Recent reviews by @SS@SS!N

I got this a part of my humble choice monthly sub. Didn’t think much of it until I burned out on hogwarts legacy and needed something to play. Installed this game and at about an hour in, i knew this game was special.

The fact that not a lot of devs are making survival horror set in the Middle Ages should be a crime. It is the perfect time line to do it. People lead miserable lives, die of war, disease, starvation etc and this game captures all of that beautifully. Just in terms of atmosphere alone it is one of my absolute favorites. The visuals, the music, the art do a tremendous job of really immersing you in this historical hellhole. And the rats… holy Christ the rats. Nightmare fuel.


As for the gameplay, I enjoyed the take on survival stealth. You can’t really action hero your way through this game (until you upgrade the sling). You have to play cautiously, smartly and use the environment to your advantage. You get no health bars. If you get caught and hit you will die. Each leve is a set piece with puzzles to solve involving rats, your use of fire and cleverly avoiding (or killing) the various human nuisance along the way.

There is an upgrade system in the game but it isn’t that extensive… it is however, extremely useful. I appreciate this take. The early levels have you managing your resources (you don’t get much) and encourage you to explore and take risks to get that one piece of cord/leather/fabric for that one upgrade to change your gameplay. If you’re diligent, and explore each level you will be rewarded with a pretty powerful character. The game becomes more action packed but it never loses that horror/survival aspect.

Overall, this was a pleasant, amazing surprise hit for me this year. The mixture of great atmosphere, awesome time period, engaging gameplay and tremendous story really elevate the whole package. It’s not a long game, but it throws you into one hell of a roller coaster ride. Get it if you love survival with a mix of mysticism, gore and spiritual horror.

9/10.

If you click on the review graph for this game it sums up the overall quality. It is, average. Is it a good game? Well that depends. If you love the arkham series the way it was, you probably wont like this game. The tone, combat and loot system wont be your cup of tea. If you like an open world "assassins creed style" game set in gotham then you will enjoy this game immensely.

Here is what I liked:

Story - good overall story for each knight. It is much lighter in tone compared to the Arkham series but it was enjoyable nonetheless. you get a better understanding of each person's motivations and how they feel about Batman's death. The interactions between them are good. It feels natural if not a little on the CW "arrowverse" side. No complaints for me

Combat - Overall, i like the combat. No it doesn't have a counter system like arkham but I would argue that it kind of does... you just have to dodge perfectly to activate it. Again, each knight has their own distinct style of play and it really shows. Nightwing is acrobatic, robin causes general chaos around him and red hood is a sledgehammer. Batgirl is probably the closest to Bruce out of the 3. There is some weidness with how this game aims (its kind of random) and groups of enemies can be super frustrating to fight but overall, even with those complaints the combat is solid. its rhythm based so once you get a good flow in you feel unstoppable.

Loot - Its a simple loot system. You have 3 slots (weapon, armor, ranged) that vary in quality (common - legendary). There are perks attached to each loot (epic and legendary) that can influence your playstyle. theres also a mod system in place but its pretty simple as it just buffs your basic attributes (power, health/defense/resistance, crit chance/dmg, elemental buildup). Nothing super complex but its deep enough to make builds out of. Transmog is also locked behind gear schematics so if you want to look a certain way get to farming.


Open World - Very assassin's creed. you go around fighting criminals to build up clues that reveal "premeditated crimes" (think open world quests.) Can get repetitive but there is a random bonus objective thats usually tied to each premeditated crime. Higher difficulties give you better rewards. Tons of collectibles. Your mileage may vary here but personally for me, this format is very enjoyable. The combat and loot aspect carry it for me but if youre the type of gamer who doesn't like doing the same 8 different things repeatedly you might not like it.


Bosses - Seperate category for me. you have a group of campaign bosses (court of owls and league) and 3 side bosses. the optional ones have a parallel story alongside the story. They are decently designed but can be frustrating to fight. This is a design issue. They can be a bit spongy and have some attacks that are annoying to deal with. its not souls level difficult but it is respectable enough. Being overgeared for encounters can drastically lower the difficulty though so if youre stuck, improve your gear and try again.



What I don't like


Performance - the performance of this game is ass on PC. random crashes, random FPS stutters and crazy texture popins. This is probably the game's biggest problem and will most likely affect your overall enjoyment of the game. I got this after the 1st major patch (which apparently broke the game) which is almost 2 months ago. No fixes for it yet. Its bad enough that it takes you well out of the game and can really frustrate you. when it runs well, it is absolutely beautiful. when it doesn't, it will piss you off.
The game received a performance patch on 2/15 and after logging back in and playing for a few hours i noticed that there has been a pretty big improvement in game stability. The stuttering is mostly gone, even in open world (i kept my FPS capped at around 60-90) The texture pop ins have drastically reduced (its still there when you ride the batcycle but not nearly as bad) and just the overall smoothness of the game is a lot better. This was one of my biggest complaints with this game and they mostly fixed it. I recommended it despite the issues but now i can also add that you should consider really trying it if youre even vague interested in DC/Batman/Batfamily/Open World.


Overall, I liked the game. I would recommend it but don't expect this to be the AAA game it wants to be. at $60? this is a pass. don't get it. On sale? you should. Just ask yourself if you like the characters and the open world assassin's creed games. if it's a yes, then get it, you can sink 100 hrs into it and really get your money's worth. Also, if you can, wait for a performance patch that (hopefully.... fix your damn game WB) will come out.

An RPG set in the King Arthur universe is just about the most generic thing anyone could do but since I am a sucker for Arthurian stuff I decided to give this game a shot.

And boy let me tell you, I sure glad I did. A lot of people compare it to xcom, which it shares a lot of systems with... however i like to compare it to pillars of eternity in terms of combat flow. What neocore managed to do with the combat system is nothing short of amazing. Each hero has something unique about them even within their class (which there are 4 classes of) that changes the way you play. For example, both Merlin and Faerie Knight are arcanists (mages) but one does fire and illusions/disruptions and the other can teleport around the map debuffing enemies and backstabbing them. Another example is Mordred and Percivale, both tanks but one focuses on lightning/stuns and the other lights enemies on fire and taunts enemies. There are dozens of different variations between heroes and there is a pretty deep layer of strategy involved in finding the right team, building each hero to their strengths (the hero talent trees are deep) and equipping the right items to make them shine. wrap that all into a great combat system and it will have you hooked. Once you get the right team/build on the field the things your heroes could do are truly amazing. its turn based but it feels so dynamic to play.

There is a basebuilding aspect on here and its pretty good. I don't consider it a highlight of the game but you do have options in terms of buffing up your castle to give bonuses to heroes or generate income etc. its intuitive and is a good support system for the main game.

The story is pretty generic, but the voice acting and the cutscenes really carry it. Its not some profound cinematic masterpiece but its enjoyable enough. Mordred is a highlight for sure.

Overall, if youre on the fence about this and you like games like xcom, divinity, pillars of eternity, then this game is well worth your time. Its has one of the best combat systems in its genre and it just feels like a complete package. Elden Ring is my game of the year so far but this one really surprised me. its probably my 2nd favorite game this year.

You can see my playtime so ill just give you a snippet of my playthrough:

I killed my future mother in law
I laid with a questionable woman and she gave me herpes... and the cure at the same time, daring me to use it so i can lay on her again.
I met the biggest chad in all of gaming and his favorite horse.
I got mugged in stormveil
My in game girlfriend is dead and i found her corpse. I carry a blow up doll of her to talk to when i rest at a shrine of grace
I survived Melania, Blade of Miquella. She has now known defeat, but lives in me deepest nightmares every single night
I spent 20 hours wandering around the same part of the map trying to reach an item... which ended up being 3x arteria leaf (this is not a very valuable item)
I have screamed at my monitor for 35 of the approx 205 hours i played. I cried silently at the remaining 170


But most of all, this is the greatest gaming experience I have had in the last 20 years. Pain and all. If you dont like Souls games because ErMeGeRd So HaRD I suggest not being a little pansy and git gud. If youre a souls vet like me, get better. this is the hardest Souls game they have made yet.