Recent reviews by Kc

Dangerous Faction

Crusader Kings 3 is the third entry in Paradox's CK series, generally seen as the black sheep of its grand strategy games. It has elements not seen in any other strategy games, like its immense focus on personal affairs, relationships, qualms and grudges. It has a fantastic customizable character system, allowing players to create their own rulers and families, along with editing every other character in the world to their preferred configuration. This customization adds a level of personalization to the game that is rarely seen in other titles, and it really allows players to put their own (often horrible) mark on the game world. Just because you can make a monster doesn't mean you need to.

Although CK3 has a great leg up on other paradox titles in terms of personal connections, it suffers in its combat. Its combat is very similar to CK2's system, of levies and paid regiments used to fight other lords' armies. While the game does actually have a decent combat terrain system and the commanders feel like they have impact, the combat feels greatly unbalanced and the player generally has very few opponents once they get enough money to regularly hire mercenaries. If you're fine with the rough combat, CK3 is a great game that is worth playing. I would extremely recommend getting it on a good sale, and look for some friends to play it with. What's the point of a world like this if you don't have anyone to mess around with in it?

Rock and Stone or you ain't coming home.

Deep Rock Galactic took me some getting used to before enjoying it. It reminds me greatly of the classic Valve swarm games like Alien Swarm with greater procedural generation and customization capabilities. DRG has certainly garnered a dedicated fanbase, which you'll find sprouting up all over the internet in the least expected of places. The game blends the aspects of exploration, combat, and busywork well in 15-30 minute missions which are rewarding without being soul crushing on a defeat.

The game has a great procedural generation system; each time you enter a new mission, the game generates a new map that is unique and unpredictable (In good and bad ways alike). This keeps the gameplay fresh, a concern to many similar games with repetitive activities. The terrain has great rendering, looking cartoony yet immersive enough to not look out of place in Hoxxes. Each class in the game has its own unique set of abilities, with unique customizable weapons and plenty of options to suit your playstyle. While each class generally has a goal in mind to help their team, the game encourages players to experiment with different loadouts.

The procedural mission setup, while engaging, can still feel repetitive at times. The game's missions tend to follow a similar formula of exploration, mining, and defending against the swarms of enemies, which can become predictable especially if you stick to one class of Dwarf for an extended period. The map the players are given to navigate doesn't help matters much, as it is often frustrating and misleading unless carefully navigated with. The map is understood with enough experience, however, and the repetitive nature of the game is greatly alleviated with friends.

I would certainly recommend giving it a shot if your friends have the game or are interested in the game. The game has a great single-player AI robot buddy to help you out, but it's easy to get burnt out just going it solo. Worth the price, but always look for a sale.

Community leaders report that the new, ex-militia police chief is using brutal tactics against civilians and ignoring human rights in order to increase security.

Like Plague Inc but instead of spreading death and killing humanity you construct infrastructure and shoot insurgents. The game's levels are well-designed and offer several unique constraints on the typical run, often the result of varying terrains and special map effects. This is sorta the only thing the game has going for it in terms of gameplay diversity though. The game's combat system is fine, with simple yet effective mechanics that are easy to understand and use. The limited strategic depth of the game comes from choosing which upgrades to prioritize and where you try to pin down the insurgents.

The game struggles to offer any substantial replayability. Once you have played through a few runs, you will start to notice that each playthrough is essentially the same, with the only real difference being the order in which you choose certain upgrades. While the maps attempt to add circumstantial differences, there are rarely any random events to play around when combating the insurgency. The game also suffers from the arbitrary nature of some runs, somewhat inherited from Plague Inc. The start of the game is essential to the player's success, and if the insurgents spawn in an unfortunate location it often requires a restart on mega-brutal.

I recommend getting it on a good sale. If you found yourself a great fan of Plague Inc, you'll find plenty of enjoyment with this, just temper your expectations otherwise.

GetInLine

A penguin's dream to fly, forever constrained by the weights of capitalism. The (assumed) finale to a trilogy of fantastic flash games, LTF3 concludes the penguin's journey in a surprisingly developed game. Anyone who played the flash version of LTF1 and 2 can see the incredible progress the game has made, and the game provides several hours of enjoyable content with new parts to unlock between runs and several victory conditions.

"Khajiit has wares, if you have coin."

Skyrim is a great game that with the release of Special Edition boasts a great amount of updates including a significant visual upgrade that takes advantage of current-gen hardware and a substantial fleshing out of the game's code, allowing for more advanced mods. Although the switch to Special Edition outdated all mods for standard Skyrim, I believe the switch was entirely worth it, with SSE really showing off what Skyrim is capable of.

In addition to the robust modding scene, SSE is also far more optimized than its predecessor. The game runs smoothly even on lower-end systems like mine, making it accessible to a broader audience (especially those who grew up playing Skyrim on seventh generation consoles like the 360). The improvements made to the game's visuals have not come at the cost of performance, and the game can run at higher resolutions and framerates without a hitch.

While the game certainly has improved in its graphical quality, gameplay remains effectively unchanged from the original release. This isn't really an issue but it would have been appreciated if SSE provided a change for seasoned players regarding progression, though if you're playing Skyrim you might as well be playing with mods. The game is a great refurbishment of the 2011 classic, and provides a great avenue for people to play the game without the bugs and loading times of old.

"I have a saying, friend: we shoot fellers as need shooting, save fellers as need saving, and feed 'em as need feeding. We are going to figure out what you need."

Red Dead 2 is a great game, facilitating a wide variety of play styles. The devs have found a great balance in environmental design, seamlessly mending together civilization and wilderness. The NPCs are believable and the animation is top-notch; I greatly advise you to look at a video of the game on max settings to get a feel for what it's capable of. I can't run anywhere near the recommended specs but the game still runs well for me at a stable fps.

The controls can be a bit clunky at times, but after a few hours outside of scripted missions, I had the freedom to mess around and figure out how things worked without too much hand holding. The Movement controls (on foot and mounted) can also feel a bit unwieldy at first, but are easy enough to figure out with continued usage. I've played both with controller and keyboard for a few dozen hours (I've played through the game on Xbox) and while the aiming is (as to be expected) a lot cleaner with a mouse, both movement systems are both pleasant to use.

RDR2 is my favorite Rockstar game to date, with quite a lot more non-scripted content than its previous open-world titles. If you can dismiss the minor issues (which are mostly abated with play time) you'll be met with a great game and well enough content to justify the price, though as always I'd still recommend getting it on a sale.

If you find any Orbs, head into Westwood and talk to Wizard, he's the best.

Alwa's Legacy is a great metroidvania that has fluid platforming and a pretty decent progression system, through the use of orbs which can be freely distributed and reassigned at any point in the game to the player's freedom. The game's adorable protagonist Zoe is a joy to play as, and the freedom the game gives the player to navigate its areas with there often being multiple methods to progress through each zone depending on your upgrades, adds a lot of flair to an otherwise basic template.

One of Alwa's Legacys' greatest boons is its graphics. The game's vibrant colors and intricate design make every area great to explore. The graphics feel retro but have an amazing polish to them that makes them easy on the eyes and keeps each dungeon distinct from one another. The game's sprites are also beautifully drawn and really helps give each character their own style and silhouette. The game's enemies are also a great addition to the game. While they may be extremely simple in design (Nearly every enemy either just walks side to side with a short-ranged attack or flies directly into you), they are still effective at providing a challenging obstacle for players to overcome, especially in the pacifist mode. In Pacifist mode, a lot of your options are limited regarding enemies, Requiring a fair amount of damage buffering to get through certain areas.

Although I enjoy the platforming and a good amount of the exploring, there are some issues with the game's hidden collectables. While the game rewards exploration with some great hidden items (Though a few of them are essential to find), some of the collectables are placed in very obscure locations, making them difficult to find without a guide. This shows in replaythroughs, although this is somewhat to be expected from a metroidvania. Despite that, Alwa's Legacy turned out to be a good distraction for me during a troubling time. The game's relaxing atmosphere and enjoyable gameplay were a much-needed respite from some of the issues I was experiencing. While it's a metroidvania at heart, Alwa's Legacy manages to be a surprisingly relaxing game that I would highly recommend to anyone looking for just a bit of relaxing platforming.

“Every moment I live… is agony.”

Age of Empires 3 is an RTS that offers a great blend of historical accuracy and engaging gameplay. The game's graphics are a feature that still hold up today, with impressive attention to detail and beautiful landscapes that create an immersive experience. The unit variety is also commendable, with a diverse range of soldiers and equipment available for each civilization, making for varied and exciting battles.

AoE 3's UI can be a bit clunky sometimes though, with information sometimes buried in menus or difficult to locate. This can be frustrating for new players trying to navigate the game's various systems and mechanics. The Home City system is a great idea and I love the deck building but without prior experience it can be a little unintuitive. Additionally, the game's balance can be an issue, with some civilizations feeling overpowered compared to others. This can make the game feel unbalanced and unfair, particularly in multiplayer matches where players are looking for a level playing field.

Despite these concerns, AoE 3 is a fantastic strategy game that's well worth playing if you're a fan of the genre. The graphics and unit variety are top-notch, and the game's attention to historical detail regarding the unit art and ship models is impressive. It doesn't really go on sale and though I love the game, I'd recommend picking up the definitive remake as it goes on substantial sales.

Mayor Rocks According to City Blocks

SimCity 4 Deluxe is a classic city-builder game that offers players the chance to build and manage their own metropolis. SimCity 4 has the best interactive UI of any city builder I've seen, though I might be blinded by nostalgia. The game features memorable city advisors, each with their own unique personality and expertise, which offer valuable advice to players and help guide them through the complex task of running a city. Additionally, the game's fitting soundtrack adds to the overall immersive experience.

However, one major flaw in the game is the development desire system, which can be frustrating and economically damaging to a city. The unintuitive zoning demands can lead to a city's development being stunted or even reversed, which can be a frustrating experience for players who aren't familiar with SimCity-type city builders which rely on the player somewhat gaming the system to incite rapid growth.

Despite its issues, SimCity 4 Deluxe is still a great game to me that has offered a lot of nostalgia-driven enjoyment. Its classic graphics and the manual drive missions provide a unique gameplay experience that I haven't seen replicated in any other city builder to date, and the memorable advisors add a lot of personality to the game. SC4D is a solid choice for anyone looking for a classic city-building game, especially for older hardware that won't play nice with the newer titles. The game still goes on sale semi-frequently for massive amounts, and I'd recommend picking it up then.

Rebel brigades active in revolt

Victoria 2 is a grand strategy game that engages you in the economic and political intricacies of the 19th century. The game's economic simulation is unparalleled even today in just about any other strategy title, with a vast array of resources and industries to manage, and a detailed population system that affects everything from your workforce to your military manpower.

The game's fitting soundtrack adds to the overall atmosphere and really helps to transport you back in time. From the orchestral music to the sound effects of factories and trains, everything feels authentic and adds to the immersion.

Although it shares elements of other military strategy games, the game's combat and army management system leave something to be desired. The combat is simplistic and lacks the depth and strategy of other games in the genre, making it feel like an afterthought rather than a core aspect of the game. An entire campaign's climax is decided by the roll of a few dice, which I suppose is fitting in a sense but is simply frustrating in practice. Additionally, army management is clunky and unintuitive, with a confusing interface that can be frustrating to navigate. The lack of any composition template system means every army has to be hand-crafted and any refitting of the armed forces is a micro-intensive practice, disincentivizing large-scale combat.

Despite these shortcomings, I still heavily recommend Vic 2 for fans of grand strategy games. Its economic simulation is top-notch, and the game offers a unique and immersive experience that is still enjoyable nearly a decade and a half later. If you can overlook the game's flaws in combat and army management, you'll find a rich and rewarding game that will keep you engaged for hours on end. Get it on a decent sale if you can.