Recent reviews by Jackxter

An insane amount of detail in making a living, breathing economic model of the 19th century that ends up being the bones of a moderately fun game. I'm always going to mourn the military system of Victoria 2 but I can't discount just how ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ deep the systems of this game are or how much it's improved since launch. Paradox can be kind of a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ company from time to time (though they're not the worst) but I truly believe their individual developers have passion for this game and the skill to back up that passion.

Overall I've found the game to be very compelling so far. I like that there are no real differences between the civilizations at first. Instead, these differences grow organically and influenced by the environment around them. Civ 6 tried to tackle something like this but nowhere near as in depth. There are many paths that you can take your nation that have completely different gameplay effects. These paths aren't bland, either.

Needs quite a bit of work on the UI, QOL, and graphics front, but otherwise, not bad. Deserves a bit more love than what it's getting.

It good

PRONOUNS?! IN MY SPACESHIP GAME?!!? 2354 H3214 H!! #@? !@~#?@% !?!?!!?!?!!

Just kidding it's good.

It getting better.

Probably one of *the* best story-driven games I've ever played, especially in terms of replayability. I'm three games in, have spoiled the ♥♥♥♥ out of many plotlines thanks to TVTropes, and yet I'm still finding new and interesting details. Like all games, it will get old eventually, but by then I feel I'll have my money's worth many times over.

I really hope it and the developers continue to develop a fanbase, as I really want to see more of what they could come up with, particularly in this universe, whether that be through prequel, sequel, or DLC. I also wouldn't mind seeing non-gaming media in it.

Also: Tammy is best exocolonist. That is all.

Not gonna lie the game has a lot of performance issues and crashes pretty frequently. There's also a few QOL features missing (why can't I queue ship orders?)

That being said, it's also the most in-depth and intricate space grand strategy game out there. Space actually feels like space. It's massive and requires conquering numerous logistical challenges to expand into. You can't just fly from one end of the galaxy to the other. Your fleets need fuel hubs to operate from and numerous types of resources to build in the first place.

It isn't necessarily a Stellaris killer. Both games are so different from each other that practically the only similarity they have is they take place in space. Stellaris is all about building a unique culture and exploration. It's very space opera. Distant Worlds focuses far more on the logistic side of things and is more 'realistic' in that sense. Both are fun time killers depending on what you're in the mood for.

Anyway, back to the bugs and such. Reason I'm recommending instead of not is that this team seems to be moving very quickly to fix them. This includes, apparently, working this weekend, which is more than what I would do, personally. I hope this was a collective decision and not that on the part of some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ CEO forcing them to work overtime, but given it's small team, I think the former is more probable.

All that means the issues present are gonna be resolved pretty quickly. And after that, they'll probably be cranking out new, most likely free, content. For that, despite all the bugs, they deserve another recommendation.

Keep on keeping on, lads.

It goochie

Got about eight hours out of it before getting a little bored. There's a lot ooooo to the game, but a lot of ehhhh, too.


Pros:

- Atmosphere ranges from meh to woah at times. The city looks gorgeous and lively. Old timey cars rumble through the streets and pedestrians fill the sidewalks. Though I wish there were more soundtracks, the few that are there are pretty kickass. Jazz with a little bit of metal/industrial mixed in at times to give it an edge. I have to point out that one seems suspiciously similar to the Mos Eisley Cantina theme from Star Wars, but I'm hesitant to call it a ripoff. Could just have been a common jazz riff of the time. Either way, I liked it.

- Gameplay loop is fun for a few hours. Even though the tactical combat is kind of ehhh compared to games like X-Com or Phoenix Point, there's still a little excitement knowing every move you make is growing your empire.

- It's been a long time since I've played dedicated tycoon games, but the business side of things seems fine. Lot of min-maxing you can do to make sure potential customers are heading to your establishments over the competition. And of course, failing that, you can always go and get rid of any competition with pew pew. I wish all tycoon games were like this. It could stand to have some more production chains and racket types, though.

- A lot more quests than I expected in this. Every one of your gangsters has their own personal one, from your main boss to the hired help, at least from what I've seen. There's also quite a few side quests as well. Some are so basic they're not worth doing, others are more interesting and can have severe consequences/benefits for you. The storytelling in them is basic, but there is some intrigue here or there.

- Speaking of quests, there's quite a bit of voice acting and dialogue options. Some can get repetitive, and the dialogue ranges from passable to cheesy, but I think it's overall a benefit.

Cons:

- Animations need polish. People look fine in the 'overworld' where people are just standing or walking around. But once they start doing combat maneuvers they just look unnatural. Lot of sliding around and awkward turning. Melee attacks look like they're being performed by manequins moved by giant puppet strings. I don't usually give a crap about this kind of thing but for the first few battles it was very distracting.

- Tactical combat gets repetitive fast. It's saved by the fact it's only a part of the game, but if it was all the game had to offer? No way would I recommend it. I haven't fought the cops yet, so I can't say I've seen all the enemies in the game, but god is there a lack of variety in most of them. Same dudes with the same models with the same three types of weapons, with no variety in special abilities that I could see. I get that the time period doesn't really allow *that* much variety, but I can think of a few things:

How about enemies manning mounted heavy machine-gun turrets that you gotta go behind to kill? How about attack dogs? How about dedicated medics who can go around buffing/healing soldiers? How about molotov-cocktail throwers and flame troopers? How about cars rolling into flank you during street/garage fights, filled with dudes ready to light your ass up from the windows? What about that same thing but with MG-mounted jeeps? Or hell, you could even throw in a World War 1 tank if you want to stretch reality a bit. And if you want to stretch it even further via some Steampunk/Fantasy elements, that could add even more options. I wouldn't mind. ♥♥♥♥ historical accuracy if historical accuracy means boring gameplay. Gimmie some Nikolai Tesla steam robots and electricity guns. Give me voodoo zombies (the game already kind of has them) and Deep Ones summoning Cthulhu cultists. ♥♥♥♥ it.

Lack of enemy varieties is further hurt by the lack of a destructible environment. Unlike X-Com, Phoenix Point, or any other TBC games I know of, nothing seems to be destructible. Even flimsy wooden crates can take a shotgun blast without so much as a dent. The battlefield remains a static, boring place thanks to this.

Your own boiz do have a degree of diversity, especially when you take into account their traits. However, without a worthy opponent, all that is pretty much wasted.

- Need an element of public relations to the game. PR was ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ huge to real life mobsters. Without the community at least turning a blind eye, you had ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. It's why, as the game actually mentions, many of them set up ♥♥♥♥ like soup kitchens during the Great Depression. There is absolutely none of this in the game that I can see, which is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shame, as it would add a whole new dimension to the game. It would be awesome to have to balance publicly destructive criminal actions (such as things that would negatively affect the local economy) with doing ♥♥♥♥ for the community like opening up orphanages or the aforementioned soup kitchens. If you play your cards right, you should be the people's hero; have people cheering your name in the streets as you walk by.

- I can't tip the pianist in my speak easies and have them play Rhapsody in Blue like the real life Al Capone would do. What the ♥♥♥♥, game?

Good