Recent reviews by Shooter

This game is spectacular. There really isn't anything like it in the industry matching it's quality or polish, however, that is it's biggest weakness.

It stands at the pinnacle, in terms of a single player experience where you can do whatever you would like, and I'd argue that the PC version can promote the highest level of that experience with the modding scene allowing the introduction of real world cars and stellar graphical improvements. Stability can be aided through patches brought in by some of those mods and it is possible to run a coop version of the single player game(albiet with some technical issues). Of course, there are some small gripes, majorly rooted in restrictiveness in certain missions as to how you approach certain situations, but much of the game is functional to the point where the little issues do not outweigh the problems that do occur. I would say if you intend on purchasing the PC version of the game for the single player, there is alot of wiggle room for you, and you won't be disappointed even by the base game alone.

If your intent is to purchase the game for online, I would caution you against that. The first and most immediate issue you may run into are modders. When I mention modders, I do not mean the kind of mods you would find on single player, but people who use mod menus. The extent of control that they have over the game is so severe that for a time they were able to remotely execute code on your machine, potentially taking it over. During this time, Rockstar had attempted to promote a limited time car. This can be somewhat rectified by creating private lobbies, though if you have found a particularly determined modder, they are capable of joining into that private lobby regardless if they are invited or not.

If you manage to look past that, or have no intention on playing in public lobbies where the immediate threat of a determined modder might be diminished, you will have to deal with the gameplay. In essence, it's the same as single player, but you will notice distinct issues with many of the missions, ai, or purchasable businesses which diminish the overall feel of the game.

Starting with the missions, a multitude of the missions have bugs which are either unavoidable or severe to the point of forcing a restart. A good example would be the base heists that came out with the PC release of the game. The prison rescue heist has an issue where the prisoner the group is sent to rescue can bug out, being unable to be transported or killed, or they can outright despawn, preventing progress.

Speaking of issues with the ai, many of the ai have particularly good accuracy. It becomes particularly noticeable on missions where there is little cover or the enemies are blindfiring around corners. Most of the time they will hit you, though I do think that it does encourage a more cover focused, tactical playstyle. This would all be well and good, a simple adjustment to work with the flow of combat, however there are 'quirks' which can outright ruin it. An example being the 'rapid fire glitch' in which npc's will fire a stream of bullets with perfect accuracy, much faster than the gun could be operated normally. It can flatten a fully armored, max hp player in a fraction of a second. Npc's can spawn in the ground or in walls, as evidenced in the cayo pericho heist setup where you steal an scrambler device from a submarine. While inside the walls, they can shoot you with impunity, while you are unable to shoot them. There is also the issue in which ai become active and able to take shots at you prior to the terrain or walls loading, allowing them to get shots off on you before you have loaded in.

To an extent, I would almost call the traffic in the game realistic to so-cal drivers. Prius' turning onto the wrong side of a 6 lane highway, cars deciding at the last minute to switch lanes just to plow into you, people ignoring traffic lights and then stopping in the middle of the intersection, and of course the ai never using turn signals(though I get that isn't programmed in the game, it's funny how it's similar to real life). If online, and if you are near another player, you will notice the desync between players will occasionally cause cars to spawn up in the air, or to suddenly jaunt across traffic in an attempt to match states with the players in the lobby. The moment gunfire happens, the ai will more often than not proceed to drive directly into the line of fire and block up the road to the best of their ability, though not to the hinderance of the hostile ai.

Once again, these things wouldn't be much of a problem, if some of the better money making methods in the game didn't require extremely long distance drives across the map with a penalty to the damage your vehicle takes alongside hostile ai firing at you constantly.

You'll also notice a large swath of little issues that seem to consistently bog down the experience. The menus required for split second actions take quite a while to navigate and interfere with the movement of your character. There is inconsistency in the performance of certain actions, like eating snack to restore hp occasionally playing a long animation which prevents any other action than moving at a slow walk or instantly eating the snack with no animation. There are also issues in which random area transitions will unequip your weapons, more often than not right before a rather large shootout where you are face to face with a room full of hostile npcs.

There is also the issue of Rockstar's history when it comes to QOL and bugfixes. Without a doubt, their budget for fixes is almost entirely geared towards things which make it easier to make money on the game, both legitimately and through methods such as glitching or modding. If there is a game breaking bug, such as a godmode bug, which might be ruining the pvp scene - it can take years for them to implement a fix for it. If there is a bug, such as car duplication, in which you can duplicate your car to sell it for a rather large wad of cash, they will fix that within a week or less. If a job, or activity in the game is too profitable for their liking, expect it to be nerfed into the ground over the course of a few patches, or made so much more difficult that the effort required to earn the money becomes more annoying than it's worth.

Finally, there is the issues with their FOMO in recent updates. Initially, there have been a few limited time cars released which players could buy only within certain windows of time. These cars tend to have a pretty high price tag which encourages players to buy shark cards, or in game currency, for real life money. If a player already has alot of experience and varied methods of making money, getting these cars isn't particularly hard to do given the time limit even if starting from broke. As of writing this review, however, Rockstar have decided to remove nearly 25% of the total amount of cars from the in game websites in the name of making it easier to navigate them. The only recourse being that players can purchase these cars from dealerships which have a small, randomized inventory, from certain businesses such as the autoshop, which also has randomized inventories, from the street racing ring which also has a randomized inventory or from the new GTA+ subscription car show lot of which PC only has access to the first two.

tl:dr
If you intend on playing the game for the single player, it's good. If you intend on playing the game for the multiplayer, it will suck the life out of either you, your wallet, or both.

Summary:
All things considered, monstrum is a better than average indie horror game at an indie horror game's price. The monsters are interesting, the collectable and RNG systems bring about a fair amount of replayability to the game, and the general feel of the game are superb. Though it is obvious that this product has recieved a vast amount of care from the developers, bugs still remain. These bugs aren't exactly the most common, or the most game breaking, but in certain situations it can lead to a bit of headache or confusion. All in all, the game is worth the price in my eyes, and it'll certainly grant satisfactory hours of entertainment in the time that one plays it.

The Great:
The different monsters provide a new experience through progressive playthroughs, lending to the initial anxiety of a new game. Until which monster the player gets during their playthrough is discovered, the player will have to act in a more cautious manner to determine how to move forward. That being said, the different monsters forces players to adapt a new playstyle dependent on the monster they encounter. This, coupled with the fact the the ship's interior is filled with darkness and a general sense of claustrophobia, helps bring about the fear of being followed or hunted with no where to run. Without a doubt, the best parts of this game for me were the ship's ambience and how it is important to observe the monsters in order to properly combat them.

The Good:
The game itself runs on the idea that one must find particular items in order to make their way off the ship. All the while, the player will have to constantly keep their eyes and ears open for any signs of an encroaching monster. This is a pretty basic concept within this genre of horror games, and considering the setting in which the player is forced into; it can lead to scenarios that test a player's resolve, patience and stamina whilst under pressure. The collectible system within the game brings about some aspects as to what is actually going on within the ship that the game takes place and adds a nice layer of backstory to the experience. Along with the RNG spawning system for items across a semi procedurally generated ship provides a relatively new experience altogether without devaluing what is learned from previous playthroughs.

The Bad:
The game itself has quite a few bugs, a couple of which go as follows: The hunter has a knack for getting herself caught behind map geometry or objects within the map which subsequently bug her ai giving the player free roam of the ship. Certain items in the game, such as the flare gun, are sometimes impossible to find due to the object spawning in an impossible location. The fiend is liable to spawn in powered off rooms, leading to the player having free roam around the ship. The monsters will occasionally outright ignore sound cues brought on by a player setting up a radio in a room or a dinner bell going off in favor of seeking out a player that has not made their location known yet.
Another downside is that after a certain point in gametime, a player will be much more aware to how the AI work, making certain monsters like the hunter, exceedingly easy to deal with.

Suggestions for future updates/Next game:
After a certain point, I think it would be a good idea for player to have an unlock system such as the ability to designate which monster the player wants to face after they have successfully escaped after encountering that monster. As person who extensively enjoyed this game, I'd like the chance to choose what I have to deal with after I had to go through the process of learning each monster's patterns and getting away from them. I'd also like to see a cheat mode of sorts for players who have 100%'ed the game. I know I havent gotten that flare gun achievement yet, and I intend on doing so, but I think monstrum would be improved if players who have played the game for an extensive amount should be given the option to enter noclip or open a console of sorts. This console could also lessen the strain on finding items that may be bugged in game. It would also be nice if there was a challenge system of sorts within the game, allowing one to spawn more than one monster at the start of a game. I know that after spending a decent amount of time watching the monster's movements and how exactly to counter them, I'd like to see either something new or for a difficulty increase of some kind.

Very Reminiscent of those fast paced arcadey type games found all over the internet. Coupled with it's own style and flair, this game is perfect for someone with an enormous music library and people who enjoy their displays erupting with color and bloom effects. The community made content just makes it all the beter, the sale allowed me to already get my money's worth out of just 2 hours.