Recent reviews by Kebinite

I really want to like this game but I just can't.

Progression in the game is locked behind boss fights, and the boss fights are so overpowered that the player ends up in a turtle of looking for help from admins or dumbing the game down for a glimpse of the next chapter only to find they have to dumb it down again. The difficulty is entirely artificial in that bosses have an overwhelming amount of health and friends in the fight from the start, summon additional friends multiple times mid-fight, and the player is overwhelmingly underpowered and can't do anything about it by grinding for something better; because in order to get anything new or stronger they have to kill the bosses... see the problem here?

Online, you're going to have to ask for help because most servers are running default difficulties, and this is if you're a skilled gamer. Singleplayer on default? Forget it. Multiplayer with 1 or 2 friends on default? Forget it.

Simply put, V Rising is ♥♥♥♥. It needs balanced or the average gamer will just refund it. You have to find a happy medium and this just isn't even close.

If you're a glutton for punishment, believe zerg rushing is the only way a game should be, or are possibly just plain insane, feel free to check it out. If you're just shy of the gamer skill level of a Korean multi-tournament world champion, probably better to spend the money somewhere else, because Stunlock sure as hell hasn't earned it yet.

It's not that good. Way too many people singing an undeserved praise. The truth is it has potential, but it needs better design choices and a lot of work. It just isn't that good yet.

Update 3/9/24 A deeper review:
It says 1.0 release, which I would guess as a ploy for sales. The game doesn't have a 1.0 release feel. Animations and model positioning still broken (hold the wooden sword and look at your hand) and while it says survival it brings a severely artificial feel to this. The crafting interface is a bit wonky and the character has to manually pluck a harvestable node and then hold a button to vacuum the harvested items instead of just... you know... that thing every other game in the industry does to save the player some carpal tunnel... simply adding it to the inventory. Imagine what you'll have to go through when there are 3 to 5 of the same node in the area around you; did I mention the vacuum effect isn't more than a foot or two coned in front of you? ... yeah. Tools work the same way. Whack a specific stone (of the 10 or so different stone models you'll come across only 1 seems to be harvestable in very specific areas) 6 or 7 times, commence vacuum. Oh, and you know how in every other competing title when you put a tool on the tool bar, it moves it to the tool bar? Not this one. Occupies both slots. ♥♥♥♥♥ is dat?

A note to the devs, the person telling you this stuff was a good idea is not looking out for your best interests. Do better.

The early game is lackluster, I can't imagine what the late game is like but the early game certainly has a problem hooking the player. You kinda wander for a while without a real sense of direction hoping you're going the right way, and after a few deaths having strayed from the correct path to follow which you eventually discover is littered with interactive tutorial owls with glowing eyes that can't be seen in the daylight, you arrive at another location with NPCs that progress the story a bit and give you info that you can't really see a clear path to follow up on. I still haven't figured out where this tree thing is that I'm supposed to build on.
In the end, you kinda bumble around and hope to find the next thing you are missing in crafting without a clear sense of direction leading to this. Afterall, there are several plants that have seeds in them visibly, but only 1 (so far anyway) that seems to drop them, or can even be cut down in general. It's really quite remarkable how just unremarkable Smalland really is.

That said there is a lot of potential here. The combat system is fluid and nice, I haven't figured out taming (Still haven't found nectar somehow) but it sounds like fun. The visuals are stunning and the general environment is unique, although poorly presented. (In that I mean you have to find the obscenely long winding path to move around because you sure aren't going over that low tree root or climbing that small rock face or traversing that very narrow very deadly body of water) The building mechanics seem good but I've only slightly touched base with it.

Game could be good, but it feels lazy and undercooked. If this is your first game? Good job! It certainly feels like it.
If not, keep working and do better. You have a LOT of resources out there to draw experience and knowledge from in your design choices. And some of this is basic level.

TL;DR Smalland feels like a book that was written by somebody that never reads.

It's neat, but hands down the most boring game I've ever played, bar none. What was the point of making it open world when there's almost nothing to do in that aspect? Why not just make it a linear story game? I mean... it's just... it's just boring as hell. I'm a guy who's all about replay value. I watch TV reruns constantly. I play through games I've beat a thousand times over and over every year. This isn't even rerun boring, it's worse than that. I have more fun combing my hair. Walking and driving simulator with some funny futuristic billboards. That's about it. Sure there's story and it isn't that bad, but wow... Go listen to a war story from your grandparents. I promise it'll provide a higher value of entertainment and content than Cyberpunk 2077 provides. Yeah we can say it has come a long way since launch, but on a scale of 1 to 10 when this game gets compared to any title released in the last two decades, it still falls shy of a 3 today. It really is THAT boring. Compared to what it could be, hell compared to the lowest expectations you can have for it even. It's shockingly, staggeringly under par.

Fun game but don't ever have a power outage while playing it because you'll never get it to launch again...

Very neat game but the expeditions just kill the enjoyment of it by a very VERY large factor. Expeditions need to stop and focus needs realigned back to the actual core game. Otherwise, not just a walking simulator, but a decent game.

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Like most of the players that enjoyed this game, I have a very love/hate relationship with Conan Exiles. Funcom made this game as a "please save my company" cash pull, and that attitude has remained extremely apparent through their lack of solid dedication to its development. Conan Exiles for me, is another prime example of "What could've been" wasted potential. The game is quite good and extremely fun, and I definitely recommend it to anyone (with parental guidance, of course) even with some of its quirkiest bugs. My issue with it, however, has little to do with bugs and more to do with failed design and leadership. There are so many things any other similar game has done right that Exiles just isn't doing. There are a lot of things any game is doing that should totally have been in here from day 1 and they just aren't, nor are they planned. This is the real issue; a literal failure to maintain. You won't win the marathon if you don't keep running. Stepping up their work in this department would push this game to the highest played, top level survival game on the market. I mean the team's work is great, and it's already there, they just need to focus on this more and make it what it deserves to be; an enormous success and a great game instead of the moderate cash maker good game it already is.

That said, I will come back to this, probably faster and more frequently than similar games.

Ever bite into a jelly doughnut only to find the baker forgot to inject the jelly into it? That's what The Outer Worlds is. You still get the experience of having a plain doughnut, but the potential of the jelly is just absent. For me, this game will go down in history as a "wasted potential" title. The game is ok, but it's missing that 'jelly' that could've made it great.

If you paid more than $20 dollars for this plain doughnut, you got screwed.

tl;dr - Bad music, fun game, loads of potential. Worth the price.

Didn't even make it past the main menu before having something to write a review about. To date, this will be the second game I have ever played on mute simply because of the music. Not that the music in Space Haven is bad, it's just a soundtrack that doesn't belong in a game. ANY game. Ever.
Lyrics and vocals in video games just do not fit. PERIOD. Delete the lyrics and make it more what one would expect from a spacey buildy game and I would be more interested in having a listen. Until then silent space is far more interesting to me.

That said, this game is has a very fun groove. The stockpile system shames almost every game in the genre, even Rimworld to an extent. The overall experience has a bit of a learning curve that isn't too overwhelming, but is user-friendly enough to have a good experience right from the start. The game itself is not difficult to play and has an awesome original XCOM/Rimworld hybrid feels to it. Very charming graphics.
Combat is great though a bit spray and pray. Could use some added mechanics to allow for a more strategic experience, but as it sits it works very well. My personal ship to ship experience has been met with limited success as I haven't gotten to the point I can attack the opposition, but being boarded and held up at gunpoint was a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ blast. Love it.
Building and crafting so far have been fairly simple, though I tend to run out of materials and die off way faster than I get to experience what I feel is even half of the full extent of the building systems.
I was a little bummed by the lack of vertical building. I expected to be able to build upper decks. Maybe in a future release eh? Can't wait for that.
I would also like to see a scenario mode or something that allows me to customize or load a ship from file that I want to start in, giving me more control of the beginning layout. Could run it based on a resource point system or something along that nature, or simply load in the beginning ship and let me make instant-build changes from it before hitting the play button and spawning in the crew. Hell even a simple layout selection after crew rolling would suffice.

I'd also add that being able to mine asteroids and salvage derelict ships is wicked cool, however it drives me nuts the asteroid and derelicts don't literally deplete. It leaves behind a hulking mass of rock, or a hulking mass of hull. I'd rather see drifting debris in place of these.

Looking forward to playing more. Please though, change that music. It's the worst part of the experience so far. It's that out of place. Ugh.

I want Valheim to be a bigger success than it already is. This game and it's designers deserve more money and players than World of Warcraft had at its peak. Seriously.

tl;dr, Buy Valheim. Buy it now. There are very few games in history worthy of their price. This one is worth FAR more so don't ask questions, just buy it now at the price it shows and be happy that you made out like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bandit, and enjoy a game made the way games SHOULD be made.

Yes, it's true that the game has some flaws that could (and I'm sure they will) be addressed in the future, but this game has crossed a bridge into a realm I have fervently believed in for over 2 decades of watching new games come out. They made a great game and didn't sacrifice amazing gameplay mechanics and features for the chance of flashy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ graphics. This game made millions of dollars using 20 year old graphics technology, and you know what? It's because Valheim is just that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good. AAA studios could ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ learn something from these guys. Seriously, ask yourself where "so and so" game would be today if they hadn't bought into the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ decision of sacrificing some gameplay mechanic manhours and budget in favor of making sure your character's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ belt swings in the wind just right. I'm not saying this isn't a good thing SOMETIMES... but think about it... seriously ask yourself that question.

Valheim is on par to be one of my favorite games in all existence. I absolutely cannot wait to see where it goes from here.