Recent reviews by Tamaster

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As an old-school shooter, the story certainly isn’t expected to be the strong suit of Prodeus. You’ll be put in the shoes of a soldier (?), sent to a science facility to investigate (?) what the hell is going on. Surprise, someone screwed with unknown, dangerous forces over there, and the whole thing went south when people started turning into monsters or bloodthirsty maniacs. Sounds familiar? Yeah, some guys called Id Software did something a -tad- similar some 30-years back, who would’ve known!

The visuals here are nothing short of stunning. With a set of filters to emulate true retro aesthetics, Prodeus gives options to customize fidelity, resolution scaling and more aspects to have as much modern or retro as you want. Fights are a cornucopia of splattered guts, blood literally dripping from ceilings, limping enemies, mad quasi-humans turned into flesh mounds at a buckshot’s notice. Level layouts are varied in both locations and themes; most feel unique, even if there are some repetitions for story reasons.

You’ll explore on foot, with sprint always on if you wish, as it’s simply an upgrade to just walking. Maps are often convoluted, expansive both in width and verticality, and some even have evolving layouts influenced by environmental effects - which is great. Of course, roaming around will trigger the appearance of numerous foes from thin air, being inter-dimensional horrors and all, but once you clear an area out, you’re free to explore for secrets, supplies and whatever else. A wise choice to do immediately, because you may get locked-out of a part of the level at a moment’s notice, which really sucks.

Secrets range from our run-of-the-mill large armor hidden in some remote corner, to rather convoluted jumping puzzles housing rare weapons, ammo or the invaluable Ore Fragments, used as a currency to buy upgrades and new weapons. Each level has several of these, and finding as many as you can is important to unlock stronger weapons and utility upgrades as you progress through the linear, on-rails, top-down world map.

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Fights in Prodeus are fast-paced, and feature a low TTK for both yourself and enemies on higher difficulties. Numerous foes can blast you to shreds from full health in an instant, but so can you thanks to your veritable arsenal of guns, ranging from the classic Super Shotgun to more exotic implements such as the Mammonth energy revolver or the target-seeking plasma rifle. All of them feel unique, meaningful to use, and there’s no real “god gun” to beat them all: use what is best for the situation at hand. Utility modules like double jump and dash will help in a fight, but the good old strafing and getting to cover will be the go-to strats more than anything else.

Enemies are lethal and fast, but also repetitive in archetypes: the various recolor or slight variants do not escape a mostly-limited array of base models, which gets stale in the 30+ levels of the campaign. You will definitely get tired of fighting the same crap over and over. Don’t worry about running out of ammo or saving up the good ones for when it really matters: levels are crammed with munitions, and some even have infinite ammo-restocking pads.

Or, you’ll get tired - period - thanks to the mind-boggling design decision of enforcing “easy mode” for everyone, “those pesky gamers wanting a challenge be damned” probably being the thought crossing the devs’ minds after way too many pints. That’s right: in this old-school shooter you can never fail a level, as you can respawn unlimited times at no penalty; there are checkpoints, but they simply act as respawn beacons, not rolling back the level’s state upon death. This single choice invalidates any and all challenge, because one can simply not care anymore about staying alive, about being careful or about being mindful on resources, scavenging health and ammo to have a better chance in the next arena - there’s nothing of that in Prodeus, because you have de-facto god-mode always on.

Is based on gathering Ore Fragments scattered throughout levels, mostly in secret areas, too then spend them at Shops that sell new weapons, utility augments such as double jump or dash, increased max ammo and more. There will be Ores in excess, so you don’t have to get all those in a level to get all upgrades. The progression feels alright, and it’s exciting to get enough ores to then stop by the trader and get that new shiny weapon you looked at for so long.

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PvP is available in the classic DM, TDM or CTF modes, for those so inclined. Aside from the co-op campaign, additional community maps are downloadable from the Workshop. The integrated map editor allows you to also create your own, and share them with others if you feel creative. Trials could be considered a sub-mode of the campaign: timed levels where you need to speedrun using a specific weapon, in order to get the Ore prize at the end.

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Set in Russia during present times, SS3D takes this already-dystopian-enough setting and doubles down on it; social unrest explodes throughout cities and rural areas alike, as the population either rebels against their oppressive government, riots for the sake of chaos, or cowers in fear. Law enforcement, understaffed and poorly equipped, struggle to contain the madness.

This isn’t a game with a deep story, nor any narrative of note past “let’s go screw up everything for the sake of it!” - which is fine for the genre. Besides choosing one of three characters that all play the same way and keep silent, there won’t be any further elaboration on anyone or anything; some indirect narration, in the form of visual cues and cutscenes, depicts small cuts of random people’s lives amidst the raging madness, or shortly before that. The amounts of violence, gore and brutality are very high… it’s not a bad thing, but you’ve been warned.

The world is disheveled, semi-abandoned, showing all the symptoms of a terminal case of humanity. The theme of exaggerated, over-the-top social critique is pivotal in SS3D, and if you think about each of the scenarios, enemies and situations encountered, you’ll notice that each of them is an allegory or anyway showcase of a specific social problem. These grotesque caricatures, often using sprites derived from real-life images to then be pixelated, give this title an unsettling, uncanny valley feeling despite its retro aesthetics - which works quite nicely.

You’ll be exploring both the countryside and cityscapes mostly on foot, only occasionally using your trusty scooter, which sadly can’t run people over, by the way. Things are far from peaceful; you’ll often encounter literal packs of rabid citizens either lusting for violence, demented by the side effects of their fix of choice, or the police that, by that point, just bashes everyone’s heads in indiscriminately. Levels are linear and have some one-way drops, but most are also semi-open in structure, with multiple paths to reach the same goal, plenty of optional areas and secrets to discover. There’s no map or any indication on where to go, but that’s not an issue since levels aren’t large enough to get lost into.

Speaking of secret areas, SS3D is filled to the brim with them. There won’t be any moving walls ‘à la DOOM’ or skeleton-shaped keys to collect, but rather air vents to break, props to destroy and jumping puzzles to complete in order to access hidden areas. These places won’t exactly contain the BFG-9000 most of the time, and aren’t worth your time in the sense of acquiring powerful weapons, but they -are- worth seeking for their Easter eggs, memes and unique encounters, which make exploration diverse and fun.

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You’ll fight, and a whole lot. The streets have turned into rivers of human-shaped, concentrated violence, with most people armed with improvised weapons like broken bottles, paper cutters, emergency hammers and the good old classic: molotovs. While there are some ranged weapons, most of the time you’ll deal with drug junkies, cops and bandits close and personal - unless you want to use the basic sling, which is very weak but has infinite rocks to throw, and can turn fights into a tedious kiting game if you want to.

But why do that, when you can break bottles on the head of hippies and see them bleed out after a few stabs? Or slit people’s throats faster than Naples’ most expert muggers with your trusty cutter tool? Enemy death animations are brutal, bloody, and messy - soon, any battlefield is turned into a swathe of mangled, burnt corpses and pools of blood, which is glorious, but also might be a -tad- unsettling for the more innocent, less-depraved players.

Most weapons either have finite ammo or break after some hits, so you’ll constantly have to search for new ones. Exceptions apply, as some guns or melee tools have infinite durability, but they’re rare, few and far between. Enemies hit hard on the highest setting, and so do you, but their ranged attacks are slowly-telegraphed and easy to avoid, while your melee range will almost always be longer than theirs; you can also perma-stagger a single target with your hits. The game is not easy, but it’s not hard either, especially if you pick your fights, kite enemies and don’t rush blindly.

Rescuing your black-hooded allies also is a very good idea to deal with high enemy numbers, as in most levels you’ll be able to do that by either finding or opening specific doors or cells that blocked their path, so that you can spread the ultra-violence together.

Bosses, be them story ones or secret ones, won’t differ much from regular enemies except in speed, durability and damage. Most of them will straight-up insta kill you, and their attacks aren’t as slow as normal enemies’. More effort will be needed for these enemies, but it’s disappointing that they don’t have more unique behaviors, unique attacks or mechanics to their fights.

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The story of Sanctum 2 sees humanity colonize a distant planet, Loek 3, much to the dismay of the local fauna, the Lumes. It just so happens that the energy signature of the Power Cores used in human settlements attract these creatures, an extremely hostile and dangerous spore-based lifeform. Skye Autumn is the leader of a ragtag team of conscripts tasked with defending critical assets and ensuring the colonization effort’s success; far from an easy task.

Skye & Co.’s exploits will be narrated through cutscenes and comic-style panels, excellently drawn and engaging to read while the next mission loads. It’s not a complex story nor a brilliant one, but it does the job and accurately depicts humanity’s struggle against the Lumes, and also the dark sides ever-present in men.

Set in an ensemble of half-ruined, under-attack colonies, settlements and, later on in DLCs, the huge city of Elysion 2, Sanctum’s levels convey the feelings of ongoing conflict, hopeless resistance and bleakness. Humanity is certainly going up against an entire planet of endlessly-spawning creatures, and that’s not going well. The design of locations is rich in detail, and the observant players will be enticed by the minute accuracy used by the devs in creating these locales.

Each level starts with a building phase that, barring exceptions, gives you all the time to plan your defense as you wish. You’ll have a certain amount of resources and tower bases to place: the former are used as currency to buy towers, while the latter are solid blocks that most enemies can’t destroy or pass, and will be used to build your own, custom path to delay the enemy as much as possible before reaching the Core. Strategizing about tower placements, ranges and so on is an important part of gameplay, as it should be in tower defense titles. You’ll also be able to set the towers’ target priority, so that they are focused on weaker, stronger, closer enemies based on your needs.

Reselling and moving your towers and blocks can be done during each building phase in-between waves, without losing any money in the process, unless you have a specific Feat of Strength (optional modifiers that grant slightly better XP) activated. You’ll have to often adapt your strategy to new oncoming threats, and it may very well happen that, for a specific wave, you’ll need to rethink your whole defense strategy. This flexibility is one of the factors that makes Sanctum 2 great.

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Once a wave starts, enemies will start pouring from one or multiple spawns, trying to reach, attack and ultimately destroy the Core. You’ll be directly involved in the defense, as your character will have two weapons and three passive perks to employ against the enemy. What you’ll actually be doing is largely up to you: be a support, and give passive auras to nearby towers and debuff enemies, or make the Core more resilient to attacks. Or instead, be a ranged sniper with massive long-distance damage, or again a melee DPS with high-risk, high-reward playstyle - because of course, enemies will attack you and kill you, making you respawn after a delay (at no penalty, though).

Most enemies, especially bosses, will have glowing areas acting as Weakspots, sometimes the only way to damage them effectively. Your intervention will be often fundamental, as turrets aren’t always smart or accurate enough to counter all enemy types alone. The bosses, in many cases, have the ability to destroy your towers, but can be countered and kited in smart ways if you’re skilled enough.

Levels, be them a victory or defeat, will award a certain amount of XP based on enemy kills, wave reached and eventual modifiers. That being said, you won’t unlock nearly all available perks, weapons and towers at the end of the base campaign, and not even after all DLCs: I can’t fathom why the devs left all this stuff locked past tedious grind, even after all the game’s content has been cleared already. If more XP was given, the variety could be even better, as there isn’t a point in keeping unlocking things after everything was cleared already.

In any case, your character can be equipped with two weapons (one locked to their default one, which sucks), three perks and four towers. Playing in co-op is recommended, as having only four towers without any friend to have another four is just not good enough - but that’s fine in the end, as this game was designed and intended for co-op. It does penalize single players, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to solo.

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Each map is fully explorable, with very few invisible walls or other obstacles. Some of these areas extend well beyond the combat zone, and can lead to secrets and Easter eggs sometimes tied to achievements. It’s a nice addition to unwind between waves.

Other game modes include Survival (Endless) which pits you against infinite enemies that become stronger with each wave, and also randomly activates feats of strength, modifiers that make the game harder, each five waves. Sandbox is a testing ground for you to experiment with towers and building, while Easy Mode is there for you if you find the normal difficulty too hard.

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In terms of story, System Shock won’t present you with intricate mysteries or 300-IQ plots; Tri-Optimum’s brand-new AI, SHODAN, went rogue (or rather, was made…) - in consequence, the corporate station orbiting Saturn quickly morphs into a nightmarish prison filled with mutants, scrambled robots and other horrors, all ruled by their cybernetic god(des).

Playing as the nameless, silent and experienced Hacker, you’ll have to find a way to stop this madness. Throughout the station you’ll reveal, either by log files or environmental storytelling, the fate of its crew members - many of which branch into sub-plots of sorts that may give you useful hints, and are interesting to follow. The writing of all characters is crowned, of course, by SHODAN; each power-tripping rant and email is more terrifying (not to mention actual, nowadays) than the previous.

The setting spans throughout a dozen levels, masterfully crafted to be as faithful to the original as possible. The world-building makes the station feel like a cramped, dark, dangerous hell you have to progressively conquer and cleanse, while each level has enough features to feel unique and apart from the others. Combined with the great soundtrack and creepy sound effects, immersion is assured.

Citadel Station is nothing short of massive, divided between twelve levels and the command bridge. You’ll explore it on foot, with a handy automap updating itself as you go. Some upgrades and tools will also allow you to highlight loot and perceive the unseen, but normally you’ll have to rely on your own perception to find items, supplies or secrets - the latter of which are abundant, and hold valuable resources or even unique items. Many areas will initially be locked-out behind security keys, codes or hazards that you might only overcome with specific items or actions.

Other than the recordings you’ll find or receive, there won’t be any further hint on what to do or where to go - except if you play on Easy mission difficulty, that is. But don’t do that, as figuring things out is part of the experience, and the game is designed well enough so that you won’t need to google stuff all the time, if you pay attention.

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Fights in SS are slowly-paced, tactical and high-stakes most of the time. From deranged cyborgs to genetic abominations, all enemies will move and attack at a moderate pacing, but so do you (unless you pump yourself full of drugs and become a superhuman demigod for half a minute…). Your ranged foes will be dead-accurate and lethal, while melee enemies can tear you to shreds in just a couple of hits on Hard. Baiting shots to then peek from cover and shoot, taking your time to advance without rushing, paying attention to sounds are all critical components of a system that punishes recklessness.

Most weapons will have different types of ammo, best-suited for diverse foes, such as piercing ammo being perfect for dealing with armored robots. Ammo is finite, enemies are not - the respawn rate will be oppressive at first, until you destroy enough security cameras and computers - that will slow and eventually stop the respawns entirely in each level. Boss fights are few, but quite unique and significant; these formidable foes won’t only be durable and have a distinct armament, but also capable of one-shotting you if you’re not careful with positioning and cover. That being said, if you save up enough consumables and ‘good’ items for them, like EMP grenades capable of stunning even bosses, they will be much more manageable.

The physics and modern touches added to combat really enhance the action, with enemies being beautifully mutilated, decapitated and torn to pieces on a regular basis, emphasizing the power of your shots. In general, there’s a good weight, stagger and realism behind how guns are handled - it’s a shame, though, that the aiming dot can’t be disabled and that you can't ADS either - those would have been good modern additions, as well.

Your fights won't end in reality, as cyberspace is another battleground where you'll fend off SHODAN's formidable virtual defenses, and breach security, in a 6DOF shooter fashion, developing throughout labyrinthine cyberscapes.

There won’t be any XP or levels to be gained; your only form of progression will be the items you’ll find around the Station. Between better implants to enhance your cybernetic functions, like night vision or energy shields, and weapon upgrades sold at automated machines in exchange for credits, you’ll increasingly become more powerful and have a better variety of options at your disposal. You’ll quickly run out of space, so finding a place somewhere relatively safe is a very good idea for storage purposes - or, you can just leave behind what you can’t carry, but I wouldn’t recommend that, as you’ll really need every bullet and medkit on the higher settings.

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Your main objective is simple: stopping SHODAN. As to how you accomplish that, you’ll have to figure it out on your own. There will be optional sub-objectives of sorts, derived from the info you’ll find in documents and recordings, like, for example, a secret stash to locate. These optional tasks will lead you to secondary parts of the station over various levels, and are worth doing for the sake of exploring and obtaining better gear. The lack of hand-holding in a game needs to be well-designed, and in this case it indeed is, as there won’t be anything too obscure, provided you spend time reading the files you find. If you don't like reading and just want a quest marker to show you the way, play on Easy mission difficulty.

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Without much premise at all, you and your eventual companions of (mis)adventure, will be plunged into the colorful, fable-esque world of Tinkertown, promptly greeted by Sage, The Elder, that will get you started on the basics, however, without really explaining what you’re doing there.

The story itself is a barebones affair, having you raid dungeons and mines belonging to different baddies that will act as bosses; none of them is elaborated upon, their motives (or crimes) are never explained, and the various quests, be them dungeons or NPC-related activities, exist only for the sake of more crafting / grinding - or sometimes, unlocking certain items.

Overall, the world is well-built and each of the three available biomes has a markedly distinct atmosphere, soundtrack and ambiance. It’s a shame that the points of interest you’ll find will be too few in comparison to the size: goblin camps may be fun one or two times, but after finding 20 of them, it gets boring.

You’ll explore the world mostly on foot, and later on with the help of buildable fast travel stations (not really worth the hassle) and teleport potions for a fast way back to base. Going back and forth will be a constant, given the minuscule, non-expandable inventory is inadequate compared to the amount of stuff you’ll get from combat, harvesting and chests.

Many materials will be locked past other biomes, that often need completing a quest to be unlocked - same goes for major dungeons, also tied to missions and also containing unique materials critical to crafting and fulfilling NPC quests. There won’t be many secrets hidden anywhere, save for some sparse out-of-the-way chest in some dungeons, or some monster that spawns at a certain time of day.

Speaking of that, there’s no way to skip time, so if you need a particular monster for a drop, you’ll have to wait. The global map is a portable item that needs to be deployed each time, and can’t be even zoomed in, which is seriously dumb.

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Fights play out in real-time, with each weapon having one basic and one charged attack, consuming mana in case of magical staves, but free otherwise. Most enemies have a single attack pattern, or rarely two (one ranged, and one melee) and aren’t a whole lot varied as far as archetypes and behaviors go: most will simply charge at you and spam basic melee attacks. There’s a dodge, too, but you will never use that due to the fact it’s clunkier and slower than simply side-stepping.

Most weapons’ special attacks will simply be somewhat stronger versions of their normal one, few exceptions apply, like swords doing a 360° arc slash. Overall the combat system is a trade of blows between you and any given enemy, and comes down to who has the longer attack range (usually you) and how many potions you can spam, since all healing items have zero cooldown which is, of course, completely broken.

Bosses are significantly more challenging compared to normal foes (duh), but even they never really prove THAT hard or elaborate, provided that you crafted the best gear you can before facing them (as anyone would, anyway). They have at best two phases, and their arenas close as soon as a player goes in - meaning if you play in co-op, your friend will be locked out forever. Those years in early access testing really paid off, right?

There’s no leveling or XP; your only form of progression will be your gear, which gives attributes like Strength, Agility, etc. that scale with different weapons to enhance the damage you’ll deal. This system allows the creation of simple builds that are more adept with one or the other category of arms, like Bows, Staves and so forth. Better gear will be gained by discovering new materials and in turn, blueprints, but the best pieces are always tied to Dungeon Boss random drops.

Crafting is done via the inventory panel and by interacting with one of the many crafting stations in your base, but also by talking to NPCs that can sometimes craft unique items based on their specialization, or normal items at a reduced cost. This system would be great, except for the fact NPCs will unlock stuff later than you will, normally, so by the time they have that available, you won’t need it anymore already. Organizing your base will be a nightmare, with unlabeled chests that look all the same, aren’t very spacious, and no forms of auto sorting whatsoever. Prepare to spend 30% of your entire playtime to sort stuff - I'm not even joking.

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NPCs will need a house built to their specification, but other than that, they’re self-sufficient and will roam the premises of your base doing well… nothing much. Even the farmer and woodcutter that need new tools for “supply runs” don’t actually do that, nor do they give any supplies to you at any point other than quest rewards. Feels like an unfinished feature. Their quests often entail bringing a certain amount of materials or a special item to them, so that they can unlock new recipes (or, in case of Sage, new dungeons) in the redundant system explained above. So, do these quests have any point? No, not really.

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Adam Roslin, war veteran and pilot extraordinaire, starts off as a lowly mercenary for a mining expedition, although things take a wrong turn quickly, forcing him to go rogue - just as many other did in the DMZ; a swathe of space marking the border between now neutral, recently-warring factions.

The narrative’s main themes are corporate greed, and the fact you shouldn’t fiddle with mysterious alien stuff. Two clichès of sci-fi that feel already-seen a million times; alas, there won’t be any epic characters, not even Roslin himself (having the charisma of an expired pomegranate) to bring the whole plot out of mediocrity. However, given this is mainly an ARPG with Space Sim elements, that’s not the end of the world… for this genre.

On the other hand, environmental design is top-notch; each location is full of intricate details be them in deep space, on planetary surfaces or inside an asteroid. The world-building itself feels cohesive and coherent, and succeeds in depicting the power struggles, endless conflicts and volatility of such a place. It’s just a shame that there isn’t more lore to go through, and to know more about the other alien species and their technology or society.

ES2 has a metric ton of places to visit, spanning six explorable star systems throughout the DMZ. Each of them is markedly different not only in ambiance and aesthetics, but also enemy types, threats and location types. Exploration is highly incentivized by the presence of scattered resources, loot containers, puzzles and secrets in each area, compounded by unique Location Challenges or wider Global Challenges, often related to leaving no asteroid unturned.

These secrets range from hidden containers with a sound cue, to puzzles having you search far and wide for energy modules or other components. The only big flaw in an otherwise excellent progression is how these items and landmarks are detected: in locations that often span dozens of kilometers, your detection range will be comparatively minuscule. This makes a lot of secret-hunting into a “needle in a haystack” affair, which does get frustrating. Fast travel isn’t available until much later, so you better complete everything before moving on, or face some serious backtracking - there’s enough of that already for quests.

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Space fights are definitely where ES2 excels the most. With a wide array of weapons, active devices (skills) and unique Ultimate abilities and special properties for each ship model, you’ll be able to take out bandits, cultists and other scum in the playstyle you most prefer. From lightweight fighters that cloak and strike from the shadows, to heavy long-range missile bombers with high defense, or CQB high-dps specialist crafts, the choices are wide and mostly all feasible (although heavy crafts do have the upper hand in case of prolonged battles, in my experience).

The game tries to incentivize an active playstile, having Armor only regenerated by a handful abilities or by killing enemies (HP with consumables, shields passively) - and save for a few weapons, most won’t have enormous ranges so that you can snipe from afar with impunity. There’s a great variety of enemies, many of which with unique weapons, tactics and support items you won’t be able to use yourself. There isn’t a “build to rule them all”, as each ship has pros and cons.

Roslin will level up with the XP gained from fights and quests, although you’ll still need to grind to reach cap (30) even after completing every single side quest and finishing the game - which is kinda unnecessary, given that the gear available from traders and crafting will be of your same level as well - so, to access maxed gear, or drop maxed unique ones, you’ll have to grind until 30.

Both your character and his numerous companions, acting only as “passive ability dispensers” and not actively being with him, have Perks that are unlocked respectively with levels and by investing materials looted, crafted or traded. These feats can be extremely useful, and range from a chance of summoning allies to your side, to better ships for sale, lower repair costs and much more. And yes, you’ll definitely have to go out of your way to scavenge, trade and craft parts to unlock them all.

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Of course, side-quests will be the meat of your meanderings when you’re not advancing in the story. They’re varied enough to not get too repetitive or stale like in other ARPGs, and some have unique mechanics, situations or locations to them as well. Other than that, hunting for secrets, finishing challenges and clearing the High Risk Areas - special fights with random modifiers that grant some of the best loot - will take a great amount of your time… especially if you’re a completionist or an Achievement Hunter.

The post-endgame, meaning, after finishing the story, will feature randomized fights called Ancient Rifts, with random modifiers added each wave, for a total of four, and a difficulty ranging from 50 to 1000 Lunacy, increasing enemy damage but most of all HP each +50 tick. So what’s the difference between this and High Risk Areas? None, except you have a much better chance to drop legendary named gear, which is cool and all, but hardly an incentive if there aren’t unique enemies or anything else to do than facing more of the same each time.

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Set in a crumbling, dystopic, crime-ridden metropolis only dubbed as “The City” (or Naples, depending on who you ask), SlavicPunk will put you in the grime-encrusted boots, smog-laden lungs of Janus; the aptly-named, anti-heroical and mercurial protagonist of this futuristic top-down shooter.

The old, grizzled, but augmented mercenary, as anyone in his line of work, is as jaded as they come, desperately trying to find solace in the fleeting, hedonist pleasures of life when he’s not gunning down heaps of deadbeats or gangsters - composing the majority of The City’s population, unsurprisingly. That puts him in a vicious cycle of use and abuse, both towards and from himself. The story coming out of such a premise is, however, generic and underwhelming, as it has a predictable turnaround, no mystery or cliffhangers, and forgettable characters part of a world where nothing is elaborated-upon quite enough.

It’s a shame, really, as the visuals and effects really do their part in manifesting a gloomy, burnt-out world where the only embers of hope are the neon of kielbasa kiosks, or the headlights of an oncoming train. Looks don’t make substance - if there was a game that can convey this principle in full, it would be this one.

Your meanderings through the Slav dystopia will be split between the open-world, snowy city streets and overly-cramped, moldy interiors of various buildings, inhabited by both gangs and regular citizens. In both cases, the compulsion to explore these locales will be finding Loot Crates and Spider Robots, that respectively award you with supplies (ammo, medkits, consumables, rarely new weapons) and well… some components of sorts, the game never explains what those are about. My guess? Money to trade. These spider-drones also act as the only “secret” of sorts, quoted, because they ain’t really any hidden or particularly difficult to find.

Sometimes you’ll stumble on locked doors, broken PCs, and other such obstacles. These lead to some classic “find the key” or “the contraption” scenarios that you’ll solve by going around, or following the often-present objective indicator. None of them is complex, and while the few minigames do vary the pace a bit, they’re too easy and short to be of any significance to the gameplay loop at all. Most locations are one-way trips, standalone levels you’ll not go back to. Overall, exploration isn’t interesting, and doesn’t reward careful searching. There’s no side activities, hidden NPCs or optional area, at all, ever. The cyber-dystopia was never this dull.

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Firefights are the norm in The City, and while the police may intervene if you get spotted by a random patrol drone, most of the time it will just be you and whatever random gang you’re facing. Your arsenal includes a variety of guns, from your trusty six-shooter to high-tech railguns, all of which are upgradeable with modules you’ll buy from shady, rusted-out trading kiosks in-between missions. Too bad these upgrades reset on every map transitions, due to a bug likely, as do ammo and in some cases equipment. The entire progression system is useless, right here! Thanos snap!

Fights will have you rely on your roll and dodge - and of course cover - to evade bullets and stay alive, since the TTK is very low for both you and most enemies, except bigger ones. Health kits do restore HP instantly, but they’re limited to three, and they’ll burn out fast. The challenge level is good, and the shootouts would be even great fun - if it wasn’t for the braindead AI that gets stuck half the time, the enemies spawning behind you from thin air, your character automatically switching to melee when enemies are nearby - which is pitifully weak by the way.

This system is designed to promote mobility and dynamically opening loot crates (when, if they work) to keep supplies high - but the truth is that funneling everyone in a door is the best strategy most of the time. Your Battlehacks, capable of staggering enemies or damaging them for an energy cost, will be the counter to heavy foes, enabling attacks from their less-protected areas.

There are no skills, offensive / defensive consumables or other mechanics to add depth to a combat system that feels responsive and enjoyable when it works, but it rarely ever does. Don’t you love a two-second screen freeze each time you kill an enemy, due to the jury-rigged, rusted contraption these devs used as engine? Yay! All of this will eventually get stale, as there are very few enemy archetypes all acting the same, with no memorable variant, unique fight or epic boss at any point. The first fight you’ll play will be exactly the same as any other one. There’s simply no evolution.

Janus can’t improve his cybernetic body, which feels like a missed opportunity, but can indeed improve his gear for hard-earned cash. This system enables some form of progression between missions, and uses a modular system where you can allocate upgrades to each gun - with a limit; there won’t be any “god gun”. Scrap all of it, though: the system is bugged, as is mostly everything else in this early-alpha disguised as “””full release””” (three layers of quotes, one isn’t enough).

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The writing of this fantasy adventure, which sees the latest descendant of the Van Helsing family and his ghostly servant Katarina on a quest to save Borgovia, is overall average - with some highlights of note. The spectral princess’ humor and lighthearted behavior are a good contrast with VH’s serious demeanor, and while the atmosphere is generally bleak as it should be, there are numerous gags to lighten it, plus a metric ton of references.

The locations span between Borgovian rural areas infested with werewolves and other assorted horrors, to extra-dimensional rifts and steampunk cities torn by the conflict between the resistance and the forces of evil at hand. There’s a good level of detail and care in their realization, as most zones have a markedly different mood, atmosphere and landscape.

Each location’s layout is initially hidden by fog of war, and it will be up to you to find the various NPCs, enemy groups, hidden item chests and other content scattered around. Quests will be marked by blinking indicators in most cases, but that’s all the help you’ll get. A handy fast travel system allows for quick relocation to your base or the nearest town, for trading or delivering quests, then getting back to adventuring. Hunting for secrets and Easter eggs is satisfying - enemies won’t respawn once cleared, so you can fully explore in peace.

The secrets vary from hidden interactions that lead to some movie or game quote / reference, to puzzles and hidden pathways that lead with high-level chests, spawning particularly good loot and, in some cases, secret quest items to reveal even greater mysteries in another place; you’ll have to figure out what they do.

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You’ll have to manage not only the Van Helsing family’s prodigal son, but also princess Katarina’s progression, as she acts as a full-fledged, permanent companion with her own skill tree, perks and gear. For both of them, it’s the regular ARPG affair to boot: equip better gear as you find it, possibly compatible with your build of choice, compare stats, assign skill points and attributes to craft a play style that suits you best. Tanks, DPS, summoners, supports… there is anything and everything in-between, but more than a few skills are of dubious utility at best, or memes at worst.

Katarina can be switched between three modes (Melee, Ranged and Passive), each with unique skills and bonuses to complement your main character as you want to. This system intertwines the complexity of several skill trees into each other, and allows remarkable depth in later stages. Respec is costly at first, but becomes cheap as your gold soars into the six and seven figures realm.

A bit later on, a suite of facilities to improve, recycle and craft gear will be available, featuring Essence Imbuing and Fusing - a staple mechanic that allows inserting these magical gems into items to boost their stats, or create new ones through alchemy. On top of that, a controllable pet will bring you rewards from hunting, your Resistance pals will execute raids on your command and award unique items, and the resident eastern european gentlemen will entice you with item enchanting.

Fights play out in real-time, and often against conspicuous enemy groups that may feature Champion, Elite and Boss enemies in their midst - especially lethal and with plenty of randomized attributes or unique skills. Differently from other ARPGs, healing and mana potions are unlimited but have a significant cooldown - don’t worry though,as Katarina, your gear and some skills can also restore both stats. Mowing down heaps of abominations is good fun, and the amounts of loot pile up as they should.

Boss fights are of inconsistent quality, as some of them are little more than beefed-up regular enemies, while others feature unique mechanics, a proper boss totally different from anything else, and really do feel epic as they should. Assuming you’ll always play the highest difficulty once unlocked - because yes, you’ll be able to change it on the fly when you reach the correct level - you’ll notice that foes will not only become more lethal, which is fine, but also tremendously spongy. The “Borderlands Syndrome” as I like to call it, is real, and it won’t be fun to spam summons, spells and so on at a sentient tree that has 286.000.000 HP for two hours and a half.

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Some clever gameplay additions change the formula significantly and break the main loop, which is crucial for keeping up interest in any decent game. A management minigame will have a selection of operatives at your command to assault the enemy faction, and you’ll have to gauge their abilities, equip relics, train them and send the best one for each operation. A tower defense, in response to enemy attacks on your own facilities, is an optional but welcome detour that morphs VHFC into a full-fledged tower defense. Puzzles, riddles and enigmas, often part of quests themselves, complete the set and boost variety - but don’t worry, they’re not very hard.

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Easy Red 2 is set during World War 2; it will bring you (and your eventual co-op partners, or random players) through several campaigns, ranging from the Pacific to the European theaters. It doesn’t have a story, nor any specific protagonist or introduction to any of its missions - unadulterated gameplay in its purest form, without any care for story or narrative; that’s alright for this genre.

The atmosphere of each location is well-done, as battles featuring dozens of AI units, with yourself being just one of the many, really conveying how little the single counts in a conflict of such scale. SFX, music and VA further add to the immersion, which is onto itself, great. In my opinion, more iconic battles or campaigns could have been chosen to fully showcase the brutality and complexity of WW2, and definitely more effort could have been made to diversify the stages, which in most cases feel like a “copy-paste with some change” of a previous map.

Well, there’s only one! The classic ‘Attack & Defend’, where one side has to conquer a series of points, while the opposite one has to prevent that, will be the only way each map plays out, no matter the campaign, setting or context. A ticket system has the attackers limited to a certain number of spawns, while the defenders have unlimited respawns.

It has to be noted that conquering a POI doesn’t increase the attackers’ tickets; they will have to use the starting amount for the whole match. Ticket multipliers can be customized in the lobby before starting a match, as can the number of maximum units spawned at the same time, both of which influence the length of a match. While this game mode is serviceable and a ‘staple’ for this genre, it does get stale not after long.

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The degree of realism in simulating WW2 equipment is remarkable in Easy Red 2. From sound effects to ballistics, to reloading mechanisms and inner workings of equipment, vehicles and gadgets, some serious effort was put into researching in order to deliver an authentic experience. One or at most two shots will kill anyone even at great distances, tanks and planes are devastating just as they should be, and entrenched positions with heavy guns reap lives like mature wheat under a scythe of lead.

Maluses like bleeding, burning, wounds and suppression from enemy fire can heavily affect your soldier’s performance, and in the same way damage to vehicle components like engine, tracks, wings and so forth can impair or even completely disable your war machine of choice. Using cover smartly and realistically, picking targets wisely and not rushing ahead are all core elements of the combat. Each battle is a cornucopia of tanks, APCs, infantrymen, artillery and planes going at each other relentlessly, with a relatively low downtime between the various attack waves and negligible backtracking after death.

Depending on factions and locations, different vehicles, support calls and infantry classes will be available. Each side will be armed with its iconic weapons, and a fair amount of more obscure ones as well: for instance the Japanese theater will feature flamethrower troopers frequently on the US side, while the Germans in the European campaign will have the formidable Panzer series tanks, while the Italians, well… will have their usual crap, as it should be. The roster of arms and vehicles is varied enough, and subsequent maps may have vehicles and fixed emplacements unique to them in some cases.

Unfortunately, there’s no progression or customization to be seen anywhere. You won’t unlock alternate versions or new weapons for any of the preset classes, variants of any vehicle, or have any improvement by playing a specific one in the long run. Having always the same loadouts without variety or custom presets, nevermind any other customization option, tarnishes the longevity and replay value in a major way.

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Given the fact PvP is dead, and that the few servers still running are more deserted than Zuckerberg’s metaverse, you’ll probably be playing solo or co-op with a friend or three. You’ll be put against dozens of AI, supported by computer-controlled teammates. Even on the Realism difficulty, the highest, enemy AI is reckless and suicidal most of the time: it’s common to see enemies or allies ignoring covers and just rushing in the middle of fields, throwing smoke wrongly, requesting artillery on their own allies or driving tanks in completely obscene ways. Ah and let’s not forget infantry groups shooting at tanks with small arms instead of running for cover.

Sure, there are some moments where AI shines, and for a miracle, it actually performs flanking maneuvers, pincer attacks and more feats of warfare that really get the action going; most of the time, though, you’ll have little trouble against them due to their slow reaction times, problems at engaging at long distances, and constant misuse / ignoring of tactical opportunities and emplacements. All of the above affects the realism and immersion majorly, and simply doesn’t give enough challenge for the players to overcome, since the enemy side will be a pushover in most cases, due to their inept tactics and behaviors.

Check out my FUGA 1 Review if you want to know more about the first game.

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One year after the events of FUGA 1, what’s left of the kid-heroes are forced to embark on a new quest, this time against their former, faithful war machine gone rogue fr yet-unknown reasons. Between sentient war remnants resurrected by ancient technology, and a new enemy that threatens Gasco once again, the kids’ work is far from done yet.

FUGA 2 is set in the floating archipelago of islands formed after the conclusion of the first game. Despite the war being over, recent events plummeted the region into chaos nonetheless. The ‘ancient tech going FUBAR’ trope is a nice excuse to reuse a lot of the assets and enemies seen in the first game, despite there being novel additions with a focus on Ancient war technology. A few new characters are introduced, but most of the main cast will be the same, with consistently well-written and distinct personalities, and an abundance of interactions.

The writing of dialogues and story is of good make, despite some weird sentences due to the translation from Japanese. The plot is engaging and has some clever twists, however the way characters react is predictable and some dialogues can’t help but feel cheesy, dipped in shounen anime shenanigans like “the power of friendship beats everything” and the likes. Still, good enough.

The linear path ahead, in each chapter, will be divided in various branches, each hosting a number of loot caches, enemy encounters and special events. Although these paths are fixed, you can’t know what enemies you’ll face, and the decision on which one to take will be yours: remember that higher risk means higher rewards under all aspects, from items to XP and cash.

Taking the hardest ones will see you strapped for HP and MP, and your crew usually demolished, debuffed and fatigued, but on the other hand you’ll have plenty of cash and material for upgrades at the next Intermission, regular breaks to recuperate and manage your crew. What FUGA lacks in freedom of direction when exploring the world, it makes up for in events variety and the surprise factor.

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Combat works in a turn-based fashion, with your mobile fortress having three weapon types available: machine guns, launchers and cannons, each of them with different action speeds, accuracy, damage and effectiveness against specific enemies. For instance, taking out airborne enemies will require an MG’s precision, while you’ll want to use cannons for heavier enemies, but not before stripping out their armor with special attacks. Each of the kids has a specific weapon assigned to them, and a unique roster of abilities: some youngsters are more inclined to a support role, others pure damage, or debuffing your foes.

The hot-swap function, available every three turns, allows dynamically changing the available guns and kids so that you can have the formation that works best against the current enemy. Based on their affinity, cultivated during intermission phases and also by fighting together, children may have morale surges that trigger their special passive abilities, and also unlock Link Attacks with their favorite battle partners, often inflicting damage to all enemies alongside potent passive effects.

Battles are highly tactical and dynamic, as you’ll have to know what each kid does best, and use that feature at the right moment, while also juggling the tank’s HP, MP and eventual debuffs your crew may have, like Fear reducing accuracy or Depression, making them unable to act until the next Intermission, to name some. It sounds complex, but the game does a great job in gradually introducing the mechanics in a seamless, friendly way. Boss fights are the zenith of this system, and a true test of your preparation and tactical prowess.

Intermission phases are crucial to absolve a number of functions. During these times, you’ll be able to upgrade the tank using parts salvaged from enemies and random loot, or bought at shops. Cook for your crew to grant long-lasting buffs, manage the crops and farm to have materials, select individual kids to manually talk to each other, and pay attention to the Wish Diary that will grant morale boosts, extra XP if enough desires are fulfilled.

You'll have only 20 Action Points each phase, and actions have varying costs: optimizing and prioritizing them for the maximum efficiency is critical - choose wisely. This system gives a much-needed respite from combat, breaks the main gameplay loop, and gives a new dimension to the strategic elements - a great addition.

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Alongside the paths you’ll sometimes encounter greater activities that consist of minigames of their own. For instance, Ruins morph the gameplay into a 2D platformer-puzzle of sorts, having the kids navigate old ruins, avoiding or killing enemies, and managing bullets as a key resource to destroy obstacles and operate machinery, in FUGA 2 with added elemental effects, compared to the previous chapters.

Finding the Treasure Key, not getting your kids mauled by traps and finding all items will result in a higher rating. Settlements feature dialogues with civilians that influence Malt, the leader of the group,’s Disposition towards either a ruthless commander or a gentle soul, unlocking unique passive abilities as a result. Other than that, you’ll be able to buy and sell materials, better seeds / cattle and consumables.