Recent reviews by PeliasDeWizzzrd

160 hours good :-) .
Lots of enjoyable game hours to learn the interesting crafting system, to explore the map mining possibilities, to learn about the auto-trade with the overworld etc etc. Good implementation of what I have seen in the genre games overral, with the innovation of the modular crafting system.
I recommend Hammerting, even if I am forced to stop my end-game colony because CPU started having serious problem on handling the game-orders-calculations load and the game is now very-slow-running and shuttering... (45 dwarfs, Huge Map, maybe I should had kill the nests so that monsters were less ...)
... Proposition: If you are on i5 processor like me, consider running your colony with minimal nomber of dwarfs. I surelly dont need even the 20 out of the 45)

Has potential to become a good game. But at this stage (April 2024), after all these hours of gameplay (190 hrs), I got frustrated by the constant resource farming and the lack of PvE content.

On PvP rush server I spend half of my game time, there was a setup of extra resources gathered, but it is pvp-stressful experience and the game is not oriented on defensive-base-building that I would like. By the time I had a decent base setup, a group of 3 end-level players would definitely manage to rade it because of equipment and no advanced base-defense game mechanics... Actually, the pvp is diminished into a top-down competitive shooter with resource rush-gathering and tech-tree crafting elements.

On PvE server, the gameplay was more to my type of preference. You can design an nice-looking village base, BUT there is no need for base protection or defense walls etc, since no Environment Elements (monsters etc) are going to attack it. The exploration and 'points of interest' elements are REALY minimal (especially compared to other craft-survival games), and the only actual goal is to collect the resources to advance the build and technology tree. ... But the farming needed at the official servers settings is TOO much for me. And running around the map just to gather the same thing over and over and over got me fed up...

So, after hundred of hours I am quitting the game feeling more frustrated than fulfilled/entertained. (Lots of my game-play time was during me sleeping on the keyboard.)

BUT, I recommend the game, since it will offer you a lot of hours of satisfaction at start-to-mid gameplay, and if you are fun of PvE opportunities you could find a nice gem of a game on Cryofall. Just take note that if I was to start playing the game again, I would start a private server with boosted resource gathering and stack-limit parameters.

<< Addition to the review after tenths of hours of gameplay: Bards Tale 4 includes some very nice exploration elements that are not obvious at the first hours of the game: Many riddles to access loot (i.e. the magic markings scattered around below skara bray can be activated by nearby hidden switches to open the arch door.) Really innovating activation of abilities at the elven weapons: View them closely from your menu, and try to spot the positions on the rotating image of the weapon that activate the puzzle embedded on the weapon decorations. - The game is a hidden gem of old school beloved RPGs. >>

<<Edit 2 : To my point of view, the major drawback/minor of the game is the frustration that we cannot cheaply reset our skill trees at the first half of the game, a problem during our first run that we don't know the synergies and details of the skills, and we are far from optimizing our builds. I would not had enjoyed the game if I had not used the trick I am posting in a guide, to purchase unlimited mercenary coins from the DLC dungeon entrance dwarf altar.>>

- Beautiful scenery.
- Interesting, classic-RPG story that evolves step-by-step.
- Fantastic music created specifically for the game.
- Developers love and nostalgia for the original old-time-classic game trilogy. (ie hundreds pages of books-novels on the expanded edition).
- Tactical turn-based combat, with plenty of different-than-the-usual-2023-mainstream-gamming skills. Especially if you select the Bard class as your character (definitely recommenced), the abilities/spells are creating a strategy approach that I don't recall having experienced in a game for very-very long. Add combat-grid-movement tactics to the available-actions-management element, and the combat escalates to be interesting, tactical and a fresh idea worthing the game's purchasing.

- For me to enjoy the game, I had to use a cheat to get more Mercenary Tokens : Initially I was concerned and annoyed at the first hours of gamplay by the bit awkward system of characters (NPC or Custom made) progression. I felt anxious and restricted by the fact that I had to find and spend the "rare" mercenary-tokens to reset my characters skills or create new characters, especially since in this fist-run the fresh-new-uncommon skills lead me to learn-by-playing and wanting to reset my main character and to reset the standard Companions or create new ones... That meant a handful of mercenary-tokens were needed, and I was getting frustrated by the thought that I would not have them.
But, as I am explaining in a relevant guide I am posting here on Steam, very close to the beginning of the game (level 5, just when the game becomes open-world-side-quest friendly), if we use a Treiner to get unlimited money for a few moments, we can purchase all the Mercenary Tokens our heart desire.

All in all, considering my game-evaluation criterion: The Bards Tale 4 has kept me not-sleeping for about 5 nights on the row. I now have started falling asleep on the keyboard while playing. ... Thus, it is a definitely YES RECOMENDED ! by me :-)

Regardless the minimalistic text-based interface/gameplay, the effort to balance resources, skill builds and luck to win duels, had kept me interested for some hours. When my gladiators started to reach the top-skills-rating at the crucial skills for their build, the game started to becoming a bit repetitive and tiring (I had overexpanded and had many gladiators to update every turn...). I remember getting the game on a sale, and I consider my money and time well spend on Age Of Gladiators. ... Also, the game has good music tracks. ... Note: I believe that in about 30 hrs of gamplay one could get all the achievements: Half of my gameplay time recorded is when I had fall asleep on the keyboard for the biggest part of the late night.

Fulfilling city builder with a decent difficulty to provide the rewarding feeling of overcoming a challenge. I have played several resource-management-city-builders, and would propose Aven Colony campain being played at "challenging" difficulty: If you take notice of the resources available at the start of the scenario and think about the objectives, then you realize that you have to implement different game-styles at some of the maps.

By Gamers For Gamers !
For 26 years now, I often find myself singing softly the intro music of Fallout or Fallout 2 when I am happily relaxing or too tired of the days work...
26 years and I have not forgotten this game...
That is how good the game is. :-)

26 years and I still smile when recalling the Fallout random encounter tribute to the Mondy Python <<what is your name/quest/...>> bridge passage. :-)

Excellent game ! Fallout 3 as Interplay would had created it ! Sparks of humor here and there, plethora of character development options, many combat strategic options, skill checks all around the place, dialogues and quests, interesting scenario/setting etc etc.

My first playthrouth is with my usual Fallout I and II selection of High Intelligence - Minimum Str-Con ganslinger/mage, and I have really enjoyed almost every moment of the tenths of gameplay hours... and I am intrigued to have a second playthrue with a minimum intelligent character, since many perks and game elements hint that the developers have really took care of interesting new content for that kind of characters.

Definitely a must-play for Fallout 1 and 2 lovers.

EDIT 1: Trying to leave-out the Fallout nostalgia, and judging the Encased rigorously and as I would judge a AAA, high-class, big developer, multidollar production game, I am digging out the following "minus" of this beautiful game:

1) I would love having more companion options, with a bit more of a "bio-were" and "baldur's gate" story depth on their background and the relationship-reaction with player. Encased has these elements nicely embedded (the reputation level of each independent follower towards you changes according to some of your actions etc), but I feel like I would like more. And definately I would like having more followers options (a pet dog please?) and the option to have a bigger-than-3-adventurers party. :-)

2) I would love to decide myself for the skill-tree-development (points distribution) of my companions. Yes, it is a bit of OverPower gameplay, considering also that there is no level cup to restrict a high inteligence character from becoming a multiskill demigod of power, but I feel a bit restricted whenever I see my beloved companions leveling up as they like (the way it would have happened in real life, thing that I admit is helping with the immersion-connection of me with my game avatar).

But, even without a DLC adding the above, I feel I am going to have hundreds more happy gamelpay hours on Encased :-)

EDIT 2 : I found another sigh of how much LOVE AND CARE FOR THE DETAILS the devs have build on Encased game: After 100 hours of gameplay (about 20 have to be while I exhausted fell asleep on the keyboard the game still running, because I didn't want to stop playing regardless how tired I was from the real life obligations), I met an NPC in the multiculture NPC society the game story-background is presenting. And his origins are shown by her (the NPC) name: It is a Greek name, and as a Greek, I imediatly was flattered by the fact that is a correct and valid greek name :-) The devs took care of the detail, avoiding to have a random algorithm producing english falce-names all around. :-) Well done Encased :-) {The fact that the game uses the male-form of the name for a femail character confirms that the devs were trying to use valid names even for countries they have no contact/experience with.}

EDIT 3 : Wile speaking with a fellow gamer about Encased, we realized that for some unidentified reason, we both almost quit the game at its beginning. I recall that I started character creation and first 5-minutes of gameplay for three times, and all three of them I was distracted by another new addition to my library, leaving Encased for a future moment. It was only at the forth time I started Encased that I went past the first territory and got hooked-up by its greatness... So, conclusion: Maybe because of the unusual 'corporate' setting, maybe because of the unusual characters art, maybe because of the complexity of the character creation, the game is not unconsciously appealing at the start... I propose you don't give-up on Encased before the story reach at the "Incident" moment, when the whole game-world is changing. (It is only a relatively short game-time to that point.)

EDIT 4: I don't know if I will have the stamina for it, but the game provides the motivations for 4 playthroughts (replayability):
1. The normal gamestyle I would play Fallout 2 (my usual personal RPG character selection-build)
2. Creating a character with INTELLIGENT 1
3. Play as a pacifist, killing not even one monster in the game (sneak pass or hit them unconscious with blunt weapon ability (stamina damage). Yes, the game does allow this kind of approach to every quest.
4. Play as a Megaloanomay Menace Avatar, killing every living NPC-monster-animal under the Dome. There are hints that this will lead to an alternative end of the game...

EDIT 6: The edition of the game I am playing (standard 2023 steam edition) includes a button at the top-left of the world map, to set-up a camp wherever you like. The camp has a bed for resting, and thus the fatigue problem is solved till other means to lower fatigue are at your disposal.

It was an interesting experience for the first 25 hours of gameplay. But at the end stages of the game, I got tired of the pointless time-consuming effort to maintain high stat on my prefer training-path because of the enormouse amount of stat-disolve every day (the ammound increases the higher your stat is)... For in-train-travelling-to-work mobile gaming it is OK, but for PC nightime dedicated gaming there are many more engaging and fulfilling options (like a proper CRPG or FPS etc tittle :-) ). Good news are that the game has an "easy" mode that only deactivates the stat decrising every day... I thought myself too touph for easy mode, but at the end I wissed I had started my saveslot on that "easy" mode... nothing else changes, and the (simplistic) tactics during combat are the same... So I recommend the game, I had good time with it, but I propose you start on the no-stat-decretation mode (easy one) if you want to see the end-game (simple) story evolving... (I am quitting the efford at the end-halph of the last chapter, since my greed to build a money base had me not training my stats (time-consuming-repetitive progress) for a couple of gamedays, and now it feels like it will take forever to be able to beat the next story-combat becouse every day I build +100 stat and at night-time the game dicreases the stat -90 ... ... After some months, I might start a second playthroug on easy mode.

Fulfilling and delightful :-) After 5 days and having kept me awake for a 35 hrs period without sleeping, I completed the main survival campaign. And without overusing the "cruel" "survival" options, trying always to do the "ethical" thing...

The "New Home" plot felt to me fresh and the different-than-usual. City-building-survival setting is something I really enjoyed, since for many months now I am playing good games, but that all feel like I have played something similar before... That was not the case with Frostpunk :-)

On finishing the campaign, I am feeling complete with a warm feeling of accomplishment: I am feeling like having overcome interesting, hard, cruel, but fair game challenges... And on top of the expansions, there is a "endless" mode that I hope will let me keep upgrading my city to the high pick :-)

All in all, the game definitely was worthing my time and money.

I am totally pleased with the game! Hack-and-Slash with miniguns, flamethorwers, grenades ets, in my opinion equal and maybe better than Diablo 3. ... It looks like it now has a plethora of end-game content (I have not yet reach max level though). ... I like the concept not being constrained in the main mission maps/environments, but being able to travel to various systems to pick different missions at will. Warhammer feeling is all around, and after all these hours of gameplay I am still exploring new features/structures of gameplay (void crusades, special missions etc). ... Crafting feels a bit unnecessary, like having been overruned by additions of items-modifications options that were implemented in the game as ti was evolving through the years, but I never felt dissapointed or 'cheated' by the game mechanics. ...If nothing elce, the game kept me awake and entertained for many overnights already. :-)