Recent reviews by SUPERIOR MAN OF WONGUS WORDS

Runs well, looks great despite its age, no P2W with a social/cosmetic driven economy, fun gameplay and customisation. Devs have been at it for ten years.

Muriel still looks like a fleshlight. :/

If you criticise their $70 animal purchase offers offering a random animal politely on their Steam Discussions, the developers will permanently ban you.

If you criticise them in their Discord for their dated monetisation practices that disrespect the people who monetarily support them, they will also ban you there.

https://i.imgur.com/hiHcKpp.png

Tor Eternum is an excellent boss rush RPG with beautiful art, that supports real build diversity through loot and skill choices, and with that has engaging progression. The game loop is simple but solid, varied enough to keep fights interesting without becoming overly repetitious. It's a whole bunch of things that are almost never co-op, but in Tor Eternum's case you can play it with up to ten people.

There's very little ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ between you, and just getting into the game, and my understanding is the story dialogue (the one thing I don't like) can be completely disabled.

This is both an excellent party game, and a satisfying RPG to grind and progress through. The launch price is cheap, and its well worth your time.

A lot of the people leaving negative reviews are doing so because of the fact this game is a stand alone. The devs have actually made a very transparent statement about why integrating DD:GS into DD:A wasn't an option. The trouble is none of the reviewers are taking the time to read it.

https://forums.dungeondefenders.com/forums/topic/169725-open-and-honest-development-insight/

The fact is, many of us would like to see DD:A one day justify the price of entry and become as feature complete as DD1 was. But a key takeaway from the above statement is that without releasing this as a standalone, DD:A would not make enough money off of its cosmetic only dlc, including the new cosmetics coming with Episode 2 to keep the lights on.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. Either you want DD:A's development to continue, and so you accept the developers finding non-intrustive entirely optional ways to bring in extra revenue, or you don't. So I don't have a problem with this being a standalone.


As for DD:GR's gameplay itself, it shows potential, but needs a lot of work. The action feels smooth and responsive, just very basic at this stage. There is the foundation of a roguelike game that could be very fun in the future, but lacks the innovation, and rapid/varied progression paths that draw people to replay other roguelikes. It is still early days. However, if you own DD:A already, the entry price is good, and this is a cheaper, less grindy alternative to the cumbersome DD:A that may be more accessible to a broader audience.

• More substantial upgrades (greater statistical impact for noticeable power increase)
  
• Greater upgrade variety
  
• Higher difficulty scaling to match the players newfound power through upgrades
  
• Level variation between runs
  
• RNG gameplay modifiers to mix up the flow of enemy waves and levels
  
• More loot options with positive and negative effects
  
• More ability options, including options that synergize with co-op partners (healing/buffs/shields etc.)
  
• Make the talent tree between runs more than just generic numerical increases

If the devs can fulfil all of the above over time, this would become a very decisive recommendation, and they may well deliver.

It feels like a Roblox game in all the best ways, without any of the drawbacks of being an actual Roblox game.

Free. Supports playing with friends, monetised through cosmetics alone, can queue with friends and find games quickly. If you like the concept of this game is or enjoyed robot wars then you will enjoy this.

While this game is technically intensive, and nowhere near as low end accessible as some of its Serious Sam predecessors, this game is outstanding. My original review was negative because of a launch bug that caused micro stuttering across low and high end rigs. The developers took this feedback seriously, and fixed the issue within a couple of days, so now I have almost nothing but praise to give.

I'm personally sick of most modern games, and almost never have any excitement for new releases. SS3 was a disappointment, and I knew to skip SS4 entirely. I took a gamble and pre-orded this, and I am very pleased to say that I don't regret that choice. Serious Sam Siberian Mayhem might be the best Serious Sam game ever made, if not one of the best FPS games ever.

Barring some small technical complaints, such as the awkward implementation of ladders, and some of the questionable handling choices made around vehicle control, this game is a master class in game design. The levels are scenic and extremely well designed. They heavily reward exploration, whilst having very straight forward objectives. They aren't confusing and look beautiful, even on low end settings.

Especially if you are playing solo, you will notice that the enemy spawns have been very strategically placed to ♥♥♥♥ you up repeatedly, but there is a method to the madness which makes the difficulty satisfying to overcome. Even on Normal difficulty, you will encounter some level sections that provide a challenge, but if you aren't playing solo, the game is still a very satisfying co-op experience. Unlike other modern titles like Halo MCC made by AAA studios with Microsoft money, I have had no issues simply inviting a friend to my lobby and playing the game.

The gun-play is excellent and only expands positively on the Serious Sam formula. The new guns feel extremely satisfying to use, and old weapons are complimented with a variety of alt fire modifications, which allow previously outclassed weapons like the single barrel shotgun to become a viable pick in a fight. The skill tree also allows for each player to mix up their play style and utilise weapons to become more effective in a variety of ways, suited to the players preferences. Everything sounds good looks good and feels good, with only the melee mechanics feeling occasionally dodgy, influenced by latency and the specific enemy types you engage with it.

Without spoiling anything in specific, some of the new additions specific to each level don't overstay their welcome, and allow every level to provide a satisfying mix up of the expected Serious Sam formula. The idea of only getting five levels may seem off-putting on paper, but each level is very long and content rich, with optional side objectives and lovingly crafted secrets to discover.

In addition, if this game is anything like its predecessors, it will support the Steam Workshop. At which point there is great potential for the community to expand the existing content in every way imaginable.

If you have ever enjoyed Serious Sam and aren't on an incredibly low end rig, this is an absolute must buy. Every aspect of this game, down to niche environmental details of posters, features a great deal of love and flavor. It's extremely clear that the developers were passionate about this release, and its benefited heavily from Timelock having creative free reign over this title. Croteam should hand the Serious Sam reins over to Timelock and let them make every single Serious Sam release from now on.

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Original Review:

Unfortunately, what seems like it could be a very solid addition to the Serious Sam franchise, is currently suffering from performance issues across a variety of setups.

My setup is lower end by modern standards, but more than capable of running SS3 and prior smoothly. On some of the lowest settings, SS:SM constantly experiences micro stuttering and frame drops, and people on NASA rigs are reporting the exact same problem. Given Croteams track record with SS4, there is no guarantee that these performance issues will ever get fixed.

It's a real shame, the soundtrack is great, the graphics are great, it definitely seems like a solid game is being held back by ♥♥♥♥♥♥ optimisation. I will update this review if they ever fix it.

Mandatory EGS account required to play.

After initially announcing Co-op on the store page with the line Dominate the world of WRATH with 3 other companions in 4 player co-op, LAN or online! The devs have removed this line from the games description and stated on social media that after almost two years on Steam, they have given up on attaining this goal. Instead you will eventually get a lazy implementation of deathmatch. No PvE multiplayer. What a waste.

Boring level design, poor variety of weapons, no more co-op on the table, and a notoriously terrible save system. Definitely not worth the asking price.

UPDATE: Initially left the DLC a negative review due to the Fiend being overtuned and effectively a P2W monster. A shadow patch today has removed the Fiend's stun on teleport which opens him up to counters and forces him to teleport Mortals more thoughtfully. Thus I am changing my score, thank you for coming around Vince.

While there are some balance issues like the map being too condensed when combining the boss and minions like the clowns ult, this imbalance and lack of testing doesn't grant a P2W advantage. The Fiend in my view is still effective without the stun on teleport, (albeit much less cheap) and a fun alternative to Agatha. The Brute is fun if a weaker pick, and the map is at least visually interesting even if its boss is a bit ridiculous.


I've left the old negative review below for context.
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The DLC is effectively P2W. The Fiend is absurdly op, as a speed character he outruns every Mortal except those in the speed class, (who nobody plays because they lose 50 shards on death) and his heavy attack pulls people closer to him, but these things aren't what makes him op, its just icing on the cake.

His ult allows the Fiend to teleport the lowest health player in front of him whilst stunning them for long enough to take a full health player down to zero. I've tested this in matches with four people, and sometimes you can get lucky enough to spawn a freshly spawned player in front of you and kill them. You are 100% guaranteed to win in matches with less than four people.

Mortals cannot dodge or counter the ult, a Fiend can use the ult to position players onto traps, and can quickly fire off items such as additional stuns right after teleporting a player. There are no real counters unless you get very lucky with RNG (finding the right item) and time the usage of an RNG item (or Vinces ult assuming he gets targeted, which Vince can't guarantee) within the split second before the Fiend teleports you.


Here's the reality: Pay real money, get a Monster that will outclass all others in most matches. Play hit and run, run out of range if someone starts fighting back and winning, and get free kills just by activating the ult whenever you want, wherever you want. You will kill someone 99% of the time, no other ult in the game is this effective.