Recent reviews by Blacky

So far so good. The introduction of the game is not as mysterious and immediately interesting as the first Horizon game; but it works.
The port works very very well, properly optimized product.
One need to have played the first game I would think, yes Forbidden West recap it but it's not the same. lay the first one first.

Much as being said already about the game... but the core of the issues, are deep design flaws, and dissonance between the fantasy Bethesda is trying to sell, and the tool (i.e. the gameplay) they designed to try to achieve it. Tried, and failed at.

It's not the worse AAA game of 2023, by far. But it's very middling in all aspects, very meh, and doesn't even have the vast open world fantasy that would contrast it to a Baldur's Gate 3. Starfield open world is deeply flawed.

And of course, they and AMD lied about the state of the game and the state of cpu multithreading of Starfield. Which is shameful, but after F76 (among others), it was expected as such.

It's a shame that since they went after the sweet mass money and their perceived dumb console clientèle with Oblivision, Bethesda Studio has done nothing but run away from Morrowind. Which is still their best game relative to the rest of the market, and maybe even their best game full stop.

Offer very few things of significance over previous games. Very slow AI turn performance. Way too many bugs. The price is way too high, and the pay-to-win DLC price is beyond extravagant.
Not recommended.

Easily the best game of 2023, but more than that a game that show what care, attention to details, thinking (most) things through, can get you.

It's a AA presentation game with a AAA budget, where the money is spent on depth, on caring for the player's agency.

And we want more of that game development philosophy. A lot more.

Older but serviceable gameplay, interesting story, nice world.

This is a weird one.

On one hand, it's the game that goes full on with deep simulation, interwoven system and emergent gameplay.

But on the other hand, it's still mostly the same mess of lack of design because things were just piled upon each other for the last 15 years.

But on the other hand it's a true labor of love, with the game being worked on and free for 15 years, and still free today.

But on the other fourth hand, the additions of the Steam edition while better than the original, are still subpar. Rimworld (while a very different game, despite what some people say) had less time and less budget than this, and much better UI.

So even though it's probably my favorite game of all time, I'm conflicted. On the end I still recommend it because it's still has the incredible potential of Dwarf Fortress, the layers upon layers upon layers of unique emergent gameplay, and no other games does it quite like this. On the other hand, customers should demand better more professional work on the UI, definitely.

It's not the GameOfTheYearOfTheDecade(TM) that so many console players and medias said it was, of course.

But it's a very decent action open world collectathon with ok narrative.

Worth it to turn your brain off and swing in the urban canyons, especially when the price will be more reasonable.

Very nice atmosphere, simple mechanics.

Somewhat expensive for the content though.

Very fine idea, and it's open source on top of that! Good job!

Very nice and relaxing puzzle game, with surprisingly depth to its mechanics. Certainly worth its price. Even in its state of Early access.