Recent reviews by VoltaicFeline

TL;DR This game convinced me to love Roguelites, it is a blast! 8/10

i would start this review by saying, i've never been able to click with roguelites, or roguelikes. i've played FTL and Binding of Issac, i dipped into rogue legacy and Dungreed. none of them really clicked, don't get me wrong... they were fun, but not my kinda games.

now... this game... this game clicked, for the first time i saw why roguelites and likes were so addictive, and by god was i hooked. so let me share the story of how and why i came to this realisation:

as of writing this, this run had been my most recent. it was a harrowing experience the entire way through, i was always running low on something, be it ammo, food or medical. but somehow i was able to keep the infection at bay very reliably... until halfway through. i had run out of batteries due to some bad luck, and my last antiviral ran out. for three zones i had nothing to stave it off but my upgrades and a lucky hyper-infection mutation. i was scrambling to find an anti-viral the entire time, nothing else mattered and by god was it stressful... but that feeling of elation when i found one was palpable.

from there things got good, and they got good fast, multiple batteries allowed me to bring in a whole hoard of ammo, at this point i was still using the repaired 9mm Tauron i bought with me from the very start, but a HERC outpost gifted me with an M16 and ammo... combined with the ammo i then got from the trader, i had enough to go on a rampage.

then i reached the radio tower... so brimming with overconfidence that i could take on anything, that i was wholly unprepared when i hit the generator... and was swarmed from two angles by the undead. i died fast...

but that's when i felt it, the feeling of failure, and victory, all in one. the entire run i was ready to kick the bucket and start over, i was scrounging for scraps, fighting with my fists and limping around the entire time, but i pushed on and the game rewarded me with a hoard of munitions. it felt amazing, it was the first time i had ever made it so far and to do it out of a run i believed to be dead in the water was a feeling of absolute joy.

now... i love this game for what its helped me see, but i am biased, i adore zombie survival games with a passion. i am not blind to its flaws and shortcomings, but i can forgive them, we are not dealing with a AAA studio here, but an Indie Dev team who have limited resources.

is tis game worth its price tag? maybe not the whole tag... living in the UK this game rounds up to £20 thats what... $30 for american dollars? personally... from a purely value based perspective, this game should be priced at around £15 which should translate roughly to $20 american.

none the less, i shelled out because ive loved the Last Stand series from start to finish. yes, even Dead Zone. i was not disappointed by the experience given to me.

a solid 8/10!

i know i havent really played this game in the past two weaks, or at all really, but i know not much has changed since i last picked it up, so in good faith i know what i have to say will cover the basics and give you an idea of what youre getting into.

to start, if youre not one who enjoys realisim and survival mechanics, i would say this is a no go, this is a game wher eyou can die from a scratch if you dont know whats up. every single sound has a source, and that includes those made by your own character, even walking attracts attention, sneaking is only beneficial to a point.

be it because you set off an alarm or stupidly sprinted past a horde and no longer have stamina, you will have to contend with the undead one way or another, and thats where we get into the injury system. you have to be careful, constantly, if you break a window, clear the glass before you climb through, or you will cut yourself and without treatment... die. if you fight the undead, keep a persons distance away from them at all times. if you sustain injury from the horde, there is a 5% to 70% chance of infection depending on the wound sustained, and if you ARE infected, thats it, youre dead, might not be now, but you will be, and there is no cure.

beyond the injury system (might i suggest keep your health pannel up at *all* times) we have the hunger system, fairly general, eat food, drink water, take meds. the catch is... there will only be food when you start the world, whats there is all there will be, and the rot counters begin immediately, meaning you may survive for a month or so in your starting location, having picked it clean and cooked all th e food available... but after that? better hope you set up a farm, because going to the next town over will only give you slim pickings of canned food (which is incredibly valuable) and rotted produce.

and to end off the basic concepts of the game, the skill system, the biggest time sink of the game. near everything you do will have a skill associated with it, the EXP counters are incredibly long, naturally, you wont learn how to shoot a gun by popping 10 zombies in the head after all, after 10 bullets could you tell me how to handle recoil, what blow back is, how to clear a malfunction? your character is in most ways, an ordinary citizen and will need to learn how to survive on the fly. books are an amazing way to increase your skills, but they take a *long* time, thankfully, there is aspeed up option in t he game to pass time faster, however, noises that might alert you to danger may pass you by while using it, and of course, you still need to eat, you will likely have to carry that book with you and dip into it whenever you have a safe moment and a snack in your pocket.


now... at the end of this you might be thinking "this is complicated" yeah... it is, but thats realisim, and thats what this game is about, if you dont keep your head on straight, your senses sharp and your inventory managed, you will suffer, struggle, or die. learning and mastering the challenges your world has set for you is the crux of this games fun, and my god is it addicting.

so keep those eyes sharp, those ears sharper, and try to last one year in the game, do that on the default settings, and i daresay youve had fun.

you will suffer and you will love every second of it.
from day one, you will struggle, and in at the very end, you will struggle.

every venture into the dungeons of the hamlet will be a battle of attrition against the physical and mental dangers of the darkened halls, your units arent just meat anymore, they have both physical and mental needs.

not the common likes of food and happiness, but sickness and degeneration. ailments of the body will leave your units unfit for combat, or hampered during the middle of a dive into the dungeon of your chosing, mental problems develop over time and without proper care, all roads lead to inevitable death.

the only thing free in this game, are human lives, meat is your currency, gold and baubles are limited no matter where you are. a constant supply of unnerved fools will keep your coffers full, and your treasury fat, if you ignore their needs and treat them like disposable cattle, once they are of no use to you and too costly to keep alive, toss them away, and hire a fresh batch of uneducated saps.

welcome to Darkest Dungeon, become the CEO of that one company you worked for and now hate. it's how you will survive.

Im going to start ths review off with a question to you... Did you play Terraria? did you enjoy Terarria? do you wnt more Terarria only better?

if yes, then you should be opening your wallet rght now to get your credit card. if no, then you should be opening your wallet to get your credit card.

Starbound is your typical Voxel craftalot game, with exploration for days, enough recipies to make your head spin and a slew of different special tems to reward diligent searching and treaure hunting, but where t shines is the endless, limitless universe you can explore! forget nailing yourself to a single plain of existence and world farming, take your home with you, leave entire planets in ruin after you have mined them for their precious metals and trasures, hunt for a fancy planets to call your own and buld monuments in your image. every single planet you fnd, is yours to do with as you please!

how many planets are there? infinite! the only thing youre going to run out of is fuel, and just as if by coincidence, theres an abundance of that.

However... where this game turely shines is its modding community, i barely need to mention the best pack for the game "Frackin Universe" before i tell you to go open the workshop and see for yourself! entire libraries worth of new races to play as, sprite swaps to make your game look just how you wish it to, an Armadas worth of ships to chose from!

if you dont have 15 bucks to spend on a game like this that has potentially more content avilable for you in the base game and workshop combined than ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ skyrim, then you shouldnt be playing games at all