Recent reviews by [ACPL] Jon

I can't imagine any reality in which this gem isn't my GOTY for 2025.

One of the very best games I've played over the last few years.

Another great LiS game. Why has this flown so low under the radar is a mystery to me.

Pros:
+ pretty good & mature storyline, with pretty realistic character behaviours
+ very good and ORIGINAL (with big O) themes. I feel like whoever wrote it, shared some personal pain. Thank you.
+ the branching seems pretty decent for a LiS game
+ no volatile themes, no LGBT overrepresentation (looking at you, Double Exposure)
+ IMO very little stuff that could be percieved as "cringe"
+ pretty good dialogue, decent jokes, actors did great
+ nice and likable characters and IMO pretty decent twists
+ best licensed soundtrack in the whole series

Cons:
- I kinda didn't like the way they solved the main confrontation in the story. It just felt unbelivable, even if Alex became Skullface for a minute there. You too have known loss, Boss.
- one unresolved thread, which I can't point out to not spoil one of the endings
- pretty "contained" space-wise

Ok, after several skirmishes, I've had enough. It sucks.
It's a broken, biased, fantasy game.
I guess even the title warns you.
Every session I've played was worse than one before.

Pros:
+ combat is pleasant, there's plenty of "Oomph" in armament
+ unit handling has been improved since beta's and game plays pretty well
+ looks really good
+ sounds even better
+ really good roster of varied units
+ has Mission Editor and Steam Workshop support
+ has modern warfare setting unlike it's competitors
+ it IS captivating, I gotta say
+ and generally plenty of stuff you could like...

Cons:
- ...but it gets overshadowed a shipton of infuriating crap, listed below
- "Host has left the match" so screw your XP or fun
- cheaters already very present in multiplayer if you think about PvP
- lag can absolutely break the match both in PvP... AND PvE!
- with enough lag your units just insta-die whenever game catches up
- you can break base game maps with Mission Editor
- game menu systems break often too
- game chat breaks as soon as even 1 person disconnects or crashes
- you can't play skirmish in SP (no Pause for you buddy, better bring a bottle if you have to pee)
- pretty garbage balance IMO, russian studio made a gopnik-fantasy game for russian people, so why are we trying to play it? Fantasy in-game russians seem to have better AA (because apparently Patriots aren't that great, and yes, I've turned on the radar!), cheaper infantry that you can easily blob into groups that can easily delete less numerous US units whenever they get in range (including most expensive ones like Abrams or Apache) and vehicles that you can also blob to outgun US.
- combat against russian AI's is pretty much Star Wars: every man, his car and his dog has an ATGM and that's counting 1 per each paw. There's more guided rocket launchers in one deck than in several US real life divisions and of course these are so accurate WARNO looks like a Mil-Sim game in comparison.
- "tactical nukes" nonsense (seconds later units ride through radiation zone ez-pz)
- Community Manager of the studio lied notoriously how it's a "multinational team", I mean, they have 1 Ukrainian! And a French person! Well I guess that cancels out 95 % of the team being blatantly russian, seemingly including the game's screenwriter who as I've read supports Ukraine invasion. So now you know why the game balance is what it is.
- oh and if you're not too familiar with military equipment \ weapons you'll most likely struggle
- game can't even close properly

Just buy WARNO when they'll fix the crashes or wait until Eugen makes anything set in modern warfare. Sure, it will be flawed, but it will be far less broken & biased than this is.


PS: OP in this thread sums up the current balance quite well IMO:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1604270/discussions/0/599656129731040105/?tscn=1750663087

Feels and plays terrible. Just get Combat Mission Shock Force 2 or Black Sea.

- non-scaled UI,
- no zoom options,
- unreadable maps (hard to say where there are windows which let you fire through),
- unit positioning is absolutely horrible (CC2 did it better, remind me how many years ago?)
- "experienced" units that ignore orders when being absolutely in control,
- combat makes no sense, what does this game "simulate"? Dice rolls?

Great game, full of atmosphere and pure old fun.

SkillUp & BigFry's videos seem simply untrue for current release versions (at least it seems so after first few hours). Nearly 0 bugs and the ones I've encountered are very harmless and mostl;y gfx bugs.

Game was very playable to me*

*except if you try to play it on high settings with RT on, then your FPS will have a bad day

PS: be sure to crank up mouse and aiming sensivity.

Great freakin' game, shaka-brah.

Overall Score (subjective: big LiS fan) = 10 / 10
Overall Score (more objective) = 8.5 - 9 / 10
Can I recommend it - Yes (unless you have a weak PC or you're allergic to LGBT characters)
Why I can recommend it - despite some short-comings it's probably the best LiS game

So why are the haters wrong?


Pros:
+ better dialogues by EONS. Finally so much less cringe'y, forced (especially inner) dialogue
+ best & most relatable Max C ever, with biggest balls original trilogy characters ever had
+ really good, entertaining & atmospheric story with some themes that never get old
+ builds up a proper mystery & upholds it for pretty long, really good pacing
+ plenty of "feels" & decent messages regarding life & Max's shortcomings
+ decent set of characters and a really enjoyable evolution of Max
+ plenty of decent & mostly uplifting humour or silly convos at in-game's version of Twitter
+ very good graphics and fantastic animation quality. Seriously, wow
+ actors (and again, MoCap & Anim teams) did a really good (& sometimes great) job
+ some really awesome tracks and great ambient music
+ IMO it respects the source material & the callbacks are rather decent
+ the LGBT oversaturation doesn't hurt the game, there's no [forced] focus on LGBT themes
+ not as "slow" in terms of pacing and gameplay as the old ones
+ decent length & amount of content \ interactions
+ you can be a [short for Richard] to people


Cons:
- the heterosexuals are a dying breed at Cale-duh School for Minorities, feels artificial
- the "Bae over Bay" option for Chloe is unclear and well... disputable
- optimization could be better: all this glorious graphics needs a beefy PC
- plenty of cutting-off or poorly positioned audio & subtitle zones for side characters convo's
- some of the (as Georgie put it) "Twilight Zone" scenes & conclusion feel disjointed & cut
- timeline orbs "ringing" gave me PTSD flashbacks of Control's "emergency line" ringing, this crap haunts my dreams and sounds like a great migraine inducer
- Square Enix in itself (2 achievements locked behind Ultimate Ed of the game)
- nonsale price may feel steep given today's gameplay hours-to-price ratio standards


The game might not be as "hard-hitting" as first two parts because it's more even in tone.

"B-but limited choices down the line" - it's a narrative game, not a full-blown RPG, clowns.
There's plenty of choices and IMO you still get more control than in old games. Also it was rather obvious Chloe won't be a big part of this game, so why would expect otherwise?

Main twist wasn't to my liking, but at this point I don't know what else they could've gone with. Overally it was a really enjoyable and gripping ride worthy of being part of "The Trilogy".
If it wasn't for the tech issues & a bit of LGBT favoritism in terms of characters, it'd be perfect.


PS: I'm not against LGBT*, but it's a statistical abnormality for almost every person you meet in the game to be either gay or bi. Luckily this isn't main focus in the game (that's how you do "woke" in a non-propaganda way), but still feels unrelatable to average person's life.

*I am anti-woke or anti-propaganda though

Do NOT buy this, it's really bad and empty, even for a EA release.

It's really laggy, sluggish & buggy. Has unreliable & unfun combat. No infection mechanics, no mention of alternate finales for the current map, second map is at "ideas in concept" stage.

These dudes literally sell you a demo for 30 $.

You're better off buying Dying Light 2 or Dead Island 2 on sale or if you're short on cash, Contagion if you want a lighter alternative to the original No More Room in Hell.

I'm refunding this as soon as I'll record enough footage to make fun of it on YouTube.

PS: also Torn Banner seems to manipulate the reviews claiming intentional review bomb.

Overall Score = 8.5-9/10
Can I recommend it - Yes
Why I can recommend it - It's really fun, both in SP & Coop

Haven't played as much as I'd want during early access, but I got sick in the last few days.
But hey, only in death your duty ends. My pledge is...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm9CBrsKtOw
Pros:
+ melee is nice when it works like it should and in general you "feel" the weight of the hits
+ great, brutal animations and overally fighting is decent & fun
+ good gunplay; Normal (SP) & "Minimal Threat" feels EXACTLY how it should be balanced
+ CAMPAIGN IS BLOODY AWESOME, CHAD FUEL
+ big, awesome battles between guardsmen & tyranids
+ good, lore-accurate atmosphere
+ huge, beautiful landscape backdrops on maps
+ high production value: high graphics quality, even better sound quality
+ from small to GIGANTIC hordes. You can tell WWZ guys worked on this
+ rich & extensive armor customization
+ enemy AI is decent
+ unlike some other ekhu ekhu AAA games, you can kick people & turn off Crossplay
+ decent configuration & accessibility options
+ despite my system struggling with RAM availability lately, unless I've streamed via Discord the game ran FLAWLESSLY so far, despite hundreds of xenos on screen.
+ AAA game that doesn't suck or that isn't broken on release

Cons:
- melee can be clunky & IMO not working properly at times and with enemy hits being as punishing as they are, well... that's a recipe for frustration, esp. on higher difficulties.
- "Operations" difficulty scaling feels bad. "Mastercrafted" weapons still feel like pea-shooters against medium-sized xenos on anything above "Minimal Threat" difficulty and thus if you're playing a ranged class, you might not have a good time. "Recommended Class Level: 5"; we've had several 6+ classes approach "Average Threat" missions and we failed EVERY time.
- somehow my Titus was very unkeen to dodge-roll at the start of the campaign
- some boss fights aren't really fun nor designed well IMO
- armor customization menu is confusing
- bots aren't that helpful, the devs really should up their engagement
- can't play with 2 of the same classes in Coop; while it makes sense for some classes (Heavy), it doesn't make sense in case of Tactical or Assault Marines
- the game could use a bit more Coop conten; but Focus confirmed it's on the way.

These cons don't bring down how good the game is, nor most of it isn't hard to fix, IMO.
Space Marine's craft is death.
Focus Entertainment's craft is great WH40K games.

"I'm Still Standing" ~Demetrian Titus, probably, 41 millenium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJLd7yI6LTo

A cheater, aim-assist and manipulative game design riddled hell.
Terrible rigged PvP MP with "no holds barred" skinfest.
Dump mag somebody only so he can kill you in 2-3 taps.

I suggest playing & supporting XDefiant or BF 2042 simply because these are better "CoDs" than actual CoD itself, lately. At least you get to play the game instead of game playing you.

You "optimized" my "engagement" in multiplayer quite well Activision:
I've stopped playing your products most likely for good. Go to hell.

Finally, a new PAYDAY.

Overall Score (subjective: PAYDAY fan) = 8/10
Overall Score (more objective) = 7/10
Can I recommend it - Yes
Why I can recommend it - It's really fun, both in Coop & singleplayer

Score mostly after spending about 60 hours in the playtest.

Pros:
+ gunplay & firefights are good & satysfing, IMO better gunplay than in PD3
+ less "sponginess" on both sides: both cops, gangsters and you go down quick
+ difficulty seems properly balanced & there's in-mission escalation
+ enemy AI is pretty good
+ police models are good and realistic
+ bots carry bags, can do some objectives (and can be switched to or ordered around in SP)
+ some new mechanics, but mostly just the return of that "proper stanard" we're used to
+ as I said, standard: kicking, session browser, ping display, offline mode, actual cutscenes
+ really good heist maps, most maps can be stealthed
+ stealth is decent + decent stealth-to-loud transition
+ might look goofy on screenshots, but it's purest old school PAYDAY in gameplay
+ graphics are decent, some bangers on the soundtrack
+ "Chains" from PAYDAY 2 is better Bain than Bain. Sorry Simon.
+ decent progression & enough of it to keep you playing
+ really good pricing, good price-to-content ratio, decent replayability
+ has thrice as much content for half the price of PAYDAY "supposedly" 3
+ if you're 30+: your favourite actors are here and most of them do their job

Cons:
- friendly AI can bug out and just get stuck (rarely, but it happens. Can be semi-fixed by switching to them & moving)
- ladder bug in multiplayer (can be fixed by rejoining, but have fun holding the fort when 2 heavies come at you)
- could use some polishing here & there, but nothing tragic
- for God's sake re-record LT's (Chuck Norris sidekick) lines
- no gun customization
- no clothing customization
- some heist tracks are very bland \ bad

A return of old school PAYDAY. Oh I missed you buddy.

PS - no, it's not perfect. And it might never be.
But it's good enough, very fun & offers enough content.