Recent reviews by Romanovzky

We will always have Fallout 2.

A classic.

Yes.

No, I would not recommend this game to my friends, mostly because I like my friends and this game is not something you'd recommend to people you like.

It's not a fun "reverse bullet hell game". Both Vampire Survivors and Halls of Torment are a lot more fun and well designed.

The problems with this game:

- Unlocks are quick, but not "game changing". Then the remaining progression through runes is incredibly slow. Therefore, runs are mostly meaningless as you won't be unlocking anything that will impact your gameplay. After ~6h I have basically all the characters and could have had all the weapons and I only have one achievement, as achievements are unrelated to content/mechanics, just being able to finish maps with certain conditions.
- The only thing deciding a good from a bad run is RNG. There are no "reroll" or "keep roll" mechanics, so you are completely dependent on the the hand you are dealt with the upgrades on level up. This is an issue because...
- There are only very few builds that are viable. So you need to min-max and plan ahead, and if you are not dealt the right upgrades in the first 5 level ups, it's ruined. Again, there is nothing that can help you salvage a run because...
- There are no power up, healing, extra lives, etc just boss drops. This reinforces the idea that most runs are just... boring.
- Boring. The game is just that, boring. The runs are not exciting, just dodging enemies until you get the next disappointing hand of upgrades. The progression with runes becomes grindy, and you feel like you are achieving nothing.
- Graphics: The game is monochromatic. There is no visual cue that differentiates player from environment. Almost all of my deaths were accidental deaths. It's visually saturated with sprites of the same 3 colours, and once it becomes a bullet hell, it's impossible to not die without understanding why.

In summary: boring, lazy derivative, repetitive, grindy, badly designed, not fun.

Do yourself a favour and get Vampire Survivors and/or Halls of Torment instead.

The patches have significantly improved the game and I can now enjoy playing it. There are still some awkward decisions which I don't like (no view rotation, slow menus, etc), but it's now feeling like an acceptable remake. As promised, I've changed my review to positive.

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Original (negative) review:

The game is an unplayable buggy mess. I will change the review once my saves don't brick because the priority is not working, I can't comply with a request because the game is not counting the amount of items on my storage correctly, etc.

It's a shame that in 2023 games can still be released with such low QA and amateur implementation of systems... this is not an "indie dev", this is not their first game, this is not an obscure IP... I don't get it, the game is not ready for release.

It's like playing with the most evil and sadistic dungeon master you have ever met. I don't understand how can someone do such a terribly unforgiving and painful campaign. I am a dungeon master for the tabletop version of this campaign, and I would not have any players if I was dungeon mastering like this game.

The first rule of pathfinder/dungeons and dragons is: have fun, adapt to the players' expectations and play along. This game was designed with only one gamestyle in mind: the minmaxing meta-gamer. This is not a fun experience, but a frustrating, infuriating, and ultimately a massive waste of time and money.

Highly recommended with a proper ending mod (check on Nexus). The game aged well, it's a hallmark of game development and design. An artefact of a bygone era of single-player games. I wish that the had games of this magnitude and on a novel IP/universe line up, but it seems that the industry has moved to franchises and less risk-taking. It's a shame that we won't have another epic trilogy again...

Look, I didn't ask for an update that bricked my late-stage save on a game that hasn't seen any new relevant content in years. F*ck you Bethesda for imposing this on us, and f*ck you Steam for not letting me choose the version of the game I want to run. Typical case where we are reminded that we do not own the games we have on our Steam library.

Unfortunately I will never play this game for the first time again.