Recent reviews by The Law

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect with this game. Good news, it's really fantastic. I've only ever played with friends, so I can't much speak to the solo experience (I'm sure it's still great) but I can't think of a more fun and engaging coop roguelite shooter out there.

You have a wide array of weapons to choose from, although weapon viability is something that could be worked on a little. There are three or so really great weapons, and a couple pretty good ones, and the rest are so-so. I think there's like fourteen or so weapons in total, and I look forward to them balancing a bit more. As it stands, we're in a pretty decent spot with plenty of viable options to choose from.

As you play and beat each level, you're awarded a chest with perks, which vary in rarity. You're always on the hunt for stacking perks that suit your weapon and compliment your other perks. For example, you can get a minigun that shoots insanely fast, but with only 12 (low) damage. You'd want to try and stack the 'flat damage' perk, which adds 48 damage to each shot, effectively tripling your DPS with one perk. While a sniper rifle does 300 damage per shot, that flat damage perk might be a little less effective.

There is a ton of challenge, and you can tailor the challenge to you. There are a ton of boxes you can tick on or off if the game is getting too easy, and there are several difficulties.

Gameplay is smooth and crisp. The upgrade paths are fun and engaging. The game is as challenging as you want it to be. It saves your progress, even when in a party.

I cannot wait to see where they take this game in the future. It's legitimately one I'm most excited to follow!

the stamina system in this game is miserable. the travel system is slow. there are portals, which the game arbitrarily stops you from bringing back materials you find through those portals, presumably to waste 30 minutes of your time and make you raft all the way back to some other island.

it spawns endless enemies on top of you while you try to mine or chop wood. enemies that you aggro as you walk through the forest (which is about 73% of what you'll be doing when you play this game) NEVER de-aggro, and constantly throw rocks at you and nip at the backs of your heels until you waste precious stamina to kill them

the building is fun, but many of the implemented systems in the game feel like their sole purpose is to waste your time, or artificially inflate the game's longevity.

tools break very quickly, and requires an entire crafting table built UNDER a roof to repair them. you cannot just build a crafting table near your location, you have to build a crafting table AND a house for it just to repair a tool

when you die, you have to run back to your body. but it deletes all the food you've eaten and unequips your gear. so you have to find your body (which is presumably still crawling with 20 enemies that swarmed you and killed you), put all your armor back on (which takes 3 seconds of complete standing still each) and eat food again so you can start regaining health and stamina.

to see more than just the two biomes on your starter island, you have to build a raft or boat. but boating also takes a long time. so you spend 15 minutes floating through the ocean. but, you find out, the nearest island next to you literally just has the same biome that's on the starter island. so you get back in the boat and float for another 15 minutes. the next island? the same black forest biome you already saw. the next island? same thing. we went through four islands of nothing but the same exact forest biome as the first island before finally finding the swamp (which is a painful, slow slog through water that is filled to the brim with little ankle-biting enemies at all times).

it's not the worst game ever, but as someone who thoroughly enjoys open-world crafting games with friends, this one did not stick. it's death by a thousand time-wasting cuts

For a multitude of reasons (too many than could possibly be listed here in the detail they deserve), this game has gone from one of the best ARPGs on the market, to one of the most mediocre. I will redact and reverse this review if Grinding Gear Games ever decides to change their mindset.

hunt for pelts for a couple hours, fall through the map, lose them all

hunt for pelts again, get an unknown error and the game crashes, lose everything again

awesome design rockstar thanks

This game is one of the best I've ever played. I'm not kidding, please support these developers, I want others to follow suit. I've never played a game that is so breathtaking, yet so potentially terrifying. The environments are gorgeous. The sound design is immersive. The world is large, and it makes you WANT to explore it. It doesn't make you do anything, and it lets you dive deeper at your own pace. There aren't any cutscenes or game-y quests or a bunch of non-immersive clutter.

If you love exploring the unknown and diving into a rich, gorgeous world, please buy this. I was a huge fan of the original Half-Life's Xen level, because it was so interesting how alien the world was. This game amps that up about a thousand percent. There's always new things to see and new creatures to discover. It's a STEAL in the $25 range. I'd pay $40. No joking.

cool dude game

Fixes everything that could possibly be concieved as "wrong" with the previous game. Tons of guns, weapon upgrades, character trees and levels, and other customization. Each person in a party fills a role, and they're very clear-cut and well defined.

Overall a fantastic game. Tons of missions and heists. Also great to play with friends.