Recent reviews by The Secretary

Incredibly pay to win. If you don't have the specific legendaries and epics you need to counter the epics and legendaries the other people have? You lose. And don't even think about trying to grind to get some cute cosmetics or anything, everything is paywalled. No point in being a free-to-play because there's no end goal. You can't even try to unlock something you really like unless you feel like breaking out your wallet.

A great turn based strategy game with flaws only in relation to its predecessors.

While it improves greatly on gameplay, graphics, UI, and overall ease to play, it is lacking some of the content that I found most enjoyable from XCom Enemy Unknown, namely friendly robotic units (The SHIVS) and the dlc content the previous game had of being able to modify your soldiers into mechs or genetically modify them.

So while that is somewhat disappointing, the rest of the game is so good that I can't help but give it a positive review because the gameplay is simply that good. I have never played another turn based shoot in which I have units I care about so deeply. It is easy to get lost in the game in situations such as the following:

You brought a squad of 5 soldiers on a mission, the mission seems to be going smoothly until suddenly a patrol walks behind your squad, discovering them and ending up in an accidental pincer. What was supposed to be an easy mission quickly goes sour, you brought 3 rookies and 2 of your highest ranked units. Unlucky shots from a bad angle take out your highest rated units, and they're bleeding out on the ground with only a few turns left to survive. Refusing to give up, you send the 2 rookies that you smartly thought to equip with medkits to stabilize them while one soldier stands in front drawing fire. Luck is on that rookies side because despite being surrounded by multiple squads of aliens they dodge almost all of them, only getting hit barely by one. They end up at low health. They fire back, instantly taking out an enemy. The other two rookies come back to help defend. There is no escape because the evac zone is on the other side of the map. They only way through is to fight. These 3 rookies manage to fight through groups of extremely tough enemies, perhaps through sheer luck, and manage to evac with the unconscious bodies of their superiors.

This is a real situation that has occurred to me and the tension that comes from this sort of situation and then barely getting it done successfully by the skin of your teeth is unparalleled.

Basically my only critique is that there isn't more, and that the content from the previous games wasn't carried through to this one.

A fantastic visual novel. To summarize my feelings on the matter:

1) Excellent depictions of the mental illnesses present in the game and the way they can distort your view. This includes slight unreliable narration from the main character due to her delusions. This goes for most of the characters in the way that they act irrationally predictably so if you are familiar with how those mental illnesses present themselves.

2) The game is graphic and doesn't shy away from dark concepts so if that isn't to your tastes it may be wise to avoid, but for those that are fond of it and can understand somewhat more subtle nuance, it is near perfect. (I say near because some of the art doesn't match up to the descriptions quite right but its understandable given the content and context.)

3) As well, I see quite a few critiques on the writing being "Front-loaded" or that only the first act makes sense, however that is solely because the quirks of the characters come into full view during the next few arcs. Somewhat irrational decisions are made and things go somewhat haywire, but it is a rational follow through on the setup from the previous chapters with obvious leads that are present from the beginning if you are looking out for them.

All in all, a great game if you enjoy a psychological thriller kind of visual novel.

I have played this game for about 3 hours now, barely past the intro for a game like this and so far I have seen product placement galore. It is honestly obscene. Despite the flawlessly crisp UI and incredible controls and as so far, incredibly interesting story, immersion is an absolute all time low. Why you ask? Because there are multiple ads in the game using Norman Reedus's face for product placement. The following are examples:

• Monster Energy Drink™ literally being a core mechanic. It's what's in your canteen.
  
• Monster Energy Drink™ being on a table within multiple cutscenes. (So much for focusing on whats important).
  
• AMC Ride With Norman Reedus being plastered into the middle of the screen when you use the bathroom.

Now I understand a new studio needing funds in order to make a game succeed and honestly I would have been fine with only seeing it once or twice though I would have grumbled. However, having it be a core mechanic and plastering it so blatantly all over the place is unacceptable. Regardless of how good a game it is, I cannot recommend it. This kind of behavior from sponsors in video games cannot be the norm.

This game is a wonderfully made sequel to the first that keeps its atmosphere and feel alive while completely changing the game-play.

If you enjoy slowly gaining power as enemies do too until your entire screen is an utter mess of explosions and you're laughing at ridiculous shenanigans with your friends, this is the game for you.

I was excited to be able to play with all the different origins, afterall, who wouldn't be interested in a robotic civilization that only lives in space stations, but to my surprise, it was restricted to non-hivemind populations. I went through and looked at all the different origins and they were all extremely restrictive, *only* hive minds can take the life tree, hive minds can't start in a federation, *only* hive minds can do this, etc etc.

Majorly disappointing and I wish they weren't updating the game to be even more rail roady in design.

Despite the fact it has alot of good ideas and mechanics, the fact that its so punishing for being so short and having such abrupt endings really means i cant recommend it. Its cheap enough that its worth it to buy it, but it could do with alot of improvement

Very mediocre and repetative slow gameplay. Concept is great but poorly executed. Not to mention the really crap story

One of the most relaxing and enjoyable games ive played in a long while. Even if you know everything about the game the replayability is still high because its not about telling a story, its about enjoying your time with some npc friends.