working on the game seriously. And wait for a good sale or maybe a free weekend to try it. As of the current moment, the game is definitely worth it. None of the negatives are really game- or dealbreaking. A bit annoying at most. Absolutely one of the best coop shooters available right now(THE BEST in my honest opinion). So if you see it with a discount, buy it. You will not regret it. Maybe even buy it at full price, I do believe it is worth it.

10 intercontinental ballistic molotovs out of 10

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If you for some reason really like pain, suffering and having constant mental breakdowns because of a game, then that's just the thing for you.