Recent reviews by Azure

Very buggy. Corrupted saves, crashing on loading, even with a gaming PC.

I don't know if it is a pathing issue for densely populated areas, but at about day 5-6 I very rarely get horde attacks even on higher difficulty.

So many interruptions from voice communications that lead nowhere. Such as an infected kid you say you will find, but never do, an active security system that leads nowhere, so on and so on.

No matter where you go on planet, you will see same architecture, except for some famous buildings may make an appearance. Besides that, the homes, hospitals, schools in Dallas look just like the ones in Wuhan China.

You must play the game the way the devs want you to play. No freedom of creativity. You can't choose a Headquarters outside of town in an isolated facility. If you do, you can't build any other facility, because they require empty building to convert. No building your own building.

Unless you choose a densely populated map, you will feel the map size is to small. It is still small in densely populated areas, but at least there is plenty of buildings to work through.

My biggest complaint is the same complaint I had, and made, in the demo. The control of the scavenger team. There is no customization with your scavenger teams. Not sure if the devs understand from a player perspective, the scav teams are 90% of the game. These are the people you have direct control over, and you make the choices that can lead to their death. This is what we simple people call "Immersion". But no, what you get is to be immediately un-immersed when you go to, lets say Kanie, Japan, and my first scav team is: Martha Cambell, Dorothy Martin, Janice Moore, and Pamela Moore. Hmm, ok, well lets just say these were tourist who got caught in Japan during the outbreak. *Creates second team*, four more western names and pictures. and so on. So, I'm not in Japan. Why did you tell me I was in Japan then? Nothing else in the game tells you are outside America. All voice acting is very much American, including the tropes like stick-up-his-butt colonel who wants your stuff. So, since you can't manually change names of anything, what is the point of downloading maps? Just generate random ones, because all you are downloading is a map you are moving to America.

I really don't care about the brown nosers(by the way, you have something on your nose) who want to give positive reviews based on what they "Hope" will change in the future. Most of them won't even be playing the game in 5 months.

Final complaint, the forced cheesy dialogue and some mission is simply bad. Simple text and interactive events you can choose to investigate on a limited time basis would have been 1000% better then scripted cringe you can't turn off. Once you have seen the missions once you know them every time. First human encounter is bad guys, sick man is infected, investigate nest you will be attacked, and so on. This is why scripts are so stupid in these games. Makes replaying a drag.

Haven't played this game in a while, but tried it again to see if it was any better. Nope.
The biggest problem is obviously the insurgents you encounter in the game. The game is still incredibly imbalanced towards the insurgents. Don't think about tactics or strategy. The only strategy is to have enough soldier icons to force the insurgents into a corner and cover every single exit so they cant escape. if you leave one corner open, and even just 1 insurgent pip gets free, the chase is back on. Very unrealistic. I was in Iraq. Trust me, the insurgents didn't rise up in the numbers that we needed 5-6 full battalions with air support to force them back. The management aspects of the game are a secondary thought as they only pose to be a threat to the player as you may think you are finally beating the insurgents you look down and your full of corruption. At this point I doubt they will ever fix this issue. The insurgents simply shouldn't be allowed to run. If the military actually finds you, then you're done.

I have no idea why people praise this game so much. Play the demo before you buy. The game is a tedious and boring slog. I fully grasp the "humor" in the game and understand when something is suppose to be funny, but the jokes are simply lame. Clearly this game was made for a specific type of person and I wasn't one of them. Also, why aren't the villagers just balls of slime with faces? or an alien race? Clearly they don't function like humans, so why make them look that way?

Updated 03/20/24 at bottom
To be blunt, no this it isn't a Stardew clone, unless Stardew is a Harvest Moon clone; which it actually began as. Yes it has farming, cooking, gift giving, and all the stuff Stardew had. What do you expect? How else are these games suppose to be made? The story, graphics, and setting are all completely different. You can also jump :-)

The premise of the game is right after a severe natural disaster, you and a group of applicants decide to rebuild the Cultivator Sect you were all trying to join before it got nuked by a literal meteor. Sounds a lot like stardew doesn't it? lol, no, its completely different. In this game you use magic to fight, there is no BS fishing minigame, and the cooking requires you to run around a kitchen on a time limit. A total Stardew clone, right?

Is it a great game? No, but look at the price. It cost as much as stardew did over 8 years ago. If they were released at same time, Stardew would cost way more then this game factoring in inflation. So, most of these negative reviews are pretty useless.

I decided to get this game as soon as I saw some people complain about not having relationships in the game. That's great news for this type of game. I don't play these games to have my little smexy fantasies and eventually get a fade to black screen for my implied smex. People who are into to that need to just go read all those crap romance novels. They clearly dont want to play a game. The fact is, there is a relationship aspect of the game. Talking and giving gifts increases relationships. I haven't played long enough to know where these relationships lead, but I trust the complainers know what they are talking about. I don't need to get kissy kissy with the pretty boys. We know that's all you shippers want. Just two guys, who are more attractive then the females, kissing.

Well, I am here to rebuild a devastated Cultivation Sect, and chew gum . . . and I'm all out of gum.

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After 24 hours of play I am surprised at how much game is in here. I consider myself good at time management in games, but even after 24 hours I haven't unlocked 80% of the map. I'd say this games fun/price ratio its well worth the price of admission. Also, in regards to the relationship issue, after 24 hours of giving gifts daily, the highest relationship I have is 1 1/2 hearts out of 6. It will probably speed up now that i know most peoples preferred gifts, but this isn't as easy as Stardew where you can basically max several relationships in 1 year cycle. Also, these npcs friends talk to you via magic way more then other life sim games. They each have varied and interesting personalities that remind me of seeing groups of friends talk. Anyway, just wanted to say after many more hours I would still recommend this game for the price. Also, pay attention to when someone is explaining how a system works. Don't skip the dialogue at those times. For the first several hours I didn't know I had a multi-light sword spell from the beginning that make combat way easier then standard attacks. I got cocky and just skipped the instructions.

This is one of those "hidded gem" games you hear about in history classes. Based on the graphics, I fully expected this to be a simple fishing game where you spend all the time underwater. I was very wrong, as the longer you play the game the more in depth it goes. This game is clearly a love letter to many of the games of the past as you will see elements of Stardew, bullet hell games, rhythm games, Cooking simulators, Metal Gear, and others. Even though the game is engaging with its difficulty, it never felt like it was to hard. The biggest complaint you will have with this game when you complete it your second time is that you want more. I hope the devs continue to make games like this, and not necessarily sequels. Maybe they can make other similar games in the Daveverse which involve other characters in other locations, but all connected.

The art, music, animations, and combat are nice, not good, but nice. I would even say that this game would make an excellent first RPG for up and coming gamers if it weren't for the occasional fights that are simply tedious. The reason I have to give this game a negative review is because even after not finding anything grossly negative about the game, I still struggle to bother finishing it. After spending $30 on a game, you would think you would at least want to finish it, but nah.

The reasons/cons are that the game is incredibly repetitive with its combat, and the story is very boring. It is hard to place my finger on why this story is so uninspired to me. I guess it is trying so hard to be non-offensive or grim that it fails to create stakes in any of the situations. An example: the kid in opening cut scene loses an eye, the guy heals the pain only and simply says he hoped the kid learned his lesson. Losing an eye for a kid from an attack is a life changing event, but nah, he's fine. Just like scraping an elbow from a fall. Throughout all of the story I have been through so far none of the situations have been treated seriously. So, what am I supposed to take away from this game? Its not a comedy game, Its not a drama, its barely action. It is simply "and this happens" over and over.

I would only recommend you get this game on a 50% or more sale. Also, be aware you need a controller.

If you liked "Oxygen Not Included" but always found it to be overly complicated with all its min/maxing and having to learn exploits to win, then this game is for you. Ratopia is the same feel as Oxygen not included, but with a much easier to understand gameplay. Being in Early access, I still love the current game and I look forward to seeing if the devs can follow through on their road map. I will say that the banking mechanic you eventually get into is a bit advanced in complication compared to the rest of the game, but that is mainly because it isn't explained. However, that can change in future updates and isn't necessary to enjoy the game.

I was having fun with the game until I ran into a soft-lock in progression. The game has a type of personality system that is very annoying and forces certain traits on you. My Captain was conservative which requires them to fight in every battle. This is usually fine, because your captain is probably your most well rounded pilot. However, you get perimeter mission that are optional missions you actually need to do. I tried to send my Captain because my other 2 pilots would never succeed in the mission. However, sending your 'Conservative' captain on a perimeter mission does not negate the "MUST FIGHT" in every mission requirement. Meaning you cannot send your captain on perimeter missions if they are conservative or the game refuses to progress to the next day. Some people want to act like not sending your captain on these missions is the obvious answer. Perimeter missions are much harder then regular missions as you have to move throughout the map rather then sit and defend. 3 of the 5 pilots are very poorly suited for perimeter missions. So, unless you have the green-haired pilot, your captain is the only other real option. The red-hair melee pilot is only good when AI controls her. The other 2 can barely move due to weight.

So, If you didn't get the green-hair pilot, your captain is only pilot to do perimeter missions. I hope this review was confusing enough to get the point across that this stupid 'conservative' trait causes a big enough problem to make the game annoying if you have it.

This was only the poor development choice that broke my will to give this game a good review which I was going to do up till this happened. There are many many gramatical errors in the game, missing text, and poorly defined stats. I truely have zero problem with all of the new Chinese made games we are getting in America. However, if you want to release over here, please hire a professional to translate and properly transfer meaning into your games. Don't just do your best with google translate.

My final complaint is the bug reporting system the developer has. The game creates a zip file that they want you to email to their personal email address that is nothing more then a string of numbers(g2764948958) at outlook.com. It looks just like a bad scam email address. If you go to their website you are presented a spreadsheet to fill out. Why? Why did you make it this way? Why doesn't the bug report go straight from the game to you?

In responce to Dev who finally looked at reviews:
@OKJOY I didn't complain about the game difficulty. In fact, I don't see hardly anyone complaining about the difficulty. Yet, you nerf almost all the difficulty in updates. You haven't addressed my complaint about the conservative trait so my review stands. Going on perimeter missions should be allowed for Conservative Captain. They just can't sit at home.

And no, no one made you get an email address that looks like a scam email address. Get an email address that is very clearly your company. OKJOY, OKJOYGAMES, CAVALRY_GIRLS, and so on and so on. You can look professional.

If you like being as prepared and as tactical as you can be; carefully make your way through the 4 level station successfully; AND THEN on the last room to clear before you finish the mission you open a door and immediately get hit with instant death flame thrower . . . THEN this is the game for you! Congrats!

I seriously wanted to like this game. I even bought the supporter pack because I thought the game was getting a bad hand from its players. Man was I wrong on that one. Everyone is correct. This game is poorly balanced, and made for masochist. Yes it is Early Access. Last I checked Early Access was basically supposed to be a game that was basically in final stages, but the devs want to add more content to finish it out. If you play this game now you are basically a play tester in an alpha. The game can be very fun, when you don't get screwed by common one shot kills, robots that refuse to take damage despite having just killed several easily, and many more unbalanced scenarios. I don't like being mean to the devs, but they needed to play this game themselves for many hours to experience this. They would know that it isn't fun to do everything correctly, but still lose just because.

Seriously, WTF devs, Why are weapons like flame thrower and saw gun in the game that can 1 shot player, who is in full armor set. F'k reality or any of that. The way you designed levels there are absolutely blind corners you can't prepare for when the enemy refuses to come to you. If the flame thrower goes off then the player is dead. Sometimes even the players own flame thrower or saw gun kills them in 1 shot. No chance to run away, no chance to heal, nothing. Why would you do that? Did you play test your own game? At least make it so one shot weapons are not on the final floor. After spending about 2 hours clearing the station with a buffalo bag full of loot, and microing my food and ammo I am ready to clear the final room; all I get a face full of fire, a dead veteran, and a stupid suitcase!

I give this a negative review because the devs wasted my time, and I can't get a refund. If they fix this mess in a year or so I will consider updating review. (Updated) I have uninstalled the game after trying to give it a second chance and immediately being slapped in the face for it.

Just tried to give game a second chance. Kitted my guy out in best armor I had. Had some burst 9mm ammo and figured, Why not. First enemy I see I pop off a round, miss and hit the wall next to me. I burst into flames and die immediately. Seriously, One 9mm worth of fire is enough for instant death. You do know we have White Phosphorous rounds in real life, and they have been used in war. They do not kill you in one hit, nor burst you into flames. Devs, Remove Fire from the game. You clearly do not understand how to balance it. Anyone who would want to defend fire's lethality in real life please keep it to yourself. If this were real life we would just land the ship and pump the base full of nerve gas to kill everything.
*In addition, at each elevator you need to have a 6x2 box that the player can place items that go to ship even if they die.

I would prefer to just say its a neutral game. The art, music, and most of the writing is good. Not great, but good. Once you get past not being able to pronounce most of the names, you do actually begin to gain some emotional investment in the characters. However, It is because the game does good enough to get you emotionally invested that it also runs into some of its drawbacks. I can't help but feel many of the character stories lack what I consider a satisfying conclusion. It is like the writers made the main story line, and everything else is just an after thought which can literally be skipped.

The game requires you to raise other characters interest in you by giving them gifts or completing task if they have any. You can only give gifts to NPCS you can "Observe". The problem is, not all NPCs you can observe give quest, and there are a lot of them in the world. So, you have no idea which NPCs have optional side quest available in the world unless you raise their interest to max most of the time. This is very expensive and time consuming if you spar them to get stuff back. An example of no consequence; there is a monk in Shaolin on the far right of temple who sells stamina pills. He will ask you for a flute, you give him the flute, and that is that. Except, if you raise his interest level higher, he then will give 2 more quest that you didn't know he had. There is another little monk near this monk who gives a quest to get him candy. You get him the candy, quest done. You can then max out his interest in you and he has no more quest to give. This is a stupid system that makes you have to raise every NPCs interest almost as soon as you meet them because most quest in the game are also time sensitive and will disappear after certain points in the story. This means you have to retread the map multiple times before turning in main story quest to make sure new side quest didn't trigger somewhere.

So, This game has more positives then negatives, but the negatives are absolutely there. If you are willing to pay attention to detail, and not have your hand held by the developer, then you can get a very expansive experience. You can run right through the game story, or you can slow down and pay attention to when something seems off. Such as the Beggar Sect main Quest, you can go immediately into the main battle, OR, slow down, notice something is odd, and investigate. You can be rewarded in this game for not being impatient. Just keep in mind the always doing the "right thing" in some quest doesn't always end in the best outcome. You can't think about this story as a modern day American, you need to understand at least a little of Chinese culture to catch all the details. SAVE OFTEN, with lots of backups in case you need to go back 2 hours rather then starting over. Even I was getting tired of the drag after a while and wish the dev had just given an indicator above the npcs as to who had quest.

The fighting is also not very engaging as you become very over powered very quickly. In my last run I was beating many of the Sect heads before the sword tournament quest. Not hard to do once you understand how to maximize the power system and get special moves. There is a reason the Developers put in an auto battle system. You simply don't want to take time to focus on squashing everyone.

You should basically view this game as a visual novel with many, many options. The story is the main focus of the game. Not the combat. Like I said, It is not hard to build a character to be almost unbeatable by the mid story if you wanted to. What hooks you is the desire to find out what happens next.