Recent reviews by Ludovsky

Honestly one of my favorite spin-off titles of the wider Dragon Quest franchise.

You rarely expect "minecraft clone" to have enjoyable stories but that's because Dragon Quest Builders isn't Minecraft with a Dragon Quest skin, but instead it's Dragon Quest with a Minecraft skin.

Wonderful and adorable game, I still love reaching the last chapter and finale of this story. You wouldn't expect this to be a game one would play multiple times but I am now at my fourth playthrough of this game and it's story and I still enjoy it a ton.

Sincerely, I wish so badly for there to be a Dragon Quest Builders 3 that can follow-up on what 2 did and introduced the way DQB2 followed-up on what 1 did and hinted at would be coming with DQB2(as a lot of DQB2's eventual features were hinted at in DQB1 through dialogues and easter eggs, and there's a lot to feel DQB2 might have done the same for hypothetical feature and setting of a possible Builders 3 game).

Finally updated my review now that the game is out!

Where to start? Well, I like it! It definitely is a title worth supporting in my eyes.

I always feel "real time" roguelike games put too much emphasis on high speed action and twitch reflexes. In comparison, The Pit has a slower pace encouraging more deliberate exploration where there is no wasted movement. In between now and when I last played in Early Access, I can say things that were already promising back then have already changed even further for the best.

As a sidenote: As of this writing, I have not yet played multiplayer still as it is something I tend to do exclusively with friends, but I intend to update this review as soon as I do!

Graphics: Graphics is perhaps mixed with simple textures(that nonetheless fit with the more stylicized characters models) but what I consider really immersive lighting effects. There is something to be said at how I was amazed by the dark corridors lit only by orange light and blazing sections of broken walls while hazes of smokes surround me or damaged electric wires causes arcs of lighting that adds not only to the immersion of this broken down facility...but also another real hazard for the player(more onto that later). Kerberos have shown there are really cool handle on lighting and atmosphere.
I also have a personal fondness for all the first person animation showing our character leaning forward and prying open containers and doors with bare hands or tapping away on a keypad with their fingers. These add a really nice touch of immersion and you can almost feel at times the character straining trying to force open a jammed broken container.

Sounds: Sounds are pretty decent. Best is the groaning and growls of distant monsters you can't yet see but whose cries alerts you to their presence whilst further adding to the atmosphere of this facility when you hear a far away growl as you sneaks through a haze-filled dark corridor lit only by the blaze of broken machinery.
Weapons and monsters effects are usually serviceable but a slight caveat might have to be given to melee weapons which feels like they lack a bit of audio "ooomph" which hinders a bit their ability to communicate hits and misses.

Gameplay: The meat of the game... but then again is there any game where it isn't?
The gameplay of The Pit Infinity is that of a first person roguelike rpg. While a lot of other games in that category seem to favor the "first person" part with fast-paced action and reflexes-intensive gameplay, The Pit favor the more methodical RPG side of things. In this category it might even share some DNA with System Shock 2 in possessing fleshed out inventory systems alongside multitudes of skills, not all of them tied to weapons. One of the three playable characters, the Engineer, in fact specializes in most of the just as crucial non-combat side of skills. It turns out that in a broken alien research facility, knowing how to repair computers and machinery is very helpful!

And this is one of the interesting side of things. Though there are still only three playable characters(more might be added in DLCs. More on that later!), the mere selections of their starting inventories and skills truly set them apart. and allow each to feature very specialized playstyle. From the bash&gun of the marine mowing through monsters or the technical expertise of the engineer who repair crucial stations or unlock containers housing helpful gear, or even the versatile scouts with her superior foraging skills.

Nonetheless, this is a roguelike's roguelike. So expect it to be tough. On my first run, I didn't get through the third floor despite previously breezing through the first two. Carelessness from my part played a heavy hand in it however. But you'll want to ration your healing items less you run out when you actually need them. Pace your food less you truly starve with no backup rations. Explore as much as you can to get the resource you need but also not tarry lest you run out of resources or even just ammo from fending off all the monsters of a floor only to be defenceless come the next floor. In other words, it's challenging! But it's also a kind of challenge I've found that is surprisingly accessible.
In barely little time, there was little confusion to me as to what was needed for which or which did what in the game.

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So really, it's a game I enjoy a fair deal(which is a thing I can't say of many roguelikes!), with a slower but still engaging deliberate pace. I'd consider it well worth the purchase!

Now as a final note, I'd like to also mention something else about this game. The Pit: Infinity is actually a reimagining of one of Kerberos' own games, Sword of the stars: The Pit. The original was a 2D roguelike with traditional turn based movement... but also one of Kerberos' most successful games(whose DNA is obvious in TP:Inifinity for anyone who played the original!) not just in term of sales, but prolongued support.

From an initial cast of three characters, SOTS:The Pit went on to add multitudes of DLCs adding at least seven new characters to the game and many new mechanics such as psychic powers.

So if you buy The Pit Infinity, you'll likely not just be buying just a game but the creation of some of the most persevering devs I've got to witness in gaming(SOTS:The Pit again stands out from having made it to release despite an only partly funded indiegogo campaign, the devs paying of their own pocket and time to bring it to completion) and should your support help them achieve success you can be assured that they in turn will deliver for a long haul and beyond.

So they have my utmost confidence that not only the game as it stands is good, but that any success it achieves will make it that much greater.

I'm certainly looking forward for the chance to play the Morrigi Striker in full 3D glory in Infinity someday.

First for those who are worried: This isn't needed to play the game in the slightest.
This isn't an instruction manual so there is no reason to complain "They should have included this with the game". It is truly "extra" material in all sense of the term, but damn if it's a good example of such.

What this IS, is an in-depth and extremely well written "lore guide" with ton of very nice material and in-depth description of the game universe and history, written by one of the original writers who worked on the original Homeworld. However, while the manual for homeworld was split between a lore and larger "how-to-play" section, this thing is dedicated ONLY to universe lore and development.
There's concept art, audio material and more that you just couldn't have in a paper manual.

This is literally a love letter sent to all fans of the series ever since the 1999 Homeworld 1 and should be a must-buy for those fans or even just fans who enjoy their game well-written in-depth universe lore. I never thought I'd say this for something like this,but with the amount of content in this small digital manual(ontop of a very nice development journal describing the game's own journey from Hardware to "Homeworld 3") but this thing IS worth the price asked for.

Seriously, this is comparable to those "Star Wars Universe Guidebook" you'd sometimes buy at libraries for 30$(when not more!) except it's not even a small PDF file, but literally a collection of not only concept art but rotatable 3D models, audio content and other such things you couldn't even have in a physical book. And all they're asking for this is only 5.99$(a still more than manageable 6.49$ if you are canadian like me).

Sure this is non-essential "extra" material, but damn is it well worth the price asked with all they've done with it for fans of Homeworld or of immersive lore in general, as well as those who enjoy "making-of" material which it is also rife with.

On my first day playing, I smashed through Anchorage, Albuquerque and vandalized the Quebec city national assembly and Chateau Frontenac Hotel with a giant robot dinosaur before returning to a Xcom-like world map full of wreckable cities when my giant robot Kaiju tromped back to my secret base which was promptly upgraded with another power plant as I gear up to build my tier 2 training facility to unlock new abilities for my giant pet robot Kaiju.

10/10 Will play again :)

Also ran superby nice on my Surface Pro 3.

Playtime is very short but...
It's got both the Homeworld 1 an 2 you've known and loved kept in their original forms.

And you get bonus, completely graphically remastered versions of both as a bonus. Graphic job is really awesome. Seeing the HW1 ships, all of them really, modernized is just awesome.

Not only that, but the multiplayer beta actually allows you to launch the HW1 races against the HW2 ones if you want. There's nothing like taking those olde salvettes(salvage corvettes for the uninitiated) to yoink those vaygr missile frigates to bring back to your mothership for capture. Races of both games literally kept the majority of their ways of doing thing(except perhaps for strikecraft fuel) from their respective games... yet both of them meeting in combat in the same multiplayer skirmish somehow works very nicely. Stuff like HW1 races still using research ships(instead of carrier or mothership modules) for tech, or salvage corvettes instead of marines frigates.
In fact in the later's cases the way players capture ships has been kept intact for the players of both teams with HW1 races using their salvage corvettes to physically latch onto enemy ships to drag them back to the mothership for captures(being able to capture down to strikecrafts if so wished) whereas HW2 races still uses marines frigates that physically board enemy capital ships to capture them on the spot but are unable to capture strikecraft as well as having a hard time to maneuver around other frigates which HW1 salvettes can easily latch to.

Similarly, races of both games still handle strikecrafts respectively the way that they used to with HW1 races building and deploying them as individual units while HW2 races seems to still build and deploys theirs as squadrons. Encounters between the two have, so far, seemingly remained balanced(I've had some fun taking a group of HW1 Heavy and multigun corvettes against a bunch of Vaygr strikecrafts, or later deploying a HW1 strikecrafts-locking gravwell to immobilizes a rush of enemy strikecrafts from that same player).

There's also some new gameplay options such as capturable relics on the map able to give you various advantages during a multiplayer game, over which you can see some scuffle between players for the control of, amongst a couple of other things.

And, hey, the game just got released and already there's Steam Workshop support with mods for HW1&2 Classic already being released.