Recent reviews by Zombiebrains

This is a really good adaptation of the board game with two major caveats that ruin it. The first is that the multiplayer is broken. My friends and I tried to play 3 games and every single time ran into a bug that prevented us from playing. Additionally, the the game shouldn't boot you as soon as your turn timer runs out.

The second is that there still is no Mother of Dragons expansion which is basically essential for the original game. Seeing as its been a hot minute since this game released and these are still issues, I don't see them fixing either of these problems. Maybe only pick this one up if you are looking for an in depth tutorial to play the actual board game.

Its fantastic. I've been a long time series fan and this iteration has everything I could hope for and more from the franchise. The city building is as diverse as ever. The devs have really take a lot of things learned from Planetfall and iterating on it positively. The combat feels very dynamic and better defined from 3rd one. Its usually better to have a mixed army instead of just spamming your best unit like before. Best of all is the sheer amount of customization of your faction, your play style, and even the scenarios themselves. In my opinion this is a must buy for any 4X lover.

This game is a dopamine drip and well worth the asking price. Can't recommend enough.

Age of Wonders 3 is a turn based 4X game. Players take on the role of a leader of some sort of fantasy race, i.e. elves or dwarves, but there are also unique races like frostlings, (think frost elves or white walkers from Game of Thrones. Each leader also has a class like Druid or Rogue that gives them access to unique spells and units. Play is turn based, and I would compare it to a giant board game.

I’ve plugged a lot of hours into this game. I love the combat. It feels very unique. It's kind of like Total War in that each battle is its own unique instance, and can involve surrounding units so you can have absolutely epic battles. While the races may seem samey at first, once you dive deeper into the game you can really feel the differences. New players may feel the urge to just auto-combat everything. I did for most of the campaign, but learning how to do manual combat will give players an edge and make them more efficient.

The music is great. I sometimes find myself using it for D&D or for a M:tG night. Its catchy and whimsical, epic in scope, and varied enough that you might find yourself humming it outside of the game as you think about your next turn.

The out of combat empire building is good, and interesting most of the time. New players will probably want to start off by playing the campaign or messing around in a random scenario to get the feel for it. It's not as complicated as the Civilization series and that's a good thing because more of your choices matter. The AI is passable and you can easily spend hours playing this game by yourself against the them. Some may say the diplomacy system is lackluster, but I would argue that it is under utilized, and works better with other humans. My one gripe with it is that it doesn’t keep a record of what was said in prior conversations, so you sometimes have to guess the context.

The multiplayer is a mixed bag. I absolutely love the play by email (PBEM) option for this game. When you take your turn it sends an email to the next person in line, and they take their turn. I look forward to taking my turns as soon as I come home from work. This works well for me since I sometimes don't have a ton of time to sink into a game, and breaking up my playtime works well for my schedule. You can play LAN but it tends to crash. Luckily it autosaves and you can usually load from a prior save. Playing a live game online may be an issue however, since in order to do so, you may have to change your router settings.

This game plays like the highest kind of fantasy board game. It plays like Terra Mystica amped to 11. Really this game is fantastic and I cannot recommend it enough. I love it.

5/5 - A fantastic epic fantasy board game.

I love this game. I love the arcadey feel and the heavy soundtrack. Make no mistake though, this is an immensly difficult game. It demands perfection in your execution. One bullet brings instant death, but the near instant respawn puts you right back into the action. You will start off as almost a stealth game, and work your way into a bullet spraying frenzy as get better.

The story is more fleshed out than the original as you follow more charecters. Its twisted in the extreme, and could have been a little more concise, but overall was satisfying in its conlcusion. The music is absolutly fantastic and really gets you in the moment. I found myself listening to it in the gym. It just gets you so pumped!

I find myelf replaying this game peroidically, and every time I fall in love with it again.

Overall,

5/5

What can I say about Dark Souls. This game is about the conquest and the indomitable human spirit. It’sabout the sense of achievement that you get when you overcome something strenuous. There’s a certain rush, a sigh of relief that you get when play this game. It doesn't happen very often, usually after a boss fight, but you will live for those moments of unbridled euphoria. It comes from the challenge of the game and you can't help but feel intimidated by the terrifying monsters you will encounter.

I feel that the difficulty of this game is overstated, most of which is due to a steep learning curve, the intimidating bosses, and the narrow margin of error. It is hard, but most of that hardness comes from the player themselves. I found the hardest boss in the game to be the one in the tutorial because I didn't know how to approach it, or how to beat it. I found that most of the bosses in this game are like that. Dark Souls intimidates the player into thinking the bosses are impossible, it gets inside your head. Only after you overcome that fear and take a methodical approach to the game, get in that "zone" so to speak, does the game come alive. Once that happens though, there's nothing quite like it, and it will keep you coming back for more.

You’re a stranger to this desecrated kingdom, and you can't help but feel that sense of crushing loneliness as the world goes mad around you. It makes the times that you do see a friendly face all the more special. It’s a sprawling 3D Castlevania type game, with beautiful set pieces, and a stirring story. However, this story is not straightforward like Dragon Age or Baldur’s Gate. You find it in bits and pieces, scattered across items and areas and you have to piece it together. It's not going to make any sense at first, but keep looking and it will click eventually.

When I finally managed to beat this game, I was sad, happy, and relieved. There aren’t many games that can make you feel all that at once. This is well designed game that will forever be a classic through the ages. With all that said, I cannot recommend this game to everyone. This game really only appeals to a very niche set of people, but I will be damned if I don’t give it the high praise it deserves.

Overall, This is a game for the adventurer in all of us. If you’re the kind of person who looks at a mountain and thinks "Wouldn't it be fun to climb that, just to experience it and to say I did that" then get this game and power through it. You won’t be disappointed.

5/5

Killing Floor 2 hits a sweet spot with me. There’s something very cathartic about killing zeds, wave after wave. As a fan of the original, the second outing offers an improvement in almost every way. With more classes and an improved perk system, each player can bring something unique to the table. The music is fantastic and will make you feel very badass, when you get that perfect string of headshots.

That stated, this game is repetitive. You're here to kill zombies and not much more. Basic gameplay spawns you on the map, and after killing all the zeds in the wave, going to the trader to buy better equipment. Very simple, and there isn't much of a story to it. That will turn off some people who are looking for a deeper experience than a supercharged arcade shooter.

Overall, if you liked the first Killing floor or if you like feeling the rush of surviving hordes of dangerous monsters, give it a try.

5/5

This game has some really interesting mechanics behind it. The stress and insanity systems especially make the dungeoneering exciting. Its pretty tough and I would definitely recommend looking up some tips or tutorials online (but not enough to spoil everything. As of the review its still early access, but there is more to this game than a lot of "fully developed" competitors.

The premise of the game is to take a team of adventures in a dungeon, complete a quest, and return home to rest. Standard D&D level stuff, but the stress system puts a new and terrifying spin on it. As you go through the dungeon, your members will get more freaked out as they see more stuff they don't like, and may develop odd quirks. For instance, one of my members got so freaked out that he became afraid of the dark, which meant he got even more stressed when I ran out of torches. The combat system is a lot of fun to explore with a lots of interesting tricks to it, but it could be a bit more fleshed out and some of the classes better balanced. It resembles something akin to old Final Fantasy, but it is unique in it's on way.

The story is interesting and hooks you pretty quick. I am excited to see where it finally ends up. The sound and art for this game are absolutely amazing. You will get creeped out by some of the monsters you fight and the environments you see. Seriously, this game drips with style.

If there is one thing I would caution players about, its the difficulty. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (I love hard games like Bloodbourne, Hotline Miami, and FTL) but you will probably get frustrated when luck just doesn't go your way. Its worth it though, when you push through it and score some really cool loot, or bring your party, clinging to the edge of life, back to the light. Its a little prone to RNG, but you can do things to minimize this.

All in all, i would definitely recommend this game to anyone who loves Lovecraftian things, D&D, or enjoys thinking about game mechanics. Go ahead and give this Dark Souls/Final Fantasy lovechild a try!

If you enjoy metroidvania games, you will love this. I grew up playing Castlevania and other exploratory sidescrollers. This game copies that formula and adds roguelike elements. It feels like im playing an old school SNES game with modern mechanics.

When you die, you choose a new character and upgrade any traits you have gold for. There is a lot of challenge to be had for a reasonable price. I would definitely recommend a controller for it however as the PC controls are a little skiwampus.

Highly recommended.

5/5

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for grand strategy games. This 4X game hits all the right sweet spots. Pick a civilization to conquer the world through diplomacy, culture or military might! There are lots of options to gameplay, and many scenarios to try out. I thoroughly enjoyed many of the European ones.

There are lots of mods that can bring new blood into the game once you have become bored after many hours of play. I would definetly recomend this game to anyone who enjoys playing complex board games, because that is basically what this is, a giant board game.

Lots of fun!

5/5