Recent reviews by phobos2077

(I'm updating my review from negative to positive, after some valuable game improvements)

The good:
- A huge selection of weapons in a sandbox game with no restrictions. Spawn any weapon/item/ammo you like and shoot. Great for firearm enthusiasts who want to hold and shoot large variety of weapons.
- Additional game modes where you actually have some resemblance of a gameplay - a sentient man-height sausages who can use various weapon against you and also have some kind of basic tactical AI.
- High level of interactivity for weapons. You can load bullets into magazines one by one! There's even a fully simulated flintlock pistol!
- Weapon selection is not limited to Western weapons. There's a good amount of Soviet and Russian weapons too. Зашибись.
- There is finally a "streamlined" mode where you can interact with 95% of weapon features using intuitive controls on Touch controllers. It's ALMOST perfect (see below).
- In the latest update, bullets are now loaded into guns and magazines with a smooth and very satisfying animation. Such a pleasure to look at!

The bad:
- For non-Vive users there's no option to use press the grip button once to pick up and hold a weapon (like in Saints&Sinners). You're forced to either use the trigger to pick up weapons (as counter-intuitive as it gets), or HOLD the grip button the WHOLE TIME you need to hold the weapon. At least for me, this is somewhat counter-intuitive, but you get used to it.
- To interact with weapons you either use the trigger/grip on an off-hand while hovering over an interactive area (like optics) or you use a thumbstick on your main hand. On Touch controllers you need to move the thumbstick to a certain position and press it to trigger a weapon action action. This might've been fine for rare interactions, but because you use it all the time to use weapons it gets really uncomfortable really fast. With new streamlined controls it's not a problem - but I suspect some weapon features might not be available in this mode.
- There seems to be some kind of physics issue where when you use streamlined controls and move, your "character" movement happens at a reduced frame rate. It might be due to some of my settings (Quest 2 via Link), but I think that's unlikely, because hand/weapon movements are very smooth.


Conclusion:

After recent updates the game finally got some much needed quality improvements. This is THE difinitive gun nut VR game/app. If you're fond of firearms and have VR - you MUST get this.

Absolutely must have for any PC VR owner. The best VR shooter I've played so far.

PROs:
- Cool visual style.
- Classy cyberpunk-style music.
- Great variety of weapons.
- Randomization - every playthrough is different.
- Mutators add even more variety.
- Surprising enemies.
- Progression system.. where you really improve your tactical skills (shooting, reloading, movement) as you play more.
- It's actively getting improvements for more content, variety and better gameplay.

CONs:
- There aren't any! Well maybe enemy AI is a bit primitive, but I think this is intentional. Due to the hardcore nature of the game, having simple, highly predictable enemy AI makes for a better gameplay.
- Single playthrough is a bit short (under an hour). But having a longer game might also go against the "roguelike" nature of the game... Maybe if you had some kind of checkpoints along the campaign? + dying you loose all inventory, etc.

Verdict: Why are you still reading this? Go and buy the game NOW!

They say HL: Alyx is the only "real" VR game worth playing? Think again. I've started playing this right after finishing Alyx, and at first I had mixed feelings about the game. Mainly the punishing nature of stamina system and soft time limit presented at each scavenging run. But the more I played it, unlocking more and more weapons, learning to really loot fast & smart, killing/avoiding zombies as you go. This is a very unique experience. The way all VR games should strive for - a completely unique experience with full blown plot and 15-20hrs of gameplay. This game is much more than Alyx!

CONs:
- Punishing stamina system, might be too much for casual gamers.
- Harsh time limit on every run. It's almost impossible to get to the exit once the bells are ringing (unless you use the bits cut off from a certain zombie type which is unlocked later in the game).
- Cartoonish art style in a game with such serious tone, might not be for everyone's taste.
- Pushes SJW agenda (not too bad, but very noticeable still).
- There's very few side quests and they all short.
- Quests/dialogs often break due to the nature of the gameplay and poor quest scripting.
- There are very few likeable characters.

PROs:
- Amazing greatly designed main gameplay loop.
- Full blown single-player RPG-like story in a VR game. That's very rare.
- Great weapon variety.
- Great melee system, maybe one of the best in VR.
- Firearms are very satisfying to shoot and operate.
- Great crafting system - not too shallow, not too complicated.
- Lots of optional locations to explore with world-driven narratives.

Verdict: MUST BUY for all PC VR users.

Best remaster of any game I've EVER seen in my 25 years of gaming.

Pros:
- Cool atmospheric maps covered in snow.
- Great map design and balance.
- Flawless weapon configs.

Cons:
- Bad Russian voiceovers.

Unrefined gem.

My perspective: casual OpenTTD player. Skipped previous games from this dev. Focused on gameplay and tycoon side of things (not a train junkie etc.).

Positives:
- Amazing graphics for this type of game (with familiar vehicles from Asia/Russia, America or Europe). You can actually see every passenger in vehicles and every unit of cargo on platforms!
- I like the art-style approach in this game, unlike most modern games. It's a perfect balance between over-saturated slightly "cartoonish" style and grim&dull realistic representation of the world. Just like a modern version of good old TT.
- Amazing passenger agent system where you can track every single person as he travels to/from work or shopping, even between cities etc.
- Cargo supply/demand system similar to Cargodist in OTTD. Here it has very clearly designed mechanics and works very well.
- A lot of the familiar features from TT (though some stuff is simplified-away).
- Finally a full-blown campaign (18 missions, 1-3 hours each) and not *just* a random game.
- Covers the history of transportation from 1850 to 2000 (just the way I've always wanted in OTTD).

Negatives:
- Track/road laying is tedious (a lot of extra clicks, can't automatically follow the terrain elevation).
- A lot of small/medium usability issues with UI (bugs, illogical/inefficient workflows, etc.).
- No vehicle maintenance/breakdowns mechanics from TT. Instead you have an "emissions" mechanic. I liked having to send my vehicles to maintenance on their schedule in TTD, it gives extra challenge etc.
- Primary industries produce always the same amount. You can "upgrade" secondary industries by efficiently supplying them and their consumers, but there's no random element like in TTD where some industries produce better yields etc. which gave some more variety. Having the same amounts of cargo everywhere might be dull.
- Performance issues (objects like trees eat way too much frame time etc.).
- Can't use modifier keys for hotkeys, and you need to use a lot of them!
- Campaign missions are not challenging at all. Most tasks are trivial. Few hard tasks have obvious exploits to easily achieve them not the way the game suggested. Overall it's not that bad and is entertaining for me.

I've only played the campaign so far. Want to finish it before starting a full random game. Might update my review afterwards.

Very interesting strategy/simulation game with it's own setting and art style.

What got me hooked to play the game:
- Unpredictable gameplay (you got a "storyteller" that entertains you by providing random challenges, events and quests)
- Freedom to play how you want (just like any other sandbox game)
- Music (especially with "P-music" mod)
- Nice graphics and sound effects that really immerse you into the world ("nice" by 2D game standards, minus minimalistic yet charming style of the characters)
- Clearly defined game world lore (as opposed to "soup" of random fantasy elements in other games like Terraria, Starbound, Minecraft, etc.)
- There is just enough content that is very well balanced (you wouldn't find 100 types of the same items with exactly the same stats, like in other games with crafting; this is a plus because it keeps you focused on gameplay without overwhelming with useless information)
- There is an optional end goal that is hard to reach with unique challenges
- Interesting yet simple combat system (sometimes reminds me of original XCOM but in real-time and simpler)
- MODS (arguably THE selling point of the game)

What I didn't like (this applies to unmodded game):
- Your colonists are very stupid in the way they choose which work to do and how. There is a work tab where you can define priorities of which work which colonist should do, but it's not working for the game in 50% of cases. For example you have a bunch of items that needs hauling, some of them are deteriorating (like vegetables after harvest) while others are not (like steel). Yet they would not priorities more important items based on real assessment of the situation. You have to manually order them all the time. This is partially fixed by mods below and you can use some hard-core mods like Work Tab, but they turn the game into a spreadsheet simulator instead of actually fixing AI to behave like ♥♥♥♥ Sapiens.
- The pacing of gameplay and progression is VERY slow. I guess this was intentional, but be ready to invest tens of hours into single playthrough. So this is more like a game that you play occasionally to chill out over a long period as opposed to games that you can "beat" over a weekend. MAYBE it's possible to beat the game in 2 days but certainly not in the first playthrough :)

Now if you're still reading this and considering playing the game, I HIGHLY recommend using some essential QoL mods even for the first playthrough. You can start with unmodded game and whenever you find yourself frustrated over some "broken" or just irritating aspect of gameplay, just search for a mod on Workshop.

Some of the mods that improved my game immensely:
- Allow tool
- Animals logic
- Numbers
- Pick up and haul
- Mining priority (check out all mods by Uuugggg)
- Smart medicine