Recent reviews by CrimsonPants

(Reviewing this as of version 0.26)

Don't let that version number scare you, it started as 0.1, and they already practically tripled the content in the game since then.

Obviously its hard to dodge comparisons to Phasmo, and when it comes to 'evidence gathering team games' I think Forewarned is one of Phasmos most clever competitors. It doesn't just try to rehash ghosts in a house, it moves you to egypt, the setting is a cursed tomb, and you ain't there to save the day, you're there to loot ancient burial grounds for riches. The mejai (ghost) is simply an obstacle in your path to greatness.

In terms of the actual Mejai, I find them way cooler than the Phasmo ghosts. Phasmo ghosts are somewhat generic. Randomly generated names, powers aren't really that strong, only really dangerous during a hunt. The Mejai are different.

There are two parts to this game: Investigate and Escape. First part you look for evidence whilst looting treasure, artifacts and lore pages from the tomb, the second part you steal the Mejais personal Relic and the tomb locks, sealing you inside. The monster then assumes physical form to hunt you, so you have to find a lever, flip it, open the exit, and skedaddle before you get torn to pieces. Each Mejai does something DIFFERENT. They don't just mindlessly wander around looking for you like Phasmo ghosts.

A round with Necryph feels like old Slender games, Talgor is invisible to everything but the camera and tablet, Dekan is blind but has excelent hearing turning the game into a stealth mission, Ouphris mimics one of your team-mates, and Rathos... okay he is the generic one that wanders around the tomb trying to kill you.

The game really feels like the devs played Phasmo and went "How would I make this game differently?" whereas many Phasmo-likes just took the same concept of Phasmo with a different lick of paint.

There is this stigma that because something is inspired by something that came before it, that automatically makes it bad. That is completely untrue in the case of Nexomon: Extinction. You can't avoid drawing comparisons to Pokemon, no matter how hard you try. People just do it all the time, but in my humble opinion, Nexomon ups Pokemon in many ways. Story, Gameplay, and level design all come together beautifully in Nexomon to make a game that feels like a return to more classic Monster-catching games but also finds a way to outdo them. You will find new ways to traverse the environment as you progress through the story, allowing you to travel back to previous areas to explore new nooks and crannys.

The game is also completely open from the moment you complete the small intro. You can go to almost any region that isn't 100% plot important. All wild battles scale with your level, so it is hard to be over or under leveled for anything. If you want a good challenge and story that remind you of the golden era of Monster Taming games, then give the game a shot. It has enough bang for your buck.

The only reason I don't have a thousand hours on this version of the game is because I beat every other version of it a hundred times over. It's timeless, it's something you will think about years down the line and go "I should beat Resident Evil 4 again."

Nostalgia intensifies

I beta tested the old Rebuild 2 a ways back, though I doubt the Northways remember little ol' 12 year old me. I wasn't the best beta tester, didn't even get my name in the credits! I was too busy having fun to actually give feedback on the game. Same is true here. At first I was a bit put off by the move from a more photorealistic graphic styled characters to this more cartoony one. Then I realized this game is almost a direct upgrade in a lot of ways. You lose the ability to train a survivor in every skill like the last game, but this added more depth to the strategy that I eventually grew to appreciate. The story is good and classic-arcade era style where to get the best ending possible you will most likely find yourself restarting over and over again.

If a Rebuild 4 ever comes out, I hope that there is some sort of way to interact between reclaimed cities, like an overworld map of some sort. I would sure love to have more than a new-game plus, which sadly brings me to the part where I must not give into nostalgia and give some fair critisims.

The game gets dull once you've learned every nook and cranny. Once you know what each building does, and what the special ones can help you with you really have no reason to keep playing. You can only customize one character (your 'hero'), so you can't do a 'Me and my friends/family/celebrities against the world' sort of scenario which is always funs in games like this. After you reclaim a city, no matter how you do so, once you move on to the next city, nothing but stats carries over. It doesn't matter if you made a daring plane escape or set up some sort of government and moved on, the options have no weight in the new game plus. Speaking of endings, the game is lacking them. Rebuild 1 & 2 had multiple endings. This game, outside of storymode, which has about only three mind you, has two. The original Rebuild had multiple endings. Escaping to a secret cabin in the woods, curing the disease (which is now story mode exclusive), reclaiming the entire city was a little celebration, and an ending for cultists overunning your society, and that's only off the top of my head.

Now I hope you aren't intimidated by that, but for those who don't like paragraphs, heres the TL;DR!

Pros:
* Campaign mode!
* More strategic than the last instalments
* More building variety than the last instalments
* More items and weapons to equip survivors with
* Perks to make survivors unique are a great addition and are really fun to play around with
* Factions! Cities aren't so lifeless and now rival factions will try to reclaim the city for themselves now. Each one is unique and interesting!
* Micromanagement isn't necessary, but it is rewarded. Making sure every survivor is doing their role every day helps a lot. If they aren't they are just passivley guarding, which helps too.

Cons:
* Quickplay has two endings, leave the city after being nice to/killing all the factions or escape via airplan
* Can only customize your protagonist (No family/friend adventures)
* Power plant building provides a lab tech you can research within the first 90-180 days, whilst it will take you far longer to set up the power plant, if you are lucky enough to have one nearby that is.
* Useless buildings remain useless, unlike Rebuild 2 where some of them could have blessings in disguise (Banks had a telegraph, which could be used to call Gustav the trader.)
* Explosives are a waste of resources, they level a building, forcing you to waste resources to rebuild it into something useful once you reclaim it. Yes its an isntant horde clear, but it is not worth the 5 rare, precious fuel you spent to get it.
* Moving to a new city is just a fancy way of saying New Game+



All in all I do love the game a lot, and I hope I have given you the insight you need to decide on that final purchase!