Recent reviews by thekillerlance

Fairly short, 4-7 hours for the average player. Fits into the theme of the game really well. A new boat tier with added cargo space, some modular equipment parts with buffs, and a tier of upgraded of rods. Lots of new fish to catch.

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The Iron Rig is a great addition to the world of Dredge. Unlike the first DLC (The Pale Reach) this isn't a whole area, but a central hub and added content in the other main areas of the game. It adds a bunch of new equipment (5 upgraded rods, 2 trawl nets, 1 crab pot, 3 consumables, 3 baits, 3 ability upgrades, and 6 modular boat improvements). There's 56 new types of fish and crabs including aberrations, and 12 new achievements.

Playtime: 4-7 hours for the DLC content. A little bit more than what they say on the store page. Naturally your mileage may vary.

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Integration - The DLC itself is a great addition to the game. Unlike the Pale Reach which was a standalone area, this one adds new content in the five base areas of the game. You make your way between those sites and the Rig itself gathering materials and advancing the storyline. It fits the world very well.

New Ship Tier - Three-quarters through the DLC you get access to a new tier of ship upgrade. It adds 11 cargo slots. Sadly no new equipment slots, but it's still very nice.

Factory (Tier 2, Material Gathering) - There's a new trawling net added here called The Material Harvester and it's fantastic. It's a great way to get some materials to make the Ironhaven Crates for the upgrades and equipment in the DLC.

Tech Lab (Tier 2, Hull & Stat Improvements) - There's six upgrades, and half of them are wonderful. You get the ability to tune how your boat feels and controls. My personal favorites are upgrades to Turning Speed, Reversing Speed, and Heat Absorption which lets you use Haste much longer before needing to cool down. These buffs are stackable, so you have to balance cargo space which is pretty neat. All of these are 1x1 items and they don't need to be fitted to your ship. You can place them freely in any square and move them around as necessary.

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Story - The new side-story follows a classic tale of corporate greed. Executives digging too deep and biting off more than they could chew at the expense of their workers. It's pretty straight-forward, and brings you from point-to-point. There's a really interesting bit of lore that I hope gets expanded upon, but I have a feeling that most people will miss it unless they're extremely thorough. The story ends really abruptly and didn't have a ton of closure until I found that lore bit. Not to mention that no one on the Rig seems to react when the scientist jumps through a window and into the ocean.

Factory (Tier 1, Equipment Infusion) - This part of the Rig adds some new tiers of rods. I'm kind of sad that there isn't an upgraded version of the Versatile Rod. The Hoist, Coiling, and Fireproof rods are required for the main questline, the Winch and the Basic Rod are easily ignored. The standard Winch might be helpful in catching Fish #230, since it lowers the possible types of fish.

Factory (Tier 2, Material Gathering) - Like The Material Harvester trawling net, there's also a "crab pot" that does the same thing to gather salvage. However, the Flotsam Trap is pretty mediocre due to the extremely tiny storage (4x4). I feel like if it was the same size as the Reinforced Crab Pot (6x5) it would be much more worth it.

Factory (Tier 3, Repair Tech) - I think the winner here is the Soothing Tea since you can get rid of all your Panic without sleeping and losing time. The Hull Repair Kit repairs 2 damaged areas on your boat and is nice in a pinch. The Harvester's Repair Kit repairs broken crab pots and trawling nets is a lot more niche.

Tech Lab (Tier 1, Ability Enhancements) - Three different upgrades to your abilities can be found on this part of the Rig. The main draw here is the Enhanced Spyglass which adds an option to mark fishing spots on your map for you when you look at them through your spyglass. The Enhanced Foghorn is interesting, but I didn't get much use out of it. When used it sends a ping out from interactibles in a small area around you. Lastly, The Enhanced Lights... I couldn't even tell that the light radius changed. It's supposed to lessen the effects of Panic, but I similiarly didn't find much of a difference.

Tech Lab (Tier 2, Hull & Stat Improvements) - Another upgrade found here is for Dredging Speed. I'm not sure it's worth a cargo slot or more, but it is the only way to increase this stat in the game so that's kind of neat. It adds 25% and is stackable.

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Playtime - It's very short. It's took me about 5 hours to 100% the DLC. So to catch all the new fish and aberrations, as well as finish the area quest and sidequests. This is from an endgame save with a fully kitted-out ship. It might take you longer if you go here before your ship is upgraded, or if you haven't finished most of the main game already.

Factory (Tier 4, Bait Refinement) - It's too bad that you can't buy them from the Undermarket after finishing the questline. You need to craft them, and for a lot of people that probably means you won't use them. The Aberrant Bait attracts aberrated fish from the whole zone to it. The Exotic Bait allows you to catch more of the previously unique fish found in each zone. This now includes Aberrated versions of them.. I didn't really try the Insta-Crab Bait, since you rarely need crabs urgently.

Tech Lab (Tier 2, Hull & Stat Improvements) - The last two upgrades really don't seem worth it at their current buff values. These are Trawl Catch Rate and Fishing Speed. Trawl Catch Rate sounds good on paper, but it's only 10%. Fishing Speed adds 20%. It's a little hard to justify when the Encrusted Talisman (+375% Fishing Speed) exists. These buffs are stackable too.

Area Completion Reward - There isn't anything specific here and like I mentioned earlier, the storyline ends very abruptly. I suppose your reward is basically all of the upgrades and consumables you get from the facilities on the Rig.

Cosmetics - No new paint colors or flags. Expected since there weren't any in the Pale Reach either. Not a big deal, but I figured I'd mention it.

Fairly short. Simple, but well-executed gameplay loop. Endearing graphics and environments. No survival mechanics like hunger or thirst, no combat, and no complex automation.

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Geodepths is a game where you drill underground to uncover a secret buried deep below. The gameplay loop is tight, but it might be repetitive to some. Mine, upgrade, explore, repeat. The game reminds me a little bit of Subnautica, so if you like that you might like this. No survival mechanics, which I found appealing. No combat either, but the game does have a really nice atmosphere that's almost spooky sometimes.

Playtime: 10-15hrs

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Gameplay Loop - Simple, easy to understand gameplay loop. No complicated supply chains. You go mine some ore in your drill, bring it back to your base, refine it, and you're good to go. Then you upgrade your stuff so you can gather stuff better, and so on, continuing to explore new depths.

Graphics - I ended up really liking the graphics when I initially didn't expect to. They fit the game really well, and I can't really explain why. They just feel right.

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Story - The story is just okay. Nothing too complicated. You have to read most of it yourself via data logs that you scan in the various different caves you can find.

Caves - Many of the caves look super visually appealing. Great atmosphere, cool visuals... but that's where they end. Most of the caves have one or two things to find (either a data log, flora, or "pet"). They're pretty small, so you likely won't even miss anything on your first sweep through.

Playtime - The game itself is pretty short, and if you really tried you could probably beat it in 5 hours. Not sure why you would want to, but hey, it might bother some people. I feel like I got plenty of enjoyment out of it, including some additional base-building and automation once I had finished the story.

Base Building - There's not a ton of customization you can do, but maybe you're a better interior decorator than I am. There's your basics like tables and chairs, and a few plants here and there. There's three types of rooms, four if you include corridors.

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Repetitive - I didn't mind it, but the gameplay loop can feel sort of repetitive once you get to the third depth. You do get some new tools to deal with mining, so I don't really see it as a huge deal but it might be a turn off for some people.

Performance - The average player probably won't run into this, but once you have a ton of auto-drillers loaded the game can get pretty choppy. I wanted to see if I could get 2 drillers for each ore going self-sustained with good clean "coal" power.

Keybindings - They seem to reset every time you open the menu with ESC. I dunno if it's just because I do some weird stuff with my bindings, but I couldn't get them to stick. I'd change my bindings, hit ESC and save, and they'd reset.

Fairly short, 2-4 hours for the average player, but it fits seamlessly into the main game.
A little disappointed by no new research or ship upgrades. All equipment is purchasable or from quests. At the end of the day, it's more Dredge, and every little bit they add just makes the game better.

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The Pale Reach is an interesting area. Frigid snow, floating chunks of ice, and a mutated Narwhal to keep you on your toes as the area hazard. The DLC adds: a new side-story about the area, a new side-quest from a robed cultist, 5 new pieces of equipment (2 fishing rods, 2 trawl nets, and the reward for completing the area), an icebreaker attachment for the prow of your ship, ice blocks to preserve fish in your cargo hold, 23 new types of fish and crab including aberrations, and 8 new achievements.

Playtime: 2-4 hours for the DLC content. About in line with what they say on the store page.

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Area Completion Reward - The Aurous Anchor adds a new utility for the player, and I can see it being very useful for someone on a fresh playthrough. It lets you make a two-way portal between where you drop it and Blackstone Isle. It's basically a better version of Manifest and provides a nice QoL.

Integration - The DLC itself fits seamlessly into the game, and you can go there anytime you'd like. It's recommended to not go there until Chapter 2 or later however, so you'll have more of a properly equipped boat. There's no pre-requisites to the area other than being able to dredge up salvage, and having space on your ship for the rods that you can buy.

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Story - The new side-story is pretty nice. It adds lore about a captain and his crew finding a monster frozen in the ice. There's also two basalt formations with some lore about the beast itself that you can read while at high Panic. It doesn't add a ton to the main story, which is fine in my opinion. Standalone and contained.

Ice Blocks - These are... okay. It's a nice QoL for players who do multiple tasks at once, but they're hard to justify for me personally. You essentially trade space (1x2 or 2x4) for a day or two reprieve of fish going bad. They're the sort of thing that are nice if you use them, but I don't know if it'll actually save you that much money in the long run compared to just doing efficient fishing routes.

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Playtime - It's very short. It's took me about 2 hours to 100% the DLC. So to catch all the new fish and aberrations, as well as finish the area quest and sidequests. Keep in mind, this is from an endgame save with a fully kitted-out ship and over 20K in the bank. It might take you longer if you go here early in the game, or don't have a ton of ship upgrades yet.

Research - The new rods and nets are obtained straight from the travelling merchant, or from quests. There's no upgrades to make your ship bigger, no new engines, and no new lights. Fairly bare bones, and after finishing the zone I went straight back to my old setup that can still hit every climate except the new one.

Cosmetics - No new paint colors or flags in the DLC. Not a big deal, but I figured I'd mention it.

Dredge is a game best described as "just enough."
Just enough story, just enough fishing, just enough variety.
Just enough pelagic nightmares and horrors of the deep.

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Dredge is a unique and well-put-together game about fishing, with some horror elements thrown into the mix. The story serves it's purpose as a driving factor, both for the plot and your curiosity. When the story falls short, the atmosphere and artstyle pick up the slack. There's enough variety in the different mechanics of the game that they don't get tedious. To some people, the game might be a little short for the price tag but I think it was "just enough" to hook my interest and reel me in.

Playtime: 28.8 hours for two full 100% playthroughs.
Update 1.1-1.3 Playtime: 2.0 additional hours for 100%.
Pale Reach Playtime: 2.0 additional hours for 100% (with endgame ship and equipment).

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World - While the story might be pretty simple, I really enjoyed the worldbuilding itself. It has great atmosphere, both during the day and the night, has charismatic characters, and encourages you to be curious about things.

Fishing - One of the better minigames that I've seen. There's a few different styles and sizes that help to break up doing the same thing repeatedly. It's quick to pick up, and not too difficult, but rewards being good at it. I didn't get tired of it at all during my playthrough. Satisfyingly simple.

Variety - There's 128 (now 151, or 174 with Pale Reach) different fish in the game including aberrant variants. They're spread fairly even across the different zones. The following was fixed in Update 1.1! They doubled the abberation chance for trawl-only species. Only two of these fish are annoying to track down, since they're trawling-net-only aberrants which essentially leaves them up to random chance.

Horror - The game is a fishing game first, and horror game second. A few parallels I could draw are Sunless Sea, Subnautica, and Darkest Dungeon. It's the type of horror that's a result of worldbuilding and suspense than anything else, and I love that.

Accessibility - Update 1.2 added Passive Mode, for any faint-hearted players out there. It also added the ability to turn off the effects while using Haste which was much appreciated.

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Story - It's pretty bare-bones and straightforward. I did enjoy the twist towards the end of the game and I think they did a very good job leading up to it. However, I still think it does a good enough job getting you interested and wanting to learn more.

Playtime - It took me 15 hours to 100% achievement the game. This might be too short for some people. For me it's "just enough" as I said before. I ended up playing through it again with all the tips and tricks I picked up the first time around. Total playtime for two 100% playthroughs was 28.8 hours. Second time wasn't much faster, but I completed the four (previously) missable quests without failing some of them the second time around.

Upgrades - The way you upgrade your boat is pretty linear. I don't mind that so much, but I wish it was a little more customizable once you got an upgrade. I know the boat is set up the way it is so the TETRIS-style inventory isn't too easy, but it would be nice to have a little more choice over where things go.

Achievements - Game doesn't require multiple playthroughs to get all achievements, even though there are two different possible endings. The game warns you that from a certain point your progress isn't saved, so you can go back and do the other one.

Camera Mode - Update 1.2 added the Photographer with a small quest to unlock photo mode. Personally not for me, but I know that a lot of other people would probably appreciate the feature. Likely best used with the Passive Mode previously mentioned.

Cosmetics - Update 1.3 added the Painter with boat customization! There's now the option to change the color of your roof and your hull independently of each other, as well as add a flag or bunting. There's 8 possible paint colors, and 8 flags (including no flag).

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Map Markers - They added map markers in Update 1.1. They're okay, and nice in a pinch, but they lack customization. Can't name them, so you still need to remember what they were for. Best used for a few things, instead of charting the whole map. In my opinion the icon on the map for them is also too huge to be usable. They're like, 10x the size of the crab pot marker. Bonus QoL is that you can see them using the telescope, I guess.

Quests - This was fixed in Update 1.1! Timers for these quests were removed. There's four missable quests. Even though the rewards for them are minimal, it surprised me because of how well done the other quests and rewards were. They encouraged exploration, and didn't have time constraints.

Research Parts - This was fixed in Update 1.1! Merchant now always stocks one research part every day, with a 50% chance to stock two. By the time I reached endgame I was a little research-part starved (about 10-12 short). I know I said you can get all achievements easily on one save file, but the ones for completing each upgrade tree might be better split across multiple playthroughs. Even now that I've beaten the game, I don't really understand what prompts the wandering trader to restock the ones she sells.

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Skill-based combat, unique and engaging boss battles, extremely customizable gameplay settings, great graphics and perfect ambiance. Difficult, but not too challenging as long as you learn to adapt and try new approaches. 36 standard abilities, 12 ultimates, 18 passives, and 11 weapon types.

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V Rising is a fantastic game with a little bit of everything. The combat takes skill to master, and there's a lot of variety in abilities and weapons to fit different playstyles. At some points in the game, you'll need to adapt and try out new tools you might not be comfortable with. The base-building is simple and snappy. Highly customizable server settings allow you to set up the game to respect your time.

Playtime: 50-70hrs (with "respect your time" settings)

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Gameplay Loop - Very clean. Build you base, set up your crafting machines, load them up to process everything, then head out into the wild to fight a boss. Similar concept to Valheim, if you've also played that.

Gameplay Options - There's plenty of server settings to tweak your game just how you'd like it. These range from removing durability loss, multiplying drop amounts from enemies and resources, changing how long the day cycle is and more. Seriously, it's something I wish more games would do.

Combat - Most of the offensive abilities in the game are skill-shots or targeted-ground AoE attacks, which means you need to aim and learn timing. There's also counters at your disposal, both a "parry" style and "block" style with different effects depending on what branch of magic you're using.

Weapons - There's 11 types of weapons each with their own abilities. Different weapons are better for different situations, swapping in combat is available but I never felt like it was required.

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Servants - They're mostly useless for a solo playthrough. They mostly function to get you some extra resources. They count down their hunts while the game isn't running since the last time I played, which is very nice. Previously they were actually useless. However, I still didn't find them too useful. The best two uses I found were getting some Fish or Stygian Shards after I was done playing for the day.

Blood Types - Hunting down blood types is a mix of patience, luck, and not killing them on accident. They added some items since I last played in Early Access that can teleport a thrall back to your prison cells, so that's a very nice QoL. However, you still need to find a high blood-% target and not kill them on accident while clearing everyone else around them. This could feel pretty obnoxious to some people.

Difficulty Curve - The game difficulty feels like an inverse bell-curve. Hard at the start, hard at the end, but a breeze in the mid-game. This is partially due to how gear/ability progression works. In the early game you don't have a lot of options, so you need to play smart. In the mid-game you have more tools and know how to use them better, as well as gear with passive buffs. In the end-game you have all your tools, but you better know how to use them correctly because if you don't you'll get punished for it.

Building Deconstruction - You can only deconstruct one thing at a time, which can feel tedious if you're redesigning your base on any large scale.

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Playstyle - Why is this in cons if I said there were lots of playstyles to choose from? Well, up-front there are. Plenty of abilities and weapons to mix-and-match, but by the late-game bosses I personally felt shoehorned into one of two builds. Long-Range DPS Race, and Double Shield/Counter. It's possible this isn't so bad on Normal difficulty (reminder that I played on Brutal). They've already made some tweaks to help address this, but I think there's still a little ways to go.

Rifts of Mortium - This is mostly a personal preference, but I hate having timed events during solo play. You can tweak how they work slightly using server settings, but it's not really helpful. When you play solo, your server starts the event timer when you load up your save. At minimum this is 30 minutes. Even if you want to load up the game just to run some minor rifts, you need to wait at least a half hour to do them. It always starts with the minor rifts, and partway through their duration the greater rifts show up too. The best solution I had to fix this was decreasing the amount of resources for crafting so it was a 1:1 ratio to convert lesser shards to greater.

The people review bombing now over Ukraine are the same type of people who were praising the developers for being "based" and "sticking it to cancel culture" back in June of last year. So, which is it ?