Recent reviews by Solace

Went to pay my taxes in the capital...

Ran by a blacksmith grumbling about their work and the state of the city like an old man.

Said blacksmith was a 9-year-old girl.

RNG Hilarity within. Also an extremely solid Sandbox/Rpg/Roguelike . Many systems are incomplete or missing in the current state of early access, but there's so much freedom to work with mechanics that it barely matters.

Random example: The Anvil for blacksmithing gear isn't fully implemented yet, there are no recipes.... Yet, there exists ways to mash your ingots together and break things until they become Iron "stones", and you can then make iron gear on the "stonemason" bench because they're stones in the eyes of the game now...

Yes, it sounds wacky. Yes, it IS wacky... But it is glorious. (Steep learning curve)

Ah, remasters. Games so good you buy them twice.

Wait... Another remaster? A third purchase?

Hmmmm..

Still recommended. Good game... But Bethesda likes money.

Worth it for the game.

Worth it for the mods.

One of the worst dev groups on steam.

Totally abandoned game, reused almost all of the assets in Demonologist. Don't talk about the truth in any of their socials (including discord) or you'll get the ban hammer.

There's 1 map. That's it. Same puzzles each time.

0.1/10

Oof. Where to start with this one...

There's almost no audio in the game which makes it feel hollow.

Driving is BEYOND horrible.

Getting Multiplayer to work was a nightmare (took the majority of my 'play time' to be able to connect to my wife's game) and the integration with steam is quite bad.

Chopping trees is dumb. You press E, the entire tree falls over, press E again and it instantly turns into perfect logs. Then you chop it into planks. Chopping a single log into 2 planks takes longer than felling the entire tree. This in particular was an extreme disappointment to me, as most similar games have far more in-depth logging/forestry options.

Building is extremely basic for a SIM game, it feels more like an arcadey survival game (Grounded, Valheim, Etc), but without the functioning systems that make those fun. In Ranch Simulator, it's slow, boring, clunky. --- I do want to acknowledge that the end result can look good though.

The movement animations are so bad. When you jump, you flail around weirdly and your legs kick straight back. It looks weird.

Opening the build book with the flash light on is like getting flashbanged IRL.

FOV Scaling makes some stuff impossible to read.

Shop menu/navigation is terrible. Things that should be in certain categories are absent. I.E. buying the chicken egg basket - this is only visible under 'all', and is not considered a 'tool' or 'farming item'.

The font for quests/completing shopping purchases does not fit the game at all...

For a simulation game, the systems are barebones (and even that doesn't go far enough to describe how empty everything feels IMO), not engaging, boring, and plain. There's a gross lack of actual simulation to begin with. Everything is just Press E Simulator. Also, it is the opposite of immersive, which is a problem for a sim.

***No horses.*** - EDIT - I am incorrect here as per developer response.

Gunplay is bad. Reloading is unresponsive. Wasn't really expecting something in-depth like theHunter, but I was expecting more.

Most of the stuff in this game is done better in the Farming Simulator series, theHunter, or other similar sims.

I could go on about I encountered in this game rubbed me the wrong way, but I think I've described enough.

Edits - Softened some of the harsher language that resulted from being extremely disappointed, and focused in on review points. I play several sims that do each element far better and was hoping for some sort of incorporation of them all with fun gameplay elements. I simply feel let down by nearly all of the mechanics in game. They exist, but they're not fulfilling (in my opinion).

I would have loved to get lost in the game, particularly since co-op exists and I love these style of games with my wife, but unfortunately this one (in its current state) is not for us. And unfortunately I do not have confidence that every system will be reworked, so I will not be purchasing the game again.

Good game. Very fun tbh.

Do not recommend for one simple fact: They made a complete authoritative toolbag a mod on their discord. Got banned because I did not listen to his holiness about having an unpopular opinion. Sad that they'd let someone so unhinged moderate the discord to make it a soulless echo chamber.

Protip: The Maria Room puzzle is fake and not in the game as of Sept. 18th 2023. You can confirm this via tools to view triggers in UE5 through the game client. If you're familiar with the lore of the Maria Room puzzle.. Don't bother. A lying CM led the community on a wild goose chase for something that didn't exist.. .Now the existing mods will ban you for saying it doesn't exist! :)

Edit: Just over 6 months later. Community managers (and by extension, the whole team given who manages the discord), the Maria Room lies are still being pushed. And it's still not in game. Big shocker. On top of that, the game is super busted now. Evidence tools barely work, if at all, and voice recognition is broken.

So now there are several reasons I would recommend against this game. Please avoid.

Causes of death:

1) "Rescue" chopper making loads of noise, attracting a massive horde.

2) Forgetting to turn the oven off with a sausage in it, resulting in house fire whilst I was asleep.

3) Sneaking through the crowded streets of a town, very cautious, very quiet... Stealth kill a zombie, grab his electronic watch to disassemble later... On the exit, realize the watch had an alarm as it goes off *BEEP BEEP*... The hordes were alerted, I was no more.

4) Standing too close to a campfire. Set myself on fire, burn infected... Died. (I'm stealing a grill next time...)

Those are my top deaths by memory. Highly recommended game.

High difficulty (unless you play on easy...) tactical RPG game.

I own the board game. I've dumped hours into the Tabletop simulator version...

Highly enjoyable (with friends). Would suggest you read the actual board game manual for rules understanding and play to the spirit of the game w/ friends (Don't give specific details about what you're doing, no initiative numbers, etc).

Not suggested for solo.

Overall recommended. The game has a few weak points, but the overall experience is worthwhile. I will attempt to address some common questions in this review.

Before we get into common questions I see, I will address one of the biggest problems for entry: THE TUTORIAL IS HOT GARBAGE. It leaves out the vast majority of relevant gameplay bits you will need to know to succeed. You will be met with a rough learning curve. You will die. Early and often. Once you get the basics, the game honestly isn't terribly hard. With that out of the way:

1) Is the game playable solo?
A: Yes, the game is entirely playable solo. The mob health and number of nightly mobs is at its lowest in solo. Note that the prices of town upgrades/items do not scale down. This is part of the intentional balance. Since mobs are less, the upgrades are relatively stronger. Solo balance is decent.

2) Is the game playable with # people?
A: Yes. It is entirely possible to play with anywhere from 1 - 10 players. Critical note: The balance is -playable- at all levels, but it is the ABSOLUTE HARDEST in a duo.
Explanation: From solo - duo most monsters have double health, but each increase from players 3 - 10 is much less than double. at 10 Players, you're looking at around 4x mob health from solo (or 2x duo). The scaling curve ramps up arguably too much at 2p versus 10p. I play almost exclusively duo. Either difficulty/scaling needs to be INCREASED at higher player counts, or the scaling curve needs to be more flattened to make 2p close to equally difficult with other player counts.

3) Is this an action RPG? Survival game?
A: No. Not really. It has action RPG elements, survival elements... This game borrows from many genres. Resource collecting, crafting (your gear and town upgrades), and (uncommon) extreme temperature biomes are the survival elements. ARPG elements include monster hordes at night and combat. There's a total of 10 levels in a world where you can mostly fill out your selected class (out of 2 initial classes plus 6 unlockable) talent tree.

4) What kind of game is it then?
A: Defend your base.. But not with towers (Though 6 stationary, archer towers can be build in predetermined locations). You start from level 1 each time, giving it a veneer of roguelike elements, but unlock permanent customization options that can range from starting gear to recipes and cosmetics.

5) Should I buy the game?
A: Well, I'm recommending it. The combat needs some tweaks to "feel" better, but is passable. The gameplay loop and unlock system is mildly enjoyable. The big fun for me is playing duo with my wife. It's challenging. We enjoy it. The game won't blow your socks off, but it's quite fun. It just released too, so it'll likely get better! Give it a shot. If you hate it immediately, there's always the refund option (<2 hours played!)

Good game. Particularly on all of the hardest difficulty settings - it'll test your strategy chops.

RNG can test the limits of your frustration at times, but assumed risk is part of this games bag of necessary tricks.