Recent reviews by Nnay

15€ for 70minutes? idunno

it's generally fun but the performance is atrocious

it's essentially what i hoped.

Graphics & Performance: 6.5/10
it's abundantly obvious that this is not a AAA game and I don't have the feeling it's trying to be.
the graphics are immediately dated but they're not horrid.
the performance is what I would expect from an early access open world unity game. it runs fine on my machine but I definitely am overkilling. if you have a weaker system, you should probably wait for the full release.

Atmosphere: 9/10
this to me is what made the turn based tainted grail so great. the atmosphere is captivating, dark and eerie.
everything is broken, everyone is suffering. the wyrdness is scary and unknown and I absolutely love it

Music: 9/10
all tainted grail scores fit perfectly. a very rustic and dreary vibe

Combat: 6.5/10
very similar to elder scrolls including all the exploits to cheese fights. adding the dash is a very welcome change that makes it much more enjoyable than elder scrolls, but combat is still fairly basic.

Lore: 9/10
obviously this is entirely subjective, as is music atmosphere or combat, but I genuinely love the story and lore of tainted grail. I don't want to spoil anything but tainted grail has an amazing mix of fantasy, magic and mystery for my taste

Overall: 8/10
As expected, it is early access so you will encounter a decent amount of bugs and lack of polish. There are some voice lines missing and temporarily voiced with text to speech which may be jarring, but again, is expected for such an early access.
That being said, it's certainly a good game and has fascinating potential. I can't wait to see what else is coming.

If you have other rpgs on you waiting list, give those a spin first as I'm sure fall of avalon will only get better until you're done with them.

the performance is kinda ass. I wouldn't recommend buying it on PC but it does look like it has the potential to be a good game. ps5 maybe?

it ends at some point.

the combat is a bit too arcady, especially compared to older titles (matter of taste of course).

generally the game is a tad too easy through the various extra movement possibilities you have and the afflicted monsters don't make it that much more challenging.

it is a good monster hunter game though and an excellent time killer while we wait for the next A-Team release.


the first title update gives the game much needed extra endgame content and I'm looking forward to the other upcoming title updates

good to play during those unnecessary meetings you're forced to attend because someone feels like it

tl;dr: great game. 8/10

Pro:
- Nice and calm music
- Interesting crafting/building
finding new materials unlocks new blueprints/recipes for new tools/armor/weapons or building blocks. apart from that the progression system is quite generic but well executed. no need to reinvent the wheel.
constructions need integrity and will break if there's not enough reasonable support - which results in you naturally building more realistic structures rather than having support beams only for style reasons.
- Good enough combat
blocking at the right time results in a parry, temporarily stunning the opponent, critical hits can stun as well, headshots deal more damage, Blunt/Pierce/Slashing damage differences depending on enemy make sense and make up for weapon durability not being particularly high.
- Building roads - leveling ground - elevating ground
much needed in games like this and thankfully it delivers
- Semi realistic physics
fall speed and weight affects damage, both dealt to you as well as dealt to other things. this can result in tree cascading when chopping down one, leaving you with more durability on your axe 8) or you can kill enemies with it which is also fun
- Interesting graphics
I personally love the mix of high quality lighting/bloom effects (thanks, unity) with pixelart-esque visuals in a 3d setting. makes for a very unique experience
- Story
there actually is some sort of story which makes it much more interesting for people who aren't too much into just survival builder games
- Food system
instead of requiring you to constantly eat and killing you otherwise, there are incentives for eating regularly and having a balanced diet. this results in you not being forced to eat when you're just chilling in your homebase and redecorating, while being strong enough to be important when you're out and about.
- Ships
you can make ships. that's pretty awesome

Con:
- Performance
it's a unity game and it performs as such. it's better than I had expected but you'll still frequently experience fps dips.
not a killer but noticable
- Small decisions
While I understand that Bronze is predominantly copper and therefore requires more of it than tin, it doesn't really make sense to have bronze hidden in veins while pure tin just sprouts out of the ground near rivers/ocean. this makes crafting bronze a tad tedious at first which doesn't really contribute to having fun. also not a killer but still, could have been pulled off a bit better.


Overall, as do most people, I can really recommend getting Valheim if you're into survival builder games. I haven't tried it solo but in a group of at least 2 people, it's great fun. Development is active and I expect a good amount of nice patches in the near future.

There's honestly not much bad I can say about it, it's just fun.
If the performance is improved in future versions, it's a clear 9/10 for this genre

Not gonna lie, there are plenty issues but is it still a good game?

Pro:
- the graphics are great, the lights especially are phenomenal - this is especially visible at night
- the mood, setting and atmosphere are fantastic
- story and storytelling are amazing. a few things teased in the trailers come a bit short but overall it's very good
- combat is a joy. melee is fun and the gun mechanics are great too. enemies can be a bit bullet-spongy at times but weapons are fun to use and offer great variety
- large build variety for various playstyles. well done
- finally a game where hacking isn't stupid
- interesting characters and great voice actors
- really enjoyable side quests that make you want to do more and luckily, there are plenty

Con:
- missing QoL:
- the minimap doesn't zoom out as your car increases in speed which results in you missing next to every intersection. sounds small but gets really annoying really quickly.
- no way to customize your character post creation, or car, or anything really.
- most items are just labelled as junk, causing you to immediately scrap them once bought if you picked up the perk
- the bugs. there are a lot and I'm not talking about visual ones because I don't really care about them.
- plugging in a controller is a ticking timebomb. you *will* have to save&load at some point because either one of these will happen:
- controller and kbm stops picking up some input
- "Skip" and "Reload" prompts will pile up one over another, cluttering the UI
- controller input is permanently detected, changing the prompts from kbm to controller
if, like me, you prefer using a controller when driving and switch to kbm for everything else - this is insanely annoying
- some mechanics like the police. police just *teleports behind you, nothing personell kiddo* whenever you have a star. the only solution is to either run away and manage to get out of combat, enter an elevator or talk to a quest npc. else you just pile up wanted levels.
- the radio is weak. way too few songs, odd channels and very limited news broadcasts. if you do a lot of sidequests, you'll likely hear the same news broadcasts for quite a while

overall I think most negatives are easily patched out and will probably be at some point. if you're not in a rush, wait for a few patches before buying it because the game itself certainly is worth it.
it's a fantastic experience that sadly gets a bit muddled with bugs and weird decisions which may yet be overturned in the long run, let's hope.

story: 9/10
storytelling: 8/10
graphics: 9/10
audio: 9/10
characters: 8.5/10
gameplay: 9/10

overall: 8.75/10

disclaimer: I haven't finished it yet
extra disclaimer: make sure to crank up the FoV slider and disable aim assist because it sure is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mess otherwise

gameplay-wise it's easily one of the worst games I've played but brutalizing is fun.
genuinely the only fun mechanic in the game though.

there are animation lock-ins during which you can be damaged and since you're often outnumbered 1:20+ you will end up getting hit. input buffering will shaft you many times and end up in unwanted behaviour. the only thing that takes priority over the input buffer is the counter, which is good since it's a reaction mechanic. dodge doesn't take priority though so if you've buffered a longer animation you will likely end up getting hit regardless.
some of the animation lock-ins are skills that you have to unlock from leveling and overwrite your basic attack, which essentially penalizes you for playing the game and leveling up. fun. and since the skills afterwards are more interesting and cannot be unlocked prior to getting the animation lock-ins, you're forced to be penalized.

not a single boss is difficult but some boss skill combinations force you into the most boring hit and run gameplay available.

the only reason why I've played the game for longer than two hours is: brutalizing. it's honestly fun.

the story is weak, the graphics are dated, the characters are unlikable but the performance is decent.

anyway 3/10, would not recommend

weak story, weak character creation, weak combat. pretty boring after a very short amount of time and next to no replay value