Recent reviews by Calem Cotton

What at first quick glance might look like a crappy meme game, is actually possibly the best modern "movement shooter" of actuality.
Although still in Early Access, it already has a ton of different weapons and content to unlock, all that together with a very responsive developer that constantly releases amazing updates and a really awesome original soundtrack makes this for an already very pleasant experience, absolutely recommended!

One of the few games that truly lives up to the "Definitive Edition" title: being basically the same game from more than 20 years ago, but completely modernized in every way possible!
Also features a ton of new stuff such as a very easy to use Mods workshop, new maps and modes, constant updates with events, a new much smarter AI and even many new civilizations via DLC.

I cannot recommend this one enough if you are a fan of the original game as it really is it's Definitive edition!

Painis

There's not much that I can comment without spoiling things, but it's a really great and unique experience that's much more than just a card game, I recommend it even if you aren't much a fan of that genre.

My only advice is to try your best to not search about the game too much if you plan to buy it, as possible spoilers really could ruin this very unique game.

What appeared to be a confusing and slow snoozefest at first turned out to be one of the most epic story-driven games I have ever played.

You have about half a hour to explore your solar system... before your sun implodes and vaporizes everything! But it's ok because you were (un)lucky enough to be caught in a temporal loop, being able to repeat these minutes again and again every time you die.
You are the only one aware of said loop and is able to remember everything between your deaths, will you use your infinite lives to gather clues and hopefully save your entire galaxy from dying? Or will you spend your days lazing around and eat marshmallows? Both are fine when you are immortal!

Very interesting zero gravity controls and immersive exploration instead of boring menus and walls of text will keep you engaged and eager to find new places, this together with stunningly beautiful and creative planets turns this game into a strongly remarkable one-time experience.
As someone who hates puzzles, I was also pleasantly surprised to see that all your clues and information are all simplified and summarized in your spaceship computer after being found, no need to be worried about remembering a random text you found in a cave hours ago.

It's not perfect as the flight controls can be hard to get used to, some later areas can be very cryptid to access, and the graphics can also take a big toll of your hardware. But these are very minor annoyances that shouldn't affect your experience too much.

If you were always curious about hunting and guns, but also thinks that killing things in real life sucks, this game can surely help you satisfy such curiosity! Definitely the most realistic hunting experience you can have besides the real thing, with jaw-opening beautiful graphics and lots of variety in places and animals as well as weapons and gear.

The Good:

+Very big emphasis on realism, you will have to stalk, sneak and use the surroundings in your favor to hunt, making that big lion you killed so much more rewarding.

+Impressively massive landscapes with a lot of variety and beautiful viewing spots, it can take hours to walk through them on foot. All the plentiful animals are also permanent residents on it and do not despawn until they are hunted, giving a much more authentic experience.

+The large variety of weapons all sound, handle and work like in their real life counterparts, and you can also pick a big variety of ammunition and scopes, which all change the way you use them even more. Definitely a firearms fans heaven with a ton of fan-service!

+Experience and Levels system that can give you unique perks and abilities to improve your hunter even more in a very RPG way. Also an online multiplayer for up to 8 players in the same map that can create unique fun experiences!

+Truly gorgeous graphics and sound effects that can make you feel like you are really immersed inside the forests. The soundtrack is also nice in the rare moments they exist.


The Bad:

-The very big emphasis on realism can be both a good or bad thing, because if you expect to just enter in-game to shoot lots of animals you will get very frustrated. The animals will try their best to avoid you, or even try to kill you in the rare moments they don't, you will have to work hard to hunt even a single rabbit. There might be better options out there if you are looking for a more arcade experience.

-Very slow start as the game is not good at explaining you everything, and for such a complex game like this it can really make you feel confused or even overwhelmed at the beginning. I can imagine people giving up even before hunting their first animal.

-Tons and tons of DLC, and while they actually add awesome stuff to use like unique maps, gear, hideouts, weapons, animals and even vehicles, it also means you will have to spend way more than the base game value if you want to experience everything .

-The beautiful graphics can be very taxing in your hardware.

Summary:
While 'theHunter: Call of the Wild' can be extremely slow and hard at the beginning, if you are willing to learn and spend time on it, it can also be the most authentic virtual hunting experience you can possibly have, while still being fun like a videogame.

I cannot believe that they put all the time and effort to make these new graphics, but still reused the same atrocious and prehistoric pathfinding of the original game, it actually feels even worse than that.

Your units will constantly fail to attack enemies centimeters away from them, bump and freeze on each other non-stop, take completely non-sensical long routes instead of following a straight line and so on, not to mention the insanely dumb AI.
The new pre-rendered graphics look great, and the new orchestral music is good too, but that's about it, this game is clearly a crude cash-grab on peoples nostalgia. Saying that it's just the exact same old game with revamped graphics and music is no exageration as it has little to no improvements at all.

It can have good nostalgic value, but after one or two matches you will inevitably start to see the abundance of problems that will make you cringe. Would reluctantly pay 5 bucks for this crap at max.

A really good co-op game, like REALLY good. It's hard to explain the game itself, but imagine a Left 4 Dead experience, but way more modern, with 4 distinct classes to choose and a progression system with lots of different weapons and upgrades to try out. Every cave is also completely randomly generated, so you'll always find unique and intense situations, no matter how many hours you play!
It's better playing with other people, but can be played solo just fine.

It's one of the few games that I'm glad that it's still on Beta, because if it's already so awesome like this, imagine when it's finished!

This game had a rough start, with a lack of end-game content, long repetitive dungeons and excessive RNG, I'm not sure if I would be able to recommend it some time ago. But the developers have been giving the game an incredible polish with every update, solving exactly every issue that Maplestory 2 had at launch and staying in touch with it's community, so I can definitely recommend it now!


Positives:

+Very unique and charming chibi graphics with interactive and destructible scenarios.

+Tons of customization options; make your own custom outfit, mount, furniture, music, houses and much more! Despite having a lot of paid content in this department, there's definitely more than enough to create and customize without spending any cent.

+Lots of different classes with their own unique gameplay and plenty of different skill trees to customize. No pressure to pick them as you can reset your skills at any point for free. The gameplay itself is also fast and fun.

+Dungeons and quests often require more than just button mashing, with their own unique mechanics and enemies to be aware of. (Except for very early game)

+Very social game with a lot of fun stuff to do with your friends. Can also be played alone just fine until very late-game.

+Despite being free-to-play, all the in-game purchases are cosmetic only, with no effect on gameplay. No P2W crap!

+Great original soundtrack with a lot of variety.

+Constant events and updates that always add more content; very aware developers that pay attention and interact with their community.


Negatives:

-Although this has been constantly improved, the game optimization still is not on point and can be taxing on your hardware.

-RNG on late-game can frustrate min-maxing players that search for the best stats possible.

-Servers can be laggy and unstable now and then.

-Very unbalanced PvP, certain classes easily dominate it. The game was clearly built with PvE in mind.

-Lots of fetch quests on the storyline, specially early-game.

-Depending of your server, the community can be very vocal and toxic. Fortunately it's possible to ignore this.

-The overly cutesy graphics are not for everyone.

One of the best strategy games of all time, now in HD.