Recent reviews by riskRED

This game is a simple, but charming cooperative platformer that is built off of the idea of being kind and respectful. With many games today seeming to build a somewhat toxic/negative community, it's great to see something like this.

In terms of the gameplay, the game is simple to understand but also very dynamic. Since it features a massive amount of characters with unique abilities that can be unlocked as you play the game, you open up more ways to play, the more you play.

An unfortunate side-effect of this is when you join a room and wish that you had chosen a different character since someone else might be able to perform the same task as you (break glass blocks, provide a platform, etc.) The game does allow you to "shapeshift" into the default blob character in order to still fit through small spaces, but I do wish that you could pick one small + one large character to bring two abilities to the table.

The levels themselves are fun. Some feel quite simple, while others can be very challenging. The puzzles in a lot of these levels are often repeated, but the layout of them can vary their difficulty significantly. For example, a common puzzle involves arcing electricity between players to reach light-bulbs which when all lit, will allow everyone to progress. There have been some instances where my "team" has not been able to cooperate well enough and caused time to run out.

With that being said, I do still wish their was a bit more variety in terms of puzzles. However it is cool that certain levels may only appear when certain characters are available. A level with a lot of breakable blocks may only appear if there is a character that can break said blocks, for instance.

When you complete a loop, it feels quite rewarding. It doesn't take long to get enough Karma Hearts to unlock a decent amount of stuff, and you get rewarded more depending on how helpful you are. So as long as you are making sure that everyone is getting through every door, you shouldn't be worried about unlocking stuff fairly regularly.

I do feel as if the progression of the game outside of characters feels non-existant. This is not the case, as there are goals for each character that supposedly affect progression, but I never feel like they do anything. Maybe I just haven't done enough yet.

Lastly, a small personal gripe. I do wish that it required a few more players for the ending of a level before it would start a countdown to move on. Often times players are hunting down the remaining fruit in a level (which is used for potential bonuses), and are never given enough time to be able to do so. This is especially the case during the end of a loop as it only requires one player to end the level instantly. The last level does not have fruit, but can still have extra Karma Heart bonuses.

After all that is said, I do really enjoy this game. It is a nice game to turn on for awhile when you just want to chill out and play a rather stress-free game. 7/10 for me.

It's easy to hop on the bandwagon for this game and proceeding to call it a walking simulator. However, I am not going to say it isn't, because that statement is correct. The thing that makes Death Stranding different though, is that it is the best walking simulator there has ever been.

Of course, the game is much more than that as well but I'll get to that shortly. This game's focus is walking from place to place to deliver packages, and reconnect the fractured society that the world has become. Now while this sounds boring when described this way, the game has many mechanics in between this that make it interesting. When I say that walking is the FOCUS, I mean it. It is the focus in how an FPS is focused on gunplay, or how a fighting game is focused on pulling off combos and blocking, the walking in this game is developed with a lot of care and nuance.

All the cargo you carry is more weight added to you, so the more you carry the harder it is to walk. This is understandable, and as you play you will become stronger you can carry more. But, you can also place your cargo where you want on Sam (the player character, AKA Norman Reedus), which changes your center of gravity. Poorly placed cargo can be detrimental to your efforts as you may be leaning heavily to one side if stacked incorrectly. Additionally, you have to choose everything you take with you that is extra like weapons to protect yourself, materials to build additional structures, etc. So while it is a walking simulator, it is an involved walking simulator where you actually have a consequence for your poor planning. I also recommend playing with a controller so that you have finer movement of Sam as you will sometimes have to make fine adjustments to complete hard climbs.

I love this part of the game. Trying to see what may be up ahead and trying your best to plan out your journey. Of course it's not just the traversal that is difficult. Sometimes you may need to go through sections of MULEs, which are enemies out to steal your cargo and knock you out. Or optionally through BTs, which are (at their core), a powerful ghost-like entity that can kill you if you get detected by them. These two hazards introduce both gunplay and stealth sections to Death Stranding and keep it exciting and fresh enough to keep going... and the story of course.

Combat in this game for me is mixed. The difficulty of combat is much higher than that of the traversal part of the game at the same difficulty, making for weird jumps in how hard the game is in main-story sequences. While I recommend to play this game with a controller, I do recommend that when it comes to the combat you should swap to keyboard and mouse to gain that extra precision. Luckily the game switches instantly between the input devices which is a very welcome feature.

The story of this game is long, and for some may not be engaging or interesting. I quite like the story myself, but I also think that a lot of value is gained through reading journal entries and mail you receive throughout. Be aware of that going in, since that is where a lot of the actual explanations are.

I played this game on release on the PS4. I committed most of my free time to it, and got platinum after a little over a month. I decided to purchase it again on PC, and eventually get the Director's Cut upgrade resulting in this review.

The Director's Cut adds a lot of new things to the game, such as races, a gun range (useful for weapon practice), additional main missions, and a lot of little quality of life improvements. For starters, two new items were added (won't spoil) that help out the start of the game allowing the pace to be a bit faster so that you can get to the main game quicker. It also makes it a little less painful for new players. There's also some new side missions that gain you some extra goodies for completing them. As a player replaying this game, I felt I was gaining value out of it by getting a new side order to take on every once and awhile. They're simple but interesting nonetheless. New structures also keep the game feeling fresh while also providing some new ways of dealing with orders that help expand the game into more types of playstyles.

Now some cons of this version. The main missions that are used to sell this version of the game are nothing spectacular. While they are cool to see and open up some new types of environments to interact with, the whole area is rather small and lacking for what I was hoping for. It may be due to starting a 2nd playthrough that caused this, but I was disappointed to find that out of the three missions that this new side area has, two are available right at the start of the game... while the other requires the game to be beaten before accessing it. It was still interesting and a nice addition, but it was not worth the amount of time between missions. As a returning player you can transfer your save file, so if that applies to you I would recommend doing that if you are not interested in a 2nd run.

MULE areas in the launch version of DS were dangerous but not that dangerous. Mainly they were there to make it harder to traverse through areas and make it hard to deliver ALL of you cargo. As the game goes on things do eventually change to make them different, but I won't delve much into that. However in DS:DC, the MULE camps gain a few machine gun turrets after your first visit to them to make it harder to steal their materials. While I understand this decision, these turrets are very annoying. They can shoot you from a very long distance, damages you significantly and are very difficult to take out. Due to this I ended up despising going into any MULE areas when not required. Stealth is an option still, but if you get spotted you now have way more fire power against you, and MULEs instantly gravitate to them. To add on top of that, they also get a nice shield to protect them as well making it even HARDER to deal with.

Anyways, there is a LOT to talk about with this game. If you haven't played it before, definitely give it a try. ESPECIALLY this version as even with it's cons, it adds a lot of new additions to the game that help it become a bigger and better game. Just remember that it isn't your typical game. It is a game where you take your time, and focus on getting the job done... not slaughtering all your enemies. Let it run it's course and let every moment sink in. It is a unique experience and it should be treated as such. It's not for everyone, but you'll never know if it's for you unless you give it a chance.

This is one of my favourite games and I hope it can be yours too.

While I have not completed this game, I can say that without a doubt this will likely be my GOTY pick for 2022.

I was interested by this game due to it's charming visual style as well as it's similarity in mechanics and theme to that of The Binding of Isaac. However, while it does share many similarities in terms of it's combat loop, it also does have quite a few elements of it's own.

If you are coming into this in a similar position as to myself, then here are some things you should know:

The game's combat mechanic, while important in the grand scheme of things, is definitely not where you are going to be spending most of your time. You will mostly be needing to build up your cult and resources to grow your following and keep faith high.

Even when you are out in combat, your cult still operates. Due to this your follows can starve and start to lose faith if you are in combat for too long. The further you progress your cult, the more options you'll have for extending your timeframe for combat.

The game in it's current state also has a few bugs that while most are not gamebreaking, can be frustrating to deal with. Most commonly I have lost faith from quests instantly failing, and also having quests that can't currently be completed. For instance I have been asked to prison a dead follower, which is not possible unless resurrected. This quest also instantly fails upon accepting.

Bugs are to be expected though, and given the small team it may take a bit longer than other studios. However they have been very fast so far at fixing these things, and I do not doubt that this game will be in a much better state very soon.

Regardless, the game is still very fun and I highly recommend it to those looking for a game to sink some time into, and if you enjoy similar gameplay loops to Isaac, Don't Starve, & Animal Crossing.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a game I have played countless hours of. It's super enjoyable and has a lot of replay value.

If you are someone who loves to fine tune their strategies to beat a game consistently, this is the game for you. Especially if you like to figure out how a game works under the hood. The game rewards that honestly.

There is a huge modding community for this game which keeps it up and running even after the support is mostly gone for it at this point. However there are also two DLC expansions and a big third one currently in development.

I again, recommend this game as it has given me many many hours of enjoyment.