33
Products
reviewed
232
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in account

Recent reviews by Leifanator

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Showing 1-10 of 33 entries
1 person found this review helpful
15.6 hrs on record
I originally had this game on ignore and decided to pick it up when it was free on steam, so keep in mind that I am already biased based on that alone.

This game is like if you took a Civilisation game and striped it of everything but combat and then added city building back in. It's a weird turn based game that feels like it should be an RTS to me and while hero units that have special abilities are not confined to RTS games, they are certainly more prevalent in them. It lacks so much in the 4X area that I would never classify this as a 4X game.

As an example, none of the exploration of the ruins gives you a jump start on your faction, the ruins are there as a resource and give you a random hero buff. Which, out of the time I played, you can't even have a hero on turn one anyway making those random hero buffs useless until you research and build your first hero unit.

The combat is like a 4X in that it's just units bumping into each other with particle effects making lines from your unit to the enemy unit. So it nailed that part at least.

The unique resource nodes that generally are meant to be significant in a 4X game are anything but in Gladius. With the exception of two nodes, the majority only give you an extra resource bump, and minor at that. The two that are different are also disappointing in that one is a hero item shop and the other gives one unit that stops on top of it a +10% damage increase, which then triggers a 6 turn cooldown, if I remember right, on that node. And that is it. Hell, the hero item shop doesn't even seem to be randomised from the games I've played.

So the explore, expand, and exploit part of this game feels like an RTS as the map in any permutation is always the same. Where's the non-combat unit that helps improve infrastructure? Why can I not destroy enemy city tiles or at least incapacitate those tiles? Why should I try to produce more units than my opponent when most units can't shoot past two tiles and the units don't stack?

Gladius is shallow AND narrow.

And with all that said, now look at the price and content in the DLCs.

TLDR: Save your money, this is not a 4X game. What game is here is shallow and you'll have experienced all the game has to offer in a single play through.
Posted February 11. Last edited February 11.
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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
10.9 hrs on record
Early Access Review
The graphics make it more fun as more people can play the game at the same time. The weapons are reasonably balanced and the maps are fun.

It's a great FPS multiplayer game, something I haven't enjoyed since Battlefield 1942 which came out in 2002.
Posted November 21, 2023.
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1 person found this review helpful
37.6 hrs on record (24.1 hrs at review time)
This game does a lot of things and me going over every single one would make this review really long and also spoil things.

The TLDR review is that this action/management/RPG-lite is really good. Like ridiculously good.

The humour is awesome, the mechanics are solid, the art is great, and everything is done with such a high degree of polish it isn't funny.
Posted July 15, 2023.
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6 people found this review helpful
48.2 hrs on record
Enjoyed my time with it but it's in need of a lot of work.

The beta ran way better than the live version did on release and even now. Rumours of anti-cheat software being the culprit.

Visually it's perfectly grim and dark as befits WH40k. Like I want more to see and do within this game because it's so damn horribly perfect looking.

The moment to moment gameplay is mostly fun. Some classes are better than others as the core loop is focused on pushing forward to the end of the map. This is a problem with some classes as they need to be slower or stand still to really take advantage of all of their abilities.

As a comparison with Fatshark's previous games, it feels like vermintide one in that once you've done all the maps at least once, there's no real reason to keep playing. The random loot is just not worth the grind.

I enjoyed it, but until there is some major content released, this game goes in the "I'll look at it again sometime in a year or two" pile.

Overall, pick up if less than NZ$30 or if you have a mighty need for imperial guard fan service. Otherwise give it a pass until it's had a bit more time in the oven.
Posted February 17, 2023.
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1 person found this review helpful
268.6 hrs on record (32.0 hrs at review time)
Early Access Review
So 31 hours in and I'm enjoying this quite a lot. Here are some of my opinions, take them as you will:

It scratches an itch that games like Valheim, Don't Starve, or Terraria do but in a completely different way.

Being the bad guy for once is nice but at the same time it follows the usual formula for all survival/craft games.

The speed of progression is not entirely dependant on your server settings, but by default, it could use some slight tweaks and not much else. Recipes for new gear are discovered from random drops or getting enough of a specific resource to roll the dice on a new recipe. Gathering resources is by far the easiest part of this game.

Getting stuck trying to grind out resources for a random chance at something that would help you progress is a little frustrating. More gear options would be nice to help alleviate this.

The building requires some pre-planning and while I haven't played multiplayer yet, I can see how it might be a little frustrating with it's predefined build areas. That said, it has a real Dungeon Keeper vibe and I am very nostalgic over that game.

The combat is decent. As there is no worrying about trying to aim at something slightly higher than you with melee weapons, it is already a step up from Valheim. It feels like it's missing something though as the DotA style abilities don't appeal. It works, but it's not satisfying to me.

It is a well polished game with so few bugs I couldn't even tell if there was something off. Hell, for a comparison, it's more bug free than a Bethesda or Ubisoft AAA game.

TLDR: It's good. Could be better, but it's got solid foundations and consistent with it's gameplay. Worth the time and money in my opinion.
Posted June 24, 2022.
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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
149.3 hrs on record
So I haven't played this in a while and I don't intend to anytime soon. BUT! This is a survival horror game for me as I really REALLY don't like the deep ocean. I wouldn't say I'm phobic about it as a phobia is an irrational fear. My fear is quite rational in that large predatory creatures, far better evolved for mobility in water, can and will eat me if they desired.

Now with that said, I still enjoyed this game. The exploration was fantastic, the creatures scary and magnificent, the building/progression satisfying, and the story (while simplistic) was near perfect in it's telling.

While the game has been out for awhile and spoilers are hard to avoid if looking through reviews, the best experience for this game is to go in blind. I would heartily recommend this game to anyone.
Posted June 8, 2022.
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159 people found this review helpful
12 people found this review funny
5
4
3
2
7
317.9 hrs on record
I've played this off and on throughout the years and I keep hoping for more than what's there.

Wide as an ocean and deep as a puddle is my first thought on NMS. Sure there's thousands of permutations of planets, with different combinations of flora, fauna, and terrain. But the differences are so slight that most of the time it's a palate swap or a different flavour of environmental hazard. Guarantee you'll find the same flying tentacle crab on planets on opposite ends of the galaxy. Sure there's some unique critters, but they are so rare that when you finally see one you realize just how common all the others are.

The pirates are all in small fighters, the hostile AI robots can be avoided by digging a hole, and the monstrous horrors MIGHT spit on you but otherwise give up if you jump on top of something that is slightly taller than they are.

All that said, I clearly had a time with it at over 300 hours. But most of that time is spent grinding resources to build a mediocre base that it's only real purpose is to enable me to grind out different resources. The exploration is dull, the combat is uninspired, the story is ok. Most worlds, plants, and animals are too similar for a game about discovery. It's an ok game but not one I would recommend.
Posted June 8, 2022.
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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
776.8 hrs on record (24.9 hrs at review time)
Early Access Review
Valheim has not disappointed me so far and for an early access game it feels like it's nailed down exactly what it wants to do and how it wants to do it. The mechanics are only in need of minor statistical tweaking, the gameplay is challenging and fun, and hot damn is it pretty to look at.

For those using the 2 hour refund policy to try before you buy, be prepared to leave frustrated as the game is a bit of a time sink (as are most of the survival build craft games). For me at least, I find it far less grindy than Ark or Conan Exiles as there seems to be no arbitrary wait times. The combat is about on par or slightly better than Conan Exiles using the click once to attack, click more than once to chain attacks together (although no light or heavy attack options) and using stamina to prevent you from standing in one spot and becoming a wood chipper. Dodging is a bit weird to me, though as of writing this, I just realised that maybe I can rebind the dodge key to something that makes sense...

What really seals the deal for me is the exploration. Sometimes it's obvious that the terrain is either hand crafted or randomly generated but there are far more times where I have no idea if it's one or the other and that's amazing to me. Plus if it weren't for the sea serpents, I could sail my Carve all day quite happily cause the water and sailing mechanics are that darn good.

For those looking at the screenshots and going "Ew, what is this, a game for the PS2?", it looks way different while playing it. The motions of everything makes it feel so much more alive than the static and rigidness of other high graphics games that came out within the last year.

If you're looking for a survival build/craft fighty game that leans on exploration, then I would heartily recommend Valheim.
Posted February 11, 2021.
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1 person found this review helpful
31.1 hrs on record (7.3 hrs at review time)
Free weekend is an amazing thing.

With that said, I dropped a few hours into this and enjoyed every bit of it. If you're a fan of X-com, Banner Saga, or other turn based combat games then this is for you.

The only negatives I can say about Mechanicus is that I've played WAAAAY too much x-com and while the combat and story decisions are different, they are similar enough that I feel like I've spoiled the end to a good book. Also sometimes the font throws me off as I struggle differentiating between a 1 and a lower case L. But that is such a minor nit picking thing because I can't find any other faults with it.

TLDR: Turn based combat akin to X-Com with lesser story decisions like Banner Saga. An awesome game all round that nails the aesthetic.
Posted October 16, 2020.
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10 people found this review helpful
124.1 hrs on record (94.3 hrs at review time)
Early Access Review
Updated Review (see original below):

I can't recommend Bannerlord. I've sunk some additional time into this after full release and it feels like Warband with some graphics improvement and minor tweaks. For some, that may be reason enough to purchase. For me, I guess I got my money's worth, but I didn't enjoy my time with it.

Bannerlord suffers the same problems that Warband does. It's mediocre in everything. But find me another game that does what Mount and Blade does.

Mods are what made Warband one of my favourite games. With the full release of Bannerlord just out, it will take some time before mods get to where they are for Warband. So really we're left with a smattering of small mods that'll likely break with the release of hotfixes and vanilla Bannerlord. And that just doesn't cut it for me.

Original review:

As of writing this (Posted: 3 Sep, 2020 @ 9:12pm), Bannerlord is very much in a early access state. If you've played Mount and Blade: Warband, then stick with that for now as Bannerlord is plagued by bugs, crashes, bad performance, and missing features. Not to mention the balance of what I'm assuming is meant to be a simulation/kingdom management game is way off kilter as it feels like I need to grind out reputation with factions/npcs and farm money as if it was a MMO.

I know we waited years for this to become available, but looks like we need to wait a few more before Bannerlord can at least be on level with what Warband currently offers.
Posted September 3, 2020. Last edited November 6, 2022.
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Showing 1-10 of 33 entries