Recent reviews by Dong Cheeks

low-key my favorite game in 2024, 10/10

It's a real 'tism tickler, 10/10

oblivion + dark souls + tarkov

10/10

They just don't make em like they used to

This game is a breath of fresh air. I've played many games like it, but the devs really go the extra mile to make sure all the core concepts and mechanics are not only fun, but also make sense. It's difficult, but super rewarding. Some zones keep you on your toes every second you're in them, others allow you to kick back and appreciate the basic yet superb artwork. I've put more time into Valheim than most AAA titles combined since its release.

The only gripe I have is as follows: The servers. If you have more than 2 people close to each other in-game, unless you're running on a super computer, things are going to start lagging in the most annoying way possible. I hope that the devs have the ability to re-work this at some point in the near future, as this game is more enjoyable with more people to play with.

Either way, Valheim is amazing and you should try it even if it doesn't immediately stand out to you as something you would enjoy.

Taking creator content and selling it for your own profit is the perfect crime.

This $20 is still better spent than the $60 I paid for ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

EDIT:
Changed from positive to negative. I can't in good consciousness say it's a good game. I have ~100 hours played, and after I beat the main and faction questlines I ran into a galaxy full of procedurally-generated content that's so unbearably boring that I don't want to play anymore. My plan was to explore every planet and moon in the galaxy, but ~8 hours into that I realized that there's absolutely no reason to ever do that and anyone who does either needs help or Jesus (probably both). Most of the planets and moons in the game are 100% procedurally generated, and the fact that Starfield spent 8 years in development is nothing short of ridiculous for how little genuinely awesome handcrafted content exists. Exploration has always been the most fun thing to do in Bethesda games, and they completely botched it in Starfield. I'd be much happier with a "space Skyrim" on a much smaller scale full of handcrafted content. As far as disappointments go, Starfield is on par with Tool's last album. They make us wait forever for mediocrity, spend millions on advertisement that could've been spent on making their product better, then months later people forget it ever existed. I put well over 300 hours into Skyrim in multiple playthroughs, I doubt I'll be putting any more time into this disappointment. Read on if you wanna see some copium.

Original post:
TLDR: Rick and Morty mod for Fallout 4

Compared to other Bethesda games, it gets a 5/10
Compared to other space games I've played, 8/10

Big Bethesda guy here (been playing since Oblivion). I just beat the main questline (lvl 37), did all vanguard/rangers/fleet quests. I havent touched outpost building (and most of the other procedurally-generated-focused content) yet, otherwise I'm pretty familiar with all the mechanics and activities in the game.

The good:
- the game can be pretty much what you want it to be, you have plenty of options and play-styles
- Your actions matter. It's more new vegas than fallout 4. Not for the main questline (which sucks), but for everything else
- the more I play, the more I enjoy it. The game takes off once you have perks to play how you want to play
- the manually developed stuff in this game is top notch
- no major bugs (for me at least), I guess that's why it spent 8 years in development
- all of the joinable factions have solid questlines so far (I havent done Ryujin yet)
- actually some replay-ability to this one using the same character depending on some choices you make
- graphics seem fine even on low settings, but I'm on a toaster so I can't say what ultra looks like
- each story is pretty well-written despite the occasional major plot hole (if it happened to earth, why not every other planet we've been to? ;)
- the more tedious mechanics like ship building arent as boring and ridiculous as they are in other space games (Kerbals)
- the procedurally-generated content is actually really coherent. Even though it still feels pointless and boring, it's solid space-filler and contributes to the immersion of getting from A to B
- combat actually feels better than any other bethesda game for some reason (except maybe bow sniping in Skyrim)
- i get to be a cowboy space pirate, but actually
- it's not fallout 76

The bad:
- new lockpicking mechanic actually blows, mostly because its a lot more time consuming (still better than fallout terminal hacking tho). Maybe rank 4 of security could actually do something to make it less tedious.
- the fast travel system is a bit of a downer and pulls away from the space aspect of the game. I'm almost never manually flying my ship. Why? Because I can fast travel everywhere, and why would I want to spend 7 hours IRL flying to the closest planet to where my character is at any point in time?
- Houses are useless. I bought a house for 250k credits early on then realized that i could only build crates with 150 storage capacity each in it. I've heard that outposts are much better.
- wtf am I supposed to do with 3000lbs of resources that only link to me from my ship and not from any other container?
- lowkey kinda racist game. show me one benevolent white male that has some self respect in any of the main or faction quests :)
- every new Bethesda game adds about 10 more tedious keybinds. 10 years from now when TES6 drops I'll probably just have to get a 2nd keyboard.
- only 2 main quest endings I guess
- This took 8 years to develop at a AAA company?
- I crash a lot. I'm on an older PC but my CPU should be able to run Starfield yet it's always maxed despite all low settings
- solo play is much worse than with a companion if not for the sole fact that companion = double weight capacity. Why not add some carry capacity to the isolation perk or the introvert starting trait??
- Weapons/armor are too random. I don't need to see a Titanium Build Extended Magazine Handloading Volatile Suppressed Tactical Grip Short Scope Fully Automatic Recon Laser Sight Old Earth Shotgun, but I'd like to. The Skyrim loot system was better. Getting a unique felt more impactful.
- unoriginal. Rick and Morty story with kerbal's ship building, borderlands loot, Dune (House Va'ruun lol), star wars (bounty hunters and boost packs aye), Alien (Xenomonsters), Cyberpunk (Neon), and pretty much anything else that they didn't have to think up themselves.
- dialogue is very 2023. I feel like everyone is just dying to tell me they're a vegan. Also, you'd think space pirates would be a bit more hardcore than listening to ♥♥♥♥♥♥ screamo in a bar and drinking grog. Feels like the entire crimson fleet is in a millenial midlife crisis.

Conclusion:
If you like Bethesda-style games, you'll like Starfield. It takes forever to do anything in this game for some reason (including writing a proper review), but it does justice to all space-focused games out there. Every other space-based game I've played feels like it was designed for people deep on the spectrum. In other words, they're just not fun. A lot of peripheral mechanics in Starfield could either be less time consuming or more engaging in a fun way, but for a space game set in a semi-realistic future, Starfield is about as fun as it gets. They could've gone full tinfoil hat-mode with more quest plots, but that would likely have taken away from the immersion and the resolution wouldn't hit quite as hard. It's designed to be a slow drip, and as you play more you have more fun from perks. The slower pace oddly causes dialogue to be a bit more impactful, even if most of the dialogue feels a bit soulless. Either way, you get the bang for your buck, and I think Bethesda can chalk this up as a win.

Tips:
- after a dozen hours or so of played time you won't feel crazy overwhelmed by all the mechanics
- complete the main questline before you do anything else
- get the outpost management perk and build an outpost, DO NOT BUY A HOUSE until you have enough credits that it doesn't matter
- don't ever waste money buying a ship you could otherwise steal (ship target tracking perk)

Overall: 9/10

The Good
- ACTUAL authentic RPG (choices you make are almost unlimited and they have real effects)
- dollar per hour of game time
- solid immersion
- few major bugs
- pretty cohesive despite a massive undertaking (guess those 4 years of beta paid off)
- main storyline is badass and makes sense, plus they paid homage to the previous BG games

The Bad
- Player characters (3 aspects, see below)
- only 10 available companions
- personality: I hate everyone but Karlach, Halsin, and the 2 retro characters you meet later on.
- quests: Shadowheart's quest is the only cool one so far (i missed/havent gotten to a few others)
- you miss out on a fair bit of companion quest stuff by simply not having them in your party at all times
- play time is fluffed up immensely by load screens and taking forever to do literally everything (bartering, dialogue, combat especially)
- should have an option for real-time combat (not pause on every turn) like the other baldurs gate games

Conclusion:
I have almost 100hrs of play time with no end in sight, making this a solid "bang for your buck" game. I might even play it more than once over, which is a sign of a legit RPG where a "good" playthrough can be vastly different from an "evil" one. The inspiration system for getting free re-rolls and exp for properly role-playing your character/party supports that even further. The world feels very alive, even after completing a zone I know I can go back and see the fruits (or lack there-of) of my efforts. I wish the playable characters were a bit more numerous and diverse. BG2 had 25 companions in the base game. BG3 has 10, and half of them suck and their quests are boring. My biggest gripe is forced turn-based combat. This game was announced in June of 2019. It's been in development forever, yet it's lacking a few things that a game of this genre should probably have. Either way, it's the best game of the genre since the last pathfinder game, and it's not a complete disappointment as the next installment of what's widely regarded as the greatest RPG of all time (BG2). Larian would do well to adopt their combat system.

TLDR: best game of its genre I've played since BG2

Pros:
- Dialogue is the best I think I've ever seen. Not too many scenarios where I thought "Why can't I ask this?", there were even some moments where I had to sit and think deeply about not only what was being discussed, but also the implications. I haven't felt that feeling in a while, and to experience this in 2023 is a breath of fresh air to say the least. I don't feel like I'm getting subliminally mind-♥♥♥♥♥♥ by some hyper-sensitive neo-whatever agenda.
- Combat is fine, I wish more games of this genre would implement a real-time option instead of boring old turn-based
- Pricing was actually insane. I bought it for like 10 bucks on sale, dumped over 100 hours into it. As far as hours played per dollar spent, this is one of the best game purchases I've ever made. I haven't even touched the DLC yet, only the main game
- Impact of decisions is critical, and that's really what makes an RPG an RPG. It's not as hardcore as other games in the genre (you can do some extremely evil things and still be considered good with 0 negative repercussions), but the number of decisions which change the outcome of things further down the road is pretty high, and I didn't really see any bugs pertaining to that which shows a lot of effort on the devs' side.
- Essence of each alignment (good-evil, lawful-chaotic) REALLY shines through in the companions in this game, and the writers nailed almost every one. Camellia, Arueshalae, and Daeran all have super unique stories while the rest were somewhat generic but still decent (except Nenio, really could've left that one out).
- The story itself is pretty solid, although it gets a bit repetitive by the end (scary demon who is supposed to be the epitome of all things cunning, self-serving, and opportunistic underestimates you because you're a lowly mortal, you rip their head off, repeat). You'd think by the end they'd see you as the doomguy and turn tail. There weren't really any major surprises or plot twists, although I feel like the devs wanted you to be the one to make those happen.
- Mythic path is implemented extremely well, it gives you the option to play your own way and adds many interesting outcomes while not forcing you into a 1-dimensional arc.
- Definitely a step up from kingmaker. Much more of a metal vibe, in contrast to the flamboyant vibes of kingmaker.

Cons:
- Crusade mode feels like a chore, kinda takes away from the experience. Like Kingmaker's kingdom management, I wish the devs would stop implementing these mechanics.
- UI gets a bit confusing. I shouldn't have to go to the map under crusade management to be able to upgrade a fort. There are one too many menus in this game, it sometimes feels like finding a hidden easter egg when it should be something that's easily accessible. Still better than kingmaker though.
- minor critique, but if I'm a good-hearted trickster I shouldn't be able to murder an entire courtyard of servants in cold blood with a serial killer and face 0 consequences.
- feels like 80% of the mobs you kill are demons, 10% are humans who serve them, 5% are beasts and undead, 5% is everything else. I get that it ties in to the story, but it helps to mix it up a bit.
- furries...

cons:
don't feel like spending $3000 on a new PC just to avoid freezing during a cut-scene despite having specs that will run every other game in existence

pros:
I can fry a nice juicy steak on my CPU while playing this game.